Striation City's Killer

Chapter 4

Cilan's point of view!

Oh dear. Did I mess it up? Is he scared of me?

I follow Ash closely... It's weird. You see...

Normally I'd want to kill someone like this. They're the perfect target in every way. Soft skin you could slip a knife through without issue, overly confident enough to lure anywhere and stab them to death, perfect build, young enough to believe anything I say...

Why don't I want to kill this kid? I don't get it.

I think it'd be fun to follow him around for some reason. You know, the gym is boring. It'd be so much more fun to follow Ash around, and, and maybe become a better Connoisseur for the fun of it, and train Pokemon, and see Unova, and, frolicking in flowers...! It sounds so great.

This is probably a bad idea, but every sense in my body is just telling me that I should go with him... Yeah, my brothers can maintain the gym. It won't be that hard, it'll be fine for them...

Ash glances back at me.

"Why... Why are you following me?"

Suddenly, I'm feeling nervous, as if my nerves just suddenly tensed up and sent queasy feelings to my stomach.

"I..."

Deep breath. It's fine. What could go wrong?

"I want to go on your journey with you."

"What?" He's surprised...

Why... Why do I suddenly feel a bit saddened?

He thinks for a few seconds, before nodding.

"Sure, you can tag along. Why not?"

...

...

...

A few seconds pass before it suddenly feels like I'm about to collapse to the ground, thrash around in sheer joy and excitement before exploding in euphoria and dying. Thankfully, I manage to contain this.

Kind of.

Instead, I find myself losing control and leaping up into the air, yelling in excitement and spinning and jumping and spinning and twirling and yelling and-

"Woah, uh... Calm down!" Ash says quickly, before starting to laugh.

I manage to regain myself and stand still, brushing myself off.

"So! Are you going to tell your brothers, or are you running away or something?"

Running away? Why does that idea sound appealing? Not sure why, but I should probably tell my brothers...

"Running away?"

For some reason my mouth doesn't want to say no. I don't want to say yes, either, though.

"I think I'll tell my brothers." I finish.

"Okay, do you want me to come along?"

"Sure."

And my mouth and mind are in unison once again.

A short trip to the restaurant. A quick explanation. Somehow I'm still not feeling any second thoughts.

"You're serious?" Chili is glaring at me.

"Of course I'm serious!" I reply back, grinning. Cress is, as usual, just busy. Someone needs to tend to the restaurant, after all... I don't care.

"Well... Good luck, then..." Chili says, looking a bit sad. He reaches out to shake my hand. I shake it.

"Goodbye, Chili! I'll keep in touch, alright?" I say. Keeping in touch isn't that hard. I bought a smartphone a few months ago, and data is easy to pay for, especially with the restaurant...

"Okay!" Chili says, smiles, and waves. He then walks inside.

I smile back at him to look good, before turning back to Ash. He's looking up at me, blinking innocently in silence. Such wide, young naïve eyes...

"So, shall we go?" I ask, feeling a smile creep onto my face.

"Sure!" Ash looks up, smiling back. My hand reaches out and takes his. Ash's hand is indeed soft... Looks like I could plunge a knife through it! But... I don't want to...

For a moment, everything is at peace. We walk through the streets of Striation, the sun is beginning to set, the birds chirping, the orange fading sunlight illuminating everything... I look down at Ash and something clicks. Something, a thought springs to mind...

"...Am I in l-?"

"Boo!"

The girl with purple hair from earlier suddenly flips down from a tree and hops down.

"Did I scare you?" She says with a laugh.

"Of course you did!" Ash snaps back.

...what was I just thinking? I forgot... I try to recall the thought...

"Hey, Iris. Why don't you come with me and Cilan?"

Her? I don't want her to come... Well, I guess I could kill her if I wanted to... somehow.

"Sure. You can come along. More people should complete our recipe in the fine dish of adventure!" I comment. I still don't want her to come.

"Okay, then! Sounds good!" Ash replies.

"Well... maybe that could work..." Iris says. "Okay...! I'm coming, then!" She's decided, it seems... ugh.

"Yeah! Let's make our dreams come true together!" Ash says. I grip his hand a bit tighter. Normally this would annoy me, but it's just so innocent and naïve coming from him that I kind of like it. Oh well.

Ash insisted on heading out on the journey early, and by the time we were out of the city and into the open, it was already night. I was beginning to tire, but, wow, he's eager to keep moving. The stars are out...

"Ash, I'm getting tired... Can we rest?" Iris groans.

"Yeah, me too..." I tell Ash...

"Okay, I guess we can set up camp..." Ash says. "Do you need anything to eat?"

I packed some cooking supplies! And some food, too... Some leftover meat I had frozen.

"Actually, Ash. I packed some cooking supplies in my bag!" I say excitedly. "It might take a bit, though, so... Feel free to set up camp."

I get out the gas cooker and start cooking the meat that I brought. Iris is getting out her sleeping bag and pillow. Ash does the same, cuddling up under the covers and snuggling down. I look at Iris, who appears to be asleep already. She appears to be peacefully sleeping already... Ash is awake, just watching me fry the meat in the pan. I finish after a few minutes – it doesn't actually take that long. I'm not bothered making a gourmet dish tonight, everyone is exhausted and I don't think Ash will care if dinner is amateurish...

For some reason I get an urge...

"Is dinner ready?" Ash asks.

"Yep!" I say, smiling, before quickly cutting up the steak, picking up one piece with a fork and putting it in Ash's mouth. He's surprised, of course, before laughing and eating it. I laugh too, of course...

...Ah. I know the word to describe him now...

...cute...

...

I try to remove that thought from my head by just starting to eat. Me and Ash talk a bit, until we both finish our dinner and quickly head to bed.

Fine. I think Ash is cute or something. I... I don't know.