"44… 45… 46…" Carmine said between each huff. Wiping the sweat from her face, she looked over to the treadmill on her left. "And how are you doing?"

"Almost…" Juliana panted. "Up to… 13… meters!"

Carmine scoffed. "Well… heh, heh… at least you got the spirit."

For someone who spends the whole day running around and has to be TOLD to sit for 10 minutes, you sure aren't very athletic…

The two girls were making use of the League Club Room's high-tech treadmills. Carmine told Juliana she used to run on them every morning when she was a regular in the clubroom, and decided it would be fun to do it again with company.

But Juliana was flummoxed to realize what Carmine meant by that was… for Juliana to sit at the table and keep her company while she ran.

"Exercise is no fun without a good spotter!" Carmine had justified it. " I used to make Kiki do this all the time!"

"Yeah, but what good is watching someone exercise when we can do it in pairs?"

"No offense Juliana, but you are a fragile twig of a human. I feel like I could snap you in half or blow you away with a Gust attack!"

"Well, all the more reason I need to bulk myself up!" Juliana hopped onto a treadmill despite Carmine's indignant protests. " Just try and stop me, Carmine!"

"GRRRRRR! If you didn't have such a persuasive smile, I'd THROTTLE you on the spot!"

And so, Carmine reluctantly ended up with a treadmill buddy. Funnily enough, her attitude seemed to lighten up for some reason when Juliana came in changed into her much slimmer uniform of colored shorts and a white tank top, a gift with her League Club membership.

Carmine had also shed her outer layers. She had her button-up wrapped under her black undershirt as a waistcoat, and tied her beautiful hair into a ponytail, swaying majestically with the girl's vigorous sprints.

Of course, Carmine was well aware of her teenage beauty and reveled a little in the fact that she could spot both boys and girls in the club room 'stealthily' checking her out as she ran.

They weren't the only ones.

Juliana's low count of meters ran had less to do with her lack of athletic ability (although her legs were killing her) and the fact that she couldn't help herself from constantly looking over at Carmine.

Having her button-up off for once allowed Juliana to really notice Carmine's arms for the first time. It wasn't that she expected the tall girl to have twig-like arms, but Juliana wasn't prepared for how much they glowed as she exercised. Her biceps became defined with each motion. And speaking of defined, Juliana's eyes eventually drifted over to Carmine's low-cut top, taking notice of her admirably sized…

No.

Juliana very quickly snapped her eyes back to full attention at her treadmill's digital screen, feeling dirty inside for having just checked out her own friend. She hoped Carmine didn't see how red she must be now.

But speaking of red…

Carmine's ponytail swayed so flightily next to Juliana's head that she had the best view she'd ever gotten of just how red the underside of Carmine's hair was. These strands weren't vivid like Kieran's now very visible purple roots, but a muted, almost soothing, tint of red. Like red velvet.

Juliana rattled on the inside again, feeling like she was being extremely impure in letting herself stare at Carmine's features like this. She was puzzled why it kept happening, as she knew she had never caught herself staring at any of her other friends so intently, not even Nemona for as beautiful as she is.

"So…!" Carmine started, seemingly oblivious to Juliana's turmoil. "Lacey couldn't stop raving about you and your battle when she called me last night."

"Oh yeah?" Juliana felt grateful that Carmine had decided to speak up, hoping the art of conversation would help her regain her focus. But as she spoke, she became aware of just how exhausted her lungs were. "What di—what did she say?" she sputtered out.

"Well, no huge surprise with Lace…" Carmine huffed. "She mostly kept going on about how cute your Pokémon are, huff, huff… Especially that Tinkaton of yours."

Juliana chuckled in response, which quickly turned into an exasperated cough.

Carmine began to smirk deviously.

"…She also happened to mention your unfortunate attempt at flirting."

"EHH!?"

All of Juliana's hair stood up on end, and her face started to turn red again, now for different reasons.

"Hee-hee, she said it was really cute and made her giggle a lot afterwards!" Carmine egged on. "I wish I could've been there to see it!"

"Ugh, s-shut up!" Juliana stammered. Her pace on the treadmill began to quicken sharply. "It wasn't that cute! I was—I was just being nice!"

