Chapter 8

The trail past Mt. Moon is like jumping into landscape postcards for Genevieve. Vibrant green fields with scatterings of small farming villages, rice paddy fields both flat and terraced along a hill side and bright blue skies speckled with white clouds. Whenever they stopped for a short break, Sota used it as training time with Grunt and Link, while Genevieve enjoyed watching Clair and Kota take an accounting of what each wild flower nearby smelled like.

"C'mon Kota this is no time to be smell the flowers, we have training to do!" Sota says and Kota hops to attention.

"Aww…they were being so cute though…" Genevieve laments.

"We're not gonna be winning battles by being cute, gotta get stronger and faster!" he exclaims to an enthusiastic yip from Kota. Genevieve pouts and stands up.

"You can too win by being cute…that's pretty much a fairy Pokémon's strength!" Genevieve argues as Clair yips back sassily. Sota rolls his eyes with a smirk on his face.

"If you say so Genevieve…" Sota states. Genevieve scoffs at this.

"Do not..." Genevieve grunts and waves her hands at Sota as she struggles to speak, "I can't think of the word in kantonese! Do not look down on me!" she exclaims.

"Patronize." Haku offers. Sota looks at Haku betrayed to which Haku shrugs.

"YES! Do not patronize me Sota!" Genevieve reiterates.

"I'm just sayin', not a whole lotta fairy types on championship teams…" Sota says.

"I'll have you know, the three times champion of Kalos has fairy types in her team!" She rebuts smugly.

"Maybe in Kalos that works well…but we're in Kanto." Sota says still smirking.

"Well Mr. Vale-Val-…well Mr. Pokémon Academy! What kind of pokémon does the Kanto champion specialize in? Hmm?" Genevieve asks confidently. Haku's eyes immediately widen in realization and Sota's smirk vanishes as well.

"That's riiiiiggghhht." Genevieve sing songs and then she picks up her backpack. She flips her hair at Sota as she quick turns and starts strutting down the trail, as if on a fashion runway, ahead of the boys. Haku presses his lips together awkwardly at Sota and gets up quickly to start following. Sota having to take a moment to swallow that defeat jogs to catch up.

The trio stops by one of the small villages to resupply on potions and food. The village didn't have a pokémart or anything, but they did have a small market where the trainers were able to purchase some fresh fruit including some razz, oran and stirus berries. When paying for their things, the young girl helping her grandmother run the stand recognized Haku. The girl was probably the same age as Sota's brother and she froze at the sight of Haku. Haku realizing what is happening also froze as he was unsure what to do. Genevieve and Sota look on as the two stare awkwardly at each other.

"Would you like to take a picture with him?" Genevieve asks with a smile. Haku slowly turns his head to look at her with wide eyes.

"Y-Yes!" the girl stammered as she fumbled to get her phone out of her pocket.

"I'll take the picture for you!" Genevieve offered.

"Thank you!" the girl replied handing her the phone after finally getting a hold of it. The girl hurries around to their side of the fruit stand and stands next to a statuesque Haku with a big smile and the victory hand sign. As Sota watches this transpire his ear suddenly catches a nearby radio newscast reporting a:

"…Rise in Pokémon thefts. Few witnesses have come forward, but the ones brave enough describe groups of young adults dressed in mostly black, approaching people in order to both intimidate and in some cases assault them and taking their pokémon. There has been no official statement by police yet on the matter, but many citizens are worried with more incidents occurring that this could be a sign of organized crime. More on this later this evening." Sota for a moment wonders if this is related to what happened in Mt. Moon but his train of thought is interrupted by:

"Say…Ryuzaki-san!" Genevieve declares to which Haku's expression changes from distress to contempt and she takes the picture.

"Thank you so much! My brother is a huge fan of your dad's! And…I-I'm a big fan of y-yours…" The girl tells Haku bashfully as she gets her phone back from Genevieve.

"Uh…it's not a problem. Alright well let's go guys." Haku replies as he begins to walk away stiffly. Sota and Genevieve follow thoroughly amused by this wholesome interaction and Haku's awkwardness about it.

"It's not funny." Haku says as he hears a few snickers from the other two.

"It was cute; I think she had a crush on you!" Genevieve replies.

"It was embarrassing." Haku corrects.

"It was just a picture." Sota remarks.

"It could've gotten weirder." Haku replies. Genevieve softly shakes her head.

