In this chapter, we take a look at the fallout from last night a little closer. Not just Sylvia and Serefina beginning their investigation into Dakota's assault, or Akira feeling torn down and depressed over the incident, but something else entirely! There's another mystery to deal with here, another incident that occurred last night… Blake and Ayame's evening! What will be the fallout from that? Are the two of them okay?!

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 Pokemon Academy Best Girl 2 Finals are up and running! Who do you think is deserving of the title of Best Girl in the second year of the contest? Cast your votes! We've only gotten one vote so far, and I know that a lot of people are reading, so come on guys! The poll's in the profile, who do you think deserves to take the crown?

Finalists: Sylvia, Marion, Sango

KedharS: No, I doubt it will.

Hellraiserphoenix: Indeed, I too am looking forward to who the next winner of the Best Girl contest will be, now that Ayame is out of the running.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: There are a few storylines I'm planning to explore, don't worry. We should see some interesting plots in the future.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 690

"One thing that we need to make clear before we can begin our little… 'enterprise' together," Sylvia said, relishing in the control she had over the obviously-reluctant Serefina. "I am not the one helping you, understand? YOU are the one who is accompanying me. Not helping me, because I have no need of help from the likes of you."

Serefina held her tongue, unable to argue with Sylvia's assessment, as much as it personally pissed her off.

"Then why do you want me to accompany you?" She managed to ask. Sylvia smirked, and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well obviously, because I enjoy your company so much," she snidely remarked. "Like I said, I'm being nice, Serefina."

She tapped Serefina lightly on the cheek with an open palm, giving her a patronizing look. "I know you'd be all nervous and paranoid if you didn't learn the truth about what happened, so I'm coming in to help you out! Say thank you!"

Serefina gave her a searing glare that didn't bother the other girl in the slightest.

Sylvia turned to Akira, who was still standing listlessly, staring off into the distance. Now that Serefina was suitably cowed, Sylvia was turning her attention to a new toy to play with, strolling over to him with a smile.

"Aaaaakiiiraaa…" Sylvia purred, fluttering around him and brushing her fingers across his clothes. "How are you doooooiingggg?"

Akira didn't respond, not even to push her away. Well, that was boring. Sylvia wasn't really a big fan of boring.

"Not going to say anything?" She asked, a scowl crossing her face. She was disappointed that he was so… boring! Not even boring in a predictable way, just regular boring. Well, she wasn't going to sit around and be bored. She'd been experimenting with a green thumb, recently, and was going to delight in planting some seeds for later.

"…Well, Akira, I'll leave you here to wallow in your misery, since that's what you want," Sylvia relented, backing off. She tapped her chin with her finger. "But I will let you know, that I'm going to figure out what happened. And I hope that what I find out… won't shock you too much, cute little mister boyfriend."

She leaned in close and whispered into his ear. "Hopefully by the time you make it out of your slump, it won't be too late for regrets. But if you don't buck up soon… you might end up regretting that you weren't there to see it through and avenge her death." She stepped back, like she was out of things to say, but then leaned in once again. "…If that moment comes, of course. Far be it for me to spoil your hopes or anything. If you had any left, that is."

With that, she turned back to Serefina and flashed her a triumphant smile. Akira wasn't going to be much help right now. But maybe, in time, he would recover. Sylvia wasn't sure which would be more amusing. Akira recovering before the case was solved, and bringing Dakota's killer to justice with his own furious hands? Or for Sylvia to solve it first, and deny him the opportunity to get closure, and his realization of that breaking him even further.

Sylvia loved being back on earth, there were just so many things about this place that were fun to consider!

"Shall we go?" She preened. Serefina gave Akira a cautious glance.

"What… What about Akira?" Serefina asked. She didn't want to leave him alone.

"Leave him. He doesn't want to come, no sense in making him come," Sylvia said, shrugging her shoulders. She wasn't about to spare Akira a second thought. "We have work to do, Seri, ignore the invalid."

