Open Up Ashley

Riley stuck a chicken wing smothered in barbecue sauce into his mouth. His teeth violated the useless device of the dead chicken. The hungry boy swiped up some rice and corn with his fork and threw them into the huge tunnel that was his mouth. He finished by throwing some grape juice into the mix.

Riley glanced over at Junko who looked to be spaced out. "Hey Junko, why aren't you eating?" Riley asked, his mouth full of a mutilated combination of his dinner.

Junko slowly woke out of his daze. "Sorry, what did you say, Riley?

"I asked why you're not eating dinner," Riley said as he somehow managed to gulp down all that food at once. "You haven't taken a bite since we sat down."

"Oh." Junko stared down at his plate full of food. He ran his hand across the edge of the long stainless steel table. "I'm just worried about Ashley. I haven't seen her since school ended."

"Meh, who cares about that cucumber seed," Riley dismissed his natural enemy as he wiped his mouth with his bare hands.

Junko muttered, "Cucumber seed, again...?" And then the kind boy chuckled. "You're awesome, Riley."

"Huh? What'd I do?" Riley asked with a puzzled face.

"You're just really fun to be around." Junko grinned as he got up from his seat. "I'll meet you in the dorm later, okay?"

"Where are you going?" the Fire User asked.

Junko notched his head back and beamed. "To water a seed."

Junko spent the rest of the evening looking around for Ashley. He searched every corridor of the school but still no luck. And just when he was about to give up, a boy with wavy green hair ran up to him.

"Hey, you're friends with Ashley Yiu, right?" The green-haired boy suddenly asked him.

Junko nodded. "Um yeah, why?"

"I saw her wandering around outside the school gates," he said, looking back at the aforementioned large white gates. "She could get expelled for that."

"Really?!" Junko clapped his hands together and bowed forward. "Thank you so much! I really owe you."

"Nah, don't sweat it," the green-haired boy smirked. "Just doing my thing. I kinda make it my policy to help people out but not get involved directly."

"Gilles, let's go," Ren said as he walked past the two boys.

"Sorry, gotta bounce. By the way, name's Gilles Cheng." Gilles stuck up two fingers in front of his forehead. "Peace."

Junko watched as Ren and Gilles faded into the distance. "That was Ren Smith. The guy who won his Rank Exam in one hit. I wonder what he is doing with Gilles?" Junko shook his head dismissing his thoughts. "I don't have time to think about that right now. I have to help Ashley!"

Junko ran as fast as he could towards the school gates but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw all of the teachers were guarding the gates. Probably since school was already over. He didn't think it would be too hard to simply sneak past most of them despite how strong they most likely were. He was pretty good at being sneaky. Whenever he played hide-and-seek with Ninju, Junko would always win. So, it shouldn't be too hard to make his way past these guys without being detected.

All but one that is. Junko kept his eyes focused on the one would make his task the most difficult and muttered the man's name, "Mentor Cody..."

Junko got on all fours and kept his body as close to the ground as he could while still maintaining quick enough movement. He barely put any weight on his hands and feet as he crawled towards the edge of the gate.

Before the young boy made it even a quarter of the way he suddenly found himself a good distance on the other side of the gate. "Huh?" Junko scratched his head in confusion. "How'd I get here so quickly?" He looked back to see Cody winking at him. Junko smiled in relief at that and nodded a thanks to his mentor.

His eyes rapidly traveled around the perimeter to see if anyone had seen him. "I'm alone," Junko said with a relieved sigh. Then he saw Ashley eating something underneath a tall and lush tree, several apples decorating its foliage. He was too far away to see just what she was eating though. As Junko got closer and closer to Ashley he realized, she hadn't noticed him, being completely absorbed with eating her watermelon.

Ashley bit into the red fruit with a delighted smile. "Mm, so good!" She rubbed her hand against her jaw, soaking in the sweet juicy taste.

"Hey Ashley," Junko said, startling the girl enjoying her watermelon.

Ashley's face went bright red and she quickly turned her head around. "Um, what do you want loser? I don't share with idiots."

Junko let out an awkward chuckle. "It's okay, I don't want any. I just wanted to talk to you." Junko sat down on the grass next to Ashley underneath the large orchard trees.

"Tough luck," Ashley said before returning to her snack.

"Why don't you want to go on the Quest?" Junko asked her. "Is it because you're scared. If it is, you should know I'm a little scared too."

"We're delivering a package..."

"Oh right, haha." Junko laughed while rubbing the back of his head. "So then why don't you wanna go?"

Ashley sighed. "Has anyone ever told you, you're incredibly annoying?"

Junko put his finger to his lips and pondered the thought. "I think you have a couple of times."

"Good," Ashley said before biting into her watermelon once more. "Listen, I already told you I don't want to talk to you. So just leave already."

"Yes Ma'am," Junko replied as he immediately got up and walked away.

Ashley's eyes briefly shot open in surprise but then returned to normal. "I see, so that's how it is," the blonde said with a malicious smirk slowly creeping up on her face. "This changes everything."