Author's Notes: I'm back with a new chapter! Also, I have a couple of announcements to make at the end of the chapter, if some of you guys are interested.
I also have a question I would like to ask all of you at the very end of the author's notes if you don't mind answering. Please and thank you in advance!
On to the chapter!
The next day, 11 am...
Ruby stood before team JNPR's dorm room. She gave a few knocks on the door before taking a deep breath. Blake and Weiss were right behind her, patiently waiting for the door to open.
The faunus girl seemed calm but the other two were equally as nervous.
As soon as the door before them opened...
Ruby closed her eyes tight, clenched her fists right beside her hips, and slightly bowed her head. "I'm so so sorry, Jaune! We didn't mean to take your scroll! Please forgive u-"
She opened her eyes, she noticed Jaune was nowhere to be found.
Ren was holding the door open for them. Nora was on her bed, awkwardly waving at them.
Pyrrha was also on her bed, just laying there. Her frown was very evident and pretty infectious, especially during these circumstances. "Sorry, he's not here."
"Oh... Ehe..." Ruby had a sheepish grin on her face, rubbing the back of her head.
"Where is he?" Weiss asked.
"We don't know," Ren answered before sitting next to Nora.
"He hasn't answered our calls or messages we sent him. I guess he's really mad at us." Nora wasn't very cheerful either. She leaned her head against Ren's shoulder, being all mopey.
"Probably... But... Could you three help us look for him? I think we all owe him an apology."
Team JNPR's members briefly looked at each other. They gave nods before turning back to Ruby.
"Alright. Let's find him." Pyrrha kept her concerned look but she was filled with determination.
Nora then stood up, trying to cheer and pump herself up. "Let's go Jaune hunting!"
...
And then she noticed Team RWBY was missing a member. "Where's Yang?"
Ruby turned her head back to their room, which was just behind her. "Well... She's..."
Back in Team RWBY's dorm room...
Yang was on her bed, the top bunk above Blake's, under the covers. Wearing some headphones, she was listening to the theme music Jaune made for her.
'(I Burn!)
Can't hold me now
You cannot stop me
(I Burn!)
Swing all you want
Like a fever, I'll take you down'
She paused the music and gave a sigh. Hugging a pillow, the blonde girl curled up into a ball.
After a few seconds, she couldn't help but listen to some more of the music. So she pressed play.
'It doesn't have to be this way
Let's kiss and make up, and you'll learn
You can fight your life away
I get what I want so don't bother and just watch me-'
Not letting the song finish, she took a deep breath, shoved her face against the pillow she was hugging and groaned long and loud.
"Fiiiiiine..."
She began texting a message on her scroll.
"...Being difficult." Blake finished.
Nora wasn't having it at all. She marched out of the room, heading towards team RWBY's. "Isn't she the one who needs to apologize to him the most out of all of us?"
"Hold on, there." Blake placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "Let her be. She needs some time to herself right now."
"..." She seemed unconvinced till...
"Nora..." Ren stood up and placed a hand on her other shoulder. "Please... Let's just look for our leader."
"Oki, Ren!~" Her sudden cheerfulness was instantly replaced with a pout on her face. "She better apologize eventually though."
The rest of them gave a quick chuckle before heading out of the dorm building together.
"Okay, here's the plan. We split up. We find him or not, we meet back at the cafeteria by lunchtime. Everyone okay with that?"
"Sounds like a plan," Weiss said, texting on her scroll as she walked with them.
"You don't seem to be focused at all..."
"Ruby, you dunce! I'm sending him a message myself. Maybe he'll hear me out."
Blake rolled her eyes. "Oh sure... That will work."
"I am not having this argument with you right now, Belladonna."
"Stop it, you two. Please..."
They turned to Pyrrha.
"..." She didn't say another word, but it seemed to calm them down.
"I'm sorry." Weiss finished off the message and tapped 'send'. "I'm just... a bit stressed and worried right now.
"We all are." Ren took Nora's hand and then told Ruby, "Nora and I will try to look for him on the North side of the campus. There's a vending machine there near a bench where we normally eat some snacks together."
