7

 Chapter 7: V1C7: Painful Confessions

Jaune and Shirou stood facing each other in full battle gear, weapons at the ready. It had been three weeks since the start of the school year and for today's class, Professor Goodwitch decided to have two students spar to demonstrate the proper procedure of an official duel. To facilitate this, the class was moved to the auditorium and the two boys had taken to the stage, a spotlight shining down dramatically on them.

Jaune stood in a very rough approximation of a defensive stance, only slightly better than when he started, while Shirou stood in the opening stance of kendo. Jaune was panting slightly, already fairly winded from the fight so far, while Shirou hadn't broken a sweat. This fight had been incredibly one-sided to the surprise of absolutely no one. Jaune's skill with the sword was practically non-existent while Shirou was one of the best fighters in the class. More than a few students wondered what Professor Goodwitch had been thinking when the combatants were picked and Shirou had to admit that he was among them.

Then they actually started fighting and Shirou had to quickly revise his estimate. He wasn't sure if Professor Goodwitch had some skill that clued her into this or what but he quickly discovered that his friend, for his almost total lack of combat ability, had either incredible defenses or absurdly large Aura reserves. Even when he started going full force with his attacks, any given hit barely made Jaune's Aura Gauge on the large screen at the back of the room budge. Because of that and the fact that Jaune was adapting to Shirou's kendo at a decent rate, this fight had gone on significantly longer than anyone expected. Even after fifteen solid minutes of fighting, Jaune's Aura was only down to about half and it needed to drop to about a quarter in order to end the duel.

Having fought defensively for most of the time, Shirou decided to go on the offensive for the sake of ending the match before the class ended. Moving from a kendo stance to a general kenjutsu one— not really based on any specific style but still drawing heavily from kendo, Shirou charged at his friend and executed a rapid series of blows. The first brushed aside his shield, the second his sword that had come up to counterattack, the third was a thrust to the middle of his collarbone, the fourth was a rising slash to his chin, the fifth was a falling slash to his face, the sixth was a rising diagonal slash to his right hip, and the last was a thrust to his solar plexus that forced the air out of his lungs and knocked him backward.

All of that delivered at full strength and a quick glance revealed that he had only shaved off another ten percent of Jaune's Aura.

Taking a deep breath, Shirou returned his focus to Jaune who was currently staggering to his feet and contemplated his options. "We have two options here," Shirou said, "Either we keep this up until you go into the red or you forfeit and save everyone some time."

"I can do that?" Jaune asked, completely dropping his guard in surprise.

"Yes, you may," Professor Goodwitch said from the sidelines, her expression as unreadable as always.

"Yeah, I'm gonna do that," Jaune said as he collapsed onto his back.

"Very well," Professor Goodwitch said as she used her Scroll to turn the lights back on. Shirou sheathed his sword before walking over to Jaune and helping him up. "As you just witnessed, Mr. Arc has surrendered. At this point, the match is decided. Alternatively, if the fight had continued and Mr. Arc's Aura dropped into the red, an official could call off the match since Mr. Arc would no longer be fit for battle in a tournament-style duel.

"It is always paramount that you be aware of your Aura reserves during a fight; be it a duel of any type or a battle against the forces of Grimm. Ideally, you would be able to sense your own Aura levels and be able to judge that way but, until that time comes, you may refer to the application provided for your Scrolls. This application will not only show your own Aura level, it will also show the levels of your teammates. You can set this to show anyone, up to six people aside from yourself, provided that their Scroll with this application is available to sync to yours but, for the sake of convenience, your teammates have already been registered.

"Knowing how much Aura you have left is an invaluable skill and being able to check the status of your teammates is even more so. Just remember that you need to take your attention off of your opponent to check your Scroll so please only do so if you're not in immediate danger.

"One last announcement before class ends: The Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start to arrive in Vale so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"

Just as Professor Goodwitch finished, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class. As the students started filing out, Pyrrha couldn't help but notice snickering coming from Team CRDL as they made fun of Jaune's performance. She had half a mind to turn on them then and there, hoping to shut them up before her leader heard them, but the sad smile on Jaune's face told her it was too late.

Jaune knew as well as anyone that Shirou was one of the best fighters in the class and that there was no shame in losing to him so why did he look so defeated?

