Disclaimer:This is a work of fan fiction using characters and/or scenes from the show RWBY, which is trademarked by Rooster Teeth, and the video game Persona 3, which is trademarked by Atlus. I do not, in anyway, claim ownership over the characters, the world, the story, or any other aspect belonging to either one. This story should not be, in any way, considered canon. This story is written strictly for entertainment and not for profit.

Warning: This story will exhibit slight differences in character behavior since I will be taking the liberty to fill in blank points in the pasts of various characters. As such, expect that many characters will not behave exactly as their canon selves. I will attempt to keep their core personalities intact, but slight changes will be unavoidable.


Hi everyone. Welcome back to another chapter of Messiah's Legacy.

Would have been able to update sooner but I lost one day off last week when someone got sick. That and some of these scenes were giving me trouble. Several times I had to redo half of one scene since it didn't feel or come out right.

With the first four chapters, the 'introductory arc' is now over. The main players are in place and are now known to one another. From here on out, we start getting into the main story arcs.

The next two chapters, three if you count the upcoming Interlude in the works, will focus on a showing the various relationships of the large group of sixteen. Yeah, this is gonna be a pain for me when it comes to balancing screen time. While it may focus on relations within a certain team, you can expect people to reach out across to another team now and then.

These two chapters will essentially set-up the first few conflicts, both within the group and with the world outside the school, as well as some things for far in the future. Those that will come up in the near future won't always be resolved completely but things will smooth over for the most part as you might expect.

Now, one thing of note that someone PMed me about was SEES and the lies they are telling. Some lies, such as the ones that hide the fact that they are from thousands of years in the past, are necessary for them. Others, such as when they end up discussing things about themselves and their past, are only made as a spur-of-the-moment decision. After all, the cover story they came up with focused on their group background as a whole and not individual backgrounds.

For example, let's say Junpei slips up and mentions the words Chinese or China and is questioned about it by Pyrrha. Since they're playing the part of a small island nation (which is true for Japan), it would be strange if suddenly another country appeared in their cover story. So Junpei says that they were a race who shared the island with them, living separately from them before they started to mingle and co-exist within the same cities. Later on, while explaining their culture, Yukari slips up as well and ends up telling Blake that China was another island close to them that they were once at war with.

I'm sure you can imagine what kind of trouble that could cause if Pyrrha shares it with others, Blake shares it with others as well, and those others happen to end up talking about it with one another.

It WILL get confusing at some points, especially when certain paragraphs reveal the thoughts of specific characters who either misunderstand something or were lied to about something. At those times, best to just go with it and remember that what one character knows/understands/perceives is different from what another knows/understands/perceives, and what both of them know might not even be the full or actual truth. I'll try to avoid making it as confusing as possible for everyone, but now and then it will be unavoidable so long as SEES has something to hide.

Also, you may noticed that I've added dates to the start of certain scenes. I couldn't resist. It's a Persona 3 crossover after all. It just didn't feel right without knowing the date of an event. I've already done the same for previous chapters so check it out if you're interested. The first chapter, the date they awakened, might be especially interesting. Dates will only be shown when a scene takes place on a different day. The previous chapter, for example, only shows one date since the whole chapter takes place within one day.

As for the year, well, I didn't want to make a definite number of years since they were sealed. The most important part is the month and day. For the year you might be asking 'why thirteen?' No reason really. I just typed up a whole bunch of numbers, added the digits together, and then added it again to get a two-digit number, which turned out to be 13. So yeah, lucky 13. XD


Chapter 5 – The Fools Pt. 1

September 7, XX13

Aigis's first thought upon waking up that morning pretty much amounted to 'Beds are more comfortable than my maintenance station.' As she reactivated more of her internal systems, she thought back to the previous day.

After she and Fuuka managed to reassemble a quarter of her charging station, with a little help from Ruby who had showed a high aptitude for mechanics, they decided to stop for the day. They then met with teams KYBT, ANKR, and JACN for dinner at the school's dining hall. Already, she had seen that the teams had bonded to a degree.

She had seen that Junpei's team was getting along well as was Akihiko's team, though Ken seemed to be eyeing Nora strangely throughout the entire meal. Yukari was speaking with Blake and Yang animatedly about Japanese culture - the various annual festivals if what she heard was correct - which had drawn in others like Pyrrha and Ren. Mitsuru seemed to be deep in thought and didn't join any particular conversation, though she responded when someone spoke to her. Ruby, upon learning of Fuuka's interest in machines and computers, quickly got into a discussion with the teal-haired girl, some of it centering on Aigis.

As for Aigis herself, she had been trying to avoid meeting Weiss's gaze. Unfortunately, this was harder than expected since Weiss had been sitting directly in front of her. Everyone else was absorbed in their own conversations so Weiss only had to worry about being seen by Aigis. Sadly for her, Aigis wasn't physically human. In the time it took Weiss to blink, Aigis would have already switched her gaze to her and back down to the book she was reading, making it seem as though she had not glimpsed the expression on Weiss's face.

During the short period that she was active before the tragedy that gave birth to the Dark Hour, and the time since her reawakening on Yakushima, she had met many people outside of any SEES-related activities. Classmates from school, shopkeepers in the various shopping districts in Iwatodai, and even strangers encountered along the streets. Many were wary of her, others were amiable enough, and a few were openly friendly, even going so far as to approach her despite her emotionless demeanor at that time. But none had ever looked upon her with a distinctly negative expression.

It was a first for Aigis.

The amount of hostility she had seen and sensed within Weiss's frosty blue eyes left her completely confused. By complete chance, she had seen Weiss glaring at the back of her head through a reflection on the monitor attached to her charging station when she had taken it out of the box. She had briefly frozen in place at the sight but had recovered quickly enough that she was certain the heiress didn't know she had been caught. But that one moment had been more than enough to make her a bit wary of the heiress.

Glancing at the girl still slumbering on the bed just past Fuuka's, Aigis had to wonder what it was she had done to deserve such hostility. Had she somehow offended the girl without realizing it? She had thought to as far back as their first meeting, back when they heard that explosion.

So far, the only thing that came to mind that could have drawn the white-haired girl's ire was the fact that she had revealed the faulty sealing of her Dust vial. But as far as she was aware, she had not said anything that would make the heiress out as the one to blame. It had been an unfortunate accident, nothing more.

Could she have misunderstood? Could Aigis have inadvertently blamed Weiss by pointing out that the very start of it all had been the Dust vial that belonged to her?

She couldn't be certain, not without asking directly. At the same time, however, it felt as though asking for confirmation made it seem like she was ignorant of her own actions. So for the moment she was stuck, not knowing precisely what had brought about her teammate's cold behavior but also unable to ask why.

For now, the best she could do was scrutinize her actions a little more while avoiding any actions that would further increase the tension between them.

Rising from her bed, her internal clock telling her that it was just half-past six in the morning, she approached the single piece of luggage that belonged to her, discounting the boxes. From within, she pulled out another set of clothes for the day. Though considering all she had at the moment were multiple sets of school uniforms, both Beacon's and Gekkoukan's, it wasn't really much of a selection.

She stepped out of the room after getting dressed and making certain that nothing was out of place. Once out, she proceeded towards the stairs and went down to the lounge. As expected, Mitsuru and Aikihiko were already there, sitting together on the sofa and looking over Mitsuru's Scroll, dressed for the day ahead. Mitsuru was dressed in a short black pea coat, white pants, and black boots, a scarf peeking out of her coat. Akihiko was dressed in a white jacket and pants combo, with a long red scarf that obscured the black dress shirt he wore.

They were leaning over the coffee table where Mitsuru's Scroll was stretched open to its full size, making it resemble a tablet more than a phone. It was one of the things that made Adamas's newest Scroll, the Rotulus, unique. Unlike standard Scrolls, which opened in one direction to a preset size and had two grips, the Rotulus had four corner grips. When the button was pushed, it slid open to the same size as the smaller Scroll models. But the four grips allowed the user to freely adjust the size of the screen up to its maximum size, which was the same as a full-sized Scroll.

It was this function that Mitsuru was taking advantage of as she and Akihiko looked at an overhead map of Vale.

As Aigis approached, she saw them look up from both their conversation and the Scroll. "Good morning Mitsuru-san, Akihiko-san," she greeted, taking a seat on the couch opposite them. The two of them greeted her back in turn. "Were you discussing something important?"

Before parting the night before, SEES had agreed to meet up in the morning to explore Vale, as they had not gotten the chance to do so the day before they went to Beacon. Their teammates had offered to accompany them as guides since most of them were familiar with Vale to varying extents.

"Not really, just basic plans for the day," replied Akihiko. "I'll be accompanying Mitsuru to the bank. Looks like that Elizabeth opened an account under Mitsuru's name but until Mitsuru herself shows up to claim it the account will remain inactive and unusable."

Mitsuru nodded and took over from that point. "One of the documents was a notice from the bank stating that I would need to appear in person before the account becomes active. It didn't state how much she left behind so I'll also need to go assess our situation. And if there is enough, I'll look into opening separate accounts for each one of us and dividing the amount she left behind."

"Since Akihiko-san mentioned accompanying you, I take it we will not need to be present for this?" asked Aigis.

"Not for today, no," responded the redhead with a shake of her head. "I do plan to have everyone return tomorrow to finalize that, or another day this week if necessary. Besides, we'll be discussing more than just the accounts so it would be pointless to drag everyone there today. While Akihiko and I take care of more serious matters, I'll leave everyone to explore the city. There are some things I'll need some of you to do but they're minor errands at most."

"What would those be?"

"Have you noticed the lack of furniture in the rooms despite the large amount of available space?" Aigis nodded, having noted the same thing the previous day. "When I brought it up, Yang explained to me what her father, a graduate of Beacon, told her. The rooms we have now will be the one we will be using for the next four years. As such, provided we do not cause any irreversible changes, we can do with the room as we please such as purchasing and bringing in various furniture, including a wardrobe for storing our clothes. The way he explained it to her, it seems as though students here are also taught how to live independently, similar in some ways to college students in our time."

"A little strange since most of these kids would still be receiving money from their parents," commented Akihiko.

"You can hardly call them 'kids' Akihiko. We're only two years older than those in our year."

Ignoring the little byplay between the two, the blonde android nodded in understanding. "So you wish for us to search for a place to purchase those?" Mitsuru smiled and nodded in response. "Then please leave it to me. But asides from that, is there anything we should look out for?"

The leader of KYBT thought for a moment. "Generally any place we may need to visit for necessities and such. A bookstore would be helpful as well. The school has a library but it would be nice to have our own collection of books to refer to when necessary."

"Will our Scrolls not suffice?" asked Aigis. "We do have access to this time's equivalent to our internet resources."

"True, but back home even we couldn't claim to have every piece of information from every book. Some books are ignored because of their age, people thinking that everything within is outdated. And having multiple sources of one piece of information is always good due to censorship. Since information found within the network is easy to monitor, you can be assured that someone is paid to ensure certain things are not made publicly known."

"I see."

"A supermarket would be nice as well," threw in the boxer. "It's not hard to notice that most of the food we've had since waking up is western, at least from our perspective. I don't mind it too much but I haven't had so much of a whiff of miso for months now. I doubt we'll find any, all things considered, but it wouldn't hurt to take a look."

"Is this really the time for that Akihiko?"

The boxer just shrugged in response. "It's not like we're gonna be buying any of that stuff now. If they're gonna look around, then it wouldn't hurt to know. Besides, if they're gonna go around the city they may as well take note of the prices of everything they see. That'll give us a good idea of how long our little trust fund is going to last."

Mitsuru just sighed in resignation and Aigis took that as a sign to go on ahead with Akihiko's request. "A place to buy weapons and the like would be good as well," continued Akihiko. "For one thing neither you nor Yukari have a lot of bullets and arrows. And even though Elizabeth-san said she strengthened our weapons to match the quality of the ones in this time it never hurts to know we can get it repaired or even replaced if we really need to."

"Didn't the school have an armory?" asked Mitsuru. "I recall you and Ken went to check what they had the other day when we split up."

"For our weapons they have workbenches and even a forge but since none of us know anything about making or repairing a weapon, we'll either need to learn or resort to buying replacements if something happens. Stuff for maintenance is free if we use what's in the workshop but for field maintenance we'll need to buy our own supplies."

"Speaking of buying, they also sell supplies and parts to students and can even order in what they don't have but it's all at an increased rate," explained Akihiko. "They said it's a way to teach students a lesson in convenience. They're easily accessible, as opposed to taking an unscheduled trip to Vale and back just for supplies or parts, but students should learn to manage their supplies in a way that we don't need to go looking for the nearest armory when something comes up. Especially when the time comes that we get sent on missions. That, and it doesn't hurt to add a little extra in the school's budget."

"How much higher are their rates?"

"Fifteen percent for whatever they have on hand. If they need to order something they don't stock up on, it goes up depending on how hard it is to get whatever the student needs," he said. The barely visible twitch along the corner of Mitsuru's eye told Akihiko what she thought of that. "Even though only Aigis, and possibly Yukari, would need to buy anything there I'd rather keep our expenses down until we can get a better idea of what the economy is like."

"Agreed. Still, that's just another reason we're heading for the bank though we may have to ask them to direct us to someone more knowledgeable."

The trio passed the time chatting about more inconsequential things, such as their teammates and what they thought about the school thus far. Within the hour, the rest of their teammates and Junpei's team had slowly arrived. The members of SEES were dressed in clothing suited for the cool weather while the rest seemed to be content with the same clothing they wore the day before.

It was worth noting that everyone else carried their weapons openly while SEES was only armed with their Evokers, which were hidden discreetly on their person. Even knowing they would only be going into Vale, their teammates looked as though they were preparing for another trek into the Emerald Forest. It was definitely something they would need to get used to seeing.

Fifteen minutes before eight, the time that the first airship was scheduled to depart for Vale, the group of sixteen set off for the landing pads.

They boarded the airship, the same kind as the one they had arrived in, and found a corner in one of the passenger areas. About half of them remained standing so that they could all face one another in a rough circle as they discussed their plans for the day. Or rather, Mitsuru and Akihiko told everyone about what they two of them were planning to do.

"Will the two of you be fine by yourselves?" asked Weiss. "I could accompany you if you wish. We may be from Atlas, but the Schnee name carries plenty of weight across Remnant. " There was no mistaking the borderline arrogant tone in the girl's voice. The only thing keeping it from being truly arrogant was that her words were true. "It could cut down on time just by having me there or possibly open up opportunities not normally offered."

Mitsuru smiled politely and shook her head. "Thank you for the offer but if we're to live here we'll need to experience for ourselves how things work to the fullest. Besides, we can't exactly rely on you to smooth things over for us every time we need something."

"Are you-"

"We'll be fine," cut in Akihiko, keeping his voice as level as possible. Brief as it was, he didn't miss the slightly irritated look Weiss sent him when he had done so. "Don't forget, Mitsuru's used to this sort of thing as well. I'm only going since I'm more or less second-in-command. This way I'll know everything I need in case Mitsuru's busy with something else."

There were some questioning looks at that but nobody lent a voice to their curiosity. After all, the eight of them belonged to the same group and have been together for a fair amount of time. It was understandable they wouldn't be able to let go of their former hierarchy just yet.

So instead, Yang asked the other obvious question. "So you two are gonna handle some business while everyone else pretty much just walks around Vale to look around?"

"Yes. Aigis, Akihiko and I have already discussed what else needs to be done so I'll leave her in charge of that for the most part."

The rest of the trip was filled with small talk, though some, such as Blake, were silent. Of course, that could have been attributed to the presence of Koromaru, who glanced at her now and again but otherwise refrained from approaching her or making overly loud noises to startle her. For that much, she was grateful to Fuuka who had spoken to Koromaru about it earlier.

Fifteen minutes later they group disembarked the airship. Mitsuru and Akihiko left after making sure that the others had their contact details just in case they needed to reach them. Once they were gone, the remaining members of SEES turned to Aigis.

Like a well-oiled machine, she addressed them without any delay, not even needing to hear the question on their minds. "We need to look for places we will likely be visiting for our everyday needs. I propose we divide into smaller groups so as to cover more ground."

