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If it wasn’t for Yuutarou, Akira isn’t sure he would have ever left Twinleaf.
Maybe he would have gone to Kalos with his parents, or Galar with his sister, or some nondescript island a ways away from Alola.
But then he’d just be planting down new roots, still never straying too far. Akira has never been one to seek out adventure or have lasting aspirations. He would have been content with no badges under his belt, running shoes left by the door, and his bike chained to the mailbox.
Suppose, however, there is a world in which Akira actually chose this life for himself. In that world, he would be in Veilstone City—like he would be by now if somebody hadn’t volunteered the two of them to help corral the herd of Miltank out on Route 210.
It’ll only take a second, Yuutarou said. I spent that summer in Olivine, remember? Akira isn’t sure what that means, but it ends up taking an hour, forty-seven minutes, and all of his patience.
At the end of it all, Yuutarou slings a grass-covered arm over his shoulder and drags him into the frankly suspect café in the middle of nowhere. Akira slides into the first booth and tries not to think too hard about that.
“You’re paying for lunch,” he grunts, dropping his head onto the table. He feels Espeon curl up at his feet and nudge her snout against his ankle. “And new pokéballs. One of the Miltank stomped all over the last ones I had.”
The sound of metal clinking against porcelain right next to his ear makes him bolt upright. Yuutarou rolls his eyes and slides over a glass of milk tea. “Salted Caramel, 50% sugar,” Yuutarou tells him. “Autumn said it was on the house.”
Akira takes a tentative sip. “Who the hell is Autumn?”
“What do you—“ Yuutarou cuts himself off with a sigh. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. I’ll buy you those pokéballs when we get to Veilstone.”
“If we get to Veilstone,” Akira quips.
Yuutarou huffs. “Sorry for trying to be a nice guy.”
“You should be,” Akira says, taking a stab at the tofu his friend brought him. “Kenma wanted me to check out the Game Corner in Veilstone for him and I told him I’d get back to him today.”
“Kenma can wait another day,” Yuutarou waves off, settling his hand on Glaceon’s fur. “It’s not like he’s running out of games any time soon.”
Akira is about to retort when Espeon’s ear twitches against his ankle. He would have brushed it off had she not curled her tail around his left leg. He frowns, setting his fork down. “Hey,” he soothes, brushing his thumb along her tail. “I’m okay.”
Then, the door chimes open.
Kageyama Tobio walks through the door with a Gible clinging to the straps of his backpack with its teeth and an Umbreon trailing after them.
Akira hums, looking away as he continues to stroke Espeon's tail. He meets Yuutarou's gaze and tilts his chin in the direction of their old friend. “What do you want to do?”
Yuutarou isn’t subtle with the way he cranes his head back, but lucky for him, Kageyama has never been particularly aware of his surroundings outside of battle. He turns back, tightens his grip around his chopsticks, and grits out, “Let’s just finish lunch.”
Akira clicks his tongue. “Alright. If you say so.”
Glaceon remains asleep and oblivious in Kindaichi's lap while they finish their meal, but there's a low, steady purr rumbling from Espeon's throat as she keeps watch of Kageyama.
Even though he’d been hungry after helping with the Miltank, Akira has never had much of an appetite. There are two strips of meat and a block of tofu left, but he just slides them over with a huff. At least he managed to finish his rice.
Yuutarou rolls his eyes, plucking the tofu off the plate. “What do you think he's doing here?”
“Stopping by for lunch,” Akira answers. He takes a sip of his milk tea. “I don't think he cares about us enough for this to be anything else.”
“What if he’s meeting someone?”
From his peripheral, he can see Kageyama attempt to pry his Gible off the counter. Akira snickers, tracing a finger down the moisture on his glass. “Then the king decided he was no longer above making friends. I don't see how that concerns us anymore.”
“I guess you're right.” Yuutarou sighs.
His frustration is apparent, even as he tries to swallow it whole and chase it down with milk. Akira isn’t exactly happy with the situation either but resolves not to mention it. “Of course I’m right,” he says instead. “Now hurry up. After all that, I want to sleep in a real bed tonight.”
Yuutarou grumbles, “It’s your food.”
He doesn’t dignify that with a response.
Instead, he blows a low whistle through his teeth. Espeon takes her cue, unfurling her tail from his leg so she can climb into his lap. He watches the tension bleed out of her as she settles and lets his lips twitch into a smile.
“You know,” Yuutarou starts, “if Espeon thinks something is wrong…”
“The king doesn’t even know we’re here,” he points out. Umbreon hasn't seemed to notice them either. If it were up to him, it would stay that way.
