(No, you didn't miss Part 1. Part 1 is just... last week's chapter. I forgot I wanted to name it "A Date with Destiny" and gave it a different name. And this was split off into its own chapter when I saw how long "Sweet Eatings..." was running. So that's why.)

"27F on the north wing…"

It took Juliana a while to figure out how to get to the north wing of Blueberry Academy, and when she did, it took her almost until the end of the hallway to realize that the north wing dorms were segregated by gender instead of co-ed like in the east wing hence the "F", and that she had found the male-only dorms.

To even greater distress, once she made it to the female dorms, it turned out they were divided ten to a floor…

Two flights of stairs later, Juliana was now a mess of a girl, her mind all in a tizzy from so many uncomfortable encounters and her lungs short of breath.

"24… 25… 26…" she puffed. "This must be it… 27…"

Juliana took a second to slow down her breathing before she knocked on the door.

"Oh…! Just a minute~!"

The Paldean girl let out a big, relieved sigh. Somehow, just hearing Carmine's voice already made a few of the storm clouds in her head seem to dissipate.

She heard what sounded like a lock being undone on the inside, before Carmine cracked open the door. Her eyebrows instantly shot up.

"Oh! Juliana, hi!" she said, surprised. "Umm, what are you doing here?"

"Remember how you said I could come visit you once I got tired of Drayton's shtick?" Juliana looked down for a second, and mumbled, "I'd really like to take you up on that offer…" as she pulled on her white sleeve.

Carmine looked at her and could instantly sense something was wrong.

"Oh my gosh, Juliana. Of course! If you just give us a minute, I…"

She was stopped by a tap on her shoulder. Juliana was surprised to hear her start whispering with someone else inside.

Oh no, is she with someone? Her eyes widened.

"Just… please don't scare her away…" she heard Carmine whisper.

"I promise."

Wait, I know that voice…

Juliana was alarmed as Lacey suddenly appeared at the door and stepped out.

What? Lacey…!? Why is she in Carmine's room? Are they talking about League stuff? Or, or what if they're…?

"Juliana…"

"Oh, gosh, I-I'm so sorry!" Juliana stammered. She began clutching her arms uncomfortably. "I didn't know I was intruding! I'm sorry, I'll… I'll leave."

She instantly turned around to do so, but Lacey quickly stopped her with an arm on her shoulder.

"Juliana, wait!"

Juliana turned around with glistening eyes. "Huh?"

"Listen. I just want to, I… Ohh."

To Juliana's surprise, Lacey instantly went in for a hug. Juliana didn't mind it so much; with Lacey's pink cardigan, it was a very warm, fuzzy hug. Along with the rich scent of Lacey's flowery perfume, Juliana felt her panic levels begin to die down.

When Lacey let go, she looked extremely apologetic.

"I'm the one who should be apologizing. I never meant to imply that you aren't one of us, Juliana. I had my personal reasons for declining you in our club, but I worded it really poorly, and didn't account for your sensitivities." She chuckled lightly. "Especially after Carmine probably gave you enough feelings of being unwelcome in Kitakami."

"I trusted you not to bring that up!" Carmine whined from within her room.

"And I trusted you not to eavesdrop!" Lacey yelled back. "Let us have a girls' moment now."

Carmine's groan sounded as they heard her get back from the door.

"To tell you the truth…" Lacey continued. "The only reason I got so curt with you was because I was so frustrated at Drayton, and I, I guess I thought whatever that dumb scheme of his was, that you two were in cahoots."

Juliana's eyes shot up in alarm. "No, no! It's not like that at all! He just—he just told me he wanted to sign me up for the League and then—"

"I know, I know," Lacey shushed her. "Drayton told me everything." She sighed. "He played all of us, and I have absolutely no idea why he did that."

"I don't know, either…" Juliana murmured. "He seemed so nice at first."

"Drayton's really not a bad guy. He's just… rather lazy and tends to be inconsiderate of others. I don't think he meant to hurt or embarrass you, he just… put you up to this without thinking about the consequences." Lacey's thick eyebrows furrowed. "Believe me, I am going to make sure he apologizes for everything he just put you through."

Juliana finally cracked a smile. "Thanks, Lacey."

"But… I know that doesn't excuse my behavior either, so please accept my apologies too."

