Yay! Reviews are finally back! That's a load off. Make sure to get 'em in, folks! Keep reviewing! And keep voting, as well!

Pokemon Academy Best Girl Elimination Round is still going strong! Keep those votes coming, a few girls are pulling ahead, and a few people are still voting for only one girl instead of 5. But don't worry, things aren't all cinched yet! Get your votes in, folks!

Nominated: Sango, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Dakota, Ayame, Marion, Kitty, Serefina, Madison, Alcea

Aakareo Kokokuhikari: It should be on my profile somewhere.

ConfusedCradily: The beginning of the series really played up Sango and Cynthia's relationships with Blake. Sango moreso. Now the other girls are getting their own feelings developed. But who will Blake choose in the end?

Tambry96bj: Yup, he's quite a good stylist.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: It was nice to write some touching moments between the two of them.

Badoobadoop: Even if they don't end up together, Blake has helped her become a far better person. Except when she backtracks. Which is always. Because she can't confront her own feelings.

Mercury – Mercuraneous: Thanks for your votes, don't forget to add them to the poll!

KedharS: We aren't even at the starting line yet.

DJ Dib Dab: Those are interesting questions about harmonia. If those mechanics are ever implemented, I will answer them.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 246

Lana looked warily at Blake and Kate as they headed back to the hotel. Strange. They had apprehension on their faces, like they were nervous about something. She wondered what that brunette with the curly hair had said to them. Whatever it was, it was certainly giving them- and by extension, Lana- something critical to think about.

"So, tomorrow night…" Blake murmured. "I'm happy to help, but…"

"Uhum, um, that kiss…" Kate's face was still red.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that," Blake said, blushing a little. "Look, um, Kate… I, I was just thinking, I mean, I was-"

"It-it's okay," Kate said, shaking her head, looking down. "I… I don't mind, it's just a kiss, right?"

My first kiss…

Kate could feel her heart thumping in her chest. She could actually HEAR it. And if she could hear it, then Blake could hear it, too.

Wh-why is my heart pounding just being around him? I mean, certainly it was so cool what he did when he stood up to me, but… why do I feel so hot? N-no… no way…

Kate's face turned scarlet.

Do… do I really like him?!

Much to Blake's confusion, Kate began pounding her fist against her chest, as if she could beat her heart into submission.

No, stop it you dumb ol' heart! I-I'm just grateful that he stood up to me! That's it! That's why I'm happy! Because he knows the kind of person that I am! Because he's my friend, even though I'm sort of a toxic bitch!

THUMP. Friend? Or something more?

NO NO NO!

"I… I NEED TO GOOOOO!" Kate wailed, taking off at top speed towards the hotel. Blake blinked in surprise, her speed would have made Ayame jealous.

Kate ignored the elevator and charged up the stairs, her crimson face in her hands as she muffled her screams. Wailing like a Whismur she took the stairs three at a time, running into her room.

She threw herself onto the bed and screamed into her pillow.

THUMP.

"Stop it, I don't like him, I don't!" Kate yelled at herself, trying to deny her feelings as hard as she possibly could. "And… and even if I did, there's no way he would ever pick me! Not with girls like her highness and Ayame Toujou around!"

"I'm with her, because I can see the kind of person she is. A wonderful girl who's a little off."

"NO! That doesn't mean anything!" Kate protested. "Even if he said I'm wonderful, he, we, I-"

THUMP.

"STOOOOOP IIITT!"

Kate panted in frustration. In her fuzzy parka she felt like a million degrees. She stripped the bulky jacket off and looked down at her clothes, rumpled from the girls' harassment and soaked through with sweat.

Might as well change… she told herself, changing the topic. She looked down, and realized that she had forgotten her bag. In her hurry to get away from Blake, she must have left it.

Kate groaned, and fell back into bed, staring at the ceiling.

"It's so frustrating," she said to no one, the fan spinning overhead. Well, she'd have to change into something regular now, she supposed. No more nice outfits.

