Let's see if Reiner and Nikita's date can end on a good point! Hopefully, the date will go well, and everyone will be happy with it!

Also, thank you to everyone who read my story "The Heir to the Dragon". I would appreciate if you continue to read and support it in the future! You can get there through my profile! The story is finally completed! Thank you for reading!

The Semi-Final Round of the second Pokemon Academy Best Girl contest has begun! Which three of these six girls will make it to the Finals? So far we've only got a few votes in, and by that, I mean only four people have voted! We can do better than that! Show your support for your best girl and vote on the poll in my profile! We want this competition to be close, after all! Who's going to win?!

Semi-Finalists: Ayame, Sylvia, Marion, Sango, Elaina, Valerie

KedharS: Kitty always tries hard!

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 684

"NO chili peppers, do I make myself clear?" Kitty told Cynthia, crossing her arms insistently over her chest. "And no digging into Sango's private stash of berries to find any spicy ones, either, I'm watching you!"

"You know, this negative attitude you have of me is starting to get on my nerves," Cynthia dryly replied, looking up from the pot of boiling water.

"Come on, Cynthia, this is important, I want you to take this seriously!" Kitty pleaded.

"Kitty, I'm not going to goof around with my food," Cynthia assured her. "I take cooking seriously, you know."

Kitty raised her eyebrow incredulously. "Okay, and that incident with the homemade 'bluk'berry ice cream?"

Cynthia averted her eyes, her face heating with shame. "L-Look, that was a mistake! I didn't do it on purpose, I just got mixed up between razz berries and bluk berries, anyone could have messed that one up!"

"Cynthia, one's red and one's blue!" Kitty replied. Not even Cynthia could be that stupid. "How do you mix that up? Your hair is red!"

"…Okay, fine, it was an experiment," Cynthia admitted. "I didn't think they would be that spicy, I thought that the sweetness of the ice cream would make an interesting flavor combination, I'm sorry! I messed up."

Yeah, Kitty found that a lot more believable.

"Well, no experiments this time," Kitty sniffed. "Those two are really really happy right now, and they want a nice, romantic dinner! I want them to have a good night, please!"

Cynthia laughed, stirring the noodles as they were beginning to soften. "This really means a lot to you, doesn't it?"

"Of course it does," Kitty said. "Nikita's a really good friend, and she's trying her best. Even Reiner's trying hard."

She smiled a little. Cynthia was right, the thought of them having a good night together really meant a lot to her.

Kitty might not have been able to spend her Valentine's Day with Julia, at least, not in the way that she wanted to. But Nikita could still have a night of romance, and Kitty was going to give it to her.

"You don't have to worry, Kitty," Cynthia said, as if she could pick up on her friend's desires and insecurities. "This is something that I want to see succeed, too."

Kitty's smile grew wider. She was a little goofy, but Cynthia was a good friend.

"At least I can make sure somebody can be happy on Valentine's Day," Cynthia said. Her experience today certainly hadn't been a pleasant one, that was for sure. But this, this she was certain that she could get right!

As if to capitalize on exactly what Cynthia was saying, Sango chose that moment to finally return to the Bulbasaur House, Marion in tow.

"Oh, hey guys, any reason Julia's out there standing in the cold?" Sango asked, glancing around the active kitchen space. "What are you guys doing, anyway?"

"Looks like cooking to me!" Marion chirped. "Making any fish dishes? Because I can get you some if you need any!"

"No, we're fine," Cynthia said, trying very hard to not look at Sango. She found the flat noodles surprisingly engaging. "Just, you know, cooking!"

Shit. She couldn't even try to be normal around Sango now, the girl was just too much of a time bomb, and Cynthia knew that if she turned to look at the other girl, she might just end up letting on what she knew, and that would be bad.

She really hoped that things would pass quickly, or else her relationship with Sango would probably reach a state where it wasn't even worth preserving.

Please, Sango, just confess to that guy of yours and get together so I can finally breathe a little easier, she pleaded to herself.

Because Cynthia was being unusually antisocial, Kitty took up the slack in explaining to her friends what was going on. She didn't think too closely about that, of course, she just figured that Cynthia was focusing on a difficult part of the cooking.

"So basically, we're doing kind of a Valentine's Day thing," Kitty explained. "Nikita and Reiner wanted to do something romantic, but neither one of them realized that the other also wanted to have a romantic Valentine's Day date, can you believe that? They boy nearly missed a great opportunity because they weren't thinking clearly!"

