Juliana stretched her arms out with a loud groan as she stepped out of her guest bedroom in the Mossui Town community center.
Emerging from her dark cave with a nasty case of bedhead, she felt just a tiny bit groggy, the result of Briar wanting everyone to be up and at 'em an hour earlier than Juliana was used to waking up for classes at Uva Academy, or in the midst of her Treasure Hunt study in the rest of Paldea.
Not too big a deal, since she was no stranger to an irregular sleep schedule, especially when she was deep in her many quests. But after all the excitement of yesterday, Juliana fell into bed and basically crashed. And even after that, she would all but admit to anyone that she felt pretty beat.
Having to sit through Briar's "daily morning orientation" did no favors in making her want to just go back to bed and pass out for the next year or two.
Luckily, the community center was serving free soft pretzels for breakfast, and Juliana decided at that moment that hot pretzels with mustard were a godsend.
Even so, she was still rubbing her eyes when she stepped out of the community center, wincing at the sun like some kind of vampire… when a sudden voice jolted her awake.
"FINALLY! There you are, Queen of the Snorlax!"
"Wh—Huh!?"
Carmine had been pacing at the center of town outside the center, apparently waiting all that time for Juliana to get up for who knows how long.
"Look sharp, Juliana! Just because we didn't agree to meet doesn't mean you get to keep me waiting!"
"Wha… what are you talking about?" said Juliana, all dazed. "Let me sleep in for another hour if you're gonna start yelling at me again…"
Carmine snarled her teeth. "Hey! Do you want me to slap you until you're all the way awake!? Because you're really askin' for it right now and I'll gladly provide that service for free!"
Juliana just responded with a groggy groan.
"See, uh… the thing is… I wanted to talk to you for a bit," Carmine said more softly, a total shift in demeanor.
She was tugging at her wrist now, and looking downwards. Almost a 180 from how she'd looked seconds ago… or indeed, for much of the time Juliana had seen her.
Juliana rubbed her whole face so she could give her friend… that's right her friend, the utmost attention.
"You haven't told anybody about the, y'know… the… thing that happened yesterday? Right?"
"…What thing?"
"Y—Do you lose your whole memory when you sleep or something!?" Carmine shouted.
"Heh, there you are…" Juliana chuckled. "Sorry. It was a joke."
"Ugh." Carmine pinched the bridge of her nose. "You are completely impossible to deal with sometimes. Listen. You still have the… you-know-what that I asked you to keep, right?" She squinted. "And you'd better know what I'm talking about."
"Why are we speaking in code? Are there spies listening in on us or something?" Juliana asked, amused at Carmine's overtly cautious mannerisms. "Anyway… yeah, I got it. It's in my room."
"You'd seriously have better not shown that thing to anyone! If I find out you blabbed, I'm gonna make you swallow a Koffing whole!"
Juliana sighed. "I seriously didn't. Skwovet Scout's honor."
"…Whatever that is, it sounds stupid. But great. Because uhh… I did tell my grandpa about it since I thought he might know something. He often talks about old Kitakami legends. And… he said he wants to see the both of us pronto. And he wants you to bring the mask."
"Oh. Huh."
"You remember where my house is, right?" Juliana nodded. "Great! Bring that thing without anyone seeing you, and don't keep either of us waiting, okay?"
Juliana grabbed the ogre's mask and ran to Carmine's house as quickly as she could… and was promptly blocked from entering the yard.
"Umm, excuse me!? I thought when you went back to your room, you were going to fix that rat's nest trying to swallow your face!"
"Ugh. Carmine, my legs are killing me…"
"Well, I can't be seen with you looking the way you do! Do you know what that would do to my image?" Carmine smiled a little. "Actually… you should do your ponytail like you had last night. It looked cute on you."
"Awww, you thought I looked cute?"
…
"Just go back and do your hair please so you don't look like a total disaster."
So off she went back to her room at the center to redo her hair like Yukito showed her, and then Juliana went back to the house, where Carmine was waiting out front with her grandfather.