"Makes sense," said Junpei. "So who goes with who? And what exactly should we look out for? Obviously gonna need new clothes for one thing. 'Bout half of what I have are school uniforms and they aren't even for the right school anymore."

"I know a couple of places," said Yang. "Quality's pretty good, not that expensive either. I'll show you around if you want."

"Cool, thanks. City's pretty big so I'll probably end up lost if I went by myself."

"I wanna see if I can find a place to buy some arrows since what I have obviously won't last," added Yukari. "Hopefully there's one in the city."

"I know a few shops that might have them. I could take you to them to check," volunteered Ruby.

"Of course you'd know about them, huh Ruby?"

"Yaaang!"

Fuuka spoke up next as the two siblings got into a small, and probably very old, argument. "A bookstore or a library would be nice since there's still a lot we don't know. I like the Scrolls but I also like the feel of a book in my hands when I read."

Hearing those words, Blake turned to the shorter girl. "I know someone who owns a bookstore. I could show you the way if you want."

"May I come along?" asked Chidori.

"Of course Chidori-chan."

Koromaru barked excitedly, causing Blake to jump and hide behind the nearest person. Unfortunately, that happened to be Fuuka, who was half a foot shorter than her and, thus, made it difficult to hide. "He says he wants to play since we were away for most of yesterday," translated Aigis.

"Ooh! I know where we can find a large park," Nora squealed excitedly, turning to Koromaru with a grin. "How's that sound?" If Koromaru's barking was any indication, he was just as excited as the orange-haired girl. "Come on, let's go!"

Nora suddenly turned and ran, one hand unexpectedly shooting out and latching onto Ken's wrist. Before he could even register that his legs had automatically moved to keep him from falling over, Ken and Nora were already a fair distance away, Koromaru running after the pair excitedly. "W-Wait! Stop!" cried Ken, but Nora was already too excited to notice his protests.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them," Ren said to the group as he ran off after the departing trio before he lost sight of them.

"Guess Ken's going with 'em," Junpei stated with a chuckle, watching the scene in amusement.

Yukari sighed and palmed her face. "Don't state the obvious," she said with a light groan before turning to Aigis. "What about you Aigis? Did the senpai ask you to do anything else?"

The blonde turned to face the archer and nodded. "Mitsuru-san also noted the lack of furniture in the room, such as a wardrobe for our clothing. She asked me to search for a store that could supply our needs in that regard."

"Oh right, Yang told us about that last night."

"Akihiko-san also asked me to check if it was possible to purchase ingredients for a Japanese meal. Since I am only searching for a store for the moment, I believe I will see to his request once I finish with Mitsuru-san's."

"What the… you kidding me?" exclaimed Junpei, an incredulous look on his face. "All this new stuff we could be looking at and the first thing he thinks about is food?"

"I can't say I disagree though." Yukari shrugged. "I don't mind the food we've had so far but it's been months since we've had anything remotely close to what we're used to. If making it ourselves is what it takes you won't hear me complaining."

"Ooh, you gonna cook us up a feast Yukaricchi?" teased the cap-wearing teen.

"In your dreams Stupei," retorted the brown-haired girl. "And probably not even then."

Unperturbed, Junpei just wrapped an arm around Chidori's shoulder with a grin. "I don't need to dream. I've got Chidorin with me after all."

"Don't call me that," Chidori whispered, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"What about the rest of you guys?" asked Junpei, turning to Weiss, Jaune and Pyrrha, the only ones who haven't joined a group yet. "You guys wanna come along with me and Yang?"

"I'll be going with Ruby of course," said Weiss. Originally she had planned on searching for a furniture store as well for the same reason that Aigis had stated. But once Aigis mentioned it as her destination, Weiss swiftly changed her decision. Fortunately, she had the perfect excuse. "She is my partner after all. And it's not as though I have anything special planned for today."

"I believe we'll accompany Aigis then," said Pyrrha. "I've been to Vale a few times before. This way she has a guide of sorts." Aigis nodded in thanks.

"Alright, guess that settles that. What about a meeting place when we're done? Any ideas?" Yukari asked while looking around at the others.

"How about we meet up for lunch?" Yang suggested. "Since we're all headed to the commercial district we can just meet up at the park near the center. There's a decent enough fast food place close by. And judging by the direction Nora ran off to earlier that might be where she's headed. It's pretty much the biggest park in that direction."

"That sounds like a good idea," said Fuuka. "I'll let Ken-kun know just so they don't come looking for us. Is there anything else we should keep an eye out for Aigis?"

The blonde shook her head. "No. Everyone's suggestions matched Mitsuru-san's instructions perfectly. Unless we can think of something else, I believe that is all we have to search for."

Seeing no objections or further suggestions to their current plans, the group left the vicinity of the landing pads. When Ruby started to direct Yukari down a separate road to reach their destination, Aigis called out to her.

"What is it Aigis?" asked Ruby, turning to face the android.

Aigis briefly scanned the area. Seeing no one nearby, nor any sign of surveillance equipment, she rolled up her left sleeve, revealing the steel bracer-like object attached to her wrist. It was only then that Ruby noticed the white gloves that the android was wearing. Thinking about it, she recalled seeing Aigis's hands without it last night. Part of her fingers, starting from the second joint up to the tips, were gray even though every other part of her hand was covered in that synthetic white material that made her seem like she was wearing a skin-tight bodysuit.

The edge of a small panel on the underside of her wrist popped open on command and was flipped open soon after. As Aigis reached into the opening with a few fingers, a few of SEES's teammates visibly reacted when they realized Aigis was pretty much reaching into her own body. It was only because they could see the mechanical parts that they did not react more than they did.

It didn't take long before Aigis withdrew her fingers from her wrist. And held between two of her fingers was a bullet. Closing the panel and rolling down her sleeve, Aigis handed the bullet to Ruby. "Could you please check if any of the stores you visit carry this type of ammunition? As I mentioned last night, what I have in the room is all I have left."

Ruby carefully scrutinized the bullet, looking at it from different angles. "I don't think I've seen a bullet exactly like this but I'm pretty sure there are a few that are about the same size. If they don't have this kind, do you want me to get some of the closest ones in size to test?"

Aigis shook her head. "I do not believe we have the funds to spare at the moment. Perhaps next time, once we know how much Elizabeth-san left us. For now just checking should be fine. At the very least, that would ease my worries."

The younger teenager looked like she wanted to say something but seemed to think better of it. Instead, she nodded and pocketed the bullet. "Alright. We'll see you all later for lunch then."

As Ruby, Weiss, and Fuuka went down a separate street, the rest continued on. Two intersections down, Junpei and Yang, and Fuuka, Chidori, and Blake turned east while Aigis, Jaune, and Pyrrha went west towards a furniture store Aigis found by searching with her Scroll.

"That's a little surprising," commented Jaune.

Looking up from her Scroll, Aigis turned to her fellow blonde and asked, "By what?"

"Well, uh…" Jaune looked a little bothered to suddenly have all the attention on him, looking down and away. "You're, well… you're using that Scroll pretty well even though you've only had it for less than a day."

"Of course," Aigis responded with a sly smile. "It's actually quite easy to understand. We're cousins after all."

Whatever response Aigis had been aiming for, a strained smile and a barely visible flinch was certainly not it. Her smile faded into a small frown at the sight of the two teenagers reacting uncomfortably to her attempt at a joke. "Was that not good?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Well…"

"It was…"

Both Jaune and Pyrrha began to speak at the same time but neither could find the words they wanted to say. Their eyes met Aigis's but were quick to turn away. When they mustered up the courage to look back once more, they stopped and stared. Rather than judgment, annoyance, or even curiosity, they found a soft but sad smile on Aigis's face.

Aigis spoke before they did. "It bothers you." It wasn't a question and there was no uncertainty in her tone. "The fact that I am not human." If there had been any doubt in Aigis's mind before, the way Pyrrha's eyes widened slightly for a brief moment and the way Jaune's face cringed had erased them all. And yet, that same smile remained on the robot girl's face. "It's alright, I understand. You need not worry about offending me."

"H-Hey, come on. I-It's not that," said Jaune, nervously trying to deny his discomfort. "I-I mean, I don't have p-problem with the faunus. And they're not human either."

"But I am not a faunus either, am I?"

Pyrrha couldn't help but sympathize with Jaune as his face fell even further. It had certainly been a good attempt save for that one very obvious flaw. Still, at least Aigis didn't seem to be offended by their discomfort. But while she wasn't offended, Pyrrha wondered just how bothered she was by that same discomfort.

"I think what Jaune means to say is that he does not treat the faunus any differently than he would a human," offered Pyrrha, trying to smooth over the conversation. "And similarly, he would not treat you any differently just because you are not human."

But despite her words, that sad, accepting smile on Aigis's face did not fade. "Thank you. I am glad to hear that. But just because you treat me the same way, does not mean you feel the same way."

That was… surprisingly accurate, thought Pyrrha. A glance at Jaune told her that he was sharing similar thoughts. And now that Aigis herself had brought it up, Pyrrha couldn't deny it. Yes, the fact that Aigis was a robot really did bother her to an extent.

When she heard the word machine, quite a few things came to mind. Factories, vehicles, household appliances, electronics, and even mecha-shift weapons. They were generally things that was made by human hands to fulfill a specific purpose. And when she heard the word robot, she thought of humanoid machines that spoke in cold, monotonous tones with jerky, machine-like movements. Neither word fit the way she saw Aigis.

Aigis was a machine. She was built by human hands with the sole purpose of eliminating Grimm. And yet she was sentient. She had the will to decide for herself what she wanted to do. Something all other machines clearly lacked.

Aigis was a robot, a humanoid machine. And yet her words and movements were smooth and emotive, exactly like a human's but with a strange, but not entirely unusual, intonation to her words. If not for her mechanical body, Aigis could have easily been mistaken for an ordinary human. As it was, she could easily be mistaken for one since her clothing covered up any obviously mechanical parts. Even her headband wasn't that strange on its own.

Would it have been better if Aigis had not revealed the truth? Possibly. She certainly couldn't deny that it might have been better if they had been left ignorant. That way they could have gone on thinking of her as human. But that just wasn't possible, was it? Sooner or later the secret would have gotten out. By letting them know now, they prevented any future conflicts that would have resulted by nature of hiding a secret, especially from one's own team.

As difficult as Pyrrha found it to come to terms with the situation, it was better than the alternative. Aigis might not have been their teammate, but she still appreciated the fact that she and the others had been allowed to learn her secret so soon. As Mitsuru had stated, they were going to be working together for the next four years. Even so, they didn't need to let them all know. And for that, Pyrrha was grateful no matter how difficult a time she was having.

"You need not force yourselves to accompany me if my presence makes you uncomfortable," said Aigis, glancing at the two of them. "We have not gone far from the others. You may be able to find them if you hurry."

And that was the thing about Aigis that made it hard to hate her. In the short time that they had known each other, Pyrrha could already see that, her mechanical body aside, Aigis was as kind and considerate as any young woman, perhaps even more so than the average young woman.

She was always polite when she spoke, often apologizing in advance if she felt her following words had the possibility of offending someone. Even apologizing if she so much as suspected she had offended someone.

It hurt, though, that she felt they were forcing themselves to accompany her. Had it seemed like they only accompanied her out of obligation upon seeing that she did not have someone to accompany her? Pyrrha couldn't speak for Jaune, but he had agreed to come along when she volunteered to join Aigis on her share of the errands. Whether or not it was because she, his partner, was going, he still had not offered any resistance either through words or actions.

"Why would we do that?" asked Pyrrha. "We said we'd come along with you, didn't we?"

"And I appreciate the thought. But I do not wish to make you feel uncomfortable."

"And you aren't," insisted Pyrrha, causing Aigis's sad smile to fade into confusion. "While we are still coming to terms with the fact that you aren't human, we would not have come with you if it bothered us to such an extent. So you don't have to worry about us. We are not here because we or someone else is forcing us to be."

The confusion on Aigis's face turned into surprise for a brief moment before settling into a grateful smile. "I see. Thank you. I apologize for misunderstanding."

Pyrrha accepted the apology, unnecessary though it was, and urged her two companions on to their destination. As she did, she glanced discreetly at her partner, who was unnaturally quiet. Very much unlike the awkward, flirty Jaune she had met yesterday. Now that she thought about it, he had been strangely quiet since the initiation. The only time he had acted normally – normal from her perspective at least – was when they had returned to the dorm and he shared some stories about his siblings.

He had opened up fairly quickly at that time, but then had been quiet, almost mousy, during dinner and afterwards. He had been the same earlier when they departed the school. Asides from some morning greetings, he had been entirely silent up until five minutes ago. And even then he sounded nervous, a distinct difference from the day before.

She didn't have much time to consider the situation as they finally arrived at their destination, a shop called 'Wooden It Be Nice'. As they entered, however, she made a mental note to see if something had happened or if he was bothered by something but was unable to give voice to it for some reason.


"Man, it's gonna take a while before I get used to these prices," Junpei commented as he held up a plain white shirt, one hand holding up the price tag.

"What's wrong?" asked Yang, looking over his shoulder at the price tag that read 50 lien. "Is the number a lot higher than you're used to seeing?"

Junpei burst out in laughter. "More like it's way too low. A t-shirt like this back home would have been around 1000 yen, maybe even close to double that if I head to a souvenir shop in a tourist spot."

"A… A thousand? For one shirt?"

Junpei's laughter increased in intensity at the look of shock on Yang's face. "Yeah. Well, that's just us anyway. 'Sides, our money's useless here. Not like I could walk up to the register with twenty shirts and pay with a thousand yen bill."

"So if 50 lien for us is about 1000 uh… yen?"

"More or less, yeah."

At Junpei's nod, she continued. "Then just how high does your money go? I mean, the highest we've got is a 1000 lien card."

"The 10,000 yen bill was the biggest one we've got," he answered. "I'm pretty sure we still have some of our money stashed away in one of our bags if you wanna check 'em out. They're not as cool looking as the lien cards you guys use though."

Yang grinned in response. "Cool. Maybe I'll ask Yukari tonight. She's been teaching me and Blake some stuff about Japan. Sounds like a pretty cool place. Especially all those festivals of yours."

"Oh yeah?" Junpei put the shirt back on the rack, taking note of the price on his Scroll, before moving on to check on pants.

Yang followed after him as he moved alone the racks and shelves of clothing. "Yeah. I mean, we don't really have stuff like that here. Guess people are too busy worrying about the Grimm and all that to celebrate and stuff."

"Heh. Sounds like the perfect reason to celebrate and party if you ask me." Junpei picked up a pair of pants and checked the price, comparing it to the others nearby before listing the average price on his Scroll. "I mean, aren't Grimm supposed to be attracted to negativity and stuff? Wouldn't it be better if people had fun now and then? Or even every day?"

"Yeah, well, tell that to everyone else," the blonde replied as she leaned against a nearby wall. "Pretty much the only festival we've got around here is the Vytal Festival." She paused, looking up in thought. "Come to think of it, that's happening next year here in Vale," she said, a grin beginning to form on her face. "With you guys, we might actually get a chance to show-off."

"The… Vytal Festival? Pretty sure I read somethin' 'bout that. Can't remember though."

"It's a festival we hold every two years to celebrate the end of the Great War between the four kingdoms," explained Yang, her entire body now radiating excitement. "There are parades, and dances and stuff plus a big fair. The city that hosts it rotates between the four kingdoms. This time, Vale's hosting it. And the biggest event is the combat tournament where the four Huntsman academies send their eight best teams to compete."

As Yang gave a brief explanation of the festival, even Junpei was beginning to get excited. But when she mentioned how only the eight best teams were selected from each school, his grin faded somewhat. "Man, that sounds pretty fun. But if only the top eight get picked, how the heck are we supposed to get in? We're just first-years. There are like, thirty teams from the second-years up."

The conspiratorial grin on Yang's face wasn't very reassuring. "That's where you guys come in," she announced. "What year we're in doesn't really matter. All that matters is how good we are in a fight. Since Goodwitch is our Combat teacher, all we gotta do is show her how awesome we are in a fight and she might pick us even over the seniors. And with your Personas there's no way we can lose out on that."