"Yeah, right! If this is how you're reacting, then you were totally crushing! Look at you, you're properly red!" She reached over and pinched Juliana's sweating check. "You're so adorable!"

"No, I'm not! Stop it!" Juliana whined, covering her face with sheer embarrassment. "Leave me alone!"

She started running so fast on the treadmill that her meter count started going up much more rapidly.

17… 22… 29…

Carmine just kept laughing to herself.

At least you're finally committing yourself!

About half an hour later, Juliana was doing stretches to try to sooth her aching joints while Carmine went through her locker in the clubroom, undoing her ponytail and gathering everything she put aside to exercise: her phone, Poké Balls, bag.

As she closed the locker door, Carmine made a huge show of slipping her yellow hairband on and fluffing her free, wild locks.

"So! How do I look?" she said winking.

Juliana looked at her and grinned with a chuckle.

"As beautiful as always!"

"Hmmm."

On the one hand, Carmine always basked in someone calling her beautiful. But, she also observed a difference in the way Juliana complimented her versus the way Lacey described Juliana's gushing.

Namely… it didn't feel like flirting. Carmine couldn't figure out if this bothered her or not. So she decided to experiment by egging the girl on further.

"As… beautiful as Lacey, or no?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

Juliana choked, and her face started to turn red again as she started shielding her face in embarrassment.

"Will you… please stop with that already!?" she pleaded. "What, are you jealous or something?"

"Wha— Me!?" Carmine balked. "Ha! You wish."

"It's not like I have a crush on her or anything!" she said defensively. "I just—I just think she's really cute and I, I wanted her to know that."

"I'm sure she appreciated the compliment, but I could've told you that Lacey's not into girls!"

Juliana pouted as her face started flushing more.

"But clearly the same can't be the said for you, right?" Carmine giggled. "I mean, I've never seen you so flustered before!"

Juliana hunched up in her shoulders and groaned in annoyance.

She sighed. "Okay… yeah. I'm—I'm gay. So what?"

"Word!" Carmine blurted. Realizing how excited she sounded, she dialed it back a bit and cleared her throat. "I mean, yeah. That's awesome. So like, gay gay?" Juliana sheepishly nodded. "Hey, high five, girl! We're both in the 'no-boys-for-me' camp!"

Juliana returned the high five, which made her lighten up a lot as she started smiling again.

"Wow! So you're—" Juliana realized she was being loud, and quited her voice. "You're into girls too?"

"Oh yeah! But unfortunately for you, I have high standards," Carmine said as she proudly tussled Juliana's hair. "I'm only into cute girls!"

Juliana rolled her eyes. "You literally call me cute all the time."

"I do?" Carmine feigned ignorance. "Hmmm. Well, as you know, I'm also a really great liar."

"Oh yeah?" Juliana put her hands on her hips and said teasingly, "Well that's a problem, because I only like really nice girls who don't lie!"

"Hey, just because I lie, that doesn't mean I'm not nice!" Carmine complained.

"Awww, does that mean you're asking me out on a date then?" Juliana smiled.

Carmine blustered. "WHAT!? No, I—Don't, don't take it that way! I…"

"Hee-hee!" Juliana pointed at her red face and giggled. "I know how to make you flustered too!"

"Ugh," she groaned. "Ha-ha, very funny. Guess we're even now."

Getting her bag fastened around her waist, Carmine used one last towelette to wipe away the last of her sweat and sprayed on some mist to dispel any lingering BO.

"So, what's next on your itinerary?" she asked. "Oh! Right, I just remembered. You have to fight that big blowhard Drayton next, don't you?"

Juliana nodded. "Mm-hm! Since I know he uses Dragon-types, I was working on the best strategies with my Ice and Fairy buddies. But… his trial's a bit annoying."

"Fitting, isn't it?" Carmine chuckled.

"He says I can only use Pokémon I caught in the Terrarium itself in order to beat the other students?"

"He always thinks of some lame idea like that on the fly," Carmine explained. "Of course, a trial like that is only really a problem for such an outsider like yourself!" she giggled.

"Ha-ha."

"Well, after those amazing battles you had yesterday, I think you've earned yourself a little break."

"Oh, well…" Juliana bit her lip awkwardly. "I was about to train up some of my Terrarium catches like Sandslash and Whimsicott to be totally ready to beat those Trainers and challenge Drayton to a battle tonight."

