Shuichi managed to get himself into trouble within twenty-four hours of our arrival at Haven.
I can't even find it in me to be surprised anymore. It's not even disappointing anymore, really.
Shuichi is, in the most literal definition, a delinquent. The kind that causes trouble seemingly because he enjoys it, just for the thrill of a good fight and because he doesn't give a damn what anyone else thinks about him for it. It's his worst, most irritating trait in my opinion, but unfortunately, it's also one of his defining ones.
So, yes, when I heard that Shuichi had been sent to "detention" because he tried to start a fight in the middle of a crowd waiting for the welcome ceremony, I wasn't surprised. I wasn't disappointed.
I'm just so, so tired.
The sound of footsteps stirred me out of my thoughts, and I looked up to see two people approaching from down the hall, the one in the back definitely being Shuichi if the slouched posture and grumpy expression were anything to go off of. The person in front appeared to be a bit older, so I figured he must have been a teacher. The guy in the front was the first to notice me, though I think Shuichi was really just making a point to ignore me while he was still in this guy's line of sight.
"Oh, hey there," the teacher said as he walked up to me, "You need some help finding the mess hall? I can show you the way." He seems polite enough, and his posture isn't threatening, but unfortunately I can only lapse into my normal defense mechanism and be immediately on my guard now that a new person is interacting with me. "Uh...no, thanks, I know the way." I responded coolly (at least, what I think "coolly" is.). I glanced past him to look at Shuichi, trying his hardest not to react like he knows who I am. "I'm just here to grab him. Gods know he'd get lost and starve to death if I didn't."
The teacher snickered at the comment while Shuichi finally turned to look at me with indignation written on his face. "Well, he's all yours then. By the way, my name's Guiscard Orenstein, combat instructor and guidance counselor. Enjoy your evening," Orenstein turned slightly to look at Shuichi, who glared in return, "And keep him out of trouble, yeah?"
I sighed, the exhaustion of that task already setting in. "I'll try my best."
With that, Orenstein waved goodbye and started down the hall. Shuichi and I stood in silence, watching him walk away and eventually turn a corner.
That was when he finally spoke to me.
"The hell do you want?" He began rudely, as he's wont to do. "Why'd you come looking for me? It sure as hell wasn't because I 'needed your help', like you told that jackass!" Shuichi is, for once, half-right about something. "Yeah, that's true, you don't need my help." I started, managing to match his gaze, something I never would've managed just six months ago. "Still, I figured you'd at least like some company, and no matter how you cut it, I'm the only company you'll get without you trying to smash their face into the tabletop."
"Oh, keep talking, you might just get the honor." Shuichi threatened in return. It's hard to think I was ever intimidated by this guy…
"Whatever. Let's just go get food."
"Not hungry."
"Yeah, you are. Come on."
"Can it, bitch. Go by yourself."
...The kid gloves are coming off.
I ran behind Shuichi and started pushing him in the direction of the mess hall. "Hey, what the hell?! What do you think you're doing, Munsell?!"
"We! Are! Getting! Dinner!" I shout, accentuating each word with a shove. My added muscle mass I got from training is actually paying off! I can push Shuichi and actually move him! I'd take a moment to be proud of this discovery, if only I wasn't letting my frustration with this proverbial brick wall I call my friend pilot my body. "Food started being served half an hour ago, and I risked not getting any because I was looking out for you! So get your head out of your ass and move it, Noriker! I refuse to go hungry just because I need to babysit you, you useless bad boy!"
"OKAY!" Shuichi finally shoves me away and glares at me. "I'll go and eat with you! Goddamn, when did you get so freakin' pushy?!"
"I learned from the best." I respond with a forced smile. Shuichi clicked his tongue in response and started down the hallway. That...wasn't my most foolproof plan, there was a large possibility that he would've just told me to screw off and went in the complete opposite direction, but I actually managed to get him to fold.
I...got Shuichi Noriker to cave.
