Here we go again.
Days passed peacefully at Beacon for team Rainbow.
And Jaune got into a new routine.
For example, every morning, he would wake up early and go training.
It was the typical training schedule he had prepared: running, push-ups, sit-ups, squats. All the basic stuff.
He had to start from the very beginning before even trying to touch fancy stuff like getting a weapon, or learning martial arts.
Needless to say, the first time he woke up this early had upset his team.
Didididididi…
"Uuuugh!"
"Grmbl..?"
"Gah…! An alarm…?" A voice complained in the darkness. "Make it stoooop!"
"Sorry!" Jaune gasped in panic and hurriedly muted his scroll.
"Gaaaah…" He heard Ruby groaned and popped her head out of her bed. "Jauuuune… Why are you waking up so earlyyyyy…"
"I'll be quiet. You can continue to sleep." Jaune smiled, grabbed her sheets and covered her head.
"Where are you going?" Blake whispered quietly in the darkness as he passed by her bed.
Jaune felt a chill run down his back, as he spotted two golden cat eyes watch him in the darkness, annoyed.
"I'm going to run," Jaune said. "I'll be back soon."
And so Jaune started to run every morning.
He couldn't last very long, but he really needed to improve his stamina.
It was tough, waking up every morning and struggling to find the willpower to go running.
After a few days, though…
"I'll go with you."
"Huh, what?" Jaune blinked at Weiss who had gotten out of bed at the same time as him.
"Last time, the Grimm got the better of me because I ran out of stamina…" Weiss declared with a determined expression on her face. "I couldn't even stand on my legs. So I need to train my body more. And I might as well go run with you."
"Oh, okay," Jaune nodded politely, even though he would have preferred to go run alone.
Now, Weiss was going to see his pathetic side that runs out of breath in two minutes, so he wasn't looking forward to it.
They were quick to prepare themselves and headed outside.
"So, um…" Jaune hesitated, not sure what to do. "I usually do laps around the campus…"
"Let's do that." Weiss nodded and grabbed her scroll. "I'll time it."
Jaune nodded and did the same with his. He hadn't thought of timing himself before, but it would be useful to keep track of his progress and try to improve a little more every day.
"All right. Ready? Let's go!" Weiss exclaimed, and they started running.
Weiss quickly distanced herself from him. She was way faster.
Crap… This was demoralizing. Jaune really would have preferred to run alone.
…
…
"Haa… Haa…"
Jaune eventually finished his first lap.
Yay!
"Keep up the pace, Jaune!" Weiss panted and passed by him.
"…Haa…" Jaune continued to run, watching her distance herself from him.
So she did two laps in the time it took him to make one, huh.
And she looked like she could maintain that speed, too…
"Grraaah!" Jaune gave a little shout of frustration and carried on.
…
…
"Haaa… Haaaa… Haaaaa…!"
His second lap!
Yes!
"You should take a break, Jaune! You don't look so good!" Weiss called as she passed by him again.
For the fifth time.
So she did two laps in the time it took him to do his first one, and then four laps in the time it took him to finish another one.
Which meant, Jaune had slowed down his pace by half the speed without him noticing.
And Weiss didn't look very exhausted…
"Grrr…" Jaune growled, panting.
I'll show her. I will continue to run!
"Haaa… Haaa!" Jaune forced his legs to move again.
One more lap!
Come on, body! You need some work!
"Haa…"
Jaune continued to push on his legs, his heart hammering in his chest.
He started feeling his brain pulsating heavily, drops of sweat rolling down his face.
"Haaa…"
His head was hurting… His heart seemed like it was going to burst out of his chest.
The world around him started to waver. The edges of his vision were slowly disappearing...
"Haaa… Haa…"
Come… on…
Just… one more… lap…
"Haa…!"
…
Jaune stumbled.
The ground rapidly closed in on his face.
Everything went black.
Jaune opened his eyes.
His body ached. He felt exhausted.
"You've got to be kidding me!" He heard Weiss' voice.
"I'm afraid not, Miss Schnee." Another voice he didn't know replied.
"Uuugh!" She growled in annoyance and glanced at him.
Jaune hurriedly closed his eyes again and faked sleeping, not wanting to face her.
"Hey! He's awake!" Jaune heard angry footsteps approach his bed, "Jaune, I know you're awake, don't pretend to be asleep!"
She slapped his face ruthlessly.
"A-aouch!" Jaune winced in pain and opened his eyes. "That hurts! D-don't do that!"
"Then don't take me for an idiot!" She replied, annoyed. "Don't laze around pretending to be asleep!"
"S-sorry… Um…" Jaune sat up in his bed. "What… What happened?"
"You fainted, you dunce!"
"Oh." Jaune blinked, not really surprised.
It was not unusual for him to faint.
His body was weak. This was not an understatement, Jaune had always been below average despite trying his best.
"Yes, you suffered from Anemia." The nurse nodded, reading a paper sheet. "Don't push yourself too much, Mr. Arc. I have your medical file here. Please remember to not overwork your body."
Anemia, huh...
"But if I don't push myself, I'm never going to grow stronger…" Jaune complained.
"You can push yourself, with moderation." The nurse replied patiently. "Also, you should eat a lot more if you want to strengthen your muscles. Especially meat, and other food rich in iron… to fight Anemia. Understood?"