"She wasn't a stalker, just some girl at a fruit stand. You were perfectly safe." Sota states.

"This time…" Haku says.

"You're so paranoid." Sota playfully jabs.

"Sota…" Genevieve says disapprovingly

"I'm just playing!" Sota adds throwing his hands up.

The three get back on the road after finishing up their business in the village heading east toward Cerulean City.

Cerulean City is located in northern Kanto and while it's not technically a seaside location, it is bisected by a large river that empties right into the ocean not too far away. To take advantage of the waterway access, Cerulean has gondola boats ready to rent as transportation for those looking for a relaxing scenic trip through the city. Once the sun goes down, the river boardwalk transitions to a hot spot for the nightlife scene of Cerulean. Main attractions aside from the Cerulean City Gym are the Cerulean Aquarium and Water Park. For those looking for more of a sit down kind of entertainment, there's always the Sensational Waterflower Sisters' Underwater Ballet. As the trio gets closer to the center of the city, posters for the upcoming fishing tournament are displayed on bus stops and billboards.

"Is there a festival or competition in every city that we're going to?" Genevieve asks.

"Not EVERY city…probably not gonna be another major event for a while, that I know of." Sota answers.

"Not until Tanabata." Haku chimes in.

"What's that?" Genevieve asks.

"U-uh…a summer festival." Haku stammers. Genevieve raises an eyebrow, suspicious of his stutter.

"Why'd you get flustered about telling me that?" Genevieve inquired.

"I-I'm not flustered…" Haku swallows after his denial.

"I-It's a summer time festival revolving around the story of the gods who were star crossed lovers." Sota informs.

"Now you're stuttering…Why was that so hard to say?" She doesn't understand why these two suddenly got so uncomfortable. Suddenly Genevieve shifted topics when she saw a nice clothing store.

"Oh! I need to buy some stuff!" She exclaims. "What sort of things are we going to be doing here besides the gym?" she asks.

"I mean, I was thinking of getting a fishing rod and entering the tournament." Sota states.

"Anything else I might need to prepare for?" She asks

"Umm…there's a water park here. With slides and stuff." Haku adds. The two boys look at each other after that and shrug.

"Okay, I'll probably need swimwear then!" she announces as she prances into the store. The two boys look at each other and shrug once more before following after her. Now Sota has been exposed to clothes shopping with his mom plenty of times in the past, so he was more than prepared for the amount of time this was going to take.

"Well it looks like there's a sporting goods shop not too far down…so I'm gonna go there to get a rod for the tournament." Sota states.

"Y-Yeah I'm gonna go with Nakamura. Let us know when you're done." Haku says.

"Okay, see you." Genevieve replies.

The boys walk down about half a block to a Rick's Sports and Hobbies store. Looking around the store seemed to have a decent amount of gear for most sports or outdoor hobbies one could think of. Sota also caught sight of a sign near the back of the store for previously owned equipment, so he went over there hoping to luck out on a nice rod at a discount. Haku went looking at the new stuff in the fishing section. The store employee went to help Haku and try and secure a sale on new merchandise, while Sota saw that the pre-owned section didn't have a lot going for it. He shuffled some rods that were essentially stored in a bucket around, trying to see if one looked less beat up than the others. He tried to remember the last time he went fishing and what kind of rod his father used, but he remembered they almost never caught anything and figured that it was no help. Sota resigned himself and picked one of the old rods with sigh. He noticed the one he picked had lure already attached to it that looked like a reflective blue four point star with a frilly dark blue tassel. It didn't look basic, the bucket had a paper sign that said "as is, no refunds", so hopefully the clerk didn't try to up charge him for it.

Sota gets to the counter just as Haku finishes paying for two brand new top of the line fishing rod, the kind the commercials at three in the morning featuring seasoned professional fishermen guarantee can reel up a Gyarados. Sota puts his rod on the counter and the clerk looks it over and double takes on the lure.

"Was this already on there?" He asks Sota.

"Yup, I got it from over in the pre-owned section." Sota replies. The clerk looks skeptically at it, but then just shrugs and rings it up.

Unfortunately for the boys their shopping took about twenty minutes to complete, which wasn't long enough for Genevieve to have finished yet. So they killed some time by passing a soccer ball around to each other in the store, much to the clerk's chagrin. Once they were caught they were asked to stop or be they would have to leave. They went outside and got some drinks from the vending machine instead and took in the view of the canal for a while. Finally after about another half hour they got text messages from Genevieve asking them to come and help her with her bags.

