A Reunion of Sorts: Episode One

Kasumi, trying to view herself in as many angles as possible, looked at herself in the mirror.  “It’s been so long since I’ve seen him,” she anxiously thought.  Satoshi had called and asked her to do something with him—“to celebrate the end of another profitable year of school,” he had said—profitable for her, at least.  He made it clear that it was “just two friends getting together,” but she still couldn’t help herself from trying to look good. 

            She tried on a long kimono.  “This looks so formal, but it will hide my ankle well.”  Her ankle was very swollen, and she had wrapped it.  “Plus,” she thought, “it should help my walk look more natural.”  Kasumi didn’t want anyone to notice her hurts.  She was a tough girl.

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            Satoshi climbed the steps to Kasumi’s porch lively.  He, too, was excited in the same way she was, but both tried to hide it.  He knocked.

            “Just a minute!” came the cry from inside.

            “Okay!” he said.

            Shortly, Kasumi opened the door to Satoshi—but he was not the Satoshi she remembered.  Satoshi, similarly, was surprised.  Each just stood there looking at each other without speaking. 

            “Hehe… um…  wow, you look… different,” he stuttered.  She blushed a little.

            “Well, so do you.”

            He signaled to the car.  “Uh, okay, so, shall we go?”

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            “Nice car.  Is it yours?”

            The two had warmed up a little to each other and began conversing.

            “Yeah, yeah…  well, I’m making payments…  but it will be mine,” he said.

            “So, Satoshi, where are we going?”  It was the first time she had used his name in a long time.

            “What do you think of grabbing a pizza and eating it at the park?  Then, well, we’ll be spontaneous.”

            “Spontaneous?” she echoed.  “Sounds…  exciting.”  Then she remembered something.  “Hey, where’s Pikachu?  Do you still have him?” 

            “Pikachu!  Yes, I still have the little guy.  He’s at home.  I can take you to see him before I take you home, if you would like.”

            “Yes!  That would be great!” she exclaimed.  “Are you two still close?”  The question caught him off guard.

            So he lied.  “Well, yes, of course.  Very close.”

           

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            The two, admiring the stars, sat at the picnic table.  And empty pizza box lay nearby.  Satoshi had eaten most of it.  She giggled. 

            “What’s so funny?”

            “Oh, nothing,” she replied, grinning.  “It’s just that in some ways, you’re exactly what I remember, but in other ways,” she said, pausing, “you’re so different.”

            “Me?” he said, bewilderment written clearly across his face.  “I’m always the same.  I never change.”

            “Maybe,” she said, thoughtfully.  “In any case, where is the spontaneity you promised?”

            “Follow me,” he said.  Then he winked.

            He led her to the car door and opened it for her. 

            “You’ve become very well mannered, Satoshi.  Thank you.”

            After both were strapped in, Satoshi fired up the engine and went into cruise mode.  The two drove for a long time, talking and enjoying the out-of-the-way scenery. 

            “You always did like nature, didn’t you?  Especially water?” Satoshi asked.

            “Yes… it’s so beautiful, serene, unyielding…”  She would have gone on, but he interrupted her. 

            “Yes, it sure is…”  He pulled the car to the side of the road.  “Here, I want you to have this, you know, as a token of our friendship.”  He opened a small, purple box and withdrew from it a turquoise teardrop-shaped pendant.  She gasped.

            “It’s so…  wonderful.  Thank you!”  She leaned over for him to place it around her neck, and he did.  She looked down at it.

            “It’s not much,” he said, lying.  It had cost him much of his “expendable income.”  “I hope you like it anyway, though.”

            “Yes, yes I do.  Thanks so much.” 

            As the two continued to talk, headlights appeared in the distance, but neither noticed.  As they loomed closer, Satoshi broke off his sentence and looked up. 

            “That’s weird.  That guy seems to be going a little fast, and it doesn’t seem that he has very good control of the vehicle, judging from his headlights.”

            “Let’s get out of here,” Kasumi said. 

            Satoshi jumped a little.

