I slowly filtered out of the airship with Weiss as we trailed behind the majority of the pack. It was mostly because Weiss has a ridiculous amount of luggage for us to drag with us.

To be fair, a big portion of that luggage was dust. Didn't make it any less ludicrous. I had a small bag. She has several suitcases.

She'd also conned me into pulling her luggage for her, so that was great.

"Could you pull it any slower?" Weiss asked me with mirth in her voice.

I rolled my eyes at her, dragging the luggage cart behind me. "I could just let you pull it."

I wouldn't, of course. I was quite the nice fellow. The height of generosity.

Weiss shook her head. "No, you won't."

I chuckled at that. "No, I won't."

She turned back towards the ramp after giving me a smug smile, proceeding to walk down to the grounds of Beacon.

As we exited, we passed by some blond kid puking into a trash can. I guess he didn't take well to the descent.

I imagine that would get beaten out of him. Motion sickness isn't a good trait to have when you're expected to run at sonic speeds.

Stopping to turn to him, letting go of the luggage cart, I asked him, "You good, dude? I bet they have medicine inside of the school. Need me to help you get some?"

I didn't approve of the fact a huntsman-trainee was puking from deceleration, but I wasn't going to just ignore him. I don't know how everyone else was.

I was an asshole and I still felt a bit bad for him. And, well, we're going to be huntsmen. A big part of the job is, ya know, helping people.

The blond coughed a few more times, gagging once or twice before looking up. I unconsciously shuffled myself out of the puke zone.

The blond tried for a small smile, but it just made him look constipated. "Th—thanks!" The blond said, holding his stomach. "But I think I'm fine now. Just never been one for heights!" He paused, looking awkward. "...or traveling. But the puking should all be done."

I slowly nodded, looking at him in mild disbelief. How had this guy been able to get into Beacon? He seemed so…discombobulated and anxious. I put on a comforting grin. "I guess even the best of us have our flaws, Blondie."

Even if this guy probably doesn't qualify for that role, it'd still make him feel a bit better.

Blondie quickly nodded at that, looking relieved. "Yea—yeah Yeah, you're right. Mhm, even the best huntsmen have their issues."

Well, that was strange. What an odd guy.

"Anyways, Blondie, I gotta go. My friend here," I looked to the side, glancing towards where Weiss was. Huh, it seems she'd left and taken the cart. Hadn't noticed.

"Huh." I said, scratching my neck. "Seems she left. Guess I have to catch up." I turned from him, moving farther out of the exit. "See ya, Blondie!"

I started to jog and Blondie shouted after me. "Wa—wait! You didn't introduce yourself!" I kept moving, his voice fading out behind me. The last thing I managed to catch was him saying, "I'm Jaune Arc!" and then him sighing after.

What an interesting guy, Jaune Arc. I wanted to see him in a fight, he must be at least somewhat decent considering he got into Beacon.

Or not. Maybe the school recruited people with potential. It was pretty possible he had a crazy strong semblance and just never had the capabilities to train.

Did the school do scoutings? No clue, but that was really the only way I could rationalize that kid getting in here.

Still hustling, I managed to finally get to the main part of the walkway to the school. The castle-thingy that was Beacon is, well, massive.

Now where was Weiss?

I kept running.

As I was jogging, I managed to catch sight of where Weiss was. She was standing in front of some red-covered girl, shouting at her and animatedly moving.

I sighed, moving towards them. What had Weiss gotten herself into?

Was this what my whole day was going to be? Social encounter after social encounter?

Approaching as Little Red Riding Hood was poking her fingers together awkwardly, I called out to Weiss. "Yo! Sunshine!"

Both girls turned towards me, Scythe-girl in confusion and Weiss in embarrassment. I had no clue why Weiss was embarrassed.

I patted Weiss on the head. "You ditch me for ten seconds, Sunshine, and you're already making enemies." I tisked at her.

I'd need to train her in social skills. Seems her skill with her blade was a million times better than her skill with her tongue.

…wait, no. That sounded wrong.

"Wha—I'm not making enemies!" Weiss gave me a small glare. "This girl is a danger to my health. This child has absolutely no clue how to properly act around dust. She's a risk to everyone around her!"