My earlier frustration was replaced with a burning pride that swelled in my chest and invigorated my entire body. I stood a bit taller, walked a bit more confidently on my way to dinner. I looked straight ahead of me, something I'm usually too timid to do (though, honestly, the hallways being empty were the main contributing factor to that.)!
I had a reason to walk tall! This was the day that I, Kazuki Munsell, the notorious delinquent whisperer, made her skills known!
"Yo, time to get up."
The first thing I registered upon waking up was Reading's voice. The light clamor around me told me that most everyone in the hall was still waking up, and hardly anybody had left for breakfast yet. It meant I still had a chance to get a head start, but I found myself bemoaning the fact since I wasn't looking forward to potentially having to wade my way through a crowd again.
The remainder of yesterday went by without incident, thankfully. Once Orenstein announced our punishment was over, Shuichi made a beeline to the door and nearly mowed me down on his way. I'm not entirely sure if he was trying to take me out or if he just wasn't paying me any mind. I was thankful he got out first, though, since I could see which way he began walking so I could walk away from him ("Wrong way!" Orenstein shouted from behind me. I pretended I didn't hear.).
I managed to meet up with Reading and Eth again after I'd gotten my dinner. Reading tried to pry a bit about why I was so unceremoniously dragged away from the ceremony, but the mere thought of the outrageous characters I'd been forced to put up with in there put a sour taste in my mouth, so I opted not to talk about it, and he didn't push further.
As it stands now, I've had a good night's sleep, and all I need now is a good breakfast and some time to prepare myself physically and mentally for whatever this "initiation" entails.
Unfortunately, I've never been much of a morning person. And I hate crowds.
"Wake me up when everyone's gone." I say as I roll over and try to get back to sleep. Reading makes a confused sound. "Dude, the crowd's not going away, it's just going to the mess hall. Better to get a head start."
"Actually, I agree with Judas…" Eth speaks up. "I can deal with the mess hall being full, kinda. Not the hallways, though…"
"Not helping, man!" Reading is beginning to get irritated at this point, so much so he begins trying to pull me out of my sleeping bag. "Come on, come on! I wanna get to the front of the line for breakfast!" I never did deal with external pressure very well, my sister can attest to that, so I found myself giving in to his demands if only so he didn't keep invading my personal space. "Fine, so long as you stop calling me that dumb nickname."
"No deal! Let's go get freshened up, Judy, Eth!"
Despite my better judgement, I did not punch Reading in the face.
By the time we'd sat down with our breakfast, about an hour and a half had passed. The three of us had quickly gone to the restrooms to freshen up (though, I'd taken the time to maintain my hygiene the night before.) and got in line for food afterwards, though the line had already gotten rather long and moved painfully slowly. I don't ever get very hungry in the morning, so instead of a rather large spread of pancakes, bacon and eggs like Reading and Eth had gone with, I opted for a small bowl of scrambled eggs and a glass of orange juice. I checked the time, noted to myself that we still had about another hour and a half before we needed to be ready to go, and pulled up a document about a defense-oriented fighting style on my scroll that I'd found a few nights ago.
We'd lapsed into a comfortable silence while we ate, but before long Reading spoke up again. "So...what do you think initiation is gonna be like? We already passed an entrance exam to get here, what else could they possibly be testing us on?" I respond without looking up from my scroll, "What makes you think it's another test? I imagine it's just something to measure our abilities, give the staff an idea of where we're at and how we could improve."
Eth looks between us with uncertainty. "You really think so? I don't wanna take another test, that's for sure…"
"I dunno, just a feeling I'm getting…" Reading says, punctuating with a bite of his pancakes.
"Wondering what's next for us, boys?"
The sound of a voice I didn't recognize tore me away from my reading to see who'd joined us. Before us was a boy of rather short stature, with long, light brown hair tied into a wild fray in the back, framing a soft-looking face with lidded blue eyes. The newcomer sat next to me without any invitation and continued on, "Well, if you're interested, I've actually gathered some intelligence from students past and present on what we might be up for."
