Happy thanksgiving, friends! I had a full-time job this summer, and this fall I have no excuse except for romantic trauma, but that's never stopped me from writing before, so I suppose I shouldn't be letting it stop me now, either! I really am sorry about the wait and appreciate all of the encouragement that I have received. :) This story WILL be finished - I've already plotted it out, so sit tight and.... enjoy!

chapter thirteen

It was a big deal.

When Shigeru had first heard what Satoshi wanted to do, he'd been taken by surprise. He'd become upset then. Now, he was angry.

And terrified.

The took him back to his first few moments in Alph, when buckets of sunlight poured over him, and the surf rolled between his upturned toes, and freedom moved him to inexplicable and encompassing joy. Things had changed since then. Complete, utter freedom terrified him, because now it entailed being removed from Satoshi, and Satoshi made things real. He was a reminder of before; a reminder that Shigeru wasn't just the person that he was presently; that inside of him also rested the boy whom was raised by a famous pokemon professor, had traveled and gone on adventures, and even been alone.

It was that old-and-new Shigeru, all mixed up inside for reasons that he couldn't possibly understand, much less want to understand, who stood stoically with a broom in his hand when Satoshi declared that the sun had gotten too low in the sky.

"It's already twilight!" Satoshi exclaimed. "I'm supposed to be outside already! Kasumi is gonna be really mad if I'm late!"

Shigeru wanted to tell him that he could care less about Kasumi getting mad, and that she could stuff it, for all he cared, but the words refused to come out. He swallowed down whatever feeling had risen in his throat and mechanically began to stretch out his arms and sweep again.

"Why don't you go on?" Tano suggested to Satoshi. "Shigeru and I can finish the cleaning together."

Satoshi turned to Shigeru with an apologetic sort of smile. "Is that okay?" he asked.

Shigeru swept the same space in front of him for a second, third, and fourth time. "It's fine," he said. But his thoughts were dully tumbling in his mind, like dead leaves in an eddy, aimless and disturbed.

Satoshi didn't notice, which wasn't surprising; after a quick goodbye, he dashed outside to meet Kasumi and Takeshi for dinner. Shigeru focused on the cleaning - or more appropriately, he focused on the view outside the window as he finished the cleaning - and summoned as much serenity as he could, while he watched Satoshi disappear into the maze of sun-lit limestone homes and their long-cast shadows of the street. Tano-san watched him in turn, but said nothing until Shigeru was finished with his work. And only then, it was just a knowing sort of "goodbye, see you tomorrow" that would have sent chills down Shigeru's back had he been less pre-occupied.

Shigeru walked outside to meet Haruka. As soon as he stepped through the stone-inlaid doorway, he shaded his eyes to check his vision. To his mild surprise, there were two girls instead of just one waving at him from the road.

"Haruka, Hikari," Shigeru greeted as he approached, "Hey."

Both of the girls chimed in appropriately; Hikari with extra enthusiasm.

"So you remembered me!" she exclaimed, her voice rich with pride.

"Of course I do. You're hard to forget," Shigeru answered. From behind Hikari, he watched Haruka fold her arms and blow the bangs off of her forehead with a big puff of air. Shigeru nearly raised an eyebrow at the behavior, but refrained, and focused on Hikari again.

"So..." he ventured, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see Satoshi," she said, and reached up to twirl a piece of her hair around her index finger. The bangles on her wrists clacked together noisily as she did.

"You're friends?" asked Shigeru, in disbelief.

"Yes," huffed Hikari, "We met at the festival."

Shigeru stared at her. He remembered her promiscuous dancing from the festival, and knew that she had talked with Satoshi briefly, but he had also talked to Hikari for several minutes, and he didn't consider her a friend.

Haruka interrupted his thoughts. "Shigeru, is Satoshi still working inside?"

"No," Shigeru answered, trying to keep the anger from his voice, "He left a couple of minutes ago to meet some friends for dinner."

