A/N: Another day, another chapter. Special Thanks to furaiz for beta-reading and editing. He helped me out a lot and even learned a few things.
Motoharu Tsuchimikado enjoyed the little things in life. Whether it was doting on his little sister, his job or doting on his little sister, he took pleasure from these things whenever he could. Today was one of those days. His scroll displayed various angles of Touma and Winter in Emerald Forest. So far the combat, or more accurately, Touma's attempts at escaping Winter had been thoroughly entertaining.
Hmm, not bad Kami-yan, Motoharu thought as he watched the boy managed to avoid Winter's onslaught barely, but you're gonna have to do better than that.
"Motoharu, how is Touma doing with his initiation?" Motoharu turned to see Ozpin and Glynda approaching him and he grinned.
"Well, he's doing well so far, considering Ice Queen is hunting him," Motoharu reported.
"You have him going up against her? What are you thinking?" Glynda asked exasperatedly. If anything, that was far more difficult compared to the usual initiations held at Beacon. The toughest opponents in those initiations would rarely be a Grimm like a Deathstalker. The fact that a fully trained huntsman was going after someone who had yet to step foot in the academy curriculum was ludicrous.
"Well… Kami-yan can just get rid of any Grimm with a touch. If we let him place the chess pieces at the ruins and come back, it'll be too easy. He needs to show that he can do more than that for what we have in store for him," the blonde man explained with a shrug, "So, why not up the pressure, right?"
"I see, you wanted to test what he can do under duress." Ozpin mused as he took out his scroll to view the action between Touma and Winter. While most huntsmen's usual jobs often consisted of dealing with Grimm, both Winter and Motoharu had often dealt with targets that weren't as one-dimensional as most Grimm.
Glynda sighed, at least it wasn't the worst choice of alternate testing. Winter was capable of holding back, and James Ironwood had told them beforehand that she is one of his best in the Special Operatives Unit. While Glynda had rarely gone to Atlas, she had seen the Special Operatives Unit at work. Highly disciplined, skilled and perhaps one of the most powerful fighting force on Remnant.
"Ice Queen really lives up to her name though. She's had Kami-yan on his toes the whole time." Motoharu remarked with a grin. So far, the Kamijou boy showed promise, but he and Winter knew that it wasn't enough at the moment. He also had a feeling that Winter would be pushing Touma even harder. He almost felt sorry for Touma, after all, when it came to semblances, Winter's mastery and creativity with hers was incredibly potent.
"Motoharu, does he fit your standards?" Ozpin asked with an approving nod as he watched Touma barely avoiding Winter's assault.
Motoharu glanced at Ozpin as he rubbed his chin in thought for a few minutes before giving an exaggerated shrug, "We'll just have to see, won't we?"
Winter was more or less exactly what Touma expected; professional, experienced and very strong. Touma knew that she was going easy on him, for someone as proficient as her could easily take him out within a few minutes. Since she also met him at the ruins, it was likely she planned to ambush him there rather than track him there.
Touma crouched, hidden within the many bushes scattered throughout the forest. The past fifteen minutes consisted of him dodging deadly slashes and dispatching ice Grimm-like creatures summoned by none other than Winter herself. He had to expend a smoke bomb just so he could escape her, if only for a brief moment at the ruins after realising that he did not want to engage her directly.
Now, he was desperately waiting for Winter to move away from the area. He watched as the older woman disappeared from view before he released a breath he didn't know he had. He slowly rose up and crept across the forest, careful to keep an eye out for the older huntsman.
He spent several more minutes traversing through the forest, occasionally eliminating a few Grimm and hoping that the brief skirmishes hadn't attracted Winter in any way. However, he didn't come out unscathed, suffering a few cuts and bruises as he was not completely focused in those skirmishes.
It went well for a while until he saw an Ursa that looked like it was carved out of ice. He immediately hid behind a tree, certain that the Ursa had yet to spot him. Touma crouched, knowing that if that kind of Grimm was around, then it was likely Winter was nearby. He steadily crept around the Grimm as it slowly lumbered past him, using the brushes and fallen tree trunks as cover.