"He's my friend!" Serefina exclaimed. She wanted to figure out what had happened (even if that meant having to tolerate Sylvia) but she wasn't about to abandon Akira to do it! Akira couldn't be left alone right now, he was in way too fragile a condition.

Sylvia shrugged again. "Suit yourself," she said, turning towards the door. "I guess if your friendship with Akira is more important than figuring out the truth, you can stay here and let him motorboat you some more."

Serefina glanced at Akira hesitantly, then at Sylvia's departing back. Damn it, why did she have to choose?! The obvious choice was Akira, of course, and she knew that she should just wash her hands of this whole mess and stay with her friend.

…So why did that feel like such a betrayal of Dakota?!

No, Serefina wouldn't be able to live with that, anymore than she would be able to live with herself for abandoning him.

So she decided to split the baby.

"Come on, Akira!" She shouted, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him after her. Akira was too stunned to resist, and blindly followed after her while she dragged him away.

Sylvia found that moderately amusing, but not enough to pay it any mind. She was focused on the mission right now. If Akira was coming, well…

A small smile crossed her face. Because of where she was planning to go, this could end up being rather interesting.

While people who were closely involved in this incident were investigating, a mere few hours earlier lot of people on campus hadn't had any idea that anything had happened at all; they were just waking up from a Valentine's Day night, thinking that today would be normal.

They would check their messages and email, or maybe the campus website, and learn what had transpired, but in the few minutes before that happened things would just be normal. Like waking up from a dream.

Two people in particular found themselves in exactly that situation, waking up from a long and restful sleep to a morning in a world that was very different than the one they had woken up in the night before.

Ayame hadn't expected to feel so… sore. When she woke up, what had happened last night had actually slipped from her mind for a second, and she thought that she was just waking up like she was on any other morning.

Then she remembered what had happened last night, and her face turned bright red. She sprung up in bed, clutching her sheets to her body to cover herself, and looked down at Blake, who was snoring beside her.

A dopey grin spread across her face. He looked just precious sleeping there, she couldn't help but love him. She reached down and ran her hand along the scars on his back. She was happy he had trusted her enough to show them to her.

Maybe that's why… he was always so nervous about the idea of the two of us having sex, Ayame wondered.

Blake stirred, murmuring something, and Ayame's hand shot back. She was so startled she nearly fell out of bed, realizing that she was in a situation that she was NOT prepared for. She scrambled up and dashed to her bathroom, locking herself in and crouching over the toilet.

She didn't throw up, thank god, but boy was her stomach doing cartwheels. What was the matter with her?!

Even… even after all the stuff we did, I'm still… I'm still getting this flustered over something as simple as… as…!

Ayame couldn't even bring herself to say it, she was so flummoxed. She felt another wave of nausea seize her.

A knock on the door caused her to shoot up, and she nearly fell over for the second time in as many minutes. Grabbing the edge of her bathtub to keep her balance, she brought herself to her feet. She wasn't used to feeling this shaky, and she wondered if it was a result of…

Well, certain activities that were currently occupying most of her conscious thoughts. She shook her head and gulped to clear her thoughts, catching an image of herself in the mirror. Did she always have such a glow?

"Aya?" The knocking was accompanied by Blake's voice now, and she gasped.

"B-Blake, oh!" Ayame gasped, switching her attention back to her boyfriend at the door. "You're-You're up!"

"…Yeah, I am," Blake said, sounding as uncomfortable and nervous as she felt.

Hearing the uneasiness in his voice just made her more uneasy herself, and that uneasiness was compounded with worry. He didn't… he didn't sound happy, he sound nervous, unsure, like… like something had gone wrong.

Oh, god. She had screwed up somehow, hadn't she? That's what this was. Was… was she no good? Had he… not enjoyed it? She had felt… well, she'd never… before, but… she had thought that it was pretty good, did he… not feel the same?

Oh god, she'd ruined it. They'd had a good thing, and because she was so awful, she'd ruined it all! She'd pushed him into this in the first place, and now she'd ruined it!

Ayame felt like she was going to throw up, she wanted to curl up and die! Why did she have to feel like such a failure of a woman!?