Just as she made it to the porch, the door swung open.
"Kieran!"
"Hey, Juliana! G'mornin'!" Kieran greeted cheerfully.
"Urk!" went a startled Carmine. "Tsk, he's awake."
"I thought I saw you comin' up to our house! Wanna go see the last signboard?"
"Oh! Um…" Juliana scratched her head nervously. "Right. Forgot about that. See, the thing is…"
Carmine started rapidly shaking her head at her, which made Juliana feel paralyzed again. So she motioned Carmine to speak instead.
"Kiki, go find someplace else to be! Juliana's got business with me!" Carmine ordered, taking the initiative a little too seriously. Juliana winced.
Kieran looked crushed for a second, which made Juliana's heart shatter into pieces.
"Seriously? She's spending all this time with you now…" He shot back up at Carmine and looked mad. "That's so unfair! You can be such a jerk…"
"What'd you just call me!?"
Then, out of nowhere, Kieran grabbed Juliana's wrist, making her gasp, and tried to start walking.
"C'mon, Juliana. We don't need her." But Juliana wouldn't budge. "…Juliana? What's wrong?"
Juliana's mind was racing. She didn't expect Kieran to try to force her away like this, or to say something so harsh to Carmine. She was starting to feel that pit in her stomach again.
We… we were all fine last night. What on earth happened!?
"Kieran…" She gently slid her hand out from Kieran's grasp. "Look… I know we still have the last signboard. But… I… Carmine's right. I wanted to… speak with her and your grandpa about something important first. Then I promise we can go adventuring right afterwards, okay?"
Kieran didn't respond for a few seconds. He looked at Juliana's arm in a weird way, like he wasn't sure why he grabbed it that hard. But then… he just ran off.
"Hmph!"
Juliana looked after him, shocked.
"What's his deal? Kiki should know better than to talk back to me like that," said Carmine.
"That's enough, Carmine!" Hideko scolded. "Be kind to your younger brother!"
"I WAS being kind! It's not like I'm the one going around grabbing people without their permission!" She gently took Juliana's arm in her own hand. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"N-no. I'm fine but… that was so odd of him."
Hideko looked saddened. "I'm sorry, Juliana. I don't know what's gotten into him. He's been so moody ever since he came home from the festival last night."
"Great, he must have hit puberty at last," Carmine remarked, rolling her eyes. "Maybe he'll finally grow a few inches. Anyway, we've got more important things to discuss, right Juliana? C'mon, you've gotta show grandpa the you-know-what!"
Juliana was still a little shaken, both from that encounter that just happened and how callous Carmine's attitude seemed. She was starting to feel similar worries again that she had expressed to Jacq the night prior.
Now Carmine's getting friendlier with me, but less considerate of Kieran…? I'm—I'm starting to feel glad I'm an only child.
Hideko sensed Juliana's turmoil and turned to scold his granddaughter again.
"Carmine, take yourself down a few notches. You need to be more patient with your little brother and your friends." Carmine pouted. "Now then… I know this is all a bit much for you Juliana, so you're welcome to sit on my bench if you need to compose yourself."
"Well, thank you umm—"
"Call me Hideko-san, sweetheart. Oh! But umm… before you do, Carmine was telling me about the mask you found. May I see it, please?"
"Sure thing."
Juliana reached into the backpack she had brought with her and dug out the ogre's mask from it.
Hideko took the mask from her and examined it… and his eyes slowly widened.
"Could this be…? It really is…" He gasped loudly. "This mask, girls! It—it belongs to that poor ogre! Where did you find this!?"
"We saw it last night!" said Juliana. "The ogre!"
"With our own eyes! I tried talking to it all nice and everything, but it dropped that mask and… yeah."
Hideko pondered all of this, gazing down upon the mask. With a thoughtful look on his face, he started pacing.
"I never would've thought that the ogre would still be gracing our festival with its presence after all these years…" he ruminated, stroking his beard.