"Who is he with?" asked Haruka.

"Well, he said he was meeting with some water-worker named Kasumi -"

"KASUMI?" Hikari interjected, "KASUMI!?"

Shigeru answered slowly. "...Yeah."

Hikari's shoulders rose and fell rapidly for several moments, but at end, the girl took a deep breath and let it out thinly.

"...That's nice," she said, "Really nice."

"Is it really," Shigeru dead-panned. Hikari nodded, but her smile were so tight that Shigeru found himself shrinking away from her unintentionally. She was staring at some indefinable point, with her teeth gritted, and a bit of sweat breaking out over her forehead. He had met many girls in his life, but Hikaru was absolutely frightening.

"I like Kasumi," said Haruka, interrupting the awkwardness that had built up in their circle of conversation. "And Takeshi, too. I think that they are a nice couple."

"You would," Hikari muttered.

After a quick glare, Haruka turned back to Shigeru in her bright and easy way.

"Are you not joining Satoshi for dinner, then?"

"I wasn't invited," answered Shigeru, his voice surprising him with his own bitterness. He feigned a smile to cover it as best as he could. "I'll still be eating with you, unless you made other plans... Or even if you did make other plans, because I have nowhere else to go."

"The only plan was for the four of us to eat together," said Hikari, her voice somehow agitated.

"Yes! Well, three is still great, too! Let's go," suggested Haruka, and after a moment of hesitation, plucked Shigeru's arm from his side and linked it with her own.

Surprised, Shigeru looked at Haruka from the corner of his eyes.

She was staring straight ahead. Blushing.

Oh, God.

Shigeru lifted his eyes as if the act alone were begging the universe for mercy.

He was surrounded by insanity. Why, why did Satoshi have to abandon him now?

Kasumi and Takeshi's limestone cottage sat at the outskirts of Alph, wrapped in leafy plants, flowers, rocks, and the Trough. When Satoshi came inside, the aroma of a feast wafted in from the adjacent kitchen. Conversation with Takeshi and Kasumi was easy and Takeshi of Alph proved to be just as friendly as his counterpart from Nibi Town(1). Of course, Takeshi and Kasumi didn't know that they were all old friends in another world. Satoshi just treated the situation like he did with Haruka: he ignored it, and overcome any possible tensions by being cheerfully brazen and highly complimentary of the food as soon as it was placed in front of him.

Except that it was a feast, and as soon as he was finished with one plate, another would be immediately placed in front of him. Usually, this was not a problem for Satoshi. It was in fact the opposite. Satoshi had never shied away from eating, or over-eating, as the case would be; he took a special pride in being a hungry person. But five courses was really starting to push the limit.

"I'm so full," he exclaimed.

Staring out the window, he could see the peaking crest of the moon edging out over the sky.

"Look, it's nearly full, too," he exclaimed.

"It sure is," Takeshi agreed.

Kasumi looked out the window contemplatively.

"The last time we met, it was at the festival on the full moon. That means you've been here for almost a full moon cycle now," she said.

"Almost, yeah," affirmed Satoshi. "It's getting to be a long time, huh."

"It is," agreed Takeshi. "Are you enjoying yourself in Alph?"

Satoshi scrunched up his face. "Yeah, kind of, but I'm working!"

"Working is good for you. What are you..."

"He's apprenticing with Tano, the pot-maker," answered Kasumi, before her husband could even finish his question. Unfazed, Takeshi continued the conversation as if he had been uninterrupted, and said to Satoshi, "Hey, that's kind of fun. Tano is a nice guy."

Satoshi's face fell as he griped, "I know he is, but I'm just doing the same thing, all day, every day! It's tiring!"

Kasumi laughed and took another eager bite of food.

"If you're tired, you could just ask to take a break," Takeshi pointed out.

"You don't think that Tano-san would mind?"

