"Remind me: why did I agree to this again?"

"One: you need new clothes. Two: Kate asked you to. Three: we need someone to carry our bags."

"…"

Kate watched Keith and Rhythmi argue as they walked the busy streets of downtown Puel. A few days after her and Keith's mission, they had all been given a day off. When they'd been told this by Erma, Rhythmi had insisted that Kate go shopping with her since they were both running low on casual clothing that actually fit them. Kate, despite the fact that the Rhythmi was her best friend, had not wished to go alone with her due to the blonde's tendency to get carried away when it came to shopping, and thus she'd asked her other valued comrade to tag along the night before…

"What?" Keith blinked, looking up from his sketchbook at his rather desperate-looking crush. Kate, after scoping the entire Union for him, had finally found him in the break room sitting in an armchair. "Shopping with Rhyth and you?"

"Please?" Kate begged. "With a Cheri Berry on top?"

Keith grimaced. "No thanks," he answered flatly, turning back to his drawing. "I have no interest in frolicking around Puel with two girls while shopping for clothes."

"Come on!" Kate groaned. "I don't wanna go alone! Please, just this one time! I'll totally owe you one! Besides, there are some really cool art supply stores in Puel, and you need some new clothes too. Pleeeeease?"

Keith closed his eyes as his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "You're so annoying…" he muttered, but he seemed to actually be thinking about it.

Finally, he opened one eye and glanced up at Kate. "You really don't wanna go alone, huh?"

"No, I don't," Kate confirmed. "Please?"

Keith studied her a little longer, but then he sighed and turned back to his drawing once again. "Alright, I'll go," he consented, "but only because I need new clothes, and I haven't gone out with you and Rhyth in awhile."

"YES!" Kate screamed in triumph, running out the door before he could change his mind. "I'll go tell Rhythmi!"

"You owe me one!" Keith called after her.

So now here they were.

"Oooh, I love this store!" Rhythmi gasped, running up to a nearby building. "Should we give it a shot?"

Kate looked at the window displays and choked at what she saw. It was filled with all sorts of crazily frilly clothes that somehow managed to look somewhat normal at the same time. Despite that, it still looked as if they'd be impossible to get on with all the bows, ribbons, loops, and chains. Hadn't Rhythmi said something about this style once? It had been along the lines of what was called 'lolita' or something…

"You'd look so cute in this one, Kate!" Rhythmi squealed as she pressed her hands to the window glass and pointed at the outfit in question. Kate followed her gaze to see a mannequin wearing a long white dress with two silver chains around the waist, long white sleeves, pink ribbons running and spiraling down the arms and a pink bow at the neckline. Underneath that were long white socks and below those a pair of intricate pink and white boots that laced up in some complicated fashion only Rhythmi would be able to figure out.

Kate frowned in disbelief at the fashion. "I don't think—" she started, but was cut off by Rhythmi grabbing her hand and dragging her to the doors of the shop.

"Come on, we just have to get you to try it on!" the blonde insisted happily. Keith followed them as he struggled not to laugh at the show he was witnessing.

Before Kate knew it, she'd been forcibly pushed into a dressing room in the shop with the accursed outfit in her arms. Rhythmi came in after her to help her get the dress on, what with all the strings and buttons and clasps on it. She poked her head out the door briefly to look at Keith, who was standing outside the room impatiently. "Don't peek on her!" she ordered suspiciously.

"I won't!" Keith protested angrily as he sat down in a chair to wait.

When the door was closed, Rhythmi turned to Kate. "OK, time to undress," she said quietly enough so Keith wouldn't overhear. As much as the blonde liked to tease him, she didn't quite feel like making his head explode from all the mental images. Yet.

Kate pouted at Rhythmi for a bit before sighing and finally unbuttoning her jacket. "Fine…" she mumbled.

Rhythmi smiled as she started to unfold the dress and unbutton it, finally handing it to Kate when they were both ready. The Operator leaned against the wall as Kate dressed.