That was probably extreme? Red didn't look very threatening with her awkward, sad look.

I patted Weiss's head again, giving her a placative smile while she slapped my hand away. "Suuure, Sunshin—"

I was cut off by what sounded like a strangled dog. Or someone holding in a laugh. "Ch—ch!" Red was holding a hand to her mouth. "Sun—sunshine?" She started snickering. "H—her?" Red let out more snickers.

She rapidly calmed herself because of the nasty look Weiss sent her.

Red spoke up again, turning to Weiss, looking highly guilty. "And I am so sorry! I really didn't mean to blow up your dust…"

"Sorry doesn't cut it!" Weiss bit out, crossing her arms and glaring daggers at Red. "Do you know how much damage you could've caused to me?! Then you go and laugh at me after!" Weiss stomped her foot much like a child. "You're such a child! This is why they shouldn't be letting little kids at Beacon! You're a risk to your future team's health."

I moved a hand to Weiss's shoulder, seeing the gloomy look growing on Red's face. "Weiss—"

Weiss smacked my hand away, huffing. "Don't, Nigel. This girl is a risk to everyone around her. See my combat skirt? It's covered in soot because this—this pinhead couldn't control herself around my dust! We're here to fight Grimm, you know, and she can't even properly control herself at the front entrance of the school!"

Weiss looked back at the incredibly guilty-looking girl. "Do you even know what kind of things are expected of students at this school? It's not just for people like you to goof off at! Real fighting happens here. Life and death! And this is ho—"

"I said I was sorry, Princess." Red retorted, finally standing up for herself.

"Heiress, actually." Another girl cut in, holding a vial of red dust.

I had not noticed her.

Everyone turned towards the black-haired girl as she went into a monologue. "She's Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. It's the largest producer of dust in the world along with the largest company in the world."

Weiss proudly puffed up at that, putting her hands on her hips as she seemed to bask in the praise. "Finally! Some recognition."

Seems Weiss did not sense the 'but' there.

The black haired girl continued. "It's also the same company infamous for its questionable business practices and its illegal treatment of its labor forces."

That seemed to make Weiss get flustered as the girl started sputtering and Red started snickering.

"Technically," I began to add at the end of what the black haired girl said, "it's not illegal what they do because there aren't any laws against it."

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, the bow-wearing girl's expression darkening. "Are you trying to condone what the SDC does based on their actions being legal?" She incredulously spoke. "The way they treat their workers, the way they treat the faunus, is horribly inhumane."

I shrugged. "Didn't say it was or wasn't. I just pointed out it wasn't illegal." I tilted my head at her, looking at her curiously. "But clearly you are passionate about how the SDC treated their workers, specifically the faunus. It's a bit odd that you would go out of your way, then, to antagonize the only person who could possibly fix that issue."

Crinkling my eyes, I gave her a smile. "But that's just my opinion."

And my opinion was fact, Bow-girl just lacks the proper understanding of morals to agree yet.

The bow-wearing girl gaped at me, blinking and seemingly trying to process what I said.

"Anyways," I continued onwards, ignoring the girl's reaction, "you'll be happy to know Weiss already was on your side of the spectrum! So that's something to be happy about, the heiress of the SDC wanting labor rights."

Weiss turned to me, a slight look of surprise written on her face, "I am?"

I flashed a thumbs up to her. "You are." Rolling my eyes at her, I tacked on, "and your morals would always make you lean to that side. Regardless, it's smarter to pay workers a good wage. Slavery and low wages prevent the workers from consuming products, meaning less money is spent overall, the workers are less happy, and the economy is weaker."

Jacques was an idiot. Economies needed people to spend money in order to get stronger.

I huffed. "And any lost revenue from higher wages can easily be regained by expanding the company to produce the products that the workers would buy like housing, food, clothes, scrolls, and other commodities. Then you have happy workers, high profits, and a growing economy."

I really, really disliked Jacques. The man thought too short term. His actions would bring short term profits. In the long term, however, he only hurt the SDC.

He has a monopoly on dust. He controls the entire energy industry planet-wide. The sheer amount of money he has is ridiculous.