Junpei's grin was back full force. "When you put it that way then it's definitely gonna take a lot to knock our four teams out of the running. Heck, we might even end up the final four teams if get lucky. How cool would that be?"

"The four best teams of the tournament all belonging to Beacon. What's more, all four teams were just first-years." Yang laughed at the idea. "Now that sounds like something I want on my record. Damn, it's still several months away but I'm getting pretty excited now. We're gonna go in there, show off our stuff, and end things with aYang!"

When her laughter finally subsided, the brawler finally realized that Junpei had been silent since she finished speaking. When she looked at him, she found him staring at her with a mix of disbelief and… worry? "Uh… something wrong?"

"Did… Did you just make a pun? Please tell me you didn't just make a pun."

That was definitely new. Most people usually reacted to her puns as though it physically hurt them to listen, or at least some booing in one form or another, with only a few people – very, very few people – sharing her sense of humor. But worried to the point that they looked almost scared? "Yeah…" she answered slowly. "What's wrong? You look like something bad's gonna happen to me just 'cuz of a few puns."

"That's 'cuz something will if you make a pun in front senpai," was Junpei's strange response.

"Senpai? Who? Akihiko or Mitsuru?" The way Junpei suddenly shivered when she mentioned her team leader's name answered that question for her. "What's wrong? Why shouldn't I make a pun in front of Mitsuru? Does she hate them? Is she gonna kill me or something if I do?"

"Dude, I'd rather die than let her hear me make a pun." Again, Junpei shivered.

"Come on, it can't be that bad. I mean, have you tried?" The fearful Junpei only shook his head, "See? You're probably exaggerating. I mean, I know Mitsuru can be scary as hell but I don't think she'd actually kill someone over something as small as a pun. I bet you I can think of a pun that'll make her laugh. Heck, I'll tell her so many puns she won't be able to stop laughing."

All of a sudden, Junpei's eyes were as wide as they could possibly get. "What the- I just told you not to. There's no way senpai's gonna let it go especially if you bust out one pun after another."

"Aw come on, you scared I'll win that bet?" she asked with a leering taunting grin.

"Oh, I'm scared alright." Normally, people responded to being called a coward by mustering their courage, even if it was mostly bravado. But the way Junpei just gave in made Yang's grin fade. "Scared of what senpai'll do to you."

Normally Yang couldn't care about something like that. After all, what harm was there in telling puns? Even if someone hated them they'd probably just demand she stop or something. But something in Junpei's eyes caught her attention. Something she had seen a few times in the past. Fear. Sheer, unrestrained terror was reflected in Junpei's gray eyes.

She had felt fear before, there was no doubt about that. She had experienced it many years ago when she and Ruby were nearly killed by the Grimm due to her own foolishness. She had experienced it just yesterday when she had boldly tried, and failed, to use Akihiko's Evoker. She had experienced a bit of it yesterday in the dorm when Mitsuru had rebuked her for badmouthing Weiss behind her back.

But this was Junpei. This was a member of SEES, a group that fought against the Grimm despite their lack of Aura. People who had repeatedly shot themselves in the head with a false but realistic gun, something that even Headmaster Ozpin himself admitted he found difficult to do. So why was he so afraid to letting her tell Mitsuru a few jokes?

Still, now that she thought about his reaction calmly even a part of her was telling her to listen to his warning. If it was something that could scare even Junpei, someone who had stared down hundreds of Grimm without flinching, then it was definitely a reason for her to worry.

"Alright, alright, I get it," she finally relented. "No puns in front of Mitsuru."

Junpei could have been any more relieved to hear that. For a moment he had thought that Yang would bite more than she could chew again, just like when she had accepted Akihiko's challenge to try and use an Evoker. "Good," he said with a heavy sigh of relief. "Trust me, you do not want to know what she'll do to you."

"Still don't know why you're so afraid. I mean, it's not like she's gonna kill me, right?" When Junpei failed to respond and his eyes seemed to glaze over, Yang's worry returned. "Right?"

"No," he finally responded. But his tone was clearly distracted and his eyes were focused on something that wasn't there. "She won't."

"Well, that's-"

"But you'll wish she did."

"-Not good at all."

When they finally left the department store to meet up with the others, Junpei had managed to extract a promise from Yang to never tell Mitsuru a pun. But if she were ever unable to resist the temptation to do so then she would only do so when nobody else was there to witness the outcome.

There was a strange glint in her eye that worried him when he requested that second promise. As soon as she had agreed, Junpei wondered whether he shouldn't have added that second promise and just made her promise to never tell Mitsuru a pun and just left it at that. Still, what's done is done. He could only hope she didn't forget his words in the future.


Looking down as the documents in front of him, Sylver Swanson, an average man thirty-nine years of age and Branch Manager of the Bank of Vale's second branch, swept his eyes over various information that had been written down along with several signatures. Satisfied by what he saw, he placed his own signature where it was required and compiled all the documents together.

"Everything seems to be in order. And with that, Ms. Elizabeth's assets now belong to you, all of which should be available within the next half-hour at most. Congratulations Ms. Kirijo, you are now the wealthiest teenager in Vale," he said with some amusement. "Possibly even all of Remnant if you only consider those in your age group and one's personal wealth. Regardless, it'll be just a few more minutes before we get your Scroll connected to our system."

Sitting across from him were two teenagers, something he had found hard to believe when he first laid eyes on them. One was a taciturn, silver-haired young man wearing a white jacket and matching pants, with a black dress shirt underneath and a long red scarf. The other was the one who surprised him most as he did not think someone as young as her could have such a powerful presence. She was a polite, red-haired young woman wearing a short black coat, and white pants.

'When Ms. Elizabeth said I wouldn't need to know what she looked like beyond her red hair, she certainly wasn't joking,' he thought with some amusement, watching as the young woman named Mitsuru Kirijo looked over her new assets with her companion, Akihiko Sanada. While she had been calm and polite the entire time, years of experience told Sylver that Mitsuru was a girl, a woman, that he did not want to cross despite her youth. She was clearly someone used to handling business and legal matters. This was evidenced by how quickly she had spotted and questioned certain details regarding the contract he had handed her before she even picked up a pen to sign with.

None of it was outright harmful to the bank's patrons, but under certain circumstances – the unfortunate kind as was often the case – anyone could lose a percentage of their money that not even the Schnee could call insignificant. It was not something he could agree with in its entirety, but from a business standpoint he could see why the owners of the bank had included such clauses in the contract. And yet this young woman had swiftly and accurately pinpointed all of those clauses, including two that he had not noticed in all his years working for the bank.

'I pity anyone who tries to cheat her out of her money. Legal loophole or otherwise.'

When his console beeped, he double-checked all the information displayed before taking the red scroll – Adamas's newest model he noted with some interest – and returning it to its owner. "And here you are, Ms. Kirijo."

Opening her scroll to half its largest size, Mitsuru noticed a new icon on the screen with the simple label of 'Bank of Vale'. Selecting the new application, she was soon greeted by a page similar to what she would have seen accessing bank accounts online in the past.

"As you can see, your Scroll can now connect to the bank's network, thereby allowing you to access your accounts and make any changes or transactions you want from anywhere with a proper connection to the CCT network, local or even intercontinental," explained Sylver as Mitsuru explored the new application and what it offered her. "And since you now own a sizable number of shares of the Adamas Corporation, all relevant details have been forwarded to them as well as Ms. Elizabeth's stockbroker, if she had one. Once ownership of Ms. Elizabeth's shares have been successfully transferred over to you, you should receive a notice from them along with an encryption key for your Scroll to allow you to access any data you are entitled to as a shareholder, much like what we did just now for your accounts."

"I see. I suppose all I can do is wait then," said Mitsuru, sliding her scroll shut and returning it to her pocket. "Is there anything else that needs to be done?"

Sylver thought for a moment before answering. "No, I don't believe so. Though, if I may ask, what do you intend to do now? Ms. Elizabeth once mentioned that she lives a very frugal lifestyle and, as such, had little use for all the money she earned as a freelance huntress. In fact, all the money she owned caused quite a stir when she first appeared to open an account here. It took nearly a full month of investigation before we could be certain that the money had not been obtained through less than legal means."

'Hearing about how she obtained all this money, especially when one considers how much she must have spent with Adamas, would certainly be quite the tale,' mused Mitsuru.

Moreover, 'frugal' was a severe understatement. In Elizabeth's own words, after speaking to her one night, "Although I enjoy mortal pleasures, such as the taste of food, I have no need of sustenance of any sort."

And given the fact that she had been spending the past several millennia searching for something to do with Minato, she certainly didn't have any time to earn the money as she had suggested to the manager. That, and the type of money used would have changed at some point, perhaps even multiple times, so could not have been saving it up over a long period time. 'Yes, a very interesting tale.'

"Since you ask, I don't suppose you know someone we can consult regarding housing and such?" she asked Sylver.

"Ah yes, you did list Beacon Academy as your current place of residence due to… fairly recent events as described by Ms. Elizabeth. To be honest, I don't believe anyone knew there was a town near the eastern-most shore of Mistral. Though I suppose nobody will ever know of it now. You have my condolences." Mitsuru nodded, accepting his words, belated though they may be. "Now first things first, are you looking to just rent, or buy?" As he spoke, he began to type into his computer.

"Buy, preferably." Then, anticipating the next possible question, she added, "And there are eight of us so a house would be best I believe."

"Hmm…" He nodded, lips pursing in thought before he nodded at something. At the same time that he turned away from his computer, Mitsuru's Scroll beeped, indicating that she had received a message. "I just forwarded the contact details and addresses of three real estate agencies I know of and can vouch for personally. Just so you're aware, the third one on the list is a faunus who does business with many other faunus. So if any of your companions are… sensitive… to being around faunus, then I'd recommend just the first two."

After searching for the three addresses and marking their locations on the map, Mitsuru returned the Scroll to her pocket and bowed lightly in thanks. "Thank you, Mr. Swanson. Though I don't believe there will be any problems. My friends and I are quite open-minded about most things. One of them is… different as well, though not in the way the faunus are."

Sylver's expression broke out into a wide, relieved smile. "I see, that's good to hear. Too many people nowadays shun the faunus for the most ridiculous of reasons all because of the actions of the White Fang. Foolish, if you ask me. " He then shook his head. "Well, that's neither here nor there. Asides from housing, is there anything else I could help you with?"

"A craftsman and an information broker, if you know one." Mitsuru's response came without delay but then paused as an uncomfortable look appeared on her face. "There is… something that I am searching for. I'm hoping someone from a bigger city, someone with better connections, could help me find them."

The manager looked intrigued by her request but said nothing, instead returning to his computer. After a short while, another message was sent to Mitsuru's Scroll with three addresses. "Those are the only two information brokers that I know of that I would recommend," he said as Mitsuru located the addresses she was sent and marked them on the map as well. "Many of the others are from the less reputable parts of Vale. And while they are just as good, perhaps even better because of their underground connections, I'd rather not have to send you there."

"Thank you for your concern but I don't believe it will come to that." As Mitsuru made to stand, both Akihiko and Sylver followed, the latter stepping around his desk to shake Mitsuru's hands. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Swanson."

"I assure you, the pleasure was all mine Ms. Kirijo. Feel free to send me a message if you have any more questions. My door, metaphorically speaking, is always open."

"Thank you, we appreciate it."

Soon, Mitsuru and Akihiko were walking towards one of the addresses she had marked on her map.

"Think they'll be able to make what we asked for?" asked Akihiko.

"Who knows," Mitsuru replied with a small shrug. "If not, then they'll most likely be more knowledgeable about someone else who could. We can only hope one of them can do it."

"Yeah. Hopefully it doesn't take too long either. I'd give it a two, maybe three weeks before people start breaking down."

"This first week will be the hardest but we've planned for that. Classes will take care of the rest starting next week. Don't worry," she said upon seeing the look on his face. "They're strong. This may not be something they've had to deal with before but they'll manage. At least until we can get this set up."

"… I hope so."

No words were exchanged as the two entered their destination, a small unnamed workshop in the eastern part of Vale's commercial district owned by a local craftsman.


In the central part of the city, located close the commercial area that bordered Vale's Industrial District, a large, bear-like man was directing a small group of construction workers as they continued working on the repairs to his club, which had been damaged in a fight just a few short days ago. He wore a white dress shirt and black suit pants, and had short, black hair complete with sideburns, a trim beard, and a moustache.

Seeing that everyone was where they needed to be, the owner of the club, Hei Xiong, known by most as Junior, stepped towards the bar and sat on one of the stools, pouring himself a drink from a bottle of scotch that was waiting on the countertop. He drained the glass in one go before refilling it without delay.

Most people would say it was far too early to drink considering it was only a little past noon. Junior would have just pointed out the damage to his club in response. While it was not his only means of income, the revenue from his club was steady and reliable. And now that it was wrecked, he had little choice but to rely on more… questionable means to not only pay his employees, but also pay for the repairs. He had plenty of lien stashed away in the bank and various other places, but one did not live his life without preparing for the worst possible scenarios.

Case in point…

"Boss." Looking up from his drink, his dark gray eyes, hidden behind round sunglasses, met the green eyes of one of his employees. After the fight with the blonde girl that had resulted in the destruction of his club, most of his employees had little to do in his club. He only kept a handful of them around unless otherwise necessary. The green-eyed, black-haired girl in front of him was one of them.

Miltiades Malachite, or just Miltia to those she worked with, was a teenage girl whom he had employed as a bodyguard along with her twin sister, Melanie. Wearing a strapless red dress, tall stiletto heels, and various accessories to add to her appearance, few would think she was one of the club's bodyguards rather than a server or a club girl. In truth, she was one of Junior's best alongside her sister. Unfortunately, they just weren't as good as the blonde who had all but destroyed his club not too long ago.

Seeing her green eyes, sharp and wary, focused not on him but on something behind him, Junior set down his glass and turned around on the stool.

Walking towards the bar where he was seated were two people he most certainly did not know. On the left was a man who had short, spiky red hair, sharp, youthful features, large black sunglasses hiding his eyes, and a cocky grin on his face. He wore a black suit and pants, a pale brown dress shirt underneath, and a red tie. One hand was in his jacket pocket while the other swung lazily at his side, covered by a black leather glove. For now, he would assume the other hand bore a similar glove.

All in all, Junior could safely assume he was the bodyguard for the other person, perhaps mid 20's in age judging by what he could see of his face. Despite his carefree gait, his eyes could see the small amount of tension in his movements. Carefree, but alert.

To his right, walking to the young man's left, was a woman with long, straight black hair. The sunglasses she wore were more stylish than the man's, narrow and roughly oval in shape, and her expression, from what he could see, was completely indifferent. Her face, or what he could see of it, was certainly attractive enough. She was wearing a thick, white fur coat that opened just enough for Junior to glimpse the black, skin-tight body suit she wore. Her movements were confident but, like her bodyguard, alert.

"How'd you two get in here?" Junior half-growled as he stood from his seat, using his impressive height to stop the two just a few feet away. Or rather, he tried to. Neither one stopped walking, nor did they answer his question. Instead, the woman went straight for the bar, sitting on the stool two seats down from one he had been sitting on, crossing her legs at the thighs. Her bodyguard remained standing just behind her and to the right, placing himself slightly in between Junior and the woman. "Hey, I asked you two a question."

"We know. We aren't deaf, old man," the young man replied, his voice rough and scratchy with a tone matching the cocky grin on his face. "You really shouldn't wear sunglasses indoors. Otherwise you would have seen us walk in through the front door."

"You're wearing sunglasses too, punk." Junior wasn't in the mood for games of any sort. Between dealing with Roman the other night, the blonde girl wrecking his bar that same night, the cost of the repairs, and the men he lent Roman for a job not coming back after said job, he was far from the best of moods. And now two unknown people managed to get past the guards he set up outside to keep out any unwanted visitors.

"Then I guess maybe you should use that brain of yours more often then," the redhead responded with an exaggerated shrug of his shoulders. "Don't ever say I never tried to give you an excuse not to showcase your lack of common sense."

"Thantos."

