[Ruby Rose POV]
The morning alarm hadn't even gone off yet, but I was already practically floating three inches above my mattress.
I bounced across our dorm room on the balls of my feet, humming a bright little tune while smoothing down my combat skirt and buffing Crescent Rose's sniper barrel until the metal gleamed. Every time my brain replayed yesterday evening, a breathless, giddy giggle bubbled out of my chest, forcing me to yank my hood over my face to muffle the squeal.
I had a boyfriend! An actual, real-life boyfriend!
Katsuya had taken my hand in front of the whole class, held me close, and when I gathered all my courage to ask for a kiss... he actually leaned down and let me kiss him! Right on the lips! Beneath the courtyard lamps! The entire world felt like it was made of fresh chocolate chip cookies and sweet strawberry sap.
The rest of my team, however, looked ready to attend a funeral.
Weiss was sitting upright in her bunk, staring blankly at the far wall with her hairbrush frozen mid-stroke. She looked completely paralyzed by existential confusion, muttering quietly under her breath about "statistical anomalies," "inverted social logic," and how it made zero sense that her socially awkward, fifteen-year-old leader had somehow landed the sharpest, coolest guy in Beacon on week two.
Slumped across her desk like an utterly defeated, deflated balloon, Yang was projecting a dark, miserable cloud of sulking energy. She rested her cheek flat against the wood, her hair messy, glaring in my direction with pure, soul-crushing jealousy.
Over by the window, Blake sat quietly with a novel propped open in her hands. To anyone else, she looked calm and collected, turning pages in silence. But she kept glancing down at the dark bracelet around her wrist, then glaring at the back of my cloak with a deeply disgruntled scowl.
Suddenly, Yang snapped.
She kicked her chair back, scrambled across the rug on her hands and knees, and threw herself flat onto the floorboards right in front of me, pressing her forehead directly to the wood in a frantic, desperate dogeza.
"Ruby-sama!" Yang wailed, clasping her hands together in dramatic prayer. "Oh benevolent, merciful, weapon-obsessed little sister! Please! I am begging you on bended knee! Exercise your sacred seniority rights and grant your humble older sister permission to pursue him! Just a tiny slice! A weekend pass! A single lap pillow trial run! I'll do your laundry for a month! Please!"
I paused with my polishing cloth, blinking down at her in wide, innocent confusion.
"Permission? What are you talking about, Yang?" I asked, tilting my head with a light, airy smile as I fastened Crescent Rose to my hip. "Katsuya is just my boyfriend! Why would you need permission for anything? Are you feeling sick? Did you hit your head too hard during that tornado yesterday?"
"Don't play dumb with me, you little gremlin!" Yang cried out, slamming both palms against the floorboards in pure agony. "You know the rules! You hold the seniority veto! You literally hold my entire romantic future in your tiny, cookie-stained hands!"
I just offered her a sweet, oblivious smile, giving my cloak a neat little flutter. "Gosh, Yang, you really shouldn't shout so early in the morning. Katsuya says a calm morning routine is super important for Huntsmen."
Yang let out a muffled, dying groan directly into the wood.
—
[Katsuya Akiya (MC) POV]
Across the hall in Team HRPN's dorm, things were considerably quieter.
I stood in front of the bathroom mirror in a simple gray undershirt and sweatpants, steadily working through my morning routine with a toothbrush. White foam lathered up as I scrubbed, my mind wandering while I stared at my own reflection.
Yesterday had been an absolute blur.
Taking Blake out on that surprisingly smooth café run, dealing with Cardin's petty sap prank in the woods, testing out that black armor Scathach had forged and sent over against a whole pack of Grimm bears, accidentally bellowing an enthusiastic "YES" while tearing through monsters, and then standing beneath the courtyard lamps with Ruby... life had gotten complicated fast.
I spat into the sink, rinsed with cold water, and picked up a clean towel to dry off.
Ruby was sweet, earnest, and surprisingly bold when it counted. That kiss had been cute, clumsy, and entirely genuine. But now I had a brand-new teenage girlfriend, Pyrrha maintaining a terrifyingly bright, unblinking smile while whispering dark poetry to herself in corners, Blake probably wondering where she stood after our weekend outing, and Nora already treating me like available communal property under Remnant's demographic customs.