Kitty giggled, and Sango let out a laugh that to Cynthia's ears sounded incredibly forced. Fortunately for her, neither Kitty nor Marion picked up on it.

"Y-Yeah, imagine not realizing that someone was interested in doing something romantic," Sango giggled awkwardly. "That, um… wow, that's certainly something alright."

"Yep! But of course, since they realized it only a few hours ago, there wasn't the time to reserve anywhere, so they were kind of stuck. So I thought that it would be great to give them a nice romantic Valentine's Day dinner!" Kitty explained. "And now, here we are, with Cynthia cooking! And Julia's out there making sure no one goes down the path to disturb them."

Sango let all that sink in. She really wasn't in the mood to discuss romantic stuff, so she was already regretting that the conversation was going down this path. Today was an… awkward day for romance, to say the least. That was why she'd been killing time with Marion for the last few hours, and why she was returning to her room to get her own fishing pole.

Valentine's Day had been complicated, painful, and exhausting.

And somehow, the idea that she could take her mind off of things by relaxing and fishing with her friend instead of worrying about stuff like this was sounding surprisingly appealing.

"Well, good luck with that," Sango said. She was honestly wishing them the best, but too worn out to sound like she really meant it. "Sorry my Valentine's Day plans are a little more boring, Marion and I were just going to go fishing."

"Sango! Fishing's not boring!" Marion pouted.

"Okay, yeah, I know, but it's not exactly a traditional Valentine's Day activity," Sango said. "It's definitely not the same as doing something romantic."

"It can be!" Marion chirped. Sango definitely didn't see it that way though.

"Well, it might not be romantic, but at least you're having fun," Kitty smiled. "Though if you ask me, I think you can do to have a little romance in your life, don't you think, Cynthia?"

The clatter of Cynthia dropping her stirrer caught everyone's attention, and they all turned towards her, giving her strange looks. Cynthia laughed sheepishly and picked it up.

"Um, yeah, sure," she said half-heartedly, turning her attention back to the pot. The fettucini was more than done by now, but she was still stirring it as a distraction.

"…Well, like I was saying," Kitty said, turning back to Sango and laughing. "You two have fun, it sounds like a good time."

"Woooo, yeah! Let's go! Fishing!" Marion cheered, pumping her fists excitedly. Sango smiled, and headed up to her room, with Marion in tow.

In spite of how exhausted she felt, she actually was looking forward to going out fishing with Marion tonight.

It was a strange feeling, and one she still wasn't quite used to. But Marion was her friend. And more importantly, she was going back to her practicum studies early in the morning. So this was Sango's last chance to spend some quality time with her.

Marion was one of her best friends, and Sango was going to give her a good send-off. She might not feel those romantic things, but Sango knew this day had to have been hard on her, too. And after all the time they had spent working these past few weeks?

It was definitely time for a break. Physical, mental, and emotional.

Kitty watched Sango head upstairs, and was about to turn back to Cynthia to ask how it was going when Julia burst into the common room, fed in the face and scowling. Kitty was startled. She didn't look happy.

"J-Julia…" Kitty shakily tried her friend. For a second, she was afraid that Julia would yell at her, but she needed to know better than to let her fears get the better of her knowledge of her friend. Angry as she was, not even Julia would take that out on her. She took a few deep breaths, calmed down, and explained what was going on.

"How much longer?" She asked, her voice still holding an edge, but not filled with anger. "To be clear, those two are doing fine, but me…"

Kitty winced in sympathy. "Oh, yeah, Cynthia?"

"Almost done," Cynthia said, checking the heat on the burger patty. "Don't worry you two, we'll be done soon."

Kitty and Julia both let out a sigh of relief. Kitty turned to her friend, and decided that Julia had done enough for today.

"Julia, you can go, if you want," Kitty said.

Julia blinked, surprised. That hadn't even crossed her mind as an option. "What? Really? What do you mean?"

"I know I asked you to do this, and I really appreciate your help," Kitty said. "But you've done a lot of work, and I don't think it's fair to keep making you wait out in the cold. So you can go now if you want to."

She smiled at Julia. The fact that her friend had so readily agreed to help at all was more than enough for her to feel happy.

Julia smiled, and shook her head. "No, don't worry, it's fine," she said. "I'm a little put-out, sure, but this means a lot to you, doesn't it? I'm going to lend a hand to help my friend, and that means you as well, not just Reiner and Nikita."

"Are you two done goofing around, or are you going to go out already?" Cynthia griped. She might have been invested in helping, sure, but it felt like everybody had a partner today, even Julia and Kitty, even if they were just friends. And here she was, all alone.

