More of Ayame and Blake wholesomeness to begin October! And more Ayame and Olivia drama, as well! But for now, I think it's important to take a break and celebrate their happiness together, especially since reviews are finally back for fanfiction!

And there's something else we need to celebrate, too!

There has been a newly elected Pokemon Academy Best Girl! The finals have concluded, with a clear victor. Out of our finalists, Sango, Ayame, and Marion, here are the results!

Ayame: 6

Sango: 5

Marion: 4

And thus, the winner, and Pokemon Academy Best Girl, is… Ayame Toujou! Blake's newly discovered girlfriend, the spunky tomboy athlete with a hidden girly side! It seems like the audience has similar tastes to Blake, choosing Ayame like he did! But let's not get it wrong, this was a very close race, and the results could have gone for Sango instead, or even Marion! That just shows how great our finalists really are, but only one of them is the best!

So yes, Ayame is the best girl now. I don't know when I'll hold another vote, maybe the same time next year. But for now, let's just send our support to the lovely Ayame, and the other girls who committed in the Pokemon Academy Best Girl competition! Ayame, Sango, Marion, and all the others from the past rounds, they all showed their charms! Congratulations to them all, and especially the winner, Ayame!

Hellraiserphoenix: Storm was right, in multiple ways.

Aquahaze675: Ayame and Blake are good together. But don't be happy about her jealousy, it's sad! Blake shouldn't be making her feel jealous, he should be making her feel like a princess!

KedharS: Ayame's smile must be protected.

Rosealine gold: I think you did a good job so far, thanks for the updates!

Pokemonking0924: Not exactly, it's a little more complicated than that.

Aurastar Warrior: The chapter's right here.

Mercury – Mercuraneous: You certainly do, a lot has happened.

Thunder Fire: It would have probably been better, but as you saw, it was more a story about Olivia than Ayame. And they're fifth graders.

Seamitar X: That is exactly why it's called that.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 327

Ayame still felt a twinge of pain in her heart when she thought of her past pain. She exited the shower and turned back to the mirror as she dried herself off.

She was no longer that lanky girl too tall for the fifth grade, hiding behind her bangs and unable to hold any confidence in herself. That wasn't the person she saw in the mirror anymore. Oh, sure, she was still tall. But she didn't slouch anymore, she carried herself with confidence and pride in her stature. Sure, she still had a rather masculine face, like a boy. But a handsome boy, a charming host that could make girls swoon and even boys get a little hot under the collar.

And most of all, she was no longer alone.

Once more, Ayame thought back to the fifth grade. The night of the play, and Olivia Himeko. Olivia didn't know it, but they hadn't met in their freshmen year. No, Ayame remembered her. They had been in the same fifth grade class for a time. But why would Olivia have remembered her? Olivia had been so pretty, even back then, and Ayame was just the boyish transfer student who people teased for her height and her face and the way she would always turn red so easily. Olivia couldn't even remember her name.

But Ayame couldn't have forgotten that beautiful blonde, who captured everyone's attention. The girl who she saw acting on that stage, blowing Ayame away completely. That was the night Ayame knew that she never could have competed with the beautiful Olivia Himeko. She wasn't the princess sort, she knew that. Everyone referred to her as a "prince" now, the Prince of the Track Team.

And yet she still felt pain in her chest.

I understand that it's okay to be seen as a prince. I'm not ugly, I know I'm beautiful. Ayame sighed, brushing her bangs out of her face. She considered cutting them every day, but tying them back… it was just more comforting for her, considering her past. But even if it's okay… deep down I still…

As much as she might try to deny it, she could still see the face of that little girl she used to be in the mirror. Those hopeful eyes of that little girl who still wanted to be a princess.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and thought about Blake. Blake, whose smile made her heart soar, whose eyes made her cheeks flush and her eyes brighten. As she turned on her hair dryer, the loud whir of the machine drowning out the rain outside. She closed her eyes, and thought back to a day that had, at the time, seemed so normal, so ordinary, but had ended up being one of the most important days of her life.

