After visiting the ogre's den, Kieran convinced Juliana to meet back at his home so she could attend the Festival of Masks with him and Carmine.
"We live in the northwest corner of the village," Kieran explained. "It's...um...let's see, I could maybe draw a map..."
"Oh, no need!"
"Huh?"
Juliana pulled out her Rotom Phone and had it float between them.
"My Rotom Phone's got a map! See? Just point to where your house is, and it'll register it for me."
"Umm…" The Rotom Phone was a bit close to Juliana's face, so Kieran had to scooch in right next to her, which made his whole body heat up. Especially when Juliana turned to him and smiled. "Y-yeah, I could give that a try…"
He nervously tapped an area on her Kitakami map and then quickly scooched away again. Juliana seemed oblivious to his nervousness.
"Wowzers! It sure is handy having a map that shows you everything right there in your phone... I'm gonna ask if I can get a Rotom Phone someday too!"
"Hey, we need to get there before dark, right?" said Juliana. "How about you and I race to see who gets to your house first?"
"What? A race?" Kieran gulped. "Umm, s-sure!"
"Great!" said Juliana. "Last one there's a rotten Exeggcute!"
She dashed off, which surprised Kieran since she hadn't even said "Go!" or anything.
"Wowzers. She's so cool…" he mumbled to himself.
Then, he saw something gleam from within the ogre's den, which drew his attention.
"…Huh?"
"Grandpa, I'm home!"
By the time Kieran made it back to his home, his grandfather Hideko was out on the front porch… talking to Juliana.
"Kieran!" Hideko greeted. "Welcome home!" Kieran was a bit flummoxed to see Juliana standing right next to his grandfather, nervous to know what they had been chatting about. "I'm very pleased to have finally met your new friend."
"Well, that's great—" Kieran's eyes bugged out. "Wait! Grandpa, w-why are you saying 'finally'!?"
"Well because of how much you were raving about her last night, sport!"
Juliana smiled sheepishly at Kieran, whose head hung down in shame.
"Aww… why'd you have to go and tell her all that?"
"It's my fault," Juliana admitted. "I happened to mention that Carmine had already said something aboutit, so he just… filled me in on the rest. I'm glad my battling skills left that huge an impact on you, though!"
"Awww, man…"
"What took you so long to arrive after your friend anyway?" asked Hideko. "She said you two were havin' a race."
"Oh… Well, um… Right before I left, I thought I saw something shiny like treasure inside the—inside the field that we visited."
He was just barely able to correct himself from saying he and Juliana went to the ogre's den that his grandparents had forbade him from visiting on numerous occasions.
"But… turns out it was just some Berries the ogre—I mean, somebody else was hoarding. Nothing special."
"I see…" Hideko looked up to the sky. "Oh, my. Is it already sundown?"
"Goodness me, I'd nearly forgotten!" Kieran's grandmother Yukito walked over with an empty basket, having just hung up freshly washed clothes onto a clothesline. "The Festival of Masks starts tonight, doesn't it?"
"Yup!" said Kieran. "And guess what? Juliana said she'd come with us!"
Juliana nodded earnestly.
"How splendid!" Yukito clapped. "I'll get out some jinbei for you both so you can go to the festival all gussied up."
Kieran gasped in delight. "Ya hear that, Juliana? We get to dress up in jinbei! Yay!"
"Yay!" Juliana echoed. Not breaking her smile, she asked, "What's uh… what's jinbei?"
"Oh-ho-ho, you'll see!" said Yukito. "And while we're at it, we should do your hair up too! Come along now!"
"There we are! All done!"
Kieran, wearing his jinbei, was sitting at the porch waiting for Juliana to come out. He stood up when the door opened.
"Whoa…"
Juliana stepped out with a happy smile, but that was about the only thing unchanged about her.
She was wearing one of Yukito's specially made festive jinbei, colored in green with red cross-stitches and a red ribbon. Yukito had also given her matching green sandals, and a specialized festival cinch bag.