He does nothing with it. He could control everything if he wanted, monopolize dozens of industries with his wealth. Yet he doesn't. He sticks to dust.

Well…that's only partially true. The SDC does make products outside of dust. It's just that these products are barely even funded by the SDC or focused on.

I just—I just couldn't understand why Jacques does what he does.

"That's even worse!" The black-haired girl said, looking put off. I snapped back to the conversation. "It would just be slavery without the shackles. The company would still control everything the workers did, it'd just be hidden behind a mask. The faunu—workers would never be free in such a scenario!"

"You're not wrong." I conceded to her because she wasn't wrong. "The workers wouldn't be free. But they'd live much better lives than they do now."

That's the thing in life. People value their well being over their freedom. Most people would happily become a slave if they would never face any real suffering again.

Literally look at jobs. People will do the most painful, grueling, agonizing jobs for money. They'll become yesmen for their companies if paid well enough.

Most people only are free by the letter of the law. De facto, they are just as enslaved as the faunus working for the SDC. Happier, yes, but not free.

"You're acting like those are the only two options: literal slavery or masked slavery. It isn't!" Bow-girl said passionately. "What's so wrong with the workers being treated right, like they are equal. Why do they deserve less than everyone else, why shouldn't they be free, why shouldn't they get a liveable wage with no strings attached?"

For some reason, I didn't think she was talking about the workers.

I pursed my lips, giving a placative look. "Two reasons, really. The first is that the SDC does not want to lose money." I gave Weiss a glance, silently begging her to stay quiet. She was going to like those profit margins, damn it! "Secondly, the SDC will have a good person leading it in the future. The only issue with having the many controlled by the few is that the few tend to be greedy and, well, bad."

I laid a hand on Weiss's shoulder, practically showing her off. "But she's one of the few and is, in my correct opinion, a good person."

Weiss went red at my complement.

Red had long since mentally collapsed, almost as if she was here yet she was also very far away.

"I disagree." Bow-girl challenged, looking at me as if I were a terrible person. "From what I have seen so far, Weiss has been rude, aggressive, and stuck up. Those are terrible qualities for a leader."

Weiss had an offended look on her face and opened her mouth to talk. Likely to prove Bow-girl's point.

I cut her. "Or maybe you just haven't seen enough of her to judge who she is as a person? Judging a person at first glance tends to lead people into making bad decisions." I then decided to make my next words personal. She seemed to be a fan of the faunus, sooo… "Just look at the treatment of the faunus. A first glance impression leads to oppression. It's people like you who make that happen."

Her reaction was a bit more than I expected. I had expected her to be mad, obviously. But she was, well…

Bow-girl's face was furious. Like, she looked enraged. Very, very mad. Her face was contorted into a snarl as she bared her teeth. Sharp canines poked out. "Do not compare me to them! I am not—I'm not a racist nor am I oppressive!"

She seemed very personally offended by it. Hm.

There were a handful of reasons as to why someone would be this deeply offended by what I said. The most obvious was her being, well…

I think Bow-girl might just be a faunus.

That's interesting.

"I didn't say you were. I said you're doing the same actions that the racists use. That is, judging a book by its cover."

Ms. Bowie didn't seem to be able to handle that…man, I really need to learn people's names. Red? Bowie? Blondie? My nicknaming skills were pretty bad.

"You—you! You're unbelievable!" She stuttered before turning around, storming off. After a moment, Red followed behind her.

"Well…" I turned to Weiss. "I guess that just happened?"

I was always down to talk about my opinions. Afterall, if you have an opinion or you believe something, why be quiet about it?

The only reason for silence is that you think you're wrong or you aren't staunch in your beliefs. That's weak. If you believe something, it should be because you're confident you are right.

People who believe things and don't know why anger me.

Weiss bristled. "Those girls had no right to talk to me like that. It was outrageous." She harrumphed, her face contorting into something I think was meant to be indignant, but it ended up looking more cute than anything.

"Careful there, Sunshine. No need to prove that faunus's point." I tilted my head to the side, remembering something. Namely, the point the faunus made. "And speaking of Bowie, she had a point. You had no need to be so rude to Red."