"I'll..." Realizing that there was a chance Jaune was in the building. Or on it in this case. "I'll check the dorm's roof. It's where Jaune and I used to train in private."
"What are the chances of him slipping past through our rooms without knowing though?" Ruby asked.
"A lot actually. Nothing wrong with checking, just in case he's there." And with that, she left and went back in.
Nora had an idea to find Jaune as well. "Renny? Mind if you go alone on this one? There's a few people who might know where he is."
He simply shrugged in response. "Sure. Catch you later, everyone."
As the guy in green walked away, Nora headed back inside the building.
"Hm... Where should we check?" Ruby asked her team.
"I'll check the cafeteria. There's a high chance he'll get hungry and pass by to get something to eat. I'll keep watch and wait for you all there." Weiss suggested, before heading off.
"Sure thing! I'll check in the infirmary. Maybe the staff there knows where he went when he was discharged. How about you, Blake?"
"..." She took a while before answering. "Library?"
They stood in awkward silence before Ruby blurted out, "Good idea! Jaune loves comic books. Maybe he's reading an "X-Ray and Vav" comic in there or something. See ya later!"
"..." As her team leader left, Blake simply shrugged and went her way. "I didn't know he likes reading."
With Nora...
She gave a few knocks on team CRDL's door.
"What?" Cardin opened the door. "Oh, it's you. Well... At least you knocked first. That's an improvement Aaagh!" He was suddenly tackled to the ground.
"Where's Jaune?! Where are you guys keeping him?
"Ugh... Spoke too soon."
Nora had her hands on his shoulders, constantly comically shaking him. "Answer me!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Cardin turned to his teammates. "You guys know where Jauney boy's at?"
The three were sitting on the floor with their scrolls out, playing some video game on the holographic screen in front of them.
"Beats me," Russel said.
"Meh." Dove simply shrugged.
"Nope." Sky simply kept playing, taking advantage of his distracted teammates.
"Guys! HELP... ME..." Cardin tried to struggle and break free from her, she was a bit too strong though.
"You people better not be holding out on any info on me." She stood up, letting the guy go, and began cracking her neck and knuckles. "Or else."
He felt threatened and backed off with his hands up at chest level. "H-Hey. Didn't even know your leader went missing. Wasn't he just in the infirmary yesterday?"
"..." Suddenly, Sky stood up and approached the crazy girl and crossed his arms. "Velvet told us everything with the whole diary thing. We know the guy's upset but we don't know where he is."
"..." Her demeanor changed from tough and threatening to just outright sad, looking down with her right hand holding her left upper arm.
"Now would you please leave us alone? Cuz frankly... While my teammates are actually being bros with your leader, you're being a bully to ours right now by harassing him. Weird how our roles have been reversed."
"Dude! You're pushing it. You're gonna get us pummeled." Russel tugged on Sky's arm, saying it in a hushed voice but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"No no, he's right." She actually agreed with him, to everyone's surprise.
They expected a more violent reaction.
"Guess I owe you guys an apology too. I'm sorry."
"Nah, it's fine. Just try to be... not hostile next time."
"Oki dokie! Thanks anyway! I'll look for him someplace else." Her mood switched instantly to being cheerful before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.
...
"Damn... You stood up to her. Good job." Russel patted his back a few times.
"You're a lifesaver, man," Cardin added.
Sky's legs were shaking and he ended up falling, butt first on the ground. "D-Dude. She was scary as fu-"
"Soaring Ninja... Wins!" The announcer on the video game said.
"GG, man. You owe me 10 lien." Dove said.
"Hey, no fair! I was busy!"
As they had their friendly argument, Pyrrha was sitting on the roof above team CRDL's dorm room, listening in on them the whole time. She had a frown on her face, thinking about what Sky said earlier. "Roles Reversed..."
With Ren...
He reached his destination. Jaune was nowhere to be found but... There was someone who he recognized sitting on the bench.
The guy had a fancy-looking outfit with sunglasses on, and a trumpet right beside him, eating a bag of 'Tater Chips', which he seemingly from the vending machine nearby.
Ren took some lien out and put it in the machine to get his own bag of chips before approaching the guy. "Mind if I sit next to you?"