On top of that, she had even fixed Juliana's hair into a Kitakami-styled front ponytail. Juliana adjusted a few stray hairs hanging over her face as she faced Kieran, looking very pleased.
"So! How do I look?"
"Wowzers! Y-you look amazing!" said Kieran.
"Thanks! I'm surprised at how comfortable it is, light and breezy too compared to my uniform. I feel like I could wear this all the time!"
"You look so great in a jinbei! Better than my sister, even!" A look of fear came upon his face. "P-please don't tell her I said that."
"I don't know about that, but it suits you fine alright! Just like I knew it would!" said Yukito.
"Goodness, it's like I've gained another granddaughter!" Hideko chortled.
"Gosh, you're both so nice…" Juliana replied, blushing with her hands to her face.
Just then, she heard the front door open behind her.
"Hey Gran, do you know where my—"
"HAK!" shouted Kieran.
Then a feminine gasp.
"GAH! What are YOU doing here!?"
Carmine was dressed in a jinbei of her own, but it was blue to Juliana's green and Kieran's white.
Juliana was lost for words.
I look better than Carmine…? Are you sure about that, Kieran? She… she looks amazing!
Carmine had her hands over her mouth in shock.
"Is that… are you wearing one of my grandma's jinbei!?"
Kieran stepped up to explain. "Uhhh! Juliana said that she'd… she'd go to the Festival of Masks with me!"
"Y-yeah!" Juliana agreed.
"Oh really? Is that so…?"
Carmine's eyes fixated on Juliana, doing another one of her menacing full-body scans. Juliana gulped.
Just WHAT is going on here? Invading our homeland and pilfering our Pokémon was one thing, now you're trying to weasel your way INTO MY FAMILY!?
It was a mistake not pairing myself with you so I could keep you on a leash! I should've put a stop to this from the start!
"So." Carmine addressed Juliana curtly. "You're going to chaperone my little brother around, and you successfully charmed my sweet old grandmother into lending you one of our ratty old jinbei. You must think you're real hot stuff, huh?"
"I think I'm something special alright."
Juliana couldn't explain why, but despite her nervousness, she felt a strange sense of confidence rushing through her at the sight of Carmine… and decided to do something flashy. So she did a quick flick of her ponytail and put her hands on her hips.
"What do you think, Carmine? I rock the Kitakami style pretty great, don't I?"
"So cool…" Kieran whispered.
"GRRK!" Carmine clearly wasn't expecting a move like this, and she quickly turned away.
What am I supposed to say? My grandparents are standing right there, so I can't be mean! But, worse than that… she, doesn't even look that terrible! And is she trying to flirt with me or something!?
She turned around again. "You look… fine. I guess you Paldean types don't look quite as square when you're wearing something fashionable for a change."
Juliana grinned in delight. That must be Carmine's way of a compliment. I'll take it!
"…You still need to do something about that dopey grin of yours." To her annoyance, this only made Juliana's smile go wider.
"What's it matter to you anyway!?" Kieran snapped. "What are YOU doing back here!?"
"Oh, right." Then she just flipped her hair and walked past Kieran like it was nothing. "Gran, I can't find my mask anywhere."
"Oh, the masks? They should be in the shed, sweetie. I put them there after last year's festival."
"Masks?" Juliana turned to Kieran.
"Oh yeah! The masks! They're a big part of the festival!" Kieran exclaimed. "Everyone walks around wearing masks over their faces to honor the… well, to honor the Loyal Three." He added quietly, "…But I do it for the ogre."
"It shouldn't be locked, so you three can go have a rummage and see what you find," Hideko chimed in.
Carmine nodded… and then took off.
"ALL RIGHT! To the shed! First one there wins!"
"Wait—SIS! You're such a cheater!" Kieran called out as he chased her.
