Liam didn't sleep well that night. He, Vasilio, and Jonah all crammed into Rain's room on the roof—Jonah on the bed, Vasilio on a hand-shaped chair, and Liam on the floor. He ordinarily didn't mind sleeping on the floor, and Rain's room was certainly an improvement over the tent from Fall Camp, but for some reason his mind kept racing. It wasn't just his dread at facing the Steel-type gym leader without a plan—although that was giving Liam a decidedly uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. It wasn't even the fact that Chelsea hadn't texted him and he still wasn't brave enough to text her. It was an overall sense that he was in way over his head. He had blown being a friend and leader to Chelsea. He was sure he was going to blow being a Pokemon trainer tomorrow.
Liam was jolted from the lightest of dozes by Vasilio's alarm—the opening bassline to "Miss Murder" played over tinny phone speakers—at about 7:30. They were planning to head to Old Town, the more "touristy" part of Hempshear, around 9:00, see the sights, get lunch, and challenge the gym. Their plans were revised when they ventured down to the second floor family room at 8:00 and found the girls still in their pajamas, queuing sullenly outside the door of the only bathroom.
"Grace, please, you've been in there for thirty minutes," said Rain. Her voice was pleading, but her politeness was clearly being stretched to the breaking point.
"Look, if I get the chance to look fantastic, I'm gonna take it," came Mori's muffled voice. "Get over it."
"This is my house," retorted Rain. "I need to shower."
"We're all done upstairs," said Jonah. "If you girls wanna…"
"Yes," said Stephanie, whose brown hair was tied back in a loose bun. "Definitely. Come on, Sylvia."
Rain seemed determined not to give up her place behind Mori.
"Grace, I'm coming in," said Rain. "If you're not using the shower, I'm going to—."
"Door's locked," said Mori as Rain pushed vainly against it.
Although he was clearly amused, Vasilio decided to intervene.
"Mori," he said through the bathroom door. "Let Rain take a shower. That's not gonna keep you from—."
Mori opened the door just a crack and peered through with a dangerous expression in her visible eye.
"Five minutes. Let me look good for once."
She slammed and locked the door again. Rain puffed her cheeks poutily.
"She's so stubborn," said Jonah.
It was an interesting remark coming from Jonah. He and Mori had briefly been an item less than a year ago, but Liam had never heard him say anything about the former relationship. It was almost like both of them were pretending it had never happened. Maybe that was just Mori's way of getting over a guy.
Five minutes later, Mori finally emerged from the bathroom. Liam privately thought that the final result was worth Rain's inconvenience—Mori looked incredible. She had accented the expression of her large, dark eyes with black eyeliner and blueish eyeshadow that matched the streak in her hair. Her lipstick was black, as were her nails. She was wearing her favorite Cradle of Muk shirt—the shirt she kept carefully hidden from the "parental authorities" to the point where she sometimes changed into it in her apartment stairwell. As she pushed past Liam, he noticed that she was wearing a very strong perfume.
"Well?" said Mori.
Liam started to speak, but Mori put a finger to his lips.
"I know what you think," she said. "I wanna know the judgy one's opinion."
Vasilio smiled despite himself.
"You do look good, Mori," he granted. "But you were also a jerk to Rain."
"Don't pretend like it wasn't worth it," said Mori, flicking Vasilio on the shoulder. "C'mon, let's see what Rain's mom made for breakfast. I'm starving."
The boys stared at each other for a moment as Mori almost skipped her may downstairs. It was an uncomfortable moment. All three of them had crushed on Mori at some point, and Liam was sure all three of them had just been forcefully reminded of why.
"Arceus, she's crazy," said Jonah at last.
Vasilio snorted.
"C'mon, before Mori and Ruth eat all the food."
"Ruth's already down there?" said Liam in alarm. "Dang, I hope she left something for the rest of us."
