Author's Notes: Guess who's back guys! Yeah... So much for that July 25th update thing. Sorry. A lot of somewhat bad things happened recently for me. I'll tell you guys all about it in the Author's notes at the end of this chapter. I'll do my best to make up for it by trying to upload more frequently and consistently. If it means anything to you guys, I might concentrate on updating this story more. *gives you guys a thumbs up*
Also, I have some announcements below right after the chapter if you guys are interested.
On to the chapter!
In team RWBY's Room...
Ruby and Yang were talking to Penny through the team leader's scroll.
"What challenge?" They said in unison.
Blake simply listened in on them as she continued reading Yang's diary on her bed.
"I would need you both to do your best in courting Jaune." She said.
Then there was a brief silence.
Ruby turned to her sister before turning back to Penny on her scroll. "Uhhhhhhhh... That's it?"
"Pffftt~ Deal~ That was the plan from the start, Pen." Yang had a wide grin on her face as she wrapped an arm around her younger sister's shoulder, pulling her close, and gave a thumbs up. "I'm kinda curious though. Aren't you just making it harder for yourself to get with Jaune if you did give us the app?"
"After my talk with Jaune earlier, he taught me an important lesson about doing what's best for the one you care about, even if it means you have to let them go and enjoy someone else's company."
Now the blonde girl was confused. "You sure we're talkin' 'bout the same Jaune here?"
Ruby elbowed her.
"Ow."
Penny giggled. "Yes, I am in fact talking about our friend, Jaune Arc. He shared a personal story with me regarding him seeing Weiss asked Neptune out to the dance, I decided to apply the same mentality."
"Oh, so he did have experience." Yang felt a bit sorry for him.
Same with Ruby, having her eyes downcast.
As Penny kept talking, she suddenly received a message on her scroll. "Hurray! My father approved and gave me and my scroll permission to distribute."
A quick notification alarm went off on their scrolls. Even Blake's, to her surprise.
"I have now sent the app to you. It will automatically connect to Jaune's ring, once installed and opened."
The two installed the app immediately.
Blake was now eyeing her scroll, seeing the app was sent to her as well. She simply shrugged. "Might as well."
"So you're planning to play cupid to find the perfect match for him?" Ruby asked.
"Correction. I am planning to prove that I..." She paused slightly to emphasize. "... am the best match for him by outperforming the competition. Giving access to the app is my way of 'leveling the playing field', as they say."
"But... But...!" Ruby was thinking of words to say. "But what if someone else succeeds instead of you?"
"Then so be it!" Penny said that with such a cheerful expression, swinging her right fist towards her left shoulder with a toothy grin. "I would love to be his girlfriend... but his happiness comes first!"
"Geez, isn't this a bit too much of an effort? You know you two just met. Not that I'm complaining. I'll keep the app, thank you~ You do you." Yang said.
"Anything for a friend! And this will also help my father with his social experiment, so the effort is worth it."
The blonde shrugged. "Meh. Fair enough."
"Well... Alright then! Thanks, Penny. We'll do our best."
"You're welcome! Brace yourselves, friends. I will do whatever means necessary to win Jaune over. I just hope that it won't affect our friendship too negatively..." Now Penny was frowning at the thought of them potentially arguing over him.
"Aww~ Penny. Of course, we'll stay friends." Ruby reassured her.
"Yeah! Don't sweat it." Yang fist-pumped. "Just don't cry when he falls for me in the end~"
"Are you seriously gonna trash talk Penny?" She gave her sister the look of disappointment.
The robot girl giggled. "I don't mind it, Ruby. A little competitive banter never hurt anyone." Just then Penny received another message."Oh! I better get going! Father needs my help with something."
"Okay! Bye Penny!"
"See ya!"
They waved their goodbyes to each other before hanging up.
As soon as the call ended, the three opened the new app on their scrolls. The first thing that popped out on their screens was a tutorial.
"Oh hey. That's pretty helpful." Ruby proceeded to press start and read the text.
"Meh, I'll just skip it~"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Yang. You might miss something important." Blake was also fiddling on her scroll, even putting Yang's diary down just to look at what Penny sent.
"Just kidding~" Noticing this, Yang sat next to her to see what's up, taking a peek at her scroll. "Hey, wait a sec. Got the app too? Your part of the competition now?~"
Ruby was alarmed by this, turning to Blake for an answer.
"W-What? No! I don't know why it was sent to me, but since I'm curious... I might as well check it out. It is interesting, to say the least. Think of the possibilities."
