One day before the fated day…
"Hurry up, will you? We can't waste any more time here."
Hearing Kanade say that to her in such a standoffish way, Yume's head dipped a little as she idly stared at her mochi. As she and her friends walked through the bustling shopping street of Usagiyama, Yume never felt more isolated from them. She didn't like this one bit, but didn't dare speak out in response. After all, Kanade would never listen to her. That was the reason they were here in the first place.
A few days ago, Kanade had proposed to her friends about going for an urban exploration adventure out of the blue, and she had chosen the abandoned labyrinth of tunnels underneath the region-spanning Ledger Line. Though everyone seemed ambivalent about the idea, none of them protested it. Kanade's subtle grip on the group's dynamics was completely irresistible. And Yume hated that.
Ever since Yume had known her, Kanade Hisaishi was the dominant personality in their group, winning any decision without so much as a rejection. Though it wasn't exactly flat-out bullying, Yume knew everyone in their friend group was tired of this manipulative behaviour from Kanade, and wanted it to stop. After all, even with their Pokémon, there were limits on what they could do as a bunch of teenagers.
However, Kanade seemed obsessed with breaking down these barriers, and no one was keen on stopping her, what with the assertive way she conducted herself. Even Ririka, Kanade's closest confidant, was aware of how much her friend's behaviour hurted the group, but seemed to condone it as long as they didn't get involved in anything dangerous. Which this little adventure was shaping up to be.
Not trusting Kanade's ideas one bit, Yume decided to do some research on her own about the Ledger Line, and what she found out horrified her. There had been more than a few disappearances inside these tunnels in years past, and two girls had fallen through multiple floors more recently in a freak accident. There were even rumors of a costumed marauder roaming the deserted passageways.
Even though all this frightened her, Yume tried her best to put on a brave face as they made their way to their destination, understanding that Kanade wouldn't take no for an answer. Her heartbeat getting louder and faster as they turned the last corner before they would arrive, Yume steeled her nerves as she saw the tunnel's entrance appear in front of her very eyes.
"Alright, gang. We're here!" Kanade exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air in excitement. Taking out a flashlight from her bag, Kanade fiddled with its switch a few times before turning it on, but turned it off almost immediately afterwards. "Oh shoot! We forgot to take a photo to commemorate our visit here! Quick, Ririka-chan! Find someone who can do that for us!"
"On it!" Looking around, Ririka then spotted someone who seemingly fitted the bill. Carrying a small film camera in one of her hands, a brown-haired teenage girl wearing a navy blue sailor fuku with white ribbon and highlights was walking by, her eyes darting to and fro as if she was looking for something. Acting decisively, Ririka took the initiative. "Umm, can you help my friends and I take a picture?"
"Sure." Smiling at Ririka, the girl placed the camera she was holding into her pocket before taking Ririka's phone. Motioning for everyone to get into position, everyone was captivated by the girl's natural grace with the exception of Kanade, but she had no choice but to oblige as well. Getting into place, Kanade had a few seconds to whisper some words into Ririka's ear before the shutter clicked.
"That older girl rubs me the wrong way." With Ririka's eyes widening while she processed what Kanade just said, the latter proceeded to put on the fakest smile she could as she heard a resounding 'click'. Once the girl confirmed the photo was taken, Ririka said a quick 'thank you' before getting her phone back. Checking the photo was alright, Ririka was about to talk to Kanade when they were interrupted by the girl.
"I'm looking for the girl in this photo. Do you know her?" As the girl abruptly took out a photograph from her bag, Kanade assumed this was yet another case of a missing person, and prepared to brush her off with a quick denial. However, Kanade then saw who was being depicted in said photo, which caused her to do a double take. Then a triple take. This had taken a turn she never expected.
"No way. Is that…" Kanade couldn't lie to herself. The girl staring at her from the photo was Kumiko Oumae, the 'senpai' who Kanade self-proclaimed was hers. While Kanade's mind was sent into a frenetic tizzy at how this random girl could've obtained a picture of her 'senpai', she noticed something odd. Compared to when she last saw Kumiko, Kanade's senpai looked more mature and had a determined glare in the photo.