The woman's cold tone send a shiver down Junior's spine. The young man named Thantos, however, seemed completely unaffected judging by the way he shrugged. "He asked," was his simple response. The lack of cockiness in his tone as he addressed the woman was noticeable.

Shaking off the feelings the woman's voice conjured up within him, Junior turned to her even as she turned in her seat to face him. After a brief staring game through their sunglasses, the woman spoke first. "So you're Junior? I expected someone younger with that name. Then again, everyone grows old I suppose."

Her tone was as cold as it had been earlier but there was noticeable hint of amusement. That was his only hint of it, however, as her face was as blank as ever. "What the hell do you two want?" he asked brusquely. "In case you haven't noticed, the club isn't open yet. And it won't be for a while."

The woman didn't response and Junior got the feeling that she was scrutinizing him in detail. "Perhaps Thantos has a point. You should try to use that brain of yours more often."

Junior's fist slammed onto the countertop, the glass he had been using earlier jumping and tipping over from the force. Miltia just managed to catch the bottle as it almost did the same. "Look lady, in case you didn't notice I'm not exactly in the mood for games. So either you get the hell out or start answering some questions."

The woman huffed derisively as she turned away. "How uncouth. Regardless, I still have use for you so I suppose I'll let you live. For now anyway." Junior couldn't help the shiver that went down his spine a second time at her words. Something was telling him that she really would have killed him if not for whatever they needed him for. "Now then, I'll make this simple. I need three things from you. Information, manpower, and silence."

At least now they were on a topic he was more familiar with. "What kind of information?" he asked, sitting on the stool once more and setting the glass upright, one hand reaching out for the bottle of scotch. "As for the manpower, how many do you need and for what? And by silence I take it you mean the usual deal. No letting anybody know about you and whatever arrangement we make here, is that about right?"

"Well look at that." Junior nearly crushed the glass in his grip when the bodyguard spoke again in that same, cheerfully mocking tone. "He actually can use his brain."

"So it would seem." The woman's cold, aloof tone didn't' help matters any. "But yes, for the most part you are correct. No matter how our business concludes, I will pay you for your silence. No matter who asks, I expect you to act as though we never even met. Better yet, forget I ever existed whenever you are talking with someone not involved in this. For manpower I will merely need about a dozen who will have no problems working with faunus. And by that, I mean those who will not so much as flinch or frown at the sight of a faunus. You'll even get a bonus if the men you provide can put up a convincing smile to make them feel welcome. Needless to say, I also expect them to remain quiet about what they will see and do. They can, of course, let you know but only after their service to me is done and only you, no one else regardless of how much you trust them."

Junior frowned at that, wondering what the woman was planning and if he had any men who fit that criteria. "I'll have to get back to you on that. I know I've got a few but I don't think I have a dozen."

"At least he's honest, eh?"

'This guy's really pissing me off,' thought Junior, resisting the urge to reach out and choke the red-haired male. It wouldn't even be that hard given the height difference of at least a foot. It wasn't just his words. Something about the tone of his voice and his general demeanor grated on his nerves. 'Like Roman,' he couldn't help but think.

"Quite," replied the woman. "If you do not have that many who fulfill those conditions then that is fine. It's more important that they pass those conditions rather than the number. I will make do if you cannot provide a dozen, though I would need half that number at the very least. As for information…" She paused and took out a white scroll. Opening the screen, she brought up a list and set down the Scroll on the countertop between them.

The club owner reached over and took the Scroll in one large hand. He quickly noted that the Scroll was brand new but was an older model. Old, cheap, common, and, more importantly, something that wouldn't be missed if they needed to get rid of it. As his eyes rolled over the list of things she wanted information on, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise, and sometimes curiosity, at some of the things on the Scroll. As he reached the last three items, his expression morphed into a deep frown, something the woman caught onto easily.

"Rest assured, I am willing to pay for all that. I am well aware of how dangerous it would be to acquire such knowledge."

"Dangerous?" he asked before letting out a quick scoff. "I'd have an easier time walking into a White Fang base shouting and holding up a sign that says 'Kill the beasts' without getting shot at." Still, as difficult as the request was it wasn't impossible. "A hundred thousand lien up front for the information. The rest can come after I deliver. Give me a moment and I'll see how many men I can get you."

"Take your time," said the woman. And then, surprising him, she stood up and turned to face him. "And hold on to that Scroll. The only contact listed on there is myself. Let me know how many men you can spare, how much, and where to send the money. I'll let you know when I will need them as soon as you can give me all the information I asked for, preferably within the next month but I can work with two, no more than that though. As for your silence on the matter… I believe an additional twenty-five percent of the total cost should be enough. Perhaps more if you manage to put everything together swiftly and perform to my liking."

The woman ignored the way Miltia's eyes shot open and her jaw dropped down in surprise. She turned to the door and began walking away, the bodyguard following after sending both Junior and Miltia a quick but cheery wave accompanied by his smug countenance. Soon, the mysterious pair was gone, leaving Junior with a still stunned Miltia.

Eventually, Miltia broke the silence. "That's… a lot of money."

Junior nodded. That was indeed a lot of money considering the hundred thousand was nowhere near a fifth or even an eighth of what the whole thing would cost the woman. And depending on what he had to do to collect the information she wanted, it might not even be a tenth of the final cost. And that wasn't counting however much she threw on to keep things quiet. With that much money the club could remain closed for several months and he still wouldn't have to worry about his finances. "That's the troublesome part though," he muttered, though his words were still heard.

"Troublesome?"

Again, he nodded. "From my experience, only three kinds of people throw around that much money without a care, especially in our line of business. And idiots who can't tell the value of information don't count."

"What are those?"

"First, you've got the ones looking to make good connections. But wanting to keep things quiet means she's not in it for our connections. Otherwise she'd let us spread the word so she can build her own network that way, using her money as the obvious lure. From there, she just has to weed out the less useful while keeping the rest."

"Makes sense."

"Second, you've got those looking to take over. We've only got a few small-time gangs in Vale, and two or three bigger ones, but there've been more than a few White Fang in the area causing trouble on top of that. If she's looking to take over she might have an unexpected surprise if she doesn't know about those guys showing up here in Vale. Though she might have something planned for that since she's looking to deal with the faunus in some way. Either way, someone looking to take over is someone expecting a nice long-term payoff to offset whatever they spend now."

The green-eyed girl nodded. "And the third?"

"Third, and I hope this isn't it, is that she's just dangling all that dough our way to get what she wants. Once she gets it and doesn't need us for anything else, she gets rid of us. And if we don't tell anyone about her like she wants, all she needs to do is get rid of the guys I'll be sending her, and you and me, since we're the only ones who actually know what she got out of this deal. Be glad Melanie wasn't here. Worst comes to worst, Melanie won't be in danger as long as she isn't seen with us when they come calling. Not unless they mistake her for you before they actually get to you."

Miltia frowned, deeply disliking that possibility, to say the least. "So… are we turning her down?"

Junior shook his head with a regretful sigh. "Don't know enough to know what'll happen if we turn her down now. It's one thing if I turned her down after seeing what she wanted but it's another thing entirely since I gave her a price. That instantly means that I knew I could get her the information and that I just wanted to know what it was worth to her. If I backed down she'd probably think I was just bluffing my way out, hiding the fact that I can't get the information by scaring her off with the price. For now, we play her game and see what happens. If I get even the tiniest hint that she's trying to get rid of us, we run, no questions asked."

"Anyway," he began with a sigh, standing from the stool and pushing the empty glass away. "I gotta go check on those constructions guys, make sure they haven't done something stupid or ruined anything else. Let Melanie know we're having a quick meeting tonight once we send these guys off. Half the stuff on her list are stuff you and the other girls can find out better than my guys so we'll talk about it later."

Miltia nodded as Junior walked away. But even as he did, his gaze kept going over the list of information the woman had asked him to supply.

Some were easy. So easy, in fact, that she could have found it by piecing together a few key pieces of information from news reports over the past few months. She didn't strike him as stupid or incapable, so she had to have a reason for asking him to look into it. The others were much more difficult, some would have been outright impossible if not for his extensive network. Whoever had sent her his way knew what he was capable of.

Out of curiosity, he checked the list of registered contacts on the scroll. True to her word, there was exactly one number for a Scroll and a name to go along with it. Shade.

It was likely not her real name but there was always the possibility that it was real. After all, some people were paranoid enough to think that any name they were given, especially one lacking a last name, was false. She looked like someone used to dealing with underground elements so she could be playing on that paranoia, giving her real name where others would think it was false. He'd have to be careful looking into her background. She was likely aware that he would try so extra precautions would be necessary to make sure he wasn't caught.

With a sigh, Junior pocketed the Scroll, inwardly noting how he was correct about the Scroll's purpose. Most likely she had bought it just recently for the sole purpose of being given away. He'd have to make sure to check it later on for any bugs or, anything of the sort. A little late, considering what he and Miltia had just talked about, but there was no helping it. For now, he had some repairs to oversee. He could only hope that little oversight wouldn't cost them more than they were willing to part with.


"No way! You shittin' me?"

Mitsuru and Akihiko could only chuckle at Junpei's over-the-top reaction as they showed him just how many zeroes their new bank account contained. All around them, the rest of SEES were in similar states of disbelief. Even Chidori, who could possibly beat Aigis in a contest to see who could maintain their composure – provided Aigis didn't cheat by manipulating her internal systems to control her emotional reactions – was openly gaping with comically wide eyes.

The nine members of SEES, including Koromaru, were lounging around in the dorm's lounge area. It was half-an-hour before midnight and their own teammates had already settled in for the night. It was a fairly well-known loophole to the 10PM curfew. Well… to the older students at least. The curfew only meant they had to be in the dorms, not necessarily inside their rooms.

Their teammates had been with them earlier, discussing their earlier trip to the city, but had slowly drifted off to their rooms as fatigue and sleepiness caught up to them. SEES, having long since gotten used to staying up past midnight, had bid them goodnight and continued to share stories. Eventually, Mitsuru gave in to their questioning, opened her Scroll, and pulled up the information on her new bank account, leading to their current situation.

"I assure you all, this is no joke," she said, allowing Junpei to take the crimson Scroll to better look at the number displayed on the screen. "I asked them myself but there is no mistake. Elizabeth-san left us a small fortune."

"Small?" Yukari asked with a scoff. "Senpai, only you would think something like that is small, even considering the prices of things in Remnant. You're probably the richest nineteen-year-old in the city. Maybe even the entire world."

Mitsuru laughed in response. "The branch manager said the same thing earlier. Still, don't let the money we have get to your heads. Tomorrow, we'll return to the bank so we can set up individual accounts for everyone, myself included." At the questioning looks she received, she added, "I plan to have this account, as well as a majority of its contents, remain tied to Adamas the way it is now."

"Adamas? Isn't that…"

The leader of SEES nodded at Yukari's unfinished statement. "The corporation that produced our Scrolls, yes." By now, her Scroll had been returned and all eyes were on her. "It would seem that Elizabeth-san had purchased shares from Adamas and transferred ownership to me as she did the contents of her account. She also invested greatly in the company over the past seven months, which could be why we received these Scrolls when only a limited number were produced to date, though I have no confirmation of this either way."

"So she not only left us a fortune but also a form of income that does not need to be managed on a day-to-day basis," said Aigis, quickly piecing together the mysterious woman's reasons for her actions. "It would seem we owe her much more than we thought."

"All the more reason to live as we please," said Akihiko. "Don't forget what she said when she left."

"To live our lives of our own free will," began Fuuka.

"And to face the consequences of our actions," finished Ken. Around them, everyone else nodded, remembering the white-haired woman's parting words.

"Weird thing to say if you ask me," Junpei says with a shrug, immediately dispelling the serious air that had begun to descend on the group. "Could have just said, 'Do whatever the hell you want but don't come crying if you get hurt,' or somethin' like that." No response was forthcoming from the others. Looking at them, Junpei found everyone staring at him. "What?"

Yukari was the first to reply. "It's nothing," she said with a shake of her head. "Sometimes it's just hard to remember that you aren't completely stupid."

The cap-wearing teen grinned at Yukari's words, looking quite proud. "Heh, what're you talking about? Of course I am." Then his face scrunched up in confusion and deep thought. "Uh wait… Hold on… what did…"

The brunette archer sighed while others just chuckled or giggled. "Way to prove me wrong, Stupei."

The group spent a bit more time talking, mostly discussing the list of electives they could choose from. "Given what I've seen of our regular schedule, we may be able to choose as much as three if you believe you can handle the workload."

"So we get to choose, huh?" Junpei glanced down at his Scroll's screen at the message that Pyrrha had forwarded to him from the school. "That's a lot to choose from."

"I believe I will attend the Leadership class," announced Aigis.

"Well that was quick," said Yukari. "Well, we have until the end of the week so I'll probably read through the classes after some sleep."

Various words of agreement came from the others, followed soon after by the electronic chime of the clock on the nearby wall. Glancing at it, everyone saw that it was now midnight. Nobody spoke for the next moment, simply watching the clock as the seconds ticked by.

"Damn. Seven months and I'm still waiting for it."

Looking at everyone else's faces, Mitsuru could only sigh. "You aren't the only one," she said in response to Junpei's words. "Had we succeeded in eliminating the Dark Hour it may not have taken us long to adapt to its disappearance."

"But because we never really resolved it we can't get rid of the mindset that the Dark Hour will come at midnight or that something will happen on the full moon," finished Fuuka, her expression downcast like several others.

Junpei sighed, taking off his cap and scratching his head with the other hand. "This is all so messed up."

Nobody disagreed with him. Nobody could disagree. There was definitely something to be said about a group who was unable to consistently sleep before midnight. Even now, seven months since their awakening in Remnant, none of them, not even Chidori, could fall asleep before midnight more than three consecutive nights. Any more than that and they began to feel restless and were unable to sleep until they waited for midnight to come.

The feeling was made worse by the full moon. On such nights they were completely unable to sleep until an hour after midnight, which would normally signify the end of the Dark Hour. Even the night before initiation had been no different. It was only out of courtesy to their fellow initiates that they had pretended to sleep. But such was their unease that, though they had attempted to speak to one another through Fuuka, they had spent most of the night simply laying in their sleeping bags with their eyes shut yet unable to rest, let alone sleep.

During the next three hours after the lights had been shut off, SEES repeatedly tossed and turned, zipped and unzipped their sleeping bags, and fluffed and repositioned their pillows. Two hours stretched on for what seemed like an eternity before midnight came. And for the next hour, while the other initiates slept, SEES lay awake on high alert, awaiting a threat that would not come. Only Chidori did not need to wait that long since she had not faced the monthly ordeal of facing the powerful Arcana Shadows.

It was only thanks to many months of sleeping less hours than normal that they had been able to function properly the day of the initiation. That, and the fact that they had not actually done anything but lay restlessly that night. It was mentally trying, but several hours of sleep was more than enough to deal with that brand of fatigue.

The worst part was not knowing whether they would ever return to a normal sleep schedule while the Grimm still presented a threat. Had it not been for the still present threat, some of them were certain they would have been able to overcome their current mindset. But until they could eliminate that threat, until they could see for their own eyes the end of the threat that had been plaguing mankind for millennia, they knew they would never be able to properly rest.

So long as their hearts, their very souls, were still at war with the Shadows and the Dark Hour regardless of what form or name they took, they would not be able to lay down their weapons nor let their guard down during what their bodies perceived as a dangerous time.

It was only when half of them raised a hand up to their mouths to hide a yawn that they decided to retire for the night. It was only ten minutes past midnight but the lack of combat was enough to let their bodies know that there would be no late night trip to Tartarus that night. In addition, it meant they would be able to sleep well and at a proper time for a few nights before they needed to stay up once more.

As they rose from their seats and began to make their way to their respective dorm rooms, none of them noticed the person hiding around the corner quietly dashing back up to their room. By the time the members of SEES returned to their rooms, the eavesdropper had already slipped back into bed, pretending to be asleep even as their two teammates entered the room.

Neither one exchanged words once they entered the room, believing their two teammates to be asleep. Each one grabbed a change of clothes and entered the bathroom. The eavesdropped heard the shower running soon after, indicating that one or both were bathing.

