Editorial Note:

The following chapter was written four months after the last entry, specifically near the end of the first semester.

Before we begin, I would like to add another excerpt, this time it would be centering around Team RWBY's trip to Vale during the preparations for the Vytal Festival before complications between ourselves ensued. I felt that it was appropriate to begin this chapter with this excerpt to give the readers some context behind the following chapter's events.

Once again, I chose Ruby's account to provide the excerpt, as it presents an unbiased and more bearable description of the event. Since my old memoirs, while nostalgic, were rather uncomfortable to look through, as if reading about my younger self in Jaune's writings wasn't shameful enough. Blake's accounts, meanwhile, are something that is better off being saved when there are no alternatives. Trust me, once you've read it, you are going to thank me for not including it at the moment.

The Red Rose Diaries: Friday in Vale

Finally, the exams for the first semester are over! Hopefully, all of the days I spent studying will pay off. I still have flashbacks of Weiss drilling us on our studies so she doesn't have to be embarrassed about her team's scores, ugghh! Anyway, to celebrate, we agreed to go on a trip to Vale once the exams were over.

People in Vale were already preparing for the Vytal Festival. There were balloons and streamers placed everywhere. A sign that says "Welcome to Vale!" was put up near the pier for all the visitors to see (The old guy who put it looked familiar, have I met him before?). Even the usually cold and grumpy Weiss was excited, and who could blame her? The Vytal Festival is the most exciting time that happens every two years! Almost more fun than Latern Day (which is also my B-day!) and Brothers Day. There would be dances, parades, and best of all, the tournaments! Oh, how I used to watch those a lot. Now I could finally participate in them myself. I can't wait! It's like a party where the kingdoms celebrate peace and harmony after years of fighting, which it kind of is.

Weiss took us to the harbor for whatever reason. Made me wonder why someone like her would take us to a place that smells like fish. She said that she wanted to welcome the students coming from Vacuo but Blake pointed out that she wanted to spy on them so she could have the upper hand in the tournament.

That is when we found a Dust Shop in shambles, with the police trying to investigate it. The weird thing was the crooks who robbed it didn't take the money. I think the Torchwick guy had something to do with it, he did try to rob a dust shop and I remember him only wanting to take the dust the day I met Ozpin; he was still on the loose after all. One of the officers said it could have been caused by a faunus group called 'The White Fang', a group which Weiss had nothing nice to say about, while Blake defended them and said they were just misguided.

Before things became a little more heated. Somebody called for help to stop a faunus. We went to see what all the fuss was about and we saw a faunus with a monkey tail who was about our age run past us. We figured that he was one of the students who came from Vacuo, so we tried to follow him so that Weiss could go on with her plan to observe the competition, but we ended up bumping into someone that caused the faunus boy to get away.

The person we bumped with was a strange but very nice girl named Penny. We apologized and tried to go back to looking for the faunus boy but Penny came to us back, probably because I called her a 'friend' a few seconds ago just to be nice, so we just went with it. She said that she is here to compete in the tournament, even though she doesn't look the part. Weiss asked her where the faunus boy went while calling him a 'filthy faunus', [1] Blake didn't like that and that's when their argument about the faunus and the White Fang continued.

We didn't feel like hanging out any longer, so we just went back to our dorm at Beacon, and even then, they kept fighting. Yang and I could only watch and listen. This was meant to be a day where we finally have fun after a hard and long semester, instead all we got was this.

=o=

1. In my defense, he was indeed filthy in a literal sense, and being a faunus was the best way I could describe him. Outside the White Fang, I didn't have much of an opinion on the faunus in general. Regardless, I apologize for my behavior back then. I admit that my choice of words was very poor, as I was not exactly the most thoughtful person at the time. Growing up in a family that was constantly under threat by faunus extremists made me rather insensitive.

To Live and Learn

CHAPTER 15

"No one in their right mind wants to be oppressed, but everyone loves to think that they are."

-Dennis Hartmann, Former Mantle Oligarch

Thank The Brothers above that the examinations are done, they have been driving me insane for the past couple of weeks that if I see another problem on dust equations, I swear I would shoot the first person I see next.

It was finally time for me to settle down after the prodigious amounts of studying. I decided to stay at my dorm to take advantage of its quiet state since Nora and Ren went out to Vale to have a 'totally platonic date' and watch the city prepare for the Vytal Fiesta, and Pyrrha had to go for an interview for a Mistrali magazine, leaving me all alone in the dorm with nothing but my comics and video games without much disturbance.

I was finally able to experience such tranquility I had not felt for months. No interruptions, no training, no homework, no studying, no jackass bullies, no Grimm, no bandits, and no obnoxious noise, not from Nora and not from my sisters, just me and myself. That is until much later in the evening when sounds of arguing became increasingly clamorous from next door. Of course, it had to be from Team RWBY, because there isn't any other team nearby that could generate the same commotion that these girls could make.

