In a school uniform that still felt out of place compared to the adventurer wear he had gotten used to donning at all hours of the day, Rio quietly maneuvered through Beacon's halls.
By himself of course.
With many of the earlier misunderstandings resolved, also accompanied with having a promise forced down his throat to join Team RWBY for breakfast before classes started, Rio had managed to slip out the door without incident.
Well, if he ignored the part when Aisha had slipped back into her spirit form, much to their astonishment.
It had her completely disappearing, after all.
Regardless, Rio's trek towards Glynda's office was for the most part uneventful. Though that was due heavily in part to the lack of student traffic, which he was sure had to do with the early hour.
It would still probably be around hour or so before most of the school was up and out.
Then again, the few students that he did see gave him very overt glances as they shuffled past.
When this happened nearing six people, currently including the bespectacled girl likely in a higher year than him, arching a curious brow as she walked by, Rio couldn't help but release the smallest of breaths.
The attention was surely due to him being a new student, but beyond that...
I suppose it's my resemblance to Weiss.
From what Rio had been able to gleam, Weiss was from a very well known family, although to what extent, he still did not know. But even if she wasn't, that still wouldn't change the fact that in a sea full of people, there existed only two students with eye-catching white hair.
Well.
One student, technically.
Rio's lips slightly twitched.
I wonder how everyone react if I took it off.
That is, the hair color changing artifact he always kept on his person.
Well, Blake might be surprised, at the very least.
After all, rather than Weiss, they would be the ones looking like siblings instead.
Still, the amusement soon faded from the boy's expression, replaced by something else. Something... distant.
Right, in my old world, there was reason to hide my identity. In this one...
"Hey, all I'm saying is you're 'charming' other half is way too much of a switch-up, Em. Take me for example—"
"I'm not taking advice on social interaction from you of all people."
At the sudden voices, Rio looked up to see a group of three walking towards him, students of course, given that they were wearing the Beacon uniform.
One, a boy with gray hair, a shade darker than Rio's own, was talking animatedly with two girls.
That one of the girls, sporting shoulder length mint green hair, maroon almost crimson eyes, and eye-catching dark skin, had a resting face of annoyance as she glared back at him, didn't seem to diminish the boy's snappy grin in the slightest.
Of course, then there was the girl silently walking ahead of the two of them, with long dark hair, caramel-amber eyes, and almost pale skin, expression looking vaguely irritated at the bickering happening behind her.
Not that it was any of Rio's business.
Still, if only absentmindedly, the white haired boy couldn't help but think the girls were beauties in their own right, and even the guy, too, had a sort of handsome roguish flare about his features. Then again, Rio hardly knew what passed for masculine charms.
Either way, they summarily passed him by without a glance.
For all of two seconds, that is.
"Ah, you there, with the white hair."
Rio froze mid-step, turning around.
It was the black haired girl who had spoken, and now that Rio was making proper eye contact, the singular bang hiding one eye from view made her seem the strangest mix of both alluring and dangerous.
Then there was her smile, flawless.
Which of course was another way of saying it had likely only gotten that way through endless practice.
Just like him.
"Yes?" he asked, smiling without missing a beat.
"My name is Cinder. Sorry for stopping you, just... if I'm not mistaken, you were a late transfer, were you not? We're also something of transfer students."
"Oh, I see." He slightly dipped his head. "Well, you're correct. My name is Rio. It's nice to meet you, Miss Cinder."
Ruby and the others were one thing, telling him to ease up on the formality, but this and that were two different things. Rio was hardly going to do the same and act casual with people he still didn't know.
"By any chance, your last name..." Cinder, expression now thoughtful, trailed off.
"It's Amakawa."
"Oh? Not a Schnee?" Her brow quirked up in question.
"I'm afraid not," Rio replied, smiling faintly. "Although that seems to be the reoccurring question."
Cinder hummed, smiling back.
"Yes, though now that I look at it, it is more of a light gray. No matter. Ah, how rude of me not to introduce my… friends." She finally made a sweeping gesture at the two others. "This girl is Emerald, and the boy is Mercury."
"Sup."
"Nice to meet you."
Mercury lifted his chin up in greeting, while Emerald did the bare minimum of acknowledging him.
"It's nice to meet you both."
Although, even though Rio said that warmly enough, and with a smile to match, facing the group of three as he was, he couldn't help but feel the oddest sense of dissonance. But it wasn't so much a bad feeling, just... one that felt off.
And at first, he didn't understand why that was.
But then, whether it was Cinder's continued measured smile, Emerald's gaze that flicked over to her every so often, or even Mercury, with the way the boy's eyes never left his, never shifted away out of discomfort or the like, it didn't even take two seconds for Rio to realize exactly why he was feeling this way.
It was their demeanor.
One that didn't rush to say things.
One that displayed no visible awkwardness.
In other words, it was familiar.
Shrewd and cutthroat nobles, where silence didn't necessarily mean a lack of things to say, but whether or not they would have a chance to glean something from their conversation partner instead.
Rio had enough experiences like that to last a lifetime.
