The game of two truths and a lie is starting to get good! While the first few truths and lies were rather boring, hopefully Olivia and Donoma will bring something to the table to spice it up! And hey, even if Olivia doesn't, I can't imagine Donoma not having some of her own fun, at the very least!

KedharS: Olivia and Donoma are going to be interesting alright.

JoshGamerV: That would certainly be quite the twist.

KentcasLoL: Misato isn't that bothered with it, thankfully. She has spares.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 882

Olivia had to be careful of Donoma. She didn't know how the other girl planned to ruin her round, but she was certain that Donoma would try something to mess with her.

So she decided to start things off easy and not provide her any fodder to work with. Nothing too lascivious or controversial for Donoma to sink her teeth into. "Okay, you want two lies and a truth? Well, I like drinking tea, I hate flowers, and I've traveled to over five different regions in the world before, what do you think?"

Donoma frowned. She was hoping that she would have something a little more fun to work with, but Olivia wasn't giving her any play. She sighed. "Oh, what a pity. I was hoping that someone like you would be a little more daring, Olivia. But I guess we can't all ask bold questions, huh?" She smirked, shrugging her shoulders.

Olivia rolled her eyes. She wasn't going to fall for Donoma's bait, she was happy to be prudish and boring in the face of a girl like her.

Donoma could see that there was nothing she could do. She sighed in exasperation, and a playful mile slipped across her lips. "Okay then. Let's think. So tea, flowers, or travel? Which one, which one… well, I've never seen you drink tea, but then, I've never seen you look at flowers, either… as for travel, I'm pretty sure that one's the truth. After all, a girl with a career like yours would go all over the place. So that one's safe to say."

Olivia didn't let on the fact that Donoma was perfectly right.

"I'm going to say… you don't like tea," Donoma decided. "After all, I've never seen you drink tea, not even once. And I find it a lot more believable that a miserable girl like you would hate something than would like something."

Olivia scowled. Not only was Donoma right on the money, but she'd said it in a way that was pretty rude, too. "Okay, fine. Yes, you're right, I don't like tea."

Donoma smirked triumphantly, pleased that Olivia had received a point. "Ah, as I expected. Nice try, Olivia, but now it's my turn."

Olivia didn't care. She was just glad that Donoma wasn't relishing in her victory. The girl lounged back in her seat and tapped her finger against her chin, considering her options. She was finding this game dreadfully banal and boring, and wanted to spice it up.

"What are some good ideas to ask…" Olivia mused, turning to eye Hiromi. Hiromi looked back at her curiously.

The problem was that Hiromi didn't have the most exciting reactions, either. This game might have been a lot more fun without the adult supervision. Donoma had to be on her best behavior, unfortunately. But she was still grateful that Hiromi had given her the opportunity to play with Olivia and Ayame and the others in the first place.

It made things so much more fun.

Now she just needed to come up with an idea that she could get behind. Resigned, Donoma sighed, and decided on some questions that were at just the right level.

"Okay then," she purred, a slick grin pulling up the edges of her lips, "first, I have had over 30 sexual partners in my time at the Pokemon Academy."

Hiromi choked in surprise, and she wasn't the only one shocked by that number. That was quite a lot. It wasn't, like, out of the realm of believability given Donoma's personality, but at the same time, nobody really wanted to think about Donoma's sexual exploits.

Pleased at the response her first statement had gotten, Donoma moved onto her second. "Next, I'm quite skilled at drawing portraits… especially naked ones." She knew that she'd buried the lead with that one, it wasn't as exciting as her statement of her number of sexual partners, but it was also fortunately true enough that people would believe the others could be, as well. And if not, then it was out there enough that people might think it was a lie.

Donoma enjoyed the wary looks on everyone's faces as they waited for her final statement. Hiromi seemed a little flustered, not expecting questions of that magnitude even given the raunchy nature of her own question to Darla. Meanwhile, Ayame just looked incredibly embarrassed, which was a delight all on its own.

Donoma quite enjoyed seeing Ayame flustered and embarrassed, it was why she wanted so desperately to put her on reality TV. Ayame might have been good at acting stoic and cool around people, but when her shield fell down and her real self slipped out, it was just the best!

