A/N: This was written for a Nabari art exchange over on Tumblr. It took several months for me to upload it here, mainly because I had trouble coming up with a title. Finally got around to cross-posting, if only for the sake of completeness.

Slowly, over the last couple of years, Miharu had acquired a number of friends. Most of them had one thing in common: a skill for getting into…fairly extreme situations. Despite being quiet, Yoite fit that mold. It was so easy to spend time with him, though, that somehow Miharu found himself forgetting this fact until it was too late.

Take this case, for instance. He hadn't known quite what to expect when Yoite had told him to meet after school, but he'd still agreed. Together they went to a train stop, and then transferred to a bus, and then rode that for more than an hour. When they got off, Yoite pulled out his phone and led them straight off the road and down a hillside before turning to follow a wide river.

Miharu asked at one point if Yoite knew where they were going, and Yoite wordlessly showed him a map. It took him a second to realize what was different about it, and then everything clicked.

"…Oh, so that's what we're doing."

"Yeah."

As Miharu watched, Yoite pulled up the list of Pokémon he'd caught, scrolling through it with a frown.

Miharu peeked over his forearm at his phone, and blinked. "That's a lot of Magikarp."

"Mm."

"…Are you trying to evolve a Gyarados?"

"Yes."

And with that string of one-syllable replies, Miharu officially knew more or less the extent of their plans for the day. He could think of much less pleasant ways to spend time than wandering the countryside with Yoite, so he had no complaints.

Miharu had installed the app when Raimei and Kouichi pressured him into it, but he hadn't played it much, and when he did, he tended to get distracted by real animals and plants. Overall, he didn't find it all that interesting. But it was a good reason to go outside, and it had already worked as a way to annoy Thobari-sensei when he wanted to ignore him, so there was that.

He didn't much get the point of gyms, either, but Raimei's response to them was pretty entertaining. She and Raikou had both accidentally chosen Team Instinct, and still ribbed each other over it constantly. Meanwhile, Kouichi kept winning the gym nearest the school for Team Instinct, even though Raimei kept threatening violence if she caught him doing it. Moreover, Shijima kept backing him up. Miharu hadn't even known she'd had a phone, or any interest in games whatsoever. He'd only seen her leave cat Pokémon in the gym, though.

He'd stuck his low-level Raticate in the gym a couple of times, on a whim, but it had always returned to him immediately. Raimei (because it was usually her) seemed to feel bad about crushing it, but then she'd yelled at him for not being committed when he told her he really didn't care. So it wasn't that much different from everything else they did together. He was glad to watch them have fun, and it was nice to know that they'd let him try things when the whim struck him. It was nice, having friends.

He hadn't known Yoite was interested at all, much less interested enough to take him on a field trip. As they walked along the bank, he noticed that there were a number of Pokémon he'd never seen before, many of them water types. It seemed that walking beside water wasn't a bad idea. Banten was mountainous, and most of what Miharu had caught so far had been Rattatas and Pidgeys.

Yoite, however, appeared to be on a mission. He'd apparently been playing much longer than Miharu had, because he kept skipping ones that looked fairly important. Miharu caught what he could, but kept most of his focus on keeping up with Yoite. He didn't want to lose him, if he could help it.

His phone buzzed at him as an odd-looking monster appeared, and he paused. "…Oh. I haven't seen this one before."

Yoite glanced at his phone, then shrugged. "Cubone."

"Huh." Miharu turned on the spot to get the Pokémon in his sights, then started trying to catch it. The ring around it was orange, so he fed it a berry. It jumped out of his Pokéball anyway.

"It's going to get away," he reported.

Yoite looked eager to keep going, but stayed close regardless. "Keep trying. Use one of the special ones."

"I don't have many of those." But he did it, and lucky for him, he hit it the first time. One time around, two, three…

Click.

His phone played out the cheerful jingle that came with catching new Pokémon—extra-small, as it turned out, though he wasn't sure how much of a difference that made. Yoite, impatient, started striding along the bank again, and Miharu followed. "What's with its face?" he wondered aloud.

Yoite just shrugged again, then froze, a hound on the scent. "Found one."

Miharu idly pulled up the description as he waited, looking it over. Yoite caught the Magikarp in under a minute and hurried forward again.

Miharu kept close to Yoite's elbow, ignoring his phone's buzzing as new Pokémon appeared nearby. He was busy reading the description again, more carefully this time.

"…I'm gonna set it as my companion," Miharu announced.

Yoite looked over at him, then. Maybe something in his face looked strange, because his voice was gentler than usual when he said, "Okay."

The good (and surprising) news was, Yoite actually managed it.

They hit the end of the river, where it ran into the ocean, and started traveling along a beach, walking until Miharu's legs ached, unaccustomed to sand. If Yoite was tired, he didn't show any sign. Miharu kept playing, more to keep him company than anything, but spent most of his time staring out at the sunset. It lay at the juncture between the shore and the ocean ahead of them, and Miharu could feel the last rays of early autumn sunlight on his face. It was easy to lose himself in the colorful streaks in the clouds.

Miharu wasn't sure how many outings he'd had already been on by himself, but as dusk fell, Yoite's attention turned from catching Magikarp to trading in the more than 100 he'd managed to find. Miharu noticed because he stopped entirely, fingers twitching with impatience as each individual fish was traded in for candy.

"Which one are you evolving?" he asked. Yoite pointed to one with high CP near the top of the screen.

"…You already named it Gyarados."

