"Hey," says Touya as I walk in through the front door. I shove my newly-caught Snivy's Pokeball farther down into my purse and act innocent, not like I'd just become a wanted criminal.
"Hey," I say in my 'innocent' voice.
Our conversation pretty much ends there because I run up to my room right away. I pull the Pokeball out from my purse and hide it in my box of treasures. No one is allowed to go in there but me – even Touya knows to stay away from it, no matter how mad he is at me.
As soon as that's done and the box has been hidden away again, I brush my hair and wash my face before I go back downstairs (that factory was disgusting, I don't want Touya seeing me looking like a mess).
"So guess what's on?" says Touya, patting the spot next to him on the couch. I oblige and sit down. "Polly the Pikachu."
"Shut up," I grumble, playfully pulling his red cap over his eyes. "I was four. Get over it." This is the only part of that awful day when Team Plasma took over and stole my parents. Touya and his mom found me on the porch, still waiting for my parents to show up, but for some reason all I could say to explain my sobs was that some awful lady shut off Polly the Pikachu.
Incidentally, Polly the Pikachu was cancelled a few days after Team Plasma took over. My four-year-old self was heartbroken, but that might also have been because four-year-old Touya thought making me play with his toy cars would make me feel better.
Touya fixes the cap so he can see again, and I end up shutting off the TV.
"Hey!" says Touya indignantly. "I was watching that."
"Yeah, well, I need to talk to you," I tell him. "And it's actually kind of important."
"I swear, I didn't forget to buy pecha berries," cries Touya.
"Excuse me?" I narrow my eyes at him. Whenever Touya swears about something it usually means he didn't do it. And all I EVER ask for when he goes grocery shopping is for a couple of packs of pecha berries. I mean, seriously, is that really so much to ask for?
"I bought pecha berries when I went out to get groceries today," says Touya nervously.
"Oh, really?" I reply. "Is this like the time you swore you didn't lose my lucky scarf?" That had been just last winter, and I'd never seen the scarf again.
"No," snaps Touya, the look on his face practically screaming yes.
"Can I have some pecha berries then?" I ask sweetly. "Because cleaning up a factory makes a girl really hungry."
"W-why not have some Leppa berries instead?" stammers Touya. "You know, save the really good stuff for dinner?"
"No, Touya, I don't want to share my precious pecha berries with Bianca or Cheren," I whine. "Let's have them right now."
Touya opens his mouth to admit that he didn't actually buy any pecha berries when the doorbell rings. He runs for the door as if his life depends on it. "Bianca! Cheren! Hi!" Touya practically yells in their faces. "Why don't you two hang out with Touko while I just go out to the store … really quickly ..."
Before Cheren, Bianca, or I say anything, Touya is gone.
"Touya's fast," Bianca says appreciatively. "He should try out for a track team or something."
"Yeah, yeah, it's only when he's running for a pack of berries to save his life," I say dismissively and Bianca looks utterly confused. Cheren, however, catches on.
"He forgot your pecha berries again?" Cheren asks, looking amused. "Will the boy ever learn?"
"I know!" I throw my hands up in the air in exasperation. "Touya's ridiculous."
Of course, no matter how stupid Touya is, I'd always be grateful to him and his parents for what they did for me – taking me in and treating me like their own daughter (or in Touya's case, sister) after Team Plasma took my parents.
"So," says Bianca, waving her hand around in my face to snap me back to reality, "do you know what's for dinner?"
"Food," I say vaguely.
"Thanks, Touko," Cheren says sarcastically. "Real helpful."
"Fine," I sigh. "I'll check." In the kitchen, we have … pasta. Also salad. But mostly pasta.
"PASTA!" I yell.
"Oh," Bianca sounds a little disappointed. "Okay."
"Why can't we have something Asian?" demands Cheren. "Like rice or sushi or something?"
"Go ahead, then, Cheren. Make us some sushi," I retort, flopping back down on the couch. "We have plenty of time to kill before Touya gets back."
Cheren glares at me. "No, let's just wait," he says. "What's on TV?"
"Not Polly the Pikachu," I tell him.
"Well, yes, I know, they cancelled that years ago," Cheren replies in the voice he saves for giving people – usually me, Bianca and Touya, the only people who will listen – lectures.
Thankfully, that's when Touya gets back, because the last thing I want is to hear a lecture about how right Team Plasma was for getting rid of Polly the Pikachu. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one in the world who wasn't been brainwashed by Team Plasma.
. . .
"Pass the salad," says Touya. I ignore him. He nudges me. "Pass the salad," he repeats, somewhat louder.
"Say 'please'," I reprimand him, rolling my eyes. Instead, Touya reaches over my plate of food and grabs the salad, spilling half of it on top of my pasta.
"Oh ew!" I groan, whacking Touya on the arm.
"What's wrong with salad?" asks Bianca, who doesn't seem to have anything but salad on her plate.
"It's gross," I say decisively, and Cheren shakes his head at me.
"Actually," he claims, pushing his glasses farther up his nose, "salad is very good for you. It's anti-calorie and, because it's green, good for fighting off cancer. Iceberg lettuce is especially -"
"Hey," Touya interrupts, "I like pie."
"Me, too," I chime in and Bianca nods her head in agreement.
"What?" Cheren finally says something unintelligent. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Touya shrugs. "Freedom of speech, bro."
