Yukito lowered her cutting board and let the chopped shitake mushrooms and radishes fall into the boiling pot. The vegetable stew was really starting to come on its own. Yukito took a whiff of the steam rising from the crockpot and smiled at how scrumptious it smelled.

She was very excited to have Carmine and Kieran home again, as it was always fun to cook for her grandkids. And Yuktio was particularly happy to see that Kieran was not only much more chipper than the sour mood he had left home in last time, but actually seemed to be doing better than ever. Her little boy was a lot more confident and independent now, and it warmed Yukito's heart greatly to see.

…But Carmine was a different story. Whereas Kieran was opening himself up a lot more, Carmine was closing herself off severely and mostly keeping to herself now. Yukito could sense that the walls Carmine was putting up over herself were getting bigger by the day, and wished she would allow herself and Hideko in, so they could understand why she looked so sad all the time.

She remembered how much Carmine bonded with that plucky Juliana girl the last time she was home on that school trip, and had a funny sense that something must've happened between the two of them.

Kieran still liked to talk a lot about Juliana and his friendship with her while they were at school together… but was careful to do so only when Carmine was out of the room, which fueled her suspicions further.

Yukito glanced over to the other dish on the counter she'd prepared earlier and hoped it would be the ticket to lifting her poor granddaughter's spirits.

She had arranged all the differently colored mochi treats together into a pyramid on the big plate, just like Kieran always used to get excited for. Carmine, she figured, was always trying to act more mature than that.

She heard the front door open and was pleased to see Kieran walking in.

"Hello there, sprout!" she greeted warmly. "Fun adventures today?"

"Oh totally!" Kieran said excitedly. "I met these cool guys who are part of some 'Kitakami Ogre Clan' or something? At first, I thought they were some weird gang that was hangin' around town, but it turns out they're actually a group that helps Trainers get good at battling with really intense Pokémon battles!"

"Ohh, that's lovely, Kiki." His grandmother smiled at him mischievously. "Did you get to kick their butts like a good Champion?"

Kieran chuckled. "A few of them, yeah! They were all really surprised at how strong I was, so I guess I do still have a little of that Champion strength in me." He sniffed the air. "That smells really good, Grandma! What are you making?"

"Oh, just some Kenchinjiru."

"Uhh…"

Yukito giggled. "Chicken and vegetable stew, dear. I'm trying a new recipe."

"Ohh! Cool! Do you, umm, want me to do anything to help?"

"I would be glad to have some help around here, Kiki! I would've asked your sister for some assistance but…" She glanced down the hallway with a grimace. "…mmm."

"Is she… still acting weird?" Kieran asked, looking in the direction of Carmine's room worried.

"I wish I understood what's gotten into her. I thought she and your grandfather were just going on a stroll to Kitakami Village, but just an hour ago, she stormed in, huffing and pouting, slammed the door to her room without a word and… I haven't heard a peep from her since then."

"Aww man…"

"That's why I'm hoping this special treat will really lift her spirits up!" Yukito gestured towards the mochi pyramid plate. "I know how much you and Carmine both love my mochi, unlike your good-for-nothing grandfather!"

"Uhh…"

Kieran tried to figure out if there was a polite way to inform his Grandma that Carmine had gotten rather sick of all the mochi Yukito obsessively prepared, when they heard a very swift slam of the front door. Yukito poked around to see her husband.

"Well, hello to you too, honeybun! Where—" But to her surprise, Hideko was stomping down the house with a gritted look, towards Carmine's room. "Oh dear… I think your sister's in trouble."

Hideko got up to Carmine's door, where the doorknob had a two-sided sign of Morpeko that was flipped around to a picture of Hangry Mode Morpeko saying "STAY OUT!", and knocked on the door.

"Nobody's home…" came a soft whine from inside.

Hideko huffed through his nostrils. "Carmine, open this door right now or you're going to be in serious trouble!"

"Deki hasn't raised his voice at her like that in years…" Yukito mumbled.

The door opened just a crack, only Carmine's gloved fingers visible.

"What?" she moaned softly.

"What on EARTH did you say to Nao that made him so angry?"

"Nothing he didn't already know."

Hideko's eyes leered. "Young lady, you'd better show your face and drop this tone of yours if you don't want to start getting whupped again."

Carmine sighed, and opened her door enough that her sagging face and dark circles were visible to her grandfather, who lightened up a bit, clearly a little unnerved by her ragged appearance.

"It was just an honest question," she said bitterly. "Why do we even need another stupid festival? I thought they cancelled the Festival of Masks because everyone knows Ogerpon wasn't the villain in the stories!"

"And Nao said you were there when he told everyone that they were simply postponing the festival until they could rebrand it. The Festival of Masks is still important to our culture, Carmine."

She scoffed. "Yeah, it's important to get more tourists here! Because that's what we need right? Is more tourists and filthy outsiders coming here and—and changing everything so much that life can just never go back to the way it was anymore without wanting to cry every single night!" She started to choke on her words as she seethed with her fists. "Some CULTURE!"

"Carmine…" Hideko sighed. "What happened, sweetheart? How did you get so grouchy again? We thought after your big field trip, that huge quest to help out Ogerpon, and going back to your school that you'd gotten a lot happier. In those letters you used to send us, you couldn't stop gushing about your friends and that girl Juliana—"

Carmine took a very sharp breath through her nostrils.

"Those letters were from someone who was living a lie, Gramps," she said gravely. "Please… can I just be alone right now? I'll… apologize to Nao and the rest of those cueball elders tomorrow if you really want me to. But, that's all what I want right now is—to be alone."

Hideko's eyebrows were still furrowed. He wanted to argue more, but he recognized there was little he could say that might do anything else but trigger her emotions further.

"…Alright."

"Thanks," she replied meekly before closing the door.

The old man sighed deeply with his hands on his lips, trying to expel his anger. Yukito walked over and placed a gentle hand on her husband's shoulder.

"Go easy on her, Deki." She gave him a reassuring peck on the cheek. "She's going through a lot right now."

"It's like we're watching her go through puberty all over again…" he grumbled. "The two of them going through phases like this one after another, we've certainly had our hands full."

Yukito cleared her throat and nudged her head to let him know that Kieran was in the room listening to them.

"Oh… sorry, Kieran." He put his hand behind his head, embarrassed. "Didn't know you were there."

"It's alright," he said. "Umm… was I… just like that when I was going through my bad mood?"

"Well…"

"Mmm, close," Yukito said with an honest smile. "But at least you were just quiet, not… causing trouble around town."

Kieran's head sunk down.

"Right…"

"She didn't come home from her 'recon' nonsense until like… past sunset that day," Kieran said through the tablet monitor. "And ever since then, it's been the same. She spends all day in her room unless someone forces her to come out and… she just ends up yelling at people and then going back in."

Lacey sighed morosely. "Wow, that's… that's the worst she's ever been, I think. So much for hoping going back home would snap her out of this funk."

She and Amarys were sitting together inside one of the Savannah Biome's outdoor classrooms. They shared a tablet between their laps through which Kieran was on video call.

"It certainly explains why she's made no attempts to contact us…" said Amarys.

"I just—I don't know what to do," Kieran lamented on their screen. "My whole life, Carmine was the one looking out for me… Keepin' me out of danger, helpin' me whenever things went wrong. I can't help feeling… so guilty now."

Lacey and Amarys both leaned into the screen, puzzled.

"Guilty?"