OoOoOoO

While Shirou slowly ate his lunch, only half listening to the wild dream Nora was going on about that she insisted was real, he contemplated a certain blond male who was currently on the far end of the table scooting his food around his tray with his fork. While an undeniable breach of privacy, Shirou couldn't help but know virtually all of Jaune's thoughts and emotions thanks to Unlimited Blade Works and not acting on that knowledge was painful. It wasn't like Weiss' situation where there really wasn't anything overly helpful he could do with his knowledge. No, Jaune's problem was a lot easier to deal with but doing so in the most beneficial way while also not revealing his knowledge was proving far more difficult.

Jaune's problem was simply that he felt that his growth was inadequate. Even after three weeks, he was only marginally better than he was at the beginning of the school year. His academic scores were passing but that didn't mean much considering the fact that most classes included physical aspects which he almost invariably failed. The sparring session he just had with Shirou only exacerbated his problem. As a matter of fact, Shirou's continued existence seemed to exacerbate the problem which, in turn, was the big problem for Shirou. JNPR's leader was very grateful for the help of his teamless friend but all of that help just made him feel like a burden.

Shirou was snapped out of his thoughts when Pyrrha, having finally noticed her leader's emotional state, spoke up. "Jaune? Are you okay?"

Jaune turned to Pyrrha with a start, "Huh? Oh, yeah! Why?

"It's just that you seem a little… not okay…" Ruby said. The other members of JNPR and RWBY, noticing the turn in the conversation, all shifted their focus to Jaune.

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously! Look!" Jaune's thumbs up and laugh were as fake anything any of them had ever seen. Noticing that no one was believing him, Jaune racked his brain in an attempt to find something to say when a commotion going on behind him drew his attention. Everyone looked to see Team CRDL standing around a Faunus girl with brown rabbit ears and mocking her for her race. Not for the first time, Shirou idly noted how a lot of people in his world would go crazy over the fact that there was a reality where girls with cute animal features existed.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha said, misattributing the source of her leader's woes.

Jaune jumped on the mistake. "Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah… He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!"

"He's a bully," Ruby said, spitting the last word like a particularly vile epithet.

Jaune scoffed, "Oh, please! Name one time he's 'bullied' me."

"There's that time he made you drop your books in the hall," Blake said.

"And that time he made your shield get caught in the doorway," Yang added.

"And that time he shoved you into one of the rocket-propelled lockers and launched it," Ren continued. Shirou had to use all of his willpower to stop himself from facepalming as he was reminded that those things existed and that he had one.

"And that time he pulled down your pants on your way out of class," Weiss supplied.

"And that time he flipped your tray into your face," Ruby put forth.

"And that time—" Nora was stopped by Jaune slamming his hands on the table.

"OKAY! I GET IT! Cardin's a bully!"

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask," Pyrrha said. Jaune's expression was caught somewhere between hopeful and despondent when Nora suddenly stood up and announced her plan with a not-entirely-sane grin.

"Oooooh! We'll break his legs!"

"Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone!"

As if on cue, the laughing of CRDL grew louder and were intermixed with cries of pain. No longer content with mocking her, Cardin had now taken to pulling rather violently at her ears.

Shirou was in action before his brain even fully registered what he had seen.

"Trace, on!" Grabbing Yang's fork from where it lay beside him, Shirou projected a spoon and butterknife to go with them before throwing all three in sequence with pinpoint accuracy. The tines of the fork, strengthened by prana and not being blocked by Aura, easily pierced Cardin's wrist, forcing him to let go. His scream of startled pain then died in his throat when the spoon collided with his jaw, the force of the projectile great enough to make him turn slightly. That left the base of his neck open to the butterknife that had been just a heartbeat behind, the projected cutlery striking true and rendering the stocky man unconscious.

Teams RWBY and JNPR, along with the Faunus girl and the remains of Team CRDL, stared in shock, trying to process just what happened. Ruby, Ren, and Pyrrha; being among the first to get their bearings again, started to turn to Shirou only for the redhead to leap from his seat and vault over them and the table. The familiar forms of Kanshou and Bakuya were brought to the forefront of his mind almost automatically as he zeroed in on the others and it was only the fact that explaining them would be too much of a pain and that severely maiming Team CRDL, while immensely satisfying, wouldn't win him any points that stopped him.

Even with those thoughts, when he felt a hand clamp down on his left shoulder, Shirou was halfway through projecting them when a voice; calm, flippant, and incredibly dangerous, stopped him.

