"So you cloned an admin keycard and used it to give yourself full access?" Yang asked, then nodded. "Tight."

They were leaning against the wall of the corner of the Admin building, enjoying a lazy afternoon on a sunny day. Weiss and Ruby were practicing their team-up attack and while Yang could be doing the same with Blake, she figured she'd been pushing herself enough recently. Not winning the Vytal had been tough, even if Yang had to honestly admit that making it to the semifinals has been an accomplishment for her first year. She needed to take some time to get her head right, to take a step back rather than work herself to the bone. Two more years till she got a second chance, and there was no sense burning herself out prematurely.

"Actually, Beacon's security is a lot better than what we had to breach in the Fang," Blake said with a shrug, "Here, at least, everything's actually properly locked. Taking on Atlesian trains, half the security codes were set to 1111 or not even locked at all for convenience. A lot of sloppiness to capitalize on when it's all operated by expendable employees working for minimum wage and told to prioritize speed over all."

Yang nodded. It was nice that Blake felt comfortable enough to talk about her time in the White Fang with her. It had been a lot of work getting to this point, but now, Yang really felt like they had a real closeness. The kind where she could even make jokes with her when talking about it.

Like this: "And here, we have the most anal woman to ever live running the show."

She saw Blake hold back a snort, and honestly, Yang lived for those moments with her partner. Cutting through her whole "dark, mysterious beauty" thing and see if she could get her to snort milk from her nose, that kind of thing. Now, as they neared the end of their first year together, Yang was getting more and more used to seeing these moments.

"Speaking of Ms. Goodwitch and anal," Yang said in her sauciest tone of voice, "You think she and that General guy actually-"

"General Ironwood?" Blake asked incredulously, "You think the Deputy Headmistress is hooking up with the head of the Atlesian Council?"

Yang held up a finger. "One, isn't he only the head of the school?"

"And the military," Blake replied, "Which gives him two out of the five votes, giving him plurality on the Council."

"Didn't know that," she said, then held up another finger, "But, two, those two were so totally eyeing each other at the Dance and they definitely hooked up. Now, did she actually seal the deal, I don't know, but there was definitely-"

"I can't even imagine it!"

Yang couldn't help but grin. "Oh believe me," she said, "With Goodwitch, I can imagine it."

Blake broke down into a fit of giggles, leading Yang to do the same. This was… this was nice. Yang hadn't pictured this when she'd imagined what her first year at Beacon would be like, but having chill times with her partner… she felt this was what she'd always hoped for.

"You know," Yang continued, "I have to assume she didn't get laid, cause even after Pyrrha won the…"

Yang's voice trailed off as she realized they weren't alone anymore, and a thin, timid voice piped up from beside them.

"Um, e-excuse me…?"

Yang lazily turned to see a woman who was very clearly not a Huntress.

It was two things. First, she was dressed rather plainly, a little too ordinary to really fit in at a school like Beacon. Nice clothes, actually, pretty expensive clothes from the look of things, but way too symmetrical and practical for jumping around and firing shotgun gauntlets at monsters. Second, she had a timid look to her that did not match a person who knew how to weaponize the essence of their soul. She was basically Weiss sized, but without the confidence Weiss projected nonstop, so Yang was almost shocked at how tiny she was.

But while not a Huntress, she was still hot, and really, that was what was important to Yang. She had an elegant beauty to her… like Weiss, actually, but sort of like a color-negative Weiss with her mocha skin and a curly frizz of cream-colored hair. Maybe not an exact color-negative, but enough that Yang wondered if she could piss off Weiss if she hooked up with this girl. It was worth a shot in two different meanings, so now this girl had Yang's attention.

"I'm Chai- Chai Latte, I'm a visitor looking for- well, maybe you know who I'm looking for, he's-"

Yang shook her head, chuckling. So she was here for a boy? She could read between the lines here. "Sorry," she said, "but if you're looking for someone, you're gonna have to go into Admin here and have their scroll paged, Huntsmen move around all over the place when it's not classes or mealtime. Whoever you're looking for could be in the gym, the library, even out in the Forest, and we don't exactly sign in and out."

"Wow…" she said, eyes sparkling as though she hadn't taken a single word Yang had said as though it was in any way an inconvenience to her, "You're real Huntsmen…" she suddenly blinked, biting her lip—rather fetchingly, in Yang's opinion—before suddenly blurting out, "A-and he might be in the Emerald Forest? Fighting Grimm? Right now?"

