"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common than people let on!" Jaune exclaims at the girl.

"He's not wrong, Ruby," Akira pointed out. "I am one of those people that have motion sickness."

"Look, I'm sorry!" Ruby laughed. "Vomit boy was the first thing that came to mind."

"Oh, yeah? What if I called you 'Crater Face'?" Jaune retorted.

Ruby gasped and holds onto Akira's sleeve. "Big brother, he called me a mean name!"

He playfully shoves her off. "You deserved it, anyway."

"Meanie!" She sticks her tongue out at him before looking back to Jaune. "Besides, that explosion was an accident!"

Right after that encounter with Cornelia, Weiss, and those two girls... One he'd rather not recall, they were soon met with this blonde boy. Jaune Arc. He seemed optimistic when he walked up to them, Ruby seemingly opening up to him to which Akira smiled internally. He wasn't wrong when he told his younger sister that she'd have to have friends or allies.

Jaune scoffed before gaining some bravado, "Well, the name's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue! Ladies love it!"

"Do they?" Ruby was skeptical, even Akira raising an eyebrow.

"They will! Well, I-I hope they well," Jaune meekly responds. "My mom always says that... Never mind."

Ruby giggled, her older brother letting out a small chortle. Soon, however, an awkward silence enveloped them as they seemed to be walking aimlessly. Until Ruby broke that silence before pulling the red rectangle off her waist.

"So... I got this thing!" Ruby's rectangular box then shifted and transformed into sniper, scythe weapon, Crescent Rose.

Akira merely facepalmed, Jaune letting out a small shriek as he jumped. He always had to scold her for randomly pulling that thing out and catching people off guard with it. She's lucky that she didn't hurt anyone with it. He knew all too well what it meant to hurt others with a weapon. After all, there were serious consequences when it came to it. Especially when it came to murder and killing.

"Whoa! Is that a scythe?"

Ruby only grinned. "It's also customizable high-impact sniper rifle!"

Jaune looked confused. "A-Wha...?"

"It's also a gun." The sound of her pulling the sniper bolt was heard.

"Oh. That's cool!"

"So what've you got?"

"O! I, uh... I got this sword!" He says whilst pulling out the sword from his sheathe at his waist.

She looked at it in slight awe. "Ooohhh."

Jaune's scabbard then turns into a shield. "Yeah, and I've got a shield, too!"

"So, what do they do?"

The black-haired girl with red tips had touched the shield, Jaune beginning to fumble with it. Though, it seemed Jaune had lost control of it as it suddenly retracted into it's scabbard form, Jaune trying to catch it with him ending up juggling it before it ended up falling to the floor in it's shield state. Picking it back up, he returns it to the sheathe form and puts it onto his belt on his waist.

"The shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just... Put it away..."

Akira merely shook his head, "So, it would still weigh the same."

Jaune dejectedly looks down. "Y-Yeah, it does..."

Ruby then giggled, "Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons, soo... I guess I did go a little overboard when designing it."

"Wait--You made that!?" Jaune was flabbergasted.

"Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons! Didn't you make yours?" Ruby inquired.

"It's a hand-me-down," Jaune elaborated. "My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war."

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me!" Ruby laughs. "Well, I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

"Yeah, the classics..."

"Besides, you're like my brother! He prefers to just fight with a katana."

Akira rolled his eyes. "Guns and firearms are too complicated. Besides, I don't like fighting in the first place. I use combat when it is necessary."

"Then why are you attending Beacon, big brother?" She innocently asked.

"Because someone needs to keep you and Yang out of trouble," he said, flicking her forehead.

She recoils in pain. "Ow!" She then hits her brother's shoulder weakly before looking back to the blonde. "So why'd you help me out back there? In the courtyard?"

"Eh, why not?" Jaune replied, walking back alongside them. "My mom always says, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.'"

Ruby hummed, looking around. "Hey, where are we going?"

"Oh, I don't know! I was following you guys." He then smiles as he looked around as well. "Y-You think there might be a directory? Maybe a food court? Some sort of recognizable land mark? ...Is, uh... That a 'no'?"

"That's a 'no,'" Ruby says with a laugh.

Akira sighed. 'I'm surrounded by idiots. ...Always am.'

V | Welcome To Beacon

Eventually, the three of them were able to figure out that they were supposed to enter the school and head to the auditorium. Having entering inside the large school, wandering the halls before eventually getting to the massive chamber, it was filled to the brim with people. New students as far as the eye could see.

As they began looking around, they heard a familiar voice. The voice of a blonde bombshell waving over at them.

"Ruby! Bro! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Although, Yang had said "bro" a little bit forced.

Ruby waved back, turning to Jaune. "Oh! Hey, I-I gotta go! I'll see you after the ceremony! C'mon, big brother!"

Akira was suddenly tugged forward. "H-Hey, R-Ruby! Stop tugging on my sleeve!"

"Hey, wait!" The two were gone. Jaune sighed, "Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl and cool guy to talk to!?"

Unbeknownst to him, as he walked away, he fails to feel a certain red-haired girl catch sight of him walking away. As Ruby and Akira rejoin their sister, Yang crosses her arms and gives her younger sister a smile.

"How's your first day going, little sister?"

