It was a rainy day at Patch.

Yang was having a go with Weiss in a fighting game. The Schnee was clearly struggling as she resorted to mashing buttons, having forgotten the other's quick tutorial on how to play the game.

Not helping was that she decided to pick the 'random character' option, which, ironically, added up to her current bad-hair day. Well, not a complete one. The game ended up picking her as a shapeshifter—not the nun, to be exact. All that, while her opponent was almost having the time of her life. Her character was jumping around, slapping her opponent, and throwing her, while Weiss was reduced to being stuck in a corner.

For the sake of simplicity and time, Yang decided to use a single character along with Weiss. The other didn't know how to tag characters—Yang didn't teach her how. That was probably intentional, I guessed.

Of course, Ruby was encouraging her sister, much to the Schnee's annoyance. "Break her legs, sis!"

"Shut up!" Weiss finally snapped, still mashing the controls. Eventually, the second—and final, as set—round came to a halt, and they were back onto the character select screen after some time.

Closing the game and putting the system onto a home menu, Yang, sharpening the daggers in her smile, said, "Well, seems like you have to work on your—."

Weiss cut her off. "Well, how am I supposed to work on it if I don't even know how to play it in the first place!?"

"Yang," I chime in, watching the whole scene with Ruby behind the couch. "You should have taught her a bit more."

A pout and a groan. "Fine. Next time."

"…at least you broke her legs, Yang," Ruby whispered to her sister. I don't think Weiss heard that while going through her own meltdown.

Yang snickered. "Oh, wait, hold on." She stood up and asked the rest of the team, "Do you guys want to play some, uh…" She focused on the screen and changed the game selection, "Property of a Lady? I think it's got split-screen. I know it's quite old, but," she shrugged. Then she turned to Weiss. "So, up for another game?"

Weiss appeared suspicious at her for a moment, before eyeing over to Ruby. She was nodding quite energetically. Then to Yang Xiao-Long: "Fine."

"Good." Then to me: "Blake, you up?"

"Huh?" I looked over at the screen. Aside from that one time we played the Remnant boardgame—although war game might be a more fitting term— I don't have much experience in games, really. "Oh." A long pause. Maybe it would be nice to try something like that again. "Okay."

"Great! Just let me start it up… and here we go!"

Going past the copyright screens and the source material's hallmark sequence, the title finally popped up. Yang mashed her controller, skipping the credits sequence and straight to the main menu. Loading up one of the saves, she set up the game for multiplayer, with the level set to be in an archive.

Past the boring bits, and now that everyone was holding their Scroll as controllers, I asked Yang about the controls. She gave me a quick rundown on how to walk, shoot, and activate things… it was more comprehensive than what she told Weiss, though. She also explained the game mode that she had set: to sum it up, two lives, before elimination. The last person standing wins.

There was a little debacle during the character selection, and the game started on the four-way screen…

Blake Belladonna fluttered her eyes open. Getting up on the bed and stretching her back, she yawned. Yang was already up, guessing from the noises in the kitchen.

She stretched her back and blinked her drowsy eyes. Then, to the alarm: 8:50 AM. It was a Wednesday.

Oh. Right.

She overslept.

Taking several minutes to process the situation, she rushed over to the bathroom for a quick shower. Coming out cleaned and with her teeth brushed, she went to the wardrobe. Dressed up in the librarian attire, sans the bridge coat and yellow tie, she left the bedroom. Yang was having her breakfast. A sandwich on a plate sat on her side of the table, along with a mug filled with what seems to be tea. "Morning, Blake," she greeted, sipping her orange juice.

"Morning," she said, before picking up the sandwich and finishing it in a couple of bites. Her girlfriend's eyes widened as she took the last bite of the sandwich and finished the mug in two gulps. It was tea, to her surprise. "I'm late," Blake added as she walked over to the hatstand and put the tie around her neck. She tried to tie it herself but ended up struggling. "Yang?"

She was mystified by the scene, before getting back to her senses. "Oh, right." She stood up and tied up Blake's bow tie. "Here you go." She was thanked with a kiss on the cheek before Blake left the apartment after a goodbye.

Now in the hall, she headed to the stairs, walked down and passed the reception desk. She bothered to check the mailbox, however. Nothing new. She closed it and exited the building… which was when she realized that she forgot to put on her shoes, having her socks to compensate for it. Oh, great, she said to herself, both annoyed and amused, before sighing and beginning to rush to the library. At least she brought her purse along.

Approaching the corner and the crossing, she saw the light turn red, forcing her to stop in her tracks. She almost groaned while watching the cars pass her, resorting to nervous breathing and fidgeting her right hand to keep herself calm. When strangers appeared next to her, she put her hand into her purse. Thankfully, they did not notice the socks, much to her relief. They were busy talking to themselves.

The light turned green, and she was the first to walk when the cars stopped. Blake hurriedly walked to the next block and further down it. Eventually, she appeared in front of the library. Once she quickly searched for the key in the purse, she opened up the library door.

Now inside, the first thing she did was flip the sign to 'open'. Then, she walked over to turn on the lights, before eventually ending up at the desk. Booting up the computer, the time was 9:12 AM.