Their grandparents giggled as Hideko faced Juliana. "Please forgive those two, Juliana. They can be a bit.. rambunctious."
"I bet home life must be fun," Juliana chuckled.
"It's funny," said Yukito. "The whole time they've been away at school, my sweetie pie and I talked constantly about how much we missed them…"
"…and now I'm starting to miss when the house was a lot quieter," Hideko joked.
"RRRGHHH! But there's gotta be another one!"
Juliana walked into the family's open shed, which was full of boxes upon boxes of old junk, funny-looking knick-knacks, and bags of clothing… as well as a very frantic teenage girl furiously digging through a pile of stuff in a huge box while her young brother just stood there, shaking his head.
Juliana tried to approach them quietly, but she accidentally tripped slightly on a pole that was sticking out, and hopped a bit. This alerted Kieran.
"Sis. Sis! Juliana's here."
"What!?"
This caused Carmine to slip onto her knees, falling headfirst into the pile.
Juliana ran up. "Are you okay!?"
She grabbed Carmine's hand to help her back, but Carmine gasped and retracted it, standing herself up.
"Yeah, I'm fine, don't touch me." Carmine threw a patterned festival sheet off of herself, revealing her red exasperated face to Juliana. "Tch! Just rolling up like you own the place."
She kicked the debris off from her feet and dusted her jinbei with her hands.
"Well, it looks like there's only two masks in here."
Juliana's face fell. "…Really?"
"Y-yeah," said Kieran. "I thought we had more. But… if we do, they must be buried too well in."
Carmine looked around and shrugged. "Guess you'll just have to do without a mask, eh? First come, first served, and all that!"
"Oh… that's fine," said Juliana, in a voice that didn't sound so chipper.
Carmine was giving Juliana a look that seemed… almost troubled. But this went away as soon as she clapped her hands together.
"C'mon now, don't look so glum! How about instead of a mask, I give you a battle in style?"
"In… style?"
"Yeah! Festival style!"
"Ugh." Kieran facepalmed.
"I… umm… well, okay."
"Great! Let's get out of this musty old shed and into position!"
Maybe a battle will lift your spirits up… and give me more great insight into how you think. A win for us both! Carmine smiled mischievously. A double win if I can finally score a win and redeem myself!
Carmine was able to put up a better fight against Juliana this time around, thanks to a secret powerful technique… listening to her brother's ramblings for once, and writing down all the Pokémon he'd mentioned Juliana used and caught during their little expedition through Kitakami.
So she was prepared against Floragato, whom her Swadloon easily defeated and even buffed a win against Mienfoo.
"Mien… foo…" Mienfoo tried to move its feet out from the Sticky Web that had entrapped it as soon as it switched in, but was still moving very sluggishly.
"C'mon, Mienfoo, you can do it!" Juliana begged. "Leap out of those sticky webs and use Bounce! You can do it!"
"Mien…"
But Carmine flashed her evil grin.
"My speedy Swadloon can move like lightning now thanks to all its Trailblazing!" she boasted. "She'll run circles around that silly Mienfoo before it can lift a single foot! Show them what we mean! A swift old Razor Leaf. No mercy."
"Swadlooooon!"
Carmine's Swadloon fired a sharp storm of leaves at Mienfoo that cut through its defenses. Mienfoo, having already taken some fair hits from Swadloon's Trailblaze, couldn't take the onslaught and screamed before fainting.
"It's okay, Mienfoo. You did your best…"
"And you did even better," said Carmine, petting her Swadloon, who responded joyfully.
Swadloon made quirk work of Wooper too, taking advantage of Juliana not knowing that a Johtonian Wooper was still Ground-type in addition to Water, until Cutiefly disposed of it.
But even with a Type advantage, Cutiefly fell to the even speedier wiles of Morpeko, leaving the Jangmo-o Juliana caught in Paradise Barrens in an even matchup with Mightyena. Until…
"Mightyena, use Take Down!" Carmine shouted in desperation, fearful of Jangmo-o potentially having Fighting-type moves at its disposal.
