After tournament...a twist of fate...yeah...

Yet despite the dominating win we had on our first day, we were quickly eliminated the following week. Was it inexperience? Lack of training? Or was it, perhaps, fate? Whatever the case, I could hear Hotel throwing stuff at his locker as Sierra said, "Calm your shit, Hotel!"

"Why? We just fucking LOST!"

With that, I winced as he threw a punch at his locker this time. His breathing was labored as Sierra said, "Look; we have another year. Besides, not like the prize is anything special."

"You're…right…," he said, relaxing a bit, "I'm…sorry…."

"I don't blame you," I said, turning to him, "those guys were tough as shit."

"You can say that again," Sierra said, "It was like their defense was rock solid. Like they knew what we were gonna do before we could do it."

I turned to Lima, who nodded in agreement.

"…whispering…," she said, putting her weapon back into her locker. I sighed as Sierra put her knife strap into her locker, slamming it shut as she said, "But I know just the thing to get us back in shape!"

I glanced up at her as she slammed a binder on the bench I was sitting on

…no way…she seriously didn't-!

"Summer classes," she said enthusiastically. I dropped my head as she said, "Hey! Look alive, Delta!"

"Yeah, but," I argued, "I couldn't even enjoy winter and spring break, cuz you want to graduate early. Can't I at least have the summer off?"

"Don't worry about that," she replied, "the class I enrolled us in is just gonna have us go on a monster slaying quest for a week. We'll get our credits, and trust me; it's gonna be a lot, and I mean a LOT, of credits."

Whatever you say….

Suddenly, the door to our locker room swung open. I looked up, seeing Ruby flying towards me.

"Ruby-!?"

"Are you alright!?"

I blinked in surprise as she pulled away from her hug, looking me up and down, sighing in relief as I said, "Yes, I'm fine, Rubes."

"Oh, thank goodness!"

With that, she wrapped her arms around me. I felt a smile creep up as I asked, "How about you guys? Didn't you guys lose today too?"

"Yeah. And in the most bogus way, too."

I looked up, seeing Yang with a look of anger on her face. The thing that caught my eye was that she only had one of her bracelets on. Hotel took notice as well as he walked up to her, taking her bracelet-less wrist in hand. Yang grumbled something as he sighed, lifting her chin and pressing his forehead against hers. I could sense her calm down as she wrapped her arms around his back, her hands gripping her shirt. I the turned to Lima, who was staring intently at us. I blinked and asked, "Something wrong, Lima?"

She blinked, nodding. Suddenly, her eyes widened as I saw Windsickle blur past me.

"Lima! Are you alright!?"

Wait…didn't Ruby just do that with me?

She nodded as he suddenly pulled her into a hug, catching me by surprise. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have been, but it's still just surprising that she'd just let someone outside of Sierra and Ruby just hug her like that. Especially a guy from team SWRD no less.

"Gee, I feel a little left out."

I faced Sierra, who was looking a little hurt. I have to admit; it's kinda sad to see our leader doing so much for us, yet she has to do it alone. Without anyone to hold her. To comfort her when things got crazy.

Suddenly a knock on the door caught our attention. I glanced up, seeing Hotel open the door.

"Hi. I believe Sierra's her name. Is she in here?"

That voice…isn't that…?

I raised my eyebrow in curiosity as the leader of the team that beat us came into our locker room. I then turned to Sierra, who glanced up at him as he walked up to her and asked, "Your name is Sierra, right?"

"What of it?"

I could see her ready to take his head off. Despite the cool look on her face, she was really right about to explode on him as he said, "That was a great fight we had."

"Yeah…great…," she repeated, looking down to her feet. The guy sighed, suddenly dropping to his knees in a merciful bow. My eyes widened in surprise as he said, "I'm sorry…for making a fool of your team…."

Sierra's eyes suddenly began to grow dangerous as he continued, "We're trained at my school to set the tone early…we had a first-round bye, so…I apologize for doing what I did."

I glanced at Sierra, pushing Ruby off a bit, prepared to jump in and stop her from doing anything rash. I glanced at Hotel, who looked ready to do the same. However, Sierra only sighed and asked, "…what's your name?"