"…Y'know, if there's anything on your mind, you can talk to me," Rhythmi said suddenly. "You know that, right?"

Kate blinked up at Rhythmi in surprise. "What?" she asked in confusion.

Rhythmi smiled slightly at the brunette. "I've noticed that you've got a lot on your mind lately," she said. "Is everything OK?"

Kate jumped. "Yes!" she started, but then she faltered slightly. "…Actually, no." she sighed as she finished pulling on the dress.

Rhythmi smiled more as she moved to Kate's back to button up the dress carefully. "Wanna talk about it?" she asked.

Kate nodded a little. "…Do you think I'm cute?" she asked.

Rhythmi stopped with her buttoning as she stared into Kate's eyes via the mirror they were facing. Then she turned back to the dress, saying, "Yeah, of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

Kate's body jolted in shock. "I-it's just… never mind," she sighed.

Rhythmi looked suspiciously at the back of the girl's head for a moment, but then let the matter go for another time, deciding that a dressing room wasn't the best place to talk about it.

Meanwhile, outside, Keith was sitting in the one of the waiting room's chairs being bored out of his mind. "Hurry up," he muttered to himself.

Nearby several shoppers were staring at him and he felt slightly self-conscious. Come on, he reminded himself, a lone boy in a girly shop like this? Of course people would be a little fascinated. He endured the stares and whispers from other people as he waited for the girls to exit the changing room, but he drew the line when he heard a little boy nearby shopping with his mother say, "Mommy, is that one of the creeper boys I saw on TV?"

Yeah, that was it.

"LOOK, KID!" Keith yelled, standing up. "I'M JUST WAITING FOR MY FRIENDS! I'M NOT SOME CREEPY STALKER, SO STOP MAKING ASSUMPTIONS!"

The boy freaked out. "Mommy!" he screamed, hiding behind the woman. The two quickly walked away. Keith plopped back down into the chair as he seethed.

'This is stupid,' he thought irritably. At that moment, though, the door to the changing room opened.

Kate looked like some sort of life-sized doll—well, maybe not life-sized, as she was rather short for her age, but still. The white dress rippled calmly down her small body, and she was wobbling a bit in the high-heeled boots (although they weren't that high in Keith's opinion, so maybe it was just inexperience talking). The sleeves were a little long on the girl's thin arms, so she'd had to pull them up a little, but other than that…

"Wow," Keith finally said. "Just… wow."

Rhythmi groaned in exasperation. "Seriously?" she huffed. "Here she is, looking like a freaking angel, and all that comes out of your mouth is 'wow'? For the love of—"

"Rhythmi?" Keith interrupted, glaring at her. "Shut up."

Kate was looking down at her feet embarrassedly. Keith bickered a little more with Rhythmi until the blonde broke it off and said, "Kate, try moving around in those shoes for a bit!"

"O-OK," Kate stammered. She walked forward a little, but she'd barely gotten two steps before she tripped and stumbled forward.

"Hey, look out!" Keith exclaimed, catching her before she fell to the ground. Kate looked up as her face went red.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" she gasped, stepping away from him.

Keith shook his head. "No, it's OK…" he assured.

An awkward silence passed between them as Rhythmi cooed over how cute the outfit was. Finally, Keith coughed a bit.

"Hey, Kate?" he asked tentatively.

"Yes?" Kate asked, slightly distracted by Rhythmi tightening a loose ribbon. Keith's face was red and he wasn't meeting her eyes.

"You should buy that dress," he mumbled. "It looks… really good on you."

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

An hour later, Kate had bought the dress due to Rhythmi's pressure and Keith's quiet compliment. She'd changed back into her original outfit, though, after stating that the dress was only to be worn at special events. After Rhythmi ducking into several stores and coming out with a new shopping bag every time, the trio was now seated at one of the outside tables of a café so they could get something to eat.

"…and a coffee cake with a bottled water," Kate finished the group's order to the waiter. "Thank you."

The waiter nodded and walked off to the café to get their order ready.

