Tsutsumi watched as his team and team RWBY slowly slipped into a small rivalry over who was better. He found it mildly amusing, sure, but he wasn't really interested in it.
Mostly because it felt unfair.
A friendly rivalry can help people grow. It pushes both sides forward, forces them to improve, and gives them something to aim for. But only when both sides are actually on equal footing.
Bakugo and Todoroki were a good example. One was loud and explosive, the other quiet and collected, total opposites. Yet they shared the same goal of becoming the best hero. That shared goal was what kept them competing, learning, and growing alongside each other.
Team RWBY and team TNPR didn't really have that kind of balance.
They couldn't compete with Tsutsumi directly, and because of that, they only really had each other. That made the rivalry fair… just not something he needed to be part of.
Sure team TNPR might lost their leader, but that didn't mean the other three are weak and are easy picking.
So while both teams talked, joked, and threw challenges back and forth, Tsutsumi quietly faded into the background like usual.
By the time the bullhead reached Beacon, everyone went their separate ways.
Ren wanted to pick a mission with Nora since both Tsutsumi and Pyrrha had given them the green light to decide without them.
Unfortunately, Nora wanted pancakes.
Specifically, pancakes using red sap as syrup.
So Ren's mission-planning had to wait.
Before Tsutsumi could disappear again, Pyrrha suddenly slipped her fingers between his and locked their hands together, holding on firmly.
"Let's go on that date you promised," she said with a warm smile.
Tsutsumi: "..."
Before he could refuse, she dragged him along.
Noticing Tsutsumi and Pyrrha holding hands and boarding the bullhead headed toward Vale, Weiss immediately felt a bad feeling settle in her gut.
So she followed them. Which, naturally, caused Ruby, Yang, and Blake to follow her.
"Weiss, what are we doing?" Ruby whispered.
"Keep it down, you dolt," Weiss hissed. "I'm trying to see what that… Tsutsumi is doing to Pyrrha."
"Don't you think you're being a little harsh?" Yang asked. "He's still a person, you know."
Weiss didn't bother hiding her eye roll. "You're seriously defending someone who has tried to kill you twice already?"
"…Okay, yeah, good point," Yang said immediately. "He definitely put some kind of love spell on her. We can't let him hurt Pyrrha!"
"Girls, aren't we being a little unfair?" Ruby said quietly. "I mean… he hasn't actually done anything bad."
She still felt guilty about avoiding him during the flight back.
"Grow a spine, Ruby," Weiss snapped. "He kissed you, brushed you off like it meant nothing, and then started dating Pyrrha right after."
"But doesn't he have a curse?" Ruby tried to argue.
"Oh please," Weiss scoffed. "If that were true, he wouldn't have agreed to date her. Look, those two are literally on a date right now."
She pointed ahead.
From behind, it looked like Tsutsumi and Pyrrha were sitting closely together.
From the front, however, it was very clear that Tsutsumi was subtly trying to pry his hand free, without hurting her. Pyrrha just smiled, then tightened her ironclad grip.
She fell into the same category as people like Jiro, someone he genuinely cared about. Someone he could honestly call a friend.
Which made resisting her… significantly harder than it needed to be.
While Weiss, Yang, and Ruby were still busy fussing over Tsutsumi being a terrible match for Pyrrha, Blake continued to watch the situation unfold in silence.
It reminded her of the kind of plots she usually read about in those questionable novels she kept hidden under her bed.
As the bullhead landed, Pyrrha dragged Tsutsumi along, still smiling and still holding his hand like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Team RWBY followed a good distance behind them, doing their best to look casual and absolutely failing at it.
Pyrrha was currently wearing a red hoodie over her school uniform, along with a red cap and sunglasses that covered most of her face.
There really wasn't much choice in the matter.
Being a four-time champion before even turning eighteen was more than enough to turn her into a celebrity. Going out normally usually meant getting recognized, swarmed, and having her day ruined by fans who meant well but didn't know when to stop.