"Huh?"

The guy raised his head as she repeated, "Your name. What is it?"

"Oh. Oh! Uh, it's Echo."

Echo? Echo…Echo…Echo…where have I heard that name before…?

I put a finger on my chin as Sierra nodded and said, "…Echo…hmm…whatever. Meet me on the roof tonight."

"Uh, okay," he replied, bowing to me. I raised an eyebrow as he said, "It's been a while, Delta."

Huh? Why does it seem like I…know this guy? He's got the same….

I blinked in confusion as he left the room. Hotel's eyes followed him as he turned back to me and asked, "You know that guy?"

Sierra shook her head as I replied, "The name…sounds familiar…."

Sierra stood on the roof, the wind blowing her silver hair to and fro as she heard the door opening behind her. Turning around, she saw that the guy from earlier, Sling, had decided to show up. She smirked to herself, looking at the moon again.

"…'tis a lovely night," she said as she heard his feet walking up behind her.

"Indeed," she heard him reply, glancing to her right to see him standing next to her. She kept her eyes on him, checking him out up and down. He had a little tone to him, as well as jet black hair and purple eyes. Give or take, they were more of Yang's shade than they were Delta's. She then checked out his arms, which were pretty toned like Hotel's, but not so bulky. That must've meant he had the same structure under his clothing. Considering the weapon he was using against them, which was something like a double-sided sword, two blades on opposite ends of a sword handle.

It was then that she noticed he was looking at her as well. She blinked, quickly glancing away as she heard him chuckle. She felt herself grow hot as he said, "You know…you're beautiful when you aren't trying to kill anyone."

"I-is that so?"

Sierra mentally slapped herself for stammering.

Sling frowned, then said, "You know…we went to the same school before."

Sierra immediately turned back to face him as he said, "…Sakuya…."

Her eyes widened as he looked at her again. She blinked several times before, finally, she recognized the face. The face that had made her take such an interest in Delta on his first day at Beacon. The face that had drawn her to her teammate.

"E…Echo…Tavernce…?"

Sling smiled and replied, "It's been too long, Sakuya."

Sierra's heart skipped a beat as she felt like jumping him. Partly to beat him up. Partly to catch up with him. But what caught her attention was that he had called her beautiful. Suddenly, she felt her face heat up as he cupped her cheek. She felt her heart about to explode as he said, "And…now that I've seen you again, I wanna ask you something that I didn't get to ask back at our old school."

Sierra began to feel herself grow flustered. Her heart began pounding away in her chest as he asked, "Will you…be my girlfriend?"

Sierra's mind began running on cloud nine. Echo was someone who she had a crush on back at their old school, but couldn't well up the courage to ask. And yet, by some twist of fate, he was standing here. Right in front of her. Her long time crush that was, at one point, her best friend before she met Hotel.

"…I…," she stammered, feeling rather uncomfortable. She could feel his eyes burning through her body as she struggled to comprehend what he had just asked. She was the leader of her team.

"...I…!"

"…THAT'S WHO HE IS!"

I sat up in bed, surprising Lima. Hotel glanced at me and asked, "That 'Echo' character? Who is he?"

"He's," I replied, "my cousin."

"Your cousin?"

Hotel sat up as I continued.

"I can't really remember, but he was the one who even brought up the idea of becoming a huntsman to me before Ruby. He's from my mom's side, so we have the same colored eyes. Except the bloody bastard's taller than me and he doesn't have violet highlights."

I pointed to my hair. Hotel nodded his head as Lima suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck, sniffing at my hair. I jumped in place as she seemed like she was biting me. For what reason she didn't tell me as she said, "…partner…Echo…not partner…."

Taste test? Maybe….

Lima quickly got off of me as I said, "He'd sometimes tell me about how there was a girl he liked from way back when."

"Oh," Hotel responded, "Must've been before I met her."

"Probably," I replied.

Delta's cousin!? JK. Echo's actually been someone I've been contemplating for a while. I'll run ya'll up on him next chapter. Laters!