Gate Guardian - Tale of the Blazing Heart

Phase 71: Training Regimen

Phase 71: Training Regimen

[Kozukata Shrine – Heightsburg City]

From this day onward, Heushac and I attended in a training camp, but just on their shrine. After our classes, we will immediately go to the shrine and meet Atlas, the one who will train us. These are the series of our hard days of our improvement.

Day 1: We just stayed on the shrine, practicing how to gather energy. I've already mastered that one so it's a piece of cake for me. At the end of the day, Heushac is finally able to gather Nature Energy or Anima on his own. Did he study every night in order to get the IQ requirement?

At night, Atlas asked us to try gathering energy and coat it in our Weapon Gems. Sadly, the two of us failed. Heushac even mistakenly enchanted fire on his undergarments, which immediately became ashes. Good thing he never burned his genitals, but Mia was outrageously laughing when we got home.

Day 2: We practiced enchanting our Weapon Gems again. At first, my black flames burned some of my hair and shirt. I was half naked right now, but my will to never give up made me pursue my training even if I'm not in shape. My condition is even better than Heushac. He burned the back part of his pants, revealing his butt cheeks all around. But he has the will too, so we continued our training without embarrassment. (Crap, I forgot that Atlas has a thing for dudes!)

We are finally able to control flames on our weapons when it's already midnight. So when we finished, Atlas invited us inside his home.

I've already seen this house because Asumi already invited me in. It was just a traditional Japanese house with carpets and wooden walls, but I never knew that they have a tub for hot baths inside!

"Wow, I never knew you have a yakuza inside your house." Heushac's eyes sparkled as he said those words.

"It's not yakuza, it is Jacuzzi..." I replied to him with embarrassment.

The three of us relaxed ourselves in the bath. We're all naked, so I kept an eye on Atlas. He might do something on us. And I'm scared just by thinking about it.

"Why the heck are you staring at me?" Atlas threatened me. "I'm not interested in dudes like you!"

"H-Huh? Aren't you?" Heushac interrupted.

"W-Who said that!?" Atlas is now mad.

"Sis Erylle told us." Heushac calmly said with a smile. This guy...doesn't know how to stop his mouth.

"Well, I can't blame her for mistaking me as a homosexual." He bowed, having some kind of despair in his heart.

"You're not alone, dude. Erylle often tease me for being somewhat soft and girly. And she's the one who prevents me for being a warrior. Instead, she chose me to be their healer...Sigh." I bowed too, sharing Atlas' despair. "So you're really a man, right?"

"Of course!"

"So your relationship with Erylle is true?"

"Not really."

"You already kissed her?"

"Never. But I already had my first kiss. Sadly, it was from another man."

"I CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOUR GENDER AT ALL!!!" I immediately shouted at him, being mindblown on his response.

"Sorry about the vague explanation!" He apologized. "I'll tell you the whole story!"

<><><><><>

Atlas and Erylle has been a good love team a few years ago. They are the best shipping in the Heightsburg Campus. But one valentine's day, their destiny twisted paths.

"A-Atlas!" Erylle shouted in front of him. She was holding a red heart-shaped box. She then bowed at Atlas with a blush, summoning all the courage on her heart. "Please accept my feelings!"

At that moment, Atlas was confused. He was not into relationships at that time, so he honestly answered Erylle's confession.

"I'm sorry...I'm not interested in you." He coldly rejected.

Erylle was left dumbfounded...

On that very same day, a grim event happened on Atlas' life. After he rejected Erylle, he immediately rushed inside the classroom...But he never knew that Zion is rushing outside too. Their face collided, like a planetary collision! A lips-to-lips impact that changed fate!

Heffy recorded everything on her camera and the news spread like ebola on a remote island. Everyone knows the news. "Atlas is for Dudes" is the headline on the campus newspaper. His image almost collapsed. He endured humiliation for the rest of his days.

Days have passed, and Atlas finally came out an idea. He will accept Erylle's confession in order to bring up his masculinity again, and to repair his broken name. But he never knew that Erylle's confession was scripted.

"I did the confession thing to make sure that there's an uproar for my career." Erylle said coldly. "Just so we're clear, I'm not into you. I'm into someone else. We will just act as lovers when the cameras and other's eyes are rolling, nothing else!"

"I-I'll do it! I can't live on this embarrassment any longer!" Atlas cried.

<><><><><>

"Then we became best friends over time." Atlas finally ended his terrible story telling.

From that story, I concluded two things: One is that Erylle really is not just a cunning woman, but also a great deceiver... Second is that Atlas is still blushing even after he finished his story, which means...He's still confused about who he really is. I honestly think that the Cursed Atlas is manlier than the original.