Chapter 3 - Power difference
After Jaune's victory, the atmosphere in Beacon changed dramatically. If earlier he was, for the most part, simply considered an arrogant fool, now they were treated with obvious apprehension. The first-years and even some of the second-years tried to bypass it by the tenth road, thus creating a natural area of alienation around Jaune. A similar attitude was partly given to them, but it's quite obvious that they didn't shy away from them. And the number of rumors and gossip that began to spread around Beacon exceeded all conceivable and inconceivable limits. Their content was one more beautiful than the other, but at least every second dealt with the romantic relationships that reigned within their team. Even Pyrrha, accustomed to speeches, these constant whispers, heard when they just walked along the corridor, began to frankly annoy.
But even this was not the worst manifestation of human nature: in their desire to be the first to snatch a piece of valuable information, other students sank to banal eavesdropping. It's also good that Blake, having somehow heard what was happening, stopped their conversation with a gesture and, with a short nod at the door, wrote a warning on the screen of the scroll. It remained to be hoped that the sight of the enraged Weiss, who went to investigate, despite the fact that her patience was already at the limit, would discourage these idiots from continuing to eavesdrop.
This whole situation doesn't mean anything to Jaune, it's too early for him. Since yesterday, after the combat class, he spent the evening as usual, but already sitting on his plastic chair without moving, watching the sunset through the window. Sat motionless in one position with a sword on his hand, turning into a statue of himself for about 2 hours.
But knowing full well how fame works, they moved their discussion to the library. On the one hand, it was not very popular among students, filling up only on the days before exams, and on the other hand, seats could be taken in such a way as to see the incoming, determining by their appearance - they came here to work out or have a meal.
Ruby's team was decided not to be called, for many reasons. Starting with the fact that there was no special friendship between the teams - all that connected them was the destruction of the death stalker. That was enough for a reason to sit down at the table while eating. But was this enough to agree to be subjected to increased crowd attention and accept the consequences of such attention?
Pyrrha wouldn't be surprised if you decided to disengage as much as possible from their team. Especially considering what Jaune said during lunch.
So the three of them got together for a council. To decide what they should have done next in a similar situation.
"The first day as a student turned out to be a little different than I imagined," Pyrrha was the first to say, since neither Blake nor Weiss were in no hurry to start a conversation, immersed in their own thoughts.
"That's putting it mildly," Blake agreed.
"And we need to do something about this," Weiss finally brought to the one that interested them all, "we need to somehow resolve the issue with the behavior of our leader.
"And it's not an easy task, given that he misses 95% of our words," Blake shook her head.
"And when he nevertheless decides to enter into a dialogue, everything only gets worse," Pyrrha sighed, "at least the problem with bullying that girl will cease to exist for a while.
"Yes, if Jaune didn't state his position directly, and his actions with a stretch, but could even be considered heroic," Weiss snorted, "what a pity that this is as far from the truth as Jaune is from the concept of a normal student. I still can't believe he's so blatantly ignoring class!
"But at the same time," Pyrrha drawled with some hesitation, "it looks like he really wants to become a hunter. Otherwise, I would not have known the terms of the offset. And if it were a little different, we might well see an exemplary student, - they all plunged into their thoughts, trying to imagine what Jaune could look like with such introductory.
Blake rubbed her eyes wearily, interrupting their fantasies.
"It's certainly good that we won't lose a leader because of poor academic performance, but it still doesn't explain what to do next.
"And now we are already starting to stagnate," Pyrrha summed up sadly.
"Because all the normal options won't work with this jerk!" He will ignore the words, and try to drive a little intelligence into him by force ...
"It's not easy, to say the least," Blake finished for her. And for the most part, Pyrrha agreed with her, which was already saying a lot. Its manifestation could help, but not the fact that it is strong: in order to develop a battle strategy, first it was necessary to see, if not all, then at least most of Jaune's skills. Which threatened to drag on, given his habit of ending battles in one hit.
"Perhaps the director could do something about Jaune's behavior," Weiss said and immediately shook her head, "but I don't think he would intervene in such a situation – formally Jaune acts in his own right. The director would not threaten him with expulsion because of strained relations with the team.
