So, a potential buyer for the company wants to provide us some staff from his recruitment firm free of charge to test the long-term viability of the company. I kinda really don't want this as it means being forced to continue running it for at least 3 months to see, but I'll go along because as much as I want out, I know others need the jobs. Sigh. So much easier for me if it went under.

Annoyingly, and typically, he also wants me. He's offered to double my salary if I stay, but I've made it clear I want to go and commit to full-time writing. Now he's emailed me offering a 50% salary increase but to also cut my days to 3 days a week. And he's also implied the business would be less viable without me, making the unstated implication of a guilt trip on me costing other people their jobs if I don't stay.

Arghhh. Let me go. I want out!

Cover Art: Solace O'Autumn

Chapter 30

"Your Semblance makes no sense."

Jaune had known that since the moment he unlocked it, but it seemed Pyrrha was finally starting to realise how illogical his Semblance was. He'd put the five attribute points into Constitution as he'd told her he would, bringing it up from 21 to 26, and then they'd taken back to Pyrrha's private gym to measure his progress.

"It doesn't make any sense," she said, head in her hands. "Your stats have gone up close to 25% - a little less, but close enough – so, mathematically speaking, you should be able to go for 25% longer. But the improvement to your fitness is closer to 5%. Why isn't this adding up?"

Because his Semblance didn't make sense.

Jaune had considered the maths before and given up as just not understanding it. His stats had started around 5 across the board from what he recalled, which meant that allocating any points in them should have been a huge jump. If he'd gone from 5 to 10 Strength, that should technically be a 100% increase in his physical prowess. The same for the other stats. He should have been doubling them, but every point of Constitution seemed to add 10hp, and that meant 50hp for 5 levels, which was far less than double what he'd had at the time.

There were explanations for it. The first was that he had "base stats" under the attributes themselves, like how certain classes in RPGs had different hp pools even when they were all at the same level. Perhaps the mathematics was +10hp per point of constitution, but it also factored in a base amount of hp that was just his.

Another angle was that maybe the stats had started at 5 when he unlocked his Semblance, but that didn't mean they were equal. It would be a little convenient to say he was identically as strong as he had been fit, or as fit as he had been intelligent at the time. Perhaps it was the case that even if Pyrrha herself had unlocked this, her stats would have started at 5 as well, even when she was obviously much faster and stronger than he. So, in a way, the numbers didn't mean what they did literally, and were a representation of an unspecific value.

Or, and just as likely, it didn't make sense and they'd just have to accept that.

Because, even in video games, stat scaling was a weird and inexact science that didn't make a lot of sense if one tried to take a lore-accurate approach. Very few games involved their "level systems" as a real thing in the lore, and you were meant to believe the characters were getting stronger through hard work and training, not numbers. What they were trying to do now was come up with a real-world explanation for what was a meta measurement of character progression meant for a player to see and no one else.

Except that there was no player here, this was the real world, and he had to live with the consequences of the confusing Semblance.

At least those consequences had yet to be harmful.

"I don't think there's going to be any logic to this," he told her. "Maybe we should just accept each point is a 1% increase. It kind of makes sense, doesn't it? My Charisma is so high that it'd be something like a 2,000% increase on how I started out if the mathematics made sense. I'd be a lot more worried for my safety if that were the case."

"And your innocence."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Pyrrha pushed away from the computer with a bright smile. "But you're probably right. Assuming a linear progression would mean diminishing returns as well. Putting all your points in Strength would mean a 100% increase the first time, 50% the next, then even less for each level after that. Before long, you'd barely even feel the effects of levelling up at all."

That was true. He'd already been acting that way with Charisma, thinking adding any more points was worthless, but at least with the new way they knew this worked, he could say it wasn't. No matter how high his stat was, another 5 points would mean another 5% effectiveness. That was nothing to sniff at.

But it's so easy to level it through my music that I should stick to investing in other stats when I level up through quests. Even if I never intend to fight, that doesn't mean fights won't come my way.

Plus, the perks he'd been able to pick from always seemed to be based on a stat, and being forever limited to choosing the Charisma perks was a bad choice. Speak with Animals had made that clear, since the crows and ravens of Argus has teamed up to harass him. Turned out the bastards liked to gossip and the news had spread of a human who could speak bird, and now they were all stalking him.

Case in point, a bird tapped its beak on the gym window.

"Get us some seeds and we'll stop!"

"Piss off!" Jaune shouted back.