"This whole time, I'd been wishing that my Sis would stop bossin' me around and start treating me like a grown-up." His eyes began to get glossy. "But now, I—I can't believe I'm saying this, I'd rather have her be all bossy again instead of like this… Now it feels like I've gotta be the one lookin' out for her, and I don't—I don't know how to do any of that!"

Lacey glanced up at Amarys, who looked just as lost for answers as her, but she still wanted to try something.

"Perhaps, it's like what you assured me with, Lacey. That… the only thing we are able to do sometimes, is to just stand with her, and always support her."

"I've been trying that! It's not… working!" Kieran declared, letting tears fall down his cheeks. "I feel so useless. I—I want to do more to help. But I guess even though I'm strong enough to be a Champion, I'm still not grown-up enough for things like this…"

"I wish I had more advice to give you, Kieran," said Lacey. "It's just really hard for me to put myself in your situation. As you know, I'm an only child."

"Whereas my brother and I have always been in sync with one another," Amarys noted.

Lacey drifted her gaze up at the other end of their blue classroom gazebo… where Drayton was sitting, leaning his head and arms out. He had his back to them, giving the appearance that he didn't care about their problems.

…But really, he just wanted his cohorts to not see how pained his face was, as he listened to Kieran talk about Carmine's downward spiral.

Lacey knew Drayton had talked about his siblings before… but never in a great context.

"I guess all of us don't have a lot to say about the best way to resolve family issues… And you know I never really had a problem with other kids growing up—probably because they were terrified of my daddy."

"Or… some of them p-probably thought you were cute," Kieran opined.

This made Lacey blush. "Well… yeah, I suppose that might be true!" she giggled. "See? You keep doubting yourself, but you do know how to make a girl smile, Kieran!"

"Heh-heh, well, m-maybe but…" Kieran scratched the back of his head. "We're not talking about a girl here, we're talking about my sister. … My sister who would probably clobber me in the head if I ever told her she was 'cute'."

Both girls heard a soft chuckle from Drayton at that.

"I kinda wish I had you guys here…" Kieran admitted. "I mean, just talking to you again has helped me feel a little bit better. I wish it could do the same for my sis too…"

"Just gotta keep the strength, Kieran." Lacey smiled as best she could. "That's all we can do for her, just—keep trying our best until she pulls through."

"Yeah…" He sighed. "I should probably get going, supper's gonna be ready soon… I'll try really hard to get Carmine to talk to you guys."

"Please do," said Amarys.

"Bye for now…"

"Bye, Kieran!" Lacey waved to the monitor. "Love you!"

The video feed went black on their end as Kieran ended his side of the call.

Amarys turned to Lacey. "…Did you just end the call by saying 'Love you'?"

"Oh!" Lacey put a hand to her mouth and blushed. "Did I? Well… he knows what I meant by that!"

Then, without turning around, Drayton spoke up.

"…She misses Juliana."

"What was that?" Lacey asked as both girls turned to him.

"Carmine… she's gotta be all torn up over Juliana and how badly things went between 'em. You said that day she was having a meltdown, she said it was all her fault Juliana left school or something like that, right? I bet good money that's the biggest thing she's beating herself up over…"

Amarys folded her arms. "I don't know about Lacey, but… I assumed that to be obvious."

"I mean… yeah," Lacey had to agree. "Of course a lot of this has to do with Juliana. But… what can we do about that? It's not like she's here at this very moment, or over there in Kitakami. She's living her own life again, far away from all of this…"

The three of them all looked down sorrowfully, knowing in their hearts there wasn't anything else they could do to help.

The silence was broken by a sudden shriek, and Crispin running up frantically to them.

"Guys! Guys! It's back!" he shouted, waving his arms. "And—and it still won't leave me alone!"

Drayton sighed and lifted his head to face Crispin with a very dismissive expression.

"Crispin buddy, is this still about that pink Magmar?"

"It's REAL! I swear it! It keeps following me everywhere and—and taunting me!" Crispin, his eye twitching like mad, flashed out his trusty frying pan and brandished it as a weapon. "That's it! I'm going to catch it for myself and prove it to you all!"

Lacey watched the boy run off, looking very confused. "What… is he going on about?"

Amarys adjusted her specs. "Crispin claims that a shiny Magmar has allegedly been appearing in the Terrarium at random intervals and targeting him since this morning, supposedly to cause him distress."

"I think all the fumes from those wild kitchen adventures are finally getting to that poor kid's head," said Drayton.

Crispin put himself out into the field, glancing around paranoid in every direction of the Savannah Biome, waiting for his supposed tormentor to pop out.

"Where are you!? Stupid Magmar! Show yourself! I'm the King of Fire-types around here!"

There was a rustle in the bushes nearby, and then Crispin saw some pink and red flames burst from one of them.

"Brroo-broo-brooo!" came the Magmar's sing-songy voice.

"HYAH!" Crispin tried to dive towards the Magmar, only for it to scuttle off. "Huh?"

Then he heard it quickly dash behind him, and turned around, waving his frying pan like a sword.

"Come on out, you cowardly lizard! I'm not scared of you!"

"Magggg…"

"EHH!?"

Crispin looked upwards, and was surprised to see the shiny Magmar poking its head out of the tree.

"GRRR! Now I've got you! Quick Ball, GO!"

The hotheaded BB Elite Four fished up a Quick Ball, his favorite thing to use when in a bind with wild Pokémon, and quickly launched it up towards Magmar.

…But the Quick Ball deflected off Magmar with a blue flash, as if it was a Pokémon already caught by someone else, and bounced back and hit Crispin square in the face.

"OWWWW! Huh!?"

"Brroo-brrrrrrr…"

Magmar giggled playfully before hopping down from the tree, giving the boy an… almost human-like wave with a cheerful cry goodbye, and then dashing off down the hills.

Crispin, rubbing his head, was utterly dumbfounded.

"What… just happened…?"

"Hee-hee-hee-heee…"

Juliana couldn't help grinning mischievously to herself.

Dressed in the hooded blue Hisuian coat Perrin had given her to conceal her identity, she was otherwise standing almost completely still on a ledge in the Central Plaza, her arms bearing together into fists with her eyes scrunched shut.

"Shall I end the synchronization process?" a female student in a lab coat asked her unmoving form.

Juliana willed herself to nod lightly, and this prompted the girl to press the red button on a unique device in her hands. The antenna on the device emitted a green pulse over Juliana, and caused her to snap out of her concentrated stance.

"So what do you think?" she asked Juliana eagerly. "Did you feel fully synchronized with your Pokémon's thoughts and feelings?"

"It sure was an experience I've never had before, Synclaire!" Juliana responded, rubbing her head as she felt her mind fully reorienting itself. "The way you described this synchro thing, it sounded like we would be swapping bodies but instead it… it really felt like me and Magmar had become one big unit."

Just then, the shiny Magmar appeared in the Central Plaza, plodding along as it reunited with its new owner.

"Exactly as I had predicted, of course!" Synclaire boasted. "Once I've perfected this amazing invention of mine, it will unlock whole new possibilities in becoming one with your cherished partners! You may even find it useful in that quest you mentioned to catalog all the Pokémon in this Terrarium!"

"Yeah." Juliana affectionately patted her lucky catch on its bulbous red head and thought to herself, And a great way to see what my friends are up to without having to show my face to them.

"Thank you very much for participating in all my trials, miss!" Synclaire said sincerely as she tucked the Synchro Machine into her pockets. "Now it's time I exchange with the information you want, correct-o?"

"Correct-o!" Juliana giggled. "So… you know about all the Starter Pokémon from other regions they say are popping up around here now, right?"