We need to gather more information. Maybe knowing the reason why Jaune behaves this way, we can find the necessary threads for a normal coexistence, Blake nodded.
"I'll see what I can do," Weiss nodded, "and until we have something significant on our hands, we'll focus on the other side of the problem."
"Public opinion," Pyrrha said with a touch of irony. Just yesterday, she was thinking about how she could be an ordinary student, since Jaune took the place of the most prominent one. Only then she could not even think that he ... would overdo it, if I may say so, in the performance of such a role. He riveted so much attention to himself that he made their team stand out by definition, planting in the minds of people the idea that next to such a ... exceptional person, only unusual people can be. The titles of Pyrrha and the origin of Weiss only confirmed this theory, but did not give rise to it. At the same time, Blake got the most from the rumors, both because she was still a "dark horse" in the minds of students, and because she took the place of Jaune's partner.
"Exactly," Weiss nodded, "and for the time being, the wisest decision seems to me to be the status quo. Rumors that are already going nowhere will not go away, but over time they can become boring, but as soon as we try to openly respond in some way - for example, sit down in the dining room or something like that, we will immediately become a portion of new conjectures. And I have no desire to stand near the door, driving away the increased number of people who want to know about what happened. I have enough of those idiots that already exist. You can't even sue them for invasion of privacy without drawing a huge target on their backs, but for full-fledged media! Weiss raised her fist over the table, but still managed to hold on, instead just sighing heavily, "and that's not even the worst thing. By his behavior, our leader, of course, scared off most of the students ...
"But there will always be those who find such behavior attractive," Blake finished for her, also sighing heavily, apparently imagining what it could develop into, "only a fucking fan club named after Jaune Arc was not enough for us to be completely happy.
"On the other hand," Weiss smirked slightly, "imagine how funny it would be to see the reaction of such a fan when trying to communicate with the object of adoration.
Did you mean with his back? Blake chuckled. "Well, she'll have plenty of time to confess, if only given Jaune's favorite walking pace."
Presenting this picture, Pyrrha herself could not help smiling a little:
"Perhaps this problem will solve itself when people realize that Jaune is not trying to create an aura of mystery, but simply ignores them.
"Imagine if such a fan faced him in battle," Blake said.
- Well ... - Weiss drawled, - I think they will console themselves with the fact that: "It will heal before the wedding."
…
Among the ocean of fools, style shines especially brightly. The gazes that followed him all the way to the dorm room were filled with envy that gnawed those who abandoned them from within.
But not aspiration.
Trying to rise above the current level, seeing how low they were, they preferred to attribute their ignorance to the machinations of fate.
For style, there was no concept of talent, just like the concept of predisposition - embarking on this path, you took responsibility for the fate outlined for you into your own hands.
One of the laws of style: you can only blame yourself for failure.
…
There were quite a few empty seats in the auditorium, but of course everyone's eyes were fixed on one particular one, located exactly to Blake's right. Even the teacher, going inside, first of all glanced furtively in this direction. And even though she felt annoyed at the situation, Blake couldn't deny that it was funny.
Weiss, who was sitting next to her, chuckled softly, apparently also appreciating this display of interest.
If only the day before yesterday Blake had been told by someone that she would so calmly communicate with someone from Schnee, she would only laugh in response. But fate knows how to surprise.
Spending her daily allowance of arrogance on Jaune, Weiss became quite a pleasant conversationalist: yesterday, when the discussion of Jaune ended, they talked quite peacefully on abstract topics. For example, about the passion for reading. And while some were ironically convinced that Blake's knowledge ended only in novels for adults, in her time she read a lot of classics, which she did not mind discussing as an emotional release. Pyrrha also participated in the discussion, being just a model of peacefulness ... when it was not about Jaune.
It was this moment that the bow chose to cut into his ears.
Blake shook her head slightly, pushing away any thoughts of admitting she was a faun. Despite the fact that neither Schnee, which was unusual for Blake's paradigm of thinking, nor Pyrrha were clearly not racists and most likely would have accepted it calmly ... but, the voice of reason suggested that these were extremely hasty conclusions. A couple of conversations was clearly not enough to add up the full picture.