"Huh? Really?!" Curiosity overtook both Eth and Reading, with them leaning forward towards the boy. Despite this, I'm not exactly convinced, myself. "Who are you again?" I ask the boy, who side-eyes me in response. "Introduction's gonna wait, bro. Good information always comes first, after all!"
Why is it that everyone I've met here consistently blows me off?!
"So, from talking to some of the upperclassmen, it sounds like initiation isn't meant to be a test for us to prove ourselves some more, but it's more like a sorting for all the first-years."
"Sorting? Are they putting us in categories based on our ability or something?" The boy looked at Reading, clearly getting some sort of satisfaction out of playing information broker. "Come on, don't you know how things work here in the huntsman schools?"
That actually managed to catch my attention fully. He made it sound like the inner workings of these schools were common knowledge, so what did he know that we didn't? He continued, "Nobody here is gonna be running solo, ya know. Every student gets a partner, and two sets of partners come together to make a team. These teams stay together for the entire four years of enrollment, rooming together, training together, even going on missions together. Initiation is where they pair up the partners and form the teams."
"So they're setting us up with people and we can't get rid of them. Guess that means we'll have to choose our teammates wisely…" Reading ponders, and Eth nervously speaks up while the conversation pauses. "Actually, do we even get to choose…?"
The boy looks Eth straight in the eyes. "Dunno. That's all the info I have. Anyways, we skipped over introductions, yeah?" The kid grabbed his cup of what looked like black coffee and downed its contents in one gulp. "Name's Agni Torvi, and I require payment for my services!"
Oh, brother.
"Judas Arany. Didn't ask for your services."
"Reading Magro. Thanks, but. Didn't ask for your services."
"E-Eth Abrantes. Thank you, but I...didn't ask for...your...services…?"
The boy, now known as Agni, looked absolutely taken aback. "Huh?! You can't just get my whole spiel and leave me hanging! I'm trying to provide a service here!" Is this guy for real? If he's trying to scam us, he's doing a pretty bad job of it. Guess he's pretty green around the ears when it comes to this stuff. "No, no, I get it," I start, "But your 'services' were given without request, and we don't have any way to know if anything you've told us is even tre." I pause for a second to let the disbelief settle on Agni's face before continuing, "Besides, it probably wouldn't do you very good if the staff caught wind of a student trying to extort money out of his classmates."
That disbelief changed to confusion. "Money? Oh, I don't want any of that."
Huh?
"Bulshit!" Reading said when he heard that. "If you don't want money, what the hell else would you want?" A dead seriousness cast over Agni's face, and with it a sense of foreboding that came over the three of us. "What do I want? It's something...far more valuable than any amount of lien you could give me…" The anticipation actually had me on the edge of my seat, waiting for Agni to tell us just what it was he was looking for…
Agni's eyes shone and a flush of red covered his face. "Do you guys know any hot girls? Can I have their numbers?!"
I ate my bowl of eggs quickly and washed it down with my glass of juice. Gathering my dishes, I stand up and look Agni directly in the eye. "Keep your hormones to yourself. And as far away from me as possible." I walked away from the table, deciding I'd get a head start on checking my equipment and making sure everything was in order.
Anything to get away from another horn dog.
"The hell's your friend's problem? Is he that defensive over the girls he knows?"
"Well, you are a pretty shady dude, truth be told..."
"Huh?!"
I never thought I'd loathe being inside airships so much, but unfortunately, another crowded airship was our transportation to the initiation site.
The only somewhat fortunate thing about this situation, though, was that I at least had my weapons to keep me occupied, double and triple-checking the various mechanisms of my twin sword-pistols to make sure they were in a functional state for whatever was lying ahead for me.
It certainly was enough to keep me from acknowledging Agni, who unfortunately was still hanging around, talking Eth and Reading's ears off while trying to get a good look at some of the girls from where he sat. Ugh.