"Indeed I do! My friends in the Biodiversity Club are the ones to thank for that, along with our former BB League Champion Juliana!"

"O-oh… really?" Juliana said humbly. She started pulling the hood over her face more, worried of being recognized.

"Yes! Just before she left to go back to her old school, she generously donated a HUGE amount of BP to my friends in that club. It's thanks to all that BP they were able to launch their project of introducing so many exotic new Pokémon into our artificial ecosystem!" she said gleefully.

Then she looked at her mysterious helper more closely, and started to look a bit suspicious.

"Hey… wait a minute."

"UMMM!"

Juliana hastily pulled the strings on the coat to all but press the hood over her face and sidestepped away from Synclaire a bit.

"So, a-anyway, you said you have the—the full list of all those Starter Pokémon and where I can find them, right!?" she said frantically.

There was another knock on Carmine's door. This time, a much softer one.

It didn't warrant an answer though, so instead Yukito gently opened it, and peered in to see her granddaughter sitting upright on her bed, half-wrapped in her plaid red comforter, morosely looking out the window.

"Carmine…?"

Carmine reluctantly turned away from the window to glance at her grandma briefly. It crushed Yukito's heart, because in that instant she could see all the pain and sadness in those yellow eyes.

She stared at Yukito for just a couple seconds before returning her gaze to the window, which made Yukito sigh and step in more, carrying a steaming hot bowl of stew.

"Your dinner's getting cold, sweetheart. Won't you come out and eat with the family?"

"I'm not hungry," she muttered.

"Carmine, sweetie… what's wrong? I wish you'd tell us what it is that's put all these dark clouds over your sunshine."

Carmine only responded by lowering her head and shawling her comforter over her body completely.

"…Did you have another bad dream?"

She stifled loudly and gripped the blanket tightly over herself, which Yukito considered an affirmative answer.

"Mmm, well…" Yukito decided to take a seat on the bed next to Carmine and gently rubbed her shoulder. "I'll tell you what we always used to say to Kiki when he used to have nightmares: the good thing about a bad dream is that that's all it is. It's a dream. It's not real, and it'll never be real. And… it's over! So you won't have to worry about that bad dream ever again."

"…"

Carmine didn't respond, so Yukito decided to give her one last affectionate pat on the back and got up.

"We'll keep your dinner warm for you. Whenever you come out."

She went to go get the stew pot she had left on top of Carmine's dresser, when she heard a loud sniffle.

And then Carmine mumbled something indistinct.

"What was that, dearie?"

"…It wasn't a bad dream." Carmine slowly brought her head up, and Yukito now realized that her cheeks were puffy from crying. "It was a good dream. But that's the problem… it's a good dream that'll—that'll never be real."

Yukito let her hands rest over her waist and stared back at her with a gentle, patient expression.

"Too good a dream, huh?" She smirked a little. "Who was it about, dear?"

"No one…"

"Oh. So nobody I would know, is it?"

"…"

Yukito tilted her head. "Is it somebody I would know?"

Carmine was hesitant to answer.

"It wouldn't be… that Juliana girl, would it?"

"…!"

Carmine swaddled herself up completely in her blanket, as if she hoped that it would gobble her up. Yukito, a little pleased to have finally hit upon the root of her troubles, took a seat on the bed again.

"I had a feeling," she admitted. "You and that girl were adorable together on the field trip. Practically thick as thieves! And Kieran well, he told me you were all up to a lot of stuff together when she came to your school! So… when you came here, all glum and not talking about her even once… I had a sense that something was up."

Carmine didn't answer, she just sighed deeply.

"What happened between you two, honey? Why are you so upset now?"

"Nothing happened, Gran." she answered with an annoyed grunt. "Nothing besides your 'best girl' being a dumb, mean idiot making everyone around her miserable."

"Now, Carmine…" She began rubbing her granddaughter's backside again. "What have I told you about talking about yourself like that?"

"Well it's TRUE!" Carmine whipped her head around, her yellow irises wide. "Cause this time, I… I REALLY went and done it! Just as we were finally starting to get close, I—I wanted to tell her how I really feel but I…"

The Kitakamite girl squeezed her eyes shut for a second, as painful memories came flooding back and she fought back tears.

"I just forced myself on her by kissing her without asking and—and just totally freaked her out! But that wasn't anywhere near as bad as what happened next!"

"What happened next?" Yukito asked calmly.

"Juliana and Kiki, they were having a battle and—and Kiki got hurt. I completely freaked out, lost my cool… Because he's my brother, right? Why wouldn't I? Why wouldn't I just—yell at Juliana? Tell her this was all her fault? That she's a bad influence on my brother when it's always BEEN ME!? ME ALL ALONG!"

"Sweetheart, you're getting all worked up—"

"SO I TOLD HER ALL THAT AND—AND THAT SHE SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM US! AND SHE DID!" Carmine was screeching so much she was wearing her voice out. "SHE LEFT SCHOOL AND WENT HOME! BECAUSE OF ME! AND I HAD NOTHING BETTER TO DO BUT TO ALMOST HIT KIKI, AND LASH OUT AT ALL MY FRIENDS!"

Her voice was extremely hoarse, and she was gasping for breath now, the saliva from her tears and snot starting to fill up inside her throat.

"That's why I came back home with Kiki, gran… to stop myself from hurting anyone else! But you saw how I am. No matter where I am, I'm the villain! And not just that, a villain who's going completely crazy! I'm hearing voices, I'm seeing Juliana's face in places where she isn't, and in my dreams, she's—she's- GNNH!"

Carmine grasped her head and started furiously scratching at her hair, messing about those black and red locks. The ones she used to take pride in making so silky and pristine that others would admire her bewitching beauty. But now she just felt like an ugly, monstrous Grimmsnarl.

"I'm just a hopeless, lovesick idiot now, Grandma, and I can't even do anything about it because I scared away the awesomest, cutest girl on the planet. The only girl who ever liked me for who I am and not just for how pretty I was on the outside! And I blew it! So now I'm cursed to feel this way in my cold, black heart forever."

She turned her nose up a bit at the bowl of food she'd been able to smell this whole time, and looked down pitifully.

"I don't belong anywhere, gran. When I try to hang out with my friends, I just end up hurting them. When I'm around Kiki, I end up hurting him. When I try to do anything else to have fun, the whole village gets mad at me. Everyone in this town always knew I was nothing but trouble. That's why I don't deserve to eat, or have friends, or do anything…"

Yukito had been listening to all of this, completely stunned and at a loss for words. She even had to take her glasses off in order to gain back her composure after it was all said and done.

"Carmine, my sweet, sweet little blackberry… I had no idea you were this broken."

With no other ideas on what to do, she leaned over and embraced her poor granddaughter.

"My dear… you really need to learn to see the forest through the trees, instead of getting stuck in your own branches. Is it true that you… inherited quite a bit of your father's temper, and his black tongue? Perhaps. And I won't deny that you've probably done some things and said even worse things that you must apologize for. But, sweetie?"

Yukito forced Carmine to look at her and placed a delicate hand on her puffy, red cheek, drying the tears that were coming down.

"You're wrong, you know. Your friends, for as much as you and Kiki talk about them, seem to care a great deal about you. Your grandfather and I love you more than anything. Kiki, well, Kiki still thinks the absolute world of you, dear, and he's never let all your little sibling fights and bickering do anything to change that. And our neighbors?"

She scoffed.

"Most of them don't mean the things they say about you two. And the ones who do? Well… they're a bunch of snobs anyway," she smiled reassuringly.

