I ended up coming back home a lot earlier than I thought I would. I had assumed the whole thing would take me a lot longer, but I had completed it a lot faster than I had assumed. In the end, I came back at around six in the evening.

I opened the door to my house and walked in, immediately heading upstairs to put my backpack away. I was stopped halfway, though, by my mother.

"Rory? That you?"

"No?" I offered.

"You're back early. Would you like to explain where you went?" Her tone didn't sound suspicious. More curious.

"All right," I called out. "Let me put my stuff back first, all right?"

"Okay!" she yelled back.

Continuing my way back upstairs, I placed my bag in my closet. I removed my knives from inside my bag and placed it in its spot. Then I took my mask and threw it up on the top shelf.

Hiding it wasn't something I was too worried about. Nobody ever came into my room anyway. And on the rare occasion, someone did, it was to wake me up when I was getting late. Even then, I doubted they would check my closet. They say the best hiding spot is in plain sight.

I tidied up, and headed back downstairs. Mom was there, apparently waiting.

"So. Where did you go? You said you would take all day."

"Friends house," I said. It was a reply I thought up on the way back.

"When?"

"What?"

"When did you make friends!?" For the first time in our conversation, I took a good look at her expression. She was brimming with excitement. Supposedly at the prospect of me having friends.

"Um, I've always had friends, you know. I just never told you about them."

Well, I had people I talked to at school. I wasn't a complete loner or anything, that would make school dull and boring. No one was scared to talk to me like my past life either, so it was a lot easier, I was hesitant to call them friends. Acquaintances, maybe. I enjoyed their company, but I wasn't too emotionally invested in them. And I doubted they were either.

"Really!? Why haven't you introduced them!?"

"They're just school friends, Mom. Not the type that you introduce to your parents."

"Then if they're 'school' friends, how come you went out when you're not in school? If they're just 'school' friends." Every time she said 'school,' she made air quotes with her fingers.

"They invited me and I said yes. Really, it's not that big a deal, Mom," I said, rolling my eyes.

"It is a big deal! Ruby told me you have no friends at school, and I was worried. But now you apparently have friends!"

I didn't talk to anyone? Where did Ruby get that from? I wasn't a loner or anything.

"'Course she did," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Speaking of Ruby, did something happen between you two?"

"I… No, not really." I said.

"Are you sure? Because I haven't seen you two talk much lately. Is it something related to the dust robbery?"

I froze.

"No, it's not. I mean, I think she was still a bit spooked by what happened, but we've been back to normal lately."

"Really?"

"Yea, Mom. Really."

I knew Ruby hadn't approved the actions I had taken that day. Ruby had tried many times to speak about what happened after the robbery, but every time she did, I'd divert the conversation and she'd stop pursuing it. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to her about the matter. I did, really. But at the same time, I didn't. I wanted to resolve the conflict with her, but I was pretty sure that if I tried doing that, I wouldn't be able to. That I would mess something up.

Thankfully, she hadn't just straight up come to me and said, 'let's talk'. Every time she tried, she attempted to nudge the conversation into that general direction. But sadly for her, I was much better at that than her, and I'd always manage to change the topic of the conversation, and not talk about it. Besides, if she did just come up to me and demand to talk, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to avoid it.

I wasn't lying about us being back to normal lately, either. The tension had mostly worn down, and we were talking normally with each other lately. Like before.

"So! Back to the topic about your friends. You should introduce them to Dad and I," Mom said, and the world around me sped up.

Thought Acceleration, I realized. I hadn't activated it, but it still went off automatically. I smiled. Maybe I'd done it subconsciously? It was an improvement.

"Er… I don't know." I wasn't sure I had anyone to introduce anyway. Besides, anyone I did bring home wouldn't be able to testify about the fact that I went out today.

"Come on, please."

"Um… maybe. Maybe I'll think about it. That's as far as I'll go."

"Thanks, Rory. Ooh, I'm so excited to meet what kind of people you hang out with!"

I didn't even say yes. And I probably wasn't going to either. She'd probably forget about it soon anyway, and even if she didn't, I only said maybe.

"Whatchu talkin' about?" A voice behind me asked.

"Hey, Yang?"