"How're you planning on traveling the rest of the way with all of these extra clothes?" Sota asked Genevieve.

"I don't." She replied simply.

"Where are you gonna put it all then?" He questioned.

"I'll make room, I'll just mail some stuff back home." Genevieve stated. It seemed like a reasonable plan and Sota was just hoping she wasn't expecting him to carry her clothes for her the whole time. Haku distracted himself by looking up what hotels had vacancies in the city.

"So…I was able to book a couple suites for us Dantès-san. It says the hotel is on the corner of 32nd street and Riverside Blvd. which is right next to the waterway." Haku states.

"Oh nice! Maybe we'll have a nice view of all of the boats!" Genevieve comments.

"I'll need to head to the Pokécenter and hope that a bed is free. I'll text you to meet up afterwards." Sota says.

"But, Ryuzaki-san just said he got us suites…" Genevieve mentions. Haku looks a bit taken aback.

"I got you and me suites…I assumed Nakamura was taking care of his own room." Haku corrects. Genevieve looks at him with a mixture of surprise and distraught.

"But we're traveling together now, why would we stay in separate places?" She replies. Haku stays silent looking like a Growlithe who was caught chewing on his human's shoe.

"W-Well I-I…uhh…" Haku begins to stutter.

"It's fine…I wasn't expecting anyone to pay for me, I planned on staying at pokécenters and stuff." Sota interjects seeing Haku drowning and he really didn't want any hand outs so it wasn't a big deal for him.

"No! We're a group now and we should stay as a group. If Sota is staying at a pokécenter then so am I." Genevieve protests. "Lead the way Sota." She states. Sota was kind of caught off guard by this so he just started walking toward the pokécenter.

"B-But…you know I can't stay there!" Haku exclaims.

"Then maybe he should be able to have a room at the hotel also." She declares.

"I-I don't want anyone buying my a hotel room, it's not a big deal for me to stay at a center and meet up with you guys later or in the morning…" Sota insists.

"He doesn't want me to…" Haku says meekly.

"Then I'll get him one." Genevieve insists.

"No!" Sota exclaims. Genevieve ignores him and continues to tap away on her phone so a wrestling match ensues as Sota tries to stop her from purchasing him a room. Genevieve squeals as Sota is able to pry her phone from her and hold it away. In defense of her partner Clair began yapping and barking at Sota, eventually biting his pant leg and pulling on it. Kota couldn't just stand by and allow this, prompting him bump Clair off of his partner and sparking a bark fight between the two.

"Give it back!" Genevieve says unable to decide if she's angry or enjoying this.

"Only if you promise, not to buy me a room." Sota says. Genevieve then lunges at Sota, jumping up and onto his torso as if she were trying to climb him like a tree.

"I don't think this is appropriate behavior out here…" Haku remarks.

"Fine! I won't buy you a room…you'll just stay with Haku!" She insists.

"What?! Why would he stay with me?" Haku protests.

"Or he'll stay with me in my room." She offers.

"He can stay with me." Haku immediately declares.

"Great! Now let's go so we can change and hit the water slides!" Genevieve exclaims.

The hotel they're staying at is definitely one that would exceed Sota's price range. The architecture looks to be modeled very kalosian in style. The suite Haku and Sota are staying in had a sitting room and a bedroom, they were painted off white with the sitting room having a large window with a filigreed frame and the bedroom with large picture windows all framing the canal view. The bedroom had a double bed, an electric fire place with a large mirror over it and a small round table with two cushioned chairs and a TV in the corner. The sitting room had a large sofa that could be folded out as a bed, a larger table with four chairs, a mini fridge with water bottles and juice, and another TV. The boys change into their swim trunks and t-shirts and meet up with Genevieve who is wearing a purple tube top sun dress over her bathing suit, which the black top strings you can see tie around her neck. They take a cab to the water park to save on time and get there in less than fifteen minutes.

