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Noon!
Jasper was just chilling at home, enjoying some downtime, when someone knocked on the door.
Who could it be? Curious, he opened the door—only to see Peter Parker standing there with a big grin on his face. Behind Peter were his buddy Ned, Annie, and Gwen Stacy.
What are they all doing here together?
Jasper raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"
Peter got straight to the point—they were here to invite Jasper to hang out at the beach.
Jasper glanced outside at the blazing hot pavement, then shook his head. "You guys go ahead. I've got stuff to do."
Honestly, in this kind of weather, he'd much rather stay home gaming or reviewing the combat techniques Raiden Shogun had taught him.
That's when Annie stepped up, wrapping her arm around his like it was a date. "C'mon~ Come with me! It'll be fun!"
Jasper looked at her being all cutesy, but he didn't budge. Sure, she was pretty, but Jasper was into women who were strong and charismatic. You know, like Raiden Shogun.
He was about to turn her down again, but then Peter chimed in, "Come on, man. Just relax and have some fun!"
Then Ned and Gwen joined in too, trying to talk him into it.
In the end, Jasper gave in and joined the crew.
They headed out using Jasper's dad's car—and of course, Jasper was the one driving.
He sighed. Seriously? He thought they had everything planned out, but turns out they didn't prepare anything. Was this even going to be fun?
With that skeptical thought in mind, Jasper drove for over an hour until they finally reached the beach.
The girls immediately got super hyped when they saw the ocean.
Jasper, on the other hand, didn't feel much. Honestly, it seemed kinda boring.
Like… boring called up boring and invited it over for dinner.
As soon as he parked the car, the girls jumped out, buzzing with excitement.
Once they were out, Ned leaned over to Peter and whispered, "Good luck."
Peter scratched his head and chuckled awkwardly—he still hadn't worked up the nerve to confess to Gwen.
Jasper stayed quiet, just hoping Peter could finally get together with her.
After the guys got out of the car, the girls rushed off to change.
Jasper had already shown up in a T-shirt, so he didn't need to change.
While the girls were off getting ready, he decided to wander around a bit.
He didn't really like crowded places, so without realizing it, he drifted away from the crowd.
After walking for a few more minutes, he suddenly heard someone yelling for help.
He followed the voice and came across a messed-up scene—a group of guys were dragging off a girl, Mori Kobayashi, while cursing nonstop. Not far away, Rick stood there pale as a ghost.
Jasper instantly understood what was happening. Was Mori just ridiculously unlucky? Or did she just give off a vibe that made her an easy target?
Jasper stepped in, grabbing one of the punks by the arm and kicking him hard, sending the guy flying.
There were three of them in total.
After one got taken down, the other two came at Jasper, but to him, their movements were painfully slow.
He grabbed one of them and slapped him hard enough to make him dizzy. Then he decked the last guy with a single punch.
Once they were all dealt with, Jasper turned to Mori. Her face was pale—she looked absolutely terrified.
Tears welled up in her eyes. This was the first time something like this had happened to her, and she was scared out of her mind.
She looked up at Jasper, lips trembling. "Thank you…"
Jasper nodded. "Don't mention it. But man, you really have bad luck. Try to be more careful from now on. I'm not always gonna be around to save you."
Mori gave a small nod, then turned to Rick and said, "Sorry… I'm not gonna continue today. I'll send your money back."
Rick didn't say anything—he couldn't even look at her. He'd been scared stiff and didn't even try to help her. He felt like total trash for not doing anything.
Shame washed over him—deep and sharp.
Maybe Rick thought of himself as useless too. Jasper had actually stepped in to help… Was that the reason Annie liked him?
Rick nodded silently.
Mori walked back to Jasper and said, "Let's go home."
Jasper blinked in confusion. Go home? I just got here.
But Mori's face was still ghost-white, and she looked like she was still shaken. She really was scared.
Even someone like Jasper couldn't ignore a girl looking that helpless. In that moment, she actually seemed kinda cute.
Still, he didn't really want to leave just yet.
That's when Mori stepped in front of him and said, "Then… stay with me. Protect me."
Protect her? Well, yeah, if something happened again, he would step in, but the idea still felt a little weird.
"I'll pay you," Mori added quickly.
That got Jasper's attention. His eyes lit up. "Well, in that case… I'll make sure you're safe."
Then he walked Mori back and met up with Peter and the others.
"Jasper, where'd you disappear to? And who's she? Your little sister? She's so cute," Annie said, eyeing the petite Mori next to him.
Mori frowned and asked, "And who are you supposed to be?"
Annie snuggled up to Jasper's arm again and smiled. "I'm his girlfriend."
Using the girlfriend card again, huh?
Mori looked at the two of them, then said, "You look good together."
She rubbed her forehead and said, "I think I'm gonna rest in the car for a bit."
Jasper nodded and took her to the car.
After that, he left.
Mori leaned her head against the window, watching him walk away and muttered, "What an annoying guy."
Seeing Annie and Jasper acting all lovey-dovey made her uncomfortable.
She turned her gaze away.
Dark skin, huge boobs—totally screams "slutty."She's probably not even a virgin anymore.
Is that all it takes to be your girlfriend? Just look hot? How shallow can you be, Jasper? Don't you know an interesting soul is worth way more than just a pretty face?
Mori considered herself pretty too, but… maybe not quite at Annie's level.
She closed her eyes.
Not long after, she drifted off to sleep.
In her dream—
"Hey hey, Jasper! When I grow up, I wanna marry you!" A young, mushroom-haired Mori chased after little Jasper.
He turned around, totally unfazed, and said, "Nope. Go away, you little Japanese girl."
Mori felt his icy glare stab right through her, and it broke her heart.
"I hate you, Jasper," she whispered in her sleep.
"....."