She was starting to cry.

"Aya?! Are you okay?" Blake asked, hearing the sounds of her sniffling from behind the door. "Did I… did I do anything wrong?"

"Huh?" Ayame looked up from where she was curled up on the floor, confused. "Wait, what are you talking about? You didn't do anything wrong, you were… um, okay, well, I don't know what, like, or… I mean… well, I have no idea how it's supposed to go, but I think it was, um… pretty good? No, I mean, good, you were good! Just… at least, as far as I felt, anyway…"

God she wanted to die. She turned and looked at the toilet bowl, wondering if she was too far away from throwing up…

"You, um…" Blake's voice was sounding more and more flustered. "Look, Aya, I mean… I haven't done anything like this before, but… I guess you were… good?"

Ayame rose to her feet, surprised. She felt like she weighed nothing at all, like all of her worries had faded away.

"You really thought… I was… good?" Ayame asked hopefully.

"W-Well, I mean, I enjoyed it, so…" Ayame could pinpoint the sound of Blake's uneasiness now, it wasn't disappointment! He was just as flustered as she was, that was all! She let out a sigh of relief. Everything was okay, there was no need to panic.

And then she realized she was standing naked in her bathroom, with her boyfriend right outside the door. The conversation had basically died, but still.

Naked. In the bathroom. And Blake was right outside. Well… she could step out, maybe, to go get something to change into?

That… that was okay, right? After all, it wasn't like this was something he'd never seen before or anything, not after last night. He had seen quite a lot of her. So what was the harm? She could just step outside and get her clothes, like nothing was the matter at-

NOPE NOPE I'M NOT DOING THAT, NOPE! That was a step too far, even after what had happened Ayame wasn't about to think of their relationship as something Ayame turned to the rack where her bathrobe usually hung, only to realize that it was gone. And her towels were missing, too. She groaned in disbelief, slapping herself internally. That's right, today's laundry day, how could I forget?!

"U-Um, Blake, um, this is going to sound weird, but…" God, how could she say it? She felt like the biggest idiot in the universe! But what was she going to do, spend the rest of the day cooped up in the bathroom?! "Can… Can I ask you a big favor?"

"After last night? Anything," Blake replied, and her heart did another flutter. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea if they had another-

NOPE. You have shit to do, girl, no time to bask in the afterglow! At the very least, Olivia would be expecting a full report on the details. And Ayame had plenty to give, as well as a few that she would save just for herself.

"Aya? The favor?"

Oh, right. Blake thankfully dumped a bucket of ice water on Ayame's head, cooling her down and letting her refocus. Her boyfriend was standing outside, waiting for her to speak to her. "Sorry, sorry, it's just, well…"

She looked down at herself. Yep, still naked. That hadn't changed, neither had her feelings of shame, she regretted, would things not be awkward between the two of them? Well, maybe after they'd done this a few more times…

Once again forgetting to ask Blake for clothes, she wandered off into thoughts about the next time the two of them would have sex together.

"Aya?"

Oh, right solving problems. Not the time for fantasizing. "Sorry! Just, it's…" That sounded familiar. No more stuttering, just say the truth!

"…I'm naked in here, and I don't have any clothes…" For what must have been the thousandth time this morning, Ayame wanted to die of embarrassment.

"…Oh." Blake turned bright red himself as he thought about what she had just said. "OH."

"…Yeah. Oh." Ayame wasn't sure what to say in return, so the conversation just ended up kind of dying off. She knew she should be asking him to give her some of her clothes, but, well…

No, no "but well" she'd been "but well"ing this entire morning! She clapped her hands against her cheeks and forced the words out.

They came out as more of an awkward mutter. "So… could, you, um, could you bring me some clothes, please? From my dresser."

Blake was going to be rifling through her underwear. "…O-Or! Or, um, you could just…" Well, it wasn't like Ayame was going to ask him to LEAVE, that would be… discourteous. Yeah, that was it, not at all because she didn't want to be alone this morning.

"…Never mind, just the clothes, please," she decided.

