The Unyielding Façade

Part 13 - Suspicion

A new morning has broken. I sighed as I walked up to a nearby news stall. Morning in Loquat was as busy as ever. Memorial Park was bustling with people rushing to go to work. I recognised some of them as shop assistants from the business district nearby. A few people were spotted pushing a wagon filled with stuffs they'd built a hawker stand out of. Several houses sat quietly in the backdrop - I've recognised two of which as my own and Azul's. 

The memory of what happened last night resurfaced in my mind.

"Azul? She's out on a trip to Garnet Town with her boyfriend to keep her safe. I thought it'll be good for her to go out for a little bit, you know. She hadn't seen what Garnet Town looks like in a year and there's a really cozy book café that she would love," said her mum.

"Ahh, that one. Yes, she'd definitely love that," I replied, "I didn't realise it's only been around for a year-ish... feels like part of the town already,"

"Yeah, exactly. There's probably a lot of stuffs out there that she hasn't seen. And her boyfriend said he wants to catch a new Pokémon too, so..." she said.

"I'm sure he'll keep her safe," I said.

"Yeah. Not to leave you out, of course. If you were around, I'd send you to go with her too. But Sir Rojo said you were taking care of stuffs for the league. I know you'll do great and I really hope you get to enjoy things most teenagers your age do," she replied.

...I'm not really a teenager anymore, though... I'm eighteen... I thought as the ends of my eyes twitched.

"Nah, don't worry about all that-" I said, "it's been a meaningful journey that I got to appreciate,"

"Yeah, but look, that's not supposed to be on you. I don't even know what the police are doing that even you had to step in," she said and sighed, "I'm so sorry you had to deal with that,"

"Oh, it's nothing-" I said, "but anyway, so she's out now. I'll just catch her later,"

"I'll let you know when she comes back, she was looking for you the past few days," she replied.

Silence fell. I could feel my eyes burning up as I hung my head, letting my hair fell to the sides of my face and hide it.

"Yeah, that'd be great. We really do need to catch-up," I said.

I reached the news stand and queued behind an elderly gentleman. My eyes darted to the newspapers hung on the walls inside the stall. One of them had a picture of the Sunnyshore Harbour accompanied with the headline "Ships damaged and voyages cancelled".

I wonder if Matias managed to leave the mainland at all? I thought, if he's still a no-show, this might be a good way to tell Antonio why that happened...

"Hey. Valen, right?" someone suddenly asked from my right.

I turned around, only to see a young man with a brown fedora covering his face. The moment he looked up, I could spot his coral lips, then his slim, pointed nose, then the pair of chestnut eyes staring back at me. You could say I almost had a heart attack then.

"Y-yeah? Antonio, right?" I asked, "how's it going?"

"I've been alright. Didn't know you were in town," he said, "I thought I saw you near the marketplace yesterday, with Azul in the Pokémon Centre,"

"I was," I said and nodded, still a little dumbfounded, "yeah, I was training. Went home to stock up,"

But then things went a bit quiet, so I added, "so, I live here, next to Azul..."