4 The Champions

"I apologize on my brother's behalf. He, doesn't like people getting close to him. And please don't ask such questions in front of him. At least for now." Chiho bowed deeply towards Sofia and Natasha who remained silent throughout the exchange as she gave a sad smile.

"Ah, no, it's not your fault. I might have crossed a line by asking such a question. Please allow me to apologize to him the next time I see him." Sofia got slightly flustered by Chiho who raised her head once Sofia started speaking. She waved her hand as she gave a smile to her as she thought back to Ryu's figure.

"Correct me if I'm wrong and I'm sorry if I am being nosy but is he blind? And it doesn't seem you two have a good relationship as well." Natasha, who stood at the side finally spoke as she spoke in an indifferent tone.

"Ah, no, he is not blind, well, it's complicated. As for our relationship, I guess you will find out soon so it doesn't really matter if I tell you. He can't stand me. He has been living alone after separating from me and our parents six years ago." Chiho slightly taken back at Natasha asking those told them as she became depressed at the condition her family had become.

"Eh? Really? Why would he leave a good little sister like you behind? And if you are like this, I'm sure your parents are good people as well, so why did he go and live alone?" Sofia who was going to stop Natasha from asking such personal questions after her own mistake was going to change the subject but Chiho beat her to it as she once again found herself curious about the mystery that appeared in front of her, Ryu.

"Well, it's complicated." Chiho seemed unease as she thought back to what happened six years ago and when she thought of what her brother had gone through, she started trembling with fear slightly which didn't go unnoticed by the two girls in front of her.

"Ah, it's ok. Let's forget about all of this and head to our classes. We don't want to be late on our first day right?" Sofia quickly changed the topic as she and Natasha shared a look. Chiho regained herself soon and with a nod started to walk towards the class with Sofia and Natasha.

"I know this is presumptuous to ask considering you don't know the whole situation. But please, help my brother." After walking in silence for a while, Chiho said to the two with a smile.

"Um, as you said, we don't know the whole situation but since we're now friends, we will do anything that could be of help." Sofia said back to Chiho as she returned her smile while turning to Natasha.

"Un." Natasha remained silent ever since asking those questions to Chiho and she seemed to be deep in thought as she just gave a slight nod in response.

They left these talks behind them as they started to talk about various things like what they like to eat, their favorite clothes and more. The girls kept talking about anything they could think of as they reached the room Class-1.

"This is our class. So which one are you Chiho?" Sofia asked as she stopped in front of the door as she and Natasha turned to Chiho.

"Eh? This is also my class. That means we're in the same class. Wow, I'm glad that my first friends are going to be in the same class." Chiho was surprised at first but soon broke into a grin as she spoke to her two friends that she had just made.

"Really? Wow, talk about fate huh? Then what are we waiting for, let's head in before the teacher comes." Sofia replied after she got over the surprise and opened the door before heading in followed by the other two girls.

As soon as the girls entered the classroom, they noticed the tense air around them as they saw the students who came before them speaking in low voices to each other as they nervously glanced at the back corner of the classroom near the windows.

The girls turned their heads in the direction only to see Ryu sitting with his arms crossed at the furthest row from the front on the seat next to the window while having his head towards the outside. The only thing though, was that he was releasing his divine aura around him. It wasn't a lot but just enough to keep others at bay.

Chiho seeing this scene just gave a sigh before going up the stairs and sitting next to Ryu ignoring the aura he was giving off under the watchful eyes of the rest of the students. Sofia and Natasha who saw this looked at each other before following suit and sitting in front of Ryu and Chiho. The three girls seemed to have come to a silent agreement to not let any stranger get close to Ryu in order to not let them get hurt by Ryu's hand.

Ryu only got more ticked off at having his aura ignored and being surrounded by people which become apparent to others as his aura got more frigid. The girls shivered slightly but didn't move from their places as they just stared ahead at the door hoping the teacher would quickly come.

They didn't have to wait for long as after a couple of more students arrived a woman blonde hair with brown streaks with a soft featured face entered. She was wearing a one-piece white dress that reached her ankle and as soon as she entered, if it weren't for Ryu, all of the males in attendance would be ogling at her beauty right now. As she reached the podium in front of the class, she saw that the boys, except for one were downright ogling at her so as a respectable teacher, she decided to scold them a bit.

"What the f**k are you all bunch of wimps looking at. Take those stares back or else I'll dig your eyeballs." She slammed her hand onto her desk as she screamed at the top of her lungs as she gave a death glare to the boys who were stunned that such a soft looking person could speak such words.

"Humph. Now, my name is Alice Harrington and I will be your head teacher. I hope you brats survive the torture I will be putting you through." Alice gave a snort as she introduced herself before opening the book in her hands.

"Now, it's time to take your attendance. I will be reading from the bottom up according to the tests you had to do in order to be accepted into this class. You might be thinking why I'm doing that right? Because I feel like it. Give a short introduction when your name is called out. Now…" she spoke to the young champions in training as she put one hand on her waist as the other held her book and began to call out names.

