Hello everybody, sorry for the long time between updates. As some of you may know from my discord, I recently moved to and have been trouble adjusting with the way things are in this new town. I have been writing as often as I can, but things are just so different now that I don't have the time anymore. That being said, I will continue to slowly churn out updates as much as I can.

Phantommore: That's the tone I was going for.

James the apple: I may be remembering wrong, but I feel that Kaneki makes a lot of bad decisions.

SkyChaser17: I believe that Kaneki is confident enough in himself that he doesn't really fear Merlot, especially since he already shot down any experiments that could be done to him. I think Ruby is still at the point where she thinks she can save everybody, which is why she doesn't want to accept Qrow's point.

killzombie74: I hope that you enjoy that scene when the time comes!

YeTianshi: Ruby is still growing as a leader at this point, and I think that her making such oversights will allow her to look back and see where she messed up.

KnightOfZaku: I love the way you think, and that's definitely a possible outcome if things don't go according to plan. As for Ozpin's plans, I can't really say what they are yet, so hopefully you'll stick around to find out!

Itharax: I'm sorry I missed your birthday, and happy belated birthday! The previous chapter was intended to be a New Year's gift, but it wasn't ready in time. I hope I can do the big reveal justice when it does happen, because it seems that everybody is waiting for that. I don't know exactly how Merlot can help Kaneki with the Hard-Light dust thing, but it's definitely something I can begin to research and look into, although I don't know if it'll make into the story. Penny's radar thing is totally something I thought of that I felt like it made sense, even though there's absolutely no evidence to it as far as I know.

Rey de Picas: I'm glad you enjoy my depiction of Kaneki, it's probably my biggest insecurity when it comes to this story, which now that I think about it, is kind of ironic. Thank you for the compliments and the kind words, and I hope to see you around for more updates!

candrariski155: I'm actually pretty naïve in real life, which I'm sure a few other readers can attest to, so I just channel that when I write Ruby. I can't say I've read many Naruto stories with such characters, it's not really my fandom at the moment. I'm happy you enjoy my depiction of Ruby!

IronDeficiency: Welcome to the cult-er I mean family! Feel free to join my discord if you want to interact with other readers of mine (although we rarely talk about the story unless somebody directly asks me about it). I'm super happy to have you on board!

Incognito74: I would liked to have included more in the previous chapter, but I was already running late, as well as still being in the middle of moving irl. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

a54321: Indeed :3

artem-abramov-2004: I didn't know I was writing that story line, what else is going to happen? lol. If you wrote that I'd read it.

Hellibleri: I had to double check to see if Kaneki ever mentioned his status before before I wrote that, because I couldn't believe I went 14 chapters without mentioning it. I'm glad the tragedy of the story is at the forefront of your mind!

itsFAX: I'm happy to see you here!

AMurder0fCrows: I think we're all just trying to channel his entire chess-game thing he has going with Salem.

GraveDigger: I wasn't sure about adding that in to the story, but I felt like it wouldn't do any harm in doing so. If I had to guess, Velvet probably tastes like red velvet cake.

Onix121: I feel like I don't see a lot of Merlot in stories, but that might be because I don't have time to read anymore.

Greer123: Sure does!

cam155: Here's your update, friend!

Artful Lounger: I like giving characters difficult decisions, especially when the 'right' answer goes against their beliefs. I always intended for Kaneki's presence to affect the plot little by little. At this point, I don't even know if it resembles the canon plot at all, if I'm being frank. Velvet just wants to protect her friend from... well, himself, I guess. I took what you said to heart and made sure to add JNPR this chapter. I guess I got caught up in juggling the different sides of the stories, I kept forgetting to include them.

Fuyuku: Thanks!

Noire12: That's actually a good way to describe them! Although I still believe that Merlot was at one point in Salem's faction, I just don't have any evidence so I didn't include that in this story.

Yoyon586: I'm so glad you liked it so far! Sorry for the lack of updates.

Pedro Alonso Buby Huayanay Zamudio: I'm so happy to hear such praise from a new reader (or at least first time reviewer). All those questions will be answered at some point, I hope. I don't know if a lot of people missed it, but Kaneki did say to Merlot that he had no interest in being an experiment, but offered being studied as a compromise. As for Velvet, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Dreamborne: I don't know what 'no lifed this' means, but I'm glad you loved it! That request might have already been in the works, but I can't confirm or deny anything right now.

hiholly123: Thank you so much! I love hearing what parts of my work people enjoy the most, and the fact that you pointed out two things makes me super happy. I would definitely recommend RWBY, for obvious reasons, but I'm glad I was able to portray them well enough that you enjoyed that part of the story too!

aDeadHope: I feel like I should start getting into Spider-Man stories now.

