(Or, "Enter the Ogre")

With the Festival of Masks underway, Carmine busied herself with continuous games of Ogre Oustin', an activity she enjoyed doing since she was young since it was a great way for her to ride out some of her pent-up emotions. At the same time, she was reluctantly entrusting Juliana to spend the evening with Kieran checking out everything else at the festival.

Even then, Carmine couldn't help herself, after getting off the Stantler provided to her, from peering through the town fences to spy on the pair.

To her relief however, nothing nefarious was going on. Juliana and Carmine were walking around, eating candy apples. Juliana had bought a mask for herself to wear, a pink one based on one of the Loyal Three Fezandipiti, admired for its beauty and the belief that it bestows good fortunes. Carmine was intrigued by Juliana's choice, to say the least.

But what interested her even more was what the two of them were doing the whole time… which was just smiling and laughing with each other. In fact, Kieran seemed to look happier now than he had been in the past few months, at least from Carmine's observation.

She felt a warm smile on her face seeing her brother so happy, and much to her surprise, looking at Juliana seemed to make her want to smile too.

But this emotional response felt confusing to her, and finding a nearby bench, Carmine decided to sit with her arms in her lap and gather her thoughts.

I don't know. Maybe I really did have this whole 'outsiders ruining our land' thing all wrong. I just wanted to protect everyone, and protect Kieran too. But…

Look at how happy he is. I haven't seen him smile like that in so long. He's usually so timid, so quiet. Even that, or mouthing off at me…

A troubling notion began to form in Carmine's mind.

…Have I been pushing Kiki too far?

I poke fun at him for liking the ogre and being friendly with everyone, but… it was all light fun, wasn't it? I definitely didn't know how much he took the story with the ogre seriously and how happy it makes him…

Some dumb legend that isn't even real.

But Gram did order me to start supporting him more…

She heard a familiar loud laugh in the distance, and noticed Juliana. She'd been playing a balloon squirting game with Kieran, and laughed when Kieran sprayed her with the gun. Probably as revenge for beating him.

Juliana… Why do I keep convincing myself she's some evil mastermind, when she's… clearly just a dumb, naïve kid like Kieran? Happy at everything because she doesn't know any better.

Trying to force me to be her friend.

I don't know, I still hate the elders of Kitakami trying to force all these tourists into our home. This place has been just fine the way it is since we were kids. It doesn't need all these outsiders meddling around.

She sighed to herself. "I hate this. I keep feeling like I should just let my anger towards this girl go and just enjoy myself… but then she pulls that dumb smile at me again. And I feel all these, these burning feelings inside me…"

She seethed quietly to herself, shaking with her fists, until she noticed a little boy with a mask of Okidogi staring at her.

"What are you looking at, kid?" She turned away from him and pouted, while he just happily ran off with his cotton candy. "Can't a girl have any peace around here?"

At some point, Juliana made her way to the Ogre Oustin' attraction, which she got to play on the house due to being a foreigner… and in one go, managed to beat Carmine's score. A twofer for pushing the Kitakami girl's buttons.

"Aaaagh, I hate losing! That's what I get for falling into your niceness trap!" Carmine raged. "Trying to prove you're better than me! I knew you were no good! And showing off by using one of your own special riding Pokémon while you're at it! I can't believe they allow you to break the rules like that, you cheater!"

Juliana just laughed at how red Carmine's face was, which of course only made it redder.

"KIKI! Go serve Juliana a sound defeat for me!"

"W-what? Why me!?"

"Because I'm out of pocket money! I know Gramps always lends you more than me, and you need to defend your family honor against this outsider!"

Man, this is just like what my mom likes to say: "One step forward, and two steps back," Juliana thought to herself, amused.

Kieran resigned himself to dealing with Carmine's wrath while telling Juliana to wander around on her own and enjoy the festival.

So she took a little stroll around the area in front of the big temple, admiring the rows of paper lanterns lined up on the poles, and watching the children eat snow cones around all the big monuments.

As she rounded the corner past the temple however, Juliana spotted something peculiar.

There was a mysterious being that looked like a small child, all wrapped up in green, standing by their lonesome in an area from everyone else. It glanced around in several directions, before darting behind the building.

Is someone's kid running loose? Juliana wondered.

Concerned, she decided to tail behind the strange kid and see where they were going.