            “Keys!  Where are the keys?”  He had taken them out while the two were sitting there.

            “Satoshi!” she screamed and grabbed his arm, digging in with her fingernails. 

            In the blink of an eye, the approaching truck caught the edge of Satoshi’s car, spun it, and knocked it into a ditch, causing the back end to crumple.  Satoshi had removed his seatbelt when he was talking to Kasumi, but she was still wearing hers.  Due to the spin, his head was thrown against the steering wheel—glass flew, metal crunched, Kasumi screamed—and everything went black.

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            “Satoshi!  SATOSHI!  Wake UP!”  Satoshi heard Kasumi shouting and felt her shaking him, but because of the terrible lump on the side of his forehead, he would have preferred to keep sleeping.  Then, as his memory came back, he sat up. 

            “Kasumi, are you alright?!” he said.  She looked to him with tears in her eyes.

            “Yes, yes, I’m fine, but it scared me so badly… and I was afraid that you were seriously hurt.”  She looked around.  “I was still wearing my seatbelt, so no damage; only a few scratches.” 

            “But what about the guy that hit us?” 

            “Hit-and-run.  He was drunk, from the looks of it.”

            Satoshi tried to open his door, but it was jammed.  He turned in the seat and kicked it with all his force.  It creaked.

            “Stupid door… stupid, stupid, stupid door…  Okay, we’re going out through the window,” he proclaimed.  He turned his attention to kicking out what was left of the driver’s side window.  They couldn’t use Kasumi’s window because it was against the bank of the hill.  He climbed out and then helped her.  They looked at the damage.  He sighed. 

            “It’s bad,” he said.  “Well, I guess we should report this to the Police… come on, there’s a station not too far from here.” 

            Kasumi looked away from him.  “Uh, Satoshi…  I need to tell you something…  Last night, I sprained my ankle very badly…  and I think the crash made it worse.  I can’t walk very far on it.”  Satoshi just stood there.  Could his luck get any worse?

            “No problem.  I’ll carry you.”

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            “So that’s what happened, officer,” Kasumi said.  Satoshi nodded his agreement but continued looking at the floor.

            “Talk about a killer headache,” he thought.  He reapplied the ice pack that the officer had given him—Kasumi had one for her ankle, too.

            “I’ll have my best men on it in the morning,” the brawny officer with a deep voice said.  “It’s really late.  Why don’t you two find a place to spend the night?  I’ll have some men take you home in the morning.”  Then his posture changed, as did his voice.  “But you’re sure you can’t tell me anything about the vehicle that hit you?”

            Kasumi said, “Nothing, other than the fact that it was a truck and it was coming very quickly.”

            “Well, get some rest.  Your injuries could have been a lot worse, but they still need rest and relaxation.”

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            Satoshi and Kasumi, heads sagging from exhaustion, approached the counter in the lobby.  “We, uh, need a room,” Satoshi wearily said.  He felt Kasumi tapping his shoulder and turned to face a tired but determined glare.  “Oh, come on, please?  Can’t I sleep on the floor or something?” he said, holding out his nearly empty wallet in exasperation.  Kasumi’s expression didn’t change.  Satoshi sighed.  “Okay, okay…  Two rooms, please,” he said to the man at the counter.

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            Kasumi sat at the phone in her room.  She rubbed the smooth surface of the pendant Satoshi had given her, mentally reviewing the day.  And what a day it was. 

She called her family to let them know all that happened and that she was okay and that she would be coming home the next day. 

“No, Daisy, really…  No, I’m fine…  Yes, but I made him buy his own room…”

            And then, she heard it.

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            “Heh, maybe it was worth it, having to pay extra,” Satoshi thought as he sprawled out on the bed in the dark.  When he had just thought “Finally, a good night’s rest,” a pounding came at the door. 

            “Satoshi?  Satoshi!  Open up.”  He sat up. 

            “What did I do to deserve this?” he said aloud.  The pounding resumed.

            “Get over here and open this door!  It’s important!”