For the most part, I'm satisfied with my dorm, but if I were to renovate it, I would give it much thicker walls. It's no wonder why the school forbids playing loud music at night. These walls are so paper-thin that you could hear your neighbors snore. Since I used to live in a homestead in the middle of the countryside, I never had a problem with noisy neighbors, I had noisy sisters though, but at least my room had more soundproof walls than the ones in here.

What disturbed me the most was that I heard Blake of all girls yelling; the other one was Weiss, but that wasn't surprising. Blake, on the other hand, wasn't the type of person to be open with her opinions, let alone raise her voice. If there was something that made Blake cry out, then something must be very wrong.

They have been going at it for hours and it felt like it wasn't going to end. I decided that enough was enough and went to investigate what was going on. I would normally stay far away from these affairs and let themselves sort it out, Ruby was able to make up with Weiss when she was at what we believed to be her worst, and Team RWBY would eventually become a functioning team after all, but I needed to know what was their issue when the semester was about to end so I could maybe help. I don't want this to cause any problems if they do not solve it by the time the following semester begins.

I exited my dorm and went near Team RWBY's door as I continued to eavesdrop on their conversation. I needed to understand the situation if I were to help. "…It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!" Weiss cried out, followed by Blake's yelling.

"Well, maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!". That made me freeze when I was about to knock on their door, confused by what that exactly meant.

The world felt like it paused at that moment, I wasn't exactly sure why. Judging from what I heard, it seems that they were arguing over a group that Blake was, or was a part of, that Weiss seems to be against. I guessed that it might have something to do with why Blake was so aloof and secretive but because of the lack of context I was getting, I wasn't entirely sure what it was all about.

I heard Blake's voice trail off for a moment before she abruptly bolted out of the room, knocking me over without a word or an apology. I glanced at her as she blurred away from the hallway, shocked at what just happened. "Blake, wait! Come back!" Ruby dashed out of her dorm and spotted me lying on the ground in front of the door. "Jaune! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I stood up, still puzzled over that commotion. "What was that all about?"

"We had a falling out," she tried to answer but it seemed as if she was having trouble coming up with a better explanation. "It's a long story. Look, can I ask you a favor?"

Helping them out for a little was the least I could do even if I was faintly annoyed that I had to run another errand again after enjoying some time alone. It would have been rude for me not to after trying to snoop around them. "Sure. What do you need me to do?"

"Can you please follow her? I need to make sure she's alright," she said

I gave her a questioning look, not entirely sure if I want to get involved with this especially since I had no idea what was going on between them. "Why me? You're her teammate, why don't you follow her?"

"I don't think she'd listen to us after what happened. I'm sure she'll be avoiding us. Look, just keep an eye on her. Talk to her only if you know she'll listen," she said. I took a moment to think about it, looking at her worried silver eyes and at the other two girls. Weiss just stood there, staring at the window, while Yang was sitting on a desk chair, looking down not knowing what to do now that her partner just had a breakdown and ran away. "Please, Jaune. I trust you," Ruby begged in a sorrowful tone, unusual for a cheerful girl like her.

I cupped my chin before deciding to take her word. She had a point when she said that she would try to avoid her own teammates when approached about it. I was at least patient enough to hear her out, I just wanted to stop worrying about these girls so I could focus on worrying about myself. "Fine. I'll look for her. I can't bear to see your team broken."

She made a hopeful smile. "Thanks, Jaune. I knew I could always count on you."

I left the residence hall and went to the courtyard, it was the only logical place Blake would run away to since the other areas were closed during the night. It didn't take long for me to find her gazing at the statue in the middle of the area. There was no one around but me and her. I hid back at one of the lampposts and watched her for a bit.

She slowly undid her bow, revealing the cat ears she has been hiding all along within these months. Somehow I wasn't surprised at all, it only made me rather disappointed that it all seemed to boil down to her simply being a faunus. I had no reason to judge them myself since I always saw them as humans with some animal features, and couldn't understand why are people still making a big deal over them. Pointless squabbles over it were only going to distract you from the real problems.

I had no idea what to do next. She kept standing there, wiping her tears. I thought about going back to Ruby and telling her what I just saw, but I didn't think I wanted to do that without Blake's consent. So I just stepped in and approached her to see what would happen. "Hey…"

She turned around with her eyes widened. Tears were visibly running down her face. "So… that's kind of explains why your bow looked was a little too big," I said, trying to give her a warm reassuring smile.

She was noticeably anxious but shortly calmed down when my tone and expression made it clear that I wasn't looking for a fight. "Now you know." She wiped the trail of tears off her face. "You're going to tell the others aren't you?"

"Not if it makes you uncomfortable," I assured her as it wasn't my intent to further make this more complicated and since to get the bottom of it, I had to say what she wanted to hear.