"Yeah." Jaune sighed. This was just the usual talk for him.
He had started training but didn't adapt his diet in consequence. He should have eaten a little something before going to run.
"…I'm not sure you understand, Mr. Arc…" The nurse's eyes narrowed. "It is very important that you follow a good diet when training your body. Miss Schnee, would you please make sure that he eats enough?"
"What?! No!" She grimaced. "I'm his teammate, not his mother!"
"…Of course." The nurse nodded, wincing at the sharp voice of the heiress. "Then I will message the details to your team leader."
"W-wait!" Jaune gasped in panic as Weiss snickered behind the nurse. "Please don't! I swear I'll eat properly!"
"Regardless, team leaders have to be aware of such things." The nurse insisted. "There. I have sent her a message."
"N-noo…!"
Knowing her, Ruby was going to be on his back at every meal...
"For today... take this." The nurse said and handed him a pill.
"…" Jaune took the medication, making sure to show his discontentment by grimacing and sulking.
"If you hadn't pushed yourself so hard to the point of… fainting," Weiss accentuated the word, "You wouldn't be here, to begin with!"
"Haa…" Jaune sighed, leaning back into the nursing bed.
She was right, of course… Jaune had been aware that his body was weak, yet he had still tried to push it further. This was because he had seen how Weiss easily outclassed him in stamina, so Jaune had wanted to improve himself.
Jaune had brought this upon himself.
"Come on, Jaune." Ruby demanded, "You've got to eat lots of meat to grow strong!"
"Yeahhh…" Jaune groaned, his mouth full of bacon.
As expected, Ruby had started taking care of his diet.
Unfortunately, she seemed to take this very seriously. How embarrassing, having a girl two years younger check his diet. All because she wanted to be a great leader, she was doing such unnecessary things.
"Y-you don't have to always remind me, I can do it myself, you know." Jaune groaned, still sulking.
"Yeah, but as the team leader, I have to closely monitor my precious teammates!" Ruby grinned.
"P-precious…?" Jaune repeated, blushing. "W-well... okay…" He reluctantly accepted.
"And by the way, from now on, we're all going to exercise in the morning!" Ruby declared. "We'll make it a team building exercise! It will do us good in the long run!"
"Good idea." Weiss approved.
"Great." Blake sighed but didn't really protest.
And so, team Rainbow started waking up early every morning to go run with Jaune.
Naturally, Jaune was able to witness that Weiss actually had very bad stamina compared to Blake and Ruby, who were able to maintain a rapid pace for more than twenty laps.
…Yet the tired Weiss was still able to last a lot longer than Jaune, and ran way faster…
Jaune really had a long way to go.
After their morning physical training, team Rainbow would prepare for their lessons and take their breakfast at the cafeteria with team Pyrene.
There, they started seeing the effects of Blake revealing her cat ears and assuming her Faunus heritage as her own.
Negative effects.
"Out of my way, kitty."
Cardin Winchester ruthlessly pushed her and made her splatter her plate.
Not just him, but some other people started treating Blake more coldly.
A member of the staff gave her a smaller share of food on her plate, for example.
"Hey, you. I've seen how you treat my partner. I'll talk to the headmaster if you don't behave properly."
"S-sorry, Miss Schnee!"
Weiss started giving some scary glares left and right, threatening Beacon's staff and calling out the discrimination.
All of that was done behind Blake's back, obviously, since she was a proud person.
"And you, Winchester. If you don't look where you're going I'll make sure to-"
"To what?" Cardin smirked at Weiss. "What are you gonna do? Hm? Break the school rules?"
"That's..." Weiss hesitated, "W-well..."
"No, you won't do it." Cardin chuckled. "Because you're too busy being little Miss Perfect."
"..."
Weiss gritted her teeth as she watched Cardin laugh with his friends and walk away.
Welcome to the real world, Weiss. What did you think would happen, confronting him like this?
Jaune could tell this was her first time dealing with such problems. She was very inexperienced.
"What's wrong, Weiss?" Blake asked.
"N-nothing!" Weiss smiled innocently at her partner.
"...Jerk." Ruby mumbled under her breath, glaring at Cardin's back.
"…Here, Blake…" Jaune whispered and pushed his plate towards her while Ruby wasn't looking, "You can have my part… I can't eat anymore."
"I don't want to take your rests." Blake hissed back at him.
A really proud person, Blake was.
But everything wasn't so bad. There were also some positive reactions.
"Those are some cute ears!" Yang praised.
"Look at how they're twitching!" Nora gushed.
"They have their own charm." Pyrrha recognized.
"It must have taken a lot of courage to reveal them." Ren nodded. "That's admirable."
"Thank you, thank you." Weiss smiled satisfyingly as if she was the one being praised. "It definitely took a bit of convincing."
When complimented like that, Blake would just blush, give a glare and pout.
It was kinda cute, a side of her that they hadn't seen before, as she was usually the more mysterious, cool beauty type.
It seemed she really did feel more vulnerable without her bow… It was upsetting that she felt this way.
"We should really keep supporting her," Ruby whispered to him. "We must help her feel welcome in the team!"
"Yeah." Jaune nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.
After breakfast, typically, came lessons.
The only discipline Jaune didn't completely suck at was History.
And even then, he was still barely average.
