19: And They Were Roommates (IV)

Rei – Snivy

 

“And here we are!” Ichi said as he let the rest of us in. “Welcome to our home, make yourselves comfortable!”

“…you say that as if we weren’t just here like an hour ago.” Stella chuckled. “…I will get comfy, though, thank you very much~” She marched over to the couch, hopping up and sitting down.

Aiden waddled in with the giant box the purple leopard from the reception desk let us keep. Still didn’t get how a box could be so special, honestly. “Where do I put this, Ichi?”

“Uhh… put it down in the corner, next to the couch, I’ll figure something out later.” The rat shrugged. The Audino complied, dropping the box on the floor and removing its contents.

“Don’t tell me you’re going in the box again.” I cringed.

“Okay, I won’t.” He went back into the box.

“Oh, you smartass.”

Aiden peeked back out. “Hm? You told me not to tell you.” I couldn’t tell if he was trolling or not, sounded way too genuine. It’s a little hard to read him—he seems a little too calm for somebody whose house just burned down the day before. If I were in his shoes, I’d be freaking out, or at least be pretty shaken for a while. 

I sighed. It didn’t really feel right to stay upset with him—I dunno what it is about Aiden, but I like his vibes. Chatted with him earlier while Ichi and Stella were “dueling,” he’s pretty chill. He exudes soft boy vibes.

Just then, I heard a loud grumble from the couch. It was Stella’s stomach. “…hungry… what’re you guys thinkin’ of for dinner?”

“We can always just go to Swanna’s,” Ichi suggested.

“I swear, there needs to be more restaurants here,” I complained.

“Oh!” Aiden suddenly stood up—well, tried to stand up, but tipped the box over and tumbled out. “Oof-”

“You good?” I asked.

“Y-yes, yes… ehe…” He positioned the box back upright after getting up. “I could cook dinner for you all!”

“Oh shit, more of your food? Sweet.” Stella’s tail started wagging.

“You can cook?” Ichi asked.

“Oh hell yeah he can cook.” The Rockruff nodded. “He makes a mean Cheri pie.” 

“I do wanna bake another pie… I don’t suppose you have the ingredients here, do you?”

Ichi shook his head. “Haven’t gone grocery shopping since moving in here.”

“S-since moving in?” Aiden was surprised.

“Well, we’ve only had this house for a week, so it hasn’t been that long.”

“Ohh… that explains why I haven’t seen you two around before. I’ve been living in Post Town for years…” Aiden put his hand on his chin. “Now where was I… oh! Right! Dinner!” He shuffled over to the kitchen. “Let’s see~”

He opened the pantry and was delightfully greeted by a very, very barren cabinet. We currently only had a half-empty carton of eggs, a bag of uncooked rice, some apples, and a bunch of bags of chips and other snack foods. “…ehh..?” He checked the other cabinets, and couldn’t find anything else. “…please tell me you at least have cooking oil.”

“Should be in one of those… don’t remember which one,” Ichi said.

“Bottom cabinet, next to the stove,” I pointed out.

“…guess we’re eating out again—” Ichi sighed, starting to head over to the door.

“No. Sit tight, please. I can make do with this.” It looked like a lightbulb went off in his head.

Ichi turned around. “…oookay then! Show us your skills, chef.”

“I’ll do my best with what you have!” He immediately got to work, grabbing a pot and a frying pan from the cabinet. He was… oddly focused. It was surprising to see him like that.

“Sheesh, look at him go.” Stella laughed. “What’cha cooking?”

“You two conveniently have the right ingredients to make rice omelets.” He searched through the cabinets again. “…no measuring cups…? Oh well.” He opened up the bag of rice and started pouring it into the pot, seemingly eyeballing the right amount.

“…we really need to go shopping,” I sighed.

“Did you guys just… forget to?” Stella looked at us funny.

“Didn’t come across my mind, hehe…” Ichi sheepishly grinned.

“I was just too lazy to care.” I shrugged.

“I’ll go tomorrow,” the Audino offered as he measured water into the pot. (He even did the finger measurement thing all Asians do, or at least, it looked like it. This guy knew what he was doing.)

“Oh, no, you don’t gotta do that-” Ichi reassured him.

He was washing the rice. “I insist! I don’t mind!”

It wasn’t long before the Audino gathered us all at the table, presenting some freshly-made rice covered in a nice layer of eggs. It looked really plain—which was fair, not like we had anything else besides rice and eggs—but somehow, despite being so simple, it looked really good. Then again, pretty sure it’s hard to fuck up simple dishes. It mimicked the pics I’ve seen online—it looked like he even cut up some apples and put some slices on the side as some kinda garnish. All it was missing was some ketchup, and the omurice would’ve been perfect.

