Little bit more with Blake and Ayame, and then we can get started with the upcoming arc! Just a few chapters left, it should be good I hope!
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
Aquahaze675: I think that's a reasonable assessment.
Thunder Fire: Don't worry, I don't plan to make the fishing contest a big thing.
EESDESESESRDT6: She's a nice breath of fresh air sometimes.
Tambry96bj: Neither. She's not a student yet. But she's the same age as Blake.
Rosealine gold: Don't worry, other characters will be returning soon.
Mercury – Mercuraneous: She wouldn't start a fight? Are we talking about the same Claire? If Ayame doesn't hold to her high standards, things could get messy.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 291
Ayame had been rather ambivalent about Claire's existence before. She was irritating, but she seemed like a rather nice person. Well, not nice to most people. But she did come off as at least caring about Blake, and making him happy.
Any good will she'd developed towards the girl had completely disappeared as of this morning.
"Well don't you look like you're enjoying yourself," Ayame said, flashing Blake an icy smile. Her boyfriend of two days sat across the table from her, Claire practically dry-humping herself against his side.
Blake also wanted to die. Claire was a handful on her best days, but right now she was being downright obnoxious. He had been happy to see her the night before, and as his oldest friend he was happy she seemed so approving of his relationship with Ayame. While Sango excused herself, Claire proposed the three of them go get breakfast at the common dining hall in the morning. He'd agreed, thinking that it would be a nice meal.
Turns out it was an excuse for Claire to throw herself at him in front of Ayame. He wasn't dumb enough to believe that she was doing anything more than teasing him. He knew full well that Claire didn't have those sorts of feelings towards him. This was about irritating Ayame, and driving her up the wall. When he'd asked her to stop, however, Claire had turned to Ayame and asked her if she minded, or if she would like Claire to stop flirting with him.
Through gritted teeth, Ayame said she was fine with it. He knew she wasn't, but she had said that he didn't need to be considerate of her. In short, Blake had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that he was not in the mood to be eating right now, that was for sure. He felt like he was sitting at the border between two countries at war.
"Claire, your boobs are touching my arm," Blake said, his cheeks turning pink. "Can you please back up a little?"
"Oh, what's the big deal, Blake?" Claire laughed. "We've gotten much closer than this before, haven't we? After all, you and I are such good friends that no one would think something so mundane like a little light skinship would be a problem."
Ayame twitched, her smile frozen on her face to avoid losing her temper. This girl had already gotten well past her last nerve.
"Claire, I have a girlfriend," Blake said, trying to shake his arm free of her tight grip. "Could you please be a little bit more considerate of her?"
"Oh, Ayame's fine with it," Claire laughed, waving her hand dismissively and shooting Ayame a smug smirk. "She and I are great friends, she completely understands that this is just something old friends do, isn't that right, Ayame?"
Ayame tried to reign in her temper, but it was a losing battle.
"That's-"
"After all, a good girlfriend would certainly trust her boyfriend not to do anything untoward with another girl," Claire continued, narrowing her eyes. "I have no doubt that someone so secure in her relationship would be the perfect girl to make Blake happy."
The girl's words were like getting smacked in the face repeatedly. She was digging in on Ayame, clearly with the intent to piss her off. Ayame was no fool, she could see what game that this little brat was playing. If Ayame said anything, she'd look like an insecure, jealous bitch. In the meantime, Claire would have carte blanche to flirt with Blake however much she desired, as long as Ayame cared about how she came across in Blake's eyes.
But unfortunately for Claire, that was becoming less and less of a priority.
"…And since Ayame is so much older than us, certainly she has the maturity to be that kind of girlfriend, isn't the right?" Claire finished. "She certainly isn't so insecure about your relationship that she would object to two old friends spending some quality time together like this, don't you think? That understanding personality of hers is what makes her the perfect girl for you, after all, I couldn't imagine her doing anything of the sort!"
I WANT TO HIT THIS FUCKING BIIIIIIITCH! Ayame screamed internally.
"Claire, stop it," Blake said, shooting her a look. "I don't know why you're doing it, but it's pretty clear that you're trying to make my girlfriend jealous, and I would like you to stop, please. Asking her to put up with something like this isn't fair."
Blake turned his attention to Ayame, and smiled.
"Besides, there's no reason that she should be jealous in the first place. She knows full well that she's the cutest girl on the island, so there's absolutely no way that I would ever think of doing anything with someone else."
"Eh… ehe…" Ayame squeaked, her face turning bright red. She fidgeted around in her seat, a big, dopey smile completely ruining her cool-boy appearance.
Claire made a face like she'd swallowed mud. She sighed, and released Blake's arm, scooting away from him.
"Fine, fine, I get it, sorry," Claire gave up, shaking her head. "I thought I could get a little bit of enjoyment from messing with her, but you two are so sickeningly sweet it's actually making me want to barf."
Claire looked at the two of them and let out another sigh, sliding off of the bench and standing up, picking up her tray.
"I'm glad that you found someone that can make you happy," Claire said. She gave Blake a big, beaming smile. "It's been a long time since I've seen you smile like this, Blake. Not since Guinevere, you know? So if she makes you happy, then I'm happy."