Suddenly, a sharp caw echoed through the canopy and Touma turned to see a flock of icy blue birds, each one staring straight at him. The birds' caws continued to fill the silence and the alarm bells started to ring in his head. He immediately rolled away as some sort of force swiped just above him. The Ursa had found him and ploughed forward, knocking trees aside and trampling the brushes. Touma thrust his hand forwards, and as the Ursa was about to gouge him with its claws, it vanished as if it never existed.
The birds hadn't moved at all during the commotion. Touma knew that if the birds saw him and the Ursa responded, it was likely that all the blue icy Grimm had some sort of system that allows them to work together. The boy turned and ran, forgoing all elements of stealth. He was absolutely sure that Winter had found him sooner or later anyway.
Within a few minutes, Winter had hurtled towards Touma and just before she reached him, he dove away to the side, launching his last concussive round at his pursuer. To his horror, Winter conjured a glyph and the projectile deflected off it while increasing her acceleration as she chased him relentlessly. She slashed at his chest, forcing him to duck underneath her blade. Winter didn't relent as she followed up with a side-kick at his torso, a decisive blow on the hapless boy.
Touma flew from the sheer impact, completely winded by the attack. He felt like he needed to vomit from that impact, but stood up as he shook his head. As Winter approached him with her sabre pointed at Touma, he reloaded another smoke bomb and rose up, backing off as much as he could while he kept his eyes on Winter.
Winter was assessing Touma, strangely enough, for Beacon rather than Atlas. She had a lot of faith in General Ironwood's judgement, however, she couldn't help but feel a little concerned about the boy. She couldn't deny that Touma displayed qualities that the General greatly valued and she was interested since Touma had Ironwood's favour, so she had decided that she would accept this arrangement. True, she had her doubts about Touma as he had no aura and he dropped out from combat school. When Motoharu suggested that she 'test' Touma, she agreed, it would be the best way to see what Touma was capable of, first-hand, after all, his circumstances required a slightly different way of figuring out if he was capable or not. Motoharu did let her choose whether Touma passed or not and she intended to push him as hard as she needed to see if he had what it takes.
She never liked to go 'easy' on someone she had to train or assess. When she first encountered Touma at the ruins, she could've easily dispatched him despite the fact that her summons from her semblance had little to no effect against him. What did surprise her was that he didn't hesitate to use what was necessary to escape. He even launched a concussive round at pretty good timing, however, she knew he would attempt something like that and avoiding it had been a trivial matter for her. She respected his decisive actions, she was pretty sure that she made him realise how serious she was, yet he used what he had to succeed.
Winter's lips twitched upwards microscopically as she watched Touma deploy another smoke bomb right between them. She summoned a glyph where she last saw Touma and in an instant, the smoke dissipated only for her to have revealed nothing but shrubs and trees. She knew that they were close to the end of the Emerald Forest, and the rapid footfalls were all she needed to give him that final push. With a flash of a glyph under her, she zoomed right after the escaping Touma.
Touma could almost see the clearing now. He peeked behind him expecting Winter to be hot on his heels, yet there was no sign of her. As he refocused to his destination, the woman he was worried about turned out to be waiting several metres ahead of him. Touma grit his teeth, it didn't matter where he would run off to anymore, she'd just outrun him. He knew his misfortune had always been plentiful and impactful, but hopefully, this wouldn't turn out to be the case in this instance.
Motoharu, Ozpin and Glynda were all experienced huntsmen. All three of them unanimously agreed that if it came down to a straight fight between Touma and Winter, the Schnee was definitely coming out as the clear victor. They would also agree that Touma knew that Winter was the superior of the two. What none of them expected was when the auraless boy decided to charge straight at Winter.