She sighed in relief that no one was waiting at the bench earlier. The book that she had been reading yesterday is still in the same place—

Ding!

Emerald Sustrai was back with a paperback. Not the Third Crusade, from what she remembered. Instead, it was a copy of A Sunny Day in Vale Town. She borrowed it a week ago. "Hello," Emerald greeted.

After a short pause, she also greeted her back. "Here to return the book?"

"Yes." She gave her the library card.

Blake took it, followed the procedure with the card, and returned it to her. "Return it to the 'thriller' section, thank you." Once she was away, she thought over the fact that the other was an avid reader, too. Although there were slightly more comics on her borrowing record. And of course, there were rumours about…

On the other hand, there is the whole incident with Penny… I don't think Ruby could stand being near her once she found out— Wait, I think she forgave her while in Vacuo and moved on from it. She wasn't sure what the rest of the team thought about her, although she guessed that they were still mixed reactions.

Aside from Emerald staying to read something else and later leaving, nothing interesting happened in the next hour.

When lunchtime came, Blake refused to get any solid food, preferring to get a cup of tea instead. I guess eating that sandwich too quickly finally took a toll on me. And that was an understatement.

Coming out of the stall, she walked over to the sink and turned the tap on. Not too long before the trip to the public restroom, she finished the cup's contents and threw it into a bin. Around that same time, she also had a bad stomach ache.

Washing her hands, she briefly turned off the tap and focused on the liquid soap dispenser. She put some soap on her hands, and back to the sink she finished the hand-washing. Blake turned off the tap and flapped her hands to dry them a bit. For her, flapping her hands felt comfortable—which was just handy after being uncomfortable for most of the day… and then she saw a pen next to the sink. Hm?

Her cat ears were now upright. I think someone might have lost something. It certainly looked expensive, too. She looked to the exit to make sure no one came in as she picked it up.

It was an inconspicuous ballpoint pen. The tip was 0.8 millimetres and used a push mechanism, with leather covering the main body. Well, Blake thought, at least it feels comfortable to write with. She guessed the pen's body was probably made of silver or something. …do I take it?

No, why should you?

Staring at the pen for several moments, she eventually pocketed it and left the restroom. Blake wasn't sure what she was thinking at the moment.

Yang was just about done washing the dishes when her Scroll rang. Pulling off the gloves, she found out that it was her sister calling.

"What's up, Ruby?" were her first words after picking up the call.

"Fine, Yang." Ruby's voice was still tired, although it was an improvement from when she visited her.

"That's good. And Oscar?"

"He's doing much better. Although he's still a sobbing mess, he finally said a word."

"Very good to hear. What did he say?"

"He apologized to me and said that the news about his aunt was too much to handle. He's still open to the talk on the weekend, though."

"Alright, great." She was pleased to hear that Oscar had recovered. "So, Sunday?" Ruby was okay with that. "Also, tell Oscar that I'm sorry about his aunt. Cya, 'sis."

Once she heard Ruby's goodbye, she ended the call. She would next inform Blake that it was going to be on Sunday. She later received acknowledgement.

Later that day…

Blake opened the door to the apartment, undid the bowtie and hung up the purse before walking over to the couch and collapsing on it. She let out a long sigh of relief. Her feet were sore and her chest was beating hard. And of course, a small headache…

"You forgot your shoes, Blake."

Her eyes fluttered open. She looked up from the couch and yawned, before turning to Yang. She was pointing to the pair lying on the shoe rack while sipping a can of energy drink. Blake's response was an annoyed glance before going back to napping.

Opening her eyes, Blake found herself lying on the couch on her back. Looking at the clock, she found out that it was 11 PM. And Yang was lying on top of her. She was napping, too.

She brushed her golden hair—causing her to wake up. "You're up, Blake," Yang said.

Blake didn't say anything back, instead more interested in looking around her surroundings.

"You alright?"

A nod. She just didn't feel like talking at the moment. Blake tapped her shoulder and pointed.

"You want me to get off?" Blake nodded to that. "Alright then." She released her from the hug and moved over to the other side of the couch.

Blake moved from lying on the couch to sitting on it. She rubbed the right side of her face, before getting hit with a headache. She stood up, yawned, and walked over to grab a glass, filling it up with tap water. After drinking a couple of gulps from it, she lightly gave her cheeks little slaps. Looking over at Yang, she noticed that she was watching the whole thing, before shrugging and going back to what she was doing.

Placing the glass on the dining table, she walked over to the bathroom. Just as she was about to open the container behind the 19-by-30-inch mirror above the sink, she remembered about the pen. Bringing it out of her pocket, she inspected it on the surface level. Why do I have this, again? she asked herself, before putting it back onto her trousers' left pocket.

Oh, right. Paracetamols. She opened the mirror.

Inside the container, there were ceramic shelves, leaving three ten-inch partitions for use. Yang put up the yellow stick-it notes to signify the ownership of those spaces. Her partition was on the bottom. Oddly appropriate, Yang, she weakly grinned at that. There's also a fish lipstick in her space, too. That's one of the anniversary gifts from Yang—not that she hated it, though. And on top of those dedicated spaces was household medicine. Aspirin, cough medicine… there it is. She took out the bottle, put one of the capsules into her left hand, and returned the rest to where it belonged before closing the mirror.