Blake was silent for an uncomfortably long time.

"…Blake?" Ayame asked, confused at what had happened. "Didn't you hear me? My clothes?"

"Yeah, I heard you," Blake called back. "But… well, I'm gonna have to say no."

"What?!" Ayame exclaimed. "Why!?"

"I don't think it would be right for me to go poking around in your clothes drawer," he explained, but the tone of his voice was…

Ayame's eyes widened. He sounded like he was joking with her.

"…You could always just come out," he sang, and Ayame's face turned bright red.

"What-What are you talking about?!" She demanded. "You can't seriously be telling me to come out there… you pervert!"

"It's not like I haven't seen it all already," Blake teased her.

"Fuck you! Give me my clothes!" Ayame shouted, pounding her fists against the door. She didn't think that Blake was REALLY serious about keeping her clothes away from her, but she wasn't exactly in the mood for jokes.

"Come on out, Aya, it's not a problem," Blake laughed. "Unless you'd like to stay in there all day, we could do that instead. I don't have anything planned."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Ayame said.

"Let me thing. My hot, naked girlfriend locked up in her bathroom, with me? All day? …Yeah, I think I'd like that quite a bit," Blake laughed. Ayame stuck her tongue out at him and flipped him off, but he couldn't see it from behind the door, of course.

"Stop joking around, you jerk!" Ayame wailed.

"Hey, it sounds pretty hot," Blake said, shrugging his shoulders.

"W-Well…" Ayame thought about it, and, well… okay, so maybe back before they were dating, when she was still coming to grips with her feelings for him, he had been the center of one or two confusing dreams where he had been a little more… in line with the kind of person who would lock her up in a room, but…

No, those are just dreams, you do NOT think something like that is hot! Not even a little bit, even if it is Blake! Ayame reproached herself. "Just gimme my clothes back!" She shouted, pounding on the door again.

"Okay, okay, I was just joking," Blake laughed. A few seconds later, the door opened a crack. Ayame hopped back and hid herself, crouching down in the tub so Blake couldn't see her. As she crouched in the freezing porcelain shivering, she had to admit that maybe this was a little much.

It wasn't even necessary in the end, because Blake just stuck his arm into the bathroom, holding a bundle of clothes, and dropped them on the floor. He shut the door quickly afterwards to give her some privacy.

Ayame wore a scowl as she climbed out of the tub. That jerk! He had the change of clothes already prepared, and was just messing with her, damn it!

Grumbling, Ayame got changed, halfway done when Blake's knock on the door startled her. "Wh-What is it?"

"Sorry for teasing you," Blake apologized. "It's just, well… Right now, I'm feeling a little antsy, a little nervous, I mean… we just… I still shouldn't have teased you like that, I'm sorry."

Ayame smiled. "It's okay," she reassured him, pulling on her blouse and doing up the buttons. "To be honest, I thought that idea was kind of ho-AHEM," she coughed. "Sorry, I just got a little bit of something caught in my throat."

She was NOT about to say that, no way! That was something a crazy person would do! She didn't think that, not one bit!

"…I'm glad about last night," Blake said softly. "It really was amazing."

Ayame dropped her skirt, her heart nearly bursting out of her chest.

"Yeah, I am too," she said, placing her hand on the door. It was like she could feel him through it. He was there with her, and that's what mattered. "I love you, Blake Harker. Last night was perfect. It was the night of my dreams."

Blake hadn't thought that way at first. But now, looking back on it… Yeah, it really was the sort of thing dreams were made of. Aya had seen him for who he was, and accepted him, scars and all.

It was like there had been a hole in his chest, that had been there for years without him ever realizing it. And before he even knew that he'd had it, it was filled, and now he felt hole again.

So this is what happiness feels like, Blake thought, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling. A smile crossed his face. What a perfect night last night had turned out to be.

Well, this is kind of awkward. I'm not sure if we want to consider last night as going all that well. Wonder what will happen when the two of them learn what's happened to Dakota? Well, before we get to that, let's just let them enjoy their happiness for now.