Ayame headed upstairs to her room, her expression sour. Once again, she had failed to get a good time during practice that afternoon. Everyone else had been obsessed with the Fall Festival Tournament, but not Ayame. She had been too focused on beating her fucking times. Which she had fucking failed to do. And now, the boss was asking for her, probably to inquire why she had been absent. Ayame scowled. As much as she loved Olivia, didn't her friend realize that Ayame had her own fucking shit to deal with?

Ayame stepped into Olivia's room.

"Aya, I'm in the closet," Olivia said. Ayame sighed and headed into the full-room closet, where Olivia was standing, clad only in white lingerie, holding two dresses while looking at one of the wide mirrors that made up one of the walls.

"Which is better?" Olivia asked, not bothering to turn around, as she could see Ayame in the mirror. "The white and gold? Or the black and white?"

Ayame considered the two outfits for a moment, identical except for their coloring.

"I'm not really a clothes person," she coolly replied. "Don't ask me."

"Oh, come come come, I just want to hear your opinion," Olivia laughed. "What do you think, Aya? Which would look better on me? You've seen me in both, after all."

"…The white-gold," Ayame said finally.

"…I was thinking exactly the same," Olivia smiled, her blue eyes twinkling. She finally turned around to face Ayame directly, tossing the black and white dress onto a table. She began to put on the other dress.

"So what's the occasion?" Ayame asked. She knew that Olivia hadn't called her up here and said "I need a favor" just to ask Ayame's opinion on clothes. But she was willing to humor the girl anyway. "You got a hot date tonight?"

"Something like that," Olivia snickered. "No, no, I'm going to get my hair done up all nice."

She turned back to the mirror and bounced her blonde locks with her hand in a flirtatious manner, flashing her reflection a smoky smile.

"Anyway, back to what I called you for," Olivia said, turning back to Ayame. "Let me ask, Aya. Can you do a favor for me?"

Ayame blinked.

"What do you need?"

"There's a boy who I'm interested in," Olivia said. "I was wondering if you could go pick him up, if you would be so kind? You can Celia."

Now THAT was intriguing. Ayame wasn't quite sure she'd heard right.

"Seriously, Olivia?" So blown away was she that she'd forgotten to refer to Olivia as "boss". "You? A fucking guy?"

"Not like that," she laughed. "No, no, I just want to have a talk with him, is all."

"Okay then," Ayame said, thankful that the sky wasn't about to come down around them. "So who is he?"

"Phone's on the dresser," Olivia said, nodding her head. "His photo's in the messages."

Ayame nodded and walked over to the dresser, picking up Olivia's phone and sliding it open, looking at the messages. There was a photo of a boy with brown hair and a smile. He seemed pretty average by all levels, not someone Olivia needed to concern herself with. Certainly not anyone that she should be impressed by, to say the least.

"His name's Blake Harker," Olivia said. "He's in the Fall Festival Tournament."

"Good trainer?" Ayame asked.

"He just lost today, actually," Olivia replied. Ayame rolled her eyes. So average looks AND average ability? She was getting less and less impressed by this fucking first year.

"I heard from my contacts that he and his friends are eating dinner at that Iron Grill place? The one where they cook the food right in front of you? I'd like you and Celia to go and pick him up, and then bring him to the salon. I'd like to have a meeting with him. Sound like a plan, Aya?"

Ayame sighed, and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't want to, but Olivia wanted her to, and she was the boss.

"Fine, I'll go fucking pick him up," she said, taking one last passing look at the picture on Olivia's phone.

"Oh, and Aya, maybe try a smile?" Olivia called over her shoulder. "A little charm never hurt anyone, sweetie."

"Fuck you!" Ayame sang back, flipping her friend off.

Little did she know, that boy she'd so easily dismissed was going to go on to be one of the most precious people in her life.

Ayame's hair had finished drying and she ran a brush through it, wrapping her robe around her body as she walked out of the bathroom…

…To see Blake and Olivia standing in her room, waiting for her to come out.

Ayame froze in place, her mouth falling open. She looked to Olivia, then to Blake. Then to the bed, which still had her clothes laid out on it, including the black lingerie standing out accusingly, concrete evidence of her boldness and what looked to be like her expectations for what was going to happen tonight, what she wanted to have happen. Then she looked to Olivia, and the accusatory smirk on her face, her blue eyes twinkling conspiratorially.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!" Ayame screamed, charging across the room and grabbing the underwear in her arms, panting, her face flushed with embarrassment. She turned to Blake, desperately pleading with him to understand.