She humbly bowed to Juliana. "I'm… very protective about the things I care about, whether it's the club, especially my friends." She glanced in the direction of Carmine's dorm. "Carmine's a very good friend of mine. We're basically besties, in fact! And she's talked about you a great deal."

"R-really?" Juliana perked up. "How—how much?"

Lacey giggled a bit.

"Well… remember when we first met, and I knew who you were right away?"

"And here I thought I was famous," Juliana joked as she rubbed the back of her head. "But then… why didn't you just tell me you and Carmine were besties right away?"

"That's a fair question," Lacey smiled softly. "I guess… I just really wanted to get to know the real you, Juliana, without any pressure. I needed to look out for my friends, and so I wanted to make sure you're of pure heart."

"Well now I understand why all the questions."

Lacey giggled again, before putting on a serious face and saying, "Well then, let me ask you this one directly. Carmine and Kieran… what do they both mean to you?"

Juliana was a little sideswiped by this direct question. She clutched the straps of her red backpack as she stewed on this in her head.

Thinking about the adventures she had with the two of them in Kitakami, and the feelings she'd carried towards the pair since coming back to Paldea.

She realized then and there that Kieran and especially Carmine both held a place in her heart the same as Arven, Nemona, and Penny did. And she already knew what the three of them, and by extension the Kitakami siblings, represented.

"My greatest treasure," Juliana answered with a proud smile, putting her hand on her chest. "They're my friends. And I care deeply about them."

Now Lacey smiled very warmly.

"Then I'm really glad they both have you. Especially Carmine. She cares a lot about you, Juliana… More than you realize."

Lacey seemed to trail off, which Juliana found intriguing. She was about to ask what she meant by that, but Lacey just continued talking.

"You can do whatever you want here. I guess I can't stop you from pursuing the BB League if you're truly interested. All I'll ask in return is that if you do decide to tackle our ranks, promise to take it as seriously as you would your League Challenges back home, and remember to be there for your friends. Promise?"

"It's a deal."

Juliana and Lacey gladly shook hands as Lacey entrusted her enough to depart.

"I leave her in your care now!" she called out. To whom in particular… hard to say.

Juliana smiled a bit, happy to have cleared up misunderstandings with Lacey… but she felt her stomach drop again upon being reminded of the confrontation with Kieran, and her reason for coming here.

Taking a big sigh, she gently pushed open the door to Carmine's room… at which point, Carmine leapt off the bed and instantly rushed over to her.

"Finally! I swear, nobody will let the two of us just be alone around here!" she complained.

"Hi, Carmine…"

"Pon pon!"

Ogerpon was sitting on Carmine's bed, munching on a cookie.

"Awww, hello, Ogerpon!"

Ogerpon jumped off the bed and gave Juliana's legs a swaddled hug, making happy noises while her mouth was still full of cookie.

"I knew I should've come along with you!" Meanwhile, Carmine was fretting over the girl, brushing off her uniform and checking Juliana's face. "What did Drayton say to—no, forget that! What did Kiki say to you!? He didn't hurt you, did he!?"

Juliana grew very despondent, her normally chipper face drooping in a way that utterly broke Carmine's heart to look at.

"…What happened?"

"I don't know… It took him so long to even notice I was there, and at first he wasn't mad, just, really surprised," Juliana recounted. "But then he cornered me in the hallway, really upset. He had me pinned against the wall, he kept thinking I came all the way here just to show him up…"

Carmine gasped at her brother's audacity.

"He… pinned you against the wall!?"

"But then he stopped, he looked really sad, said sorry, and ran off…"

Carmine let her hands drop and gave her a regretful look. "Juliana, I'm so sorry."

Juliana shook her head. "I'm fine, really…"

"No, you're not," Carmine insisted, shaking her head even more stubbornly. "You're shaking like a leaf."

Juliana hadn't noticed, but her hands were a bit shaky, and her legs were trembling beneath her.

"Well, it's—it's just cold in here—"

"And you're still a terrible liar. C'mere."

Juliana tepidly did as asked, and was surprised when Carmine wrapped her arms around her.

…Carmine's the hugging type now?

"I know better than anyone what 'not fine' looks like."

"…"

Juliana closed her eyes.

This is nice, actually…

Getting a hug from Carmine felt very different from Lacey's. Although Carmine's arms weren't as snug without a fluffy pink cardigan, Juliana nevertheless felt a greater warmth from her embrace. It was like getting a massage for her soul.

