Chapter 16

Investigation Commences

Moscow, Russia

The Heroes and their Teachers are facing each other; standing in two lines about three feet from each other. The Teachers are standing in the following order from left to right: Mitsuo, Atsushi, Hidehiko, Hisashi, Yagami, and Yutaka. The Heroes are standing in the following order from left to right: Athena, Louis, Kenichiro, and Alba.

Hisashi tries to catch Athena's eye, but she avoids his gaze; he looks down in wretchedness. Atsushi has an angry scowl on his face, which is directed at Athena. Alba shifts uncomfortably as he looks at his Teachers terrified of their hearsay.

Yagami and Yutaka look at Alba sanctimoniously. Athena spits on the ground in front of Atsushi's feet. Louis looks at Athena with a shocked look on her face, which is tinged with disgust. Kenichiro looks around completely oblivious to the high tensions of those around him. Hidehiko looks at Atsushi briefly before following his gaze towards Athena. Mitsuo sighs deeply in aggravation.

"I would like to say that Louis' training was a success. I did find the training somewhat complicated because of Louis' very affectionate personality."

"Alba's training was successful as well. There were no real complexities with it."

"And not only that, guess what else? Alba has already productively fought in battle with the Flame Saber against some Shadow Specters and a Shadow Ghoul!" said Yutaka energized. Atsushi's gaze flickers to Alba. Alba catches the look on Atsushi's annoyed face and backs away some, utterly alarmed.

"Athena's training was a success, although –"

"What happened?" asked Hidehiko.

"Acchan was shot with one of Athena's Wind Arrows by mistake."

"Shit that does not sound at all good," commented Kenichiro. Atsushi puts his left hand on his hip.

"A fucking accident, my ass, you know damn well she really meant to shoot me with that arrow! That bitch shot me because I told her to worry about her training instead of Hisashi!"

"Again, you yelled at her, Acchan…"

"Again, I say it is the same damn difference, Mitsu."

"You will not dare to call me a bitch, you bastard!"

"Oh, so I'm a bastard now, am I?"

"This is not going to be good…" Hidehiko covers his face with his hands temporarily and then he drops them to his sides. Athena charges at Atsushi, drawing a dagger from a hidden sheath on her left thigh knocks him to the ground and thrusts the blade into the center of his chest: right where the arrow struck him earlier. Hidehiko quickly pulls Athena off Atsushi, drags her a few feet away, and holds her in place as she tries to finish what she started. Hisashi looks at Atsushi and then at Athena petrified.

Hisashi's thoughts: What has gotten into Athena-chan and Acchan?We never fought this much before in our lives. Something seriously has got to change about their constant fighting and soon…

Yagami removes the dagger from Atsushi's chest with a small surge of crimson blood. Then he motions Louis forward; he is kneeling on Atsushi's right. Louis walks forward sheepishly.

Hidehiko's thoughts: I hate when people fight over inconsequential things…

"You know what to do…" Yagami said slowly. Louis nods her head slightly as she looks at Atsushi's bleeding chest.

"Calm Water Staff," the staff appears in Louis' left hand and begins to glow bright blue. Louis kneels of Atsushi's left, puts her right hand on the wound, and heals him.

Atsushi gently grabs Louis' hand and directs it to his right shoulder. Getting Atsushi's meaning Louis heals him there as well. Louis stands up again and her staff disappears. Atsushi stands up and faces Athena with an angry scowl on his face. Athena is still being help in place by Hidehiko. Atsushi backhands her roughly in the face.

"Listen to me and listen to me well, bitch, you're fucking lucky that I cannot kill you right here and now! Mainly because you have to help save the three worlds! But so fucking help me, if you attack me one more time, I will personally beat your sorry ass to a bloody pulp! Do you understand me!" growled Atsushi loudly. Atsushi has his right index finger pointing in Athena's face not far from her nose. Athena, now fearing for her life, gives a subtle nod.