"Isn't there like... a saying about cats ending up in a bad spot for being curious?" Ruby asked.
And to that, her sister answered, "You mean 'Curiosity kills the cat'?"
"That's how it goes? Uh... A bit much but... yeah?"
"I'll be fine." Blake kept her eyes on the screen, reading.
"Ruby, it's no use being scared of more competition. If Penny isn't afraid and even welcomes it, you shouldn't too."
"Fiiiine... but that doesn't mean I have to like it though."
Here's what they have read so far.
-Tutorial-
Step 1: Get the person you would like to observe to wear the app's designated ring.
Step 2: Open the app and select the ring you would like to observe by tapping on it. A green color indicates a successful online connection. Red however indicates the ring is not being worn, or possible malfunction.
After reading, the app is now telling its user, Ruby, to tap on the ring icon with an arrow hovering it back and forth.
Right now, Jaune's ring was the only option available. It displayed a chibi artwork of the blonde boy's head with a green ring beside it. "Okay, seems easy so far."
Before the app displayed Jaune's feelings, the screen first displayed a quick guide on what every icon and color on the screen meant from this point onward.
-Guide-
*chibi head picture* - Progress Bar - Colored Heart
Notes:
1) The small picture/s on the leftmost side of the screen displays every person the ring-wearer has ever met. Immediately under the picture is the name the wearer knows them by.
2) Each of them will have a 'progress bar' on the immediate right which displays one's progress from 0 to 100%. Each time the bar fills up completely, the heart icon on the right of the bar will change color, representing a deeper level of attraction.
3) Lastly, the colored heart/s on the rightmost side represents the wearer's overall feelings towards each individual displayed.
Below is the list of colors arranged from deepest to shallow levels of attraction:
Red - 'madly in love'
Orange - 'in love'
Yellow - 'Very Attracted'
Green - 'Crush'
Blue - 'Slightly attracted'
Violet - 'No attraction'
4) This app employs a ranking system where it displays the ring wearer's list of people met arranged from most attracted to to the least. Gain points to fill up your progress bar and boost your relationship to the next level!
But be careful. This also works the other way around. The developer/s of this app will not be responsible for any broken relationships. We merely display the results.
Good luck!
-End of Tutorial-
"Seems about right."
"Uh oh... Sis? You gotta see this." Yang was holding up her scroll to her.
Her eyes widened at what Yang's scroll was displaying. Ruby immediately took a look at her own scroll and swiping away the tutorial screen. What was shown was Jaune's current status.
Penny - 15 ( 60) % = 75% - Green heart
Weiss - 125 (- 60) % = 65% - Yellow to Green heart
Pyrrha - 95% - Blue heart
Ruby - 80% - Blue heart
Yang - 75% - Blue heart
Velvet - 50% - Blue heart
Blake - 45% - Blue Heart
Coco - 40% - Blue heart
Nora - 50% - Violet heart
Ren - 0% - Violet heart
"Penny knocked Weiss down a rank! How?!"
"Well, she did say she was talking to him earlier," Blake said, seemingly unphased by the results.
"But by this much?"
"We don't know as much as you do. But worry not my, little sister~" Yang stood up straight with her head held high, hands on her hips. "I'll have a little talk with him tomorrow~"
"I don't like the sound of that..."
Meanwhile, with Weiss and Winter on a cliff near the Emerald forest...
"Is something the matter? What is it?"
From her state of frustration, she was immediately snapped out by the voice of her older sister. "I..."
Weiss hesitated, not really sure if she should bother telling Winter what she considered just her petty teenage problems.
"If the matter is too personal, then I will not pry any further." She then placed an arm on Weiss' shoulder. "But I am willing to listen if you need someone to talk to."
"Thank you." With her words, she couldn't help but give in to the offer. "I've been starting to like a certain guy recently..."
"You mean that Blue-haired fellow you mentioned in your letters? Neptune was it?"
"Oh, no! Not him. He didn't turn out to be... great." She averted her gaze, not wanting to talk about him any further.
"I see..." She was saddened by this news but then one of her eyebrows raised. "Who is this new 'guy' you speak of?"
"..." Again, she hesitated to answer but gave in eventually. "Jaune..."
"Oh! The blonde one." She let out a hearty laugh. It was somewhat tame, but it was a rare sight for Weiss to see. "The one you call the 'annoying bumbling idio-"
"I know what I said!"
Winter was taken aback by her tone.
"S-Sorry."
She simply chuckled in response. "I don't mind. Now, what is the problem you are dealing with?"