Walking back to the dinner table, she threw the paracetamol into her mouth and drank down a gulp of water. After a couple of blinks, she turned back to Yang. "Sorry, had a headache."

"Oh, right."

She walked over to the bookshelf and picked out a book. "Anyways, I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight, Blake."

Stopping in her tracks, she took a moment to let out an amused grin and crossed her arms. "I didn't say I'm going to sleep."

"Well, I could join you if you want."

Blake's grin slowly transitioned into a surprised blush. "…yeah, sure." That made Yang excited—she was up for another bedtime reading!

"I sat on a hilltop and took stock of my position..." Blake was reading aloud, her reading glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. Although the headache was still stinging, it wasn't as bad as when she woke up. She was in Chapter 7 of the book. Yang was pleased with her reading too—and guessing from her expression, she found her girlfriend's voice soothing in cases like this, regardless of what she read.

Reaching the chapter's penultimate page, she stopped reading, trailing off the phrase 'a murder or two'… Her mind went blank again, and…

"Blake."

"What?" She realized that she almost blacked out. "Oh, right." She proceeded to finish the rest of the chapter, and then sighed and took off her reading glasses. "Yang," she asked, "can you get me one of those energy drink cans?"

She was surprised by the request, but considering what just happened earlier, she shrugged the surprise off and got out of bed. Soon later, she was back with the unopened can and passed it to Blake.

Blake put the bookmark onto the book, closed it, and accepted the drink. Cracking it open and taking a sip of it, she thought that it tasted somewhat like cough syrup with a lot of sugar. It's not that bad was her impression of it. Putting the book away on the bedside table—and discreetly, along with the pen—she asked, "So, what did you fix today?"

"Eh, didn't fix anything. Just put some new tyres on someone's car."

"That's enough to constitute a fix," she discreetly teased, drinking more from the can.

Yang shrugged. "I suppose. Not a good use of this,"—she held up the prosthetic hand—"but whatever. Bet they're coming back for winter tyres."

"Mm-hm." She finished the rest of the can, indirectly notifying Yang by shaking it. She wasn't aware that she had tipped her off.

"So, you want me to throw that in the bin?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks," Blake answered as she got out of the bed.

"Nuh-uh," Yang disagreed, smirking, "not happening. Give me the can."

Standing at the doorway, Blake looked at her girlfriend in the eyes, then to the can. And then Yang again. She turned around to see the bin at the kitchen counter. The lights were off, with the only source being the moonlight coming from the window. That didn't mean that she didn't see it, either. "You do know that I'm the nearest to the bin, right?"

"…oh." Yang blushed at the silly argument they had. "Yeah, go ahead."

She turned around, crushed the can and threw it into the bin. It ended up hitting the bin's edge and fell to the ground. Her ears went up. Whoops.

"Excuse me," Yang said as she walked past her, careful not to hit. She went over to where the can was, picked it up, and dropped it. "Seems like you're out of practice, Blake."

"I guess?" Her face was now scarlet. "Also…"

"Hm?" Yang raised an eyebrow, before noticing that she dropped the can onto the floor. "Oh. Nice pair of eyes, though," she gave a compliment, pointing finger guns at her.

"Thanks," she muttered sheepishly. Stuck in eye contact for a moment, she awkwardly walked sideways to where the can was dropped and put it into the bin. And then she moved sideways to the bedroom, eyes never leaving Yang's pairs.

Once she was back in the bedroom, Yang let out a small, hearty laugh. Never change, Blake, she smiled to herself as she went back to bed.

Now that Yang settled on the bed, Blake repeated, "Pair of eyes?"

"Hm?"

She turned to her, and they were again back at their eye games. And that was when Blake struck—putting her into a hug and giving a kiss. Yang reciprocated, going along with her, too.

The next day…

Blake Belladonna, at the library's front desk, was pondering at the pen again. Then again, it's a property of a lady, she thought, before deciding that she should have fun with it by clicking it.

Click, click, click, click, click, click, click… it was oddly more fun than reading.

Ding!

Ren entered the library just as she stopped clicking the pen. Blake noticed that the tip was still out, so she clicked it one more time to close it. After a pause, she said, "Good morning."

"…Morning," he reciprocated. "New pen?"

A shrug. "I guess."

"I see." He proceeded into the library.

Now with that out of the way, she inspected the pen—on the surface level, at least—once again, before deciding to put it where the rest of the pens are. It stood out from the other pencils and plastic pens. She put on her reading glasses, and picked up the paperback again, beginning the book's penultimate chapter—and by extension, the final chapter and epilogue if she could get to those parts.

It was a drag to read through them, but it paid off rather well with an engaging climax. The 27th chapter put most of the novel's story under wraps, with the story eventually wrapping itself up on a common ground. I thought it was good was Blake's opinion as she closed the paperback, placed the bookmark on the desk, and got up. Blake walked over to the section it originally came from and returned it. Then she looked around for the next book in the series… there it is.

And another novel to her binge. They just made good time-eaters.