"Rory!" she exclaimed upon seeing me. "You said you would be gone all day, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did. Ended up finishing up a lot faster, though."

"Yep," Mom said, a slight smirk on her face. "He was out with his friends."

"Friends!? When!?"

"Is it really that surprising?" I grumbled. It was a bit insulting, I thought.

"Well, yeah. I thought you didn't talk to anyone."

"Ruby tell you, too?"

"What? No. It's common knowledge."

Common knowledge? Since when?

"What's common knowledge? That I don't have friends?"

"That you don't like speaking," she answered. "At least to people other than us."

"Really? That's not completely true, you know. I still speak to people," I said, getting a bit defensive.

"All right, all right," Yang said, putting her hands up. "Now, back to the topic about your friends that you snuck out with."

"I didn't sneak out. I told you."

"-were they girls?" She smirked, but I saw her eyes narrow a bit too. "Amy? Maybe So-"

"I told you, I didn't sneak out. And I didn't sneak out with girls." I scowled.

"Aww, you grow up so fast."

I glared.

"Okay, okay, I got it. I was just messing with you." But she still had that smirk on her face that said she enjoyed getting a rise out of me.

"Whatever," I muttered. "And do you really think any girls would be interested in me?"

"Obviously. I don't know if you're just dense or maybe you're playing dumb, but girls are interested in you, Rory. Seriously."

It was the latter. I wasn't dense about it. I mean, I had enhanced hearing. I could literally hear them talking about me.

"Yeah, whatever." I rolled my eyes.

"Anyway, try not to sneak out with too many girls next time. And if you're going to do it, do me a favor and limit yourself to one, all right?

"Yang."

"Ooh… did I make you mad?"

"Not mad, just annoying," I said.

"Good. Annoying you is a part of my job as your older sister."

"That's my job. I'm younger. I'm supposed to annoy you."

"Nope," she said, popping the p.

"Whatever. I'm going to go upstairs for a bit. Need to do something."

"So you are mad!"

"I'm not mad. Like I said, I just need to do something." I wasn't lying exactly. I did have something to do, things to think about, and doing it here in the living room wouldn't be ideal.

"You're mad, aren't you?"

"I'm not."

I started to walk to my room. Yang followed.

"I was just joking."

"Seriously Yang, I am calm, and I'm not mad."

"Come on-"

I closed the door shut, cutting her off, and sighed. She could be such a pain in the ass when she wanted to.

I took my laptop and hopped onto my bed, laying down in a comfortable position. I typed in 'Aramor gang activity' into the search bar. After a few minutes of searching and finding nothing, I typed in another search, 'Aramor gang stopped by masked man'. Again, nothing.

Of course, there wasn't anything – the incident had just happened a few hours ago. But I still felt the urge to check. To see if anything had spread.

Maybe I should have given them my name. Not a real name, of course, but a fake one. A name for my identity. That would have been a lot better for my goals. It must have slipped my mind, which didn't make me feel much better. I wasn't particularly good at naming things either, so I wasn't sure I could pick something good if I tried.

I sighed. The execution had gone great. I'd taken care of them properly. But there was so much I could have done better.

Nothing I can do about it now, I thought. I'd just do better in the future… hopefully.

"Bye Rory, Ruby, Yang," Mom said, waving to us next to Dad.

"Bye kids," Dad followed after.

"Bye Mom, Dad. Have fun on your date," I said.

"Byee," Ruby and Yang offered.

"Stay safe, alright? Don't do anything dangerous!"

"We won't," the three of us yelled.

After they left, we walked back into the house. I sat on the sofa and turned on the TV, laying back.

"Ohh, what are you watching?" Yang asked.

"Dunno. Whatever's on."

"Alright." Yang sat on the couch beside me, an arm around my shoulder. "Lemme join."

"Ooh, me too!" Ruby said, sitting on the other side of me.

"Hey, isn't Hunter-man on now?" Yang asked.

"Really? It is!?" Ruby yelled.

"Nope," I said.

Yang narrowed her eyes. "I'm pretty sure it is-"

"It's not."

It was only a day after my little stunt, so I wasn't particularly in the mood for watching Hunter-man.