This earned a soft snicker from Carmine, which was enough of a reward on its own.

"And Juliana…?" As she expected, Carmine went silent and hid her face again. "I can't assume to know what happened between you two in your private moments. All I do know about her is the short time we spent together, when I styled her hair for the festival. That girl… was probably one of the sweetest, kindest, most innocent souls I've ever met in my long life on this Earth."

She leaned in close.

"Juliana talked a lot about you, you know. She told me about the battles you'd had with her, and how excited she was to be friends with you. Even from the beginning, she clearly thought the world of you too."

Although Carmine was hiding her face, Yukito could see that she was beginning to smile a little.

"That sweet girl didn't seem like the type who could even hate a Grubbin. Whatever you said that you think drove her away… I can't imagine a world where she wouldn't forgive you for everything you said. I bet she still wishes you two were friends just as much as you do."

Yukito was met with silence again. But this time, it was a comforting silence, the kind that made her feel assured that her granddaughter was absorbing her words and just needed time alone to process them.

She rubbed Carmine's blanketed shoulder one last time as she got ready to get up.

"Just keep up your strength, Carmine. Take all the time you need to recover, let yourself think positive thoughts… and I'm sure you'll find a way to make things right with everyone. Okay?"

"…"

Yukito stood up, and was about to take the bowl of stew again, but decided against it.

"I'll leave your dinner here, sweetie. You can either have it with us, or alone in your room. Whatever will make you feel better."

She bowed politely before leaving the room, with the door cracked open.

As she walked down the hallway, she heard noises of Carmine getting up.

Yukito heard the bowl get lifted off the dresser, and the door closing behind her.

She smiled warmly. This was enough.

"I'm just, just—wow! I'm really over the moon here, you two!"

Jacq rubbed his face underneath his hexagonal glasses as he tried to comprehend the amount of data, and more importantly the amount of Pokémon, that had been sent his way in one of the computer labs at Uva where he did a lot of his Pokédex research.

Juliana and Perrin were both watching him from the other end of the video call on Perrin's laptop. Sitting by themselves in a remote corner of the Central Plaza where almost no students congregated, they both giggled as they watched Jacq's astounded reactions on the screen.

"I knew you were going to be surprised!" Perrin beamed. "Your little trooper here really went above and beyond, didn't she?"

"That's an understatement!" Jacq adjusted his glasses as best he could. "It usually takes me at least a month or two to try and catch all the species you've gathered for me in just four days, Juliana!"

Juliana blushed. "Well, catching Pokémon is a lot of fun for me, so it didn't even feel like work!"

"Bow-wow!" "Rrruff!"

Both of Perrin's Growlithe were running excitedly around the pair, playing with each other and asking for pets.

"Ha-ha, that's the spirit I've missed from you, Juliana!" Jacq laughed. He cleared his throat, remembering he also needed to play the role of responsible teacher. "Pleased as I am… I also hope that you weren't pushing yourself too hard in order to accomplish all this."

Juliana proudly shook her head. "It was a lot of fun, Mr. Jacq, but I also made sure to take plenty of breaks and I even spent time camping with Perrin!"

"Yup!" Perrin leaned in. "You can believe me when I say I wouldn't have let her go out on her own if she ever looked too worn out to go exploring, and we shared plenty of snacks too!"

"Oh of course, Perrin, I know how stern you are when camping with others."

"Stern?" Perrin gave him a jokingly angry expression. "How about being a responsible adult?"

"Well, either way…" Jacq chuckled as he got back to important matters. "Yeah, everything you've sent me, especially all these Pokémon for the school to study, are going to be utterly invaluable in helping me complete my Kitakami and Blueberry Pokédexes! The data you gave me on all those Paradox Pokémon, both up above and down below Area Zero, I'm very thankful for too."

He scratched the back of his head.

"I uhh… don't imagine Ms. Geeta is going to let me publish a lot of my findings on those, but in terms of scientific preservation, oh, I'm giddy with excitement! Thank you once again, Juliana!"

"You're welcome, Mr. Jacq!" she bowed politely.

"We haven't had much time together to chat since you came back to Uva either, so… how have you been holding up? Classes aced? Friendships strong? …Feeling better?"

"Yup, yup, yup!" Juliana nodded. "My body's never felt better and… I'm holding up pretty good, I think."

"Very splendid! Oh! That's right, I've been so curious to ask… remember when we met up in Kitakami?"

"Of course I do!" Juliana chuckled. "You want to know what my egg hatched into, right?"

"Well, that is one thing I'm itching to know, but I'd rather you save the surprise and show me for yourself next time I get to see you in class! But I was also thinking about that friend you mentioned to me! The one you were trying to get real close to?"

"…Y… yeah."

Juliana's mood shifted, and her features fell a little bit. She tried her best to keep up a smile for her teacher, though.

"You asked me for advice, and I gave you that spur-of-the-moment thing about using Brick Break on people's walls."

"Mm-hm." Juliana gulped. "I remember all that."

"How did all that turn out? Did you ever get to break down her walls, and become really good friends? I think Director Clavell mentioned to me that she was one of the friends you were excited to meet up with again at Blueberry Academy."

Juliana was trying her best to maintain a happy composure, but on the inside, the more she was reminded of all this… the more she could feel her heart sinking.

"Umm, yeah…!" She nervously propped up the tablet in her hands. "I—I got to see her again, we hung out a bit. Did some cool battles together, yeah it was… it was great."

"Well, that makes me very happy! I've been thinking about you ever since that day, Juliana. The bonds that you students are able to form, even with those from different schools well… it really warms my heart to see you kids all helping us feel like one big world, never too apart to say how-do-you-do!"

Jacq didn't know it, but he was causing wells of guilt to bubble up in Juliana's head. Emotions she had been trying to suppress this whole time were threatening to rise up from her skull and poison her good spirits.

"…Yeah."

She could almost smell the Pecha Berry in her pocket… detecting her worries, and trying to reach out to her.

"Whoo! Got myself real worked up there… Sorry for all that." Jacq slicked back his moppy hair and sighed. "I'd better get to work RIGHT away! I'm serious when I say I'm super excited to start digging in and cataloging these wonderful, exotic creatures!"

"Take real good care of yourself, Jacq!" said Perrin.

"Thanks a million, Perrin! You too! Keep looking after my beloved pupil for me! And have an awesome rest of your journey, Juliana!"

"Thanks so much, Jacq! You too!" She smiled and waved goodbye.

"Ha-ha! So long!"

The call ended, and Juliana sat back against the wall of brightly-colored blocks. She chuckled to herself a bit.

"My neck always used to hurt after leaning down to look at my phone or tablet for that long," she noted. "I guess I really never realized all the warning signs my body was giving me until they came all at once…"

Perrin scoffed. "You kids are too young to be complaining about your bodies. Let the big girls like me worry about phantom back and neck pains, why dontcha?"

The sounds Perrin made as she got up and stretched her muscles certainly gave some weight to her words.

"So… any other affairs you had to take care of around here, partner, or is your little secret mission complete?"

Juliana pondered. "Yeah… I think I'm good to head back to Paldea. My friends have gotta be missing me by this point and… I think I miss them too."

"It'll hit you like a truck once you do see them again. Believe me."

Perrin was starting to collect all the different lens caps, memory cards, and equipment for her photo shooting together into her black duffel bag.

Juliana, after looking to make sure no one was around, decided to flip her hood up and let her hair breathe for a little bit. Perrin watched her, noticing that as much as she seemed to be attempting, Juliana couldn't quite manage a genuine smile, and after a few seconds of thinking, decided to speak up.