Dashing behind the temple building, she met up with the small child. It was standing at the edge of town now, just under the archway leading towards Oni Mountain. Juliana noticed that it seemed to be frantically looking in all directions.

Is this kid in trouble with someone and trying to hide?

But then… the child did something weird. Once it had scoped out all directions around it, it started leaping for joy and making strange noises.

Then it stopped dead in its tracks upon spotting Juliana. Juliana could now see that this peculiar young child was dressed up in a huge green cloak, looked like it was wearing black tights or something with unique sandals, and had a teal mask over their face that looked remarkably similar to Kieran's… but much bigger, covering its whole face, and with sparkling crystal decorations lining it.

Juliana, not sure who this child was or why it was hiding away from the rest of the crowd, decided to approach them and knelt down with a friendly smile on her face.

"Hi there…" she said gently. "Are you okay?"

The mysterious child just stared at her through their mask.

"Pon?"

"Are you enjoying the festival? That's a really cool mask!" Juliana complimented.

The child jumped up happily in response, and made cheerful noises.

"Ponio!"

While Kieran was all wrapped up in a game of Ogre Oustin'… which really meant that he was flailing and screaming while the Stantler he was riding ran around in all directions confused by its riders' orders, Carmine took a look out of the festival grounds and realized she couldn't see Juliana anymore.

"Huh… where did that pest run off to?"

She took some cautious walks around the area, stretching her neck out in different directions. Then she thought she saw something behind some bushes near the temple.

She poked her head through them and saw Juliana standing at the very edge of town.

"Huh? What are you doing all alone over there, you strange girl?"

She's not… thinking of hightailing it for Oni Mountain, isn't she?

Oh dear. Nobody warned her about all the creepy Ghost Pokémon that wander the cliffs of the mountain at night. I mean, my Pokémon and I can deal with a few mischievous ghosts no problem… but an outsider like her?

…Do I really wanna try and stop her?

She put her hand to her heart as she felt conflicted.

Ugh. I don't care about her. Why am I getting all worked up?

But… Kitakami is a really dangerous place at night. The Ghost Pokémon are one thing, but there's also that really weird Kitakami Ogre Clan or whatever that likes to hide out in weird places and ambush people…

She huffed defiantly.

You know what? I am a Guardian of Mossui Town, and it's my job to protect everyone in it! Even annoying outsiders!

That's right! It's nothing to do with Juliana, it's just my job to make sure she's alright!

Giving herself resolve, Carmine briskly ran to the edge of town where Juliana was… and then slowed her pace and decided to act casual, so as not to raise her suspicion's.

"Hey, Juliana! There you are!"

"C-Carmine!" Juliana reacted, sounding weirdly panicked.

"Check this out, right? Kiki's no use at all! Zero talent for oustin' ogres, I'm telling you!"

"Carmine, what are you—"

"EEE!"

Suddenly, a small child standing next to Juliana yelped in fear, and hightailed it outside of town and towards the steps leading up the mountain.

"Uhh… who was that?"

Juliana groaned and looked at her angrily. "I don't know! I just saw them wandering around by themselves and wanted to make sure they were alright. But you just scared them away!"

"Well, I didn't—Look! No time to play blame games, okay? Whose kid was that, anyway? It's not safe to play around here! Or go outside of town, especially at night!"

"Well then, we'd better follow them pronto!" Juliana declared, and to Carmine's shock, she sprinted down the road outside of town.

Eventually, feeling out of breath, she made it to the stairs going up the mountain. The mysterious child was at the top of them, looking down upon her with their glimmering mask.

"Hey!" Juliana called out, cupping her hands together. "We're really sorry for scaring you! It's okay, you can come down now! I promise!"

Carmine rushed up alongside her. "Wait, Juliana! You shouldn't run off on your own!"

Juliana was surprised to see Carmine looking at her with such concern.

"Hey, new kid! That goes for you too!" Carmine called out to the child.

The child seemed to shiver and step back upon seeing Carmine.

Suddenly, it leapt in the air and landed atop even more stairs. But then, losing its balance, the child's teal mask slipped off its face and tumbled down the stairs, until it landed at Juliana's feet.

"Woah! That's a pretty snazzy mask!" Carmine commented.

Juliana picked up the mask. She looked up at the child who had just dropped it, but that's when she realized something wasn't right.