Carmine frowned. "You're really unbelievable sometimes, you know that? You just want to keep going and going!"

"What's wrong with that?" Juliana shrugged. "I'm just really eager to battle!"

"But aren't you worried about wearing yourself out?"

"Nah, I'm made of steel! Just like you! I feel totally fine!"

Juliana started swaying her arms and legs back and forth to prove it, only to end up feeling a massive cramp in her left calf and wincing.

"Well… I did just exercise really hard," she smiled through her pain.

"Let me be more clear," Carmine said, sounding stern like a mother. "I think you've earned yourself a little break."

"But… But I've already booked it with Drayto—"

"Then postpone it until tomorrow!" Carmine insisted. "That jerk can wait! In fact, his lazy butt will probably be thanking you for giving him an extra day to lie around and do nothing."

"But, Carmine, I—"

"Look, I was saying this as a friend, but now I'm saying it as your best friend! You are taking a break and doing something relaxing today, or else I'm going to tape you to a chair and lock you in my dorm room for the day!"

Juliana sighed. "…Fine. Whatever."

"Great!" Carmine clapped, instantly returning to her cheerful self. "So what do you want to do? We could have a fun spa day, or watch movies… Ooh, I know! Have you tried out any of those clubs you've donated BP to?"

Juliana lit up. "Hey, there's an idea, actually. I was interested in seeing some of those clubs for myself at some point."

"I GOT IT!" Carmine exclaimed, squeezing her fists in excitement. "We should do Cammie's boxing club together!"

"B-boxing club?" Juliana repeated, taken aback. "More… exercise? I thought you wanted me to relax!"

"You mean you don't find punching out all your rage and feelings against bags of sand to be extremely relaxing?"

Juliana confusedly shook her head.

"Alright, well…" Carmine took out her phone to run through the list of school clubs she knew. "There's the photography club. The music club. The baseball club. The cooking club, which… hey! You could probably use a class from Crispin and his friends in there. The art club, the debate tea—"

"There's an art club!?" Juliana gasped.

"Ugh, I mean, yeah. But from what I've heard, it's mostly just making paintings and paper-mâché stuff—"

"That sounds awesome!" she raved excitedly. "We should do that together!"

"What, seriously?"

"Yeah! Why not? It sounds fun!"

"Well… I guess, but…" Carmine sighed. "Alright. I guess I'll go ask around to where they usually meet…."

Carmine sauntered off, looking kind of disappointed, though Juliana was unsure as to why she didn't so sound enthusiastic.

But she picked her head up and decided to try to be optimistic about this change of plans.

"Maybe it was for the best, anyway…" she said quietly to herself. "I guess I did kinda need an extra day to be ready for battling Drayton…"

It was weird, actually. Juliana used to be able to focus very sharply on her training, being able to think up strategies and feel ready to take on a big opponent in such a short amount of time.

But it had felt… strangely hard to get herself to focus on that over the past couple days.

I wish I knew why I've been so distracted…

Juliana shrugged her shoulders and decided to follow her friend. On her way out of the League Club Room though, she heard snickering from a table nearby and met the eyes of several boys sitting there and keeping themselves from giggling.

One of them looked at her and made his fingers look like scissors and mimed jamming them together, which made his friends snicker harder.

Juliana just looked at him oddly, and decided to ignore them.

"Carmine's right, boys are so weird…" she whispered to herself.

Eventually, Juliana and Carmine found themselves in a large outdoor classroom high up on one of the cliffs of the misty Canyon Biome.

They joined several other students who all had canvases and a white board in front of them, along with their Pokémon. Juliana sat Ogerpon on her lap, while Carmine's Sinistcha floated around in front of her.

Blueberry Academy's art teacher, a tall man with wild brown hair and Bohemian dress style, addressed the students on what he wanted out of today's special class.

"Painting is a splendid window into one's soul, and the souls of Trainers and their Pokémon are often said to become one when they achieve a great unity, "Burgh lectured. "So I thought, hey, why not combine those two sets of thinking together?"

He clapped his hands together.