Which was rather ironic, her own partner would most likely not change, although it would be something to change at all, his attitude towards her. Yet, despite the rather harsh remarks in the dining room, they were directed specifically at that girl as a person, and not as a faun. Contempt for weakness, or more precisely for the lack of attempts to become stronger, is obvious.
And again, comparisons with Adam were unavoidable. He also often brought up this topic, albeit referring not so much to the desire to become stronger, but to the desire to fight as such. Adam believed that such passivity was the main reason for the oppression of the fauns - after all, without doing anything, you, logically, will not change anything. And agreeing with such a statement, Blake joined the White Fang to finally do something.
But over time, his actions crossed the line of what was permitted. Hiding behind the need to act during a banal revenge on the human race, considering it their right.
Returning to the situation with Jaune - will there come a moment when confident in his decisions will cross the line? Considering that already in a training battle he sent an opponent to a hospital bed, what would happen if he happened to participate in a real battle?
Will a blade at the neck stop a common burglar?
Will he let the criminal surrender?
Will it be held back?
Something inside Blake told her that the answers to the last three questions were "No."
On the one hand, he could comfort himself that Jaune was on the "good" side… but on the other hand… would he think that Blake was on it too?
White Fang considered her a traitor, but would Blake's words be enough to convince Jaune that this was indeed the case? And even if he believes that she left the terrorist organization on her own, will his reaction change? Jaune could well believe that a criminal once is a criminal forever.
As already mentioned, she had too little information to answer these questions. And until she shows up, Blake will somehow endure both the chafing bow and the need to lie.
…
Coco began to suspect that the matter smelled of fried when Miss Goodwich asked her to attend classes with freshmen. Putting this together with yesterday's premonition and the rumors that quickly spread through Beacon, one could add up an interesting picture.
Of course, for the most part, they were clearly exaggerated, attributing and adding some absolutely fantastic details to the portrait of her today's opponent. And the fact that she was here not just for beauty, Coco had no doubt - the practice of putting arrogant students in their place, putting older students against them, existed, according to stories, almost from the very creation of the Academy.
It was frankly flattering that this year she was chosen as the "illustrative example". That the truth did not prevent Koko's thoughts from revolving around the fate of her "predecessor", if one could say so, sent to a hospital bed. His injuries changed from story to story and sometimes, extremely dramatically, but the very fact of getting into the first-aid post was present in each version. It was frankly stupid to underestimate your opponent after such a thing ... but it was also not worth overestimating him either: maybe he was as strong as they said about him, but all this strength was useless if he could not get to it, which was clearly seen in the example their duels with Yatsu.
Waiting for Miss Goodwich at the entrance to the classroom, she followed her, placing herself on the left hand. Looking around the audience, Koko almost immediately found her potential opponent - a field of empty seats formed around him, violated only by his teammates. And when looking at him, Koko was forced to admit that, at least according to external data, he was not bad, and the cloak, which obviously was not part of the issued form, sat on him like a glove.
"Dear students," Goodwich began, gaining everyone's attention, "today's class will begin with a slightly unusual confrontation. Miss Adele agreed, as if she had any choice, Koko thought to herself, to demonstrate what she could achieve during her year of study within the walls of Beacon. You can consider this a clear incentive to improve your strength. Mr. Arc, - absolutely everyone in the audience turned their heads in his direction, confirming Coco's guess, - I ask you to go to the platform to also help in the demonstration.
The named one did not comment in any way on the fact that he was literally "put into consumption", having risen from his seat and with a measured step went to change clothes. And judging by his gait, he did not play for time and did not try to piss off Koko, but really considered it beneath his dignity to rush. Since Koko had already come to class in combat uniform, this created some difficulties, but still she could not help but add a few points in her personal rating: he showed concentrated confidence, and confident people were much more pleasant to work with.
Under the somewhat annoyed look of Miss Goodwich, the hall fell into silence, although it was clear from the eyes of some that they had something to say.
"Making a lady wait so long is somewhat ungentlemanly, you don't find it," Koko turned to this very Arc when he returned to the audience a couple of minutes later. He didn't even raise an eyebrow as he took his place on the platform.
"The fight will take place until the moment when the aura of one of the participants drops into the red zone or he leaves the ring," Miss Goodwich reminded once again, focusing her gaze precisely on the Arc, "they started.