Athena's thoughts: You will get yours someday, Atsushi Sakurai! Be forewarned, you prick!

Atsushi turns away from Athena and Hidehiko and walks right into Alba.

"I-I am sorry!"

"Very outstanding work on fighting the Shadow Beings, Alba," said Atsushi surprisingly calm now.

"Arigatou Atsushi-sensei. I appreciate your kind words." Alba bows slightly and then he stands up straight again. Atsushi gently rests his right hand on Alba's right shoulder as he walks past him. Hidehiko lets go of Athena at last. Athena faces Hidehiko and roughly slaps him across the face with her right hand.

"ATHENA, DO PLEASE TELL ME WHY YOU JUST SMAKED ME. BESIDES I DO NOT BELIVE I DID ANYTHING TO YOU TO RATE BEING HIT," Hidehiko asked stunned as he gently rubs his cheek, resentfully.

"BECAUSE YOU WOULD NOT LET ME FINISH WHAT I STARTED!"

"I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO KILL MY LIFELONG FRIEND, ATHENA!"

"YOU'RE A FUCKING BASTARD!" Athena turns away from Hidehiko and faces Yagami. Yagami, finally losing it, walks over to Athena and backhands her so hard that she falls into Hidehiko's arms.

"WHY THE HELL WOULD WE LET YOU FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED? ESPECIALLY IF THAT MEANS OUR FRIEND'S LIFE IS ON THE LINE; OUR LIFELONG FRIEND AT THAT!" Yagami snarled.

"I HAVE THE RIGHT TO FINISH WHAT I STARTED!" Yutaka yanks roughly on Athena's hair, pulling her to the ground.

"You had better watch how you talk to my brother, Athena," said Yutaka in a deathlike calm voice.

"Why are we even fighting?" Hidehiko asked slowly. Hidehiko's cheek is bright red where Athena slapped him.

"Because there has been a continuous fight going on between Atsushi and Athena since the training sessions first started."

"Personally, I say we let them duke it out and get it over with already," Kenichiro input. In addition, maybe the Gods would finally put an end to this ostensibly eternal fight.

Yagami and Yutaka look down at Athena, who is still on her back on the ground. Atsushi is standing over Athena by her feet, anger blazing in his brown eyes and an ominous smile on his face.

"I like that idea."

"Breezing Bow," Athena mutters softly. The Wind Bow appears in Athena's left hand; she takes aim at Atsushi, shoots him in the chest again, and sends him soaring into the air.

Atsushi lands with a nauseating thud twenty feet away, he has landed on his back. Hidehiko and the others run over to where Atsushi landed. Hisashi removes the arrow from Atsushi's chest. However before Louis can heal Atsushi, he stands up and confronts Athena, who has also stood up. He extends his right hand behind his back as he calls his weapon.

"Spear of Longinus!" In a flash of white light, a gold and white spear appears in Atsushi's right hand. Putting the weapon in front of him with both hands on it, he readies himself for a fight with Athena. Athena and Atsushi charge at each other, when they are within two feet of each other, a bright yellow light strikes the ground between them. The force of the strike sends them to the ground ten feet from the striking point and knocking them out cold. When the light clears, a God is standing there. Nobody knows who he is.

"This is not how things are supposed to be. Why are you two even fighting?" Shun said dismally.

"Unfortunately we were unable to stop it from happening."

"WE ARE TRYING TO FIX THAT PROBLEM NOW!" The wind picks up as another man appears on Shun's right.

"Athena Neidhart and Atsushi Sakurai you are required to report to the Gods for chastisement," Shuhei said in an uninterested tone.

"Atsushi and Athena are still unconscious right now due to the discharge, you know," stated Kenichiro.

"That is easy to deal with…"

"Now what can we do?" Atsushi and Athena disappear.

"What are you going to do with them?"

"We are going to bring them to Lord Solomon."

"In the mean time, continue your search for Crohno DTR." Shuhei and Shun fade from view.