Maybe he should have slowed down. But that wasn't the way Jun did things. He always rushed head-first into things, never taking the time to slow down and live. That would probably explain why it was her and not him who was standing up on a platform, being admired by tons of people for becoming the Sinnoh League Champion.
It stung, it stung a lot. But he could deal with it, couldn't he? He always had to stay strong, being the best pokemon trainer out there. Or so he thought. Now he wasn't so sure. Yes, she had always won their battles, but he always thought that it was just beginners luck, every time, and after each time, he would train and train until his pokemon couldn't go anymore. But no matter how much he trained, he could never win against her, no matter how much times he shouted out that he was going to win or that she didn't stand a chance. He actually began to accept that fact that he just couldn't win, but it didn't bother him, because it was her.
But what hurt the most probably wasn't his shattered dreams or his failure. What hurt the most was that he wasn't up there celebrating with her. Mind you, there was a swarm of people crowding the area where she was standing, but then again, the normal Jun would have fought and pushed through any size crowd just to be near her. What puzzled him was that, she wasn't even paying attention to her adoring fans or newly gained fame. She was frantically shifting her eyes and moving her head, as if looking for someone. Was she looking for him? The thought made his heart flutter. Of course she didn't know how he felt.
It was probably his fault his feelings never got across. Whenever they were together, which wasn't as often as it used to be back when they were children, he would talk and she would listen, only throwing in speech when he paused for breath. He would run off without so much as a glance behind him, kicking up dirt as he sped off, leaving her behind in the dust. She never knew that as she wiped the dirt from her eyes and rubbed it off of her clothes, that he would stop, turn around at look at her, smiling in a very rare-for-Jun kind of way before she could see again. It was just how he did things. He couldn't just change himself, no matter how much he tried.
Impatient as always, he turned to leave. He had training to do after all. Hikari couldn't keep that title forever with him around, but lying to himself didn't make him feel any better. Not that he expected it to. Jun turned around once more to look at his childhood friend/rival for one last time before heading off to Stark Mountain to train. What he didn't expect was for Hikari to be staring right at him, up on the platform, across the crowd straight into his orange eyes with her grey ones. He could feel his face grow warm. His eyes widened when he saw a creeping blush on Hikari's neck. Was it just his imagination? He would never know, because just then, someone knocked into Jun and he went crashing into the dirt. The cameraman who had just sent Jun flying to the ground shouted an apology as he ran into the crowd. Jun only mumbled something about "fining him a million dollars" before picking himself up and dusting off his pants.
He was annoyed, confused and felt light headed at the same time. But most of all, he was sad. His connection with Hikari had been shattered in an instant. They were so far away, her the Pokemon champion of Sinnoh, him just a pokemon trainer from Twinleaf. His chest hurt, probably because that cameraman had slammed into him so hard, but he was lying to himself. Again. Just as he turned to go, he heard an achingly familiar voice call his name.
" Jun wait! "
That was a first. Never had Jun heard Hikari ever tell him to wait. He always ran off at breakneck speed. And she had just stood there and watched. Watched him leave. His chest hurt him even more now. But he didn't care. He forced himself not to turn around and run to her, instead, facing in the opposite direction and hoping that Hikari thought he had just not heard her. Clutching at his chest, he walked down the path.