The day was coming to a halt very shortly, but Ezreal had finally woken up from his slumber. This was one of the first days that Ezreal had taken off entirely from work, but he still felt a need to go back to his work once he woke up. Ekko had finally gotten back and he went to sleep instantly.

Ezreal asked him, "Hey Ekko, have you done much work on your profile?"

"Nah, but I already know what could possibly fit me. I just want some sleep right now."

"Ah, I see. I'm so close on finishing mine!"

Ekko jumped on his bed after taking off his shoes and his jacket, and said, "Don't get too caught up in it. This is one of those projects that just takes time."

Ezreal thought about all the other major projects that he had to complete in his past life, and he essentially did the same thing that he was doing here. He got it done really quickly with a lot of concerted effort, but he kept trying to change it over and over based on small details that not many people pay attention too. For him, it would feel almost wrong to just give a project as big as this more time when it was all he could think about most of the time. While he didn't understand Ekko's way of thinking, he decided that it was better to just get some sleep and think about it later. He turned his head, and almost instantly fell back to sleep.

'I remember that my goal I initially set before coming here was to try and challenge myself every day, I wonder if changing how I approach this could be a new challenge. Whatever the circumstance may be, my next challenge ahead of me is figuring out how to ask out Ahri…'

Now when Ezreal woke up, all he could think about was Ahri. She was so interesting to him, not only because she was half fox but because it almost felt like she is a little girl that is growing up ever so slightly every day. She has a strong heart and longs to be accepted by the people around her, which makes her stand out to Ezreal. Most if not all the girls that Ezreal had met before almost fit very specific roles that he would typically assign to women – there is the clingy types, the smart types, the independent types, and the average types. Ahri couldn't fit any one of these, because she was seemingly independent but lacked confidence in herself so she needed at least one person by her side to tell her that she could do it. At the same time, she wouldn't cling to people like Ezreal for advice on what to do, and she was obviously not anywhere close to average in every single area.

Ezreal decided that he would just be straight forward, and he texted Ahri on his Academy phone.

"Hey Ahri! I hope it's not too early for you, but I kind of wanted to talk to you about some school stuff. Wanna meet in front of Runaan's Hall?"

It took a decent while, but Ahri replied, "Sure!"

Ezreal didn't take his computer with him, because he subconsciously knew that he wasn't going out so that he could just work on his project more. Rather, he wanted to start on a new journey and get a feel for what it was like on the outside all this time. If this were to really happen, it would be the first time that he had gone on a date with a girl. It came with a lot of spite from Ezreal since he wasn't exactly the assertive type of personality, and he thought that guys were supposed to be the one to do everything on dates. Ezreal did like the feeling of being fully in control of things around him, but he wasn't sure how to deal with women; he secretly wished that he could find a girl at some point in his life that would do most of the work for Ezreal so that he didn't have to go through such hardships figuring out how he was supposed to socialize and develop an almost new type of personality for himself.

Ezreal was actually not the first one there; Ahri was just scrolling through her phone while Ezreal walked up to her. "Hey, why weren't you at that group activity yesterday?"

Ahri smiled and tilted her head slightly. "What group activity?"

"Are you serious, that idiot Ekko didn't even tell you?!"

Ahri gave a strange look on her face as if she was obstructing the truth, but she playfully knocked her head and said, "I don't think so at least."

Ezreal shrugged it off, and attempted to continue forwarding the conversation. "Well, you don't need to worry about it too much. We just met with most of the people in our class and traveled around Ionia. I kind of wish you were there just because it looked like everyone was having so much fun!"

Ahri smiled at him, again giving a look of confusion to Ezreal. Still, she was as adorable as he first met her. It was hard for Ezreal to even think that he managed to make friends with someone so beautiful, considering his lack of experience with talking to women. "So, what's up?"

Ezreal put his hands behind his head and tried to play it off. "Ah, well I wanted to talk about some school stuff!"

"That's…all?"

"Oh, err…" Ezreal started scratching his head, as he continued to beat around the bush.

'Well damn, I never got past this situation! I wonder if there's a way that I can sort of hint towards it without giving it away…hmmm…'

"I figured that, y'know, friends kind of talk about some fun stuff once in a while and they also do stuff with each other on the weekends, and…"

Ahri just gave the blankest look of confusion at this point. "Is this the Morse code that I've heard of, where it's like a message within a message?"

'Gah, to hell with it. I HAVE TO TRY AT LEAST ONCE!'

Ezreal aggressively held in his breath, and looked over slightly to the right of Ahri, and he said, "WILL YOU GO ON A DATE WITH ME?" Ezreal's face lost almost all it's color, and his nervousness was just pouring out of himself through his reactions and his body language.

Ahri, still looking slightly confused, said, "Oh, was that it? You should've just said so! Of course I'll go on a date with you!"

Ezreal gave a huge sigh of relief, and offered his hand. "Alright, well I was hoping we could go to that new park that Ionia just built, it's only a half mile off from the Academy!"

Ahri nodded. "Sounds like fun!"