Aqua Jet Springs is a large water theme park with multiple large water slides for single and group riders, a large wave pool, a rollercoaster and a slow flowing river that people can float and relax on. A cartoon Squirtle wearing red and yellow swim trunks is the mascot of the park welcoming everyone in at the entrance. Large colorful tube slides zigzag around multiple areas of the park with imported palm trees scattered in between to give an island vibe. The water in every pool is a vibrant cyan color with white foam bubbles that appear as result of the park guests and their pokémon splashing around having fun. A screams of glee are heard from a large Sharpedo themed rollercoaster dominates the sky in the back corner of the park and a long winding closed tube slide was made to look like you're shooting out of the mouth of Gyarados at the bottom. Beside the ticket booth there's a sign detailing the restrictions on pokémon that are too large or heavy for the rides and safety of guests. The trio pays for their tickets and receives their entry wrist bands allowing them to head inside the park grounds. They find some lockers nearby the entrance where they can store their belongings, here they boys store away their shirts and sandals while Genevieve stores her sundress and flip flops.

As Genevieve reveals her voluptuous figure in her black bikini with purple floral pattern, the sound of loud thud is heard a few feet away. When the trio looks over at what made the noise, they see a slack jawed guy wide eyed gawking at Genevieve who dropped his bag and then witness his girlfriend slap the back of his head and make him look elsewhere. Genevieve blushes a bit awkwardly while tying her hair up into a bun and the boys try their best not to stare. Genevieve pulls out some sunscreen and begins applying it to herself while Sota and Haku find interest in the fine materials used to construct this particular building.

"Um…could one of you put some on my back?" She asks the two. Haku freezes as is his usual defense mechanism so Sota takes the bottle and squirts some lotion on his hand. He's put sunscreen on his brother's and mom's back plenty of times before…so this shouldn't feel as awkward as it does.

"Ok all done!" Sota declares and hands her back the bottle.

"Thanks." She replies and puts the last of her things away.

"S-So what ride you wanna go on first?" Sota tries to break the tension.

"We should probably ride the rollercoaster before we get wet…" Haku replies.

"That sounds like fun." Genevieve remarks and they head off in that direction. The walk over started out pretty silent as they wind their way past a few different slides and jump cliffs.

"Sorry if that guy at the lockers creeped you out…" Sota says to Genevieve.

"It's alright; it's happened plenty of times before." She explains with a forced smile.

"Are you used to it?" He asks.

"No. You don't really get used to it, I just hope they leave it at that and don't end up hounding the whole day." She elaborates looking a bit bummed by it.

"Well if you feel like someone is bothering you and I don't notice, just let me know and I'll keep them off." Sota offers.

"Thanks, it shouldn't be an issue really and I definitely don't want you to get into any trouble over me." She replies with a more genuine smile. Sota tries to stay on high alert for the rest of their time at the park which allows him to realize now just how many people look at or stare at her. He tries his best to walk in a position to block most people's view of her back side at least; he knows he can't shield all of her short of throwing a towel around her.

"Sota just walk beside me please." She chuckles as she notices how hard he's trying. Sota blushes since he was trying to be a little more inconspicuous about what he was doing and speeds up to walk beside her. She gives him a smile and pats his arm.

"Thanks for trying, but it just makes it weirder having you hover around me like that." She explains.

"Sorry…" He replies as he drags his hand through his hair to which she giggles.

"You're fine…don't worry." She reassures Sota as she loops her arm with his. This strikes a visceral reaction in Sota's chest that he's never felt before. The closest thing he can equate to it is when he got punched in the gut by that big guy in Pewter City. Non-humanoid pokémon were not allowed on the coaster so there was a waiting area for the Eevees. The wait in line for the coaster was long, but the boys took the time to regale Genevieve about the rods they bought and almost getting kicked out of the store for playing with a ball too much. Before they knew it they were next in line to get on. The three sat in the same row with Genevieve in between the two boys and the ride was a blur of screaming and laughing as Sota pretended to pass out on the loops letting his arms dangle limply. After getting off, they hurried to the photo station and saw the preview of the three of them on the coaster. Haku looking like a pilot going through g-force training, Genevieve laughing hysterically at Sota whose head is off to side limp with his eyes closed.

"You're so weird!" Genevieve laughs slapping Sota's arm.

"Did I forget to mention I pass out on fast rides?" Sota jokingly asks.

Next they went to the water slides that let them ride in a large inflatable raft as a group. The trio sat in the circular raft and the two Eevees huddled in the center as they slid down the twisting slide until they splashed into the pool at the bottom. Clair whimpers to Genevieve as she pitter patters around the raft.

