Chapter 6:
Doing Too Much For Me
Another day, another… day. The first thing I felt when I woke up was the freezing environment of the room I was in. Even with the AC off, my room was still colder than my past room and that's saying something because I always keep my AC temps pretty low.
"Hey. Wake up."
I slowly opened my eyes, squinting as the light from the sun was unfortunate enough to shine between the curtain and straight into my eyes.
When I did open my eyes, I was greeted by the sight of another pair of eyes that stared back into mine. Russ and I seemed to wake up at the same time.
"Hey," I said, not knowing what to do.
Saber's sudden appearance gave me a mini-heart attack. While that was bad enough, Russ however, didn't react as nicely.
"RIIOOO!" Russ leapt towards Saber and went for his forearm.
"HEY! HEY STOP- Ow!" Russ bit him before calming down. He practically slid down Saber in tears and I was left there being a thinker.
"…Huh?"
I had a hard time fighting the urge to go back to sleep. The cold room made it even more tempting to curl up under the warm blankets and drift back into the comforting embrace of sleep.
And yet, I didn't go back to sleep because I had to somehow console Russ, all while questioning 'why?'.
I was still tired from last night, believe it or not, but I didn't want to miss out on breakfast since I'd have to wait until dinner (or probably lunch) for me to eat again. And also the fact that I don't like cold food and considering where I'm at, it'd probably get cold fast.
…And also the fact that I'd feel bad if I didn't.
When I walked out the door, Ryna complimented my hair.
…Which was no doubt satire.
The weight of my own hair on my head was very much noticeable and it blocking my sight once in a while had started to get on my nerves. It has gotten pretty long and I really want to have it cut in the future. Since I'm… not going back home…
God…
…I- It also meant that school restrictions didn't apply to me since I couldn't even go to school in the first place. I could style it however I wanted!
The question now is 'how'.
I sat down at the table as I half-consciously looked at the food on the table. It looked appetizing but my mind said 'Nah, we're not eating today.'
I pushed through, anyway.
"What the hell happened earlier?" Ryna asked, sipping her cup.
I simply shrugged. Not because I didn't know what happened but I'm just not in the mood to speak. I'm in no way a morning person. Saber knew I knew so he decided to speak for me.
Saber, rubbing his arm where Russ had bitten him, looked at Ryna with a bemused smile. "Russ bit me."
Ryna turned to Russ, and said to him half-disappointingly, "Now why would you bite him…"
Russ, being frozen in fear, struggled to utter a single word, and by word, I mean his name. "R- Rio- Riolu."
"That was my bad… It didn't really hurt, really."
"Ri- Riolu…" Russ said, his voice a squeak.
I ended up gazing at Russ. In fact, I was daydreaming. I saw its eyes nearly tear up. Ryna glanced at her watch before getting up from the kitchen table. I felt terrible, but I didn't think I had enough energy to really be with him. It was… bad.
"Arceus, you look like you could really use some caffeine."
"Sleep is better," I said, at last speaking.
Ryna glanced at her watch, before hastily getting up from her chair. "Well, suit yourself because I have to go now. Saber, take care of them, alright? I'll be home by six."
"Sure…"
"Oh- Yeah! Ben, I left some money on the coffee table if you plan on going out. Saber knows the key to the house." And with that, she opened the front door and left, closing the door behind her.
The entire time, Mana was nowhere to be seen.
Saber seemed to frown as Ryna left through the door slightly. "Are you good?" I asked him.
"...Yeah."
"You don't seem 'good'. Do you wanna talk about it?"
"I don't know… I just… I just feel like she's not safe when I'm not with her. Just past things, really and it still bothers me," he said, sighing. "Same reason why I acted the way I did with you… It's- I'm sorry."
"It's fine…" I muttered, half of me tired while the other half was clueless.
I didn't want to pry on it too much but I knew there was some history that led to this. But then again, who am I to be all up in their business? "Say, do you want to go out?" I said, trying to lighten up the mood.
Turns out the day was very much inviting me to come out and enjoy the weather because damn, the sky was as clear as it could be. At that point, I thought to myself, "Maybe I could go for a walk. That would be nice."
Saber turned to me and leaned on the wall, taking a sip of his tea. "And go where?"
"I don't- know? The park-? Don't you guys have a park?"
"We do, actually. Do you really want to?"
"Do you not want to?" I shot back.