"And finally," Donoma finished, "I've once been in a five-some before."

Now THAT was an assertion that got a few responses.

"A-A five-some?" Giselle asked, blanching slightly. "Y-You mean… you've been with four other people… at once? Sexually?"

"Yup," Donoma purred, nodding in confirmation. It was a filthy lie, of course, but given the perception of her by the others and the fact that she had such a high count of sexual partners, it became a little more likely to believe. Which in turn made her statement about being a good artist sound like the exaggerated lie, which was just what she wanted.

Well, no, she'd already gotten what she wanted. The look of consternation on everybody's face as they avoided meeting her eyes, thinking about the idea of Donoma having sex with four people at once, that was just what she'd wanted to see. Even Olivia, who had a few conquests under her belt herself, was blushing at the thought.

But Ayame's expression was the best of all. A girl who had only slept with her boyfriend, and whose interactions with him were more in the tone of making love than the raunchy sex that fueled Donoma's evenings, the idea of sleeping around like that was scandalous. Her face was red with embarrassment and she couldn't even lift her head, staring at her knees.

Ayame was just happy that the scented candle was doing its job. At that note, Lila had another thought, and quickly reached into her bag to pull out another one. She was handling this whole thing just about as poorly as Ayame was.

"H-Hey, do you mind if I switch candles?" She stuttered, snuffing out the aromatic candle before the wick burned it too far down. "I-I want to get the most out of them, and I think that's enough of that scent for now…"

She just wanted to do something to change the subject, honestly. She set another candle down on the night stand and lit it up. This one had the fragrant aroma of an Aromatisse, which was nice and soothing and brought the tension of the room down just as well as Lila's real Aromatisse might have been able to do.

Donoma smiled, and shrugged her shoulders. She turned to Hiromi. She'd already had her fun, now it was time to see if the other woman could figure out which one of her statements was a lie, and which ones were the truths.

And it wasn't like Hiromi wasn't trying. Her face was definitely red, but she was still trying to figure it out. Deep down, a part of her regretted starting things off with such a raunchy question. She wondered if her own commentary on her and her husband's sex life had encouraged Donoma.

Would the other girl have been so open about her own if Hiromi hadn't opened the door for her and made it so asking such things were acceptable?

Of course, Hiromi had no way of knowing that the answer was emphatically yes, because that was just the kind of woman that Donoma was. She would certainly have asked a question like that. In the meantime, Hiromi was stuck trying to figure out which was more feasible. That the girl in front of her had slept with over 30 people, or that she'd had a five-way before. Those questions were so raunchy that Hiromi didn't even consider the possibility of the painting being a lie. She didn't want to believe EITHER of those statements could be the truth!

What's going on with kids these days?! Hiromi asked herself in disbelief. She'd always tried to consider herself the "cool grownup" who all the kids could be comfortable around, but now she was finding herself very quickly out of her depth.

It was actually kind of embarrassing, being put on the spot like this. "Um… I want to say… that the five-some is a lie?" Hiromi asked hopefully. It seemed the more scandalous of the two options. She could barely get the words past her lips in the first place, she was so embarrassed.

Donoma was surprised. She hadn't expected Hiromi to get it right, and she certainly hadn't expected the older woman to have the courage to say something so obscene in front of such a large group like this. Well, maybe it was because she had already felt comfortable revealing some secrets about her own love life that she felt comfortable enough to dissect Donoma's.

Either way, Donoma wasn't at all bothered by the fact that Hiromi had found her lie out. It was all in good fun, after all, and with the way everyone was staring tensely at her, she was loving the attention and tension. They were all on the edge of their seats, eager to hear whether or not Donoma had really been with that many people!

Donoma was loving it. "Well, Hiromi… you're absolutely correct. I've never slept with that many people at the same time before, even I have some amount of decorum, you understand! I've got standards of my own."

She winked at Hiromi, and the older woman sighed with relief. She wasn't the only one. Ayame, Giselle, and Lila all visibly relaxed when they learned that Donoma hadn't really done that before, which was a delight of its own. Donoma was going to relish in her spotlight as much as she could.