"Even if he does, I doubt that he would stop you every once in a while," Kasumi put in. "You've got other things to do anyway. Takeshi, can you pass me that lamb? Thanks."

Satoshi looked blankly in front of him.

"'Other things to do?'" he echoed.

Kasumi rolled her eyes. "Well, things to do with the legend, you know."

"'The legend'," repeated Satoshi dumbly.

"Yes, the legend that you're here to fulfill." Kasumi's sarcasm flickered, and she furrowed her brow. "You do know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

Satoshi laughed nervously and fiddled with the edge of the pillow he was sitting on. "Oh yeah. That - of course. The Chief told Shigeru and I all about it. Yep. It's going great."

Kasumi took another bite of her rosemary braised lamb. "Do you mean that you'll have fulfilled the requirements soon?"

"Well, Shigeru and I, are, we're, uh, thinking about it."

Kasumi and Takeshi shared a look, and Satoshi's shoulders slumped.

"Okay," he admitted. "I thought we already answered the legend just by getting here. I didn't know that there was more."

"Of course there is. You're supposed to save us," Kasumi stated.

"Yeah, okay, I also knew that," said Satoshi. "But that's harder to think about. We - Shigeru and I - haven't been told exactly how we're supposed to save everyone. Aren't legends supposed to come with instructions or something? I mean, that's how it's always been before."

Kasumi opened her mouth to speak, but Takeshi cut in.

"You know, Satoshi," he said, his voice soft but firm, "I think that you don't need to worry about fulfilling the legend. Whatever you need to do, it'll just work out on its own."

"How can you know that?"

Instead of answering him directly, Takeshi shifted his gaze to meet with his wife's. After a moment, Satoshi saw the comprehension dawn on her face, and then the couple smiled at each other for no apparent reason at all.

"...We just do," answered Kasumi, and she rested her hand over her husband's.

In the meantime, Shigeru's predicament had hardly improved at all. By all measures it had only grown worse. When the evening had begun, Shigeru had understood that Hikari and Haruka both hated each other. By the end of the walk back to Haruka and Masato's home, it was also apparent that both girls were also completely insane, and intent on hiding it as thinly as possible.

To be fair, though, Haruka hadn't done anything more particularly insane than to form a crush on him. Why, no, how this had happened, Shigeru couldn't say. He'd barely spent any time with her though he did see her several times a day, and he knew himself incapable of sending out any signals that would lead her to think that he saw her as anything more than a friend.

The awkward trio had now returned to Haruka's home and taken seats around the central fire pit. After warming up some tea, the conversation had dwindled and left Shigeru feeling distinctly surreal. He hadn't consciously how much Satoshi grounded him in this place, but now that he understood it, he couldn't stand to be away from him. However, it couldn't be helped. Shigeru was still stuck at a dinner party, no matter how much he didn't want to be, and the girls were watching him underneath lidded eyes. He put down his tea and swallowed.

"So..." he began, "Why.. uh... why are you here, anyway, Hikari?"

She preened.

"I just realized that I hadn't had a chance to spend any time with you or Satoshi-" Hikari put strange and unneeded emphasis on the word, "-for several weeks. I'm not the Chief Priestess, but my role in Alph still involves me with many aspects of the temple, and I suppose that carries over to taking care of our visitors as well."

"Hmm," said Shigeru, pretending to assent, when actually wanting to do the opposite. It was obvious that Hikari had some other reason for being there, but he still didn't know what it was. "Well, Hikari, thank you, for umm, for taking notice of us."

"It's the least I could do," she answered, her voice low like a purr.

Haruka harrumphed from beside him. "The least you could do is help with something practical, rather than just coming over like this and eating my brother's and my food."

Hikari's eyes flashed, but her smile stayed sticky-sweet. "Practical? I'm putting you upin my own home."

"Yes, it's so very kind of you," said Haruka. Then, she turned away from Hikari completely. "Shigeru," she asked, "I need to step out for a moment. Would you like me to get you some more tea?"