Jaune tried his best to read during his own time, but he was a slow reader. And between his morning training, his normal classes, his extra lessons with Miss Goodwitch, and his meditation, he barely had any time to spend on his own.
The professor of History, 'doctor' Oobleck, talked very fast. It was basically impossible for Jaune to take decent notes, as he was too slow to write.
But Ruby saved him and let him copy her notes, so he was able to manage.
As long as Jaune didn't rip up her notes, that was.
Jaune was too scared to even touch her notes!
His semblance continued to break things randomly, naturally. Pens, chairs, cutlery, bed. His own notes, too, which meant he had to rewrite them all over again. It was frustrating, but Jaune was used to it.
He even broke the shower one time, resulting in a water leak that flooded the dorm - Weiss had not been happy that day.
There was one class, however, where Jaune didn't break a single thing.
Ironically, it was Combat class.
That class was very weird for Jaune.
Because he didn't fight.
He just watched.
"What?" Cardin would growl. "This wimp doesn't even want to fight?" He turned to Jaune, "Come fight me!"
"N-no, thanks," Jaune answered uncomfortably, scared of hurting the guy. "I'll, um, I'll watch you from here."
"Professor! What is going on with him?" Cardin asked, pointing a finger at Jaune. "Why is he spared from combat lessons?"
"He is a special student. It is too dangerous to let him fight." Miss Goodwitch answered. "I would advise not to get into any fight with him, as he has very limited control over his semblance. Consider yourself warned."
Limited control? More like no control whatsoever. Jaune scoffed.
Their classmates started muttering between themselves, throwing him glances, which made him uncomfortable.
"Hah..." Jaune heard Cardin grumble to his friends, "Looks like he even has the professor on his side. Talk about pulling strings. I'm sure anyone could easily beat him...!"
"Quiet, please!" Miss Goodwitch raised her voice with authority and narrowed her eyes at the crowd. "Now, who would like to fight against Mister Winchester?"
"Me," Blake growled ominously as she raised her hand.
"Then come down on the stage," Miss Goodwitch ordered.
...
…
What followed was one of the most brutal fights Jaune ever witnessed.
Not that Jaune had seen many fights. But still.
Basically, Blake completely wiped the floor with the guy.
As Blake was a master in the art of dodging, and Cardin's weapon and armor were heavy, which was rendering his attacks slow, Cardin did not even manage to land a single hit on Blake.
Honestly, she looked really scary during that fight. It almost looked like she was used to beating up entitled guys like Cardin.
"U-ugh… Lucky shot." Cardin growled and fell unconscious, his body dropping to the ground.
"Very good, Miss Belladonna." Miss Goodwitch nodded and levitated Cardin's body back onto his seat as Blake walked back to hers, completely unscathed.
She didn't even break a sweat…
It must be nice, to be able to fight people so easily like that without the risk of breaking their bones…
"Nice fight, Blake!" Ruby praised.
"As expected of my partner." Weiss smiled.
"Didn't you go too hard on him?" Jaune wondered, worried.
"…"
The three of them stared at him disapprovingly.
"You're too kind, Jaune." Blake shook her head.
"Definitely too kind." Ruby nodded. "He deserved it, that jerk!"
"Someday, someone is going to take advantage of it," Weiss warned him.
"N-no, I'm not too kind… I-I just thought, that was a bit unnecessary to beat him up so bad…" Jaune mumbled. "Like... I don't think that kind of attitude will change his views, Blake."
"Hmm…" Blake hummed contemplatively.
Later.
Though Jaune said that, they could all observe the effects afterward.
"It worked!" Ruby cheered as Cardin avoided their table and went to pull on some rabbit Faunus' ears.
"Indeed. Winchester stopped bothering you, Blake." Weiss smiled.
"Yeah…" Blake nodded hesitantly, watching Cardin from the corner of her eyes. "But… out of fear, not out of respect." She sighed, shaking her head, "He just moved on to another target, this changed nothing." She scoffed. She looked regretful, as if disappointed in herself. "I did it again…"
"Hey." Weiss patted her arm. "You didn't do anything wrong. You just sparred with a classmate." Weiss smiled reassuringly.
"Yeah! A bossy classmate." Ruby nodded along. "It's fine! You just defended yourself. It's not your fault that he's still being a jerk to someone else after that. Right, Jaune?"
"Hmm, I don't know." Jaune mused absently, observing Cardin who was laughing cruelly at the poor rabbit Faunus. "He might be doing it out of spite, as a way to get revenge on Blake, you kno-"
Ruby elbowed him in the stomach.
"A-aouch! E-er...!" Jaune tried to recover, "I-I mean, yeah, it's not your fault, Blake!"
"..."
Blake's ears flattened on her head, her mouth pouting, a sad expression on her face.
Ruby and Weiss sent him a glare, as if to say 'Way to go, Jaune. You just had to ruin the mood.'.
But... Jaune was right, though! Answering hatred with hatred only fed the vicious, never-ending cycle of hatred.
However, seeing Blake picking at her food in a frustrated way, Jaune realized that perhaps, he should have shut his stupid mouth.
Haa... I'm an idiot.
The routine continued, days passing.
Jaune was able to get to know team Pyrene.
Nora and Ren were both very different. One was loud and wearing her feelings on her sleeve, while the other was quiet and unreadable.