"Hey, partner?"

"Yeah?" Juliana turned to her. "What's up, Perrin?"

"I know it's—probably not my place to ask, but that special friend of yours Jacq just mentioned. Did everything really work out between you? I noticed when he brought her up that you were tryin' to smile, but that you were actually really sad."

Juliana shied her face away a bit. "You could… tell all that, huh?"

"It's the curse of developing such a sharp eye for shooting, my friend," she said, holding her camera up. "It also gave me the superhuman ability to read people's moods."

The Paldean girl shyly put her hands in her pockets and kicked the ground a bit, looking very troubled. She huffed a few times, Perrin figured probably dredging out bad memories.

"It's nothing, really…"

"Doesn't seem like nothing. Kind of seems like it's secretly eating you alive."

"I was friends with a girl who I met on my school trip, she goes to Blueberry Academy. That's who Mr. Jacq is talking about. We got to be really close friends for a while and then…" She closed her eyes sadly. "And then we just… stopped being friends."

"Just like that?"

"Yeah… just like that. But I'm okay now. Really."

Perrin eyed her suspiciously, definitely not convinced.

"Okay… Umm." She parted her uniquely-colored hair and faced Juliana with genuine eyes. "You know, being my partner and all means I don't just want to look out for your physical health but… I'm also here, if… you know. You just, really need someone to talk to or… a big hug, or, just a shoulder to cry on."

Juliana winced hesitantly.

"I mean it. Really."

"I know you do. And you're really super nice, Perrin, but…" Juliana sighed. "I… I don't want to be a burden with my silly problems."

"You wouldn't be a burden, Juliana. I offer emotional support all the time." Perrin pointed to herself with a grin and bragged, "In fact, some of my friends have told me I'm much cheaper than a therapist!"

Juliana tugged at her sleeve and breathed deeply. In her pocket, she was gripping the Pecha Berry, thinking about using it to help calm herself down.

"I just—I'm not good at opening up to people. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," she said softly. "You don't have to say anything to me. But… it's okay to let people know how you're feeling, y'know? Maybe one of your friends? Nobody's an island, Juliana. We're all in this big crazy world together. So, it's really okay to rely on others for help sometimes. No shame in it at all."

She nodded, and smiled as best she could. "Thanks, Perrin. I'll try… really hard to do that in the future. Next time I see one of my friends…"

"Good. Make it a promise!" Perrin pointed a finger at her.

"I promise."

Perrin nodded satisfactorily. "Alright, cool. Just let me grab the rest of my stuff, and then we can say goodbye to this place. I'll even see you all the way to your home region if you want."

"Thanks, Perrin," Juliana smiled. "I'll umm… I'll go see if I can find a vending machine to buy snacks."

"Sounds like a plan!" Perrin gave her a thumbs-up before continuing what she was doing.

Juliana stepped out a little ways and sighed deeply.

I need this to go away…

She took out the Pecha Berry from her pocket and clutched it in her hand.

Taking a big whiff, she could smell its scent coming up again, and it was so inviting… So calming…

…but she hesitated.

"Brrrow…" One of Perrin's Growlithe barked, picking up a fallen camera lens with its teeth.

"Oooh! Thanks, pal! Must've missed that one!"

Perrin opened up her latch-case of lenses and filters, and started fitting the fallen one back to its slot.

"Almost… got it… and…"

…

"Carmine."

Perrin looked up. Juliana had come back and was standing in front of her.

"Huh?"

"The girl I was friends with… Her name was… C-Carmine," Juliana croaked out. It was probably the first time she had uttered the girl's name out loud in over a month.

"Carmine?" Perrin racked her brain for a second. "Wait, and she's from Kitakami?"

Juliana nodded.

"I think I met her actually! While I was setting up camp in Mossui Town. She and her brother both came up to me." She giggled. "Her brother was super nice and asked a lot of questions about my photos and my Pokémon, but I think that girl thought I was a tourist or something."

"That sounds like both of them alright," Juliana said, chuckling a little despite her sadness. "But yeah, that's… who Jacq was talking about. The girl whose heart I broke."

Perrin, gazing at her sympathetically, scooched over and motioned for Juliana to sit on the bench next to her.

"Tell me about her."

Juliana sighed a really big sigh, and took a seat next to Perrin.

"I mean… there's so much to tell you about Carmine. She's awesome, she's—she's really pretty, like, one of the most… beautiful girls I've ever met. One of the smartest ones too. Really funny…" She chuckled again.

"Especially when she's not trying to be. She acts all tough on the outside, but you don't even have to be around her for too long to see that she's got a heart of gold and really cares about everyone. And the way she battles—it's, it's so awesome! She unleashes herself like a wild tiger and comes up with so many insane strategies. I just… I think she's gotta be the coolest person on the planet."

…

She looked up at Perrin. "And she's really gorgeous too! Did I say that? That she's really, really gorgeous?"

Perrin couldn't help but snort. "I think you've communicated that, yeah. So what was she to you? Just a friend, or… or something more than that?"

Juliana looked down, twiddling her thumbs in her lap, and shook her head.

"I don't know. I honestly don't know. I thought maybe we were like sisters, but then she… she confessed to me."

"Oh!" Perrin put her hands to her lips in surprise. "Like… confessed her feelings for you?"

Juliana nodded bigly, the memories really beginning to sting now.

"Yup."

"And you… told her you don't feel the same way. Didn't you?"

Another regretful sigh. "I did… But then, literally the moment after that, and every day afterwards I just... wasn't sure. By the time I was really wondering if… if maybe I did feel the same way about Carmine…" A tear slid down her cheek. "That's when everything went wrong."

"What happened?"

"It was… just a silly accident," she said morosely. "Kieran—her brother, who I was also friends with, he got hurt while we were having a battle. And…" She leaned her head back and sighed. "I know it wasn't my fault… But Carmine, she's a little overprotective of Kieran."

"Ahhh," Perrin replied, seeming to understand.

"We got into a really nasty fight…" Juliana's lip was quivering at this point. "I said some really awful things to her… She told me to go away and—and to never speak to her again. And… and…"

Her eyes got very glossy, and Juliana strained, as if trying to make the tears come out. But they were being very resilient, like she still couldn't quite get herself to cry as much as she wanted.

"…And she was completely right to! I was horrible… I—I called her a jerk. A bad influence. I told her everything that happened with Kieran was her fault… and it wasn't! I just got all angry and up in my head, and said things that weren't true because I was upset…"

"Brrr-ow?" One of Perrin's Growlithe, seeing Juliana look sad, jumped onto her lap and started licking her face.

This actually broke Juliana out of her misery for a few seconds, as she couldn't help but laugh.

"Awww, Growlithe has really taken a liking to you!" Perrin giggled.

Juliana smiled at the eager, grainy-haired pup, but she was still wrapped in sadness.

"Anyway… that's what happened. I feel terrible about her, and about Kieran, because I also broke one of his favorite toys in that fight. I'm just worried they both really hate me now… That's the reason why I quit Blueberry."

"Is that why you wanted to leave Kitakami too?" Perrin rationalized. "You saw both of them there, didn't you?"

Juliana nodded. "Because that's all I know how to do… is to run away. I'm so scared of making people upset, that I… I just ran away, so it wouldn't ever happen again. Seeing Carmine that hurt and angry at me… I didn't even think about it at the time, but… that was probably the worst day of my whole life."