Guest: I thought it was implied, but Qrow is definitely not going to just let Ruby run free by herself.

VongolaPrimo53: I'm not a romance writer, I just let the characters do what I think they would do. If that does happen, it's because Neo and Kaneki wanted it, not because I made it happen.

Well, that's it for reviews. Thank you to everybody who took the time to let me know what you think and to those who continue to encourage me to write this little pet project of mine. I would have likely stopped writing it long ago if it wasn't for all of you. Love you all!

Walking along the streets of Vale, Kaneki began to wonder if allowing Merlot on board was the wisest decision. While it was true that the man's expertise would be invaluable to him, it was all too obvious that the man was unstable. Still, from what he could tell, the man was not a fighter which gave Kaneki some peace of mind. If anything were to happen to him, he could trust Neo and Torchwick to put a stop to it.

Suddenly, Kaneki stopped. Did he truly trust the criminal duo? They came to his side once, sure, but was that really enough for him? It shouldn't be, but for some reason, it was. Perhaps he understood them enough to know where their allegiances lied, but perhaps they were playing the long con? No, they wouldn't be stupid enough to try to backstab him and from the looks of it, Torchwick trusted Merlot even less than Kaneki. He shook his head, unsure where the doubt was beginning to form. Kaneki started walking again when a red blur crashed into his chest, knocking the wind out of him.

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry!" a familiar voice cried out. By the time Kaneki landed, Ruby was already standing over him with an arm outstretched to him. "I should have been more careful, I really need to watch where I'm going. I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he assured, taking her hand. She pulled him up easily and began to pat the dirt off of him. "You don't have to do that."

"It's the least I can do," she insisted. Kaneki noticed that the girl was wearing an uncomfortable expression as she zipped around him.

"Are you okay?" Kaneki asked.

"Yeah, I bump into people all the time," she joked.

Kaneki gently grabbed her arm as she was patting his shoulders. "You seem stressed," he pointed out. "I imagine all this patrolling is taking its toll on you?"

Ruby deflated a bit and sighed. "I mean, sort of… Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to do it, it's just that… you know sometimes… Have you ever…? No, never mind, you wouldn't get it."

"I might not," he admitted, "but what's the harm in talking about it a little bit? I mean, I already know more than I'm supposed to."

"Right, you're right!" Ruby realized. She looked around noticing the sparse number of people on the streets. "Can we talk somewhere in private?"

"We can go to the Scarlatina Café," he offered. "I have the keys on me in case Marble ever wants me to open up again."

"That works!" she said. Without asking, Ruby positioned herself behind Kaneki and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Hold on tight!"

"Wait, hold on to what?" he asked. He didn't get an answer as Ruby darted forward in a burst of red petals. Kaneki was impressed at how quickly the girl could pick up speed, but noticed there was a significant slowdown when she turned corners. It also left little time for her to react, which is likely why she kept running into people. Still, they arrived at the café in a fraction of the time it would have taken to walk. "That was… new."

Ruby wore an apologetic smile on her face as she pointed to the door. Kaneki fumbled around in his pockets and took out the small silver key to the front door. As the two walked in, Kaneki took two chairs down from one of the tables and began to start up one of the machines. "Did you want some coffee?"

"Sure," Ruby responded, taking a seat. "I would normally talk to Jaune about something like this, but I don't know how his team is taking this whole 'don't look into the Faunus Killer' order thing. Oh, Jaune is a friend of mine, he's the leader of team JNPR, I don't know if you've met him yet."

"I don't believe I have," he admitted, wiping some mugs down. "So, what did you want to talk about, exactly?"

Ruby frowned slightly and sighed. "Well, it's just that I found out some new information and when I shared it with my team, they were all against my idea."

"The idea being?"

"I don't know how much I should tell you, now that I think about it," she said, realizing that she was confiding in a civilian. "I mean, I guess you know just about as much as we do, but you're not really… well, you know…" she began to flex awkwardly and point to her arms.

Kaneki stifled a laugh. "I'm weak and fragile, yeah, you're not the first person to tell me that."