Weiss took her scroll out once more to read Penny's message. "Just when I was starting to like him, my friends suddenly started going after him too. Penny being the hardest competitor."
"Oh... Oh my." The sudden realization hit her. "Back when I was escorting Doctor Pietro in an airship, I may have overheard the Polendina's talking about a boy Penny likes. I do not know how useful this info I could provide you, but the two are using some sort of device to pry with one's thoughts and emotions."
"Penny already told us that during lunch."
"Oh, alright." She looked away for a brief moment. There was a brief awkward silence before she spoke again. "I'm sorry. I do not have many experiences when it comes to... courting... but I will say that you better act fast if you don't want the others to steal your man."
Weiss' face turned very red at the mention of 'her man'. She wanted to object, but her self-awareness prevented her from raising her voice again. "I'll... try..."
"It shouldn't be that hard. Doesn't he have feelings for you still?"
"I guess so..."
Seeing her frown, Winter felt sorry for not being able to help as much as she wanted. But then, an idea came. Now a smile formed on her face. "I think I might be able to aid you."
"You do? What do you have in mind?"
She was about to tell her but realizing what Weiss's response might be, she decided against it. "I cannot tell you yet. I will need you to trust your older sister."
"..." She took a quick think on it, then nodded. "I do trust you."
"Good." Winter wrapped her arms around Weiss, pulling the girl into a warm hug.
The heiress smiled, closed her eyes, and higher her back. "Thank you."
Eventually, they pulled away.
"Come now. It will get dark soon. Would you like to eat at Beacon's cafeteria with me? My treat."
"I would be honored." Weiss gave a quick and polite bow before heading back.
In team JNPR's dorm room...
Ren was cooking pancakes at the back-end of the room near the window, wearing his classic 'PLEASE DO NOTHING TO THE COOK' apron.
"Ooo~" His partner, Nora was just standing next to him, hungrily fixated on his flipping skills.
Pyrrha was laying down on her bed, deep in her thoughts.
"You okay there, Pyrrha?" Ren has been constantly eyeing his teammate for a while now.
"I... I am. Why'd you ask?"
"You've been staring at the ceiling for around 30 minutes now."
"R-Really? It's been that long?"
"The same amount of time it takes me to make us pancakes." Ren pointed his spatula towards the four tall stacks of pancakes he made.
Nora was already gobbling up her stack. "Mmph."
After swallowing, she spoke. "Thinkin' about our fearless leader again?"
Pyrrha sighed and nodded, staring back at the ceiling. "Yes..."
Ren took a plate and handed it over to the red-head along with a fork. "Your food is going to get cold."
"Thank you." She gave him a brief smile before taking small bites. "Just when it was going smoothly for Jaune and me, and then things started to get... complicated."
Something about what she said triggered their usually bubbly teammate. Nora approached the girl, both hands on her hips, looking a bit menacingly towards her. "Was it going smoothly? I'm sorry but real talk. Both of you didn't know how to make the next step to push your relationship forward, and now look what happened!"
"Nora..." Ren placed a hand on her shoulder. "Stop."
"Hmph." She then took a bottle of syrup within her arm's reach and proceeded to chug it down like a drink.
"Don't do that either..."
"No, she's right. Should I have been more... aggressive?" Pyrrha asked.
"YES!" Nora coughed out a bit of syrup. "...Right from the start!"
Their teammate was feeling a regret-filled sadness at this point. "I'm sorry."
The girl sat next to Pyrrha and hugged her. "It's not too late. But next time you better seize it the next time you get the chance."
At that moment, their scrolls went off with an alarm. They each checked to see what it was.
It was a message from Penny, along with a copy of the app, ready to be downloaded and installed.
Seeing the app alone was enough to bring a smile to Pyrrha's face. Nora comically sneered at the thought of having a copy, while Ren was confused why he received one.
Before they could even read the message, a few knocks came from the door.
"Hello? This is Jaune. I'm about to come in. You all decent in there?"
Pyrrha gasped and quickly hid her scroll as it was downloading the app. "I-It's fine. Come in."
"I am!~" Nora chuckled remembering what happened last time.
Ren booped her nose in response.
Their blonde leader went inside and gave a sigh of relief that no one was dressed inappropriately, Nora and Pyrrha in particular.
"Expecting to see something?~"
"Nora! We do not talk about that!" He stretched his arms and yawned, brushing off the conversation as if nothing happened. "I might sleep early today, guys. Kinda emotionally tired after... well... stuff happened."
