The Results Are In

Ashley paced around in the unpainted dorm room, "I can't believe this! Rank D!" The blonde threw her hands up in the air, "I can't believe I got so screwed I ended up with you losers in Rank D."

"You got screwed?" Riley sat up on the dark blue bed. "What about me?"

"You ate right before you're fight. Of course you wold end up here, idiot." Ashley scoffed at the Fire User.

Junko rubbed the back of his shaggy brown hair, "Yeah, honestly I'm kinda embarrassed about that."

The purple haired man walked into the room, "Ah, it's you three."

"Hey look, it's Grape Head." Riley said.

The purple haired man chuckled, "Very funny. But my name is Xiong."

"Eh, I like Grape Head better." Riley decided as he fell on his back.

"Why are you are sitting in here?" Xiong asked curiously? "Don't you want to watch the rest of the Rank Exams?"

"Heck no!" Riley shouted so loud the walls nearly rattled. "I deserve to be put in S Rank immediately!"

"And so do I!" Ashley exclaimed agreeing with Riley for the first time in her life.

Xiong sighed as he checked his clipboard, "What were you're names again?"

"Riley Narahara!"

"I'm Ashley Yiu."

Xiong nodded as he scanned his clipboard, "Oh right, Yiu you have the second lowest score."

"What? That can't be right?" Ashley ran over to check Xiong's clipboard. Her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw that Xiong's statement was correct.

Riley laughed so hard he doubled over, "Second lowest score, ha! You know that means you're like this close to being the worst Ovala here!" Riley chuckled showing the size between his fingers."

Ashley huffed and crossed her arms, "Whatever."

"Come to think of it though, you were matched up against Ren Smith." Xiong pondered the thought as he tapped his chin.

Riley hand waved Xiong's comment, "Nah, she she deserves to be in here. I on the other hand should be in the S Rank dorm right now!"

"Actually Riley." Xiong started. "You have the lowest score tied with Junko."

Riley's brown eyes widened in disbelief, "No way!"

Junko's head fell down, "Ninju's not gonna like to hear that."

"Come on Grape Head!" Riley shouted clenching his fists. "You gotta let us retake the entrance exam!"

Xiong's eyebrow twitched, "I said call me Xiong! I'm sorry, but rules are rules," He said sternly.

"So then, what do we do now?" Junko asked plopping down onto his bed ruffling the white sheets.

"There are two ways you can raise in rank," Xiong started. "The first is whenever you meet specific requirements."

Ashley raised her eyebrow, "What kind of specific requirements?"

"It varies based on who your mentor is," Xiong explained as the room became dimmer from the sun setting. "And the second way is to pass your final exams. You will have two chances each year to rise in rank."

"Screw that!" Riley yelled swiping his arm to the side. It quickly hit the wall causing Riley to cower in pain holding his injured arm, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Riley are you okay?!" Junko knelled down to look at Riley. "Do you need me to take you to a hospital?" He asked his eyes watering.

Riley looked up at Junko's big bulgy brown eyes and gave a half-hearted laugh. "Why are you crying? I'm the one who's in pain here."

Junko grasped onto his friend's arm and stared at him straight on in the eyes. "Because when you're in pain, I'm in even more pain than you are. You're special to me after all." Junko and Riley both stared at each other passion filling their sparkling eyes.

"Junko..."

"Riley..."

"Well, I'll just be leaving then. I hope you two will be very happy together." Xiong calmly walked out of the room and quietly closed the door.

"Hey wait a minute Grape Head!" Riley extended his arm but alas it was already to late.

Junko and Riley both looked up at Ashley who's face was painted bright red. She placed her hand over her mouth, averted her gaze, and muttered, "Continue..."

The next morning Junko got up and went to the bathroom to get ready. As he was walking through the room, he bumped into something hard which caused him to fall down. "Ouch.." Junko rubbed his head in pain.

"Hey what's the big idea?!" Riley shouted as he stood up shaking his fist. "Oh it's just you Junko. I thought it was Ashley."

