"...So then Blaziken hurled Zebstrika up into the air, we gave her a High Jump Kick on the way back down, and... that was enough! So not only did we actually win the whole thing, we dug ourselves outta that hole to do it! Not bad, nicht?"
Asuka maintained her triumphant grin for a few more seconds, but the crushing silence she'd been met by soon dashed it. She'd told her just about everything that was worth telling - Rei's arrival, the Monotype Shootout, everything... but through it all, Asuka couldn't get a single halfway-legible mumble out of her mother.
It had been over two months by now. Two months since she'd gotten that phone call from Dad. She didn't remember exactly what he'd told her, but the short version was that there'd been an incident at the Dimensional Research Institute, Mom fell into a wormhole that opened up out of nowhere, and they ultimately managed to get her out, but... well, her current state told the rest of the story.
Just the sight of her mother like this, staring blankly ahead at the television illuminating her glazed-over, discolored eyes from across the guest room... god, it made Asuka want to puke.
"...I really miss you, Mom, y'know that?" The redhead sighed, her own eyes wandering towards the TV - seemed like Dad had left it on cable news. Wouldn't have been her first choice, but whatever. "And, like... gottverdammt, it sounds so weird to say that. I mean, you're right there... but..."
Shaking her head, Asuka gently took a seat on her mother's bedside. "I-it's like... they saved your body, but your mind's... they left it on the other side."
Again, no response came. She kind of felt like an idiot for holding out hope for one.
Asuka looked towards her mother again, this time making note of how disheveled her strawberry blonde hair looked. "I-I guess I'm lucky Rei's here, then," she continued; after all, there was nothing else she could really do except just... keep talking and hope Mom could hear. "'Cause you remember how I told you Dad completely forgot about the Shootout and went off to Saxony for some business thing? Well, even after I told him I won it, all he said was just... 'good for you.' Couldn't even bring himself to say he was proud of me... Arschloch."
She felt her face growing hot, her hands instinctively balling up into fists. Asuka desperately felt the need to punch something growing inside of her, and she was trying as much as she possibly could to suppress that urge. Last thing she needed right now was to make enough of a ruckus that Rei came barging in to find her in tears and sitting beside her husk of a mother. Come to think of it... I should probably lock the door.
As she got back up and made her way towards said door, her mind continued to dwell on her father's... how the hell would she even describe it? Indifference? No, sounded too passive... it was almost like he was aggressively trying to avoid taking interest in her life. Sure, he was home now, but was he? Either he was holed up in his office or out on the town doing god knows what. Probably out drinking with his work buddies, talking about what foreign conflict they could make the most profit off of. To think that she - his own daughter - would lose out to those ghouls...
Asuka locked the door to the guest room, fighting back the urge to scream. The fact that Dad didn't seem to give two shits about her only made her miss Mom even more.
"...Forget it. If I keep thinkin' about him, I'll just piss myself off even more." Heaving a dejected sigh, the redhead returned to her mother's side; while she was still motionless as ever, the atmosphere seemed ever-so-slightly heavier. "'Sides, uh... Rei and I are going out to see a movie in a little while, so I don't wanna go into that in a bad mood, y'know? Plus, she seems... really interested in this one."
...Right, Rei. "O-oh... yeah. I... still haven't told her about you, have I?"
As far as Rei was concerned, Mom had gotten a divorce and moved back to Saxony. With each passing day that she'd gotten to know her better, though, Asuka found herself regretting that little fib more and more. At this point, she was just kind of holding out hope that Rei would be understanding whenever the time came to come clean. Surely she would; after all, considering everything she'd told her about her past during the trip to Striaton...
...Wait, was Rei really that comfortable around her already? They'd only known each other for... what, three weeks? Then again, all things considered, it really wasn't that surprising. Still, though, having someone rely on her for a change... Asuka had to admit, it felt nice.
"...Eh. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Anyway, I... guess I should be gettin' ready to head out now." She turned to look into her mother's eyes - and despite how much Asuka hated seeing her so empty, managed to force a smile onto her lips. "Ich liebe dich, Mama... a-and, again... I miss you."
With nothing else left to do she hadn't already tried, Asuka gently hugged her unmoving mother and turned to leave. She thought she might've heard blankets rustling, but shrugged it off. Probably just her mind playing tricks on her.
"So... yeah, that's pretty much my thoughts on it!"
A robot with a heart. The look in its eyes, so very human... far more than what can be said for my own eyes.
"...Sooo... what did you, uh..."
A robot whose existence is nothing but suffering, surrounded by those who don't want it around. A robot that, no matter how it may feel, must be killed.
"...Wonder Girl? I-I'm tryin' to ask you a question here..."
"...Eh?"
"You look like you're choking on somethin'."
Asuka's concern made sense; after all, ever since they'd left the theater, Rei had been staring down at her feet. While seeing Everlasting Memories had admittedly been her own idea, she... never thought she'd come out of the film relating to its robot protagonist so strongly.
