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Raw Text:Calista AtwaterThe Moon: Cool, moody, mysteriousCalista is the youngest Atwater sister. She's scrappy and a loner. She lives her life by her own rules and tends not to get close to people. Her sense of humor is dry and, normally speaking, she doesn't tend to smile. She's close with her older sister Cadence, but not her eldest sister Cecilia. Cecilia and Calista mix like water and oil. They're both far too similar and far too stubborn. Calista is crass and a tomboy. Underneath her rough, sometimes asocial, exterior is a soft, sentimental, and sweet girl; for her friends she always gives without taking. Calista is from Driftveil City in Unova. Her main interests are Battling, photography, and scrapbooking/bullet journaling.

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Sparrow EdgarThe Sun: Bright, warm, steady.Sparrow is an outdoorsy type with a big heart. Despite being a little brother, he tends to be seen by others as a big brother-like figure due to his caring and supportive personality. He's reliable and likes to take care of other people. He's the type that's always willing to listen and be a source of support, a shoulder to cry on. He's very patient and doesn't tend to jump to rash decisions. He's self described as "soft-hearted". He doesn't tend to stress about what other people think of him- that is, unless they're a girl he likes. Then he becomes a bit of an awkward nerd. Sparrow is from Pewter City in Kanto. Him and his older sister, Avie, are close. His main interests are botany, cooking, and Battling.

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Marina CornwallThe Ocean: Cool, strong, unyieldingMarina, on the surface, comes off like a shy nerd. Though this is just a facade to keep her unassuming. She in fact moonlights as a superhero, Ultramarine. She took up the Ultramarine mantel after her older sister's untimely death investigating, among other things, her girlfriend's sudden personality change. Marina masks her negative emotions with dry humor and never tends to let others in. She has a very hard time trusting people. She tends to the impulsive and reckless. She spends most of her free time in the day training (both in Battling and physically) or swimming. She sleeps with an adjusted schedule and stays up most nights as Ultramarine picking fist fights with miscreants on the street. She lives in Hulbury, Galar with her parents. Her main interests are swimming and Battling.

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Yurika YokomuraThe Stars: Bright, beautiful, mystical.Yurika is the only heir to the Yokomura broadcasting company. She's lived a sheltered life, having been homeschooled since she was 4. She tends to come off to others as intimidating or aloof, but this is quickly alleviated after brief conversation. She is friendly, sweet, and innocent. Her heart is full of empathy and she firmly believes in talking things out rather than holding grudges. She has an intense interest in the occult and always "asks the stars" for aid when making any major decisions. Deep down, she wants someone to accept her and her quirks, but has resigned herself to be married off to whomever her parents decide is best for them (rather than her). Has an assistant, Reinaldo, whom she convinced her family to take in after meeting him and sympathizing with his sad upbringing. She's from Goldenrod City, Johto. Her main interests are of the occult, interior decorating, and Battling.

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Studying for Battling class was often interesting because Mx. Asuna rarely if ever actually gave out any homework; most of what they’d be able to give as homework was split between History (Battling History) and Math (Battling Calculations). So that left the students with an interesting assignment: Master a new move.The Zoomers sat in their normal meeting spot; a spare study room in a back corner of the school that almost no one ever passed. This suited them fine; they liked having the quiet study area and it allowed them to do their investigations mostly in peace. For now, though, they were actually doing some homework.“So this assignment is just ‘Do You Have Enough Money To Buy a TM’, right?” Marina asked, looking up at her partners.Sparrow muddled the thought around in his head for a moment; surely not, his optimistic-self thought. But at the same time, with such an exclusive, hoity-toity (in theory) school as Booster Academy was, there’s definitely a non-zero chance of that being the case.“Can’t we just use a weaker move we haven’t done in a while? Like Absorb for me or Confusion for Yurika?” Calista asked, putting her elbow on the table and her hand in her cheek, resting her head against her hand.“We could just go to the department store and get some TMs,” Yurika said, like it was an obvious suggestion.“Right, you’re loaded,” Marina said.“I couldn’t ask you to do that for us, Yurika,” Sparrow said. “But I don’t think we’ll get particularly high grades for using low level moves like that. And anyway the prompt is ‘new move’.”Calista stood up from the table, excitedly. “I got it. We should all teach each other something!”“That’s… probably the intention, right?” Sparrow asked.“Yes, surely!” Yurika’s expression perked up. “That sounds very fun. What should we teach each other?”“That’s something we should probably look up, to keep things organized. I’m sure between the four of us, one shares a move with someone else,” Sparrow said.Marina took out her laptop and opened it up. She started typing on it to do some searching. “Let’s see… Hey, Calista, do you know Charm?”“Do I ever?” Calista said. She sat back down in her seat and used Charm, which consisted mainly of Calista making the biggest, cutest eyes possible and putting her hands to her chin cutely.“Awwww!!!” Yurika practically squeaked. “Calista~!”Sparrow blushed and looked away. “That’s adorable.”Marina grinned. “That is pretty cute.”“That’s the idea! You’ve gotta be cute as hell to use Charm. So Marina’s got it down-pat already~.”Yurika and Sparrow both laughed.“Aww, thanks~,” Marina said. “Okay, so… That’s one for me. And that’s a good one, too, because that’s not an offensive move. So I can keep up my weak girl shtick.”“Oh, good point!” Sparrow said. “What’s a good one for me? Do you know Giga Drain or something, Calista?”“No, just Seed Bomb, sorry,” Calista answered, frowning.“What about Psychic from Yurika?” Marina asked.Yurika looked down and poked her fingers together. “I… don’t really use Psychic for Battling.”All of the Kadabra’s partners looked at her like her hair was on fire.“What do you mean?” Calista asked.“I mean-! I do know Psychic, of course I do, but I tend to use it to carry heavy things or get the remote when it’s on the other side of the room. That is if Reinaldo doesn’t get it first for me.”“So you could just learn to use Psychic,” Sparrow said.“I suppose I could.”Sparrow reached his hand out to Yurika’s and held it. He smiled gently at her. “How about we do it together?”She grinned and blushed. “Yes, I’d like that.”“That just leaves me,” Calista said. “Any ideas?”“Well, you’re probably better learning a status move,” Sparrow said.Marina was typing something into her computer as Yurika said “Maybe something like… Helping Hand?”“Y’know that one never came naturally to me,” Calista said.“Says here you can also learn Psychic,” Marina added as she looked up from her computer. “I’m feeling a little left out…” she said sadly, though it was clear she was joking.“I can learn to move shit with my mind?!” Calista said.“I don’t know. I think it’ll be hard for you to master in time. One of my parents is a Psychic type, so it’ll probably come more naturally to me than to you,” Sparrow said.“Shit, you’re right. My mom’s a Bellossom,” Calista replied, dejected. “Wait! No she’s not! She’s my step mom!”“I was just about to say,” Marina said, “I thought I remembered that you and your sisters all had different moms.”“Well when you put it like that…” Calista said. “No, um… my mom was… … Oh shit, what was she?” Calista racked her brain trying to remember what her mother was- she was raised from infancy by her step mother, Clover. She was more or less dumped on her father’s doorstep after her birth mother left her father. “I’d have to ask Cadence. Or mom. But she might feel some type’a way about that.”“Calista can learn Encore, right? I think I can teach her that,” Yurika said.Marina nodded, “Oh, for sure. But y’sure that’s not too much, Little Miss Tutor?”The Kadabra girl thought about it for a moment. “No, I don’t think so. Normally you three are so strong, so… If I can help, then I will!”Sparrow and Calista smiled at her.“Aww, Yur…” Marina said. She gave Yurika a small kiss on her cheek, which made her giggle.“We better get cracking, though. I bet everyone else is scrambling to get some training in,” Calista stood up from her seat and started collecting her books and stuffing them into her backpack.“Why are we all procrastinators?” Sparrow asked, mostly rhetorically.“Undiagnosed ADHD?” Calista suggested.“Too busy making out?” Marina suggested.“Too much other homework?” Yurika suggested.Sparrow thought for a second about all their answers. “I think it’s a little from all those, actually…”

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The Zoomers were standing inside a flower shop. The girls were looking at Sparrow, who was facing the three of them.“Okay, so I have a list here of good, hardy plants that we can get,” he said, taking a piece of paper out of his pocket. Yurika had suggested that the four of them should consider getting some kind of plant for their dorms, so Sparrow could teach the girls a little about botany, a subject he was fairly passionate about.“So, a cactus?” Marina asked.“No, not a cactus,” Sparrow said. “Well,” he thought for a second, “we could get a cactus, but I was figuring we’d want something a little friendlier looking. Plus, there’s plenty of flowers that are surprisingly easy to take care of.”“It’ll make for nicer decoration, I guess,” Calista said. “So what’s the list?”“First we have the ZZ plant,” Sparrow said.“Does it have a really long beard?” Calista asked, joking.“Oof, god that’s antiquated.” Marina cringed. “The 80’s want their joke back.”The Whimsicott rolled her eyes.“No! The ZZ plant looks like this-“ Sparrow was about to pull out his phone to show off a picture, but Yurika suddenly gasped. She ran further into the store without saying anything.“Our kitty cat wandered off,” Marina said.“Yuri!” Calista called out, then hurried after her. “Hey, Yuri!”As Calista and the other Zoomers caught up to Yurika, she was excitedly looking through a display with bamboo stalks.“Bamboo?” Marina asked.“Yes, bamboo!” Yurika turned to face her partners. “Bamboo is fantastic for feng shui! Depending on where you place it in the room it can bring you good health, good fortune, or harmony!”“Do we have to pick?” Marina said.“Yes! Because it depends on where you place it in the room,” Yurika said matter-of-factly.“I think she was making a joke…” Sparrow lightly added, but the Kadabra girl didn’t seem to get it.“So, we’re looking for bamboo with two stalks,” Yurika said.“With two?” Calista said. “What’s wrong with this guy? He’s cute.” She picked up one of the bamboo plants at random. Yurika’s face turned to shocked horror as she ran around the display and up to her.“P-put that thing down this instant!”Calista nearly dropped the plant onto her own feet before Yurika scooped it up out of her hands with Psychic.“Ugh! Who could let something like this be for sale?!” she said. She held it half a foot away from her, as if it were something truly evil.“Phone a friend?” Marina said.“I’ve got nothing,” Sparrow answered.“No, seriously, now I wanna know what’s wrong with that one,” Calista said, putting her hands on her hips.Yurika looked at the plant and then at her girlfriend. “It has 4 stalks!!” she said, like that answered her question sufficiently.“Uh-huh…?” Calista said. She raised her eyebrows, expecting further clarification.“Ohhhh, that’s it,” Sparrow said. “No, 4 is a bad luck number over here in the Quad Regions. Our word for ‘four’ is almost identical to our word for ‘death’.”“Yes!!” Yurika jumped back into the conversation. “Precisely! So if you put a 4 stalk bamboo in your house…” She visibly shuddered. “I can’t even imagine the horrors! This is offensive! I’ll be right back. A worker has to deal with this.” She left in a hurry.“There she goes,” Calista said. “Well… Glad I spared someone else from bad vibes, right?” She grinned.“That’s right~” Marina said, patting Calista on her head. “So what’d Yur say was a good one?”“Two stalks.”“Did she say why?” Sparrow asked.“No, actually,” Calista answered.“Hopefully it’s for good fortune or whatever. Winning the lottery would be sweet,” Marina said as she started looking around the bamboo display.“I don’t think it works like that…” Sparrow said, helping his girlfriend look. Calista started to help, too. Eventually, she plucked out a bamboo plant with two stalks.“Ta-da!” she said, holding up the plant proudly.“Oh, you got it, Calista!” Sparrow said.Yurika bounded back over to the group. “Calista found what?”“A two-stalk bamboo, like you asked,” Marina said.She looked over at the bamboo plant Calista was holding and she happily gasped. “Yes! That’s perfect!” She took the plant and held it in her arms, almost hugging it. “Oh, this is so perfect, Calista.”The Whimsicott smiled a little, a small blush appearing on her cheeks. “Just doing my best, babygirl~”“So what’s the significance of two stalks?” Sparrow asked.“Oh, that’s easy. This is the best for promoting luck and love~” Yurika said.“Awwww…” Marina said. “That’s cute, babe.”Yurika giggled. “I just figured it’d be perfect for us. I’ll go pay for it.” She walked off toward the registers.“Y’know,” Marina said, “no one should tell her she’s in a four person relationship. I wonder if that counterbalances the good luck stuff.”“I’m not sure,” Sparrow answered, “but you should definitely keep that to yourself.”-The poor bamboo plant didn’t even last a month in the Zoomers’ hands. Yurika called a group meeting to come look at the plant, which was kept in her and Calista’s dorm. Sparrow, Marina, and Calista were sitting on the couch in their living room.“Look at this! This is a terrible sign!!” Yurika held the plant up. The leaves on the bamboo were dramatically pointing downwards.Marina and Calista both looked at each other.“Not it,” they said in unison.“What?” Sparrow leaned forward to look at them both. “Calista, it was your turn to water the plant the other day. You had a measuring cup for it and everything.”“Well, someone forgot her shift so I thought double water would make up for it,” Calista said.“I didn’t forget! I just… I had other stuff I was doing!” Marina said.“This is so serious guys!!” Yurika squeaked. “I really don’t want this plant to die…!”“It’s not gonna die, baby,” Calista reassured her. “What do we do about this, Sparrow?”“Hm…” he stood up from the couch and went over to Yurika. “Can I see the plant?”The Kadabra sniffled a little. “You’re taking this serious… right?”“Of course I am, babe. And everyone else is, too.” In a softer tone, he added “Even if it seems like they don’t.” He inspected the plant for a good few minutes, and started looking up some things on his phone.Yurika nervously wrung her hands together. “Anything?”“Yes, I have a few options here. We need to make sure it doesn’t have root rot- because then we may not be able to save it. I’ll take it out of this soppy soil and clean the roots, then put it in some fresh, dry soil. It should start looking a little less sorry for itself after that.”She nodded, sniffling a little. “I don’t mean to be so emotional over a plant… I just… I want the best luck possible for us…”Calista and Marina looked at each other again. They frowned; they did really feel bad about almost accidentally killing the plant.“We’ll be better about it, baby, okay?” Calista said. “We didn’t mean to fuck things up already.”“We know this stuff means a lot to you, so…” Marina added.“I know you care- I promise,” Yurika said. She wiped her eyes and looked at her girlfriends. “That’s why… I’m gonna give you all a crash course in all things feng shui! You’re going to know as much as I do by the end!”Calista and Marina looked at each other again. Uh-oh.Sparrow chuckled. “I’ll clean this guy up and then we’ll make some time for your feng shui lessons.” He gave Yurika a kiss on her forehead and then went into the kitchen to start cleaning the plant.“Well… if it’ll help us remember to take care of the plant…” Marina said, shrugging.“You know what? I wanna learn! I’m excited to,” Calista said.“Yay!” Yurika’s usual cute smile was back on her face.“Ah, who can say no to that face?” Marina laughed. “Me too. I'm also excited.”