"Number five, Shirou Haruta." Alice called out as she reached near the end of the list in her hands.

"Here. My name is Shirou. I'm 15 years' old and I like doing pranks." A green haired and brown eyed boy stood up when his name was called out with his arms raised high. He has a defined build and stands at 172 cm (5'6") tall. He is wearing a brown colored sweatshirt along with purple headphones and has a good looking face that is just behind Ryu's.

"Alright, alright shut up and sit down. Number four, Chiho Achikita." Alice waved her hands at the boy in annoyance as she called out Chiho's name.

"Here. My name is Chiho, I'm 14 years' old and I like my brother and sweets." Chiho stood up with a smile and bowed to the class as she gave her introduction which had the boys swooning over due to her cuteness. What went unnoticed however, was Ryu's eyebrow twitching at all of this.

"Ok, number three, Natasha Malkova."

"My name is Natasha Malkova and I am 16 years' old." Natasha stood up once her name was called and introduced herself in a low voice just loud enough so the rest of the class can hear.

"Right, Number two, Sofia Aldridge." Sofia and Natasha seemed to be surprised after her name was called out as they expected Sofia to be number one. Natasha knew how strong Sofia was and so did Sofia so they didn't expect Sofia to be second.

"Here. I'm Sofia Aldridge and I am also 16 years' old." They gave the boy sitting behind them a glance since he was the only one who had yet to be called out as Sofia stood up and introduced herself.

"Now, Number one with an almost perfect score for a new champion of the academy, Ryu Achikita." Alice had a gleam in her eyes as she looked at the boy sitting in the corner as she called out his name.

"I'm Ryu." Ryu didn't stand up or turn his head away from the windows as he spoke just his name in a cold voice as an introduction.

Alice hid a smirk at receiving such an introduction as she was someone who liked actions more than words herself. Ryu's character of saying fewer words and yet able to produce when it mattered the most is something that Alice appreciates. Some may say that she was favoring one student but she didn't care about what others thought of her in the first place.

"Now that we have finished with the introductions, I will set things straight for you. While in class period, you all better be serious. I don't care what you do outside of it but you better take class time seriously. Now, I will be showing you around the academy, mainly the places that you have to absolutely remember. After that, we will head to the training facility to have you get used to the equipment here." Alice fixed her facial expression to one of indifference before telling what they will be doing next and when she saw them nod, she walked towards the door and exited the class while the students followed.

Alice led the students on the tour as she showed them the dorms they will be staying at first. There were two buildings right across each other, one for the male students while the other for females. The buildings were ten story high and looked new despite it being one of the first buildings to be erected in the academy. There was a balcony for each room with windows being glass doors that slide to the side.

The dorms had single rooms and there was rarely any chance that students shared their rooms. This was because the academy thought it to be the right choice in giving the young champions a little bit of privacy while here and the champions who come to learn here gladly accepted it.

Once the dorms were done, the cafeteria was next on the tour. The cafeteria was a huge hall with multiple tables with chairs surrounding them. The food here was styled as a buffet where the students take the food on their own and can also go for seconds. The walls and the pillars had golden tint to it and the floor was marble that looked really clean.

Next, Alice showed the students the classrooms they will attend that included basic subjects such as math, science, language and more. Apart from indoor classrooms, training grounds where they would do various physical activities were also shown.

The last place they were taken to was the library. Humans had managed to salvage some of the books from the old era but most of it had been lost. Due to the efforts of historians and book enthusiasts, they managed to recreate a lot of the lost books and the library of the academy had all of these books and more books regarding the academy and the history of the new era.

"Alright. The tour is over. It's time we headed to the training facility to get you used to the equipment and technology made for training." Once the tour finished, Alice face the group of students and announced their final destination for the day and started leading them.

'That teacher is probably not a frontal combatant. While the aura around her is strong, it is not lethal. She probably has a blessing that is for support. As for the rest of them, except for the two from before, that Shirou person and Chiho, the rest don't show that much in terms of ability.' At the back of the crowd, Ryu was walking by himself as he thought to himself as he studied the rest of the class.

'And there seems to be a much stronger presence than all of us combined watching us. Or more specifically, me. The aura feels cunning yet different, like it's also kind. No matter, I have to keep an eye out.' Ryu moved as if nothing was wrong while thinking of the aura that had been watching him from the time they exited the classroom.

If the first generation champions knew what Ryu was thinking, they would have been shocked since Ryu being able to sense one of them and that too from such a distance should have been impossible for a new champion. Even if Ryu had trained for the past six years with his blessing, it still should not have been possible since aura sensing of that level is something that should be possible only after going through countless life and death battles against croniums in the wild.

"We have reached the facility. Now listen up. Once inside, you can look but you can't touch. A full detail instruction on their uses will be given once you start classes. Also, you need to let the person in charge of the facility know one day ahead if you want to use this facility." Alice stopped in front of a large colosseum like structure with its roof covered in glass. She gave them some instructions before once again turning around and lead the students inside.