Training

"The image I had of the polite upperclassmen is completely destroyed," Murayama commented. She was watching as Akeno lit Motohama on fire, grinning ecstatically as she did. 

They were currently in Murayama's backyard, where they had their training. It'd been a few days since Akeno and Motohama's talk, and she'd decided to join them for training. At first, Murayama had been excited, she'd always looked up to Akeno, but now, seeing her borderline moaning in ecstasy at getting to attack Motohama, she didn't know how to feel anymore. 

Motohama was grunting, the feeling of pain slowly diminishing as his body adapted to the fire. So far, thanks to Akeno he'd managed to build up an immunity to the basic elemental magics between a mid and high-class level depending on Akeno's own affinity. She'd also started using her holy lighting somewhat, but there hadn't been a ton of progress yet.

Eventually, he could feel the fire no longer affecting him and he waved his arm, dispelling it.

"Ah, you're immune again. That power of yours is so fun until it's not," Akeno said, disappointment leaking from her voice.

"Yeah yeah, you damn sadist. I wouldn't have asked you if I knew you were going to get off on it," Motohama said before muttering to himself. "No matter how hot it kind of is."

He tended to forget that supernatural beings all had enhanced hearing, so Akeno clearly heard him and laughed. 

"Well, it's certainly benefited you, hasn't it? I can't even hurt you anymore."

Motohama stretched his arms above his head and cracked his neck. Currently, he was just wearing a pair of baggy grey workout pants and no shirt, since it tended to get destroyed by whatever Akeno threw at him. At this point, he had to assume that his inheritance from Heracles was affecting him, as his body had progressed way too far for how little time had passed. 

He had become ridiculously muscular, no longer in just a lean way, but having actual mass to him. He was able to hide it pretty well when he was wearing a shirt, but as soon as it came off it was obvious that he was getting pretty big.

Murayama certainly seemed to appreciate the view, if the light blush on her face while he toweled off was any indication. 

He still had light burns on his body, even if he'd become resistant to the fire it didn't remove the wounds he already suffered, so he made his way over to the last person in their group, who was already waiting.

Asia quickly held her hands out, two silver rings on her fingers belonging to her Sacred Gear Twilight Healing, which began to glow as all his wounds disappeared.

"Asia, have I said you're the best yet?" Motohama said, enjoying the soothing sensation her Sacred Gear gave. 

Today was a Sunday, and tomorrow would be her first day at school. She was excited, even if she was a bit nervous since she'd never attended before.

"Quite a few times," Asia said shyly, finishing up with his healing and standing back.

Murayama walked forward, holding a katana in her hand. The blade was completely black, with a red hilt. "Alright, it's my turn to practice." She'd gotten a sword from Hephaestus before she left since she was taking Asia in.

"Sure, but put that damn thing away. We're practicing with Shinai, I'm not getting cut by that thing on accident."

The sword she'd been given was named Murasame and it was a blade that distributed poison with every cut. The poison could vary in intensity, but right now Murayama didn't have much control and ended up using the stronger poison on accident often when she practiced on dummies, which led to them decaying in seconds.

Murayama pouted, wanting to use her new sword, but nodded her head and grabbed two Shinai for the two of us.

"I've got to get back, we're supposed to have a meeting today," Akeno said and sent him a pointed look. 

"Ah, okay well good luck then. Hopefully, it goes well," Motohama said, but he had his doubts. They were supposed to be meeting with Rias' fiancee today, and from what he'd heard about him, it was inevitably going to end in an argument.

"Maybe I'll get the chance to shock him properly," Akeno said, holding her hand up where little bits of holy lightning appeared, showing she had made some progress in accepting that part of her. She then summoned a magic circle and teleported away from us.

He and Murayama stood across from each other in the yard before an unspoken signal occurred and Murayama took off running at him. Her speed and power had increased, most likely due to her new sword, but she still wasn't on the level he was.

He watched, tracking her movements with his Sacred Gear before he batted aside her swings with his Shinai. Her assault continued while Motohama focused on just defending, weaving between her attacks and blocking them with his strength.

"You're trying too hard to clash with me. You know what your sword does right?" Murayama nodded in acknowledgment as she backed up for a moment. 

"You don't need to out-battle me, all you need is a good hit to apply your poison. Fighting like a swordsman doesn't work for you, you just don't have the physical capability to contest with a lot of the supernatural yet. You have to fight like an assassin."