"He… can't be serious…" Glynda muttered disdainfully. When she taught her classes for combat, silly mistakes committed by students was a fairly common occurrence, especially among the younger ones. However, suicidal charges were so rare that she had taken off her glasses and rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things.
"Oh, I think he is." Motoharu replied, thoroughly entertained. Unlike Glynda, Ozpin and Winter, he didn't have the luxury of high aura reserves, powerful semblance or amazing weaponry. He often had to rely on more unorthodox methods to come out on top in various encounters with different enemies. When he saw Touma's decided course of action, he was interested to see how Touma would deal with Winter.
Ozpin remained silent. While he and Glynda had only managed to arrive for the latter half of the Initiation, he was impressed with Touma's performance so far. He had avoided or escaped Winter while he dispatched various Grimm and even some of Winter's own summons. Still, the test wasn't over yet and Ozpin was interested to see how Touma would finish this.
The moment Touma reached Winter's range, she slashed twice high and low, expecting him to back off. Instead, he continued charging forward, weaving between the attacks with his right hand reaching out towards her. Unfortunately for Touma, Winter was experienced in many forms of combat and while she certainly didn't expect his recklessness, she wasn't a stranger to it either. Her left hand wrapped around Touma's forearm and she kicked him away.
Touma stumbled back and then aims his left hand on the floor, to which Winter responded by conjuring a glyph right underneath him. He kneeled, dispelling the glyph before pouncing at her with a cry. Winter effortlessly sidestepped and struck him with a kick to the abdomen once again.
Touma landed unceremoniously as he grunted from the impact. He shakily stood up, his injuries mounted to the point where his body started to fatigue from exhaustion. All he had was one smoke bomb against an experienced huntsman with astounding swordplay. He was sure that the smoke bomb wouldn't be as effective as he'd liked. Every encounter against Winter had only proven to him that there was no way he could take her on conventionally, even though he tried it last time.
He checked himself, once he was sure Winter wasn't going to come to him. His Imagine Breaker was only effective against her summons and her semblance. If he tried to reach her, she would just react and stop him from doing that. He had a guess to how she was faster than him, but he wasn't going to give up now.
Touma shot the last smoke grenade and immediately he and the surrounding area was completely concealed with the grey smoke. He dashed forward, blindly hoping that he would make it somehow. That all came crashing down as his vision had suddenly filled with trees and shrubs. Winter had already removed the smoke with her glyphs and she pounced towards Touma with her sabre pointed at him. He twisted his body to avoid the attack, lashing out a strike with his left hand to which she casually flicked away with her sabre. Touma grunted in frustration as he went for a right hook and once again, she grabbed his wrist and twisted it, forcing him to go to his knees. Before he could even struggle, she pointed her sabre at his chest.
Winter's glare held on to the panting Touma, it no longer mattered if he touched with the Imagine Breaker, he was defeated. The older huntsman then relented and sheathed her sabre with a satisfied grunt before she held out her hand.
"Satisfactory, Touma. You passed." Winter said with a minute smile. Touma gaped in shock and took her hand. Her eyes widened as she felt her aura vanish but her face quickly hid that fact, a trivial task for a soldier like her.
"But, how? You beat me." Touma was sore all over and struggled to catch his breath. He had used all his concussion and smoke projectiles, and yet to hear that he passed was a bit of a surprise.
"It will be explained later. For now, let's head back." Winter answered as she turned and marched towards Beacon, with Touma limping behind.
"Kami-yan, any guy would be envious of your position right now," Motoharu said with a tilt of his head. "Getting treated by the Ice Queen like she is your own personal nurse, almost as good having a little sister doing the job."
Touma grimaced as he saw Winter threw a brief but piercing glare at the blonde man who didn't seem to notice at all before she returned to treating his wounds. He couldn't deny what Motoharu was saying, though. Winter was a beautiful lady, appearing as if she was a snow angel carved out of ice, and he felt like he could depend on her for anything.
