The next fifteen days passed in a string of small moments.
Morning Mist in the Kitchen
The jungle was still half asleep when Reiji started breakfast. Mist hung low over the lake, and dew clung to the leaves along the shore. A Caterpie shifted on one broad leaf and sent a few droplets rolling into the water below, their tiny ripples the only movement in the morning stillness.
Inside the cabin, Reiji stood over the stove with his sleeves rolled up, keeping one eye on a pot of Moomoo Milk while he worked through a pile of Berries.
"Against the grain."
Cissy's sleepy voice came from behind him. Reiji glanced over his shoulder. "Look at you. Gone for a few days and suddenly you're a chef?"
"I'm trying to stop you from butchering breakfast."
She stepped in behind him, covered his hand with hers, and adjusted the angle of the knife before guiding it cleanly through the Berry. Reiji looked down at their hands, then sideways at her.
"You know, there are easier ways to explain this."
"I know."
That little smile told him she had chosen this way on purpose.
Nearby, Corsola nudged Swinub with one of its horns. The two Pokémon exchanged a look, picked up their bowls, and quietly left the kitchen together.
Reiji watched them go. "Did my own Pokémon just abandon me?"
Cissy laughed. "Maybe they're giving us privacy."
"Traitors."
By the time breakfast was ready, sunlight had begun breaking through the thinning mist. Gyarados raised its head from the lake with a deep roar, while Milotic surfaced nearby and slipped gracefully through the brightening water. It was an ordinary morning, and Reiji found himself liking that...
An Afternoon at the Fishing Pier
A few days later, Reiji spent a lazy afternoon on the fishing platform with an empty bucket beside him. For the seventh time, his float disappeared beneath the surface, and he stared at the water in mounting suspicion.
"You're doing that on purpose."
Somewhere below, a Whiscash was probably very pleased with itself.
Cissy laughed from the nearby swing. "You know fish usually bite more often when you put bait on the hook, right?"
"That takes all the challenge out of it."
"You haven't caught anything."
"Exactly. Very challenging."
She laughed again, rocking gently on the swing. Her sandals dangled from one foot, and the anklet Reiji had given her the night before caught the sunlight whenever she moved. He had been considerably less smooth when giving it to her—he had simply decided that a foot that pretty deserved something and maintained that the logic was flawless.
Cissy lifted her wrist, the little bracelet there chiming softly. "Want to make this interesting?"
Reiji looked over. "What are you betting?"
"If you can't catch Milotic, you're doing all the chores tonight."
He sat up straighter. "And if I do?"
"Then I'll do them."
That was enough to make him take the fishing seriously. Reiji finally baited the hook properly and cast again, while Blastoise surfaced nearby, overheard enough of the conversation to understand that its Trainer's dignity was under attack, and quietly disappeared beneath the water.
Even with backup, things somehow got worse. Three casts later, something had stolen the bait every single time without touching the hook, and Reiji's eye was already twitching when Corsola came tearing past while playing with the others and knocked the entire bait bucket into the lake.
Every Water-type Pokémon nearby descended on it at once.
Reiji slowly lowered his fishing rod. "Corsola."
Corsola froze.
"Come here."
It jumped straight into the lake.
"You little—get back here!"
Cissy nearly fell off the swing laughing.
By sunset, Reiji was soaked from his failed attempt at retrieving Corsola and had still not caught Milotic. Cissy met him at the shore, smiling as she wiped water from his face.
"Looks like I won."
"Rigged competition."
"You didn't even use bait until I made the bet."
"Circumstantial evidence."
Out on the lake, Milotic surfaced in the orange evening light. Gyarados immediately appeared behind it, throwing up water and doing everything short of flexing for attention, but Milotic ignored it completely. Its attention was fixed farther ahead, where Dragonair moved through the sunset-painted water.
Reiji followed Milotic's gaze, then looked at Gyarados. "Rough day for both of us, huh?"
Gyarados sank a little lower into the lake...
Shell Chimes in the Rain
Another evening brought rain. Cissy stood on her toes beneath the cabin porch, trying to hang a wind chime she had made from seashells while Reiji worked nearby with a brush and a bucket of waterproofing stain.
"You could ask for help," Reiji said.
"I can reach."
"You've been saying that for thirty seconds."
"I almost have it."
She stretched a little farther, lost her footing, and Reiji dropped the brush in time to catch her around the waist. For a moment neither of them moved.
Cissy looked at him, then at the dark streak across his cheek. "You've got paint on your face."
"So do you."
"I do not."