"I'm more worried about those legs of yours."
To be fair, he does have a point. "Ehhh… I think I'll be fine."
"Okay, man. What is this…" I stared at the rack of soaps and shampoos, mimicking that of bookshelves in a library.
"Saber…" I called out. "Where's the soap…"
Just looking at that rack makes my eyes hurt, even more so when I looked at the labelling that spelt gibberish.
WHAT ARE THESE?! WHAT DO THEY SAY?!
A pinkish-purple glow surrounded a bottle and floated over to me. "Here," Saber said. Good thing I wasn't naked yet when he was behind me. I just had to make sure that everything was right before I proceeded.
"D'ya guys have any extra toothbrush that I can use?" I asked him.
"Do we? Hold on, let me check…" Saber then walked off. As I closed the door, I heard multiple drawers, at least 10 of them, opening all at once, items shuffling around before all of them closed in uniform.
It almost sounded like an explosion, if I'm being honest.
I winced at the sound, before Saber said, "No, unfortunately."
Right… Objective for today: get a toothbrush.
In front of a large mirror in the bathroom, I slowly peel away the patch on my cheek. It wasn't the first time I'd seen my face but a little piece of me died when I saw the scar on my cheek, even if I've seen it numerous times now.
Because I damn well knew that I wasn't going to pull anyone. To be honest, I wasn't pulling in the first place so it doesn't even matter.
What I didn't notice was the failure of a 'beard' that had grown a bit.
That's 'beard' with quotation marks, by the way. Just a tiny bit of hair I didn't want on my face.
Right, then… Objective for today: get a toothbrush AND a razor.
The shower was great, I can tell you that. The knob works the same so I had no problem with that. There's hot water but I kept the knob in the middle.
Back where I lived, heating didn't cost shit since the sun heats up everything but I know for a fact that heating costs a lot because in order to heat something up without fire, you have to use electricity. And lots of it. And that's exactly why I didn't turn the knob to the point that I didn't even know if turning it just by a tiny bit would melt or freeze me to death. That's how 'straight down the middle' the knob is.
Where was I?
Ah… right.
I wiped myself dry with the towel in the wardrobe (which I brought into the bathroom with me, too) and put on a new set of clothes; a black shirt with a pair of brown capri pants. A modest fit I shall say.
I walked out of the bathroom with my hair still wet and messy. "Take a look at these diamonds wrong. It's a life squinting, can't just stare…" I hummed to myself, "With bae through thick and thin, she's already thick so I'm halfway there."
As I entered the living room, I saw the most adorable sight I've ever seen. The blue bipedal dog named Russ was lying on the couch with his head on Saber's lap. They seemed to be watching the TV and looked like they were having fun-
"Please get him."
Looks like Saber's not… having fun.
With that, I decided to join them. Before I did, however, I had to think for a second about a thing to say to reason picking up Russ from Saber. "Ahhhhh… fuck it we ball."
I plopped down next to them and grabbed Russ. "Yo, what are you guys watching?"
"This is PBN Sinnoh 7. Next in line, the iconic trio is back with their shenanigans, this time while off-roading in rural Hoenn. Join 'AUTOpia' later today at 9 for the Hoenn Special Episode and right after that at 10, 'Town of Unova' is back for their first episode of season 3. Find full details at /sinnoh7."
"AUTOpia sounds like a good show…" I said as I slowly picked up Russ from Saber. The lad was fast asleep.
"You don't understand," Saber said.
"What?"
"It's the best show, man!" He grinned like a maniac.
"A- alright," I said, slightly shaken at the look he was giving me.
The TV screen faded to black. Just then, rock music played on the TV as the intro for this show started. "On today's episode, I steal Davis's door, Jason angers a pack of Poocheyena, and Davis says he's dense."
"I'm just dense."
Wait- Hold on. Wait, wait, wait-
"Hang on, this is just Top Gear!" I laughed out. "Wait, I'm invested now." Having my full attention towards the TV, I leaned closer to it.
I KNEW IT! THAT'S WHY IT FEELS SO FAMILIAR! YES! YES!
"See? I knew it!"
Oh my god, I'm so happy!
The show was PRETTY DAMN good!
Shit, no wonder Saber loves this show. It's 100% what I expected; TopGear but with pokemon. But mostly TopGear! Not as good as TopGear and The Grand Tour but it was something similar.