"Next thing we'll know, she'll be at your beck and call. Oh! Since Ironman likes you and all, maybe he'll assign her to be your maid-"
"Hold your tongue, or I'll take it from you," Winter ordered only for Motoharu to grin even wider, but he raised his hands in surrender. As she headed off to one of the cabinets for more supplies, Motoharu approached and showed him on his scroll, a particular snapshot of Winter's face.
"Kami-yan~" he whispered with a tone of admiration, "I don't know how you did it, but you made her smile once already. Trust me, I have not seen her smile at all, but you did in only a couple of hours of meeting her. You also rescued that girl a couple of nights ago and helped another one in that dust incident. Are you a harem king in the making, Kami-yan?"
Touma froze as he saw Winter right behind Motoharu. She placed her hand on his shoulder and the blonde man paled immediately as if he had turned into a humanoid paper. His bone creaked at the sheer force from Winter's grip. "Motoharu, if you don't behave, then I'll make you behave, permanently."
"Okay… okay, okay!" Motoharu gasped, as he was released, he massaged his shoulder and muttered, "You know, Ice Queen, this is why you're single. Qrow wasn't really kidding about it, huh?"
Winter sat at Touma's side as she took a deep breath before she got to business, "Touma asked for an explanation about the initiation."
"Yeah, I thought I was going to fail when I-"
"Kami-yan! Don't sweat the small stuff," Motoharu cut in as he waved his hand dismissively, "We never told you the criteria to pass the initiation. We just gave you an objective with parameters outside your league."
Touma quirked his eyebrow, a little confused at the explanation. He understood the fact that his initiation was an oddity.
"Succeeding the objective was not a critical part of the test, Touma." Winter clarified, "We decided that we want to see what you would do in certain situations. No one expected you to defeat me in any way."
"I… see," Touma could only scratch the back of his head, "So you tested my mindset?"
"Correct. While combat capabilities are important, your ability to make a decision out of the situation presented to you is just as important," Winter stated coolly as she gave a satisfied nod at her handiwork. Touma noticed that even if she had finished, her posture did not relax at all.
"Well Kami-yan, that's about it. You passed because you made decisions based on the situation without hesitation. That is important for any huntsman." Motoharu said jovially as he leaned back on his chair and wiggled his eyebrows. "I think you have what it takes for the stuff we have in mind for you. Now let's get to the… things you can improve on, Kami-yan. Ice Queen, any comments?"
Winter stood up and placed the equipment away as she thought back to the initiation. She then turned to Touma and reported, "It was almost what we expected of you, Touma. Since you lack an aura, you have no capabilities in dealing with longer engagements in combat. You need to be able to deal a decisive end as soon as possible."
"That's true, Kami-yan. Don't worry, most huntsmen like myself don't have large aura reserves, so any battles of attrition is pretty hard on us," Motoharu said with a shrug.
"And..." Winter continued with a pointed look at her fellow huntsman. "...you are far too predictable with your intentions, especially when your opponent knows what you are capable of."
Touma grimaced at Winter's words, he couldn't deny them at all. The lack of aura definitely hindered him and his weapon didn't use dust at all thanks to his Imagine Breaker.
Motoharu on the other hand, shrugged, not at all bothered by the report. "Shouldn't be a problem Ice Queen. We just need to expand Kami-yan's arsenal a bit and I have a few in mind."
"Wait! I don't think I can afford that, the concussive rounds are already pretty expensive and-"
"I wouldn't worry too much about that Kami-yan, the headmaster will cover the costs until you are ready to do your missions." Motoharu waved off the concern as he stood up and placed his hands at the back of his head, "Well, I'll go talk to him about the important stuff. By the way, Goodwitch wants to talk to you tomorrow, something about classes. Kami-yan, getting a one on one class with her? Anyone would be jealous about that~." With that, he gave a lazy wave as he headed towards the exit.
Silence filled the room between Winter and Touma, the latter finding it a little awkward to be around the stiff huntsman. He stood up, still a little sore from the test, but a good meal sounded nice to have right now.