"Think of this collaborative painting exercise as a demonstration of your kinship with your beloved partners! By painting together with your Pokémon, you can end up painting an elaborate image that represents not just your individual souls. But the very essence of your powerful and unique bond together!" Clapping again, he instructed, "Let's get to it! And let your Pokémon show you their a-MAZ-ing creativity!"

"Wow! Painting together with your Pokémon? That sounds exciting!" clapped Juliana.

"Pon-ponio!" Ogerpon agreed.

"Yeah, sure…" said a still unenthusiastic sounding Carmine. "I could just ask Sinistcha here to splash some of its matcha onto this canvas and I feel like that would symbolize our bond enough."

"Sinees!"

Carmine flinched as she felt a hand suddenly come down on her shoulder.

"I'm pleased as punch to see you finally take me up on my offer, Miss Carmine," Burgh said quietly. "And you even brought a friend! How wonderful!"

"Ehh, yeah."

"What might your name be, miss? I don't think I've seen you around campus before."

"My name's Juliana, sir!" She bowed to him politely. "I'm an exchange student from—"

"Oh, of course! Juliana, the rising star from the Paldea region! I know all about your exploits from my correspondences with your own school's Hassel! It's an honor to meet one of his favorite students!" Burgh delightfully shook her hand. "I hear you've been making a lot of sparks in the BB League!"

"I sure have!" she giggled. "I didn't know Mr. Hassel considers me one of his favorite students."

"Awww, such a modest young sprout! You know, your vibe reminds me a lot of a girl that I once battled several years back…"

Burgh seemed lost in remembrance for a moment before regaining himself.

"Well now. Inspiration for a new piece might've just struck me! It was very lovely to meet you, Miss Juliana! Have fun with the exercise, girls!" He turned more directly to Carmine. "I hope this brings out your love for your Pokémon, and puts you more at peace with your more volatile emotions. Ta-ta!"

At that, Burgh walked out. Carmine stuck out a raspberry once his back was turned to them.

"Ugh. What is it about my vibe that makes him and all the other adults treat me like I'm just a brat?"

"I didn't see it that way," said Juliana. "It sounded like he just wanted to encourage you!"

"Ehhh. He's a famous artist and a former Gym Leader, y'know. I don't think the pretentiousness that comes with both those titles ever went away…"

Juliana whipped around to look at Burgh again. "He used to be a Gym Leader!?"

"Yeah. Still was actually, when I was attending junior academy here. But he retired just a few years ago. I guess somehow, teaching art sounded way more exciting than all the battles he could ever want!"

"That's so funny… My school's art teacher, Mr. Hassel? That he mentioned? He's one of our Elite Four! He's also the one who made me realize how fun art can be!" Juliana began to sit back and wonder, while Ogerpon picked up a brush and decided to start painting. "I wonder what it is about art that draws strong people like that…"

"Hassel…" Carmine tried to recall why that name sounded familiar. "Wait a minute! Now I think I remember who he is!" She pulled out her phone and displayed it to Juliana. "This is him, right? With the big blond hair?"

Juliana leaned over. On Carmine's lockscreen was a photo of Juliana herself from when she posed with the Paldean Elite Four for a celebratory photo.

"Yeah, that's him!"

"He came here to Blueberry as a guest lecturer once. All we knew about him was that he was some powerful Dragon Trainer from another land. He never said anything about being… an art teacher at your school!"

"Yeah… I found out recently that, uhh, apparently, he's actually from some really legendary family in a far-off land who trains really strong Dragon Pokémon," Juliana recalled. "But… he really doesn't like to talk about it much. I guess he just wants to focus on where he is now."

"Huh. Well that's—"

"By the way, am… am I your lockscreen?" asked Juliana, craning her head to get a better look at Carmine's phone.

Carmine flushed and quickly shoved her phone back in her pocket.

"I—No! Well, yeah! But, I, I…" Carmine quicky stammered out an excuse. "I was just uhh, I was so proud of you when I heard you became a Champion, so I—I decided to save that picture to my lockscreen so that I would… always feel good about it!"

"Oh. … Well, that's really nice of you!" Juliana grinned, seeming to accept that answer.

"Uhh, yeah!"

Idiot! Showing her that picture… not even bothering to change it!