"Thanks, Claire," Blake smiled back at her.
"Oh, come on! This is garbage!" An annoyed-sounding voice shouted from behind Blake and Claire. It was a voice Blake knew well, and a voice that he loathed to hear, because it always meant headaches and trouble when he heard it. Because it belonged to one of the most annoying people attending this school.
Blake sighed, and turned in the direction of the voice. Dakota Evans was perched at the balcony of the outdoor patio, her head peaking up behind the tall stone wall, camera in front of it. She was standing on a ladder or something to allow her to reach the top of the wall. Anything to be just a little bit more annoy- thorough with her investigations.
"What are you doing here?!" Ayame demanded, storming over to the wall and driving the heel of her shoe down on the girl's head.
"Ow! Ouch! I'm just doing my job! Stop kicking me! Ow! I'm gonna fall! This is harassment!" Dakota grunted at her, trying to keep her balance on the stepladder that Ayame was doing her darnedest to kick her off of.
"Harassment?! I'll show you fucking harassment, what were you taking pictures of with that fucking camera?!"
"Yeesh, brutal," Claire said, feeling bad for the redhead.
"It's what she deserves," Blake replied, having no empathy for the girl whatsoever.
Dakota managed to scrape her way up onto the wall, panting. She clutched her camera to her chest, terrified of what the scary girl standing over her would do to it. Even though Dakota was sitting on the wall and Ayame was just standing on the ground, she still towered over the reporter.
"I'm sorry, don't break my camera! I just wanted to get a picture of Blake's adultery! I was doing it for your sake, I promise!"
"Spreading rumors about us already huh?" Ayame growled, cracking her knuckles.
"I-I couldn't help it! It's headline news!" Dakota wailed. "Everyone's saying you two are, like, the perfect couple, so I just had to report on the fact that there's some strife there!"
"P-people are really saying that we're the p-p-p-perfect c-couple?" Ayame blushed, twirling a lock of her bangs around her finger shyly.
Don't be so easy! Blake and Claire thought as one, Dakota having managed to half-assedly disperse the girl's well-placed anger.
"Still, what's this I hear about you spreading rumors about my Blake?" Claire demanded, stomping over to the reporter, with Blake following after her.
"Well, I mean… it's kind of annoying, you know?" Dakota sighed, rising to her feet and sitting down at an empty table, setting down her camera and tapping her finger against the side of it. "I've been getting a decent chunk of followers on the 'Blake Harker Love Scandal' blog, posting theories about who he's actually dating and who he'll end up with."
"That's a thing?!" Blake exclaimed, his face hot with embarrassment.
"Actually, I do the very same thing," Claire said, nodding in agreement. "I keep a journal back home filled with information on all of his potential romantic partners and records of his interactions with them."
"What about my privacy?!"
"Ah, so you understand," Dakota said. "See, since now it's confirmed that the two of them are going out, basically traffic on the blog is set to grind to a halt, which means I'm losing out on ad money. Now, I don't have any choice but to switch my game up. I'm just trying to stir up a little scandal, you know?"
"Wait, the whole school knows we're dating?!" Ayame gasped.
"…Where have you been?" Blake laughed, raising his eyebrow.
"I… er, I was so happy by what she said I kind of zoned out for a bit…" Ayame muttered sheepishly, glancing away from him in embarrassment.
"How did all this come out, anyway?" Ayame demanded, returning her attention to Dakota, completely oblivious to the fact that the two of them had spent the entire previous day together, and Ayame was like an open book when it came to her feelings for Blake.
"Olivia Himeko wanted to put a special announcement in the paper," Dakota said, pulling a copy of today's issue out of her bag.
"WHAT?!" Ayame exclaimed. Blake slapped his palm against his face. Of course she would do something like that.
"That woman really takes advantage of every opportunity," Ayame scowled. "Just because Blake and I are dating doesn't mean he's part of our faction now."
"It doesn't?" Blake asked, surprised.
"No! I wouldn't…" Ayame looked down, blushing. "I-I wouldn't ask something like that… I-I wanted to keep those two things separate…"
She lowered her head and glanced up at him, which would look rather cute on a shorter girl, but since Blake was already taller than her it made the effect come off weird. Realizing this, she quickly sat down so she could look up at him with a shy expression a little better.
"And… I wouldn't want you to think that I was just dating you so you'd support the boss," Ayame whispered, even though both of them knew that would be the last thing Blake would ever suspect when it came to her feelings.
"…Ayame can I hug you right now?" Blake asked.
"N-no!" Ayame protested, glancing around at the onlookers, even though she really, really wanted him to. Everyone in the vicinity was looking enviously at the nauseatingly flustered couple.
"See? Bullcrap like that," Dakota scoffed, pointing at the two of them. "Such cutesy shoujo stuff won't sell issues. Where's the doki doki harem romcom antics?! The author could have dragged this on for years if he wanted to, what am I supposed to do now, huh?!"
"…I suppose spending your time on actual journalism would be out of the question," Blake dryly remarked.
"Shove it! You don't understand a damn thing! Going around with your cutesy, lovey-dovey, hand-holdey shit! It's not fair!" Dakota protested.