Upon looking up, she saw the exact same glowing yellow eyes that were looking down upon her from the mountain earlier that evening.

The face that Juliana saw looked immensely terrified… but more importantly, it didn't look like the face of a human child at all.

Apprehensively, Juliana picked up the mask, which felt surprisingly heavy in her hands, and held it out towards the "child", reaching up with it.

"Hey… hey, don't worry, I've got your mask right here…"

The "child" moved a step forward cautiously, looking nervous. Juliana tried to keep a quiet composure so as not to scare it, but…

"You should come back!" Carmine shouted. "The mountain's dangerous at night!"

The "child" reared back, appearing frightened and shy. Then, making both of them gasp, it covered its face in its cloaked arms and sprinted away, completely out of sight.

"Wha…?"

"Who was that?" Carmine wondered. "Where'd that kid come from?"

Juliana took a close look at the teal mask she was holding.

It was not a plastic mask like Kieran's.

It was large, heavy, and looked to be made of painted wood. The paint was actually chipping at several points on the mask, making it look quite old. The crystals adorned on it were shining and glimmering, minus some pieces that had broken off in the fall. To Juliana, these crystals felt… strangely familiar to her.

That, along with the brief glimpse she got of the creature's face, caused a huge realization to dawn upon her.

"Carmine! I-I don't think that was a kid at all!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"It looked more like a Pokémon than a person… And, and this mask… It's so old and uniquely made… And it looks just like the one in the legends…"

"What are you trying to get?" Then her eyes grew wide. "Wait… all that, and they ran off toward the mountain… You're not possibly suggesting it was…"

"THE OGRE!" Carmine and Juliana declared at the same time.

Carmine gasped. "The real ogre!? From the story on all the signboards?"

"It has to be… it has to be!"

"Are you saying that story was TRUE!?"

Juliana was taken aback. "Wait, so you didn't even believe in it?"

"Well, I—" Carmine was still utterly rattled. "I just thought it was a folktale they made up this whole time, t-to keep kids from wandering off into the dangerous parts of Kitakami! That's—that's the whole reason I thought it was so irresponsible for Kiki to think the ogre was the hero! But—but…"

She glanced at the huge mask, still in Juliana's hands.

"I mean, they did drop this mask… And you're right, I've never seen one like that. So it really must be…"

"Juliana! Sis!"

Their realization was cut short when they both heard Kieran calling their names.

"Oh no…" Carmine said quietly.

"What're you guys doin' all the way over here? I tried looking for you, and then I heard you both shouting."

Juliana gasped. "Kieran! You're never gonna believe this! We both just saw—"

"HEY!" Carmine gasped. "Wait—stop, stop, stop!" She waved her hands frantically in Juliana's face to make her shush, which startled and confused her.

"Huh?" Kieran was confused too. "Why are you yellin' all of a sudden, sis?"

"I-it's nothing!" Carmine said frantically. "It's nothing you'd be interested in at all, I swear!"

Juliana watched all this with a face of shock. She didn't understand why Carmine was insisting upon this.

"Huh."

Kieran took this with a blank response. He glanced at Juliana, who looked like a deer in headlights. He had never seen her looking so frantic either.

"Were you… were you makin' fun of me behind my back or something…?" he said with great worry.

"No, no!" Juliana pleaded, her eyes wide with alarm. "Kieran, it wasn't like that at all! I swear!"

"Huh?" Kieran reared back. "W-wait! I was just talking to my sis! Juliana? Why are—why are you acting like that?"

"I—I didn't… Oops," Juliana said sheepishly.

Carmine groaned. "It was a DUSKULL, okay! Juliana and I found a Duskull outside of town and were just trying to shoo it off! Right? Right!?" she looked to Juliana for affirmation.

But Juliana just stood there, her lip quivering in panic.

Kieran looked frustrated. "But that doesn't make sense. Why would you…?" Now he looked to Juliana for affirmation… and her face just grew more paralyzed. He sighed. "I'm just gonna… I'm just gonna head back to the festival…"

His head drifting downward a bit, he turned around and started walking back without another word. Juliana wanted to stop him. Wanted to reach out or say something. But… she couldn't bring herself to.

"Whew, that was a close one," said Carmine, taking this in a lot more stride than her. "At least he didn't figure out what we were really talking about."

She then turned to Juliana with a furious look, which frightened the poor girl.

