ㅤㅤㅤ

To Live and Learn

CHAPTER 6

Oh Mirror, Mirror on the wall

Would you like to shatter and fall?

-A spoof of a song by yours faithfully

I woke up to the unholy noises of Nora playing 'Reveille'[1] with a bugle that I didn't even know she had, let alone know how to play, ten minutes before my alarm was set to wake me up. It effectively reminded me of bad memories of when I had to wake up to the exact same song from the same instrument when I was in military school.

While irritating, it wasn't particularly disturbing seeing as I would wake up shortly anyway. I wouldn't look good oversleeping and end up missing the first day of class because of it. Nora's bugle probably did a more effective job in getting me up than my scroll's alarm would anyway. And besides, this was nothing compared to some of the more...let's say—unorthodox methods of waking me up from my mischievous sisters.

I have been trying to overcome this habit for a while now so maybe it's my chance to finally improve my sleeping patterns thanks to the class schedule requiring everyone to get up early in the morning. But as someone who loves sleep, this was going to take some time to get used to.

"Good Morning, Fearless Leader!" Nora greeted, already in her uniform. Little did she know how ironic her use of 'fearless' actually was.

So begins the first days of classes, where they would either be intriguing and provide helpful tips on how to be a Huntsman and reduce my mortality rate as one with any luck, or bore me into sleeping or watching the clock because I was sure that even Huntsman class wasn't immune to becoming as boring as normal classes. On the bright side, all I had to do was sit in one room in the safety of Beacon's walls surrounded by superpowered individuals, so it's still preferable to running, screaming, and getting everyone to kill the Grimm for you.

I looked around and saw Pyrrha was dressed as well, though she seemed as if she was still busy tidying her bed as best as it could look. Ren just left the bathroom, dressed in his uniform with a bath basket in his hand, meaning I was the only one who wasn't prepared yet and Nora woke me up probably because they couldn't take the chance of me waking up a little too late since classes were about to begin shortly, but I still had more than enough time to prepare.

I finally rose from my bed and took a shower before putting on my uniform. For breakfast I took some dumplings I took out from a Mistrali restaurant when visiting Vale yesterday. My visit to town turned out to be better than I anticipated; apart from stumbling upon victims of stabbings and acid attacks in the middle of the street (reminding me of the place where I am), I had a pleasant time sight-seeing.[2]

After I was done brushing my teeth and then taking my morning meal, I stood in the middle of the dorm and gathered everyone on the team for the first meeting of Team JNPR. Even after taking minutes of eating and bathing, Pyrrha was still making her bed, appearing to have no intention of stopping until every single piece of fabric is tidied up and is as perfect as her tournament records.

Since I don't want myself to be too vulnerable in combat, I needed to persuade my team to be useful and cooperative with my orders. Pyrrha was a great fighter, but from what I've seen she's too used to treating our battles like her arena fights as shown by her overconfidence with the Deathstalker yesterday; Nora's exciting personality and strength mean she has the tendency to get aggressively reckless, and someone has to make sure Ren's somewhat limited stamina is managed wisely. If given proper direction, this team would be a forbiddable force and I don't have to worry much about saving my own hind.

"Alright, now that we are all here…" I cleared my throat, grabbing everyone's attention and making them stop whatever they were doing. "It's now our third day in Beacon and after yesterday's… events. I just wanted to say I am grateful to have you as my teammates."

"Why, thank you," Pyrrha covered her cheek with one of her hands while trying to sound humbled by it.

"Aww~" Nora commented, being flattered by my words with a mix of her usual chirpiness. And Ren just simply nodded at the notion.

I gave a faint smile at them before moving on. "But like The Gre—… I mean the Headmaster said, we need to learn how to coordinate with each other to make this work. We may have proven to be efficient individual warriors. From what I've seen and heard, Pyrrha is a famed champion, Ren is swift, Nora is a tough cookie—and I… am basically me."

"A brave hero who ain't afraid of no-nothin'!" Nora remarked, speaking in faux-ebonics for some reason.

"Thank you, Nora," I responded, trying not to let her contagious enthusiasm get to me. "But they don't mean anything in the team if we don't take our roles seriously. All I'm saying is—"

I was interrupted by the loud sounds of various power tools coming from somewhere next door. Whatever it was, they chose a weird time to construct something at eight in the morning, when everyone was preparing for class. The noises suddenly stopped and I continued to where I left off. "All I'm saying is that we should start working together as a team. Sure, we are pretty tough on our own, but we would barely count as a team if we just go do our own things without acknowledging one another. The academies have these teams for a reason because if we can combine our abilities properly, we could prevail against anything that comes our way. So that's why we should conduct team-building exercises starting—" I was again interrupted. Only this time, it was the sound of a loud crash, followed by an angry yell from the ice queen of Team RWBY.

