Chapter Text
"The caretaker said we should start the tour by heading up to the Loyalty Plaza, right?" You ask Kieran as you both leisurely stroll through Mossui Town.
After what felt like hours but was only fifteen minutes, the group finally dispersed, each student setting off in pairs and heading in their respective directions. Your mind kept returning to the small discussion between Keiran, Carmine, and yourself. The interaction dispelled your hesitancy to pair up and complete the self-guided tour imposed by the caretaker.
Keiran seemed like good, humorous company, and gaining a new friend in Kitakami keeps your feet light as they cruise along the smooth pavement.
Your hands twist around the straps of your white backpack, unsure how to navigate the quiet atmosphere surrounding you and Keiran. A gentle breeze wisps through your hair, and you shut your eyes briefly. Dragging a slow inhale, you breathe in the fresh air of the open fields that flutter upon the wind from the south.
You open your eyes, and they travel among the sparse buildings within the town. The old architecture and retired style relax you, making you wonder why people back home don't implement these styles of buildings in the villages and cities anymore. Maybe retiring out here should make it on your list of things to consider after your training and experience peak, but that is a thought for an older you.
Kieran finally responds to your question after he wrangles his small pack around his hips and clips it into place, "Yes. The Loyalty Plaza is the closest shrine to Mossui Town. We just walk through Apple Hills and ascend the trail up the smaller curve of the mountain."
You nod as you try to recall the map of Kitakami from memory. Instinctually, though, you tap your Rotom phone, which quickly hovers in front of you to face you. Presenting your home screen, you rapidly flick through the options to find the new map previously installed by Professor Briar before leaving Paldea.
Keiran was right; the Loyalty Plaza is the closest stop, but your eyes track the free expanse of land to the east of Applin Hills.
"Question." You voice openly to Keiran, watching your step intermittently as you make thoughtful calculations retrieved from the map.
"Answer," Keiran responds as the corner of your eye catches him, turning to look at you.
You tap your Rotom phone, dismissing it to lay dormant until future use in your back pocket.
"Would you also join me as I scour the rest of Kitakami? Outside of this self-guided tour thing?"
You both stop after you pose your question to Keiran before exiting the town's eastern border.
You turn to face him fully and gauge his thoughtful expression as he tries to string together an answer. His head bounces back and forth slightly as if rolling the ideas from either side to determine which would best suit him.
Keiran's hand comes up to hold his chin, and his eyes meet yours before he responds, "I don't mind keeping you company if that's what you're asking?"
Your body immediately straightens, unaware of how much you were slouching- a severe problem. You avert your gaze and clear your throat, "Well, I mean- I suppose what I meant-"
Keiran chuckles, making you dart your eyes back to him. You hold up a hand, outstretching your arm as your head bends to swing forward, now looking at your worn shoes, "I only mean that I am always running around, and I don't want to drag along an unwilling participant on my own self-guided journeys. I typically find myself distracted by discovering new pokémon and-"
Keiran surprises you as he connects his palm to your outstretched one, effectively giving you one of the stiffest high fives you have ever received. Your head shoots up.
"Sorry to interrupt you, but I would definitely be willing to participate in your self-guided journey," He drops his hand. He looks at the two Pokeballs hanging from his belt before continuing, "Although I've lived here my whole life, I have yet to discover much around Kitakami, and if I want to become a strong trainer, I need more exposure," He looks back to you with a glint of motivation seeping into the thin lines of his face, "Let's have a quick battle so I can prove to you how much I still need to go to achieve that and then maybe you won't be so hesitant to allow me to join you."
Your own hand falls away, and you nod, walking away to the required end of the space needed to have a battle.
Keiran was right when he said it would be a quick battle.
After your Salamence made great haste with his Sentret and Yanma, you walk back to him with a small smile, nodding your head, "Yeeahh, okay. Maybe I could show you a thing or two about a thing or two."
Keiran laughs at that, the cadence of the semi-deep rumbling making its way into your memory to sit there for later.
"Only a thing or two?" He responds.
Your laughter finds its place between you both, "Maybe three or four."
Keiran gives you a silent smirk and shakes his head, "You're going to be fun to be around. I mean, you already are." He looks to the community center, "Before we go, though, I should probably heal these fellas. I'll be right back."
Before you can respond, he runs off toward the community center to meet with the young and lively Nurse Joy. You watch his fast-retreating form until you see Carmine walk into your line of sight.