However, even though they were very different, they were both very kind.
"What's this I hear? You guys have a morning training schedule? If you need a coach, I'm available!" Nora grinned, proudly pointing her thumb at herself. "I looove that stuff!"
The girl offered to coach them. If it had been Jaune alone, he would have immediately accepted and be grateful. However, since the proud Weiss and Blake were in his team, they had to politely refuse.
It might have been because Ren was shaking his head at them from behind Nora, as if warning them from some danger.
"I heard you had Anemia?" Ren suddenly asked Jaune. "Here, I made a drink out of several plants rich in iron, vitamins and proteins." He handed him a cup of some weird drink, "If you take this before your training you'll be less likely to faint, and you won't have to eat as much to gain strength."
"O-oooh… Thank you…" Jaune took the cup and bowed his head to Ren, a bit embarrassed but still grateful. "Um… If you need something from me, you can ask, I'll try to help you the best I can!"
"Hmm." Ren merely hummed back to him. "My brews are always efficient." He turned to the three others. "I recommend everyone use it. I know quite a large variety of plants."
The others politely refused, for some reason. How strange.
It might have been because Nora was shaking her head at them from behind Ren, as if warning them from some danger.
What did she mean? Jaune frowned and sniffed the drink. This mixture was-
"Buaaargh!" Jaune grimaced, his face turning green. This thing was poison! "A-are you sure this is good for the body?!"
"The worse a medicine tastes, the more efficient it is," Ren replied wisely.
"...Are you sure about that?" Jaune asked worriedly while Ruby took a sniff at the mixture.
She started trembling in disgust, a horrified expression on her face. "Don't drink that, Jaune! As your diet advisor, I forbid it!"
"Y-yes, sir!" Jaune gratefully obeyed and pushed the drink away.
Yang picked it up and sniffed it curiously. "Bwah! This smells worse than the trashiest cocktails I've tried," Yang grimaced.
"Thank you!" Nora slapped the table victoriously. "Finally! Tell him, my dear friends, shatter his delusions!"
"These are not delusions. And it's also a thousand times healthier than the healthiest of your cocktails, Yang," Ren stated, frustrated, causing Yang to bark a laugh. "What about you, Pyrrha?"
"Thank you, but I prefer to balance my diet with regular food." Pyrrha refused.
"..."
"There, there." Nora sighed softly and patted Ren's shoulder, sympathetic. "The tables have spoken. It's time to face reality!"
"In time your bodies will protest," Ren warned ominously. "And then, you will regret not trying my divine mixture."
"Bah. We have Aura." Yang pointed out. "Why would our bodies protest?"
"The greatest warriors can be defeated by the most common sickness," Ren replied wisely.
Why did everything this guy said sounded like a legendary quote? So cool.
Hm? Wait a second...
"Yo-you mean... Aura protects the body from things like... a bad diet?" Jaune asked, frowning. "It strengthens the body?"
"Yes." Pyrrha nodded, "Aura enhances physical attributes like strength, stamina, and boosts one's vitality."
"Really?"
Hm?
What? But... Jaune's body was super weak, and he even had problems like anemia.
Wasn't his Aura supposed to take care of that kind of thing?
Eh? Something was wrong there.
"No, um, it can't be right...!" Jaune protested weakly. "I-I've had Aura for as long as I can remember, and my body never strengthened up like that."
"Really?" Pyrrha raised her eyebrows, surprised. "That's very unusual..."
"Sucks to be you, I guess," Yang commented.
"Maybe your body was supposed to be even weaker?" Weiss suggested bluntly. "And it actually grew a little bit stronger?"
"Yikes." Yang grimaced.
"..."
Jaune stared at the palm of his hand, suddenly very worried.
Was his Aura dysfunctional or something? Why wasn't it doing its job? He'd been properly meditating, too.
He would have to do some research about that.
Crack!
"Ah." Jaune blinked as the spoon he held in his other hand twisted around itself.
"Here. Let me fix that." Pyrrha grabbed his spoon and restored it to its previous shape.
"Thanks, Pyrrha…" Jaune grinned.
"That's so cool!" Ruby gushed.
"You're welcome." Pyrrha smiled back.
Jaune also became friendly with Pyrrha, who was very polite, kind and helpful.
However, they couldn't really hold a long conversation together for some reason.
If Jaune had to take a guess as to why, it would be that Pyrrha was a shy person just like him. There was an awkward atmosphere between them.
Yet, between shy people, Jaune felt like there was a certain sense of camaraderie.
...
And then, there was Yang.
The opposite of a shy person. The embodiment of confidence.
Yang…
Haaa, Yang. What did I ever do to you?
Yang didn't like him, that much was clear to Jaune.
He had no idea why.
He tried to make friends with her.
He did!
But…
"Your hair smells great today, Yang!" Jaune had praised, putting on his best smile.
"…Ew, you creep." She had grimaced. "Go away."
UuUUuuUuUuurgh!
A shot right through the heart!
For Jaune who was a teenager, getting labeled as a creep by a girl his age was depressing, humiliating!
Jaune wasn't a creep…
Right?
Actually, now that he thought about it, he was a bit of a creep, wasn't he?
"That was kinda creepy," Weiss commented once they had left team Pyrene, confirming his worse fears.
