Plantorsomething

Hoo, boy. Pokémon is… a lot. But also really really fun! So yeah, it’s a bit later than usual I think, since I was focused on trying to create a coherent Pokémon world, so sorry!

  
          Exiting the Japanese-style room, Harold was led by Erika to a beautiful japanese or chinese inspired garden, which was complete with a coy pond, short wooden bridges, and a bonsai section. Erika, who had changed into black lacquered geta sandals, was walking in front, while the wood of her footwear let out periodic clanking sounds not dissimilar to clicking high heels.

         As Harold took in the peaceful scenery, she stopped under a large tree that was more than twenty meters tall. At an angle where cherry blossom petals were fluttering around her like a beautiful illusion, she turned towards Harold, who would have blushed if  his body had allowed it.

         “Greetings to you again. I am Tasuku Sumeragi’s daughter, Erika Sumeragi”

         “Harold Stokes.”

         As soon as they finished exchanging names, silence descended again. Harold’s speech didn’t express any kind of friendly atmosphere at all…

         -Hold on, when did this tone return…?

         -Come to think of it, even in the original work, Harold would always speak in a harsh tone with Erika. Perhaps we can use polite language only in front of superiors?

         After staring up in silence for a few seconds, Erica realized her act was slipping, and she quickly spoke up again.

         “Thank you and your family so much for deciding to help us in our time of need.”

         “We’re not doing this for you.”

         Harold felt his spine freeze over. He only wanted to validate Erika’s feelings and acknowledge that it was a selfish act taking advantage of Summeragi's desperation, but it came out like that. From his first impression alone, he already felt like he was completely and utterly doomed.

          “...... Of course…  Uhm, did you know, this tree is called Sakura, and it is a flower that represents the Sumeragi house’s ancestral lands. It didn't exist in these lands, but it seems as though when the feudal lord migrated here five hundred years ago, he planted the sapling that he had brought with him. So now, it has become the symbol of the Sumeragi house.”

          As Harold was ruminating on how to circumvent his foulmouthed tone, all of a sudden he was told about the history of the Sumeragi, and how they introduced an invasive species to the land. Since she was troubled by the silence, Erika started explaining about the first thing she saw, which happened to be the cherry blossom tree. It was admirable that even in her mental state, her spirit to serve as a guide wasn’t diminished. Though, it was about as subtle as trying to comment on the weather.

          For Harold, who was somewhat familiar with cherry blossoms, it was a luckily suitable material for him to bite onto.

          “It is… different from the Sakura I know of.”

         The name of this tree wasn’t clear in the game, but the shape of its petals and the way it was attached to the tree was different from the Somei Yoshino one could commonly see in Japan. Somehow, even the color was deeper. As Kishino subconsciously tagged in and grabbed the steering wheel, he couldn’t help but take it as another reminder that he was far, far away from home.

         “Do you know about Sakura?”

         Although Erika was putting on a strange expression until now, her eyebrows raised slightly at his reply.

         -Crap.

         -Well, what would you have said in that situation!?

           Quickly thinking of an excuse, Kishino blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

          “No, it’s probably some different species from the same genus… Right, I was mistaken. Those kinds of Sakura would never be around here. Well, that kind of thing doesn’t matter.”

          His mouth, which was in its best condition even today, bluntly cut down Erika’s question when he simply tried to just change the topic. Being treated so coldly, Erika’s expression turned grim for a second.

           -Come to think of it, out of the people who appeared in the game, the only one that Erika loathed was Harold. I suppose it’s easy to see why.

           In the game, though Kishino didn’t like the stereotype, many Japanese players’ impressions of Erika were “Yamato Nadeshiko”, or the ideal Japanese woman. Even though she was the daughter of a highly distinguished noble family, she never consciously discriminated against the lower social class, and let alone allies, she would smile and be gentle even towards most enemies. She also held no qualms with not being the leader, and readily supported the protagonist. The amount of players who were endeared by her motherly and playful bearing were vast, though there were also a number of people who were annoyed by how soft she was, judging from what he’d seen online. There was even a tiny, but vocal group that found her character somewhat sexist, as was typical with practically every popular female character.