"Thanks for the assist but I've got this."

The voice came from a rather tall woman wearing a Beacon uniform. Even wearing the rather drab, if pristine, outfit, she somehow made it abundantly clear that she was a woman of high fashion and even higher standards. Not a single stand of her brown hair was out of place as she marched towards the table with strides that seemed purposefully planned to draw out every ounce of beauty and class that she possessed. This was clearly a person in possession of such charisma that she always drew attention to herself simply by existing and it was equally clear that she reveled in the spotlight.

"Velvet, honey, you okay?" she asked the stunned Faunus, her voice sweet and gentle. The newly identified Velvet nodded somewhat dumbly, looking at the other girl for a moment before turning her wide-eyed gaze back to Shirou.

"That's good," she said. Despite staying kind and gentle, her voice managed to carry such an underlying sense of danger as she changed addressees that even Shirou found himself flinching despite not being the target. "I see your glorious leader has already been dealt with but what about you three? What do you think I should do with you?"

"Let us go?" one of them squeaked out hopefully.

The girl hummed thoughtfully for a moment before ruthlessly squashing that hope, "I don't think so. The world is filthy enough as is and it really doesn't need more trash dirtying it up. I don't think anyone would mind if I take some out."

There was no weapon on her. There couldn't be since, outside of special circumstances, it was forbidden for students to carry their weapons around in the main school building (the classes that required weapons were always held in one of the outbuildings or even outside). There was no magecraft in play, that much Shirou was certain of. It wasn't even that she was adopting some sort of fighting stance. She was simply slowly raising her right hand but that action filled those who saw it and were capable of understanding such things with such an overwhelming sense of danger that she may as well have pulled out a rocket launcher.

The feeling instantly vanished when Velvet shot up and grabbed her teammate's arm. "It's okay, Coco! Really! I'm fine!"

Coco regarded Velvet for a moment before smiling normally and gracefully sitting at the table opposite of her. "You really must learn to stand up for yourself, Velvet," Coco said as she crossed her legs. She gave the frozen members of Team CRDL a flat look before waving them off. "Well? Go on. Shoo. Get out of my sight." Snapping back to life, the standing members of Team CRDL collected their fallen leader and left in a hurry. The entire cafeteria was dead silent for a long moment before quickly returning to normal.

"Hey, you!" Coco said as she gestured to Shirou. "Come here for a minute."

Shirou acquiesced immediately.

"Go on," Coco said to Velvet as Shirou sat down next to the charismatic girl.

"Th-thank you for stopping him," Velvet said, blushing for reasons Shirou couldn't determine.

"It's no problem," Shirou waved her off. "He's been bullying a friend of mine for a while anyway. I'm just sorry I didn't step in sooner. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, honest," Velvet said, a little touched by the concern. She gently rubbed at the base of the rabbit ear that had been pulled on as she continued, "Just a little sore, is all."

"I'm glad," Shirou said with a bright and relieved smile that made Velvet turn away lest he see the bright blush that enveloped her face.

Coco, however, noticed it. "So, what's your name, hero? You're one of the first years, right?"

"That's right," Shirou nodded. "My name's Emiya Shirou but please call me Shirou."

"I'm Coco Adel and this is Velvet Scarlatina. We're a part of Team CFVY (Coffee) and Velvet here just so happens to by my partner so thanks for giving her a hand."

"Again, it was no problem. As for me, I'm unaffiliated; no partner or team."

"So that means you've got no plans for next Friday, right?"

For some reason, Shirou sensed danger but he couldn't tell why. "No, nothing in particular. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that Velvet and I were going to go out for a little fun in Vale and, as thanks, I want to extend an invitation to you."

"Oh, no, I couldn't intrude. It was nothing, really. Certainly nothing I need to be rewarded for."

"Nonsense!" Coco said with a smile. Her smile grew a little more when she saw Velvet stare at her in disbelief. "You won't be intruding if I invite you and one good turn deserves another. You saved my partner so now we owe you a debt and I believe in discharging my debts."

Shirou sighed. That force of personality that didn't accept anything that wasn't what they wanted reminded him of Tohsaka Rin and thus he assumed that, like Tohsaka, trying to argue with Coco would be pointless. "Alright. I guess I can I come."

"Excellent! Meet us at the dock next Friday at 4 PM. Got it?"