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Yurika had made the mistake of asking Marina her exercise routine. And Calista made the mistake of thinking that the rest of the Zoomers should try following along. After all, it couldn’t hurt for all of us to get a little stronger, right? She was regretting saying that.Marina had put her partners through the ringer, first with weight training and then with this, going up and down the steps to Booster Academy.The insanely long… horrible steps.Sparrow, Yurika, and Calista barely made it back to the school again after descending down the steps. Sparrow was lying flat on the ground, and so was Yurika. Calista was desperately trying to catch her breath, doubled over in exhaustion.“How many rounds of this did you say?” she asked.Marina was casually doing some stretches while she was waiting for the other three to recover. “Three? I think I said three.”“Three?!” Sparrow yelled.“I don’t think I can do it, Marina…” Yurika said, attempting to be polite despite how exhausted she was.“You don’t do this every day,” Calista said.“No, I do this today because it’s Leg Day,” Marina answered.“That’s not a real thing.”“It’s so a real thing.”Sparrow lifted his arm in the air, index finger up. “It’s definitely a real thing.”“See? Sparrow agrees with me,” Marina said.“Of course he would,” Calista said pointedly, narrowing her gaze.“It’s okay if you can’t keep up,” Marina said. “I’m the tough one~.”Calista took a deep breath and stood upright. “I’m tough, too!!”“Ah, Calista!” Yurika sat upright. “Don’t push yourself too hard!”“I’ll push myself as hard as I want! I can do this!”Sparrow sighed. “She’s crazy…”Calista turned around and descended down the stairs again, with a pep in her step.“Atta girl!!” Marina grinned and followed after her, going along the steps beside her. “Wanna race?”“We’ll race-“ The Whimsicott cut herself off to breathe, “back to the top.”“That’s what I was hoping you’d say~”The two descended to the bottom of the steps together. By now Sparrow and Yurika were both sitting upright, and watched the two of them standing at the bottom of the steps.“They’re not prepping for a race, are they?” Sparrow asked.“Oh… They’re having another race? Like at Cycling Road?” Yurika answered.“Looks like it,” he sighed, though smiled. “Calista’s just showing off for you again.”Yurika giggled. “I thought it was something between Marina and Calista, actually. Some kind of tension?”The Butterfree laughed, then shrugged. “A bit of Column A, a bit of Column B.”Calista and Marina started running up the steps; Yurika nudged Sparrow.“Look look! They started!”“There they go.”Marina took a huge lead on Calista right away, which frustrated the Whimsicott girl. She let out a loud yell and pushed herself to catch up to her opponent again.“You got this, Calista!!” Yurika yelled, her hands cupped around her mouth.Calista just gave a shout in response.“Give her hell, baby!!” Sparrow yelled. “Kick her ass!!”“I’m on it!” Marina shouted back.“Aww, c’mon,” Yurika said, laughing.“What can I say? I love seeing Marina like this~”The Palafin and the Whimsicott were neck and neck running up the steps. They were close to the top, and Calista looked like she was about to flop over.“Gonna- give up- yet?” Marina asked.“No!!” Calista said; that was all she could muster through her heavy breaths. With the last of her strength, she jumped up over the last couple of steps and flung herself at the top.“Hey!! No fair!” Marina said.Yurika quickly ran over to her girlfriend and knelt beside her. She pulled out her hand fan and started to fan her. “There there, my love. You did great. I’m so proud of you~”The Whimsicott mumbled a happy noise in response.Marina arrived at the top of the staircase and Sparrow got up and walked over to her.“Well… does that count as her beating you?”“Eh. I’ll let her win that one. I didn’t say you needed to walk up all the stairs, I guess,” Marina said.“You put up a good fight either way, baby~” Sparrow gave Marina a kiss on the cheek.“As always~” Marina took a good look at her partners- they all looked sweaty and exhausted. “Who wants to go swimming?”Yurika and Sparrow both looked like they were desperately trying to think of an excuse to get out of it.“Um… I’m not sure… I mean poor Calista is exhausted, so…” She folded up her fan and put it back in her pocket.“… What kinda swimming? Like, laps? Cuz I think I’ve got… homework…”Marina nearly doubled over laughing- their expression were enough to do it, but their flimsy excuses were what made her start to actually laugh out loud. “No, just casually- to cool down.”“That sounds fun…!” Calista weakly added.“I’ll help you into your suit, my love,” Yurika said, picking up her girlfriend with Psychic.“Hot…”Her partners laughed.

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Yurika stood at the whiteboard and started writing. Sparrow, Marina, and Calista were sitting in the front row of desks. They were in their math classroom after school- which meant they had an entire room to themselves for Yurika’s big lesson on all things occult.“Okay, so to start, what does ‘occult’ mean?” she asked, turning to her partners. She wrote ‘Occult’ on the board in beautiful print.The three didn’t raise their hands, and instead looked at each other.“Uh…” Calista said. “It’s stuff that’s strange, right?”“No!” Yurika turned back to the board. “It comes from the Latin occultus, meaning ‘hidden’ or secret.” She wrote that on the board, in the corner, in a different colored marker. “It’s a really big umbrella for things like the supernatural, superstitions, divination, and the pseudo-scientific.”“So like... ghosts and stuff?” Calista asked.Marina turned to look at her. “Why do you sound so scared when you ask that?”“Shut up, Marina...”Yurika’s face lit up. “Yes! It does include ghosts. Things like, Ouija boards, exorcisms, possessions, spirit photography…” She counted on her fingers each of these topics as she thought of them.Calista was completely shrunken in her seat by the end. “R-right…”“But none of that’s real,” Marina whispered.“It’s so real!” Yurika said. “It’s extremely real. I know it is.”The Palafin nearly jumped in her seat. “I forgot about those superpowered kitty cat ears…”“Have you ever used a Ouija board?” Sparrow asked.“Yes! Only once. I was wondering how my grandmother was doing a few months after her death. She reassured me she was doing wonderfully well.”Marina rested her elbow on the desk, and her chin in her hand. “Right…”Calista elbowed her girlfriend to get her to stop making that skeptical face.“Ow! Sorry…”“So divination means like… trying to see the future, right?” Sparrow asked.“That’s correct! There’s multiple ways to do this. Some people have visions- Psychics. Well, not Psychic types, typically,” she giggles, “but people who have visions of the future, you know. There’s also tarot readings. Those I find very reliable- especially as someone who doesn’t see visions.”“That’s that thing with the Death card, right?” Calista asked.“Right! But Death isn’t literal death. That’s an extremely common misconception. Death just means the end of a phase in your life to start a new one. Like… graduating.”“Oh. That’s a lot friendlier.”Yurika held her hands together and she spoke genuinely from her heart. “Tarot cards have sincerely helped me at many points in my life. They’re how I met Reinaldo, and they guided me through every major decision I’ve made for a long while now. I ask the stars, and they’ve never steered me wrong.”“Yeah, you asked the stars about us, right?” Calista said.“That’s correct! And they reassured me that this was the best possible outcome for me. I would be happiest with all three of you as my life partners.”“Well, I can’t argue with that,” Marina said.“So! That leads me to my biggest point. Feng shui! That’s what I wanted you to better understand- so that when I redecorate your dorms, you’ll understand a bit why I’m doing it.”“You’re gonna redecorate our dorms?” Sparrow asked. Yurika ignored his question.“You have to think of Feng shui like a compass. Its literal translation is ‘wind water’. It’s because the idea of Feng shui is that how you decorate your rooms influences your energy. If your room is set up a certain way, it allows those positive energies to harmonize with yours.”“She’s lost me,” Marina said.“It’s like water,” Yurika explained; she turned back to the board and drew a river with a blue marker. “When the river is stopped,” she erased part of the river, “then it can’t flow, right? So when you promote, say, happiness, with the set up of your room, then that happy energy can better reach you.”The Palafin had a skeptical look and a raised eyebrow. “Right…”Yurika turned back around and saw her expression. She puffed up her cheeks, trying to think of how to make this not sound totally crazy to the layman.“Okay, so… Feng shui is like a compass.” She drew a compass on the board. “The entrance is always North, which is confusing because that basically gives you an inverted compass. But that’s how it works.”She drew the upside-down compass. “So to the north we have energy that promotes your career, the color associated is black, and it’s water energy.” She went through each point of the compass, explaining what energies they promote, the color associated, and what energy it was.“Okay, so…” Marina was genuinely trying to wrap her head around this. “So if I wanna be famous, I’d put a bunch of red or fire stuff in the south point?”“You’d think so!” Yurika said. “But that can have downsides, too. Too much fire weakens metal. So that means that your career could suffer.”“Ah, so it causes infamy, then. Got it.”The Kadabra was practically beaming; she was so thrilled to see Marina actually applying this knowledge she was teaching her. “Precisely. The key to everything is balance. Placing one or two color-appropriate items in each section.”“So is this for our bedroom or for the whole dorm?” Sparrow said.“The whole dorm, ideally! Though what’s wonderful about Feng shui is that it can be applied at a macro or micro level,” she explained. “Though the bedroom is vitally important to feng shui either way. Bed placement is key- it needs to be in the center of the room as much as possible, so that it’s not pushed into a corner. Furthermore, the bed CANNOT be facing the door!” She made an X with her hands. “Absolutely not! Your feet can’t be facing the door as you’re lying down. That’s terrible energy.”“Is there gonna be an open-book quiz on this?” Calista asked.“No,” Yurika giggled. “I already know all of this stuff, and I plan on fixing your rooms accordingly.”“Well… I’m sure it’ll be a nice change of pace from what’s there now~ Plus, our rooms are exactly the same as everyone else’s, layout-wise. So that makes our rooms and dorms a little more unique,” Sparrow said.“Yes! So that’s fun~,” Yurika added.“So for the bamboo…” Calista said, “it was two-stalk, for relationships. That’s why you put it in the far corner of the dorm.”The Kadabra girl’s eyes practically sparkled. “Yes! That’s exactly right! The southwest corner promotes relationships, and the bamboo also promotes relationship harmony!”“And that’s why you wanted that pink pot for it?” Sparrow asked.“Yes! Because the color pink goes with the southwest section.”“See? We’re getting the hang of this~” Marina said.Yurika looked at her partners for a second before bursting into tears.“Huh?! I said we were getting it, babe!”“No! I’m sorry!” Yurika took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. “I’m happy- I promise! I just… I never thought I would find someone who would… would care about any of this! I was told so often that no man would ever care… But I’ve got a man who cares. And two women! The loves of my life.”Sparrow and Marina grinned. Calista stood up and went to her girlfriend- she also wiped her face, then hugged her and gave her a little kiss.“We do care. Maybe we’re not super into it, but… It’s what you’re into. We love you just the way you are. Quirks and all.”Yurika nodded a little, looking up at her with big eyes. “I love you all too. So very very much.”Sparrow and Marina both stood up and joined in on Yurika and Calista’s hug.“You’re so cute when you talk about it, too, which is a nice bonus~” Sparrow said.“Hehe… thank you…”“In all seriousness, I’m honored to be one of the first people to listen when you talk about this. I hope you know that,” Marina said.“I do, Marina. I promise.”The four partners enjoyed their hug for a while, until Yurika managed to calm down from her happy tears.“Wait!” Yurika suddenly said. “I forgot to tell you about crystals! You’ll have to sit down again- this is going to be long.”Her three partners let her go; Sparrow chuckled a little.“This is what I was looking forward to. I’ve gotta know what that crystal is that you placed by my cookbooks.”Sparrow, Marina, and Calista sat back down in their seats.“So that was one to help promote creativity, because cooking is kind of a creative process, right?” She turned back to the board and started writing crystal names down.

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Somehow Yurika loved Calista from the moment she met her. Calista did, too, but she didn’t let herself fall that easily.Calista had a lot of hang-ups- mostly due to the fact of fearing history repeating itself; her eldest sister, Cecilia, fell for and got her heart broken by a rich girl. So she feared the same for herself. And she was never really the lovey-dovey type, anyway.Or so she thought.Slowly but surely, Yurika felt herself getting closer and closer to Calista; she was allowing her to be close.The cincher was their first “date” (which was not really a date; Calista insisted it was “practice” for when Yurika found “the right boy”), at the fanciest place imaginable for a rich girl like her, a fast food place.Yurika was excited for someone to not feel the need to flaunt, and Calista was excited to have some good ol’ Unovan food. They ordered their food and took it back to a booth with them. Calista carried the tray, because she was subconsciously trying to be a true “gentlelady” for Yurika.“Here’s where I’d pull out the chair for you, but…” she laughed, placing the tray on the table and sitting down. Yurika sat across from her, chuckling politely.“It's no problem; it's the thought that counts,” she said.“That’s true~.”Calista looked her date over- normally she wore a very fancy, nice dress everywhere, though today she was dressed more casually today in a t-shirt and jeans; she had a necklace with a star pendant on it, which matched the broach she pinned on her cravat. Hilariously, Yurika figured, since they were going to a simple burger place, that she should dress down for the occasion. She was incredibly surprised to see Calista in a nice, half buttoned up baggy suit shirt (with plain tank top underneath) and long pants.“So, might I begin,” Calista added. “You look wonderful this evening. I said that earlier but I wanted to say it again now. I didn't think you'd have any casual clothes like this in your wardrobe.”Yurika smiled; a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. “I'm really glad you like it.” She looked down at herself for a second and then continued talking. “I actually didn't own any of this when you suggested our date initially. Reinaldo had suggested maybe I should try something a little different- and I took him up on his advice.” She placed her hands on her hips and smiled, looking proud of herself.“What can I say, the man's usually always right. I see why you keep him around,” Calista half joked. She really did like Reinaldo, her Toedscruel butler friend. She’d gotten to know him fairly well not only due to her friendship with Yurika, but also due to the fact that he was roommates with Sparrow.Yurika chuckled. “That, and he’s a big help.” She excitedly relayed the story of how she met him; she had a fateful tarot reading one day- the stars told her she would find a true companion that same day. She met him at the local department store. She was having issues putting an outfit together, but with his help she managed to find everything she needed. She knew from this interaction that he was the companion the stars told him about.“And once he told me his story- about how his family didn’t accept him- except for his sister that he was living with… I knew I had to help!” She got that determined look in her eyes- like she gets when she knows she has an excellent idea- a look that Calista was definitely falling in love with.“I convinced my parents to hire him as my assistant. Since then he’s always been by my side.”Calista smiled. “That’s adorable, actually. You two do seem really close.”“Yes, very!”The two were quiet for a moment and Calista started to get nervous. Yurika was comfortable with the silence- she didn’t feel it was awkward. Calista, however, was terrified she was already dropping the ball on this “practice date”.The Whimsicott pulled a small notebook out of her pocket. “So, in the spirit of this being a practice date…” She opened the book and turned to a few pages in. “I’ve written some common questions you’re gonna be getting. You can prep for them this way- so you can feel more confident for when you find Mr. Right~.”Yurika giggled. Part of her was wondering why Calista was keeping up with this “Mr. Right” charade. She knew she was in love with her. And she absolutely reciprocated those feelings. But the stars told her to be gentle- Calista is not the type to open up easily. Yurika needed to be patient- and let the Whismicott girl realize it for herself.The Kadabra sat up straighter and adjusted her shirt, cleaning herself up a little and dusting herself off. “I’m ready!”Calista grinned. “Cool, so…” She took a second to read her notebook. “Here’s an easy one: ‘What kind of career do you want in the future?’”Visibly rattling the thought around in her head for a minute, Yurika seemed a little stumped as to what she wanted her answer to be. “What I want I'm not so sure about yet, as far what kind of career I'd expect I assume my family would want me to be a part of the family business. Although probably not in as noteworthy of a position as my partner would be.”Calista frowned; she was instantly visibly worried hearing her talk like that. That simple answer spoke volumes to her. “Cuz… you’re a chick?”“Yeah, but it's okay!” Yurika tried to soften her expression so Calista would stop looking at her like that. “I mean, I've known that since I was a little girl so it's not exactly gonna come as a surprise later on in life.”“Right…” Something was bubbling up inside Calista- this want to get her out of that terrible situation. But that’s what the idea of this even was, right? That she would find a boy she liked and then marry him- she keeps her daddy happy and she herself could maybe be happy.But why can’t I be in that picture? Calista thought, much to her own surprise. She wondered why in the hell she’d think something like that. Of course she can’t be in that picture.She tried to stuff those thoughts down and she looked at her notebook again.“’What’s your favorite food?’”Yurika put her finger to her chin in thought. “Do you want what my father would want me to say? Or my actual answer?”“Why not both?”“Okay,” Yurika chuckled. “Well, my actual favorite food is okonomiyaki.”Calista looked at her with blank eyes.“It’s basically a pancake filled with meat and vegetables. It’s absolutely wonderful! And in Goldenrod they have the best in the world! It’s a local specialty. They have them here, and they’re pretty good. But nothing beats getting them from Goldenrod~”“Holy shit, you had me at ‘pancake filled with meat’. How have Unovans not attempted to invent something like that yet?” Calista said. “I hope I get to try some soon~”“Now, Father says that my favorite food must be kujira. That’s whale.”Calista and Yurika both made the same exact disgusted expression.“It’s as bad as you’re picturing,” Yurika said.“That’s what I was afraid of,” Calista answered. “I’m so glad you’re away from that monster.”Yurika laughed a little. “At least for now. I'll probably be living in Goldenrod City for the rest of my life.”There was that pang in Calista’s heart again. “I mean... It's fun there, right?”“Oh yes, it's a very nice city and there's plenty I can do to keep myself entertained. It's just... not really what I had in mind for myself. I really wanted to see more of the world than just our vacation home and the area around it.” She paused for a moment. “But I did get to go here though, so I'm gonna try to make the most of it and at least try to see what I can of Sinnoh.”Calista took Yurika by her hands. She looked into her eyes.“I'm gonna take you all over Sinnoh, Yuri. I promise. We're gonna see all there is to see. And if I can swing it, we'll go other places together too, okay? Thinking of you being all cooped up in a big mansion... It sounds nice and all- on the surface, but... You're stuck. Even being stuck in Disneyland would suck after a while, right? I'm gonna make sure you experience all that you can before then... Okay?”Yurika was stunned for a moment. She had no idea how to react to that. That was the most romantic thing she had ever heard in her life. More romantic than any movie she had seen or book that she had read.“Calista…” She found herself choking up with emotion. “That's so sweet.. I hope that wasn't part of the pretend date… because if it was I'm gonna have some big expectations for the real thing.”The Whimsicott had forgotten about the "this was totally not a date" thing. Her face turned bright red. “No! Well- I'm dead serious! I mean it. I'm gonna make sure this year is the best year ever for you.” Calista got up from her seat and sat next to Calista, putting an arm around her.Yurika wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled warmly at Calista. She leaned into her hug. “Thank you, Calista. That means the world to me.”“It’s really no big thing… I’m happy to help.” Seeing Yurika like this, so close to her… Calista so desperately wanted to kiss her. Maybe just on the top of her head. Would she even notice? Surely she would…So Calista didn’t kiss her, not yet. But she held Yurika like she loved her. Because she did.