Ruby winced a bit. "I didn't mean it like that! I meant that you're not really equipped to fight! You're not training to be a Huntsman, and Blake said that guns freaked you out. You're exactly the type of person that I think about everyday that I train to get stronger."

Kaneki poured two cups of coffee and walked over to the excitable team leader. Placing it down in front of her, he sat and gestured with his mug. "Why don't you just tell me what is bothering you?"

"Okay…" she said, dropping a questionable number of sugar cubes into her coffee. "My uncle just told me that he came into contact with the Faunus Killer, but that they talked instead of fighting. I don't know what they spoke about, but it gave me the idea that maybe I can try talking to him too."

Kaneki stopped mid-sip as he looked at the girl in front of him. Ruby was Qrow's niece? He wasn't expecting to find this out so quickly, but it would definitely give more weight to his future threats. That being said, he had no intention of hurting the girl in front of him, at least not yet. He put down his mug, thinking of what to say next. When he looked up to Ruby, she wore a remorseful expression, as if she already knew what he was going to say. "Ruby?" he started.

"I know, it's a stupid idea," she began.

"What exactly are you going to talk to him about?" he asked. Ruby looked up surprised that he didn't reject the idea outright. "I mean, if you're going to have a heart to heart with a cannibal, I would hope you have some talking points."

Ruby sat in silence for a moment, unsure of what to say. "I, um, haven't thought that far ahead," she admitted. "I was hoping that my team would help come up with some things to tell him, just so that he could stop the needless killing."

Kaneki moved his mug to the side and laced his fingers together. "Ruby, let's think of a scenario. Where do you imagine meeting the Faunus Killer?"

"Uh, I don't know," she replied. "He just sort of shows up whenever he wants, so I didn't really put much thought into that. But in an ideal world, it would be just him and I, I guess."

"Why do you say that?" he asked, brow raised. "Wouldn't you feel safer if you had your team, Velvet's team, your friend Jaune's team or even your uncle around?"

Ruby nodded. "I would, but that would also lead to them potentially misreading the situation and putting the Faunus Killer on edge. I don't know how fast he is, but if I'm alone, I'd have the best chance of getting away since I wouldn't have to worry about my friends."

Kaneki was impressed at her reasoning. It was riding the line of foolish and brave, but most of all, she was being selfless. "Okay, let's pretend the Faunus Killer is here right now and is sitting right there. What would be the first thing you say to him?"

"Why do you kill?" she asked without hesitation. To Kaneki's surprise, she held back a few tears as she did. "How is it so easy for you to just take the life of somebody you don't even know?"

Kaneki leaned back a bit, looking away. He took a moment to compose himself. He hummed as he thought of a response and looked Ruby in the eye. "What sort of answer do you think he could give that would change anything?"

Ruby was confused. "What do you mean?"

"As in, what possible reason can you think of that would justify the Faunus Killer's actions?" he reiterated. "I mean, murder is not something that I can imagine having to defend, but if there was, what do you think would be a good reason?"

"There is no good reason," she replied.

"Then why bother asking?" Kaneki asked, grabbing his coffee once more. "If in the end the motivation is irrelevant, what do you gain by knowing why he does what he does? I don't know how much success you'll find in trying to empathize with a lunatic."

Ruby looked down to her lap, unsure. "I…" she began in a whisper. "There's just so much evil in this world already in the form of Grimm… I don't understand why there has to be more…"

"Ruby, what is your goal in talking to this person?" Kaneki asked.

"To stop the killings," she replied. "People don't deserve to live in fear and that's all he's doing. The way he mutilates his victims and leaves bite marks… what does he want?"

Kaneki stood up from his seat and walked away from Ruby. He could feel guilt forming in his stomach and couldn't afford to let her see it. "Ruby… I don't know if talking to a murderer to comdemn his actions is going to be very productive. Maybe you should put a little more thought in what you're asking of him before you commit to the idea fully."

"Ken, you've talked to him before, haven't you?" she asked. "When he… you know…" Kaneki looked back towards the girl, shocked that she would broach the subject. "Is there any reason that he might have told you that he does what he does?"

"I know this might surprise you Ruby. I try to not think about that day," he said, tone a bit sarcastic. He walked over to the sink and began to wash the mug. He kept his back towards Ruby as he continued. "Listen Ruby, I don't know if your idea is good or not, but I would recommend that you are prepared to hear things you don't want to. The Faunus Killer… he's dangerous." He sighed under his breath and added just above a whisper. "He might not be worth saving."

