Ren had noticed a distinct shift in the atmosphere of the group since yesterday, when Pyrrha and Velvet kissed Jaune at the same time.
It was not for the better.
Team RWBY was, for the most part, acting relatively normal. Ruby and Weiss were as happy as can be, but their smiles never reached their eyes.
Blake spoke far less often now, if that was even possible. Yang acted happier, a lot happier than the situation called for. She had a lot of ammunition to tease Jaune, Velvet and Pyrrha with.
She clearly wasn't afraid to use it.
"So lover-boy, have fun with your little harem last night?" Yang asked, eliciting a joy no one could understand. Jaune sighed before replying, he was getting tired of her jokes.
"Yang, you know that this is serious right? It may be funny to you but this isn't a joke to any of us." Yang smiled. "That's exactly why I'm doing it, because it's funny to me."
Jaune glared. "Do you remember how you felt before Blake told you my feelings? Do you remember all the confusion and pain? Velvet, Pyrrha and I are still going through all of that. So would you kindly lay off?!"
Everybody's jaws dropped at Jaune's outburst, even Jaunes. There was a noticeable shift in Yang's mood afterwards as well. She clearly felt guilty. "You're right, I-I'm sorry."
Jaune was overcome with guilt as well. "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped like that. It was uncalled for."
No body spoke a word for the rest of breakfast and after a long awkward silence the bell finally rang. Everybody bolted without looking back.
When Jaune arrived in his first class, Mixed Unit Tactics with Professor Ozpin. He was glad to see that he shared the period with none of his usual group.
He sat down next to a black silhouette of a person and let his mind wander before the teacher arrived. Ozpin took a mere twenty seconds.
"Good morning class, I hope you slept well, today we will be focusing on the Grimm's unit tactics." A student put up his hand. "Yes?" Ozpin asked looking towards the kid.
"The Grimm don't use tactics do they? Aren't they just mindless beasts?" Ozpin smiled. "Do you honestly believe that Humanity would be fighting an eternal War with simple 'mindless beasts'? The Grimm use many different tactics, such as… Mr. Arc! Would you care to finish?"
Jaune snapped his head up, completely taken out of his reverie. "Oh, uhmm… yeah. Oh right! The Beowolf variants of Grimm always fight in groups, wherever you find one, two more are always around the corner."
Ozpin nodded, slightly proud of his favourite student. "Correct, Beowolves always fight in packs. Ursa aren't much different, only an Ursa Major will ever travel away from the pack."
He scanned the classroom. "Why is that… Mr. Lark?" The armour clad member of team CRDL looked up from the corner of the room. "Oh, isn't that because an Ursa Major is the name given to an Ursa that has grown overly large? Like a giant Nevermore or a huge Beowolf. If they're strong enough to fight on their own, they will."
Ozpin nodded again. "Very good, now then. I want everyone to open up their textbooks to page three hundred and thirty six and take a look at the diagram in source six-B."
Ren was glad when the bell for lunch finally rang, he may be a smart, honourable warrior that was always willing to learn. But he was still a teenager, and he didn't like to do more than he had to.
Nora was happy either way. "Ooh I swear on it Ren, I swear I saw one."
"Nora, you did not see a dragon Grimm."
"But I can prove it!"
"Oh, how?"
"I got one of its scales, see." Nora pulled a large circular object from her skirt pocket and showed it to Ren." Nora, that's a rock." Nora's reply came as a scoff. "You clearly aren't looking close enough, try again."
The two were an odd sight entering the cafeteria with Nora holding a rock up to Ren's face and Ren doing his best to ignore her. They seemed no different than usual.
But again, Ren could see a distinct lack of happiness at the table. Velvet and Pyrrha were both wrapped around Jaune's arms, pretending to be as happy as can be, while Jaune did his best to ignore them.
'Looks familiar…'
Nora and Ren grabbed themselves some food and sat at the table opposite of Jaune. Ren was the first to speak. "So Jaune, how have things been lately?"
Jaune looked up to Ren calmly. "Why, everything is fine Ren, why do you ask?" Ren looked pretty annoyed. "Well, with everything that's been happening these past few weeks and based off of what happened this morning I could only imagine that you're a little out of it."
Jaune faked confusion. "What's been happening these past few weeks?" Ren only gestured to the two girls on Jaunes arms. Jaune lost his fake look of confusion and gave Ren a look that showed they would talk of things later.
"Really Ren, I don't know what you're talking about. You must be imagining things." Ren got the point. "You're right, forget I said anything."
While everyone else was oblivious to the exchange, Nora couldn't help but notice. After the bell signalling the end of Lunch rang, Nora held Ren up to talk to him.
"Ren, what's going on? You and Jaune are acting really weird." Ren gave Nora a look of annoyance. "Jaune has to make a decision soon, four more days if I remember correctly. I'm just going to see how far he's come."
Nora looked confused. "But… does it have anything to do with you?" Ren looked shocked. "What do you mean, of course it does." Nora started to look sure of herself.
"Not really, this is between Velvet, Pyrrha and Jaune. Why do you think none of team RWBY have done anything? They know it's got nothing to do with them, the same is for you."
Ren could only stare, mouth agape at Nora. Throughout all his life, he had never seen her so… profound. "I-I guess you're right Nora, it doesn't have anything to do with me." Nora smiled widely, back to her normal self.