Shigeru looked down and realized that he had downed his entire goblet already.

"Yeah, sure," he answered.

Haruka stood.

"I'll be right back with some more herbs for the kettle," she said, and quickly exited the room.

As soon as she was gone, Hikari underwent two dramatic changes. First, she seemed to relax; secondly, her smile turned slightly wicked. Although it didn't make Shigeru feel particularly settled, the minor transformation alone didn't prepare him for what she had to say.

"So, Shigeru," she asked. "Do you like her?"

Shigeru's eyebrows raised, and for a moment he was astounded, but after collecting himself, he answered coolly, "If I did, why would I tell you?"

Hikari put on a pout.

"It's just curiosity. It's not like the information would hurt anyone."

"Hikari, you're obviously not skilled at manipulating people, so let me help you out: the fact that you mentioned information hurting people doesn't encourage me to tell you anything."

"So you do like her?"

"I didn't say that."

"I mean, you're around her every day and she's not completely ugly."

"Not completely ugly?" mimicked Shigeru, unable to help himself.

"Yes, but only just," answered Hikari shortly.

Shigeru looked at Hikari through his bangs. Her curiosity had made him curious. Why had she brought this conversation up? What were her motives? It was obviously not out of concern for Haruka, and from the way her voice inflected when she spoke, Shigeru was also fairly certain that her questions weren't coming from a secret desire for him, either. What other reasons could there possibly be? At end, Shigeru settled in his confusion and decided to not answer Hikari at all. She didn't seem content to let the conversation settle, however.

"Since you're too busy staring into space to answer my question," she interrupted him, "I'll ask you another one. What about Satoshi?"

Shigeru replied quickly, "What about him?"

"Does he like Haruka?"

He grit his teeth. "What does it matter?"

"You sound defensive," Hikari pointed out.

"If I sound defensive, it's because you're asking me questions that are both personal and irrelevant to you."

She put her hands out, again as if she were pleading for innocence in spite of behaving completely opposite. "I'm not asking for gossip here," she told Shigeru. "Just information."

"But what do you need it for?" Shigeru insisted.

Hikari's reply was interrupted by a voice from the door.

"Yes, Hikari," said Haruka as she stood against the door-frame with a tray of tea balanced in her hands. Her expression was thoroughly pissed - and fortunately, though not surprisingly, all of her loathing was aimed at her underling. "Why don't you explain to us, Hikari, why you need to be informed of anything?"

"I'm figuring out what I need to do. I like to make informed decisions."

"And what does that even mean?" asked Shigeru.

Hikari ignored him flatly, not breaking eye contact with Haruka. "It means I'm going to do something about things."

Haruka's free hand curled into a fist as she answered in a low voice, "Hikari, what gives you a right to assume that you're the one who gets to do anything?"

Shigeru abruptly realized that he was in the midst of a secret conversation. For once, he had no idea what to do about it, but to listen and try to find a clue that would explain to him why he wasn't allowed to know what was going on.

Having come up with an answer for Haruka, Hikari set her shoulders and declared, "I'm only second to you, Miss Priestess. I know what needs to be done for Alph. And by essence of my femininity, I have just as much right as you to go forward and try for you-know-what. I already know that you are going for it."

Haruka had been in the midst of placing the tea tray on the ground, but at Hikari's final word her handle slipped and the tea set rattled as it clattered the final inch to the floor. Something in Haruka was radiating a negative vibe. He'd seen this before in other women - his sister, mainly - and just the memory made him flinch, and he found himself scooting back away from the circle in the middle of the room, and toward the wall.

Meanwhile, Haruka had moved in on Haruka, and Shigeru made out her low growl: "We are not going to have this conversation right now."

Hikari's response also came out snarly. "Then when are we going to have it? I don't want to miss my chance, and even you have to agree that time isn't infinite."