About ten minutes later, one person stepped out of the bathroom. Another ten minutes later, the sound of the shower cut off and the other person stepped out not long after. Once they finished their nightly rituals, they bid each other a good night one final time before settling in for the night. In just a few moments, the two were asleep.

Now certain that it was safe, the eavesdropper re-positioned themselves to a more comfortable position before shutting their eyes to go to sleep, thoughts filled with what little they had heard and various theories regarding their mysterious new comrades.


September 8, XX13

The next day, SEES had gotten up just a little later than they did the previous morning but had still managed to catch the first airship down to Vale. A few of their teammates, those that had been awake at the time, offered to accompany them but the group had politely refused, some not even mentioning their destination or errand.

It hadn't taken long to set up their individual bank accounts, including a new one for Mitsuru since she had designated the previous one as the one she would use for business-related purposes. Once their Scrolls had been linked to their accounts, the group decided to part ways rather than return to the school together. Some went to shop for new clothing, others went to explore the city a bit more, while Mitsuru returned to the school by herself.

On the trip back, she had made sure to forward the contact details for each member of SEES to Glynda, who had been the one to send their dorm assignments and the list of electives to their teammates. After receiving confirmation of their updated contact details, Mitsuru made a mental note to return the borrowed Scroll at some point.

Upon her return to Beacon, the first thing she did was proceed to the library. Despite studying as much as they could over the span of seven months, most of the time was spent learning the English language seeing as only Aigis, Mitsuru, and Akihiko had been fluent enough to read the books Elizabeth had provided.

In truth, only the last two months had been spent going over those books. Moreover, they had focused on things that were required for their entry into Beacon. Dust, Aura, Semblance, Grimm, some bits of history, and a bit of social studies were their main focus during those two months. Basically anything that was taught in a combat school that they did not already know.

But if they were going to live in this time period, in what was essentially a new world altogether, they would need to know more. Sitting at one of the public terminals – Mitsuru still found the new computers strange as they felt like they would break like fragile glass if she were to push hard enough – she set about doing some research.

Aigis and Fuuka would have been with her but she had urged them to spend the day as they pleased. They only had less than a week before they would be thrust into the life of students once more – combat students but students nonetheless – so she wanted them to take the time to relax and explore their new lives before worrying over other things.

One might argue that she should be doing the same rather than going to the library for research. But none of them could persuade her. In the end, they simply accepted that her choice of activities for the day was researching. Only a few understood why she had chosen it.

One of the first things she searched for were details about the faunus. As someone who had come from a time when there were no such people, Mitsuru found it curious as to how they had come about. Unfortunately, there were no such records to be found. Speculation, yes, but nothing concrete. What she did find, however, was a history of war. War between humans and faunus.

Mitsuru didn't know whether to simply be disheartened or to be outright disgusted at the actions of humanity. Not just during those periods of war, but even in recent times. The few books Elizabeth had brought them gave an account of the most recent war. It had painted faunus as uncivilized, beast-like, and thus was the reason why humans sought to confine them with an island to the southeast called Menagerie. Just hearing the name told Mitsuru enough about what humans thought of the faunus.

As such, when Elizabeth explained that the human-faunus relationship was heavily strained, Mitsuru could have said that it was understandable. Regardless of the reasons for fighting or its results, both sides had lost much to the other. Bitterness was to be expected. And since the human population was much larger and held more power, it was to be expected that the lives led by the faunus would not be easy, causing further dissent.

But the book they had read was, of course, a written account by a human.

There was truth in the saying that history is written by the victors. From one perspective, the humans had won. They had secured more victories during that war than the faunus despite losing at least two major battles. From another, the faunus had emerged victorious. They had managed to avoid being confined to an island like the animals humans saw them as and had, in some regards, earned the right to be treated as equals. Or at least, as close to equal as the humans allowed it to be.

But upon piecing together all the information she had gathered, Mitsuru saw that neither side had truly won. The prejudiced humans had been forced to concede to the many demands made by the faunus that they despised so much, including the right to live where they please just like anybody else, provided they had the means to do so.

At the same time, the faunus, despite their small yet significant victory, had to live by the laws of humans. Laws made and upheld mostly by humans. While the worst had not come to pass, passersby and policemen too often turned a blind eye to crimes where the victims were faunus. What more if the law itself were turned against them?

The only reason that humans were made out to be the benevolent victors, allowing the uncivilized faunus the chance to prove they deserved the right to be treated like any other human, was because the first published account of the war was written by a human, and published and distributed by a human company. A human, Mitsuru discovered, that was a fairly close relative of one of Vale's councilmen at that time.

So rather than history being written by the victors, this time it was more a case of 'history was written, thus the victor was decided'. As such, it took her some time to properly read in between the carefully planned and written lines.

There were a few other wars between the humans and faunus in the past, but that had been so long ago that many people who had been alive to experience it had already passed on by the time the next war came along. It was certainly not something most people would read about unless they were actively searching for it like Mitsuru. And even if it were discussed in a school, that history was still colored by the text used in the discussion as well as the teacher.

Humans and faunus would fight for one reason or another and, regardless of the outcome, both sides would come to an accord, reluctantly in every single case to date, and attempt to coexist. But without proper effort on both sides to mend the wounds, both would simply drift apart once more, sometimes leading to continued violence on a much smaller scale. Then a time would come when the faunus would decide to simply break off completely from the human-dominant society. Later still, some would attempt to live with the humans once more, or even the other way around.

But the wounds of the past are not so easily forgotten. The older generation, those who had once lived amongst the others and may or may not have been part of the war, would scorn those who attempt to reach out, causing further incidents. One incident would lead to another until another war erupted. It was a vicious cycle of unrelenting hatred and prejudice. Both sides' inability to forgive, or to simply live and let live, making it seem impossible for both sides to peacefully coexist.

And throughout all this, both sides fought against a third faction. The Grimm. It was as though they had forgotten the fact that their negative emotions called out to the Grimm like a beacon. In two cases, the war only ended because the leadership began to realize that the war was calling Grimm to their locations, to their poorly defended cities, causing far more death amongst the civilian populace since the soldiers were away fighting. And yet, no matter how the war ended, it would always start anew many decades later.

Mitsuru honestly hadn't expected human-faunus relations to be this bad. A case of bitterness over the war was expected. But outright discrimination, even out in public for anyone to see? There may have been racists, still, but the world had advanced to the point that such discrimination was heavily frowned upon, if not outright punishable by law.

People were free to think what they wanted, but they were expected to behave themselves when interacting with the rest of society. No one could be denied their rights simply because of things like gender or race. Humanity had certainly advanced in terms of ability and technology. But had that come at the cost of their morals and ethics?

"Mitsuru?"

The voice that called her pulled her out of her thoughts. Turning to the side, Mitsuru found herself face to face with her black-haired teammate. "Oh, Blake. I'm sorry, I was thinking about something."

"That's fine," replied the other teen. "I was just surprised to find you here. Weren't you going to Vale?"

"We already finished our business there," she explained, gesturing for Blake to take a seat. "We just went to the bank to set up accounts for everyone. Afterwards, they decided to remain in Vale longer. There were some things I wanted to look up so I came back to do some research."

"What are you looking for?" Blake asked as she took a seat beside Mitsuru, turning the chair to face the older girl.

"Information on the faunus." Her reply surprised Blake, though Mitsuru wasn't sure why. Was Blake one of those who were prejudiced against faunus? Or was she a sympathizer who was worried that Mitsuru was the one who was prejudiced? "There were no faunus in Iwatodai," she explained, noting how Blake relaxed slightly at her words but showed a different kind of surprise this time. More curious than wary. "Or even in Japan as a whole. So when we first read about them, we were quite… skeptical to say the least."

"No faunus… Not even one?" breathed out Blake. Her expression, with her brows furrowed in thought and skepticism, was one that could have easily been misunderstood. Was she simply surprised by the thought of just humans existing? Did she find the thought appealing? Or did she, perhaps, think that humans had done away with all the faunus long before Mitsuru's was born?

Mitsuru shook her head. "If there were, they certainly hid themselves well. Up until we learned of them through Elizabeth-san, the idea of anthropomorphic animals or similar ideas existed only in fantasy, sometimes in legend." The way Blake twitched at her choice of words did not escape Mitsuru's notice. "So, understandably, we found it hard to believe before arriving in Vale a few days ago."

"A-And what do you think?" Why was she nervous? Clearly Blake held strong beliefs in the topic. The question was, which way did she lean?

Deciding to test this, Mitsuru turned her head slightly to the side to face the computer's monitor. "I'm disgusted." This time, with Mitsuru's eyes looking away from her, Blake didn't bother to completely hide her reaction. A pained, slightly angry grimace and the clenching of her fists, though her face was quick to return to a neutral expression lest Mitsuru turn back. "I never thought I would find so many humans who were so capable of such atrocities."

"Y-You… what?" The tension swiftly fled Blake's body at Mitsuru's words. And though she had turned away, Mitsuru had seen each and every one of Blake's reactions. Though she had focused on her responsibilities as the leader of SEES, she was still the heiress of the Kirijo group. Observing someone's reactions without showing signs of observing them was an act she was more than a little familiar with.

"Back home it was more or less a crime to discriminate against someone because of things like gender or race, even if it is not heavily enforced in some places. Doing so would result in something as small as a fine, or as much as imprisonment depending on the scale," said Mitsuru, repeating her earlier thoughts to her teammate, whom she was now certain of was, at least, sympathetic towards the faunus. "People are free to think what they like, but are expected to keep such thoughts hidden away in public, even through their actions."

"I honestly don't know whether the same would have been applied to the faunus had there been any, but I would like to think that we were better than this." She gestured to the screen where the history of war between the faunus and the humans was still on display. "Humans look down on the faunus, calling them uncivilized beasts. And yet, by their own actions, show that they are just as uncivilized."

"But not beasts?" Blake asked before she could stop herself.

Despite the slip-up, Mitsuru answered all the same. "Beasts are mindless, following only their own instincts. Their actions, no matter how violent, simply fall in line with these instincts. And while deplorable, the actions of both humans and faunus were done voluntarily rather than instinctively. And that is what makes this atrocity all that much worse."

"So you think humans are in the wrong?"

"In my opinion, neither side is in the right." Mitsuru's answer surprised Blake. "There was a man who once said, 'War does not determine who is right. Only who is left.' Winning a war or a fight does not mean that you are the one who is correct, that your cause is just. All it means is that you were superior in whatever means was used to wage war, that you were successful in eliminating the opposition, or that you were simply better at surviving conflicts."

As Mitsuru returned to her reading, Blake couldn't help but be in awe once more of the nineteen-year-old in front of her. There was so much conviction in her words that Blake couldn't help but be drawn in. But at the same time, she couldn't help but shiver. That conviction, that charisma, very few people in the world had both at such a great level. Not all of them, unfortunately, used them for more than personal gain. And sadly, she knew some of those people.

Once Blake regained her composure, she addressed Mitsuru once more. "I'm surprised you can say all that openly. Most people are wary of sympathizing with the faunus, or even just saying that humans aren't in the right."

"I am not one to shy away from sharing my opinion, especially with regards to something like this." Mitsuru spoke without turning to her. "Just because others are content to let things be as long as it does not concern them does not mean I wish to be the same. I cannot stand by while such injustices are happening right before my eyes."

"What about the others? Do they feel the same way?"

Mitsuru didn't answer immediately. Instead, she sighed and turned in her seat to face the faunus-in-hiding. "Blake," she began, her tone growing both serious and soft. "There's no need to hide. Not from us."

All of a sudden, for some inexplicable reason, Blake's expression turned into one of fear, one of utmost terror. "Wh-Wha… W-What do you… I-I'm not a…"

"None of us will think poorly of you for sympathizing with the faunus," she explained quickly, trying to calm down the girl as she seemed to be in the beginnings of a panic attack. Were things so bad that even being recognized as a faunus sympathizer could elicit such a reaction? "None of us may understand what it's like to be a faunus, especially with the way they're treated, but I assure you that no one amongst SEES will treat them any less than they would another human."

"… Even if they were criminals?"

Mitsuru wondered why Blake would ask a thing. Then she remembered the White Fang, a peaceful group attempting to promote human-faunus relations and racial equality that had grown more militant, more violent, over recent years. These days they were seen as nothing more than a terrorist group, one that aimed to subjugate, or even outright eliminate, all humans. Then again, human opinion on the White Fang had not been positive, for the most part, even at the beginning. Despite their peaceful means, many humans had not looked kindly upon them, seeing them as the losers of a war who had dared to demand more than they had already been given.

"Even so," answered Mitsuru. "They would, of course, have to be judged for their actions. But if it were up to us, even they would be treated and judged just as fairly as any human."

Blake seemed to relax at Mitsuru's words but the red-haired teen could still see some lingering tension. If the situation was as bad as she was beginning to imagine it to be then it was understandable that she was still shaken up by being discovered as a human who sympathized with the faunus. Hopefully some time spent with people who felt the same way would help her open up. For now…

"Would you mind helping me?"

"Huh?" The sudden shift in topic left Blake blinking for a while before her brain though to answer. "With what?"

"My research." Mitsuru turned back to the screen and gestured for Blake to look at it. "I've found plenty regarding human-faunus relations but little on the faunus themselves. As a different race, surely their culture is just as different. Moreover, I'm also curious as to their biology."

"Their… biology?" Now Blake was beginning to get curious as well, wondering just why Mitsuru would need to know such specific details.

"Specifically the animal traits they inherited. For example, we know that faunus tend to have superior hearing and eyesight. But is the difference equal among all faunus, or does it differ depending on which animal they share traits with? Another thing is that sometimes physical traits have some bearing on culture. So I want to know if the can be said for the faunus."

"How so?" The redhead's line of questioning was causing an increase in Blake's curiosity regarding Mitsuru's motivations to learn more about the faunus..

"First, let me be clear that I mean no offense by what I am about to say," began Mitsuru. She waited for Blake to show her understanding before continuing. "Let's take their ears, for example. Koromaru enjoys having his ears scratched. Would dog faunus be the same? Would they be insulted just by having someone make the comparison? Would they allow just anyone to do so? Or would it have to be someone they trusted to a certain degree? Another thing would be the significance of such an act. If they do allow it, do they allow just anyone they trust to do so? Or is it something reserved for only the most intimate of relationships?"

By now, Blake couldn't hold it in. Not only was it rare for a human to take such a deep interest in faunus culture, but some of the questions she wanted answered were quite… sensitive, to say the least. Or at least, led to some very private knowledge that the faunus in general did not want humans to know. Before she answered even a single question, she had to know just what Mitsuru needed such information for. "Those questions seem oddly specific. Why do you need to know all that?" she asked as calmly as she could to try and hide her suspicions.

Her red-haired leader hummed in thought for a bit before nodding to herself. Then, she held out one hand, her palm faced down, and began moving it up and down. "What does this gesture mean to you?"

As skeptical as she was of Mitsuru's motivation for asking such a strange question, it barely took Blake a second to answer. "Come here."

Mitsuru nodded but didn't stop her motions. Instead, she grinned as though knowing something she did not. "What if I told you I was trying to tell you to go away?"

"Huh? But how…" Blake looked down again at Mitsuru's hand, watching its movement. There was absolutely no change in the movement at all. How could it possibly mean go aw- 'Oh.'

Mitsuru's knowing grin grew a bit when she saw the look of realization appear on Blake's face. "Do you see it now?"

Blake could only nod dumbly, still surprised that a single action had two, completely opposite meanings despite being performed in the exact same way. To her, the gesture obviously meant 'to approach'. But the moment she considered Mitsuru's take on the movement, her own perception had shifted just enough to see the same thing. And it was then she understood what it was Mitsuru was trying to tell her with regards to their conversation. "You want to avoid a misunderstanding."

"Precisely." She mentally applauded Blake for her swift understanding. "Based on what I've read thus far, the lack of understanding between humans and faunus is one reason why they fail to see eye to eye. Even between two friends, if the human were to do something that meant one thing to him but another to his faunus friend then it could spark an argument. And if that misunderstanding is not cleared up in a peaceful manner, if the human is not made aware of his ignorance in a way that does not insult him, or if the faunus fails to realize that the human was simply ignorant rather than disrespectful, even a long-standing friendship could shatter due to that one incident."