"You know how to cause a stir, of course," she turned to the boy, who was in no hurry to attack her. Why, he didn't even pull the weapon out of its scabbard, and you know how to behave yourself. That's just one thing you could not understand and too conceited. Look, for example, at me - I also know my own worth and yet I don't pretend that even just looking at someone else is unbearable for me. Would you like to be a little more open? Smirking, Koko winked at him. But not having achieved any reaction from Arс, she continued, - well, you and beech. It looks like it's time for you to show the difference between us, maybe at least it will make you remove that haughty expression from your face.
And now he reacted: even though Arc did not move a single muscle, because of the impression he created, it seemed that the temperature in the audience jumped ten degrees down. Coco swallowed her saliva that had become lumpy and reached for the universal sedative. Her opponent did not react in any way to the machine gun directed in his direction.
Well, he's worse off. Coco pressed the trigger.
And she was immediately forced to bite her lip so as not to open her mouth in surprise. Arc didn't dodge, no. He simply drew his blade from its sheath at the last moment and began to spin it.
HE CATCHED EVERY FUCKING BULLET.
When she ran out of ammo, he simply made another circle with his sword, swiping it against the floor. Four even rows of bullets lined up at his feet.
"Okay… maybe the rumors weren't exaggerated," Coco stated with a nervous laugh and added, muttering softly under her breath, "well, at least he doesn't have a long-range weapon…" she didn't even have time to curse her long tongue, like a weapon in Arс's hands, lit up with a steady white light. Only reflexes hammered into her subcortex allowed her to turn her body around at the last moment, and two aura arcs that formed the shape of the letter "x" swept past her side, only cutting off part of her weapon and exploding, reaching the wall, leaving a considerable dent in it.
What Koko did next didn't even smell of cold calculation, no - she just pushed to the side with all her strength, flying out of the ring and driving sideways on the floor. A massive horizontal aura arc covered the floor of the arena, stopping exactly where Coco had just stood. From the realization of what would happen if she hesitated even for a second, her whole life flashed before her eyes.
This arc exploded as Arc sheathed his blade, blasting through Koko's hair. Lying on the ground, her legs shaking, she lifted her head with great difficulty to look him in the face. And in that moment, their eyes finally met for real - before that, he had looked exclusively through her.
She heard the music of a guitar riff like last time. Only now she realized that the last time it was the previous one, and now it has become a reality.
The cold blue of the seething ocean bound her entire body. And then he finally spoke:
"That's the difference between us," he put in her own words. Then he turned around and walked away at the same unhurried pace.
"The winner is Jaune Arc," Miss Goodwich said, looking between Koko and the attacked wall.
So his name was John...
Coco lost consciousness.
…
By this point, Blake was starting to seriously think about the question: "Did Jaune know how to read minds and now mocked her, looking more and more like Adam?" Seriously… turns out they even had similar aura attacks. And what are the chances?
True, this did not add anything to Jaune's personal characterization, in contrast to how he reacted to the words of this sophomore. Not to say that they directly hurt him, but something close to it was. Hatred for the unwillingness to become stronger and ... contempt for those who unreasonably considered themselves stronger, it turns out?
Or should his reaction be regarded as hatred towards those who tell him what to do?
After some thought, Blake came to the conclusion that most likely it was the second assumption that was correct, which was just "wonderful" news. They didn't have enough problems anyway, with establishing contact with Jaune.
…
Velvet had not seen her leader in such a depressed state for a long time: the first thing she entered the room, Koko reached into the closet, taking out a bottle of something obviously alcoholic from an unremarkable shoe box, which was quietly lost against the background of others. Then she climbed onto the bed and covered her knees with the blanket, pulling them up to her chin before taking a long gulp.
"Coco, you can't drink in the dorms," Velvet reminded her once again.
"If you can't, but you really want to, then you can," she answered without turning her head, again kissing the bottle.
"What has already happened to you," Velvet asked cautiously, sitting on the edge of the bed. Koko carefully looked into her eyes, sighed heavily, took another sip and finally said:
"You are aware of the latest rumors, well, those that revolve around the "unusual," Coco chuckled at these words, "a freshman."