The first few days at Beacon had been exactly like that. Students, teachers, even visiting staff had approached her nonstop. It was only after time passed and the novelty wore off that people finally started treating her like a normal student.
Mostly.
"So, where should we go first?" Pyrrha asked, looking around Vale with a bright smile.
"I don't know. Maybe we should go back," Tsutsumi suggested, still subtly trying to pull his hand free.
"Since you can't decide, I'll handle it," Pyrrha said cheerfully.
She immediately dragged him toward a nearby café.
After ordering their drinks, they sat down by a large window that looked out onto the streets of Vale. Pedestrians passed by, shops buzzed with activity, and the city moved at a steady, comfortable pace.
"This view is pretty nice, isn't it?" Pyrrha asked, tilting her head slightly as she looked at him, her hand still firmly holding his.
"It's so-so," Tsutsumi replied honestly, his fingers starting to feel numb.
As a dimensional traveler, he had seen far better scenery than a single city block.
"Oh?" Pyrrha said, clearly interested. "So you've seen more beautiful places? Maybe someday you can take me to see them."
"I'll think about it," Tsutsumi replied after taking a sip of his drink.
He couldn't exactly take her to those places without revealing that he was a dimensional traveler, so keeping his answer vague was the safest option.
Pyrrha noticed the ambiguity but didn't push further. She knew Tsutsumi carried more secrets than he ever let on. If he didn't want to talk about them, then forcing the issue would only make things worse.
Their relationship was already awkward enough as it was.
"I see. Then I'll be waiting," she said with a cheerful smile.
Tsutsumi sighed quietly, finding it increasingly difficult to stay irritated with her.
They exchanged light conversation for a while longer before finally leaving, with Pyrrha covering the bill without even giving him a chance to try.
As they stepped out of the café and back onto the streets of Vale, four very suspicious girls followed them from a safe distance behind.
The two eventually wandered into an amusement park.
Bright lights, loud music, and the smell of fried food filled the air, making it hard to tell where one attraction ended and another began.
"Tsutsumi, let's play this," Pyrrha said, pointing toward a ball-throwing booth where players aimed at stacked cups to earn points and exchange them for prizes.
"Sure," he replied, mostly because he didn't really get a vote.
They walked up to the stand, and the owner greeted them with a practiced smile before gesturing toward the display.
"Three throws for a small fee," the man said.
Pyrrha paid immediately and passed the balls to Tsutsumi, her eyes shining with anticipation. "You've got this."
Tsutsumi picked up one of the balls with his left hand, rolling it lazily in his palm.
The stand owner smirked and crossed his arms, clearly unimpressed. He'd seen plenty of overconfident people miss by a mile.
Tsutsumi casually tossed the ball up once… then threw it.
The ball hit the cups with far more force than expected, denting one of them before bouncing straight back.
"Oh."
Tsutsumi, still holding hands with Pyrrha, quickly pulled her aside just as the ball flew past where their heads had been and disappeared into the crowd.
A moment later, a distant shout could be heard, followed by a very offended, "Ahhh!" That sounded oddly similar to Weiss.
Pyrrha blinked. "Did… did you just hit someone?"
"Probably," Tsutsumi replied flatly, not even bothering to look back.
He turned his attention to the stand owner instead.
The man let out an awkward laugh, glancing at the stack of cups. One of them now had a very obvious dent, but the rest remained standing.
"...Powerful throw," the owner said carefully.
"So this is how we're playing this, huh?" Tsutsumi asked in a flat tone, realizing the cups weren't moving at all. Annoyed that this man was actively scamming people by using superglue or something to hold those cups in place.
The stand owner shrugged, not even bothering to hide it. "Business, kid. You'll understand when you grow up."
"Uh-huh," Tsutsumi replied, unimpressed.
He exhaled slowly. Faint patterns of light circuits flickered around his left arm as his magic circuits came to life, reinforcing it just enough.
The second ball left his hand.
Instead of bouncing back, it blasted straight through the stack of cups, punching a clean hole through them and cracking part of the wooden shelf behind.
Wood splintered. Cups went flying. And the stand owner's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "W-Woah! Okay! Okay!"
