It turned out that girl wasn't Chiyo. Now Ah don't know where to go next. Wait, am Ah downstairs again? How'd Ah get down here?
Maybe if Ah could find that there Diamond again... he sure had a nice hat. It was like it was alive, y'know? Like a mushroom.
"Yeah, that's it," Ah mutter with satisfaction. "A mushroom."
Suddenly Ah hear somethin'. It's a voice callin' to me. Ah turn around an' see just who Ah was just thinkin' about.
"Hey, Ayumu!" Dia-chan is holdin' a couple of ice-cream cones. "Do you want to have a snack?"
"Ice cream?" Ah cain't hardly believe mah ears. "Is one of 'em for me?"
"Of course- if you want it, that is." He sits down on a bench, motionin' for me to join him. "I figured we should try to get to know each other better."
He hands me one of the cones. It's pale pink. Maybe it's heart flavoured?
"So, Ayumu, tell me about yourself," he begins. "Do you have Pokémon?"
"Pokémon..." Ah think hard. It does sound kinda familiar... "Ah don't think so."
"Well, I guess we can't have a battle, then." He licks his own ice cream cone, which is white. "But I can show you mine if you want."
Ah nod. But really mah eyes are fixed on his scarf. Somethin' just occurred to me about it.
"With a scarf like that, it must be dangerous to go fishin'..."
He blinks. Ah don't see what there is to be confused about.
"Y'know, 'cause of the hooks." Ah make a hook shape with mah hand so he understands. "It could get snagged."
"I suppose so..." He points to a video store. "Oh, look, there's a buy-one-get-one-free deal on the first two seasons of Proteam Omega. Do you have a DVD player?"
"Ah think so."
"Well, there goes the rest of my money," he says. "Pearl's gonna yell at me for spending it all..."
He goes inside, an' when he comes back out, he's got two DVDs with him. He explains the plot a bit, but Ah'm a bit confused. So he suggests that we go to mah house an' watch it together.
"What's your address?" He asks.
Ah tell him, an' he writes it down. Then we finish our ice cream. When we're done, we go outside so he can show me somethin'.
"See, this is the road we came here on." He points down the highway. "At least I think it is. It looks different, though."
"You're right, it is different." Ah point to the place where a telephone pole used to be. "There was a pole there. Ah remember crashin' into it on mah bicycle."
"Oh, you have a bicycle too?"
"Yep. Ah usually don't use it, though."
Ah look up. The sun's goin' down. It sure is pretty...
Diamond seems to think so too. He takes his hat off an' puts it in his lap. His hair's blowin' in the wind. Ah guess mine must be too.
"So, I guess I never asked of you prefer to be called Ayumu or Osaka," he says. "I just sort of assumed you like being called your real name."
The question takes me by surprise. Ah've never really thought about it. Everybody who knew about mah nickname called me by it all the time. Just the fact that Diamond was askin' made him feel special somehow.
"Well, Ah suppose Ah like bein' called Ayumu," Ah say slowly. "Osaka's sorta like what just mah friends call me."
His face sort of falls for a moment. Ah realize mah mistake.
"Ah mean, y'know, mah female friends."
He nods. We go back to lookin' at the sky, but neither of us says anythin' for a long while.
Maybe Ah said somethin' wrong.