She felt all the tension in her muscles slowly relax, and her anxious, jumpy mind was reaching a level of calm again. Of all the hugs she'd received in the world, somehow… this felt like her favorite one.

"Feel better?"

When Carmine let go, Juliana was amazed.

"A lot better…" she answered. "Thank you, Carmine."

It was like all of Juliana's negative energy had been vacuumed away in that hug. She had left the cafeteria feeling all sorts of bad feelings she never had before… now she was all filled with a wave of incredible consolation.

It was incomparable to anything else barring the joy of being with her friends.

"Glad to hear it! You know, if you're still not feeling relaxed enough, I give great massages too!" Carmine grinned. "In fact, they call me the Magic Fingers!"

"They do?"

"Ehh… actually no. Nobody's ever called me that." Carmine's face briefly retreated. "But maybe I can make you my first test subject, and then you can help spread that nickname!"

Juliana giggled, feeling even more of her anxiety melting away.

Of course, one thing still remained: her sadness over Kieran. Her smile dropped again, as she thought back on their encounter, and how angry he looked.

Carmine once again detected her inner emotions.

"…Still thinking about Kiki?"

Juliana looked up at her sorrowfully.

"How long…?"

"Hmm?"

"How long has he been like this?"

Carmine frowned too.

"I don't know… when we first came back, everything didn't seem so bad. He was just… super quiet and didn't want to talk to anybody."

She glumly took a seat down at her bed, where Ogerpon was still obliviously feasting on cookies.

"But then one day, Kiki comes to me out of nowhere telling me he wants to be Champion of the whole BB League and even tried to—to demand that I convince my friends to endorse him so he'll skip to Elite Rank. We had a battle, I beat him, of course. He gets all mad…"

Carmine went on to regale Juliana with Kieran's emotional journey as Juliana calmly took a seat next to her to listen.

"So after all that… he still thinks Ogerpon hates him? Because he's… 'weak'? That doesn't make any sense."

"Right! Welcome to my world!" Carmine said, frustrated. "…And unfortunately, that's been the last time we've spoken. He grumbled off on his own… started his tyrannical rule over the whole BB League, and I was left alone to comfort Ogerpon by myself."

"When was this?"

Carmine grimaced. "…Like, three or four weeks ago."

Juliana's eyebrows shot up. "You guys haven't spoken to each other for a month?"

She shook her head. "Not that I'm avoiding him on purpose, of course. It's just—I feel like I would just make things worse if I tried again like all the other times. And Ogerpon, well… you saw her freak out like that at the Central Plaza, right?"

Juliana solemnly looked over at Ogerpon… who was now napping away at the foot of Carmine's bed.

Juliana remembered watching Ogerpon fall asleep in the wild lake grass when she and Carmine were having their picnic date at Wysteria Pond. The little Pokémon had a big content smile on her face and as she slept very peacefully.

That same smile wasn't on Ogerpon's face now. And rather than being at peace, Juliana saw her limbs occasionally twitch, and soft grumbles heard from the monster girl.

"For some reason, she's just… always like that now."

"And… Kieran didn't even lay a finger?"

"No. He didn't act any differently at all that day, and yet that was the day something in Ogerpon changed. She just becomes… really upset now whenever she senses him nearby, and it takes an hour or sometimes even longer than that to calm her down again."

Carmine looked very forlorn now as she gazed at her fidgeting hands in her lap.

"I've even tried taking her to the students in the nursing program and the best they could guess was that it's some sort of… trauma response, and that I should find something that calms her down and puts her back in the moment when it happens." She shook her head. "The only thing that's worked thus far is cookies, but I don't want to replace her feelings with whatever the Pokémon equivalent of diabetes is."

Juliana sat and watched Ogerpon. Ogerpon, upon swallowing the last bite of its cookie, glanced at Juliana and smiled softly.

"Pon…"

She grinned back at Ogerpon, who seemed content but definitely wasn't quite so energetic as Juliana remembered her.

Still feeling troubled, she decided to press Carmine further.

"You mentioned that you've had to look after Ogerpon all by yourself these past few weeks… What about your friends? Lacey and Amarys? You couldn't ask any of them for help?"

Carmine huddled within herself and began to laugh mirthfully.

