"About what?" Pyrrha pressed, tilting her head slightly as she stepped a fraction closer. "You two seemed quite rushed when you headed off into the trees."
I felt a sudden bead of nervous sweat form at my hairline. I cleared my throat, shifting my weight from one boot to the other. "Well... it was kind of private. Personal stuff."
Pyrrha didn't back off. If anything, her posture went a little rigid, her smile lingering in that polite, slightly strained way she got whenever someone tried to change the subject on her. "Personal? Between you and Ruby?"
A sharp pang of guilt stabbed directly into my chest.
Deep down, I genuinely liked Pyrrha. She was steady, kind, and incredibly supportive, and in the back of my mind, I had made a promise to think of dating her when I was 18.
Instead, thanks to a combat-fueled adrenaline rush and a swarm of dead bears, I had accidentally landed myself in a completely different relationship.
I rubbed the back of my neck. There was no dancing around it.
"She, uh... she asked me to be her boyfriend," I admitted, keeping my voice low. "And... things happened, and I ended up saying yes."
The forest seemed to freeze.
The wind died down. The chatter of students in the background faded into distant static.
Pyrrha didn't didn't react at first... Instead, her knees simply gave out. In one smooth, silent motion, the four-time tournament champion dropped straight to the ground, pulled her knees up against her chest, wrapped her arms tightly around her shins, and curled into a tight, motionless ball right on the fallen red leaves.
"Pyrrha?" I blinked, taking a half-step forward.
Low, rapid-fire whispering began emanating from the ball.
"...partner of four years... snatched away in a forest... undone by a fifteen-year-old with cookies... my heart... shattered into dust... it's fine... perfectly fine... I will simply train harder... become the ultimate housewife... wait, no, Huntsman..."
"Uh... Pyrrha?" I asked hesitantly, crouching down beside her. "Are you alright?"
The whispering cut off instantly.
Pyrrha uncurled in a crisp, fluid motion, popping back onto her feet so fast it looked unnatural. She dusted off her skirt, smoothed down her sash, and turned to face me.
Her face was beaming with a bright, incandescent, one-hundred-watt smile. It was so radiant it looked almost painted on, completely masking whatever apocalyptic storm had just brewed in her head
.
"Of course I am!" Pyrrha declared, her voice ringing with cheerful, musical precision. "Why wouldn't I be? You're my partner, Katsuya, and I am simply thrilled for the two of you! Truly, wonderfully happy!"
A cold chill ran down my spine.
I looked at her cheerful, unblinking expression, then glanced over at the clearing where Ruby was still sitting on an overturned log, nervously tugging her hood down to hide her blushing face.
'Yeah, I thought, swallowing hard. I'm going to have to keep a very close eye on Pyrrha. And an even closer eye on Ruby's survival...'
Professor Goodwitch's whistle echoed sharply through the scarlet canopy, signaling the end of the collection period and calling all teams back to the clearing for evaluation.
We gathered our gear and fell into line with the rest of the first-years. As the crowd shuffled toward the landing zone, Ruby naturally ended up walking right beside me. She kept her hood pulled low, but I could see the nervous, fidgety energy radiating off her. Her small gloved hand hovered near mine, twitching every couple of seconds as she tried to work up the courage to reach out, only to pull back at the last second out of sheer embarrassment.
Seeing her struggle was equal parts endearing and... Really cute.
Instead of letting her stress over it, I simply reached down, caught her fingers, and intertwined our hands.
Ruby gasped softly, her head snapping up. Her face flushed a brilliant red, but when she saw my easy smile, a shy, relieved grin spread across her lips. She squeezed my hand tightly, swinging our joined arms just a little as we stepped up to the review table.
Goodwitch gave both Team HRPN and Team RWBY top marks for our full sap containers, barely glancing at the syrup smeared across my back before ushering everyone up the ramp of the transport.
Inside the Bullhead, Ruby was dragged over to the far bench by an intensely curious Yang and a scowling Weiss, leaving me to find an empty row near the window. I sat down, leaning my head back against the wall to catch a breath.
Plop.
Before I could even close my eyes, a bundle of orange hair dropped straight onto my lap.
Nora sat across my knees, leaning in with a shameless, playful smirk. "So, handsome! Since we survived the scary red woods, how about giving your favorite hammer-wielder a little victory lap pil—"
She paused mid-sentence.
