It took some time, especially since they had to avoid the teachers along the way, and this little infiltration mission was the part that the pair of sisters loved to do, quite different from Weiss, who was regretting following them and breaking the rules before she was even accepted at Beacon, but they managed to find the library.
The labels above the doors were very helpful in navigating these corridors, especially considering how big Beacon really was.
"Not bad," Sasuke had to say, scanning the multitude of books that decorated the walls and shelves of this place. Much better than Tukson's bookstore.
In fact, not even Orochimaru had as much knowledge stored in all his hideouts as in this place alone.
As expected of the greatest literary treasure of a nation or kingdom, in this case.
As for the girls, their reactions varied, but they could agree with Sasuke.
This place was incredible, and if they managed to pass the initiation, it would become a place they were bound to visit often.
Ruby had never seen so many books in her short life; it was almost intimidating, and she could only pray that there were comic books or some legendary weapon schematics hidden here!
That would be so cool!
Yang, on the other hand, wasn't very excited, and honestly, she couldn't care less about any of this. After all, she was an action girl and not the intellectual type... even if she had read her share of books by telling Ruby bedtime stories every day for years when she was younger.
That aside, Yang was curious about Sasuke's motives, and that was reason enough for her to put up with this little torture session.
Weiss was no stranger to a library, having one just as big back home, where she spent most of her days alone... quite different from her current situation.
Suddenly, the fact that she was in Beacon and in the company of people her own age who didn't care about her family name or social status was no longer just a distant dream.
Weiss had even started some potential friendships!
Sure, Ruby Rose may have been a little younger, naive, and high on sugar, but she was still much better than those back in Atlas who only approached her with ulterior motives.
As for Sasuke, despite all the mysteries surrounding the boy's identity, Weiss's opinion of him wasn't any less positive.
Aside from his charm, capable of seducing a pair of sisters, the way Sasuke viewed relationships was revealing, and one of the reasons she wanted to know more about him.
Much more, and Weiss was already learning, even during this little outing.
To begin with, Sasuke's movements were so fluid that he didn't make a sound while walking, indicating a tremendous level of training. What's more, his senses were extremely sharp, being able to identify the slightest of sounds to warn them and move in advance to avoid the Beacon staff's surveillance.
A natural leader and a competent partner, it seemed.
If Weiss had to guess, she would say that Sasuke was from outside the Kingdoms and had experience hunting... or he was some kind of secret agent, however unlikely.
Honestly, if it weren't for her desire to team up with Pyrrha Nikos, the greatest genius of their generation, Weiss would have been more than tempted to persuade Sasuke to join her.
Who knows? Weiss had her blue eyes glued to this boy's back and a small predatory smile adorning her lips. Maybe we'll end up on the same team.
After all, teams were made up of four members.
Even though he was aware of the watchful eyes on the smallest of his moments, Sasuke wasted no time and began to look around, soon collecting the books whose titles interested him. While most of them were about the history of Remnant, he also made sure to pick up a few books on Dust, Aura, and Semblances.
All so that he could catch up on his common sense and not be defeated by a mere test.
That and learning about the subjects Sasuke needed to help him find his answer.
In just a few minutes, he was casually carrying his own weight in books, and the girls could only look at him as if Sasuke had grown a second head or lost the only one he had by continuing to pick up even more books.
"Err, Sasuke?" Ruby approached the boy shyly, having no more than a single magazine in her hands and feeling stupid in comparison. "Do you need any help?"
Considering what he had done for her earlier, this was the least she could do for him.
Wasn't that what friends were for?
Especially girlfriends...
Sasuke didn't answer right away, even getting annoyed at being interrupted, but only until he saw how eager this girl was for the chance to be useful to him.
She really reminds me of myself as a child. Sasuke had made a similar expression so many times when trying to help Itachi that it was nostalgic. "If that's what you want."
Seeing the way she lit up again over something so silly really brought back some happy memories.
With that, it wasn't long before Ruby was also carrying a comically large pile of books while helping Sasuke, her smile ever-present.
From afar, Weiss and Yang could only watch this cute little scene take place with a certain warmth in their hearts.
Although, there was something else in Yang's lilac eyes that Weiss could see and describe as jealousy.
"It must be complicated," she couldn't help but make a comment. "Having your own little sister as a rival for the affection of a boy."
Weiss couldn't even imagine being in a situation like that with her older sister, only that it would be... complicated.
"W-what?" Yang almost jumped as she looked at this princess, her eyes wide. "It's not like that!"
At least, it shouldn't be. However, it was undeniable that she had a thing for Sasuke.
After what had happened the day before and the way they had been interacting ever since, she would have to be made of stone not to feel anything.
"What about you, then?" Yang chose attack as defense and flashed a smile as she leaned closer to this girl. "I can see that you can't take your eyes off him~"
Which just went to show how strong Sasuke's charm was with his manly attitude and sexy voice... not that Yang was paying attention to that or anything.