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The best present Calista ever got was her photo printer. Her second favorite were her gloves, but she didn’t like telling people that. Taking photos was her mother, Clover’s, profession, so she always joked she got the knack for it from her- despite the fact that Clover was not actually her biological mother.She got her first camera when she was little- it was a hand-me-down from Clover. Calista was sometimes shy about her photography- and even more so about her scrapbooking. Calista told others she engaged in the hobby because she liked drawing and designing nice layouts to complement photos. Why she really did it was because deep down she was profoundly sentimental.Her newest cellphone she picked out more for its camera than any of its functionality. What mattered the most were photos. She used to just take pictures of things around her; nice environments, occasionally her sister Cadence if she were doing something silly. She was in charge of taking photos at family gatherings, too.Though recently she realized that her favorite thing to take photos of were her partners and friends. Even before she consciously realized she was in love with Sparrow and Marina, she cherished the photos she took of them. She even bought a nicer photo printer for better colors on the photos- her old printer was starting to crap out, anyway. The way she took her time to arrange their photos together, spending hours on the smallest details- what kind of art surrounded the pictures, what the text said, everything- it was all from love.That was probably why she didn’t want to show them her scrapbooking projects. Or her bullet journals. She was practically a lovestruck teenager about Marina and Sparrow- and also Yurika before they got together.Yurika adored her scrapbooking. She thought it was imbued with so much love and positivity that it must be a good luck charm. Or something- Calista wasn’t quite sure of that at first. But nowadays she found herself wondering if it really did bring good luck to her and her partners.Calista heard a knock on her bedroom door; she looked up from her book. “Yeah, Yuri?”Her girlfriend opened the door. “Hi, Calista! Sparrow and Marina are here. We’re supposed to be working on that project for English class.”“Ugh, right…” Calista closed her scrapbook and stood up from her desk.“Oh! Were you working on your scrapbook?” Yurika asked.“Uh… Yeah, I was.”“Since they’re here anyway, you should show them what you’ve put together!” Yurika smiled supportively. “I’m sure they’ll love it.”Calista weighed her options. She didn’t intend for it to be a secret or anything; not that people couldn’t look at it. She was just deeply embarrassed of coming off hokey.Then again, somehow of the four partners Calista was correctly pinned as “most sentimental”, so what reputation would she really be changing?She picked up the scrapbook from her table. “Sure. I’ll show them what I’m working on.”“Yes!” Yurika was beaming. She excitedly walked into the living room and sat down next to Marina on one of the loveseats. Calista followed after her and sat down next to Sparrow on the other loveseat.“What’s this about scrapbooking?” Sparrow asked.“You don’t have to play dumb,” Calista said, laughing. “I’m sure Yurika told you about it.”“She did,” Marina said.“Guys…!!” Yurika said, frowning. “Only because I was so excited. I really thought it was something special.”“Well… now you get to see it. Only people I sleep with get to,” Calista said, placing the book on Sparrow’s lap.Marina laughed. “I’m proud to be part of the elusive club, then~” She got up to go over to sit next to Sparrow and look at the book with him. Calista got up and sat next to Yurika, effectively swapping places with Marina.Marina and Sparrow scooched close to each other, looking at the book together. Each section of the book were specific themes. The start was the start of the school year; then there were smaller sections for their day/weekend trips all over the Quad Regions.“Oh, this is from our trip to Sunyshore!” Marina said.“Aw…” Sparrow looked at the pictures and couldn’t help grinning. “That’s when we officially got together- all of us.”“I know! Look at that one. Calista’s so happy here,” Marina said.“And I see someone who’s grumpy she got dragged out of the ocean~”“I had another good hour of swimming in me!” Marina crossed her arms and pouted for a second. “Oh, by the way, stickers around the borders are so cute.”“Thanks…” Calista was embarrassed, but happy that they liked it. “There’s this arts and crafts store in town. They have really cute stickers and stuff. Basically everything in that book- and the book itself- are from that store.”“Now we know what we’re gonna get you for your birthday~” Marina joked.“A gift card to that store?” Sparrow asked.“No. A vacation so she can take more of these amazing pictures.”Calista was expecting that to end in a joke, so she almost laughed, but then realized that was something genuinely sweet.“Aww…” Sparrow said.Yurika turned to Calista and took her hand.“See? It must be good luck. Seeing it makes people so happy,” she said.“Yeah… You might be right,” Calista answered.

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It had been one month to the day since Sparrow and his girlfriends all got together. He thought he’d mark the occasion with a special dinner made by him- but the issue was trying to think of something to make.They all had different tastes- and came from different places. Yurika and himself were from the Quad Regions- Johto and Kanto respectively. Marina was from Galar, though was half Paldean, so she had a great fondness for Paldean food. And then there was Calista, from Unova. Unovans ate a little bit of everything, though tended to have… blander palates than other folk due to their mishmash, watered down versions of foods from other countries.He didn’t want to ask for help in this endeavor, but his roommate, Reinaldo, and his boyfriend, Vivian, practically invited themselves over to help.Reinaldo was Yurika’s butler/best friend. The two had been friends for a few years- they were as close as siblings. The second the Toedscruel heard that Sparrow was doing something nice involving Yurika, he had to help. Reinaldo looked fully the part of a butler in a black suit, long black pants, and yellow gloves. He had black hair in a short bowl cut.Vivian, on the other hand, was not so enthusiastic, but he was more than happy to show off his new cooking skills he learned from the Baking Club at school. The Jigglypuff boy was a pop star- a pretty famous one at that. He made bubblegum pop for teenage girls- and he was quite proud of it. Though he was prouder of his Battling prowess which he insisted got him into the prestigious academy (and not his family’s pocketbooks). Vivian dressed the part of handsome pop star, fancy with a white suit vest and pink long sleeve shirt with long white pants. His pink hair was fluffy and soft. Sticking out from the sides of the top of his head were pink cat-like triangle-shaped ears.“Isn’t sushi a bit trite?” Vivian asked.“I don’t really remember asking you,” Sparrow said as politely as he could. His words still bit into Vivian, though, who frowned.“I’m just TRYING to help. You have three girlfriends and yet can’t think of something more personal. Truly- I would go with something like… a course for each of their tastes?” Vivian was spit balling- rambling- he tended to do that sometimes when he was trying to make a point.“Wait, that’s not a bad idea,” Reinaldo said. “Perhaps something Unovan for the first course… like a soup? What’s a popular Unovan soup?”“Chicken noodle?” Sparrow asked.“Yes! That one. That’s simple enough to make, too,” Vivian said. “And of course I had a good idea, Rei, I’m full of good ideas.”Reinaldo gave a polite chuckle.“So then second course… What’s that thing Yurika is always going on about? I’m from Hoenn so I don’t know what they eat in Johto,” Vivian said. He probably just didn’t remember outright but wanted to make some kind of excuse.“Oh, okonomiyaki,” Sparrow said. “I actually have a recipe for those saved on my phone already, haha.”“Oh you. You’re so straight,” Vivian said with a smirk.Sparrow would’ve bothered being pedantic about his label use, but figured it would fall on deaf ears.“And then dessert for Paldean… Oh, maybe we should do this backwards. All those Unovans do is eat dessert.”“Now, that’s not very nice,” Reinaldo said.“You’re right. But they do really know how to eat,” Vivian added.“Hm, okay, Paldean appetizer…” Sparrow took out his phone and started looking. “Something fishy, probably. That’s Marina’s favorite.”“Can I make a joke?” Vivian asked.“You may not, dear,” Reinaldo said. “That’s like me joking that you like milk.”“Of course I like milk! It’s good for you!” Vivian responded, offended and embarrassed.“I found it! It was for garlic shrimp,” Sparrow said.“That sounds good, actually,” Vivian said. “Now Unovan dessert. Brownies? Those are my personal favorite.”Sparrow clicked his tongue. “Damn, I wish I asked Calista what her favorite was.”“Perhaps you could ask Cadence? You have her number, right?” the Toedscruel asked.“Yes! Good idea.” Sparrow began writing a text message to Calista’s older sister, Cadence. After asking her what Calista’s favorite dessert was (and not to immediately tell her that he asked) he sent the message. “In the meantime, we should get a shopping list together of all the things we’ll need.”“I can just remember it,” Vivian said.“I’ll grab a pen and paper,” Reinaldo said, walking out of the living room and into his bedroom.“Ugh. Fine, write it down…”By the time Reinaldo returned with a pen and paper, Sparrow’s phone went off.“That’s Cadence,” he said. He took his phone out of his pocket and read the text out loud. “’Okay, so her favorite food is strawberry shortcake. But if you ask her, she says brownies. Because she got made fun of once for her real answer because of some TV show’ … What?”Vivian was already searching for the answer on his phone. “It’s some girly TV show for little children.”“Ah, that explains it. Calista’s weird about that kinda stuff. So I’ll surprise her with her actual favorite~”“Plus,” Reinaldo added, “that’s quite an easy dessert to make very aesthetically pleasing.”“Exactly! This is perfect,” Sparrow said. “Thank you for your help, by the way, guys.”“Well, we want this to be very successful for you,” Vivian said. “Despite what you may think I do wish good things for you- for everyone, really. Except Leonel.”“His name is Lester. You should really learn your roommate’s name by now.”“Oh, I know that, I’ve just started calling him that because the look on his face is priceless when I do!”Sparrow rolled his eyes a little. “Are you ready to start making the list, Reinaldo?”“Yes, I’m-“ Reianldo began, though Vivian suddenly started speaking, as if he forgot something.“And Gabriel, too. That little brat.”Both of the other boys decided to just ignore him.“I’m ready, Sparrow,” Reinaldo said, smiling.-The girls weren’t sure what to expect when they were invited to Sparrow’s dorm- they figured he had prepared something for them, but not to the extent to which he did it.“Oh, is that shrimp?” Marina asked as she walked in.Sparrow was in the kitchen cooking, finishing up the appetizer, so he couldn’t greet them at the door.“Yup, that’s exactly right~”“Oh, Sparrow,” Yurika said. She noticed the dining room table was done up with a nice table cloth, place settings, and candles. “This is so romantic!” The Kadabra girl had in her hands a small box tied up neatly with a bow.“Hey, he’s gotta be to keep three girlfriends happy,” Calista joked. She was carrying in her hands a rather large, though thin, box. She was awkwardly holding onto it to make sure she didn’t drop it despite its weight.Sparrow laughed a little and put the food on the stove on low heat so he could go over to his girlfriends. He gave each of them a hug, starting with Marina and then Yurika.“Happy one month anniversary, guys~” Sparrow said.“Happy one month to you, too~” Marina said.“Happy one month!!” Yurika said.Sparrow went in for the hug with Calista but noticed the unwieldly present in her arms. “Can I take that?”“Yes, but you can’t open it until I say,” Calista said. She carefully handed the present over to Sparrow, who lied it flat on the couch in the living room.Once Calista’s arms were free, Sparrow and her shared a hug.“Happy one month, Sparrow~” Calista said.“You too, Calista~”“I also have a little something for everyone,” Yurika said, presenting the present.“I didn’t figure it was gonna be a big thing- How about I take a rain check on a nice present for you three~?” Marina asked, laughing a little.“That’s fine! I just- it’s really not much…” Yurika said.“I’m too sentimental to not bring something, sorry,” Calista joked, grinning.“Do we wanna save the presents for after dinner?” Sparrow asked.“Do we have do? I’m kind of excited to show mine off,” Calista said.“Then go ahead~”Calista went to the couch, excitedly, to hand the present off to someone to unwrap it, but she suddenly realized wasn’t sure who should get it. “Uh… Who wants to do the honors?”“My hands are free, technically,” Marina said, “but this whole thing was Sparrow’s idea. So he should get to.”Sparrow shrugged. “I’m cool with that~”Calista handed the present off to Sparrow, who took it out of the box.Inside of the box was quite a large framed photo gallery, with many small and medium sized squares for different images. Each image was inside a small square “frame” that stuck out a little. There were 8 frames in total- 6 for each couple within the polycule and then two with all four partners in them.“These are pictures you’ve seen before, but… I wanted to print them out and hang them up somewhere.”“Awww!” Practically all 3 partners said in unison.“This is so cute, Calista,” Sparrow said.“I’ll arm wrestle for who gets to hang it in their dorm,” Marina joked.“Can’t we get turns with it?” Yurika asked. “Sparrow gets it one week, than Marina, then me?”“I actually made three- the other two are in my room. I couldn’t carry all of them at the same time,” Calista said. “It’ll be a little funny for when we move in together, but…”“Oh, you’re talking about moving in together~?” Marina joked.Calista’s face went bright red, but she grinned.Yurika looked down at her little present, frowning a bit. “I hope this doesn’t seem underwhelming in comparison… But just as much thought and love went into it!”“Hey, I’m sure that’s true, babe,” Marina said. “Do you want me to open it?”She eagerly nodded. “Yes, please!” She handed off the box to Marina, who took the bow off and unwrapped the box. She took the lid off of the box and inspected the contents. She pulled out a small red rock. She inspected it intently- because she felt like she could actually explain what it was.“This is… Garnet?” Marina asked.“Yes! You remembered!” Yurika’s whole face lit up and she clapped a little excitedly. “I got you all crystals for your rooms. I picked each one out with care. There’s 3 of each for everyone.”“This was the sexy crystal, right?” Marina asked, twisting her wrist to show off the garnet in her hand and wiggling her eyebrows.Yurika blushed intensely. “Well, yes. But there’s also Lapis Lazuli and Rose Quartz.”“That last one was your favorite, right?” Sparrow asked. “That’s the super pink one.”“Mhm! I’m so glad you all remembered.”“So where do these go?” Calista asked.Yurika was explaining the intricacies of crystal placement while Marina got an idea. She noticed the framed gallery Calista bought had room enough in the form of shelves in front of each photo. Large enough to probably fit one of the little crystals. Curious, she walked up to Sparrow, who was still holding the frame, and stuck the garnet in one of the squares.Sparrow didn’t notice what Marina was doing until he heard the sound of the crystal hitting the plastic frame. “What’re you doing?”Marina took a step back to appreciate her masterpiece. “I’m a genius.”“Oh!” Yurika said. “The crystals fit in the frame!”“And you said you had 9, right? So we can stick 3 on here and then 3 on both the other ones.”“That’s such a wonderful idea, Marina. Thank you so much.”Calista felt pretty proud of herself- though the fact that her gift matched with Yurika’s was a pure coincidence.Marina took the garnet she placed in the frame off it and back into the box. “I don’t think that’ll stay on there if you try to put that frame down.”“Absolutely not,” Sparrow said. He walked back into the living room again to put the photo gallery back on the couch.“So, who’s ready to eat?” he asked.All three girls gave their own enthusiastic agreement.“Good! Now take a seat and I’ll be over in just a second with the shrimp~”