"...Do I... seem that bothered by it?" After giving her head a quick shake, Rei looked up towards Asuka. "That film... i-it was very good, don't get me wrong... strong cinematography, I-I was very impressed by the actress who played Rosa... but..."
She hesitated for a moment; it seemed so stupid. Exactly the kind of thing Asuka would laugh at her for. Yet... if it really was that stupid, why did it eat at her this much?
"T-the... the robot, F-00... they reminded me a lot of myself."
Asuka tilted her head, her bright auburn twintails falling to the side as she did. "Yourself?" she echoed. "Why's that? I mean... I don't really see the connection, if it means anythin'."
"...Thank you. But..." Rei took a deep breath, albeit one that barely calmed her nerves. "...I... have this feeling that I am... unable to relate to anyone. Whether because of my mannerisms, or the way I speak, or just... my general standoffishness. And when I am around people, it... feels like they treat me as an... 'other,' I suppose. Like an alien... or... or a robot."
"Huh... then I guess hangin' around in a foreign country hasn't helped all that much, ah?"
"Not at all... in fact, it's made things significantly worse. The people here are a lot more, um... animated... than back home. A-and, to be honest, it somewhat makes me dread what school life will be like... how the other students will treat me..."
Suddenly, Asuka thrust her arm outward, holding it in front of Rei; coming to an abrupt stop, she found herself mere inches from the rear end of Asuka's car. Apparently she'd been so lost in thought that she hadn't noticed they'd made it back to their parking spot. "...M-my apologies."
" Keine Sorgen. Just don't want you hurtin' yourself." Once Asuka unlocked the car, both her and Rei climbed inside; the redhead started the engine, but made no move to put it in gear. "Y'know, Rei, I... I get where you're comin' from. I know it might not really look it, but I feel pretty alienated a lot of the time, too... hell, I'd go as far to say it feels like nobody actually likes me."
Rei... couldn't understand where Asuka was coming from. "But... you clearly have plenty of fans. Surely lots of people like you."
"Yeah, but have most of those people ever met me's the question." Asuka threw her head back, and from what Rei could tell, seemed somewhat forlorn. "Sure, they like the Asuka on TV, but... I get the feelin' none of them would wanna spend five minutes with me when I'm outta the spotlight. Like, hell, even most of my 'friends' at school I'd say just associate with me out of convenience, so... I know it ain't exactly the same, but... I really do understand how you feel."
"...T-thank you, Asuka. It's... it's nice that you're willing to share such a thing with me."
A smile returned to the redhead's cherry lips. "Eh, it's no problem... 'sides, you've got at least one person around here you can relate to. That's more than a lotta people can say."
Rei felt herself cracking a smile in return, and it wasn't only thanks to the reassuring words; it seemed that Asuka had been more and more willing to open up to her in general over these past couple of weeks. Asuka... trusted her, it seemed. A far cry from the dynamic between them when she'd first arrived.
"Anyway," Asuka continued after what Rei could've sworn was a wink towards her, "I was thinking we could go get somethin' for lunch? Maybe that place on 6th you said you passed by..."
She was... actually willing to take her to that restaurant, too? Perhaps Asuka felt even more comfortable around her than she'd initially thought... and... was her face burning up again? "S-sure... that... that sounds good."
"Alright, fantastisch!" With that, Asuka shifted into first gear and began pulling out of the theater parking lot, setting her navigation system to 6th Avenue. "Oh, right, I've been meaning to ask... how's the hunt for info on that weird Pokemon you were lookin' into? It's some kinda cyborg, right?"
The mere mention of said Pokemon got Rei to immediately grab her phone, pulling up all of the notes she'd gathered about it; there were a lot more bullet points in there than when she'd first arrived. "Funny you bring that up... just yesterday, I finally discovered a proper name for it. 'Genesect.'"
"Huh... yeah, can't say I've heard that name anywhere before. Who tipped you off to that?"
"Do you remember Colress from the tournament? The man Elesa defeated in the semifinals."
"Ohhh, yeah, him... wait, that guy?! Where the hell'd he find that out?!"
"I'm not sure but... I must admit, he has been very helpful." Even if she were a bit wary about keeping contact with him... at the very least, he seemed far more bearable through text than in person. "We met during your match against Elesa, and he found me in a chatroom a couple days after... he possesses a surprising amount of information about Genesect. Its biology, the moves it is capable of using... it turns out that whoever created it even developed a special attack for it."
Asuka raised an eyebrow. "Wait... what do you mean, 'whoever created it?' Isn't it pretty obvious that Plasma were behind the thing?"
"See, that is what most people aware of its existence believe, but... there isn't actually any documentation proving it. At least, none that's been discovered... it's just a very widespread theory. I must admit, even I believed it at first."
Of course, that meant if it wasn't Plasma, there were several other possibilities... Genesect could have very well been the work of an individual team of rogue scientists, or even just one. After all, science had achieved stranger things before. In Rei's mind, though, there were really only two theories that held any water.