Kate watched Keith doodle on his napkin for a bit, but blinked when she noticed Keith stop. "…Something wrong?" she inquired.

Keith looked rather distressed. "I forgot to buy new clothes, Rhythmi kept on dragging us off to different places," he explained.

"Oh, don't worry, I bought you new clothes," Rhythmi piped up. Keith blinked.

"What?" he protested, looking affronted. "But… isn't it kind of weird for a girl to buy a guy clothes?"

Rhythmi rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't be that way, I pulled your wallet out of your pocket before going into the store," she said.

Keith's eyes widened as he checked his jacket pockets frantically. His head then snapped back to Rhythmi as he yelled, "You pick pocketed me?"

Rhythmi smirked as she held up a dark brown wallet. "It wasn't hard, I grabbed when you were staring at all those Wingull flying around. Talk about distracted," she snickered with a wink.

"Why am I always the victim?" Keith moaned as he leaned back in his chair. Rhythmi frowned.

"I only used the money to buy your clothes since you were obviously going to forget!" Rhythmi protested. "I chose some good ones, too. Green bag, see for yourself.

Keith glowered as he picked up the only green bag out of the seven or so bags Rhythmi had been forcing him to carry, and he reached a hand in only to pull out a bright red sequined tank top.

They all burst out laughing.

"Good one," Keith managed as he recovered, "but seriously, which bag is it?"

"Black one," Rhythmi said as she giggled with Kate. "Oh, Arceus, your face. That was hilarious!"

"That had better not be for me, Rhythmi," Kate gasped, "or else I swear, you will be sent straight off Puel Harbor's dock."

"Is that a fact?" Rhythmi challenged good-naturedly.

"I wouldn't underestimate her, Rhyth," Keith snickered, "Kate can be a tough one when she's mad."

"I know, I know," Rhythmi grinned. "But don't worry, that top's for me."

"Good!" Kate and Keith said together, which brought on another round of laughter.

When they had all quieted down, Rhythmi smiled softly. "It's been a while since we were able to laugh like this," she commented. The other two nodded.

"I know what you mean," Kate sighed, "there was the whole kidnapping deal and now that we're all Tops, we've been too busy to really hang out like we used to."

"Yeah," Keith agreed. "I miss you guys."

Rhythmi leered happily at him. "More like you miss me," she corrected, "seeing as how you take care of all your missions with her and you even share a room now. How is that working out, by the way? You haven't been doing anything to her in her sleep, have you?"

Keith went red. "OF COURSE I HAVEN'T!" he yelled embarrassedly. Before he and Rhythmi could start arguing again, though, the waiter came with their food.

"Thanks!" Kate smiled, and the young waiter, who was about their age, looked as if he was about to ask Kate for her number before Keith scared him off with his patented 'get away from her' glare.

Kate handed out everyone's orders to them then turned to the large cookie she'd asked for before frowning. "…Oh,"

"What's up?" Keith asked as he got started on his coffee cake. Kate looked at him.

"I asked for a chocolate chip cookie," she sighed, "but this is peanut butter… I'm going to show them the receipt and get another one."

"Do you want Keith to do it for you?" Rhythmi 'offered'. Keith gaped at her.

"I never said I would do it!" he protested.

"You were about to, weren't you?" Rhythmi retorted. Keith fell silent as he was upped once again by Rhythmi's cleverness.

"…So do you want me to do it?" he muttered with a red face. Kate, who had been sweatdropping at the scene, recovered and shook her head.

"No, I've got it. But don't start eating without me, OK?" she smiled, picking up her plate and walking into the café.

Rhythmi noticed that Keith watched her as she left, only tearing his eyes away when she'd gotten inside. Then he just looked back down into his coffee cake quietly.

Rhythmi stared at him, then sighed dramatically. "Wow," she said, "this has gotten serious, hasn't it?"

Keith glanced up at the blonde. "What has?" he asked curiously, picking up his bottled water to take a sip.