"We can outlast you, human. There are hundreds of us and one of you."

"What are they saying?" asked Pyrrha.

"They're basically holding me to ransom with threats of working together with every crow in Argus to make my life hell unless I get them certain things."

"Things like...?"

"A birdbath and seed. Lots of seed."

"Wouldn't it be easier to do it?"

"I don't negotiate with terrorists." He stood firm, even as Pyrrha sweat dropped. "Think about it, Pyrrha. What happens when I give in to this demand? There are hundreds of them. They'll demand more seed, and they'll know I will give up eventually. Then news will spread and more and more birds will arrive. It'll be a birdpocalypse."

"You don't know that," squawked the crow. He had been joined by several others.

"Yeah, that's paranoid."

"We can keep it secret."

"You'd be our secret seed-dealer."

Pyrrha laughed awkwardly as the number of birds grew, until they were at least twenty crammed shoulder-to-shoulder outside the window trying to convince Jaune it'd stay between them. Jaune could hear the other birds outside asking those twenty what had been said.

"Yeah," said Pyrrha. "I see your point. Wow. And I thought being able to speak with animals sounded like fun."

"That's because the movies make it sound like animals have nice things to say." Jaune sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "But the animal kingdom is still based around survival of the fittest. It's a cruel place. You walk down a street and hear birds singing. I walk down it and hear them begging for sex. Or chicks begging their parents not to push them out a nest. And some don't learn to fly, you know. They scream all the way to their deaths."

Pyrrha winced. "That's... uh... that's nature for you."

"I know. Nature is cruel. Being able to interpret nature is even crueller."

"Is that why you refused to go to that seafood restaurant?"

"They had lobsters in a tank, Pyrrha. The lobsters knew what was going to happen to them."

"Yikes. Wow. Um. I don't think I could have your Semblance and not become a vegetarian."

He'd considered that too, but it was fine as long as the food didn't look like an animal – which sounded weird, but was actually very easy since burgers, sausages, curries, and even processed and sliced meat very rarely looked like the animal it had come from. The problem was more when he saw whole animals on a shelf, or when he saw animals meant for slaughter and heard their cries for mercy.

Most kids who visited an abattoir as part of school came away shaken.

He would have come away mentally broken.

"Let's move onto better topics," she said. "How are your plans for Vacuo going?"

"Good!" Jaune grinned. "I've picked out the hotels I'm going to try and perform for room at, and one I'll pay for if all else fails. I've also called around some casinos and one of them has offered to give me an interview after I sent them the footage of me playing on stage with Weiss. They're willing to hear me out and pay me to entertain guests if all goes well."

"With your Semblance, it should easily work."

"Hm, but I'm going to avoid using my Bardic Skills in case that influence people to gamble more. I don't want that on my conscience."

"What if it makes people win more?"

"I don't think boosting someone's capability will mean luck – and is it luck in a casino anyway? Most of it is statistics and odds." Maybe dice rolling, but it'd be pretty dumb if his Semblance could change that. "Plus, I don't want to run the risk of the casino finding out and trying to blame me for any losses."

"That's fair. Are you going to tell anyone else about it?"

"I hadn't planned to. You think I should?"

"No." Pyrrha smiled. "I like it being our secret. And, like you say, there are a lot of people who would want to use it – some for good, some for bad, but it'd still mean you wouldn't be able to travel like you want to."

Pyrrha wouldn't.

In fact, she didn't need to. Pyrrha could get just about anything she wanted due to her fame or even just the money she'd made from her career. It was what made it so easy to be honest with her. That, and the fact he trusted her to keep his secrets.

He trusted Penny too, but her thoughts were being looked through by her father, and she was bound to obey orders from Atlas. Similarly, he trusted Nora and Ren, but Nora was a bit of a loudmouth and might let it slip by accident. Ren also couldn't keep a secret from her to save his life. What he knew, she would find out before long.

It was good to have someone like her.

/-/

Terra and Saphron already had the security contractors around by the time he got back. New alarms had been fitted, along with secondary locks on the doors, and a woman in a suit was busy explaining to Terra how they could reinforce a room into a saferoom for the family. A man was outside on a ladder installing cameras as well, slowly turning the small family home into a fortress.

He'd have felt bad if he wasn't paying for everything.

Through performing for an audience, you have gained +1 Charisma.