Mightyena complied and rushed at the Scaly Pokémon, damaging it quite a lot.
"Jaa-aang…"
But this took a mighty toll on Mightyena, who fainted from the recoil damage.
"Wowzers!"
Carmine growled. "I shouldn't have made a rookie mistake like that. You didn't even teach your Jangmo-o any Fighting moves, did you?"
Juliana's eyed widened. "It can learn Fighting moves!?"
"Grrr. This is why I hate outsiders…"
Carmine was down to her last Pokémon, her ace Poltchageist.
"I'm gonna crush you and go to the festival feeling like a WINNER!"
Jangmo-o went for a Dragon Tail to do some decent damage, but then Poltchageist seized upon Jangmo-o's weakened state to take it out with a simple Mega Drain, taking the little dragon out and restoring Poltchageist's health in the process.
"Looks like I'm down to my last Pokémon too." Juliana tried to do an evil smile of her own. "But I've got a big surprise for you."
Carmine rolled her eyes, knowing full well what was coming out.
"Go, Kilowattrel!"
Kilowattrel screeched mightily.
"Wow. That's a Kilowattrel?" said Carmine in a disingenuous tone. "How unexpected!"
"Hee-hee. I guess Kieran spilled the beans on that one, huh?"
"What? But I—Aww, man," Kieran moaned.
"You see? It doesn't matter how much Kiki cheers for you, deep down he's always going to be on my side, giving me the best tips."
"Sis, you know I didn't do that on purpose…"
"I guess even with my inner knowledge, we both know how this is going to turn out. You know what'd be really cool, though?" said Carmine, a devious look in her eyes.
"What's that?"
"You should totally Terastallize that Kilowattrel for a really cool finale!"
"Terastallize!?" Juliana repeated in surprise.
"Sis, what are you on about?" said Kieran. "How do you even figure Juliana knows about Terastallizing?"
"Because she's from Paldea and that's where all that Tera stuff comes from, pinhead!" Carmine seethed. "Hee-hee, I've done my research on your little school. And it turns out, they hand Tera Orbs to their students, but only to ones deemed an exceptional enough battler to have one. So go on, Miss Perfect. Show us your Tera Orb! You're good enough to have one, aren't you?"
"Sis, don't…" Kieran pleaded.
"I mean…" Juliana reached into her pocket and pulled out her translucent orb filled with glowing energy. "I definitely have one. My friend Nemona arranged it for me. I'm just… shocked because I didn't know you guys knew about Terastallizing."
Carmine's eye twitched. Darn it. That kid said Juliana's only been a student for a couple months, but of course she got an Orb through "special" means. What isn't so special about her at this point?
"Of course. Here's a little surprise for you; we can Terstallize our Pokémon not just here, but at Blueberry Academy too!"
Juliana was amazed. "No way! Does that mean you can both Terastallize your Pokémon too!?"
Kieran looked to the side in embarrassment.
"Ha ha! No. No, we can't," Carmine answered, annoyed. "They don't have enough Tera Orbs to hand them out like candy like your school apparently does, so we have to wait on a mailing list. But mine should be coming any day now!"
"Huh?" Kieran was confused. "What list? I thought you had to make it above a certain rank in the BB League to get o—"
"SHUT IT, Kiki!" Carmine seethed.
Juliana snickered, which caused Carmine's snarling face to transfer from Kireran to hers. This only made her fight the urge to burst out laughing.
"Well, okay… If just wanted to see what it looks like, all you had to do was ask," she joked.
Carmine cracked a bit of a smile. So, you do have spice on you after all…
Juliana took her Tera Orb and held it high in the air. It filled with a lot of wonderous Tera energy, and as soon as it was bursting with light, she tossed it over Kilowattrel's head.