"Aww…it looks as though Clair is not enjoying the water rides. Perhaps I should go put her in her ball for now." Genevieve laments.

"Yeah I think I'll do the same with Kota." Sota replies. Kota snaps his head up in confusion.

"No sense in me going somewhere alone…" Haku remarks. They go back to the lockers where Sota and Genevieve put their Eevees back in their corresponding pokéballs and lock them back up in the storage lockers. As they start walking to the next ride, three people walk up and block their path.

"Oi, oi…look who we got here." Sota looks up to see the gunman from the Mt. Moon caverns, along with broken nose thug, the Oak lab thief and some woman. "If it isn't the Good Samaritan Squad."

"You! What the hell are you doing here?!" Sota demands.

"What's it look like chump, we're here takin' a load off. Scopin' out the local talent…" He says looking at Genevieve up and down suggestively. "Very talented…" he adds.

"I'm gonna call the cops and—"Sota begins but is cut off.

"And what? We haven't been botherin' anyone." He slowly swaggers over to Genevieve and puts his arm around her shoulders. She immediately pushes his arm off and steps behind Haku. Broken nose walks over to the other side and eyeballs Haku who stays still.

"I'll tell them what you were doin' in the mountain and what he did in Pallet Town." Sota explains.

"What proof you got for any of those allegations?" the gunman asks smugly. "That's right, none whatsoever. So why don't we just calm down and think before one of does something very stupid." He adds. Sota grits his teeth as the woman and broken nose thug chuckle arrogantly at them.

"Look, I'm a nice guy and I'm off the clock today so I'm gonna offer you something I don't offer often." He begins to explain. "How about we start over and be pals? Huh? My name is Kojir o…this lovely lady is Musashi, my large friend is Kosaburo and lastly but not least is Kurtz. And you are?..." He asks with a Cheshire grin.

"Not your friend. Step aside and leave us alone." Sota demands sternly on the outside, but inside he is restraining the urge to run. Flashes of this grinning bastard pointing a gun in his face is distressing to Sota, but also causing him to freeze in place. He just has to continue to make it seem like he's standing his ground and keep from freaking out.

"Well that's not very nice to say." Kojiro states with his grin disappearing. "You're lucky I'm lettin' you off right now, but you better pray to Arceus we don't meet on the street boy. If we do I'll be takin' the prince's girlfriend there for ride and the next time your mommy sees you…it'll be in a casket." Kojiro and his crew begin to chuckle as the force their way through the trio.

Sota takes a few deep breaths and steadies his shaky hand. Genevieve lightly rubs his back hoping to help him calm down. Sota's breathing settles and he gives a nod of reassurance that he's okay. They continue about their day and while it takes a bit of time to fully start enjoying themselves again, they are able to still have fun together. They do take a break from the rides for a bit to have some ice cream from the Vanillite shaped treats stand in the park.

"Do you think we should go to police anyways and tell them about those people?" Genevieve asks in between licks of her strawberry ice cream cone.

"I think we should." Haku replies.

"It's like they said…what proof do we have that it was them? They'll just deny even being there and nothing will happen except they might come after us even harder." Sota says. The other two nod in reluctant acceptance of the logic.

"Well Professor Oak and his assistants saw the one who stole the pokémon back in Pallet…wouldn't that be proof enough?" She asks.

"Maybe, or maybe their friends visit Oak and his lab like they did the curator in the mountain." Sota counters.

"I don't want to have the Professor harmed…" Genevieve laments. "I just wish there was a way to have them be punished for what they did to the both of you." She elaborates.

"For now let's just try to avoid them at all costs…" Haku suggests. The other two agreed that it's probably the best way to go.

After the ice cream break, they return to hitting the slides and lounging on the lazy river on Lapras floating tubes. They spend some time in the giant wave pool just talking the trip so far, laugh about some of the mishaps that have happened, and talk about their plans for their time in Cerulean. Overall it was a fun day for the three trainers who seem closer to calling each other friends. Once they've had their fill of water and sun, the trio dries off as best they can and retrieve their belongings so they can leave the park.

"So where can we go for dinner? I am starving!" Genevieve asks

"What about the ice cream?" Sota laughs.

"That was like two hours ago? And it was so small, so it's time to eat a real meal!" she exclaims.

"There's a restaurant my dad likes to go to when we come here. They serve some good food." Haku suggests and Genevieve agrees.