Why, out of all shows, would they want to watch Hunter-man? Sure, it was on, but that didn't mean I wanted to watch it. There were other things to watch. And while they might not be good, they were better than Hunter-man. I was sure of it.

"No, I'm pretty sure it is… Hey, Ruby, can I borrow your scroll for a bit?"

"Sure."

Yang took her scroll and started typing something. A few seconds later, a smirk grew on her face. She held up her scroll to my face. "See! It is on! Change it to Hunter-man!"

"Noo," I whined. "Can we please watch something else? Please?"

"I mean, I guess it would be unfair if we didn't take your opinion into account."

"Yeah, I agre-"

"So let's take a vote! If you want to watch Hunter-man, raise your hand!"

"Fuck you," I said under my breath.

Ruby and Yang raised their hands. I really should have expected it, with this being 8/10 ways that they'd coerce me into watching this shitty show.

"Well, according to popular vote, looks like we'll be watching Hunter-man!" Yang yelled.

"Yeah!"

"Ugh," I groaned. "All right. Well, have fun, you two. Imma head upstairs."

Of course, I knew it wouldn't work, though, but it was worth a shot.

"Nope! Mom and Dad are out, so this marks a memorable occasion. Sibling bonding time!"

"Of course," I said with a sigh.

"Yep! Now come on and sit back down."

"Yeah, all right."

Whatever. I could bear with it for a while.

It started off where it left last episode. In the current arc, Hunter man was fighting a world-ending threat called 'Lizard' (this has happened six times already, and they used Lizard all six times) that the antagonist of 1300+ episodes, Doctor Grimm, brought into the world. Honestly, the fight against Lizard was stretching out for way too long. They should have wrapped it up like fifty episodes ago.

The episode finished with Hunter-man being face to face with Doctor Grimm, who was riding Lizard. With context, it seemed like Doctor Grimm was going to explain his plan to Hunter-man.

"Fuck! Why did they have to leave it at a cliffhanger!" Yang yelled, looking like she wanted to punch something.

"Uhh, I know right! They always cut it off at the good parts!" Ruby complained.

"The last episode was better than the rest," I admitted in a whisper.

I thought they wouldn't hear, but the way Ruby and Yang perked up when I said that showed that they did.

"Rory… what did you say?" Yang asked.

"Um… that this episode was better than the rest. That doesn't mean it was g-"

"Oh my god! Rory just admitted Hunter-man was good! Ruby, you heard that, right?"

"Yeah. He said Hunter-man was good."

"I never said that," I said, a glare. "I just said it was better than the earlier episodes. It was easier to get through."

"Did you say something? I didn't hear anything."

Yang looked around, feigning confusion.

"Whatever" I rolled my eyes. "Can we eat now? It's late."

"Really? ...Oh right, it is." Yang grabbed a random paper from on top of the table next to us and pretended to read it. "Well, we have three options on the menu. Take out, take out… and it looks like there's more takeout. So, cast your votes."

I snorted. "Right, so what are we getting?"

"Dunno. What do you guys want?"

"Isn't it Rory's turn to pick?" Ruby asked.

"It is?"

It slipped my mind.

"Yep," Yang responded. "It's your turn. So pick, lil bro."

"Um, I don't know? Steak? From that one restaurant that we went to two months ago… Ugh, what was it called?"

"It's all right, I know what you're talking about. You fine with that, Ruby?"

"Yep! Oh, and get a side of cookies. Pleeease?"

"Got it. All right, that's it, right?"

"Right."

"All right. So a steakout. Get it? Steakout?"

I snorted. Takeout. Steakout.

I actually liked Yang's puns. They weren't good, but they were amusing. Ruby didn't seem to share my sentiment, though, evident by her groan.

I nodded.

As Yang walked away, I took the TV remote and switched the channel.

Channel twenty-four was some kind of Grimm documentary. I watched around a minute of that before I skipped.

Twenty-five was an interview with some Huntsman. Skip. It wasn't live, and I'd already seen it.

Twenty-six actually caught my attention. It was a show featuring the Schnee family. And while that wouldn't usually catch my attention, sitting among them was a familiar face. Weiss Schnee. She wasn't talking for the most part, letting her father do most of the talking. Her mother, WIllow Schnee, was the same for the most part, only chiming into the conversation from time to time.