It really took a lot from Yang not to burst out laughing. It was easy to forget while up on the plateau that the average civilian saw fighting the Grimm as a life-and-death struggle and not a scenario where you got to rub the Weiss-Queen's face into your eight Beowolves to her six. But heck, while the girl was cute, Yang felt she'd do her boyfriend a solid and really talk him up a little. She could get her fill of his girlfriend's adoration right now and get him laid tonight in one action, and Yang was nothing if not charitable.

"Heck, probably!" she laughed, "Got a bear of a practical exam coming up in Grimm Studies, so half the school's down in the Forest right now, trying to get their Grimm-slaying skills in order. You've gotta go in deep if you're hoping to get practice on a Taijutsu, but it never hurts to keep your skills sharp for taking out Beowolves."

Then, casually flexing her bicep, Yang added, "I slew eight yesterday, a good warm-up. But the guy you're looking for is a second-year, right? So he'd be-"

"He's- um, first year, actually."

Ah, fuck.

There went Yang's charity in a single moment as she realized this poor girl was on her way to a sorely disappointing hookup with, most likely, a member of Team CRDL. In terms of single guys in their year, there weren't a lot of options otherwise. She didn't know what bullshit they'd spun her in their last city visit, but Yang felt like she had half a duty, to her gender, if nothing else, to seduce this girl away from making a major mistake with Russel or Cardin or… or worse, Dove. That almost made her shudder to imagine.

A glance at Blake told Yang that her partner had come to similar conclusions and that one of them ought to try and sweep her off her feet and away from a bad decision. Blake seemed to be backing off and Yang had already gotten her brag in, so adopting her most suave persona, Yang prepared to-

-get cut off by a conversation coming from the other side of the building!

"...but Hefeweizen's Size Law would've meant that Deathstalker was at least a century old, but the four of us managed to kill it?"

"Don't sell us short, Jaune, or yourself, since it was your…"

But Yang didn't really hear what Ren was saying because as soon as the word Jaune slipped out, she saw Chai's eyes go wide. And as the boys of JNPR rounded the corner, Yang was nearly dropped flat by a shriek that would put most sonic Semblances to shame.

"JAUNE!"

Even as Yang reeled from the sound, she was able to see in slow motion the sudden burst of shock break across Jaune's face. It came in three waves: first, the shock of being recognized, then, the shock of seeing that it was someone he recognized, and finally… Yang picked up a pretty clear sense that Jaune was not expecting to see her so excited to see him, and doubly so that he was not prepared for her to rocket forward, throw her arms around him, and kiss him.

On the lips and everything.

It did not seem like an old-fashioned, rural greeting either.

"Oh, Jaune," she said, arms still wrapped around him as Jaune's brain was still catching up with the kiss, "I made such a mistake, I never should have broken up with you, and I didn't mean what I said!"

"Mmm, yes," Ren said in the serene, indifferent way only Nora's probably-boyfriend could pull off, "Anyways, while a Deathstalker of that age would be a Class-3 armored-"

"Man, read the room," Yang whispered to him before turning to Chai, "So… you're Jaune's ex, huh?"

She lowered her eyes sorrowfully. "Shamefully, yes," she confessed, "I never should have broken up with him, I was so stupid and I've regretted it ever since and I came to Beacon to see if it wasn't too late."

It most certainly wasn't, considering Yang had actually forgotten that Jaune was even a possibility for "single guys in their year," but Yang figured chiming in on that wasn't productive.

Chai turned back to her beau, clutching his arm and saying, "Jaune, I know, I know, at the end, I said some things, but… could you ever forgive me?"

"Said some things?" Blake asked, which was kind of bitchy, but in her usual way.

Not being Weiss and used to this, Chai blushed, eyes downcast as she discovered what Blake's interrogative side could be like. "I… told him I didn't see a future for us, when he was…" she mumbled, her cheeks turning red from embarrassment before she suddenly brightened, "But I was so wrong! Jaune! You've done so great here at Beacon and I realize I should have known all along you could have done great here!"

"Well, um," Jaune said through a nuclear level of blush, "You didn't know, um, I was going to Beacon, cause I… did that after you… y'know…"

He was cut off by Chai giving him an overly-tight hug. She was the clingy type… which, Yang figured, might explain how Jaune was dating a girl like her in the first place. A lot of guys didn't deal with the clingy type well at all, but Jaune, in all his stubborn loyalty, would gel pretty well with it.

