"Rai-nii, I..."
Keith remained on his knees with his head bowed so low that Reiji could barely see his face. He knew he had caused serious trouble this time. Naoki had already saved him from the people chasing him, and Keith had thanked him for it, but that still left the much more uncomfortable matter of explaining himself to Reiji.
Reiji had only just walked into the living room, so the sight left him completely confused.
"What happened?"
He looked Keith over, trying to figure out what could possibly have driven him to greet Reiji by dropping to his knees.
Naoki sighed and stepped forward. "Boss, it's like this..."
He explained everything from the beginning: how Keith had gotten involved with the girl, how the two had been pursued all the way to the waters near Mandarin Island North, and how Naoki had eventually been forced to intervene and kill their pursuers.
The girl standing nearby listened silently. She still did not understand why Keith seemed so terrified of the man who had just entered, but one detail in Naoki's explanation quickly caught her attention.
He kept calling Reiji Boss.
Miki stared at him, slowly putting the pieces together. The Elite Four-tier Trainer who had saved her answered to Reiji, and Keith clearly did too. Yet she knew this man—or at least thought she did. She had met him back in Johto and had even followed him to the Orange Archipelago.
She covered her mouth in disbelief.
Reiji noticed the reaction, spared her a curious glance, then returned his attention to Keith.
"You really know how to find trouble, don't you?" he said. "Do you understand what you did wrong?"
Keith finally dared to look up. Reiji did not seem furious, which gave him just enough hope to relax.
"I understand, Rai-nii."
"And you'll do it again next time?"
"Yes—"
The answer escaped before Keith's brain caught up with his mouth.
He froze.
Reiji slowly raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"
Keith nearly bit his own tongue.
"No! I mean no. There won't be a next time, Rai-nii."
"That's what I thought." Reiji pointed toward the door. "Go stand outside and face the wall. Stay there until I tell you otherwise."
Keith did not argue. He scrambled to his feet, still a little shaky, and started toward the door while Reiji dropped onto the couch and opened one of the cold beers sitting on the table.
Before Keith could get very far, Miki stepped in front of him.
"Why should he?"
Keith stopped.
Miki spread her arms as though she intended to physically block his path. "Keith saved my life. Why does he have to take orders from you just because you say so?"
The Keith she had known during the pursuit had been stubborn, brave, and willing to keep fighting no matter how bad things became. Watching that same person turn obedient the moment Reiji appeared made absolutely no sense to her.
Reiji took another drink and regarded her for a moment.
"You can go stand with him."
The room went quiet.
Miki was not one of them, and everyone present knew it. Reiji had no actual authority over her, which made the casual order even more startling.
Her temper flared immediately. "Why would I do that?"
"Miki, don't." Keith caught her sleeve and lowered his voice. "Don't argue with Rai-nii."
That only irritated her more.
Reiji leaned back against the couch. He had already decided he disliked the way she pushed into matters she did not understand and immediately assumed she knew who was right. If she intended to stay around Keith and this group, that habit was going to cause trouble sooner or later.
"The front door's open," he said. "Nobody's keeping you here. If you don't like how we do things, you're free to leave."
"Fine. I will."
Miki tore her sleeve from Keith's hand and marched toward the door. She had only gone a few steps, however, when she realized nobody was following.
She turned around.
Keith had gone to the wall.
He stood there exactly where Reiji had ordered him, looking uncomfortable but showing no intention of leaving with her.
"Why?" Miki demanded.
Keith glanced back, baffled by the question. "Why what?"
"He treats you like that and you're just going to stay?"
Keith finally understood.
"Because this is my home." His voice lost some of its nervousness as he answered. "My family is here. Why would I leave?"
Miki stared at him, but Keith shook his head before she could interrupt.
"Rai-nii was right. I caused trouble, and I nearly got both of us killed. Naoki had to come clean up after me. If I screw up, I take the punishment."
That answer hurt her more than she expected.
After everything the two of them had survived together, Miki had thought the bond between them had become something special. Yet the moment she demanded that Keith choose, he had chosen the people in this villa without hesitation.