Here and now? Jaune sighed and shook his head, wondering exactly how many people were listening to his music in their cars, at work, on their scrolls or just being played out the speakers at some barbers or doctor's office. The downloads were almost as numerous as the views, and none of them had put any actual copyright block on it all, since it was covers of other people's music and that would have been a thorny subject. People were free to download and play it wherever they liked, and apparently they very much were.

I've heard of passive income but passive levelling is a little much...

"Jaune, hey!" Saphron waved him over. "You're going to need to memorise a code to get in the house. Oh, and you need to have a second key cut."

"Your brother, correct?" the woman shifted her glasses. "Very well. We'll add him to the details. What is most important is a change in attitude – no more hiding keys under the potted plant in case you lose them. You must adapt to a safer state of mind."

The lecture went on and on, common sense stuff for the most part, but also a little sad since Jaune had grown up in a tightknit community where families could leave their doors unlocked at night without worry. Ansel didn't have enough people living there for crime to be that big an issue. Not people breaking in, anyway.

Someone holding up a shop had been a shock all on its own.

Once the contracts were signed and things were agreed, the woman left to inform her company of the sale, and the construction was set to begin after the weekend. He'd be gone, then. Heading off to Vacuo, but at least he knew Terra and Saphron would be safe.

Naturally, Saphron had told Terra about his offer to reveal herself in Vacuo.

"It'd take a lot of heat off us," Terra said. "Heat I didn't even realise existed until now. Will you be safe, though?"

"I'm hoping so. I'll try and do it subtle. Maybe just be seen by one or two people – or even just by a camera. I might even just record myself and pretend I'm the one who saw her."

He'd read a comic about a superhero who did that, but at least his disguise was a lot more detailed than that one's. No one was going to look at him and think he was secretly a cute girl singer.

"I guess that'd be safe. Well, we won't say no. You're leaving Monday, right?"

"Yep. Bright and early. I'll be flying to a town on the east side of Mistral, then taking a boat from there to the west coast of Vacuo." It was a lot of starts and stops but such was how travel worked in Remnant. With the Grimm out, there was too much risk associated with longer flights. "Then it's a short journey to Vacuo. I should arrive Tuesday."

"A whole day of travel. Geez. Well, I guess the whole point of this is for you to see the world by travelling, so it's not so bad. You sure you won't get sick?"

He was fairly sure he would get sick, but that was something he'd just have to put up with. His Semblance had yet to give him a perk relating to resistance against motion sickness, more was the pity.

"I think he's got something bigger on his mind," Terra teased. "Someone with red hair he's taking on a date tomorrow."

"It's not a date."

"Hmm. You're probably right." Saphron giggled. "Are you ready to show her a good time, Jaune?"

He crossed his arms. "I'm ready to take her to the movies and a meal, but acting like it's a date is just going to make things awkward. I'm Pyrrha's first real friend in forever. Do you really think it's a good idea to start growing attracted to her? What if she feels like she has to accept those feelings because she's afraid to lose her only friend?"

Terra and Saphron didn't share his worries. "What if she wants to be more than friends?"

"If she did, she'd have told me so."

"Jaune, little brother, no. Girls aren't that simple. We won't tell you we like you, we'll hint vaguely and expect you to pick up the cues."

"Then hate you when you don't," added Terra, with a wry smile.

"Yes. Exactly."

Jaune considered that, and then threw his hands in the air. "How am I supposed to know!?"

"That's the neat part, you're not. You just take the plunge and hope she feels the same way."

"And if you're wrong?"

"Oh, then your relationship is ruined," Terra said, with the breezy acceptance of someone who had experienced it firsthand and could still recall the pain. "Just, like, instant relationship suicide. They'll say you can still be friends, but they don't mean it, they'll phase you out their life completely due to the awkwardness. And it's not like it's any easier for you either, since you want to continue being their friend but you can't stop longing for more."

Terra trailed off into brittle laughter, thumping her head against the doorframe.

"..."

"But don't worry about that," Saphron said, rubbing her partner's back. "Just do what your heart tells you and you'll be fine!"

Jaune's heart whimpered.

/-/

The movie was simple.

Hard to screw up taking someone into a cinema and sitting in the dark with them.

Though he gave it his best shot anyway – or, rather, a bunch of inquisitive locals did, pointing and whispering at the two of them throughout the whole movie. Jaune caught bits and pieces, most of it wondering about him, but only in relation to being here with Pyrrha on what was "obviously" a date.

It didn't help his nerves any, especially not when they snapped pictures on their scrolls and uploaded them online.