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There were just a few up-sides to attending school at Booster Academy, to Marina. One of them was the pool on the 4th floor. She spent a good part of her free time there; sometimes by herself, sometimes with her Eiscue roommate, Gerlinda, and other times with her partners. She didn’t expect to go swimming with any of her classmates, as wearing swimsuits made it pretty hard to hide her muscular body which she kept hidden under a baggy sweater. Part of her school life was dedicated to convincing everyone she was a helpless and weak nerd (complete with fake glasses). But she figured it wouldn’t be an issue if her roommate knew, anyway, since she was bound to find out eventually due to them living together. And then once Marina began to date her partners, she was more than happy to spend time swimming with them, too.She didn’t talk a whole lot about where her hobby came from- not at first at least, but truly she loved swimming because that was what her and her late older sister used to do together. She didn’t like verbally admitting it, but swimming always made her feel close to her sister- especially when she was swimming in the ocean.There was a beach just outside the school, a small one behind the school, but the weather was getting too cold for ocean swimming- at least for Marina’s partners that is.Marina waited by the poolside for her partners with her legs in the water. Normally she was already starting laps by now, but today she wanted to wait.Calista arrived first from the locker rooms. She waved when she saw Marina.“Hey!” she called out as she walked over to her. She sat down next to her and also stuck her legs in the water.“Hey Cal~” Marina said.“Did you just eat and have to wait 30 minutes or something?” Calista asked.“Something like that~” the Palafin answered.Calista figured something was up, but she wasn’t sure how to ask.“Ah, I know that look. No, I’m kinda…” Marina debated how she should talk about it. Talking about her feelings was difficult- she much preferred making jokes or pretending she didn’t have any.“Having a bad day?”“Thinking about my sister.”Calista nodded a little; she rested her head on Marina’s shoulder. “I get that. Is there any occasion?”“No, no occasion. Just…” Marina looked up at the clock in the room. “Where are Sparrow and Yurika, by the way?”“They’re on their way. Yuri insisted she didn’t need help with her new suit, so I went on ahead. I’m guessing Sparrow’s still trying to get the thing on her.”“Or off her. Who knows,” Marina joked.They both laughed.“I’m glad she ditched that granny one-piece suit, by the way,” Marina said.“God that thing was ugly. Her new suit’s super cute,” Calista said. “But uh… You’re changing the subject.”“Man. You’re just like Sparrow.” Marina sighed a little, but smiled. “I had a weird dream about her. I don’t really remember my dreams that often- and I’m sure Yur would have some wild theory about what it meant.”“If it might help, I’m sure she’d love to analyze it.”As if on cue, Sparrow and Yurika walked into the pool room.“Sorry!! I’m here!” Yurika waved both her hands to her girlfriends. She hurried over to both of them.“Hey! No running in the pool~” Sparrow said, mostly joking. He followed after her at a normal pace.“Sorry! I just feel like I’ve been making everyone wait…”“Don’t worry about it, Yur~” Marina said. “By the way, you look adorable.”Yurika grinned and blushed. “Thank you!! I much prefer this look for me.”“The ruffles and frills are very you, Yuri.”“You doing alright, by the way, Marina?” Sparrow asked.“Huh? Oh, I’m just…” She was trying to think of some kind of excuse, but Calista jumped in before she could.“Marina had a dream about Marianne.”Marina crossed her arms.“Oh…” Sparrow frowned a little. “Good dream? Or bad dream?”“I dunno, it was a weird one.”Yurika quickly sat beside Marina and looked at her with intensely interested eyes. “What happened? I can make sense of it. I know for a fact that was Marianne trying to tell you something.”“Look, Yur… I dunno. What’s the point of her insisting I need a cape?”“That’s easy! That’s her way of telling you she’s looking out for you. Receiving clothes or accessories in dreams, especially something like a cape, since that ties back to your superhero identities, means that Marianne’s just trying to tell you she’s still with you. Clothes are representations of comfort and protection. Especially when you’re doing your Ultramarine things.”“Is that true?” Sparrow asked.“Yes, certainly!”Marina wasn’t sure about Yurika’s new-age beliefs- even after listening to her talk so passionately about it for the entirety of her knowing her, but part of her was maybe okay with believing what she was telling her.“Do you have an explanation for why Booster Academy was suddenly in Hulbury, though? Or why my sister’s girlfriends were suddenly two different people?”“Kilohana and GE weren’t the same person?” Calista asked.“Oh yeah. It was weird. Kilohana sewed the thing up and GE was running errands. So that implies they weren't in the same room."“Well, to me, that just sounds like you’re missing spending time with Marianne back in Galar. And why her girlfriends were there… You had met them before, right? But that could just be your brain auto-filling in who she would be spending time with anyway,” Yurika said.Marina laughed a little. “Maybe.” Truly she never spared much thought for Kilohana, Marianne's Incineroar girlfriend, or Kilohana's alter, Gray Excellence (called GE for short by basically everyone).
“But I just want to emphasize that, despite the dream being weird, because of course they’re still dreams, I just want you to remember that dreams like that are only supposed to bring you comfort.”“It’s just weird for me because I almost never do that. So…”Sparrow knelt down and hugged Marina from behind. “I know… But I think Yurika’s right. I think it’s only a good thing. And we’re here to help you get your mind off things if it’s still bothering you.”Marina held his arms for a second and took a second to enjoy his hug. “I think I know something that’ll cheer me up.”“Hm? What’s that?”Effortlessly, Marina moved her arms up to grab Sparrow by the torso and toss him over her head into the water; he landed squarely on his side with a huge splash, getting Yurika, Marina, and Calista all wet.“Ah!” Calista yelled.“Oh, Sparrow!” Yurika said.Sparrow stood up in the water and coughed between laughs. “You jerk! Water went up my nose!”Marina jumped in the water. “You gotta stay on your toes around me!”Yurika didn’t want to press the issue anymore- she was just hoping Marina could start smiling again. So far she seemed to be doing better.“Once we’re all in the water, do you want to race?” the Kadabra girl asked. She always came in dead last in races- but it was always fun regardless.“Now you’re speaking my language, baby~” Marina answered.

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Cadence was not the kind of girl who gave much thought to things before making decisions. That was probably why she suddenly decided to take a gap semester and move to Veilstone to help her little sister.Unlike her sisters, Cadence was the “girly” one. Ceclia dressed comfortably, but intensely disliked wearing skirts and dresses because she found them uncomfortable. Calista, on the other hand, abhorred anything overtly feminine and instead opted for her own tough look. Cadence tended to dress in a comfy, oversized brown cardigan, a tan blouse, and knee-length brown skirt. Her cream hair was in a half up-do with a large green bow.Cadence was a college student studying to become a journalist. Writing had always come more naturally to her than anything else- her flighty nature meant she often forgot things, but if she wrote it down that would help her remember. That eventually turned into an interest in writing about current events. She also figured her skills would help Calista with her investigation into her high school, Booster Academy, and their (to put it lightly) shady history.She was lucky in finding an apartment nearby Calista’s school. It was a 2 bedroom, so it was more than enough room for her. Furthermore, she met a girl next door that she practically fell head over heels for within minutes of meeting her, Clara Blackburn.Clara was a Shiny Heatmor. She dressed fashionably in a black and red dress. She usually had her black hair tied up. She tended to be smiling, and tended to seek out trouble. She was a high school senior and struggling to focus on picking a future career.And something about this bad girl made the good girl Cadence completely weak at the knees. Though she felt conflicted due to their age gap- Cadence was 21 and Clara was 18. She also felt conflicted because she knew something Clara didn’t- that she had an older sister, and that older sister was a (sort of) ex girlfriend of Cadence’s older sister, Cecilia.This drama (and feeling like pursuing romance would give the impression to Calista and her friends that Cadence wasn’t taking everything seriously) made the Whimsicott wonder if her and Clara would ever work as a couple.Eventually, Yurika convinced her to do a tarot reading to answer the simple question: Would Clara and Cadence make things work as a couple? So Cadence invited Yurika over to help her make a decision.What she didn’t expect was that all three of Yurika’s partners would also come with her. When she opened the door after the doorbell went off, she couldn’t help but look surprised.“Um, hi everyone!” Cadence said.“I told them they weren’t invited, but…!” Yurika said, frowning and bowing a little.“Nah, I had to see this,” Marina said. “Sorry, Cadence.”“And I have a right to know about your romantic life!” Calista said.“…And I didn’t wanna be left out,” Sparrow added.Cadence couldn’t help but smile. “Well... That’s okay! Come on in, then~ There’s plenty of room.”The five of them sat in Cadence’s living room. Cadence sat on the couch and Yurika pulled up a chair from the dining room to sit across from her with the coffee table between them. Calista was next to her sister and Marina and Sparrow were on her other side.Yurika began shuffling her tarot deck and then laying out the cards. “So you want to know about you and Clara, right? If that’s a smart decision to pursue her romantically?”Cadence eagerly nodded. “There’s just a lot of questions I have… And worries.”“Got it.” She put the deck of tarot cards in front of her. “Okay,” Yurika began. She had a very serious expression on her face- she always did when she was doing tarot readings, because she took it very seriously. Calista and Sparrow found it cute. Marina did, too, but she also couldn’t help but find it a little amusing.“This card represents the present moment: where you are right now.” Yurika took a card from the top of the deck and put it on the table, in the center. “This is the two of pentacles,” she explained, “It represents multiple priorities, multi-tasking, and prioritizing.”“That sounds about right… I’m trying to balance helping you guys out with my own personal things,” Cadence says.Yurika nodded. “This next card represents either an obstacle or a source of support for you, depending on what it is.” She took another card from the deck and laid it over the first one, horizontally.“This is the Five of Swords,” she explained. “This represents conflict, competition, and ends justifying the means if you’ll win.”The Whimsicott thought about it for a second. “Hm… I’m not really the arguing type…”“I guess it’s fear of conflict, sorta?” Calista interjected. “You’re worried you’re going to cause fights, or have to convince people that this is a good idea.”“Ah, maybe!” Cadence answered.Yurika nodded again. “This next card represents the foundation of what’s happening, or past events that are informing what’s happening.” She drew another card and placed it below the first card.“Oh, that one’s upside-down I think!” Cadence said.“Mhm, that’s the Hanged Man, but it’s reversed,” Yurika said. “That means delays, resistance, and indecision.”Cadence frowned a little. “Oh… yes. That’s about right.”“Next is the card that represents past events whose energies could be influencing the situation as well,” Yurika said. She drew the next card and placed it to the left of the first one. “This is The Tower. It represents sudden change, chaos, and upheaval.”“Mm… I think that’s because of Cecilia.” Cadence nervously pulled her cardigan sleeves over her hands as she spoke. “Not only what happened to her when we were kids, getting taken, but… With her and Candace. Their falling out. That’s the major thing hanging over everything right now.”Yurika nodded. “This next card represents situations on the horizon- a possibility what may come to you in the future. It’s ‘what crowns you’.” Apropos of that, she placed the art on top of the first one. “This is The Sun. It represents positivity, success, and fun.”“Oh, so that means everything’s gonna be okay?” Cadence asked.“We’re not quite done yet- but this card tells me that happiness could very well be in your future.”“Oh… Okay.”Yurika drew the next card. “This is coming from the result of your situation- if you and Clara were to get together.” She placed the card to the right of the first one. “This is the Knight of Cups. It represents romance, creativity, and beauty.”Cadence’s face lit up again. “This is another good one!”“There aren’t good and bad cards in tarot. Just positive and negative- but even then even negativity can bring positivity.”“That doesn’t make any sense,” Marina said.“It’s making the best of a bad situation?” Sparrow said.“Yes! Or being able to perceive that despite something bad is happening, something good could come from it~” Yurika said, smiling. She put back on her ‘serious business’ face when she drew the next card.“This card represents where you’re at right now, Cadence. Your view of the situation or your feelings towards it.” She put the card beside the others, near where she put the third card. “This is the Knight of Swords. It represents quick decisions, ambition, and drive.”“Well… I do make quick decisions,” Cadence said, laughing a little.“For more background- this card tends to crop up for people who know what they want- even if it’s a split second decision. They strive for it and they don’t give up until they get it,” Yurika answered.“Hm… That kinda does sound like me. I work really hard because… I get my mind set on something, and I do it!”“If that isn’t true,” Calista said. “Remember that time you were super into the cello?”“But I did learn to play it, didn’t I?” Cadence said, sticking her tongue out at her sister playfully. She turned back to Yurika. “Okay! I’m feeling good about this. What’s the next card?”Yurika drew the next card and placed it directly above the last one. “This card represents your environment or other people that could be influencing the situation. The card is the Seven of Cups.”“It’s upside-down again,” Cadence said.“Mhm! Seven of Cups reversed represents personal values and being overwhelmed by choices. You’re trying to use your criteria to make choices that align with your values and sense of self.”She thought for a moment. “Well… I really only have two choices… but even then it still feels overwhelming.”Yurika drew the next card. “This card represents your hopes or fears.” She placed this card directly above the last one. “This is the Magician Reversed. It represents poor planning and manipulation.”Cadence seemed deeply surprised by that- then frowned. “Right… I’m really worried about that.”“Poor planning?” Calista asked.“No, manipulation. I’m scared I’m manipulating her- or that I’m going to.”“Because of your age difference?” Marina asked.“Exactly. I know it’s only 3 years- and when we’re in our 20s it won’t matter, but… for right now she’s just 18 and in high school. And I’m a college student.”“I don’t know,” Sparrow said. “You’re not really the manipulating type. And Clara’s… well, she’s not the type of girl that would let someone boss her around, I think.”“I’m more worried she’s gonna start turning you into a rebel~” Calista said, mostly joking, but still wanting to reassure her sister.“How many more cards are there, by the way?” Cadence asked.“Just one more. This is where you’re headed.” Yurika drew the last card and placed it above the card she just drew. The pattern in the end was a sort of plus sign with a vertical line of 4 cards beside it.“This is the Seven of Wands. It represents competition, protection, and perseverance.”“So… I need to keep pushing forward,” Cadence said.“That’s the idea of living,” Marina said.“Well, yeah, but…” Sparrow said, shrugging a little.The Palafin chuckled. “No, I know what it meant.”Cadence thought for a minute as she looked at the tarot cards on her coffee table. “So… I think this is telling me that what I want in my heart is the best choice- for both of us. It might be difficult, but… It’ll be worth it.” She looked up at Yurika. “Right?”Yurika smiled. “I can’t tell you that. This is up to you to interpret.”Marina opened her mouth to make a comment but Sparrow decisively elbowed her, so she kept quiet.“Right…” Cadence visibly thought again for a moment. “I think I’m going to tell her I like her.”“I think it’ll go well,” Calista said, “if my two cents mean anything. She’s asked me before if you were interested in chicks.”“Ah!! Did she?!” Cadence asked.Calista nodded, smirking a little. “Yup, she did.”“Well! Well that does it! I’m going to tell her how I feel about her!” She stood up from the couch. “Wish me luck!”“You’re doing this right now?” Sparrow asked.“I’ve got the motivation for it! I know I can do this!”“Maybe take her out to dinner first or something. You know,” Marina said.“Right! Oh, that’s a much better idea. I’ll make reservations and invite her out.” Cadence sat back down on the couch and took her phone out.“Thank you so much for your help, Yurika. I see why you do this all the time.”Yurika giggled. She looked so proud of herself. “See? It always helps.”