"Kiki's final revenge against me… at least, that's what it seems like." She sadly faced ahead. "Ever since Ogerpon turned him down again, Kiki started going all crazy with scheduling meetings. Apparently very 'arbitrary' ones, as Amarys put it. Between being so busy in the club, and their even busier schedules outside of it… Lacey and Amarys and I have basically had no time to hang out with each other…"

Juliana then thought she heard another quiet sniffle.

"Carmine… I'm so sorry…" she commiserated. "I had no idea, you've been alone all this time…"

Carmine shrugged as casually as she could.

"Oh, it's fine. You know. I've been alone plenty of times. Doesn't bother me."

"Carmine…" Juliana said stubbornly.

"What!? I'm fine, seriously!" she seethed. "You think I can't deal with a little bit of loneliness!?"

Juliana got up and looked at her sternly with her arms crossed.

Carmine just scoffed. "What are you about to do, mom lecture me to death?"

"Pon?" Ogerpon looked between the two of them concerned.

"Get up."

"Excuse me!?"

"I said get up," Juliana repeated.

Carmine frowned at her in disbelief.

Who do you think you are to order me around like that? You think I'm scared of you acting like the mom I never had? Because you're not, if anything you're just turning me on right now!

Carmine gripped onto her comforter and began to feel herself sweat.

Damn it… she really is, too. I forgot how much I like when she acts all tough… I have to make her stop.

With a frown like a scolded child, she hesitantly stood up… and that's when Juliana glomped her.

"…!"

"It's going to be okay…" Juliana said quietly.

"Wha—seriously. I told you I'm fine."

"Yeah, but thanks to my friend Arven, I know what 'not fine' looks like too. It's okay to let things out instead of, instead of… how'd Nemona put it? Carry all that baggage."

"Well, I'm—I'm not your friend who's sad over his sick dog or whatever!" Carmine insisted. "I'm a strong, independent—"

But, to her greater fury, Juliana actually shushed her.

"Seriously, just…" Juliana wrapped herself around Carmine even tighter. "Just stop trying for a second, okay?"

Carmine knew there was no way Juliana realized she was just making Carmine's body heat up even more, but she was still fighting the urge to complain at her for it.

"It's okay. You're safe here. So for just a quick minute… let yourself not be okay, okay?"

She wanted to fight.

She wanted to protest.

But then… Juliana looked up at her.

With those pleading, glistening, Puppyena-like brown eyes.

…

Maybe they are a bit hazel after all.

Carmine wanted to stop what was coming, but… all it took was for Juliana to keep giving her that look for the waterworks to finally start.

Juliana held on even tighter with a calm face as Carmine laid her chin over Juliana's head and cried.

She cried for several minutes. And not pretty little tears either. Big, ugly gushers that streamed down her face like a brook, and practically soaked into Juliana's hair.

And yet Juliana kept herself attached, not caring one bit.

She thought she heard Carmine murmur something that sounded… maybe like "Thank you"?

She wasn't sure. But hearing whatever it was still made her smile deeply. She let herself nuzzle into Carmine's chest, getting a better whiff at the perfume Carmine was wearing.

It was a little flowery like Lacey's, but also with a discernable fruity aroma to it. It was a scent that reminded Juliana rather comfortingly of the umeboshi plums she ate at the flowery Wysteria Pond with Carmine that one day…

And it lifted her spirits just as much.

Then, to add one more sweet cherry on top, Ogerpon hobbled over too.

"Ponio!"

Rather distressed to see her partner crying so heavily, Ogerpon went and wrapped her entire grassy cloak over Carmine's head, entrenching her in a warm, forest-y musk that made Carmine open her tear-soaked eyes and smile endearingly at her ogre friend.

"Thank you, Ogerpon… You girls are both so wonderful…"

She sniffled really loudly.

"I'm really glad you're here…"

Juliana giggled gleefully. "I'm glad to be here, Carmine."

Carmine's hands ran down, and Juliana felt her begin to stroke Juliana's braid. She didn't know why, but this made Juliana's heart race a bit.

Holding Juliana's braid up, she blubbered, "This hairclip is really cute."

Juliana's cheeks blushed. "T-thanks. It's… it's Iono. One of the most popular streamers in Paldea. It was, it was a gift from my friend Penny."

"…It's adorable."

