In this chapter, we get to see the reactions of the others to the idea of Blake and Ayame dating! How will his friends respond to this new revelation, I wonder? Well it should certainly be interesting.

We've got a decent amount of votes in the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Semi-Finals! We're reaching the end, so get in your votes! The frontrunners right now may surprise you, there's a dark horse in the top 3! Make sure to get those votes in, so we can see who makes it to the final round! All the girls are trying their best, let's see who will pull out the win!

Semi-Finalists: Cynthia, Ayame, Sango, Kate, Marion, Alcea

DDDD1416: Ribbonshipping, it's already a thing.

Pokemonking0924: If they work hard and believe in each other, I'm sure they can make it work. So far, Val's the only girl to pretend to be nice for malicious purposes. Sylvia's close but not exactly the same after all.

Thunder Fire: Nah, I'm just kidding. It's one of the most popular ships after all.

Tsuchisuna: Well, we'll have to see for ourselves.

Badoobadoop: Well this chapter should make you very happy then, it's exactly what you're hoping for.

EESDESESESRDT6: Yeah, this ship has been building pretty long. A lot of people like other ships, but this one feels like the right place to be at this point in the story.

Aquahaze675: Essentially yes.

Tambry96bj: I think it will just give Dakota more fodder if I'm being honest.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 287

"No way. Blake and Ayame?!" Cynthia's mouth was open in shock. "I don't believe it. You've gotta be lying, dude."

Reiner shook his head.

"I don't know if they were 'together' together, all I know is that after Blake left last night, he sent me a text this morning asking me to bring him a change of clothes to Ayame's room, and the two of them were there, together," Reiner said. He shrugged. "I didn't really ask questions."

Cynthia and Reiner were eating lunch with the rest of their friend group. This included Nikita and Sango, the two from the trip, as well as Kitty, Julia, and Nick. They were all seated at a set of tables on the balcony of the Snorlax Commons, discussing the newest bit of gossip. After being worked into a panic the night before by Blake's disappearance, and subsequent radio silence, the news that he had not, in fact, gone off and died in the storm but had instead gone to spend the night with a cute girl, a senior, was exciting news indeed.

"Who's Ayame?" Nikita asked her boyfriend.

"She's a senior," Reiner explained. "I think you've met her before. She's really tall and has a blue ribbon in her hair."

"She's also totally hot, in, like, a boyish sort of way," Cynthia added. "Mmm, and that voice of hers, so deep and husky…"

"…Well it looks like at least someone would be fine dating her," Julia snidely remarked.

"I think I remember her, yeah," Nikita nodded. "She came over when we were studying that one time, right? And I think I also saw her at Blake's birthday party. So she and Blake…"

"The two have this weird sort of relationship," Cynthia explained, rolling her eyes. "Sort of like a sexual tension, 'will they, won't they' unspoken thing going on between the two of them. They've gone on dates, kissed a few times, and yet still, nothing. So if Reiner's right and the two of them are actually together, that would be something."

"I see…" Nikita shot a quick look at Sango's face. She knew how Sango felt about Blake. Even if it was a misunderstanding, hearing about the two of them had to hurt. But if it did, Sango was doing a remarkable job at hiding it. Her face was locked in a tight, emotionless mask, and she was staring at her food like the world would end if she glanced away from it even once. But Nikita could see the glimmer in her eye, because she knew what she was looking for. Indeed, it seemed Sango really wanted to be crying right now.

But she wouldn't. Sango had cried enough the night before. Seeing Blake walk off and leave her alone, knowing that there was nothing she could have done to put a smile on his face… That was the only answer she needed. She'd been so worried about him that night, she and the rest of their friends. But as far as she knew, she was the only one who had been kept up all night worrying, holding Silver to her chest and sobbing in fear. She was relieved that Blake was alright. And that was enough to trump the pain in her breast at the knowledge that he had sought out someone else in his hour of need. She didn't know whether to feel happy or sad. Her mind was a torrent of emotions swirling around in all sorts of directions, so she didn't know how to feel in the slightest.

Then she saw something that immediately crystallized her feelings, blowing the tornado of emotions away and replacing it with a clear picture.