"Huh?" Carmine put her fingers to her bangs, confused. "What do you mean 'still'? I thought the ogre was a scoundrel that attacked the village."
Hideko didn't answer, his back still turned.
"…There's more to the story than that, isn't there?" Juliana probed.
"…"
Hideko turned around to face them, looking resigned.
"I suppose it's time I told you, Carmine…" But he turned to look at Juliana. "Juliana… you're a nice girl, but would it be too much to ask if I told Carmine what I know alone? It's no offense to you, but you're not from around here and these are some closely guarded secrets I bear. Not for outsiders to hear."
Juliana glumly nodded. "I get it. I'll wait inside."
She started to turn to walk towards the house, but Carmine gently grabbed her shoulder.
"Juliana's cool, Gramps. I can… I can vouch for her."
Juliana was shocked.
"Y-you can?"
But… your whole thing has been about me being an untrustworthy outsider…
Carmine nodded. "She can keep a secret. I trust her."
Hideko nodded, a soft smirk on his face.
"Very well. This story has been passed down in our family by word of mouth. I learned it from my father. It's a story of truths... A story that must never be told to the rest of the village. Both of you girls must hold it close to your chest and never speak of it to others. Understood?"
They both nodded.
"You see, the truth of what happened with that ogre, or… Ogerpon as it's rightly named, is… the other way around."
"Several hours later, when the ogre returned to the cave...it found its beloved home in ruin, and its partner nowhere to be seen. All that was left were the signs of a struggle and a teal mask.
The ogre donned that mask and went down to the village, perhaps to search for its friend. It found the greedy Pokémon there, gloating over their stolen masks, and defeated all four of them."
"You mean three, gramps," Carmine corrected.
"Huh?"
"We're talking about the Loyal Three, right?"
"Oh…" He cleared his throat. "So you're right. I don't know why I remembered my father telling it to me as four of them. Anyway…"
"For the ogre, it was a matter of honor. But the villagers of course had no idea what was happening nor why.
All they saw was the raging ogre. And they felt great fear. The villagers thought the three Pokémon had fallen trying to protect the village from the ogre.
To honor their sacrifice, the villagers named them the Loyal Three and interred them with care. Wounded and weak, the ogre returned to its cave—alone and with great sadness."
"That's awful…" a sad Juliana reacted. "That poor little thing, alone and misjudged all these years…"
As the story finished, Carmine was bearing her teeth with great fury.
"That's terrible…" She started booming all of a sudden, raising her shaking fists. "Ogerpon didn't deserve that! And the Loyal Three… they're no heroes at all! THEY'RE THE WORST!"
Juliana was taken aback by Carmine's emotions.
For all the times I've seen her yelling, she's never been this angry before!
Carmine dashed to the yard, seemingly unable to stand still. Her eyes were bright and boiling with anger.
"The story everyone's been told is the complete opposite of the truth! Worshipping a bunch of horrible bullies! They gotta hear about this!"
"W-wait, Carmine!" an alarmed Juliana called. "We shouldn't get too—"
"Calm yourself, Carmine!" Hideko suddenly raised his voice. He stood up from the bench. "I already told you to keep it to yourself!"
"But, Grandpa!" Carmine sprinted back in front of her grandfather and seethed even more. "Why!? It's not FAIR! None of this is fair!"
"I'm sorry, my dear… but the villagers believe their own version of history. You know how much they revere the Loyal Three. How do you think they would react to being told that they've got it all wrong?"
"Well! I—I—" Carmine sputtered.
"They'd probably get… angry, right?" Juliana guessed. "A lot of them would probably refuse to believe it."
"Exactly," Hideko nodded. "Back when this all first occurred, the mask maker—that is to say, our ancestor—tried desperately to tell the truth of the matter. But nobody would take him seriously. …In fact, it's said he was persecuted as a heretic."
Carmine still couldn't stop herself from moving. She paced up and down the grass so hard she was threatening to make wells in the ground.