Wanting to distract herself from that embarrassing interaction, Carmine watched Sinistcha painting on the canvas in front of her, taking note of the interesting shapes her teacup Pokémon was drawing.

"Hmmm… Well, maybe art is soothing for some people and Pokémon, then. I always just… thought it was lame stuff like doodling shapes or slapping colors on a paper."

"So… you've never really done stuff like this before?" asked a curious Juliana, as Ogerpon beckoned her to assist with her own brushstrokes.

"Well I mean, Kiki used to be really into those art workshops they sometimes held in the village. And Gramm and Gramps always forced me to take him. They did stuff like copying pictures of cute Pokémon, or drawing ancient letters. I guess it was fun for the little kids, but I never got much out of it…"

"Hmm. Maybe you just needed to find something that was more appealing to you!"

"I guess…"

Juliana had some fun adding little details to the painting she and Ogerpon were making, while Ogerpon watched her with great enthusiasm.

"Pon-pon…!" she sounded impressed.

"Right?" Juliana smiled at her. "We're making something really cool here!"

"Ponio!"

"So when did you realize you were gay?"

Juliana accidentally brushed a huge brown splotch on the canvas in surprise.

"Pon!" Ogerpon angrily scolded her.

"What!?"

"…Is that too personal?" came Carmine's voice from behind her easel. "I was just—curious, I guess."

"Uhh, well…"

Juliana, feeling awkward, started scratching her head.

"I mean, I always just knew, I guess. I remember always thinking girls were really pretty, especially the really tall ones in my grade, but I never really… felt that way about boys, even though all the adults seemed to think I should. My mom even tried to set me up on a date with a boy in my neighborhood once named Florian."

She heard Carmine snickering in second-hand embarrassment.

"I mean… Florian was nice and all! Mom always said he was a lot like me. … In fact, now that I think about it, I think he thought I was cute! That must've been why. But… I didn't feel anything for him, and I guess after that, I told mom that I thought I might be gay and she, well, she's always supported me since then."

"Awwww. Your mom sounds cool."

"Yeah. Doesn't mean everyone else is, but… you know. What was it Drayton said? Easier to hate than to love?"

"Well, the good news for you is, most people here at Blueberry Academy are super chill about that stuff! We breed a hyper-awesome environment where people find less stupid things to make fun of you for!"

Juliana laughed. "That's really cool to know! I guess I don't need to be so embarrassed about it here." She began to think back about her old school. "I wonder if… it'd be the same thing at Uva, if I was more open about it there. Would—would my friends still accept me…? I sure hope so…"

"Take it from a fellow girl kisser, being completely shameless about who you are is the best thing you can be! Anyone who has a problem with who you are, well… it's their problem and theirs alone!"

Juliana chuckled. "So what about you? When did you realize you liked girls?"

"Oh, more or less the same as you. Always kinda knew that girls were hot and boys were icky."

"And your family…?"

Carmine grumbled a bit. "Oh, I don't know, Gramm and Gramps probably have a good idea about it ever since that one time I invited my friend Alicia over and they caught us making out in the bathroom."

"…Oh."

Carmine giggled. "But… after a very, very long talk about it, they've been pretty chill since then!"

"Well, that's—good, I guess."

"Mmm, Alicia was such a damn good kisser…" she heard Carmine mutter.

Feeling a little skeevied out, Juliana decided to focus on her painting, where Ogerpon seemed to have a creative idea on how to resolve her accidental brown scratch.

"Awww! That's such a cute idea, Ogerpon!"

"Pon-pon!"

"…"

She wondered how Carmine was getting on, but came to realize the Kitakamite girl had been silent for the past minute. She craned her neck to try to see Carmine's face.

"Carmine…? You okay over there?"

"Huh?" came Carmine's voice, sounding shocked like she'd just been stirred up. "Oh, uh… yeah. Yeah, sorry. I was just… thinkin', I guess."

"About what?"

"Just—life growing up, I guess. All these old memories… I used to not consider the things I did with Kiki like that workshop to be happy memories. But… I don't know. I guess with how long it's been since Kiki and I spent time together, I—I feel like I've been taking happier times like that for granted…"

Juliana looked sad. She still couldn't see Carmine's face, but she could detect the vibes of sorrow emanating from her voice.

"…Hey, Carmine?"

