Amidst the tailored suits, shining jewellery, and sharp gazes of the Casino Starlight, her turtleneck sweater, mom jeans, and nervous glances make her stand out like a sore thumb.

She doesn't fit in. She's well aware of that. Heck, she's never even so much as step foot in Sootopolis before today, let alone visited one of it's premiere casinos. Her very presence here throws the delicate aura of class and refinement off-balance, as though her empty purse is poisoning the air around her. The judgmental looks of the rich and famous make her feel like a mewling Skitty in a den of Mightyena. Or a Feebas swimming alongside Sharpedo. Or a Spinda stumbling through a field of Stunfisk. Or... Well, you get the idea.

But she's here. Even though she shouldn't be, she's here. Because she needs to meet with him.

It's a struggle. Her memories of that night are hazy, and she never got a good look at his face. Still, when she spots the flash of white hair from across the floor, something within her knows.

Deep breaths, Mitsuru. Slowly but surely, she makes her over to the familiar stranger, offering a dozen pardons and apologies to the casino patrons she brushes part and bumps into along the way. But eventually, she finds herself beside him.

And the moment she does? Her mind goes completely blank on her...

...

...

...

"...Hi."

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nikkari hect

Lucky for her, the ethereal stranger greets her awkwardness with a smile. That was good! It helps put her nerves at ease, if only a bit. Though, "a bit" didn't count for much when they were already ratcheted so high to begin with. Maybe she was irrational. Maybe it was stress. Maybe she just needed to calm down. But standing in here, surrounded by the hustle and bustle, she just couldn't shake the feeling she was being... Hunted, somehow.

Unwelcome memories of draining warmth and encroaching darkness peek out from her memories. A shiver of deja vu runs up her spine. She tries her best to sweep it under the rug.

It helps when she's caught off-guard a moment later.

"A drink? Um..." She blinks. Really? Wasn't that a little...? No, no, she was just being weird about it. What else were they supposed to do at a casino, of all places? Gamble, when she's broke and he's out of luck? Get dinner, which would be even more "..."? No, a drink was very fine and very normal. "...Okay, yeah, sure!"

As she begins to long shuffle through the crowd and to the bar, she silently prays that the Casino Starlight isn't one of those types of places that charges a fee for tap water...

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nikkari hect

"Well..."

Yes, she was? No, she wasn't? What is she supposed to say here? Is it better to be honest and admit that he's the sole reason she came here, or to lie and act like this was all one big coincidence? Faced with a difficult choice with murky outcomes, she instead takes the third option and doesn't answer at all.

"It's complicated."

It's both true, false, and put it lightly. But she isn't given much time to interrogate herself over it, as the stranger throws her a second curveball and puts her drink on his tab. Her eyes go wide for a single second, before they blink shut.

"Just a glass of red wine, please." She orders, only to immediately catch herself. "Nothing too expensive! Just, um, a normal glass of red wine, thank you."

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nikkari hect

Taking her glass into her hands, Mitsuru held it as though her life depended on it. Knowing how fancy this place was, their "normal" glass of red wine was probably several times more than she'd pay for a full bottle. And considering the state of her finances? She might as well have been holding a chalice of liquid gold.

All that is to say, she didn't even so much as lift it an inch off the countertop. In her mind, that seemed the most sensible thing to do. After all, what if she spilled it? No, she'd already put herself in the red, the last thing she wanted was to waste it. Not to mention, if she ended up embarrassing herself in front of high society, she might as well curl up into a ball and die right then and there...

...Speaking of embarrassing herself.

"E-ehehe... Well, it's not that complicated, I guess." Mitsuru shrunk a little, doing her best to avoid eye contact as her brain worked overtime to string words together. "I just, um, y'know, I... I wanted to thank you."

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nikkari hect

It's funny: The longer this conversation goes on, the more difficult it seems to get. Mitsuru had thought that starting it would be the hard part, but it turns out, every sentence is the hard part. This next question is simply the next in an ever-increasing line of "hard parts", but she can't dodge answering this one so easily.

She sat there for a while, carefully stringing together the words in her mind. His eyes feel horribly familiar in a way she refuses to place. Eventually, she relents, and takes the smallest possible sip from her glass, before speaking.

"I'd heard rumours. About a specific group of Pokemon." Mitsuru began, reciting the lines like a student reading out their hastily written presentation. "Apparently, there had been sightings of Entei, Raikou, and Suicune in the Great Chasm. I wasn't sure whether they were real or not, but... I had to see for myself."

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nikkari hect