           Kishino used to have somewhat mixed feelings about her; she was a sweet character that even gave the party a multitude of new options in how they manage themselves as soon as she joined the party, and he found her interactions enjoyable, but he felt that it somewhat fit too much into the stereotype, and her character wasn’t explored as deeply as it could have been. It was similar with Colette, the tomboy childhood friend, and even the protagonist, the justice-driven shonen hero that everyone’s seen before. However, now that she was a real person, Kishino obviously couldn’t see her as a stereotype.

          As Harold tagged back into the Front Seat surprisingly quickly, he realized that the only one who could make such a stereotypically kind girl enraged to the point of slapping him in the game, was none other than himself. To make her do something like that, in a certain sense, it could even be seen as an achievement. Although, there were always those players who thought Erika slapping Harold was “Reward”, and they would replay that event multiple times to appreciate it. As he was lost in thought during the period of awkward silence, Erica finally spoke up again.

          “...In other words, does that mean you hold no interest towards the Sumeragi house...? And what is a ‘genus’? I tried to recall it, but I don’t remember ever hearing that before.”

          “Interpret it as you wish, and I shouldn’t have to explain it to you.”

          Harold wanted to curl up in a hole and die before he could make himself sound even more like an asshole, but that would have to wait until later. The only thing his body would do to interpret this embarrassment was to look away from Erica dismissively.

          “…Then, could you at least answer this; is it really true that the only thing that you people want is the name of the Sumeragi? That you strive for profits alone? I can only imagine it being lonely to live with that kind of family...”

          Erika’s facade had broken down completely now, only leaving behind a resigned hopelessness. But unexpectedly, said hopelessness was also mixed with a genuine attempt at empathy from Erica that made it immediately obvious how such a girl could grow to be similar to that game character. Latching onto that empathy, he quickly tried to repair the situation, only for his mouth to suddenly start to move on its own.

          “You have nothing other than your name. Are you mistaking something? Other than your prestige, the Stokes house isn’t in any way inferior. Even though you people call yourselves prominent and prestigious nobles, it is utterly pathetic that you can only sit and cry inside the house and wait for someone else to save you.”

          His mouth rambled on uncontrollably, lashing out in a harsh tone as shivers were sent down Harold’s spine. Seeing the sakura tree, and his own positioning relative to Erika, he realized that this was the event dialogue from a flashback scene. He’d completely forgotten that his body moved on its own during the Incident, so to suddenly lose control of himself caught him completely off guard. Harold’s words went far past being ill-mannered and could easily be seen as abusive. It couldn’t be denied that he had gone too far. 

          “What do you know…!”

          Erika muttered while desperately wrestling with her anger. This was eight years before the start of the game, and since she was still a child, her boiling point was obviously much lower than her adult self. Her face was hidden since she was looking down at her feet, but the trembling of her clenched fists made it more than apparent that she was furious. It would be bad if he fanned the flames any more. Coaxed by Kishino, Harold gave up on Plan A and reached into his jacket to pull out his travel notebook. He flipped it open to a section of bookmarked pages written in the common language rather than Japanese and ripped them out .

          “…What is it now!?”

          “Shut up and accept these. And tonight, hand them over to your father.”

          “I refuse.”

          This was what was called having no island to cling to. Completely reaping what you sow. Turning her face away, Erika left with a brisk pace.

(Madao – No island to cling to is a Japanese proverb meaning being utterly helpless)

          “Ah, is that so? If you want to let the people in your territory suffer and die, then do so.”         

          “-Do not try to manipulate my heart. Father told me that you would extort us of every penny, should we give you the chance.”

         Erica didn’t even bother trying to hide her disgust anymore, making Harold’s heart clench. But he didn’t have any more time to fix things.