I watched for a few minutes before I skipped. The actual conversation wasn't too interesting for the most part – just some lies about how they ran the cooperation.

I switched to twenty-six. The news.

"-Aramor. A masked criminal defeated the gang. We do not know what his motives are, but he used a Fire Dust grenade inside a warehouse, destroying it, and causing the fire to spread to one of the civilians' houses. His methods also seem to be rather ruthless, as he left the scene with the gang members brutally mutilated. One of them caught in the fire explosion had to have his leg amputated. The others had their aura broken from the impact and experienced severe burns-"

I froze and immediately switched the channel. My head darted towards my sisters. Yang was doing something on her laptop, and Ruby was looking at her scroll, not paying attention.

It was about me.

They already noticed me. My actions. I knew this was what I wanted. I wanted to be noticed. But actually having it was completely different. It was scary. What if they found out who I was? Was I too revealing with my features? Every paranoid thought I had before I went through with it was amplified by ten.

And what had the reporter said? Criminal? Why the fuck would they think I was a criminal. I had helped the town, hadn't I? There was no reason to think so!

But then I remembered some of the words the reporter had said.

Methods seemed to be rather ruthless. Gang members brutally mutilated. Had to have his leg amputated. Experienced severe burns.

When I threw the grenade, I knew it would do good damage. They were caught off guard, so they didn't have time to activate their Aura. And even if they did, from the results, most of them weren't proficient enough to where they could activate it instantly, making it a lot easier to break through. Especially with a Dust grenade.

I winced.

Of course they would think I was a criminal. My actions were criminal. Most huntsmen didn't deal with criminals half as brutally as I did.

And despite that, I couldn't bring myself to feel any guilt or regret. If I had to go back, I would have done the same thing. If I fought them head-on, it wouldn't have been nearly as fast. Some of them would have escaped. It wouldn't have created the same impact that it did.

Sure, I regretted some of it. The civilian's house that burnt down, for example.

I didn't know how that could have been avoided – aside from me not throwing the Dust grenade in the first place – but it was still regrettable that an innocent person was affected.

The doorbell rang, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"That's the delivery," Yang said.

She walked to the door and grabbed the delivery, giving the driver a few lien as a tip.

"All righto. Come on, Time to eat." Yang said.

I walked to the dining table along with Ruby and sat down.

"Smells good," I commented.

"Mhm. Now, where are the cookies?"

"Eat your dinner first, Ruby."

"What? Come on Rory, please."

She put on her best puppy-face look.

"Nice try, but you should very well know that those tricks don't work on me." I grabbed the cookies and placed them at the corner of the table. "Now eat."

"Fine," she grumbled, biting into a piece of her steak.

I smiled and dug into my own food. It was delicious. A good decision by me.

"So, Rory," Yang started, trying to strike up a conversation. "What were you watching. Wasn't paying attention."

I paused.

"Something about the Schnee family."

"You mean those Dust people?"

"The Schnee Dust Company, yes."

"Ugh, I bet they're super stuck up and stuff."

There wasn't much real malice behind her words. It was an opinion most people had concerning the Schnee family. They looked and acted stuck up too, so it was on them for the most part.

"Maybe."

"Hey!" Ruby chimed in. "You shouldn't form opinions on others without meeting them, you know. It's rude."

"Guess you're right," Yang mumbled. "But can you really tell me with a straight face that they don't look stuck up?"

"W-well, I mean they do… But that doesn't matter! They're probably pretty nice people. Maybe."

"Yeah," I said. "Can't remember, but there's this one quote that says no matter how much you think you won't like someone, sympathizing with them and understanding their problems will change your view on them completely… or something. Don't remember."

"Oh yeah, I think I've heard that one before. Can't remember it exactly, though," Yang said.

"Right?"

"Anyway," Ruby said. "We'd probably think they're nice people if we got to know them."

"Probably," I said at the same time as Yang.

"Jinx!"

"Yang… are you a grade-schooler?"

"Okay, that's fair. But I had to. I haven't jinxed someone in so long."