"You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?" Ruby retorted.

"Yikes! Meltdown already?" Yang grimaced a little.

"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire, and I think some ice...?"

"Are you being sarcastic?" Yang asks with a broad smile.

Akira sighs, "No, she's not lying."

Ruby scoffed, "I wish! I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, which big brother and this one girl tried defending me who's actually friends with him, can you believe that!? And then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!"

As the black-haired girl continued to ramble, it soon became apparent that Weiss was standing behind her. And in the midst of the crowd, Cornelia was trying to push her way through so she could get to her. Once Ruby finished, Weiss made her presence known.

"You!"

"Oh, god, it's happening again!" Ruby screamed, jumping into her sister's arms.

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!"

Yang deadpanned in disbelief. "Oh my god, you really exploded."

"It was an acc—"

"Ruby, don't apologize to her," Akira interrupts her younger sister. "Pompouses asses like her are the ones that need to apologize. If anything, she's the one who started the problem in the first place."

"Excuse me!? How dare you!" Weiss looked offended.

"You heard me. You're a pompous ass."

The Heiress grumbled. "Why you..."

Cornelia finally caught up to the white-haired girl, "Miss Schnee, please stop heading off on your own..."

"Corey, there you are! You somehow know this brute, so tell him to apologize to me at once!"

"Akira, did you go off antagonizing people again?" Corey sighed as she looked to the black-haired teen.

"I stand by what I said. She's a pompous ass."

"Look, Weiss can be... Intense sometimes, but—"

He clicked his tongue and looked away, muttering. "You of all people should know how I feel about people like her."

She was at a loss for words, sighing to herself and shaking her head.

Of course, she didn't forget. She experienced what he had gone through as well. Since their days back in the Empire, under the service of the Elite Seven. Although, with this being a new world and all, Corey was taking this as an opportunity to leave that past behind and start anew. But she was unaware of the other things that Akira had gone through, the scars and pain he had to endure. As far as she was concerned, he had essentially outlived her after their first encounter with the Oarburgh. She had lost to a girl she had considered her friend, only to be betrayed when they found out they were enemies. They had no choice but to fight each other.

Yang could feel the tense air between her older brother and this blonde girl. While she wondered what their relationship was, it would be bad enough if their current predicament had escalated even further, so she tried to diffuse and descale it by interjecting herself in.

"Look, uh, it sounds like you guys just got off the wrong foot. Why don't you all start over and try to be friends, okay?" Yang smiled awkwardly.

"Yeah, great idea, sis!" Ruby cleared her throat and extended her hand out, "Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby, and this is my older brother, Akira! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"

"Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blonde, and scraggly over there!" She gestured her thumb behind toward Jaune, who perked up, looking confused. And it seemed Ruby had bought Weiss's seemingly excited attitude.

"Wow, really!?"

"...No."

The conflict was soon dissipated when the tapping of the microphone could be heard booming throughout the auditorium. Drawing their attention to the stage, being illuminated by the light of a single one above was Ozpin. He stood professionally, calmly, and held a stoic demeanor to him, pushing his glasses up whilst he held his cane in his right hand. Glynda stood beside him, a stern expression on her face as always as they both stared into the sea of students.

"I'll... Keep this brief," the headmaster of Beacon began, "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, and direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Whispers in the audience, the newly signed-up students talking among themselves as they took in the headmaster's words. Some felt quite conflicted, rubbed the wrong way when Ozpin had called them "wasted energy." Few felt inspired, some looking worried, while others looked indifferent.

However, Akira didn't really much care for the man's words. Right now, his only objective was to make sure his siblings were fine. They could handle themselves, sure, but he's always found it in himself to protect others no matter what. He supposed it was because it was an old habit of his, this old habit was something that never really left him. That sense of duty of being the Elite Seven's number two, the task of making sure everyone was safe, despite every single one of them could take care of themselves. Everyone in his old team weren't pushovers and weren't weak, but he still found it his job to take care of them. That's right, he considers that his whole purpose.

But, deep down, he felt his true purpose was nothing more than a vessel to end conflict. That's what he used to be, and what he still is.

Ozpin then began to leave the stage, Glynda stepping up to the microphone.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." She soon left herself.

Yang furrowed her brow. "He seemed kind of... Off."

"It's almost like he wasn't even there," Ruby agreed.

"Be careful, you two."

The two look to their older brother, gaining confused looks. "Why?"

"You never know what might happen," Akira responded. "Be ready for anything."

"Sure..." Yang rolled her eyes.

"Noted." Ruby nodded her head.

Just as they were about to go...

"I'm a natural blonde, you know!" Jaune chirped in with a smile.

Weiss facepalms in exasperation, Akira shaking his head at the boy's stupidity while Cornelia stifled a laugh. Although he kept it to himself, he felt a warm feeling light up within him.

It was this slight banter or interaction that he seemed to long for. He couldn't help but be reminded of all the pleasant times he had with them over in the other world. But he quickly shook those thoughts away.

He deemed himself a monster, having been labeled demon before. And a monster or demon such as him didn't deserve such things. The internal conflict of his past still persisted and was interfering.

Cornelia had noticed it. She couldn't help but look at him in sadness. In some ways, he hadn't changed. But in other ways... He had.