"Understood. Well, I should get back to my lunch before the bell rings. It was a pleasure meeting you both."

"Likewise," Velvet said as she waved at Shirou's retreating form.

"What the hell, Shirou?" Yang said when the redhead returned to his seat.

"Harassment is one thing; assault is another," Shirou said as he resumed eating. He noticed that Blake was staring rather intently at him but chose to ignore her for the time being.

"I'm not saying what you did was wrong, it's just— Wow. I don't think Cardin's going to be messing with anyone for a while."

"Actually, that might not be the case," Blake said, her gaze still firmly on Shirou.

"What makes you say that?" Ruby asked.

"Generally speaking, bullies are what they are because they want something; power, control, and fearful respect being the most common things. Shirou's actions could either shatter his delusions and make him reconsider or he'll become even worse in an attempt to compensate."

"She's right, sadly," Shirou said with a scowl as he recalled a certain blue-haired monster. "I'm familiar with his type. If we're lucky, that'll be the end of that but my luck's pretty fickle so I highly doubt it."

"Either way," Blake said, "that was a good thing you did. You don't see many people stand up for the Faunus like that."

Shirou shrugged as he took a sip of his tea, "Honestly, I didn't even think of that at the time. I saw someone being assaulted and so I acted. Velvet's race didn't even cross my mind."

Blake stared at Shirou for a moment more, the look in her eyes mixture of cautious calculation and something else he couldn't identify. Then she turned back to her book and Shirou returned to his food.

"Well, don't worry about it, Jaune. Even if Cardin becomes worse, we'll stop him before he gets too out of hand," Pyrrha said, turning her attention to where Jaune sat only to find him no longer there.

OoOoOoO

Later that day, everyone found themselves in the classroom of Professor Bartholomew Oobleck. Despite being a professor and holding a doctorate, the man was an absolute mess. His uniform was wrinkled, ruffled, and barely on correctly; his dark green hair was completely untamed and blown back; his round, opaque glasses were a size too large and constantly sliding down his nose; and he drank so much coffee that no one was entirely sure if he had super speed as his Semblance or if the constant influx of caffeine allowed him to zip around at impossible speeds. Despite all that, he was also undeniably the smartest person at Beacon with the possible exception of Professor Ozpin.

Today's lesson: The history of the Faunus Rights Revolution.

"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution— more popularly known as the Faunus War— Humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie," Professor Oobleck zipped over to the large map of Remnant on the back wall and pointed to Menagerie using a wooden pointer before zipping to his desk for another drink of coffee. Shirou idly wondered if his thermos contained a folded space that held an infinite supply of the stuff. "Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day! Now! The chances are decent that many of the Faunus in this class— and, indeed, this very school— have been subjugated or discriminated because of their heritage! Let it be known that this school will not, under any circumstances, tolerate such behavior! It is because of the ignorance and fear of us Humans that the White Fang even exist in the first place, let alone that they went from a peaceful Faunus Rights Group to politically motivated terrorists!

"Now! Moving along! Which one of you young scholars can tell me what many state to be the turning point of the third year of the war? Yes, Miss Schnee?"

"The battle at Fort Castle!" Weiss said proudly.

"Precisely! And who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Cardin, who had long since recovered, chose that moment to flick a paper football at a dozing Jaune so Shirou chose that moment to intercept it with a projected needle, disguising the throwing motion as raising his hand.

"Yes, Mister Emiya?"

"The Faunus, especially those of certain subraces, have nearly perfect night vision. When General Lagune attempted to ambush a Faunus encampment in their sleep, his larger army was quickly outmatched. His lack of knowledge regarding Faunus traits, along with a few other factors, led to his army being routed and him quickly being captured."

"Excellent! That is precisely the answer I was looking for! Now! Moving on!" The professor appeared in front of Jaune's desk and slammed it with his pointer. Jaune practically jumped out of his skin as the loud sound startled him fully awake. "Glad to have you join us, Mister Arc," Professor Oobleck said tersely. "Speak with me after class!" Cardin started laughing hysterically at this only to jump when Oobleck addressed him, too. "And you as well, Mister Winchester!"

After the class ended, Team JNPR sans their leader slowly filed out only for Pyrrha to stop just outside the door. "You go on ahead," she said to her teammates. "I'll wait for Jaune." Nora and Ren looked at each other before looking into the classroom where Jaune and Cardin stood before Professor Oobleck and then back to Pyrrha who was looking at them with a slightly anxious smile. Sensing something private was up, the duo nodded before heading on their way.