"..." Jaune looked down, ashamed. Now he was labeled as the creepy guy of the group...!
"What's so creepy about it?" Ruby crossed her arms, defending him. "He was trying to compliment her! Yang is just being a jerk cause Jaune is my friend and she's mindful of that!"
"I-is that so?" Jaune asked, his eyes lighting up.
"Definitely! She's just worrying for nothing and being over-protective of me." Ruby assured. "She's got nothing against you, Jaune!"
"But she never mentioned you, though…" Jaune hesitated. "Um, I'm not too sure…"
"To be brutally honest, Jaune…" Weiss cut in, "Any normal person who doesn't know your story and struggles would label you as weird, strange, or even creepy."
Jaune winced again. The cold, hard truth was coming from Weiss' mouth, like always! Jaune could always trust her to point out his flaws.
"Objection!" Ruby exclaimed as she raised her hand, valiantly defending him. "That is simply not true! I didn't know about him and I didn't find him strange or weird! Or creepy!"
"I said 'any normal person', Ruby." Weiss pointed out with a teasing smile, making Blake snicker.
"I-I'm normal!" Ruby flushed. "I'm definitely not special! My knees are perfectly ordinary, thank you very much!"
"...What? Why are you bringing up knees?" Weiss blinked, confused.
"It's just an expression!" Ruby blushed.
"I don't think you're normal, Ruby." Jaune suddenly said.
"H-huh, what?" Ruby gasped, looking at him with a betrayed expression.
"You are definitely special… In a very good way!" Jaune grinned widely.
"It is true, I suppose." Weiss acknowledged reluctantly, watching Ruby blush bright red. "You are being accepted two years early into Beacon, after all."
"And you've been made team leader despite that," Blake added.
Jaune shared a smile with Weiss and Blake as they watched Ruby turn into a stuttering and mumbling mess, trying to deflect their compliments away.
One day, Jaune found himself alone in the lockers' corridor.
"Hey."
Jaune turned his head towards the voice.
It was Yang.
"Hello, Yang." Jaune tried to greet her properly.
"Yeah, hi." She stepped forward. "I wanted to tell you something… Jaune."
"What… What is it?" Jaune asked apprehensively.
"I don't know how you got into this school."
"I was invited," Jaune informed her, instantly shifting the blame on the teachers. "By the headmaster and the deputy headmistress."
"…But you're weak. And you let yourself be bullied by that Winchester ass."
"…W-well... Yeah." Jaune admitted, wincing.
But what choice did he have?
If he fought back, he would break some bones.
As long as it didn't turn into a fight, Jaune didn't mind enduring it quietly.
Yang's eyes narrowed. "I don't have a problem with you, but I think Ruby does deserve a better partner."
Jaune winced again, "M-me too…"
"So…" Yang took a step forward. Jaune stepped back in response. "You need to change your attitude! Grow stronger and more confident, so that you don't just weight her down with you, okay?"
"O-okay…" Jaune nodded, despite thinking that he was already doing exactly that.
"Hey."
A hand suddenly slammed on Yang's shoulder.
Blake's head suddenly appeared behind Yang, a scary expression on her face.
"Wh-whoa!" Yang jumped away from her, frightened. She pointed a finger at her. "What are you, a ninja?"
Blake vanished again.
A clone, Jaune realized, she's using her semblance to sneak on her.
She reappeared behind Yang again, placing herself between the two blondes.
"Don't you feel arrogant, telling people what to do?" Blake growled.
"E-er… No, I wasn't really telling him what to do…" Yang played with her hair, uncomfortable, "Just giving friendly advice."
"Advice for his sake, or for Ruby's sake?"
"Well, uh… Both, I guess…?" Yang shrugged.
"…I don't think you know what you're talking about." Blake said bluntly.
It was true… Yang didn't know Jaune's circumstances.
"…"
"…"
Blake continued to glare at Yang, while Yang stared at them for a moment.
"Well…" Yang eventually sighed in relief, "If that's how you are, then I know Ruby will be okay in your team. And I was a bit out of line…"
"Uhuh." Blake gave her a flat look, unimpressed.
Yang raised her hands innocently. "I get it, I get it." She looked at Jaune. "I've said all I wanted. Out with a Yang!"
And with that, she bolted away and disappeared.
"…"
"…"
Blake's amber eyes turned towards him.
S-scary.
…She walked away.
Jaune remained frozen.
"…"
"…"
After a few meters, she paused for a moment and glanced behind her, towards him.
She gave him a sassy raise of eyebrow. Like she was asking 'what are you waiting for'.
Ah…! Jaune finally realized it. She was waiting for him.
He hurried after her and caught up to her.
"Th-thanks, Blake… You didn't have to do that, you know." Jaune said, walking by her side.
"I know."
"Y-you know?"
"I did it anyway."
"…" Jaune looked away.
They walked back to their team together in a comfortable silence.
Blake is so cool... Jaune thought, smiling.
After classes, Jaune would leave the team and go to Miss Goodwitch's office to receive private lessons.
"You broke it?!" Miss Goodwitch exclaimed, gaping at him. "You broke the Atlesian Dusteel?!"
A-ah… Jaune forgot about that.
"Yeah… Um... I-it didn't even last a second." Jaune said. "Maybe it was already broken...?" He tried.