"I do not agree!" protested Haruka. But Hikari stepped in even closer to her and began to speak in a voice that Shigeru couldn't quite make out. Which was frustrating, because despite his body language, he really did want to know what the girls were talking about. He began to sort through possibilities; to deduce the topic of conversation. There weren't that many things that pertained to Shigeru, really. But the way that Haruka and Hikari were avoiding mentioning anything but vague generalities made it obvious that they were talking one of the three things that did have to do with Shigeru: that is, himself, Satoshi, or the Unown.

Which brought him back to another point: he and Satoshi still didn't know any more about the Unown or the city of Alph than they had since their first introduction to the topic, nearly a month before. It had been clear that there was a prophecy, and that he and Satoshi were tied into it. He'd wanted to research the topic further, but hadn't. Why? Was it possible that he didn't even want to know the answer?

Suddenly, Haruka let out a yell. Shigeru looked up abruptly, just in time to see Haruka lunge at Hikari and miss. She fell in a sprawl on top of the now luke-warm pot of tea, and as the ceramic cracked, tea spurt out and soaked the floor along with her blouse and hair. Hikari laughed cruelly, and this caused her enemy to emit a rather primal scream, and in a fit of incredibly fury, she got to her feet and had Hikari by the hair. At this, Hikari let out her own high-pitched wail and clawed at Haruka, who let go but leapt for her again, nearly tackling her to the ground.

Across the room, Shigeru backed up against the wall and wished -- sincerely, powerfully, deeply wished -- that he could be anywhere else instead.

The meal was finally over; the conversation had come to a comfortable close. Takeshi was picking up their last dishes, humming lightly under his breath. As Kasumi got up and stretched, Satoshi stood up as well, bumping into the table. He nearly knocked over his glass of juice - which he had partially neglected due to its strange, spicy flavor - but he was quite thirsty, so he chugged it back quickly.

"Did you like the meal?" she asked him.

Satoshi looked at the several empty dishes rather pointedly.

"It was amazing. Incredible. Takeshi's a great cook. I haven't had any food like that for a long time..." He related the pleasing, but fairly meager, portions that Haruka served him and Shigeru at breakfast and dinner. "They're just not very strong-tasting, you know? It's possible that she's underfeeding her brother as well," Satoshi finished. "Maybe that's why he's so unpleasant."

"Masato, right? I feel bad for him. He lives with two girls... Maybe that's the problem," said Kasumi.

"If he were a healthy young man, living with girls would hardly be a problem!" Takeshi replied, a hint of a familiar leer crossing his face.

Satoshi laughed, a little louder than he meant to. Kasumi rolled her eyes and waddled from the room, swatting at her husband before she left with dishes in her arms.

"How is it for you?" asked Takeshi, shifting the topic slightly. "Living in Alph is probably different compared to... wherever you're from."

"It's really different, but everyone's been good to me and Shigeru. So I think about that instead. Like Haruka and Masato... they gave up their house for us, you know. I'm very grateful about that. But also, I'm really glad that it's just Shigeru and I living together," Satoshi confided to Takeshi. "It's helped us to become better friends."

Takeshi looked at him curiously. "You weren't friends before you came to Alph?"

"We were friends a long time ago; best friends! But then we weren't friends, and then we were again, but something happened, so then we weren't again... But we're friends now. Again."

"It sounds complicated," Takeshi surmised.

"Shigeru is really complicated," Satoshi agreed. He could feel his smile dropping quickly. Talking about Shigeru made him think about Shigeru and now he realised that he hadn't seen Shigeru for a while.

He scrambled to his feet. However, no sooner than he stood, did he try to step forward, and banged his shin against the edge of the table. Takeshi was at his side before Satoshi even registered the pain.

"Are you all right?" he queried, his voice thick with concern.

Satoshi winced, clutching at his stinging shin.

"Yeah, I'm fine. The table was just... much closer than I remember it being. I don't know why I was in such a hurry."