I can't tell if those two decided not to tell him to get lost, or if they couldn't manage to shake him. If it's the former, they definitely regretted not telling him to buzz off earlier, if their current conversation I was trying my best to ignore was anything to go off.
"For real, though, dude! You're built like a tank! What do you say, wanna stick together? We'd be a pretty unbeatable team, plus all the girls will love us!"
"Lay off, he's obviously not that into the idea of being around you any longer."
"That's kind of rude, Reading...y-you're not wrong, though…"
Cringing internally, I turn my focus back to myself and my tools. I look over my weapons: Canción del Cuervo, a set of two Mistralian-style1 swords, black as night from the blades to the handles. The only part that wasn't completely pitch dark were the feathers that adorned the sword guards, which faded to a dark purple at the edges. The feathers were gifted to me by Master Himura, who never disclosed what kind of animal they came from exactly and I never took the opportunity to ask. Taking a moment to examine the blades to make sure they were at optimal sharpness (They were. I'd sharpened them before departure and checked them at least four times in the last hour.), I transformed both blades into their gun forms, handguns that were quite big despite the mechanisms looking rather miniscule when examined in blade form. The feathers never got damaged in the transformation, and the blades were able to retract enough to not get in the way in this form, a technical marvel I still can't wrap my head around. Actually, next time I talk to Master Himura, I ought to ask him about whoever he got to optimize and ultimately implement the transformation mechanism on Cuervo, since they were out of my hands once he and I had finished forging the blades.
I might still end up socking him in the face when I see him next, though. If that doesn't get my ass kicked, I'll try to remember to ask him.
Satisfied with my now fifth time checking Cuervo's condition, I turn my attention to my attire. Which I've probably checked at least six times? I've lost count at this point.
On any occasion, I choose to dress rather simply. My upper half currently consisted of a plain, duck-blue short-sleeved hooded jacket over a plain black tank top. The sleeves both had small pouches on them, which I checked to make sure I had the extra ammo and light first aid equipment I'd placed in both of them. Most of my spare ammo was kept in the much larger secure pouches on the inside of the jacket, though a feeling of superstition came over me while I was checking my equipment in the locker room and I placed some in my sleeve pocket, just in case.
I turned my attention to my gloves, plain black and fingerless, designed for sturdier gripping on my weapons or whatever I need to grab hold of. Satisfied with the tightness around my wrists, I went to examine my lower half, clad with plain black pants that hugged my form securely, a leather guard strapped around my left thigh, and plain black boots that came up to just above my ankles. Boots are secure, straps on the guard are tight and not coming off on their own accord, pants don't have any stray threads coming off of them that might get caught and rip them…
My situation really is unfortunate if I'm worrying about loose threads ripping my pants, when my hood is a much more hazardous accessory. God, why did Agni have to end up with me here?!
"Hey, Judy!" Reading said a bit louder than necessary, and I turned my attention to him with a displeased look. "You don't have to yell when I'm sitting across from you." The red-haired boy's response was to look just as displeased. "Maybe you should try responding the first time! I've been trying to get your attention for like, two minutes now!"
Oh.
"Oh. M-My bad." I suppose I've been so caught up in checking my gear (ignoring Agni) that I'd gone off into my own little world for a bit. "Was there something you needed?"
Before Reading had the chance to bring up whatever he wanted to talk about, though, Agni butted into our conversation. "Oh, got your head out of the zone? Great! We got off on the wrong foot, so I just wanted to-"
"No, I don't know any girls." I cut him off curtly. "And, no, I don't want to be your partner or your teammate." Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh on him...still, that first conversation I had with him left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, as well as the way he was trying to suck up to Eth earlier. It was clear to me he had the same kind of mindset as that Flynt guy, just looking to surround himself with strong people for a chance to go uncontested once school started up, and his lechery made it a hundred times worse.
"Cold…" Agni said despondently. "Fine, fine, I'll lay off. It's cool, I can settle for doing things the hard way."
