"I-I'll do it… I'll accept your tutoring…" Ozpin freezes across from me, teacup poised an inch from his face. I can tell he didn't expect me to just accept his standing offer out of the blue like this, but that's understandable. I'm exceptionally guarded with my thoughts at the best of times. What he doesn't know is how much thought I've put into it recently. I still have glaring weaknesses that can get me into trouble from time to time, and I'd like to iron them out if at all possible.

"That's wonderful news Miss Sylvia! If I may ask, did this decision have anything to do with recent events?..." Recent events?... Does he know about my forays into the city? I'm hesitant to open up to him about this, but I know that I'm here partially to overcome my weakness in dealing with people, and I'm not going to accomplish anything by hiding my thoughts.

"I-I feel like… I'm at a disadvantage against human opponents… I-I've never had any formal t-training before coming here… Plus I can't really read people, in or out of a fight… s-so I just felt like I have room for improvement… A-And sometimes when I'm pressured… I panic… I'd like to fix that…" Ozpin takes a long moment to consider my words before answering.

"Well it won't be easy, but I think I can help you with all of those problems. Would you like me to set aside time for weekly lessons?" I nod my head in response, wondering how he intends to resolve half of that, but I guess I won't know until he tries. As bad as I am at reading people, this guy is on another level.

"Very well, then for this meeting I'd like to take the opportunity to show you where our lesson will be taking place. If you would follow me." He stands, leaving the tea set on the table, and leads me back into the school building. I follow silently wondering why he can't just give me the classroom number. He heads towards the main elevator and we enter, but he doesn't press a floor button. Instead he takes out his scroll, presses a few buttons, and then scans it against the reader. He notices my look of confusion and elaborates.

"The room we're going to is on a staff only floor. I'll upload the necessary permissions to your scroll so that you can get back here on your own in the future. I suppose it goes without saying, but you mustn't bring anyone else down here. This area is off limits, with the exception of a few special cases, like yourself." I nod my head in agreement, and satisfied with my response, he turns away and patiently waits for the elevator to reach its destination. Now I know why he needed to escort me in person.

The door opens, and we step out into the corridor. It appears to have a similar design to the rest of the school, but painted in a darker, more utilitarian colour scheme. It doesn't have the same welcoming look of the main school building. When we reach the end of the corridor, Ozpin scans his scroll once more and enters through the sliding door. The room in question appears to be very similar in design to the school gymnasium, which is usually used for after school training, or any sparring that requires better facilities than what the classrooms can provide. This room however is painted in the same steel-grey colours as the outside hallway, and lacks the grandstands. I suppose this room isn't for spectated matches.

"This is where our lessons will take place. You are free to book this room for your own use in your own time, however your scroll will only give you access to this room. Still, it's best not to wander off on this floor." I nod yet again, still unsure what to say about all this. Ozpin still isn't finished apparently, and continues.

"Although please do be careful. The simulators in this room have their safeties removed, and have much higher settings than the ones in the school gymnasium. This is the same room that the teachers use to brush up on their own skills. I'd advise you not to take this room lightly." Another nod from me.

"Would you like to try it out?" He asks. I ponder this question for a moment before agreeing.

"S-Sure…" He walks over to the control panel by the door, while I throw my dress just outside the force field, and step into the arena, switching to blade form to start with. I don't even bother with armour form, since I'm fairly certain he isn't going to start out weak. He knows I'm capable of more than that. I hear a buzz as the force field comes online, and the hard-light projectors on the ceiling boot up. Before I know it, five sword-wielding humanoid figures materialise around me, with their indistinct, featureless, glowing forms coming together.

In perfect sync they all charge at me, and I respond in kind. It'd be best to take them out as quickly as possible. I accelerate rapidly, keeping my body low and the first figure can't respond in time. I skewer it through the stomach and it de-materialises before my eyes. Without missing a beat, I turn and descend upon the next figure. The element of surprise lost, this one has its guard up as I reach it, so I attack it's sword with a ferocious chain of horizontal slashes, breaking its guard before decapitating it.

The remaining three reach me now and I'm forced to dodge their combined attack. I duck and weave, trying to get one of them alone, and a few seconds later I succeed. Dodging to the left, I place one of the figures between me and the others, and cut through its torso. The simulated opponents momentarily thrown off guard as they try to get their pathfinding back on track, I take the opportunity to sweep their legs out from under them, and execute them both at once with a downward stab through the heart.

I take note of Ozpin nodding to himself as he watches, and await the next wave. Four of the same sword wielding opponents materialise, along with two opponents with rifles. I believe this is one of the highest levels on the simulator upstairs. I move quickly, juking around one of the sword wielders, and rush the gunner. His head goes flying in one hit. The rest of the fight takes a little longer, as I have to deal with four grouped up swordsmen with covering fire. After a brief battle of attrition, the other gunner is dead, and I can pick off the swordsmen at my leisure.