But hell, good for him! Yang had already assessed this Chai girl to meet her own standards of physical attractiveness, and Jaune had really shaped up since he first arrived. Both in the sense that he'd gotten his head out of his ass and stopped asking out Weiss all the time, but also in the sense that Yang could see how Chai was looking at her ex and Yang couldn't blame her for eyefucking him like that. He'd stopped trying to play himself up as a mini-Cardin and humility looked good on Jaune, especially now, with a civilian—his ex at that!—fawning over him as he tried to calm her down.

"Um, Chai, we don't… w-we can talk in private…" he began, but Yang could see how clearly affected he was by having a pretty girl running her hands over him. And especially this pretty girl, looking at the look on his face and the way his voice trailed off, she'd really done a number on him.

Yang figured she'd help him out on the "private" thing, give him a hand at getting alone with his girl. Hey, Yang had already said that she was nothing if not charitable!

"Hey, Ren," she said, giving him a glance and seeing his usual look of detachment, "Blake and I were going to grab something from the canteen and talk out some Grimm stuff for Port's final, y'wanna come along?"

It seemed that Ren would have preferred cockblocking his leader and keep their discussion going, but he wasn't completely blind to social norms. So with a sigh, he nodded and acquiesced as Chai practically dragged Jaune away from them. Ha, she had it bad for him, and Yang couldn't blame her. She well knew the mystique she had as a Huntress over civilians, and Jaune had earned a little adoration after a year of pulling himself up by his bootstraps.

But as Yang turned to leave Jaune to his "business," she caught a glimpse of Blake and… she did not look happy. Jealousy? No, that didn't line up with the Blake she knew. She'd closed the door with Sun on good terms when he went back to Haven with the rest of SSSN… or maybe he was in Atlas now, doing whatever it was Sun did when he was on an adventure. But Blake had been pretty clear: she wasn't looking for a romance right now. Not when she had so many things to figure out

Well, Yang figured she'd learn what was up soon enough.

"Her name's Chai Latte, she comes from Valois, and her parents are tailors!" Ruby announced, beaming with pride that she had the inside scoop on the story, "And did you know, in Valois, they have a goose for a mayor?"

Yang nodded slowly, raising an eyebrow at her little sister as she replied, "Uhhhh, yeah, Rubes, Jaune's mentioned it, like, a hundred times?"

"Yeah, but now Chai's confirmed it!" Ruby said with a big grin, "I always thought Jaune was pulling our leg, but no! It really is a tradition where a goose is the honorary mayor, but also, she's staying with her aunt in Vale for the week, but, I'm betting she might be…" Ruby waggled her eyebrows in a way Yang really didn't like seeing on her kid sister, "staying the night with JNPR, if you know what I mean. Eh? Eh?"

"I am doing everything in my power not to," Weiss said with a shudder. "First, because it doesn't make any sense, as though Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora would give up their room-"

"Not like you wouldn't love it if Pyrrha had to room with us," Yang muttered.

But a red-faced Weiss pushed on through, "-but second, her spending the night with Jaune? Euuuggh."

It was a little uncalled for in Yang's opinion. Yes, Jaune and Weiss still had some bad blood from certain exceedingly stupid things Jaune had done earlier in the year, but Jaune had also, to his credit, apologized and he hadn't done anything like that since. Honestly, Jaune had done a lot to clean up his act, real "Most Improved Player" territory if they weren't counting Nora learning that she had to give a shit about friendly fire, which, actually, had also been a major Jaune achievement as well.

And Yang would say it: he wasn't bad looking. It wasn't even a "Beacon 6, Vale 9" situation, there was a reason Cereal Girl got tongue tied when around him. Though speaking of…

"Pyrrha's gonna kill her," Yang whistled, "Gonna tear that poor girl's spine out."

"Once again, there is no evidence that Pyrrha has any romantic inclinations towards her partner," Weiss said through gritted teeth, "Your inability to see a possibly platonic relationship between them speaks poorly to your sense of relational maturity."

"Plus," Ruby added, "if Pyrrha wanted to date Jaune, wouldn't she have done something by now? Ooh, maybe we should find her someone to fix her up with! What about Fox? He's single!"

…odd choice there, not the least of which that Yang was pretty sure he had a girlfriend, that one girl, the short one who'd been hanging out with CFVY all the time during the Vytal, she couldn't remember her name, but Yang could see they were already getting off topic.

"Gotta say, it's a little weird Jaune never mentioned her…" Yang said, stroking her chin, "Or is it not? Sounds like Jaune got dumped pretty hard."

