She just disappeared one day.
The girl who I could've easily called my sister (though, the reality was that she was really Hibiki's sister) left on her Pokémon journey ten years before us when she was nearly fifteen. Even ten years later when we finally set out as well, we still hadn't heard a word from her. Even now, if she were still alive, she'd have no home here in New Bark anyway. Hibiki's parents decided that if she wouldn't acknowledge them after all these years, then they would insist that they didn't have a daughter to begin with, but Hibiki and I still remembered. She was our beloved big sister after all.
How did it get to this point? I didn't even know.
"Hey, hey, Crystal?" My long, brown hair flew past my shoulders after my abrupt stop at the open door. It seemed that she was going out to see Professor Utsugi again.
"Ah, Kotone! Are you here to play with Hibiki today?" The older girl shifted a little and held her hand to her cheek to emphasize what I didn't realize was her mischievous grin at the time. "Oh, I can't wait to go to your wedding…"
"Eh, how did you know we were going to play wedding today?" I questioned with a curious tilt of my head. Crystal's eyes seemed to widen slightly before she coughed and turned away.
"I wasn't actually talking about, er – well, never mind! So, you two are having a pretend wedding today, huh?" She giggled after bending over and ruffling my hair. Her eyes were distant for a moment, but I couldn't understand why.
"Kotone!" We both turned to Hibiki, who was stomping down the stairs with childish fury all over his face. "You were s'posed to wear white!"
"Ah! I forgot!" I looked down at my navy blue jumper and frowned. You really couldn't be a bride unless you wore a white dress… I couldn't believe I had forgotten!
"Kotone," Crystal whispered, gently grabbing my small hand, "come with me really quick."
"B-but weren't you going to see Professor Utsugi?" I objected futilely. She tightened her grip slightly and tugged more insistently.
"Yeah, but that can wait. Anyway, just follow me." I quietly obeyed and followed her up to her room while Hibiki whined and protested behind us. Once we got to Crystal's room, she sent me to wait patiently on her bed while she dealt with her complaining brother at the door.
"Be quiet Hibiki! You're not supposed to see the bride before the wedding, you know!" Crystal had scolded him. Then she said something quieter that I couldn't catch from where I was, but from the bed, I could at least see his face turn red and the rest of him quickly disappear from my sight. Crystal finally shut the door with a soft click and satisfied smile, before practically skipping back over to me. "Okay, time for the bride's transformation!"
In the end, she had thrown one of her old, white sundresses on me with just a couple adjustments here and there, which touched the ground and almost flowed the way a real wedding dress did. Then she put my long hair into a neat bun with some of her favorite beaded hair clips and added light touches of make-up to my round face. Once she was content with my appearance, Crystal stepped back with a pleased grin and led me back down the stairs where Hibiki was impatiently tapping his foot. Their parents were sitting at the kitchen table casually chatting until they saw us.
"Oh my! Kotone!" Their mother came over with twinkling eyes and an overflowing smile. "You make a perfect bride! Oh, what I would do for a real wedding…"
"Mom! That's gotta be at least a decade away!" Crystal complained with flushed cheeks. I cocked my head to the side, trying to understand Crystal's reaction. "Besides, you're supposed to look forward to my wedding first!"
"Oh, Crystal," their father chimed from his spot at the table, "just let your mother have her fun."
"Yes, and go fetch Kotone's mother, too! This is just too cute!"
"Mom!" the two siblings cried out simultaneously in embarrassment. I couldn't help but laugh at the entire scene.
Then the memory faded to make way for something that happened only months later.
"Crystal! Are you really going on a Pokémon journey?"
"Hmm? Yeah, and I'm leaving in just a little bit, actually."
"Ehh? So you're leaving?" I puffed my cheeks out and pouted. It suddenly made sense why she had gone to see Professor Utsugi so often. And to think I had thought she had a crush on the young professor—
"What starter are you going to choose?" Hibiki cut in enthusiastically, and I looked away with a huff.
"Maybe I'll choose a Chikorita?" she said thoughtfully and tapped her chin lightly, as if she wasn't even sure.
"Okay! Then I'll choose Chikorita when I go on my journey, too!" Hibiki looked back at me excitedly. "What about you Kotone?"
"Don't change the subject! Crystal is leaving!" I shouted suddenly with teary eyes. Crystal couldn't be like Papa! Absolutely not! "You can't leave us! And, and… Aren't Pokémon journeys really scary?"
Crystal's expression softened while Hibiki could only stare at me in shock. She bent down to be level with my eyes and tenderly grasped my shoulders.
"I don't think so at all, Kotone," she whispered with a smile. "It's a chance for you to get out there and meet new people and experience all kinds of new things. It may seem scary at first, but isn't it more exciting than anything else?"