Akira doesn’t make a habit of holding grudges, but Kageyama Tobio has had a vice grip on that one left rib resting right below his heart for the better part of six months. It’s only fair.
Hate is a strong word, but Akira has yet to decide whether or not that means it’s the wrong one.
Vexed by the lack of attention from her trainer, Espeon wraps her tail around his wrist and brings his hand to the back of her head. Akira chuckles, lightly scratching behind her ears.
He rests his chin on his other hand, leaning back slightly for a better view of Kageyama and his Pokémon. "That Gible…" he mutters under his breath.
Yuutarou glances over his shoulder briefly. "What about it?"
"It's not listening to him."
Yuutarou chews carefully, considering this information. It wouldn't be the first time that a Pokémon refused to listen to Kageyama, but it would certainly be the first time they witnessed Kageyama so frazzled trying to rectify the fact. "Maybe it's not actually his," comes Yuutarou's suggestion.
Akira raises a brow at him. "What, then? He's trying to rein in a wild Pokémon out of the goodness of his heart?"
"Okay," Yuutarou concedes. "Well, Garchomp is a pretty powerful Pokémon, right? Maybe he thinks it's worth the trouble to raise." Kageyama isn't the type to give up, after all. They both know that much.
Although he stands by their decision, Akira recognizes that they were the ones to burn the bridge. Even if Kageyama never bothered to cross the whole way. “I don’t think Kageyama’s a bad guy,” he admits, the name strange on his tongue. “Definitely not the worst trainer either.”
“Wasn’t that good of a friend,” Yuutarou grumbles.
He can’t argue with that. “Can’t have it all,” Akira says with a shrug. Granted, he isn’t sure that he’s much better. He and Kageyama had been awfully similar in a lot of ways.
If Yuutarou had anything to add, he doesn’t get to say it.
Kageyama is paying for his order, one hand resting atop Gible’s dorsal fin in a last ditch attempt to keep him in line, when Umbreon’s rings begin to glow. Umbreon turns abruptly, making direct eye contact with Akira.
Akira feels Espeon’s tail shiver around his arm. Then, Umbreon growls.
Espeon narrows her eyes and growls back. Glaceon wakes with a start in Yuutarou’s lap, blinking sleepily before she follows Espeon’s gaze.
There's a beat of silence. Akira's left hand twitches toward his belt, where Staraptor’s pokéball is clipped. From across him, Yuutarou nods minutely and reaches for Roserade’s. Akira isn't about to start a fight, but he isn't taking any chances if one breaks out.
Slowly, Umbreon’s rings dim. The next sound out of her mouth is but a gentle purr, and to Akira's surprise, Espeon responds in kind.
It occurs to Akira, in that moment, that their Pokémon simply got caught in the crossfire of their falling out. Though he and Yuutarou had grown increasingly apprehensive about Kageyama in those last couple of months, Umbreon hadn't done anything wrong.
Come to think of it, Espeon, Glaceon, and Umbreon have known each other since they were little Eevee. Akira always figured they'd hatched around the same time. Maybe they even had the same parents. This is probably the longest they've been apart.
Glaceon mewls, leaping off her trainer and making her way to the front of the café. Yuutarou stumbles out of the booth after her. “Glaceon!”
Kageyama finally seems to notice, then, following her trail backward as he tucks several bottles of Moomoo Milk into his backpack. He stares at Yuutarou for a moment, head cocked to the side. “Kindaichi?”
Before either of them can say anything more, Glaceon tackles Umbreon to the ground. Yuutarou looks like he wants to intervene before things get out of hand, but Glaceon only squeals in delight when Umbreon licks at her cheek.
Glaceon and Umbreon wrestle on the floor, oblivious to the rising tension as they roll around. Umbreon manages to catch one of Glaceon's flaps between her teeth, but Glaceon retaliates by pressing a frozen paw right on Umbreon's stomach.
Espeon huffs and crawls off his lap. Akira makes no move to stop her. She pauses just a few feet away from the scene. Her eyes glow a bright blue as she takes control of Glaceon and Umbreon, pulling them apart and setting them back down next to their respective trainers.
It’s nostalgic, almost.
The three of them have evolved since they were last together, but at the end of the day, they’re still the same Pokémon. Akira considers what that might imply about himself, Yuutarou, and Kageyama.
Yuutarou bends down, scratching under Glaceon’s chin with a sigh.