But, well... it's not too strange.
Weiss had also shown a similar side to her.
Rio momentarily squashed the discomfort.
"Oh... Rio, that's right, I remember now." Mercury suddenly slipped into a smile, snapping his fingers. "You're the one the girls can't stop talking about."
It didn't even take a second.
Rio's smile instantly froze.
"P-Pardon?"
"Yeah. Oh, and aren't you also rooming with those hotties from RWBY?"
"..." Rio's face, still looking quite taken aback, eventually subtly shifted back to its typical composure. "...That's correct. I am roomed with those girls. Although to my understanding, it's only a temporary arrangement."
"Oof. That must suck," Mercury said, grinning.
No, its actually one of the few things I've been looking forward to...
"Guess so," Rio agreed with a hapless smile.
"Hey," Mercury shrugged, "Don't worry man. You're not the only one having trouble in paradise." He jabbed a finger behind him, proceeding to stage whisper in a way that had to be intentional. "My team? All girls too. These two and the quiet one. Ah, but they're all in love with me naturally. They're just being really shy about it."
Mercury smile was one filled with confidence.
Rio glanced briefly behind him, where not only Cinder's smile violently twitched, but Emerald's frown as well.
Right...
"Haha? I-I see," Rio replied with a bit of a laugh, right before slipping past the boy, back-pedaling in the direction he had been heading prior. "Well, I would love to stay and chat, but unfortunately, I have a pending appointment with one of the professors. Keep them waiting probably isn't a good idea."
"Oh of course," Cinder said almost instantly. "Apologies once again for stopping you."
With one more cursory smile by way of reply, Rio turned and walked off.
Of course, that just left those three students from Haven Academy to watch his retreating form.
"...Mercury," Cinder said, voice far flatter than the one she had used with Rio. "I don't recall giving you permission to take control over that entire conversation."
The boy stiffened.
"But forget it. You managed to establish a slight rapport, however small. Oh, and Emerald."
"Y-Yes?"
"It was a casual conversation, but you're eyes far too often drifted towards me. Do not make that a habit."
"O-Of course, ma'am."
With a sigh, Cinder eventually tore her gaze way from her subordinates, before landing once again on the white haired boy's still retreating form, where it lingered.
Then, rubbing her temples, she turned and walked off herself.
It's just a late transfer. Not everything has to be one of Ozpin's schemes.
…
…
…
'Haruto…'
'Yes, I noticed it too.'
Turning a corner, Rio's entered the mental conversation seamlessly.
The black haired girl.
Cinder.
She had an extraordinary amount of magical essence inside her body, and it was a quantity that far surpassed the other students, even the the other teachers.
Not only that.
Their overall dynamic; it was subtle, but...
Rio lightly shook his head.
'Well, for now, it might just be best to keep an eye on them and nothing more.'
With Aisha's soft agreement, Rio eventually arrived at a particular door.
[ Professor Goodwitch ]
Rio let a smile appear on his face as he rose a hand to knock, being pleasantly reminded of days long passed. However, unlike those times, upon knocking, he received a professional taciturn response that differed from Celia's boisterous nervousness.
"You may come in."
Rio didn't waste any time and opened the door gently. "Please excuse me."
Exposing the room, the first word that came to mind was 'orderly'.
Extremely orderly.
Again, completely unlike Celia's cluttered study that she insisted had a method to its madness.
It was a quaint square office with bookshelves lining the left and right walls, chalk full of both what looked to be not just textbooks but ones for pleasure as well.
In the very middle of the room was a mahogany desk, a grand window overlooking the outside main pavilion of the Academy, and of course, the woman who sat in between the desk and window, who had just looked up from a substantial stack of paperwork.
And.
Rio's eyes subtly widened.
"Oh, Mr. Amakawa, you have arrived."
"..."
"Mr. Amakawa?"
"Ah, forgive me," Rio said, schooling his features all at once. "You... just have a very nice office. I couldn't help but be briefly distracted, taking it all in."
Technically, this was the truth.
The window caught the rising sun perfectly, casting a beautiful glow about the room; it had stilled him into silence.
Of course, this made no mention of the fact that what he had really been staring at was the person in the center of that painting-like luminescence.
"Yes, it is rather pleasant, isn't it?" But Glynda must have took the comment for what is was, because her features softened considerably as she looked around.
A silence enveloped, which Rio broke with a cough.
"So. What did you have planned for me, Miss Glynda?"
As expected of a teacher, at his question, Glynda's face turned professional in an instant. "Right. Normally, a punishment for misdeeds would include a weighty literary assignment of some kind, or even manual labor…"
Rio sweat-dropped.
It was only natural that most punishments would be split into those two types of work, but for some reason, the boy felt that the words 'manual labor' coming out of the blonde's mouth were especially terrifying.
As expected of a teacher, indeed.
"However, instead, you will be assisting me in one of my duties today, so please prepare yourself accordingly," Glynda finished, face inscrutable.
"And... what would I be preparing myself for, exactly?"
Even Rio was starting to get a little nervous now.