"I know, you've told me before, but it's hard to just let go of all the training I've had. All my matches have been straight up, I'm not used to trying to be sneaky," Murayama said.

Motohama shrugged, not really sure what to tell her. "Just try again, you'll get it eventually."

The two of them continued at it for a while longer, Asia healing Murayama whenever Motohama took advantage of an opening she would leave to hit her with his Shinai. At this point, with his strength, any hit left dark bruises even when he held back, so Asia was a lifesaver.

Eventually, they wound down and Murayama went inside to bathe while Asia and Motohama stayed outside, drinking some refreshments.

"So Asia, looking forward to your first day?" He asked.

"Um, yes but I don't know what I'm supposed to do. What if they don't like me? What if I say something wrong?"

He'd only known her for a little over a week, but at this point, he could tell that the girl didn't have the highest self-esteem because of how sheltered she was. "It'll be fine, you're joining our class and the guys in the class will go crazy at having a cute girl join."

Asia looked down, twiddling her fingers to hide her blush. "Murayama told me all about that stuff. She said you were one of the worst ones."

Motohama suddenly had the urge to start training with Murayama again. He stood up abruptly, shouting loud enough that even Murayama could hear him in the bathe. "Dammit, what the hell is that girl telling you. I'm reformed, reformed I tell you." 

"Yeah right, don't think I don't see you taking a peak when we train," Murayama yelled back at him.

"And don't think I don't see you doing the same damn thing," he shouted back and Murayama fell silent.

"Ha, score one for me. Out here trying to ruin my reputation with Asia," Motohama muttered to himself before he heard a light giggling. Looking down, he found Asia with a bright smile on her face as she laughed at their interaction.

"School can't be so bad if the two of you are there, though. You've all been so kind to me, I don't know what to say."

Motohama reached down, ruffling her hair lightly, and grinned at her. "Don't mention it."

----

Motohama walked down the street after leaving Murayama's house. Asia and her were planning to watch a movie and they'd invited him to join, but he had something else he had to do today no matter how much he wanted to stay.

As he walked, he suddenly got the feeling someone was watching him and looked around sharply. On the edges of his vision, he spotted a large aura, but before he could catch it, it vanished.

'What was that?'

All he'd managed to see was a brief flash of black fur before it disappeared. He waited around to see fi he could find it again, but after a short while, he gave up and continued on his way.

Walking up to the door of a house, he knocked lightly. He could hear someone shuffling around inside before the door opened and Mrs. Hyoudou greeted him. Her brown hair was up in a bun and she looked better than the first time he'd visited her, but you could still see the signs of exhaustion.

"You know you don't have to do this dear," she said.

Motohama shook his head and made his way inside. "I want to help, I know Mr. Hyoudou had to go back to work so I figured I'd help out when I could."

She gave him a shaky smile and said "I'm glad Issei had such a good friend like you."

The next while was spent just helping her clean up around the house. He dusted, swept, and just helped her take care of the chores that had started to fall by the wayside in her depression. 

Eventually, the house was left looking spick and span, and Mrs. Hyoudou insisted he let her cook for him before he left.

"Just let me know if you need help with anything at all," Motohama said as he made his way out the door after the meal.

Once he got back to his house, he opened the door and made his way up the stairs. He wasn't surprised by the sounds he could hear from his father's room, no doubt entertaining whatever girl he'd paid to come over today.

'I really need to move out.'

His relationship with his father was basically non-existent. The two passed by each other every day with hardly a word, and Motohama was happy like that. He didn't want to get any further involved with the man than he had to.

Taking a quick shower, he got in bed and closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep.

----

Asia's first day at school went about exactly as you'd expect it to.

"She's so cute," the boys around the class yelled out.

The teacher tried to quiet them down as Asia shuffled awkwardly before Murayama gave her an encouraging thumbs up.

"Um, my name's Asia Argento. I hope to get along with all of you," she said and bowed to the classroom.

She quickly found herself swept up by a group of girls crowding around her while the guys began to whisper.

"Hey Motohama, arent' we lucky? We got a cute girl as the new transfer student instead of some stupid pretty boy," Matsuda whispered to him.

"The last thing we need is another Kiba," Motohama quickly agreed.