"It's still not okay if I bumped into you. Even if I'm not Ashley." Junko bowed his head, "I'm sorry, Riley."

"Nah don't worry about it. It's fine as long as it's not that cucumber seed," Riley said nodding his head as if he said something profound.

"Cucumber seed...? I'll just ignore that," Junko said realizing that was the best decision. "But why do you and Ashley never get along anyway?" Junko was curious to why this was. He thought they were both pretty cool people and really fun to be around. So he just couldn't understand why they were always at odds.

"We're complete opposites, fire and water." Riley said stating the obvious.

"Yeah but that's no reason not to like someone!" Junko couldn't wrap his head around not liking someone just because they had an opposite element. Of course he's never come in contact with any Light User before. At least none of which that he remembers. But still...there had to be something more. Something...Riley was hiding from him.

"Let's just say...she reminds me of someone," Riley said in a quiet voice with a solemn expression.

Junko's eyes widened in disbelief. It was the first time he saw Riley with that face and the first time he heard him use that voice. Granted, he didn't know Riley for very long yet but he never seemed like the type of person to do what he just did. And Junko was left speechless.

"Hey are you two losers done hogging the bathroom?" Ashley asked as she shoved her way in.

"Speak of the devil. Literally," Riley uttered with disdain.

"What did you say?!" Ashley shouted before chucking a brush at Riley's face. "Great, now my brush has your germs on it..."

"Then don't throw it at me in the first place!" Riley yelled dramatically pointing his finger at the Water user.

"Junko, clean up the brush for me," Ashley demanded. "Now."

Junko rapidly nodded his head, "Yes Ma'am!" The polite boy quickly picked up the brush and began rinsing it off with soap and water.

Riley sighed, "Junko! Stop listening to her!"

"But...I want to be a gentleman," Junko softly said.

"Being a gentleman doesn't mean you have to do whatever she tells you!"

Junko grinned, "Right. Being a gentleman means doing favors for anyone anytime!"

A red stress mark suddenly appeared on Riley's forehead, "No, it doesn't!"

Junko cocked his head to the side, "But that's what Ninju said..."

Riley walked back into the bathroom and rested his hand on Junko's shoulder, "I wanna meet this Ninju dude one day."

Junko smiled widely and nodded, "Sure! I can't wait for you guys to meet! You're both Fire users too, so he can teach you a lot of stuff! It'll be so awesome!"

Riley's eyes widened, "R-Really?"

"Of course!" Junko placed on hand on his left hip and gave Riley a thumbs up. "I double promise!"

Riley raised his eyebrows, "Double promise?"

"Yeah, this way it's impossible for me to break it. Because I'm bind by a promise on both sides of me. There's no escape," Junko laughed innocently.

Ashley tapped her foot impatiently, "Are you done yet?"

"Almost," Junko said with a bright smile.

"I bet you would've been done if you didn't waste your time talking to your idiot friend." Ashley said before turning her back on Junko. "Hurry up already!"

"Yes Ma'am!" Junko responded obediently. He sped up the cleaning process as fast he could and withing a couple of minutes he was finished. "Here you go Ashley," He said handing the spotless wooden brush to her.

"Took you long enough," She scoffed as she snatched the brush out of his hands."

Once Ashley was done brushing her hair, Junko waved over to her, "Come on Ashley, let's go to class before we're late."

Riley moaned, "Ugh, do we really have to take her with us?"

"Of course, we're all friends," Junko smiled gleefully as he walked in between Riley and Ashley.

"No, we're not!" Riley and Ashley both shouted in unison.

Riley hooked his arm around Junko and whispered, "Listen, I'm cool with you. But I really want nothing to do with Ashley."

"Because of the fire and water thing?" Junko asked that but he actually was thinking it might have had more to do with the thing he told him earlier. About how Ashley reminded him of someone he used to know. Still, he could tell that was a touchy subject for Riley and so ultimately decided against bringing it up.

But Riley just simply folded his arms and nodded profoundly, "Exactly."