A cluster of crystals formed around the Frigatebird Pokémon, enveloping it in a strange energy, until the crystals scattered. And Kilowattrel emerged, fully charged and decorated in a blue crystalline coat over its body, while a gleaming jewel in the shape of multicolored balloons hung over the top of its head.
Kilowattrel screeched, and blue specks of energy and wind scattered the arena.
"Okay… So you called my bluff and it's a Flying Tera Type. Big deal."
"And… Dual Wingbeat!"
"SCREEEECH!"
One glorious sparkle explosion strike at Poltchageist… and then another.
"…And your stupid bird thing is faster too. Luck really is on your side, isn't it?"
Poltchageist dropped its matcha stick and fell into its own matcha cup like a melting goo, thoroughly defeated.
"Whoaaaaaa!" said Kieran.
"Grrr! You were supposed to be enamored and distracted by my festival style!" Carmine snarled as she reluctantly recalled her Poltchageist.
"You're right," said Juliana. "That was a very… stylish battle. You were even tougher than last time!"
"Sure, just keep rubbing it in." Carmine rolled her eyes. "Better than some lame old mask, right?"
She finally saw Juliana's prevalent Cheshire grin deflate again.
"Oh well!" Carmine said nonchalantly. "It's not like beating me was gonna make another one magically appear. Looks like you'll have to make do with just your face! Good thing it isn't too ugly!" she commented, gently ruffling the shorter girl's hair.
"Sis, come on… Now you're just being mean," Kieran protested.
Juliana readjusted her hair and stubbornly sighed.
"No, no, it's fine, Kieran," said Juliana. "I don't mind at all!"
"Yeah, but…" Kieran was surprised. "B-but you seemed really interested in the masks… Now you're not even sad about it?"
Inside… she was actually very forlorn.
Juliana had gotten really excited about this whole notion of dressing up in masks, especially because Kieran had made it sound like it was such a big deal that she figured almost everyone at the festival would be wearing one.
And I hate feeling left out…
But Juliana also realized she didn't want to make a worrywart out of Kieran, who seemed like he was pretty anxious already, so she swallowed her hurt feelings and put on her best happy face instead.
"Yeah, I'm totally cool. I'll just use my adorable smile instead!" She pointed to her toothy grin with both her fingertips.
Carmine scoffed in annoyance.
"I'm trying to make you feel bad, you weirdo. At least play along so I can feel better after that loss."
"Heh-heh. You'll have to beat me in battle if you ever want to see me frown!"
"I—You—WHATEVER! Battle's over. Now, let me go get MY mask…" she bragged, running back to the shed.
Kieran looked exasperatedly at her sister, then at Juliana. He clearly wanted to say something, but… instead he just bottled it up and followed Carmine.
Juliana let herself decompress once they were both off.
I never thought smiling so much would hurt my mouth.
She gazed up at the mountains to let her thoughts roam free.
Why am I letting myself feel this sad? It's not right. This is supposed to be a fun trip, I should be staying positive abou—What the?
Staring hard enough, she realized she could see what looked like a pair of beady yellow eyes staring at her from up on a cliff.
Once their eyes had locked with each other's, Juliana thought she heard a cry like "…Pon!" and the eyes disappeared into the darkness.
That mountain's sure got a lot of spooky things going on…
"How's that?" she heard from behind her.
Carmine and Kieran had both appeared again. Carmine had a funny-looking blue mask on the side of her hairband, while Kieran's face was half covered with a mask of a gruesome looking green face.
"Look good, don't I?" Carmine beamed.
"Those are… you masks? Wow…"
Juliana's voice trailed off more than she meant it. Kieran seemed to notice, and instantly looked guilty. His shaky hands grabbed his mask off his head.
"I-it's okay, Juliana. I thought about it, and I decided… you can just wear my mask."
"Huh?" Juliana looked at the mask in awe and started to reach for it. "Kieran, I—"
"What!? NO!" Carmine suddenly snapped. "I already said it's first come, first served!"