"Well… thanks for everything!" Touma automatically bowed before he headed for the exit.
"Wait." Winter's sharp and clear order put a halt to Touma's action
Touma turned to see Winter simply gazing at him. She strode up to him, her arms behind her and stood face to face with him.
"I'd like to ask you a favour, Touma." He could only nod, despite interacting with her for some time, Winter's presence was still a little intimidating. "My sister Weiss will be starting Beacon this year at the same time as you. I request that you look after her." Winter said as her face softened, "She still has a lot to learn, especially since she is coming far from home."
Touma imagined a younger Winter who would be just as cold and uptight as her. If anything, that did scare him a little, but he did owe it to Winter for teaching him what he could improve on. He gave a small grin and said, "Don't worry, I'll help her out if she ever needs it."
Winter flashed a small smile before it returned to her frosty mask, "Good, I'll see you soon. Do not slack off on your training… and congratulations for passing the initiation." With that, she left the infirmary.
Touma sighed as he turned to leave the room as well. Winter and Motoharu were like night and day. Despite that, he could see that Winter wasn't as frosty as her name suggests and Motoharu, despite being frivolous, he could see the professionalism behind the sunglasses and grin. Touma could only imagine what the two had in store for him.
Touma sat at the cafeteria with some ramen and vegetables for the evening. He would've been buying some pudding to celebrate his success in passing the initiation, but unfortunately, he was short on Lien. His parents were travelling around Remnant and wouldn't be able to provide him with some allowance for some time, the last they contacted him was when they just left Mistral. As he dug into his 'celebratory' meal, he felt a presence sit on the opposite end of the table with a faint smell of grilled fish.
"Hey... what happened to you?" Blake greeted with a raised eyebrow as she set her plate of grilled tuna and chips down. The last time Touma saw her was when she went out to go shopping for clothes and other personal items several hours ago. The attack on her that night also resulted in most of her belongings being destroyed.
Touma raised a hand in greeting as he had his mouth filled with noodles. Blake had been his only friend at Beacon as of now and there were a few things he had learnt about her. For one, she was reserved and secondly, she was intelligent as she was beautiful. Of course, he saw pretty much everything of her top half, granted he covered them in bandages, but he had to admit, she was well toned and balanced. Touma shook of the blush as he remembered it, he was a healthy growing boy after all.
They hung out in the library or courtyard, but conversations were generally small talk as she often had a book to read on hand. Apart from the night that he met her, the only time she displayed shock was when she found out he had no aura, yet has a semblance. Touma imagined that would be the case, almost everyone he met was and knew about his lack of aura was shocked by that revelation unless they already knew beforehand.
He endured the barrage of questions she threw just to confirm it before doing her own tests such as touch his right hand and trying to unlock his 'aura' only to have no effect. She accepted it far quicker than most people and eventually their time together returned to small talk and enjoying each other's company.
As Touma gulped his noodles, he replied with a grin, "Just passed initiation, I'm technically an official student."
Blake's eyebrow quirked, just as she was about to take a bite into her fish. "Initiation? Isn't that supposed to be day after tomorrow?"
"The headmaster had me do a special one because I don't have an aura."
Blake nodded and simply replied, "Congratulations." It made sense because of Touma's unique circumstances, so they would have to assess him differently.
"I'm not going to be assigned to a team either." Touma then muttered, "I'm going to struggle with homework, aren't I? Teams help each other with that kind of stuff don't they?"
Blake frowned slightly at the statement. It was common knowledge that all huntsmen academies assigned their students to a team of four and builds their curriculum around it. For some reason, she felt a little disappointed that it was virtually impossible for her to be on the same team as Touma. Still, she could spend time with him since he would be spending his time at Beacon.
"I can help you out a bit, you do need it." Blake offered. She had seen Touma's studying methods and it wasn't the prettiest thing to see. Besides, she didn't mind helping out her friend.
