CHAPTER 16

JAUNE ARC POV

He sat down on table along with his team and then frowned as Blake instantly got up and left the Cafeteria.

He and his team watched her leave before he turned to look at Yang who had a frown on her face.

"She seemed like in a bad mood. Is everything alright Yang?" he asked.

He could feel the slight worry in Yang's expression as well as the anger she was hiding for some reason.

"Everything is alright." Yang said in the end "She just needs her space."

"Ohh. That's a relief. I thought that Blake didn't like us or something because she always leave the table whenever we come over to eat." Ruby said innocently, not noticing Yang's discomfort at her words.

*Sigh* You really need to learn how to read social cues Ruby.

But since she has broached this topic regardless. Then…

"Ren. If your teammate has a problem with our team then you can tell us. I might want our team to be close because of Yang and Ruby but I don't want to cause any trouble to your team dynamic either." He said.

Ren seemed to think for a moment before he sighed. Was being a team leader getting to him?

"No. It's alright. Blake will get around eventually. You don't need to think too much on it."

"Alright" he said and sat down along with team.

"Guys guys! Do you want to hear about one of my and Ren's adventure?" Nora asked in excitement as she slammed her hand at the table and looked at them with hopeful eyes.

"Er… sure. Go ahead Nora." He said.

Nora smiled widely before she narrowed her eyes to create an atmosphere and started "So. There we were. In the middle of the night."

"It was day." Interrupted Ren from the side.

Ah! This was that episode from the RWBY series. Wasn't it.

He remembered this scene.

Which meant that if Nora was here telling them about her dream then…

He felt a sense of discomfort coming from behind him with his sixth sense and turned to see Cardin Winchester and his group pulling Velvet's bunny ears.

He thought of all the times that Cardin had tried to bully him ever since the start of this term.

Small instances that won't look like much at first. A small shove here, a bit of name calling there, a trip and push there and so on. But when taken together, it comes across as a long and malicious bullying campaign.

That had changed ever since he defeated Cardin in the arena a few days ago.

After his defeat, Cardin had tried to confront him again, to show dominance against him so that he won't lose face in front of his team mates.

But once he showed that he was willing to fight him if Cardin tried to bully him again, the boy had backed off and had not troubled him after that.

But that didn't mean that the boy had stopped bullying other people.

Just as he was bullying Velvet right now.

Problem was that he didn't know what to do right now.

Should he help Velvet?

He could try to do so, but even after he managed to win against Cardin in a long protracted battle, it was clear to him that he still wasn't as skilled as the bigger guy. Plus he had his cronies alongside him who might join the fight he it came down to it.

But the problem was that even if he did protect Velvet this time, they'll just become more intense in their bullying against Velvet when he was not around.

Then there was the fact that Velvet was clearly strong enough to beat their combined asses together if she wanted to do so.

But she didn't do it. She just stood there and took all the bullying for a reason beyond his understanding.

And what about Velvet's own team. Where the fuck were they and why the hell were they not helping the girl already.

In the end, the decision came down to whether he wanted to help Velvet just so he could look heroic in front of his team mates even if it meant that Cardin and his cronies would start bullying Velvet and the other faunus even more. A girl who could easily beat them up and teach them a lesson herself.

He was… unsure about what to do.

The others noticed where he was looking at and realized what was happening as well.

"Despicable. I can't stand people like him." Pyrrha said.

"It must be hard to be a Faunus." Yang said and… that was that?

Why were these people not more worried about one of their fellow students being bullied in front of them?

Like... he had seen their apathy in the series and hadn't thought too much of it at that time but… this was strange.

Weren't they planning on being the heroes of mankind and bullshit like that.

What about Ruby who always chattered about wanting to be a hero like her mom. Why was she not helping the girl?

In the end, it wasn't logic or reasoning that forced him to act but the simple discomfort and pain that he was feeling from Velvet.

He got up from his chair and moved toward Cardin.

"Jaune." Pyrrha said but he ignored her in favor of moving toward the bullied girl who won't even stand up for herself.

A part of him didn't want to help her. Why should he when she wasn't even trying to protect herself.

But… he didn't knew a lot about the bully/victim mentality but he knew that they sometimes didn't felt like they deserve help even when they clearly did.

Which was why he did what he did next.

"Hey Jaunny boy. What do you think-"

SMASH!!!

Cardin broke his chair and the next few chairs behind that before he finally came to a stop and rubbed his unharmed face despite the powerful kick he had just sent out.

Truly, aura was bullshit.

Cardin got up from his fallen position as he noticed how quiet the cafeteria had become around him and how everyone was now focusing on them.

"It is because of scum like you that the human-Faunus relations had deteriorated to where they are today. It is because of people like you that turned White Fang into what it is today. People like you that spread hatred and pain everywhere you go." He narrowed his eyes and gave a look of disgust to Cardin and his teammates "You don't deserve to be here."

Cardin looked like he wanted nothing more to run up to him and start punching him but then he saw the look of disapproval and disgust in the students around him and scoffed.

"This isn't over Jaunny Boy." And then he turned and left, his team mates quickly following behind him to escape from the judgmental gaze of others in the cafeteria.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Pyrrha and his team standing beside him. When did they get here?

"That was well done Jaune. I'm proud of you." Pyrrha said and he smiled back before he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Velvet giving him a nervous glance.

"Thank you for your help…" Velvet paused.

"Jaune Arc." He supplied.

"Oh. Thank you for your help Jaune Arc." She said and then she jumped forward and pulled him into a hug.

The next moment, he felt something soft and wet on his cheeks and before he could comprehend what had happened, Velvet turned around and ran away, her face burning with embarrassment.

He touched his cheeks and stood there like a fool for a moment as the Cafeteria burst in cheers and applause around him.

Oh… she had kissed him.

Okay.