"We all gotta." Reading told him while examining his weapon. I took a moment to inspect the others' weapons, Reading with a sniper rifle with what looked to be a blade of some sort at the front, Eth currently placing red dust crystals in the center of a large spiked club, and Agni fiddling with a long spear, blade parted down the middle to accommodate what looked like a rifle barrel. The craftsmanship on all their weapons was rather impressive, and I found myself wondering just how much of each of theirs was constructed by themselves. Admittedly, the thought made me a bit insecure about the conception of Cuervo's gun forms, even though having someone else do it was my only option since I, or anyone else I knew, had little experience working with firearms at the time.
The airship lurched, and I turned around to look out the window. It appeared we'd reached our destination, as ours and the other two airships transporting the first-years appeared to be touching down on a flat surface. "Looks like we're here." I informed the others as I grabbed Cuervo and sheathed the blades, hooking them on my preferred carrying spot with the scabbards crossing over each other, secured to the back of my waist. "Well, let's go find out what's in store for us."
I hate admitting it, but I'm nervous. Looking over my company, Eth and Agni both looked apprehensive as well, and even though Reading was putting on a confident front with a smile on his face, I could tell he was feeling it too. And, actually, it made me feel a little better knowing I wasn't the only one uncomfortable with not knowing what's ahead.
And despite all the nervousness I knew he was feeling, Reading's smile didn't waver in the slightest. "Yeah, we've got this."
Filing off the airship, we found ourselves standing in the center of a vast, flat surface. The emptiness was off putting, but there was something odd about this place that I could feel but couldn't place right away. Looking in one direction, I stared as far out into the distance as I could and found my answer: it's difficult to tell from the center of the space, but it did end, and it looked like it ended rather abruptly. Wherever we were, it looked like a wasteland but was most certainly an elevated surface of some sort. At this point I'm wishing I'd spent less time staring at my things and more looking out the window. If I had, I might've been able to get a better idea of what we're dealing with.
A nudge in my shoulder turned my attention to Reading, who gestured to his left. Looking over, I saw two people standing expectantly. One was a man, who I instantly recognized as Leonardo Lionheart, the headmaster of Haven Academy. He stood straight with a neutral expression on his face, a near-perfect image of an academy headmaster, if not for the little things I was picking up from him: the way he stood a bit too straight, the rigidness in the way his face was set and the slight twitches he made. Lionheart had been headmaster for a long time, if my research could be trusted, so it struck me as odd that he would be so nervous about carrying out his duties.
The other person was someone I didn't recognize. A dark-skinned woman, appearing to be in her mid-thirties yet with long, snow white hair, stood at Lionheart's side. In contrast to the headmaster, her body language didn't appear to be forced at all, standing tall and looking across the crowd of first-years with a critical eye, professionally dressed in a forest green suit, black dress shirt with a similarly green tie, and a silver monocle over a deep ultramarine eye. If I had to guess, this woman was most certainly someone directly under Lionheart, if not the headmistress herself.
It took about five minutes for all the first-years to file off the airships and form a circle around the headmaster and his companion. Once everyone was present and the chatter died down, Lionheart addressed us.
"Good morning, students. I hope you all slept well last night, for the trial that lays ahead will require you to be in top form." There was a slight waver in Lionheart's voice, indicating he was uncomfortable speaking to a crowd. This kind of guy became headmaster…? "Your initiation will begin shortly. The purpose of this trial is twofold: we are using it to test your abilities and to foster your cooperative spirits. Use everything you've learned up till this point, and work together with your classmates in the face of danger."
"Now, I will hand off your instruction to your headmistress, Professor Yoshioka. Give her your undivided attention." Lionheart stepped backwards behind his companion, Yoshioka, who gave him a displeased glance in response. Seems like even the staff is less than pleased with the headmaster's meek disposition…
"Right...as the headmaster said, I am your headmistress, Blanche Yoshioka. I'm only going to explain this once, so pay attention." Yoshioka's presence was much stronger than Lionheart's, much more commanding, intimidating. I was compelled to pay attention to her, yet at the same time I dreaded meeting her gaze.