They're pretty much the same thing but it just doesn't hit the same, man. The humour's on point and the execution was good but it felt like something was missing.
What am I supposed to do again?
Oh, yeah, right.
Toothbrush and razor. Maybe a walk in the park too.
"Right, are you guys ready to go?" I said, putting on my actual jacket.
"Rio!" Russ pumped his fist (paws?) in the air as he walked alongside me with his matching scarf wrapped around him.
I smiled. He's just so innocent. I love him.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's go," Saber said.
I put on my jacket and shoes while Saber put on his very own jacket and scarf. Russ… well, he always has his scarf on him. I opened the door, and we headed out on our merry way.
The weather hadn't changed much. It felt muted, like usual yet it was surprisingly calm and the sky was very clear, tranquil even. There were still bits of snow left on the ground and it was still chilly but I could feel it getting a bit warmer day by day. At that point, I'd somehow gotten (somehow?) used to this climate. The jacket helped a lot. In fact, I feel like when the cold ends and the sweltering heat starts showing its ugly face, I'm going to miss winter very much.
I turned around to look at Saber and Russ. I clapped my hands. "Right, where do we go?"
Saber crossed his arms and said, "Where do you want to go first?"
I paused and thought for a second as I collected my own thoughts. With a snap of my finger, I said to him, "I need a toothbrush and a razor, therefore, convenience store. Is there any around here?"
Saber pointed across the road. "Yeah, we go straight and then right onto Hippo Street-"
"Wait, wait- Hippo Street?" I chuckled in amusement.
"Yeah?"
"Who the hell names it Hippo Street?"
"Some guy- Look just let me finish! So- you take a right here onto Hippo Street, and there should be a store on the left side. It's called Basics 24."
"You know-" I sighed. "I can't read shit, Saber, come on." I looked up towards the sign on the traffic light, feeling like I was looking at hieroglyphs myself.
Saber sighed, but it seemed that he understood my problem. "It's blue," he said, "The store's blue. Like him." Saber gestured towards Russ. "You can't miss it."
"Russ Store?" I asked as I diverted my attention towards Russ.
"Russ Store," Saber smirked slightly and nodded. He pressed the button on the traffic light with his elbow.
Russ pulled on my hand slightly. "Rio?"
"Sorry, we were talking about the store we are going to go to," I told Russ, my tone as soft as ever. But then, I had a thought. "Toys "R" Uss"
I held in my chuckle as we crossed the street onto Hippo Street.
"HIPPO STREET!"
It was hard trying not to burst out laughing.
This was so, so stupid…
"Before we go in, yeah, Saber, I need your help here. I have the money but I can't read it. I think you know where I'm getting at?"
"...Sure…"
"Then let's go."
We entered the generically named 'Basics 24', and the dude working there greeted us. I followed Saber closely. The store was brightly lit but it was small. You could take five steps in the snacks aisle and you'd end up in the hygiene aisle. Saber led me to the dental care aisle, and I saw a wide selection of toothbrushes and toothpaste.
The thing about convenience stores is that since they have everything, they don't have a lot of variety of everything- I hope that makes sense. Basically, if you have one of everything, you can't have that many selections of a certain item.
God, I made it more confusing.
YOU CAN ONLY FIT SO MUCH IN ONE TINY STORE!
God!
As I see it, it made it easier for me to choose a toothbrush since there were like 4 hooks on the shelf that actually have toothbrushes, otherwise, you'd find them nowhere else in the store. "Yo, Saber, pick a number between one to four, no reading mind," I whispered.
"Three."
"Thanks." I then proceeded to yoink the toothbrush from the 3rd hook.
"Right then, razors."
Just one step to the right later, I found the razor. Unlike the toothbrushes, the razors only had two hooks for themselves which made choosing them easier.
I… don't have a fancy beard so a fancy razor wasn't my topmost priority. I just don't like having hairs on my face so a simple razor does the job just fine.
So, I just picked the first one that caught my eye.
"Can I just see how much money Ryna gave ya?"
"Yeah." I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out three bills. The bills had some interesting artworks, showcasing landmarks and figures of the Sinnoh region. One of them was a no-brainer; Mount Coronet.
…Probably.
It really reminded me of the 100 ringgit bills the way it was printed. Man, I'm feeling nostalgic now-
"Hey, man. That's cool and all but like…"
"Sorry! Sorry… Here." I handed him the money just like he asked. His eyes, as wide as it already was, managed to get wider.
