"We'll probably have our first match today. And yes, I'm a bit nervous, but only a little. ...Okay, I'm VERY nervous. But it'll be fine! Heh. I don't mean to brag, but our team is pretty darn good. And plus, I have Yang with me, so really, it'll be no sweat. Combine that with Weiss and Blake and we'll be unstoppable! ...At least, I know that's what you'd tell me... Mom."
Ruby's words were spoken with a wistful smile, and she tried to keep it there to prove she meant it, even with how empty she felt when all she got in response was silence.
Naturally, the lonely slab of atop an even lonelier hill didn't say anything back.
The only noise present originated from the periodic gusts of winds that shook her cloak.
But even if that was the case, and even though there was no terribly warm voice to match the image Ruby still had of Summer Rose, she still felt like there was worth in talking to her in this way.
That, even if it was silly, Mom was actually here listening, even if there wasn't any way she could show it.
That's what she wanted to believe anyway.
After what seemed like a few moments longer, Ruby tightened her fists and stood up from her kneeling position, no longer perched atop the soft grass.
"And yes, I know. This is the part where you tell me to cut down on the cookies, be sure to mind my manners, and always be on the lookout for new friends. I'm, uh, still working on that first one, but the others I have down for sure! I even—oh, I completely forgot to tell you!"
The girl, who was trying so hard to be mature and melancholic in the face of a tragic reality, changed moods just like that.
If others saw her like this, they might chide her for being disrespectful to the dead.
Ruby might even agree with them herself.
But, in actuality? This was the side of the girl that a certain long-gone parent would have wanted to see from the other side, and more than anything else.
"I made another friend! It's a boy, and I know, boys, ew, but this person is different! He's really cool and mature. Like, really mature. It's kinda weird. He acts way too much like Dad sometimes. Oh, right. His name is—"
"Hey, Rubes?"
A voice suddenly cut in from afar.
In the distance, there was a blond older man with his hand on his hip, an apologetic smile on his face.
"We should think about heading back, honey."
Ruby gave a jerk of her head, followed by a chaste little wave of her hands. "Uh, okay Dad—just a second!" She turned back to the grave, a helpless smile appearing without her even realizing it. "Sorry, Mom, Dad's calling. We'll talk another time. But I'll make it soon... promise."
It was indeed a helpless smile.
Apt, too, considering the emotions inside that created it.
And there was nothing to be done about that.
But because she made a promise for the future, she didn't feel as sad.
Because if nothing else, Ruby wanted to believe that her mom would always be waiting here, and that she could talk to her no matter what happened.
With that invisible determination, Ruby trekked down the hill where the older man, Tai Xiao-Long, was waiting.
But.
Because of that, the girl didn't see the impossible phenomenon happening behind her.
Fall was indeed encroaching on Remnant with perilous haste.
Still, somehow, a single rose petal floated down from nowhere, landing on the base of the gravestone. But, unlike the semblance of that girl, this petal was a lighter shade.
An enrapturing pink.
It was, undoubtedly, a summer rose.
.
. .
. . .
At the bottom of the hill, Tai turned to his daughter.
"Say everything you wanted to say?"
Ruby hummed in thought. "Not everything. There was still Rio. But I can just talk about him next time. Something to look forward to."
The man laughed. "That's good."
The father and daughter, currently on Patch, were about to head back to Vale, where they would actually be going their separate ways. Tai, to a mission, and Ruby, back to Beacon.
They continued to walk, unbothered by the silence. The younger girl at the very least, was simply too busy thinking of various things to care.
"Wait."
But she was drawn out of her thoughts, seeing her dad's head swivel towards her in a very rigid manner, eyes strangely serious all of sudden.
"Who's Rio?"
...
...
...
'Someone just said your name, Haruto.'
A white-haired boy paused his swings.
"Eh? Really?"
'Yup.'
"Huh. I guess... I've never realized you had such good hearing, Aisha."
'Hm. But it only works with your name.'
There was a pause.
"...I-I see."
Ruby and Tai-yang weren't the only ones up this early in the morning.
Rio was once again in the midst of his morning training.
He was just finishing up, actually.
And even though Aisha's comment left him a bit floundered, he sheathed his sword. For now, he supposed he would make a light breakfast for himself.
Entering the school and making a stop at his room for a quick shower, he made his way over to the nearest dorm kitchen, an aspect of Beacon he had been using more and more since he got here.