Juliana cracked a laugh within her reddened face.

"You're adorable," she replied.

Carmine laughed, and used her arms to try to break herself away from their dual embrace.

"Alright… I think I'm good now," she said, still blubbering a bit. "You can both let go now."

Juliana just chuckled. "Not a chance. I'm never letting go of you again."

"Pon-pon…"

"Okay, no, seriously, now it's starting to get weird…"

Carmine tried to forcefully shake them off their body, but neither Juliana nor Ogerpon would budge.

"Girls! Seriously! UGH! BOTH OF YOU, JUST… GET OFF ALREADY!" she whined, more in resigned despair than in anger.

Later that evening, as the sun began to set over the skies at Blueberry, Juliana used the measly amount of BP she'd earned to get three small coffees for herself, Carmine, and Ogerpon.

Carmine had tried to protest, but Juliana just smiled and told her she was eager to get out there in the Terrarium first thing tomorrow and do more of those super fun BBQ's anyway, so using up what she had earned now didn't bother her any.

Carmine requested an iced white chocolate mocha for herself and a hot latte with lots of milk for Ogerpon. Juliana just ordered a plain espresso. She took a sip of it, and her face immediately recoiled.

Carmine snickered.

"Don't tell me this is your first time trying coffee."

"My mom let me try it once before. She always said it's an acquired taste…" Juliana said sheepishly.

"Well, you might not like it so much if you have it just pure black," Carmine giggled. "Go to the cupboard above my microwave and pour some sugar in there."

A few spoonfuls of sugar, six ultimately, was enough for the taste of the espresso to finally agree with Juliana's taste buds, and she was able to much more comfortably relay the whole story of her crazy and tumultuous 'date' with both Drayton and Kieran.

"I just can't believe the audacity of that pompus jerk! 'Didn't know things were that bad—' Turdface! You wanna know what he did!?"

"What did he do?" Juliana asked.

"This one day, he ambushes me in the cafeteria and he outright stonewalled me into telling him everything about you and Kiki, and what happened on our trip. So Drayton totally knew putting you two together by surprise was going to end poorly, and he still did it anyway!" Carmine seethed as she growled like a racecar starting up. "GRRR! You see why he's the worst now!? It's like he thinks we're all puppets on a stage there to amuse him!"

"Well… I still believe what Lacey said. I think he really didn't mean to cause any harm."

Carmine groaned.

"There you go again… trying to see the good in everyone and make friends. I forgot that's your whole gimmick…"

"And you said it was my strength, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" Carmine shook her head. "But still. This was supposed to be your fun first day at this awesome new school, and instead it got ruined."

"I mean… it might have had a crazy middle part, sure." Juliana started to smile. "But… I started it by getting to see you and Ogerpon again. And now I'm ending it… spending time with you two again. That counts for something, right?"

Carmine was surprised to find herself smiling bigly.

"You sentimental little twerp… you're going to make me cry again, and I just wiped off my makeup."

Juliana chuckled. She hearf light snoring behind her and noticed Ogerpon was asleep at the bed again.

"She doesn't have a whole lot of energy today, huh?"

"Poor thing…" Carmine mumbled.

Juliana sat there and lamented in her head about Ogerpon's situation. Then, she went over it a bit more, picked her head up and looked at Carmine with a thoughtful expression.

"So you said whatever's happening with her was a… trauma response?"

"That's how the nursing students put it, yeah."

"Like… remembering something that might have happened from her past?"

Carmine's eyes perked up in intrigue.

"Ohh. Are you saying that… maybe, Kieran's harsh new attitude is bringing Ogerpon back to the olden days? Like, when she faced against those Lousy Three? Some sort of PTSD?"

"There was always something odd I noticed about the signboards in Kitakami that I forgot to bring up with anyone, because nobody ever seemed to point it out…" Juliana suddenly recalled.

"What's that?"

"On all the signboards that Kieran and I had to take pictures in front of, there was always the same drawing. The 'evil' ogre with the mask, and the Loyal Three—I mean, Lousy Three chasing it down."

"Right…?"

"And… there's always some kid with them. Nobody thinks that's weird? Like… who is that kid?"

"Kid…"

Carmine struggled to understand what she meant. So Juliana pulled out her phone, and after a bit, was able to find the pictures she'd taken with Kieran stored in her archives.