"The structure we're standing on is a fifty-story tower. Each side is two-thousand meters and every floor from the fiftieth to the twenty-fifth are designed like a maze, and these mazes are riddled with traps and Grimm alike. Fight with all of your knowledge, or you will die." The warning washed over the crowd like a bad omen, the air of confidence leaving many of the students that seemed ready to face what was ahead. Yoshioka paused, letting the unease settle in the hearts of the students, and continued, "Your first task is to enter the fiftieth floor from our current location. The path to the lower floors will only open once two participants enter a room on the floor below together. The person you meet on the next floor will be your partner for the next four years; with luck, you'll end up with someone you work well with."
"That concludes your briefing. Any questions?"
Agni's hand immediately shot up. "Uh, how exactly are we supposed to...get inside the tower?"
Yoshioka gave a flippant response without turning to face him. "Figure it out. Next?"
Agni made an exasperated sound.
An armor-clad hand raised, and a voice I distinctly and dreadfully remembered as Carmine Salei spoke. "You described the obstacles on the first half of the building, yet you neglected to inform us of what lies past the twenty-fifth floor. Perhaps that was an oversight on your part?" Looking over to his place in the crowd, he looked just as pompous and insufferable as he was yesterday, what with the group of girls that surrounded him and the condescending tone of his question. "I expected Haven's staff to be better about making such basic mistakes, but I suppose errors like this are the reason Beacon is at the top and not-"
Yoshioka seemed to be similarly displeased by his tone of voice. At least, the way she strode over to him and pulled him down by his cravat was an indication of that. "It was not an oversight, I assure you that. The knowledge of what lies past the twenty-fifth floor will do you no good, for you can not prepare for it." The headmistress released Carmine with a shove and he staggered back. "If you really want to know, make it there yourself. Though, in my experience, the students with inflated egos like yours never make the cut."
Those words seemed to cut deep, with Carmine giving no reaction aside from staring directly at the headmistress with anger written over his features. Yoshioka gave him no further acknowledgement, striding past him towards one of the airships with Lionheart opting to follow her. "There will be no further questions. Your time limit to reach the ground floor is eighteen hours, and it begins now."
The two of them disappeared into the airship, and all three of the ones that brought us here lifted off and left us standing at the top of the tower.
"You always make such a terrifying impression on the first-years, Professor Yoshioka." Lionheart said, sitting across from the stern woman. "Maybe you should try to be less intimidating, at least on initiation day?"
Yoshioka didn't speak right away, looking to Lionheart before pulling out her scroll to look over some data. "I'm only weeding out the weak."
"Is that so?"
"The ones that are truly affected by my words are more often than not the ones that don't make it to the bottom anyways. I'm simply making the judgement beforehand, and comparing my predictions with the results." The headmistress lifted her gaze to her superior. "It gives me an idea of who I should keep my eye on."
Lionheart stroked his beard in thought. "I see, I see...that's certainly one way of going about it…"
A comfortable silence settled over the two as Yoshioka returned her gaze to her scroll.
"Though, if I'm being honest, I think it's more likely you scare the fresh blood silly every year simply because you enjoy it." She remained looking over her data, an amused smile finding its way to her face.
"That may be part of it, too."
"The hell do you mean, 'go down the side'?! There's literally no footing!"
"Please stop yelling! A-And, can we get away from the edge? The height is freaking me out!"
It's been thirty minutes and none of us seem to have found a way inside the tower. Currently, our little group has migrated from the center where we got our instructions to the left-most edge of the roof. I was sitting cross-legged facing inwards, examining the floor for any kind of visual indication of a mechanism of some sort, while Reading, Agni and Eth were having a disagreement behind me about skipping the floors and heading straight to ground. Our instructions were rather clear, I'd say, yet Agni was rather insistent on "taking a shortcut", as he called it.