Reiji touched one paint-stained finger to her cheek.
Cissy went cross-eyed trying to see the mark. "Rai!"
"There. Now you do."
She tried to pull away, laughing, while Reiji kept her from smearing paint across his shirt in revenge. At that exact moment, the newly hung wind chime caught the breeze and the shells clattered brightly beneath the porch.
One startled Pokémon bolted for the cabin and kicked the paint bucket over on its way inside. Reiji and Cissy both looked down as brown stain spread rapidly across the porch between their feet.
"Oh no."
Cissy grabbed Reiji's shirt while trying to avoid stepping in it. He took one look at the growing mess, slipped an arm beneath her knees, and picked her up.
She blinked. "What are you doing?"
"We're both filthy anyway."
The grin on his face immediately made her suspicious. "Rai."
"Might as well wash up."
"Rai, don't you—"
He was already carrying her upstairs, and whatever argument followed was swallowed by running water, rain against the windows, and the new shell chime ringing outside. Much later, the cabin finally went quiet...
Crystals in the Volcanic Rock
One of their day trips took them up the volcanic slopes. The heat intensified the farther they climbed, and the sulfur in the air made breathing unpleasant near the hotter vents. Fire-type Pokémon rested among the rocks, occasionally lifting their heads as Reiji and Cissy passed before deciding the two humans were not worth getting up for.
Cissy stayed close anyway. "There are way more Pokémon here now."
"Probably moved in after the last eruption."
The eruption had exposed more than new habitat. Bright mineral deposits had appeared throughout the volcanic rock after Reiji evolved Magmar here, and the two of them soon started finding crystals wedged into cracks along the trail.
Reiji released Dugtrio to help, and it disappeared underground before resurfacing a moment later with a clear crystal balanced proudly between its heads.
Cissy held it up to the light. "These started appearing after the volcano erupted that time. There are loads of them around here now."
"Free souvenirs."
"You say that like you aren't going to make Dugtrio dig up half the mountain."
"I would never exploit my Pokémon for jewelry."
Dugtrio stared at him.
Reiji cleared his throat. "Within reason."
They continued higher, stopping whenever another promising vein appeared. Near the hotter section of the trail, Cissy suddenly caught a flash of blue between two rocks.
"There!"
Dugtrio was already moving, digging around the deposit until the crystal ore came free. It brought the find back while Cissy practically bounced with excitement.
By the time they reached the observation platform, both of them smelled heavily of sulfur and were exhausted enough to collapse onto the nearest bench. Cissy opened the small container where she had been storing their finds.
"I'm going to have these made into something."
"What kind of something?"
"That's what I'm asking you."
Reiji took her hand. "Make whatever you like."
"That's not an answer."
"It's an excellent answer. It guarantees I'll like whatever you choose."
Cissy narrowed her eyes at him. "Lazy."
"Efficient."...
Festival Beneath the Ferris Wheel
That weekend, they went into the city. The amusement park was packed, with music spilling from the rides and festival lights glowing everywhere after dark. Umbreon stayed close at first, but one particularly bright flash from a nearby sign startled it badly enough that it ducked behind Cissy's legs.
Cissy crouched and stroked its head. "Hey, it's okay."
Umbreon pressed closer, and Reiji stared down at it in disbelief. "Unbelievable."
Cissy looked up. "What?"
"I raise it, feed it, carry it around, and the second something scares it, it runs to you."
"Maybe it has good judgment."
"So this is how I get replaced."
Cissy laughed and continued petting Umbreon until it relaxed.
They spent most of the evening wandering between stalls, eating whatever smelled good and letting Cissy drag Reiji toward anything that caught her attention. Eventually, she grabbed his arm and headed straight for the Ferris wheel.
"Slow down," Reiji said. "Nobody's stealing it."
"I've wanted to ride it at night since last time. The view is supposed to be amazing."
"All right, all right."
Their gondola rose slowly above the park, carrying them away from the noise below. By the time they reached the highest point, the entire bay had opened beneath them, city lights reflecting across the dark water.
Cissy pressed close to the window for a few seconds before turning back. "Close your eyes."
Reiji raised an eyebrow. "Should I be worried?"
"Just do it."
He humored her, and a second later something cold and sweet touched his lips. The taste was unmistakably raspberry ice cream.
Reiji opened his eyes to find Cissy offering him the spoon she had just been eating from. "That's the surprise?"
"Do you like it?"
He tasted it thoughtfully. "Pretty sweet."
Cissy smiled.
Reiji leaned closer. "Still not as sweet as you."