"They dated for three years!" Ruby excitedly added, "When he got dumped, he made up his mind to go to Beacon. Left town the next day according to Chai!"

Ruby's tone was quite a bit more cheerful than something that… brutal deserved. She just really liked having the inside scoop, Yang supposed. But it was harsh; Yang actually flinched a bit when she pictured Jaune getting dumped so hard that he signed up to be a monster slayer with zero training, experience, or basic knowledge of self-defense. Though it explained a lot when she thought about it.

But the conversation pressed on as Weiss sighed. "I don't want to admit this, but… it does make some sense. Jaune's long-term girlfriend dumps him and he goes to Beacon on some crazy attempt to prove something to himself. Beacon's basically been his rebound as he tried to not think of her."

Ruby slapped the table. "And then he tries to date a girl who looks exactly like his ex! It all makes sense!"

Which, of course, scandalized Weiss.

"I- she does not look anything like me!"

"Short," Yang counted off on her fingers, "I think she's rich. No boobs. Kind of a-"

But before Yang could say another word—or Weiss could strangle her—she was suddenly interrupted.

"I don't like this girl."

Yang's eyes shot up to where, of all people, Blake had spoken up. And she had her serious face on, her "Roman Torchwick is up to something, I just have to figure it out (by staying up all night with a corkboard and red string)" face on. Which… Yang actually knew not to joke about. Both the face and the corkboard, but when Blake got this serious… she wasn't joking.

Weiss, however, had not learned this lesson.

"We've known her for one day," Weiss sniffed, "It feels a little premature to decide we don't like her."

Blake shook her head. "No, you didn't see her with Jaune when she first arrived. This girl is bad news, and if she gets back with Jaune… I don't think it's good for him."

Yang looked to Ruby, then to Weiss, the three of them not sure how to handle Blake's sudden turn on this.

"Well… I didn't see anything that bad when she arrived," Yang said cautiously, "She was a little clingy, but-"

"More than a little," Blake shot back, "She latched onto him immediately and was holding onto him like she was worried she'd get pried off."

Ruby cut in, "I just want to make sure that there's no precedent against hugging, especially tight friendship hugs."

"I'm okay with some boun- RUBY NO!" Weiss cried as a flurry of flower petals swarmed over and Ruby's arms were wrapped tightly around Weiss's waist.

Yang turned to Blake. "I think we've lost those two, so if you've got something to say…"

"Listen: bad exes are no joke," Blake said, "And this girl… she doesn't care about Jaune, she ditched him when he wasn't convenient to her and now she's here because he has something she wants. That's not good, and I don't think we can just sit by and watch it happen."

Considering they sat by and watched Jaune's courtship of Weiss happen, Yang got the sense that there was something more in Blake's concern here. The kind of something more where Yang wasn't sure what they were dealing with here. Blake hadn't mentioned an ex of her own before, but there were a lot of things about her time in the White Fang that Yang still didn't know about. But… Yang had been there and she wasn't sure she saw what Blake did.

"There is still a lot we don't know, kitten," Yang said, "We don't know what their relationship was like, we don't know what she's like, and really, we don't know what Jaune's like when it comes to relationships. Prejudging this whole thing…"

But then Yang's voice trailed off as she sighed. Everything she said was true, and her reasonable side was telling her that now was the time to rein Blake in, but at the same time…

"But at the same time," she said, looking Blake square in the eyes as she added, "I trust your gut, Blake. And I trust that you know what you're talking about. If you think there's something to be wary about, I'm gonna be wary about it, but I'm not gonna move to break 'em up until I've got a sense that there's something more going on, okay?"

Blake blinked. It was clear she had expected more objection and was psyching herself up to push through Yang's resistance. But Yang just gave her a nod of acceptance as she continued. "Whatever you need for backup or support, just let me know. I got your back, kitten, so go on, chase that hunch, figure out if she's just a clingy ex-girlfriend or if there's something where we gotta roust her from the school."

Yang cracked a grin, flexing her bicep in a display of just how she could pull this off. She saw Blake give her a weak smile in return, and Yang felt a hell of a lot better for it.

Still, she wasn't sure what to make of this whole thing. She had been there; she'd seen everything Blake had, and while Chai was definitely a ridiculous sort of girl, Yang saw her more annoying than anything. Exhausting, perhaps, and Yang did get the feeling that Jaune was a lot better off pursuing the kind, supportive, smoking hot redhead who'd been giving him signals for months instead of getting back with some civilian. But… that made her think this was something Pyrrha ought to be taking the lead in, banging the drum to see a latte less of Chai-

Shit, she had to use that one at some point.