Much to both Juliana's and Kieran's shock, she swiped the mask from Kieran's hands.
"And besides, that's YOUR ogre mask! You've always loved that mask best!"
"Yeah, but—" He was interrupted by Carmine forcefully tying the mask back over his head.
"No buts about it! Juliana can just get her own mask at the festival! She's fine!"
Juliana was dumbstruck. "Wait… they sell masks at the festival? I didn't—" Juliana's head sunk into her hands. "I wish I'd known that before. I'm sorry. I feel so stupid now, feeling so sad about it…"
Carmine's whole expression changed.
Kieran huffed. "You should've been honest and said you were sad from the start! Then maybe my sis wouldn't have such a jerk—"
"What did you just say about me!?" Carmine seethed. "I'm going to take that mask and—"
"Wait! Wait! Stop!" Both siblings were startled to hear Juliana raise her voice. Sternly, she walked up to them, grabbed both their hands, and forced them to connect. "I said I was sorry. Please don't fight because of me, okay? Maybe I really should've stayed quiet…"
Now Carmine was really taken aback. How'd you flip this around to me feeling bad so masterfully? "I— I—"
"I'm sorry too, Carmine," Kieran sheepishly admitted. "I didn't mean what I said."
…
Carmine felt both sets of eyes staring at her now like puppy Poochyena eyes.
…
"…Don't—don't let it happen again, okay? I'm gonna… go on ahead to the festival now."
Before either of them could say anything else, Carmine dashed down the road into town, leaving them in the dust.
Juliana just kind of stood there with her mouth agape. Kieran clenched his fist in anger, but decided to calm himself down and approached her.
"I'm sorry, Juliana." He put a hand on her shoulder. "I know my sis seems kinda harsh, b-but she's really not all that bad…"
Juliana smirked and put her hand on his, which made his hand and his face get warmer. She turned around fully to face him with a sympathetic frown.
"You keep saying that, Kieran."
"It's true though! Really! Actually, she was tearing the shed apart, tryin' to find a third mask for you before you got there… She seemed really desperate for it, too. But—but don't tell her I told you that."
Juliana's eyes lit up. "Really? … Even though, even though she put on a whole show about not wanting me to have one?"
Kieran nodded. Juliana gazed to the ground thoughtfully.
"Huh. I guess… I guess there's a part of her that does care. She's got a really funny way of showing it, though."
Kieran shook his head. "She's always been this way… I don't really get it. Is it me, or does it feel like as people get older, they don't say what they mean anymore? Always hidin' their true feelings."
"Well, I don't know about that… Your sister's got a heck of a temper though, I'll tell you that much."
Kieran giggled. "Yeah… I guess the more she yells at you, it's her way of showin' she cares. I think... the fact that she does all that instead of just ignorin' you, I think maybe that means she does care about you. She just doesn't wanna say it."
"…Hmm."
"I always say what I mean though! There's nothing good about hidin' things, unless… you're just not a good person. So…" He smiled wildly. "I'm really glad to call you my friend, Juliana."
Juliana beamed. "Thanks, Kieran. I'm glad you're my friend too. And from now on, I won't hide anything from my friend."
He smiled even bigger. Juliana realized she was still holding onto her Tera Orb.
"I gotta go to the Pokémon Center before I can head out to the festival. You want me to wait up for you?"
"Nah, you can go on ahead. I've still gotta finish gettin' ready first. Grandpa said he's gonna give me money for candy apples!"
A red glove peered from the wall of a building. Then a grouchy face followed it.
Carmine kept silent, watching from behind the house closest to the center of Mossui Town, her eyes fixed to the Pokémon Center in front of the community center. Or more specifically, who was at said Center.
Juliana had a smile on her face again as she showed her used-up Tera Orb to the lady at the Pokémon Center.