"You two have fun," Olivia called out in a sing-song voice, strolling out of the room. "Don't anything I would do!"

"LEAVE!" Ayame hotly shouted after her. Hearing the door click shut, she turned to Blake, distraught. Her eyes pleaded with him.

"Look, uh, Blake, this isn't, I wasn't, I just…" Ayame fumbled for words. "It-it's not like I was thinking that we would… that wasn't the reason I brought you here, honest! After what you said yesterday, you know that I wouldn't be… I just thought that, you know, maybe… well, maybe we could… it was for just in case, after all! Not… not like I was expecting or anything, yeah, just in case…"

Ayame continued to babble, and Blake had to resist the urge to burst out laughing and hug her. She was so embarrassed, and she looked so adorable when she was embarrassed, but he knew that she would react badly to him making light of this.

"Ayame, don't worry, I get it," Blake said. "Don't worry, I'm not expecting anything either, okay? You were just being hopeful, you know?"

"Er… yeah," Ayame admitted, dropping her arms, the underwear falling gently onto the bed. "I mean, just… just in case something happened, well… I would be prepared, you know? So you wouldn't see me in, well…"

Ayame's voice trailed off into awkwardness, averting her eyes from him.

"…B-but it was just in case!" Ayame clarified. "I don't want you thinking I was, like, 'looking forward to something', I really wanted to-"

"I already said it's fine," Blake said, stepping closer to her and placing his hand on her shoulder. "Besides, well… I'd be lying if I said I wasn't, maybe… you know… looking forward to something too, okay? Like, I mean, in case… something happened."

Ayame gulped. With that on the table, well…

The two stood in silence for a while.

"Well!" Ayame said, her voice louder than was appropriate. "I should go get changed now!"

"Right," Blake said, equally loudly, both trying very hard to pretend that everything was completely normal between the two of them. "And I'll just stay here and spread out the blanket like the picnic we had planned!"

"P-perfect!" Ayame said, nodding in agreement. "Right, the picnic! We can do that! Just… just a normal picnic! Nothing… nothing else, just… just a picnic, that's all! We don't have anything else planned for tonight whatsoever!"

"Exactly!" Blake agreed. Ayame quickly grabbed the rest of her clothes and then rushed into the bathroom. In her hurry, or maybe a subconscious hope, she forgot to lock it.

"Nothing's gonna happen," she whispered to herself, trying to calm down her pounding heart. "Nothing's gonna happen, nothing's gonna happen…"

She took her robe off and hung it on the hook, examining her injuries. Her scar was completely healed, and according to the doctor, her ribs were in perfect shape. She was almost completely healed, and in a few weeks she could get back to her regular schedule. She took a deep breath. There wasn't… there wasn't a reason not to, right? Well, it wasn't like it was going to, but… if, for some reason, it did, it wasn't like there was a reason that she couldn't…

But that was silly, they wouldn't be… Ayame hadn't worn lingerie before. It felt all weird and soft and fluttery against her skin. As she reached for her blouse, she suddenly realized that the door wasn't locked. She froze in place, her arm extended towards the ground, and slowly pulled back, bringing her arm down to her side and standing tall. She turned to the door, her heart pounding in her chest. If Blake wanted to, well, there was nothing that would stop him from coming inside, right? And seeing her like this? And, well, if he wanted to come inside while he was changing, that could only be for one reason, right?

She stared at the doorknob hard enough to burn a hole through it. Was it turning? No, no, that was all in her mind. Apprehension (hope?) burned in her chest as she waited for him to come in and then…

…

Nope, nothing.

She sighed in disappointment in spite of herself, and put the rest of her clothes on. It was only then that she realized she'd forgotten something important.

Her ribbon! She never went anywhere without her ribbon! But it wasn't here. She sighed. In her hurry to run into the bathroom, she must have dropped it.

Ayame took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping into the bedroom. Blake had laid out her blankets like a tarp for a picnic. Their sandwiches were laid on it, and Blake was sitting down, looking up expectantly at Ayame.

"Picnic?" Blake asked.