But Yang kept her eyes on her partner, lost in thought as Ruby and Weiss continued struggling through their negotiated rules on friendship hugs. Blake was a sensitive girl, often suspicious, frequently closed off, and it made sense she'd have some reasons to have opinions about their friends' dating life… why Jaune's? Questions upon questions, which might as well be the subtitle to "Being Blake Belladonna's Bestie."

Still, Yang trusted Blake. That's what being her Bestie meant, and if Yang had to go out on a limb for Blake and only hope she might get an explanation later… Blake deserved it, and Yang would give it. And, hey, with luck, she might get a good story out of it!

Especially if Blake got Pyrrha involved, cause that could end with some fireworks!

PAFF! PAFF-PAFF-PAFFPAFFPAFF!

Every time Pyrrha's fist met the bag, she felt the force rebound into her. She was punching too hard, putting too much force into her blows, and she felt the pain lance down her arm as jab after jab made contact.

Good. It should hurt. She should hurt. She had been stupid and careless and the thing that happened to stupid and careless girls happened to her.

PAFFPAFFPAFFPAFF-PA-RUNK

As her last hit landed, Pyrrha realized… she'd hit the bag hard enough to damage the hook holding it to the ceiling. A reminder of the destructive potential inside her, the capacity for violence that underpinned all her accomplishments. It was her one and only skill, the only place where she was any good. Every moment of excellence in the ring just underscored how little she had going for her outside of it!

Because if she was good at anything else… she'd have the guts to speak her mind. Tell her partner her feelings or have the strength to accept that she lost! Or- or just take up Nora's offer to get some ice cream and cry about it like a normal girl. But no, no, here she was, punching a bag until it broke because there wasn't anything else she could do about it!

With a sudden scream of rage, Pyrrha threw a furious haymaker into the bag, her fist colliding with the material and… making Pyrrha realize what a child she was being.

All her strength deserted her in an instant, while the self-loathing that now surrounded her like an inky black cloud was still there without a flame of anger to hold it back. She had a year, an entire year, she had had the perfect opportunity, she had been on track to act… but she kept delaying. Just kept delaying, because she felt like Jaune, at the Dance, finally saw what was in her heart, and that meant she could be the coward, wait for him to move and convince herself that she didn't have to do anything that might spoil their time training together. She could betray all her training and tell herself she didn't have to move, she could just leave the ball in his court and everything would just come to her.

Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid.

She felt a sob rising up in her chest, even as she tried to tell herself that she didn't deserve to be upset when this was all her fault, but she managed to still it. Because she realized she wasn't alone. And as crushing as her self-loathing was, it didn't come close to her self-consciousness, which compelled her to compose herself as she turned to see…

Blake.

Pyrrha froze at the sight of her, her mind unable to put together how she ought to feel for being caught by Blake in a moment of weakness. Yang, Ruby, Weiss, Nora, Ren… she knew how she'd react to them, the mixtures of shame and humiliation that would mark the moment, but Blake was… Blake was an unknown. She'd probably had all of three conversations with the girl, and in spite of having most of her meals at the same table as her, Pyrrha really didn't know her at all.

So seeing her, and being seen by her, wasn't really something she knew how to handle.

"Hey Pyrrha," she said, "You, uh, really gave the bag a beating… even Yang doesn't give it such a-"

"Blake, I… really don't want to talk right now."

"I know," Blake said, "But that's why I think I have to talk with you."

Pyrrha looked at her wearily. She didn't know what she could say that would deter Blake or… or perhaps, more accurately, Pyrrha knew if she properly snapped and lashed out, her reputation for reserved politeness would more than convey she didn't want to talk right now, but… Pyrrha just felt drained. Tired. She didn't have a lot of fight in her right now and just wanted to go back to her dorm and be sad… unless Jaune was there. Or Chai was there. So she just…

In the moment, Pyrrha suddenly felt just how far she was from home right now.

So she just gave Blake a nod to go on and say what she wanted to say, to give her what words of encouragement and support, let her know that she wasn't going to be beaten by this, that she would find someone else and-

"This Chai girl is bad news," Blake said, "And I figured you'd be thinking the same way."

Pyrrha's eyes went wide. Half of her mind surged forth vengefully, vindicated that her rival should be dealt with and swiftly crushed… but the other half was stronger.