Nora slowly turned her head toward the bench directly across from us.
Pyrrha was sitting there, hands folded neatly in her lap, feet together, posture perfectly upright. She hadn't lunged. She hadn't dragged Nora by the collar. She hadn't even raised her voice. She was simply sitting in utter silence, staring directly at Nora with a bright, wide, completely unblinking smile that radiated pure, concentrated dread.
The sheer absence of physical retaliation was ten times more horrifying than a chokehold.
Nora's smirk vanished instantly. A heavy bead of cold sweat rolled down her temple.
"Nope. Absolutely not," Nora squeaked, practically levitating off my thighs in sheer terror. "I choose life!"
She scrambled across the aisle and practically glued herself to the opposite wall, keeping a wide, fearful distance from Pyrrha's cheerful, hollow gaze.
Ren walked down the aisle, took in the scene with a quiet, weary sigh, and calmly took the empty seat beside me.
Nora leaned forward from across the aisle, frantically waving her hands at me in a hushed whisper. "Katsuya! What did you do to her?!"
I rubbed the back of my neck, letting out a dry chuckle. "I just told her what happened in the woods. I have a girlfriend now."
Nora blinked. The panic in her face froze, replaced by total, utter bewilderment.
"Wait..." Nora squinted at me. "That's it? That's literally all you told her?"
I frowned, confused by her reaction. "Well, yeah? What else would it be? I'm taken now."
Nora groaned loudly, slapping a palm against her forehead. "Katsuya, did you hit your head against a tree trunk out there?! Have you never read a basic kingdom census in your entire life?!"
"What does a census have to do with anything?"
"Women outnumber men three to one in Remnant!" Nora shouted, throwing her hands up. "Because guys are so rare, any guy can have multiple partners as long as they're all women! It's been standard practice since the Great War! Why on earth would you act like having one girlfriend takes you off the market completely?!"
My brain ground to a dead, screeching halt.
I sat there, staring at Nora as the realization hit me like a runaway freight train.
Not only was this an inverted society where the women were the aggressive, frontline providers... but men were an actual statistical minority. A one-to-three ratio.
"Wait," I said, squinting suspiciously at her. "Is that why you've been casually leaping onto my lap every chance you get? You're basically a registered molester."
Nora's face flared bright pink, and she flailed her arms in a frantic panic. "I am NOT a molester! I'm an affectionate, forward-thinking woman who knows how to spot prime real estate! That is completely normal behavior!"
"Right, sure it is," I muttered, shaking my head.
"Besides!" Nora puffed out her cheeks, crossing her arms with a pout. "It's not like it's a free-for-all anyway. Remnant custom says the first girlfriend gets all the seniority. She's the one who gets to decide your maximum limit and has to personally approve anyone else you're allowed to date!"
I took a second to process that, letting the absurd mechanics of Remnant's societal architecture sink in.
Seniority privileges. Veto power over secondary partners. A three-to-one demographic tilt turning every halfway decent guy into a walking scarcity commodity.
I leaned back against the headrest, looking over at the orange-haired girl who was still crossing her arms defensively.
"Hypothetically speaking," I said, raising an eyebrow. "Say Ruby actually approved it. Would you even want to date me?"
"Are you kidding?!" Nora beamed, dropping her defensive stance instantly as her face lit up. "Absolutely! You're sweet, you're charming, you make killer pancakes, and you have that incredibly sharp, dominating look when you fight! Like you could just step on someone and look down at them like dirt! Perfectly my type!"
Beside me, Ren let out a slow, tired breath, closing his eyes in silent meditation.
I pressed two fingers against the bridge of my nose, letting out a heavy, soul-weary sigh. "Right. Of course. Dominating."
In my old life, having a girl openly state she wanted a guy who looked ready to crush someone under his heel would have sounded unhinged. Here, it was practically a glowing recommendation on a dating profile. Between my Hazama-inherited swagger, the sharp fedora, and my habit of casually dismantling Grimm, I was apparently checking off every single box on the local checklist.
"Just... don't say that where Pyrrha can hear you," I muttered, rubbing my forehead. "I'd like our dorm room to remain intact through the weekend."