         “... Then this is a gift. There is nothing I will ask for in return for this other than some arbitrary semblance of trust.”

         Erika looked at the letter. In the end, she hesitated, but upon hearing the smug, condescending manner of speech, she came to the conclusion that no good could come out of someone like Harold. It lacked credibility, and it was even a suggestion from a person who supported the pure-blood principle, which ran completely opposite to her own ideology. She could only imagine it was an attempt to butter the Summeragi up and to be used as blackmail later on.

         A gust of wind blew by, and the cherry blossom petals fluttered as though wrapping around the 2 people. After staring at each other briefly in silence, the one who moved first was Erika.

          “I won’t believe in your silver tongue…”

         With that spiteful expression, she firmly turned her back and walked away. For Kishino, that was his signal for plan B-a.

          “There is a medicine that will suppress the plague’s symptoms.”

          Erika immediately froze in her tracks, and whipped her head around without bothering to conceal her surprise.

          “I have a list of fifteen possible ingredients, but the one who developed it is unsure of which ones are effective, other than it must be five of the options combined. My network has heard rumors of someone with the capabilities of putting it together who is luckily near this territory. For now I will give your family another gift on top of the notes for the medicine, to show you that I know someone that knows what they’re doing, but I need Summeragi's help to find this person. I don’t care if you believe me. Decide based on the results.”

          Erika didn’t know what to do. Someone connected to this boy had come up with a possible medicine, while hundreds of professional doctors failed? It wasn’t as if she believed the boy, not by a long shot, but it was possible someone from a different culture had a different approach to the problem. Even if there was even a small chance… 

         “... Just for that letter and those notes, you’ll ask for nothing in return, is that correct?”

         “That is what I said.”

         “...”

        Erika walked up and firmly snatched the folded sheets of paper from Kishino’s hands. 

        “I will do as you requested… ” 

        Harold felt an enormous weight lift from his shoulders.

        -Oh, thank fuck! My god that was horrible.

        -Damn this godforsaken mouth…!

        It was a bittersweet victory, to say the least. He had wanted to keep this business between him and the head of the house if possible, and not involve Erika. She would end up being a part of the hero’s party so anything action concerning her was dangerous, but he needed to tell her something in order to convince her. He also didn’t want to include that ‘present’ and keep it to himself if at all possible, but Harold had a gut feeling the medicine alone would have been too sketchy. But regardless of the consequences to come of what he had just done, it was already over and it couldn’t be taken back. It was impossible to even know whether Tasuku would believe in the nonsensical letter given to him by a 10 year old and try to implement it, but again, Harold wasn’t smart enough to think of anything he could have done better. If it was a failure, then he would cross that bridge when he got to it. Suppressing a sigh, Kishino looked up and gazed at the cherry blossom tree that was surrounded by the blue sky covered in hazy clouds.

◇

           The Stokes family had settled into some of their few western styled bedrooms for the duration of their stay, and dark clouds were gathering in Erika’s heart. One of the causes went without saying- Getting engaged to Harold.

          Erika firmly understood that she had a high social status, and that there were responsibilities attached to that. She hadn’t even thought of getting married according to her own will, and she didn’t currently have anyone in her heart. But still, she had been just naive enough to hold some small hope for her love life, and regardless of her somewhat altruistic ideals, she couldn't bring herself to feel content in becoming a member of a house brazen enough to force an engagement by taking advantage of other people’s weakness.

         Especially when she had heard that the current head of the Stokes house was a proponent for the pure-blood ideology, and that he treated people who didn’t have noble blood similar to or even less than objects. Saying their ideologies were oil and water was an understatement, but even so, for people like that, the blood of the Sumeragi house was extremely attractive.

          The idea that the people who were discriminated against were reasoned to be ‘lucky’ under the rule of such ‘pure blooded’ nobles made her stomach churn, and Erika’s blood simultaneously boiled at the fact that her power couldn’t be of any help to the Sumeragi house nor the citizens other than by being a political bargaining chip. But even Erika at her age could understand that by playing along with those pure-blood hypocrites, a large amount of lives could be saved. 