"Ignore them," whispered Pyrrha. "This always happens."

Did she mean "always" as in when she went to the movies, or when she was out with men? Intellectually, he knew it was the former since Athena had told him Pyrrha had never been out on simple days out like this before, but anxiety whispered the other option in his ear, using it to point out that maybe Saphron and Terra had the wrong idea, and this was just meant to be a day out between friends. That if he tried to imply it was more, Pyrrha would be horrified and awkward.

That it would ruin their friendship.

Pyrrha is confident and assertive, he thought, remembering the way she fought and how she handled the media attention at her tournament. This is a competitive athlete I'm at the movies with. This is surely the kind of person who doesn't get affected by nerves and who would simply come out and tell me she likes me if that were the case.

You couldn't fight on an arena in front of so many people without being an outgoing person. Surely not. Therefore, Pyrrha would never be the kind of person to be sitting there next to him agonising about whether or not she should tell him her feelings. That meant this was just friendship. Nothing more.

Q.E.D.

/-/

Jaune isn't afraid to get up and play music in front of so many people, even starring on stage with Weiss without feeling even the slightest bit nervous, Pyrrha thought to herself, nibbling on her bottom lip as her eyes warred between the screen and his hand on the armrest between them. If he thought of me as anything other than a friend, he'd surely have the confidence to tell me.

He was a musician, after all. They were the most confident and outgoing people on the planet. If Jaune was the kind of man who could walk out onto a stage in front of millions and smile at the sea of faces, he'd definitely not agonise over whether the person sitting next to them had feelings for them or not.

Strike! her heart cried. Its voice sounded like her mom. Strike before someone else does. We're young, hot – according to the internet, anyway – and Jaune will be snatched away by some Vacuan hussy if we don't do something.

Taking a deep breath, Pyrrha made her big move.

And placed her hand on the armrest next to his, less than half an inch of empty space between them.

THAT'S IT!? her heart screamed. THAT'S OUR BIG MOVE!?

It was genius. Like this, she was close enough that their hands might brush together if he moved his – and, if he liked her back, he could touch his to hers and then they could meet in the middle. It was an obvious sign to him. One he couldn't possibly mistake.

Maybe.

Probably.

Surely.

Right…?

I give up, her heart wept. We'll be an old woman with a hundred cats …

/-/

Dinner was pleasant.

Still a little awkward since they'd been followed by the teenage girls from the cinema right up unto the restaurant itself, at which point they'd snapped more photos and run off giggling to themselves like jackals.

"This is probably going to end up online," said Jaune.

"Hmmm." Pyrrha agreed.

He licked his lips, wondering if he could use a hypothetical scenario as a way to gauge her feelings. "You know, they're probably going to think we're on a romantic date." He paused, to see if she gasped in horror. No horror. No Pyrrha turning to him to say they were, either. Would it have killed for a reaction? Jaune swallowed. "Crazy, huh?"

Or not crazy? Crazy or not crazy?

Give him a sign!

"Ehehehehe." Pyrrha giggled, giving absolutely nothing away. "They love their gossip."

Saphron hadn't been kidding about the vague cues. Holy crap. Did Pyrrha see this as a date, or did she just see them as friends? He wished there could be some secret code – like a colour of her napkin or a hand signal. Maybe men and women the world over should hold a conference to decide on it. Tug on left ear to indicate romantic interest. Tug on right to establish friendship boundary.

Or he could come out and ask her.

Now, now, his brain whispered. Let's not be hasty…

Good point. If he asked now, and she said no, then she'd think he was interested, and then the rest of the meal would be super awkward, with Pyrrha feeling trapped here by her promise of going out for a meal together. It'd be the worst situation. Better to wait until after the meal to decide on this.

The food was good. It was hard to tell if it was always so good or if the place wasn't pulling out the stops because, again, Pyrrha Nikos. A good review from her would bring loads of tourists to sample the place. If she so much as hinted at it being good, its name would be mentioned online, and this would become "the Pyrrha Nikos experience" for all her fans.

Jaune wondered if it'd be the same for him with Guitar Cutie.

Probably.

"So…" Jaune tried to bring something up. "How's Sanctum?"

"Great!"

"Yeah?"

"Well… the classes are good and the teachers. It's a little awkward with the other students because of my fame." Pyrrha seemed to realise how bad a conversation this was becoming and changed it quickly. "Oh, I met Nora and Ren!"

"Yeah!?"