Then the simulator loads up another wave. It normally stops there, so it seems Ozpin wasn't kidding when he said this one goes higher. Two larger figures holding great-axes appear. Yep, he wasn't kidding at all. The upstairs simulator only allows one of these to spawn at a time. I don't have time to think, as an enormous blade descends upon me. It becomes apparent that I can do nothing but dodge, since the AI is much better on these two. I can't get them apart, and they keep covering one another.

But their AI is still predictable, and so that fact alone may be the reason I don't panic. I'm able to hold it together long enough to shift it up a gear. I switch into beast form, and wrap my tail around the nearest one's weapon, jumping on its head while it's weapon is bound and begin slashing at its face, but I'm forced to retreat as the other one's axe flies through the air where I was moments ago. Making full use of my increased mobility, I dart between its legs and tear away at its holographic flesh, while the other one struggles to get a clear shot. The fight is clearly over however, as the first one weakens to the point it can no longer defend itself. I skewer it through the chest with my tail, and get to work on the second one. It simply can't keep up without it's team mate, and it goes down quickly.

The simulator shuts down, and I hear the principals familiar applause from outside the arena.

"Well done! It seems like you have no trouble with the advanced set." Oh I can do better than that, and I'm sure Ozpin will have plenty of time to find out in the future. I suddenly get self-conscious as I realise I'm still transformed, so I retract my claws and tail, and walk back over to where my dress lies.

"I think that's enough for today. I'll send you the times for our lessons, and the proper permissions to let you into this room. You'll be able to book timeslots here the same way you do in the gymnasium." I can't help but feel like something of a VIP that I get special access to this equipment. We exchange goodbyes, and I leave the room, heading back for the elevator.

"Are you serious!? Private lessons with the headmaster!?" Nora practically shouts, sprawled lazily on my bed, almost spitting a mouthful of pretzel all over me. I've learnt over time to never eat sweet snacks with Nora, else they'll disappear in seconds.

"Yep… Plus I get to train in their special gymnasium too…" I can't help but let a hint of pride work its way into my voice as I say that.

"Oh my god, you're so lucky! Can I come too!?" I shake my head at that.

"H-He told me I can't bring other people… It's an off-limits area to everyone else.

"Aww, dammit… What kinda stuff do they have down there?"

"I-It's the same as the gymnasium, only the simulator has way h-higher settings…"

"Aww man, I'm so jealous!" She says that, but it wouldn't do anything for her. I've seen her fight the simulations before, and even with her team they can't beat the highest levels in the regular gym.

"O-Ozpin said he sometimes gives permission to third or fourth year teams who perform well… but there's no point in using it if you c-can't beat the highest level on the gym simulator…"

"Yeah… hey, what's with that? How strong even ARE you?! I've seen you beat it by yourself!" Dammit. This is one of those few awkward questions I don't really have a good lie for.

"I-I don't know… I've j-just trained really hard… I guess…" She doesn't look satisfied by my answer.

"But me and Ren have trained really hard too… Life is unfair." You're telling me… I'm just glad she isn't pushing me on this. My apparent strength to apparent age ratio is admittedly absurd. I may need to eventually tell her the truth, but for now I want to enjoy feeling somewhat normal for however long it lasts.

"Oh, Right! The second years field trip is coming up soon! Didn't you say you wanted to ask Ospin for permission to join that girls team on their trip?" Oh. Velvet. I almost forgot about that.

"W-Well, I didn't get the chance to ask him… We were a bit preoccupied with the whole private lessons thing…" Either way there's still plenty of time, so I'll just bring it up at our next meeting.

"What about the girl? Have you asked her team if they'll let you join yet?"

"N-Not yet…" Nora frowns at that.

"Are you still nervous to have her see how you fight?.." Damn, she got me.

"A-A little…" She sighs and sits up on the bed.

"Look Sylvie, I seriously doubt she's gonna think less of you. And if she does, then you don't need her. You're just a little different. And if she can't get over that, then that's pretty sad. especially as a faunus, she should know better. Just rip off the Band-Aid you know?" This is one of Nora's rare serious moments, her lilting voice is toned down just slightly. But she's right.

"Y-Yeah… I'm gonna try and do it soon…" I'm not sure she entirely buys it.

"Anyway, enough with that serious crap, are we gonna watch this movie or not?"

And with that we settle in for one of Nora's romcom's, and stay up way too late. I'm glad I've gotten close enough with her that we can hang out like this. It's been so long since I've had this experience. But at the same time it's hard to get used to having so much happen. Penny, Velvet, Private lessons, Vigilante justice. It's all happening at once and it can be pretty overwhelming at times. But at the moment I just want to sit back and chill.

Phew. It's been a while, yet again. Danganronpa V3 came out recently, and I just couldn't tear myself away from it long enough to do this.

Anywho, we got a little more of bestie Nora in this episode. Plus Sylvia finally accepted the private tutoring! This was more of a setup chapter, so not much to talk about. A lot of great stuff coming up though!