Ch. 13 Study Stress

"Why the hell do I need to know who this Fred guy is?! How is that gonna help me be a Huntsman?!"

Alabast shouts in frustration as he breaks another pencil.

From his understanding Huntsmen and Huntresses fought against Grimm mostly, so why was it so important that he had to learn actual school subjects like history.

Ruby leans across the table and points at a portrait in a book. "It's because Fred what'shisname fought off Grimm tactfully without needing to rely on his own strength"

Weiss takes the broken pencil pieces from Alabast and replaces them with a new pencil. "That's… actually not wrong"

Ruby's smile grows.

"But it's not entirely right" Weiss crushes Ruby's hope.

"Our professor is trying to get us to understand there are many ways to solve a problem. That we don't need to tackle things head-on. Using our brains can save us a lot of energy, and a lot of lives" Weiss points out.

"Why weren't we called team lavender, L-A-V-N!?" Nora points at Ren, Alabast, herself, and Pyrrha while saying their potential team name.

Ren, who Nora is complaining to, shakes his head. "I do not know… but I believe the leader's initial needs to come first"

Nora rocks back in her chair and taps her chin. "So it has to start with A or N… Aha!"

She points at Ren. "Team N-A-V-L! Like naval!"

"Nora, I'm sure Headmaster Ozpin had his reasons for choosing ANVL. Plus, when you think of Alabast do you think of gray or blue" Ren doesn't bother looking up from the textbook in his hand.

"Hmmm" Nora shrugs before throwing her hands in the air. "I guess ANVL isn't bad, it kinda sounds tough!"

"Yes, yes" Ren has given up trying to force Nora to study years ago. She will do it on her own, but she takes breaks so she doesn't burn herself out. And her mind wanders randomly, so it's best to let her random train of thoughts run themselves out of steam.

Pyrrha doesn't really have a say in the matter of learning. If she has to study this Fred man to become a Huntress then she will learn about Fred. Even if it is rather monotonous and boring.

Alabast flips to the next page while scribbling down whatever the worksheet asks for.

Ruby sits back in her chair next to Yang after Weiss technically corrected her.

Yang nudges Ruby. "I thought your answer was acceptable"

Ruby slumps back, almost falling under the table. "Nothing I do is acceptable to Weiss"

"I don't think anything Weiss does is acceptable to Weiss either. Did you see how harsh she has been on herself? Even during your spar against Pyrrha, she was more worried about her foot placement than coordinating with you" Yang whispers into Ruby's ear.

Alabst and Blake are the only other people able to hear.

Ruby watches Weiss pull out a different book. The heiress had already finished her schoolwork and didn't allow the others to copy her. "She isn't that… bad. She's at least trying, that counts for something right? She gave me coffee to help me study!"

Yang puts her book away, having finished second. "It does. New Weiss is better than old Weiss-"

"Wrong! Wrong! Wro-… how did you even get this answer? All you needed was the heading, and it tells you which page! Are you trying to fail? Just restart" Weiss points out Alabast's errors. She wonders how Alabast managed to pass the written entrance exam.

Alabast's right eye twitches as he refrains from completely destroying the pencil in his hand. "If I was trying to fail I wouldn't even bother opening the book! Hell I wouldn't even turn anything in! 'Just restart'…" Alabast grumbles and mocks under his breath to himself.

He forgot how he dreaded doing homework. He would much rather face hordes of Grimm alone than do this crap. The 11 years of not doing it had also left him unpracticed in the process of even doing homework.

Blake just sits at the opposite edge of the table, doing her homework alone. She listens in on the other's conversations, whether she wants to or not. She would never have thought that Alabast, the Black Wolf of the White Fang, would be stumped by one history sheet of homework.

Weiss sits down and opens up her book as she begins to read. Ignoring Alabast's grumbling and frustration.

Alabast takes a peak at Weiss' book. It's about Faunus, but the cover says 'The Development of Dust'. He assumes the princess doesn't want the others to know she is trying to learn about Faunus.

——————

"Gods…" Alabast angrily mutters while laying down on his bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

He was the last one to finish the homework.

The others didn't know why, but Alabast was extremely pissed by this minor detail.

Nobody pointed Alabast's struggles out. Some even tried to assist him, but this act only seemed to piss him off more.

Going from college level in his last world to worse than a 15 year old. He got through his college all on his own, but here he is, having to receive help for the most basic of facts in this world. Not even just History, but mathematics and science. But these were a bit wonky in this world, compared to his last world that is.

After trudging his way through the basic worksheets Alabast was included in the group's discussion about everyone's training schedule.

This discussion was actually short. With nobody resisting, and everyone agreeing, the process went smoothly. None of them would turn down the opportunity to improve, even when Nora and Ruby got a little out of hand in their training ideas.

After finalizing their training regiment the teams went back to their respective rooms.

Alabast threw his headphones on and plopped down on his bed as soon as he could. He had enough social interaction today to last him a month, but that's been everyday since he entered Beacon and it'll likely continue for the foreseeable future… which only causes him to feel more mentally exhausted.

Music starts playing from his headphones and he's still surprised that the music in this world is practically identical to the music in his old world. If there were any differences he wouldn't be able to point them out, beyond the obvious changes to a few to accommodate the Faunus.

After a few moments his attention is grabbed by red hair moving across the room. He doesn't look over at Pyrrha but observes her with his peripheral vision.

She sits down at her desk, scribbling away at whatever letter she was writing. Her hair moving very slightly with each movement of her head.

——————

"Do you think he's okay?" Nora nudges Ren as she squats beside his bed.

Ren looks up from the book he's been reading. He looks over at Nora who is crouching beside his bed. "Do you?"

"Not really, but what do you think?" Nora whispers.

"I think-" Ren looks over his book at his leader staring up at the ceiling.

"I mean…" Nora cuts Ren off. "I've only seen a few people stare off into space like that. You do it sometimes. I do it too, but when I look off into nothing like that I typically think of-…"

"Huh?" Ren looks back to Nora and sees her crouching down while covering her mouth with both hands.

Nora takes her hands off her mouth. "Nothing! Nothing at all! Blank space! Nothing going on up here! Hahaha~"

This only causes Ren confusion as Nora taps her head with her right hand. He shrugs before looking back at Alabast. "I did not expect homework to be Alabast's weakness"

"I know! Right? But it sorta… makes him more relatable. Like he isn't the big bad wolf or something…" Nora rubs her chin. "But I think he could definitely easily take down a brick house…"

Ren tilts his head. "What?"

"What?" Nora quickly moves past her side comment. "Oh, I mean, it just… makes him easier to approach ya know? Seeing him struggle like the rest of us… Not that I want him to struggle or anything-!"

Ren puts a hand on Nora's head, causing her frantic panic to cease. "I know"

Nora lowers her head so Ren can't see her face, or the blush on it.

Across the room, Alabast rolls over onto his side. His music resuming as he attempts to fall asleep. That same nightmare dragging him right back to the first night he woke up in this world.