"Don't call me that." Weiss snapped back, face red in a mix of anger and flustration. "And what do you mean faunus?"

Before I could speak, Weiss shook her head. "Nevermind. It's just…that child got me so mad. I—I was excessively rude to her," she admitted, looking down, "but her attitude, her childishness. It just—it infuriated me."

I put an arm around her shoulder, grabbing her luggage cart with the other hand. I felt bad for her, I did.

Mostly because, from what I could guess, her anger was rooted in jealousy. Weiss was never allowed to act childish. Seeing people doing it, especially somewhere important like Beacon, would just remind her of that fact.

Probably.

I never claimed to be good at reading people.

"You were mad. That is normal." I tried to comfort her, guiding her to start walking towards the building. "And you made a mistake. We all mess up sometimes. Now, Sunshine, you just have to focus on making up for your mistake. Learn from it."

Weiss walked with me, head held low. She looked conflicted, her face going through emotions. "Should I—should I apologize to that girl? I was mean to her…"

Not the direction I intended her to go but that worked.

I moved my hand from off her shoulder, dragging it to her hand. I squeezed her hand. "What do you think?"

Weiss had a troubled expression on her face, seemingly searching the air for answers.

Honestly, I didn't really care if Weiss apologized. If she wanted to, good for her. It'd make her feel good if Red doesn't manage to annoy her during the apology.

Hm…

That'll probably happen. Red seems socially awkward, just on the extroverted side instead of the introverted side. Two people with bad social skills trying to apologize to each other would be…

Well, I'd get a good laugh out of it.

Now I kinda want Weiss to apologize.

Weuss finally let out a breath of air, sighing. "Fine. I'll…apologize to that child…even if she was unruly."

She squeezed my hand back.

She then turned her head towards me, a curious expression aligning her face. "Moving on from that child," Weiss awkwardly said, "what did you mean by faunus?"

"Exactly as I said." I told her, shrugging. It was slightly difficult to do so given that I was still holding her hand.

"Exactly as you said? The black-haired girl didn't look like a faunus." Weiss's face was scrunched, likely thinking back to what Bowie looked like.

Weiss was right, of course. Bowie didn't have any obvious faunus features. No visible tail, no seeable ears, and her body looked normal. She lacked fur, horns, spikes, or a shell.

No, it was not her body that told me she was a faunus.

"You aren't wrong. Bowie didn't have any traits that made her look like a faunus. Well, besides the teeth." I offhandedly spoke aloud, thinking back. "Her canines were larger than the norm. Besides that, it was her behavior that made it obvious. She got overly defensive of the faunus. When we talked about the workers, her attention was more on the faunus' treatment rather than all of the workers' treatment."

Weiss blinked. "Huh. I hadn't realized that. It explains a lot."

"Hm?" I questioned her.

"Well, it'd explain her rash behavior." Weiss said like it was obvious.

Not this again.

I'd need to give Weiss a few lessons on the faunus, it seems like she really lacked a fundamental understanding of how they work.

Pursing my lips, I reprimanded her. "I don't think it's fair to blame her fairly rational words on her heritage. They might have offended you, but that doesn't mean everything she said was wrong. The SDC does use faunus and humans for basically slave labor. Her rebuttals, based on her morals, were fair."

Weiss cut me off, an indignant expression on her face. "But you said she was wrong!"

"I said her judgments of you were wrong." I forcefully said, huffing. Weiss could be so smart yet so dumb. "That is not the same as her arguments in general being wrong. In our argument, we discussed a topic dictated by our morals. Therefore, the priori of the argument would be morals itself. As she and I fundamentally disagree on morals, from what I could tell, the discussion could have no winner."

I hope Weiss knew what a priori was.

Basically, a priori was the foundational knowledge of any debate. It is a concept both sides agree upon as a fact and can use to back up their arguments.

For example, the statement, every tree is a plant, is a true statement. If I told Weiss this, she'd agree. The only reason she would disagree is if she had a different concept of what a plant or tree was; therefore, the priori of this statement is what a plant is and what a tree is.

In Bowie and my conversation, we disagreed on moral fundamentals. At least, I think we did.

Now, I could try to argue what makes action a right and action b wrong, but that would be a different discussion.

