AN (6/18/2023): Well at long last, a new chapter! Sorry for the lack of real updates, I've been spending the past few months rewriting the first three chapters as I felt like they weren't up to my standards, not to mention properly writing an outline that the story can follow. In addition, the story finally has cover art by yours truly, me! Sure, it's only an older sketch dolled up with coloring, shading, and a background, but I plan to eventually put in the version I want as the cover.

All being said, enjoy the show!


It's the first day. And what does the first day mean? I get to wear my uniforms to class for the first time!

Okay, I ordered standard uniforms for Livio and Paz, and customized ones for Emi and Talan. First, Livio's is a standard suit with gold lining, a blue vest, and a red tie, along with a nice pair of brown dress shoes to go with dress pants. Paz's, meanwhile, is a standard female uniform with that same nice blazer with the lining, but with a red ribbon, a brown vest, an oh-so-cute red plaid skirt, and...

Wedges? Am I seeing that right?

I looked closer. They're the same style as the men's shoes, but with wedges higher than the width of my hands. That's weird; shouldn't the Academy just give women the same men's shoes? Plus, not everyone might want heels by default on their uniform footwear. I'm not complaining, though; Paz should be familiar with heels by now, so she'll walk in 'em no problem.

As for the customized uniforms, Emi is wearing a men's uniform, but with a ribbon and brown vest. Of course, the blazer, vest, and shirt are all unbuttoned, plus, the ribbon hung loose from her collar. Shoelaces, however, are tied properly because why risk throwing my other three bodies off by tripping on something untied? Finally, Talan has the men's uniform, but with those wedge shoes.

Something tells me he doesn't want to look shorter than Emi.

"Well?" Ash asked me, err, Team PLET. "Ready fo' school?"

"Eeeyep!" Emi put her hands on her hips. "Ready when you are!"

"We're all ready," Paz declared, eying Emi's clothes for a moment.

"Then race y'all to the cafeteria, then." Huh?!

A–At that moment, Ash opened the dorm door and flew out of the room. Oh crap! I ran after her! First day of school and we're off to our first antics already. I mean, hey! Thrills are thrills, and thrills are fun!

Wait, how is she sliding across the floor? I turned–and she's wearing dress roller shoes!

Okay, that's a big advantage for her, but she can't just skate all the way as fast as a car willy-nilly, or else she'll—Oooooooooh—fall. I mean, I pity her. In fact, considering her history, I'm still rooting for her to be in top form here, but I have to admit: her choice, her downfall.

So, how do I look? As I passed her and some of the students coming out of their own dorms, I took a quick look at myself, since I could finally check my appearances.

Paz: tidy, neon blue, scapula-length hair, straight down. Lively neon blue eyes. Well-worn uniform.

For Livio: neon green hair shaved on the left and curled to the right. Lively neon blue eyes. Well-worn uniform.

Next, Emi: long, fluorescent red hair, styled into twintails. Lively neon blue eyes. Messy uniform.

Lastly, Talan: chin-length white hair with bangs swept right and two distinct locks; the left one being longer. Dead neon blue eyes. Well-worn uniform.

Almost perfect. One more thing!

"You—know you can't-just–go out like that!" Livio said, his speech interrupted by frequent pauses for air as he ran.

Emi looked at him, dumbfounded. "Whaaat?!"

"Your shirt!"—Livio took another moment to breathe—"You could at least button that, or else you'll stick out!"

"Oh!" Emi quickly buttoned her shirt but left everything else as it was.

"Fine, good enough!"

As I emerged from the dorm building, I saw Ash behind me. Oh no, you don't! I picked up the pace and ran as fast as I could. I'm barely outpacing her, but what can you do against a girl in a suit with—no, no, don't tell me she's about to launch herself into the air with a fiery wall on the ground—

She—She really just did that! She's practically flying, and she's hollering! I'm never going to catch up with her...

. . .

