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!
"irene," zahir said. "she's certainly taken it hard, hasn't she? every time i go to the bar at the casino, i swear she hasn't moved. does she even go back to her room anymore, or do they let her sleep at the poker table?"
he looked back over his shoulder at her.
"you can come in."
beyond the door was a hallway, with a portrait of an older woman, water-stained, on the right wall. zahir politely removed his shoes at the entrance, kicking them to the side. he was wearing black dress socks, but it still wasn't the smartest choice he had ever made. he found that he didn't care once he thought about it though. he flicked the light switch out of habit--shockingly, no lights turned on.
"work was busy," he said, "but that was no real excuse. i'm a food critic. i could have easily mocked up an assignment for the festival of the hunt. she invited me."
"I observed her for a day. They laid her on a sofa to the side, but that was before word of the Bacchus resistance reached Nerio. I imagine they're less kind now."
Only with permission did Neo take a step inside, although she still loitered in the foyer, only trailing after Zahir when he moved out of line of sight.
"Should've come. I did. Granted, I don't remember any of the festivities in much detail, and I was hung over for two days afterward. Prerequisites for a good festival, if you ask me." Those two days afterwards were entirely unpleasant to be fair, but if her black out was testament, it was likely worth it. "They were happy times. Even before the scourge, not so many of those that I'd turn an invitation down."
"you seem to have a lot of free time on your hands for an EOS researcher."
he moved into the kitchen, which was just as he remembered it: that is to say it wasn't much of anything. faded walls in the dim lighting, a fridge he wasn't interested in opening (though he slid two photos pinned up with magnets off and examined them) and a table for one, with an extra chair folded up against the wall.
"they were happy times. i should have gone. i was just an idiot. stupid kid, you know, impressed with himself for finally making it in the big city. i had an apartment of my own i could pay for and a girl i loved and enough money to buy the nice wine instead of the cheap stuff when i wanted to take her out, and i thought that was enough. i guess everyone learns."
"Can't fight the scourge 24/7. Some people will try. They'll burn out early. Well, maybe a trainer could if they're dumb enough, but I am a researcher. I need clarity of mind, sanity, and focus. A brief respite is often worth more than the time I'd have spent in battle."
She leaned on a kitchen counter--poison on her sleeve, great--and observed.
"There's always the upside. At least you weren't here last year then. You're alive. That's something. Besides, everyone loves a love story. Not your fault for being lucky enough to live one."
"that makes sense. i guess i'm so used to the papers trotting out the story about the brave battlers who live on the front lines day and night so we civilians can still blog about burnt pastry crust that the story sticks. stories are tricky like that. speaking of the papers, they say there's a vaccine now. is that true? or are they just trying to calm us down before the scourge burst out of bellona and pour over the walls?"
he folded up one of the photos from the fridge and slipped it into his pocket, and held the other out to neo.
"i don't know if you'd want this."
it's a picture of the block, taken years before the scourge had hit. there's the back of a blond kid's head in the right corner, presumably zahir at age 10 or so, but the main focus of the photo is the street, lined with cheery suburban houses. flowering apple trees and green lawns far as the eye can see. there's a woman in the background, standing on her porch and waving at whomever was holding the camera.
She shrugged. "We are all of us only human. The press just likes to say what the people want to hear. The vaccine is real enough though. Unfortunately quite scarce."
Neo took the photo, looked at it--stared, really, her face impassive. "I don't know if I do either. The past is past, isn't it?" Nevertheless, she pocketed the photo.
"No looters," Neo commented, not that there was every that much doubt. Looting Di Manes just required dealing with a curse. Looting Decima was 1) exceptionally dangerous, and 2) way too soon. "She kept her books in a sun room in back, if that means anything to you."
"not much to loot," zahir said quietly. "she lived alone. mostly just books and food that's too expired to be much use to anyone."
"you can go to the sun room if you want. feel free to take anything she might have wanted you to have. what i need--if it's here--is going to be in her bedroom."
"Will you be alright?" Neo asked. It was mostly a courtesy. She expected a grown man could take care of himself.
Neo wasn't entirely sure Ms. Brand would've wanted her to have anything. They weren't terribly close, but she supposed there was no one else she'd have given her stuff to. An ex-husband that erased her, a son that never visited, all she had were her neighbors. It was too late now, but if it wasn't, Neo might've reached out to her more. Visited and talked, maybe.
"i will be," zhair said. "thank you. there are--plans in place. the legal system's a bit of a backed-up mess, with everything that's happened, but there's a suspect in custody and we think we might win the trial. it's not cut-and-dry, but it's close enough."
he walked down the dark hallway that snaked out of the kitchen and lead to a very small, somehow even more impersonal room than the kitchen. zahir went straight to the dully gleaming dresser beside the bed and opened the top drawer, rifling through a small stack of papers.
The sun room was an ugly room now. It used to be brightly lit with floor-to-ceiling windows and skylights. Now, despite it being midday, the window panes had been stained with a toxic film, and the smog outside filtered out the sun.
Neo didn't really think there was anything Ms. Brand would've particularly wanted her to have. She also didn't think there'd be much she'd be able to carry around. The frontlines was a good place to carry a kindle, not a library. Neo looked around anyway, more for old time's sake than anything else.
So she sat in front of the windows, cross-legged like a small child, and massive coffee table books laid out in front of her. The Illustrated Guide to Kohaku Region laid open to the table of contents. Gingerly, as if treating an ancient manuscript, she turned the pages--occasionally stopping for a particularly remarkable photograph or an interesting graph--until she landed upon Decima Town's entry.
She lost interest. The guide was outdated now.
"You okay?" Neo yelled, because she thought she may as well check. "No scourge ambush up there?"
"On the bright side," she continued the shouting, "at least there's no one left alive to see the mess."
She stood up when he returned. She still carried the Illustrated Guide to Kohaku, but she was fine with abandoning the rest of the books. "My pleasure. I hope you found whatever you came here for."
