After registering for the tournament, Marnie returned to her hotel room, dropped onto the bed, and let out a quiet breath.
Morpeko hopped up beside her a moment later and flopped onto its back in almost exactly the same pose.
For a while, neither of them moved.
Eventually Marnie sat up and pulled a small mirror from her pocket.
She rested it on her lap, studied her reflection, then placed two black-painted fingertips at the corners of her mouth and gently pushed upward.
This was part of her daily routine.
Learning how to smile.
“Morpeko, do you think—” A horrible screech interrupted her.
Marnie looked over to find Morpeko’s yellow fur rapidly darkening into purple, the rest of its coat turning almost entirely black as its eyes took on a furious red glare.
It had already produced a large bag of Pokémon food from somewhere and was shoveling pieces into its mouth with the intensity of something preparing for war.
Marnie sighed, completely unsurprised.
Morpeko burned through energy quickly and became downright vicious whenever hunger pushed it into Hangry Mode.
She’d dealt with this enough times to know better than to get between it and food.
“Slow down.
Nobody’s taking it from you.” Morpeko ignored her and kept eating.
Marnie turned back to the mirror and resumed practicing.
Jun and Ralts were halfway through their run when a child’s excited voice called out from nearby.
“It’s a Ralts!” Jun slowed to a stop and found a little girl staring at them from the side of the path.
She couldn’t have been older than five or six.
More worrying than her age was the hospital gown she was wearing—or the fact that she was barefoot in the snow.
Her cheeks, ears, and feet had already gone bright red from the cold, yet she seemed completely oblivious to it.
Her attention was fixed entirely on Ralts.
“Ra?” Ralts tilted her head while Jun looked around for an adult.
Nobody nearby appeared to be searching for the girl.
He grabbed his backpack and walked over, taking off his coat as he approached.
“Here.” The girl blinked as Jun draped it around her shoulders, then stood patiently while he pulled a red scarf from his bag and wrapped that around her too.
“Thank you!” She gave him an enthusiastic little bow.
Jun crouched so they were closer to eye level.
“Where’s your mom?” “She’s sleeping.” The girl rubbed her hands together inside the oversized coat and sniffled.
“She’s really tired.
She works a lot and still has to take care of me, so I didn’t want to wake her.” Jun glanced at the name of Frostleaf Public Hospital stitched onto her gown.
Before he could ask anything else, the girl’s attention wandered straight back to Ralts.
“Why does your Ralts look different from the ones in my books?” “She’s Shiny, so her colors are unusual.” Jun glanced at Ralts and smiled.
“She’s also an especially cute Ralts.
Kind of like you.” The girl’s face immediately lit up with laughter.
Ralts lifted her chin proudly at the compliment, only to grow shy a second later and tuck her hands behind her back.
“Can I hold her?” Jun looked at Ralts rather than answering for her.
Ralts considered the girl, then stepped forward and raised both arms.
“Raa~” The girl carefully picked her up and hugged her against her chest.
“You’re so warm!” She rubbed her cheek against Ralts’s hair with a delighted giggle.
“Ralts is my favorite Pokémon.
Her hair looks like a little watermelon helmet, and I love watermelon!
When I’m ten and become a Trainer, I’m going to have a Ralts too.” Jun smiled at the confidence in her voice.
Then the girl suddenly froze.
“Oh!
I forgot!” She carefully put Ralts down and immediately tried to remove the scarf.
“I was going to buy fruit for Mom.
I have to go before she wakes up.” So she’d sneaked out of the hospital in the middle of winter because she wanted to surprise her mother.
At five or six years old, apparently the danger of wandering outside barefoot hadn’t made it into the plan.
Jun put the scarf right back around her neck and gave her head a gentle pat.
“Keep it.
It’s yours.” She stared up at him.
“And I’ll come with you to buy the fruit.” By the time they returned to Frostleaf Public Hospital, the girl’s mother was waiting outside, visibly exhausted and even more visibly terrified by what had happened.
“Thank you.
Really, thank you so much.” She bowed repeatedly while holding her daughter’s hand.