It was really starting to hit for Juliana that something weird was going on with her while all of this was happening. It was almost like a part of her was completely closed off the day of her fight with Carmine, or the day she decided to leave Blueberry, and that the emotions she should've been feeling those days… were only starting to affect her now, as she recounted everything.

And even now, she felt a bit weird, like there was still a lock over her heart preventing her from feeling all these emotions even as they swept over her like this.

She clutched at her head, feeling more confused about the jumble inside her mind than ever before.

"I tried so long to just bury everything… To distract myself so I wouldn't think about it… I wanted to forget all about Carmine, but—but…"

A couple tears began to fall again.

"I can't. No matter how hard I try, I can't stop thinking about her! She won't leave my head, no matter how much I want her to."

"…You know what that means, don't you?"

"No?"

Perrin smiled warmly in response. "It means that this Carmine girl is still very special to you. Whether you're in love with her, see her as a sister, or just a really great friend… she's clearly woven herself into your heart forever."

Juliana lightly touched the heart area of her body and wondered. Is Carmine the reason why my heart feels so incomplete?

"It's never a good idea to bury dark feelings, Juliana. They just fester and grow into resentment and… before long, you become a different… much darker person."

…Like Kieran did, she realized.

"You need to confront these unresolved feelings of yours head on."

Juliana gulped. "I know. But… I'm afraid."

"Well then let me ask you this…" Perrin scooched in close to her, and leaned her head forwards. "If she's still this special to you then… don't you think that means you're probably still just as special to her?"

"I…" Juliana was speechless. "…"

"See, the thing about bonds that are that special, Juliana? Once you're hooked into each other that strongly… it's unbreakable. Like, yeah, there's probably a lot you've gotta apologize for, and you should. And she should too."

"But she didn't—"

"She did," Perrin interrupted her. "If that fight was bad as you're describing it, then she definitely said some things she regrets too. In fact, you've got a sweet deal here, partner!"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't even know how you feel about her… but you said Carmine was confident enough about her feelings to confess to you and everything. Did she kiss you?"

"She did," Juliana couldn't help but smile.

"Did you like it?"

"…" Juliana wouldn't answer, but her inability to stop grinning spoke volumes.

"Ha-ha! Sorry! I know that was a curveball." Perrin was leaning back against the wall now, her knee pressed up on the bench. "But here's what I'm saying to you, partner: I bet she misses you even more than you miss her."

Juliana brushed her hair back, trying to resist the feeling of hope that Perrin was bringing out in her. "You—you really think so?"

"Willing to bet my Junior Photographer of the Year award on it. Now, let me just ask you one more question for all the marbles. If you, Juliana, could have anything you wanted right now… Completely free of whatever you're worried anyone else would think… what would it be?"

Juliana sat, hands between her legs, and thought long and hard about it. She knew the answer almost immediately… it was just a matter of convincing herself of it.

Finally, she looked up at Perrin. Her eyes weren't teary anymore. They looked… determined.

"I want us to be friends again… at least."

Perrin smiled even harder. "Then do it."

"What!?"

"Then do it."

"…"

Juliana wanted to argue. There were so many excuses queued up that she could excuse. But there was nothing, nothing at all, she could say that would make her sound right.

Perrin had her number. And her smug smile told Juliana she was well aware of it.

…

"Okay."

Perrin was practically smiling cheek to cheek now. "That's my girl."

"I'm going to do it…" Juliana said out loud. Slowly but surely, she didn't look sorry for herself anymore. She looked… confident. Determined. Eager.

Until she finally stood up, tossed the Diamond Clan uniform completely off herself, and said with complete gusto, "I'm going to do it!"

"Do what?" Perrin sat up.

"I'm going back to Kitaikami. I'm going to find Carmine. Apologize for everything I said, admit everything I was wrong about, and… and how much I miss her."

Juliana put a hand over her heart again, this time pressed.

"And… I'm going to ask for another chance. I'm going to ask if we can start over."

That last sentence made her chuckle in her head a bit. I've basically switched places with Kieran.

"Kieran too. I really hope that all of us can be friends again."

Perrin stood up, and with a very proud smile, grasped both of Juliana's shoulders.

"I'm real super proud of you, kiddo."

Then Juliana reciprocated, to Perrin's surprise but not dissent, with a very tight hug.

"Thank you so much for motivating me, Perrin… I guess this makes us even now."

"Awww! Partner! I don't believe in that sort of thing."

They were both drawn to the sound of excited yips. The same younger Growlithe that had licked Juliana's face earlier was now dancing circles around them, and lightly tugging on Juliana's leg.

"But hey… if you want a way for us to really be even, and to stay connected forever… How about this for a reward? That Growlithe is the younger brother of mine, and he really, really loves battles!"

"Oh yeah?" Juliana knelt down to the Hisuian Growlithe with a smile.

"He already seems to like you a lot. I think you'll do a better job of raising it good and strong."

"Really!?"

Juliana's eyes lit up, and Growlithe took the cue to jump right into Juliana's arms. Juliana stood up and laughed as her new partner excitedly licked her face repeatedly.

"Ha-ha-ha! Are you—you sure, Perrin? Like, really really sure?"

"Super sure!" she said, giving Juliana a thumbs-up. "Maybe he can even be your little wingman."

Juliana laughed. She ran her fingers through Hisuian Growlithe's matted fur. It was a lot grainer than she was expected, like his hair was full of dirt and rock but still… somehow smooth to the touch.

"Yeah! I'm looking forward to seeing what you pull off. I've got high hopes!"

Perrin's own Growlithe barked happily, excited to see its brother find a new friend. Perrin knelt down to pet it and smiled.

"You know… Growlithe like these are known for living and working together in pairs. Even if they are separated for a while, I bet their paths might just cross again someday... so really, this isn't goodbye, but…"

Juliana smiled back at her.

"See you later."

The plane ride back to Kitakami went by in a blur.

Juliana managed to leave Blueberry Academy on her own without anyone seeming to recognize her, and even more luckily was able to land in Kitakami, hitch a bus to Mossui Town, and make it in front of Peachy's stand without ever once running into either of the siblings.

It was once she was in front of Peachy's, in the center of town, that everything seemed to slow to a crawl.

Her legs were glued to the ground. She was petrified.

In order to psych herself up, she decided to turn around, and look off in the distance. She could see up the street that went over the hill at the edge of town… and just barely made out a little bit of Carmine and Kieran's house.

Juliana imagined the two of them sitting inside. Right there. Maybe they were thinking about her, and had no idea she was looking to walk up to their doorstep.

"You can do this, you can do this, you can do this…" she quietly pumped herself up.

She turned around again, and with trepid determination, made her way in front of the stall, where she rung the bell for surface, swallowing some anxiety.

"Just a minute!" said a voice inside.

A silver-haired elderly woman walked up to the counter. It was the same person who Juliana remembered serving her when she visited on the school trip.

"Oh!" Panyu's eyebrows jumped up in surprise. "You're not from around here. Are you a tourist?" Then her eyes squinted. "Oh… hang on, though. I have seen you before, haven't I?"

"It's Juliana, ma'am!" she chuckled. "I'm one of the kids from Paldea who was here on the school trip a few months back."

"Oh, Juliana! Of course! I didn't forget you, sweetie! You're that girl who was really pushy about wanting me to accept your little League Points as currency."

"Umm, yeah." Juliana cringed. "I'm so, so sorry for doing that! I was just really short on supplies, but I was also really short on cash and—"

Panyu waved her hand to shush her.

"It's fine, dear. You're not the first visitor to ask about fancy new payments, and you certainly weren't the last! A stubborn old gal like me was going to have to get with the times one way or another. So it's all water under the bridge!"

