Lights between us

Christmas lights

Since the first days of December, the streets and buildings of Carmine City had been filled with colored lights, giant figures, sale announcements and a cold air that gave Koharu the chills, still wearing his winter uniform.The month was well advanced and the countdown to New Years had kept her quite entertained with her classmates from school as well as some preparations at the Sakuragi Institute. 

He was walking back from school after some shopping that his father had commissioned him when in a shop window he saw a brooch of a cherry blossom with snowflakes. He was not even aware that he had stopped his walk with the intention of contemplating it in detail, imagining what the accessory would look like on his head until he heard a voice."You don't even wear hair clips, Koharu."Gou's voice startled her and the shopping bag went flying. Fortunately Satoshi, Pikachu, and Scorbunny rescued everything before the food hit the ground."Gou don't do that!" She demanded with annoyance trying to compose herself.

Satoshi finished gathering the purchases inside the bag and showed it to him to assure him that everything was in order. She took it from his hands and continued on her way to the Institute.Scorbunny jumped onto Gou's shoulder and Pikachu onto Satoshi's and they rushed to catch up with her."Sorry Koharu," Gou apologized as he did his best to overtake her a bit and thus make her stop."It's just that we called you and since you didn't answer we wanted to get closer to see what happened," Satoshi explained."Pikaa-chu!" —Supported his pokémon.

Noticing Koharu, who was not able to pay attention to his surroundings because he was observing a shop window, especially with how noisy they could be, the color quickly rose to his ears and he began to accelerate his pace with the intention of losing them and so on. rescue what little he had left of dignity"Koharu wait!"At that moment he took out a couple of gift bags from his backpack and handed them to both of them."I hope you like it," she said, looking away, not quite sure she wanted to see their reactions.It was a pair of scarves woven by herself. Gou's was red with black and gray stripes, while Satoshi's was blue with green and yellow stripes. 

The two shared a look and quickly wrapped the garment around their neck, instantly noticing how soft and warm it was."So warm!" Satoshi exclaimed while Pikachu also hugged the scarf"Whoa!""And fluffy." Gou added as he covered half his face with it. Thank you very much Koharu.She just nodded, still elusive. He could feel his cheeks tingle and decided to blame the chill of the night for that feeling on his face.They exchanged a look and decided it was time to take out their gift as well."It's on both of us."-We hope you like.

-Pikachu!

"Niba niba!"

Gou took a small box out of his backpack and handed it to his childhood friend. Being honest with herself, she was sure that she would not receive gifts from any of them, so that was already a surprise in itself as well as an obvious gain.When she opened the box and found a pile of cherry blossoms, her eyes widened with surprise and excitement. It looked very much like the pin he had seen that afternoon in the shop window, however it was different, since it had no snowflakes and he liked it even more that way.Satoshi and Gou smiled at each other seeing their friend's reaction .

."Want help putting it on?" Gou offered.Koharu just nodded, avoiding speaking as much as possible, she was sure her voice was a thread by now.Satoshi held the box while Gou managed to open the clasp, check how it should be attached and finally wrap that necklace with a cherry blossom pendant around Koharu's neck.He would never have believed that that pair could remember the brooch of that day, much less imagined that they would be able to give him a gift like that for Christmas. Happy and grateful for the gesture, she placed herself in the middle of both of them, taking each by the arm and thus heading towards the port.

.Watching the light show and wishing to spend many more such moments in the company of his friends, Koharu finally found the words that he could not say before."This is the best Christmas ever." Thank you very much to both!Those who now found no words were Gou and Satoshi, with the reflection of the lights on their faces and the mocking smiles of their pokémon, tried to hide their blushes behind their scarves when Koharu kissed their cheeks to wish them a merry Christmas.