"No, no," she said, shaking her head, "Blake, I… This isn't about me, and I don't want to get-"

"You're not understanding me," Blake said firmly, "This isn't just about… you and Jaune. It's-"

"There's noth-"

But a look from Blake silenced Pyrrha's objection before it left her throat.

"It's just about Jaune," Blake said, firmly, "and how this girl is not what she's presenting herself as. And I don't think Jaune's in a place to really deal with her, because of his history, and I don't think the rest of our friends are seeing her for who she is."

This was dangerous. This was playing with fire. But she beckoned Blake to continue with a nod, a little worm of vengeance coiling and uncoiling in her stomach.

"Everyone sees what they want to see, but I'm not falling for it," Blake began. It didn't exactly fill Pyrrha with confidence, Everyone sees what they want to see, but I'm not falling for it might as well be Blake's catchphrase. But still, she was saying something Pyrrha wanted to hear, so she didn't mind letting her continue.

"This girl's story only sounds romantic on the surface," Blake said, "But why did she change her mind about Jaune? Why did she travel all the way to Beacon to see him rather than just write a letter? Why did she jump straight to hugging him in front of his friends rather than try and do things privately?"

Pyrrha had to admit that she had found all of this odd, but at the same time…

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything," she murmured, her tactical mind engaged, "She got nervous about how a letter would be read, she just happened to encounter Jaune while in front of you and Yang, Blake, none of this proves anything."

But Blake just shook her head. "No," she said, "No, on their own, everything could be a coincidence, but I don't buy it. She's making a big show of things to get everyone on her side, to put social pressure on Jaune that he has to take her back or everyone else is going to be disappointed. She dumped him when he didn't have anything to offer her and now that he does, she's trying to lock him down before he realizes he can do better. Which, well…"

Blake gestured at Pyrrha and Pyrrha immediately blushed, her eyes shooting to the floor. Now was not the time to be preening, and while Pyrrha was not good at expressing her emotions, she was abundantly practiced at holding them down.

"But if she can get her hooks into him," Blake continued, "We're not going to be able to get her out. Jaune is noble. He's going to sacrifice himself to keep a long-distance relationship going with a-"

"You don't know that!"

Pyrrha was as surprised to hear her own voice as Blake was. But… she supposed she had to say something. She wasn't about to get pulled down a rabbit hole because it justified her feelings right now.

"I don't like her," Pyrrha said, "But I don't… I don't know her. Not yet. And I can't- I don't want to be that girl. The one who thinks she's entitled to her crush just because she thinks she ought to have him. He's not a prize, he's a person, and I never told Jaune anything. If this is his choice, it's his choice. I'm his partner and I'm his friend, but… but nothing else. And I can't act like I am anything else, because… I'm not."

It was a hard thing to say, but the better part of Pyrrha knew that it had to be said. Even as she felt like those last syllables were pulled from her breast by a herculean force, she knew it had to be said.

Blake seemed to recognize the gravity of Pyrrha's words, giving her a slow nod of recognition before taking a deep breath and pushing on.

"Alright then," she said, "I understand. But I still think she's a problem, so I'm going to talk with her, figure out exactly what her deal is, and see if we have to take action here. I'll let you know what I find and we can move from there."

From the sound of her voice, Blake already knew exactly what she had in mind for "we can move from there," but Pyrrha was willing to wait and see. She didn't know if she wanted it to be a situation that would need to be solved with a forceful confrontation, but… well, that was the one thing she was good at. Pyrrha gave Blake a nod of acknowledgement, and with that… they had a plan.

But… there was one thing she couldn't leave unasked. Not as Blake was about to leave the room, even as she didn't know how to ask it right, she knew she had to ask it.

"Why are you helping me?"

Blake paused. For a moment, Pyrrha felt a little uncertain, a tinge of worry that her question had untangled more than she'd hoped to bring up. But Blake slowly turned, a wry little smile on her face.

"I told you," she said, "I'm doing this for Jaune. He's… we all need help from time to time, especially in things like this. And… well, I've always been rooting for you two. Training under the moonlight? It's very romantic."

Pyrrha smiled, but… she was a natural competitor. She could tell when there was something more going on, but right now, she was not in a place to really be asking questions.

Thanks to Renarde for feedback and developing the original idea! And thanks to the members of my Discord server who gave feedback on this chapter, particularly to GummiGamer who coined "Chai Latte" and came up with her original design.