He listened as Ruby finished her coffee in silence. He wasn't sure how she was taking it, but when she wordlessly walked out of the café, he hoped that she would take his words to heart.

"Again!" Velvet said breathlessly. Yatsuhashi leaned on his sword across from her, shaking his head. "I said, again!"

"You're burning yourself out, Velvet," he warned. "It's good that you want to train, but if you overdo it, you'll hurt yourself long before the enemy does."

Velvet moved her hair from her face and wiped her forehead. She conjured a hard-light replica of Fulcrum and pointed it at her partner. Her breathing was irregular, but she had a focus in her eye that Yatsu had never seen before. When he didn't raise his own weapon, Velvet dropped hers. "Fine, I'll find somebody else to train with."

"That's not– Velvet, come back!" he called out to her.

Velvet didn't respond to him and continued walking out of the training room until she began to feel dizzy. Steadying herself with the wall, Velvet felt her vision begin to blur. Still, she tried to fight through it. Standing as straight as she could, she made it to the hallway before nearly collapsing once more.

"What happened to you?" asked a cheery redhead. Velvet looked up to see Nora looking down at her with curiosity. "Wait, is Cardin still picking on you?! I'll go over there and break his legs right now."

"No, Nora, he's not," Velvet sighed, trying to get back up. "Was just training, that's all."

Nora nodded approvingly and wore a confident grin. "Heck yeah, that's what I like to hear!" she said, pumping her fist in the air. "Are you done with the training room? I feel like taking a go next."

"Let me join you," Velvet offered. "I just need to catch my breath."

"Are you sure?" Nora asked. "You look exhausted. I don't know if it'll do you any good if you push yourself any more."

Velvet shook her head and forced a smile on her. "I'm sure," she replied. Nora shrugged and followed her upperclassman into the training room. Velvet noticed that Yatsushashi had already left, likely to go shower off the sweat. "Alright, Nora, show me what you got."

Nora grinned wickedly as she extended Magnhild into its hammer state and closed the distance between them. Velvet was immediately on the defensive, carefully studying Nora's movements with the large weapon. What surprised Velvet was that Nora didn't let the weight of the weapon control her, often redirecting the momentum when she missed to circle back. There was almost no wasted movement.

"You're slippery!" Nora complimented, twirling the hammer around effortlessly.

"Well I don't think I can take too many hits from that," she joked, jumping far back to put some distance. She quickly took her camera out and began to circle around Nora. Nora didn't seem to care as she pulled Magnhild back to prepare for a swing, only for Velvet's flash to temporarily blind her, causing her to swing early.

"Nice one," said Nora, turning to see where Velvet landed. "I didn't think that flash was going to be so strong."

"It usually isn't," Velvet commented, placing the camera back into its box. She started to bounce on her feet as she pictured Nora's movements. She let the underclassman approach her a bit before closing the distance herself, surprising Nora. The short girl didn't relent, however, and swung with all her might just as Velvet began to summon her version of Magnhild. Jumping over the horizontal swing, Velvet slammed down on Nora.

"Neat trick," Nora grinned. She had once again used the momentum of the swing to circle the weapon around and above her, easily blocking Velvet's strike. Nora effortlessly pushed Velvet off and followed up with another swing just as Velvet was about to land. Velvet looked up in panic as she knew she couldn't avoid it. She raised her arms to try to block, but knew that Nora's strength would make it futile. To her surprise, the strike never came.

Velvet looked up, confused. Nora had stopped her swing just shy of making contact, then used a finger to poke her on the nose. "Boop! I win!"

"Y-yeah," Velvet said, her heart racing. She fell on her rear, surprised at just how strong the girl was. Nora folded Magnhild back into its compact state and offered to help Velvet up.

"That was fun, we should do that again sometime! Maybe I'll be able to spar with Pyrrha longer if I keep this up."

Velvet got up with Nora's help and walked to the sidelines. "Yatsu was right…" she muttered to herself. Her entire body was in pain and she could already feel the soreness starting to set in. "I think I'm going to be on my way. Thank you Nora."

"No problem!" she called out, walking over to the gym. "I'm gonna warm up with some weights. See you around!"