“Sorry,” Kageyama says stiffly. Yuutarou looks up in surprise as Kageyama continues, “About Umbreon. She's not usually so aggressive.”
“Glaceon tackled her first,” Yuutarou says, not quite an apology.
Kageyama nods, though his brows are furrowed. “I’ll be heading out now.”
For a second, Akira thinks that’ll be it. Yuutarou will finish his lunch in peace, then they’ll head straight to Veilstone. Even the unruly Gible has begun making his way to the door.
Yuutarou has other plans, straightening himself out and shouting after Kageyama. The other boy stops in his tracks. “Battle me!” Yuutarou demands. Glaceon puffs up her chest next to him. “I’ll show you how strong we’ve become.”
“No thanks,” is all Kageyama says, not even bothering to turn his way before walking out the door with his Pokémon in tow.
He grits his teeth and stomps back to the booth. Glaceon and Espeon ruin his fit of rage by running circles around his legs the whole way. “I bet he thinks he’s better than me,” he grumbles, slumping into his seat.
“I would have said no, too,” Akira tells him.
“The king’s never turned down a challenge before.”
Akira stares out the window where Kageyama rests at the foot of a honey tree. Umbreon is curled up at his side, her head resting on his lap. There’s a familiar Luxray keeping watch from his other side. Gible sits on his head, munching animatedly on a poffin. “Maybe he’s actually changed,” Akira suggests. Corvisquire circles around once, twice around them before perching on a low branch. “Does that bother you?”
Yuutarou doesn’t answer, glaring down at his plate.
Eventually, Yuutarou gets through the rest of their food and a waitress comes to take their dishes out. “Thank you again for your help,” she says with a bow. “If you two are ever in the area again, feel free to drop by.”
I’m never going near a Miltank again if I can help it, Akira doesn’t say. After I get all eight gym badges, I think I’m going to take a long nap .
“Thank you for the food,” Yuutarou speaks for both of them. He’s always been the polite one. “Sorry for causing a scene. We’ll get out of your hair now. Have a nice day, Autumn.”
Akira pulls up the map application on his Pokétch before they leave, frowning when he’s reminded that Route 215 is covered in hills. It’s already half-past noon. “At this rate, we’re not getting to the city before sunset.”
“It’ll be raining, too,” Yuutarou says, offering him a hand.
Akira takes it and pulls himself up. “I should have never let you drag me out of that stupid town. My whole life is a mistake.”
Yuutarou chuckles at his misery on the way out. “Bit too late for regret.”
“I could be in my room right now,” Akira broods.
“Yeah, but it’ll take you more effort to get back than it will to get to the next city,” Yuutarou tells him. He makes a show of releasing Roserade, Togetic, and Pachirisu from their pokéballs. “Between Roserade and Espeon, we can probably use Sunny Day for the worst of the rain.”
Akira hums, sending out his own Pokémon. Staraptor immediately takes to the sky, Kirlia floats down beside Espeon, and Riolu hides himself behind Akira’s leg. Espeon doesn’t miss a beat, lifting Riolu up with glowing eyes and depositing him into the basket of Akira’s bike.
It isn’t the most efficient way to travel, but Akira doesn’t mind the company. He kicks back the stand and raises his right foot onto the pedal. “Let’s get this over with.”
Yuutarou laughs and gets on his bike.
As they approach Route 215, Akira makes out the soft glow of an Umbreon’s rings through the fog. There’s a short burst of light before the sky clears up the slightest bit, revealing the silhouette of a trainer and a small Pokémon. “Is that—?”
“Figures,” Yuutarou mumbles. “I was hoping he was headed to Celestic Town, but it makes sense that he’s on his way to the closest gym.”
There are plenty of different routes to explore Sinnoh, but it should come as no surprise that their paths have converged. Given their experience traveling together and similar goals, it only makes sense. That it hadn’t happened sooner is more strange than anything.
Before Akira can stop him from doing anything brash, Yuutarou skids to a stop in front of Kageyama and his Pokémon. Akira sighs and follows after him. He sets his foot down and crosses his arms over his chest. “Kirlia.”
Kirlia lets out a soft trill and brings Yuutarou’s hood over his head.
“What are you doing here, king?”
Kageyama grimaces at the nickname but doesn’t answer. Gible looks mildly distressed under the rain, though he continues to shake his head as Kageyama insists on his pokéball.
Espeon huffs at his side, creating a small barrier around Gible to block out the rain. Gible quiets down, looking up at Espeon with wide eyes.
“Well?” Akira clears his throat. “Are we going to Veilstone or what?”