         But even though I knew that, I couldn’t even do that much…!

         When Harold, completely ignorant to Erika’s distress, spoke ill of the Sumeragi house right to her face, she felt something break inside her. Such a thoughtless act couldn’t possibly be forgiven. And so, she broke down and lashed out at the boy she was supposed to be pleasing, selfishly acting according to her own feelings rather than doing the right thing for the territory. She had failed her citizens as well as her own family, who put so much faith in her. And after all of that, the letter and papers received from that same boy were gripped in Erika’s own two hands. She just wanted to tear them up and burn it all away, but doing so would just make her out to be both pathetic for receiving the papers in the first place, and stupid and selfish enough to waste such an oppurtunity for her own feelings, right after condemning herself for doing exactly that. Also, even though it was only a verbal promise, she couldn’t bring herself to break it.

         The threat of dishonoring the Sumeragi, and more than anything, abandoning a chance of saving the suffering people of the territory, was enough for Erika to swallow any amount of humiliation. And so, she carefully slid open the paper door in front of her.

         “... Please forgive me for all of this, Erika…”

         Those words leaked out in a regretful tone from Tasuku, who was sitting at the desk in his study. He couldn’t possibly hide his shame at making her marry someone from such a cruel family. Even so, if he had to make a mortifying choice to protect the lives and livelihood of several tens of thousands of people, then it was his duty as the head of the house to do so.

          “Please don’t mind it, Father. This is also for the Sumeragi and the citizens who live here.”

          There were no lies in those feelings. But even so, she needed some time to compose her heart.

          “Also, Harold-sama asked me to give this to you tonight.”

          Taking out the letter, she held it out to Tasuku without telling him any unnecessary details that might be used to manipulate him.

          “From Harold-kun?”

          Thinking that he might have been instructed by his parents to greet them for the engagement, he received the papers. He was only curious why it was being handed to him via Erika and not at the dinner table, and why it was so late at night.

          “Then, I will return to my room.”

          “Of course. Please get some good rest; you more than deserve it.”

          Bowing towards Tasuku, who wore a guilty and sympathetic smile, Erika quickly left for her room as she concealed how much those words hurt her. Tasuku and Koyomi were truly concerned in their hearts, but their pity just made it all the more painful when she didn’t deserve it.

          Seeing his daughter behaving in such a curt manner, Tasuku condemned himself for making her bear such a heavy burden for the nth time. As he had a million times before, he wondered if there were any other methods he could have done, which would end up not hurting her.

          “… I suppose at this point, there’s no use no matter how hard I think about it.”

          Everything, this entire situation was all because of his own powerlessness. And because of his weakness, he had forced Erika and the people to carry a heavy burden. He didn’t even deserve to mock himself. With a gloomy heart, he opened the letter from Harold.

          The beginning of the letter had a cleanly written seasonal greeting, which was unlike something written by a child, even a noble one. With that itself, Tasuku knew it had to be written by someone else. But as he went on reading the letter, the complacency to think about such things was blown away. Spontaneously, power surged into his hand as his muscles clenched involuntarily, and by the time he had finished reading the first page, the small stack of papers were deeply wrinkled.

         “Is anyone there!? Call Kiryuu! And Erika as well!”

         Tasuku’s loud voice rang out throughout the whole mansion with the exception of the soundproofed guest rooms. Being flustered by their master’s unusual urgency, the servants working in the mansion scrambled to search for Kiryuu, and Erica’s own heart jumped with surprise as she rushed back into the office, having only made it halfway down the hallfay. 

         “W-what’s wrong, father?”

         “We will need your account of your discussion with Harold, but please wait.”

         Did Erika screw everything up again?. Should she have read the papers herself before handing it to her father? Was it some sort of blackmail? Soon, the figure of the other person who was shouted for swiftly threw the door open with his adrenaline. It was the elderly man who was waiting for Harold and his father at the gate.