"Nah. Take a seat, man." He scooted over and proceeded to eat more.
"You're Flynt Coal, right? I saw you fight in the tournament." Ren took a seat next to him and opened his bag of chips, eating along with him.
"Heh... A pleasure to be recognized by a fan." He said in a joking manner. "Saw your team as well. Made it to the finals even. Though... Maybe your red-headed celebrity of a teammate should be a bit more careful."
"Uh... No offense."
Though the events in the tournament happened months ago, it was still a bit bad that Flynt brought up Pyrrha's fight against Penny.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine."
The two remained silent for a bit.
Flynt turned away, cringing at himself.
"So... You're a student from Atlas Academy, right? What brings you here at Beacon?"
"Ah... A former student of Atlas. Some faunus related drama happened. The team was forced to disband due to some racism. My partner has a friend here and decided we should move and enroll in this campus. We just arrived yesterday."
"Oh. Sorry, that happened."
"Yeah. That's life for ya. No one knows what to expect nor where it will take ya. Gotta make the best of it tho."
"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."
"Exactly!" He slid his hand in the bag, only to realize he doesn't have any chips left. "Huh... Ran out."
Ren smiled and offered him some of his, only for Flynt to smile and refuse. "Nah, fam. I'm good. Thanks. All I need is some refreshments."
He walked towards the vending machine and got himself some grape juice. "Want anything? Uh... Sorry, I did watch your team during the Vytal Festival. Didn't exactly remember all your names."
"Oh, my bad." That actually got him to chuckle a bit. "I'm Ren. Pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise." He tipped his hat to the guy in green.
"If you don't mind me asking, where's your partner?"
"Oh, she's having a date with someone right now out in the city. They'll probably take a while. Flynt sat back down, one leg on top of the other, getting comfy. "Why'd ya ask?"
"Oh, no particular reason, really. Just trying to make conversation."
"Heh... Well, my turn to ask then. What're you doing here all alone? This your favorite spot or somethin'?"
"Yes it is, but it's not why I'm here. I was looking for a friend. Thought he might be here."
"Ah. Gotcha. Don't have his contact info?"
"I do, but he's not replying to any of our messages."
"Oh. Well... If I happen to come across him, I'll be sure to let you know." He took his scroll out. "Let's exchange contacts. You got a picture of this dude you're lookin' for?"
"Thanks. I appreciate the help." Ren did the same, pulling up a picture of his team sitting on the very bench they were sitting on. "I'm looking for the guy with the blonde hair."
The man's eyes widened, realizing who it was. He pulled his sunglasses down just to double-check. "U-Uh... Oh! One of your teammates."
"His name is Jaune. If you see him, tell me."
"Will do... Heh." He turned away, taking a sip off of his drink.
"Again, thanks. Well, I better get going." Ren got up and walked away.
"Sure thing, man. Later." He waved him goodbye. As soon as he was out of sight, he sighed and began texting on his scroll.
'Ey, Neon. His friends are lookin for him.' When are you two comin back?'
With Blake...
Though she thought it was unlikely that she'll find Jaune here, she decided to check anyway. The library is fairly huge. "Better get started..."
She walked around, checking the building from corner to corner. Even passing by the usual spot where they play card games.
A quick memory of flashed in her head. The memory of them playing a card game. Jaune wanted to join and play Weiss' hand but she wouldn't 'trust the citizens of Vacuo' to him.
To which he replied, "Why not? You told us all that Blake is secretly a faun-"
"FUN-loving person, which we all admire and respect." Pyrrha was in time to stop him from finishing that sentence, before giving an awkward smile.
"R-Right..."
Looking back at it in hindsight, she chuckled. "Well... She's not wrong."
She began walking aimlessly, alone in her thoughts, as she began to recall her time with him while they were kids. The footage in Jaune's video diary where he made her a song gave her a good reminder.
Eventually, she encountered Velvet sitting at an empty table, alone. She had headphones on with both hands on her scroll, and elbows on the table.
She didn't seem to notice Blake's presence.
The catgirl sat across her and decided to wave at her to get her attention. "Hey."
Velvet looked up at her. It was evident in her eyes that she wasn't pleased to see her. "Hey..."