"What kind of restaurant are we talkin' about here?" Sota asks since Haku's father probably has some expensive tastes.

"It's called The Pier; it's mainly seafood if you're okay with it." Haku explains.

"Ooo that sounds yummy!" Genevieve says excitedly.

"The type of food served isn't really what I was wondering about…" Sota reiterates.

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it…or at least my father will." Haku reassures Sota.

"Let's go then!" Genevieve insists. Sota doesn't feel comfortable with it, but he keeps quiet with how excited Genevieve is about the place. Hopefully there are a few cheaper items on the menu when they get there. Before heading to eat, they stop by the hotel so they can shower and change clothes. Sota doesn't have a lot of what would be called "variety" in wardrobe. He wears his blazer over a hoodie with his jeans and sneakers topped off with his cap. They've been washed so it's not like they're dirty or anything. Then Haku comes out of the bedroom in like a silk button down shirt with a traditional style dragon art wrapping around him with black slacks and nice dress shoes. Sota stares at him flatly.

"…What?" Haku asks in response to glare.

"You look like a K-Pop idol." Sota remarks to which Haku sucks his teeth at him…it reminds Sota of Jiro.

"It's a nice place so I'm just dressing appropriately." Haku explains.

"Gee thanks." Sota says sarcastically taking it as a jab at his clothes.

"I-I'm not trying to say anything about what you're wearing…" Haku stammers.

"Mmhmm. Nice dragon shirt…very subtle." Sota jabs. Haku pauses and thinks when he looks down and realizes what he's done. Haku retreats to the bedroom and comes out five minutes later with a shiny gold button down shirt.

"Is this better?" he asks Sota.

"Oh yeah much, no one will notice you now." Sota says sarcastically again. Haku rolls his eyes and gives up.

"I don't have anything really low key when it comes to nice clothes. I usually only wear it to places where people are gonna know who I am anyways." Haku explains.

"I'm just sayin'…don't expect to go unrecognized." Sota states. Just then the boys receive a simultaneous text from Genevieve that she's ready to go if they are. When they meet her in the hall they see Genevieve in a short black off the shoulder dress with black heels. Her hair is left long and flowing and she has black ribbon choker with a rose colored jewel charm and a few thin gold bracelets. She has a small black purse with a gold colored chain strap to match. She looks beautiful and when he sees her next to Haku he can't help but think, Oh God…I'm gonna be the third wheel on a date…

The restaurant is only a few blocks from their hotel and looks similar in architecture as some of the other Kalosian style buildings around it and it sits next to a dock that protrudes into the canal. They wait outside on a terrace for about twenty minutes with a group of other couples. While there a few of the more outgoing guests came over and introduced themselves to Haku and expressed their admiration of his father before they were all taken in to sit at once. The interior is intimately lit from the small can lights and lantern style overhead lights above the preparation and seating area. The dining room is very minimalist with just one long cedar wood wrap around table that faces into the small kitchen so the guests can watch the food be prepared. Each seat is a white tall back cushioned chair and there are about twelve in total. In front of each seat on the table is a set of chop sticks resting on a narrow stone waiting for their guest. The trio is directed to the outer corner of the table where there are four chairs. Haku sits down at the chair next to the empty seat at the far end furthest from strangers. Genevieve gives a small pause when he does; Sota shakes his head and pulls her chair out while giving Haku a glare that says 'Really?' To which Haku shrugs awkwardly.

"Thank you." Genevieve tells Sota with a smile. Sota pushes her chair in for her to sit and then sits next to Genevieve on her other side right on the corner next to where another guest will sit. The rest of the guests take their seats at the table and the Chef welcomes everyone and explains the menu to them. It seems by how he's only explaining one meal comprised of five courses that Sota's hope of choosing a cheap option was a fantasy. He looked around a bit taken back and noticed that no one else at this meal looked at all bothered by any of this. It cemented the fact that he now knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he did not belong here.

"Everything sound interesting no?" Genevieve asks the boys grinning from ear to ear.

"Interesting is one way to put it…" Sota replies under his breath.

"It's all really good so I hope you like it." Haku tells her.