That was when Asia caught sight of him and made her way over, drawing a good bit of attention as she said "Motohama look, everyone's so nice."

Matsuda stared hard at him for a second before yelling out, "Now you're the damn pretty boy with all the girls talking to you." He swung his fist into my arm, before pulling it back and crying out loudly. "Damn, what the hell are you made of."

Motohama sighed, before smiling at Asia. "I'm glad it's going well, Asia."

Across the room, Katase was whispering to Murayama. "Hey, what's been going on with Motohama? He seems a lot calmer now, his temperament doesn't make me want to hit him all the time."

Murayama smiled lightly, looking over at him. "He's certainly changed, hasn't he."

"Hey, what's with that wistful smile? Don't tell me the rumors are true, are you and he actually a thing?"

Murayama scoffed, quickly turning away. "Who has a wistful smile, I was yawning."

----

Asia's first day passed by in short order, and she quickly made friends with all the girls in the class. Murayama also tried her best to keep Aika from corrupting her, but who knew how long that would last with how persistent the girl was? 

When the class was dismissed, Motohama gathered his things while Asia and Murayama made their way over to him. "Are we practicing today?" Murayama asked.

"Yeah, I don't know if Akeno can join us though."

The door to the classroom opened, and surprisingly it was Akeno and Koneko who were waiting at the door. He took one look at them, and even if they still had their usual schooled expressions on, their body language gave away how anxious they were.

"Motohama, could we talk?" Akeno asked.

He could hear Matsuda yell out "You damn pretty boy!" as he left the room, with Murayama and Asia following him.

The group made their way out the door and onto the school grounds a ways away from anyone else.

"I'm assuming the meeting didn't go well?" he asked.

Akeno smiled wryly as she shook her head. "No, it didn't. It went about how we expected, and we've got ten days to prepare for a Rating Game."

"So I'm assuming you want to keep training how we have been then? What's Toujou doing here then?"

Koneko stood, and for the first time, he got the sense she wasn't just being silent but didn't know what to say. "I'd like help like Akeno is getting."

That didn't help clarify anything for him, and Asia and Murayama looked similarly confused. Akeno seemed to understand that Koneko was having a hard time, and after looking at her for permission she explained.

"Koneko also has a power she's been avoiding for...personal reasons. She'd like to join our training and start trying to use it a bit."

"Oh, well yeah that's fine. We were planning to head to Murayma's to practice if you want to join us," Motohama agreed easily. There wasn't any reason to deny her, and he'd be able to build up a resistance to whatever it was she wanted help with as well. He'd been able to tell her aura was different just like Akeno's, but after last time he'd made sure not to mention it. Surprisingly, now that he was looking at it, it kind of reminded him of that presence he'd sensed yesterday, although it was weaker.

The group of five made their way out of the school and began the walk to Murayama's place. Her house had become the designated training spot due to how much room it had and the fact her dad was often gone due to work. 

While they walked, Motohama also asked what the rest of Rias' peerage were going to be doing to train. Rias was going to be trying to get her bishop, who had issues controlling his power and was scared of people, to come out after seeing how well Akeno had been doing in working through her problems. The entire peerage was taking the week off from school, and they'd be training in another location during the day before Akeno and Koneko would teleport to train with them after school.

Kiba was planning to train on his own, working on using his Sacred Gear better. Motohama wasn't sure what their chances were of winning, but if he understood Riser Phenex's power correctly, the deciding factor would be Akeno's Holy Lightning.

While they were walking, Motohama caught sight of that aura again, but this time he refused to let it slip away. 

"Follow," was all he said to the group before he pushed off the ground, moving in a blur of speed as he tried to catch the aura. The group scrambled to follow, and Motohama managed to catch up to the aura, pinning it to the wall in a nearby alley. His grip was on a small black cat, but his Sacred Gear was telling him it wasn't ordinary at all.

"Who are you?" he asked aggressively.

The cat seemed to grin before he was no longer pinning a cat to the wall, but instead a girl a little older than him. She had long black hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a black kimono, and a yellow obi, and had a black headband on her head with a pair of black cat ears sticking out.

"Someone's aggressive," the girl said, her tone teasing.

"Sister?" Koneko said shakily, showing the most emotion Motohama had heard from her. Chancing a glance back, Motohama could see her eyes wide, and he could tell she was terrified of the girl in front of him.

"Well, shit."