You jump silently from her intense and sudden stare, piercing into your relaxed mood and immediately forcing you to be on edge.
Carmine's arms are crossed as she approaches you, breaking past that invisible bubble your mother taught you so much about.
"I can smell the attraction radiating off of you."
You squint, bringing your eyebrows and cheeks close in an attempt to hide your eyes. What is up with this chick?
The words leave your mouth before you can swallow them, "You are already so obsessed with me."
Carmine recoils back, almost as if you would see an abrupt imprint of your hand on her face, "What the fu-"
Before her mouth forms the rest of her sentence, you hear a small giggle from behind her, and you both turn to see who made the noise.
It seems that her own partner finds you very amusing. One of the students who had joined you on the trip has her hand covering her mouth with her eyes wide like picnic plates. She is frozen, struck by the glare on Carmine's contrarily unamused face.
In a flat tone, Carmine shatters the girl's world, "You know you're traveling with me and not her, right?"
She turns away and knocks your shoulder lightly as she passes, heading towards Applin Hills. The shoulder check wasn't enough to bolster any ill will within you since it was so easy to shrug off. Instead, you watch the small girl tremble slightly as she follows the retreating form of Carmine.
Poor girl , you think to yourself.
The thought is whisked from your mind as Keiran walks up to join you as you watch the pair disappear through the various Applin trees. "We should probably leave some distance between them and us, you think?"
You smile, "So you can read minds? Good to know."
~~~~~
The distinct sweet smell of the apples permeates the air as Keiran, and you travel down the dirt path through the orchard. Each patch of trees is sectioned into random patterns, broken apart from each other by thin fencing. Tiny pokémon skitters through the patches of grass and your attention is knocked all over the place.
You needed to figure out where to start. The grey fur of the Poochyena pups flit across the fields both towards the high walls of the mountain and the ledge of the southern sections of fields. Sentrets' ringed tails bob up and down as they run up the hills and through the trees, creating their own adventure. Your concentration can hardly be maintained to decipher which apples are edible and which are definitely not edible.
"I have no idea what to catch first." Your voice is already exasperated even though you have not taken a rushed step outside the path yet.
Your head swivels to investigate Keiran and find that he is preoccupied with taking a close-up picture of a string of Sewaddle, almost indistinguishable from the green pallor of the flowing grass.
Your eyes bulge momentarily as you squat down to join him. Your hands find purchase on your knees, and you tuck into yourself, trying not to take up too much space and startle the small Pokémon.
"You're into taking pictures?" Your question is a whisper that brushes across the shell of his ear. You miss the shiver that travels across his spine.
"Uh, yeah. A tourist in town recently showed me a few tips with the camera. She was very passionate, so I thought I should try them out." Keiran returns his Rotom phone to a pouch in his bag before turning to you.
Your eyes catch briefly before returning to the undeniably adorable bug pokémon. You understood some people's fear of the insect type, but besides the sparse spider-like pokémon, you always thought that bug pokémon were cute in their own right.
You swing your backpack around slowly and pull out a green nest ball, preparing to catch your first Kitakami pokémon. The last Sewaddle in the slowly marching bug conga line is the easiest target, and your ball knocks against the leaf crowing around its yellow head. It doesn't get the chance to see who or what disturbed it before it is sucked into the protective shell of the Pokeball.
Keiran whistles slowly, "Congrats on your first catch of the day!"
You stand and swing around, rustling the contents of your bag as you jump with your hands held high.
Keiran stands as well and laughs along at your boisterous, bubbly attitude. A hand comes up to comb through the mismatched coloring of his hair.
Your Rotom phone finishes the quick pokedex entry, and you send the Pokeball off to join your P.C. box before returning your attention to Keiran.
Your eyes catch his hair again, making you remember what you wanted to ask him earlier, "Sorry if this sounds forward, but what's the explanation for your hair?"
His eyebrows raised to disappear behind his dark bangs, "Oh, uh, Carmine and I got into experimenting with pigments. Her idea, really, I was just the test subject before she dyed her hair."
His fingers play with a few strands before he brings his hand down.
"I like it." You say with an accepting smile.
Again, you can notice the slight blush that creeps across his cheeks.
Keiran turned away and faced the outstretched path once again. "You HAVE to try these apples; they are like nature's candy, I swear."
A quiet laugh escapes you as you walk to join him and make your way down the path through Applin Hills.