"Then I guess you're familiar with her." Receiving another smile from the mysterious girl, Kanade was annoyed further. How could everyone else have fallen for such an obvious phony? And why was she looking for Kumiko? Her Kumiko? Enough was enough. This mysterious girl had ticked Kanade off one too many times already. "Do you have an idea where she might be?"
"Well… my friends and I are in quite a hurry here, so I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Goodbye!" Grabbing Ririka by the wrist, Kanade motioned for everyone else to follow her down into the tunnel as she spat out the most faux-polite parting words she could think of. Descending into the darkness, the ever-shrinking entrance was the last spot of natural light Kanade and her friends would see for the rest of this long day.
"Oh well. That's a shame, Kanade Hisaishi." Sighing as she turned and left, Mayu Kuroe wasn't surprised with the outcome of that conversation. Still, Kumiko Oumae's 'kouhai' remained important in what would come to pass, so Mayu couldn't risk getting on her bad side, assuming she already hadn't from that conversation. "Then you've already helped me with everything you possibly could."
"Satsuki, do you have any idea what all that was about?"
As they trudged through the dim network of tunnels, there wasn't much anyone could do other than strike up some conversation now that their 'adventure' had begun without any warning. With their flashlights being the main sources of illumination in these dingy passageways, it took a while for Yume's eyes to adjust, and she could barely see her surroundings even in those circumstances.
"Nuh-uh. I've got no clue at all. You?" In hindsight, asking Satsuki about that wasn't the best idea. Since Yume recalled Kumiko and Satsuki barely had any interaction after they first met each other, her short friend probably wasn't the best person she could consult. Even so, Satsuki was the only person here Yume felt most comfortable talking to.
With Ririka never leaving Kanade's side and Motomu preferring to do his own thing, Yume's only opportunity to talk with someone else came when Satsuki drifted slightly away from Mirei. While the two didn't talk with each other that often, any conversation was better than no conversation at all in this darkness, even if few words were actually shared between them.
Having no idea how to continue this aimless conversation with Satsuki, Yume's mind went back to that confusing scenario which happened just a few moments before. She couldn't make heads or tails of that strange photograph of Kumiko the mysterious girl showed them, but Yume was certain it wasn't a fake. After all, no one would ask about a person's whereabouts using a sham photo.
However, that only made things even more confusing. Yume couldn't exactly place what was odd about the photo, but Kumiko didn't look like… Kumiko. Though Yume could recognize that dorky face and fluffy brown hair from far away, the finer details seem to have been changed enough for Kumiko to look different. Just when and where was this photograph taken?
More importantly, why was that mysterious girl looking for Kumiko? From what Yume knew, Kumiko wasn't involved in some ancient conspiracy or secret society. She was just an ordinary Trainer going on a journey. There absolutely wasn't anything special about her at all. Reaching no resolution at all with this line of thinking, Yume decided to drop it before her thoughts got out of hand.
"Oh, there are two doors here. Which one should we pick?" With everyone else gradually slowing down and stopping, Yume heard Kanade's voice ring through the hallway and mentally groaned. Oh no. Knowing Kanade's penchant for tormenting everyone else with her diabolical mind games, this was going to be a doozy. "The left one or the right one?"
Yume wasn't someone who liked to take unnecessary risks, so she naturally decided to pick whichever option seemed the safest to her. Getting in closer to take a look at the two doors, Yume nearly staggered back as she realized what she would have to choose between. Forget going down either one of them. The only thing Yume wanted now was out.
One of the doors was covered with stains which looked suspiciously like blood, with its glass shattered by some kind of impact. The other door had multiple thin holes in it, as if it had been repeatedly stabbed with a bladed implement, and the area where the handle once was now contained a gigantic gap. To make matters worse, unsettling gurgling noises could be heard coming from behind both of them.
"Hmm, since I'm abstaining to prevent any personal bias from showing, we're currently tied 2-2 as to which door we're picking. What's your choice?" Jabbing her finger in Yume's direction, Kanade seemed extremely fed up from her tone of voice. Looking around, Yume saw that everyone else was staring in her direction. It appeared that while she was thinking, everyone had already made their decision.