She didn't take her headphones off of her human ears and decided to use her bunny ones instead.
Blake was taken aback but decided to ask anyway. "Have you seen Jaune? He's been missing all morning."
"No, I haven't. Told me to give him some time for himself today. I texted back... No reply ever since."
"Oh... Well, thanks anyway. I better get goi-" She was about to leave when Velvet stopped her.
"Do you think it's fun to go through other people's personal stuff?"
"Where did that come from all of a sudden?"
"..." She was not amused. "You know what I'm talking about."
Blake sighed. "Look, Yang was the one who took his scroll, not me."
"Yet you let your team invade his privacy and watched along?"
"N-No! Well, yes but... No... It's..." Blake sat back down and leaned her head against her right palm, elbow against the table. "It's complicated."
"..." Her eyes turned back to her scroll. Not amused but still listening.
"I'm sorry."
"Apologize to Jaune, not me. You know... Despite you two not talking that much, he still considers you a close friend."
"Yes... I'm aware."
Velvet rook her scroll onto her lap, away from Blake's view, and pressed a button. "And? What is he to you?"
"A friend, of course!"
"Shhh!" A random voice came from behind the other bookshelves.
Embarrassed, she hushed her voice. "A friend... A friend that we admire and respect."
"Admire and respect. You know how ridiculous and contradictory that sounds, right?"
"Yes, I know. But we actually do. We were all worried about him back when he was keeping his distance for three months. Ruby and Pyrrha especially. Curiosity just got the better of us."
"It's not like we were watching his diary to look for things we can use against him. Ever since I saw one of his entries about me and my past with him..."
Velvet's bunny ears perked up.
"... I've wanted to learn a bit more about Jaune. He's a bit awkward but his heart is in the right place. I thought maybe if I listened in, maybe I could get to know him better and actually be able to talk to him again."
Velvet pressed a button her scroll again. Suddenly, she began giggling to herself.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing. Just thought what you said is pretty cheesy, coming from you of all people. Not sure if you're aware, but everyone thinks you're the emo type."
Now Blake was giving her the stern look.
"But I'm glad you feel that way. If Jaune ever pops up, you'll be the first to know."
Eventually, she closed her eyes for a brief moment and smiled. "Thanks."
With Ruby...
She zipped past the school grounds, making her way to the infirmary. Once she was inside, she immediately asked the lady behind the counter by the entrance. "Hi! I was just wondering if you people know where Jaune is."
"Jaune?" The lady asked.
"Yup! Jaune Arc? The guy who was discharged from here last night? Kinda tall, blonde, and scraggly?"
"Oh, him. I'm sorry, dear. But I don't know. I assumed he went back to his dorm room."
"Aw... Thanks anyway!" She instantly zipped out of the building.
"Ugh... Where is he?"
Just then, something odd caught her eye. She saw two familiar faces. One is friendly, while the other... wasn't so friendly.
Penny had Neo hunched over her back. She seemed to be heading towards the direction to where the school dorms were.
Soon, the three made eye contact.
"Penny?"
"RUBY!" Penny leaped, rocket boots blazing, as she began flying towards her at full speed.
"P-Penny, wait! Eeeek!" She ended up crashing into Ruby, hugging her in the ground with one arm.
Both Ruby and Neopolitan were dazed after the tackle hug.
The robot girl got up, giggled, and helped them up, putting Neo back over her shoulder. "Oh, how I've missed you so! How have you been? How are your teammates doing?"
"W-We're doing fine, Penny. T-Thanks for asking." She shook off her dizziness and turned to the other girl on her shoulder.
Neo simply raised her hand with a straight face, lightly waving at her.
Ruby waved back. "Uh... What are you two doing?"
"Jaune asked me to keep this little troublemaker here away from him for the time being."
Ruby's eyes lit up. "Jaune? Do you know where he is? Could you please tell me where he is?"
Neo began waving her arms to get Ruby's attention. First, she pointed towards a vague direction, seemingly to Beacon's main entrance gate at the far front of the campus. Then she began flapping her arms like a bird and did a "T-pose" trying to mimic some sort of aircraft. Afterward, she stretched both arms pointing fingers in the direction she was pointing at earlier.