As Velvet headed back towards her dorm, she took out her scroll to check for any messages. To no surprise, Yatsu had sent her a concerning message about slowing down as well as an offer to talk it over some tea. She declined but thanked him nonetheless. To her dismay, Kaneki had yet to respond to her. "I know I shouldn't…" she whispered to herself, but still began to type out a message. Before she could finish it, she regained her senses and deleted it. "No distractions," she reminded herself, tossing her scroll to her bed. She lay down, the soreness of her training slowly starting to set in. It was only her first day of this increased regiment, but she could already tell that it was going to be hellish.

Velvet's thoughts began to wander as she rested her eyes. She never felt particularly weak until suddenly becoming the only hope of taking out the Faunus Killer. She recalled the unnatural way the Faunus Killer moved thanks to his extra appendages, making her realize that her Semblance wouldn't help her at all in trying to counter his movements. She began to wonder which of her allies would stand the best chance of closing the distance. Her first thought was Pyrrha, whom Velvet had copied several times to see just how effective her style was, only to realize that while the younger girl's style was almost flawless, where Pyrrha truly shined was the ease in which she adapted on the battlefield. Velvet's own attempt at fighting Coco with Pyrrha's style ended with Velvet's defeat.

The sinking realization Velvet pretended to be unaware of became increasingly harder to ignore. How would she ever become stronger if she has made a career of copying people who are always improving? It was impossible for her to catch up that way. She looked up at the ceiling, tears of frustration forming in her eyes. She wiped them away before they could fall; she always felt too sensitive at times like this. Even when she felt that brief anger, Velvet shed tears.

"Why am I like this?" she whispered to herself, her voice tired. Before she could dwell on it any longer, the exhaustion finally set in and she began to lightly snore.

Torchwick sat with his arms crossed on the couch, an annoyed expression on his face. He had never agreed to Merlot's little scheme, but Eyepatch did on his behalf, which left a bitter taste in his mouth. The crazed doctor had long since left, but the 'shopping' list of things he required was more than a few pages long. He looked over to Neo who was upside down on the couch looking at something on her scroll. It was times like this that Torchwick wished he could be as carefree as his partner in crime.

"You wouldn't happen to be looking up where to get some of this junk, would you?" he asked. Neo raised an eyebrow at him and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I didn't think so," he admitted. ]

Torchwick sighed before getting up to look over the list, already annoyed. He skipped past the different types of Dust, figuring he'd just rob another Dust shop for all it had, and began to look at the more specialized things. To his surprise, there wasn't a lot.

"The guy just wants a ton of raw materials," he pointed out. "Does he plan to manufacture everything himself?"

Neo rolled off the couch, elegantly landing on her feet as she did, and pulled up an image on her scroll. Torchwick took a look, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"Yeah, I know, Merlot Industries was a big deal," he replied. He took the scroll from Neo and began to read the attached article. It was from some business magazine dated back almost a decade. As he began to skim it, Torchwick began to read aloud. "'...and thanks to his decision to fully automate his factories, Dr. Merlot is able to keep production costs incredibly low.' So he uses tin robots like Ironwood uses toy soldiers. Wait… That Atlesian Knight he hacked… do you think he has more of those stashed away?"

Neo tapped her nose and smiled at him condescendingly. She took back her scroll and returned to the couch, opting to sit normally this time. Torchwick took a seat by her and leaned back.

"Merlot can just swipe Ironwood's army at a moment's notice to automate fabrication of his new toys, which can and probably will double as security… This guy is dangerous. I don't think Eyepatch will have to worry anytime soon, but we should tread carefully around this guy, Neo."

Neo shrugged nonchalantly and leaned back on Torchwick as she started to play a game on her scroll. Torchwick, on the other hand, began to look on the web for Dust shops he hadn't hit yet.

"We haven't hung out with them in weeks, I'm sure they'd be up for it," Jaune insisted as he walked over to Team RWBY's dorm. "I know everybody was looking forward to the Vytal Festival, but if it really is getting canceled, we should make the most of this free time we have now."

Pyrrha looked unsure, but nodded. "I'm sure you're right about that, but it just seems like they've been a bit stressed, that's all."

"All the more reason for us to intrude into their lives!" declared Nora.

Ren shook his head and sighed. "I don't think you should phrase it like that," he muttered.

Jaune grinned at Nora's antics. "See, she agrees with me," he told Pyrrha. "Besides, if they don't want to, they can just say no. What's the harm in asking?"