"Uh, umm…" Backed into a metaphorical corner with no way out, Yume was caught in a Bind. Outright refusing Kanade would have dire consequences, but Yume's gut told her choosing to go down either door was far worse. Now that she was trapped between a rock and a hard place, Yume's mouth opened involuntarily as a few words made their way out. "...The, the one with the holes."
"Great! Then that's settled!" Flashing a confident smile at everyone, Kanade dramatically pushed their chosen door open. As she stretched one of her feet forwards, a creaking sound coming from behind that passageway caused Kanade to immediately freeze up. A nervous sweat beginning to form on her forehead, Kanade was about to say something when the doorway collapsed on itself.
"Ehh… Guys, run!" Shouting the first thing which came to her mind, Kanade was about to turn tail when her eyes darted to the various fractures beginning to form on the ground. Before she could react, the floor collapsed beneath them, causing everyone to promptly fall downwards. In the midst of this chaos, Yume attempted to send out her Corviknight Kurotori to try and save everyone, but it was too late by this point.
The last thing Yume remembered before losing consciousness was seeing a flickering exit sign fall past her.
"Ugh, that hurt."
Yume knew that was a familiar voice ringing through her ears, but she couldn't place where she had heard it before until she opened her eyes. In front of her was Kanade rubbing her head as she groaned, and that was when all the memories of what previously happened came rushing back to Yume. The doors. Being forced to make a decision. Falling down. And above all, Kanade's troubling behavior.
"Kanade-chan, are you all right?" Noticing something scampering towards Kanade, Yume wondered for a brief moment whether it was a wild Pokémon or something else when Ririka revealed herself from the darkness. Breathing a sigh of relief upon realizing they weren't in any immediate danger, seeing her other friends in the vicinity put Yume's worst fears to rest.
"Micchan, I'm so scared!" Burying her face into Mirei's chest as she so often did when afraid, Satsuki's usual vigor being present meant that she wasn't seriously hurt by the fall. A secondary glance confirmed that nobody had been seriously injured, but Yume wasn't sure how that miraculously happened. For a drop which knocked her unconscious, Yume expected at least some bruising and bleeding.
"Hey… what exactly is this?" Peeling something off his arm, Motomu had a visible look of disgust on his face as he saw what he just touched. Recoiling in shock the next moment, the faint amount of light presently shining on Motomu prevented anyone else from noticing what bothered him. Only when Ririka clicked her flashlight on did everyone realize just what they fell into.
"Is that… an empty MooMoo Milk carton?" Mirei cringed at that unexpected sight, before feeling what she was sitting on. Instantly recognizing that smooth texture, there was no delay before Mirei's eyes widened, and she almost let out a scream were it not for regaining her composure at the last second. "We're… we're in some kind of garbage dump!"
"Ew, gross!" Ririka exclaimed as she pinched her nose with one hand on instinct. However, she soon noted that despite the amount of garbage they were on top of, there wasn't any odor coming from the trash heap at all. Maybe the smell had dissipated over time. Releasing her nose from her grip, Ririka didn't seem concerned. "Hey, this isn't so bad. As long as we find a way out of here-"
"Ririka-chan? Ririka-chan!" Faster than Kanade's eyes could process, Ririka had completely vanished from sight, dragged down into the piles of garbage by something unknown. Crawling over to where Ririka was last seen, Kanade began digging through the piles of trash, frantically searching for her friend amidst the junk. In her fervor, several of the items Kanade tossed behind her hit everyone else, but she didn't notice.
"Kanade-chan, help! Help m-" Hearing Ririka's voice echo from across the room before being muffled, all heads turned to look in that direction, causing an instantaneous freak-out upon learning what had incapacitated Ririka without any warning. Staring at them with its toxic yellow eyes as it held Ririka in the grasp of a venomous claw was a larger than average Toxicroak.
"Ririka-ch-" Kanade attempted to shout out to her friend, but her mouth was clamped shut by Motomu's hand. Making a shushing gesture at her, Motomu gestured at the Toxicroak holding Ririka hostage, and Kanade soon understood what he meant. In such an enclosed space, it was extremely easy for sound to travel around. if the Toxicroak could pinpoint their location using that method, nothing good would happen.