"It was conveinient."

"I see."

Miharu waited as the evolution animation played out, squeezed Yoite's elbow, and smiled up at him. "Congratulations."

Yoite, still looking a little surprised that he'd managed it, gave him a tiny smile in return. "Thanks."

They stared at the evolved Gyarados for a moment, sharing the sensation of victory that it would seem only a video game and many kilometers of walking combined could provide…

…and then Yoite's phone went dead.

"Um. It saved, right?" Miharu double-checked.

Yoite nodded, brow furrowed.

"Good," Miharu said. After all, there were priorities. The one after that was—oh. "…Where are we?"

"…There's a statue of a dog nearby," Yoite said quietly. Apparently that was all he knew.

"It's okay," Miharu said hurriedly, glancing down at his phone. "I'll just…"

There was a faint buzz in his hand as his phone, too, went dead. He'd never played long enough for this to be a problem before, and hadn't been looking out for it.

He blinked down at it for a minute, wheels turning in his head as he put the situation together. "Uh…"

"…Yeah." Yoite shrugged, then pointed. "I think there are street lights up there."

"We should hurry, before it gets dark."

"Mm."

They clambered away from the beach, through gently sloping hills covered in patches of dune grass. It made for uneven footing in the growing darkness, and several times they had to hang on to each other to stop from falling headlong back the way they'd come. Eventually, though, they hopped a guard rail onto an asphalt road, following it towards the distant glow of clustered streetlights.

"Sensei made me memorize his phone number," Miharu volunteered. He didn't particularly want to bother Thobari—sure, his reaction to Miharu being stranded who-knew-where would be hilarious, but he wouldn't be much help, either, with his fear of transportation. Hanabusa would probably have to help him, and her he didn't actually want to bother.

"It's okay. I know Yukimi's."

"From memory?"

"Of course."

"Oh." Now that he thought of it, Yoite was uncannily good with numbers. "Then we just need a phone."

"Or a battery pack." Yoite craned his neck as the headed for the nearest street. "Maybe there's a convenience store."

They managed to find a town before total darkness fell, luckily; less fortunately, all of the stores they spotted seemed to be closed. There weren't any signs of pay phones, either, so after some discussion, they decided to spring for drastic measures.

It took longer than it should have to find a friendly-looking passerby, but they did manage it. Yoite hung back, as he always did, while Miharu did his little-demon routine on him, all tearful eyes and pretending to be even younger and more helpless than he actually was. He handed the phone off to Yoite, fighting off the older businessman's suspicious glance at the older teen with another round of batted eyelashes and tearful thanks.

In a minute or two, he heard the Yukimi's voice even from several meters away. "You're where!?"

"Oh, right," Miharu asked the man, who was looking at them with an air of growing concern. "What town are we in, exactly?"

"I swear," Yukimi grumbled as they made another hairpin turn in the darkness, "this is why I hate kids."

"I really am sorry, Yukimi-papa," Miharu said, lower lip wobbling.

"None of that," Yukimi snapped. "You owe me one, brat. Don't think I'm letting you get away with it."

In the back seat, Miharu curled against Yoite in mock-fear. "What are you going to make me do?"

He caught a glimpse of Yukimi's smirk in the rear-view mirror. "Well, there are some okonomiyaki ingredients in the back. I picked them up just for you."

…Well. That was a pretty direct form of payment, he supposed. "It won't taste as good as it would at the restaurant," he warned. "The stove won't be hot enough." And the ingredients probably weren't as good either, but that would be rude to say, so he didn't mention it.

"Then you'll make us more the next time we visit your grandmother," Yukimi told him. "In the meantime, we'll make do."

"I think Yukimi-san just wanted to try my cooking again," Miharu stage-whispered to Yoite.

"Darn straight," he said. "You've got a talent, kid. Go around making trouble for me, I'll expect you to use it."

"It was my fault," Yoite said suddenly. It was the first time he'd spoken since they got in the car. He'd stayed silent through Yukimi's yelling and Miharu's teasing, sitting stiffly. It was clear that he felt responsible. Miharu found his gloved hand in the dark and squeezed it, trying to be reassuring.

Yukimi took a moment to reply. "If you do this again, you're going out with battery packs," he said finally. "And you're telling me where you're going. I won't say you need to stay closer by, but remember this, yeah? Have a way back already planned out."

Apparently Yoite had been expecting more, because he stayed stiff and silent when Yukimi finished for more than a minute. "…Got it," he said finally, but it sounded like a question.

Yukimi sighed. "I didn't even know you liked things like this," he said.

"He evolved a Gyarados," Miharu supplied.

"Huh. That's an important one, right?" Yukimi seemed disinterested, but Miharu saw him throw Yoite a glance through the rear-view mirror. "Good job."

"…Thanks."

As the drive continued, hour by hour, the tension was seeping out of Yoite's body, a little at a time. Miharu felt him slowly lean on the door until his cheek was pressed against the window, eyes at half-mast. He curled up against Yoite's side and let his eyes slide shut, too. The car's motor was a reassuring rumble beneath them as Yukimi pressed on into the night.

In a little while, they'd get back to Yukimi's apartment, and Miharu would make okonomiyaki batter while Yukimi made the three of them lemonade. Miharu would spend the night there, and maybe he'd stay for the day or the weekend. He'd tease Thobari and Raimei with the day he'd had and watch Yoite establish dominance for Team Mystic at the nearest gym.

It seemed like it'd be a pretty good time.