"…" Miss Goodwitch stared at him for a moment.
"I'm sorry..." Jaune apologized.
"It's not your fault, Jaune..." She sighed, and struggled to find words for a moment, "...Now we know this was the wrong approach."
"Yes…"
Jaune started feeling really bad about breaking that precious item.
As expected, he should have refused that gift just like always. What had he expected?
Still, Miss Goodwitch kept teaching him regardless.
And so Jaune started learning how to use Aura.
Or tried to, at least.
It was impossible for Jaune to get any grasp on his Aura.
He might as well try to catch a raging storm with his hands. That may be easier, actually.
It wasn't specific to Jaune, either. Nothing could get a grasp on his Aura.
"Jaune. I can't read your Aura." Miss Goodwitch declared as she was scanning him with her scroll.
"Um, what?"
"Look at the scroll."
Jaune looked over at what was displayed on the screen.
Jaune Arc: 284%
"That's… a lot of Aura." Jaune commented with a little chuckle.
"It's bugged." Miss Goodwitch frowned, holding the scroll close to his chest. "The numbers keep changing."
Jaune Arc: 561%
Jaune Arc: 193%
Jaune Arc: 48%
Jaune Arc: 835%
Jaune Arc: 610%
Dzzzt! Crack!
The scroll broke in Miss Goodwitch's hands.
"Eh?" Jaune blinked in surprise. "But…! I didn't even touch it! I-I'm sorry!"
"…Like I said, it's not your fault, Jaune…"
Miss Goodwitch sighed and carried on.
She looked a bit down… The atmosphere became a bit gloomy after that.
Miss Goodwitch... Was she losing patience?
Still, she kept giving him exercises. Like trying to channel his semblance from a specific area of his body.
Everything was useless, of course. His semblance did whatever the hell it wanted and Jaune had no control over it.
As days passed, Jaune could tell that Miss Goodwitch was growing more and more frustrated.
He didn't say anything, though. Even if there was only a tiny chance of learning how to control it, Jaune would gladly take it.
Please stay patient with me. I'm doing my best... I'm sorry...
But it didn't seem like anything she made him do was any good.
"It's okay, Miss Goodwitch!" Jaune gave her an encouraging smile. "It's already amazing enough that someone is willing to help me despite my breaking things!"
"Jaune…" Miss Goodwitch sighed. She seemed mentally tired. "…This is only the beginning. We haven't tried everything. Don't lose hope, okay?"
She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Jaune.
"O-okay..." He forced a smile.
And so the fruitless lessons continued…
The weekends came around, uneventful.
At these times, Team Rainbow chose to stay on the campus, as they hadn't fully explored the school grounds yet.
But Jaune had planned to study on the weekends.
So there he was, sat at his desk, reading a book and slowly taking notes.
"That's wrong." Weiss pointed out with a cheerful tone. "Read the article properly."
"Thanks."
Weiss lectured him. After an hour of studying, She had volunteered to check his work.
Of course, she would jump at the chance to show off her knowledge. It hadn't been difficult for Jaune to figure out how to ask her.
"Weiss, since you're so smart and knowledgeable, could you check my notes, please?" Jaune had asked.
"No. Ask someone else."
"Oh, Okay. I thought you were better than Ruby and Blake at this stuff so I asked you first..." Jaune said with a regretful tone, "I guess I'll just ask Ruby then."
"...Wait."
And so, Weiss started checking his notes.
She fell right into Jaune's trap. He was starting to know his teammates quite well.
Normally, Jaune would not have dared to try such a thing, but...
Basically...
Jaune was gaining confidence!
It was only natural! He was living with three pretty girls in the same room, seeing them and talking with them every single day.
However shy or awkward he may be, he was bound to gain a little confidence around his teammates after living with them long enough.
It was very little changes, really, that Jaune noticed.
For example, he would no longer stutter or mumble his way through a conversation, nor was he blushing at every little movement the girls made.
He would not look down as much anymore, and even found himself talking naturally and smoothly with his teammates.
However, these improvements seemed limited to his interactions with Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. Jaune was still nervous around the others, although he was slowly getting better with team Pyrene.
And of course, there was that one time he walked into the bathroom and found Blake half-naked. He had blushed bright red and couldn't look at her in the eye for the rest of the day, but some things couldn't be helped, really.
Overall it was still a good improvement for Jaune, and he really started enjoying these little interactions with his teammates to the fullest.
Hell... Even his semblance seemed to calm down a little as Jaune grew more and more relaxed living in this dorm.
"No, no, no. That's also wrong!"
"...Hey! Don't read over my shoulder!" Jaune groaned, annoyed.
Weiss was prompt to point out every little mistake she found. It didn't take her long, really, barely five minutes of her time every couple hours.
However, something as simple as pointing out mistakes was already helping him immensely.
"Hmph, fine." Weiss huffed and went back to lay on her bed. "Stay ignorant of your mistakes, then."
She opened a book and continued her read.
...
...
"So, Weiss…" Blake eventually called, smirking. "How do you find the book I lent you?"
"Hmm." Weiss blushed, still reading. "I-it's… interesting…"
She seemed embarrassed for some reason.
"The plot is very thick, isn't it?" Blake continued, her smirk widening.
