:: for flashbacks.
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Words or phrases in Japanese will be used occasionally by their respective characters.
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Ayame stood in front of her mirror while running a brush through her long black hair at 9 a.m. She couldn't keep her mind off of Friday. She'd be inducted by her father, its founder, into Unovanish in three days upon turning eighteen. It's a company that keeps Unova clean— more so the streets of Castelia City, where she resided.
How is this done? To Ayame, in an inhumane manner. Her father signed a contract a decade ago with its mayor to establish headquarters and rid of wild pokémon occupying the massive metropolis they'd lived in for countless years.
Not to mention the corruption and increasingly heartbreaking practices taking place the longer Unovanish stayed in power. With the majority of citizens standing with the company, they could get away with more without notice or significant pushback.
Ayame realized the pokémon started getting out of control prior to Unovanish when a loud minority began damaging residential and store property and stealing regularly, among other awful things like assaults, but it was nothing worse than what humans did to each other. Castelia had a high crime rate either way, being a massive city.
Most pokémon co-existed, but all were being punished unfairly.
She set the brush down upon hearing a knock at the door. Ayame left the restroom and entered her room, jogging to her dresser to put on a gray tee that matched her shorts and happened to match her eyes as well.
She lived at headquarters amid Castelia and had the best room in it, consisting of a white canopy bed, a spacious walk-in closet, and a TV hanging on her wall. Ayame also had a mini-fridge and full kitchen but never had the motivation to cook, and she was an exceptional one since her mother had taught her, which she built off of. She barely had any to decorate either.
Ayame blamed her father for it. He registered her in a private and expensive all-girls academy in Castelia at ten years old to ensure she was disciplined and would fit well in society. She'd lived away from the company's grounds at his personal home a few miles down in an upper-class area. She did well in her classes and had a small group of friends, although the academy's rules were so strict that she didn't have much free time to hang out with them, and they never did outside school.
Her father abruptly pulled her out of the academy at sixteen and rehomed her on the grounds without giving her a say in the matter, as he wanted to train Ayame to work for Unovanish and defend herself in life. Her dad disrupted and flipped her life, and it was now bleak.
However, Ayame did have an art section on her wall displaying multiple paintings of popular landmarks throughout various regions, and one of them was her own from two years ago. It was a detailed frame of Nacrene City's museum, one of her favorite places in Unova that her parents took her to often. She didn't paint nowadays but valued that piece.
She walked to her door and looked through its hole. "Mhm." She knew it was Katie. Ayame opened it and went to the other side of the room to brush aside the transparent white curtains blocking her window, letting sunlight in. She lived on the fourth floor, so she got a decent view of the block.
Katie entered and shut the door, then went to sit on Ayame's bed after ensuring to take her shoes off since it was something Ayame preferred. She was in a white jacket and jeans with shades on her head, its temples through her hair. Katie usually sported urban wear while Ayame took a cute and casual route.
"Excited to clean city?" Katie was nineteen and typically fit with wavy blonde hair and brown eyes. She was slim, although toned, while Ayame was thin but frailer and slightly shorter in comparison.
She rolled her eyes. Katie was never supposed to be involved in this line of work. Ayame's father told her she had to stop hanging around Katie weeks after he rehomed her out of fear since Katie started getting curious about the side she felt Ayame hid from her, but she didn't listen, of course.
Katie accidentally found out about Ayame's ties to Unovanish a year afterward when following her to headquarters because she wanted to find out why Ayame started wanting to walk home alone. A high-class restaurant was present before the headquarters' lobby to shield its location from the general public, although Kado revealed Unovanish's location two years after founding it for transparency and when he felt it was safe to do so. No one knew of his existence or that he ran it for his and Ayame's safety, however.
Katie saw Ayame walk through the restaurant's kitchen one evening and was met with an ultimatum soon after. She could either work for Unovanish in secret— contract and all or be silenced permanently. So, you know, it wasn't really an ultimatum.
