This world is inhabited by creatures that we call pokemon. People and pokemon live together by supporting each other, but now the scourge threatens the safety of the entire region. Kohaku has become a dangerous place, where children stay at home and only brave souls go adventuring.
Welcome to KOHAKU. Come for the nightmares. Stay for the tea and crumpets.
The season is SUMMER. It is easy for survivors to forage for food from the land, as there are entire abandoned farms ready for harvest. On the downside, you can smell the corpses.
swarms
GRAND OPENING !
Welcome to KOHAKU REGION's grand opening! If you're interested in joining, come check out our grand opening giveaway!
how long had he been a trainer? since the eos program started -- no, before that. when things happened. "not too long. i'm not very experienced -- i wasn't a trainer before this."
"then i will take that option," J said. he had no intention of saying more than he did; if possible, he pretended that he remembered nothing about his past. "i suppose it gave me a an aim, if you want to put it that way."
delilah shrugged at his lack of response. (it wasn't really that important, anyway; she was just trying to make conversation.) there was something about the man that intrigued her, but delilah had the feeling that pressing the topic further would warrant less and less cooperation.
so she changed the subject. "what d'you think of the scourge?"
"i'm not sure." J's words were honestly what he was thinking; he had no real opinion of them. if eos dictated that they were to be defeated, then it was what he would do -- he had nowhere else to go, nothing else to do in kohaku. his career as a musician had been sunk.
"they're to be defeated." he glanced at her. "if i were to put it differently, i suppose it rebuilt my life at the same time it destroyed many others'."
delilah couldn't stop the harsh laugh that made its way out of her throat. defeated was a mild way of putting things -- obliterated was a much better word to use, she thought. but -- "yes, they are." she would destroy the scourge, and she wouldn't die trying.
the woman glanced back at the man, and her mouth curved into a bitter smile as he finished speaking. "interesting way of saying it," she commented wryly. what kind of life had he led up until then? "but i see what you mean ... i guess."
the apology surprised J, but he could see the bitterness in her smile as she spoke. "many people lost things to the scourge -- perhaps you're one of those, perhaps you're not." the canopy was as green as ever, but the sunlight was gone, blocked by floating clouds. "we're all affected, that's why we're in eos."
J inhaled, then exhaled. he repeated it a few times, thinking. what would he do after that? he had nothing to go back to; maybe he'd stay back to help rebuild the place. but after that -- what? delilah raised a good point, but at the same time, it was something that J didn't want to think about.
secretly, he questioned himself whether he truly wanted to end the scourge.
"... i," he said, then stopped to look at her. he had no one to go back to -- friends were but allies in this, and after the eos program, they all had something to return or look forward to. J? he had nothing.
his lack of response was enough for delilah to know what kind of man this 'J' was. she didn't know specifics, nor did she ask. some questions were best left unanswered.
so instead she focused on what he returned back at her, staring into the clouded canopy. "i ..."
what about her?
was she simply going to pick up where she had left off -- in the clubs, on the rooftops, during the dead of night? or was she ...
delilah bit her lip. "i have siblings, but i ..." the woman laughed once. "i guess i don't know, either."
"which is the one that looks like me?" asked J, fully aware of the repercussions. strange, how even the people who looked like her sibling was involved. yet, he found no interest in seeing things from her shoes, only a curiosity as to which one of two siblings he resembled.