"B-but you're going to leave us! Aren't you going to miss us at all?" I couldn't let it end the way it did with Papa. He went on a journey and never came back, so what if Crystal was the same way?
"Of course I will." Crystal paused for a moment and gestured for Hibiki to come closer, which he did rather mechanically and stiffly. "I will miss you guys so much, but don't worry about me. It's not like I'm going to be gone forever!"
She left us with those words that still seemed so ironic later.
"Hibiki?" I stared at the boy in question from my spot on his bed. We had been taking a break from serious Pokémon training and battles in general for the past year or two, which allowed us to play catch up with each other and even start going out. The least he could do was look at me when I was talking to him. I was his girlfriend, after all!
"What?" He still didn't look up at me, so I hummed in displeasure, which seemed to catch his attention. That was when he finally looked up from his book and shut it with a raised eyebrow. "You've got my attention… Need something?"
"It's already been a little over ten years. Don't you miss her?"
No one else would have understood whom we were referring to, but it was us. We knew exactly whom I was talking about, but Hibiki just looked back at his book as if to ignore my question. I growled at his action and rolled off the bed with a small "Oomph!" when I hit the hard, wood floor.
"Aren't you worried about her at all?" I drawled pointedly and crawled in front of him, inching my face closer and closer to his. "For all we know she could be—"
"Stop it. We've already been through this, Kotone," he said dangerously. His eyes narrowed and for a moment, I wondered if I had crossed some invisible line that I shouldn't have. "She said not to worry, so I'm not going to worry."
"But—" I futilely tried to protest, as I was always prone to, but he had already closed the distance between us. His lips clamped over mine to prevent me from saying anything further, and we stayed that way for at least another minute. The moment he let go, a small moan escaped my mouth involuntarily.
"Oh?" he teased with a smirk. "It looks like there's something else you'd rather do."
"Hibiki!" I cried, flailing away from him in embarrassment and crossing my arms angrily. "Be serious for once!"
Hibiki suddenly became deathly silent, as though he was seriously thinking about something. Then our eyes suddenly locked, a spark seeming to fly between us. That's when I noticed that he looked a little flustered and hesitant. He took a deep breath and combed a hand through his hair before asking:
"Then, will you become the Daycare lady for me?"
It took a moment for his request to sink in. Ever since Crystal's disappearance, Hibiki's parents and grandparents had expected him to take over the Daycare. He knew more about it now than his parents did, which made him the family member next in line to take it over. But the Daycare was always run by a couple, so asking me to be the Daycare lady meant—
"Wait! You're proposing to me?" I asked, my voice raising several octaves.
"Wh-what else would I be asking?" he shouted right back, his face gradually turning darker and darker with each passing second. "I know that you're so afraid of being left behind, but if we run the Daycare together, there's no way that'll ever happen, right? So…" We sat in silence for a moment before I frantically realized that I needed to reply before he got the wrong idea from my silence.
"… O-okay."
"Then it's settled," he finally choked out with relief. "I'll begin training you starting tomorrow."
"Eeehhh?"
Months came and passed along with my anticipated dream wedding. It wasn't really a big affair, but it was one of the greatest days in my life and completely surpassed all of the pretend weddings I'd had with Hibiki in the past. I just couldn't help but hate that she wasn't there because she was the one who had been looking forward to that day since our youth.
Years had passed before I had finally convinced myself that there was no room for phantoms in my life. I had finally laid her memory to rest… or so I thought.
"What we do if eggs you don't want to keep, you ask? Well, it's very simple! We just care for them here until they hatch, and then they are put up for adoption. Though, you could take an un-hatched egg if you really wanted to."
I leaned over the counter to watch Hibiki excitedly explain to the teen the perks of the new adoption service and smiled. Oftentimes in the past, his grandparents were at a loss at what do with unwanted eggs, so when we took over, we came up with the idea to give the Pokémon to trainers who would be willing to take care of them. The trainer seemed to be deep in thought before looking back up with an excited nod. Once again, we had persuaded a trainer to take one of our Pokémon with him.
"Ah, Kotone!" Hibiki jogged over to the counter and leaned over to glance at the list of eggs that was taped to the surface. "He said he'd be willing to take an egg."
"Really, now?" I ran a hand through my hair with a slight giggle. "So he'd rather raise it from scratch, huh? How adventurous…"
Hibiki just nodded, his mind still focused on the list.
"Hibiki," I started, moving my hands to run through his hair instead, "give him number four."
"That one? Really?" I just nodded. Even though he couldn't see, he understood. "Okay then. Number four it is."
"Which one is number four, now?" his grandfather asked curiously, just barely taking his break from playing with the Pokémon. I gave him my usual smile while Hibiki hurried into the other room to grab the specified egg.
"The Pichu egg," I reminded him. His eyes seemed to light up at the mention of it.