Touma's depressed face transformed into a smile, he thought his misfortunes followed him with the homework issue. Thankfully, he had Blake to help him out. The last time he had difficulty with homework often had his teacher reprimanding him on his 'laziness'.
"Thanks." The two fell into silence again. Touma wasn't exactly sure what to talk to Blake about while she seemed to be content with the silence and company. She did mention that initiation is tomorrow. Ruby's face flashed across mind and as if he had an epiphany, "Ah! I forgot to name my weapon!"
"Name… your weapon?" Blake asked a little intrigued.
"Yeah, someone I know is coming to Beacon for this year. She told me to name my weapon because it is a 'sin' if I don't." Touma clarified with a weak laugh. He remembered Ruby's face, filled with horror when he told her that he didn't name his weapon. Ruby had made it abundantly clear that it was a huntsman tradition to name their weapon. Since almost all huntsmen have built their own weapon to their personal capabilities, it wasn't strange to see it as the huntsman's choice of weapon throughout their whole career.
"Why not Rocket Punch?" Blake suggested with a shrug.
"Rocket… Punch?"
"It shoots concussive rounds which is basically a powerful punch. Aaand, it is a gauntlet, so… Rocket Punch." Blake explained as if it were the simplest thing in the world. Touma awkwardly laughed, it wasn't as interesting as Ruby's 'Crescent Rose'.
"What did you name yours?" Touma asked. He had the impression Blake would name her gunblade-like weapon in a more metaphoric way like Ruby did.
"Gambol Shroud."
"That sounds more impressive than 'Rocket Punch'," Touma replied dully. He had no idea how Ruby would react to the 'Rocket Punch' name, but he had a feeling that she would be disappointed.
Blake simply shrugged, while she did briefly see the weapon once that night, all she saw was a concussion round loaded into a gauntlet. Well, it's not like she had to be the one to find him a good name.
"Urgh… I'll... figure something out." Touma muttered as he returned to his soggy ramen. Hopefully, he'd come up with something that is better than 'Rocket Punch'.
"Ah, Ms Schnee, glad you could join us," Ozpin called out as Winter entered the room with her hands behind her back. She simply nodded and marched to behind his desk where Motoharu also stood by.
"Well, now that we're all here, let's get down to business," Motoharu stated as he opened his scroll and placed it on Ozpin's desk. Gone was his playful nature, it was all work from here.
The desk lit up, and several screens were opened. Pictures, documents and various other bits of information crowded the screens as all but Motoharu examined the information. However, Winter, in particular, frowned at the information as a particular portrait seemed to take the centre of the screen.
"Lieutenant Colonel Gin?" Winter muttered in shock. The portrait was of a balding man in an Atlas military officer uniform, his eyes seemed to have shadows as if he barely had any sleep at all.
"Do you know him, Ms Schnee?" Ozpin asked as he was close enough to pick up her voice.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she did. This man has been part of the Atlas's weapons research division for over fifteen years." Motoharu said as Winter didn't answer, "From what we gathered he had been working on something called 'Project Revolution' until he and several other assets disappeared around West Solitas a few years ago." He then tapped his scroll a few times until it revealed a photo the same man from the portrait, only that he wasn't wearing the uniform anymore, "That is, until now."
"Motoharu, please come to the point of why this is our concern," Ozpin requested. A missing person that suddenly comes up isn't exactly 'bad news' all the time, however, despite Motoharu being based in Mistral, the headmaster knew him long enough to understand that the blonde huntsman had more to tell.
"Well, he is part of the newly established settlement at the North Eastern island and a well-fortified one at that. Problem is, it has been the target of bandit attacks for a couple of weeks now." Motoharu explained and then turned to Ozpin and Winter with a humourless smile. "Lieutenant Colonel Gin had been the front and centre for Atlas's weapons technology, if the bandits are aware of who he is then they'll have one half of what they need to build those weapons. Though it is likely they already do know who he is. Well, we don't have to worry about it right now." Motoharu concluded as he adjusted his sunglasses, "But there are people who will be interested in him if information like this gets spread out. Ideally, we want him to go back to Atlas, or to disappear. Best to nip this at the bud."