I stood up, deciding that a different course of action was in order. "Hey, are you guys done?" I called out to my companions. "I'm gonna try somewhere else, don't lag behind!" Reading seemed to be the only one that heard me, Agni still trying to convince Eth that with his strength, they could go down the side of the tower together. "Ah, coming! Would you put a sock in it, Agni?! Me and Eth are leaving!"
"Nonononowait, don't leave meeee!"
It's actually impressive how pathetic this guy is.
Reading catches up to me at another spot. "Any luck?" he asks expectantly. I shake my head in response. "Sadly, no. The only way I can think of getting inside is through a trap door or something, probably triggered by a pressure plate. The problem is, finding one purposefully is gonna be near impossible, considering the floor doesn't have any irregular patterns to go off."
"You managed to deduce that all on your own? I'm impressed." Reading complimented, and I turned a questioning eye to him. "I'm sure you could've figured it out. What other conclusion is there to come to?"
"Oh, don't be such an 'inside-the-box' person, pal! Did you ever consider the possibility of teleporters?"
Oh, brother.
Feeling irritation set into my limbs almost immediately, I turned to face who, as of today, was probably my fourth-least favorite person I've met since coming to Haven. "Flynt Blanc, right?" Flynt's wolf ears perked up and his eyes shone when I addressed him. "Oh, you remembered! Our first meeting was a bit of a disaster, so I was afraid you'd already wiped me from your mind!" I almost told him I wanted to, but decided against it. He's the most pleasant out of the people I actively dislike, and I'd prefer not to bump anyone higher on the list if I could help it.
Reading, however, hadn't had a negative experience with Flynt yet and therefore didn't have the proper filter. "Oh, are you one of the guys that got Judy in trouble?"
"Got him in trouble?! Oh, no, Judy! How could you slander me like this?!"
I feel a migraine setting in now. "Dammit, I told you to stop calling me that! Now you've got someone else doing it!" Reading only laughed in response. Against my better judgement, I did not punch Reading in his godsdamn face. I sighed in frustration and continued on, "And, no, he didn't 'get me in trouble'. Nobody did, it was my own fault."
Well, that Shuichi asshat had something to do with it, but pointing fingers wouldn't change that I should take responsibility for my own mistakes. Besides, I'd much rather knock his dumbass headphones off his head than point fingers at him.
No matter. If luck is on my side, I'll never see Shuichi Noriker again.
"Oh, honesty! That's a really valuable trait to have in a friend! Alright, it's settled, we have to stick together so we'll end up partners!"
"Pass."
That got a chuckle out of Reading, though I'm getting too annoyed to find any humor in this. "Well, you two have fun, I'm gonna check the floor over here for a plate to step on, or...something." With that, Reading had officially removed himself from mine and Flynt's current conversation, and the wolf faunus started speaking again before I could call after Reading.
"W-Why?! What's wrong with me as a partner?! Haven't I proved myself a trustworthy person yet?!"
"No, actually, you haven't." I say matter-of-factly. I can't tell if he's legitimately offended that I don't want to associate with him or if he's just pulling my leg, because even though I've only met Flynt twice, they both sound like things I'd expect from him. Just in case it's the former, I continue on, "The only detail about you that I've gathered is that you're conniving, since you've been following me around only on the assumption that we'd make a good team." I turned my back on him and resumed examining the ground. "Based on that one trait of yours, I can say for myself that I don't think we'll mesh very well. So, sorry, but I'll pass."
Flynt was silent for a while, and I thought I'd managed to talk him down from his pursuit of me as his partner…
"So, I wasn't putting myself out there well enough, and you've got the wrong idea about me." He mused aloud. "Man, this is harder than I thought…" Is he...trying to teach himself how to socialize? I mean, I can't say I don't understand, really, but he seems like he's approaching it at an odd angle, almost like he didn't know how people talk to each other normally. What's up with this guy?