"Curiosity." Weiss didn't let this weak provocation fluster her and quickly returned the girl's teasing smile. "About his identity and how he was able to make a couple of sisters fall in love with him in no more than a day."
All without showing his face.
On the way to this library, Weiss had the opportunity to question Ruby about Sasuke's appearance, and the girl had no idea what he looked like, either, just like Yang.
Honestly, it was cute and extremely pure to be able to feel something like that for someone whose face was a total mystery.
"I'm not in love, princess," Yang stressed, a vein popping in her forehead along with the momentary reddening of her eyes before she took a deep breath and pulled herself together. "Just like you, I'm curious about him."
At least, that's what she wanted to believe.
Your actions say otherwise, Weiss wanted to say out loud, but decided not to press any further than to avoid getting on Yang's bad side. "If you say so."
Without waiting for an answer, she gave this girl and the conflicts in her heart some space and went to join the others.
Yang could only look at this princess's back and sigh with relief for her being tactful enough to know when to end a conversation... even if she still dealt one last blow before that.
Oh well.
It wasn't as if any of this mattered. At least, not now, and Yang didn't take long to follow Weiss.
Soon, everyone was sitting at a table at the back of the library, where they wouldn't be seen by teachers and surrounded by mountains of books.
"You know, Sasuke." Yang was leaning over the table, unconsciously doing her best to look cute with her hair spread around her and staring directly at this boy as he organized all this reading material. "I would never have guessed you were a bookworm."
Even more so after he'd said he was in Beacon because he was stupid... sort of. Or maybe, precisely because he was stupid, he was trying to make up for it at the last minute, before the initiation.
How cute~
"That's because I'm not," Sasuke picked up the first book from the pile as he answered. "But there's something I'm... curious about."
Not to mention desperate.
After all, the future of his world depended on Remnant's accumulated knowledge.
Without waiting for an answer, he activated his Sharingan and flipped through the first book in no more than a minute before returning it to the pile, moving on to the next one, and repeating the process.
This confused the girls, all the more so because they couldn't see his eye glinting, given the angle of his vision.
"Sasuke, while I admire your passion for knowledge, I have to say," Weiss began, and even gained the attention of the other girls. "You won't learn anything if you just flip through books like that."
The mere fact that he had picked up this many books was already absurd, as it would be an impossible task even if he had a whole week to read, let alone a night.
But then Weiss felt her heart skip a beat for more reasons than she could understand as a single bright red eye with three black commas stared back at her.
Menacing was the first word that came to mind to describe what she was seeing. Then peculiar because that eye was capable of producing its own light and shining like a beautiful ruby. Last but not least would be how intriguing this pattern of black commas was.
Suddenly, the curiosity Weiss felt about this boy was getting dangerously close to being considered an obsession, and not without reason.
If the shadow that concealed his appearance was his Semblance, what in the world was that right eye of his?
And what about the left one that wasn't shining too? Was he hiding this other eye, or had he lost it in a fight?
If so, it would make sense why he was hiding his face, which was probably scarred.
The mere thought made Weiss sympathize with him, because her face was also permanently scarred. What's more, the only reason she hadn't lost her left eye was nothing short of a miracle. Otherwise, she too would be hiding in plain sight like him.
"Yang, since you're closer," Sasuke asked as he pointed to the shelf just behind this girl. "Pick up a book for me, no matter which one."
Yang only raised an eyebrow in confusion before doing as requested. She only needed a second to reach out, grab the nearest book, and hand it to him.
"Give me a minute," Sasuke said and began flipping through the contents of the book before handing it back to Yang. "Here, pick a random page, tell me the number, but don't show it to me."
Again, his request was met with confusion, but no protest.
"Okay..." Yang didn't understand where he was going with this, but she was curious and soon had just the right idea as she smiled in an extremely suggestive way. "How about... 69?"
Yeah, she wasn't beating the allegations, but who cares? This had to be fun for her!
While Ruby was too pure to understand the insinuation being made and didn't react, Weiss was blushing profusely at how shameless and hypocritical this girl could be after just denying her feelings.
That or Yang was one of those whores who tarnished the reputation of all women.
Sasuke had a twitching eye and could only stare at this shameless girl.
He had compared Yang to Ino before, but this girl was much worse... as far as he knew. After all, Sasuke hadn't stayed in Konoha to find out how that girl had grown over the years.
That aside, he focused on what he wanted to prove and recited word for word from the page this obscene girl had chosen.
Just like that, Yang's smile disappeared along with Weiss's blush as they both focused on the book in hand, trying to find a mistake, but to no avail.
Weiss even chose different pages to test him, but the result was the same.
Somehow, not only had Sasuke managed to read this entire book in a minute, but he had completely memorized its contents!
How ridiculous was that?!
"No way..." Ruby murmured, her silver eyes wide with surprise and barely contained admiration. "How?"