The starters are prepared in front of them and served in about five minutes as some of the elements didn't need to be cooked so much as assembled. They each get a plate with small portioned bowls on them containing a tamago tofu, sweet black soybeans, simmered Tatsugiri, miso glazed eggplant and koya tofu. Everything positioned perfectly with contrasting colors to make it all look almost fake. Everyone began eating and expressing their satisfaction with the bite sized starters. There wasn't much choice for Sota so he ate as well wondering how much each chew costs; it was delicious though. Shortly after finishing the starter course most of the guests were served with Sake, Umeshu or some domestic beer. Except for the trio, who are under age, and had their choice of soft drink or water. Sota didn't know if this would affect the price at all, but he chose the water anyways just in case while the Genevieve had a lemon/lime soda and Haku chose a cola.

The next course was their choice of either clear soup or Foongus Suimono. Sota went with the clear soup that had bits of onion and Foongus in it, Haku and Genevieve both chose the Suimono. The next course served a selection of seasonal sashimi which in this case was Slowpoke tail thinly sliced along with Magikarp and some Octillery all served with dishes of some different dipping sauces. Shortly after with barely anytime to finish those, a plate of grilled imported Feebas was served with crispy skin and grilled quarter of a cob of corn. After that they're served a small bowl of cucumber salad with vinegar dressing as a palate cleanser.

"Isn't everything great so far?" Genevieve asks Sota.

"Yeah everything has been great." Sota replies, which he wasn't lying he just felt so out of place here. She and Haku went on to wax on about the flavors and textures, the strangers to his right were whispering between each other about the philosophical meanings behind each course and the ingredients used. Who cares as long as it tastes good? Sota thought. Then came the protein course; small plates of different kinds of sliced Tauros beef, Lechonk pork dumpling, tofu and Foongus. All cooked separately and intended to be mixed together and enjoyed. It seemed like it was the awkward meal that never ended as the next serving was a small helping of tempura fried vegetables and Tatsugiri and Sota finally found something he didn't like in the form of a cup of steamed egg custard. Shortly after that came a surprisingly simple serving of plain white rice with a small cup of miso soup and some pickled vegetables on the side.

Finally came the desert indicating the end of the meal. Desert consisted of a martini glass half filled with a clear sweet gelatin with some diced pinaps, mago and kebia berries inside with a ball of matcha flavored ice cream. They provided some roasted green tea if you wanted to pair with desert, but Sota declined. It was obvious how much Genevieve and Haku enjoyed the meal and atmosphere, but Sota couldn't stop feeling a growing feeling of unease in his gut. I hope I didn't catch any food poisoning, because that's all I need right now right before the fishing competition. He thought to himself. Genevieve offered to pay for herself, but Haku insisted and paid for the meal which didn't help the way he felt.

"Thank you for this Ryuzaki-san." She told him with a smile.

"It's no problem, really. A-And you can call me Haku…if you want to." Haku said with a bashful smirk, God I think I'm gonna be sick. Sota thought watching him preen.

"Yeah thank you for the meal Ryuzaki." Sota said.

"You're welcome." Haku replied.

The three trainers went back to their hotel rooms to sleep in preparation for the fishing tournament the next day. Haku took the bedroom, which was fine since he is paying for it, and Sota folded out the sofa bed which was surprisingly comfortable. Laying there in the dark Sota still couldn't shake the strange feeling he had during dinner. Remembering the other two smiling and enjoying everything he wonders why he couldn't enjoy any of it. It was such a strange and disappointing ending to an otherwise fun day. Kota hopped up onto the sofa bed with Sota and skedaddled around and over him trying to find the most comfortable spot he could. He finally chose to curl up into Sota's chest and rest his head under Sota's chin. Sota began to pet his friend slowly and think on his feelings. What is the difference? What is the cause? He thought about things that have happened over the trip so far and how the memories made him feel. While he lay there aimlessly petting Kota, a few instances gave him a physical reaction to remembering them. Seeing Genevieve for the first time in Pallet Town, talking with Jiro in his dorm, the feeling of receiving Kota, Genevieve kissing him on the cheek, catching his first pokémon, playing the piano in the school, the feeling when he realized Genevieve had watched him play, a real life gun being pressed against his head, Genevieve laughing at his dumb jokes, Genevieve in a bikini, her holding his arm as they walked and her enjoying dinner with Haku.

Some of those things are him interacting with people and things that he loves. Others are times where he felt horrified. The majority has a common denominator that made him feel something he can't quite define. It makes him feel great, but it also makes him feel…terrified….

Oh fuck…