Martial Arts Worlds

Master Arakawa's lengthy robe dragged along the ground as he walked gracefully down the gravel-filled ground.

"The journal has gone missing."

He said, crouched down on the ground, and picked up one of the gravel pieces, then covered it with his fist, and when he opened it, the gravel had now turned into dust.

"King of the West World's journal? What do you mean it went missing?"

Kiernan asked with a frown.

Master Arakawa looked at him, brushed the gravel dust off his hand, and stood back up with a heavy sigh.

"I will just ask this once. Were you responsible for this? I won't be mad, as I can guess that you're only curious about its context after everything I spoke to you about…

"I'd like it back if that is possible."

"I didn't take it."

Kiernan said with a serious tone.

With a deep look, Master Arakawa gazed into his gray eyes and didn't find any falsehood in his words.

"Who else could it be? I already talked to my granddaughter, and she wouldn't lie to me."

He looked conflicted as the thought of his granddaughter lying to him surfaced into his mind, but it was a thought that he didn't want to entertain.

"It could be someone else—when we found the journal, we weren't alone. Those guys, Dante and Gunwoo, were with us, and they might've become quite curious about the journal."

Kiernan said.

"They wouldn't dare to do that to me. They're loyal students of mine, and they wouldn't dare to steal from me."

Master Arakawa said.

"You know them better than I do. I am just a chore boy. You can go search my room if you desire to, but I assure you, you won't find anything."

Kiernan said.

"…I don't need to search your room. I trust you."

Master Arakawa said, and with his robe dragging along the ground, he returned back to the dojo with an aura of stillness surrounding him like a cloud.

'As long as Aoi doesn't break, there is zero proof that I did anything. That journal is already on the other side of the world, probably, so there is no way they can link it back to me.'

Kiernan thought and continued sweeping absentmindedly.

…

Within the training courtyard, the sweat flew as fists smashed into punching bags and feet landed heavily on the rough ground.

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

"Wrong! Straighten your back!"

With a wooden sword in hand, Goto Yori smacked the back of Eduardo's back, causing him to jolt forward in pain.

"Yes, sensei!"

Eduardo shouted, and with his back straightened, he launched a punch that drilled a hole in the sandbag hanging in front of him.

The sand left the bag in a cloud of dust.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

Wearing beautiful white qi, Aoi rocked the sandbag, dodged it when it came swinging back, and then kicked it with a powerful roundhouse kick.

The chains holding the sandbag creaked in protest and sounded like they couldn't hold on much longer.

"Good job, Aoi!"

Senior Instructor Kai praised as he watched her impressive skills in action, and Aoi opened her mouth, about to speak, but she quickly turned back to the sandbag and acted like she couldn't hear it.

Kai didn't mind it, as he knew that she was deaf, and happened to thank her just now out of habit.

'I don't know what to do…'

Aoi thought to herself while punching the bag absentmindedly.

She hadn't told anyone that she had regained her speaking and hearing ability just now. She didn't know how she should tell everyone about it.

It just happened so randomly, and she didn't want everyone to storm her with questions, as she didn't want to accidentally spill the beans about what happened yesterday.

At that moment, when she remembered yesterday, her cheeks puffed up with embarrassment, and she punched the sandbag hard enough to forget it.

However, she couldn't control the thoughts that kept creeping back into her mind.

When she woke up today, all alone in her room, she thought that it was a dream at first, but then she noticed that she was still naked with some marks of lovemaking still left on her body.

It was clear that it was not a dream.

At that moment, a couple of girls sat down on the bench near her, giggling as they kept whispering about something.

Aoi perked up her ears, wondering what was so funny that they kept giggling about.

Because she was deaf since she was born, she was usually left out of any girl talks, as they believed she wouldn't know what they were talking about.

Now, with her hearing back, it wasn't a problem anymore.

"Did you hear last night… you know?"

Nere asked with a shy blush on her cheeks.

"I did… You think some students here… did that?"

Marcita asked with a shy smile and looked around the courtyard, wondering who could be the culprits of last night's sounds.

"I don't know, but it was clearly the sound of moaning. A man and a woman… I heard it come downstairs, so it must be from the second floor…"

"Aren't some junior instructors living on the second floor? So… is one of the junior instructors having a relationship with a student? That would be insane!"

Aoi listened to the conversation with her heart almost jumping out of her chest. If someone found out that it was actually her and Kiernan, she would never want to show her face anywhere again.

'I-It is fine. Nobody will know… unless someone already knows! Oh my god, maybe someone knows?'

Aoi embarrassingly looked around the training courtyard, saw some people look in her direction, and her heart immediately skipped a beat.

She looked directly into their eyes with her gray eyes, and those young men averted their gaze in shyness, wondering why the princess of the dojo was looking at them.

However, Aoi had a completely different train of thought.

'Oh my god, why are they looking away! They must know! I will dig myself a hole and hide in it forever!'

Aoi pressed her head against the sandbag, closing her eyes tightly and praying for the ground to swallow her whole.