Silently nodding at Motomu's implicit reasoning, Kanade didn't make a single move after that, which everyone was surprised at. Usually, in these sorts of perilous scenarios, it was Kanade who first leapt into the fray, regardless of how much of a danger it posed to her and the group at large. While she understood Motomu's rationale, not doing anything when a friend was in trouble didn't rub well with Yume.
"Kurotori, Brave Bird!" Though expressions of grave alarm appeared on everyone's faces, Yume didn't care anymore. Forget cowering and hoping for the crisis to magically end itself. In Yume's mind, this was what Kumiko and Reina would do if they were here. With no other options being available to her, Yume decided to take inspiration from the two Trainers she admired the most.
"What the-" Kanade was extremely furious at Yume's seemingly rash behaviour. She had originally wanted to sneak behind the Toxicroak and attack it once it eventually let its guard down, but Yume's actions had thrown all that out of the window. Nearly gawking at how Yume had jeopardized all of them, it wasn't until Kurotori slammed the Toxicroak at full force that Kanade finally let a breath out.
"Ririka!" Immediately going over to where her friend was while Kurotori wrestled with the Toxicroak, Kanade paid no heed to the action happening behind her as she cradled Ririka in her arms. Though Toxicroak was a Poison-type Pokémon whose lethal toxins could be transmitted by touch, Ririka appeared surprisingly unhurt even after being in close contact for such a long time.
At the same moment Kanade was worrying about Ririka, Yume was dealing with the most troubling matter at hand, ordering Kurotori around as he fought off the Toxicroak. This battle was seemingly based towards Yume and Kurotori with the latter's type advantage, but the wild Toxicroak was holding its own rather well, blocking and parrying any attacks being thrown its way with ease.
Still, that ultimately wasn't enough to prevent it from losing, and the wild Toxicroak quickly succumbed to the slow but steady barrage of attacks Kurotori was dishing out. Sinking beneath the sea of trash it inhabited, the last anyone saw of the wild Toxicroak was the arm it used to hold Ririka captive flailing around in the air, before it soon disappeared forever.
"Hm, that went smoothly enough." Kanade commented as she continued to tend to Ririka, who was currently purring in her lap. Once she thought Ririka was alright, Kanade stood up before helping her friend to her feet. Dusting herself off, Kanade then addressed the group. "Alright, now that we've got that little bother out of the way, let's get going! Time waits for no one!"
As everyone else picked themselves up from the ground, few words were said as they begrudgingly prepared to follow Kanade yet again. Though everything she did only resulted in disaster after disaster, no one could think of any better option other than to do what they were originally doing. Kanade's will was too imposing for anyone to resist, so no one attempted to do that.
As Yume recalled Kurotori back into his Pokéball, another sigh escaped from her mouth yet again. This unfortunate series of events wouldn't have happened at all if it wasn't for Kanade pushing for the group to go her way. And this time, it seemed she had gone too far. Yume wasn't sure if you could go any lower than being stuck in an underground trash heap.
Because of Kanade's decisions, they had ended up in this pit, and Ririka was taken hostage by a wild Pokémon. While they managed to overcome these obstacles with some slight difficulty, no one wanted to encounter them in the first place. Bumping into these disasters one after another, Yume was long past being fed up with Kanade. She had enough of all this.
"No…" Mustering up what little courage she had, not even the quaking in Yume's legs was enough to deter her from saying what she felt needed to be said. For far too long, Kanade's control over the group had left everyone else with little say of their own, and the consequences had been dire. "I'm not following you anymore. Not when you've led us into this mess."
"What?" Kanade was shocked. Of all the people she expected to disagree with her, shy and timid Yume was the last person she expected. Ever since she met her, Yume was the type of person who did what others wanted of her without question, which Kanade found favourable. That made her defeat in battle at Yume's hands all the more humiliating. "What did you just say?"
"I said… I'm sick and tired of following you! I don't want to do that anymore!" Shouting out how she really felt at Kanade, Yume was sure this was a suicidal move, but it was still what she had to do nonetheless. After all, it was what Yume thought Kumiko and Reina would do in this situation. They were the most courageous and confident people Yume had met, so they definitely had the guts to speak their mind like this.