I draped the towel over my shoulder, rested both hands on the edge of the sink, and let out a long, heavy breath.
"Man," I muttered to the mirror, scratching the back of my neck. "What the hell am I even supposed to do today?"
The afternoon bell rang with a hollow chime, signaling the end of Professor Port's lecture on Grimm anatomy.
I stretched my arms overhead, feeling my shoulders pop, and scooped my notebooks off the desk. Stepping out into the crowded hallway, I fell into step with Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren as we joined the general flow of students heading toward the courtyard.
As we walked, something finally clicked in the back of my mind.
"Hey," I said, glancing between my teammates. "Has anyone seen Cardin today? Come to think of it, he wasn't in Port's class, and I didn't see his team at breakfast either. What happened to them after we landed yesterday?"
Ren subtly averted his gaze, coughing quietly into his fist.
Nora shoved her hands behind her back, whistling a completely fabricated, overly cheerful tune while staring aggressively at the ceiling tiles.
Pyrrha simply kept walking, her hands folded neatly in front of her skirt. She turned to me, offering that same bright, blinding, perfectly polished smile she'd been wearing for twenty-four hours straight.
"Oh, you know," Pyrrha said smoothly, her tone as sweet as spun sugar. "I believe Team CRDL simply requested an extended medical leave for rest and recuperation. The red woods can be quite strenuous on one's physical well-being."
I squinted at them, my suspicion flaring.
"Right... medical leave."
[Yesterday Evening - Courtyard Behind the Dorms]
The sun was dipping below the horizon, casting long, bruised shadows across the stone walkway as Team CRDL swaggered toward their dorm building. Cardin was walking in the lead, chuckling to himself while nursing a smug grin. He'd tossed the sap, caused some chaos, and as far as he knew, gotten away with it scot-free.
Then the courtyard temperature dropped ten degrees.
A heavy, suffocating silence swept over the plaza.
From the shadows of the surrounding colonnade, footsteps echoed against the cobblestone. Heavy. Synchronized. Ominous.
Cardin stopped dead in his tracks. Russel, Dove, and Sky bumped into his back, freezing as their eyes locked onto the figures stepping out of the gloom to block their path.
It was almost the entirety of Team RWBY and Team HRPN— Minus Ren and Weies.
Blocking the center was Ruby Rose. Her hood was pulled low over her shadowed face, Crescent Rose already fully deployed, its massive curved scythe blade resting casually on the stones, carving a jagged groove as she dragged it forward.
Flanking her left was Yang Xiao Long. Her shotgun gauntlets clicked into place with a pair of metallic snaps, her golden hair practically crackling with embers as she cracked her knuckles loud enough to echo off the walls.
To her right, Blake Belladonna leaned against a stone pillar, silently drawing Gambol Shroud from its sheath, the dark ribbon swaying like a coiled viper.
And directly behind them, flanking the rear exit, were Pyrrha Nikos and Nora Valkyrie. Nora had Magnhild resting across her shoulders, grinning like a kid who had just been given free reign in a candy store, while Pyrrha stood in utter silence, shield braced, javelin held in a low guard, radiating a hollow, terrifying aura making them feel true fear for the first time.
Five of the strongest, most violent women in the first-year class, cornering four terrified boys in an empty courtyard. In Remnant's matriarchal society, this wasn't an ambush—it was an execution.
A cold, heavy bead of sweat rolled down Cardin's temple. His knees wobbled.
Dove frantically reached into his jacket, pulling out a small, crumpled notepad and a stubby pencil. He held it up to his trembling face.
"Ok, Team RWBY and HRPN... let me check the patch notes," Dove muttered, his hands shaking violently as he rapidly flipped through the notebook.
Flip.
Flip.
Flip.
Flip.
Sky leaned over his shoulder, hyperventilating as he watched the pages whip past. "What does it say?!"
Dove stared down at the completely blank, empty white paper.
"It's blank, Sky."
Russel, staring wide-eyed at Nora's sparking hammer and Yang's smoking gauntlets, took a slow, shuddering step backward. His voice was completely hollow.
"I've seen this before... seventeen times as a matter of fact..."
Cardin whipped around, his voice cracking in a high-pitched, desperate panic. "What do we do?!"