"H-hm…" Weiss hummed, flushing. "Y-you're… you're terrible, Blake!"
Blake chuckled. "You're the one reading the book."
"Only because I want to learn more about your tastes, dear partner," Weiss replied embarrassingly. "I-it's not like I like it or anything. Idiot!"
"Sure," Blake rolled her eyes with a shit-eating grin on her face, "We'll go with that."
Weiss continued to blush and hid her head behind the book.
Ruby suddenly sighed loudly. "I'm booooored. Can I see what you're reading, Weiss!" Ruby asked, putting down the videogame console she had been playing.
"No!" Weiss and Blake exclaimed at the same time. They glanced at each other for a second, before Weiss turned back to Ruby.
"It's for partners only." She crossed her arms.
...Jaune smelled the lie from a mile away. What was written in this book? He too was getting curious.
"Uuugh… But I'm so boooored…" Ruby whined.
Her silver eyes turned towards him.
Jaune hurriedly leaned back over his book, continuing to study innocently.
He was lacking the common knowledge that his classmate had... A knowledge that even Ruby who was two years younger was familiar with. He didn't have time to play, he needed to catch up.
"Jauuuune…" Ruby called, slowly making her way towards him. "My best friend, my dear partner!" Jaune's shoulders stiffened, sensing the bait, "You wanna... go hang out in the park?"
"No, I have to study, Ruby." Jaune stated, trying to make his voice sound stern.
"U-uuu…"
Jaune's heart clenched at the cute, pitiful noise Ruby made.
"He does need to study very badly, Ruby," Weiss said. "Leave him alone."
"But he needs to relax, too!" Ruby protested.
Jaune ignored the argument and continued to study.
"H-hey, Jaune…" Ruby pulled shyly on his hoodie's sleeve, "M-maybe we can study together?"
"You already know this stuff, Ruby." Jaune replied, "In that case, I think it's better for me to learn by myself."
"U-uuu…"
Jaune's heart clenched again as he heard Ruby pout.
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he tried to close his heart.
Th-this… She had to do it on purpose! Right?
…
"Jauuuune…" She came from behind him and laid her chin on his shoulder, "When are you going to be done…?"
"…I planned to study all day long, Ruby. Sorry."
"U-uuu…"
…
Jaune's heart clenched painfully as he tried his best to ignore her pouts, while she slowly walked back to her bed.
"Uu-uu… Sniff, sniff."
Hearing this, Jaune's heart broke immediately.
Like the naive fool he was, he instantly stood up and fell right into her trap!
"Ruby!" He gasped and rushed to her, "I'm sorry! I'll play with you, okay? So don't cry!"
"R-really?" Ruby looked up to him, her puppy eyes full of hope.
"Uuuugh!" Weiss groaned loudly as Blake was sniggering behind her. "You can't be serious. Don't listen to her, Jaune!"
Jaune looked at Ruby's big puppy eyes.
Ruby was his first friend. He needed to make some time for his friends. He didn't have many friends, so he needed to take care of these relationships.
"Really," Jaune confirmed to his partner, giving her a big grin. "What do you want to do, Ruby?"
"Yaaay!" Ruby's attitude did a one-eighty and she instantly went back to her cheerful self. This girl! "Then, let's go play some video-games!"
"Jaune…" Weiss sighed, a look of pity in her eyes. "You fool. Do you not realize, that she has you completely wrapped around her thumb…?"
"Shut up, Ice Queen!" Ruby stuck out her tongue to Weiss before Jaune could reply, "You're doing partner stuff with Blake so I'm gonna do the same partner stuff with Jaune."
"Wh-what? S-same… stuff?!" Blake gasped, blushing bright red.
Weiss threw her a pillow in the face. "Stop. You're terrible, Blake!"
"R-right…" Blake flushed bashfully, her cat ears twitching shamefully. "I'm terrible..."
"Let's go, Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed, "We need to deepen our friendship before Blake and Weiss catch up to us!"
"What? What are you talking about?" Jaune blinked confusedly, not understanding what she was talking about. "What do you mean, 'catch up to us'?"
"Oh god… I'm starting to think Ruby might actually be worse than Jaune." Weiss commented, facepalming.
"I don't know, Weiss. They both seem pretty bad." Blake mused, watching them.
"Hey!" Jaune protested. "No need to say it out loud!"
"Come on, Jaune." Ruby tugged on his arm, "Ignore these two! They're too big-headed to hang out with us. Let's go play some games!"
Jaune paused as he looked at the video game console Ruby was handing to him.
Video games… Jaune never tried it.
"No," Jaune shook his head, remembering the Atlesian Dusteel, "This is too expensive and I might break it."
"Eeeh?" Ruby whined, "But it's going to be the same for everything!"
"I'll just watch you play." Jaune offered. "I've never played anyway, I would be bad."
"But that's no fun…" Ruby pouted, "If I wanted to play alone I wouldn't have bothered you so much."
"It's fine, Ruby," Jaune smiled, happy that his friend was caring so much. "I'm used to it."
"No, no, no! It's very bad that you're used to it." She frowned, poking an angry finger into his chest. "We'll find something we can do together."
"Okay...!"
...
In the end, Ruby took him to visit Beacon's weapon-making facility.
Jaune didn't touch anything, but Ruby was able to show him plenty of weapons and offered insight on how they were made, how to counter them and such.