"Oh, good," Juliana said, relieved.

"But… what are you doing here again? You're not in school right now? I thought Hideko told me you were studying all the way up in that fancy academy in Unova along with lil' Kieran and Carmine!"

"I'm still on independent study right now," Juliana informed her. "And umm… actually… that's why I'm here, is—because of Kieran and, C-C-Carmine." She gulped again. "I came here to visit them."

"Awwww! Well, isn't that nice! I'm sure there'll both be thrilled to see you!" Then she muttered under her breath, "Well… Kieran will, at least. I don't know what's up with Carmine these days."

Juliana actually heard the comment, and just chuckled to herself.

I guess Carmine's reputation still precedes her.

"Actually…" Juliana decided to speak up. "I know in my heart Kieran will, but Carmine… See, she and I actually had a real huge fight right before both of us left school."

"Carmine? Oh, well that's not a huge surprise, I suppose."

This time, Juliana actually looked at her a little angrily, offended on Carmine's behalf.

"Oh! Umm—I mean… sorry that happened between you two."

"Yeah, so anyway… I really came here to apologize to her. And, I want to make it really special. Do you, umm, sell anything that would be good for that? Something to say, 'I'm really sorry and I want us to be friends forever'?"

"Hmmm… interesting," said Panyu, with a finger to her chin. "I don't think I've ever had a request like that before. You youngins are something else! I'll tell you what, Juliana. Sometimes, we get little knick-knacks and doo-dads from visiting folks that I keep in the back. Usually to give out during the festival. If you'd like, I'll just pop on over in the back and see if I can find something that Carmine might like."

"Y-yeah… that'd be great!"

Panyu nodded, and proceeded to turn around and start heading for the storeroom. "Won't be too long now!"

Juliana stood at the counter, her arms folded. With a few minutes there to herself, her curious eyes started drifting around, admiring all the things on display.

The Chimecho decoration still hung from the awning, and she remembered the kids' manga volumes with pictures of Duskull and Cleffa from before too. Juliana felt very proud of herself for knowing all these Kitakami-native Pokémon now, compared to last time when they were all new to her.

Juliana spied unique snack pouches, and drink cartons all written in Kitakami's language.

There was also… a dusty old decoration of some sort, mixed in with all the daily goods and things.

It was a unique pink doll, with a black center and little nubs on it, that was covered in dust, suggesting it had been sitting there a very long time.

…And it smells incredibly sweet!

The shape of the doll looked… vaguely familiar to Juliana, but she couldn't quite place how. But it sure drove her curiosity.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" she called out. "What's this pink toy on the counter?"

"Oh, that dusty little thing?" Panyu called from in the back. "Honest to heavens, sweetheart… I have no idea! Nobody's quite sure where that thing came from. It was there on the stall when I inherited this place from my father. Us locals have always called it… the Never-Rotting Peach."

"The Never-Rotting Peach… Huh."

Juliana sniffed the air to smell the doll some more. She realized the smell was very familiar too. In fact, it smelled very similar to… her own never-rotting Pecha!

She pulled the Pecha Berry from her pocket, and looked at it in her hands.

"I guess you're never rotting too, huh? What a funny coincidence…"

Juliana gazed at it, a sort of indifferent expression coming about her face.

"You know… I always sort of relied on you whenever I felt these feelings inside of me, and wanted them to stop. I guess I've been using you to help bury them deep inside." She had a curious look. "You were Kieran's good luck charm first… I wonder if he was doing something similar, when he was burying all his hurt and regret too. But he only got better by letting go of all that anger…"

She sighed.

"Maybe I need to let go of all my guilt too and learn to talk to people more, like I did with Perrin. I guess maybe… I should let go of you."

The Paldean girl placed the Pecha Berry onto the counter in front of the Never-Rotting Peach. Then… something happened.

Juliana's eyes went wide.

Did that doll just… move a little bit?

She swore that for just a moment, the doll appeared to wiggle slightly. Juliana, confused, leaned in and tried to look at the toy closely, seeing if it would move again…

-SKRRT-

Then Juliana was startled to suddenly hear a loud noise behind her, almost like a gasp, followed by the sound of shoes squeaking on the pavement, and turned around.

…But there was nobody there. A slight gust of wind kicked up leaves on the road, but otherwise Mossui Town was… empty.

"Okay… I'm starting to get a little s-spooked now," Juliana admitted to herself. "I hope nothing else happe—"

Ro-to-to-to-to..

"AHHH!"

Juliana screamed in a jolt as her Rotom Phone suddenly flew out of her pocket and started ringing. She looked at the caller ID and saw it was Arven.

"Geez. Quite the timing, Arv…"

Once Juliana's breath had slowed, she hit the button to accept the call.

"Juliana! Yo! Arven here!"

"Hey, Arven!" Juliana greeted cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Not much, but hey! I love hearing that happy voice of yours! You've been out there having all kinds of adventures, huh, little buddy?"

"Yeah, it's been awesome!" she smiled. "I got to catch a lot of Pokémon for Mr. Jacq's research, and I met this girl named Perrin and helped her take pictures of a huge ferocious Pokémon. After all that, I feel like such a… such a changed woman!"

"Yeah? Man, I'm jealous to hear that. I'm even more jealous that you got those sweet passes! The places I would go to if I could fly to any place I wanted… Where are you right now, anyway?"

"Well, I'm uhh…"

Juliana gazed around at the sights of Mossui Town. Then, remembering the very first time she told Arven about Kitakami, she had an idea.

"I'm at the one place. You know? The one over in the Northern Province, 'near Glaseado Mountain or something like that'?"

"Ohhh! Really? Wow!" Arven's voice replied. "So you're right here in Paldea again! How convenient!"

Juliana shook her head. "Uhh, no, actually I'm—"

"It's been one crazy thing or another since you came to our school," Arven reminisced. "I guess you've been real busy lately, but… I hope things are settling down and you're not pushing yourself too much again."

"Don't worry, Arven. I'm not. I've learned how to take it easy this time. In fact, Perrin and I even went camping out in this cool forest. I bet you would've really loved it!"

"Really? That's great. I'd love to hear about all your adventures the next time we meet up, Jules! In fact… I was thinking, since you're in Paldea and all that, if you have time—and only if you want, of course—maybe…"

Juliana felt a little guilty that she had led on Arven about being in Paldea, and wanted to interject.

"…I could come visit at your house?"

Her eyebrows flared up.

"You… you want to visit, my house?"

"Yeah!"

"…Is something wrong?" she asked, a bit concerned.

"Nah, nothing like that! I just thought, you know, friends... go to each other's houses and stuff?"

She smiled a bit. "Oh. So you just… you just really want to hang out. With me."

"Well, yeah! Y'know, we—I mean, I've got so many things to tell you about too. Some uhh, some pretty big things actually. And I've love to get some time together, one-on-one, just like in the old days when we were fighting Titans together! Remember?"

"I do…"

"Plus, I really want to meet your mom. I only met her that one time in front of the lighthouse, and she seemed so nice. Do you think she would enjoy having me as company?"

"Well, sure, Arven! It's just umm, it's just…"

Juliana looked all around at her surroundings, knowing she was miles and miles—heck, oceans and oceans—away from her house.

And she had a special reason for being here. She looked up at the house again, where she believed Carmine might be right now. She had looked up there and felt hopeful.

…

Mmm?

A strange feeling suddenly hit her gut. It was like, a switch had suddenly flipped. That lock that Juliana had felt over her heart, suppressing her emotions? In that moment, it was like that lock broke open.

