"I don't believe it," Vallea said, then collapsed onto the bench next to Aster.

"It's just one day off," Aster said. "Really, it's no big deal."

"One whole day without a single expedition. Do you know how long a day is?"

"Yeah, I know."

"It's twenty-four hours," Vallea said, holding her head in her paws. "That's twenty-four hours in which a Pokemon could be in danger. They could be dying."

"In case you haven't noticed, we're not the only rescue team around these parts," Aster said. "One team's absence won't make a huge difference. Besides, didn't Ampharos say—"

"I don't care about what Ampharos said!" she shouted, tugging on her aura tassels. "I care about the Pokemon who need help that they can't get!"

He sighed. "You had your chance to tag along with another team, but you didn't. Why are you all jumped up about it now?"

"Because I thought it would be a good idea to take a day off, but now I'm realizing it's a terrible idea because there's nothing to do and I can't take any requests because I went and dropped our gadget so now it doesn't work and—"

"Can you quit yelling?"

"I'm not yelling!"

"You are," Aster said, then pointed at the shops lining the outskirts of the plaza. A long line of Pokemon stood before one of the booths, and each one of them was staring at Vallea. "I think you're scaring away Kecleon's customers, and I'd really rather not sweeten his pickles. Remember what happened yesterday?"

Vallea threw her head back and groaned. The Riolu sucked in a breath through her teeth, clearly thinking of something to say. In lieu of a verbal response, she let out a long exhale and sank limply into the wooden bench. Crowds of Pokemon frolicked within the town plaza, gossiping and laughing in the warm summer day, but their cheer seemed to evade the Riolu. Aster wasn't sure whether to say something or let her simmer in silence. A moment's deliberation pointed him towards the latter. Maybe she just needed a little space.

The Treecko leaned back and spread his arms out to soak in as much of the sunlight as he could. Puffy white clouds were scattered about the bright blue sky, their shapes reminding him of pillows and blankets. The air around him may as well have been a blanket: the summer morning was thick and humid to the point where his body felt like it was covered in syrup, especially his neck. He tugged aimlessly at the scarf he wore. Was every summer in this world so unbearably hot?

Vallea sighed again, and Aster realized he was supposed to say something to her. He took a moment to think of the best way to word his question, then cleared his throat.

"Feeling down?"

"I just can't stop thinking about them," she replied, staring blankly into the sky. "Remember that one Cleffa who wanted someone to help her go treasure hunting?"

"Yeah."

"And what about that Lillipup who was going to explore some ancient ruins? He's too scared to do it alone."

"Someone else will help him. Either that, or he'll just have to wait a little."

"He shouldn't have to wait," Vallea said. "I just want to go on one expedition. Just one. Is that too much to ask?"

"Lea, it really isn't that bad." He looked up at the sky too. "Yeah, we can't help any Pokemon today, and that sucks. But what can we do about it, really?"

"I don't know…"

"Exactly. Our gadget's busted, and we can't take any requests until Dedenne fixes it. I say we just sit back, relax, and make the most of this day off. It's been weeks since we've had a break."

Vallea sank even further into the bench, her aura tassels swaying to and fro as a breeze blew by; the cool wind swept away the stuffy summer air surrounding them, and the sudden clarity brought an idea to the forefront of Aster's mind.

"I've got it," he said. "How about we do something you like? Maybe it'll take your mind off of this."

"Hmm… Like what?"

But before he could answer, Vallea jolted upright and gasped.

"I know! How about you help me practice my aura sensing? I've been working really hard on it, and I'd like to know how much I've improved over these last few weeks!"

Aster shrugged. "Alright, yeah. Seems better than sitting on a bench and staring at clouds. How will this work?"

"Listen closely," Vallea said as she leaped off the bench. "I'm gonna go get something to cover my eyes, and you'll try to hide somewhere in the plaza! I'll have to find you without using any of my senses."

"Except aura."