Tsutsumi casually caught the last ball and rolled it between his fingers, already drawing his arm back.
"Last one," he muttered.
"STOP!" The owner rushed forward, throwing his hands up. "You win! You win! Any prize you want! No more throws!"
He shot a nervous glance at what was left of the shelf. Most of the cups were clearly glued down, and one more hit like that would probably destroy over half of his stand, ruining his little business.
"Tch." Tsutsumi clicked his tongue, clearly disappointed. "I wanted to see how sturdy it really was."
"Please don't," the owner begged.
"Let's leave it at that, Tsutsumi," Pyrrha said quickly, squeezing his numb right hand. "There's no need to level the stand."
He sighed and slipped the ball into his pocket, then tilted his head toward her. "Fine. Pick whatever you want so we can go."
Pyrrha nodded and stepped closer to the prize wall, scanning the rows of stuffed animals and cheap plastic trophies.
After a moment, she reached up and grabbed an orange fox plush.
She turned back toward him with a smile. "This one."
"Sure." He said before the two walked off, as the stand owner let out a sigh of relief.
What happened to that stand owner spread through the amusement park faster than expected.
Word jumped from booth to booth, and by the time Tsutsumi and Pyrrha wandered deeper inside, several game operators were already on high alert. Smiles became stiffer. A few stands suddenly became very fair.
After all, most amusement park games were rigged to begin with.
Fortunately for everyone involved, Tsutsumi and Pyrrha only stopped by a handful of stands. And for those they did approach, someone had already warned them not to try anything funny. The first guy nearly lost half his booth for it.
After that, Pyrrha dragged Tsutsumi toward the rides.
Bumper cars. The Caterpillar. Ali Baba. The roller coaster.
Pyrrha seemed to enjoy all of them, laughing and dragging him from one line to the next. Tsutsumi went along without complaint, though the excitement never really reached his face.
Compared to what he'd been through, all of it felt… mild.
That realization lingered longer than he liked.
Most people saw danger and felt fear. Grimm, villains, Ethereals, those were threats to many. To him, they'd slowly become training exercises. Falling from great heights? Easily managed. High-speed crashes? Annoying at worst.
Somewhere along the way, his sense of danger had warped.
Sighing quietly, Tsutsumi followed Pyrrha as they made their way back toward where the bullhead was parked. The sun has already set, and they have been out for long enough already.
"So," Pyrrha asked casually, walking beside him, "did you enjoy our date?"
"Not really," he replied without hesitation. "The amusement park was kind of boring."
She tilted her head slightly, studying his expression. "You're not saying that just to discourage a second date, right?"
He glanced at her. She could tell immediately, he wasn't joking.
"Oh." She paused, then smiled again. "I see… Then let's try something different next time."
"I don't enjoy it," Tsutsumi added, "but I don't dislike it either."
That was enough.
Pyrrha's eyes brightened, and she finally let go of his hand, skipping a step ahead. "Then we'll do something we both enjoy next time, okay?"
"Sure."
Tsutsumi glanced down at his right hand. It had gone pale from being held too long.
He reached into his pocket with his left hand, pulled out the ball he'd been carrying earlier, and casually tossed it away.
It arced high into the air before disappearing into the distance.
And a second later.
"AHHH!"
The yell sounded suspiciously like Weiss.
Tsutsumi ignored it. Pyrrha was far too happy to notice.
Part of his coat shifted, peeling off and wrapping around his right hand, forming a glove-like exoskeleton. Flexing his fingers, he reached for a card and slotted it into his Driver.
Attack Ride: Agito Tornador!
His hover bike materialized in front of them. Tsutsumi swung onto it smoothly, pulled on his helmet, and looked back at Pyrrha.
"Don't just stand there," he said, handing her a helmet. "Hop on."
Her smile somehow got even brighter.
She quickly climbed on behind him, securing the helmet and wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, pressing her body close.
"Ready," she said cheerfully.
Tsutsumi revved the engine, and the two shot forward, heading straight back toward Beacon.