"Oh, then where are you going to go?" Kanade retorted, getting increasingly aggravated. Yume, challenging her? If her words weren't said with such force, Kanade would've most likely dismissed this as a joke. However, in contrast to that assumption, it was a chill running down her spine this time around. "You can't just up and get out of this trash heap."
"...That doesn't matter. As long as none of us are following you anymore, we won't run into things like this." Clenching her fist to keep herself composed, Yume continued to stand her ground. No matter what Kanade said to her, there was absolutely zero chance Yume was going down without a fight. "You've been pushing us where you want to go for far too long now. Maybe it's time for us to decide our own paths."
"Why you little…" Losing her temper as Yume's words pushed against her, Kanade was steadily losing ground in this quarrel. The points Yume made had all hit their marks, and Kanade did not like that one bit. She was used to being the big cheese in the group, so having Yume verbally beat her down like this was not only odd, but insulting. "Fine. You've got yourself a fight here. Scherzo, let's light this place up!"
As Kanade sent out her Luxray, Yume was faced with no other choice but to send out Kurotori again in response. There was no denying it now. Kanade had interpreted all of Yume's actions as being hostile towards her, and she was acting accordingly. While she hadn't battled with Kanade ever since that fateful match, Yume knew that her friend had gotten much stronger.
After their encounter and narrow escape from the Ultra Beasts a few weeks ago, Kanade had been obsessed with constantly training herself and her Pokémon to make sure they wouldn't be stuck in that sort of crisis again. She had roped in everyone else to aid in her endeavours, and they all vastly improved as a result. Even Satsuki, the weakest of the group, was able to hold her own against the others once she trained.
"Fire Fang!" As his luminescent stripes and eyes glowed in the darkness, Scherzo's mouth soon shone brightly with embers as well. Due to the limited amount of space in the garbage pit, Kurotori wasn't able to move freely, so he tried to use his wings to deflect the incoming attack. Unfortunately, the resulting gale force caused some sparks to fly out of Scherzo's mouth, and set the surrounding trash on fire.
"Micchan, it's an emergency! We're going to get burnt alive!" The smoke from the fires releasing a noxious odor into the air, Satsuki coughed as she buried her face in Mirei's chest. Forget getting out of here. All Satsuki wanted right now was to not die here and her friends to stop fighting. Breaking down into tears, Satsuki's muffled cries were only softened by Mirei patting her on the head.
"Fine. I'll help get us out of this hot mess." Grumbling at how some of his friends were putting the rest of them in mortal danger, Motomu sent out his Jellicent Dolore before giving out an order to use Bubble Beam. As Dolore sprayed out a stream of aquatic spheres, they floated around the area Kanade and Yume were battling in, and burst shortly after to douse the flaming garbage. "There. That should do it."
"But… the main problem hasn't been solved yet." Ririka lamented. Though there wasn't any risk of the trash catching fire again now that it had been dampened, Yume clearly wasn't conceding anything to Kanade. Ririka thought her friend was holding her own just fine, and the repercussions would be severe if she intervened in Kanade's affairs. That wasn't a risk Ririka was willing to take.
"Steel Wing!" With Kurotori coating his wings in a layer of iridescent iron, he blocked the next incoming Fire Fang from Scherzo. Throughout this entire battle, Yume hadn't told Kurotori to attack Scherzo even once, instead using protective techniques such as Iron Defense to shield himself. Yume didn't want to fight Kanade, especially not in such a cramped space, but her options seemed to be rapidly dwindling.
"Why… won't… you…" Breathing deeply from the exertion she was putting herself through, Kanade continually ran around, trying to get a handle on the situation. Despite her relentless offensive, Yume wasn't budging at all, only having Kurotori take blow after blow. Frustrated by her opponent's lack of action, Kanade's mind was beginning to have trouble wrapping itself around that conundrum. "Just… attack?!"
"Because…" Though she knew having Kurotori take so many hits without returning anything wasn't a sound strategy, there was a reason for Yume's decision. Since she had been dragged into this battle against her will, Yume wasn't keen on fighting Kanade. There simply wasn't anything to be gained from winning or losing, and Yume wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. "I don't want to!"