Blake and Ayame were walking towards them, hand in hand, eyes only on each other. Ayame beamed down at him with a wide mile, and the look of contentment on Blake's face was something that she had never seen before. It didn't help either that Ayame was dressed so stunning, in tight jeans and a stylish white sweater, emphasizing her toned figure to make her look even more beautiful.

"So why did you guys come back early, anyway?" Julia asked, changing the subject. Sango was the only one who had noticed Blake coming. "I heard that something had happened, but you guys never gave the specifics. What happened with Blake?"

Reiner and Nikita glanced at each other and shared a sigh.

"It's complicated," Reiner replied.

"And private," Sango interjected. "It's really not our place to say anything."

"I heard that terrorists attacked," Cynthia said. "Those Children of the Oracles guys, right? I'm surprised you guys made it out okay."

"Well, not okay…" Nikita said. "Blake was…"

Nikita's voice trailed off as she spotted Blake. She promptly shut her mouth. This caught the attention of everyone else. Cynthia and Julia looked over their shoulders and Nick and Kitty turned as well, everyone seeing Blake walk up.

"Uh, hey guys," Blake said, waving with his other hand. His fingers were still interlocked with Ayame's, Cynthia's eyes widening as she saw some pretty clear evidence of what they had been discussing previously.

"I knew it! I knew it! Didn't I say?! I knew it!" Cynthia crowed, leaping from her seat and pointing at the two of them, a victorious grin on her face.

"You just said that there was no way," Reiner protested. Cynthia rolled her eyes and dismissed him with a grunt. Blake snickered.

"So this is for real then?" Julia asked, raising her eyebrow. "You guys are actually together? This isn't just one of your 'oh, we're going on a date but really we're just friends' outings, right?"

Blake and Ayame glanced at each other.

"No, we're… this is real," Blake said. Ayame nodded in agreement.

"Well sit, sit!" Cynthia scooted away from Julia to the end of the bench, to give Blake and Ayame room to sit down. She patted the seat beside her, looking up at the couple. Her eyes were glistening and the excitement rushing through her was causing her to put the irritation she felt out of her mind.

Blake sat next to Cynthia and Ayame sat on the other side of him, the two finally letting their hands separate.

"So you guys aren't going to get any food?" Nick asked.

"Well actually, we were going to go-"

"Shove it Nick, that's not important right now," Cynthia snapped, interrupting Blake. She didn't care about their lunch plans. She had more pressing concerns right now. "So, you guys are really dating now? For real? Because it's about damn time, right Sango?"

Sango really, really didn't want to have any attention brought to her right now. She flinched, having spent a lot of energy trying to seem very, very small. Nikita, who was well aware of how Sango felt, shot her a sympathetic look. Kitty, who didn't know for sure, but certainly suspected, also glanced her way.

"Uh, what? Sorry, wasn't paying attention," Sango said.

Cynthia rolled her eyes.

"I was saying, isn't it about time that these two were dating? I mean, come on, how long can you play the whole 'will they, won't they" drama before you either will or won't? I mean, I thought that they wouldn't, but I guess they would. Or, well, did. Bleh. Grammar sucks."

"…Um…"

Sango caught Ayame's eye. She could see a wave of guilt passing over the girl's handsome face as they looked at each other. There was a glimmer of sympathy in the older girl's hazel-gold eyes, staring a silent apology at Sango.

Sango did feel a little pained. Seeing the two of them together like this hurt her. But still…

A smile crossed Sango's face.

"Congratulations, Ayame," Sango said.

"Wh-what?" Ayame blinked. That wasn't the reaction she had expected. Anger? Sure. Sadness? Absolutely. But she hadn't thought that Sango would be… congratulating her like this.

"I know more than most people how much you like Blake," Sango continued. The smile on her lips was genuine, even if part of her wanted to cry. That happiness on Blake's face… that wasn't something she could do for him. Because no matter how much she liked him, he didn't feel that way about her. That was how she knew that Blake's happiness was what mattered the most. She wanted to see him smile. An Ayame could bring that smile out of him. She had healed him when Sango couldn't. And that smile of his was healing her own heart-break, just as Ayame had healed his. "So I'm happy for the both of you, really. You two deserve each other."

Sango couldn't lie that a part of her wished that it could be her at his side, her that he could be staring at with those loving eyes of his. But if it couldn't be her, then she was happy that it was someone. Ayame would make him happy, and that made her happy for him. So even if part of her wanted to cry, she forced the part of her that wanted to smile onto the surface. She'd be happy for them. Because they cared about each other and deserved to be happy, and she wouldn't let Ayame feel bad about the fact that Blake had chosen her instead.