Her face immediately turned red. "Terrible."
"Worked, though."
She tried to hide her smile while reaching into her bag, then placed a shimmering red scale in his palm.
"Milotic shed this Prism Scale this morning. I heard they're supposed to bring good luck."
Reiji turned it beneath the lights. "Good luck?"
"Mhm."
He closed his fingers around the scale, then took her hand with the other. "I think I already used mine up."
Cissy blinked. "What?"
"I got you."
She stared at him for a second, visibly trying to decide whether to complain about another terrible line. Instead, she leaned against him as fireworks burst over the bay.
Umbreon lay curled beside them while bright colors filled the gondola windows, and for once Reiji had no urge to go anywhere else...
Late-Night Kanto Oden
One night ended at a convenience store long after most of the streets had emptied. The automatic doors chimed as they entered, waking a Meowth that had been sleeping between the shelves. It stretched, gave them a bored glance, then promptly went back to sleep.
Cissy was wearing Reiji's jacket over her clothes, the sleeves hanging slightly past her hands. She headed straight for the hot-food counter and picked out some Kanto-style oden.
"When I was little, my parents were hardly around," she said as they carried the food to a small table. "I used to imagine how nice it would be to share the last fish ball with someone I really liked."
Reiji looked at the single fish ball remaining on the skewer. "That specific?"
"I was a kid."
"And apparently very serious about fish balls."
Cissy divided it carefully in half. "Are you eating your half or not?"
"Obviously. This is apparently a lifelong dream. I can't ruin it now."
They had picked up two small bottles of sake as well, and over food and a little alcohol, Cissy started telling him stories about growing up with her younger brother. Whenever their grandfather came back from the city, he brought candy. Once, she and her brother had fought over who got to help him with chores and somehow snapped a broom in half; their grandfather hadn't even been angry, he had simply chased the two culprits around the house until they were exhausted.
Cissy was laughing so hard by the end that she had leaned against Reiji without noticing. He put an arm around her shoulders and listened, realizing somewhere along the way that her stories had stopped feeling like somebody else's memories and started feeling important to him simply because they were hers.
That realization caught him slightly off guard. He really was falling for her.
Later, they walked back beneath a clear sky, taking their time along nearly empty streets. Cissy slipped one hand into Reiji's coat pocket for warmth, and he found it there and laced his fingers through hers. Neither of them seemed particularly eager to reach home...
Fingerprints in an Ugly Pot
Their attempt at pottery went badly almost immediately. The studio assistant had shown them what to do, and both of them understood the instructions perfectly well. The clay simply refused to cooperate.
They were supposed to make a round pot. What emerged beneath their hands looked as though something had stepped on it halfway through construction and then apologized.
"Why does it keep collapsing?" Cissy asked.
"You're asking me?"
"You're supposed to be good with your hands."
"At battling. Fishing. Cooking, apparently. Nobody said pottery."
Cissy tried to straighten one side and accidentally smeared clay across Reiji's cheek. She froze as he slowly turned toward her.
"That was an accident."
"Sure."
"Rai."
He picked up a little clay. "Don't."
"You started this."
"I said it was an accident!"
Cissy fled around the table laughing, and several minutes later both of them were covered in enough clay that the original pot no longer seemed like the main casualty.
Eventually they returned to the wheel. The pot was still ugly, but Cissy loved it anyway.
"Wait."
She caught Reiji's hand and pressed one of his fingers into the damp clay, leaving a clear print along the side.
"There."
Reiji looked at it. "That improved it?"
"No."
"Good. Just checking."
Cissy added her own fingerprint beside his. Reiji studied the two marks and smiled.
"Okay. That part stays."
By evening, the crooked little pot still looked terrible, but neither of them wanted to remake it. Doing so would have defeated the point...
Sunset at Crescent Bay Lighthouse
Another afternoon found them walking along the beach beneath the new lighthouse at Crescent Bay. The harbor nearby had grown busy, with fishing boats and larger ships constantly moving in and out, but Cissy paid little attention to any of it once she started finding shells.
"Rai, look at this one."
Reiji accepted the third shell she had handed him in five minutes. "You know we already have an entire wind chime made of these."
"This one's different."
"They were all different."
"Exactly."
There was apparently no argument against that. Cissy wandered farther down the beach, happily searching the sand while Reiji followed at a much slower pace, smiling as she raced between tiny discoveries.
Young people really had too much energy.
By sunset, she finally dragged him toward the lighthouse, where the view opened directly onto the sea. They stood there together as the sun sank toward the horizon.