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There was an undeniable spark between Sparrow and Marina from the second they met. The problem was that Marina had trust issues.Sparrow first fell in love with the Marina she presented herself as- meek and nerdy. He liked the idea of dating someone as cute and small as she came off- plus, he was kind of nerdy, too, so he figured they might even make a cute couple due to looking so similar.Once he truly met her, however, the actual Marina, he loved her even more. Naturally he found her attractive looks-wise- but even her actual personality he found cute. He loved her dry humor and her surprisingly sweet side despite everything else.Perhaps they were a study in contrast- Sparrow the eternal optimist and Marina the pessimist. But he believed that’s what made them work.Marina, on the other hand, saw all these benefits too. But something in her heart wasn’t letting her connect with him in the same way that she wanted- in the way that she knew he wanted, too.She had to admit she was charmed by his protective nature- even though she knew she could protect herself, and would more likely protect him when the chips were down than the inverse. But she found it romantic and sweet either way.She couldn’t put it into words why she loved him, but couldn’t trust him. So it caused a strange situation where she wanted him enough to have sex with him, but couldn’t let herself say she loved him.The night after their first time, Marina felt the need to clear the air between them. She visited Sparrow in his dorm and sat on his bed as they talked. He sat at his desk.“I admit it initially wasn't my proudest moment, last night. But… I am glad it happened,” she said.Sparrow breathed a sigh of relief- he was happy that she felt that way- that she didn't regret what happened. Because he certainly didn't either. Though once that initial reaction was over, he frowned. “Hey, y'know... You needed support and I was lucky enough to be the guy you asked it from. There's nothing wrong with that.”The day they had the before this one was quite tumultuous- they went to Floaraoma Town to visit someone who may have had information about the death of Marina’s older sister, Marianne. They learned that the person that they thought murdered her was in fact, innocent. This sent Marina spiraling- the person she spent so long hating and blaming for everything wrong in her life wasn’t at fault. Sparrow tried to cheer her up in some way- they went to the local flower fields afterwards and he babbled on and on for hours about different types of flowers, and the language of flowers. It did distract her for the moment, but once they got back to their hotel she seemed distracted with her thoughts again. He tried to comfort her with a hug, and then that’s when things went from “just friends” to “something more”.“I didn't want you feeling bad, or awkward or whatever,” he continued. “But it's also a little hard to broach this topic...”“Yeah, I get it.. I was just very frustrated with a lot of things. Not the least of which were my feelings about you.”Sparrow nodded a little. “Right... You've talked to me about that. And I'm trying not to make it worse or more difficult...”“I know you're not. And you haven't, I promise. You've been very understanding. And I really don't mean to make you worry when there's so many more pressing things to worry about.”The Butterfree smiled and shrugged a little. He got up from his desk chair and sat next to her on his bed. “That’s just… the name of the game here, Marina. You're going to be the most important person to me.”She looked at him for just a second. “I guess that's fair, but it feels… I don't know- wrong to ask that of you. I feel really selfish. I don’t want you to think I’m leading you on.”He put a hand on her shoulder. “I don't think you're like that, Marina. I think you're a complicated person. But you're not a bad person. You're not someone who thinks like that.”“I know that.. I just don't want you to feel that way. I worry about that.”“I’ve never once felt that way,” Sparrow said, shaking his head. “I promise.”“Because…” She looked horribly conflicted- emotional. “I’m trying to be considerate of you…”He pulled her close, into a tight hug. He gently rested her head on his chest. “I know you are… I promise I know that.”Marina sighed softly. “Thank you, Sparrow… I needed to hear that.”Sparrow began to pet her a little, wanting to make sure she knew everything was going to be okay.She spoke again in a surprisingly small voice. “I want to trust you… so badly…”Sparrow was deeply surprised by this- but he didn’t let it show. He just smiled sympathetically and kept petting her. “I know… But either way, I’m here, okay? I’m always gonna be here,” he said- and he meant it.

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A curious thing that the students of Booster Academy tended to incidentally fall into was having breakfast with each other each morning. It was a good way to catch up with how everyone was doing and keep a sense of community between everyone- which was useful for the Zoomers, because staying close with their classmates was beneficial to their investigation of the school itself.Normally in the mornings Calista was one of the first people to arrive at the cafeteria- or one of the last, when she stayed up late early in the school year investigating on her own.Today she was early- that meant she was sitting with Mona, her Lunatone classmate. Mona and Calista were pretty good friends- Mona was cutesy and small, and tended to light up a room whenever she entered it. Calista never felt like the big sister type, but being around Mona brought out her motherly instincts.Mona was 15, but came off much younger due to her voice and general demeanor. She wore ornate jewelry and a nice dress. Her hair was in a cute bob cut. She was usually early to the cafeteria because she had trouble sleeping at night- being a Lunatone, the nighttime made her more energetic and alert. So normally she’d have breakfast and then be sleepy for her first couple morning classes.Calista sat down next to Mona, who was already having some cereal.“Hey, I thought we were supposed to wait for everyone~” Calista said, messing with her.“I know!” Mona replied, her mouth full. “Oh, sorry,” she quickly chewed and swallowed the mouthful of cereal she had in her mouth. “I know! But I was reaaaally hungry!”“Okay. As long as you can have like a muffin or something when your brother shows up, I won’t say anything.”Mona eagerly nodded. “Got it!”“So anything fun and interesting in the world of Mona that’s going on?” Calista asked.“Mm, well, Camellia and I were gonna go to a new restaurant in town.” She said. Camellia, a Sinistea, and her had recently begun dating. Maybe. Calista herself wasn’t really sure, but she saw them around the school holding hands and kissing. They hadn’t formally announced anything yet- or maybe she missed it.“A date~?” Calista asked, teasing her playfully.Mona grinned and blushed a little. “Yeah! It’s a Unovan place, so it’ll be new for both of us.” Mona and her brother, Saul, a Solrock, were from Hoenn, and Mona’s girlfriend, Camellia, was from Galar.“Oh shit, no way,” Calista said, leaning in a little bit with great interest. “I’ve been really wanting something like that around here- that’s not a fast food place of course.”Mona nodded again. “It’s a restaurant!”“That’s sick, I’m gonna text the gang.” Calista took her phone out and sent a text in the Zoomer group chat.`Date night tonight. Don’t make any plans if you know what’s good for you.`-Marina and Sparrow were getting ready in his dorm; she left a drawer of her clothes in his room so that when she stayed over she could have fresh clothes. Both their phones went off at the same time- so that must’ve been either Yurika or Calista.Sparrow was done getting dressed, so he reached for his phone and checked it.`Date night tonight. Don’t make any plans if you know what’s good for you.`“Crap!” Sparrow said. “Calista’s invited us to a date night.”“No way,” Marina said, putting her sweater on. “She couldn’t have heard about that new Unovan place, right?”Sparrow’s phone went off in his hands.`There’s no way she found out about that restaurant, right?!` Yurika texted.`We’re starting to think so,` Sparrow texted back.`Darn it!`-“So where’d you hear about our date night idea?” Marina asked as she and her partners walked together to their first class of the day.“Mona told me- there’s a new Unovan place in town!” Calista said, eyes practically sparkling with excitement.Yurika looked at Sparrow and Marina with pleading eyes- she wasn’t sure whether to admit that they had already made reservations to go there together with her later that week.“You didn’t make any reservations, right?” Sparrow asked.“Huh? No, not yet. Should I?”“No, uh, it’s good you didn’t,” Marina interjected. “We’re kinda busy tonight. Sparrow and I.”“Busy or busy getting busy?” Calista joked.“Har har,” Marina said. Sparrow blushed.“No, we’ve got something planned.”“A-and I’m busy tomorrow!” Yurika said.“What’s tomorrow?” Calista asked.“She said she’d help Reinaldo with the Baking Club- so that means going on Friday. Are you okay with waiting?” Sparrow asked.“Aw… Okay, I’ll wait.”“We’ll handle the reservations, babygirl, okay?” Marina said.Calista laughed a little- almost a giggle. She just loved when Marina called her that. “No worries. I can wait, then.”-When the Zoomers arrived at the restaurant that Friday evening, the place was all done up in classic 50’s style- old-timey looking decorations covered the walls, and the booths were straight out of a classic diner.“Oh man! This looks like a restaurant chain back in Unova. It’s also got an arcade in it,” Calista said.“I’m pretty sure this place doesn’t have an arcade, but either way I dig the aesthetic~” Marina answered.Once the four were seated, Calista and Marina next to each other and Yurika and Sparrow across from them, Calista excitedly looked over the menu. The other three were almost too distracted to pick out something to eat because they were too busy thinking she was being cute.“See anything you like?” Sparrow asked.“Well, I’d like to get some nachos,” Calista said. “And definitely a burger. What do you guys think?”“That sounds like a plan~” Marina said. “Anything you’d recommend?”“I dunno. It all looks really good!” she answered.Yurika couldn’t concentrate on picking something; she looked very excited and anxious.“Something up, Yuri?” Calista asked.“Huh? Nothing’s up!” Yurika said, like a bad liar.Sparrow jumped in the conversation. “She’s just happy to see you so happy~”After a normal, uneventful dinner, Yurika was looking even more anxious by the minute. Something was definitely up, but Calista couldn’t figure out what.“You look like you’re expecting something,” Calista said.“What? Me? No!” Yurika said.“No, seriously, what’s the-“Suddenly a worker walked over with a plate; it had a sparkler on it which was stuck in a slice of strawberry cake.“Happy Birthday, Calista!” the waiter said as he set the cake in front of Calista.“Huh?” She was confused at first- it definitely wasn’t anywhere near her birthday.“Come on, birthday girl~ Make a wish!” Marina said, nudging her a little.“Oh!” Calista thought about it. She couldn’t blow the sparkler out of course, but she closed her eyes and she did indeed make a wish.Once she opened her eyes, the sparkler happened to go out. Yurika gasped.“I think that means the wish worked!”“Did she wish for the sparkler to go out~?” Sparrow teased.Yurika pouted a little. “No, I mean… Well…”Calista and Marina both laughed.“So this is why you made me wait to have dinner here till today,” Calista said.“Because it’s your birthday~” Sparrow said. “So, ‘happy birthday’~”The Whimsicott smiled a little, tears welling up in her eyes. “You’re just doing this because it’s gonna make me cry…”“No!” Yurika said.“She’s joking,” Marina said. She leaned against Calista, resting her head on her shoulder. “We just love you. We thought you’d appreciate this.”“I really really do… Thank you.”

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Calista once told Sparrow that he was just like the sun. He got her reasoning- he was bright, warm, and typically a cheerful person to be around. Though since her comment he realized that he really did feel happiest with the sun in the sky- after all he was a very outdoorsy person and loved being in nature.He was trying to think of a fun idea for an outdoorsy date, but he didn’t want to ask Yurika or Calista to do anything too physically demanding- he couldn’t picture Yurika hiking, for example.He didn’t realize how visibly he was pondering all of this until two of his classmates, Lilac and Danica, sat across from him.“Is everything alright, Sparrow?” Lilac asked. Lilac was a Venomoth- like Sparrow she had large wings; in her case they were purple moth wings. She dressed comfortably in long sleeves and a cute skirt.“Huh? Oh, yeah! I was just wondering about date ideas. I’d like to take my girlfriends out somewhere fun- outdoors, preferably~”“Oh, I think I know a place,” Danica said. Danica was a Shiny Galarian Zigzagoon bassist in a somewhat noteworthy British Pop Punk band. Their target audience was mostly teenage girls; one of them coincidentally being Lilac. Though once her initial starstruck reaction to going to school with one of her favorite musicians faded, the two found they had a genuine connection. Danica, much like the music she played, dressed with a punk edge in a red and white dress and chunky combat boots.“Lilac invited me to Amity Square in Hearthome? It’s absolutely gorgeous there. I think Calista, Marina, and Yurika would really like it,” she continued.“That’s not a bad idea! I forgot that was here in Sinnoh. I’ve heard of that park before.”“I-I’m really glad I took Dani there,” Lilac said. “That was such a wonderful date. Our first date!”Danica laughed a little. “That’s right. That’s where you told me you liked me. Though part of me had a hunch~”The Venomoth blushed and covered her face with her hands. “Oh… I-I know! But…!”Sparrow laughed. “Must be very romantic there, then~ Thanks for the recommendation!”-As the group arrived at Amity Square, Yurika had her face buried in an informational brochure as the other three took in the sights.“Wow~ I see why this place prompted Lilac to tell Danica how she felt,” Marina said. “The flowers and fountains and stuff everywhere are pretty romantic~”“That’s what I was thinking. This is a place where you propose to someone,” Calista said.Marina gasped. “That’s not why you dragged us out here, right, Sparrow~?”“Oh God- Uh, I mean, well I’d need three rings, and…” Sparrow took Marina completely seriously, not realizing she was genuinely messing with him. The Palafin laughed.“I’m fucking with you, dude, I know that’s not why we’re here.”Yurika’s lifted her head up from the brochure. “I know a perfect spot!”“Huh?” Sparrow asked. All three of them turned to her.“I was reading all about this Square- I’ve been here before when I was a little girl! I thought it was so familiar- and I was right! I have a perfect spot for us to sit at!” She grabbed Marina’s left hand and Sparrow’s right hand and ran on ahead.“Aw! You left me behind!” Calista joked, chasing after the other three.“I only have two hands…!” Yurika answered back.Calista laughed. “I know, baby- it’s okay~”-Yurika eventually found a nice picnic table and sat at it excitedly. “This is precisely where I had a very nice lunch.”“Oh, I guess a table is more convenient, but… I brought a blanket so we could sit in the grass,” Sparrow said.“B-but… Isn’t a table much nicer?” Yurika said. She was clearly anxious about bugs. Sparrow should have figured she would be. He smiled and sat next to her. “Yes, that’s true~”Marina and Calista sat across from them. Sparrow placed the basket on the table and started taking out the little sandwiches and other snacks he packed.“So you were here before?” Calista asked.“Mhm! I was very little. I believe it was some kind of birthday trip. I also got to see a contest,” Yurika explained. “It was extremely fun!”“Aw. That’s cute,” Calista said.“I also find the history of this place to be so fascinating. You had to be beautiful to visit the park! It’s talked about in the brochure,” Yurika continued.“Oh, no way, that’s really weird,” Marina said. “How’d they measure that?”“You had to dress very nicely- and if they didn’t like you, the workers at the gate, they could turn you away!”“Well… even if they still had those rules, I think you still would’ve been fine,” Sparrow said. Yurika giggled and blushed a little.“Thank you~” she said.“Aw, man, you beat me to it, dude,” Calista joked, grabbing a sandwich and starting to eat it.“Snooze you lose,” Marina answered.The Whismicott jokingly stuck her tongue out at her girlfriend.“I’m really glad you guys are enjoying this so far, by the way,” Sparrow said.“I don’t see why we wouldn’t. There’s free food and everything,” Calista said, grinning. “Or do I not come off like I like being outdoors?”“I mean it was this or a hiking trip,” he answered. He stated that like it was a joke, but the girls could tell he was being serious.“I would’ve been down for that.”“No you would not have. You talk tough shit, babygirl, but you’d’ve been exhausted not even halfway through,” Marina said.“Oh you wanna bet~?” Calista asked.“Yeah, I’ll bet~” Marina kissed Calista’s forehead.“I think I would have been okay with that, too,” Yurika added. “If I got tired, I could get Marina to carry me.” She stated that matter-of-factly, which Calista and Sparrow expected Marina to make a joke about, but she pointed to her and grinned.“That’s exactly right, babes. I’ve always got your back~”“Then… Maybe next time we could do that?” Sparrow asked, excited to be able to share one of his other hobbies with his girlfriends.“Whatever you wanna do, babe, we’ll do it,” Marina said.“Right! It’s never a big ask for us, promise,” Calista said.Yurika rested her head for a second on Sparrow’s shoulder. “But this was a really fun idea, too. We know how much you like being outdoors.” He leaned into her, smiling.“I just like being wherever you guys are. But… I’ll remember that for next time~”