She walked into her bathroom to take a look at herself. She hated what she saw.

Her hair had looked so nice, and the girls had completely messed up all of Blake's hard work. Parts of her styled tips were still intact, but she could see how her natural tangles were creeping back slowly. Her face was sweaty and hot, and he makeup had begun to run.

I looked so pretty before…

Kate's lips began to tremble as she felt all-too-familiar tremors begin to spread from her chest. The pain she'd been trying to fight through during their bullying… it was all coming back now. She looked completely ruined.

Kate sunk to the cold tile floor and curled up into a ball, and began to cry.

Kate wasn't sure how much time she'd spent crying on the floor, but she was brought out of it by a knock on the door. She raised her head and sat up, rising to her feet and glancing in the mirror. Her face was an even bigger mess, now. She wiped away the last traces of makeup with a towel and walked into the main section of the room, heading to the door.

"What?" She snapped, her sourness having come back with a vengeance. The sudden hostility was startling to Blake, who moved back out of surprise as though she had physically pushed him.

"Um, hey," Blake said, feeling a lot more uncomfortable now than he had after their kiss. He awkwardly held the bag of clothes from the boutique up to Kate. "I, uh, I mean, you forgot this, so…"

"So?" Kate snidely remarked. Her venomous attitude was definitely the old Kate, that was for sure. And it was painful to see. It was like she had completely tossed aside all the progress she had made today, and was back to being defensive, combative, and altogether intolerant of everyone, him included.

"So I just thought I'd bring it to you?" Blake asked, not sure if that would set her off or not. He glanced at her again. Her hair had begun to get messy and the makeup had started to run. And her shirt…

Blake gulped.

"Um, look, if you want, I can come in and fix your hair back up?" Blake suggested. "After those girls messed it up, it would be a shame. You looked so good, so I thought-"

"Don't bother," Kate snapped, snatching the bag away from him. She glared daggers at him in a look that was very familiar, but he had hoped would be a thing of the past after the time they had spent bonding.

"…Well… I guess I'll leave then," Blake said, rocking on the balls of his feet in discomfort. He still couldn't bring himself to look at her, something that was abundantly clear to Kate.

Of course he wouldn't look at me, she seethed. He only liked me when I was all nice and pretty-looking. Those words about liking me for me were bullshit.

"Yeah, maybe you should," she testily agreed, putting words to the fire burning a hole in her chest.

"Um, sorry, just… please change!" Blake said. "I-I can see your…"

Kate looked down. Her blouse was completely soaked through with sweat, clinging to her skin and revealing traces of her bra.

Suddenly, his inability to look at her made a lot more sense.

"P-pervert!" Kate exclaimed, despite having been the one to answer the door in improper clothing to begin with. She slammed the door in his face and ran to the comfort of her bed, her heart pounding in her chest again. The anger she'd been feeling moments before was dead and gone, replaced with gut-wrenching embarrassment at doing something so stupid.

I'm a total mess! Kate mentally exclaimed, and she wasn't talking about her looks. To be fair, today had been a day filled with highs and lows of all kinds, and her emotional state was frazzled. She'd gone from plain to lovely, had a great time with Blake, then she'd been confronted by her past. Then he'd kissed her… then Valerie… Val, she had said…

This… this was just way too much. And Kate had dinner plans with Val… and Blake… tomorrow night… Oh god, how am I going to-?!

She didn't know what to do. She was completely lost, and when she was lost, there was only one person she could go to for advice.

I'm just overthinking things, Kate told herself as she dialed Alcea's phone number. There's no way that I… that I actually… like him, right? No, no, it's just… just the high tension of the situation, that's all. I'm just fooling myself.

"Kate… 4 in the morning over here, is it…" Alcea yawned.

Oh, right. Time differences.

"S-sorry, milady! Forgive my impertinence!" Kate exclaimed. "J-just forget it, I-"

"It's fine," Alcea muttered. "What is it?"

"Um, I… I've got some problems… it's… it's serious, I don't know what to do, I just… I mean, I… um…"

"You've been there for a day."