She pulled up one of them, the happy photo they took in front of the one at Loyalty Plaza, and zoomed in on the picture she was talking about.

"Oh, wow." Carmine picked up the phone to look at it in closer detail. "How weird… I must've looked at these silly signboards over a thousand times growing up. I probably even drew them in school. But, you're right. I've never paid much attention to the fact that there's a person with the Lousy Three. I guess… I guess maybe, nobody has."

She shrugged.

"I dunno… We already know those stupid adults got most of the legend wrong. Maybe it's just another made-up detail."

"Maybe." Juliana was really thoughtful now. "But what if, maybe… there's a chance it wasn't just the Lousy Three who were after Ogerpon's masks?"

Carmine's eyes widened a bit.

"You're not suggesting that…" She felt a strange shudder in her spine as she said this. "The Lousy Three… might have had someone commanding them?"

"I don't know. But if there was… maybe, maybe Kieran is acting just like that person now, and that's why Ogerpon is so scared of him."

Juliana thought about it more, and her eyes widened as she realized something else.

"Your Grandpa… When he told us all about the real legend. At first, he said there was four of them! Not just three. Remember?"

"Yeah, but so what? He probably just remembered it wrong. I guess next time I talk to him and Grandma on the phone, I'll ask if he knows anything else about the true story of that day. But… I doubt it."

Carmine zoomed out on the photo, and now she began to take in something else: how happy both Juliana and Kieran look in the picture.

Juliana's all bright smiles and waving to the lens, no huge surprise. Carmine even giggled a bit at her happy-go-lucky pose.

And Kieran… he looked like he was having a blast with her. Smiling really bigly, even showing most of his face from underneath those heavy bangs. When he used to be nothing but camera shy.

The boy in this picture almost felt like a stranger to Carmine now, someone she hadn't seen in a very long time.

"You and Kiki were such good friends back then…"

Juliana hunched over to gaze at the picture.

"Yeah…" she said sadly.

"Do you really think there's still a little bit of your friend inside… whatever he's become now?"

Juliana paused for a bit, looking at Kieran's smiling face some more.

"Yeah," she decided. "I mean, he said sorry and everything, and he looked so sad too… Like, like even though he wants to be mad at me, a part of him also… still wishes we were friends."

"Did he really say sorry to you? Because… to be frank, Kiki hasn't apologized to me or anyone else since this whole angsty phase of his started."

Juliana nodded. "I'm sure that's what I heard from him."

Carmine took a big sigh.

"Well, what about you? Have you decided whether you want to be in the BB League or not?"

Juliana cupped her nearly empty coffee in her hands as she gazed into it pensively.

"Well… even with everything that happened today, getting to have battles with a lot of tough trainers still sounds like a lot of fun… And Lacey said it's okay for me to as long as I take it seriously."

She looked to Carmine for affirmation.

"What do you think? I mean, your brother's the Champion. You'd probably be rooting for him more than me, right?"

Carmine's lip twinged. She stared at her own empty cup, contemplating.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know what to do with Kieran. He's… well, you saw how he is. He's scaring me nowadays. He's been battling and training every day... He's even cutting back on sleep. And I feel so helpless…"

It seemed unusual to hear Carmine referring to her brother by his name. Juliana put her hand on Carmine's leg for comfort, which made Carmine chin up a bit.

"Whether I support him or not… He still reacts the same. I guess I've just given up at this point."

Now, she looked directly at Juliana. And for whatever reason, maybe it was the light from the window, Juliana found herself really taking in Carmine's striking yet sweet yellow eyes. They emanated a warmth almost like the sun itself.

"Kieran's changed… but you? You've stayed the same. And in one just day… you apparently brought some of that back to my brother."

She closed her eyes for a bit, and opened them again with resolve.

"If Kieran's down to just one friend these days… I'm glad it's you, Juliana. So…" She finally smiled. "Yes. I think you should do the BB League and try to make it all the way up to having another battle with him. Maybe… it'll finally be the therapy he needs to move on. So keep sticking with him, would you?"

Juliana nodded.

"Aye aye." She exhaled confidently. "I guess it's settled then. Next objective… the BB League!"

She let herself collapse onto Carmine's bed, filled with new energy.

Carmine chuckled at the sight of it.

"Think you'd better get some shut-eye before you even think about charting a course, captain!"