For a moment, she felt ridiculous for ever expecting otherwise.
Keith saw the look on her face and stepped away from the wall despite his punishment.
"Miki, you said you want revenge, right? Then stay."
She looked at him sharply.
"These people can help you. If you trust me, just stay here. Rai-nii can help you become stronger, and when the time comes, you'll have a real chance to settle things with the people who did this to you."
Keith wanted desperately to tell her more, but he could not explain Spider to someone who had not been accepted into it. All he could do was ask her to trust him.
They had first met during the tournament, both using Flying-type Pokémon and both chasing their own ambitions. After that, coincidence kept throwing them together until casual friendship became something much stronger. When Miki was hunted, Keith had stepped in without thinking and run beside her all the way to Mandarin Island North.
Somewhere during that ordeal, his feelings had changed.
Miki had lost her parents and no longer had a home waiting for her. Keith knew that loneliness better than most, and part of him wanted her to find the same thing he had eventually found here.
A family.
But he could not abandon that family to prove his loyalty to her.
Keith had grown up without parents himself. Before finding this place, he had spent years learning what it meant to have nobody waiting for him and nowhere he truly belonged. The people around him now had trained with him, protected him, fought beside him, and risked their lives for one another.
He could not throw that away.
If Miki forced him to choose between her and them, he already knew his answer.
"I don't need anyone to help me!" Miki shouted. "I'll get my revenge myself. I'll kill every one of them with my own hands!"
All the anger she had been holding back finally spilled out. She turned away before Keith could stop her and hurried through the door, stumbling once as she disappeared from the villa.
Keith remained where he was, watching the empty doorway.
Sometimes there was no reasoning with someone while they were angry. Whether Miki truly wanted to leave or was simply lashing out because she felt rejected was something she would have to decide after she cooled down.
Naoki let out a weary sigh and looked toward the couch.
"Boss?"
Reiji was quietly whistling and turning the beer bottle between his fingers.
"She gone?"
Naoki blinked. "Yeah."
Reiji had deliberately kept his distance from Miki from the moment he first saw her, yet somehow she had still ended up at the villa with Keith. At that point, he had decided there was little harm in seeing whether Keith could pull her into their orbit.
But not while she thought she could walk into someone else's home, challenge its rules, and expect everyone to rearrange themselves around her.
Miki had once come from money and status, and enough of that old pride remained to make her difficult. Reiji was not interested in crushing it out of her, but if she wanted anything from Spider, she first needed to understand that nobody here was going to indulge her simply because she was angry.
What happened after that was Keith's problem.
If he convinced her to come back, the organization could help with her revenge eventually. Spider's members were not going to work for free, but employing people whose skills and loyalties Reiji already understood was far safer than relying on strangers.
Reiji crooked a finger at Naoki.
"Come here."
Naoki leaned down, and Reiji quietly gave him a few instructions. His expression shifted as he listened, but he nodded, left the villa, and immediately began gathering several Water-type Pokémon.
He borrowed Sou's Pelipper as well.
A few minutes later, Pokémon were spread around the property using Rain Dance one after another, extending the effect farther across the surrounding neighborhood.
The sunny sky darkened with remarkable speed.
Clouds rolled together above Mandarin Island North, blocking the afternoon light until the first drops began tapping against rooftops and pavement. The drizzle strengthened steadily as more clouds gathered.
Miki had not made it far.
She was walking alone along the road when cold rain began striking her hair and face. She stopped and looked up, confused by how abruptly the weather had changed.
Then everything she had been holding back finally broke loose.
Anger at Reiji, frustration with Keith, grief for her parents, the loss of her home, the pursuit, the fear, and the humiliating realization that she had nowhere obvious to go all crashed together at once. The tears she had wiped away earlier returned, disappearing into the rain as they ran down her cheeks.
Only a short time ago, she had possessed a family, a future, and enough confidence to believe she understood where her life was going.
Now all of it was gone.
Miki stood alone beneath the rain, shaking as the road blurred in front of her, with no idea where she was supposed to go next.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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