Rhythmi gaped at him as if the answer was obvious. "Your love for Kate!" she exclaimed. "Duh!"

Unfortunately, the phrase had exited her mouth just as Keith started drinking his water, which resulted in a violent coughing fit. Once the boy recovered, he gasped, "E—Excuse me?"

Rhythmi drummed her fingers on the table impatiently. "I'm just commenting on your feelings for Kate," she clarified.

"How so?" Keith huffed irritably.

Rhythmi looked down into her iced tea slowly. "It's just… when you first met Kate, and we all became friends, it was obvious you had a crush on her," she murmured. "But it's different now. Just the smallest move she makes gets your attention easily. I catch you staring at her all the time. You automatically dislike any boy who dares to get close to her…"

Keith muttered something that sounded something like, 'not any boy', but Rhythmi disregarded this and continued.

"Putting it simply, it's not just a crush anymore. You love her."

Keith felt his face grow hotter as he scowled at the table. "And your point is?" he snapped. "I hope this isn't going to become another tease-fest."

Rhythmi looked up at him, and Keith blinked when he saw her expression. Her normally glittery and joking deep blue eyes were void of their usual playfulness, and her face conveyed nothing but utter seriousness. It suddenly occurred to Keith that Rhythmi was actually very beautiful in her own way when you were looking at her through unbiased eyes—but then again, his were strictly biased towards Kate.

"I don't just try and play matchmaker for my own amusement, Keith," she said. "Kate… Kate is my best friend. I love her."

Keith stared, but then he exclaimed, "I thought you loved Isaac!"

Rhythmi blushed. "Not that kind of love!" she cried. "A-and I don't love Isaac! Let that go already! What I mean is—is that Kate deserves somebody who will love her unconditionally with all their heart. A pure, undivided love. You can give her that. I just…"

The spiky-haired boy looked at the blonde in surprise as those all-knowing blue eyes pierced him.

"…I just want you two to be happy, Keith," she finished quietly.

Keith watched Rhythmi with wide eyes. Finally, he let out a soft laugh. "What?" Rhythmi asked somewhat apprehensively.

Keith looked back at his friend. "Now I get it," he smiled. "Wow, I… I must really be some kind of dense, huh? A complete idiot."

Rhythmi stared at him, confused. Keith just kept on smiling. "Rhythmi… thanks," he said. "You're a really good person, you know that?"

Rhythmi blinked, but then smirked at him. "Of course I do!" she stated proudly.

A short silence passed between them as they waited for Kate to return. Suddenly though, Keith spoke up.

"Hey, Rhyth?"

"Yeah?"

"…I hope you find your happiness, too. You deserve it."

"…Thanks."

At that moment, Kate returned holding her beloved chocolate-chip cookie. "Sorry I took so long, they were all out and I had to wait for them to make more…" she apologized. "So what did you talk about while I was gone?"

"How Rhythmi would make a great couple with Isaac," Keith grinned before Rhythmi could speak up. Kate was ecstatic.

"Oh, my Arceus, yes!" she squealed. "Rhythmi, you and Isaac would look wonderful as a couple!"

"WOULD YOU TWO DROP THE SUBJECT?" Rhythmi screamed, her face burning red. "I DON'T LIKE HIM!"

"I know, I know," Keith sighed as he started in on his coffee cake. Rhythmi relaxed.

"…You loooove him," Keith snickered under his breath.

"OK, NOW I'M SERIOUSLY GOING TO KILL YOU, SPIKY-HEAD!" Rhythmi yelled at the top of her lungs.

It took a few minutes for Kate to pull the two apart, but eventually she managed to calm Rhythmi down with Keith suffering only a few minor injuries. They all ate, and Rhythmi watched Kate and Keith talk together, Kate looking absolutely joyful as she laughed and talked with energy, and Keith just looking… content. As if there was nowhere else he'd be in that moment except for that small café, talking to the young brunette.

Rhythmi smiled gently.

'One day, we're all going to find our happiness…

I just know it.'