Junichiro couldn't help smiling in return. Rias's bright and cheerful attitude just made the people around her want to be happy too, "It's good to see you again as well, Rias." He looked at the others, "You all as well."
Rias practically bounced to her feet in her excitement for today's training, "Akeno volunteered to train with you today and we all wished to watch. I hope that's alright with you?"
Junichiro shrugged nonchalantly, "Doesn't bother me in the least. In fact, it might be best if you were all present at all the training sessions. It's a good chance to learn about each other, myself, and new tactics or possibly gain new ideas."
All five of them made their way to the teleportation circle and made their way down into the training room once more. Rias summoned up the coliseum training program for their use. Mostly because it was the only one with seating for the rest of the peerage. Akeno, wearing the Kuoh Academy uniform, stood across from Junichiro.
He studied Akeno as she stared at him. Though she tried to hide it behind her fake smile, he could see that Akeno didn't like him very much. The reason why was obvious, Mittelt. Frankly, he'd hoped to have broken up with her by now. At this point he was actually over the emotional turmoil one would expect from the end of their first relationship. Regardless, he was still technically dating her since he had scruples and wouldn't be a dick.
When Akeno spoke, her voice was crisp, cordial, but very distant not showing any more warmth than Koneko might've, "So, what do you want to teach me Arai-sensei?"
Everyone could hear the sarcasm that Akeno put into the word Sensei. While Koneko showed no reaction, both Rias and Kiba frowned deeply. Rias even called out, "Akeno-!"
Though Junichiro interrupted her by holding up a hand asking for silence. He looked blankly at Akeno, "If you have something you want to get off your chest, please feel free to do so." He looked over at Rias, "She can say whatever she wishes. It wont affect any of my decisions, alright?"
Rias still looked upset, but she nodded and then turned a glare at Akeno. She was clearly displeased with current events. Akeno gave her a, somewhat, apologetic look then focused back on Junichiro, "I just wonder what advice you can offer when your personal judgment is clearly so... clouded by your personal connections."
Junichiro tilted his head to the side as he contemplated her words, "And by that you mean?"
"You're dating a fallen angel yet spending time contemplating joining a devil peerage and even training us. How do we know you're not some Grigori spy? How do we know you're not as treacherous as those black winged cowards?"
Junichiro studied Akeno for a bit, he could clearly see the hatred and frustration in her eyes. It didn't surprise him given what he could remember of her from canon. Though it did lower his opinion of her as a person. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together could tell she was blaming the wrong person, and thus an entire race, for what happened to her mother. Though, he did agree that her dad was a complete dick for not contacting her the moment he knew where she was.
"I see that you have a bit of hate for fallen angels. I'm not sure what they did to you but it does make me wonder, should I hate you?"
Akeno looked taken aback, "What?"
"Well. I'm assuming you have some sort of reason for your hatred of maybe a few fallen angels that seems to extend to the entire race as a whole, for some reason. Going by that logic, shouldn't I hate the entire race of devils just because a single stray one cost me my right arm?"
The emphasize his point, he reached up and used the quick release to detach the majority of his right arm, drawing gasps from everyone watching, even those in the know already. It was just so surreal seeing what appeared to be a normal arm being casually removed and held up for observation.
Junichiro's gaze bore into Akeno's wide eyes, "A stray devil cut off my arm and ate it right in front of my eyes. Clearly I have a reason to hate that devil. Should I apply that hatred to you as well? Because, if so..."
His eyes narrowed and what magical power he had began to exude from around him as a malevolent cloak of power. It was nowhere near as strong as Akeno or Rias, but the way it was concentrated and twisted brought an unnatural amount of pressure down on Akeno's shoulders. His eyes seemed to glow with a dark light behind them, "I'd be happy to take out my anger and hatred for that one devil on you."
Rias was very annoyed with Akeno. They'd talked and while she had previously had some concern over Junichiro having some connections to the Grigori, especially dating a fallen angel, she'd since changed her mind. Knowing he was The Artificer made his connection to Grigori easily acceptable. Though her greedy side wanted to claim him and his creations all for herself, she was capable of suppressing it.
Even when he joined her peerage, she understood he would still have connections to the Grigori to do his work. She had some connections to the younger devils of her generation and she knew she could drum up some business for him there. It just wouldn't be anywhere near the kind of business he was already doing. None of her friends had the kind of connections or wealth of materials needed to get a really good creation made by Junichiro. She was very unwilling to even consider what older generations of devils would try to do to steal Junichiro from her if she tried to broker deals with them. With her friends she could at least expect they wouldn't try to completely screw her over, just a little to their advantage. they were devils, after all. The older ones though? Every contract would be filled with all kinds of attempts to steal as much from her as possible. Probably even attempts to force her to trade Junichiro to them. If she made the mistake of signing a contract like that, there would be nothing anyone, even her brother, would be able to do to change it.