"You two have been struggling in my class since day one!" Professor Oobleck said to Jaune and Cardin as he took another sip from his thermos. "Now, I don't know if it's a lack of interest or just your stubborn nature but whatever it is, it stops now! You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school and we only accept the best of the best so I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it… you're destined to repeat it. Pages fifty-one to ninety-one! I want an essay on my desk by the next class! Now! Run along!"

His piece said, Professor Oobleck was gone in a flash, little more than a green and white blur as he passed a waiting Pyrrha. Jaune came out a few moments later but fell to the ground when Cardin cuffed him hard on the shoulder.

As the bully laughed and walked away, Pyrrha had to restrain herself from dismantling him as she helped her leader up. "You know, I really will break his legs." Jaune sighed at the declaration which only confused Pyrrha. She searched what she could see of his face for a long moment, trying to piece together what was bothering him, when she was suddenly struck by inspiration. "I have an idea! Here, come with me!" Without waiting for an acknowledgment, Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's arm and drug him along.

After a few minutes of walking and a quick bathroom break, Pyrrha led Jaune to the rooftop of their dorm building. This particular rooftop was actually the roof of the third floor of the dorms, which happened to be the floor the first years were on, with the rooftop of the fourth and final floor being inaccessible. The sun was just now starting to set and the breeze was a little chilly but the view of Beacon's central tower was fantastic.

"Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now but I'm not that depressed," a dejected Jaune said as he peered over the edge of the roof. Pyrrha stared at Jaune in confusion for a moment before the meaning of his words hit her like a road roller.

"N-n-no!" Pyrrha dashed over to Jaune and pushed him away from the edge. "That's not why I brought you up here! Jaune, I know you're having a difficult time in class and that you're still not the strongest of fighters so… I want to help you!"

"Wh-what?"

"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us!"

"You think I need help?" Jaune asked, his voice a combination of hurt and resignation.

"N-no! That's not what I meant!"

"But you just said it."

"Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"

Jaune turned away from Pyrrha's earnest face and lowered his head. When he spoke, his voice was full of a deep loathing, "You're wrong. I-I don't belong here."

"That's a terrible thing to say! Of course you do!" Pyrrha insisted, trying to step around to look her leader in the face.

Jaune rendered her efforts pointless by spinning around and exploding in anger, "No, I don't!" Jaune sighed at the look of bewilderment with a hint of hurt on Pyrrha's face. "I wasn't really accepted into Beacon," he said as he turned away once again, completely ashamed and not wishing to see her reaction.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

Jaune was starting to break down. As he talked, his words became faster and his voice became higher. He didn't want to speak but the weight of the lies he had been carrying since the beginning forced the words out of him. He wanted things to stay the same but the very nature of the person standing behind him made that an impossibility.

"I mean I didn't go to combat school, I didn't pass any tests, I didn't earn my spot at this academy! I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts and I lied!"

Pyrrha was beyond confused. It wasn't so much that she was confused, it was simply that her mind refused to accept his words. The Jaune that she had come to know over the past three weeks was a kind, honest, straightforward man. He was lacking in a few areas, sure, but he made up for those weaknesses by being strong in so many others. What he lacked could easily be gained with time and effort and what he had couldn't be gained no matter how hard others tried. She had a million questions on her mind right now but there was only one that she managed to voice.

"But… why?"

"'Cause this is always what I've wanted to be! My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough."

Finally managing to get her body to listen, Pyrrha carefully stepped forward and placed her hand on her leader's shoulder. "Then let me help you!"

At her touch, Jaune stiffened. At her words, he spun around sharply, knocking her hand away, and exploded once more. "I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"

"Jaune, I—"

"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! I'm tired of dragging everyone else down because they decided to take pity on me and help me out! Don't you understand? If you help me out, I'll get better, sure, but I'll only be dragging you down. Coming here was a mistake. If I hadn't gotten these grand delusions in my head, Shirou would have been your partner and the two of you would be unstoppable. You could be so much more without me weighing you down."

Once again, Jaune's words had rattled Pyrrha's brain but she was speaking and acting before she even had time to so much as think.

