Onward to the main hall

"This place is packed."

"Yeah"

The main hall was indeed packed. Most students were mingling with each other, no doubt either sizing up competition or looking for potential teammates. They were a few girls that stand out too, but Cardin was not sure if the ring can affect more than one person. He has to stick with Ruby for a while, just as soon as he discovers the ring's potential powers.

"Hey! There's Yang!" Ruby pointed at a distant crowd.

"Where? The blonde?" He asked, noticing the person that stood out from that particular crowd. "What's she to you?"

"My big sis!"

His attention was immediately focused on Yang's lush blonde hair. The woman was the opposite of her sister. While Ruby was covered from her neck down to her toes, Yang opted to dress just to cover the necessities, and even then, they leave little to the imagination. She seems far more confident as well, flaunting her glorious cleavage and her legs, as well as her taut stomach. "Whoa, your sister's smoking!"

"Yeah, I heard that one a lot." She muttered as her voice dipped. "With her semblance, she literally will."

He studied his companion. Her silver eyes told of yearning, to be like her sister. While Yang was surrounded by people, Ruby was alone.

Despite that, Cardin's head was already buzzing with several ideas.

"Say, Rose. What do you think about your sister? Be honest."

"Well, she's the best sister I could hope for," Ruby answered, "She wants me to be like her; confident and bubbly. I already told her that I can do that on my own."

"I see." Ruby wants to be like her sister, Cardin thought. Maybe he can help her with that.

"Speaking of hot," Cardin fanned his hand to his face, "All these people are making the room quite warm." He noticed that Ruby felt it too, even if his statement was not entirely untrue. "Don't you feel hot, Ruby? Under all that black and your hood?"

"Y-yeah, now that you mentioned it." Her face started to shine from sweat. She tried to wipe it with her sleeve, but they just kept coming. "Weird weather, huh?"

Time for the first test. "Why don't you open up that dress of yours a bit?"

"That's a good idea." She reached for her neck, grabbing the almost unnoticeable black zipper. When she slowly opened her dress, instead of a bra, he saw that Ruby wore a white camisole, much to his disappointment. "That's better!"

Cardin was about to back down, to tell her that it was becoming cooler, but as her sweat started to drip down her face, he had an epiphany. "Are you sure? I mean, won't your shirt get soaked in sweat?" She looked at him, deep in thought. He was already thinking that he might have screwed up, that he took his test too far. But she started to smile.

"You're right!" She struck her palm on her forehead, the thought never occurred to her. "Maybe I'll just change clothes later."

He stared at the ceiling as if he was counting the lightbulbs then he blurted out. "Or you can just take it off. You won't have to change if you're not wearing one underneath."

"That's an even greater idea!" Again, hook, line, sinker. "I'll go change now."

"Do it in one of the bathrooms."

"Uhm, where are the bathrooms, though?"

"Let's look together." Cardin took hold of her hand, which made Ruby's face match her red hood. "After all, I'm just looking out for a friend."