"What's the matter?" She purred. "You guys are acting like it's some big sin to do something like that! Well, I can say for sure that I, at least, am confident enough in my sexuality to not be bothered by my number of partners! I'm sorry you girls can't say the same." She ended her statement with a huff, hoping to play off of Hiromi's sense of fairness.

"N-Now, Donoma is right," Hiromi said, clearing her throat. She turned warily towards the other girls. While she couldn't say that she herself wasn't pleased that Donoma hadn't done an activity like that, that didn't mean it was okay to shame her for it if she had been. "Donoma wouldn't be less of a woman just because she participated in a five-way, just as she isn't less of a woman because of all the people she's slept with, okay?"

"I-I would never think that!" Giselle said quickly, shaking her head. "I was just a little startled, that's all, I'm not used to… well…"

Giselle glanced down at the floor shyly. Questions of a sexual nature were always a bit hard for her to judge, given how many questions she had about her own sexuality. "It's just a little complicated… the topic is a little… weird for me."

"Same," Lila agreed. "Since I'm an idol, I guess I react to stuff like that kind of sensitively… it's really scandalous, you know?"

She gave a reluctant, but apologetic, look to Donoma. "Hiromi's right, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I shouldn't be judging you on my standards."

"And Ayame?" Hiromi asked, turning to Ayame. "Don't you have something to say to Donoma? I don't remember raising you to be the kind of girl who looks down on people for how they choose to express themselves and who they choose to be with."

Ayame wanted to reply that Donoma had looked down on her for who she "chose to be with" many times before, but didn't bother. She knew her mother when she got into a mood like this, and talking wouldn't help the situation.

"I'm sorry, Donoma," she apologized, honestly feeling a little bit bad. As much as she wanted to not like Donoma, she couldn't compromise her own morals and it wasn't fair to be bothered by something so pedestrian. "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable or unwelcome…"

"Not at all!" Donoma smiled, sensing a great opportunity to have some fun at Ayame's expense. Unlike Ayame, she had no reservations about annoying people and making them feel uncomfortable. "I can understand that sex is a rather touchy subject for you, after all."

Olivia picked up on where Donoma was going with this before Ayame did. "Donoma," she warned sharply, glaring at the other girl. "Don't even think about it."

Olivia knew for sure that Donoma was going to reveal that Ayame and Blake had been sleeping together. She was that kind of person, after all.

And she definitely didn' want to know what the response from Hiromi would be when she found out about it. Ayame, private as she was, definitely hadn't told her family yet, so even though they knew Blake was her boyfriend, they had no idea how far the two had gone.

It certainly wouldn't be fair to Ayame to just out that information in public, either! Didn't Donoma have any standards at all?! Olivia had put up with a lot from her tonight, but if Donoma went through with this then she would have to leap across the room and strangle the obnoxious girl.

Ayame, meanwhile, had finally figured it out for herself, and was looking a little green around the gills now.

She didn't have the strength to plead with Donoma not to say anything. She couldn't even bear to look at the other girl's face, terrified by the thought of what she must look like, smiling so triumphantly like she certainly must have been.

All she could do was stare at her mom, who was looking back at her innocently, and hope that it wouldn't be too bad.

As for Donoma, well, Ayame was right on the money. She most certainly did have a look of triumph on her face, but it wasn't because she was planning to reveal to Hiromi that her daughter was sexually active with her boyfriend.

Donoma was a lot of things. Charming, charismatic, a massive flirt, and a woman whose ego was only every-so-slightly overblown.

But even she had standards. She wasn't some Sylvia Driscoll, revealing the privacies and deepest secrets of another person just to mess with them! Ayame clearly didn't want her to say a word, and she was a good enough person to know that that was more than enough.

"What's the matter, Olivia?" Donoma asked innocently, turning to the Empress. She held her fingers up to make a camera, and focused the lens right on Ayame. "You know as well as I do that a girl as shy as Ayame isn't going to have a lot of comfort around sexual topics. You saw how she reacted to her mom talking about doing it with her dad."