"I'm... bad at charades. Sorry..."
Neo's arms and legs drooped down, giving Ruby the disappointed "Really?" face.
Penny shook her shoulder while tightening her grip around Neo's waist, getting the girl slightly dizzy.
"Sorry, you two. But we must respect Jaune's wishes." The tone of her voice shifted and even gave Ruby the look of disappointment. "After what your team did, he's been feeling very depressed."
Neo gave the same look, placing one hand on her hip.
She sighed. "Y-Yeah... I know... B-But! We're looking for him because we want to apologize."
"I still cannot tell you where he is. I'm sorry, but I made a promise."
"Aw... It's fine. I won't ask." Despite that, she was filled with determination. "But I'm not giving up. We will find him."
"I won't risk getting him even madder if I were you, but good luck I guess." She waved Ruby goodbye. "I have to go now. I look forward to hanging out with you for the remaining school years!"
"Oh, you're enrolling?"
"Mmm... Not necessarily. But maybe I could? I need to ask Mister Ozpin if robot people are allowed to be students. If not, I'm sure I can always be some sort of protector." Penny gave Ruby a cheerful salute. "Plus! I already have my own dorm room!"
Neo just rolled her eyes at Penny's remark, hand still on her hip.
"You'll find a place for you here in Vale, Penny. I'm sure of it."
Penny nodded, smiled, waved goodbye again, and walked away.
After waving back, she checked her chat with Jaune.
'You: Jaune? I'm so sorry... Could we please talk about this? We're worried about you.'
No reply..." She frowned, already imagining a scenario in her head.
"Hmph." Jaune turned his back on her and walked away. "Leave me alone. I don't wanna be friends with you anymore."
Her own imagination got her in tears. She shook her head, immediately snapping herself out of it, and wiped her eyes. Using her semblance to aimlessly wander off to somewhere secluded.
With Weiss...
She entered the cafeteria and scanned the area. There was no sign of Jaune anywhere.
As she made her way in, she could see Coco at a distance, seemingly upset. Though her teammates, Fox and Yatsuhashi, were there trying to cheer her up.
She went on to look around some more, just to double-check if the blonde boy just happened to be around.
Still no sign of him...
Giving up, for now, she sighed and decided to sit at their team's usual table. But it's currently occupied. There were two peculiar yet familiar faces sitting there, having a meal.
The Malachite twins were there. Recognizing them from Jaune's diary entries, she decided to approach for some questioning.
"Hello. Excuse me. You two are Jaune's friends if I'm not mistaken. Do you know where he is right now?"
"Who's asking?" Militia said, with a bit of a rude tone in her voice.
"Pssst... That's Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." Melanie said.
"Oh, that's her? Sorry, I'm not really into politics."
"Business..."
"I'm not into business-related things either."
"..." Weiss simply stood there, patiently waiting for an answer.
Noticing this, Melanie decided to answer her. "Sorry. About Jaune, we don't know where he is. We were supposed to visit him yesterday. Haven't got the time since we've been talking to the headmaster for our enrollment."
"How did you know we were his friends? Did he tell you about us?! Does he talk about us a lot?" Miltia was very excited until she began to realize... "Wait. Jaune's missing?"
"Yes, he's missing. I don't know where he ran off to. I was hoping you two would know."
The two gave each other brief looks before turning back to her.
"Did something happen?"
"Was he kidnapped?!"
Melanie elbowed her sister.
"Ow! Hey! That's a totally legitimate question!"
Weiss took a seat, leaning her chin on her right palm, elbow against the table. "Jaune had an argument with me and my teammates. He... took it personally, rightfully so of course."
"So he ran away..." Melanie finished.
"That's what we're assuming."
"Hmph..." Miltia took her scroll out and began typing.
"What're you doing?" Her sister asked.
"Sending him a message. We came all the way here just to hang out with him, and now he's missing?! Unacceptable." She gave Weiss a menacing look. "I don't know what you people argued about. I'm not the type to judge without knowing anything. But if he doesn't come back, I'm blaming you people."