Not so much for me, though, Rio thought with a smile.
It was already a fact that Aisha couldn't come to the cafeteria with him and the others, not physically.
So, he cooked for her throughout the day.
It was naturally a bit time-consuming, but it was the least he could do for his partner, who couldn't eat with everyone else like she was used to doing with Miharu, Celia, and the others.
So, Rio was about to prepare a meal for the both of them, and they could eat it together back in their room.
With that plan in mind, he reached the kitchen.
Yet upon arriving, he was a bit surprised to see that it was already being occupied.
There was more than one kitchen naturally, and Rio could have gone to a different one, but since the person he saw wasn't an unfamiliar face, he thought it couldn't hurt to ask if they could share the space.
Although, on closer look, the black-haired girl in pigtails didn't look all there...
Rio cleared his throat.
"...Did you not get enough sleep, Miss Mint?"
Having been alternating between nodding off and glaring at the toaster in front of her, his voice seemed to be enough of a catalyst for the girl to snap to attention, immediately whirling towards him in a manner similar to fight or flight.
And it was the former, considering he had startled the girl into throwing something at him.
The bagel bounced harmlessly off his chest.
Rio tried to keep a straight face, something he failed at if his twitching lips were of any indication.
For someone who could be so silently crass, Mint had an unexpectedly adorable side, too.
Still, not really knowing what else to do, the boy raised both hands in surrender.
"I apologize if I startled you. I just came in here to cook something."
The girl stared at him with zero expression on her face before vaguely signing something, a question.
"Yes, I can cook. Would you like me to make you something?"
She twitched.
"An omelet?" Rio suggested.
Mint immediately made a face.
"Not an omelet. Got it. How about some French toast?"
She stilled, but then ultimately nodded multiple times, still with that blank expression on her face.
She really wasn't a morning person, was she?
Still, he supposed just like Ruby, it seemed sweet things were the winner.
Or maybe it was okay to say that was the case for women in general?
His female acquaintances thus far certainly lent credit to the claim.
Smiling faintly, Rio began to rifle through the kitchen for the ingredients. "It shouldn't take more than ten minutes," he informed her, before cracking a few eggs and beginning to whisk them.
It really was a simple dish, only needing a few steps. On a related note, he was just relieved most of what he knew matched up so well with Remnant.
Back to it, since Rio could only wait for the batter-soaked loaves of bread to crisp up nicely in the pan, he started his own breakfast, doing the preliminary work of chopping up a myriad of vegetables.
Around five minutes later, Rio was finished, and he set a plate of three fluffy slices of French toast in front of Mint, who had been eyeing him with a weird look on her face the whole time he had been cooking.
However, now with food in front of her, that was gone and forgotten.
Rather, the added confectioners' sugar and heavy helping of syrup now took the bulk of her attention.
Mint hurriedly grabbed her fork and dug in.
Meanwhile, Rio set down his own modest little omelet in front of himself and began to eat as well.
However, before that...
"What's wrong?"
Mint had taken a bite and froze.
She blinked several times, looking at the food, then at him.
Then she took another bite, and another.
She kept shoveling more bites into her mouth.
Rio watched; a bit surprised.
When her fork scraped against the plate and she realized there was no more, she froze, but for a different reason this time.
Then she looked at him again.
No, she was looking at his omelet.
It was actually hardly a normal omelet.
While small in size, it still had a dollop of ingredients. Chopped bacon, an assortment of vegetables, and just the right amount of cheese to make it tastier rather than drown it.
Rio smiled.
"Here."
He pushed his uneaten plate towards her, a bit satisfied when she took a bite and seemed to express just as much enjoyment as with the sweeter meal.
She kept eating, and Rio kept that faint grin as he wordlessly went back to the kitchen and prepared himself another omelet. When he looked back to Mint a few minutes later, he felt like laughing.
The mute girl was slumped against the table, cheek pressed into the wood, looking for all intents and purposes sated and happy.
Well, she was hardly smiling, but that blank yet relaxed expression on her face looked no different from a fat and happy cat.
Not that he would even say something like that out loud, much less to a girl.
Anyway, Mint was quite the unique one.
...Her appearance even more so.
Pink and brown hair, huh.
That is, her true appearance, the one he could see past the disguise coated with what he assumed to be her semblance.
When the people of this world used their abilities, it was like their auras were on fire.
That being said, Mint had hers on all the time, making it quite noticeable to his eyes trained with spirit arts ever since he was a kid.
