Golden Rivals, Silver Friends
A Letter.
.
.
.
"Shigeru?" Ookido Nanami called as she entered her little brother's room, holding a duster. "Shigeru? Are you up yet?" Noticing his pajamas strewn across the floor, Nanami sighed and picked them up. "Guess so..."
Just then, she noticed something a bit out of place. The tape player, which had always been sitting on the floor, collecting dust, was now on Shigeru's table, plugged in, with a tape inside. Nanami picked up the tape player, reading the title of the song. She smiled, remembering that song and the two little boys who had used to sing it relentlessly, every day...
When she set the tape player back down, her hand bumped across a sheet of paper, labeled "For Satoshi." Nanami raised an eyebrow, since Shigeru was hardly the kind of person to write letters. Her curiosity got the best of her, and she picked it up.
As she began to read, she smiled. Her hand reached for the tape player, turning it on...
.
.
.
Even though I'd never written letters that often, I felt like this was the best way for me to let Satoshi know without too many words getting in the way. With the song, "For My Best Friend," playing in the background, I slowly let Satoshi know the truth about what had happened...
.
.
.
Satoshi,
I don't know when you'll be reading what I'm about to write, but right now, I want you to know that I'm sorry about what I had to do to you, the summer before third grade.
Do you remember? That was the day that I yelled at you, and pushed you, and told you that you'd never be as good as me at anything. I'm sorry to have to make you remember, but please try to understand...
As stupid as it sounds, I was trying to do a good thing. You see, when we were little, you copied nearly everything I did, and I liked that a lot. It made me feel important. But after a while, I realized that you could do so much more, and by letting you follow me, I was holding you back.
Remember how you wanted to be the best Pokémon Master in the world? Well, I realized how much you wanted to do that, and I also saw that if you copied me all the time, you'd never be able to be the best. I didn't want that for you. True, I wanted to be a Pokémon Master myself, but I didn't think it was fair to keep you behind me the whole way...
So I pretended to be mad at you, so that we'd stop being friends. What I didn't count on was how much both of us would be hurt by that. Since I hated to remember that day, I sort of forgot about it, until I was coming back from the tournament. I realized how much I must have hurt you, and I wanted to apologize for that.
I've never hated you. I want you to forget what I said to you, because none of it was true. And the part about you never being as good as me in anything? Well, it's pretty obvious that isn't true, either.
I'm starting to run out of words and paper, so I want you to know that I'm sorry, for everything. I don't hate you, never have, never will, and I'll always think of you as my best friend.
However... I also want you to know that I'm very happy with what happened because of that day. You've done a great job raising your Pokémon, and I'm really impressed... If there was a bright side to any of this, I think you've gotten a lot better than you used to be...
I want you to go out there and become a Pokémon Master. I know you've got what it takes. Grandpa tells me that there's another tournament in Houen, where Hazuki lives, and I want you to shoot for that. Do it for me.
I hope that, after all this, you can forgive me for hurting you so badly. If you can't understand this now, that's okay... someday, I'm sure you will.
From, Shigeru