Flynt clapped his hands together and spoke cheerfully, "Okay, if you don't think we'll make a good team, I just have to prove you wrong! Stick with me, Judy, and I'll show you just how much of a stand-up guy I really am! Then you'll see we're perfect for each other!"
He's still being insistent?! And he's still calling me that dumb nickname?!
I stood up abruptly and turned to Flynt, beginning to make my way towards him. "You can start by dropping that damn nickname-"
As I stepped forward, I felt the ground become uneven, and before I could comprehend what was happening, I felt my world turn on its side as it became much, much darker.
"Hey, hey, you two keep it civil-"
Reading turned to address Judas, but the space he previously occupied was empty, Flynt's eyes wide as he experimentally pressed his foot on the spot Judas had been standing just a second ago.
The floor turned over and Judas fell inside, so Flynt was right about finding a switch to press on the floor to gain entry. Unfortunately, the floor that just turned over didn't seem to have a switch, so it appeared that every door could only be used once.
"Huh. Maybe the partnering process is a bit more random than any of us assumed…"
Well, I got inside. Accidentally. A bit painfully.
I allowed myself a moment to lie somewhat defeated on the floor I just dropped onto, face-down and helpless in the face of my sore body. After a moment, I turned over to lay on my back and stare at the ceiling, deciding it would be best to give myself some time to clear my head after what's been an all-morning gauntlet of irritating people and situations.
As I felt myself start to cool off, my mind began to wander towards the means of entrance to the tower and Professor Yoshioka's briefing on the task. Specifically, even if it was on purpose, it seems odd to me that she gave us no information at all about what the bottom twenty-five floors contain.
"The knowledge of what lies past the twenty-fifth floor will do you no good, for you can not prepare for it."
I mean, yes, nobody can prepare for it if you withhold information about it. In all actuality, that's probably the point: they want us to get to the bottom half without any expectations, so that we can organically react to whatever gets thrown at us. It's a sound strategy if they're trying to gauge our abilities, though I'm left hoping that whatever lies in wait for me isn't too dangerous…
My musing has me pacing the room, walking back and forth in nervous anticipation, when I hear a mechanism sound above me.
I look up just in time for whoever entered the room to fall directly onto me.
The wind is immediately knocked out of me as I fall on my back, a great weight on my stomach. After a harsh coughing fit, I slowly open my eyes to see whoever it was that put me on my ass…
I make direct eye contact with Shuichi Noriker.
We stay in our positions, me on my back with him sitting on my stomach, for a good ten seconds before I finally decide to speak up.
"Uh. Hey."
Shuichi stares at me, staying silent.
"So...we're partners."
More silence. I vaguely register the sound of a door opening on my right.
"Hey, could you...get off of me?"
More silence. I expected him to keep ignoring my words, until he finally spoke up:
"Nah, I'll sit for a bit longer. My ass hurts."
...This aggressive, rude delinquent is my partner for the next four years.
I want to die.
To everyone I just popped up in their Author Alerts for after almost 4-5 years,
*Welcome Gesture*
For simplicity's sake, all the other works of mine here are effectively discontinued if I haven't said so already. Probably won't scrub them, but I'm not actively doing anything with them. Ripperoni
Putting this A/N here since the first two chapters are going up at the same time, so here's a couple of housekeeping things I gotta touch on:
This is an OC-centric story, as you've probably gathered by now. Any appearances by canon characters will be brief, and it's not my goal to make any canon divergences here, tempting as it is ~~and holy SHIT, is it tempting~~.
Also, this story is actually a side story for another work here, KRME: Prelude by EpsilonPyro. Go check that one out, if you will, although the places the two line up will take some time to get to...
Lastly, Shuichi, Kazuki and Flynt are not my OCs. Shuichi and Kazuki both belong to my friend Killua, while Flynt belongs to Runsey (EpsilonPyro, KRME author).
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth, all that fun stuff, fanfiction disclaimers amirite?
Hope to see you all again!