"Exactly! That's all there is to it. So I'm gonna go back to our room and get a blindfold, and you go find a good hiding spot!"

Vallea was already running towards the Society Headquarters when Aster stood up, grabbed her paw, and said, "Hang on a sec. I don't think that's the best idea."

"Why not?"

"Just think about it for a second. You want to walk around the plaza blindfolded. This place has loads of Pokemon running around."

"Oh right, it slipped my mind. We're all gonna bump into each other, aren't we? Especially if I'm blindfolded."

"Yep."

"Then we'll just do this somewhere else! Lively Town's a huge place, after all. I'm sure there's some little nook or cranny that no one's occupying right now."

"O-o-or…" Aster dragged the word out into three syllables. "I've got another idea: how about we get out of this awful heat? Let's just do this at—"

"At the Society!" she cut him off, her eyes shining. "Brilliant idea, Aster!"

The Treecko shrugged again. "Sure. That works. Let's just get this blindfold first, yeah?"

Up at the Expedition Society Headquarters, the two discovered that finding an acceptable blindfold would take far longer than expected. That was chiefly due to the mess that had taken up residence in their shared bedroom. Countless wands, orbs, maps, lists, and other expedition-related items were strewn about the floor to the point where unoccupied real estate was hard to come by. Vallea dove into the clutter headfirst, occasionally popping up with whatever happened to interest her.

"Check this out!" she shouted, brandishing something golden and shiny. "It's that Weather Looplet I was looking for! I was wondering where it had gone."

"Maybe if you helped me clean up for once, you'd stop losing things," Aster said as he rummaged through a drawer. Seven pages of notes on Monster Houses, but there wasn't a single scrap of cloth to be found. "Didn't we buy a blindfold at some point? I swear we did. Or was it an Orb of Blindness?"

Vallea giggled. "I dunno. Maybe we did buy it and it's still somewhere in here! Though I bet it'll take a while to find it, considering how…"

"How what?"

A smacking sound came from the other side of the room, and Aster looked over to spot Vallea on her knees with her paw on her forehead.

"I think I'm an idiot," she said.

"Explain."

"We've spent so much time looking for a little piece of cloth, but look at what's tied around our necks."

Aster reached up to touch the Harmony Scarf wrapped around his neck, thought for a moment, then facepalmed as well.

"You're right," he said.

"Am I right about being an idiot or right about using the scarf as a blindfold?"

"Both," he said. After Vallea shot him a look, he hastily added, "Kidding, I'm kidding. You're clearly a genius."

"Now you're just teasing me," she said, then stood up with a huff. "But still, I guess that problem's solved. Shall we find a better room to do this in? I'm sure it'll have less stuff to trip over than this place."

"Again, if you'd just help me clean up—"

"I know, I know. Maybe tomorrow," she said, giving him that little grin she did when she was trying to get out of doing something.

Aster was unfooled. "That's what you said yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and—"

"I get it, I get it! Tomorrow, okay?" The Riolu grabbed his arm and hauled him out of the room. "Now let's go already!"

Aster resigned himself to a minute of being pulled around while Vallea scoured the halls for a suitable room. Thankfully it seemed nobody was in the building; everyone else was probably out and about, which meant there was no one to crash into. Too many of the rooms had some antique furniture or old expedition-related equipment that didn't have a clear owner. Neither Vallea nor Aster felt like taking the risk of damaging something valuable, owned or not, so their search took them through the entire Expedition Society Headquarters. They eventually found an empty room—barely more than a broom closet—in a forgotten corner near the observatory on the third floor, its only occupants being specks of dust covering the floor and dancing on the stale air. The room was dark and smelled musty, with the only light being a single, foggy window high on the wall.

Vallea finally let go of him as they entered and took off her Harmony Scarf with one quick tug. "Get ready to be amazed. I'm gonna find you in no time flat!"

"Sure, sure. You ready?" Aster said, rubbing the feeling back into his wrist.