"I... understand. Hopefully, he replies this time around." Weiss took out her scroll if there were any new messages. There were none. "Mind if I sit here for a while? My friends will join me here soon."
"Totally fine. We're done eating anyway." Miltia said as she stood up, eyes locked to her scroll as she kept texting.
Melanie wiped off her mouth real quick with a handkerchief before following her sister. "Just... great. Where did that guy run off to now."
Once they were out of sight, Weiss took a deep breath and gave a long sigh, placing her crossed arms and head on the table.
She stayed like this for about a couple of minutes before she felt a few light taps on her shoulder.
"Hey there. You doin' alright?"
The heiress looked up to see a familiar face standing next to her.
"Oh, hey Coco. I'm fine. You know where Jaune is by any chance?"
The upperclassmen took a sip out of the mug she was holding. "I'll do ya one better. I didn't even know he was missing. He must really hate our guts right now, does he?"
"Ugh..." She placed her head back down on the table. "Why did I have to fall for such a dolt..."
"Asked myself the same question. Then, I remembered he's a pretty chill guy. Not the best at first impressions but... his heart is in the right place." Coco sat next to her, placing her mug on the table. She briefly turned back to the table she was sitting at earlier and saw her teammates giving her a thumbs up. "I mean, not gonna lie. He's kinda cute in his own weird way."
"Aren't you worried about... I don't know. Maybe he's just after the perks of your last name and such?"
Instead of answering her immediately, she asked back, "Wasn't that the reason you turned down Jaune during the dance?"
"..." Now Weiss began to inch away bit by bit from her. "How did you know about that?"
"Uh... Hello? Queen of gossip here? Word gets out pretty quickly and I'm usually one of the first to know?" Coco chuckled and pulled up her scroll, showing the girl in white her own website titled 'Beacon Gossip'. "It's old news. An anonymous user tipped us about a blonde guy singing a short yet ridiculous song just outside your dorm room to ask you out to the dance."
"..." She sighed realizing who tipped her. "Yang... Yang posted it. Possibly Ruby? But very unlikely."
"How about your friend, Blake?"
"I doubt it. She was in the library at the time doing heavy research on the White Fang."
"Huh. Fair enough."
Noticing Weiss slump, head face down against her arms again...
"Hey, if it makes you feel any better. I'll tell you why I like him."
"I'm listening..." She didn't sound too happy about it regardless.
"Wait... Unless... You gals saw Jaune's video on me specifically yet?"
"No. Didn't have enough time."
"Heh, well I'll tell you then." Coco took a quick sip of coffee from her mug before recalling the events of what happened between them. "There was a point where I took Jaune to my place for a few days."
"..."
"It's not a secret that I'm rich. Everybody knows. My fashion brand is known throughout Remnant. I have fans who would wear the same clothes as me, especially my beret." She couldn't help but give a hearty before saying, "He had no idea though. His reaction when he saw my Mansion was priceless!"
Calming herself down, she took another sip of coffee.
"Showed him around... Took him for a ride on my million lien car... We ate high-class meals... Got him some new fancy clothes... Oh! We even made a new song about me and my team titled, "Caffeine". It was sick."
"How is this supposed to cheer me up again? It just sounds like you're showing off how much time you two spent together."
"I'm not done."
"..."
"Final night before he had to go back to Beacon and resume his training, I gave him an offer..."
Weiss leaned in close, eager to hear what she was about to say.
"I told him that if he wanted, he could be my boyfriend and work as my personal butler if he failed Ozpin's test and ended up getting kicked out. I even mentioned the possibility of marriage and inherit my stuff."
"..." Weiss was cringing, very very hard. "Please tell me you're not that dumb."
"Hey hold your horses, hun. I was just testing."
She simply crossed her arms and gave team CFVY's leader a stare of skepticism.
"Okay fine... I was half-serious. I won't just marry a guy on the spot without knowing much about him. That's why I went for the butler boyfriend option first and try to get to know him better."
Weiss simply rolled her eyes and asked her. "So what did he say?"
"He was in on it~"
"..." After a brief silence, Weiss frowned. "O-Oh... Well, congratulations to yo-"
"He took the job offer but insisted on not being my boyfriend."
"Wait what? Why?"