"But she walked away?" Weiss argued, apparently knowing what a priori is.

"That doesn't mean I won. I used ad hominem arguments against her." I admitted to Weiss. "I purposefully switched the topic of the discussion because there was no point in talking about the SDC anymore."

Yeah, I kinda attacked a strawman. Sue me.

Bowie kinda did it too. She was no better than me.

"So you drew." Weiss disappointedly said.

I pouted. "Hey! Don't give me that look, Sunshine. It was an unwinnable argument."

That was only sorta true. I could have spent hours hammering into Bowie's head my arguments, inevitably winning. Thing is, I had zero desire to do that.

But Weiss didn't need to know that. She'd probably tell me I should have. Crazy girl, this one.

Hm. We were near the building and the headmaster's speech wouldn't be for a little bit…and that bench did look comfy, so…

"Anyways, Weiss, let's sit." I dragged her onto a bench.

"Hey!" She squawked, sitting on the bench as pulled her by the hand. Her luggage cart rested next to us.

"And stop calling me that." Weiss whined. "It is undignified for someone of my stature."

I gave her a blank look. "It's because Red laughed at the nickname. Right, Sunshine?"

"Stop that." She gave me a weak glare. "And yes, it is because that girl laughed. It makes me look like a common strumpet!"

"Str—strumpet?" I wheezed out, laughing. "Who uses the word strumpet, Sunshine?" Weiss bristled at her nickname. "Regardless, I'm not stopping."

Weiss kept glaring. She looked like a puppy, practically adorable.

She was not a very intimidating person.

Weiss changed tactics, sticking out her lower lip and pouting. "Please?"

It was…not going to work.

I'd spent a month getting her used to the nickname, it is not changing now.

"Nope."

"Please?" She begged, still keeping up the pleaful look.

I shook my head. "Never, Sunshine. And you're really going to switch it for Red? Her words control you that much?"

Yeah, I was going for where it hurt.

Her pride.

Weiss slumped. Or, at least, she slumped as much as she could without ruining her perfect posture. "You're terrible."

I squeezed her hand.

"You looooove me." I said teasingly, stretching the words.

As she did every time I said that, Weiss blushed and got red.

This time, however, I could've sworn I heard a muffled maybe in there.

I doubt she'd admit it, though.

Regardless of if she would or wouldn't admit it, I was totally going to hold this over her head. It was progress in getting her to not avoid affection.

I put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. Not gently, though. It was more of a yank if I was being honest.

I earned another squawk of protest from my best friend as I pulled her close. I may hate super duper close physical contact, but it was really only when I didn't initiate it.

It made it much more fun to get Weiss flustered when I wasn't burning from it.

"Hey!" Weiss complained at me, her back pressed against my side. "Let me go, you dunce!"

Interestingly, she made no movements to get away. She stayed laying against my side.

If she ever got kidnapped, her kidnappers would have a really, really easy time.

"You're going to make people think I'm hurting you, Sunshine."

Weiss went quiet, her body still tense as she laid against me.

That mildly surprised me.

Warmed my heart, even.

She really did care about me.

I'd have to keep it that way. She was my best friend, I cared for her a lot. I wasn't looking to be replaced by any of the schmucks here. So, I wouldn't let that happen.

How would I prevent her from making friends she liked more than me?

Well, I'd stop it. Somehow.

Eventually, Weiss stopped tensing up and just rested against my side. I kept stewing in my depressing thoughts.

I really didn't want to lose her as my best friend. Sure, I'd be with her for at least four years. That didn't mean we were automatically going to be best friends for all four years.

Friendships required work to maintain, apparently. It's what I'd heard before. I just had no clue what kind of work it required.

Would I have to assassinate rival best friend candidates? I already planned to kill Weiss's parents, so killing some friends isn't too much worse…right?

No, she probably wouldn't like that.

Killing friends she makes in the future probably wouldn't endear her to me. But…maybe?

No. Just…no.

I hadn't killed anyone before, but I didn't imagine it being too hard. But Weiss probably wouldn't like that—she was a good person.

It'd be a struggle to get her to let me kill her evil parents, let alone her future not-so-evil friends.