"That's where you're wrong, Jaune," Pyrrha said as she reached out and gently laid her hand on her leader's arm. "You're not dragging me down and helping you isn't a burden to me. You don't understand what your friendship means to me; what effect you coming to me for help two weeks ago had on me. I chose you as my partner, Jaune. I knew I wanted to be on your team from the moment I saw you at the initiation speech. I saw in you something that I knew I needed."

"What was it?" Jaune asked, his brain struggling to keep up.

"You had you." Jaune's face started to flush so Pyrrha pressed on. "My life hasn't been easy. Sure, all of the fame and money is pretty nice and I didn't really mind the almost constant training but I had been singled out as special from an early age. For almost as long as I can remember, I was told that I was better than everyone else, that I had what it took to be one of the greatest Huntresses of all time, that I was an unprecedented genius capable of anything and everything. But there was one thing I had never been able to do no matter how hard I tried: Make friends.

"Precisely because I was so talented and had all of this extra training, everyone placed me on a pedestal. They always looked up to me in awe but they never tried to get close. Never tried to actually know me rather than simply knowing about me. But you were different. You didn't even really know about me and, even when you did learn, nothing really changed. I know you look up to me but you don't treat me like an idol. You treat me like a person. You're my friend, Jaune. My first and greatest friend. Just by being you, you're giving me something I've always wanted and, for that reason, I'll gladly help you any way I can. You'll never be a burden to me, Jaune. Because of you, I can be so much better than I ever was before. We can be so much better."

Jaune stared at Pyrrha, completely dumbstruck and lost in awe. The words he was hearing were so far beyond his comprehension that she might as well have been speaking an alien language and yet their meaning struck his heart nonetheless. He thought back to his talk with Shirou before he had gone to Pyrrha and the other boy's words were resounding even truer now than they had been before.

Then she said the words that finally broke him utterly. "You belong here, Jaune. With Team JNPR. With Team RWBY. With Shirou. With me."

Acting almost without thought, Jaune quickly pulled Pyrrha into a tight embrace, clinging to her like a drowning man would a life preserver as his entire body was wracked with sobs. Pyrrha froze for half a heartbeat but her arms quickly wound their way around her leader's back, holding him almost as tightly. By the time the two finally parted, the sun had fully set and it was agreed that they would start training tomorrow after class.

As Jaune and Pyrrha left the rooftop, Cardin Winchester, sitting by the window in his room that was right below them, reflected on this information and decided what to do next.

A/N: As always, thank you all ever so much for all of the wonderful reviews! The opening of this chapter was kinda tricky to write. I ended going through three or four different versions before settling on this one. Anyway, not much else to say so here's the final omake of this volume:

Omake 4

The Way to the Heart

Before V1C7

"Oh! Ren! Good morning. What are you doing up so early?" Shirou asked as he entered the third-floor kitchen to start breakfast.

"There's something I wanted to ask you. A favor, actually," Ren answered, his body language unusually nervous.

"Anything."

"Do you think… you could… teach me how to cook?" Ren asked, only meeting Shirou's eyes with brief glances.

Shirou was torn between being amused and concerned. Ren was usually so calm and controlled, very rarely showing any emotion outside of amused exasperation at Nora's antics. To see him not only nervous but also blatantly showing it was more than a little odd, to say the least."Sure. What made you interested to learn, if you don't mind my asking."

"Oh, it's… nothing really. I've always been a bit of a decent cook but recently I just… This is honestly rather embarrassing."

"You don't have to tell me."

"No, if I'm going to be inconveniencing you then you deserve to know why. You see, Nora and I have known each other since we were children and we've had only each other to rely on for most of our lives. I used to do all of the cooking, especially breakfast, and she always loved it but since you started cooking, well… She's said that your cooking is the best she's ever had and I just wanted to improve my own cooking skills so that she can enjoy my cooking again."

With his explanation finished, Ren and Shirou stood silently for a moment before the most surprising thing happened:

Shirou laughed.

It wasn't a small chuckle like he had done before but a genuine, full laugh. Ren felt like he should have been insulted but the simple fact that, to his knowledge, Shirou had never laughed before in the time that he's known him despite having heard his team and Team RWBY laugh numerous times gave him pause.

When Shirou's laughter finally calmed down, he smiled brightly at Ren. "Sorry about that. Your situation just brought back some memories. I'm more than happy to help you."

"Thanks, Shirou," Ren said as he stepped up to the counter as Shirou started pulling out ingredients and utensils.

"It's no problem, Ren."