"Picnic," Ayame agreed, sighing in relief. She walked over and sat across from him, her face flushing. She flashed him a smile.

"You dropped this," Blake said, holding out her sky-blue ribbon. "You said it was important to you, right? Even if we're just relaxing in your room, I figure that you would still want to be wearing it, isn't that right?"

"Yeah, thanks," Ayame smiled, taking the ribbon from him. She wrapped it around her head and pulled her bangs out of her face, taking care to make the ends of the ribbon stick up in a set of rabbit ears, making her adorably cute.

"You always tie your ribbon up like that, huh?" Blake asked, reaching down and unwrapping his long-cold sandwich. "It's really adorable, you know. But wouldn't it be easier to just tie it so that it lies flat on your head, rather than sticking out?"

"Yeah, I guess," Ayame admitted. "But… I like it this way. Like… like you said, it makes me look adorable, so…"

Blake nodded.

"You're right, it suits you perfectly," Blake said. He bit into his ham sandwich. He was right, it was cold as ice. Ayame chuckled at the face he made.

"You think that's bad?" Ayame asked, waving her wrapped sandwich in his face. "Mine's a meatball sub, you ever had cold meatballs and marinara sauce?"

"Fair enough," Blake laughed. "Don't suppose you have a microwave around here, do you?"

"Microwave?" Ayame asked, blinking innocently. "What do you mean, Blake?"

"Huh? A microwave, you know, for cooking food," Blake replied.

"But we're on a picnic in the middle of the garden," Ayame laughed. "There's not a microwave around for miles, dummy."

Blake smirked at that, and shrugged his shoulders, nodding his head in defeat.

"Fair enough, Ayame, fair enough."

Ayame unwrapped her sandwich and the two bit into their ice cold sandwiches, grimacing, while at the same time trying to resist the urge to burst out laughing.

"These are awful!" Ayame snickered. "Worst fucking picnic I've ever been on!"

"It has its moments," Blake said, smiling at her. "Could be worse."

Ayame blushed and reflexively brushed at her bangs, averting her eyes.

"Um, Blake, you weren't serious when you were saying, um… that you were prepared for… you know, right?"

Ayame didn't know what kind of answer she expected, her heart pounding in her chest.

"I, well… I was keeping myself prepared, sure," Blake admitted. "Um, Ayame… there's, uh… something that I wanted to talk to you about."

Ayame paused. Blake was acting pretty serious.

"Is it… serious? About… about us?"

"Yes," Blake said, nodding. "Er, I mean, yes, it's serious, but it's not about us. I mean, it kind of is, it's about you and me, but, like, not… 'us' us, you know?"

"UH…" Ayame tried to follow, but swallowed her confusion and nodded her head, waiting for Blake to explain things to her.

"I talked with Olivia, while I was with her," Blake said. "I just thought you should know, since… since we talked about you."

"I see," Ayame said, still not sure what the big deal was. Unless… wait, was Olivia giving Blake stories about how she…

Suddenly, this became a very big deal. Olivia knew a lot of embarrassing things about Ayame, particularly stories about how Ayame used to fantasize about Blake. If she had told him those things… if he had…

"Blake, those stories she told you, they aren't true!" Ayame sputtered. "I mean, yes, I did dream about you! But they were always PG-13! We never got anywhere beyond some light petting! And if she told you that I had a dream where you tied me up, she was LYING! That NEVER happened! Not even three- er, not even once!"

"…Tie you up? What?" Blake asked, completely confused by what the hell Ayame's sudden outburst was about. Dreams? Huh?

"Uh… what?" Now it was Ayame's turn to be confused. "Olivia… wasn't telling you about my dreams?"

"No, we didn't talk about your dreams at all, tie you up how? How did I tie you up?"

"NOTHING! NEVER HAPPENED!" Ayame exclaimed. "A-anyway, you were saying? Something about Olivia talking about me?"

"She… she told me about how you two met," Blake said. "And it was a really private story, so I wanted to let you know that I knew. Because if you knew something about my, well… past, and had heard it from someone else, well… I would want you to be up front about it. So I'm going to treat you with the same courtesy."

"How we met?" Ayame asked. "What, she just came up and talked to me in freshmen year, what's the big deal?"

Blake shook his head.