"S-sorry!" Kate gasped, shaking her head. "It's just, I mean…"

She sighed.

"Can I… ask you something?"

"Of course, I assumed that was why you interrupted my sleep," Alcea dryly replied. It was too early in the morning for her usual grace and tact.

"Okay, um, sorry, again," Kate laughed. "It's just, well…"

"Stalling," Alcea chided her.

"Right! Sorry! Um… the thing is… I think I… I might… have feelings… for Blake."

Alcea blinked. Was she hearing things? She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and scooched up so she was using the wall as support.

"Sorry, could you repeat that?"

"I… I think I have feelings for Blake," Kate said. Just saying that made her heart feel lighter than air, but at the same time she felt all murky in her stomach.

Alcea pinched the bridge of her nose. She was trying very, very hard to resist the urge to scream.

"Pardon. You 'think' you have feelings for Blake, is it?"

"Yes."

Alcea wanted to fly to Galar and smack the girl silly. How in the hell was Kate only "thinking" she had feelings for Blake? If it was any more obvious it would have been tattooed on her forehead!

Through gritted teeth, Alcea hissed out a "why do you think that?" This was most certainly going to be a frustrating experience.

Kate began to recount the events of the day to Alcea, who was going in and out of the conversation, her head still stuck in a fog of semi-consciousness.

"…So that's what happened. I-I'm probably overthinking this, right? I mean, no way I actually like him, right? It's just that this was a… you know, a really emotional moment, and…"

Kate's voice trailed off. Alcea hadn't said anything for a while. Did she fall asleep?

"Milady, I was saying-"

"Oh, I heard," Alcea said, in a snappish tone that Kate hadn't heard from her very often. Had she done something to offend her? Did her highness like Blake after all? "So to be clear. He complimented you, stood up for you, and kissed you, oui?"

"R-right," Kate said.

"And how did you feel when those things happened?"

"It… it was like my heart was pounding out of my chest! I-I was so overjoyed, I just-"

"And you think that you like him."

"Well, I mean, of course not, right?" Kate hurriedly corrected herself. "It-it's stupid to think that way, I just-"

"Kiss him again." Alcea stated. It was an order, not a suggestion.

"Wh-what?"

"If you are not sure, then kiss him again. A simple way to find out, is it?"

"B-but, I can't just…" Kate really, really wanted to kiss him again. …Just so she could know for certain how she felt, of course! Not… not because it was really nice… or she wanted to feel the warmth of lips pressed against hers again… or maybe… he would push her down on the bed, and then…

Kate shook her head, dispersing the steamy thoughts running through it.

"I-I won't! I can't! It…"

"Kate, you like him," Alcea said simply. Kate let out an eep.

"N-no! No I don't! I… I was just confused! I so, totally don't like him!" Kate proclaimed.

"Prove it. Go kiss him."

"B-but…"

"Or you're afraid that if you kiss him you'll realize that you really do like him, is it?"

"Um… uh…" Kate gulped. She… she definitely didn't like him! Not a bit! That kiss… it was nice, but she was overthinking things! Because that was her first kiss! So of course it would make her heart beat! But that didn't mean she-

THUMP

"Stop it!" Kate hissed to herself, Alcea rolling her eyes. She loved Kate quite a bit, but the girl was really annoying.

"It's just a kiss," Alcea said. "If you don't like him, then it doesn't mean anything. He kissed you before, right? Your first kiss? Your second kiss doesn't need to be special. So go on and use it to figure out how you feel before you lose sleep over this damn thing."

Or cost me more sleep, she silently added. Without another word, without listening to anymore of Kate's crazed, floundering protests, Alcea hung up the phone and went back to sleep.

Kate stared at the beeping phone in her hand. Her face was pale.

That's right, it's nothing special. It just a kiss, she told herself. She got out of bed and got changed into some new clothes. For the briefest of instants she considered the miniskirt, and said "no way". She dressed up in something… ordinary. She wasn't going there to wow him or anything. Just normal Kate, sweatpants and a t-shirt.

