Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. I sure wish I did. That would stop flamewars back on SPPF.
Erm... not getting reviews lately... should re-consider holding it on hiatus or not, to improve my remaining chapters.
On a side note, just a warning. I'm no good at emotional scenes. Action, yes. Description, yes. Emotional scenes, no. I tried, but if you guys think it can be improved, send me a PM if possible. If not just send me an email. I'll try to amend the scenes and replace them.
Chapter 7: Betrayal, or not?
Hikari turned up in school like nothing happened on the previous day. Except that Nozomi was not around. The red haired girl did not turn up at Hikari's house that morning, forcing Kengo to pick up Hikari. As if Nozomi's absence had not made things worse, snow was falling heavily when they reached school. Satoshi, Haruka and Shinji not in the shoe locker room so Hikari assumed that they were already in class. By the time Hikari switched shoes, it was almost time for lessons so she had almost no time to drop by their class to say hi.
Nozomi was still missing when lunch break came. Even the teachers were clueless why she was not in school. Satoshi and Haruka were playing with something that looked like electronics, while Shinji was effectively ignoring them. Kengo was nowhere to be seen.
"Hi guys, where's Nozomi, does anyone know?" Hikari asked the group. Satoshi and Haruka replied that they had not seen her since the day before. Shinji did not answer. "Oi, Ikari, I'm talking to you," Hikari said with annoyance. Shinji looked at her straight in the eye. "Were you?" he asked. "I had the impression that you were talking to a couple of lovey dovey people whose motto is 'spread peace'." Hikari and Shinji started shooting mock sparks at each other. It's all for show Berlitz, she told herself as she clenched her fists.
"Should we back off? Hikari looks ready to explode," Satoshi asked Haruka. "Yes. Definitely. Come on," replied Haruka who was watching Hikari fearfully. Both of them scuttled off, leaving Hikari and Shinji shooting sparks at each other.
"So what did you wanna say yesterday before I chased you out?" Hikari asked, after making sure that no one else was around. "Nothing, since you chased me out," Shinji replied airily. Hikari tapped her foot loudly on purpose. After a few minutes of monotonous tapping, Shinji gave up.
"Ok, alright. I think that you somehow managed to get the crystal's power," Shinji finally said after getting annoyed by the endless tapping. "Which is why I think Akada-san is not here. I know that Kido Nozomi was a good friend of yours when you were younger."
Judging by Hikari's face, she did not get the link. "So?" she prompted.
Shinji's tone suddenly turned serious. "I think that you used the powers to recreate another Kido Nozomi. Only this time she wasn't called Kido. It was Akada."
"What?! No way, NO WAY!! That's not possible," Hikari denied.
"It's possible. That woman in the TV said so. Emotional surge or whatever she called it, can invoke the power of the crystal. You used to invoked power to recreate another girl like Kido Nozomi. That's really smart Berlitz. You fooled not only yourself, you fooled the entire city with an illusion," Shinji pointed out. "Now that you realized that you hold the crystal, Akada disappeared. How are you going to explain this to the school? How are you going to tell this to Kongobara?"
"Kengo will probably hate me for life. I'm so screwed," Hikari cried. Shinji felt some pity for the blue haired girl crying next to him. It was definitely hard for someone to accept reality which they had been hiding from for so long. Shinji put a hand on Hikari's shoulder.
"Erm… Look, don't cry ok? 'Coz you're not the only one feeling bad if you cry," Shinji said. Just then his cell phone rang. Shinji cursed the caller while checking the caller identification. "Be right back," Shinji said hurriedly while half running, half walking to a quiet corner to answer the call.
Shinji found a deserted corridor to talk. Reiji had called him.
"Yes, aniki? I'm in school," Shinji put emphasis on the word 'school'. Reiji who on the other line said nothing. Talking back to Shinji could sometimes lead into an argument that could last up to a few weeks. He had seen too many instances when Hikari did that and both of them ended up not talking for a month.
"Ano, Shinji… Akagi oji-san was harder to persuade than I thought. I tried to talk to him again today but he refused to see me.
"What?!" exclaimed Shinji. He knew that Akagi was sometimes stubborn but this is a little too extreme.
"He only said this: 'Sacrifices are necessary in the evolution of the world. We can use the power of the crystal to solve many unsolved mysteries in the world. Kill that girl if we must.' I'm not sure whether the rest of the team approves or not, but I'm not going to allow this to happen," Reiji said.
"Shinji sighed. He had expected that. "Kill Hikari?" Shinji replied.
"I know somehow he's going to do that, little bro. I think it's not that simple. You know how his mind works. He'll do almost anything for a historical artifact, even if it crosses the line. My guess is that now he knows that Hikari-kun has the crystal, he'll do something to get her. It won't be an easy kind of method, kidnapping her or something. It's gonna be some complicated plan to get Hikari. You must really protect her when she's not at home," Reiji warned.
"Don't worry, I will," Shinji assured before hanging up. He turned around to go back to class when he saw Hikari standing a few feet from him. His eyes widened in shock. By any chance, did she… happen to overhear the conversation?
"Was that call about someone out to kill me? I really must die for you to achieve a breakthrough in the history of the past?" she asked softy, her tears threatening to fall again. Shinji took a step towards her but she stepped back. "Yes!! I mean, no!! I was talking to my brother. Why would I wanna do that?" he said but Hikari backed off further. Realizing he was being misunderstood, Shinji tried to get Hikari to listen.