A question that seemed stupid given the super-cool eye Sasuke had.
Ruby already knew that his eye was special for being able to see Aura, but this was on a completely different level of awesomeness!
"That's part of the core ability of my Sharingan." Sasuke was pointing to his right eye. "Dynamic vision and eidetic memory."
Among other things, but they didn't need to know that.
"Sharingan?" Weiss repeated this Mistralian name, focusing only on that bright red eye and its three black commas that seemed to be rotating clockwise. "Is that the true manifestation of your Semblance?"
One that was incredible, she had to say, and completely unfair!
With a power like that, Sasuke would be the best student at Beacon!
At least, academically speaking. Weiss wasn't sure how well this ability performed in combat, but the answer to that came quickly.
"I knew you had some kind of dynamic vision!" Yang jumped to her feet and slammed her hands on the table, leaning closer to Sasuke. "That eye of yours was the reason I couldn't land a single hit on you during our fight!"
It wasn't just that she was tired or the difference in strength between them, but that this bastard was able to read her every move!
"And how many powers do you have?!" Yang continued, and she wasn't the only one with this doubt. "There's that shadow hiding your face, those green leaves that appear when you move super-fast, the ability to see Aura, and now this?"
This guy was completely broken!
"The name Sharingan translates to Copy Wheel Eye," Sasuke explained, having already prepared an excuse for any irregularities he might show going forward. "Seeing Aura, dynamic vision, and eidetic memory are the three aspects that compose my visual prowess: the ability to copy other abilities."
Which was true, even if only to a certain extent, and that was more than enough to make three pairs of different colored eyes go wide with shock.
It was then that Sasuke realized his mistake.
"You mean..." Weiss started and stopped, swallowing what seemed to be her own heart before continuing, "That this Sharingan of yours allows you to copy other Semblances?!"
If she had thought this power unfair before, now it had just become something out of this world!
How on earth could such a Semblance exist!?
"Don't blow this out of proportion," Sasuke was quick to try and calm these girls down before they alerted any passing professors. "I can only copy certain types of Semblance, those that can be considered a by-product of Aura manipulation. Otherwise, if it's something I can't understand, I can't replicate it."
Again, the purest truth.
At least, that's how his Sharingan worked back in the Elemental Nations. In Remnant, he had only seen two Semblances so far: Yang's and Ruby's, and he was unable to replicate them because of their complexity, which was very similar to a Kekkei Genkai.
"Oh, I see." Weiss breathed a sigh of relief, soon feeling like a fool for reacting in such an inelegant way. "It makes sense, if you stop to think about it."
Otherwise, Sasuke would be even more famous than Pyrrha ever was.
At the same time, it also made her wonder why his left eye was possibly missing.
Could it be... Weiss had goosebumps rising on her back at the possibility that just occurred to her. That someone try to steal his eyes in an attempt to obtain this Semblance?
She wanted to ask about it right away, but she knew better than to bring up such a delicate subject.
Unfortunately, Weiss wasn't the only one to jump to this conclusion, but not everyone had the same level of tact as her.
"W-what about your left eye?" Ruby asked, visibly shaken at the thought of what could have happened to the boy she liked. "Nobody stole it from you, right?"
She didn't want to think about it, but what Sasuke had said earlier at the Bullhead, when questioning whether she had transplanted someone else's eyes, came back to haunt her.
For him to have mentioned something so disturbing, doesn't that mean it had happened before?
Are they... worried about me? Sasuke could see it in the eyes of each of these girls, and it troubled him more than he cared to admit. Even though they know so little about the Sharingan, they recognize the value of my eyes and the possibility that someone has stolen one from me.
As expected, even revealing only the bare minimum needed to have a normal stay in Beacon turned out to be a problem.
Considering that he was hiding his face and showing only one eye, perhaps this misunderstanding wasn't unexpected.
"Don't worry about it." Sasuke tried to reassure them without having to show his Rinnegan. "My left eye is here and fine, just hidden behind my hair."
Where it would remain until absolutely necessary.
The girls didn't look convinced, but this time, not one of them pressed the issue.
The heavy atmosphere, however, remained.
"If you say so." Yang knew that everyone had their secrets, but it still left a bad taste in her mouth. In that case, nothing could be more appropriate than trying to sweeten things up a bit!
That was one of her gifts, and Yang had just the right idea!
"So," she leaned over the table again and smiled as she covered her left eye with her golden locks. "Is this your hairstyle? Kind Emo of you, Sasuke~."
As intended, the mood changed completely by appealing to Ruby and Weiss's sense of curiosity.
Now they had a better idea of what this boy looked like, and slowly, an image of Sasuke was being pieced together in their minds.
It was a pity that they wouldn't have the chance to get more information this night, because just then, as something was about to be said, the library doors opened to make the girls' hearts sink as they saw who had just arrived:
Headmaster Ozpin and Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch.
Suddenly, this could very well have become their first and last night at Beacon.