"Eat first," Ren said, before handing him a plate of pancakes.
"Oh, thanks!"
"How did the interview go?" Pyrrha asked.
"Went pretty well actually! Got the job. I get to earn a bunch of lien now. Paying off tuition fees will be a piece of cake!" His eyes wandered, looking for something. "Hey, uh... Got any syrup left?"
All the reply he got was a loud... *BUUURP!* from Nora.
He laughed in response. "I guess not."
The girl in pink sat next to Pyrrha and pressed a bottle of syrup behind her back without Jaune noticing.
Understanding what was going on, Pyrrha smiled and nodded. She took the syrup and approached Jaune. "Glad to hear it's going well for you. And here, have some of mine."
"Thanks!" He took the bottle and squirted out some onto his pancakes before eating. "Don't know what I'll do without ya, Pyrrha."
The comment made the red-head blush.
Nora gave a wide grin and a thumbs up.
Later after finishing their meals...
Jaune took the dishes to the small sink they were provided and then washed the dishes. His scroll began to vibrate. Drying his hands, he took it out and saw an incoming video message from a seemingly unknown number. The caller isn't saved in his contacts.
In the video was a woman who resembled a certain heiress he knew of.
"Greetings, Jaune Arc. This is Winter Schnee, General Ironwood's right-hand woman and older sister of your friend, Weiss Schnee. I would like to talk to you in private whenever you are available. Tomorrow afternoon after classes, perhaps? We have personal matters to discuss regarding... *ahem* you and my sister. It is in your best interest not to tell anyone about our meeting. A follow-up written message will be sent to you indicating where we will meet. Thank you for your time."
Author's Notes: Yeah, I know this chapter seems a tad bit too short compared to the first two. BUT! You guys will be glad to know that this time, the next chapter (Chapter 4 titled, "Waifu Tier List Part 1") is already done and posted on my P a treon FREE for everyone to read. And depending on when you're reading this, there might already be a sneak peek for the first scene or two in chapter 5. So you guys might wanna check it out. *holds up a peace sign to you guys*
P a treon . com (slash) AngeloGene
Upcoming chapters:
Chapter 4 - Waifu Tier List Part 1
Chapter 5 - Waifu Tier List Part 2
Chapter 6 - Spin The Bottle
And also, I wanted to say sorry if some, if not a lot of you, are annoyed by me constantly doing these shameless plugs. I'd be lying if I said I didn't need all the help I can get, even if it's just little by little.
Oh, and due to a popular request from you guys, this chapter was made. I hope you guys get how the app and interface work and stuff. If you still have any questions, please leave them in the reviews or directly PM me. I'll do my best to answer you guys as soon as possible.
Regarding my inactivity...
You see, College kinda required me to submit my thesis to graduate. Sadly, the pandemic stopped me from finishing it because one of the crucial steps needed to finish it was to interview a huge sample size of people to test out my prototype/project/product. I'm an electronics major so... Yeah... Kind of like inventing something and then people test it out. Sadly, because I failed to submit my thesis, I won't be graduating this year. My class adviser told me that I have to re-enroll a new semester and then hopefully graduate by next year in October.
Of course, my parents got mad when they found out about it (but I know they love me and I love them back).
Now... I've been trying to sell ice candies to my neighborhood and trying to earn generous donations on my P a treon for my stories despite the shitty quality. Oh, and update on that ice candy selling thing, because the Delta variant of Covid thing became a bit more rampant, my mom doesn't allow me to go outside and sell my icy cold treats to my neighborhood anymore. This online tip jar thing is what I'm currently relying on right now so... Yeah. I'm fully committed to writing, hoping and praying that I'll be able to get somewhere with this.
Note! To anyone who's thinking of supporting me financially, please do ONLY when you think my content is good and consistent enough. I prefer working hard and earning it rather than receiving stuff out of pity. I am aware that literally, everyone is having a hard time right now due to the pandemic. I'll do my best to update my chapters weekly from here on out. Chapter 4 will be posted here on Friday next week whether or not Chapter 5 is finished. Though my goal is to have Chapter 5 done before posting 4 on this site. xD
Thank you all so much for your patience and support for this story. You guys will be glad to know that I'm going to prioritize writing chapters for this story and put "Jaune's Video Diary" on hold since my patrons kinda requested I work on this first. Plus, I'm genuinely more passionate about writing this one compared to the other, not that I didn't like writing JVD. It's just that I feel like I want to get this story out more. Hope you JVD fans won't mind. I'll find time to write you guys a new chapter for that story.