"Of course not, now come on! We're gonna be late for class." She grabbed his hand and rushed for their next class together. They don't actually have it together; Nora is skipping her real class. But she doesn't care.
She gets to be with Ren after all.
The bell had rung for the final class of the day and Jaune couldn't have been more relieved. He was exhausted.
Ren obviously wanted to talk about his current predicament as well, so Jaune solemnly trudged out of the classroom and back towards his dorm, bracing himself for the Hell he knew would come.
Opening the door, Jaune crept inside to find Ren sitting on his bed alone. "Hey Ren, you wanted to talk about something?" Ren turned around and looked Jaune dead in the eye.
"Nope."
Jaune was just stuck staring. He had never seen Ren act so informal. 'He must be taking lessons from Ruby.'
"On another note, would you like to accompany me to the training grounds? Pyrrha and Nora are already there." Jaune was still staring. "Uhh, sure. Let's go."
As the two left for the training grounds, one single thought played in Jaunes head, the same one that he had all day and for the past two weeks.
'Who the Hell am I going to pick?'
The day may have started off a little rocky, but Yang enjoyed it nonetheless. She got to have a little sparring match with Blake and even got some studying done too.
Lunch was a little awkward with the way Ren was acting, but beyond that, everything was good. Until now.
Now she had to deal with the rest of her team bickering over who Jaune would end up with. "It's obviously gonna be Pyrrha." Said Ruby, completely sure of herself. "They're partners after all, that's a special bond."
Blake wasn't convinced. "Whether they're partners or not doesn't change anything, you've seen the way he acts around Velvet, it's obvious that he's going to pick her."
Yang tried to come up with some pun to do with the redhead choosing the redhead and the Faunus choosing the Faunus, but the continuous banter cut her short. She was getting tired of it.
"Don't you two have anything better to do than argue about other people's relationships?" Ruby and Blake stopped speaking and turned to Yang thoughtfully, Ruby was the one to answer. "Not really. Weiss left earlier and now I've got nothing to do."
Blake continued for her. "Besides, isn't this what you do in your spare time anyway? You're acting a little hypocritical here." Yang looked even more annoyed. "I make jokes about other people's relationships, I don't argue about them. Besides, I know when things are serious enough for me to stop." She stopped to think for a moment.
"Jaune's got what, like four days left? I don't think he's gotten any ideas since when we were after him. Things really are getting serious for them so it isn't that wise to argue over a relationship that could be over and done with within the next few days."
Ruby and Blake couldn't stop staring at Yang in shock, Ruby knew that Yang could be serious every once in a while, but those times were few and far between. Blake had simply never seen her act that way at all. She felt slightly proud of her teammate.
"Or should I say: it isn't WEISS to argue over it? Eh? Eh?!" The pride diminished instantly. "Come on Yang, that was bad, even for you." Yang got a dejected look on her face. "I know that, but there isn't anything to work with here, you two are so boring."
Clearly Yang's problems were vast and unfathomable; she has so much on her plate. "So, anyone want to go train then?" Asked Ruby, always eager to improve herself. Blake nodded thoughtfully while Yang smiled with glee. "I thought you'd never ask."
Jaune and Ren entered the training grounds to find their teammates giving their all against each other. Jaune found himself lost in awe at their movements; he clearly had a long ways to go.
Ren called out to them and they immediately stopped to look at the stands. Not a second passed before they went back to fighting again. "Well then, that wasn't the reaction I was expecting." Ren nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I was expecting them to rush us like they normally would."
As the two male members of the team pondered what could be going on, three quarters of team RWBY entered the facility. "Oh, hey guys." Ruby greeted happily. "We weren't expecting to find you here." Jaune turned around to face her and gave his usual awkward smile.
"Hey Ruby, I guess we weren't expecting you either. We just got here and it seems that Pyrrha and Nora are locked in there pretty rough."
At the mention of the other members of Jaune's team, Yang Blake and Ruby all looked down to the arena to see them fighting ferociously. "It seems that they are…" Blake noted. Yang spoke up. "I wonder what they're fighting about, that doesn't look like your everyday spar."
As the small group thought amongst themselves Pyrrha and Nora continued their onslaught. "Ren's cooler!" Nora quietly screamed as she smashed her hammer down on Pyrrha. "No, Jaune's cooler!" Pyrrha replied as she dodged to the side and struck out with her sword. They continued this way for a few more minutes until they finally called a draw.
"I guess they could be equally cool…" Nora suggested as she lay on the ground bruised and bleeding. "I suppose they could be…" Pyrrha replied in much the same position. They stayed like that, lying on the floor for another five minutes before standing up again.
Jaune decided to call out to them. "Hey guys! What was all that fighting about?" Pyrrha froze and turned her head to look at Nora, frozen as well. "W-we were just… sparring! Yeah, that's all it was, a good spar." Nora nodded her head. "Yep! That's it, it's not like we were fighting over-mmphr"
Pyrrha already had her hand over Nora's mouth. "So! Who's next?" Everybody in the arena looked between each other with slight traces of fear, even Yang.
"N-no thanks." Ruby said; eager to get away from the insane members of the group. "I think that you should probably take a rest before your next match." Everyone else nodded in agreement.
While the group got ready for their own private matches against each other, Jaune sat in the stands alone. 'I don't have much time left, do I? It's only four more days…' As Jaune pondered what may happen before the week was done, he started to get very afraid.
Little did he know that Pyrrha was watching him from afar, feeling equally as scared as he did.