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When Marina heard on the news that the next upcoming Saturday was going to be the warmest day of the week- and probably the last warm day before the cold weather of the beginning of winter set in, she decided then and there to take her partners on one last trip to Sunyshore’s beach.Of course, her partners were really excited to go. Sparrow especially, as their last trip to Sunyshore resulted in him and Marina finally making their relationship official.By the time they got to the beach, it was surprisingly busy- the four guessed that other locals and out-of-towners were there to enjoy one last day of summer.Sparrow set up the blanket in the sand and the parasol in the sand. By the time he was done, Marina had already made a B-line for the water- which didn’t really surprise him.Calista was helping Yurika with her sunscreen. “Looking for Marina?” she asked.“I was hoping she’d stick by until I was done setting up,” Sparrow answered, laughing. “Then again, we are talking about Marina.”“I’m surprised she didn’t just run ahead of us to the water like last time,” Yurika said. “I think you should go join her. Calista and I want to work on our tans~”“I figure by the time the winter’s over we’ll all be pale as sheets, so we better get as much sun as we can now,” Calista added.Sparrow laughed. “Probably. If you guys need anything, all the drinks are in the cooler over here. Make sure no kids try to get clever and run off with anything.”“You got it, Sparrow!” Yurika said.“Have fun frolicking in the water with Marina~” Calista said.“I will~”Sparrow walked towards the ocean and saw Marina happily bobbing in the water along with the waves. He walked up to her and gently put his hand on her shoulder. She turned to him and hugged him. She was so warm compared to the freezing water, so he hugged her back.“Man, it’s a nice day out, but it’s so cold in here,” Sparrow said.“You’ll get used to it~” Marina said. “And I’ll hold onto you the entire time if you want.”“You always know just what to say~” Sparrow answered.Marina held Sparrow close; the two stayed like that for a minute, Marina wading through the incoming waves for both of them, as lifting him in the water was basically as easy as lifting him outside of it for her.“Still no regrets about all this?” Sparrow asked.“Not for a second, baby,” Marina answered, smiling. “Is that what you were worried about? I was dragging you to my favorite place in the world- and the place where we got together, for me to tell you I changed my mind~?”“That’s not what I mean, but,” he laughed, “when you put it like that I sound silly.”“A little,” Marina kissed his forehead. “But I do get what you mean.”“So I’m your guy?” Sparrow asked.“You’re my guy,” Marina said, giggling and kissing him.-Yurika and Calista sat together on the blanket watching Sparrow and Marina be cuddly and cute together in the water.“I’m still so happy for them, y’know?” Calista said. “I think I’ll let them have their little moment for a minute.”“Plus we have to let the sunscreen soak in,” Yurika said.“Is that true?”“Yes!” Yurika eagerly nodded. “We have to wait at least 15 minutes before getting in the water.”“I thought that was for food,” Calista said.“No, that’s a half an hour after eating.”Calista started to laugh. “No, that one I knew. I’m messing with you.”“Oh!” Yurika started laughing, too. “Sorry. I can’t tell with you sometimes.”“I know~ That’s the point.” Calista leaned against Yurika and left a kiss on her shoulder. “So you’ve got the reservations for that fish place done, right? On the pier?”“Yes!” Yurika said excitedly. “It’ll be so lovely to go back to that restaurant again. The first dinner we shared together as a double date~”“And now we double date all the time! Quadruple date?” Calista joked.“Yes, something like that~” Yurika said. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to get the same thing as I did last time or try something different.”“That’s right. You had some of my salmon and you thought it was really good.”“Mhm! So I asked the stars and they said definitely don’t get the shrimp.”“Oh man, that’s gonna be tough to break to Marina.”Yurika shook her head. “No! I already checked that. If she gets them she’ll be fine. If I get them, then I’m definitely going to get an upset stomach.”“Tough break,” Calista said. “But I’m glad you checked.”“Of course~”“You wanna go swimming soon? It’s been 15 minutes or something, right?”Yurika frowned. “No, Calista. It’s barely been five.”“Wait…” Calista realized something. “Since we’re here and we put on sunscreen… That means Sparrow and Marina don’t have any.”Yurika gasped. “They can’t get sunburnt! Oh that would be just terrible!” She stood up and immediately started to head down to the shoreline. “Marina!! Sparrow!! You need sunscreen!”Calista laughed a little to herself as she stood up. “I better go help her. Getting Marina out of the water for 5 minutes let alone 15 is gonna be a challenge.”

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When Sparrow woke up one morning, he found Yurika already out of bed, moving his desk from where it originally was in the back corner of the room.“Mm… Yurika?” Sparrow sat up in bed and plucked his glasses off his nightstand, then put them on his face.“Oh, hi darling! Good morning!” Yurika, looking as peppy as always, turned to him and smiled. “Well, since I slept over, I figured this was a better time than ever to finally get your dorm room in order!”“Right, yeah… You’ve been threatening to reorganize my dorm for weeks now~” Sparrow said. He didn’t really mind what Yurika was doing- whatever made her feel more comfortable in his bedroom was fine by him.“Well, see, the desk-“ she pulled on the desk with a huff, “while you’re sitting you need to be facing the door.”“I thought it wasn’t supposed to be facing the door,” Sparrow said, getting out of bed.“No no, that’s the bed. The bed can’t be directly across from the door. Which- it totally is, and I just can’t sleep like that. I didn’t get a wink all night.”“Oh!” Sparrow frowned. “I didn’t know that, babe. You should have said something.”“I know! But by the time I realized I should have woken you it was 4am, so…”The Butterfree went to his girlfriend and gently directed her attention away from the desk and towards him. “Once you get this room together, I’d like you to take a nap or something, okay? I don’t want you going around all day with no sleep.”“Mm… Okay.” Yurika said, smiling up at him. She did visibly look tired, with baggy eyes, but Sparrow knew she wasn’t getting a wink of sleep in here, and he didn’t want to make her walk back to her own dorm (even if it wasn’t a very far walk at all).“How about you take a seat on the bed and you tell me where you want everything?” Sparrow asked.“That’s not a bad idea! I can do that.” Yurika walked back to Sparrow’s bed and sat down on it. “I was thinking of doing something similar to what I did with Calista’s room in regards to the desk. Plus, in the living room I’ve got Reinaldo putting together a second nightstand for you and Marina.”“Right,” Sparrow said, going to the desk and continuing to push it to the corner of the room. “Because the balance is … good?” Admittedly he was still half awake.“Yes! That’s exactly right. Now the desk has to be in the northwest corner- which is where you’re already going, hehe.”Sparrow tried to remember that compass she drew out for him and their other partners, but he was struggling to remember what southwest meant.“That’s… that’s not relationships.”“Nope! That one is southwest,” she said. “Northwest is for knowledge! That’ll be useful for studying, right?”“Yeah, definitely~” Sparrow chuckled. He placed the desk in the corner of the room and then grabbed the desk chair and placed it in front of the desk. “Like this, babe?” he asked.“Yes, perfect!” She stood up from the bed. “Now since the desk is moved- you can take this bed out from the corner.”“That’ll be more convenient for sleepovers, anyway~”Yurika giggled and blushed a little.Sparrow walked over to the bed squatted down a little to try to pull the bed out from the corner, but the frame was much too heavy for him.“Oh… Do you want me to try moving it with Psychic?” Yurika asked.“No! Definitely not,” Sparrow answered. He huffed with each attempt to pull the frame back. “You’ll- strain yourself.”“Do you want me to get Marina?”“No, I don’t need you to get Marina.”“Are you sure? I think she’s probably awake.”He sighed and stood up right. “Yeah, go get Marina.”-Marina and Calista ended up stopping by together, since they were spending the night together.“So you’re finally deciding to redecorate our rooms, huh~?” Marina asked.“Mhm! I just couldn’t get comfortable in Sparrow’s room last night for some reason… I think that must be the reason- and I don’t want a repeat of that.”“Gotcha,” Marina said. She walked over to the bed and effortlessly pulled it out from the corner. “Like that?”“Yes! Um, the more in the center the better- because the door is more in the corner.”“Got it~” Marina said, then started pulling the bed towards the center of the room, little bits at time to get it lined up as perfectly as possible.Calista sat at the desk chair. “This is fun, right?” she asked Sparrow.“Seeing Yurika get to redecorate? Of course. She’s so cute right now.”Eventually Marina and Yurika got the bed perfectly in the center of the room.“There! So, Sparrow, your nightstand will be on the right side. The nightstands that Reinaldo are putting together have three little drawers, so everyone can keep a few things of their own in there~”“That’s pretty smart, actually,” Calista said. “Is it the same one you got for me before?”Yurika looked proud of herself, puffing her chest out a little and smiling. “Thank you! And yes! It’s the same one I got for you before- so that made picking them out fairly simple. Back then my idea was a drawer for me, for you, and a shared one! But now we can use one drawer each of us- well, for the person who’s room it isn’t.”Marina walked up to Yurika and tousled her hair. “You’re such a sweetie.” Yurika giggled.There was a knock at the bedroom door. “It’s Reinaldo. May I come in?”“Yes!” Yurika called out. “You can come in!”“Did he expect that we weren’t decent?” Calista asked. When Sparrow looked at her to answer, he noticed she was wiggling her eyebrows. He rolled his eyes and laughed a little.Reinaldo walked into the dorm, carrying one of the nightstands. He gently placed it on the floor in front of him. “Here is Sparrow’s nightstand. The one for Marina is still in the living room.”“You got both of these together already?” Marina asked.“Yes! Of course. It was quite simple, actually. And I had some help,” he explained, chuckling a little. “I asked Vivian to help me pick these out and assemble them. He just left.”“He helped you pick them out?” Calista asked. “They’re just the same ones that Yurika got me.”“Well, he was very particular about the boxes. Some of them were a little squished in the corners- you know, those things happen in transit, but he wanted absolutely perfect condition boxes.”“That’s really thoughtful of him,” Sparrow said.“Glad to see you putting him to some good use,” Marina joked.“Thank you so much, Reinaldo! And don’t let me forget to thank Vivian, too,” Yurika said.“I’ll make sure you remember, Ms. Yokomura. Do you need anything else from me?”“No! I’ve got things from here. Thank you so much, again!”Reinaldo bowed, then left the room.“I mean, I don’t see him moving my bed out of the corner of the room,” Marina joked.“No, probably not. But I know he’d keep trying until he got it, if I asked,” Yurika said.Marina picked up the nightstand and placed it on the left side of the bed. “Oh, seeing the two nightstands side by side, despite the different amount of drawers, they actually sort of match.”“Yes! That was the idea. The nightstands don’t have to match- but they need to look as similar as possible,” Yurika explained.“It’s really cute,” Calista said. “And you’re really cute.”“Oh, Calista~”“So is that it for this room so far, babes?” Marina asked.“Mm, well I need plants for both of you. But that’s something we’ll need to pick out together because I don’t want to get you anything you won’t enjoy looking at.”Sparrow laughed a little. “Sounds good~. Then we’re onto Marina’s room?”“Yes! And then I’m probably going to take that nap you suggested…” Yurika said, yawning a little.

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Marina didn’t expect to find anyone she’d relate to at Booster- she genuinely thought everyone there would be either suspicious or not worth her time.That changed when she met Calista. For as much as she admired the Whimsicott for speaking so passionately about being at the school to investigate what happened to her sister’s friend, she also couldn’t help but worry about her. For the situation they were in, announcing intentions to investigate could have been bad news.Luckily, it seemed like all of their classmates were mostly on the level.Marina loved her partners- but the bond she shared with Calista was truly special. The two got each other in ways that the other two couldn’t.One of her favorite places to be was somewhere quiet with Calista- usually it was either of their bedrooms was where they had their little talks.Calista loved being held by Marina- she thought it was corny but she loved how safe she felt in Marina’s strong arms. Normally she hated feeling vulnerable, but that was the one place where she knew she could be honest about her feelings.The two had been cuddling for a while- Marina finally broke the silence.“So what were you so upset about earlier at lunch?” she asked.Calista sighed. She managed to get her partners off her back by insisting she was upset because she got a bad grade on her math quiz. That was true, but she was terrible at math so that didn’t surprise her. Yurika and Sparrow didn’t seem to buy it, but they stopped prying.“Normally Yurika’s the one that pries like that,” Calista joked.“Mhm, but you’re avoiding the question~,” Marina said.“I know… It’s uh… It’s a long story…” Calista answered. “It’s just a lot easier when I’m not thinking about things, I guess.”“What kind of things?” Marina asked. She softly pet her girlfriend as she spoke.“My sister, I guess. Cecilia.”“I mean, that’s basically how I go about my own life,” Marina said. “But is there anything specific that’s bothering you?”“No, uh… It’s been a couple months since we spoke. To the day. I was debating on calling her and Cadence said I should and it’s like… We got into a huge fight- that was when it told her I was going to attend Booster Academy.”“Right, and she was mad.”“Right, because she didn’t want me to put myself in danger, but… What she didn’t get was that I was doing it for her.”“Did you try telling her that?”Calista paused for a moment. “I … I tried, but…”“Do you remember what you said?” Marina asked.“I said… ‘Do you think I’d do this for me’… She said I was doing it just to piss her off- because everything I did was contrarian to what she told me.”“Ah…” Marina frowned a little. “See, I think… I don’t know your sister, but I just don’t think she knows you very well. To me, it’s not surprising you’d do something like this for someone you loved.”Calista sniffled a little. “Maybe I should just tell her, but… I just…”“I know you two don’t get along- but maybe talking to her in person would be better? We are planning to go to Alola eventually for our investigating.”“Maybe…” Calista scooted closer to Marina, moving her head from Marina’s shoulder to her chest.“Why didn’t you tell us about that earlier?” Marina said.“Cuz then Yurika and Sparrow would have been like, ‘Oh just call her and clear things up between you both’… And I’m just not sure that’ll help.”Marina laughed a little. “That’s just how they are. They talk our their problems.”“I just don’t know what to do… But I do like your idea of talking in-person.”“I think that’s for the best. It sounds like you two end up miscommunicating with each other a lot.”Calista nodded a little.“So uh… You’re doing okay, right?” Calista asked.“Huh, me?” Marina answered. “This was about you, Cal~”“I know, but I figured we were cuddling, so, this is a good a time as ever to be honest about how you’re doing for once,” Calista replied.“Well to be honest, my back hurts.”“Are you expecting a joke here or are you serious?”“Half Column A, half Column B.” Marina laughed, and then Calista did, too.“See, uh… I kinda get where you’re at. It’s not like Marianne and I ever fought, but… I do wish I did take our last phone call a bit more seriously.”“You were 4. I had that blowout argument with my sister this year.”“I know, but…” Marina was quiet for a minute. “I know.”Calista wrapped her arms around Marina, tightly. “It’s okay. Whatever you’d wanna tell her… she probably already knows. At least that’s what Yurika would think.”Marina managed a chuckle, but she did appreciate Calista’s words. “Yeah, maybe…”