She slammed her fists together. "Oooh, that REALLY gets my blood boiling!"
This is another side of Carmine I haven't seen before, Juliana observed. She always gets mad for a second over some tiny things but… she's really, really angry this time. And… it's like she can't let it go this time.
"In the end, the mask maker chose to protect his descendants—meaning, us—by keeping his mouth shut. However, he kept the truth alive. Passed down from generation to generation as a family secret."
He turned to Juliana rather sorrowfully.
"I really don't want to put too much pressure on you, sweetheart but… you really may be the first one outside of family to know the truth about Ogerpon and the Loyal Three in hundreds of years."
Juliana gulped and laughed nervously. "That's—that's a lot of responsibility."
Juliana felt the weight of this burden for sure. She didn't entirely disagree with Carmine about her being a terrible liar. But… Carmine was also the one who vouched for her, so she wasn't going to let that mean nothing.
"I—I promise you sir, I'll never breathe a word of it to anyone. And… and thank you for trusting me with this knowledge."
"I can't believe you're so calm about this!" Carmine fretted. "I don't know if I can ever… look at anyone in this town the same after this! I'm just—I can't…"
She started to hold onto her head like she was sinking into it. But she was brought out of it by Juliana, who gently squeezed her hand.
"Hey… it'll be okay. Really."
Juliana couldn't tell, but Carmine gave her a face that looked a bit like a gentle smile.
"…Kiki doesn't know the whole story yet, does he?"
Hideko thought on it. "He shouldn't, no. I've certainly never spoken to him about it. Why do you ask?"
"I dunno." Carmine looked down to the ground. "He just really seems to like the ogre… He's practically obsessed. And he's been trying to one-up me! As if he knows more about Ogerpon than I do."
"He is?" Hideko responded, sounding surprised. "I never knew any of that… he's never said as much about it."
Juliana remembered how defensive Kieran seemed about his passion for the ogre, and guessed out loud, "Maybe… maybe he was so afraid of being judged for it that he never said it to anyone but… but to you, Carmine."
Carmine looked surprised, and slightly guilty.
"I would apologize over a million years for everything I've ever said to him about it if I'd known all this…"
Hideko shook his head. "Well, I can't say what's going on with the boy… but he always was a sensitive child. It wouldn't surprise me if he's somehow intuited the truth." He chuckled a bit to himself. "It's funny. I've mentioned to your grandfather before how much I see of the mask maker, the way he was described in my father's stories, in young Kieran."
"Sounds like you were more right than you thought," Juliana smiled.
"I promise to tell Kieran the whole story when the time is right. … Until then, I really mean it. Take care not to breathe a word of the truth to anybody!"
"Aye-aye, grandpa," said Carmine.
"Yes, sir."
Carmine's grandfather asked to see the Teal Mask in closer detail, and discovered the jewel on its forehead got chipped when it fell down the stairs, so Juliana and Carmine entrusted it to his care.
They walked to the entrance together, and as they did, Carmine was still processing everything in her head.
"Man," she said aloud. "Now we really can't tell Kiki we met the ogre…"
Juliana started to nod, but then this jolted something her memory.
"Oh no!" She grasped her head in panic.
"What? What's wrong?"
"I just remembered—Kieran and I still have to go visit that last signpost." She started huffing in great stress. "I'm gonna go on a whole 'nother adventure with him and have to keep quiet about all this the whole time! I can't do that!"
"Juliana, you have to!" Carmine faced her seriously. "We promised Grandpa, remember?"
"Yeah, but—but—Kieran's… Kieran's my friend." Juliana clutched at her heart. "And I promised him I would never hide anything from him. I… I already felt so dirty and so awful lying to him last night."
Carmine exhaled through her nose. She looked out into the sky. And then, she knelt down to face Juliana at eye level again.
"Look, Juliana… I don't like it either. I've never kept a secret this big from Kiki, not once in my whole life. He and I used to share stuff we wouldn't tell our own grandparents, like—like you pointed out back there."