Not realizing the root of her objection, Julia and Kitty glanced at each other and laughed.

"I think she's a little bit more put-out by this than you are," Kitty said. Julia agreed.

"Enjoy the cooking, Cynthia," Julia called, the two girls heading outside.

"Enjoy the cold!" Cynthia called back.

The winter chill struck her in the face like an icy slap, but Kitty didn't feel that cold. After all, Julia was here for her. She gave her friend a furtive glance out of the corner of her eye, and felt her heart warm up a little more.

Kitty didn't want to admit it, but the date that she had planned out for Nikita… it was actually the kind of date that she had wanted to go on with Julia. The outdoor pseudo-café, the romantic candles, the handcooked meal, all of it was right out of her fantasies.

So even though Julia wasn't with her the way that Kitty wanted her to be, she was still spending Valentine's Day night with her, and right now, that was more than enough. She hoped that their friends would enjoy the meal.

It won't help me, Nikita, but I hope that this date will be good for the two of you, Kitty silently wished, staring at her friends talking several yards away.

"Never seen Reiner actually look this happy," Julia commented, raising her eyebrow. "Like, the dude's actually smiling. Haven't seen that in like… a while."

While Kitty didn't have the same cynical view of Reiner that Julia did, she had to agree that it was more common to see him wearing a sarcastic smirk than an actual smile the way he was doing here. Just another thing that made tonight not feel as cold and lonely as a winter night so often did.

If Kitty was braver she might have taken Julia's hand, but no. She wasn't that sort of girl. She would be happy just like this.

Meanwhile, Reiner and Nikita were so enjoying their date they hadn't even noticed the cold (thank you outdoor space heater) or the fact that their waitress hadn't come back with their food, or even refills on their drinks. They were too engrossed in their conversation.

"The professor is amazing, really," Nikita said, explaining about her genetics class. "You can really tell how dedicated he is to his research! I'm learning so much about pokemon genetics, like, did you know that some pokemon are known to make spontaneous changes in their DNA? Just out of nowhere, it's so crazy!"

"Really? Isn't that like evolving?" Reiner asked.

Nikita shook her head. "No, but it's similar to evolving. See, some pokemon, in their final stages of evolution, may exhibit strange fluctuations in their genetic code. It's a lot like the changes that happen when they evolve, or like the changes when a pokemon changes form, but unlike those the fluctuations are so minor and impermanent that the pokemon doesn't actually change that much."

"Wow, that's interesting," Reiner said, and he almost meant it. He was more interested in how happy Nikita was talking about it than he was interested in the subject itself, and hopefully that would be good enough.

"He said he's doing some research on the subject, and I'm excited to see what he eventually comes up with," Nikita said. "I don't have a lot of fully evolved pokemon, but I wonder if any of mine might have those fluctuations in DNA."

"I'm glad you're enjoying the class," Reiner agreed. "I wish my classes were that exciting. See, unlike you, my elective course isn't something that I'm all that passionate about. I wanted to take another archaeology course, but unfortunately, Professor Reinhart is currently on sabbatical so that wasn't possible."

Nikita knew exactly what course he was taking, Introductory Typing Basics. The two had had many conversations about the fact that he had been forced to take the class by his parents. It was a point of contention for him, and he often felt ashamed at not being able to stand up to his family as much as he would have liked. It didn't help that Julia was taking the class herself, or that the two of them didn't exactly get along all that well.

On the topic of Julia, Nikita didn't mind her that much. She didn't get along with Nikita's boyfriend, which made her rather tense around the other girl, but she had shown Kitty nothing but kindness and friendship so Nikita couldn't help but like her.

And she was even helping out on their date! Now if only the two of them could get along… Not that this was a good time to float that topic by Reiner, of course. She had already messed up by bringing up her elective course.

Nikita couldn't help herself, and let out a sigh. She cared about Reiner, she really did, and she wanted to make this relationship work. That's why she'd gone to all this trouble for their romantic date! And she knew that Reiner felt the same.

Problem was, there were a lot of red flags in their relationship. Nikita knew that Reiner had a tough time with his family, and he didn't like talking about it. But she wanted him to talk about it. She didn't know much about personal issues, but…

When her dad died, it had hurt. It was one of the reasons she had closed herself off and focused so much on studying instead of socializing.

But opening up to Reiner and Kitty had been great for fixing that pain, even if it wouldn't bring her dad back. And she wanted to do that for Reiner, if he would just let her!