"She gave you this much?! Woooow…" Saber said as he continued to stare at the money. "No, there has to be a mistake."
I shot back at him, "You'd think she'd be the type of person to not double-check things?"
He looked at me and I looked back.
"You know what?"
"What?"
"Fair enough. She'd triple-check even," he said, "But at the same time, she gave you this much?!"
"I mean, sure? But like- Come on, don't just say that she gave this money for me and me only. I'm sure she gave it so that all of us can spend it."
We started walking towards the counter albeit very slowly.
"She doesn't even let me hold money… with exceptions of course, but that's not the point."
"Can we just… get this done with- Ooh…" I backtracked, finally noticing the fridge full of beverages and at that point, I was feeling thirsty myself. "Let's see what's up over here. Saber, do you mind giving me a 'tour'?"
Saber knew what I meant so he said to me, "Sure… point it."
"Right, boys. Lead the way to the park."
We had left the store, still with a lot of money left.
"Hey, guys. Do you want to see something?"
"Ri!" Russ chirped.
"Yeah-"
A purple light engulfed all of us as the world around me ceased to exist. I, however, can still see the two of them in it and lo' and behold, Saber with the most cheeky smile known to man. I have to admit, I can't even speak if I wanted to – I was in awe, mixed in with a whole bucket of sheer terror.
"Dude- DUDE! NO!"
I thought I was going to die!
Then, the light fizzles out in an instant revealing to us the lush greenery of… somewhere.
"Where- Where the hell are-! Oh-"
"Here's the park!" he said, taking pride in his ability.
We were at the park, yes, but whatever Saber did, left me queasy. I almost fell because of the disoriented feeling before Saber caught my hands and pulled me back.
Thank you, but also, fuck you.
"Ri…olu…!" Russ dropped down to his knees and started panting.
"Aww… Don't worry about it, little guy. You'll be used to it."
"...Wait. Where's the bag…?"
"Where-" Saber sighed. "Should've known this would've happened…" he muttered.
Saber disappeared and then reappeared just moments later with the paper bag in his hands. "Here."
"Can't blame me for that can you?"
"But it was worth it, though," he added, "It's been a long time since I've met someone who's never teleported in their entire time."
I touched my chest, searching for my heartbeat. "And you think it's a good idea to give them a heart attack?"
"At this point, are you really surprised?"
Right… future note: Saber is a cheeky fuckin' bastard.
"This is nice, you know. We should do this more often."
I found myself basking in the park's tranquillity, that I had completely forgotten about what happened earlier. Well, not exactly forgotten. It's just I don't really care anymore. I wanna walk-
Wait hold on-
"So you're telling me, you could've just teleported us to the convenience store instead of- you know, walking there?"
"Yeah?" Saber chuckled.
"I swear to god, I'm going to go insane because of you…" I muttered.
I reached into the bag and pulled out a plastic bottle, with a labelling that screams 'carbonated orange drink'. I had no idea what to expect so I twisted the cap opened and took a sip.
Well, what can I say? It tasted like orange Fanta.
We sat down on a bench where we finally had the chance to take a break. Each one of us had our drinks, and each one of us savoured our own. I asked Saber if I could try his and it tasted just like Coke.
"Okay, why does everything taste exactly the same as… the ones back home?" I asked, handing Saber his 'Coke' bottle.
Saber merely shrugged.
"How do you like yours, Russ?"
"Riolu~!" he said.
I got Russ milk.
"That's nice," I chuckled, "Make sure you throw it away there, in the trashcan, when you're done okay?" I said, pointing towards the trashcan not far from us.
"Ri!"
"You know, back where I lived, there really wasn't a park nearby… there's just houses everywhere. To be honest? I might just go here every once in a while. I have nothing to do at the house, anyway."
"Suit yourself," Saber said. "Ryna takes us here every now and then."
I leaned back on the bench, taking in the surroundings. The park itself, as nice as it seems, doesn't look like it has many normal people. There were people but they all seemed to be trainers, the way they had their pokemon out and terrorizing the park with moves.
"Is that normal here?"
"You see that every single day. Don't worry about it."
"Shit, no wonder there aren't that many people here," I thought to myself. That, or it's weekdays.
I looked at Saber. "...Say, have you battled before?"
"Are you seriously about to do this?"
"Nononono, just answer the question."
"Yes."