"I'm sorry for hiding this from you since the beginning. I was afraid that no one would like me for what I am," she said, almost avoiding my gaze.

"Blake, you had no reason to hide who you truly are. I can't exactly hate you for simply having cat ears in a school that contains all facets of life." I told her, speaking in a way as if I wasn't being a hypocrite when I also spent these past months masquerading my more unsavory traits, but at least I wasn't making race an issue. If you ask me, I think she was being too insecure; I wouldn't put being an animal person on the same level as being a cowardly fraud.

"And what about people like Cardin?" She asked, trying to challenge my previous statement though it wasn't a very good rebuttal because from what I've seen, Cardin was finally able to stop not too long ago and was no longer relevant as a bully. Thank gods.

"People like Cardin aren't liked very much. You saw how Nora tried to stand up for Velvet, and even tried to break his legs over what he did to her." Though that last part was a result of me not shutting up. I'd still say that Cardin was a terrible example because he pissed everyone off all the same, faunus or not, and I can testify that. I still remember what he tried to do months ago, thankfully I haven't heard much from him or his idiot friends ever since. Russel even took my advice and gave himself a haircut that was more bearable to look at.

Sadly, that didn't sound like it was enough to change her mind as she raised her voice and continued being agitated over her heritage. "Even so, there are still people out there who will not accept who you are and will look down on you for it.

That is when I started to lose my patience with her. People will always look for reasons to hate you, no matter how small or irrational it may be, race, being one of them. "So you're just going to keep hiding what you are?" I asked, raising mine as well, asserting my more authoritative tone as a leader to persuade her.

"Yes! Maybe! I don't know!" She cried, being more uncertain than she was. "Look, this is much more complicated than what you think it is. I really don't know how to explain this to you."

I made slow steps toward her while trying to keep her calm. "Blake, just tell me what's wrong. We could figure this out."

"I don't know. I still couldn't show my face to my team after what happened back at the dorm." She looked down before looking at me. "They sent you, did they?"

"Yes. They did." I nodded hesitantly. It was becoming increasingly obvious that there wasn't any point in lying about it and I thought it was time for me to have a little transparency if I was to gain her trust.

"So, mind if I ask you something?"

"I'm all ears," I nodded.

She hesitated for a moment before spitting it out. "Can you cover for me for now? I'm going to leave Beacon for a while. Please don't tell anyone what you just saw."

I widened my eyes at her request. "Leave? But—"

"I just need to think about this. I promise I'll come back and tell you everything soon. Right now, I'm just not ready..."

I pondered on her word. I didn't know if I should let her go when Ruby is worried sick about her. On the other hand, she did tell me to just make sure she was okay, she didn't exactly expect me to bring her back, but I still need to make sure that she didn't use this as an opportunity to disappear from us.

"Please…"

I stared straight at her amber eyes and I saw myself in her. While I still wasn't entirely sure about it, she seemed to trust me. If she didn't, she would have run away the moment she saw me. So there was little reason for me to doubt her. Although I don't agree with the reason, I understand what she was going through and I would have admittedly done the same if I was in her position. "If that's what you want."

"Thanks," she said. Within a blink of an eye, she was gone with the wind, nowhere to be found. I felt like I betrayed Ruby now that I let Blake loose but I felt like it was best for her team. If their problems with each other were that bad, then they did need some space from each other and think about it. I just hope that they would eventually figure this out together.

I walked back to the dorms and knocked on Team RWBY's dorm. The door opened and I saw Ruby. "So how was it?" She asked.

"Couldn't find her. I thought I saw her once, turned out to be a shadow clone. Sneaky cat." I lied.

Her eyes then widened. I just realized that I slipped an implication that I knew about her faunus heritage so I decided to try putting some ease on them. "Was it something I said?"

"Nothing. I'm sorry for bugging you into this. It's just that I'm worried about her," Ruby frowned, feeling as guilty as I was over her running away.

"She'll be fine, she did get to Beacon after all. I'm sure she could handle herself out there," I said.

That slightly reassured her but she was still apprehensive. "You're right. Well, thanks anyway. I'm sorry if we bothered you."

"No problem. I'm just glad to help." I nodded before the door closed.

I went back to my dorm. For that night, all I could do was worry for Team RWBY, especially Blake now that she's in the stray. I could only think about what she said to me then and I could only hope that I didn't make it any worse.

The following day, I tried going back to enjoying my last weekend here in Beacon before the semestral break officially begins on Monday. Team RWBY waited and spent the whole Saturday for Blake to come back anytime soon but sadly, she never came. Aside from that, Saturday for me was very much uneventful as I did nothing but laze around the entire day since there wasn't anything left to do aside from waiting for Blake to come back or maybe call me if that would ever happen. It was rather difficult to relax a day of leisure after what happened that night, and Team RWBY never got a chance to relax as I did, and that made me feel terrible for them.

And it was all because of some stupid cat ears.