She glanced away briefly. The thought of just how much she and Kieran confide in each other more than anything had never really registered with her until now.
At that moment, she thought back on something Kieran had told her last night at the festival…
"Sis… if I tell ya somethin', do you promise not to tell anyone else? E-especially Juliana?"
It was something she remembered with regret as she saw Juliana's worrying face.
"But… I've also gone through a lot of stuff between the different schools I've been to. And—and I've had to learn some hard lessons. Like the fact that… Sometimes… there are times when you have to do something you know will hurt someone. It isn't nice but… it's for their own good."
Juliana considered these words, but she defiantly shook her head.
"I'm sorry for whatever you went through Carmine, but… but I don't think that's true. Surely, there's no problems between people that can't be solved by being nice and completely honest with each other."
It was Carmine's turn to stand up and shake her head.
"Well… maybe that's true in your school. I don't know. You and the rest of your classmates are so friendly with each other and everyone else it's almost a little sickening. But welcome to the rest of the world. I mean… I still wish I could tell everyone in town the whole truth, but… like Gramps said, I guess everyone would riot."
Juliana clasped both hands on her heart now, feeling completely torn on what to do. She winced to herself, and shook her head at Carmine.
"I really don't know if I can do this, Carmine. He's my friend."
"And he's my little brother. Remember?" She put both hands on Juliana's shoulders. "If anything ever happened to Kiki, I wouldn't live with myself. And I love him, but he's got no filter. If he knew the truth about Ogerpon, he would blab it to the whole town! And they'd probably go after him! We can't have that, Juliana. I… I can't have that."
Juliana hung her head down. She hated how much sense Carmine was making.
"Okay… okay. I promise I'll—I'll do my best not to tell him anything."
Carmine sighed in immense relief.
"For now, you and I should just carry on with the orienteering stuff before Kiki gets suspicious. I really wanna see Ogerpon again! But I guess getting its mask fixed will have to come first."
"He took off in quite a hurry. Do you know where I'll find him?"
"Kiki? Oh… knowing him, you'll find him killing time somewhere in town!"
…
Unbeknownst to them however, Kieran had been standing behind the archway to their house. Listening in on them for who knows how long.
Long enough that the look of betrayal was evident on his face.
"I don't believe it…" he said quietly to himself, sounding deeply hurt.
He marched down the hilly road from his house into town. His soft steps slowly became more pronounced as his sadness slowly began to shift to anger.
"I thought someone finally understood me… I thought Juliana was my best friend, someone who wouldn't hide things from me, and would stand up for me against my sis and all the silly adults…"
He began to kick a rock along the ground as he walked.
"Instead, she—she thinks I'm just as big a baby as Carmine does! Talking about protecting me from everyone… fuh!"
He was kicking the rock even harder, to the point that it bounced along the ground.
"Ogerpon…" He was saying quietly to himself. "Ogerpon…"
He stopped in his tracks. His hands clenched into fists and they were beginning to tremble. A dark look came about in his eyes.
"I loved the ogre first. Before anybody else. But I'm not good enough to even know what its real name is? Why does she get to know!? And why does she get to have Juliana all to herself!? GrrrrrRRRRRR!"
Kieran was so wound up at this point, he took out all his anger on the rock and violently kicked it in the direction of Peachy's stand.
Taking some breaths to calm himself down, he bent over to pick it up.
Then he stopped.
Juliana marched into town looking for Kieran. She noticed right away that Mossui Town had a… somewhat different air to it from before. There was usually a light wind blowing consistently through the town from the direction of the Reveler's Road, but the air today was rather still.
There were also less people in town today. Juliana didn't know if it being a weekend day had any effect on that, although admittedly the idea of farmers working on the same schedule as an academy student is an odd one.
Most of all, Juliana noticed a sweet, almost peach-like scent wafting in the air. She walked towards the direction of Peachy's stand, interested to know where it was coming from, and to her surprise, found her friend standing just in front of the place.