She was all down and upset a minute ago and now she's her dumb perky self again. Is she playing mind games with my emotions or something? I feel so dumb that I almost caved and let her have my mask… What was I thinking?
"So yeah, I don't know if… They do it all the time for us in Paldea, but…"
The Pokémon Center lady, one hand still holding the phone she was on before Juliana came up, motioned for Juliana to hand her the Orb. She glanced at it for a few seconds.
"Hmmm. Well, they do train us on how to these things since Kitakami has the… the whatever it is that makes Pokémon do that thing, but I'll be honest. Most people around here don't have one, so I'm a bit rusty on what to do with it."
Juliana grimaced. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to inconvenience you."
"Nah, don't worry about it kid, it's my job," she waved off. "I know this machine can definitely do that." She hunched down below the desk. "I just gotta figure out where I stashed the manual."
Carmine, able to hear the situation, looked conflicted.
"Hmph. Our school has the self-serve machines that they teach us to use. I bet I could probably help her figure out how to—"
Then she shook her head and slapped it with her hands a few times.
No, no, Carmine! What on earth are you doing? No going soft on the enemy. What's wrong with you?
She huffed out loud to herself.
…
"Sis, what are you doing?"
"GAH!"
Carmine covered her mouth, and frantically looked back. Juliana seemed to perk up and look her way, so she quickly jerked away completely to the side of the house.
Kieran was there next to her.
"Geez, Kiki!" She scolded Kieran quietly. "What's wrong with you, sneaking up on me like that? You'd be such a terrible spy! You know nothing about being incognito!"
Kieran shook his head. "You and Amarys have gotta stop watching those spy movies together."
"What's your problem, anyway? Can't see you I'm busy?"
"I just…" He paused for a second, feeling nervous about confronting his sister. "I just—I just want to know why you're like this."
"Like what? Smart? Pretty? Incredibly talented?"
"No." He paused again. "Sis… I think Juliana thinks that you hate her."
Carmine paused for a bit. "…So?"
"What do you mean 'so'!?"
"How is it my fault what that girl thinks? I don't care how anyone feels about me, that's their problem."
"Yeah, but…" Kieran sighed. "You always do this."
"Do what?"
Kieran put his hands in his pocket and looked to the side.
"It feels like… anytime somebody tries to be nice to you, you just… you become a lot meaner and try to make them go away."
"I do NOT!" she seethed.
Kieran looked at her crossly. "What do you have against making new friends?"
"I'm very good at making friends, you pipsqueak! I've got more friends at school than you do, so you're hardly one to talk!"
Kieran looked hurt for a second, but tried to look stern again. "…See? This is what I'm talkin' about. You only know how to be angry."
"Huh!" Carmine crossed her arms. "I think I know a lot more about dealing with people than you do. You've only known that girl for a day and you were about to let her have one of your most prized possessions."
"Yeah, but—"
"Why do you have to be such a doormat all the time, Kiki? You really wanna know why I get so bossy around outsiders like her? It's to protect you, silly."
Kieran shook his head defiantly. "That's not true!"
"Yeah it is, and you know it! There are some real bad people out there in the world who would take advantage of your kindness. Not everyone's all nice and friendly like in your little fantasy world, where the ogre was the good guy and stuff."
Kieran pouted with a sour face.
"I'm not always going to be around to protect you, Kiki. You're going to get yourself hurt one of these days unless you wisen up."
He looked up at her and scowled. "I don't need your protection all the time, sis. I can look out for myself too."
Carmine stomped her foot. "Ugh, whatever! All this arguing has me hungry! If you or your sparkly new best friend need me, I'll be at Kitakami Hall!"
Carmine dashed away from her hiding spot and sprinted down the road through town stubbornly.
As she ran past the Pokémon Center, she caught Juliana's eye. Juliana looked at her, and grinned widely.
Why is her dang smile so irritating!?
Carmine turned her nose up and continued running. She didn't look behind her to see that Juliana's smile dropped when she did so.