Jaune knocked on the door, giving his partner a reassuring smile. To his surprise, it was Weiss who answered the door. "Jaune?" she asked. She looked past his shoulder to see the rest of the team and pursed her lips.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, unsure of her reaction. He turned to look at his own team, but didn't see anything strange.

Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ruby said she was going to go out with you all," she informed. She opened the door, inviting them in wordlessly. "Did you need something?"

Jaune chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. "We were actually going to see if you all wanted to hang out with us," he admitted, gesturing to his team. Pyrrha shrugged with a kind smile, but she wore uncertainty on her face.

"Yeah, it's been ages since we've done inter-team bonding," Nora added. "Where's Yang? I want to spar with her. I'm pretty fired up after that training match with Velvet!"

Weiss gestured to the mostly empty room, pointing out Blake sitting on her bed with her nose in a book. She gave a half-hearted wave, not bothering to look up. "I think Yang was going to see her uncle. She didn't say when she was going to be back though."

"Why would Ruby lie about where she was going?" Jaune mumbled to himself.

Weiss looked over to Blake, unsure with how to proceed. The Faunus girl peered at her from the corner of her eye and gave the slightest shrug before returning to her book. The heiress sighed again as she turned back to her friends. "We may have had something of a disagreement," she said carefully. "We were helping out team CFVY with something and Ruby came up with an idea that was a bit reckless, even by her standards, and the girls and I shot it down."

Pyrrha tilted her head slightly in confusion. "What were you helping team CFVY with?"

"And what was her idea?" Jaune added.

"That's a bit… personal," Weiss replied. "I don't know if I'm at liberty to share."

Jaune looked slightly surprised. "Oh, come on," he said with a goofy grin. "You can tell us anything, you know that."

"He's right," Nora added, her face uncharacteristically serious. "You're all our friends, of course we'd want to help out."

Blake looked over to the five people standing in the room and silently put down her book. She gestured for their sister team to sit down across and for Weiss to sit next to her. "You might want to take a seat."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Weiss mumbled, sitting next to Blake. She waited for the four guests to sit before starting. "I'm sure you're all aware of the killings going on in Vale, as well as Professor Ozpin's request that we don't investigate it, correct?"

Team JNPR sat in contemplative silence as Weiss and Blake finished filling them in on what team RWBY was up to for the last few months. Weiss sat with her arms crossed, trying to decipher what they were thinking as Blake maintained her stoic expression, unwilling to reveal her own feelings.

Jaune looked down at the ground as he tried to wrap his head around team RWBY's actions, but in the end, it wasn't what bothered him. "Why didn't you tell us this before?" he asked, his voice almost a whisper. "Did you think we'd try to stop you? Or tell the professors?"

"Jaune, it wasn't that–"

"Then what was your reasoning?" he asked, raising his voice slightly. "Did you think that we'd slow you down? We wouldn't be any help?"

"Jaune, it's not her fault," Pyrrha said, springing up to her feet to calm her leader. "Whether it was solely Ruby's decision or the four of them, it doesn't matter. They're not obligated to tell us everything."

Blake put a reassuring hand on Weiss' shoulder. "The truth is, it was our decision to fill you in now," she said to them. "Weiss and I haven't discussed this with Yang or Ruby, but with the way things are going, it seems that it'll only get worse if we keep trying to do everything by ourselves."

Jaune looked surprised as he processed what the Faunus girl had said. "What do you mean by that?"

"Ruby's plan," Weiss continued. "She wants to try to talk the Faunus Killer out of… well, killing. Apparently, her uncle managed to find him and had a conversation with him that ended badly. I think Ruby is under the impression that she can somehow convince the Faunus Killer to turn himself in."

"We can't let her do that!" exclaimed Jaune. "She'll get killed!"

"Do you see why we decided to tell you, now?" Blake asked rhetorically. "We've tried to talk her out of it, but given how she's lying about where and who she's with, it's not hard to imagine she's not taking it well."

Each member of Team JNPR exchanged glances with each other, unsure of how to proceed. Jaune looked over to Blake and after only a bit of hesitation, he asked, "Do you think she's okay?"

"I'm sure she just needs some time to herself," Blake reassured.

Weiss pursed her lips slightly and took her scroll out. "Maybe we should check on her at least," she said, typing out a quick message.

After another brief pause, Jaune looked over to his team one by one. Each of them nodded, answering the unasked question before he turned back to the monochrome pair. "How can we help?"

