「 A YOKAI? 」| RC9GN

02 • got stank?

"He'll turn up eventually." Howard leans back on his chair.

"Not good enough, Howard. The Ninja needs to do something about this." clenching my fist in determination.

"No, the 'Ninja' needs to come up with a new plan to get us plus Campbell into the fishcage tonight."

"Hey, how about come up with a plan for once?" 

We both stared at eachother for a while before bursting out laughing. I'm surprised Ash managed to stay asleep through that.

"I know, it sounded stupid the minute it came out of my mouth."

"It did, it really did." Howard then grabs me by the shoulders. "You can still make us the first freshmen in the Fishcage, Cunningham. I believe in you." He yawns. "Being inspiring really wipes me out." He pulls out an inflatable neck pillow and pulls the string to inflate it, the next second he immediately falls asleep, snoring loudly.

"Something turned Bucky into a monster. Maybe the Ninja Nomicon knows how to change him back." I bent down to my bag on the floor and pull out the Ninja Nomicon. Opening it, I read the first sentence. "Severing the puppet's strings. What the juice?" I stared in confusion.

"You gotta D'stank 'em bro." The corner of the page shows someone's handwriting. "Again I ask, what the juice?" My mind then gets sucked in, a message briefly appears. The evil funk possesses the vulnerable, using that which he holds most dear. I was then sucked back out.

"I have to D'stank him, bro!" 

Both Howard and Ash woke up in surprise.

"Really? Yelling in the library? We got like one rule and you just broke it." The librarian scolded.

"Sorry." I scratched the back of my neck in shame.

「Ashlynn's POV」

I shot my head up when I heard yelling, my mind still fuzzy from the sudden wake up call. "Shoot, how long was I out." I rubbed my eyes. I felt a weight on me, I look down and see there's a jacket over my shoulders. 

"Oh hey, you're awake." My eyes shifted over to see Randy and Howard. 

"Hi guys, I must've dosed off. Sorry about that." I take the jacket off of me and returned it to Randy. "What were you guys talking about? And what happened to your nose?"

"Eh, nothing important." Howard says nonchalantly. 

"Uh, I ran into a... door. Actually, I'm gonna head off somewhere real quick. I'll meet up with you guys later." 

With that, Randy runs out of the library leaving behind a trail of dust. 

"O... kay?" I sat confused. Howard didn't seem to mind his best friend's weird behavior. 

‐ – — — ★ — — – ‐

Howard was at his locker while I stood beside him. Leaning on my back scrolling through my phone, I had my headphones on, jamming out to my favourite playlist, nodding my head to the beat.

A pair of feet stepped into my vision, I look up to see Randy in a band uniform.

"Hey, guys." He greets. "Hi, what's the the get-up?" Taking off my headphones and resting them on my neck. 

"So, what's the plan for—Ah!" Howard shouts the moment he looks at him. "Why are you wearing that!" 

"I joined the marching band."