Naturally, Rio was curious as to why she felt the need to hide this appearance.
Surely, it wasn't just because it looked radically different from others, right?
Mint didn't strike him as the type to fear discrimination of that kind.
Well, she likely had her own circumstances, as did he. Thus, he didn't really have a right, nor was it his business to pry.
Rio focused back on the food he was preparing.
He supposed now that Mint was satisfied, he could finish the omelet he had been preparing, as well as start one more. The plan had been to eat together with Aisha, after all.
The next few minutes were spent putting the finishing touches on their meals, as well as Rio telepathically apologizing to his spirit companion, who after a while, only waved it off in between yawns.
It was his guess that Aisha had been snoozing in her spirit form all the while, only barely cognizant of what was happening outside.
With the omelets done, and then with one quick look at Mint who was still very much facing the other direction in peak napping posture, Rio stored the food into his subspace. It was only after cleaning up did his attention finally fall back on the mute girl.
If she was genuinely asleep, he didn't want to wake her. But just leaving her in such a vulnerable state rubbed him the wrong way.
Yet, at the same time, it was also quite rude of him to assume she was in need of protection...
This school was full of capable fighters who were training to kill monsters. Mint should be no different. After a lull of hesitation, Rio released a small sigh, before taking the seat across from her.
The food would still be warm when he took it out of the subspace.
And just like the girl across from him, Aisha was still asleep as well.
He could afford to kill some time.
Reaching that conclusion, Rio took a book out of his subspace and started reading.
An hour ticked by like it was nothing.
...
...
...
Neo found that the uncomfortable sensation pressed against her cheek pulled her out of her slumber before anything else had a chance to.
Still, blinking her groggy eyes open to a table of all things was quite the surprise, especially when she couldn't even remember falling asleep.
Still a bit out of it, Neo sat up in her seat, before unceremoniously raising her arms in a very satisfying stretch.
After she languidly wiped the drool that had gathered on her mouth, she finally decided to take in her surroundings.
Table, carpet, kitchen, windows, a person—
Neo's brows scrunched up cutely.
She rubbed her eyes, blinking them several times. But even when she opened them again, that did not change who was sitting across from her. Nor did it change the fact that said person had his book lowered and was staring at her with a strange smile.
"You're awake."
Neo didn't immediately react.
For a time, she didn't do much of anything really, only staring at the white-haired boy.
As this was happening, however, her mind was supplying her with what she had been doing prior to falling asleep. Or rather, who she had been with at the time. And then, the fact that they were still here.
A beat passed.
Then, with an inscrutable look on her face, Neo pointed at Rio, then at herself.
When the boy cocked his head to the side in confusion, and then did something with his hands, her mind briefly blanked.
Right.
Neo had almost forgotten.
This person was the special kind of weirdo who had bothered to learn a language no one cared for.
Well, someone else had done the same.
But he was trapped in an Atlas holding cell at the moment.
With a soundless sigh, Neo moved her own hands, asking what she thought to be the most obvious question.
—You stayed with me while I slept?
"That's how things turned out, yes."
—That's super creepy.
"I was... already aware of that fact, but thank you for letting me know."
To his credit, the boy made the attempt at making the words sound sincere.
Of course, the only caveat was the sizable chip made to his smile and posture not even a few seconds later.
Honestly, Neo hated nice types like him.
That being said, he was lucky watching him struggle through it was amusing.
Him cooking something delicious for her was also a plus.
And she supposed if she was being generous, he got points for looking out for her while she slept as well.
If nothing else, she could trust the fact that white haired teen seemed to be familiar with various girls but showed no signs of making a move on any of them.
He was intriguing.
Just a little bit.
After all...
This person was stronger than her.
And Neo didn't even need to fight him to know that.
Even yesterday, at his supposed weakest after his fight, that had still been the case.
But it wasn't just his strength that caught her interest.
At dinner, he had even caused that smug bitch's face to twist in such an enjoyable way. That had really been the icing on the cake.
Hm.
That gave her a thought.
Neo smiled, revealing her white teeth.
Across from her, Rio gave her a perplexed one back.
If this guy survived the coming days, and even went as far as to ruin all of Cinder's meticulously created plans, what kind of expression would that woman make?
The desire to see such a thing was a tantalizing one.
Well, too bad it was unrealistic.
From what Neo heard, this place would be turning into quite the war-zone.
Because really.
What could one person do?