The little girl immediately copied her, which made Jun wave the whole thing off before the two of them could keep going.
He crouched and lightly pinched the girl’s cheek.
“When you finally become a Trainer, come find me for a battle.” Her eyes widened.
“I won’t go easy on you.” The girl drew herself up as seriously as someone half Jun’s height possibly could.
“I won’t go easy on you either!” Jun laughed, gave her mother a final nod, and headed back toward town.
The girl watched him leave with one hand resting on the red scarf around her neck.
“Being a Trainer looks so cool…
How long until I’m ten?” Her mother didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she crouched and pulled her daughter into a tight hug before carrying her back toward the hospital.
“You’ll get there,” she murmured.
“And you’ll be an amazing Trainer.
Even better than your dad.” The girl giggled against her shoulder.
“Way better than Dad.” The next morning brought clear sunlight and another gentle fall of snow over Frostleaf Town.
Jun was walking toward the Pokémon Center when something dropped out of the trees above him.
Several Bounsweet had been sleeping among the snow-covered branches, their green calyxes almost the only color left among the bare limbs.
One of them had apparently rolled too far in its sleep and slipped free.
Its calyx spun wildly as it tried to correct itself, but the half-asleep Pokémon had no idea where it was going and dropped directly into Jun’s arms.
“Boun?” Bounsweet blinked up at him, completely bewildered by the sudden appearance of a human beneath it.
Jun laughed and gave one of the green leaves on its head a gentle pinch before offering it a few pieces of Pokémon food.
“Boun!
Boun!” That cleared away the sleepiness immediately.
Bounsweet ate one piece, decided it was excellent, then carried the rest back into the branches to share with the others.
A moment later it returned with several fresh green leaves clutched proudly against its body and deposited them in Jun’s hand.
“Boun~” Jun looked from the leaves to Bounsweet.
Apparently this was repayment.
He didn’t have the heart to explain that humans generally didn’t eat random leaves, so he picked one up and tried it.
The leaf itself was bitter, but the sweet juice Bounsweet had gotten on it made the taste surprisingly tolerable.
He briefly remembered that Pokédex entries had, in fact, discussed people eating Bounsweet.
Jun decided not to dwell on that while one was happily watching him chew.
“Boun!
Boun!” Satisfied that he’d enjoyed its gift, Bounsweet spun its calyx and bounced back toward the branches.
It called after him once more before curling up among its companions to resume its nap.
Jun waved and continued toward the Pokémon Center.
He hadn’t noticed that someone farther down the street had watched the entire exchange.
By the time he arrived, Marnie was already waiting outside with Morpeko in her arms.
Despite the steady stream of people passing through the area—and the number who glanced her way—she seemed perfectly content to stand quietly on her own.
“You’re early,” Jun said.
They still had fifteen minutes before eight.
“Moru~” Morpeko greeted him first, stretching out one little hand.
Jun shook it solemnly enough to earn a pleased chirp.
Marnie adjusted her scarf.
“The tournament’s at Frostleaf Stadium.
We should go.” “Sure.” They started down the street together.
For the first few minutes, neither said much.
Jun didn’t find the silence especially uncomfortable, but Marnie gradually slowed until she was half a step behind him.
She turned her head toward one of the trees lining the road, pretending to study its snow-covered branches while stealing a glance in his direction.
Maybe she’d been too cold yesterday.
Maybe she should say something.
Her brother was always telling her that people found her difficult to approach.
Practicing smiles in a mirror was one thing; actually using one in front of another person was apparently much harder.
Marnie tried anyway.
The corner of her mouth twitched.
Nothing happened.
“Moru…?” Morpeko looked up at her with obvious curiosity.
A faint flush crept across Marnie’s cheeks.
She immediately hugged Morpeko a little tighter and quickened her pace until she was walking beside Jun again.
Jun had noticed.
Fortunately for Marnie, he also had enough sense not to mention it.
They continued through the falling snow together, and before long Frostleaf Stadium came into view ahead.
[End of chapter]