- Yes? Velvet drawled. She was not very immersed in all this, but as she walked along the corridor, willy-nilly, she noted for herself what the others were whispering about. It seems, if she understood correctly, it was this newcomer who sent Cardin, who mocked her, to the infirmary, for which Velvet was going to thank him at the meeting, even if he did not help her on purpose.
"I thought they were exaggerating — you know, how it happens, win dry and not God will attribute everything to you," she took another sip, "so… it turns out they weren't exaggerating. They underplayed. He wiped the floor with me, without even moving from his place ... If anyone was put in his place, it was only me.
Is everything that bad? Velvet asked, already remembering her fights with Koko.
"Things are worse than you can imagine. And…" Coco looked like a metaphorical lightbulb had flickered over her head, "can you imagine?" I should have filmed this," she muttered, searching for something in her scroll. After a couple of seconds, she beamed and handed it to Velvet, turning on the video of the fight.
She blinked. Then a couple more times. And then she turned her surprised look to Coco.
"And you imagine what it was like for me," she said, "come on, little hare, don't languish.
Velvet took a deep breath, but just trying to repeat what she saw, her vision blurred. In disbelief, she ran her hand under her nose, finding blood there.
And then her consciousness was shrouded in darkness.
…
"Ohhh," Velvet moaned, opening her eyes. Coco stood next to her, looking at her carefully.
"An interesting reaction," she drawled, realizing that Velvet woke up, "I understand everything correctly, this happened to you for the first time?
"Yes…" Velvet muttered, listening to the reactions of her body. My head was still spinning, but generally acceptable - when I tried to copy his movements, it was as if I ran into a wall. As if he showed only a hundredth of the real movements.
"Hmm…even so," Coco muttered. Suddenly she smiled wickedly, "you know what…
- No Coco.
- Coco yes. It was high time for you to socialize, and here is just the right occasion. The only person whose movements you cannot copy - and he fell to fight with me. What is this if not fate!
"It's a coincidence," Velvet drawled, but her leader was already unstoppable.
"You're also interested," she winked, "at least because there is no such person who would not want to learn how to do all these things," Coco's face twisted, "though he doesn't shine with character, to put it mildly. And it's not a fact that she will even listen to you ... - with every word her voice faded, but then she cheered up again, - okay! If we don't try, we won't know!
"How do you even imagine it?" Velvet put her hand to her face.
"More faith in your leader, hare. I will definitely come up with something!
…
Once again, after the martial arts class, everyone silently returned to the room. But everyone was already looking at Jaune with apprehension, but he still did not pay attention to anything.
"Jaune, did you attack Coco with the intent to kill?" Pyrrha asked gently with tension, after which everyone sat down.
Jaune is still the same, sitting on his plastic chair, without moving, he did not answer. Pyrrha, once again sighing at the action of his leader, left him alone.
After about two hours, he got up and left the room.
He returned as usual after training at night.
Pyrrha greeted Jaune, but this time he stopped short of his chair, looking straight into Pyrrha's eyes. For the first time they looked into each other's eyes. He took his plastic chair and placed it next to Pyrrha's bed, and in front of him materialized an exact copy of the plastic chair from dark blue energy and sat down on it.
"..." Jaune was still looking at Pyrrha without breaking eye contact.
Pyrrha, realizing what was expected of her, exchanged glances with the others, carefully sitting down in Jaune's chair. and so they sat for two minutes.
Pyrrha, unable to bear such tension, asked Jaune.
"Jon, what happened?"
"Before that, I killed seven people, then there was not even an intention to kill," The tone did not change, the same indifference.
Everyone did not expect such a revelation from Jaune.
"...", - Pyrrha, seemed to freeze after such a confession.
Weiss, unable to bear it, exploded with an indignant exclamation.
"Really, you want to warn us all with this statement? Or he decided to still start contacting his team with such a revelation" Weiss's indignation knew no bounds.
- Why? - was all Pyrrha managed to squeeze out.
- They were weaker than they thought. A natural outcome for such nonentities, - without changing his tone, having said with indifference, he got up from his energetic chair, dematerialized, and went to the bathroom.
They didn't have an answer.
Everyone went to bed as usual, but everyone had their own thoughts and thoughts. Everyone thought what Jaune said, its cause and its consequences, and the fact that he is an absolute killer.