Ezreal grabbed Ahri's soft and delicate fingers, and walked down the path that led to the Ionian Park. They didn't talk much on the way because Ezreal was still unsure of what to say, but suddenly Ahri put her other hand on Ezreal's shoulder and said, "Hey, I don't want you to feel pressured around me. It gives me sort of bad vibes, since I don't put a lot of trust in many humans. Just be yourself!"

"Ah, yeah of course!"

That statement from Ahri put a lot less pressure for Ezreal to do anything that would be a-typical or normal for other people who were going on dates, so he just acted like his old confident and cocky self for the time being.

"Just think about it, Ahri…In about a year or so, however long it takes for my followers to appreciate my brilliance, you'll be walking down this road and see statues erected of me in my honor for gracing this Academy with my presence!"

Ahri laughed really hard. "You really think so?"

Ezreal put his hand to his chest, saying, "If they don't build it, then I will just continue to prove my worth until they acknowledge me. I will pour everything I have into it so that people can appreciate me!"

Ahri smiled, and started warming up to Ezreal a little more. Now that Ezreal knew of Ahri's past, he felt like he was special to Ahri since she didn't know many other humans that she could trust. In his head, he was probably the only guy whom Ahri could trust besides Jirou. When they got there, they just sat down and watched the children of Ionia play all around the ginormous field of brightly shining grass in front of them. "They seem so happy!"

Ezreal could tell that this was already a good idea bringing Ahri to this place. "Yeah, youth sometimes brings out a lot in people. I'm actually glad that I was an only child, because I really don't like kids…like at all, haha!"

Ahri turned her head towards Ezreal, and gave him a small nudge. "I bet one day you might think differently. What it if was your own son or daughter?"

The thought of Ezreal having his own kids slightly frightened him. "I was already probably a handful for my parents and it was just me! I'd lose my temper so easily, even though the sound of having a wife is slightly more interesting. I have to be honest, I never really thought of life after being a champion. That's really the only thing that I've desired for so long."

"Could you tell me why?"

Ezreal thought to himself about it. "That's a tough one, mostly because I probably forgot…" Ezreal laughed at himself and started thinking more deeply about Ahri's question. "Well, it might have to do with my nature, you could say. My mother used to always tell me these fun stories of things that champions could do, and how it was refreshing that she didn't have to go through the horrors of things like War hopefully ever again. She told me that champions hold their place rightfully at the top because they dedicated themselves to their passion, which I wanted to be able to experience. I always thought of myself as a bit of an explorer, so I thought that maybe becoming a champion would open up these opportunities for me to explore the world and also become someone that some people could call a hero."

Ahri seemed really captivated by what Ezreal said. "To become a hero for your people, that's quite a goal. Well you know me already, I was sent here for protection. I didn't expect that I would really have to become a champion in order to survive, but that's what it is starting to look like. I hope that someday it can come to me what my purpose is, and what I wish to accomplish by becoming a champion…"

Ezreal smiled back and playfully patted her shoulder. "Eh, I'm sure it'll just take some time!" Now that Ezreal and Ahri had created a nice mood, he decided to start talking about something he wished to know. "Now that you mention it, have you figured out what you want to put in your champion profile?"

Ahri sighed and put her hands on her chin. "No, not at all. It's hard for me to imagine myself as a champion because I struggle to see what I am to begin with. I don't really know how to explain it, but I didn't get to live for a lot of my life because all I've really been doing is surviving instead of living."

"No, I totally get that." Ezreal closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "I think I've read about this somewhere, but I've felt that a lot of other people have an external connection to their work here at the Academy. My external connection is my passion for adventure, and it's hard for you to make that connection because of your unfortunate past."

'Time to put on my cool guy act once more!'

Ezreal stood up and held Ahri's hands. "It takes some time, but I bet with a little help and some exploring that you will surely find that passion! I'll make sure of it!"

Ahri felt pleasantly surprised at what Ezreal said, and just quietly agreed while feeling a little shyer than usual. "You sure have a thing for words, Piltover boy."

Ezreal felt a tad embarrassed. "Huh, who told you that nickname?!"

Before Ezreal knew it, Ahri was laughing so much and Ezreal had joined in on her laughter. The two of them were surrounded by people in that giant park, but to them it felt like they were the only two people in the entire continent of Ionia at that moment. "I don't mean to cut the date short, but I just remembered a couple things I have to do. But, I'd like to continue this some other time if that's okay with you."

Ezreal nodded. "Yeah, of course!"

"I had lots of fun, Ezreal. It was nice spending time with you."

As Ezreal stood there watching Ahri walk down the hill and go back to her own place, he just couldn't get a few things off his mind.

'I seriously just wanna pummel whoever told her to call me Piltover boy right now! Even though she said it like that, she still almost feels a little innocent or shy about it. I wonder if that anything to do with something she heard about me, or what Ryze told her about me. It's so weird to still think that someone this hot is actually taking a liking to me, like it makes my heart pound so hard every moment I'm with her. But…I'm not really scared, I'm actually excited...it keeps making more more excited just imagining how she will progress, how the both of us will progress. It gives me the confidence to keep trying so hard, so that I can continue to prove my worth!'