"Do you enjoy it?"
"Sure. It's pretty fun."
"So, basically- Do every pokemon like beating each other up?"
"It's… complicated."
"Look at that… is that a Machoke? Holy shit, that is terrifying," I gestured towards the Machoke in the distance, "You know what? Take them as an example. Do you see them and be like, 'God, I want to beat up that guy so badly'."
"Well…" Saber let out a hearty laugh, "No? It's- Like I said, it's complicated. We don't just go around wanting to beat up other 'mons. It's like an instinct, you know? We just like thrills. We challenge ourselves too, you know. It's not just about beating people up."
"So beating people up IS one of the reasons. Got it."
"What? No! That's not what I meant-!"
"Yeah, man. Sure, sure…. I see." I took a sip from my 'Fanta'.
Saber clutched his fist. "I'm going to strangle you-"
I felt a tug on my jacket. "Rio. Riolu."
"Well… you guys ready to go?"
"Sure."
With nothing else to do and everything's all done, we decided to stroll around the park. The place was serene, even with the occasional explosions from the Pokémon battles happening around us.
I did ask Saber about it but he just told me to pay them no mind.
Pay them no mind, he says. It's hard when you've never seen a Pokemon battle before.
And when they're happening close to you, it's hard not to look; the curiosity becomes intrusive thoughts, you know?
"If you make eye contact with them, they'd assume you want to battle. And I don't think you want that, do you?"
Oh, god. And that. Future notes: DO NOT LOOK TRAINERS IN THE EYES.
"Hey, there. You seemed like a strong trainer. Are you up for a battle?"
Oh no.
I turned around to see a guy, quite a bit taller than me and probably my age, too. His clothes had a theme to them, a black jacket with red stripes on the sleeves and black and red track pants. He looked respectable enough.
He greeted me with one hand and clutched a pokeball in the other.
"Riolu!" Russ waved at him while tugging on my hand.
"Uh-"
"He legally can't. He doesn't have any certification."
"I, uh, yeah… I'm not really a trainer," I said, my heart in my mouth.
There was an awkward silence between us before the trainer scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed. "Oh- Then, my bad. Sorry for bothering you then."
With that, the guy walked away, leaving Saber, Russ, and me to continue our leisurely stroll through the park. However, after all that, I really don't feel like walking in the park anymore.
No matter what, I have to dodge these battle invitations because I hate telling people that I can't have a battle.
"Can we go back now? Now that the dude actually asked me, I kinda want to go back."
"Yep. Let's go," Saber said with a slight smirk that caught my eyes.
No…
"Wait- NO- NOT AGAIN!"
The purple light came back, engulfing us in a matter of seconds- no, milliseconds. It was only a flash before the light ceased once more.
And man, even if it did last briefly, it sure as hell felt like an eternity. So there I was on my knees on the floor of a building I didn't even know, feeling like the chips in my stomach were about to go into reverse gear.
Having food in your stomach and not having food in your stomach really made a difference.
The more food you eat, the more queasy you feel during teleportation. That's a valid hypothesis.
"Ben, don't die on me." I could hear Saber laughing in the background.
"I fuckin' hate you, dude," I said, somehow managing to pull off the telepathic communication for the first time today. I rolled over, now laying on my back with my eyes gazing towards the ceiling and the fan above me.
"Come on, Ben, get up. We're home," Saber urged, extending a hand to help me to my feet.
"I wouldn't lie like this on the floor for this long if don't know otherwise," I lied. I reluctantly took his hand and got back on my feet, still feeling a bit queasy from the sudden teleportation. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" I said in annoyance.
Saber grinned mischievously. "Maybe just a little."
I looked at the clock on the wall and it was a little past noon. Just then, I heard ringing. Phone ringing.
"Rio. Rio!"
"I'll get that," Saber said.
Saber walked over to the phone, picked it up and knocked on it twice with his finger. Not long after, he put it down.
"We have to go to the police station," he said.
I flailed my hands up in frustration. "Damn it, man. I just sat down."
Russ was face-down on the couch. "Lu…", he voiced out.
"We're in no rush."
"Do we have to?" I asked.
"Yes. If you don't want to walk, I can just teleport us there. Easy enough?"
I sighed. Saber was probably enjoying the teleportation way too much to let me rest. "Fine, teleport us there," I grumbled.