         “What is it, Master?”

         “We can’t speak here. Come.”

        The place which Tasuku chose was the soundproofed office, where only the most important and secret of meetings were held. There, he told Erika to wait and made Kiryuu read the letter from Harold. As soon as Kiryuu seemingly finished reading, Tasuku pressed him for his opinion.

        “That letter was passed on to us from Harold-kun. What do you think?”

        “…Frankly speaking, I think this is highly suspicious,”

        “Agreed. But regardless of that, there is no benefit for the Stokes family that I can see.”

        “If so, then is it the work of a third party? At the very least, it is hard to think that it was written by the boy himself. What did Erica say on the matter?”

        “I too think he was just used as a go-between... Erika, please give us your honest impressions of Harold.”

         That line of thinking was the most understandable answer. Because, the contents of the letter wasn’t something that a mere ten year old child could write. Erika, who was prompted to speak, recounted her memory of her conversation with Harold, trying her best not to leave out any details. 

          “-...So that was it. He was only a typical heartless blood puritan who thought nothing of the Summeragi other than our name and blood, but he seemed to be involved with some person who wrote those papers. I don’t believe his claim about the medicine; I think it’s only a half-truth at best.”

          “Thank you, Erika… That is all we need. This isn’t an immediately bad thing as far as I can tell, so you may rest easy. I’m sorry for calling you again. ”

          “I-it was nothing… Please let me know if you need anything more. Good night, father.”

          Reluctantly, Erika stepped out and slowly walked to her room. She desperately wanted to know what was happening, but if she wasn’t needed, then it would only be a waste of time to explain it to her. She needed to trust in her father. 

          As Erika shut the soundproof discussion room’s door, Tasuku felt that the biggest question still wasn’t answered.

          “The problem is whose work this actually is. If they were some sort of supporter of the Sumeragi, there would be no need to choose such a roundabout and unreliable method to deliver this to us.”

          “Then, is it the work of someone who is against the Stokes house?”

          “They do have many people that despise them, but even so, it must be someone who is close enough to Harold-kun to make him accept their request, or someone who could manipulate him to a great extent… For a family like his to give so much unconditionally to another person, maybe some genius mushroom monster brainwashed him to do it?”

          Kiryuu chuckled at the attempt to lighten the atmosphere. Without it being someone extremely close to Harold, there was practically no way that the letter would reach Tasuku.. The aim of the mastermind was likely to prevent the Stokes house from gaining power, either so they could achieve something, or prevent something that Stokes would use their new power to do. To make any solid conjectures, they would need much more information than the present point of time.

         “It might be bad for the Sumeragi if we get caught trying to pry into them, but…”

         “No, if we do that, the risks are too high and the rewards are unknown. The most we can do now is to keep a watch on Harold’s behavior while he is within our territory.”

           It was as Kiryuu said. They would gather the Shinobi to find out as much as they could from Harold, but that was the limit of their actions as long as they knew so little. 

          “As to the validity of the letter’s contents…”

          “Judging from the low risk and lack of apparent benefit to anyone but the Sumeragi, it is highly possible that the contents written down are true.”

          This wasn’t a concrete conclusion. But if it was effective, the evidence would speak for itself. In that case, as was written down in the letter, it would be possible to save thousands to millions of lives.

          “Kiryuu, gather the required materials for these new farming discoveries at once. And after explaining the risks, employ those who still have hope. If we research quickly, public release will be possible in less than a year; the one writing this letter is just being overly cautious. While you’re at it, quickly summon the shinobi and arrange a meeting between me and Harold tomorrow.”

         There was no definitive proof that the contents of the letter were true. However, when he thought about it critically, even though the letter writer didn’t state it, it was also their only hope to gain independence and break the engagement that would dishonor the Sumeragi family name and sentence his daughter to unhappiness. Even if he was dancing on someone’s palm, Tasuku decided to take full responsibility for this gamble. So that he could save his beloved citizens, and so that his daughter might once again smile like a flower.