He looked up from his leg, and saw that Kasumi had come back in the room. She was watching him with a crooked brow. Satoshi squinted, trying to see it more clearly, but her face wouldn't come into focus.

"Are you going to be able to get home okay?" asked Takeshi.

"Of course! I remember the route perfectly!" Satoshi threw up a peace sign. He smiled as well, but the smile quickly gave way to a look of confusion. He looked around himself, and he was surprised to notice that the room seemed much less sharp than it had been only a few minutes before.

"Umm, Takeshi... Where's your door?"

Any hopes of the situation improving had long since been abandoned to despair. Shigeru had only one hope: to be unnoticed.

He held his cup of tea aloft and watched the scene around him.

This is why I don't like women, he thought to himself, or tried to, anyway; his thoughts were drowned out by the yelling and shrieking as Hikari and Haruka chased each other across the room.

Satoshi had found the door, and after being trailed a little of the way by Takeshi, he was now forced to find the way back to his home by himself. Satoshi didn't grieve that in particular: he knew exactly what part of Alph that he'd been left in. What he didn't know was why he had caught himself wandering off in the wrong direction at least once.

In spite of this, he was otherwise content. And even a little bit... fuzzy.

At last he found himself back at the house. The voices that were coming from inside seemed a little loud, but maybe that was just his imagination? Curious, he pushed aside the mat curtain that dropped over the doorway -- only to find that no one was eating dinner. Satoshi blinked to re-orient himself. He must have had them closed for too long, because as soon as he opened his eyes, he beheld that Shigeru had already gotten to his feet and was striding to the door.

"Let's go!" Shigeru insisted, herding out Satoshi through the doorway again. "Now!"

Satoshi didn't even glance behind before he backed up and re-exited the room. Haruka and Hikari didn't even seem to notice that he was leaving, nor had they apparently noticed him coming in; they were too busy pulling each others' hair and kicking over the dishes with their bare and ankleted feet. Then, the straw mat of the door rolled in front of Satoshi, and the night was back around him again.

"What was that all about?" asked Satoshi, horrified. Shigeru took him by the arm and led him away from the door with a rather desperate stride.

"I was sitting there the whole time and I don't have a clue," he told Satoshi, "Those girls have some deep-seated issues. I don't know how you lived with them for as long as you did."

"Well," said Satoshi, speculatively, "I never had to live with the two of them together at once. I really lucked out, huh?"

"Clearly," Shigeru agreed. They were finally out of sight of Haruka and Masato's home; he let out a deep breath that he hadn't known he was holding, in fear of the girls becoming aware of his absence and chasing after him. "I'm so glad that's over. But what do we do now?"

Satoshi blinked several times to clear his vision. He wasn't sure what was over, exactly.

"Let's walk around," he found himself saying.

"I guess," shrugged Shigeru. "Where do you want to go?"

"I'm not sure," Satoshi answered. "Not sure."

"You look kind of tired."

"Oh. Well, I am kind of tired, but I don't want to go back, really, so..." Satoshi trailed off at Shigeru's bizarre expression. It felt as if Shigeru was observing him, analyzing him, trying to pick him apart with his eyes.

"What?" he asked Shigeru.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes!" Satoshi answered defensively, "I'm completely, fu, fine."

"You're red."

"I am not, I-"

Shigeru leaned in and bent down near Satoshi's face, and Satoshi's thought processes broke apart completely. For a moment, he had the most absurd thought that Shigeru was going to kiss him -- and why would a boy kiss a boy, anyway!? -- but it had been a false alarm. Shigeru was merely sniffing his breath, and wrinkling his nose. As he leaned away, Satoshi felt a hole in the pit of his stomach.

"Have you been drinking?" Shigeru asked.

Satoshi looked at him uncomprehendingly.

"Have you had some alcohol?" Shigeru reiterated.

"I don't know. Maybe?"

Shigeru rolled his eyes, and took out his leather flask.

"Here's some water," he suggested.