"And YOU! Don't scare me like that—blabbing about the ogre for the whole world to hear! Don't you have any filter at all!?"

Juliana, going through several stages of emotions at all, settled on anger.

"Wh—well, why were we LYING to Kieran!? You saw the ogre, just the same as I did! What the heck is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me!? I'm looking out for my little bro! And hey, we did not lie to him!"

"Yeah, not until you brought up the Dusko—whatever you said! Or said he wouldn't be interested in the ogre of all things!"

"First of all, that's not a lie, more like… an exaggeration. There are Duskull creeping around these parts sometimes, so it probably wasn't really wrong. And look… the thing about the ogre."

Carmine knelt down to meet Juliana more at eye level, and put a hand on her shoulder. This brought Juliana out of her anger… because this was a brand new side the Kitakami girl was showing her.

"See, Juliana… here's the thing. You know how much Kiki likes the ogre. Like, really, really, REALLY likes it."

"Well, y-yeah…"

"So, if he found out we'd seen the ogre without him… I-I guess I was just afraid he'd feel bad… y'know?"

Carmine knelt down knees low to the ground and looked forlorn, genuinely morose in a way Juliana hadn't seen her before.

"Feel left out or something…" She looked up at Juliana now, a totally new sight, with a face that almost looked… pleading. "Am I… am I overthinking it?"

Juliana was shocked to see Carmine being so vulnerable with her all of a sudden.

She's never been this sincere with me. I guess I really am breaking her walls down…

She noticed for the first time that Carmine had a really cute beauty mark underneath her left eye.

"Well… No, not really… But… But um… He still thinks we were having fun without him. I… I can't believe he thought we were both making fun of him!"

Carmine stood up once more. "Yeah, I don't know what was up with that. It's not usually like him to jump to conclusions and assume the worst… Oh, well. He'll get over it. 'Sides, I didn't want him running up the mountain to follow the ogre at this hour, either."

She took a big sigh. "Well… in any case, we already lied about it, and that's that. Hey, Juliana. Let's… keep this whole thing our little secret, okay? And maybe hold off on showing Kiki that mask you just picked up, too."

Juliana looked distraught. "I-I don't know…"

"Please…?" Carmine appealed to her with both her hands clasped. "I just want him to be safe. And… and look. I can… tell already you're not the world's greatest liar. So… from now on, just leave the lyin' to me. I'm his big sister, so I'm used to it."

Juliana still looked uncertain.

"Okay, look… I'm asking you as…" She stuck her tongue out for a second, in disbelief she was about to say this. "I'm—I'm asking you as a friend, okay? A secret between friends isn't so bad, right?"

"F-f-friend?"

Juliana was completely gobsmacked to hear Carmine call her that. She looked at the girl's worried face, and at the large mask still in her hands…

"I…" She gulped. "Okay. Yes. I promise."

"Oh, thank you, thank you so much!" Carmine said really cheerfully. "I'll make it worth your while, just wait and see! Do you like mochi? I'll make sure to win you a ton of mochi!"

Carmine started to run off towards town again. Juliana was going to let her, until she looked down and…

"Hey, wait!"

"What?" Carmine stopped.

"W-what about the mask? And… the ogre? Shouldn't—shouldn't we try to give this back to it?"

"Umm…" Carmine's eyes bulged. "Yeah, darn. I kind of forgot about that. Umm… look. Let's not worry about it for tonight, okay? It'd be dangerous to try to go after that thing anyways. Just—just keep that wherever you're sleeping for now, and I promise we'll get back to it tomorrow or something, okay?"

"O-okay."

"Great! And…" Carmine put her hand to her heart and gave a genuine smile. "Thanks, Juliana."

She ran off again.

…

Juliana was of two minds.

On the one hand, she still felt an awful pit in her stomach after deceiving Kieran like that, a friend who she'd promised never to keep secrets from.

But… she also felt like she was floating. She couldn't explain why. Something about Carmine calling her a friend… thanking her so sincerely… and smiling at her. Like, a real genuine smile.

Juliana felt strange flutters through her body thinking about it.

Her mouth wanted to do one of two things as she gazed upon the ogre's mysterious mask.

"Could I really do this…?" she wondered aloud, like she was talking to the mask. "Is it still possible to make two friends out of this whole ordeal?"

She looked up towards Oni Mountain, where the ogre had run off.

"Maybe… three?"