If Ayame understood what Sango's smile had meant to convey, she didn't show it. She nodded her head, still looking a little apprehensive. It seemed she was bothered even more than Sango was.

"So anyway, now that we've got the pleasantries out of the way, which one of you is on top, huh?" Cynthia piped up.

Ayame and Blake turned bright red.

"Cynthia!" Kitty wailed.

"Why is that always your concern?" Julia grumbled, rubbing her temples in frustration. "Is that all you think about?"

"Basically," Cynthia shrugged. "So spill, spill!"

"Do we really need to be talking about this?" Nick asked, his face hot. "I mean, we're in public, guys, so do we really need to…"

"I-I also don't think we should be having this discussion," Nikita agreed, her eyes shooting to Sango. Even the blonde's smile was faltering.

"Come on, it's not that big a deal," Cynthia said. "You guys were curious, right? They spent the night together, there's no way that something didn't happen. Even you were saying it seemed kind of suspicious, right Reiner?"

"Leave me out of this, please," Reiner said, not interested in the least.

"You and I spent the night together, if I recall correctly, Cynthia," Blake mentioned, overcoming his embarrassment to reply to her, a little irritated at her prying questions. "I don't remember anything happening between us, isn't that right?"

"Ummmm…" Cynthia's voice trailed off, her face turning red. "I mean, uh, that's… well… that, that was just one night! And we're just friends, so… I mean… we were just in bed together! It's not a big deal, what of it?!"

"…Uh, what's that now?" Ayame asked, jerking her head to the side to stare at Blake with a scowl on her face.

"Nothing happened," Blake reassured Ayame. "We're just friends, don't worry. Although when you're jealous, you do get a lot more adorable…"

"Sh-shut up!" Ayame cried, getting flustered. "I-I am not jealous!"

"Totally jealous."

"Am not!"

This drew out some chuckles from the others, everyone having fun laughing at Ayame's embarrassment. Blake had done a decent job of dispersing the awkwardness brought out by Cynthia's inappropriate questions, and even the redhead herself was getting in on the laughter. Even sweet little Kitty could get in on the fun.

"So why were you so busy, Blake?" Julia asked, staring intently at him. There was something that she felt a little suspicious about the whole incident in Galar.

"Uh, what?" Blake asked, confused.

"We all sent a bunch of messages to you last night," Julia explained, holding up her phone to show the five messages she had sent him. "Sango and Reiner said that something had happened and that you were super-depressed and had run off somewhere to be alone. We were all really worried about you, and we sent you messages like crazy, we were going to go to campo in the morning if Reiner you hadn't texted him. But now here you are with Ayame and now you're all smiles? So if you weren't, you know, doing what you would normally expect someone to be doing when they're alone with their girlfriend for the night, then why the radio silence?"

Blake's face went pale and he tensed up into a wince. He opened his mouth to say something, but wasn't sure what to say.

"She's right, Blake," Nick said. "We were all really worried about you running off like that, can't you tell us what's going on?"

"It's fine, he probably had a near-death experience or something and realized he liked Ayame," Cynthia shrugged, dismissing Nick and Julia's concerns. "But he didn't know if she'd reciprocate his feelings so he probably got a little bit worried, and then just ran off without confessing to go tell everyone. There's nothing wrong with that!"

Sango, Reiner, and Nikita all shared looks of concern. They knew the truth about what had gone on with Blake's sister, but at the same time it certainly wasn't their place to say anything. Kitty was keeping quiet, watching the three of them, and noticed that something wasn't quite right with how they were acting. But she didn't feel like she should bring it up either. Only Blake, who knew the full story, knew that while Cynthia wasn't as far off the mark as she seemed to be (he HAD realized he liked Ayame and he HAD been afraid that because of what he'd done he wasn't deserving of her feelings, and felt that she'd reject him).

"C-can we just drop it?" Kitty asked, fretting about the rest of the table and worried that things were going into a weird direction. "L-let's just be happy that Blake and Ayame are together, and that Blake is happy now, right? Y-yay!"