"Yep!" she said as she tied the scarf around her eyes. "I'll give you five seconds to hide. Remember, don't make any noise! I want to find you with aura, nothing else."

"Okay," he said. Then, "Hold on. Five seconds?!"

The Riolu put her paws on her hips. Even blindfolded, she still managed to shoot him a look as she said, "It's a small room, so it's not like you'll have much choice for your hiding spot. Five seconds is all the time you'll need to decide."

"I seriously doubt—"

"Ready? One, two, three…"

"Ten seconds!" he shouted, his voice cracking. "Give me ten seconds!"

She groaned. "Ugh, fine. Now go hide! One, two, three…"

Under the time pressure, the Treecko's mind went blank. Decision paralysis hit him hard, rooting him to the spot as he scoured the entire room for an acceptable place to hide. There was no furniture to stand behind or on top of, and the room itself was minuscule: no matter where he stood, she would find him in a matter of seconds even blindfolded. Maybe that was why she chose this room: to make him easy to find.

"…four, five…"

What if he left the room and hid in the hallway? No, that wouldn't be fair. Or…

"…six, seven…"

He was a Treecko. Couldn't Pokemon with his body climb on walls? If he couldn't hide on the floor, then maybe… He hurried quietly to the nearest wall and tried climbing it. At first his paws skidded down the wooden boards, but then he found a grip on the surface!

"…eight, nine…"

He scurried up the side on all fours, slipping more than once but never falling, eventually stopping right below the ceiling. He felt a bit stupid clinging to the wall like a Joltik, but there was nothing to be done now.

"Ten!"

The Riolu stood still for a long moment, her ears twitching slightly. With the scarf covering her eyes, her expression was unreadable. Aster felt a stab of doubt about his hiding spot, but that doubt was alleviated when Vallea started her search by turning around. She confidently marched through the dust to the back of the room, moving directly away from Aster. He barely resisted the urge to laugh; the effort nearly made him slip and fall. To her credit, Vallea stopped before bumping into the wall, but then she went and waved her arms in front of her in a touch-based search for someone who wasn't there. She looked like a tree flailing in the wind!

So much for searching with aura only, he thought. His breathing became a bit shaky from a suppressed chortle, even as his arms and legs began to ache from clinging to the wall.

"Not here, huh?" she said out loud.

She then whirled around and started searching to her left in a similar fashion: wildly waving her arms in front of her as she strode forwards. This method was reused for the other two directions in the room with equal effectiveness. After searching the whole room, Vallea placed one paw on her hip and another on her chin, tapping a foot on the floor the way she did when she got impatient. The tapping ceased as she grew unnaturally still. After a few seconds she pivoted on her heel and strode towards Aster, stopping mere centimeters before the wall he was clinging to. The Treecko tensed up, holding his breath and keeping as still as possible. His efforts were in vain, however, as she furrowed her brow and said, "Am I going crazy, or are you up on the wall?"

"Um," he said, feeling a bit silly. "Yes."

Vallea took off her blindfold and looked up at him. Her eyes widened when she spotted him. "How the heck did you get up there?"

"I remembered I can climb—"

His grip on the surface finally failed, and he slipped and plummeted to the floor to land in a crumpled heap before her.

"Ow."

"Well, points for creativity," she said, pulling him to his feet. "I definitely didn't expect that."

"What was up with the whole arm-waving thing, though?" he said through a laugh. "I thought you were supposed to find me using only aura, nothing else. But instead you were out here playing Blind Man's Buff."

"Well, you see, that's—aura sensing takes time, and—I, uh, thought I'd conduct a search while waiting for it to kick in…"

"Excuses, excuses. You broke the rules of your own game," he said in a sing-song voice.

"It's not a game, it's a training exercise!" she said, pouting. "And clearly we need to do it again, since my performance was lackluster at best. I'm not gonna stop until I can find you really quickly!"

"How quick are you thinking?"

"Three seconds or less."

"Ugh." He closed his eyes and sighed. "We're gonna be here for a while, then."