"Don't get me wrong, it could very well still be the work of Plasma," she continued, "but the only other thing I could think of that makes sense... Genesect might be a Unovan military project gone awry."
"A military project?" Asuka scoffed; at first, she seemed to take the possibility as little more than a joke. "Please, you think the Unovan military's competent enough to come up with something like that? Apparently those guys can't even build their stupid trillion-dollar fighter jets right... but hell, I guess it's a possibility. Might as well ask Dad about it, see if he knows anything."
"I did, actually."
A positively bewildered expression promptly crossed the redhead's face, as if she'd just seen one of her team members go down to a super-effective Ice Beam. "W-wait, you... huh? That dummkopf actually let you get a word in before he ran off again?" She paused, turning her eyes back towards the road. "Well... what'd he say?"
"He... did not know anything, unfortunately. At least, nothing he could tell me... I get the feeling he knows more than he lets on. At least he was polite about it, I suppose."
Actually, speaking of Asuka's father... Rei swung her messenger bag around, rummaging through it for a moment before retrieving a few papers stapled together. She continued, "While we were talking, though, he... told me he'd arranged a trip for me with my counselor. I'll be visiting Chargestone Caverns next week, and... Mistralton's gym leader will be my guide."
"Hey hey hey, where'd this come from?!" Fortunately, Asuka's irritation didn't seem to be directed towards Rei; still, a twitching eyebrow made her wary. "So what, he'll set up this whole thing for you, but he can't even remember my tournament schedule? The hell's that about?"
She... did raise a valid question. It only seemed logical for him to care more for his daughter than some exchange student from Sinnoh... well, in a bubble, anyway.
It only took a few seconds of contemplation for Rei to come up with an answer. "I forget whether or not I've told you this, but my father... also works in the defense industry. If I had to guess what's going on... it's not so much that he cares about me, but moreso that he... wishes to get on my father's good side. That... would also explain why he got me those musical tickets."
"...So this all comes back to his fucking career, doesn't it?"
"Seems so."
"Mein Gott, what a self-serving, heartless prick."
A heavy silence lingered throughout the car for what felt like much longer than the few seconds it actually lasted. A sigh from Asuka would break it, followed by a declaration. "Well, if you're headin' out there, I'm going with you. You and I are pretty much a package deal at this point, anyway."
"...R-right." That was... one way to put it. "But... do you think the Mistralton leader would be bothered by it? I know you are Elesa's protege, but..."
A sudden burst of laughter cut Rei off. "Ha! Do you even know who Mistralton's leader is?! It's Skyla Palomo... her and Elesa are super close, she'd have no problem with me showin' up. Hey, maybe I'll even get Elesa to come along."
"...Your father wouldn't mind, either?"
"Eh, I think it's less that he wouldn't mind and more that he wouldn't care. Either way, he probably won't notice."
With a gentle smile, Rei nodded. "Then in that case... I'd be glad if you and Elesa came with me." To think that just a couple of weeks ago, Asuka wanted nothing to do with her... now, like she said, they were practically inseparable.
"I'll let Skyla know to make room, then," Asuka returned. "Oh yeah, and that I'm gonna be joining you guys too." Somehow, that managed to get a stifled giggle out of Rei.
The blue-haired girl turned to look out the window, and only then did it hit her that they'd reached 6th Avenue. The difference between the atmosphere a few weeks ago and now was quite literally night and day; the street seemed significantly livelier, locals and tourists alike happily going about their business in the many shops and restaurants.
Sure enough, right in front of one of those restaurants is where Asuka would nab a spot for her car; Rei would've been lying if she said her near-perfect parallel parking job didn't impress her. "This is the place you were talkin' about, right?"
"Mhm, this is the one."
"Alright, awesome."
Asuka twisted her key to shut off the engine, but didn't immediately move to open the door; sensing she had something to say, Rei held off on getting out as well. "Hey, before we go in there, I just... I wanna tell you how happy I am that you're around. Like, I've beaten the issues with Dad into the ground by now, but with that on top of Mom bein' outta the picture... it's nice to just... have someone there, y'know?"
Rei felt her heartbeat quickening in response to the kind words, but did her best to remain composed. "...I can say the same for you. I understand you were hesitant about my arrival at first, but... it's good that things are working out. Like you said, I... really appreciate having someone I can relate to here."
"Hey, don't mention it. Anyway, enough sappy friendship stuff; let's go get somethin' to eat, alright?"
With that, Asuka got out of the car and headed into the restaurant; Rei would follow close behind, maintaining her blissful smile as she watched the redhead. She really was grateful that her and Asuka had become so close in such a relatively short time... and she had to admit, she was quite admirable to look at, too. The way she walked, her shoulders back and head held high... her bright auburn hair, shining in the summer sun...
...And it was then, coming up with such flowery ways to describe Asuka's beauty, that it finally hit her.
Is... is this what falling for someone feels like...?