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The Zoomers took a day trip to Celestic Town on the insistence of Yurika- she had suddenly remembered she left something important in her grandmother’s old manor.As they stood outside, Yurika looking for her key in her bag, Calista was practically clinging onto Marina.“Do we… have to go into your dead grandma’s house?” she asked.“Huh? It doesn’t look so scary from out here,” Sparrow said. “The manor’s in pretty good shape- considering no one’s lived here for a few years.”Yurika plucked the key out of her bag with a triumphant “Here!” She put the key into the doorknob and opened the door. She turned back to her partners. “There! You guys ready? I’ll go into my old room first because that’s where I’m sure it’s at.”“Should we wait here?” Calista asked.“What, you don’t wanna explore the spooky mansion?” Marina asked, poking fun of her a little bit. “You can hold my hand the entire time if you want.”Calista took a step to the side so she could hold Marina’s hand. “Yes, please…”“You take your time, Yurika, okay?” Sparrow said.“Oh, it won’t be so scary waiting! I’ll turn the light on,” Yurika said, walking into the manor.“Uh, Yurika…!” Sparrow said, but she was already gone. “The light’s not gonna work…” He followed in after her, pulling out his cellphone and turning on his flashlight.“That’s a good idea, Spar!” Marina called out as he walked away. She took out her cellphone and turned on its flashlight. “You should do the same, too. I think it’ll make you feel better.”Calista nodded a little. She took her phone out and also turned on its flashlight; then she followed Marina inside the manor.The entrance of the manor was of course a large, grand room with a carpet down the center. On the walls hung old, dusty paintings. Yurika was standing by a light switch, flicking it on and off despite nothing happening.“Oh, why is this not…”Sparrow walked up to her. “Yurika?” he asked softly.She turned to him and smiled- she wasn’t the least bit startled. “Oh, Sparrow. I need some help with this switch.”“I’m sure they’ve turned the electricity off here for a while now, babe.”“… Ah!” Yurika blushed a little, embarrassed. “Yes, of course. Why didn’t I think of that? I suppose I was under the impression my family wouldn’t totally leave this place so… dilapidated,” she said as she shined her flashlight over the walls.“I find that people with the most money tend to be the most stingy with it,” Sparrow said.“I’m going to go upstairs- that’s where my room was.”“You sure you… wanna go alone?” he asked.“Huh? Of course!” Yurika didn’t seem at all freaked out about where they were- which Sparrow did figure made sense- she had obviously been there before in better days. But even so…“I’ll be okay, Sparrow.” She smiled at him, and then left to head upstairs.Calista suddenly screamed, which caused Sparrow to flash his flashlight at her, which caused her to scream again.“Sparrow!!” Marina shouted.“Sorry!!” Sparrow lowered his phone so that Calista was still visible to him, but not being blinded by the light.“S-sorry!!” Calista said. “I just swear I felt someone touch me!”“Other than me holding your hand?” Marina asked.“Yes! On my shoulder!”“I’m sure it was just a draft. It’s really chilly in here,” Sparrow said. He walked over to her and stood beside her. “Do you want my scarf or something? That’ll keep you warm.”Normally she wouldn’t have said yes, since she was dressed warmly for the occasion- Celestic Town was further north than Veilstone and thus colder- plus the weather outside was cold and foggy. Though the extra comfort from having something of her boyfriend’s sounded like a good idea.“Y-yeah, if you won’t be too cold.”“Nah, I won’t. I promise. Just don’t lose it~” He took his scarf off and put it around her neck, then gave her a kiss. “All better?”“All better.”“Awwwww. Straight,” Marina joked.Sparrow and Calista both laughed.“Hopefully we won’t have to wait down here too long,” Sparrow said. “I’m sure she remembers where her room was and everything- so she just needs to look for… What did she say it was again?”Marina and Calista both looked at each other.“She said it was something…” Marina said. “I don’t remember either. Did you catch it?”Calista thought intensely for a moment. “She said it was important; I was picturing some kind of necklace or something.”“Ah, so she’s digging around in drawers then was my question,” Sparrow said. “Then she’ll be a minute.”They stood around for a minute; somehow it felt like the room was getting colder.“I think it’s because we’re not talking,” Marina said. “Maybe we should go upstairs.”“Huh?” Sparrow asked. He was almost startled to hear anything. “Oh, why it’s so cold?”“It’s freezing. And it’s not much warmer outside, so…” Calista said.“Plus, heat rises. … What little heat is in here, anyway,” Marina added.The three started to head upstairs; the stairs loudly creaked under them as they climbed them. In the stairwell there were no windows, so it was much darker than the foyer.“I hate this I hate this I hate this…” Calista muttered.“Y’know, Yurika said that she talked to her grandmother via a séance, right?” Sparrow asked.“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Doesn’t that mean she had to have died under mysterious circumstances? I bet she’s pissed about that,” Marina said.“Shut uuup!!” Calista said.“Sorry!” Sparrow and Marina both said.They got to the top of the steps and they realized they had no idea what room Yurika was in.“S-so… which room is she in?” Calista asked.“I think we should just text her,” Marina said. She unlocked her phone and tried to send her girlfriend a text. “Oh, no bars. Weird…”“An electronical interference means ghosts, right..?”“I think so?” Sparrow tilted his head.“I can just shout at her. She’s got sharp hearing,” Marina said.“But I think that’ll piss the ghost off…!” Calista said. “Let’s just go room to room.”Sparrow shrugged. “I can’t argue with that~”“I didn’t know you were this freaked out by ghosts, Cal,” Marina said, looking genuinely concerned.“A little…!”Sparrow turned his attention to the hallway. “Well, it goes to the left or right from here. Which way are you feeling?”Marina flashed her flashlight on the floor. “I think I see tracks on the floor here, through the dust. That must be where Yur went off to.”“Good thinking!” Sparrow said. “Do you want me to lead the way?”“If anyone should sacrifice themselves in case of poltergeist activity, it should be the resident man,” Marina said.“Hehe, got it,” Sparrow answered. Tracking the footsteps, Sparrow took the lead while Marina and Calista (who was hiding behind Marina) followed after.“I-I don’t like being at the back,” Calista said. “I feel like we’re being followed.”“I say this with all the love in the world, but I think it’s all between you ears, babygirl,” Marina said.“I can’t help but agree,” Sparrow said. “Sure this place is cold and a little spooky, but I doubt it’s haunted.”“Y-you can’t prove that…!” Calista answered.“No, because I can’t prove a negative unfortunately,” he said sympathetically.The footprints lead under a door.“Ah, this must be where Yurika is.” He opened the door and peered inside. “Yurika?” He shined his flashlight into the room, but he didn’t see anyone right away. “That does look like a bedroom… Maybe she’s in the closet?”“Formerly, maybe,” Marina joked. “But in all seriousness it doesn’t look like she’s in here. I’d check another room.”“But then why did footsteps lead in here…?” Sparrow was about to walk into the room before the door practically slammed shut in his face with a loud THUD.“Wah!”“AHHH!!” Calista screamed and started running for the door.“Calista!!” Marina called after her. “Shit, Sparrow!”“That wasn’t me, baby!” Sparrow answered. “It must have been a draft?!”Marina sighed and quickly followed after Calista.“Sorry!” Sparrow said, running after Marina.The two ended up in the foyer together, but didn’t see Calista anywhere.“Shit, I knew she’d do that. She panicked and went in a random direction and not back down the stairs.”Yurika walked down the steps and up to them. “Guys?”“Wah!” Both of them were actually startled that time.“Shut up,” Marina quickly said.“Wasn’t gonna mention it,’ Sparrow answered.“Where’s Calista?” Yurika asked. She had a small box in her left hand that she was carrying. “I got what I was looking for.”“We have no idea,” The Palafin answered. “A door closed on us and she ran off screaming. I was hoping she’d be down here but I think she ran off into the manor.”“Oh no! Poor Calista… She must be so scared. Do you think we should call her?”“Our phones don’t have reception in here,” Sparrow explained.Yurika unlocked her phone to check. “Ah! You’re right. Then we’ll just have to check the old fashioned way.”“Any place you think she might have ended up?” Marina asked.“Mm… maybe my old bedroom. I just have that feeling. I think she would go where I just was.”“Through… vibes?” Sparrow asked.“Yes! So follow me.” Yurika started to head back to the stairs- Sparrow and Marina looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed after her.-When the three partners caught up to Calista, she was indeed actually in Yurika’s room. She was laying in the bed, completely under the covers, holding one of her pillows in her arms.“Calista?” Yurika called out as she entered the room. “It’s me, Yurika.”“Prove it!” Calista answered back.“Um… Oh! You like eating cereal in the morning.”“Anyone could guess that- I’m Unovan.”“But you like it just so. Not just with the milk over the cereal because then it’s too crunchy, but not when it’s been in the milk too long because then it’s soggy. You wait 3 minutes before you start eating it.”Calista sat up from the bed and pushed the covers off of her. “You timed it?”“No,” Yurika giggled. “I just noticed it was usually that long.” She walked over to her and sat on the edge of her bed. “Do you wanna come with us to get out of here?”“Absolutely. I hate it here.”Calista climbed out of the bed and walked with Yurika out of the room.“There she is,” Sparrow said.“We were worried! I can’t believe you ran off like that,” Marina said.“Sorry, guys… I panicked.”“It’s okay,” Marina sighed a little. “I’m sorry, too. I was just worried. Let’s kiss and make up once we get out of here.”“Sounds good.”“So, Yurika,” Sparrow asked, “What did you need to fetch from here?”Yurika proudly held up the box. “My grandmother's sewing kit!”No one said anything for a solid minute.“Her sewing kit,” Sparrow repeated.“Isn’t that stuff all ancient and useless by now?” Marina asked.“No! It’s very specific needles and threads! I needed it.”“Yuri…” Calista sighed.“No, really! I promise it’ll be worth it. I wanted to get back into sewing again and I knew I had the perfect tools to do it.”“Well… You’ve got them,” Sparrow said. “Let’s get going back home.”Sparrow, Marina, and Calista started to head towards the front door when Yurika suddenly raised her voice and said “It was for Calista!”All three partners turned around.“Huh? For me?” Calista said.“You said… you had a hole in one of your gloves… A small one, but I knew it’d get bigger over time because that’s how holes work… So I knew I wanted to fix it. And to fix them I needed these.”“Oh… I didn’t know Calista’s glove had a hole,” Sparrow said.Calista raised her left hand to show off a small hold around the wrist, where the seam was splitting.“Oh yeah, that’s gonna get really bad if you don’t fix it right away,” Marina said.“Exactly, so… I didn’t wanna use just any needle and thread… I knew I needed these. So… I’m sorry.” Yurika bowed.“Hey…” Calista walked up to Yurika and gently took her hands; she stood back upright. “I didn’t know that,” Calista continued. “If I did I wouldn’t have been so annoyed. We all wouldn’t have.”Yurika looked at the other two with big, innocent eyes. “Is that true?”“Of course that’s true, Yurika,” Sparrow said.“I should have figured you had a good reason for all this- that’s on me. Sorry, Yur,” Marina added.Yurika breathed a big sigh of relief. “Good! Then… the second we’re back home I’m going to use this sewing kit to repair your glove, Calista!”Calista gave her girlfriend a kiss on her forehead. “Sounds good, baby~”

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Sparrow slowly blinked awake; he heard something strange that woke him up. When he sat up, he realized it was his phone going off. He placed the phone on his headrest instead of his nightstand, so the phone vibrating made a strange sound.When he turned his phone’s screen on, he saw he suddenly got a bunch of notifications in a row for random emails.“Oi… something weird must have been going on with my internet again… Now all these stupid emails are coming in.” He turned to look at Marina, but that’s when he noticed she wasn’t in bed.God dammit. He sighed and put his glasses on. He knew he wouldn’t get back to sleep if she was out wandering around looking for trouble as Ultramarine.He shot her a text. `Hey Marina. How’s the patrol going?` She typically didn’t answer right away, and that always made him nervous. Since otherwise he’d just be sitting around anxiously waiting for a text back, he went into the living room of his dorm with his laptop and decided to work on an essay he’d been putting off.By the time he checked his phone again, he realized it had been an hour since he texted Marina- with no answer.God dammit, Marina. Him and Marina didn’t tend to talk about her Ultramarine rounds- before they got together he knew she couldn’t tell her what she could and couldn’t do. And when they got together he realized that even if he did tell her to stop, she wouldn’t.But he still worried. Of course he did. He hated the idea of her hurting somewhere and him being unable to help her.`Guessing you’re busy. Get back to me when you can.`He sent the text and then put his phone down. Then picked it up again to check for any answers. Then put it back down.He did this for about a half an hour before giving up and leaving the dorm. Normally he wasn’t big on “vibes”, certainly not like Yurika was, but something in the pit of his stomach was telling him something was wrong with Marina.Sparrow walked up to the dorm door and knocked; lightly, at first, as not to be rude, but then he realized that was stupid and knocked very loudly to make sure he could wake up Calista and Yurika.A few minutes later, his girlfriends were at the door. They were clearly still drowsy from having just woken up, but had a look of concern on their faces.“Is something wrong, Sparrow?” Calista asked. “You look all wigged out.”“Marina’s out and she’s not answering my texts,” Sparrow said.Yurika gasped. “Well… this wouldn’t be the first time, I suppose, right?”“Probably not, but… I texted her at like, 2… and now it’s 4. And I just can’t shake this feeling something is wrong with her.”“Right! Then we definitely need to go looking,” Yurika said. “We’ll get dressed.”“Are you sure? I think she’s gonna be pissed if we went out looking for her,” Calista said. “I’m sure she’s got it handled… whatever she’s up to. If she was in trouble she’d know what to do.”“Calista, I’m not being ridiculous here. If you don’t wanna go you can stay, but… I’m going. I know what she said- so if you don’t want her to be mad at you, I get it, but I’m checking on her.”Yurika looked visibly conflicted. “I know she’ll not be happy, but… I just don’t like the thought of her being hurt or…” She couldn’t bring herself to elaborate on that thought, so she just shook her head. “I’m definitely going. I’m getting dressed.” She went back into the dorm and into her bedroom.Calista sighed. “You’re putting me in a bind here, dude.”“I know. But I have to do this.”“I’ll get dressed, then. We might as well all get in trouble.”-As the three walked through Veilstone, they were sure to keep a low profile. The streets of Veilstone got very dangerous at night due to the presence of Andromeda House, better known as the Araiden Clan of yakuza. They roamed the streets at night and enforced a curfew after 9 o’clock.“If you hear anything, you gotta get the hell out of dodge, okay?” Sparrow said.“Right! I’ll grab both of your hands and Teleport us away,” Yurika answered.“Good idea,” Calista said. “Then we’re really not in so much danger… right?”They heard some commotion nearby- so they all froze and quickly ducked between some houses.“That’s definitely those Araiden thugs…” Sparrow said. “Yurika, can you make anything out about what they’re saying?”Yurika closed her eyes to focus in on their talking. “No, I don’t think it’s anything important…”“Good, so that means they didn’t run into Marina, hopefully…”“Oh!” Yurika held her hand up. “They’re wondering where one of their friends are…”“I guess that’s the guy that Marina got into it with,” Calista said.“We better find them before they do. Let’s go,” Sparrow added.-“I really hope we find her soon… I feel like we’ve been walking around for hours,” Calista said. “It’s freezing out here.”“I thought the closer we’d get to the Araiden base- the more likely we’d be to run into Marina… but no dice,” Sparrow said.“Maybe she’s closer by the department store?” Yurika asked.“That’s on the other side of the city, though,” Sparrow said. “But… is that what your gut is telling you?”“Mm… maybe, I don’t know…” Yurika frowned. “I just really want to find her…”“Guys!” Calista grabbed both Sparrow and Yurika so they’d stop walking. “Over there!” She managed to spot Marina, passed out on the ground.Sparrow quickly went over to her, with Yurika and Calista close behind.“Marina?!” Sparrow knelt down beside her- she was alone, so whoever she was in a fight with was already gone. He saw she was breathing, but badly hurt.“We need to get her back to the school…!” Yurika said.Sparrow nodded; carefully, he picked her up off the ground. “Got her.”Yurika put her right hand on Sparrow’s shoulder and held Calista’s hand with her other. “Okay, let’s go.”She teleported them away and back to their school.