Ayame turned around. "I guess." Katie had worked here for two years and was one of the only people allowed around Ayame by her father for safety reasons. She also had impressive results on the field. Ayame saw a rank-up coming her way soon.
They met when Ayame was thirteen. She'd stopped at a mart after school and noticed while waiting in line that Katie was short several dollars at the register, and the cashier must not have been having a good day, as they weren't letting her go. Fortunately, Ayame usually saved what money her father gave her and went to the counter to offer Katie assistance.
They talked after that and started walking together after school whenever Ayame's father wasn't able to pick her up since the streets were safer back then. She found out Katie attended an average public school nearby and all about her life eventually, which Ayame told her father. He wasn't fond of Katie and didn't want Ayame to be around her as they were from two different worlds. Kado couldn't grasp how they were friends when they couldn't relate.
However, to Ayame, being around Katie was the most fun she'd ever had. They had their differences, occasional petty arguments, and things they couldn't understand about each other, but Katie made her smile after a long day at a dull learning academy with equally uptight acquaintances. She was magic and always loosened Ayame up.
Kado even attempted to stop their friendship through various methods. Ayame was never to visit Katie's home, and he limited the time they could spend around each other, but that would change in three years.
Katie shrugged. "What? Nothing to be nervous about. You've spent years in training for this day, didn't you?"
"I'm not nervous." She went and sat beside her. "I'm reluctant, but it's not up to me."
"What for? It's not like we murder em'." She lay back. Katie could never harm a feral and ensured to be gentle with all of her captures. They were still living creatures.
Ayame wasn't sure how to approach this. What for? It shouldn't be up to humans to decide nature's fate. She couldn't be herself around Katie sometimes. "Just… How things are done. We capture and send pokémon to other habitats or regions entirely. We tranq and separate them from their families with no care."
Katie eyed her, smirking subtly. "Soft…"
"What?"
"You're soft."
This was why she couldn't talk to Katie. Ayame shook her head and started getting up but felt Katie grab her wrist.
She sat up, her eyes holding regret. It was more or less a joke but one in poor taste. "...Sorry." Katie didn't realize it was affecting her so deeply. Ayame hadn't brought up this subject in detail before. "But it's difficult for you to feel this way when so much is expected of you, you know?"
Ayame sat again. She'd look past it. "Of course I do." However, she had a sweet spot for pokémon, and one couldn't while working a job like this. "The last straw was when we started forcing pokémon to work under us or else they were threatened to be sent to a region they'd never stepped foot in."
Katie kept silent. Ayame had a point, but this job paid well, and she tended to ignore its negative aspects. Maybe she shouldn't, but it wouldn't make a difference.
"Do you enjoy doing this?"
"I enjoy the pay, I guess, and it's not like I have a choice. I don't talk to my parents now because of this." Katie stood from the bed and checked the white watch on her wrist for the time. "Why don't we walk? This is depressing."
Ayame nodded. "Sure." Getting out of here was always a great option. She changed into a casual black skirt that cut off at her knees and put on matching running shoes, following Katie out the door after grabbing her key off her dresser. The door locked automatically to ensure safety even if it slipped an employee's mind. Ayame stayed in room 420, a corner one. Nineteen more doors lined the marbled gray floor west toward the elevator.
Katie went and looked over the railing down at the open lobby, whose design resembled an open mall. There were three more floors with rooms beneath them and another four across from them on the north end.
The grounds were relatively busy with human and pokémon employees alike. Unovanish came alive and worked at night, so everyone was dressed in their choice of clothing at the time. There was a specialized outfit every employee wore while on active duty.
There was also armed security in black outfits patrolling the perimeter in shifts, all humans, as pokémon weren't eligible to work security. They walked the path on each floor occasionally and checked this one at least twice per day, likely because Ayame lived on it.
She watched for a moment longer before jogging to catch up with Ayame, who was halfway to the elevator.
