Weiss was with her sister, or at least someone who looked so much like her that it had to be family. Barging into that with an awkward "Hey Weiss, how's it Yangin?" would have been suicide. Especially when Yang's puns never seemed to work for Jaune whenever he used them. So Jaune simply returned her gesture and, wisely, ignored her.
He wasn't sure if ignoring Weiss was cowardly or just practical. Maybe both. She was beautiful, yes, but also a rich girl. She carried herself like someone who expected people to trip over themselves to impress her, and Jaune wasn't in the mood to look like an overeager idiot. Instead, he kept his attention on Jade, leaning back in his chair and wearing the best younger-brother grin he could muster.
"Relax, Jade," he said when he noticed her skeptical eyes flicking over the glossy menu prices. "I told you, it's my treat. I'm the big brother. This is, like, the law of the universe."
"Uh-huh." Jade swatted his arm, playful but doubtful. "Big brother law, sure. We both know that I'm older than you are, so lets not kid ourselves here. This, is more like 'burning-through-your-allowance law.' When did you even start eating in places like this, Jaune? I don't remember Mom or Dad ever giving you this kind of cash."
Jaune smirked, though the comment landed closer to the truth than Jade realized. He shifted slightly, shoulders squaring, rehearsing his lie like a well-polished performance. "I've been doing some online stuff. Writing gigs here and there, a little freelance work. Even tried my hand at stock trading. You'd be surprised how much you can pull in if you put your mind to it."
"Stocks? You?" Jade raised an eyebrow, smirking as though picturing her brother hunched over a glowing screen in a dark room. "I thought you could barely handle Dad's spreadsheets when he asked you to help."
"Hey, don't underestimate me. Numbers and I have an understanding now." Jaune chuckled, waving her skepticism away. "Anyway, I figured, why not? It worked out enough to do something nice. Besides, you're my beloved sister. I gotta spoil you at least once."
Jade laughed, shaking her head as she leaned back. "You're ridiculous."
"Ridiculously thoughtful," he corrected, grinning.
The exchange settled into an easy rhythm. They talked, teased, and filled the space between the clinking of glasses and muted restaurant chatter. Jade didn't notice Weiss at all, nor the way Jaune had flinched slightly when he'd first seen her. He'd buried that reaction quickly enough, focusing on the one person who mattered at the table.
Their food arrived before long. The waiter—a tall man with sharp cheekbones and dark circles under his eyes—approached with a tray balanced on one hand. His steps, however, were oddly sluggish. Twice he seemed on the verge of stumbling, recovering only by clutching the tray a little tighter. Jaune instinctively leaned forward, ready to catch the plates if disaster struck. But the man made it to their table, lowering the dishes with shaky precision.
"Your meals," he muttered, voice low and tired.
"Thanks," Jaune said, though his eyes lingered longer than necessary. The man's pupils looked unfocused, his posture loose, like he was half-sleepwalking. For a fleeting moment, Jaune's instincts prickled—the same instincts sharpened from ruined landscapes of the dream world. But this, was the real world, and this was just a waiter who probably hadn't had his morning coffee.
Odd.
As the man disappeared back into the crowd of tables, Jaune shook his head, pushing the unease aside. "Guy must be running on fumes."
"Long shifts, probably," Jade replied, already distracted by her plate. "Not everyone has your newfound 'stock market wealth,' Mister Spoil-Your-Sister."
He smirked, then dug into his own food. For a few minutes, they ate in companionable silence, broken only by the occasional clink of cutlery and Jade humming in approval at the taste. The quiet was oddly soothing. Peaceful. The kind of normalcy Jaune didn't get enough of these days.
But peace never lasted.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught movement at the Schnee table. The woman who'd come with Weiss—her sister, no doubt—was rising to her feet. Her phone screen glowed faintly in her hand, and her lips pressed into a thin line as she skimmed whatever message had arrived.
"Sorry," Jaune heard her say, her voice crisp, carrying even across the quiet of the restaurant. She leaned slightly toward Weiss. "Duty calls."
Weiss's eyes flickered up, surprise flashing before she schooled her face into composure. Still, Jaune thought he caught the tiniest downturn of her lips—a trace of disappointment she hadn't managed to bury fast enough. The older woman gave her a brief squeeze on the shoulder before striding away, heels clicking briskly against the marble floor.
Curiosity got the better of him. Jaune turned slightly, watching the exchange. He didn't mean to pry, but something about the abrupt departure tugged at his attention. Maybe it was just habit—always looking for the detail that didn't quite fit, the thing out of place.
Weiss noticed.
Her blue eyes snapped to his, sharp as ice. For a moment, Jaune froze, caught like a kid peeking where he shouldn't. Weiss's mask slipped just enough to reveal the flicker of sadness again, raw and unguarded. But just as quickly, it vanished. She smoothed her expression into neutrality, back straight, chin tilted with practiced precision. Then came the frown. A pointed, unmistakable look of annoyance.
Jaune felt the heat creep up the back of his neck. He jerked his gaze back to his plate, pretending to focus intently on the next bite of food. Nope. Not his problem. Not his business. Whatever was going on with Weiss Schnee and her sister was firmly outside the circle of things Jaune Arc should stick his nose into.
Still, the image lingered. That brief, unguarded sadness in her eyes. He pushed it away, reminding himself that his world was complicated enough without tangling it further with a Schnee. Especially one who already looked ready to throttle him for staring.