Nothing special at all.

That was what she told herself as she walked down the hall, heart pounding in her ears in rhythm with her footsteps.

Meanwhile, Blake had returned to his room to see Reiner and Nikita were sitting on one of the beds, watching a movie.

"Oh, back already from your 'date' huh?" Reiner laughed. Nikita shot him a look.

"I was just helping her out," Blake said, stripping off his coat and setting his backpack down. "How'd your day go?"

He gave Reiner a suggestive look. Nikita's face flushed.

"W-we didn't do anything!" She exclaimed. "We just watched movies! No… shenanigans!"

Blake opened his eyes wide in mock surprise. He twisted his mouth into an "O" shape and glanced at Reiner, mouthing the word "shenanigans".

Reiner rolled his eyes in response.

"Actually, um, there's something we were hoping to talk to you about," Reiner said, glancing at Nikita.

"Yeah, what? If you guys wanted me to pick up some condoms you should have asked befo-"

Nikita flung a pillow at him, hitting him upside the face. She panted, glaring at him.

"It's about tonight," Reiner said. "After the hot springs, we're all supposed to go back to our rooms, and, well, Nikita and I were wondering…"

"Want me to make myself scarce for a while?" Blake asked, wiggling his eyebrows. "Sure, waiting outside for 5 minutes oughta be fine."

Now it was Reiner's turn to give him a dirty look.

"Well, um, for a while, I mean…" Nikita was a little flustered. "Maybe… until morning?"

Blake raised his eyebrow.

"You overestimate him."

"NO!" Nikita and Reiner both protested in embarrassment. "We don't… that! It's… well…"

They glanced at each other.

"We wanted to spend as much time together as we can, you know?" Nikita explained. "Since, um, we have to work on our reports later, we wanted to get our relaxing time done now. So, you know, staying up late watching movies, long talks at night, stuff like that."

"But not… you know," Reiner said. "We've only been dating for a few months, we can't just… rush like that."

Blake wasn't sure exactly what relationships entailed, so it wasn't his place to question. He shrugged.

"What, so I'm just going to go out and freeze to death in the snow?"

"No, no!" Nikita said. "We were just thinking… well, me and Reiner, we can stay here, and then you can, um… take my room, and hang with Sango, you know?"

"You lucky dog," Reiner cackled.

"And she's cool with that?" Blake asked.

"Well, um, she said she'd think about it?" Nikita offered.

"Well, I don't see what the problem is," Blake shrugged. "She'll probably say it's fine. After all, nothing wrong with a couple of friends staying in the same room together, right? Sure, I'll switch."

Nikita wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"Um… okay? You're sure? I mean, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, you know, sharing a room with a girl."

Blake waved his hand.

"It's fine, it's fine. Sango and I are cool."

"Well, I know, but, like, you're a boy and a girl, so something could happen, you know?"

"Pft," Blake snorted. "Please. Sango and I don't think about each other like that at all. There won't be any problems, don't worry."

"Oh. Well, okay then," Nikita said. She felt a little bit heartbroken for Sango's sake herself. You poor thing…

"I'd actually appreciate it," Blake said. "I haven't gotten to hang with her 1 on 1 in a little bit, and I could really use her advice about this girl trouble I'm having."

Nikita had to resist the urge to be offended on Sango's behalf. Every bone in her body was telling her to fling more pillows. But she kept her cool.

"She's pretty smart about this stuff, since she doesn't care much about the whole romance thing herself, it seems," Blake laughed.

Welp, that did it. Time for another pillow to the noggin. But before Nikita could grab one, a knock on the door caught the attention of all three of them.

"Blake?" Kate's voice came from the other side of the door, lacking venom and dripping with concern. "Can I, um, talk with you for a moment?"

Ooh, time for another kiss, perhaps? We'll have to find out! And ouch. Looks like things aren't going great for Sango on the love front. Then again, Blake's like that to all the girls.