Blake found herself speechless at Mitsuru's swift understanding of the matter. While it was only one reason for the conflict, as Mitsuru had stated, it was still one of the underlying causes of the faunus' hatred of humans. From the faunus' perspective, the humans treated them like animals, seeing them as nothing more than pets or beasts who could think, talk, and walk on two legs.

But looking at it from Mitsuru's perspective, it was not that humans, not all of them at least, were disrespecting faunus. It was simply that they did not realize the cultural significance that certain actions had to the faunus. To them, they must have thought that faunus enjoyed the same thing as the animals whose traits they shared and used that as some sort of basis for their treatment of their faunus friends. Case in point, dogs and scratching their ears.

In truth, canine faunus, as well as many others, did enjoy it. It was simply that, for them, it was a right, a privilege, to be shared with someone who had earned their absolute trust. Very much unlike dogs who enjoyed it seemingly regardless of who did the scratching.

So if someone they had recently befriended, but not trusted completely, had attempted to do so, that act would be seen as a breach of trust, as a lack of respect. The faunus would most likely feel as though they were being belittled or even treated as a pet rather than a friend. And the human might not even know what they had done wrong. Or even if they realized they had done something wrong, they might not know why what they did was wrong.

Ignorance was not an excuse. But that did not mean that ignorance itself was a crime. In this case, was the faunus not at fault as well for not explaining the situation clearly? For jumping straight to anger rather than attempting to understand the situation first?

Though she had no proof, Blake now felt fairly certain that many in the past had attempted to expose the faunus' culture to the humans in an effort to bring about understanding between their two races. She could imagine dozens of reason why it had failed. And that, unfortunately, included fellow faunus halting the attempt in an effort to keep their culture a secret, not wanting humans to know just how close faunus truly were to their animal counterparts.

Were they right in trying to keep it a secret out of fear of being labeled as more animal, more beast, than man? Or had they only hastened each and every conflict, every war to come between the two races by preventing proper understanding between one another?

For the first time in her life, Blake could truly see just how badly the situation had escalated. No longer was it the just a matter of humans looking down on faunus or of faunus demanding rather than earning their equality. Now she could see that even before the White Fang had become a terrorist group, the faunus already had their share of the blame.

They were too quick to label an act as disrespectful or belittling, too quick to lash out in anger without considering the situation in its entirety, too quick to play the victim even when humans truly and sincerely did not intend to hurt or offend them in any way.

And now, with a militant White Fang in play, it would be that much harder to calm things down. Had it been the old White Fang, the White Fang that had utilized peaceful protests and public speeches to give voice to the inequality faced by faunus even after the war, they might have been able to calmly discuss the possibility of properly sharing their culture with the humans rather than demanding acceptance and equality when they themselves closed themselves off. As things stood, something would have to be done about the White Fang first.

But even then, even if the White Fang somehow stood down, would the humans listen? Would they be willing to learn more about the, thus far, unknown faunus culture? Or would they denounce them as liars, claiming that beasts could not possibly have a civilized culture to call their own? Or perhaps even call it a culture fitting only for animals and beasts?

There were so many problems that Blake could foresee. But at the same time she could finally see a possible starting point in her desire to bring about peace between humans and faunus. And it was all due to one person. And as cruel and heartless as it may sound, a tiny part of her could not help but be thankful for the Grimm. Were it not for them, that one person would not be sitting in front of her at that moment.

"So what do you want to know first?" If Mitsuru was willing to learn then Blake would do her best to ensure that her leader knew everything she needed and wanted to know and that the information was as accurate as possible.

One person, one student wasn't much. But it had taken only one man to create the group known as the White Fang. It had only taken one man to turn that once peaceful group into the group it was now. And if all it took was one person to start the movement that would bring about peace between the two races, Blake was willing to put all her money down, even her entire life, on Mitsuru being that person.

She wouldn't have been able to explain it had someone asked her why she was certain that Mitsuru would be that one person. Was it her charisma? Was it that resolve of pure steel that lay beneath that kind smile? Or was it simply the fact that she was the first to show such an honest and deep interest in learning about the faunus?

It could have been any one of those. Perhaps all, or perhaps none of them. Had Blake been a less logical person she might have even attributed their meeting as fate. A faunus, masquerading as a human, with dreams of bridging the gap between humans and faunus. And a human from a faraway land who had never even heard of the faunus yet wishes to understand them at a level very few humans have done.

'Or maybe I've been reading too many fantasy books,' Blake thought with a wry smile and a small shake of her head.

But regardless of the root of her beliefs, she knew it was not likely to bear fruit any time soon, perhaps not even until after they finished their studies at Beacon. Mitsuru might not even have any intention of being the one to lead such a movement, simply wishing to learn so that she, and most likely her friends, could avoid such misunderstandings of their own. But whatever the case, she was willing to do whatever it took to stack the odds in her favor should it turn out the way she hoped. That way, if and when the time finally came, Mitsuru would have all she needed to know about the faunus.


A little after noon, Akihiko and Ken returned from Vale after walking around the city with Koromaru in tow. They had managed to cover plenty of the commercial district in a short time since they rarely stopped to enter a store. And after a quick lunch at a café close to the landing pads, they took the noon trip back to Beacon.

On their way back to their room, they found Ren standing in the dorm's communal kitchen with several ingredients laid out on the countertop. Just as he was about to begin cooking, he caught sight of the two. "That took a while. Were there a lot of people at the bank?"

"Not really. We just decided to walk around Vale a bit more since we finished up quickly," explained Akihiko as he leaned against a nearby wall with his shoulder while Ken took a seat the a large dining table just a few steps away, Koromaru sitting on his haunches not far from where Ren was standing. "So what's all this for? Don't feel like eating at the dining hall?"

"Just felt like it," was Ren's response. He poured a small amount of oil into the small wok and lit the stove. As he waited for the oil to heat up, he double-check the bowled-up ingredients next to the stove top. "When you go years cooking for yourself it feels strange to suddenly be able to eat whenever you want without having to do the cooking yourself. That and Nora just wanted me to cook for her."

The silver-haired boxer chuckled, thinking back to his own childhood. "Yeah, I've been there a few times. Though Shinji was always the better cook. I don't think I ever went two days without hearing him telling me off about my diet having too much protein."

"Shinji?"

Ren upended the bowl of minced garlic into the wok, stirring it around with a metal spatula with a long wooden handle that Akihiko recognized as the kind commonly used in Chinese cooking. It was only then that he actually paid attention and noticed that Ren was using a wok rather than a sauté pan. It seems despite the entire world being dominated by a more western culture some eastern influences still remained. Though he had to wonder if the fact that Ren seemed to have Chinese roots had anything to do with it.

It was an interesting thought, the possibility that one's roots drew them to certain things. After all, what were the chances that a boy with distinctly Asian features would be named Lie Ren, a Chinese name if Akihiko wasn't mistaken, wore clothes that were equally Asian in origin, and would also use cooking tools often used in Chinese cooking? Especially in a world that was dominantly western from his and SEES's perspective?

"A friend of mine from way back," he answered. "We met at an orphanage years ago and we've been friends ever since." Despite the lack of hints in the boxer's words, Ren had immediately picked up on the fact that there was no one by the name of Shinji in their group. That, and everyone had said that only the eight of them plus Koromaru had survived. His expression must have shifted for an instant since Akihiko smiled sadly at him. "It's fine. It happened a few months before the attack. Besides, knowing him he'd come back to life just to kick my ass if I didn't move on."

"I can actually see him doing that," Ken added with a soft laugh. "Shinjiro-san was never the kind of guy to keep his thoughts to himself."

Akihiko's laughter joined Ken's. "True. Can't remember how many times we got into a fight over the smallest things."

"So you both grew up in an orphanage?" asked Ren. Before the garlic could brown too much, he tossed in a bowl of diced chicken into the wok. Setting down the bowl, mixed the chicken with the oil and garlic using the spatula. "That's surprising. From the stories everyone's shared, Japan sounds like quite the peaceful place. Even more than Vale all things considered."

"It might sound like it but it's because the Grimm threat was… contained for the most part," explained Akihiko. He would have to let everyone know later on what he told Ren to avoid any discrepancies in their stories if they decided to share any with the others. "That and the fact that the few Persona-users we had was often enough. You've seen their power first-hand and let me tell you, even those of SEES, who don't train and fight full-time, have experience fighting even larger Grimm."

"So it's not necessarily safer, just that the way everything is handled is different that it seems that way. I see." Tossing in a bowl of vegetables, he mixed it in with the rest of the ingredients.

Akihiko just shrugged. "Honestly it's hard to say. After all, despite how strong we were we were overwhelmed in the end. Don't know if it's because we were an easier target since we were isolated, or if it's because we were the more dangerous opponent. Could have just been a whim on their end for all we know. Not like we know what those things are thinking or if they can even think that far ahead."

"True. Guess sometimes it just comes down luck. Or bad luck in some cases." Pouring in the sauce and a bowl of noodles, Ren gave everyone one last stir to mix everything before placing a cover on the wok, letting it all steam for just a while longer to heat up the noodles. "But I think there's something to be said about an entire country that can celebrate multiple festivals in a year. The only major festival we have around here is the Vytal Festival which only comes around every two years."

Akihiko conceded that point to Ren. Inwardly, however, he knew it was just a farce. The only reason Japan had been peaceful was because it had existed in a time when the Grimm, then known as the Shadows, had yet to exist in such great numbers. That and, as he had stated, the threat was contained. Not by any man-made means or, at least, not by any means they had purposely created. The Dark Hour was a blessing just as much as it was a curse. It prevented the Shadows from interacting with humans for the most part, but it also allowed Shadows to cause more trouble than before.

Shadows had existed even before the Dark Hour. That much they were certain of. Otherwise the Kirijo would never have been able to perform their experiments. But before the Dark Hour was created by the accident, there had been no sign of Shadows attacking humans and causing the condition known to the public as Apathy Syndrome.

Looking at things now, it was hard to decide which time period was safer.

On one hand, Shadows and Apathy Syndrome had been contained to a small area, to a single city. But despite their efforts, the problem was slowly spreading across a wider area, claiming more and more victims with only a few people capable of fighting them off.

On the other, the Grimm were an open threat visible to all. Everyone had the ability to fight them if they so wished to do so. But despite the increase in numbers, the seemingly infinite Grimm continued to slowly encroach upon human territory.

Neither case had a visible end. Even knowing of the existence of Nyx, only Minato had been capable of acting against it. And even he had not been able to permanently end the threat. At best, he had sealed away humanity's wishes for salvation through death, preventing such nihilistic thoughts from calling out to Nyx to bring about the Fall. But now that the Shadows existed in the real world in the form of the Grimm, any negative emotion called out to the dark beings.

Which situation was more favorable? Or rather, which situation was more manageable? It was too difficult to say. Neither one had a clear end point. As much as they wanted to end the threat to all living beings, no one knew where they needed to strike. Nyx, in the past, was the embodiment of death itself. Despite their bravado, SEES knew the truth. Did Nyx still exist in this time period in some form? If so, was she now vulnerable? Or was she just as untouchable as she had been before?

As he watched Ren slide the now finished dish onto a large plate, Akihiko shook such thoughts out of his head. Now was not the time to dwell on such things.

"Kenny!"

Upon hearing that familiar name spoken by a familiar voice with an equally familiar cheeriness, Ken had attempted to flee from the room. Unfortunately, being seated on a chair behind a table meant he had to take that precious second or two to maneuver out of it. That had been more than sufficient for Nora to run up to him and pull him into a hug. She then took his place on the chair while placing him on her lap, much like a child holding a life-sized doll.

"Is she ever gonna get tired of that?" Akihiko asked with some amusement as Ren returned to the kitchen after placing the food on the table. "At this rate Ken just might start sleeping in someone else's room. He might even considering asking the Headmaster to switch him with someone else from a different team."

Ren just chuckled as he began to organize everything he had used next to the sink in preparation for later. "I'd say another day, two at most. After that, she'll be back to normal."

"Normal for her at least." A knowing grin accompanied Akihiko's reply as he watched Nora pile some of the stir-fried noodles onto a new plate. "Still, she seems to know her way around kids, though I wouldn't really call Ken that to his face. Doesn't like it to say the least."

"Well, he is at that age I guess," Ren rolled up his sleeves and started rinsing off as much as he could from the dirty dishes. "You can grab something to eat if you want. I made more than enough."

"We ate on the way back, thanks. It's not just his age though. In a lot of ways, Ken hasn't been a kid for a long time."

"Oh?"

The silver-haired boxer nodded, watching in amusement as Nora tried to get Ken to eat despite his protests of having eaten only recently. He wasn't too worried. If Ken was offended by how Nora was treating him, he would have made it known long ago. "Ken's an orphan. Just like me."

"I'm guessing you don't mean just recently."

Akihiko shook his head. "I don't know what happened to his father, or if he even knew him, but in a month it'll be three years since his mother died. He's more or less been alone ever since."

Ren cast an eye at the subject of their discussion. "Will he be alright with you telling me that?"

"I wouldn't have told you if I thought he'd have a problem with it," admitted the boxer. "Besides, he's already come to terms with it. It might hurt a bit to talk about, but he won't let it drag him down. Not anymore."

A part of Ren felt bad that he was hearing much about Akihiko and Ken's past, especially something so personal, but he wasn't exactly comfortable with sharing his just yet. Despite being long-time friends, not even Nora knew everything about his past. Nor did he know everything about hers. It wasn't a matter of trust, but simply an unspoken agreement to respect each other's decision to keep their respective pasts to themselves. Even without knowing, he trusted her. And he knew she did too.

The two remained in a comfortable silence after that, Ren rinsing off and setting the newly washed bowls and cookware inside the dishwasher to dry, though he left the wok and the spatula out as they were his to begin with, while Akihiko watched Nora and Ken's interactions with amusement. Nora had let Ken go earlier but had insisted that he sit next to her as she regaled him with some stories from before she and Ren came to Beacon.

And unnoticed to all, save for one, there was a brightness in Ken's eyes that had not been there a few days ago. And for that reason alone, that one person knew that they had made the right decision.


"Don't you have your own partner to annoy?"

"Come on Ice Queen. Nothing wrong with hanging out with my sister and her partner right?" came Yang's rhetoric response. "Besides, Blake was headed for the library this morning. I'm not exactly the hang-out-in-the-library kind of girl."

Weiss just growled in response and increased her pace, practically stomping up the stairs to the second floor of the dorm where their room was located. She could hear Ruby's admonishing tone as she scolded her unapologetic older sister. But as much as the heiress appreciated her partner taking her side over her sister's, it was a little too late.

She pulled out her Scroll as she approached the door to their team's room and held it up to the scanner to the side. As soon as the green light came on, she pocketed her Scroll and reached out with her other hand to open the door. As soon as she did, she stopped before she could cross the threshold into the room.

"Weiss? What's wrong?"

The white-haired girl didn't answer her partner, too busy staring at the scene going on inside their room. Ruby peered into the room, Yang doing the same, to see what it was that had given Weiss pause. It didn't take them long to find the reason.

Inside the room were Yukari, Fuuka and Aigis, the latter resting on the seat of her maintenance station, seemingly asleep, while Fuuka was at the monitor next to it, typing into the mechanical keyboard attached to it. Yukari was sorting through some shopping bags and moving the contents around. Hearing Ruby's voice coming from the doorway, Fuuka looked up from her work.

"Oh, you're back. Sorry, just give me a moment while I finish up."

"Hey Ruby, Yang, Weiss," greeted Yukari, turning to acknowledge them before returning to what she was doing.

"You went shopping?" Yang asked, joining Yukari beside Fuuka's bed.

"For new clothes yeah," answered the brunette. "I'm just sorting through them. We kinda forgot to separate what we bought so I'm just looking for my stuff to take back to my room."

Calling out a greeting to the archer, Ruby swiftly walked up to Fuuka to stand slightly behind the shorter teen. "What're you doing?" she asked, looking at the screen over Fuuka's shoulder. In the background, Weiss greeted Fuuka and Yukari but moved to the desk in the corner, taking a seat and pulling her Scroll out of her pocket.