"I told you this wasn't going to work!"

I froze out of bewilderment for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. I knew this was something I cannot ignore. "We'll have to continue this later, right now as the leader of Team JNPR – my first order is to check out and see if our friends in Team RWBY are alright."

"We're ready when you are," Pyrrha nodded as the other two followed suit.

They followed me to Team RWBY's dorm, which was a few steps in front of ours. "Is everything alright?" I asked, knocking on their door.

"I-It's nothing! Everything's fine, I have it all under control!" Ruby yelled. It didn't take a genius to notice that she was panicking and that her attempts at hiding it were rather poor.

"Good going then," I heard Weiss scoff.

It sounded like Ruby was having trouble adjusting herself to being a leader, she was going to need outside help whether she wants it or not, but I could tell that she was too shy to admit it. Being a leader required you to look assured and competent and she wasn't sure what we would think of her. So I decided to bluff my way inside it, it was sure enough to have someone like her persuaded. "Look, we only wanted to help. If we're bothering you then we'll leave."

"Wait!" Ruby said before she opened the door, revealing that she was still wearing her cloak even in uniform. "Y-You can come in."

We went inside the dorm room and were surprised to see it looked like it was recently hit by a tornado. The beds were crumpled around on the floor with some books scattered all over the place, and even ropes hanging from the ceiling. Despite all that, the girls appeared to be unharmed, aside from looking pretty disappointed with how their dorm room ended up becoming. (Yang also looked less distracting in a uniform, but that's beside the point.)

Pyrrha was shocked but remained calm as if she already seen worse. "Oh my. What happened here?"

"We tried to make bunk beds, that's what," Weiss folded her arms, looking more irritated than her other teammates.

"We may have tried to… do so by carrying one bed with ropes and the other with a pile of books," Yang sported a nervous grin.

That was when I started asking myself if these girls were seriously toying with me. What else did they think was going to happen? It's not like ropes and books have aura that makes them strong enough to carry beds with or without somebody lying on them. If they thought this was a good idea then I had every right to worry for them. "So… what could we do to help?" I asked.

"Do we have time though?" Ren questioned. "I mean it's 8:55 so..."

"Wait did you just say it's 8:55?!" Weiss suddenly exclaimed.

"Uhh… yes, I did," Ren nodded.

"Classes start at nine, you idiots!"

I quickly checked the schedule on my scroll. She's right, five minutes and we'll be late for our first class and that was something we can't have. "Then we'll have to deal with this later! Quick, we have no time to lose!" I said, storming to class with everyone following me.

On our way, as we rushed through the hallway, I couldn't stop thinking about the girls' attempt on creating makeshift bunks using ropes and books, judging from what I've seen earlier. "Improvised bunk-beds, seriously?!" I exclaimed at Ruby, I didn't want to yell at her but the mere thought of it was so baffling I felt like interrogating her about what was on their mind when making it.

"Well, we were almost finished decorating after we unpacked but then we saw that there wasn't room for beds, so I thought it was a great idea to make some bunk beds," she explained as if she was singing about it in a rather agitated manner.

That ended up raising more questions than I had. "You guys just started to unpack?! Didn't you have the whole evening yesterday?!"

"Geez, I don't know!"

I could only roll my eyes and decide to forget about it for a moment so I could focus on my classes. After leaving the residence hall, the classrooms were past the courtyard so we went through it and I was able to spot Miss Goodwitch and the Great & Powerful Ozpin staring at us. Miss Goodwitch gave a cautionary glare while Ozpin just calmly watched with his coffee. I could only chuckle as we passed through while I did my best to move on and put attention to what I should be more concerned about:

Academics.

=o=

1. A bugle call used by most militaries, mainly during sunrise and waking hours.

2. A reference to Vale City's notoriously high rate of knife, dust, and acid attacks, which were the common methods of assault in the city due to the ban on firearms from civilians and non-licensed Huntsmen.