Russel lunged forward, grabbing Cardin violently by both shoulders and shaking him like a ragdoll.
"We're boned!"
The fight was over in less than thirty seconds.
By the time the dust settled over the stone courtyard, Team CRDL was sprawled across the cobblestones in a groaning, twitching heap of dented armor.
Pyrrha rested the tip of her javelin against the ground and brushed a stray lock of red hair from her forehead. Her bright, overly composed smile hadn't slipped an inch, but she tilted her head with polite curiosity.
"Not that they didn't have it coming," Pyrrha said smoothly, looking over at the other three. "But what brought this on so suddenly?"
Yang shook out her golden hair, cooling the embers on her gauntlets with a sharp smirk. "Payback, mostly. Plus, he tossed sap at Katsuya. Nobody gets away with trying to blindside him like that."
Blake clicked Gambol Shroud back into its sheath at her hip, nodding quietly. "I agree. He crossed a line."
"And besides," Ruby said, planting Crescent Rose blade-first into the dirt and puffing out her chest, "I had to protect my boyfriend!"
The courtyard went completely still.
Nora's jaw dropped, her eyes going wide as the pieces fell into place. "Wait... your boyfriend?! You actually asked him out?!"
"Yep!" Ruby beamed, a bright flush rising to her cheeks. "Out in the woods yesterday. And he said yes!"
"Aha!" Nora gasped, slapping both hands against her cheeks. "That's why he was asking me about Remnant dating laws and multiple partners on the flight back! It makes total sense now!"
Without a second thought, Nora's posture flipped entirely. She dropped Magnhild to her side, rushed across the stones, and planted herself right in front of Ruby with her most charming, exaggerated smile, clasping her hands together.
"Ruby! Sweet, wonderful, brilliant leader Ruby!" Nora cooed, batting her eyelashes shamelessly. "You know, I've always thought red was the best color in the four kingdoms. Truly iconic. So... hypothetically speaking... from one friend to another... what does a girl have to do to make the approval list for slot number two?"
Ruby tapped a gloved finger against her chin, looking Nora up and down with genuine, serious thought.
"Well... maybe," Ruby hummed. "I haven't set up the full list yet. But if you want a hint about his tastes, I'm pretty sure he's an ass or thigh guy."
Yang choked on air. "Excuse me?!"
"I'm serious," Ruby insisted, gesturing matter-of-factly. "Think about it. You spent half the week throwing your chest into his face, and he barely even looked. If big boobs worked on him, he would have folded immediately."
"Hey!" Yang snapped, her face flushing with offended pride as she gestured down at herself. "These are great! They're definitely not useless—"
Ruby narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms and fixing her older sister with a cold, unimpressed glare that radiated complete authority over the roster.
Yang froze mid-sentence. The reality of the situation caught up with her fast: Ruby held the absolute veto over Katsuya's dating life. Pissing off the person with final say was the quickest way to end up permanently disqualified.
Yang slammed her mouth shut and dropped into a stiff, ninety-degree bow. "I mean—my apologies, Madam Leader! Your tactical analysis is completely accurate! My chest is purely decorative and offers zero practical value! Please do not remove my name from consideration!"
Pyrrha, who had been listening with absolute focus, cleared her throat and stepped in. Her tone stayed light and polite, but the urgency underneath was unmistakable.
"Ruby," Pyrrha asked softly. "Out of respect for kingdom tradition... what kind of waiting period are you considering before he's allowed secondary partners?"
Ruby scuffed her boot against the stone, thinking it over for a couple of seconds before giving a casual shrug. "I don't know. Maybe a week? Or a month?"
With that, Ruby turned around and began skipping down the walkway toward the dorms, humming to herself and leaving a trail of quiet panic in her wake.
Pyrrha, Yang, and Blake slowly followed behind her, each trying to process the drastically shortened timeline.
Bringing up the rear, Nora had already yanked a small notepad and a stubby pencil out of her skirt pocket. Her tongue poked out from the corner of her mouth as she scribbled furiously, muttering under her breath as fast as her hands could move:
"...Target profile: heavy preference for the lower body... upper chest tactics deemed ineffective... modify morning workouts immediately... add daily heavy squats, deadlifts, and calf raises... note: strategically drop heavy wrench near his boots and bend strictly at the knees to emphasize hip curvature..."