"Oh, ye of little faith!" she shouted, taking on a dramatic tone. "Such a trivial feat shan't take more than three tries! And if it does, then I shall be deemed unworthy of the gift of aura!"

Aster sighed again.

It took Vallea twelve tries and a full hour to accomplish said feat.

"Alas, Vallea," Aster said, adopting his own dramatic tone. "I had hoped otherwise, but you seem to be—"

"Don't say it."

"You seem to be unworthy of the 'gift of aura,'" he said.

They were sitting on the bench in the plaza again, soaking in the late-morning sun and watching the residents of Lively Town go about their daily routines. From Kangaskhan's café drifted lovely scents of pastries and muffins as the vendors hawked their wares from the booths scattered throughout. Behind their voices, he could hear the roaring of the ocean as it crashed onto the shore again and again.

"If nothing else, that was a good way to spend an hour," Vallea said. "Now what?"

Aster shrugged.

"I want to make the most of this day, but…I'm drawing a blank. What do you want to do?"

He shrugged again.

"Maybe we could take a walk around Lively Town, explore some places we haven't before," she said, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "We've been living here for weeks but I still have no idea what kind of stuff is in this place. I'd love to see the sights!"

"There's a good idea. And after that, how about we go down to the beach? I'd love to watch the waves," he said.

"I knew you'd say that," she said with a little giggle. "You can be so predictable sometimes. It's like I can read your mind!"

"Oh, really?" He placed a paw on his chin. "I reckon I might be a smidge predictable, but there's no way you can read my mind."

She folded her arms. "Nuh-uh. Remember my aura sensing? The training exercise—"

"You mean the game?"

"The training exercise improved my aura sensing to the point where I can use it to read your thoughts like a book!"

"Alright, then prove it! Right here, right now."

"W-wait, right now?"

Aster leaned towards her, looking her in the eyes. "You heard me."

"Alright, fine! I will! And it'll be no problem at all! Just you watch. Let's see…"

Without the slightest hesitation, Vallea closed her eyes, grabbed her aura tassels, and scrunched up her face in concentration. Aster couldn't help but find her expression a bit funny, what with the way she furrowed her brow. He was careful not to laugh, though. Wouldn't want to break her focus.

"I think I've got it," she said after a few seconds, opening her eyes. "You, uh, think that I'm a reliable partner. And that…er, you'd like to stay by my side! Yeah, that's right! We share a connection! Even though you're a human and I'm a Pokemon, you feel a bond beyond mere friendship!"
Her statement was far too accurate. For a brief, paralyzing moment, Aster wondered if she really could read minds.

Vallea sighed and looked away at the colorful buildings in the distance. "But that's all just wishful thinking, isn't it? I know you probably don't feel that way, and I know I can't really read minds. Not yet, at least."

He sighed in relief, sinking into the bench. Hiding his nervousness as best he could, he said, "Wishful thinking, huh? Can't help but wonder what you could mean by that."

"Huh?" She tensed up a little. "A-aw, jeez, I said too much, didn't I?"

"Probably."

He felt a smile spread across his face as Vallea buried hers in her paws. Her shoulders raised and her ears pointed back, and it was honestly a little adorable. The thought of letting her sizzle in embarrassment tugged on the edge of his mind, but he pushed it away for the time being. He'd have his chance to tease her later.

"You know," he said, "your wishes really aren't that far from the truth."

The Riolu looked up so fast her aura tassels swung like a pair of swings. "Wait, what? What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing, nothing." Aster slid off the bench and began strolling through the plaza. "Now come on, didn't you say you want to see the sights? Clock's ticking, and we've got to move our tails if we want to make the most of this day off."

"H-hang on! Aster! Wait up!" She leapt to her feet and started chasing after him. "What did you mean by that?!"

"By what?" he said with a laugh, quickening his pace to a run. It wasn't completely fair for him to do this, but it was just so much fun to mess with her.

And maybe, just maybe, he really did feel a special sort of bond with her.