Nora darted a quick, terrified glance back toward the opposite bench, where Pyrrha was still maintaining her blinding, cheerful, unblinking smile. Nora shrank back down into her seat, nodding furiously. "Agreed. Total silence."
The rest of the flight passed in a tense, quiet truce. The hum of the Bullhead's thrusters eventually shifted pitch as we crossed the cliffs of Beacon, the transport banking smoothly before touching down onto the landing platforms with a heavy pneumatic hiss.
The ramp dropped, letting in the brisk mountain air.
Students flooded out in loose groups, eager to stash their sap containers with Professor Peach's teaching assistants, scrub the sticky residue from their gear, and hit the showers.
As Team RWBY filed down the metal walkway, Ruby hung toward the back of her squad. She still had her hood yanked down low, her boots scuffing along the concrete as she tried to avoid Yang's relentless teasing nudges and Weiss's exasperated lecturing.
I unclasped my field pack, handed it off to Ren with a quiet nod of thanks, and stepped briskly through the crowd.
"Ruby," I called out softly, stepping up beside her.
She jumped about two inches off the pavement, her hood flying back just enough to reveal her bright red cheeks.
"K-Katsuya!" she squeaked.
"Hey," I said, offering an easy, reassuring smile to take the edge off her panic. "Do you have a minute? I'd really like to speak with you."
—
We walked past the bustling crowd of students returning to the dorms, heading toward a quiet, stone-paved walkway bordered by low hedges and towering courtyard lamps. The noise of the landing pads faded into a calm hum behind us, leaving only the rustle of evening leaves in the cool breeze.
Ruby kept her hands clasped tightly in front of her skirt, scuffing the toe of her boot against the stones every few steps.
"So..." she started, her voice barely louder than a whisper. "What did you want to talk about?"
I stopped near the edge of the terrace, leaning back against the smooth stone railing and slipping my hands into my coat pockets. "Nora told me something on the flight back. About how dating customs work here in Remnant. With the whole three-to-one demographic ratio, guys having multiple partners, and how the first girlfriend holds seniority to set limits or approve anyone else."
Ruby blinked up at me, tilting her head in complete bewilderment. "Wait... really?"
"You didn't know?" I chuckled softly.
"I mean... I never really studied dating rules!" Ruby stammered, her cheeks instantly warming up again. "I just... read comic books! But..." She paused, her expression softening into thoughtful realization. "Now that you say it out loud... my dad had Raven, and then he had my mom, Summer. People in Patch never made a big deal out of it. It just seemed like a normal thing."
'Wait... so is raven just chilling back home or?' I thought to myself surprised ruby knows her meaning it has to be that way.
She looked down at her boots, fidgeting with the hem of her cloak before looking back up at me with open, genuine honesty.
"I don't really care about limits or rules right now," she said softly, a small, shy smile touching her lips. "I didn't ask you out because of kingdom customs or numbers. I asked you because you're amazing, you treat me like an equal, and you make me really happy. If you ever like someone else down the road, we can figure that out together. But right now... I'm just really glad we're dating. That's all that matters to me."
Hearing that kind of pure, uncomplicated sincerity cut straight through the ridiculous chaos of the day.
I smiled, stepped forward, and pulled her into a warm, solid embrace.
Ruby let out a soft breath against my chest, her frame relaxing completely as she wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her face into the fabric of my coat. She held on tight, letting out a quiet, contented sigh that chased away all the lingering nervous energy from the forest.
After a long moment, she slowly leaned back in the crook of my arm.
Her face was glowing a vibrant, rosy red in the dim lamplight, her fingers bunching nervously in the sides of my jacket. She bit her lower lip, gathering every ounce of courage she had left.
"Katsuya?" she whispered, her voice trembling slightly.
"Yeah?"
"Can I kiss you?"
I looked down at her, the corner of my mouth curving into a gentle smile. "Yeah. You can."
Ruby didn't wait.
Reaching up, she grabbed both lapels of my coat in a firm, determined grip, tugging me down just enough as she rose straight onto the tips of her combat boots. Before my feet could even shift, she leaned in and pressed her lips firmly against mine.
For the first second, she was tense with sheer adrenaline, but as I rested a hand against the small of her back, she melted into it. Her grip on my lapels loosened into a soft hold, lingering in a sweet, clumsy, and entirely earnest kiss that sealed everything that had started out in the crimson woods.