"I'm just running some diagnostic scans on Aigis's systems," explained the teal-haired girl. "We've done some basic scans at least once a week but she hasn't had a full scan since the attack so it's really important for her to have one now."

"Why so long without one?"

"The Kirijo scientists were usually the ones who performed maintenance on Aigis," explained Fuuka. "But now that they're all gone there's nobody left who could have done it over the past seven months."

"But… aren't you doing that now?" asked Ruby, trying to make sense of what she was seeing on the monitor. But before her eyes could even register a quarter of what was displayed, a new set of data would take its place.

"Only because Aigis taught me what I needed to know." Even as she spoke her fingers were still typing on the keyboard, her eyes moving back and forth across the data displayed on the screen. Behind her, Ruby was wondering just how Fuuka could read all that data so quickly. "The basic scans were easy since she could guide me through the necessary steps. Afterwards, she would teach me how to interpret the data. It didn't take long before I could do it on my own. But a full system scan like this is still beyond me since she has to be powered down for it. She taught me how to perform the scans but that's all I can do at the moment. Later on she'll explain things while going over the results like we used to."

While their arrangement was logical, Ruby immediately realized the disadvantages. "But what if there's a problem?"

Fuuka's fingers slowed in their movements and the siblings knew that Fuuka was aware of that issue. "I know a bit about computers and programming but Aigis's programming is far beyond anything I've ever seen or done. And while Aigis knows a lot about herself, her knowledge isn't perfect. So if there is a problem we can only hope that Aigis and I can make sense of it so that we can fix it."

Fuuka returned to her task, but though her speed was unchanged Ruby could see the tension in her petite body – it was still surprising and amusing that there was someone who was shorter yet older than her – that had not been there moments ago. It was too late for Ruby to take back her words, however. Even though she had spoken out of concern, she could have waited for a better time to bring it up. Hopefully Fuuka's worries didn't end up distracting her from her task.

Across the room, Weiss was doing her best to ignore the situation. But try as she might, she couldn't put it out of her mind long enough to focus on the display of her scroll. The simple fact that Fuuka was performing maintenance on Aigis once again hammered home the fact that the blonde wasn't human.

Almost as soon as Weiss had woken up that morning, she had gone straight to the CCT after a quick shower and breakfast. She had been hoping to speak with her sister, Winter, but she had been unavailable. So instead, she sent her a message through her Scroll asking certain questions about androids.

A part of her was relieved that she had not been able to speak directly to Winter. It was only after she had even sent the message that she realized that Winter would want to know why she was asking such questions seeing as she had never shown any interest in robotics or the programming behind them before, let alone both. And as much as she despised being led by an android, she knew that SEES had revealed the secret to them because they trusted their new teammates to some degree.

Weiss knew herself well enough to admit that she could be quite vindictive, sometimes even unreasonable, when pushed. Had it only been Aigis in the line of fire, she would not have hesitated for even a moment to let Winter know every single detail. But Aigis was not the only one who would be affected if she did that. There were seven other people who would be affected, almost assuredly negatively too, should she share everything she knew with her sister.

If the Atlas Military, the pioneers of robotic research and development in all of Remnant, were to learn of a robot that had an AI more advanced than any other thus far and was also capable of something similar to a Semblance, then Weiss knew that there was an incredibly high possibility that Aigis would never be seen again. And, due to the simple fact that they were associated with her, the rest of SEES may follow.

And even if the military could not spirit away Aigis or SEES without exposing themselves as the culprit, the Vale Council could easily be convinced to force Ozpin to hand over Aigis as a subject of research, possibly even taking SEES for questioning. After all, if they could mass-produce robots with the capacity to utilize Semblance, or at least something similar enough, then there would be no need to send humans to their deaths by fighting the never-ending horde of Grimm.

Weiss was no stranger to such lines of thinking. After all, her father regularly relied on backroom deals to get what he wanted and had taught her how to do the same while also covering her tracks by any means necessary. Her father was certainly powerful enough to not care whose toes and feet he crushed along the way.

She, however, was not.

It was one thing to target Aigis. It was another to target her knowing that others would be drawn into the conflict one way or another. As much as she wanted to direct her ire at the android who had become her team leader, Weiss did not want to betray the trust she had been given when Aigis's secret was revealed. Especially not when the one to give that trust was Mitsuru.

And that was another thing that bothered her though to a significantly lesser degree. It had not escaped her notice that Mitsuru trusted Aigis to a great degree. In fact, it almost seemed as though she, along with the rest of SEES, trusted her just as much as they trusted one another. Yesterday, they had made it known that Akihiko was Mitsuru's second-in-command. But once the pair had departed for the bank, it had been Aigis whom the rest of them had turned to for instructions.

And it clearly wasn't just because she had been the one to discuss things with Mitsuru – which was another issue since one did not discuss things with a robot. None of SEES had looked at her as though she were just a mere representative. It was as though Aigis was, dare she say it, their leader at that moment.

Was that how they truly saw her? As just another member of SEES? But why? She was just a machine. No matter how advanced an AI, no matter how skilled the programmer and creator, that was all it was. Just a bunch of programs that allowed a robot to imitate human behavior. Even if they said they did not understand how her 'Papillon Heart' worked it didn't, shouldn't, change the fact that Aigis was a mechanical imitation of a human being. Nothing more, nothing less.

And that was why it frustrated her to no end to see them treating her like a human being. And it wasn't just SEES. First and foremost was Ruby Rose, her very own partner. Ruby had seen Aigis without her clothing. She had even asked Aigis to show her how she switched her hand out for her other weapons. Yesterday she, along with everyone else, had seen Aigis open up her wrist to pull out a bullet so Ruby could compare it with those at the weapons stores in Vale. She had even helped assemble the maintenance station that they were using at that very moment.

And yet, despite being the one with the most exposure to Aigis, she was quite possibly the first one outside of SEES to start treating Aigis as though she were human. The first night they had all dined together, Ruby had asked Aigis why she wasn't eating. Later that same night, as they were getting ready for bed, she had asked the mechanical maiden if she wanted to use the bathroom first. And yesterday, when they had met up for lunch, Ruby had handed Aigis a small bag of cookies from her favorite bakery.

Considering Ruby was, to borrow her elder sister's words, a weapons nut, Weiss had thought that she would remember that Aigis wasn't human. Then again, this was the same girl who referred to her scythe as her 'baby' or 'sweetheart'. Still though, Ruby might have been younger but she wasn't exactly stupid. She had expected better.

The others weren't that much better. There was some apprehension at the beginning, for some of them at least, but eventually they began to speak with the android normally as though she were human. Sometimes they spoke about her and sometimes about other, more insignificant things. At times they had even asked her for her opinion, causing her to nearly cry out in disbelief. How could a machine, even an AI, have an opinion? All it did was recite some pre-programmed response in line with its personality. Even if it didn't have a pre-programmed response, there was likely a part of its programming that generated a response based on the personality it was given.

Pyrrha Nikos herself had noted the most important thing. Aura, and Semblance by extension, came from one's soul. Grimm were soulless beings, meaning they had no Aura. Every living being had an Aura. Machines had no Aura. Thus, machines had no soul, no life. SEES might not have awakened an Aura by virtue of the strange, and incredibly dangerous, awakening process, but they had awakened a form of Semblance. Aigis may share that Semblance but she was made by human hands, by human scientists.

Considering that Mitsuru mentioned that the Kirijo group had been responsible for both the study of Personas and the creation of the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that they would have been capable of creating an artificial form of that power.

And then there was the awakening process of a Persona to consider. Personas were awakened when one faced great stress, great fear. Robots, even an AI, were incapable of feeling emotions. So if they did not feel fear, how could they possibly awaken a Persona? So without a soul and the inability to feel emotions, how else could a robot wield a Persona, a power summoned through the fear of death and born from one's soul, except through means as artificial as they were?

One only needed to think things through logically and with a clear head to be able to see the truth of the matter. Even without understanding the more complex ideas behind it all, Weiss had easily deduced the truth. So then, why was it that nobody else could see it? The siblings, Ruby and Yang, she could understand. Neither Nora nor Jaune seemed to be all that bright so they could be forgiven. But Pyrrha? Ren? Blake? Blake's opinion on her family's company aside, neither one of those three struck her as the type to just blindly accept what they were told.

Taking a deep breath, Weiss quietly let it all out, allowing all the tension that had built up inside her to slowly fade away. Right now, there was no point in thinking about it too much. Most of what she knew was a result of having lived in Atlas, where robotics was at its most advanced in all of Remnant. Unless she could prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that no AI, no matter how advanced, could possibly and truly feel and display emotions, she would be unable to convince anyone that Aigis was just a machine.

She would have to be careful while discussing things with Winter. Hopefully her sister could direct her to someone well-versed in the field of robotics and the development of AIs without having to reveal the reason for her newfound curiosity. After she gathered enough evidence and understood it well enough to explain it by herself then, and only then, would she act and bring the matter up with her team, her new acquaintances, and perhaps even the Headmaster.


Pyrrha watched with an experienced eye as two blades flew repeatedly through the air. They sang with every movement, clanging and screeching every time they struck and ground against one another.

"Don't hide behind your shield too much," she called out to her partner. "You don't want to lose sight of what your opponent is doing."

She received a hasty jerk of the head before he was forced to block, again with his shield. At least this time he managed not to completely hide his face behind it. Unfortunately, his opponent was more experienced in combat. When the blade struck the shield, striking at an angle that did not allow it to slide off so easily, he turned the slash into a shove, causing the blonde swordsman to stumble back in surprise. But the time spent trying to regain his balance was time for his opponent to pull his sword back just far enough for a quick follow-up strike. Freezing in place, Jaune glanced at the single-edged, slightly curved blade that now rest next to his neck.

Taking Jaune's lack of movement as a sign of his surrender, Junpei pulled his katana away from his teammate's neck and stepped back.

"That was better, Jaune," said Pyrrha as she and her fellow redhead approaching the two who had been sparring. She handed Jaune a bottle of water while Chidori passed Junpei his sword's sheath, allowing him to sheathe his blade before accepting his own bottle. "You're still hiding more than blocking but you'll be able to fix that with enough practice."

After returning to Beacon with Chidori, Junpei had decided to do his best to step into his new, and unexpected, role as team leader. After sending a quick message to Pyrrha and Jaune, the four of them met up in the locker room to retrieve their equipment before proceeding to look for a place to train.

There was only one rule regarding a student's own, personal training while on campus. They could not train in a place, at a time, and in a manner that was disruptive or harmful to those around them. In short, don't disturb anyone else while training, and don't train in a way that might hurt someone nearby. Most students used the training rooms, especially since most weapons could shift into a projectile weapon. Unfortunately, the training hall was one such facility that would not be open until the next week.

So they went with the next best thing. They sought out an open area that was far enough and secluded enough that they would not be breaking any rules. In addition, Pyrrha had agreed not to use Miló's rifle form to avoid any accidents should someone approach without their knowledge. Junpei's and Chidori's Personas were a non-issue since Mitsuru had forbidden them from attacking anyone with Persona-based attacks until they knew for certain whether someone's Aura could withstand the powerful attacks.

Pyrrha and Jaune, despite agreeing to meet them for training, had initially been worried about Junpei and Chidori's lack of Aura. But with forethought that would have surprised many people, Junpei had already considered that problem and had even spoken to Mitsuru about it that morning. With her approval, had had then revealed one of Trismegistus's many abilities to his new teammates. Rakukaja, an ability that granted the target a defensive layer similar to Aura.

The two Aura-users had initially been surprised that Junpei's Persona had such an ability. But he then revealed that, unlike Aura, the defensive shield it granted was temporary, lasting only a few minutes before disappearing, regardless of whether or not it had taken a hit. But regardless of its limits, it still allowed them to train without worrying too much about an accidental death.

He had even bought a timer while in Vale, one that made a very loud, and very annoying sound when the time ran out, and made sure to set the timer to at least fifteen seconds before Rakukaja was set to dispel. After all, none of them wanted someone to die simply because of carelessness or forgetfulness.

There was, however, one little detail that made it different from Aura asides from the time limit. In fact, Junpei had used his knowledge of that fact to his advantage by not telling them. Pyrrha had been so horrified when her blade drew blood after Junpei blocked her sword with his arm that she froze, afraid of moving and making the wound worse after mistakenly thinking that the protection had worn off. Junpei capitalized on her distraction and attacked. It was only her training and instincts that allowed her to avoid the attack.

After, spending a full five minutes trying to calm down both Pyrrha and Jaune, Junpei explained what happened. Aura prevented damage, with a few exceptions such as pure physical force. Rakukaja could only minimize the damage.

Blocking weapons with his bare arm was not something he did often. But during their fight, he had gotten the irresistable urge to try that tactic if only to be able to land a single hit. That, and to see the look on their faces. It was nothing short of foolish, at least, that seemed to be what Chidori was trying to say during her tirade. Either way, Junpei promised not to do something like that again.

And so the four of them proceeded to train for a few hours. They had started out with another, more proper match between Pyrrha against Junpei, as the latter's little bit of mischief ended the previous fight prematurely. Despite a good showing, the fight had, unsurprisingly, ended in a victory for Pyrrha, though she had apologized afterwards for some reason. Junpei just took it in stride, saying that he hadn't expected to win against someone who had been training and fighting for years.

"No worries. After all, I haven't even been fighting for a year-and-a-half. And I've been fighting with my Persona all that time. No surprise I lost." He admitted that he had hoped he would do better but he wasn't about to fall into depression or throw a tantrum over it.

Then Chidori had faced off against Jaune. Junpei had called upon Trismegistus for a second time, this time for Chidori. This time, the fight had not ended the way they had expected. Chidori was not normally a front-line fighter. Her axe was used to keep opponents away to give her the time and space needed to call upon her Persona. She had been made to learn how to fight in close quarters in case it became necessary, but she was not that proficient

So it had been a great surprise when Chidori defeated Jaune with little difficulty. The fight had taken less than a minute, and ended with Jaune disarmed of his weapon with an axe at his throat. Pyrrha had immediately gone to make sure Jaune was alright. Junpei, on the other hand, was completely flummoxed by the unexpected development.

All things considered, the only ones who could fight against the Aura-users of Remnant and possibly win without their Personas were Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Aigis. And even then, Aigis had the best chance of winning due to being an android. Mitsuru and Akihiko, by virtue of having trained and fought against the Shadows longer than the rest of them, were better as fighters. But even they could not match their new teammates in terms of raw physical prowess. Their experience helped but not all their classmates were inexperienced. And it was that fact that had confused Junpei at that moment.

As Pyrrha spoke with Jaune about the most recent spar, Junpei was running through the fight in his head. Usually he would do it to pinpoint his own mistakes. In the rare case when he did not make any mistakes of note, he would look for thing that he could have done better, things he could have done differently. It had taken him months before he had developed that skill but when faced with someone as powerful as Elizabeth, he had to learn quickly how to pinpoint his own weaknesses since everyone else was too busy doing the same to point it out for him.

This time, however, he was focusing on the way Jaune had fought. There was something very… familiar about how he fought. It wasn't just that he and Chidori had little difficulty beating him. Jaune was strong and fairly fast, he had felt it when they fought just now so that wasn't it. He was able to react quickly enough as well. There was something else to it all, more to do with his actual movements.

"Hey, Jaune?"

Hearing his name being called, the blonde turned to Junpei and was immediately greeted by a thoughtful look on his leader's face. "Y-Yeah?"

"How did you…" Junpei began but immediately stopped and shook his head. "Nah, forget it. I'm probably just thinkin' too hard."

"Junpei? What is it?" asked Pyrrha, curious as to what he had been about to ask Jaune. Something in his tone told her that it had been about something serious despite how quickly he had dismissed it.

But Junpei just waved it away. "It's nothing. I mean, Beacon is the best academy there is and Jaune got in no problem. That definitely means something. So like I said, I'm probably just thinking too hard. Maybe I'm just a little worried about being the team leader and all that. I mean, I've never been the leader before. For anything. Now and then for training but not a full-time thing like this."