Cheren sighs dramatically, and takes a huge bite of the wonderful anti-calorie, good for fighting cancer salad.
"So do you guys remember what I was talking about this morning?" I ask, pretending that the subject is no big deal and just light dinner conversation. I absentmindedly twirl a lock of brown hair around my finger.
"Touko, you talk a lot," says Touya. I whack him on the arm again. "Exactly what were you talking about this morning?"
"Rebelling against Team Plasma," I say it as easily as I would say 'Cheren, your hair color is just all wrong', which I do say all the time.
Bianca knocks over her glass of water. "Touko White, you drop that subject right now!" she exclaims.
"Seriously, Touko, you shouldn't joke about things like that," adds Cheren. "That kind of stuff could get you thrown into prison."
"What if I'm not joking, Cheren?" I reply seriously.
He gulps. "It's really not a good idea, Touko," he repeats.
"Touya?" I ask, when I realize that he hasn't said anything on the topic yet.
Touya doesn't say anything for a long time. "Touko … I understand why you want to rebel," my closest friend says finally. "Team Plasma has affected you and your life much more than it has me, Cheren or Bianca. But I agree that it's not a good idea. And it definitely isn't safe for a bunch of seventeen year olds to be fighting the system."
Thousands of words and arguments flood into my mind, but I fight them back. This is obviously a lost cause. "I … okay ..."
Bianca gives me a tentative smile. "It's really for the best that we all just stay good, law-abiding citizens of the Plasma region."
"Unova," I correct her automatically.
"It's really not Unova anymore," Bianca argues, but Cheren puts his hand on her arm as a signal for her to stop talking.
"Let her have this, Bells," Cheren tells her. "It's not like this place has officially been renamed the Plasma region."
"Alright," Bianca sighs, still looking at me but acting like she's talking to Cheren. "I just think it'd be so much better to get these ideas out of Touko's head for good."
I want to yell at her that Team Plasma can control how I live my life right now, but they'll never be able to control my thoughts. But instead I just take a last sip of water and excuse myself from the dinner table.
"Wait, Touko," says Touya quickly. "We have pecha berries for dessert. Don't you want some?"
It makes me smile – a real one – to think that Touya cares so much that he doesn't want me to miss my favorite (healthy) dessert. "Um, I don't really want to be in the kitchen anymore," I say in a pathetic attempt to explain.
"I'll bring some up to your room later," Touya says with a look of understanding. I'm pretty sure there has never been a time that I've loved Touya more than right now.
"Feel better, Touko," Bianca says in such an earnest voice that I realize she actually thinks that I feel sick.
I give them all a slight wave and head up to my room.
I pull out my biggest purse and first stuff my sleeping bag into the very bottom. Then I pack in it clothes, clothes and more clothes, with space for my box of treasures. With a second thought, I add in my hairbrush and an industrial sized can of pepper spray just to be safe.
All packed and ready to go.
My room is on the second floor of Touya's house, with the window facing out at the backyard. I'm pretty sure that I can land safely – Touya and I have actually jumped out of this window plenty of times before – but I don't know how quietly.
I open the window and feel a nice, cool breeze that blows my hair off my face. Just as I step onto the window ledge, my door opens. I freeze and drop my purse, but I'm not quick enough – Touya sees everything.
For some reason, I'm not quite as bothered as I would have been if it were Cheren or Bianca. Touya just understands me so much better than they do. It's like we have a bond that's … maybe … a little more than just friends.
"Touko?" his voice is kind of hollow. "Are you … running away?"
I see a bowl of just washed pecha berries in his hand and my heart breaks right down the middle. "Touya, listen, I can explain it all to you."
"Is it because we don't want to rebel against Team Plasma the way you do?" Touya asks, and I realize he's not mad really, but kind of sad.
"No!" I cry. "Well … maybe. It's sort of complicated."
He raises an eyebrow. "Okay, so explain then. You already offered to."
I sigh. "It's sort of a long story, and I don't know how long I have. They could already be looking for me."
"What do you mean? Who's looking for you?" Now Touya sounds worried, which makes me feel even worse. The last thing I want is for Touya to worry about me.
"Um … the Team Plasma people. I may have done something – something really itsy-bitsy, teeny-tiny, molecule-small – that made them kind of pissed at me. And then I kind of ran away from them … heh."
"Touko," he says in the voice that tells me he knows I'm not telling him everything.
"Touya," I say back. "I really have to go, though. I can't get caught and sent to prison. I'm only seventeen, after all."
He says nothing for a minute. "Okay," Touya says, and then grabs my hand, something I wasn't expecting. Sure, we've been friends, but never really physical or intimate. Touya looks me right in the eye. "Be careful, okay? Stay safe. I -"
I hold my breath. He's not going to say I love you, is he? Wait – do I want him to? Since when do I have a thing for Touya?
"I worry about you, okay?" he says finally, and I exhale in disappointment. "Ever since what happened to your parents, I've always been really worried about you. So just be careful while you're … on the run."
"Oh, Touya, you don't have to worry about me," I tell him. "Seriously, Touya, I can take care of myself. I'll be fine."
He squeezes my hand and looks me in the eye again, and I'm suddenly aware of how chocolate brown his eyes are. "I know, Touko. But I still worry."
I resist the urge to kiss him on the cheek. "I'll be okay, Touya, I promise." And with that, I climb out the window and leave behind everything I've ever known in my life up 'til now.