What was that about praying to God for a normal school year again? Because if this is anything indicative of a "normal" school year, then it sure will be the most interesting one...

Nevermind that, am I in the right classes? Paz is supposed to be in Grimm Studies, Livio in Weapon Crafting and Upkeep I, Emi in History, and Talan in Field Cooking.

I looked around and saw that I was in a class with detailed drawings of Grimm by none other than Port himself, a room with admittedly neat-looking workbenches for each student, a lecture hall with a map of Remnant littered with papers, tacks pinned to the map, and red strings tied between said tacks, and finally, very basic improvised kitchens—lots of them, in fact—in a large room.

Yep, they're the right classes. Looks like a good time for some introspection.

So, Strings, you might be wondering: why am I in four classes at once? Well, considering I was in Signal, Alsius, and Sanctum, I had to listen to three different teachers at certain times. Then it was two, and then it was one. Sure, it was tricky; I couldn't just tune out one teacher to listen to another, or else I'd miss something important. Instead, I found different ways to manage things, be it reading my textbooks in advance, asking about things I missed (during or between classes), flashcards, autopilot—anything to make life easier.

Here? This is about to be the same thing, but on a larger scale. Of course, I have all of me in the same last class of the day juuust in case I ever get tired. That way, I can recuperate while I learn in Combat Training class and watch all those cool fights unfold before my eight eyes.

Or try to, but you get what I mean.

Now, I could tune out entire classes, but that takes more brain power than simply focusing on one of them the most, which defeats the whole purpose of saving brain energy. I learned that lesson in my first year of combat school, and the less said about it, the better.

With all that in mind, I should be prepared to do everything I did back then, except with less rest.

Surely it can't be that bad.

"Good morning!" Professor Port declared. "My name is Peter Port, better known as Professor Port—"

"—and when was the last time you made a weapon?" asked Professor Mulberr—

"—where we go from the past will shape our future," Ooble—

"—Today, I will teach you the fundamentals of—"

No! It's too much! Slow down, oh my God!

Wait, wait. If I'm able to focus on one teacher and then read textbooks for the other classes, can't I do that right now?

Speaking of which, time to focus on a class. Oobleck's probably going to recap what Livio learned in Signal, and Mulberry is about to go over how to navigate his class's mini-workshops. Meanwhile, Professor Port is already on the verge of veering into one of his many long-winded anecdotes. This leaves Professor Peach as the only one effectively teaching right now, so I'll focus on her.

"MREs are foremost an important asset for a soldier to have," Peach explained, "but as we all know, they come in limited supply."

I took a deep breath. Much better. Sure, it's still a little hard to concentrate with four simultaneous classes. Sure, what I'm seeing and hearing is still being processed, whether or not I like it. It is, however, more bearable now.

"This is why, sometimes, you make do with anything and everything in your environment: fruit, flowers, roots... anything else?"

Talan raised his hand.

"Yes, mister..."

"Talan. How about deer, rabbits, and birds?"

"If you can find them, Talan, those are good choices," replied Peach with a smile. "Anyone else?"

Talan waited as more and more students chimed in with their own answers. 'Bears,' he thought. 'A bit risky, but acceptable. Litter, ehh. Grimm are an obvious no-no, unless they die of natural causes.'

He sighed to himself. As boring as school was, it was a vast improvement over years of fighting for even a fraction of control over his life back in Vacuo, not to mention trying to escape death at least once a month (sometimes, every week). Vacuo wasn't home; it was the biggest prison he'd had the misfortune of being in.

The lives of his last remaining siblings were his bail.

'What would've been different if I'd been born elsewhere?' Talan wondered when Peach spoke up once again.

"And that about covers our bases." Peach drew another line on the blackboard and placed her chalk back down on its wooden lip while she took a look at the chart with names of improvised wild foods.

"Now, why don't we start with fruits?" she asked the class.

Welp, I'm bored. Let's see what Professor Port's up to.

"...smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter,' he..."

Nope.