Kaneki let out a tired sigh as he began to lock up the café once more. After Ruby had left, he had decided to clean up any dust that might have formed within the absence of people. He had likely spent way too much time, but he had spent most of it thinking back to the questions Ruby had asked him and pondering what she might ask him should she go through with her plan. In the end, he knew that there was no forgiveness for what he had done, nor what he would do.

The half-Ghoul walked down the street aimlessly, unsure of how to proceed next. With Dr. Merlot getting his 'makeshift lab' ready, all he could really do was lie low and wait. Kaneki was also aware that Torchwick and Neo were likely to start another string of robberies to get whatever it was that the crazed scientist needed. He took out his scroll to check the news, unsure if there had been any updates since his meeting with Qrow. As expected, there were none, although his wanted poster was still plastered on every site he visited.

"Ken?" a shy voice called out from behind him. Kaneki turned to see Ruby a fair distance away. He was surprised to see her again so soon. Ruby seemed to be hiding behind her cape, almost as if she was trying to disappear. "I just wanted to apologize for leaving earlier. You were just looking out for me, weren't you?"

"In a manner of speaking," he agreed. He allowed her to catch up to him and the two walked side by side. "I suppose I could have been a bit kinder in how I approached it."

Ruby shook her head. "You were probably the nicest person who's heard me out," she admitted. "And I'm sorry about bringing up that… other thing."

Kaneki laughed humorlessly. "I don't blame you, Ruby," he said, giving her a gentle smile. As he turned back towards where they were walking, he got a whiff of chocolate. He began to look around inconspicuously, having an idea of who was just around the corner. "You're not the first person to ask, and to be honest, I should get ready to talk about it soon."

"What do you mean?" she asked, baffled. "Nobody can make you talk about it if you don't want to."

"I might have promised Velvet that I'd let Coco ask me about it," he admitted. "Not sure what she hopes to learn." He looked over to where he could tell the CFVY team leader was and sighed. She was still hidden, meaning she would likely wait until he was alone. He turned back to Ruby. "Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

Ruby was about to shake her head, but stopped herself. "Well…" she began. "It's just, I don't know what to tell my team when I see them again," she admitted. "I've been putting off going back to Beacon since they found out I lied about where I was."

"Because of your plan?" he asked.

"Yeah, Weiss messaged me a while ago asking if I was okay, so it's pretty clear that she knows I'm not hanging out with Jaune. Not to mention that Jaune messaged me not long after asking where I was."

Kaneki shrugged. "I wouldn't know how to help you there, Ruby. I'm not exactly great at keeping in contact with people…" He thought back to Velvet's last message and sighed. He knew that he would have to stop avoiding her soon.

"Who are you afraid of talking to?"

"Velvet," he admitted. "She took me out not too long ago and I haven't exactly been around since then."

Ruby jumped up in a fit of enthusiasm as an idea popped into her head. "Why don't we both message the people we need to message right now, together?"

Kaneki laughed at her mannerisms. "I'm not exactly sure what I'd say," he replied.

"Me neither!" Ruby said almost too proudly. She took out her scroll and handed it to Kaneki. "I'll write yours and you write mine. That way the pressure's off!"

Kaneki shook his head, but took out his scroll anyway. "I don't see how the pressure is any less, but sure," he said, humoring the girl. He had already shot her down once today. He opened Ruby's messaging app and began writing a message to Weiss. He wasn't exactly sure what to say, so he answered her previous question and added where and who she was with. When he finished, he looked over to Ruby who had a confused look on her face. "You done?" he asked.

"Y-yeah," she agreed, handing back the scroll. "Thanks Ken. I guess now I got to go face them in person," she said with an awkward laugh. "I'll see you around!"

Kaneki waved as she left and looked back down to his scroll. He was about to read the message she sent when he noticed what screen Ruby was on. He had left his scroll open to the Faunus Killer news. As he skimmed through the article, he decided that Ruby likely thought it was strange for him to be so fixated on the one supposedly responsible for his missing eye, especially given that they thought he couldn't defend himself. He sighed and was about to pocket his scroll when it went off.

'Yes! Of course!' It was from Velvet. Confused, Kaneki opened the messages between them and read what Ruby had written and nearly palmed his face. Now he understood her awkward laugh.

It read, 'can i take u out?' He responded to her message with a, 'Does this weekend work for you?' before shutting the scroll and walking back to his apartment.