"Don't come near me!!" she shouted. Shinji stopped in his tracks immediately. Hikari can be unpredictable when angry. "Liar!! You said that you didn't really want the crystal so I told you where it was! Now you want me to die so that you can finally get your hands on it!! I trusted you… And you trampled on it!!"
Shinji sighed. This was getting out of hand. Recalling what he said, it was no surprise that Hikari would think this way. "Hikari, listen, please," he asked but Hikari had already started to leave the corridor.
"I'm warning you, don't follow me," she warned and threw something shiny in his direction. She ran off, presumably back to where Haruka was. The shiny object clattered near his feet and he picked it up. It was the necklace he had given her for her birthday last year. The silver chain was still lukewarm, meaning that she had been clenching it for a while before throwing it. The pendant was a rhombus shaped metal with their names carved out at the back. With thoughts of Hikari still fresh on his mind, Shinji pocketed the necklace and went off to search for someone.
Kengo was with Satoshi and Haruka near Kengo's classroom. He could not hear their conversation but judging by Kengo's face, it probably had something to do with either Akada or Hikari. He approached the group casually and asked to speak to Kengo in private. Satoshi and Haruka nodded and left.
"See you later Shinji," Satoshi said and left with Haruka.
"You wanted to talk to me for what?" asked Kengo. Shinji pulled out the necklace from his pocket.
"Kongobara, can you help me return this to Berlitz? I found it on the way here," he asked as nonchalantly as possible. Kengo raised an eyebrow. "Can you return it her yourself?" he asked. "Just do it," Shinji said firmly and almost threw the piece of jewelry at him and walked off. Luckily Kengo caught it. "Jeez, what's your problem…?" he asked himself and he turned the pendant over. Seeing the engraved bit of the pendant shocked him. He quickly caught up with Shinji who was walking down the stairs.
"Ikari!! Wait up!!" Kengo called. Shinji looked up, a smirk playing on his lips. "Well well, I left you at the end of the corridor less than a minute ago and here you are at the other end within this time. I guess Akada had a big influence over you who was not very well known for speed."
Kengo ignored Shinji as Shinji has always found a way to tick people off. Besides, being around Shinji for more than a year made Kengo immune to his usual sarcastic remarks. It was habitual.
"I didn't come here to show you what Nozomi did. I wanna ask you about the necklace you wanted me to return to Hikari," Kengo said. "How long had this been going on? Why did you guys act like nothing happened on the outside?"
"You want answers? What can you do for me?" Shinji asked. Kengo held up the necklace. "I can always choose not to return this to Hikari," he replied. "Besides, either way, you owe me a favour if I were to return this. Deal or no deal?"
Shinji's face was blank, it was hard to tell whether he accepted the trade. "Meet me at the western corner of the science block. Where they pile snow from the concrete paths," he replied and continued walking down the stairs.
A/N: Here we have a small press conference with some of the cast of this story. Firstly we have the protoganist herself, Berlitz Hikari!!
Hikari: aw shucks, kawaii serebii, you exaggerated the whole thing.
Me: I did not. Do you wanna get punished for questioning the writer's intentions? No? Then do as I say. Now, here's the question: so far, what was your most embarrassing moment?
Hikari: erm.. when you said that Shinji and I had to talk to a TV. It was a recorded video and it was so hard trying to keep up with the timing. I remember that once I spoke too slow and my voice and the recording actually clashed and it seemed like we were trying to outtalk each other. I wanted to argue with the TV and Kengo and Nozomi was laughing so hard in the background. Then I remembered it was a TV recording and I kept quiet until you said cut.
Me: ah yes… the TV scene, brings back memories… Thank you Hikari. Next we have Akada Nozomi!!
Nozomi: isn't this a little too overboard with this so-called 'press-conference'?
Me: nonsense Akada! Punishment!!
Nozomi: (is hit on the head with a large paper fan) Ok, shoot.
Me: how does it fell like to be acting out an illusion of a dead girl?
Nozomi: how does it feel like? I'm just acting myself, just that I'm not really human… And I wanted to ask you how can an illusion eat real food?
Me: talking back to the writer!! Double punishment!!
Nozomi is hit twice by a cushie mallet
Me: Ok, thank you Nozomi. Lastly, we have Reiji!!
Reiji: (sees Nozomi's plight) I'm… honoured.
Me: Thank you Reiji. Alright, here's your question: what really happened when the rock fell on your head during the last ruin outing.
Reiji: can we not bring that up? I'm accident-prone, that's all.
Me: accident-prone my foot. You showed such gentle care to Hikozaru, Erebuu and Pikachu and the rest of your Pokemon at home and you say it's an accident??
Reiji: (sigh) this is getting ridiculous. Didn't you say that it was an AU fic in the first place? And you even threw in 'Heatran' heaters and Rotom TVs. What else can you not do?
Me: QUESTIONING THE WRITER'S MOTIVES!! PUNISHMENT!!
The floor under Reiji's chair suddenly gives way.
Me: That's all for today. Look forward to the next chapters for the rest of the people.
Shinji: somehow I had a sudden allergy to that stage.
Me: Ikari, you got something to say? Wait 'til your turn buddy!!
Shinji: (to the rest of the people who had not gone on stage) Did she just call me 'buddy'?
You know what to do.