What was the reason?

It was finally their lunch break. Ash had been getting a lot of stares all through his morning classes and he didn't like that at all. He was thin-skinned so the stares he'd been getting were making him more self-conscious than ever before.

Ash was rushing out of the class to avoid running into his bullies but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Erin, he was relieved when he saw that it was just Erin. "....can you let go, please?" Erin ignored the shorter male's request and and asked him a question "Are you getting lunch in the cafeteria or do you have a homemade lunch?".

Ash stuttered a bit before answering the question with a simple " homemade" he paused for a second before explaining, "I can't afford food in the cafeteria so, of course, I have a homemade lunch".

Erin stared at Ash before responding " We'll your mother must love you, she makes you lunch". Ash murmured, "I don't have a mother". He said it so quietly Erin didn't hear him but ash' face turned a bit dark, he was upset especially because he had no memory of his parents. Erin thought that Ash was just hungry and grabbed his arm gently, but before they could step out of the room, they were stopped. Ash trembled when he saw who had stopped them, it was Jason and his lackeys. Jason looked at Ash then at Erin and then back to Ash, " can I borrow the pipsqueak, Erin?". Ash instinctively slinked away from Jason, Erin didn't fail to notice and he knew exactly why Ash reacted in that manner.

Erin glared at Jason who flinched at the glare he got. Jason knew he couldn't afford to offend Erin, everyone knew who he was except Ash who has no idea who Erin was and it was clear because he was a bit more relaxed around Erin than everyone else, including teachers.

"Borrow? is he a thing for you to borrow? why don't you try and ask him to come with you". Jason stared at Ash with a threatening tone in his voice and said " can you come with us?" accompanied by a smile, ash couldn't help but tremble, "sure, I guess".

Erin reluctantly, let go of Ash's arm, " I'll be waiting for you right here so don't waste my time" said Erin watching them walk up the stairs to the rooftop.

Jason thought that the comment was for Ash who also thought the same but it wasn't. Jason shoved ash out the door once they were out of sight "you little bitch, just because people think you're pretty doesn't mean you can go hang around people who are so obviously out of your league!". "

You were pathetic before but now you're even worse, on top of being a wimp you have a weirdly pretty face".

Ash reminded himself of why he decided to just do whatever he wanted and stood up, "Why are you so invested in my life? mind your own business, I might have let you walk all over me but I don't care about you or your opinion anymore!".

It went quiet and then Ash felt a pain on his left cheek which made an indent and looked as if it were glowing red.

While Erin wandered the halls not knowing what going on just a level above him, Ash was getting brutally beaten by the 3 guys on the roof of the school. It didn't take long for Ash to start bleeding like always. Jason said, " now that you've wasted his time, let's see if he glances at you a second time".

Ash couldn't get used to the pain no matter how much it happen, but this time he refused to weep in front of these despicable people. By then 20 minutes had passed and Erin decided to go look for Ash. Erin went straight to the rooftop and he had this uneasy feeling with every step he took.

Erin opened the door and he was furious when he saw that Ash was bleeding before anyone could react, he grabbed Jason and start beating him up, the other two ran off while Erin was busy with Jason. Jason immediately ran to Ash's side and helped him up.

"what are you doing here, you said you would wait". Erin scowled, "yea well you were taking a while". Embarrassed Ash said " well I'm fine so you can let go now," with a slight blush creeping up his neck. Erin sighed and replied with a simple "fine".

Although he was feeling a bit unstable on his own he quickly regained control. "So lunch?" said Ash, to which Erin replied "well, of course, that's what we agreed on" before a slight smile showed on his lips.

Ash and Erin went towards the cafeteria albeit awkwardly but right before they reached the cafeteria, Erin turned towards the door instead. Ash looked at Erin, confusion evident on his face "the cafeteria is this way you know" said Ash.

"I know that, that's why we're going to the office" Said Erin. Ash asked "why" but instead of responding Erin had a slight smile on his face and continued towards the office. When Erin got to the office he was handed Two lunches, he went up to the rooftop after they got them, with Ash following closely behind.

When they go to the rooftop they sat down by the wall out of view. Erin handed one of the lunches to Ash and to Ash's surprise, it was his favorite food, onigiri with salmon filling. Although ash usually made his lunch, he had never seen Erin around on the days he did bring onigiri.

"you told me you like this when we were younger," said Erin but ash looked at Erin confused once again "when I was younger? I don't know what you're talking about, if we had met I would have remembered you".

" Trust me, we have met and we were inseparable back then but how could you possibly know," said Erin as he sighed.