Jaune tried to hide how nervous he had gotten when Junpei mentioned him getting into Beacon easily. Ironically, he was right. Jaune getting into Beacon did mean something. Just not in a good way like Junpei had probably been trying to say. While it was reassuring that Junpei trusted and believed in him enough to not question it, it did make him feel guilty.

Following a similar line of thought as Junpei, Jaune was surprised that he had held out as long as he did while fighting Chidori and Junpei. Their attacks were swift and fierce. Obviously they saw no need to hold back since he and Pyrrha had Aura to protect them. It was probably only because of his shield that the fighting lasted longer than he had expected it to. Then again, was being able to hide behind a shield really something to be proud of?

And then there was that one spar he had against Pyrrha. Chidori had been the easiest, mostly because she wasn't too well-versed in close range fighting, but she had been swift on her feet despite her bulky dress, easily circling around him to strike from the side or even the rear where his shield could not cover him. Easy or not, he had still lost. Junpei was strong and relentless, pushing him back repeatedly and wearing him down despite the fact that he had a shield. Pyrrha had both their strengths and more. With both speed and strength on her side, and more experience fighting with a sword and shield, he stood absolutely no chance against the one known as the Invincible Girl.

Though since he sparred with his partner, the two of them had been treated to the sight of Junpei and Chidori fighting one another. Or more importantly, the sight of two Persona-users fighting one another.

It was a strange sort of fight to watch. Even Pyrrha had said so afterwards. It was a mix between a one-on-one duel, a two-on-two match, and a two-on-one battle. At times both their Personas, Trismegistus and Hecate, were out, both causing various places on the designated training area to suddenly erupt in flames as though a bomb had gone off. Both also attacked physically, Junpei's crimson Persona flying in while Chidori's tri-animal-headed biker-like Persona – he really wasn't sure how else to describe it – used its whip.

But all the while, neither Junpei nor Chidori were idle. Casting Rakukaja on himself, Junpei would charge in, weathering any burst of flame that came too close to him, to strike directly at Hecate's summoner. Chidori would then dance around Junpei, sometimes using her axe to defend herself or create distance between them since Hecate could not attack properly with its mistress in the line of fire.

Despite the need to use their Evokers, both Junpei and Chidori were clearly adept at finding or creating the necessary time to use them. More often than not, they would take their Evokers in their non-dominant hand and use it while moving around, neither one wanting to stay in one place for too long.

It was then that Jaune could admit, once again, that he was the obvious weak link of the team. Pyrrha had even noted that, if they had been allowed to use their Personas while sparring with her, she might have even lost since she had neither the knowledge nor experience needed to properly fight either Persona.

A quick Q&A session later revealed a bit more about the Personas of their two teammates.

Junpei's Trismegistus was obviously combat-oriented, able to utilize a small variety of physical attacks while also capable of using a single-target fire-based attack. Moreover, Junpei had shown that Trismegistus could be used as a large, moving shield to protect him from harm. And with his Rakukaja to grant himself a passive defensive ability to a level equal to someone with Aura, Junpei had little to fear.

Chidori's Hecate, on the other hand, was more of a long-ranged support-type from what they had been told. It had a fire-based attack, much like Trismegistus's, only it was also capable of attacking multiple targets all at once. And while its physical abilities were limited to its whip, it more than made up for it with other abilities. Hecate had an ability called Rakunda, which was the direct opposite of Junpei's Rakukaja. Rather than granting defense, it took it away. Neither Jaune nor Pyrrha wanted to know what it would do to their Aura.

She also had the ability to create a poisonous fog – which, thankfully, she decided not to demonstrate – and a few other things that hampered enemies, such as a paralyzing fog. She even had something they called a dark-type instant death attack. Much like Rakunda, neither Jaune nor Pyrrha really wanted to know what that last one was. It was interesting though that, despite Trismegistus's obviously combat-oriented skillset, Hecate's skillset sounded scarier to the two of them.

'Can I actually do this?' Jaune asked himself as Pyrrha sparred with Junpei once more. This time, though, she was holding back just a bit to give Junpei a chance to actually exert himself rather than have the fight end in a few minutes. A part of him wondered why Junpei was alright with such an arrangement. He was the leader, wasn't he? So, why was it that he could easily accept that Pyrrha was better than him in a fight without his Persona? Or was it because she was only better than him without his Persona that he could accept such a defeat?

He looked down at his gloved hands, the same soft, unblemished hands that would have been out of place on a swordsman, never mind a hero. Sure, they were a little rough from various household chores and some bonding projects he did with his father now and then, but they lacked the distinct callous found on the hands of swordsmen.

Pyrrha's hands had them. Junpei's hands had them. And though Jaune wasn't certain, he felt that Chidori most likely had them as well. It was only his hands that did not tell a tale of his grueling journey to Beacon. Instead, his hands told a tale of deceit, of how he had gotten into Beacon, the most prestigious of the four huntsman academies, with very little physical effort on his part.

He sighed again, watching despondently as Junpei and Pyrrha continued to spar. When the timer rang out, Pyrrha pulled away and settled into a defensive stance, calling out to Junpei to see if he could break through her defense when she focused solely on that. And so, even without his pseudo-Aura barrier, Junpei charged in, determined to improve his physical capabilities by challenging the one who was said to have been invincible and untouchable.

"You should say something you know."

Jaune jumped from, barely holding in a yelp of surprise, when Chidori spoke from beside him. The short girl was so quiet that he was often surprised to discover that she had been nearby without him realizing it. Even amongst SEES, he noticed, she was very quiet. The only person that she spoke with a lot was Junpei. It wasn't even because Junpei started the conversations. No. The only times he had seen her start a meaningless conversation was with Junpei. Any other time and she only spoke when she found it necessary.

Clearly now was, to her, one of those times.

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"Something has been bothering you for a while now," she stated plainly. The blunt way she spoke made him wonder if she knew how to be tactful, or if she even knew what the word meant. "It's usually best to talk about it when something like that comes up."

"With… with you?" he asked, wondering if she was offering.

"Only if you want to," came her equally blunt response. "But surely you have others you can speak to, other you trust more. You have a large family, correct? If you cannot speak about it with your team, perhaps someone from you family could help you."

'If only it was that easy,' he thought, inwardly cringing at the thought of contacting his family. After what he did to get into Beacon, the very first thing he would hear from any of his family members was either words of concern, or words that amounted to calling him stupid. Perhaps even both depending on who he spoke to first.

As it was, the only reason they had not contacted him was because he had exchanged his scroll for a new one. True, it meant getting a cheaper, slightly older model Scroll since he was exchanging a used one, but it meant they wouldn't be able to try and talk him out of it if they had managed to contact him before he arrived at Beacon and took the initiation.

But even now, with the initiation over and done with, he still didn't have the courage to contact his family. He knew they must be worried about him, but he couldn't bring himself to contact them, couldn't bring himself to risk the possibility that they would come for him and take him away despite the fact that, against all odds, he had managed to become an official student at Beacon.

"Well," continued Chidori, clueless and ignorant of his inner turmoil. "If you're still undecided don't be in too much of a hurry. Acting in haste rarely ends well if done without even a little preparation. But try not to take too long to decide. Time is the one thing we never have enough of, the one thing that, once lost, can never be recovered. If you wait too long before acting, you might find that the proper time to act has long since passed."

"Y-Yeah, thanks."

It almost sounded like she was telling him to take his time but to hurry up. Didn't that just cancel each other out? He didn't really understand what the redhead beside him was trying to say. Still, as he watched Pyrrha call to an end to the match after Junpei failed to breaking past her defenses, he knew that his secret could stay a secret for very long. It was only a matter of time before someone called him out on his lack of skill.

But at least, he thought while watching Junpei's easygoing smile, his teammates didn't seem that bad. Perhaps they wouldn't judge him too harshly. After all, everyone was entitled to chase after their dreams, right?


And that's the end for now. I had something like 8k more words but I decided to cut it out and just put it in the next chapter. As much as I like long chapters, the other two scenes I took out would not have been a good end point for the moment.

With the scene between Junpei and Yang, I've pretty much established an exchange rate between Yen and Lien. So from there, just convert whatever currency you had into Yen to get an idea of the value of something in Lien. Quick note about it though. The t-shirt price was something I found for the time around the year 2009 since that's when the events of P3 happened.

And for those that might be wondering, yes, I used Mitsuru's Persona 4 Arena appearance as a basis for the new underground player who met with Junior. I always found it strange that Mitsuru would wear a fur coat into battle in the game but hey, Akihiko's got nothing but a cape up top and Yukari's dressed in a superhero costume so what the heck. Either way, we now have two mysterious new players making contact with the Vale underground with quite a request for our local information broker.

As for SEES and co., Mitsuru's rich (again) and sharing the wealth. We also got a little more insight into how the teams are interacting with their new friends as well as the beginnings of some minor and major plot developments down the line. Which ones are minor and which ones are major? That'll be a surprise for now. One of them's already planned out from start to finish so I just have to lay down the ground work to bring it into play later on.

No Ozpin and Glynda this chapter but when classes start next chapter you can definitely expect Glynda to show up for her class. But before all that, we've got an Interlude coming up next. It's mostly written already so it'll be out in a few days after I finish it up and proofread and all that. Why an interlude and not an actual chapter? Well, the scene doesn't really mesh well with how the other chapters go. So I decided to separate it.

Was anyone surprised by how Rakukaja came into play? Gameplay-wise it increased defense. And so the only way I could think of to incorporate that was by turning it into a very short-term pseudo-Aura ability. I'm sure that, looking at that, you can all imagine how Tarukaja and Sukukaja will work. And even Rakunda, Tarunda, and Sukunda. To what extent will be hidden for now, especially in regards to how they affect Aura-users.

As always, I wanna hear what you guys think. So leave a review letting me know your opinions, good or bad.

Anyway, as little treat for everyone now that I've gotten this far into the story, coming up is the first of many omake. I tried my best to make it funny but since I was never good at writing 'gut-busting' humor those that I come up with myself will most likely just be amusing at best. So if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know.


OMAKE TIME!

It's Pun Time

"I bet you I can think of a pun that'll make her laugh. Heck, I'll tell her so many puns she won't be able to stop laughing."

All of a sudden, Junpei's eyes were as wide as they could possibly get. "What the- I just told you not to. There's no way senpai's gonna let it go especially if you bust out one pun after another."

"Aw come on, you scared I'll win that bet?" she asked with a leering taunting grin.

"Oh, I'm scared alright." Yang grin faded at his admission. "Scared of what senpai'll do to you."

And then the grin was back. "That all? If you're so sure, then I guess you don't mind taking me out for lunch if I win? No worries, I'll be sure to let Chidori know it isn't a date."

Seeing Yang's fearless countenance, Junpei could only sigh in defeat. Clearly nothing was going to convince her to listen. Still, he could at least profit from the situation if she was going to be so stubborn. "Only if you pay for my next lunch date with Chidori if senpai doesn't laugh at your jokes."

"Deal."

Yang held out one hand and, as reluctant as he was to let her commit suicide-by-Mitsuru, he reached out and shook her hand, sealing the agreement.

"Get ready to lose Junpei."

"It was nice knowing you."

As they walked away to another section of the store, all Junpei could do was pray that the poor soul known as Yang Xiao Long would live past the ordeal she was about to face. Or rather, that she did not emerge with scarring beyond repair, physical or otherwise.

Early the next morning, in the school's Dining Hall, the four teams were eating breakfast while discussing their plans for the day. Notably absent were the two siblings, which was a little strange since Yang had, according to the three members of ASYR, collected Ruby from her room and left before anyone else did.

Speaking of which, a flash of blonde out of the corner of Junpei's eyes made him turn towards the door. Coming up to their table were their two missing friends. But the grin that appeared on Yang's face when her eyes met Junpei's sent shivers down the teenage boy's spine. Then, remembering their conversation the day before, his face suddenly turned a deathly white. Before he could warn the others, Yang was already within hearing range.

"Hey guys," she greeted with a shit-eating grin on her face. "How's it… Yanging?"

Every member of SEES suddenly freezes in place and slowly, mechanically, turns to Yang with horrified gazes. Mitsuru freezes as well, a cup of coffee raised up to her lips when she did so. But unlike the others, her gaze remained solely fixed on the Scroll she was holding in her other hand. The rest of their teammates, even Ruby, just groaned at the joke, completely oblivious to SEES's strangely dramatic reactions.

Yang takes notice of Junpei's reaction, grinning slightly at the sight. And coupled with the way Mitsuru had stopped but did not react poorly to her opening pun, Yang took it as a sign that she was on the right track.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to wake up Ruby this morning."

"No you didn't," came Ruby's denial. Unfortunately, nobody really paid attention to it.

"Turns out she fell asleep really late. It took me a while but eventually Ruby… Rose."

More groans erupted from their lips, and the rest of SEES joined Junpei in the pale-faced group. Ruby's half-groaning response of, "That's why you dragged me around for an hour? So you could make that joke?" went ignored once again.

Uncaring of their reactions, Yang went on. "Turns out the reason it took her Xiao Long to fall asleep was because Weiss was being loud when she was counting Schneep last night."

"Wha… I…. I did no such thing!"

"Anyway Ruby, you should try to be more like Ren. He doesn't… Lie around in bed all day." By now SEES were glancing uneasily in Mitsuru's direction, ignoring the apple that Nora had aimed at Yang's head, which the latter simply caught in her hand. "Then again, if he does I bet Nora would probably bug him until she hammered her point home."

Then, looking around at everyone as though finally noticing the lack of positive reaction, Yang just reached behind her head to scratch it in faux confusion. "Woah, tough crowd. Talk about a… Weiss cold reception." She chuckled at her joke, ignoring Weiss indignant complaints.

Then, all of a sudden, she frowns and begins to look around. "Is it getting colder in here?" She asked, rubbing her arms with her hands. "It's like all the heat just… disa-Pyrrha-d." She chuckled again at her own joke before her smile faded. "No seriously, did someone turn down the heater or did someone turn up the AC?"

Finally managing to find his voice, Junpei nervously called out to the blonde. "Y-Yang?"

"Yeah?" Yang turned to Junpei with a semi-victorious grin, one that faded when she noticed how he, and even the rest of SEES, had slowly risen and inched away from the table and were looking ready to run.

"Maybe you should stop now," he requested, slowly backing away while glancing nervously at Mitsuru, the only member of SEES still seated at the table. In fact, she hadn't moved an inch since she heard Yang's first joke with the coffee cup still raised to her lips. Around him, the rest of SEES were sending Yang pleading looks as though agreeing with him.

"What's wrong? Are my jokes too… punny?" Again, Yang laughed.

Around them, people were beginning to complain about the cold just as Yang had done moments ago. Somewhere in the room, something cracked followed by the sound of something shattering.

"N-No. I-It's not that. It's just…"

"Afraid you'll lose our bet?" she interrupted, grinning viciously and victoriously at the fearful look on his face. "Come on, take your punishment like a man."

Yang began to cackle, even as people around her yelped in surprise when their drinks suddenly froze in their glasses and cups. Her cackling was suddenly cut off when a hand landed on her shoulder. A hand that was completely ice cold. "Yang."

If the hand hadn't been enough to freeze her in place, the equally ice cold voice certainly did. Turning her head to look over her shoulder – barely catching sight of SEES running and exiting the dining hall, she found herself face to face with Mitsuru. A Mitsuru who had her eyes closed. A Mitsuru with a pleasant smile on her face. "Did you just make a pun?"

Despite every instinct telling her to deny it, Yang was still riding on her pun-induced high. Compounded by the bet she had made with Junpei, there was no way she would have responded with anything else. "Yes."

"I see." Mitsuru nodded slowly, as though coming to terms with something. "That's good. Now that I know for certain that you were making puns, I can Execute you."

"Oh I see. Go ahead. You can… eh?"

"Since you like puns so much let me help you… cool off."

By the end of the day, every single student that had been inside the dining hall had to be admitted for counseling for severe trauma after witnessing Mitsuru's infamous Execution. And Yang? Well, let's just say she'll never want to see, touch, hear about, think about, be anywhere near, or even acknowledge the existence of ice ever again.