"Not… no, not then. I mean… before. In fifth grade. In Sinnoh."

Ayame flinched, her eyes going wide with shock.

"Wh-what?"

She… she remembered that?

"What about fifth grade?"

"She told me about a play," Blake said. "And that you had wanted to play the role of the princess, but Olivia got the part instead, and how people used to make fun of you, and-"

Ayame cut him off with a snort, her eyes dimming as she held back her feelings and put on her usual smile.

"That was ages ago," she laughed. "What's the big deal? Sure, back then I was silly and wanted to be a princess. But come on, it's nothing you need to be so serious about! I was a dumb kid, don't even fucking worry about it, Blake! So Olivia told you, so what? Doesn't matter. Let's just continue our picnic, and-"

"It does matter," Blake said quietly, staring into her eyes. There was hurt there. And she could see hurt in his, as well.

"…Fuck it," Ayame muttered, tossing the remains of her sandwich down on the pillow. "It's not a big deal anyway. So I wanted to be a fucking princess when I was a kid, so fucking what?"

The hostility rolling off of her was something Blake was familiar with. He hadn't seen it from her in a while. But… Ayame was hiding her pain with aggression again.

Blake leaned forward and held her close, pressing his lips against her cheek.

"Blake?! What-what are you-?!" Ayame sputtered, surprised but not upset by Blake's sudden display of forwardness.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear. "You know that, right?"

"Dummy," Ayame muttered, trying to stay put off, but her past pain was being chased off by the warmth she was feeling. "Of course I fucking do."

"If you ask me, those kids were crazy," Blake said. "You'd have made a perfect princess."

"Liar," Ayame muttered. "You don't even know what I looked like back then. I was all elbows and knees, I looked all weird, like a boy, I would have been awful."

"Fair enough, I don't know what you looked like," Blake admitted. "But… it doesn't matter what you looked like. The girl you are, that's who would have made a great princess. Even if you looked like a boy."

Ayame's cheeks flushed. He could definitely feel her heart beating. How could he say something so stupid?! That he would have thought of her as a princess even then?!

Yeah… this is what she wanted, alright. She didn't need that audience of adoring fans looking at her up on the stage. Just one boy. That was all she needed after all. Just one boy to look at her and see a princess.

She pushed him away in spite of herself. If he had kept hugging her like that, if she had kept getting so hot, well…

She wouldn't have been responsible for what happened next.

"Ayame?" Blake asked, looking at her.

"Aya," Ayame corrected him. "You… you said you'd start calling me 'Aya' right?"

"Right, sorry," Blake chuckled. "Sorry, Aya."

Ayame's heart skipped another beat. She leaned in close and pressed her lips against his, pushing him over. She separated from the hot kiss a few seconds later, shaking her head.

"Stop SAYING stuff like that!" Ayame wailed.

"But you just told me to-"

"I don't know what's best for myself," Ayame said, getting off of him and fleeing to the other end of the room, resisting the urge to burst out in a peal of happy laughter. "I want you to say stuff like that, but you can't! How are you gonna be responsible for how it gets me all… messed up!?"

"Well, maybe I like when you get messed up," Blake laughed. Ayame rolled her eyes and scowled, flipping him off. She turned and walked over to the window. The sun had just finished setting and night had fallen on the island. Even the storm had let off. The rain had trickled down into a light drizzle.

Then, Ayame saw something that took her breath away. Her eyes widened in a mixture of joy and surprise.

"Blake! Blake, come quick! You gotta see this!"

Ayame gestured him over frantically. Blake joined her at the window and looked out, surprised. It was hard to make out in the night sky, but it was clear. The rain had frozen, and begun to fall softly down from the clouds. So light that even after a few minutes the white blanket covering the ground was light and thin. But it was unquestionably snowing. The first snow of winter.

Blake felt Ayame's fingers intertwine with his.

"It's beautiful," Ayame whispered, sighing joyously as she looked at the slowly growing curtain of white below them. "I love the snow."

"Yeah," Blake agreed, nodding. He clutched her hand tightly in agreement. Not enough to hurt, just enough to show his support. "It really is beautiful."

Aww! How sweet! The two of them, together, watching the snow fall? What a romantic conclusion!