By 9:45, they had all piled into Rain's van and were on their way to Old Town. Liam spent the trip looking out at the lake, watching the Cramorant as they dived into the waves and the glistening of the midmorning sun on the blue water. After a brief stop to allow a herd of Skiddo to cross the road—"They are so cute!" Ruth squealed—they arrived at what Liam took to be a small walled city in the old Nanzo style. Despite his initial impression that Hempshear was an out-of-the-way, rustic place compared to Everspring, there was something almost polished about this place. He could see people that were clearly tourists, not locals, and even a few foreign backpackers with Pokemon perched on their shoulders. Above the narrow arch that formed the main entrance to the walled city was a well-maintained red and blue pagoda.
"This is Old Town," said Rain. "I don't know where they moved the gym after the old leader retired, but there's lots of other things to do while we look around."
They passed through the narrow arch in the ancient wall of gray stone and found themselves in an old-fashioned town, with cobble streets and bustling shops made of wood and stone selling everything from water pipes to round cakes of dried tea to statues made of exquisite marble. It reminded Liam of Feather and Petal Street, except without the bootleg TMs and Pokemon squawking at him from small wooden cages. There were Pokemon, of course. Liam saw Purrloin scurrying across the sloping tile roofs of the shops and Snubbuls dozing on countertops. Red-hot Magbys kept small furnaces burning as silversmiths fashioned dainty bracelets in the flames. From somewhere out of sight, Liam heard the rustling and cooing of roosting Pidoves.
There wasn't really anything Liam was interested in buying, which was lucky, because there wasn't much he could afford. There was plenty to look at in Hempshear Old Town—Liam especially enjoyed watching the local craftsmen and their Pokemon at work—but he also found himself glancing again and again at Mori. Vasilio's reply to her earlier that morning had been an understatement—she looked fantastic. The only thing that kept him from staring was his keen awareness that she would treat the attention with contempt. Misdreavus snickered at him as Mori's Pokemon caught him looking at her again, and he decided to keep his distance for a while. There was no point in re-catching the feelings he had for Mori in the past. She was just as unobtainable as ever.
Liam found Ruth and Stephanie browsing a shop that sold brightly-colored clothes in the local minority style, tactfully modernized for the tourists. He wasn't really interested in buying a neon-yellow scarf, but playing the silent third wheel to his two classmates seemed preferable to avoiding Mori. The shop was large and quiet, and he quickly found himself separated from Stephanie and Ruth by the maze of clothing racks. That was fine. He trusted they would come find him when they were ready to leave.
As Liam absent-mindedly examined a rack of clothes in a far corner of the shop, he noticed that someone was standing on the other side—a young woman wearing jeans and a dark hoodie. He tried not to pay any notice—she was probably a Nanzonese tourist, after all—and busied himself in feeling the fabric of a nearby coat. It was Mareep wool, a texture he wasn't fond of, but he thought looking busy would protect him from any awkward eye contact with the other customer.
Suddenly, the woman lunged through the clothes rack and grabbed him by the mouth. Sneasel, who had been perched on his shoulder, went toppling into a nearby clothes rack with a snarl. Before Liam could even think to struggle, the young woman had pinned him against the wall and pulled back her hood to reveal a head of curly blonde hair.
"Shh!" said Claire in a low, urgent whisper. "Don't say anything. You're staying with Rain, right?"
Liam nodded. He couldn't do much more with Claire holding his mouth shut.
"Okay. Meet me on the roof at 9:00. I need to talk to you."
Liam raised his eyebrows. He was still in shock—still trying to make sense of the fact that Claire was here, now, in Hempshear Town. He tried to say something, but Claire pressed her hand against his mouth.
"Don't tell anyone," she said.
Without another word, she stuffed her blonde hair back into her hoodie and disappeared from the shop. Liam stood flabbergasted for a moment, almost unable to believe what had just happened. Why was Claire here? Had she come back just to sabotage their visit to the gym? Was she really that petty?
And what did she expect from him anyways?
After rescuing his Sneasel from a pile of skirts and apologizing to the shopkeeper, Liam followed Stephanie and Ruth out of the shop. He almost expected to find Claire lurking nearby, keeping an eye on him, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary in the walking street outside.
Nevertheless, Liam felt a sense of dread settling over him. He now had a visit from Claire to look forward to, along with the Steel gym.