Jaune was very excited by it all. She even showed him a fire-sword!
"And look." Ruby proudly showed him a picture on her scroll, "Here's what I inspired my scythe from."
"Oooh…" Jaune gaped at the ingenious weapon. A sword that could turn into a scythe! That was so cool!
"This is my uncle's scythe! He was the one to teach me how to wield a scythe properly! I practiced with his scythe at first, so I was able to see the limitations in its design. So when I built mine, I made sure it was a lot more polyvalent!"
"Wait, you built that yourself?!"
"Yep! All students at Signal forge their own weapons!"
"...That's so cool!" Jaune gaped, envious. "Did your uncle build his scythe himself, too?"
"Er... I think so? Since he was a teacher at Signal, probably! But right now he is away on a mission, investigating some epic Huntsman stuff!"
"Wow, your uncle sounds badass!"
"Of course! That's because he's the coolest!" Ruby grinned proudly.
"Cooler than Miss Goodwitch?" Jaune challenged skeptically.
"Even cooler!" Ruby crossed her arms proudly, making Jaune widen his eyes in disbelief. "I'm sure he would like you!"
"You think so?"
As they continued to chat, Jaune found himself smiling the whole time.
This was so nice. Jaune wanted to spend more time like this. Talking with Ruby always felt very natural and enjoyable.
"Haaa… I can't wait till you're able to hold back your semblance. I'll make you do so many things!" Ruby gushed dreamily.
"…Yeah, me too. I want to play video games, it looks like a great time!"
"It is!" Ruby grinned widely. "Ooooh, when you get it under control, we're gonna have so much fun!"
Jaune smiled and looked up at the sky.
Getting his semblance under control…
Was it... really possible?
Jaune wanted to believe so. He started gaining newfound hope and motivation.
Miss Goodwitch… I trust you.
With Miss Goodwitch.
"It's useless. I can't… I can't find out what is wrong with his semblance, Ozpin."
Glynda was currently reporting her progress to Ozpin in his office.
"There is never anything 'wrong' with any semblance, Glynda," Ozpin replied calmly.
"I know that... but... Lately, my private lessons with Jaune were all fruitless. Meditation does basically nothing, even after years of practice.
"Standard accuracy exercises to control Aura flow proved useless as well. It seems Jaune's Aura is like a storm raging inside his body. Seizing control of it seems impossible for him, and always resulted shattering the ground.
"How such a violent Aura is protecting his body, I have no idea… I would not even be surprised if it was actually harming it in some way.
"And also... Jaune destroyed the Atlesian Dusteel, which was an almost indestructible catalyst, specifically designed to store dangerous energy and diffuse it harmlessly into the air.
"And then, there's the fact that we couldn't scan his Aura with a scroll… Honestly, I am not even sure that the scroll was defective.
"His Aura is so strange and… defying of all rules. At this point, I would not be surprised if these three-digit percentages were actually accurate, and his Aura really was spiking that much.
"I… I don't know... what to do anymore." Glynda sighed. "This is above my expertise, Ozpin."
As silence fell over them, Glynda felt hopeless.
Jaune's semblance was not similar to hers at all. Glynda's own semblance had caused her to break things too when she was young, but Jaune's was on a completely different level.
A giant pit of destruction waiting to strike at any moment. In many ways, it reminded her not of a semblance, but of a Maiden's enormous magical power.
Except a Maiden's power didn't come from her Aura.
Jaune Arc's semblance was an anomaly. It was breaking everything, even the rules, ironically.
Ozpin and Glynda had investigated Jaune Arc's past. They learned about his story and felt sorry for him.
So, as professors, they had chosen to have Jaune attend Beacon like the others, to give him a chance at normal school life.
However... The more Glynda was studying this power, the more it felt impossible for him to learn to achieve basic control over his semblance. And if he didn't learn it very soon, he wasn't going to pass the first semester.
At this rate, it might become necessary to remove him from Beacon and hand him to Atlas, who was much more equipped than Vale to deal with such volatile semblances.
"Glynda… You must not lose hope."
Glynda raised her eyes to the headmaster, who was staring into her eyes sympathetically.
"The fact that he can channel his semblance from his own will at all, means that he has the tiniest bit of control over it." Ozpin pointed out. "That much is undeniable. I would suggest trying different approaches and diversifying the exercises, preferably ones that do not require control over Aura flow."
"So… Just keep trying, is what you are suggesting," Glynda stated, disappointed.
"Indeed. We cannot give up. Each person has their own way of mastering their semblance."
"...I suppose so..." Glynda admitted.
"You are the first person he has met who actually tries to actively help him, Glynda." Ozpin pointed out. "And with your ability to fix whatever he breaks, you are the only one fit for it, too."
"..."
"You can save him." Ozpin insisted. "And he, in turn, will save many people. Are you really going to give up now?"
"No," Glynda replied. "Of course not."
If Ozpin thought it was possible, then Glynda would keep trying.
She stared outside through the window, looking up at the sky.
Getting his semblance under control...
Was it... really possible?
Glynda wanted to believe so.
Ozpin… I trust you.
A/N: Thanks for reading.
I call this a 'chill' chapter; I went a bit slice of life on this one. Nothing really significant happens, but I think those chapters are necessary once in a while.