"Whatever," I said, rolling my eyes. "Throwing my plate away. Want me to take anything?"

I saw Ruby wolf down her meal and hand her paper plate to me.

"Here! I'm done!" she said with her mouth full.

"Don't talk while you're eating." I gave her a light glare and she nodded. "Yang?"

She was doing the same thing – stuffing her cheeks with food.

I sent her a deadpan. She laughed, and spit out a bit of her food.

"D-don't give me that look while I have my mouth full," she laughed.

"I swear to god," I muttered and grabbed her plate too.

Walking to the trash bin, I threw all three plates inside, and walked back. By the time I came back, I saw Ruby already opening the cookies, a bit of drool coming out of her mouth.

"Don't scarf them down. You almost choked last time," I told her.

"Dom'ph whorry," she said, her cheeks stuffed with cookies. "I'wl eaph dhem shafely."

"Right. Not sure what you just said, but don't choke."

"I shaid." She gulped. "Don't worry, I'll eat them safely."

"Okay… Finish those up, and let's go to sleep. We have school tomorrow."

"Whaaat?"

"Yep. Yang, you're the one who'll get in trouble if we don't go to sleep on time. Say something."

"Right. Well, you heard him, Ruby. Bedtime."

"Ugh. Fine."

"At least pretend to sleep. As long as Mom doesn't get mad," I said.

"He's right. I'm just on my scroll."

"Unhealthy," I said.

"Like you don't do it."

"Maybe." I barely needed sleep, though. "But that doesn't matter."

"It totally does."

"Doesn't." Before she could say anything, I changed the subject, getting in the last word. "Ruby, you done?"

"Yeah, I'm done. Those cookies were good."

"You ate them all?"

She blinked, and then looked down at the empty cookie box. "Oops?"

"You're so lucky I wasn't in the mood for cookies," I muttered. "Anyway, I'm heading upstairs to sleep."

I started to walk towards my room, and as I was walking, I felt someone follow me. It didn't take long before I knew who it was.

"Wait!"

"What do you want, Ruby?"

"I was just wondering if we could… if we could maybe…"

"Can we do this tomorrow, Ruby?" I asked, trying to change the subject. I already knew what she wanted to ask. "I'm pretty tired right now. It's been a long day and-"

"No."

What?"

"No! You always do this! Stop trying to change the subject."

"Ruby…"

"You said we would talk later. It's been three whole weeks, and we haven't even uttered a word about what happened to each other. We can't keep ignoring this, okay?"

I stayed silent.

"Rory. Let's talk about what happened. Please."

I sighed. I would probably regret this, but whatever.

"All right."

Bonus – 1.1 (Non-canon)

I sat on the couch, a blank expression on my face as I stared at the screen. On it was playing a show. But not just any show. Oh, no. This show was so absolutely horrendous that, if I had the chance, I would erase the whole world's memories of it.

Hunter-man.

I shivered in disgust.

How could someone even come up with such a shitty show? It was beyond me. I'd seen my fair share of shitty shows in my past life. Trust me, I have. But none had been worse than the monstrosity that was Hunter-man.

The sad part was, Ruby and Yang weren't even with me. I was watching it alone. Not by choice, of course. God forbid. It was an advertisement for another show that I was watching prior to this.

You heard me correctly. They were advertising it! Seriously? They were trying to target the small majority of people who didn't know about the show. The innocent minds that hadn't yet been brainwashed.

Those fiends.

I turned off the TV and walked upstairs. This was an idea I'd had for a while, but I never actually acted upon it. Always postponing, creating excuses. But now? After seeing what they were doing?

I had no other choice.

Taking out my laptop, I turned it on and opened an empty document.

I didn't remember much about entertainment in my past life, but the entertainment I did consume, I remembered almost perfectly.

What should I start with? Tokyo Ghoul? Monster? Death Note?

It didn't matter. Anything would be better than Hunter-man.

I took a deep breath and started typing.

AN: Ooh, cliffhanger. Well, I already have some of the next chapter written, so it won't be too long till the next one. This chapter was more of a filler, but it wasn't completely unnecessary, I think. Relationships are important.

That's it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. And Review!