We finally arrived at the classroom and class thankfully had yet to start. Team RWBY sat in the front row while my team took the seats behind them. The classroom contained a golden bust of a man bearing a huge mustache with his eyes shut and a blunderbuss/double-bitted axe being displayed above the board, it even has several Grimm heads being displayed as trophies which were weird because last time I checked, it's impossible to keep Grimm corpses as they evaporate after dying. [1] The whiteboard was already filled with drawings of various Grimm and their descriptions; I noticed Weiss immediately pulled out her notebook and already started writing down notes from the board in advance.

This was the part where I look at someone's weapon and be baffled by how it's designed, in this case, the blunderaxe being displayed. Normally, a blunderbuss mixed with an axe sounds reasonable on paper, the problem was he had to place the freaking axehead at the stock instead of somewhere on the barrel which would have been safer to use and could still be held as an axe. Seriously, trying to use that as a rifle could risk your arm getting cut unless you know what the hell you're doing, which you couldn't have been if you came up with that design. If this was the professor's way of showing his guts, then kudos to him. I just hope it doesn't influence his students into sincerely believing that could be a neat weapon to use and inspire them to make something as stupid as that. I already saw enough ridiculous weapons to begin with.

A few minutes later a somewhat chubby old man who resembled the golden bust entered the room. Everyone suddenly started to sit upright when they heard him put his books on his desk. "Greetings, Huntsmen and Huntresses of tomorrow! I am Professor Peter Port," he introduced himself as he wrote down his name in the vacant space on the whiteboard. "I will be your professor for Grimm Studies, where you will learn about the wretched creatures that you will or may face—from the smallest parasite to the most fearsome of titans! Whatever you may call them: Monsters! Demons, Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Haha!"

He waited for a response, only for it to be delivered by nothing but what sounds like chirping crickets. Though to be honest, I kind of admire his confidence at his age, giving me an impression that he truly was the successful Huntsman he kept bragging about, albeit a very awkward teacher.

"Uhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying, Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses..." he gave Yang a wink with his brow while clicking his tongue, who responded with a groan. I do hope he was only being playful because I wasn't a fan of old men flirting with younger women. Eugh.

"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!" The class was still responding with awkward silence, save for that one random idiot who stood up cheering while raising his fist while everyone just sat still silently. Naturally, he sat down in embarrassment once he noticed a few eyes were staring at him.

"That is what you are training to become." Port continued, "But first, A story."

And that's where he lost everyone. Just about when things were starting to get interesting.

"A tale of a young, handsome man—me! When I was a boy..."

To make a long story short—literally in this case, this lasted for almost the entire class which was two hours, if you may ask. I'd even say that his closed eyes were so contagious that my eyelids felt heavier than how he looked. You'd expect a class centered on learning the Huntsmen's sworn enemies should be informative and interesting, right? Well, Professor Port somehow managed to make it boring, which was something I didn't know was possible. And his tall tales aren't even entertaining, at best they just sounded so dumb that it makes you wonder if his accounts actually did occur the way he told them. And here I thought rumors about me were ridiculous.

The only thing that was keeping me from falling asleep with this dull excuse of a class was watching Snow White getting annoyed by Rose Red's unladylike hijinks, whether it's by showing her a crude drawing of Professor Port (or Professor Poop as she calls him in her drawing. Genius) from her notes while blowing raspberries, balancing a book with a pencil while there's an apple above-said book, snoring and the most damnable offense of all—picking her nose.

"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable! A true Huntsman must be dependable! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!" Professor Port finally finished his story after telling it for at least a hundred minutes straight and we still haven't learned anything useful about Grimm or being a Huntsman. I think a better moral is that a true Huntsman shouldn't make their lectures long, boring and uninteresting if they expect their students to last more than a minute when fighting Grimm. [2]. "So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Weiss raised her left hand. She was probably the only person who was wide awake during that moment. "I do, sir!"

"Well then, let's find out," Port faced the cage beside him. "Step forward, and face your opponent."

The fact that there was a live Grimm in class was enough to get me from weary to alarmed. I know students need to show some demonstrations of their skill but that thing could start attacking the class when it strays from the volunteer, and we're unarmed during these occasions. [3] I was starting to wonder that the only reason why we even had books in this class was just so we could have something to hit the Grimm with in case it got loose.

"Before you do, of course, you'll have to change to your combat gear. You will be given five minutes to prepare."

Weiss complied and left. She returned shortly with her rapier and her 'combat skirt' and went to the front of the class and faced the cage. Her team was cheering for her loudly.

"Gooo, Weiss!" Yang raised her fist.