"Something wrong?" Jade asked, glancing up as she wiped her mouth with a napkin.
"Nothing," Jaune said quickly, forcing a smile. "Just…thinking about dessert."
Jade gave him a skeptical look, but didn't push. Instead, she leaned back, sipping from her glass, clearly pleased with the meal. The conversation drifted back to lighter topics—school, friends, her classes in Vale—but Jaune's thoughts strayed now and then. To the sluggish waiter. To Weiss's sister leaving in a rush. To the way Weiss had looked at him, just for a second, like someone who'd been left behind.
When Jaune risked another glance, Weiss was quietly cutting into her meal, posture straight, every motion precise. She looked like she'd been raised in a world where people were judged for how they held their forks. It was oddly mesmerizing.
Unfortunately, Jade noticed.
"Uh-huh," his sister drawled, lips curling into an amused smirk. "So... you do know that girl."
Jaune froze, fork hovering over his plate. He turned back to Jade slowly, praying she'd let it go. She didn't.
"You've been looking over there a few times now," Jade continued, swirling her glass of water like she was savoring the drama. "She's pretty. You should introduce yourself. Maybe ask her out."
Jaune barked out a laugh, perhaps a little too quickly. "Wow, subtle. You practicing to be a matchmaker or something?"
"I'm serious," Jade pressed, eyes glinting with mischief. "She looks about your age too. And you could use the practice—seeing as you've been tragically single for, well, forever."
Jaune chuckled, but there was no hiding the heat creeping up his neck. "Look, I'll admit it—she's really beautiful. But you've got the wrong idea." He leaned back, giving a small shrug. "I actually know her already. She's in a couple of my classes at Beacon High. We're… acquaintances, I guess."
Jade narrowed her eyes, unimpressed. "Acquaintances... right."
"Yeah." Jaune stabbed his food with more enthusiasm than necessary. "Not friends and definitely not enemies. Just… you know, two people who share a classroom and occasionally acknowledge each other exists with a few 'hey's' and 'hi's'"
Jade tapped her chin in mock thought. "Right. And you just happen to glance at her like three times in the past ten seconds?"
"That's—no, I was just—"
She leaned closer, grin widening. "If you're afraid to go talk to her, just admit it. You're going to be forever single at this rate."
Jaune let out a long, suffering sigh. "It's not that I'm afraid. It's complicated."
"Complicated?" Jade echoed, skepticism dripping from every syllable. "She's a girl. You're a boy. You talk. It's not calculus, Jaune."
He smirked faintly at that, deciding if she wanted to play, he'd throw a jab of his own. "Oh, I see what's going on. This isn't about me. You're projecting."
Jade blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Yeah," Jaune said, adopting his most serious tone. "You're secretly deflecting because you've got a guy you like back at university. Probably in one of your classes. Tall. Handsome. Sweater-wearing philosophy major type. You're afraid to admit it, so instead you're poking fun at me."
The look Jade gave him was somewhere between disbelief and pity. "Really?"
Jaune grinned. "What? Nailed it, didn't I?"
"I'm a psychology major," she said flatly. "That kind of turn-around talk doesn't work on me. I can smell projection a mile away. Nice try, though."
Jaune spread his hands in defeat. "Urgh... I guess that was, really a shot in the dark."
"More like a shot that was shooting blanks."
He snorted at that, shaking his head as they both chuckled.
Then, all of a sudden, a scream shattered the air.
A sharp, high-pitched cry tore through the restaurant, followed by the crash of dishes smashing against tile. The lively murmur of conversation cut off in an instant, replaced by silence thick enough to feel.
Jaune's head snapped toward the noise before his brain even processed it. Instinct, honed in darkened dreamscapes, roared awake in his chest. His hand clenched tight around his fork like it could turn into his sword at will.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Weiss react the same. Her head whipped toward the sound, her chair scraping back sharply against the floor.
Another crash rang out—metallic this time, a deep clang of something heavy slamming into the ground. Gasps rippled across the diners. A waiter stumbled out from the kitchen doors, his apron streaked with something dark. For a horrifying instant, Jaune thought it was blood.
His pulse spiked.
Jade inhaled sharply across from him. "Jaune—"
But Weiss was already moving. She shot up from her chair, knocking her napkin and cutlery to the floor. Her usual poise was fractured; her face was pale, wide-eyed and dread flashed across her features like she knew something about what was happening. Without a word, she rushed forward, heels clacking hard against the marble as she darted toward the kitchen.
The mask of control she'd worn all evening cracked completely, revealing raw panic.
Jaune's stomach dropped. That reaction—that urgency—wasn't normal. He recognized it. He'd felt it himself when the air thickened with the tension of danger.
His instincts screamed.
Something was wrong here.
He half rose from his seat before catching himself. He forced his legs to still and his grip loosened on the fork before he snapped it in two. Jade was staring at him now, both with confusion and worry flickering across her face. Though, she did seem more focused on whatever was happening at the kitchen.
The restaurant around them buzzed with curious whispers, chairs shifting and people standing to see what was happening. Jaune swallowed hard, the weight of unease pressing against his ribs. He hadn't expected today to spiral into this. But his body, every instinct, told him what Weiss clearly already knew:
Something was about to go very, very wrong.
.
.
AN: This is going to be one of the last two major arcs left before the end of the 2nd volume.
Advanced chapters are available on patreon.