"That one, huh?" He rubbed his back in remembrance. "I'm sure it'll be a spitfire just like its parents were."
"Yep! Seems like a good match for a young, fiery trainer like him," I said, gesturing to the boy who was patiently waiting outside. "It looks like he has a lot of potential… Reminds me of the good old days."
"When you and Hibiki were a lot like that boy there, right?" I nodded a little wistfully. A moment later, Hibiki was scrambling out of the back room with an egg carefully tucked under his arm. I jolted when he tripped over the step but let out a sigh of relief when I saw that both he and the egg were unharmed.
"Ah," I breathed out, thankful that my husband hadn't hurt himself but also irritated that he had fallen in the first place. "Be more careful, Hibiki!"
"I know," he called back over his shoulder as he pulled the door open. His grandfather just let out a hearty laugh at out exchange.
"You two really do make a lovely couple. Just like his grandmother thought you two would when she first saw you..."
"Eh?" I whipped my head around to look at the elderly man in surprise. "I thought she was just joking around back then! I-I mean, she even told us that!"
"Why are you getting so flustered? You're already married, so it shouldn't even matter anymore," he shot back, rubbing his hands on his apron. "Besides, you're not that shy around each other either. In fact, just the other day, you two were—"
"Doing what?" Hibiki's grandmother shut the door behind her with a soft click and looked genuinely interested in the conversation at hand. I could feel all the blood rush to my face in embarrassment.
"Th-that was Hibiki's fault! If he hadn't—"
"What was my fault?"
"The other day when we…" I trailed off when I noticed just whose face was suddenly hovering dangerously close to mine. I heard his grandparents laughing in the background and cursed his family's ability to easily embarrass me. "Argh! Never mind!"
"Love you, Kotone," Hibiki called after me when I stormed out from behind the counter and pulled the door open. My grip on the door handle loosened for a moment, and I almost turned back around to rush into his open arms. I sighed and gave him a small smile over my shoulder.
"I love you, too. I'm just going out for a little fresh air," I replied and propelled myself out the door. I took a deep breath of the cool, humid air and stretched. I mumbled more to myself than anyone else, "I've really been cooped up in the Daycare too long today…"
"Ah, hey! Wait up, Inkina!"
"But Goldenrod City is just up ahead!"
I turned in the direction of the path that lead to Illex Forest and prepared to greet the oncoming travelers, but the sight of the girl in the front of the group stopped me short. Her dark pigtails bounced behind her, lightly slapping against her red bandana with each step. But that wasn't what stopped me. Her face was so familiar, and her eyes gleamed just so…
"Wait, you two!" a dark-haired woman called after the two girls in front of her. Her red scarf swished slightly from the gentle breeze. "We need to make a stop at the Daycare first, remember?"
"Ah," the girl in the lead breathed out, stopping just in front of me. She peered around me at the Daycare building before facing me again. "This is the daycare… right?"
I tried to answer, but I was too paralyzed. This girl in front of me was her splitting image… But that should be impossible! This girl didn't look a day over fifteen…!
"C-Crystal…?"
Omake:
Three days ago…
I stretched out, my back arching and eliciting several satisfying cracks and pops. With a deep breath, I straightened myself and turned to Hibiki with a slight smile. "Ah, my back was so stiff from all that standing!"
"Well, that's life," he chuckled, stretching himself out as well. Before I could retort, he sauntered over to where I was standing, placed his hands on my shoulders, and began to rub in gentle motions. "How does that feel?"
"Hmm, much better…" My eyelids involuntarily fluttered shut, and my muscles relaxed under his touch.
"Good," he whispered in my ear seductively, his breath tickling my neck…
"Wait… Where are those lips going?" I snapped my eyes open, but it was already too late. "A-ah! Stop biting! Kyaahh! What do you think you're doing with those hands…? W-wait! Not here!"
"Kotone? Is something the matter...? Oh! Tone it down a little or go to your bedroom, you two! Newlyweds these days…"
Indeed.
A/N: Welcome to the beginning of a wonderful project in the making. This Memoirs series will contain much background information (and some side stories) for an upcoming story (that is currently untitled at the moment…) that I'm collaborating on with Sokuma (who removed his only other story a long time ago). Let's see… So this girl that Kotone encountered at the end of this chapter? She's the main character for the main project (and the daughter of a certain someone), and I don't think it takes a genius to figure out who her mother is.
Hailing from the Sinnoh region… Inkina! And travelling with her is her childhood friend Kuroko (the younger sister of Kouki), and Hikari! But where does this encounter in Johto fit in the timeline? Somewhere in the middle, I'd guess. This is a teaser more than it is anything else, really. Anyway, please stay tuned in for the next installment where I lead you even further into this carefully crafted (very game-based... to an extent) universe!