"He made a long rant about it... But to summarize, he doesn't want to be my boyfriend just for the luxurious lifestyle that awaits him. And in the end, he said the dumbest thing to me..."
She sat straight placed both hands on her hips and tried to imitate Jaune's voice as best as she could, along with trying to copy his facial expressions at the time.
"To prove that I'm not in on it for the money, we are NEVER gonna get married as long as you're rich, he said."
After that, Coco facepalmed and groaned so loudly out of frustration that some of the people passing by began to turn heads and stare.
Weiss looked left and right, noticing the unwanted attention. "Coco, get a grip. Please, you're embarrassing yourself."
Ignoring her words, she continued. "Why does it even have to be that way, huh? He's basically treating my financial stability as a turn-off now?"
"Coco."
She was still ignoring her. "At that point, he knew for a fact that I was crushing on him. I even told him that night that I would bang him, ten out of ten... And he responds by running away back to the room I gave him?!"
"Coco!"
"What?!" After a quick moment, she began to notice a lot of people staring now. She slightly hunched her back in embarrassment.
"First off, too much information... Second, I get it. He's not what people would call a gold digger." A smile was forming on her face for once. "I'm starting to like him more now, actually."
"He's not a bad guy. He means well. He can be smart when it comes to a lot of things. But in this particular case, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. His good outweighs the bad, of course, but... Damn..."
The two remained silent for a while. Weiss was alone in her thoughts for a brief moment while coco just stared at her coffee mug.
Suddenly, the fashionable woman began chugging it down. The drink wasn't even hot anymore so it was fine.
"Saw you looking pretty depressed so I tried to cheer you up. Now, I'm the one who's more depressed. No matter how much I try to make move on him, my advances won't matter in the long run."
"You succeeded at least. At cheering me up." Weiss gave her a warm smile and hugged her.
In response, she hugged her back and had a smug look on her face. "How? By telling you that rich people like you have lower chances of getting it on with him?~"
"No... By sharing my pain." Now Weiss was even chuckling. "At least I know I'm not alone."
"What do you mean? Your teammates are probably doing just as bad as you are."
"Yes, but their cases are different. At least ours is similar in a sense."
"Heh, whatever floats your boat."
Minutes later, friends made their way to their usual table one by one. Coco already left with her own team.
Once they were all there, Ruby decides to roll call. "So... Any of you guys found him?"
"Nah... Couldn't find him anywhere. J asked team CRDL earlier. Couldn't get anything out of 'em. Found Pyrrha outside the building and decided to look for him elsewhere."
"No luck..." Pyrrha added.
"Ren?" Ruby asked.
"Sorry, couldn't find him either. Met a new friend who would tell me his whereabouts if he sees Jaune around though."
"Blake? Weiss?" The team leader turned to the two.
Blake shook her head. "Not in the library."
"I've been here the whole time. Didn't see him at all." Weiss said.
"You sure you weren't too distracted talking to Coco?"
"Yes, Ruby. I am sure." She said with an annoyed tone. "How about you?"
"Nope... Nothin... BUT, I did run into Penny and Neo earlier. Neo tried to play charades with me to tell where he is, but Penny wouldn't let her and told me to leave him alone for the time being. He's... pretty bummed out after, you know..." Ruby leaned her head against one hand, elbow on the table, and began stuffing her mouth with peas from her lunch tray.
"Well, maybe it's for the best if we just let him be. It might worsen his mood if we tried to talk to him now while the wound is fresh. Give him some time to heal." Blake said.
"But! B-But!" Ruby stood up, both hands on the table, trying to find an excuse to look for him. "What if he doesn't come back? What if he ran away?"
"I doubt it," Pyrrha immediately told her. "He left a lot of his important belongings in our dorn room. I doubt he'll just leave it all behind."
She sat back down. "B-But..."
"Ruby..." Weiss then placed a hand on her team leader's shoulder. Her mean demeanor was replaced with a comforting one. "It'll be fine. He'll be back."
Sighing, she held her lap with downcast eyes. "I... I just don't wanna lose him as a friend. I want to resolve this as soon as possible."