"...we all know, one of the first triggers of the Great War was the suppression of free expression. Today, we..."

Too fast. Besides, I can read the textbook in the library. Next.

"Tip #1: Give. Your blueprints. Labels!" Mulberry pointed out. "If you forget the exact names of the parts you want to acquire or service, then you might find yourself..."

Uuuuuuugh, is there anything out there that's actually new? I mean, I've already used my time to read, study, and read and study like hell whenever a body had free time during my combat school and pre-combat school days, whether for an exam or something else. If Talan didn't have to survive out in the dry Vacuan wilderness for 17 whole years, then I might have genuinely wanted to tune in to Field Cooking. There's also the promise of learning to make better, more complex guns because for some reason I can't seem to grasp their manufacturing process.

Not to mention, I still have more to learn about cooking.

Ah well, back to Peach's class.

"...but beware: some berries are not safe to consume. Even with your Aura engaged, you will still experience food poisoning, which will take a while to heal, leaving you with a spoiled appetite and a nice stay in the local hospital. If you're lucky."

Aha: something I hadn't learned before! I always thought that an Aura could protect against anything so long as it's engaged, but I guess today I'm learning the limits of that. Or relearning, since I just remembered learning that in my combat schools. Oops.

I sighed. Back to business as usual.

. . .

Nope... nope... Don't feel like interacting today, especially not in such a tired state.

Actually, where's Ash right now? I could have sworn I heard her call out one of my names, but I'm tempted to tell her I'm not in the mood. I looked around, and there she was on Paz's right, asking me if she wanted to hang around sometime.

I mean, I would love to.

Problem is, I can barely hold myself up where I'm standing. I spent the last several hours processing a barrage of words from professors and students alike, no matter where I focused, not to mention all that visual information, and I'm spent. I didn't think it'd be more strenuous than combat school! Worst case scenario? I faint, and she has to drag my collective asses back to the dorm. Pretty sure she'd find it suspicious that all of Team PLET would simultaneously faint at once after an otherwise normal school day.

"Sorry, Ash." Paz... yeah, Paz yawned, rubbing her eyes. "We've been feeling a little tired lately."

"Ah, no worries!" Ash vaulted her hands behind her head. "Lemme know when you're up to hang 'round."

And off she went. At least she's not headed back to our dorm, but whatever.

. . .

More of the same.

Sort of; we're out of yesterday's quick recap phase, which is great! More new things and tidbits to cram into those thick brains of mine! Yaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy...

I still prefer to screw around and have fun, though.

. . .

"Yo!" Ash... ergh... "Catchin' Zs as usual?"

I rubbed my eyes. As usual? Did all my bodies all sleep at the same time..? Dammit, and I thought 2-3 bodies falling asleep was the norm. Oh yeah, only Emi woke up. This shouldn't be a problem.

"E..." Shoot, what was I gonna say... "Yeah," replied Emi.

"Ah, don't sweat it!" Ash set an ironing board down and placed her vest and dress shirt on it. "I'm sure there's a lotta dudes like you out there. After all, a little partyin' is sure to knock the wind outta ya!" She winked, then chuckled before beginning to iron her clothes.

Emi let out a sigh, then barely produced a laugh. Yeah, tell me about it.

"Y'know," she began, "if you're feeling the so-called 'school life,' treat yourself to some fun sometime. No regrets, I guarantee ya."

'Treat myself?' Emi thought, scratching her head, when an idea popped into my head. "Oh!" she exclaimed, "you just gave me an idea! Not gonna tell PLET, though, that's up to them to find out..." She then chuckled.

Ash raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. I mean, what's she gonna do, tie her to a chair and interrogate her? Even if this were a Jim Link film, she'd be the absolute last person to do something like that. The only person I can really see interrogating anyone for secrets would be Paisley, but then again, she definitely has better ways of accomplishing her goals... whatever they are...

Oh well, she's not that important right now. For now, a little break-in at the Emerald Forest should give me something to distract myself...