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By the time Marina woke up, she was already in the process of being taken care of by her partners, which startled her at first.“Ugh…” was all she could manage to say.Sparrow, Yurika, and Calista jumped at the sound of her voice. They all crowded around her bed.“Marina? Are you okay?” Sparrow asked.“Marina! I’m so glad you’re awake,” Yurika said.Marina tried to sit up a little, but she was too sore to move. “Wait… I’m at school?”Calista sighed. “Yeah, uh… Sparrow was trying to contact you and… He didn’t hear anything so he decided to go looking for you.”“What?! Sparrow!” Marina tried to move again, but instead cried out in pain.“Marina! Don’t move. You got into a nasty fight, I think… We found you knocked out,” Sparrow said.“But… Sparrow…!”“I know… Calista did try to talk me out of it, but… I knew something was wrong and I had to go find you.”Yurika looked to Calista; she was worried. She shrugged back at her, knowing Marina was going to be mad either way- even though she really did need the help.“I told you to never do that…!” Marina replied. She knew she was being stubborn but she didn’t expect Sparrow to cross a line like that.He didn’t have an answer for that- as much as he wanted to dig his heels in and insist he was right for doing what he did. Maybe not for dragging the other two with him- but definitely for going and getting her either way.“I know. I’m sorry,” Sparrow said. “I was worried, but…”“Get out.”“What?”“Get out. I can handle this myself,” Marina clarified.“You have to be joking,” Yurika interjected. “We have to be in class in a few hours… You’re in no shape to go anywhere. We need to-““You’ve done enough!”Yurika made a surprised little yelp and quickly ducked out of the room. Calista followed after her.“Hey!” Sparrow said. “That’s not cool. I know you’re mad at me but she’s just-““I don’t care!! Leave!”It wasn’t worth arguing with her. Especially not like this- not right now. He nodded a little, put his hands up to show he was relenting, and then left. When he exited the room he saw Yurika and Calista standing together outside her door. Yurika was shaken and upset.“I-I didn’t… I’m sorry…” she said in a small voice.Calista had her arms around her, and pet her gently. “It’s okay, baby. She’s in pain and we did sort of piss her off. It wasn’t personal. When she’s feeling better she’ll apologize.”“I’m sorry, guys,” Sparrow said. “Calista, you were right. We shouldn’t have done this.”The Whimsicott seemed conflicted. “I know… But you were also right in that she was in trouble. So… I dunno.”“I’m um…” Yurika added, sniffling and trying to compose herself. “I’m going to try to get some more sleep.”“Me too, I guess,” Calista replied.“I think that’s a good idea. Try to sleep well, okay?”Yurika nodded a little and so did Calista, then they both left to go back to their dorm.Sparrow walked over to the couch in the living room and sat down. He sighed and he tried to think of how to better the situation. There was a chance that Marina would wake up in an hour or two, and since she wouldn’t be so sore, she’d see that everyone was kind of wrong and kind of right and forgive him.But if she couldn’t… then he really did cross a line and he was concerned it would cause a big rift in their relationship. Of course he wanted her to trust him- but this was an extenuating circumstance.He ended up worrying so long on the couch that Gerlinda, Marina’s roommate, had woken up and exited her dorm. When she saw Sparrow on the couch looking so worried, she immediately figured something was up.“Uh-oh. Are you in the dog house?” Gert asked. Gert and Marina were fairly close, due to having a lot of things in common, like being half Galarian and having a passion for swimming. Normally that wouldn’t be enough for Marina to be even half trusting of someone, but what helped Gert’s case was also the fact that she was the kind of person who was an open-book. You could more or less tell exactly what she was thinking, because she almost always just told you. The filter between her mouth and brain were non-existent.“Yeah. Marina, uh… she went out, and she got into trouble. Calista, Yurika, and I went to find her and she’s pissed.”Gert really didn’t know or understand what Marina did at night, but she was aware that she snuck out and sought out trouble. She frowned, trying to think of any advice she could give him.“Well. She told you not to do that,” she said.Sparrow couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Normally he had a lot more patience for Gert, but he was irritated and exhausted. “I know that.”Gert jumped a little, startled. “Oh, sorry!” She’d never seen the normally even-keeled Sparrow react like that, so she really didn’t know how to proceed. “I mean… It sounds like this is just kinda shit all ‘round. Damned if you do damned if you don’t.”He nodded. “Right; that’s what I’ve come to realize.”“Do you want me to try talking to her?”“Probably not. Unless you think you can help.”“How bad is she? Do I need to get Mx. Asuna or Mrs. Ricin?”There was no official nurse at Booster Academy. Nursing duties at the school were split between the Battling teacher, Mx. Asuna, who could use their cyborg helmet visor to scan for injuries or other problems, and Mrs. Ricin, the science teacher, who had medical training.“Uh…” Sparrow had no idea what the better of the two options would be. Mx. Asuna was friendly enough, though a little awkward. And Mrs. Ricin was about the scariest teacher in the universe- plus he was unsure if either of them could even be trusted. “I’ll take a rain check on that. You’d better ask Marina what she thinks if you’re going to do that.”Gert nodded. “Right, um… I’ll go do that, then. Maybe if she yells at me a little she’ll let you off the hook,” she laughed.Sparrow smiled a little.-Marina had passed out again after her argument with Sparrow- so when Gert walked in the room she was almost confused at first.“Sparrow… I said…” She just presumed it was him again- because he loved talking things out instead of leaving them be.“Nope, Gert!” Gert said.“Gert?” Marina asked. “Shit… Why’d he let you in here?”“I was gonna find out anyway, right?” She grabbed Marina’s desk chair and put it to the side of her bed.“Ugh… I guess…”“So… you’re in rough shape,” Gert said, in that same way she always said things when they were obvious. Marina would have made some kind of comment but she didn’t have it in her.“Yeah.”“I mean… You don’t have to tell me what you were up to- I know I can’t really know, but… If I thought you were in trouble I also would have gone to help.”Marina would have snidely commented ‘Because you’re in love with me’, but she knew she was being petty and taking her feelings out on Gert. It wouldn’t have helped prove her point anyways, because Sparrow, Calista, and Yurika also were.“Right…”“I think you have to accept that when people love you, they do stupid stuff,” Gert said. “They do stuff you don’t want them to do. Maybe it’s for the best, maybe it isn’t. But here I… I can’t help but think it was.”“Gert… That’s not…” Marina had trouble figuring out how to explain her angle. “I don’t want them worried about me. I got careless and I almost got them into trouble. I’m pissed off.”“At yourself?”Occasionally, despite how flighty and filter-less Gert was, occasionally that helped her cut right to the point. Marina didn’t have an answer for her.“It’s okay if you are,” Gert added. “But don’t take it out on them. They just love you,” she paused for a moment, then added quietly “Lots of people love you.”Marina wondered for a second how Gert thought she was being subtle with that. For as much as it made her angry she wasn’t strong enough to keep her partners from worrying- it was true that they were going to do that regardless of anything else.“It’s my fault. I got careless.”“Then apologize,” Gert said. “They’ll be okay with that. And if you say you’ll be careful next time, they’ll believe you. They really love you and they just want you to be okay.”The Palafin sighed. “I made Yurika cry.”“I can’t imagine that’s very hard.” Marina glared at her, and Gert jumped in her seat. “I-I mean, you know!”“I know what you mean. No, I yelled at her. I shouldn’t have.”“That’s okay. We say things we don’t mean when we’re upset and bruised up.”Marina cracked a bit of a smile. “Right.” She paused. “Can you get Sparrow and the others in here?”“Got it! I’m right on it!” Gert got up, put Marina’s chair back, and left the room.-Sparrow entered the room first, then Calista, with Yurika practically hiding behind her. No one said anything at first. Once Marina gathered her thoughts, she started with a sigh.“I’m sorry.”“No, I’m sorry, Marina-“ Sparrow began, but Marina cut him off.“No, I’m sorry. I’m really really sorry. To all of you.”Yurika stepped out from behind Calista to look at her.“Especially you, Yur, but…” Marina looked at her and tried to smile reassuringly. Yurika smiled back.“No, I fucked up. I really really fucked up and I took it out on you. You had every right to go find me. I just… I would prefer if you didn’t do that again. If something happened to you because my stupid ass got hurt and you had to go find me… I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. I thought you crossed a line but it was just because I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain- I didn’t keep myself safe so you three wouldn’t have to worry.”“That’s all I was trying to say,” Sparrow replied. “I know this is something you have to do and I don’t want to sit here and tell you you can’t. But… I still love you and I needed to know you were okay. That’s not gonna change.”“We’re still sorry though… either way,” Yurika added.“We all weren’t at our best,” Calista said.“No, it was mostly me, but… Thanks for trying, Cal,” Marina joked. The two shared a little chuckle.“Hey, I tried,” Calista added.“Are we… are we okay?” Yurika asked.“We were always okay- I just… I got angry. I was also in pain,” Marina said. “That’s not an excuse but that didn’t help.”“It’s okay… Are you feeling any better?”“Not really. But I’ll be okay.”“We’ll do what we can to help you through the day,” Sparrow said.“We can take turns lugging you from class to class,” Calista added.“I would genuinely love to see either of you try that,” Marina said. “At least Yurika can lift me with Psychic.”Yurika giggled. “Then I’m on Marina Lugging Duty~” She paused for a moment, then looked conflicted. “Um… are you in too much pain to hug it out? I would like to hug you.”Marina shook her head. “Nah, c’mere. All of you.”Yurika quickly hugged Marina. Calista stayed on Yurika’s side and hugged them both. Sparrow went to the other side of the bed to join in the hug.“I love you… and I’m sorry,” Marina said.“We love you, too,” Sparrow and Calista replied.“We love you so much!” Yurika said. She nuzzled into Marina for emphasis.“I’ll make sure this never happens again, I promise,” Marina said.

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`HELP!!! HELP HELP HELP`When the text flashed up on Sparrow’s and Marina’s phones, they both feared the worst.“What the heck could they be doing? Isn’t Calista with her?” Sparrow asked.“I’m gonna call them,” Marina said, clicking Yurika’s profile picture in the group chat and calling her.The phone barely rung once before Yurika picked it up.“H-hello?! Marina!! Thank Goodness you called!” she quickly said.“I’m gonna need you to breathe, babe, okay? What’s wrong? Is someone dying?”“There’s a spider!!”Marina frowned. She lowered the phone away from her ear.“What’s wrong?” Sparrow asked.“There’s a spider,” she answered flatly.“Oh my God. I thought someone was dying,” Sparrow said.Putting the phone back to her ear, Marina said “So what do you want us to do?”“You’re still there! Oh thank Goodness. The line went quiet. Well- it’s a big one! And I don’t want Calista to get it! I think it bites!”“Okay… We’ll be right over.”-The door to Yurika and Calista’s dorm was already open so Sparrow and Marina could walk in. Sparrow closed the door behind them. Calista and Yurika were both sitting on the couch together; Yurika was looking terrified and Calista, despite looking a little exhausted, was trying to comfort her.“So what’s the situation?” Marina asked.“There’s a spider,” Calista answered.“That much I gathered,” Marina joked. “Where is it?”Yurika sprung up from the couch and pointed. “Th-that cabinet over there! Where we keep the cookies and snacks!”“Got it, I can get ‘em,” Marina said.“You’re not gonna uh… kill it, right?” Sparrow said.“What, is your cousin a spider?”“No, but I’m feeling a little conflicted here… Spiders around here are harmless. We should just put it outside.”“Just get it out of the dorm, please!” Yurika interjected.Marina and Sparrow both went over to the cabinet Yurika pointed out- when they opened it, they saw a spider in the corner, by where the door closed. It wasn’t scuttling around, but was definitely alive.“Poor thing, it looks scared,” Sparrow said. “And I see why Yurika was freaked out. Her head was right by where the spider was when she opened the cabinet.”“How’re you gonna put him outside?” Marina asked.“I’ll need a piece of paper and a cup,” Sparrow said. “I’ll trap it in the cup and keep the spider inside it with the paper; in case he jumps out.”“Sounds like you’ve done this before~”“Despite being a family of ladybugs and butterflies, Avie also hates spiders. Plus, the man of the house always has to deal with the bugs, right~?” He smiled and puffed his chest out.“That’s true!” Marina chuckled. She went into another cabinet to grab a cup and took a sheet of paper from a nearby grocery list paper stack. “This good?” she asked.“Mhm! That’s good.”It was then he realized that both Calista and Yurika were anxiously waiting a couple feet away.“Hey… Calista, do you also not like spiders?”“What? Dude, don’t be stupid…” Calista said. “Yurika was the one that didn’t want me to get near it…”Marina and Sparrow shot each other a knowing look before the Butterfree turned his attention back to the spider. Carefully, he scooped the spider into the cup and covered it with the sheet of paper.“There! I’ll just take this little guy downstairs and set him free,” Sparrow said, presenting the successfully captured spider to the other two girls; both of whom jumped a little when the spider was pushed towards them.“A-and he’ll never come back in here, right?” Yurika asked.“Nope! I’m stunned he got all the way up here, anyway.”“Well… Good. So, that solves that…” Calista said, clearing her throat. “Totally was fine. I had the situation under control before Yuri sent that text…”“I’m sure that’s true, Calista, and definitely not you trying to be tough~” Marina said.“That’s exactly right,” Calista answered. “You get it.”Sparrow carefully made his way to the door. “Marina, can you help me with the door? I need two hands for this- and I don’t want to drop it trying to get it on my own.”“It’d be funny if you did, though,” she said as she walked over to him. She opened the door for him.“It would not,” Sparrow said, leaving the dorm.“No, just imagine- they start screaming…” Marina answered as she followed after him. She closed the door behind them.“Ugh!! Spiders!!” Yurika shuddered. “They’re just so spooky!”“Yeah, usually…” Calista replied. “By the way, you didn’t have to call them. I could have gotten it.”“Oh…” The Kadabra frowned. “I only… You just seemed so scared when you found it…”“I only screamed because it was a spider and I’m in a foreign country- I didn’t know if it’d kill me or not. At least they seemed to think you were the one who found it… I swear I just think spiders are creepy.”“Oh, well…” Yurika did feel a little bad now. “Still… It was kind of nice to see them help us out like that, right?”“That’s true. Maybe next time don’t send them such an alarming text, though.”

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“C’mon, c’mon, it’s just this way-“ Yurika said, practically dragging Sparrow up the staircase.“I’m right behind you, sweetheart- no need to tug.”Sparrow felt a little awkward being in the stairwell up to the roof of the school- he wasn’t quite sure if they were actually allowed up there or not, but since Yurika seemed to think so- and Yurika wasn’t all a troublemaker- Sparrow figured it was probably not an issue.When they got to the rooftop, Yurika proudly put her arm out to the sunset they could see over the fence gate.“Ta-da! The sunset!”The side of the school they were facing was towards the ocean, so the sunset was exceptionally beautiful.“Wow! Look at that view!”Yurika giggled proudly. “Thank you! I saw the sunset once from my room and I realized it must be absolutely beautiful from up here.”’The two walked up to the fence and sat down in front of it.“I’ve got two beautiful views in front of me, anyway~” Sparrow joked.“Aww… Sparrow~” Yurika happily leaned against him as they watched the sun set together. Sparrow put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. They sat in silence for a while, admiring the view. Soon enough, the sun completely disappeared behind the shoreline.“You know,” Yurika said, breaking the silence, “I took you here first~”“Me first? Wow~” Sparrow grinned. “I’m honored.”“Why me first and not Calista?”“Because… sunsets seem more like your thing,” Yurika joked.“Oh, the whole Sun thing,” Sparrow said. “Calista’s a little silly for that, but… I kinda see what she meant~”
“I don’t think it’s silly. You’re just like the sun~” Yurika leaned against his shoulder for a moment. When she sat back up, she looked a little worried.“Is something up?”“Well… I wanted to drag you up here so we could talk about something… It’s really really important.”Sparrow nodded. He had no idea what she could possibly want to tell him.“I want you to know… I love you! I love you like a girl loves a boy!” Yurika said.“I sure hope so,” Sparrow replied, chuckling a little. He had no idea what possessed her to say that.“No, I mean… Back when Calista and I were together… She used to say things like, ‘you know, I’m not surprised you’re a lesbian’… I told her the stories about how the suitors I was presented with by my parents were all terrible and I had no interest in them whatsoever.”“Ah, so that’s what this is about.” Sparrow scooted closer to Yurika and put an arm around her. “I never got the feeling that you didn’t like me for me.”“I-I know! I hoped so! But I… I wanted to tell you this regardless. There was a moment where I wasn’t sure if I liked boys… But in the back of my mind I knew that I had feelings for you. So that couldn’t be true- I had to like boys.”Sparrow gave his girlfriend a kiss on her cheek. “Here’s the thing; Reinaldo already sorta talked to me about this when he heard we had gotten together. He was a little surprised that you did like me, but he realized that you probably just didn’t like those boys. Not all boys in general~”“Yes! That’s also something I’ve learned. I talked to Marina about it- how she knew she liked boys and girls… And she said just because she likes boys and girls doesn’t mean she likes everyone.”“That’s precisely right,” Sparrow said. He felt bad that Yurika was so sheltered. That was basically Rule Number 1 about Bisexuality- not assuming they’re into literally everyone they meet. “Why didn’t you ask Calista, though?”“Oh, the topic sort of came up with Marina…” Yurika blushed. “She knows you really well- so I thought I would talk to her first before talking to you. I wanted to know precisely what to say.”“Hey, there’s nothing you need to say. But I’m glad to hear that you like me for me. Though… I gotta ask what convinced you that you did like me~”“That’s easy!” Yurika’s face lit up. “You’re just so wonderful to be around, for one. You’ve never once made me feel strange or awkward for any of my interests- and I love how we’re both very empathetic and compassionate.”“And you’d never met another guy like that?”“Well, Reinaldo fits that bill, but he only likes boys. And he’s more like a brother to me than anything. So otherwise, no. The boys my parents introduced me to were all complete jerks.”Sparrow nodded. “Right, right, that makes sense. I’m glad then that I was somehow the first decent guy you ever met,” he added, laughing.“But it’s not just personality…” Yurika admitted with a flushed face. “You’re very handsome, you know? And you give very nice hugs…”“Nicer than Marina’s?” He joked.Yurika pouted. “Still very nice either way!”He scooped her into a tight hug. “Like this~?”“Yes! Just like that~” Yurika hugged him back and rested her head under his.“Comfy?” Sparrow asked.“Mhm… Because my boyfriend that I love very much is holding me~”“Hehe. Good~”