Because in that moment, Juliana felt waves of nervousness crash down on her… She was so confident she would patch things up with Carmine just a moment ago, but now…?

All of a sudden, she felt terrified. Her mind became flooded with anxiety in a way that almost made her nauseous, as she hadn't experienced feelings this strong in who knows how long.

It was like the horrors of that fateful day at Blueberry, the emotions she had never fully felt in her last confrontation with Carmine, hit her all at once. And she started imagining Carmine's angry red face again.

She imagined walking up to the door… and Carmine hitting her with that face. Saying to her, "I thought I told you to stay away from us!" And then slamming it.

Juliana's legs trembled. She was—she was really scared. To the max. She was so caught up in her petrified feelings that she didn't even notice as a light shadow went over her head.

"Um… Jules?"

"HUH!?"

"You there?"

"Uhh, y-yeah. I was just saying, that… that…"

She gazed up at Carmine and Kieran's house once more. She was starting to really sweat for some reason. She tugged on the black collar of her peach-colored shirt.

"I was saying that…" She gulped heavily. "I—I would love for you to come visit my home."

"Oh…! Seriously?!"

"Yeah… really."

"It's such a relief to hear you say that, Jules!" Arven sounded very excited on his end. "That's—that's awesome! I was really hoping you'd say yes. So I guess I'll come over! Your house is in Cabo Poco, right?

"That's right. It's the one right at the end of the valley. Do you know where Nemona's house is? You just keep going down that road."

"Of course I know where—I mean, yeah, totally!" Arven replied. "I'll meet you out front then! See you there!"

"See you there!"

The call ended, and Juliana took a deep breath as the Rotom Phone slid back into her pocket. With a sad face, she took one last look up at Carmine and Kieran's house.

A part of her still wanted to do this now—but the anxiety inside of her was screaming too loud. And now she felt committed to the promise she'd just made Arven, who was expecting her.

"I still… still really want to be friends again, Carmine," she said out loud, looking up at the house. "I'm just—still not ready yet. So… please wait for me. Okay?"

Juliana gulped.

I guess that's that, then…

"Excuse me, ma'am. I think I'd actually like to cancel on tha—"

Juliana turned around to Peachy's stand in… and was in for a shock.

With wide eyes, she looked upon the counter.

Her Pecha Berry had somehow completely vanished.

And not just that… so did the Never-Rotting Peach! There was only the red pillow left that it had been sitting on.

"Okay… I'm—I'm officially getting freaked out now. What's going on around here…?"

Just up over the hill from where Juliana had been standing at Peachy's, the lights were on inside Hideko and Yukito's home. Together with Kieran, the small family were all inside the kitchen, helping Yukito prepare dinner for that night.

"How's the eggplant stir-fry looking, Yuki?" asked Hideko.

"It's coming along realty swell, sweetie-poo."

"It smells really good!" said Kieran.

"Why, thank you, Kiki!" Yukito grinned. "It's going to taste real good with the garlic and ginger too, hopefully."

Hideko responded, "Well, I'm sure Carmine will be back from Peachy's any minute now with the—"

Suddenly, the door flew open. They all stopped what they were doing and looked. And they could hear those very distinct foot stomps.

"Carmine, don't stomp in the hou—"

But Yukito's scolding was interrupted when Carmine stood out in the center of the house, tugged down on her locks… and screamed.

"YAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!"

"Sweet gravy, Carmine, don't yell!" said Hideko.

"Sweetie? What's wrong?" asked Yukito.

"I'M GOING COMPLETELY CRAZY, THAT'S WHAT GOING ON!"

Carmine stared at them all with wide, frantic eyes, as she shivered all over and gritted her teeth so hard she was going to mash them.

"I went to Peachy's, just like you said…! But… but… I SAW HER THERE!"

"What do you mean?" Kieran tilted his head.

"JULIANA! I SWEAR I—I—I SAW HER STANDING RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF THE SHOP!"

"But sis, that's impossib—"

"I KNOW IT IS, YOU LITTLE RUNT!" she shouted. "But my brain, it's—it's all broken! I'm hearing Juliana's voice, I'm seeing her face everywhere!"

Carmine dug through her hair with her nails and pressed on her scalp. She was going through a full panic attack now.

"I'm… I'm slowly losing my mind!" she whined, feeling her eyes tearing up. "I've completely ruined myself! Pretty soon, you're all—you're all going to have to send me to an insane asylum! Where they're gonna put me in a straightjacket, and I'll just… be rotting in a cell for the rest of my life, writing Juliana's name all over the walls!"

"Carmine, that's completely ridiculous," said Hideko. "Look, just calm down, have dinner with all of us. And then we can talk about how to help you with your—"

"GAHHHH!"

But Carmine wouldn't listen. Covering her face so nobody could see her crying, she fled to her room with the speed of a Yanma and slammed the door behind her.

The Moreko doorknob sign flipped over to a happy Full Belly Morpeko saying "Come on in!" Carmine nudged the door open, angrily ripped the sign off her knob, and then closed it again.

Her stunned family members all looked down mournfully.

"I just—I don't know what to do with her anymore, Yuki…" Hideko moaned. "She's never gotten this bad."

"I really thought I had finally gotten through to her, the poor thing…"

Yukito looked regretfully at the pyramid plate of mochi treats she had left sitting by the windowsill.

"I bet even some delicious mochi wouldn't lift her mood right now…"

"If only there was something we could do to help," said Hideko. "Maybe we need to see someone who'd be able to get through to her…"

Kieran sat at the dining room table, his hands clasped over the table. His mind was restless. He felt more anxious than ever about his sister… and wished he wasn't so powerless.

He remembered talking to Lacey and Amarys about how just being there for Carmine didn't feel like enough… that he wished there was something, anything, he could do to help her.

Especially with this whole problem of seeing Juliana anymore. Clearly, Carmine missed her even more than he did.

…

Wait…

That's it!

Kieran stood up with a newfound face of determination.

"Hey, Grandpa!" he called out. "Is… is the post office still open right now?"

"Hmmm? Well yes, today's Friday, I suppose it would be."

Next, he turned to Yukito. "Grandma! Do we have any envelopes?"

"Well, yes…" She pointed. "They'd be in the hutch right there. Why, what are you planning on doing?"

Kieran started marching off to his room with a burst of confidence.

"I'm going to stop moping and trying to do everything all by myself, and start helping out my sister! By calling on the one person who I think might be able to help her and get everything back to normal!"

Then he closed the door behind him.

Yukito and Hideko were both, very confused to say the least. Hideko looked between Kieran and Carmine's rooms and sighed.

"Well… I suppose it'll be up to me to go get that garlic and ginger, then."

He started to step out, leaving Yukito alone to try to comprehend all the chaos unfolding. But she was only met with even more strange happenings as she turned to the windowsill and gasped.

"Oh no!"

She dashed over to the mochi plate, which to her surprise… was almost empty! There was only one single mochi treat left.

"What on Earth…? Which one of you ate all the mochi while I wasn't looking!?"

Yukito picked up the plate in utter disbelief, and looked all around for the missing snacks.

"Like hungry Houndour, all of you!" She gazed at the one mochi treat left and sighed. Then she noticed something odd about it. "Hmm, that's funny… I don't remember making one with purple dye."

Even more curious about it was its scent. Yukito, after some hesitation, decided to bite down on the mochi.

"Mmm… mmm… MMMMM!"

Her eyes flared open, surprised at the unique taste. There was a slight glint of purple in her irises.

"So… sweet…"