            “I supposed everything is important with you,” he replied as he unlocked the door.  “What do you want?”  Light from the hallway illuminated his room, and he had to squint to block some of it out.  Kasumi, still in her long, silk kimono, had a bright, reflective silhouette, almost like a mini-eclipse.

            “Did you hear that?” she said. 

            “What is this, a test of the Emergency Broadcast System?  The only thing I heard was your incessant pounding at the door,” he said, smirking.

            “Ooh, such a big word for such a small brain,” she joked.

            Turning back and shutting the door, he said, “Fine, you know what?  I’m going to bed.”

            “Please, wait.  I didn’t mean it.  I need your help.”  The look in her eyes was genuine.

            “Help doing what?”  He was clearly annoyed. 

            “Well, I heard a cry from outside.  It sounded like a baby animal, crying for its mother.”  Her eyes pleaded with him.  “I would have gone alone, but…”  She didn’t really need to finish the sentence; Satoshi already understood.  It was not very safe for a young lady (not to mention an injured one) to be out in the city alone at this time of night.

            “Alright.  Just a second.”  Satoshi pulled on his hat and jacket.  Looking back to the clock, he whispered, “Why me?”  It read 1:47 AM.

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            As the duo stepped out into the parking lot, a shrill cry pierced the night.  This time, Satoshi heard it. 

            “It came from over there!” Kasumi said, pointing.  “Go check it out!”

            He shook his in unbelief as he walked towards the source of the cry.  “You made me pay for two rooms that neither of us is going to use.”

            “Quit whining, Satoshi.”

            “Calm down.  I’m only kidding.”  He clicked on a flashlight from his pack and began searching the darkness.  The beam of light caught two small, ominous eyes.  He jumped back at first and shouted “whoa!” but then realized that it was only a small Pokémon.  Kasumi heard Satoshi and came limping around the corner of the building into the alley.
            “Oh!  It’s only a baby!  And look!  It’s injured, too!” Kasumi said.  Ash did a double take when he noticed a new look in her eyes—the look of a mother.

            “Well, Kasumi, I guess we should get it to a Pokécenter.”

            “Think!  There aren’t any open at this hour.  We’ll have to wait until morning.”  She quickly began to pull off her jacket.

            The chivalrous part of Satoshi’s mind, realizing what was happening and also how cold it was, said, “No, allow me.” He took off his own jacket.

            She looked up.  “Why, thank you.”  Satoshi bent down and gently set the injured Pokémon—a Poochyena, from the looks of it—in his jacket.  The Pokémon was too weak to resist. 

            “How will we get it inside?” she asked.

            “Just leave that to me,” he winked.  “I’ve got a plan.”

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            Kasumi stood in the lobby, enjoying some complimentary hot chocolate.  “Mmm…  nothing beats this stuff,” she said to the man working the night shift at the counter.  “And it sure is cold outside.”

            “Yes,” he said.  He propped himself up on the counter on one elbow, rubbed his whiskery cheek, and asked, “Hey, didn’t a guy go outside with you?  What happened to him?”  She figured boredom makes a person nosy.

            “Oh, well…”  Suddenly, Kasumi dropped the cup, and cocoa splattered everywhere, even her kimono.  “Oh, I am so clumsy,” she said, feigning embarrassment. 

            “Oh!  Let me help you!” the attendant said.  He looked like he could use some excitement, anyway.  He disappeared into a maintenance room.  Kasumi looked towards the door.

            “Now!” she mouthed.  Satoshi was slipping stealthily across the lobby when suddenly the attendant emerged.  Satoshi dove under the counter and pressed his back against it.  The man, not looking back, came around the counter with a mop and bucket and walked right by Satoshi.  Kasumi’s eyes now had a look of urgency in them. 

            “Wow, her eyes say a lot,” he thought as he crept towards the stairwell and then up to the next floor to safety.

            “I’m so sorry about this, sir,” Kasumi said.

            “Don’t worry about it at all, miss.”

            “Oh, look at me.  I’m a mess.  I shall have to go.  Thank you so much!  Have a good night!” she said, heading towards the elevator.

            “Yes, you too,” the attendant said.

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