"Where exactly are we going?" Ayame called the elevator with transparent walls via its button. They didn't have to have a destination. Walking the streets and taking in the pollution worked as well.
"We could grab breakfast somewhere."
"That works."
They took the elevator and stepped into the populated lobby in less than a minute. The entrance to the restaurant's kitchen was ahead down a long flight of stairs.
"It feels freeing when I'm away," said Ayame while walking down the steps. The grounds were cursed in her eyes, draped over with a dark veil, which constantly brought her down. The drain was exhausting.
"Damn, might just want to ditch for your birthday, then."
She grinned. "And leave you? It's kind of my fault you're stuck here." Ayame opened the door to the kitchen and walked through the hot environment. The aroma of cooking food told her she had an appetite.
Katie followed and took a side door to the left with her, leading to more stairs that took them down a short and dark hall not to alert dining customers of anyone going back and forth potentially.
The restaurant closed at 7 p.m. to reduce traffic surrounding the area and because employees had to use more secretive exits during the night. Unovanish's location was well known, but employees still had to practice safety measures so no one could easily scout exits.
"Running away does sound exhilarating, though," Katie said. She'd do it if it were that easy. Hunting pokémon wasn't exactly her dream career.
"You're trouble, Katie." Ayame took more stairs up at the end of the hall and through another door locked from the outside requiring a four-digit code, stepping into an empty alley. It was closed in by walls on all sides, so no one walking by could see them exit initially. An employee had to slip past the western wall into civilization.
After exiting the alley, they were encompassed by people, owned pokémon, shops, and skyscrapers in every direction. Unovanish headquarters was in the midst of the central business district, where tourism flourished. Restaurants and stands sold food and overpriced valuables from regions worldwide.
"This way." Katie grabbed her wrist and started south.
"Where to?" Ayame stumbled briefly against her pull and walked with her past several crowds. She looked up at what would be a sunny day if an overcast wasn't present, bringing a somber pallete to every building and gloom to the air.
Katie looked back at her. "I was thinking we could revisit some years ago. It's been a while, and it could take your mind off Friday for a bit."
Ayame knew what she was referring to. They used to frequent Café Sonata as a hangout spot or when they had to study, which was one of Castelia's central cafés. "Hopefully..."
Katie felt her demeanor dim and eyed her slouched posture, reaching her free hand and pressing her lower back. "Up straight."
Ayame grinned slightly and raised her shoulders. Katie always pressed her about her diffidence, but it was admirable.
"Two small coffees and two watmel muffins, please," Katie said to the employee behind the counter. She glanced over at Ayame sitting at a table to save a spot for them, though only a couple were taken as the café wasn't packed. It was busiest during rush hour.
Being here always calmed her and with Ayame more so. The red carpeting and low lighting made the environment feel cozy. She paid for their order and went to sit with Ayame. "Got us coffee and muffins."
"Thanks. I remember you used to get two just for you occasionally."
"Uh, keyword is used to," she grinned. "You know I stopped eating more than I should like years ago." Katie still felt awful about her comment toward Ayame. It hadn't left her mind, and she couldn't go on without addressing it. "Also, I know I said it already, but I'm really sorry I called you soft earlier. I wasn't serious, but it was insensitive of me. I've gotta work on seeing things from other people's perspectives… especially my closest friend's."
"Yurusareta… Forgiven," Ayame smiled briefly. Everyone has bad habits, and if there was anyone she'd work through them with, it was Katie.
A female employee brought their order on a tray just after that, which they thanked her for.
"You're growing up so fast. Can't believe you'll be eighteen." Katie smirked and took three sugar packets from the container on the table, tearing one open for her coffee and handing Ayame one.
She giggled and took it. "Shut up. You're only one year older than me."
"Two, basically. Really, though, how's it gonna be a few years from now?" Katie took a sip of her coffee and rested her chin on her palm.
She shrugged. "We'll still be friends. That's what will matter most, right?"
"Mhm."