Winter had heard about the numerous versions of this story a number of times in Atlas. One of the most prominent rumours were that the Lieutenant Colonel and his team had defected from the Atlas military. Now, from what Motoharu has shown, it was hard to believe any other possibility right now.
"Ms Schnee, I expect that you are going to inform this to James. I'd like that you let me inform him instead." Ozpin requested. While he considered the General a valuable ally, the methods the man had applied had often been detrimental in some cases. It would be best if he could convince the military leader to at least delay any overly eager actions.
"I will, but this is an Atlas affair and should be handled by our military," Winter responded. She was right as Ozpin and Motoharu made no denials over it, but, she saw the latter had shrugged as if it was a useless statement made.
"I'd be inclined to agree with you, Ice Queen." Motoharu replied, "But if I recall, Ironman's not known for subtlety. It can be a pretty big problem if any of the Atlas top brass decides to intervene overtly. Especially if you consider why Gin had left Atlas."
"As Motoharu has said, if Mr Gin is confronted, it can have ramifications that would be difficult to control, Ms Schnee. If military action were to be done in places other than Solitas, there is a possibility of panic." Ozpin said as he turned to Winter with a firm stare. She closed her eyes, if she were to be honest, she and the General would both go for the direct approach and alert the Atlas Council.
"Besides, it is likely that someone inside the Atlas military already knew those circumstances." Motoharu replied with a shrug, "And I have a feeling that Ironman has some idea what's going on, but nothing he can work on just yet."
Winter sighed painfully, as much as she was proud to be part of the Atlas Military, it's own internal politics had their fair share of backstabbers, even if they were devoted to the kingdom. Even its own Internal Affairs department struggled to deal with certain cases because of how much influence the military had over the kingdom in general.
"Well, give me a couple of weeks, I'll fish out some more information." Motoharu said as he folded his arms, "I might have a way of getting us in."
"Us?" Winter, was almost sure that Motoharu wouldn't want any intervention from Atlas at all.
"Mhmm, I've seen your records and all." Motoharu answered, "Clean as a whistle. Besides, we need someone who knows Atlas tech and background, and you're pretty good. You haven't failed a single mission since you entered the Special Operatives, so I'm sure you fit the bill."
"James had told me that he completely trusts you, Ms Schnee. While he and I have our differences, I'm inclined to agree that you are someone we can rely on." Ozpin said as he nodded to Motoharu's comments.
Winter pondered on their words. When it came to the Atlesian Military doctrine, they often solve things in a quick and decisive manner without pulling any punches. However, there was a lot of mystery behind Lieutenant Colonel's disappearance that had been a major talk for a while. She was curious to see what laid beneath it, and if it helped Atlas tie some loose knots and get rid of the rotten apples that hid within the military, she'd take it.
"Fine, keep me updated. Is there anything you need me to do?"
Ozpin and Motoharu glanced at each other before the former said, "No, but if there is anything you come across, please don't hesitate to tell us. I'll contact James about the situation."
Winter nodded and marched out of the room, leaving the two men alone. Motoharu gave a small chuckle as he placed his hands behind his head. "You aren't going to contact Ironman are you?"
"I trust James, Motoharu. I have confidence that he'll let us do our part as long as we succeed." Ozpin answered, however, he wasn't blind to the concerns Motoharu wordlessly presented. James Ironwood wasn't a popular person outside Atlas for a good reason, but he believed his old friend would fulfil that confidence.
"Okay, if you say so," Motoharu replied, unconvinced. He had worked with and against Ironwood plenty of times, and every job was easier if it was the latter rather than the former. Either way, he had his own work cut out for him.
If you are wondering if the 'Kami-yan disease' exists or not. Well, it will, just a little more subtle than you think. After all, it's not Touma Kamijou without it!