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right…" Juliana lamented. "Especially because of how much of a walk it's going to be to my dorm…"

"Which wing are you in?"

"South."

"Ouch," Carmine laughed. She took a peek at her calendar and smiled. "Hey, y'know… Wednesdays are when Amarys and I used to do our movie nights. Since she's busy tonight, how about you and I carry on the tradition in her honor?"

Juliana's eyes lit up. "You mean…"

"Let's have a sleepover!"

Carmine picked a movie from her collection. A Galarian film about an inept electronics salesman and his partner Perrserker trying to make it out alive in a post-apocalyptic Wyndon beset by some sort of Dynamax-powered zombie apocalypse, where both Pokémon and people with glowing red eyes constantly pursued the pair.

Carmine insisted it's more of a comedy than a horror film, but Juliana still found it pretty unsettling.

Eventually though, even scenes of terrifying possessed mobs attacking the heroes wasn't enough to keep her eyes from getting heavy.

Before long, Carmine found herself watching the rest of the movie laying in bed with a dozing Juliana resting her head squarely on Carmine's chest.

Carmine grinned warmly as she lightly rubbed Juliana's cute little head. On the screen, the main protagonist and his ex-girlfriend, their love reignited by all the adrenaline and fright, shared a huge passionate kiss with each other.

It filled Carmine's heart with delight even though she'd seen this movie three times already, and she thought back on her conversation with Lacey that evening…

"Just say it, Carmine," Lacey urged her. "You'll feel so much better when you do."

Carmine sat there opposite Lacey on the bed, their legs crisscrossed, as her body rankled with anxiety. Her hands were gripped into tight fists.

"Alright…" she gulped.

Her face scrunched up tight as she felt the words bubbling up within her throat, wanting to come out, until finally…

"I… I think I have, a little eensy bit of a crush on Juliana."

Then she took a big sigh.

"There you go…" Lacey smiled. "How do you feel?"

Carmine squeezed her arm a bit. "I feel… a little bit better, I guess."

"Good."

Carmine shook her head and turned to Lacey with an insecure face.

"But… what do you want me to do with that?"

"I don't want you to do anything, Carmie. It's all up to you. But… I guess if you want my advice, just, do what you've been doing. Let yourself be by her side, raise her up, and… let her raise you up too."

Lacey took Carmine's hands in hers.

"Having feelings for a friend is perfectly natural! It's a sign of how deep your bond is. Maybe it'll become something more, maybe it won't."

"I just… don't want anything to change between us. I like being friends with her, and I want it to stay that way…"

"Then focus on that for now. Be the best friend that you can be for her. And maybe someday… well. Who knows how she feels. Maybe she feels the same way about you already. Either way…"

Lacey smiled.

"It's pretty clear to me, and probably even Amarys, that you two already have something special."

"So cherish it."

Carmine took a deep breath.

She couldn't hide anymore that she was harboring feelings for the girl she once dismissed as an outsider city girl. That Juliana's devious gambit had worked out perfectly, and she'd wormed her way deep into Carmine's heart.

She even slipped, and instinctively said "I love you" out loud when Juliana held onto her earlier. Luckily, the girl seemed to not even notice.

But Carmine was resolved not to let this crush of hers change anything, and instead to fuel her passion to do right by her cherished friend… and keep their bond strong.

As she continued to stroke Juliana's head, Carmine lovingly said, "I'm never going to let anything happen to you ever again."

Then, to her surprise, she heard a soft giggle.

"My big guardian…"

Carmine huffed. "I thought you were asleep."

Juliana yawned heavily.

"Hey Carmine…" she mumbled.

"Hmm?"

"You… you should keep trying to patch things up with Kieran."

"…What?"

"Even if you think he hates you…" Juliana yawned again, and her words slurred. "He's still your brother—he's the only one you've got… You don't… You don't wanna…"

Her words eventually trailed off, and sure enough, after a few seconds Carmine began to hear her snore.

She was a bit flummoxed.

Yikes, she's a loud snorer!

But… somehow, she was also a cute snorer.

Carmine laid her head back, and decided to let this moment melt like butter as the movie finished and she began to feel herself lulling to sleep.

With her best friend by her side.

Soon, she drifted off into dreamland, and found herself in the most pleasant sleep she'd had in months.