"Kieran!" she called out.
She ran over to greet him… but Kieran stood still, and didn't even seem to acknowledge her.
"…Kieran?"
Now very concerned, she stepped up until she was standing right behind him and tapped his shoulder.
"Kieran?"
Kieran gasped and turned around. He quickly shoved something into his pocket.
"Oh, uh… H-hey, Juliana. I didn't see you there."
"That's okay!" Juliana chuckled. "I'm just glad you're alright. Sorry for keeping you waiting, but I'm ready to find that signpost now!"
"Yeah…"
Kieran seemed oddly distant. He didn't have much of a facial expression, and in fact, his bangs were drifting a little more over his face than usual, like he'd been ruffling his hair.
Juliana looked at him a bit puzzled. He doesn't seem nearly as talkative as he did a minute ago…
"So… are we… all set to go?" she asked to pry an answer from him. She was swaying her arms a bit nervously.
There was a bit of a tinge on Kieran's face, like he wanted to smile. But then he quickly shook his face blank again. His own left arm started to rock back and forth.
"So, I… I was gonna ask. What were you and my sis, just, uh… talkin' about that was so important?"
Juliana's eyes went up in panic. Alarm bells rang through her head.
I wasn't expecting to have to lie so soon…
In situations like these, where Juliana wasn't sure how to answer something, it often played out like a list of choices in her head. One choice read for her to say "Nothing much." The total lie. Another read for her to say "This and that," which was more so a lie of omission.
…And then there was the hidden third choice, louder than the rest, saying "JUST TELL KIERAN THE DARN TRUTH!"
She wanted to select that option. She wanted to so badly. It was only imagining Carmine's worried, pleading face that finally made her acquiesce.
"Oh… this and that, I guess," she finally said. "Nothing too… exciting."
Inside, Juliana felt all of her bones crumbling away and her soul leaving her body in shame.
Kieran meanwhile felt his brain and his heart both explode in a fiery blaze.
"Oh, I-I see…" he answered after a bit of a pause, with his eyes closed.
Both of them stood there across from each other. There was a feeling of an invisible brick wall slowly growing in front of Juliana.
Finally, Kieran opened his eyes and seemed to speak more casually.
"S-so! About those signs! The last one's not too big of a hike." He pointed out to where the river bended past Reveler's Road. "It's over there, in Mossfell Confluence. It should only take us a little bit to get to it."
Juliana swallowed a few times, trying to garner enough of her willpower back to speak innocently around her friend who she had just secretly betrayed like the horrible villain she was.
"I-I thought…" she started to say, her voice trembling. It felt like there was a Bellibolt in her throat for each word she wanted to get out. "Last night at the festival, you said… you pointed at something called the… Fellhorn Gorge? And said you wanted to go there for the last signpost today."
"I changed my mind," Kieran answered sharply. "Mossfell Confluence is a lot closer. I—I don't feel like walking too much, so I just want to go there and get this done."
"Oh, okay." Juliana tried to casually hoist her Cinch Bag on her shoulders. But even though the bag was light, the weight of her guilt was making it feel much heavier on her soul.
"You go on ahead. I'll catch up."
"…You sure?"
"Yeah. Just go."
Juliana wanted to say something else. To affirm with him, to ask if he needed anything, to confess to all of her terrible sins and wrap Kieran in a big hug while saying sorry over and over again.
But… she couldn't bring herself to do any of those things.
So instead, she just nodded. And glumly made her way to the bridge leading to Reveler's Road.
At the edge of the bridge, she took one last look Kieran's way. He was still just calmly staring at her. No sign of hurt at all. But as she crossed into the fields, she still whispered to herself, "This stinks."
Once she was completely out of sight, Kieran sighed like he'd been holding in a huge breath.
As he stared to the ground, his eyes catching sight of the rock he'd been kicking earlier… an expression of sadness appeared.
"Why…" he mumbled. "Why'd you lie to me…?"