Upon his exploration of the penthouse, Sun had the realization that he and the others would truly be living "the good life". There was a gaming room with a huge movie-sized screen and built-in snack bar in the basement with a karaoke stage nearby. The twin pool outback looked like a tropical paradise, with rock formations, ferns, palms, and waterfalls. It was almost enough for Sun to never want to return to Beacon.

Oh, who was he kidding: he never wanted to leave this place!

Sitting in the lounge room at one end of a rotunda couch, he was focused on an extremely bored Emerald who was playing with a hangnail. He couldn't believe that she wasn't the least bit excited about any of this. The green-haired vixen felt the monkey staring at her, and he responded with a small tail wave.

"What are you looking at?" Emerald spat.

"You're unbelievable," Sun said, with his most charming smile, "We've got this whole mansion, yet you're pouting. You must be hard to satisfy."

"Nah, she's just a bitch," Mercury leaped over Emerald's side of the couch, landing and propping his feet on the center coffee table. He casually opened a can of soda, and some of the fizz landed on Emerald's leg agitating her even more.

"I'm stuck living in a room with a girl who never shuts up. I have a reason to be like this."

"Ah, Nora isn't that bad," Sun said, "Now, that Adam guy though… He just makes me uncomfortable."

Mercury groaned at his name. "He's insane. Coming from someone like me, that means something. There's so many other chicks he could be stalking, but he just sneaks after his ex."

"Blake's his ex?" Sun was surprised to hear that, "I didn't know she was into crazy. Guess that puts me out of the picture."

"You're after that?" Mercury smirked, "So Faunus really do stick together. Maybe you and Adam can share."

"Oh, that's messed up man. I was just joking, anyways. Not really sure how I feel about her yet."

"What's there to feel? Who needs feelings when you can get straight to the business?"

"I'm going to leave now," Emerald interrupted, rolling her eyes, "You're both pigs."

Sun and Mercury watched her leave, making sure she was out of earshot before continuing. The monkey looked to Black, confused.

"Why am I a pig?"

"Hell, I don't know. Probably just her time of the month or something."

Sun was starting to think that Emerald may have been half right about the pig thing.

"This is quite the pantry," Ren said, shutting one of the many cabinets in the kitchen. He had been hoping to stumble across this particular room, as it would be nice to be able to cook a giant meal for once. The supply was seemingly endless, with any and all ingredients he could ever need for any dish imaginable. Of course, Ruby had insisted on following him the moment he said he was going to find where all the food was at.

"Did you find any cookies yet?" Ruby called, her voice echoing from inside a drawer.

"Behind you. Top shelf, far right cabinet. Six different kinds."

"Six?!"

"Don't spoil your appetite, Ruby," Ren said as the girl ran to grab a chair so she could reach her favorite snacks, "I'm going to be making us a four-course meal tonight."

"How are going to all eat with only four plates?"

"That's not what I… Never mind. You'll see it later."

Leaning back on the counter, Ren looked over all the possibilities before him. So many things he could cook, yet so little time to do so. It was a good thing he had a month to spend here.

He felt a tap on his shoulder as a piece of paper was waved in front of his face. Grasping it between two fingers, he looked down at its deliverer and her hetero-chromatic eyes.

"Ah, you must be Neo. One of Nora's roommates."

Neo grimaced, and nodded her head.

"So she's talking already… My apologies for that. It's just her nature."

Reading over the note, Ren couldn't help but smile to himself. "So, she's too busy talking to her new friend Roman to tell me this herself… Well, at least I can cook with some peace and quiet for once."

Neo raised an eyebrow, as if Ren was implying that she help him make dinner. It seemed that he was, as he began writing down ingredients and handed Neo the list.

"Would you mind finding these for me? I need to go find Nora and ask her what kind of ice cream she wants on her pancakes. There's a stool over there so you can reach up high." He did a double take, looking at the note again to see if he had read her request right. "Wonder how she got the idea for this…"

Standing still and unsure with the note in her hand, Neo looked over at a smiling Ruby with a mouthful of cookies.

"…Shup?"

"You sure about this, boss?"

Adam sat on the floor by Blake's bookshelf, running his finger over the spines of her library. Some of these titles were quite strange: 'Ninjas of Love', 'Shadow's Desire', 'Sasuke VS The Entire Dojo'… Curiosity was coming over him. He had to know what Blake was reading. Besides, if she touched it, by the transitive property it belonged to him. His Lieutenant seemed less than keen to this "invasion of privacy", as he called it.

"Of course I am sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

Pulling out 'Release of the Snow-White Magnolia', Adam quickly made his way out of the room and down to the gaming room, the Lieutenant close behind. Upon bursting into the room, he came face to face with a familiar face.

"Cinder," he nodded in greeting. The woman did the same, but looking down she noticed the title of the book in the Faunus' hand. Though she was not much of a casual reader, she was well aware of the content within that particular genre of books.

"That is an interesting book you have there," Cinder raised her eyebrow, trying her best not to smirk.

"A word of this to nobody. No one must know we are in possession of this."

Cinder looked at Adam, then to the Lieutenant, then back to Adam. "Of course. Don't ask don't tell, as they say."

Once Fall had left, Adam and the Lieutenant sat down in a pair of the reclining seats positioned in front of the movie screen. Adam opened the book up to a random page, but was stopped before he could even read a word.

"Shouldn't we start from the beginning sir? How will we know the plot?"

"I don't give a damn about the plot. It's probably non-existent anyways. Now shut up and let me read."

The men looked at page 35, the dead center of a chapter. Picking out a decently sized paragraph, Adam began reading out-loud.

"…Ichigo looked into Tatsumi's chocolate eyes with his own, his white irises complementing his partners' perfectly. He could smell the scent of his hair, the hot breath of his lungs, invading his nostrils…"

For some odd reason, Adam could feel his subordinate staring at him instead of the page. He skipped ahead a bit, ignoring the excessive description.

"…Laying Tatsumi down on the flowing grass, Ichigo put his hands on his shoulders tightly as he reached to unsheathe his sword. The weapon out, he stabbed it into the helpless Tatsumi, who cried out in ecstasy."

Adam looked up, staring at the movie screen blankly. His Lieutenant leaned back away from him quickly. "A-Aren't you going to read any more?"

"Never before have I read such demented literature."

"Wait, what?"

"That boy Tatsumi was clearly enjoying being stabbed by a blade! What have those humans taught Blake to enjoy?! This is pure sadism! Death is meant to strike fear into others, not arouse them!"

"I think the sword was a metaphor for his-

Cutting the Lieutenant off, Adam stood up abruptly and stormed off. "I must confront Blake about this! Come, Lieutenant! We must dispose of this garbage immediately."

"Wait, boss! I want to see how it ends!"