I shook Russ up. "Wakey wakey. Uncle Saber's gonna teleport us again." Russ let out a groggy yawn and struggled to get up from the couch.
"Don't ever call me that again." Saber looked at me unamused.
Saber's psychic power floated a pass over from the key rack and over his head, releasing it and dropping it where it hung from his neck.
"You have a pass?" I asked.
"I wouldn't be able to enter otherwise."
"Wha- What about us?!"
"You're with me! Calm down!" He sighed, "Right, ready?"
"Sure." I prepared myself for another teleportation. We were enveloped in that familiar purple light, and I braced myself for the disorienting sensation. It wasn't comfortable per se, but I was getting used to it. I stumbled a bit upon arrival, but I managed to regain my balance.
This time, my stomach didn't protest as much, which was good!
The police station was a modest building, with a blue and white facade. Saber led the way inside, and we were greeted by a receptionist behind a counter. She had a friendly smile as she looked up from her paperwork.
Saber showed his pass to the receptionist and said, "We're here to meet Agent Ryna Harwell. They're with me."
"Hold on… Oh- yes, she did tell me to ask you to come to her office. You can go ahead and do that."
"Thanks."
We followed Saber to a set of elevators, where a couple of officers walked out, giving the entire elevators to ourselves. As the elevator doors closed and the elevator started moving, I felt it pulling me up, rather than pushing me down.
"Are we going down?"
"Yeah, her office's in the basement."
Ah… I see. "Is it something to do with me? You know? Like-" I gestured towards myself, "My presence here in the first place?"
"Mmmmm… Yeah."
Well, shit. Everybody's gonna know me. "I'm going to get so much stare," I thought to myself, wincing at the thought of human interactions. A 16-year-old in a restricted area of the police station, face scar and everything; I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb!
"You gotta save me, man," I pleaded.
"How?"
The door opened, and I knew I'd met my doom. As we walked along the corridor, I had a feeling that I was being watched, and it made me SUPER uneasy. For all I care, I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.
Before I knew it, we were standing right in front of a door. Saber raised his hands as if to knock on the door, but stopped to look around before finally knocking on it.
From the other side of the door, a familiar voice called out. "Come in!"
Saber opened the door, and we stepped into a spacious office. In the center of the room, sitting behind a large wooden desk was Ryna.
"You can go ahead and take a seat," she gestured towards the chairs in front of her, "I want to discuss something with you."
Saber and I nodded as both of us pulled the chair from the table. I sat down and picked Russ up to have him sit with me.
"Right." Ryna pulled some papers, bound together by a staple and showed it to me. On the paper was just a wall of text.
"I… can't read this…" I said.
"And that's exactly the problem we're facing currently. We recovered a lot of stuff from… you know what-" I shivered. "-and a lot of them are in pretty good shape. The thing is, we don't know how to operate them, the main reason being we can't read anything, the same way you can't read anything."
"...You want me to be a translator, is what you're saying?"
"Yes! Well, I do need you to help scour some of the recovered stuff, and tell us how it works. And in return," Ryna clapped her hands together. "I will help you to read."
"Didn't you say that you are going to do that nonetheless?"
"Yes, but look, not only that…" Ryna turned around and picked up a small briefcase with a paper taped on top.
She opened it, blocking my line of sight towards her. "I will let you have this back." She closed the briefcase and there, in her hands, was my phone, still in the same condition as when I last saw it.
"Holy shit," was all I could say.
"So, are you going to take the deal?"
My mouth was wide open as I struggle to utter a word. I stared at my phone, feeling a mixture of emotions welling up inside me.
Scour some recovered stuff…
It had been so long since I last saw it, and the memories it held were precious to me. It was tempting but at the same time, that also meant I had to scour through items of…
Deceased people.
And that prompted a dilemma. Is it morally correct to do so? Or does it not matter at all? Do I have the balls to use something that isn't mine, let alone something belonging to ones that had since passed?
Going through their possessions felt like an invasion of their privacy. On the other hand, not helping them will only worsen my relationship with Ryna. Since I am holding on for dear life, and she's the reason I survived until now, it was the last thing I wanted to do.
I found myself leaning back on the chair and dragging my hands across my hair. I want to have my stuff back, but I don't want to live with the guilt.
"I don't know… I really, really don't know about this."
"Ben, I will pay you to do this," Ryna said, desperately trying to convince me to do this.
"Ryna, it's- It's dead people's stuff," I pleaded.