"This is Jaune we're talking about. I'm sure if he'll be able to forgive us sooner or later, right?" Weiss turned to the others for some kind of response.
Blake simply crossed her arms and simply asked, "Well, I don't know. Would you forgive anyone for stealing your diary and read a few pages?"
"..."
No answer. She simply slightly bowed her head and patted Ruby on the back.
Around an hour later...
They finished their meals, and everyone headed back to the dorms. They walked together as a group. Most of them were silent though Ren and Nora had some small talk here and there.
But the moment they got to the entrance and opened the door, they were all met with a pretty weird yet shocking sight. Everyone's eyes widened.
"Jaune?"
The blonde had his back against the wall, very nervous and red-faced from the intense blush he had right now as Neon was cornering him, leaning in for a kiss. The scene was interrupted and now both parties stood there awkwardly staring at each other.
Author's Notes: Heyo! I know the chapter is probably not what you expected. But I kinda made it just to show team RWBY and the rest of team JNPR's perspective on things. More drama will come, in the next chapter, you guys will see where Jaune had been and what has he been doing, and what's up with Yang? xD
Announcement time!
1) I finally have an update schedule for this fic! Two new chapters will come out on or before 15th and 30th respectively each month. 14th and 28th if it's February. So yeah. 2 chapters per month ain't that bad right?
Plus! Alongside this story, I made a new one called "Love is Measured Literally". It's pretty much Jaune again having his privacy invaded via an app that measures one's attraction towards people he has seen or met. Imagine every girl he knew knows how he feels about them all the time. I'll do my best to update the story twice a month as well. I don't have a set date yet but that's my goal. If you guys like Jaune's Video Diary, you guys might like this new one. Just saying.
2) I'm finally confident enough to launch my online tip jar! If anyone is interested, please support me here:
P a treon . com (slash) AngeloGene
Also! You really don't have to have actual money to give if you want to see content on there. I write the drafts on my next chapters there for everyone to see for free! They will be updated daily or every other day, so you guys can check up on me and my stories, and even comment on them if you want! Stuff on there is subject to change on official release here on the site. Just a heads up.
Think of it as early access to my next chapters for anyone who wants to visit. Honestly, I have considered putting the next full chapter on there and exclusively let only patrons see it like the others do but... My conscience really can't take the idea of locking it behind some paywall. Maybe I would for original stories and other things I came up with on my own? But something about doing that to a series and characters I don't even own feels uncomfortable for me.
Not to say that the others are doing something bad in particular! This is just a "me and my conscience" thing.
Oh! If you see a "Jaune's Video Diary Chapter 18" on there but doesn't have much written on it, I'm probably working on the next chapter of another story. Sorry. The first scene of chapter 18 will be on there either tomorrow or a couple of days now. July 1 or 2.
If any of you guys have any questions, please don't be shy and either DM them to me or leave your concerns down on the reviews on this story.
Now for my question to everyone of you guys! What's your preferred chapter update schedule per story? Right now, both the stories I'm writing will be updated twice a month, but if you guys prefer it a chapter a week per story... I'll do my best? It'll probably take a while before I can adjust but I'm more than willing to make the adjustment. Daily... I don't think my brain can handle that. xD
Anyways, thank you all so much for your time and patience to read all this. You guys are awesome!
[Bonus: The Future of this story. Even though "the story proper" is close to an end (since Jaune is being confronted and all, there a a WHOLE bunch of chapters that I kinda skipped over. I've given in to you guys since ya'll wanted the guy to confront them finally, which I understand! Most of the pressure was from myself than you guys, to be honest. I actually preferred getting to the meat and potatoes of the whole story rather than just delaying it. xD
Here's a list of chapter titles still to come, in no particular order (after the "End" of this story):
1) Velvet in Heat
2) A trip to Coco's Mansion
3) The Prank War
4) Waifu Battle Royale
5) Jaune Finally Picks gets a Girlfriend (Probably not the actual title due to spoilers, and this could possibly be the "End" I was talking about.)
These are the ones at the top of my head, but I'm sure there are a few more. The next chapters will be about Jaune confronting his friends so those titles I've mentioned are still way down the line. Except for the fifth one. That's actually somewhat close.]