"What do you mean it's not fair? Are you telling me to be miserable to sell more copies?!" Blake exclaimed.
"No, I'm saying I'm jealous, damn it!" Dakota wailed. "Akira never goes on sweet dates with me, or romantic dinners, we don't even hold hands! Where do you get off being happy?! Apologize to all of us whose partners aren't spending enough time with us! This is a school, not a dating service, you should be doing school things!"
Dakota cackled wickedly.
"So in revenge, I'm going to plunge you two into the depths of scandal, with photos of Blake cheating around on big-boobed floozies!" Dakota stared venomously at the couple. "Prepare yourselves! There's nothing better than spoiling a nice, happy couple!"
"Dakota!" Blake exclaimed.
"Dude, that's crossing a line," Ayame snarled.
"Actually, I totally see where you're coming from," Claire agreed, nodding.
Blake and Ayame looked at her in shock. Even Dakota was a little taken aback at this littler revelation, not sure what to say.
"Uh… what?"
"Like, don't you see happy couples like these two flirting around in public, and just go 'fucking get hit by a Machamp, stupid couples'?" Claire explained. "But when you get to see that they're not really perfect and that, say, one is cheating on the other, you just go 'hah, that's what you get, now you're as miserable and lonely as I am'?"
"You do understand!" Dakota said, her eyes shining. "Exactly! I'm doing my duty by exposing the dark secrets underlying Blake's so-called 'perfect' relationship! For the sake of the lonely and unfulfilled people out there, it is my duty to manufactu- er… expose the truth!"
"Ayame and I are happy together!" Blake insisted. "I wouldn't… with Claire?! Ayame is a great girlfriend, I wouldn't want anyone else!"
"See? It's stuff like that, when he says it you just don't believe it," Dakota wasn't even paying attention to Blake at this point, solely engaged with Claire.
"It's more the case that you just don't want it to be true," Claire explained, shaking her head. "Any girl who hears a guy say something like that about another girl and she immediately thinks 'no way a guy would actually mean that!' Because if he did, then what's so special about her, and why hasn't she found a guy that dedicated?"
"Right, if everyone is human trash then you don't feel so bad about being lax in your own relationships," Dakota agreed.
"Hey, you two are saying some really terrible things, you know," Ayame said, her forehead throbbing with irritation.
"I've gotta say, you really know your stuff," Dakota said, nodding in approval. "Claire, was it? Do you go to school here?"
"Yeah, that's me! Claire! And your name was Dakota, right? And nah, I'm just a prospective student," Claire explained, chuckling. "I'm considering starting next year, but right now I'm just visiting my friend Blake."
"You've got a rather sharp mind for scandal," Dakota said, stroking her chin.
Blake did not like the direction that this conversation was going.
"You know, you're a pretty cool person," Claire laughed. "It looks like you've got a lot figured out. You've even got a boyfriend?"
"Yeah," Dakota admitted, blushing. "My Akira… he's really sweet and cute, but at the same time he spends a little too much time with his pokemon, you know? We never really go out and do stuff… I'd like it if he looked a little closer at me, sometimes, you know? Just every once in a while, just to know that he cares…"
Dakota shrugged.
"Guys can be so rude sometimes, without even meaning to."
You have no right to say that! Blake and Ayame shouted internally at the girl whose entire existence was defined by being rude, to various degrees of intentionality.
"That must be rough," Claire nodded in agreement. "I've tried to seduce Blake a time or twenty, but the guy was too focused on other stuff. Really hurts a girl's self-esteem. But still, someone like you, who works so hard to entertain other people and yourself with the discomfort and misery of people trying to be happy…"
Claire blushed, curling one of her already-curly pigtails with her finger.
"Honestly, that something I kind of admire a lot. If… if it's okay with you, do you mind if I refer to you as big sister?"
Dakota gasped, holding a hand over her mouth. Her eyes began to water as she looked at the sweet girl standing in front of her.
"I… I've always wanted to have a sweet little sister like you," Dakota admitted. "I'd love it! Of course you can!"
Dakota rose from her seat and gave Claire a big hug. Seeing the two of them embracing like that brought a very particular kind of terror into Blake's heart.
"So you're planning to come here next year?" Dakota asked, separating from the girl.
"Yeah, I was thinking of it," Claire nodded.
"Well, I'm in the Newspaper Club," Dakota explained. "And our current president is graduating this year, which means I'm all set to take the reins. If you want, would you like to join next year? We could really use someone with your particular eye for discord and the psychology of the masses. You have the potential to go really far!"
"Wow, really?" Claire asked, her eyes shining. "Yeah! That sounds amazing! I was already gonna come here next year so I could hang with Blake, but now I'm absolutely gonna do it! I can't wait, you really think I'll be a good reporter?"
"Then it's a plan!" Dakota said, grabbing Claire's hands. The two girls looked longingly at each other, excited at the prospects to come.
Blake stared at the two of them with nothing short of sheer dread.
The next year promised to be a very special kind of hell for the poor boy.
Those two are a match made in a terrifying, dark corner of hell, to be certain.