Ryna sighed, her tone softening. "I understand… But what else can we do? You can't expect us to just stand here and act like everything is fine and sweep it all under the rug, no. We have to find out what happened to you and find out more about you and your world. We have to do this so that the next time this happens, and it sure as hell will, we know how to deal with it."
She took a deep breath. "It's the first time in 72 years since something like this happened and… it did catch us off-guard. If I'm being honest, we thought you were hostile."
"You thought I was going to try something?" I chuckled, "I'd die before I know it."
She did find it as funny as I did. "So? What's your answer."
I was not convinced just yet, however, but I was getting there. If I'm going to do something that also involves my stuff, I might as well start with them. "I'm sorry, can I have that real quick? I want to confirm something."
She reluctantly handed my phone over, and I held the power button before it vibrated, and displayed the boot-up screen.
I breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank god it's alive…"
Ryna smiled, relieved to see the phone still functioning. "I guess it's a deal then?"
"Sure… but I don't expect myself to…- I- I'll see what I can do… I do need some more time to think."
"That's fine," she said with enthusiasm. "If you don't want to, I understand. If you do decide to join, well, welcome to the team."
"Anyway, I'm going to go meet Mana. I guess she's at her usual place?" Saber stood up from the seat and walked to the door.
"Yes she is," Ryna said.
And with that, Saber opened the door, and walked out, leaving Ryna, Russ and I alone in the room.
"How many people are there?"
"20 people including me."
"That's… normal?" I said, not sure of myself.
My phone finally finished booting up, the internal clock showing 'fifteen until ten'. The last time I checked, which was just before we left the house, it was just after 1 p.m.
Yeah… the clock's definitely ain't right.
"What does it say?" Ryna asked. She leaned in ever so slightly to get a better look at the screen.
I told her the time shown, but then she asked me to give back my phone and just looked at the screen for a couple of seconds.
She looked up at me. "...By any chance, is that actually the alphabet? Like, it spells 'ten' as in T.E.N and not ideograms like Japanese?"
"Japanese?" No… surely not. Japan is not a country here, right? If it is, that would be… I don't know? Weird? Odd?`
"It's used to describe a writing system used in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, here… and others too- Just history stuff, don't worry about it," she dismissed.
But- isn't the Japanese writing system she's talking about called- kanji, hiragana and the other one that I forgot? How does this shit even work? It's so vague, it's making me have an aneurysm.
"W- well… yeah. It spells what it is. 'Ten' is just T.E.N. We use numbers so that it's simpler."
Ryna clapped and rubbed her hands together as if planning to do some mischief. "Well, then, what a discovery! I guess teaching you won't be as hard as I thought!"
I can't fucking believe this. So the entire time, every time I look at a sign, I've been looking at funky ABCs? Oh, god. I have to learn how to write, too. And- also punctuation.
Ryna opened her drawer and pulled out a scratched-up glasses, and it was mine. "Oh- this is yours too." She handed it to me and I just stared at it.
My finger ran across the groove on the lens, ignoring that it would leave the lens with fingerprints all over it. Needless to say, it was pretty deep – like someone had run a dull knife on it. Well, to be fair it is made out of pretty soft material. "There's a scratch mark going down the middle," I said.
Without hesitation, I wiped the lens with my shirt and put it on, now finally able to see clearly. And boy, I was back to seeing everything in 4K.
4K with a noticeable groove going down the middle, that is.
"Just use it for a few days. You already have a new one coming. We got the diopters and everything."
"...Wow."
…She's doing too much for me.
WC: 6195
AN:
Fellas, I have just noticed that I have duplicated chapters in my fic, that is chapter 4 and 5 where chapter 5 is just chapter 4. I have since fixed this and I'm sorry if that left ya'll wondering.
On the other note, it's October, which means it's Halloween month. Why did I mention this, you may ask? Nothing… I just want to point it out for future reference when I eventually look back at this chapter in the future.
I've tried the 'comic sans' writing trick. Apparently, it helps you to write more, which works, surprisingly. Shoutout to rennan, the writer for Do Ya Feel Lucky Punk for sharing this trick. Their fic is an absolute banger pokemon fic. Go check them out.
Sorry for the long wait, I've been busy editing a video. Now that it's done, I hope to cook up another chapter soon, that is, if my mind allows me to.
See you in the next chapter. Enjoy your day!
-Exotic