"Hm. I wouldn't say we're friends because those two really stick to one another, but I told them I was your friend and Nora was really nice." Pyrrha giggled. "She's, um. Is it just me or is she really into him?"

"All signs point to yes."

"I thought so. They're cute together, even if she's a little… much at times. Still, she didn't react to who I was, and Ren was very polite. I wouldn't mind getting to know them at Beacon."

"But not now?"

Pyrrha smiled. "Making friends this close to the end of school feels like a bad idea. I know they plan to go to Beacon but what if they fail? If we all make it, I'll try then, but I don't want to make friends with someone and then lose them because we're going to different places. You're different, of course. I know you'll be coming back."

True.

But did that mean he was different in a way that was datable, or different in a way that was best left as a friend? She'd just said she was worried about befriending them for risk of losing them. Maybe that was a hint, subtly given as a warning to not try and be more or she'd risk losing him as well.

Pyrrha brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

Was that a sign?

No, damn it. She just has hair in her face. Calm down. Not everything is a sign.

Damn it, he needed a moment to think.

And luckily, Pyrrha gave him it. "I just need to use the restroom. I won't be long."

As Pyrrha excused herself to use the restroom, Jaune focused on the table in front of him and closed his eyes, retreating into his mind for a conference of sorts. There, he stood at the head of a round table, with a cartoonish representation of a beating heart on one side, and another of a worryingly smooth brain on the other.

"Okay. Heart, brain." Jaune regarded them. "We need to make a decision here."

The heart spoke up. "I say we go for it. Yolo."

"You would say that," said brain, "but you never think of the consequences. You're almost as bad as Penis. Where is he, by the way?"

"He wasn't invited," Jaune said quickly. "His decisions are never good."

"Agreed," Heart and Brain said as one.

"Either way," Brain continued. "Remember what Terra said! If we got the mood wrong here, we're killing our friendship with her! Do we want that?"

"No," Heart admitted.

"And let's not forget that we'll be coming back here again in the future," said Brain. "So, we'll have to bump into her again and again. The awkwardness will be immense. Just imagine the pitying smile on her face as she pretends she isn't put off by us after what we did here today. I can see it now—"

Jaune slammed a metaphorical hammer on the metaphorical table. "Hey! Hey! No catastrophising! We haven't even done anything yet. Stop thinking up bad events that might not happen!"

"I don't need to," his Brain groaned. "Just look at the state of the world – terrorists and Grimm. What are we even supposed to do?"

"Ugh."

"—and our face! Have we always looked this bad? I think we're putting on weight!"

"Gah!" Jaune clutched the edge of the table, swaying under the force of his brain's ultimate attack – over-analysis. "N—No more. We can't survive this. Heart, say something!"

"I'm scaaaared!" his heart wailed.

"Damn it." Jaune held on for dear life, forcing his stomach down so it didn't expel his food. "This isn't working. We need a compromise. Come on, brain. Think of something."

His brain leapt up. "I've got it! We're coming back here again later, right?" It waited for Jaune and Heart to nod. "Then, how about we kick the ball down the line and make it future Jaune's problem? We can think about it more in Vacuo."

"Brain, I know for an absolute fact we will not have made a decision by the time we got back because we'll keep putting it off, but I am 100% with you on this plan!" said Heart. "Fuck future Jaune. He's a prick. Probably."

"This doesn't feel like a good solution," said the actual Jaune.

"Nah, it's great. And hey, if Pyrrha wants us, I bet she'll confess on her own."

/-/

"We need to confess," Pyrrha told her reflection in the mirror.

"Do we?" asked her reflection. "What if we waited for him to confess? That'd be so much more romantic."

"But—"

"Also, what if we confess and he isn't interested? We'd lose our best friend!"

Pyrrha's stomach flipped.

"We gave him so many signs!" she whispered. "I placed my hand close to his. I even brushed my hair behind my ear! How did he not catch any of those!?"

"What if he did catch them and chose to ignore them?" her reflection gasped and covered its mouth. Pyrrha realised she was doing that, too. "What if that is a sign he isn't interested at all? What if we're barking up the wrong tree!?"

"I... I guess we have more time," Pyrrha replied. "And Jaune will be coming back after Vacuo, so we'll have another chance to confess."

"Yeah!" agreed her reflection. "Let's make it future Pyrrha's fault – she's a bitch anyway."

These two idiots are perfect for one another.

Next Chapter: 7th July

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