"Then perish!" Kanade yelled. As Scherzo cloaked his body in a shroud of electricity, it was clear to Yume that Kanade was betting everything on this Wild Charge. With no damage being done to Scherzo whatsoever during the entire battle, Yume was surprised that Kanade hadn't used it earlier, but she suspected it had been saved for this very moment.
However, it was then that Yume noticed something distressing. Snaking around the trash pit was a long electric wire, with its visible end letting loose several bright sparks. This was not good. Based on the direction Scherzo would be charging in, it was almost a certainty he would hit the wire, causing everyone to be electrocuted. Not having much time to make a decision, Yume did the only thing she could.
"Kurotori, Brave Bird!" Much to Kanade's surprise, Yume finally attacked for the first time. Caught off-guard by this sudden shift of strategy, Kanade was confused as to why Yume became so aggressive with her attacks all of a sudden, but that wonder was soon replaced with shock. Before Scherzo had even taken the first step, Kurotori had already burst forwards, ramming into him with a wispy grey aura.
"Oh, come on! You finally decided to get serious? Scherzo, prepare another Wild Charge!" Somehow continuing to remain oblivious to the danger they were in, Kanade's facial expression turned to one of fury, enraged that Yume hadn't been taking her seriously until now. As Scherzo's body began to glow yellow again, the only thought coursing through Kanade's mind was to win. Then something unexpected happened.
Almost immediately, the electricity surrounding Scherzo's body vanished, leaving him vulnerable to being knocked back by Kurotori again. Though Kanade remained confused as to why her Pokémon was suddenly disobeying her, the miniscule movement Yume saw in Scherzo's eyes told her everything. He had seen the live wire as well, and didn't want to endanger anyone because of his Trainer's reckless orders.
"What the… Scherzo, why aren't you attacking? You know there's only one single move separating you and victory!" Kanade yelled. Just how had everything ended up like this? First that mysterious stranger, then her, then Scherzo. It seemed like today, nothing was going right for Kanade. This was supposed to be a fun day out exploring, not a literal dumpster fire.
"Don't you understand?" Yume couldn't believe Kanade's denseness. If this was their friend group's self-proclaimed 'leader', Yume wasn't surprised at how they arrived here. Kanade was so abhorrent at decision-making that other than accomplishing her own goals, she didn't care about the consequences of her actions. "Scherzo's not attacking because he doesn't want to electrocute us all! Look down!"
"What?" Gazing down at the floor, Kanade briefly pondered the possibility that this was a gambit by Yume to gain the upper hand, but her eyes soon proved her wrong. The sparking wire catching her attention, a crippling feeling of doubt began to enter Kanade's heart. Was she really… No, that wasn't it. From her own perspective, she hadn't done anything wrong. "Scherzo, Fire Fang!"
Breathing a sigh of relief that Kanade hadn't chosen to act on her whims, Yume's mind was free to continue focusing on the battle at hand. However, the damage Kurotori had already received from Scherzo throughout the fight was already too much, and that last Fire Fang proved to be too much. As he fell to the ground, Yume recalled Kurotori before he could feel any impact from his plummet.
"Heh… I won. Take that!" Jabbing her finger at Yume before pointing up, Kanade had a triumphant smirk on her face. After all that shouting and fighting, she had emerged as the victor of their Pokémon battle. With this being their second battle, the devastating loss Kanade had gone through was now evened out by their rematch. "Alright guys! Time to pack it up here! Lets…"
Preparing to motion for the group to follow her once again, Kanade was left in a state of utter shock when nearly everyone gravitated towards Yume with determined looks on their faces. Unable to comprehend what just happened, all Kanade could do was blankly stare. Even Ririka, her closest confidant, was caught in the middle of all this, unable to decide which side she should join.
"What… what… what are you all doing?" Kanade was left grasping for answers. If she had won, then what was this supposed to be? Being left in the dust like this didn't suit her, and Kanade was determined to do anything to reverse this anomaly. Clenching her fists, Kanade was about to scream, but the tiniest shreds of restraint within her prevented that. "Aren't we supposed to be going now?"
"Yume's right. You're a horrible leader." The glint in Motomu's eyes reminding her of a Lycanroc's focused gaze, his accompanying words had the impact of a one-hit knockout move on Kanade. Hearing those comments of his being directed towards her made Kanade feel uneasy, and she did not like that sensation at all. "If it was anyone else but you in charge, we wouldn't have ended up like this."