"Are you alright?" Weiss called out, looking up at me. She had a worried look on her face. "You look upset." She hesitated, nervously biting her bottom lip. I looked at her. "It's—well, you can always tell me what's wrong. You know that, right?"

I smiled at her. "Of course I do. You're my best friend. I'm your best friend. If anything is ever wrong, I'll be sure to tell you. You showed me that yesterday."

Weiss smiled. "Good. And you better not break that promise."

"Never!" I jokingly shouted in an indignant tone, lying straight through my teeth.

I was such a lying liar. I even lied to my best friend. Weiss trusted me with all her worries and I couldn't even reciprocate.

If there was ever a person worse than myself, I'd manage to be worse. Somehow.

Weiss sat up, getting up from the bench. "Well, it's getting to be time. We should head inside for the headmaster's speech before the ruffians take the good spots." Her voice was surprisingly light.

I stood with her, grabbing her luggage cart. "Let us go, then, my dear Lady. Lead thy way."

Weiss snorted, walking in front of me. "Very well, my dear servant. Let us depart. Be sure to pull my luggage,"

I trailed behind her, pulling her luggage cart. Technically my one singular bag was on it as well, but it was vastly outnumbered by her things.

I dropped off our things and we walked into the atrium.

"Guess the ruffians got here first?"

"I suppose they did." Weiss said mirthfully. That mirth seemed to fade away when she noticed Red talking to some Blonde. "...I should apologize now, shouldn't I?"

She didn't seem like she really wanted to.

Guess that's why she asked me.

"That's your decision." I brushed her off. "You pick."

Weiss groaned, looked between Red and I, and then she started walking towards Red after another groan.

I dutifully trailed behind her.

As we headed over, I started to be able to pick up Red's frantic words.

"I wish!" Red complained to the blonde, voice high. "I tripped over some crabby girls luggage—"

I decided now would be the best time to tune everything out. Weiss was not going to like what Red said. Not at all.

But this would probably be funny, wouldn't it?

"—and then she yelled at me and then I sneezed and I exploded and then she yelled again and I just feel really, really bad and I just wanted her to stop yelling at—"

"—you!" Weiss shouted, putting her hands on her hips while Red jumped into Yellow's arms.

That probably wasn't a good way to start an apology.

Then again, Weiss wouldn't like being called crabby.

Because she is crabby.

"Oh my gods it's happening again!" Red frantically cried out, hugging onto Yellow.

Weiss looked to me and then back to Red. She deflated slightly. "I'm…sorry for how I treated you."

"What?" Red said in absolute befuddlement, face absolutely shocked.

There went my fun for the day.

Was it wrong that I wanted Weiss to get mad at Red again?

…nah.

"Don't make me say it again." Weiss huffed out, flashing Red an annoyed look.

"No no no." Red quickly said, waving her arms around. "I heard you! And I am so, so sorry too. I feel terrible for exploding your dust and—and—"

Weiss glared at Red in annoyance. "Don't make a fool out of yourself. I said I was sorry. That is that. Now I'd like for us to never speak again, now that this whole ordeal is dealt with."

Weiss grabbed my wrist, half turning around. Yellow loudly interjected. "Wait! I think you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you just start all over again and try to be friends."

Red's eyes lightened up. "You're right, great idea, sis—"

I almost shouted.

I mean, they are sisters? They look absolutely nothing alike.

Like, yeah, I'd yet to see their parents, but…one was tall, blonde, and built nothing like the other. Red looked nothing like Yellow.

Red stuck out her hand. "—I'm Ruby! Why don't we go shopping sometime during the school year?"

Oh my gods, finally!

Ruby. Red's name was Ruby. Holy shit, why were names so, so difficult to get.

Weiss raised her hands exaggeratedly. "Yeah! And we can paint out nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys like tall, blond, and scraggly over there!" She pointed a thumb back to that Jaune kid.

He perked up.

I shot him a glare and he looked away.

Re—Ruby propped herself up on her heels in excitement. ""Really?"

Weiss gave her a deadpan look, thumb still pointed back. "No."

Ruby deflated like a balloon that was shot by a sniper.

I held back my snickers.

It was then that the headmaster decided to start his presentation.