Her half-hearted yay seemed to produce the desired effect. While the three students who had been on the trip relaxed a little, Julia gave a shrug, slumping down slightly on the bench. It still bothered her, but she wasn't going to make a big deal out of it if the usually-worried Kitty was willing to let it go so easily. Cynthia didn't care either way, already assured that her assumption was the correct one, but it was Nick that proved to be the outlier, surprisingly.

"No, this is important," Nick said. Normally, he was rather quiet, rarely taking a stand against his friends on his own. But today he seemed to be holding onto something, and he wasn't going to let it go. "Blake, we were all really worried. You can't expect us to just shrug it off and say 'oh, well, must have been having an off day'. From the way they were describing it, it was like you had lost the will to keep living. Sango and Kitty were terrified out of their minds, and so was I. Even Julia was worried, and she doesn't let anything get to her!"

"Hey! I was 'concerned'," Julia corrected him, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. "I wasn't 'worried'. Blake's a big boy, he can take care of himself."

"…You were trembling, I saw it," Kitty quietly countered her assertion. Julia flinched, frozen at being outed for not having the perfect composure she'd prided herself in. "You looked really scared, Julia… that's why I was really scared too… 'cause if you were scared, then…"

"I wasn't scared!" Julia sputtered, her face red. "Concerned! C-O-N-C-E-R-N-E-D!"

"Besides, he back now, what's the big deal?" Cynthia shrugged. "Everyone's entitled to some private time when they're not feeling their best. Sure, Blake could have handled it better, but it's not so bad that he wanted to be by himself to deal with things, right?"

"No, Nick is right," Blake said, surprising everyone at the table. Ayame looked at him, her eyes wide. She knew what the issues had been, and what Blake was going through. "Guys, um… the thing is… the trip really was difficult on me. There was some stuff that happened that you guys don't know about. None of you know…"

Blake's eyes slid to Kitty for a brief moment before looking away.

"…Almost none of you, anyway." Kitty's eyes widened, understanding what he must have been talking about.

"Blake, are you talking about…" Kitty whispered, before clamping a hand over her mouth.

"What? YOU know?" Cynthia asked, surprised. "Blake has some big secret and he told Kitty? Not me or Sango? What's up with that?"

Blake sighed. This was going to be a pain.

"Listen, I know I worried you guys, and you didn't deserve that. There's… some stuff I've been dealing with. And if you're okay with it, I would like to tell you about it. I shouldn't have gone off like I did, but I was in a real bad place. And now that I'm slightly better… I think you guys deserve to know the truth. It's what's best for everyone."

"Blake… are you sure?" Ayame asked, placing her hand over his and turning to look at him. "You don't have to if you don't want to, you know. I'm sure they'd understand if you want to keep it private, I know I would."

"No, it's fine," Blake said, smiling back at her. He appreciated the worry in her eyes. He was glad that she could worry over his happiness like this, it really made her amazingness stand out even more. And while she was right, at the same time he did want to share his history with his friends. He wasn't afraid that they'd abandon him, not anymore. Even if they heard how hard things had been for him. He was afraid that if they learned the truth they would treat him differently out of sympathy, but now… he didn't want to hide from them.

Blake turned back to the others.

"Listen, guys, I'll tell you everything. But… not here, okay?"

Blake looked around at the students at the other tables, eating lunch. No one was eavesdropping or anything, but he didn't know what might be overheard.

"Let's all meet at my room tonight, okay?" Blake asked. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"That important, huh?" Cynthia asked, her expression turned serious. She could see that this was something that she shouldn't be so flippant about. Blake had a real problem, and with that being the case she was ready to take it seriously.

"It is," Kitty backed him up, nodding.

"Tonight then, huh?" Julia said. "Sounds good."

"Also, Kitty, can you bring Uni with you?" Blake asked. "And also the pokemon egg that I left with you, too."

"Oh!" Kitty gasped. "Yeah, of course! Not a problem, I can bring them."

"As for Cory, well, I guess I'll need to go see Marion," Blake mused.

Kitty flinched. Her already pale face went even lighter, until it turned nearly transparent.

"Yeah, uh…"

"What's up?" Blake asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

"Just… Marion, she's, uh…" Kitty couldn't meet his eyes, the embarrassment on her face clear to see. "It's complicated…"

What's up with Marion, I wonder… Guess we'll have to find out.