Blake was waving a small flag that had their team name on it out of nowhere. "Fight well!"

Followed by their team leader, who was more vocal than the other two. "Yeah, represent Team RWBY!"

Weiss, annoyed by this, lowered her sword. "Ruby! I'm trying to focus!"

That made me wonder if her temper was that short enough for her to lash out like that. The beast was still in the cage and the least she could do was show some gratitude to her team, the same people she'll be stuck with for four years. I was beginning to think that trying to make stupid and impractical makeshift bunk beds wasn't the worst thing about this them as a team.

"Oh, sorry." Ruby sheepishly apologized. Weiss shook her head and returned her attention to the cage.

"Alright, let the match begin!" Port pulled out his ridiculous blunderaxe hybrid and used it to open the cage by smashing the lock. The Grimm charged out and revealed itself as a large boar-like Grimm—a Boarbatusk—or as my sister Rose likes to call them—bacon.

Weiss sliced the creature then rolled to her left, the Boarbatusk then turned back. "Haha! Wasn't expecting that, were you?" The professor remarked.

"Hang in there, Weiss!" Ruby advised.

"Or how about you Yang in there," a certain someone grinned. For the sake of my sanity and well-being, I'll pretend to have not heard that. [4]

Weiss dashed towards the Boarbatusk, trying to stab its face. Unfortunately, her rapier got stuck between its tusks with Weiss trying to pull it out. "Bold, new approach. I like it!" Port commented.

"Come on Weiss, show it who's boss!" Ruby cheered.

Weiss turned to her to glare which allowed Port's pet pork to swipe her rapier off to the other side of the room. I was having the urge to palm my own face, she being a far cry from the girl who managed to put a freaking Deathstalker at bay during the day before this. If the voice of her own leader happened to be her weakness then she is going to be a liability to her team, and by extension mine, if she's working together with my team.

"Oh ho! Now, what will you do without your weapon?" Professor Port asked her as he continued to watch from the sidelines.

Weiss looked up and dodged just right in time before the Boarbatusk was able to ram her. She ran quickly to her rapier and then slid to grab it. "Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath!" Ruby instructed.

That was actually good advice. It was nice to hear that despite some of her inadequacies in leadership, Ruby was still knowledgeable when it came to tactics and Grimm weak spots. Now if Weiss thinks she's smart then she should—

"Stop telling me what to do!" she yelled instead. At that point, I decided that putting a palm on my face wasn't enough and that slamming it on the desk instead would do a more sufficient job.

The Boarbatusk rolled its body into a ball-like shape and launched itself towards the ice queen. Weiss summoned a glyph to block the attempted strike. The boar was knocked back, exposing its belly. Weiss took the hint and used another glyph to leap to its stomach, stabbing it to its death.

"Bravo! Bravo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" Professor Port remarked as if he didn't notice a few blunders she did that would have cost her life during that demonstration. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings—and stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

At least the class ended with something eventful. I was starting to think that this class was scheduled first so that students who were missing sleep would be able to compensate for it.

Weiss angrily turned away before walking out. Sheesh, what's with her? I asked myself. Now, this is what I was worried about when I talked about team cooperation. While Weiss has shown that she could handle herself, she let her arrogance get the best of her. If she just listened to Ruby for a moment, the entire thing would have been shorter.

I know Ruby can sound obnoxious, but she was actually acting like what a leader was supposed to. Judging by the fact that Professor Port didn't tell her teammates to be quiet, cheering and giving tactical advice were actually allowed and she could have at least heard them out on the latter.

Thankfully, my team is composed of friendly faces and seemed to trust me so far, (I don't know much about Ren, but he seems fine), so it's easier to make them comply. That still doesn't mean that I didn't need to drill them, they still need to be taught how to properly work together as a team. Otherwise, I would end up having the same problem as Team RWBY. Gods, I am really worried about those girls. How did they even beat that Deathstalker together anyway?

=o=

1. They're actually taxidermy recreations of the Grimm he has slain. This is rather a common practice done by those who hunt Grimm for sport.

2. That or Jaune didn't pay attention to the Professor's accounts, which surprisingly provided some useful information regarding Grimm abilities and weaknesses as well as proper Huntsmen comportment that was worth taking notes off.

3. Although it's unnoticeable, captured Grimm in Huntsmen academies are implanted with shock restraints which are triggered in case the creature gets loose.

4. And yet he still bothered to write that down.