"We should really have said something sooner, but there wasn't much you did which could've justified this sort of response." Towering over Kanade, Mirei's words had the same effect as her stature, bearing down on Kanade without any effort at all. "You've gone too far this time, but we're also at fault for not reigning you in. Who knows where we would've ended up if it wasn't for Ririka being taken hostage."
"Micchan's right!" Satsuki added. Having little else to contribute to this conversation, Satsuki just said what she felt needed to be said. After witnessing Kanade and Yume's battle of words and Pokémon, there was little in the way of Satsuki conclusively making up her mind. "You can't do things like this over and over and ignore us! You need to listen to other people as well!"
"...Then what about you, Ririka? What do you think?" Having heard from everyone else in the group already, the only one in the group who Kanade didn't hear from was Ririka, her closest friend. With everyone basically turning their backs against her leadership, Kanade hoped that Ririka would at least try and put in a good word for her. That was what friends were supposed to do, right?
"...To be honest with you, I'm not sure anymore, Kanade." Ririka's voice seemed quieter than usual. "No matter what happens, I'm sure we'll remain friends, though I'm afraid I can't avert my eyes from the truth anymore. Under your 'leadership', we've been caught up in one disaster after the other. I wish I could've stopped you from going over your head sooner, but…"
"Ririka… you too?" As Kanade felt tears streaming down from her eyes, she tried to comfort herself by contorting her mouth into a forced smile. The unavoidable truth crashing down onto her, Kanade soon broke down sobbing as she collapsed to the floor on her knees. Seeing her flaws being put on full display like this, Kanade didn't know how else to deal with all this until she saw someone stretch out a hand.
"Shh… don't worry, Kanade-chan." Seeing her friend in distress, Ririka couldn't stand by and do nothing. As she felt Kanade's warm hand touch her own, that sensation of relief gave Ririka the strength to pull her friend up. "I can't leave you alone, not when you're like this. While your leadership really needs some major improvements, all of us are ready and willing to help you do that."
"Ririka's right. If you don't consult us before doing anything, then everyone's the victim when things go bad, yourself included." Mirei patted Kanade on the back, causing her face to turn slightly red. "It's a miracle none of us were seriously hurt this time. Imagine if there wasn't any garbage to cushion our fall, or that Toxicroak poisoned Ririka. That's why we all need to agree on something we've all got a hand in."
"We're always here for you, Kanade-chan!" Satsuki chimed in. Out of everyone present, her overall mood had changed the least in spite of everything that happened. Still sporting a cheerful expression on her face, Satsuki did her best to encourage Kanade. "There's nothing we can't do as your friends, and you can call on us anytime you need help! You're not alone, you know?"
"Kanade, you're not invincible. That's why I was so adamant on stopping you back there. I didn't want everyone to get hurt because of you." Taking Motomu's silence as her cue to speak, Yume found that odd. She knew Motomu wasn't the type to speak much, but he should at least have some words of advice for Kanade. Was it because this reminded him of something? Yume brushed those thoughts aside as Kanade replied.
"Everyone… thank you very much!" Moved by everyone's words of support, Kanade couldn't help but try her best to embrace them all in a group hug. Through thick and thin, she was glad their faith in her remained. Even when she nearly pushed them over the edge, they still reached out and caught her before it was too late. "I really should've listened to you all more!"
"It's not too late to do that." Smiling at Kanade, Yume turned to face everyone else. "Now then, let's hurry up, everyone! We can't waste any more time in this trash pit!"
A/N: And now the plot thickens...
Apologies for not putting this information in the previous chapter, but this chapter is the second of five "intermission" chapters I've written, each of them featuring adventures from other characters while Kumiko and Reina are off training.
Since I've always thought that Yume was the most interesting out of all the kouhais introduced in Kumiko's second year, yet the most overlooked (even by Takeda herself), I decided to give her a more significant role in this fic. As such, this chapter serves as the cumulation of her character arc thus far, and primes her for what's to come on that fated day.
Next up on the intermission is our favourite squabbling couple. Stay tuned!