Next thing that Satoshi knew, his face was being pressed into water -- no; water was being pressed against the mouth part of his face. He opened his mouth and aimed it at the lip of the flask. But he missed somehow, and his mouth smooshed against the side of the pouch. But his hand was already lifting up the canister, so the water poured right around it, passing around the ends of his upturned mouth in rivulets. He looked up at Shigeru helplessly.

"You're a mess," said Shigeru. To Satoshi's surprise, there was a hint of affection in it.

Satoshi managed to take a messy sip, and then he wiped off his upper lip with the back of his hand. He brought it to his lap and stared at it.

"I don't know why I feel so strange," complained Satoshi. "I think I'm sick."

"You're not sick, just slightly drunk."

Satoshi stared at Shigeru blankly. Or, he tried to stare, but once again, his eyes were wobbling.

"Drunk?" he asked. "I'm drunk? Juice made me drunk?"

"No, juice doesn't have alcohol so there's no way it could've gotten you drunk," Shigeru pointed out. "And besides, your breath smells like wine."

"Do you think I was drinking wine?"

Shigeru rolled his eyes, but he was grinning. "That's what I just said."

"I've never had wine before."

"Clearly, you've never been drunk before, either."

"Wow. I can't believe you know that," said Satoshi. "Hey, can we stop here?"

"Here?" Shigeru looked around like he was confused. "Where?"

Satoshi now showed his exasperation with Shigeru, and with a great roll of his eyes, pointed to the Trough. "We can sit there," he said. "On the side."

"Only if you're careful," said Shigeru, consenting. They sat down on the flat edge of the barrier, and silence settled over them-- but only for a moment, before Satoshi let out a gigantic burp.

Shigeru laughed. Something pleasant swelled in Satoshi at the rich, throaty sound of Shigeru's laughter. Even though Shigeru was laughing at him, he felt suddenly buoyant.

"I really like your laugh," Satoshi found himself saying. "Actually, I like your voice all the time. It's very cool. I wish I had a cool sounding voice. I still sound like a kid."

Shigeru's laughter abated, but he smiled at Satoshi haughtily. "You don't sound that much like a kid anymore - only when you whine," he said.

"What!" Satoshi cried. "You whine more than I ever do."

"I do not!"

"You pout!"

"It's not pouting, it's-- it's--"

"It's girly."

"It is not. And besides, you're short," concluded Shigeru triumphantly, and Satoshi, unable to think of a clever response, just stuck out his tongue at Shigeru.

Shigeru didn't reply in kind, so the conversation ended, and Satoshi leaned back his neck to look directly at the stars. It was the darkest night that he thought that he had ever seen. It was familiar and far, far more vast.

"Do you think that we'll ever get home?" he wondered aloud.

Shigeru turned to him slowly.

"I was thinking about that earlier, too," he answered. "And... I don't know."

"I don't really feel like going back," admitted Satoshi. "I like it here."

"This place is easier, isn't it?" commented Shigeru. "There's something about this place that makes me forget about everywhere else."

"I like it here with you."

As soon as Satoshi said it, he was surprised. He hadn't even realized it, but it was true. He looked up to see Shigeru's face - to see what he thought about the pronouncement - but Shigeru was looking away from him.

Satoshi sighed. Even after a whole month together, he would never understand Shigeru, it seemed.

He looked up at the inky night sky and leaned back. However, he'd forgotten that there was nothing to lean against, and the air gave way too quickly for him to catch himself, and the next thing he knew, he had splashed into the irrigation stream and was soaking wet and his back was cold and his legs were sticking up in the air and he was staring face up at the stars, and at Shigeru, whose arms were held out an awkward angle, as if he had tried to catch Satoshi but missed.

Although he was sputtering water out from his mouth, a grin broke across Satoshi's face.

"You missed me," he accused Shigeru playfully.

Shigeru didn't deny it.

1: Nibi Town is "Pewter City" in Japanese.