Cissy leaned into him. "I like watching sunsets with you."
Reiji ran a hand through her hair. "Want to stop by the hot springs afterward?"
Her eyes immediately lit up. "The scenery around there is beautiful at night. We could stay for a while."
"Then that's the plan."
On their way back, Reiji noticed a tiny wildflower growing beside the path and plucked it. Cissy accepted it with a laugh.
"What's this for?"
"Nothing. Today was nice."
She smelled the flower and slipped her arm through his. "Days with you usually are."
An Easy Afternoon in the Orchard
The citrus orchard was quieter than most of the places they had visited. Reiji and Cissy wandered beneath the trees without any real destination, occasionally stopping to pick ripe fruit, until they found a patch of grass beneath the shade and decided they had walked far enough.
Cissy dropped onto the grass first. "I could stay here all afternoon."
"That was more or less my plan."
She plucked a citrus leaf and held it beneath her nose. "I love this smell."
Reiji copied her. "It smells like a leaf."
Cissy stared at him.
"With citrus."
"Much better."
He reached overhead and picked a ripe fruit instead. They split it between them, then stretched out in the grass beneath the branches.
For a while, neither spoke. Clouds drifted lazily overhead, and sunlight slipped through gaps in the leaves, shifting across the grass whenever the breeze moved the branches.
Cissy turned onto her side. "Rai."
"Mm?"
"Wouldn't it be nice if things could stay like this?"
Reiji found her hand beside his. "They can."
He said it easily, even though part of him knew life was unlikely to cooperate. For that afternoon, neither of them needed to argue with the answer...
The Last Night
Their final evening together arrived far too quickly. Reiji was leaving the next morning, but neither of them had talked about it much.
Instead, they walked barefoot along the beach as the last light faded over the sea. Waves rolled over the sand and erased their footprints almost as soon as they left them behind, while Cissy kept her hand tightly wrapped around his. Reiji found himself holding just as tightly.
"The sky's beautiful tonight," she said.
"Yeah."
He looked at her rather than the horizon.
Cissy caught him. "You're not even looking."
"I found something better."
She laughed. "You've gotten really shameless these last two weeks."
"Practice."
They reached the remains of the bonfire from the previous night. Cissy crouched beside the cold ashes and stirred them with a small piece of wood.
"Yesterday was fun."
"It was."
"We talked until ridiculously late."
"You talked until ridiculously late."
"You were listening."
"Someone had to."
She bumped her shoulder against his. Reiji smiled, though the thought of tomorrow had been following him all evening. Fifteen quiet days had been enough to make leaving considerably harder than he expected.
Cissy suddenly scooped up a handful of seawater.
Reiji saw the movement too late.
Cold water hit him square in the chest, and by the time he looked down at his soaked shirt and back at her, Cissy was already retreating with a grin.
"You wouldn't."
Reiji bent toward the water.
Cissy ran.
"Oh, you're dead."
He chased her along the shore, sending water flying whenever he got close enough. She returned fire whenever she could, and within minutes both of them were soaked and laughing hard enough that neither could properly aim anymore.
Cissy eventually turned to run again, lost her footing in the wet sand, and pitched forward. Reiji caught her before she fell, leaving them both standing there breathless until Cissy started laughing again and dragged him into it with her.
He wished he could bottle that sound and take it with him.
Eventually they gave up on the water fight and spread a blanket farther up the beach. Night settled over the ocean while they lay together beneath the stars, listening to waves roll onto the shore. Cissy curled against his chest with Reiji's arm around her and eventually drifted off to sleep.
Reiji stayed awake, staring toward the dark horizon and thinking about the trip ahead. He had wanted this journey for a long time; his Pokémon needed it, and so did he. That didn't make leaving easy.
Cissy shifted against him. "Don't go…"
Reiji looked down. Her eyes were still closed.
"Don't leave me…"
The words were barely above a whisper.
Reiji brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face and let out a quiet sigh. So she had been thinking about tomorrow too.
"I don't want to," he murmured. "But I have to."
He tightened his arm around her and settled back against the blanket. The last fifteen days had been almost absurdly peaceful: breakfast together, fishing, wandering around the island, getting soaked in the rain, making an ugly pot, watching sunsets, and doing absolutely nothing important.
Reiji had spent so much of his life in this world chasing the next goal that he had almost forgotten days could be worthwhile without accomplishing anything. He wanted more of them, but morning was coming whether he wanted it to or not.
And despite everything good that had happened between them, one worry about Cissy still refused to leave him.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/BellAshelia]
[Thanks for your support!]