"Yeah?" she answered softly.

"Is this… is this the longest you and Kieran have gone without being around each other all the time?"

Carmine was silent for a bit.

"I guess…? There was about a year's time where I was old enough to attend school here in Unova but Kieran was still at home. But I always saw him every time we did video chats, and—it wasn't that long before he came here too. … It does feel like this is the most I've ever been on my own without him."

She fell quiet again.

"…I'm sorry, Carmine."

"…'s okay. I was a lot lonelier before you showed up, Juliana. I—I can't believe I'm admitting that. But having you around, it's been nice. And who knows? We've gotten Kiki out of his shell a little bit already! Maybe we'll be able to break out of this angsty phase of his and he'll be back to his old self again!"

"Or… he might grow up a lot."

"Hmm? Yeah. That too, I guess," said Carmine. "…I just, I know why he has his issues with you, but I wish I had a better understanding of why he thinks I did wrong by him."

"Hmm. Well…" Juliana thought about it. "Maybe if we just keep pushing and trying to get him to open up, he'll start being more honest about it."

"That'd be nice… Then we can repair our relationship again and I can go back to bossing him around!"

Juliana chuckled.

Carmine smiled a bit too, feeling a little better. Then she noticed Sinistcha trying to get her attention.

"Hmm?" Sinistcha was gesturing to the painting. "It looks neat so far, Sinistcha."

"Sinees! Cha-cha!"

"Oh! Do you want… me to add stuff to it?"

"Sinees-cha!" her Pokémon nodded eagerly.

"Oookay…"

Hesitantly, Carmine picked up a black paintbrush and started adding little details.

"Hmm. Hey… This is, sorta fun, actually…"

Eventually, both girls finished their paintings and were finally prepared to present their grand masterpieces to each other.

"Alright! Ready to see what Ogerpon and I made?"

"I promise to only be as harsh a critic as your painting deserves," Carmine snarked.

"3… 2… 1! Ta-da!"

Juliana and Ogerpon both grinned in delight as they showed off their work.

"Awwwww!"

The duo's painting was of Ogerpon herself. Dressed in her Teal Mask. She was dancing with crude drawings of her other three Masks in a field of bright pink flowers.

The brown scratch Juliana had accidentally made was turned into a giant sunflower by Ogerpon, overlooking the small ogre along with a bright yellow sky.

"That's so cuuute! Of course Ogerpon drew herself! That's my little warrior girl!"

"Pon-yo-pon!" Ogerpon replied bashfully.

"Hee-hee! I'm really happy with how it turned out!" Juliana beamed.

"Well, if you think yours is cute, just wait until you see ours!" Carmine boasted.

As Sinistcha watched in excitement, Carmine flipped their canvas around.

…

Juliana and Ogerpon's jaws both dropped.

"It—it sure is something."

Carmine and her partner's painting was… like a scene out of a horror movie. A particularly evil looking Sinistcha was in the center. A bunch of people surrounded the teacup Pokémon, their eyes all green and swirly and their bodies like black husks, as Sinistcha appeared to be sucking the lifeforce out of all of them.

"Ponnn…"

Carmine smiled all peachy.

"Notice the trees with the green flames in the background? I added those myself! Isn't it super cool? Really speaks to our vibe together, doesn't it?"

Ogerpon groaned uneasily.

"Uhhh, yeah… It's uhh—it's all ghosty and spooky."

"Hee-hee!" Carmine turned to her partner and smiled. "You're a matcha cup right out of my own heart, Sinistcha!"

Sinistcha giggled to itself in delight.

Then Carmine heard the two laughing and noticed how elated Juliana and Ogerpon both seemed to be in the moment.

"You're such a cutie, Ogerpon! How are you both so adorable and so immensely talented?"

Ogerpon laughed heartily, harder than Carmine felt like she'd seen her laugh the whole time the little monster girl had been on Blueberry's grounds, and giggled even harder as Juliana began tickling her in the stomach.

Part of Carmine found it an extremely adorable sight, but… watching how much fun Juliana was having with Ogerpon also made her frown a bit…

After the special class ended. Carmine and Juliana were grasping each other's arms as they walked through the tunnel back into the main academy building, giggling with each other as they conversed.

