Locker Room - Questions (COMPLETE)

Haruka was about to snap at Asteria out of protective instinct when the witch girl touched Masato. She checked herself, though. She isn't bad... she didn't hurt Masato; Cerbera did...

"Ooohhh..."

She gasped. "Masato!"

Her manager winced. "H-Haruka... w-what happened?"

She answered him with a tight hug that made him blush. "You're awake! Are you all right? Where does it hurt?"

"Ah..." Grimacing as if from a migraine, Masato looked up to Asteria. "Asteria-san? Thank you."

Even though Cerbera did not see it, she froze when she heard Masato speak, and even thanking Asteria! Cerbera quickly turned to face the witch, staring straight into her eyes while Asteria was immidiatly in shock when she saw Cerbera stop walkiing after Masato thanked the witch. She'd stand completely still while Cerbera stared at her, no word coming from the heel.

" .... "

Finally Cerbera made a few steps forward and closer, not seeming friendly at all.

Haruka and Masato followed Asteria's motions to see Cerbera turning on her 'bodyguard'. Haruka immediately hugged Masato tightly, thinking to protect her manager with her own body if attacked, her green eyes hard as the emeralds they shared coloration with.

Masato had another idea. "Cerbera-san!" he called out. "I challenge you to an official match against Haruka!"

He knew that Cerbera might attack Asteria for helping them. He needed to divert Cerbera's mind off the matter at hand, have her let out some of the steam before Asteria was 'scalded'. And since Cerbera and Haruka were going to butt heads eventually, he saw no reason not to make it official, if quicker.

To his relief, Haruka simply and vigorously nodded in agreement. "Yeah! Don't you forget I'm here!" she added

Cerbera stared at Masato and Haruka, growling lowly as she yelled out.

" You're going to be gone when I'm through with you in that ring then! "

She wanted to simply beat them all up now but instead turned around in anger and stormed out, not even caring if Asteria was going to follow her or not.

The witch watched her silently, releasing a relieving sigh before looking at Masato with a frown.

" You shouldn't have done that.. She'll try to hurt Haruka badly. "

Masato managed not to smile when Cerbera took his bait. He did fear for a moment at the possibility of a brawl right then and there (though it wasn't like Haruka and Cerbera hadn't been brawling already), but sighed in relief when the furious Cerbera left. "Yokatta..."

" You shouldn't have done that.. She'll try to hurt Haruka badly. "

Asteria's truthful warning pained him. But Haruka sternly answered in his stead:

"Cerbera can try. But I won't let her. I'll be fighting not only for myself and Masato, but also for her and for you, Asteria-san. I won't fail any of you."

"Haruka," Masato whispered. Then he grimaced. "Actually, I was kind of afraid Cerbera-san will have you fight Asteria-san first before we could get to her."

"Eh?"

Asteria sighed and plopped down onto her rear besides the two, closing her eyes and trying to think of something, Haruka's words did make her wonder about a certain event that happened when they were gone and started to speak to herself in a weird kind of riddle.

" A Hero can always become a villain but reasons stay unknown, while a villain wants to become a hero, it won't be be known. Shameless acts will haunt them.. Trapped and possessed... "

Asteria then started to blink.

" ..Off course! "

She then hopped up and ran into the locker rooms, opening her locker room and searched for something, coming back to them afterwards and plopped back down infront of her, she seemed quite comfortable with the two for some reason.

" .. I doubt she'll let me fight Haruka because I have a fight with someone else soon, some kind of wannabe witch, dares to use my last name as an excuse to fight me.. It seemed she took something with her that Sindel always held.. Its a weird stone-like thing.. When I stared at it.. I don't know.. It was hurting me from the inside, I didn't like it and asked Cerbera to throw it away.. But she kept it.. And since then she's been like this.. "

"Heroes and villains," Masato considered while Asteria was fetching something from her locker. "Cerbera-san certainly is acting like a villain. And her reasons are unknown."

"We'll find out her reasons," Haruka promised. "We'll return her to normal."

The returned Asteria's explanation rekindled their hopes. "So this stone changed Cerbera-san somehow?" Haruka asked the witch girl.

"Asteria-san," Masato posed, "You're a witch, right? You can perform magic. It stands to reason that you can also sense magic.

"Since your magic is good magic, the only kind of magic that would hurt you would be evil magic. I'm guessing that stone is some sort of evil artifact, and that it is somehow corrupting Cerbera-san," he postulated.

"So if we get rid of that stone-" Haruka excitedly began.

"We can save Cerbera-san!" Masato finished.

Asteria nodded with a smile.

" I suppose that is it.. Though.. "

She looked down and released a sigh.

" Sindel never showed this kind of hostility before.. With Cerbera it seems more then just possessing her.. I don't know if Sindel was refusing it's power but Cerbera is infact allowing it.. I've been trying to contact Sindel but I haven't had any luck finding her.. But.. Something is also with her, something very familiar, just can't seem to put my finger out it.. "

Asteria then stood back up rubbing her hand through the side of hair.

" Anyway.. I don't think I should get back to her now.. I don't know if she'll allow me to get close to her. "

Masato frowned over Asteria's follow-up. "I see... well, be careful, then, Asteria-san. I'll see what I can discover on my end. Let's stay in touch, but secretly, so that Cerbera-san doesn't catch and punish you for it." The ache in his jaw was gone thanks to Asteria, but the memory still burned him as he and Haruka stood up.

"Take care, Asteria-san," Haruka smiled. "Thank you for what you did for me and Masato-kun. And good luck in your match. I hope you win convincingly."

Asteria nodded, looking down at them.

" If it's possible, try to get in touch with Sindel, I know she's here because she had a match here. Good luck to you two, and don't abandon hope.. "

With that Asteria walked off, a sudden snap of her fingers and she dissapeared in thin air to follow Cerbera once more.