…No, that wasn't fair. Reiner opened up to her a lot. He just had a bad habit of doing it at the wrong times. It wasn't the Nikita needed her boyfriend to tell her what was wrong at the drop of a hat, she wasn't that nosy.

She just wished that Reiner would open up a little more, it would make her feel better to know that she was helping him through this whole mess.

"Do you really think that?" Reiner asked quietly.

Nikita blinked, confused. She turned her attention back to Reiner. "Huh? Think what?"

"Everything you just said," Reiner said, raising his eyebrow. "About how you wanted me to open up a little more, about how you want to help me through my problems?"

The world around Nikita became distant and fuzzy, everything was becoming hard to see clearly. Like staring at a grainy movie. The shock and horror boomed around her as she let what she had just heard sink in.

No way. Did I say all of that out loud?! Nikita's eyes sunk down, she couldn't meet Reiner's gaze, lest he confirm her greatest fears.

"Nikita-"

"No, no, no!" Nikita said frantically, waving her hands from side to side. "I didn't mean it that way… or, like, I don't know what way you thought I meant it, but I promise you, I didn't! That was just me, like, thinking, and I don't…"

She was sniffling now, nearly breaking down in tears. But she forced herself not to cry, lest her tears ruin her makeup.

Luckily, Reiner understood what she was trying to tell him.

"It's okay," he assured her. She glanced up at him warily.

"R-Really?" She asked.

"I understand what you're trying to say," Reiner said. "And believe me, at some point, I'll be ready to talk all this stuff out with you again. Later, but not tonight."

"Reiner, that wasn't me asking you to do anything!" Nikita said. "I swear, I don't need you to do anything for my sake, I promise."

"I know you want me to open up a little more," Reiner said. "Do you really feel like you need me to confide in you to feel like you're helping?"

Nikita gulped. No use denying it now, she'd already said all that, and more. She nodded.

"Let me tell you, that's not how it is," Reiner said. "I know how you felt when you talked about your dad, what it was like to get all those problems off your chest. And we both know how much it relieved me, the first time we talked about my issues."

"That hole," Nikita laughed nostalgically.

"Those conversations, they mean a lot to me," Reiner assured her. "But… I don't need them. I don't need to open up about everything that's bothering me to feel better, and I certainly don't need to talk about my problems with you to feel like you're helping me."

"R-Really?" Nikita wasn't sure she liked the tone of this conversation, this sounded like one of those breakup conversations she'd heard about. But no, no, that couldn't be true! Reiner wouldn't break up with her over something like this, he'd just said earlier that he wanted to do something romantic for next Valentine's Day! Unless she'd screwed up so badly with that outburst that it meant he didn't want to be with her anymore, in which case-

"Nikita, calm down, it's okay," Reiner said in a soothing voice. "There's nothing to worry about."

Nikita gasped. "Wait, no, did I do it again? God, why won't my mouth stay closed?!"

Reiner laughed and shook his head. "No, you didn't say a peep. But you're hyperventilating so I sort of guessed."

"…Oh," Nikita said, her face heating up. She felt her lungs fill back up with air and her heart start to settle back down.

"Look, what I'm trying to say is that you just being with me is enough to make all these problems not seem like such a big deal," Reiner explained. "Yeah, I know, there's this whole mess with my family, but you're enough to make me forget about that sometimes. And we don't have to talk about it or anything, just… just hanging out, studying together, that's more than enough."

"R-Really?" Nikita couldn't believe it was that easy. In everything she'd read about relationships, it only made logical sense to value the presence of the other partner because of what they did for you. To hear that Reiner didn't care if she solved his problems or not, that he felt better about his situation just because she was with him, it didn't make sense! What was the cause? Why did it make him feel better? This wasn't adding up at all!

Nikita had to admit that relationships and emotions were things that she wasn't sure how to deal with. Reiner was a lot better at this whole "dating" thing than she was, that was for sure. Right now, though, she was going to turn her attention forward, and focus on what really mattered.

Trying to enjoy the night with the guy she liked. If her just being there was enough for Reiner to feel like his problems weren't so big, then maybe him just being here would be enough to make this night a success.

"Hey guys, how are you doing?" Kitty interrupted them, walking up with their food like a symbol to represent Nikita's newfound pledge. Placing the delicious-smelling plates before the two of them with a smile on her face, Nikita believed that things weren't really all that bad after all.

Aww, that's really sweet! It's nice to know that Reiner doesn't need Nikita to do anything for him, he's just happy enough having her in his life! And Nikita's probably the same, even if she might not know it just yet!