"I gotta say… I wasn't too excited about doing art club with you, but—as much as I hate to admit it, that was actually kind of fun," said Carmine.

"I knew it would be!" Juliana grinned. "Art is fun for anyone as long as you find your own special groove!"

"What about you…? Are you feeling a lot more relaxed now?"

Juliana stopped to think.

"Yeah… I do. I guess slowing down for a bit wasn't such a terrible idea after all."

"Good. Keep that thought in your head and never let it go! I'm getting real worried watching y—"

Then Carmine looked ahead and tensed up. She stopped in place.

Juliana was confused, until she looked ahead too…

"I thought you were supposed to be battling Drayton today."

Kieran stood at the far end of the hall, stamping his foot impatiently.

"Kieran…"

"Juliana." He looked a bit more grouchily towards his sister. "Carmine."

"…"

Carmine wanted to say something, but instead she just looked down sullenly.

"Not a word to your brother, huh? It's okay. I already know who you're really loyal to."

Carmine shrunk into herself, upset at this comment. Juliana noticed, and held onto Carmine's arm a little more tightly as she confronted her former friend.

"Kieran… come on. You know that's not fair." She gulped. "You're just—you're just saying things to try to hurt us because you're the one who's hurt… That's all you're doing. And it's not going to work on us."

Carmine gave her a thankful smile, and sternly nodded to Kieran.

"Instead of lashing out at us like this… we should all sit down and talk things out. You know those ancient proverbs that are posted all over Kitakami?" Juliana pressed. Kieran didn't answer. "You had to have read all of them, right? One of them said, 'The only path to getting stronger is by getting stronger toge—"

"Whatever," Kieran bitterly cut her off. "Are you going to go and complete Drayton's trial or what? You're keeping him—and more importantly me—waiting."

Juliana began to feel pangs of guilt.

"Well… Well, I, uhh…"

Then she felt Carmine grab more tightly onto her arm. Feeling comforted, she let out a breath.

"I'm going to do Drayton's trial tomorrow. I just, needed my rest for today. That's all."

Kieran's eyes drifted to the side. He looked like a soft mix of being angry and… possibly a little disappointed? Juliana bit her lip.

"Look, I'll tell you what… After I kick Drayton's butt tomorrow, then—then you and I can have our battle right after that."

She felt Carmine twisting her arm harder, but she ignored it.

"I mean it. Seriously. … It's no problem."

Kieran had a bit of a pensive expression. He looked down to the floor a bit, his face unsure but seeming as if he was thinking about something.

You're remembering, right? I was always trying to be kind to you… From the very first time we met…

He closed his eyes and exhaled. Then he looked up at Juliana again, his face blank but with a small hint of sincerity.

"Can I tell you something I've learned, Juliana? On my own, without those old proverbs?" He gazed for a moment at the pair's interlocked arms. "Don't let anybody order you around, okay?"

Juliana was a bit nonplussed.

"As soon as you do… When you let yourself become somebody's servant…" Kieran's eyeline briefly met Carmine's. "That's how you become weak. Like I used to be."

He turned around and started walking away. As he did, he called out, "I'm going to come see you fight Drayton tomorrow."

Then he was gone.

"Man…" Juliana said sullenly. "I really thought we were going to get through to him at least a little bit there."

Carmine huffed.

"You know what really sucks? I think… that was him making an attempt at being sincere with us." She sighed. "Why does he have to be such a twerp about it, though…?"

"Well, we're not going to let him get to us," Juliana said confidently. "Let's… just focus on tomorrow."

She tried to move forward, but with her arm wrapped within Carmine's, was unable to move. Juliana looked up at the still girl, and found her face looking worried and insecure.

"…Right, Carmine? Hey."

Carmine was surprised to feel Juliana put her hand softly on her face to try to bring her back down to earth.

"Remember? He's just trying to—"

Carmine gave a half-hearted smile. "I know. I know."

She stood still for another minute, thinking things over.

But what did Kiki mean by that? Servant? That's not really how he sees things between us… is it?

Then, quietly she said, "Let's just go."

And the two girls walked silently through the doors back into the main building. Juliana saw Carmine still looking troubled, but decided to let it go, accepting that she couldn't fix every problem tonight.

But tomorrow's going to be a big day.