Olivia relaxed a hair. She still was wary of what Donoma had to say, but it looked at least like she wasn't planning to out Ayame's secret just yet.

Ayame didn't feel nearly as comfortable. She just sat in her bed and let the aroma of the candle wrap around her, hoping that she could calm down. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she couldn't even look Donoma in the eye.

Hiromi, for her part, felt a little embarrassed as well for her daughter's sake. "W-Well," she said, turning slightly red with shame, "let's just move on. It's my turn, you know, I'll think of something else to come up with!"

Hiromi was going to take a break from asking questions of a more sexual nature, for the sake of her daughter. She was finally realizing just how much she'd been embarrassing Ayame in front of her friends.

She hung her head in shame.

While the game continued, in another part of the hotel, two girls who weren't invited to the slumber party were lying down in bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"So Alcea… what do you think?" Callie asked, turning to Alcea warily. She was still a little uncomfortable about the other girl. After all, Alcea was beautiful and loved by everyone, and even though Callie had a boyfriend, she couldn't help but feel like her self-esteem was a little lower whenever she was around her.

Alcea glanced up from her book and raised her eyebrow.

"Hmm?"

"Well… we're going to be spending the day with the Empress and Ayame tomorrow, right?" Callie asked. "Are you sure that it's okay to hang out with them? For you, I mean… Ayame's my friend, but when it comes to you and the Empress…"

Even Callie could see that things between Alcea and Olivia were tense. It was an open secret that there was tension between the two of them. Callie was impressed that Alcea could be so composed around her the way she had been today.

Alcea shrugged her shoulders. "It's not that big of a deal," she said simply. "Olivia's a complicated person for sure, but I don't have anything against her."

Even as she said that, it was clear that Alcea's face had shadows crossing it, which Callie found bothersome. "Are you sure?"

"If I had to say… then yes, she can be slightly annoying, is it?" Alcea admitted with a sigh. She sat up and turned to Callie. "I don't want you talking about that though."

"Hey! Come on!" Callie gasped, sitting up in bed quickly. "Don't worry about that! I'm a decent gal! I won't say anything!"

Alcea gave her a wary look before deciding that she would believe the other girl. "Okay then. Thank you," she said, nodding. "It's not that I have a problem with Olivia…"

"She's just tough to deal with?" Callie guessed. "I can tell that she seems really antagonistic against you, and I think you've handled it brilliantly…"

Callie was actually enjoying herself. Alcea was normally so unapproachable back on campus. But here, sharing a room with her, it really made her feel like they had a connection. Heck, maybe they could even be friends!

They were both members of the Eight Leaders, they could be friends, right?

Callie had always looked up to Alcea, but now they were actually conversing as equals.

"Olivia… is tough to deal with, is it?" Alcea mused, and Callie thought she could see the faintest of smiles cross the other girl's face.

"Well… isn't she?" Callie asked, confused what Alcea was talking about.

"…Oui, I suppose you could say that," Alcea agreed after a pause. "But really… what is most difficult is the fact that she refuses to cooperate, is it?"

Callie had no idea what that meant. "Cooperate?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "Cooperate how?"

Alcea chuckled and shook her head. "Concerns with the Daevas do not need to concern you, is it?" She said, not at all interested in dragging Callie into this as well. She may have been a talented trainer, but she was happy living an easy life with her boyfriend. Alcea didn't want to have to drag her into this.

Callie, on the other hand, wanted to be dragged in. She wanted to be treated as an equal for once, not just as the Eight Leaders' tagalong kid sister.

"If this is about the Daevas, I want to know!" She insisted. "I want to help!"

Alcea sighed. Well, it seemed there was no getting around it. She didn't know Callie all that well, but she knew her well enough to know that she was the kind of girl who wouldn't back down when there was something she wanted.

"Very well, I'll talk with you about the Daevas, is it? And then we can discuss how to approach the Commander and the Empress," Alcea agreed.

Callie lit up like the sun at being treated as an equal by Alcea.

Aww, that's nice for Callie! Alcea is actually opening up to her! Maybe she can make a new friend! It's nice to see some heartwarming moments are happening tonight, compared to the awkwardness of the slumber party! What else does the night have in store?