“…wow.” Ichi was astonished. “Fancy.”

“Smells so good…” The Rockruff was almost panting.

“Hope it tastes good, everybody…” The Audino chuckled shyly. “It might be a little bland… It’s supposed to be made with fried rice, but we don’t really have the ingredients for that.”

“Eh, it’s fine, you did what you could! I’m pretty impressed.” Ichi smiled. “Welp, let’s dig in, guys!”

The omurice did indeed taste like it was missing flavor. I liked the taste of plain white rice though, so I didn’t care. I’m not very picky when it comes to food. “Not bad at all,” I told him.

Stella was scarfing it down. “Mmm…”

Ichi nodded. “Pretty good. Could use some salt, though…”

“You didn’t seem to have any…” Aiden pouted. “…anyway, I’m glad all of you are satisfied. After I go grocery shopping, I’ll make sure to make a proper rice omelet!”

“Looking forward to it!” Ichi gave him a thumbs up.

 

“…hey, I got a question.” Stella was somehow already halfway through her omurice. “Where are me and Aiden gonna sleep? I only see two rooms in this house.”

“Good question, uhh…” Ichi looked around the house. “I guess one of us is gonna have to sleep on the couch. I’ll have to talk to Mr. Gurdurr about getting some more nests in here.”

“Oh, you know Mr. Gurdurr? Tell him I say hi!” Aiden said.

“Will do. Anyway, one of you sleeps on the couch, then… I guess two people are gonna have to share a nest.”

“I’m not sleeping with anybody,” Stella immediately said, scoffing at the thought.

“…Rei and I could share a nest!” Ichi offered. “Aiden sleeps on the couch, and you take my room for the time being, Stella.”

“Hold up, what. ” I glared at the rat. “I- I never agreed to that! I don’t wanna sleep with anybody either!”

“Think about it. Aiden’s too big to sleep on either of our beds, so he has to stay on the couch. And we can’t have a girl sleep with either of us, Rei! Think of the implications!”

“You’re not thinking of the implications of two men sleeping with each other.”

“You’re the one thinking of it like that, Rei. We’re friends! Pals! Buddies! Might I say, bros!”

“…have we really gotten that close-”

“I’d say so!” Ichi smiled.

Stella just laughed at how eager Ichi was. “Ooookay, if you say so, boss-mon. You two can sleep together~”

I groaned. Sometimes I like this rat, sometimes I hate this rat.

The Rockruff kept on howling in laughter. Starting to hate Stella’s cackling, too. I wasn’t very fond of that mutt. She’s so condescending. So what if I don’t know how to fight? So what if I’m supposed to be capable ‘cause I’m the oldest? She doesn’t know a damn thing about my situation.

My mood soured as I just sucked it up, taking another bite of the bland rice omelet. If I don’t say a thing about it, maybe she’ll shut up. Worked for me before.

 

---

 

“Good night, everybody!” After dinner, Ichi followed me into my room, closing the door behind him.

“…we really are doing this.” I grimaced.

“What’s wrong, Rei? I don’t see the problem with it.”

“Has it not crossed your mind yet?? We’re sharing a bed, do you not know how gay that is??” 

“I’m trying not to tell myself that!” He kept up a smile as he marched over to the nest. “I’ll take this half.” He plopped down his Poke sack and his new satchel beside him as he sat down on the right half of the nest.

“You’re… you can’t be serious.”

“It’s just one night. It’s fine. It’s gonna be fine.”

“…even you don’t sound so sure.”

“Rei, quit your complaining and sit down with me,” he ordered, his smile dropping for a second.

“Eh-” I was taken aback by his sudden shift in tone. “…f-fine.” I took off my satchel and reluctantly sat down beside the Pikachu. Normally I wouldn’t think it was gay to sleep beside an animal, but when the animal in question acts and talks like a person, it… I’m not even gonna finish, it’s really weird, is what I’m getting at.

I sat right at the edge of the nest. Normally this excuse for a bed was spacious enough for the snake I now was, but of course, that doesn’t mean it’s suited for two people. Or at least, it’s not suited for two people that were just friends.

…I swear, those weird innuendos that mutt Cole made are getting to me, I thought.

“See? It ain’t so bad, Rei! Haha…” Ichi awkwardly laughed next to me.

“…at least I’m not stuck sleeping with that dog,” I sighed.

“Dog?”

“Stella. Gonna be honest, I don’t like her. Keeps talking down on me.”

“She doesn’t seem like that bad of a ‘mon to me.” Ichi shrugged. “She seems a little rude, but hey, isn’t everybody these days?”

“…” I stared at the floor. I remembered her laughing at me earlier for not knowing a single move. I wasn’t a Pokemon until two weeks ago, cut me some fucking slack. “…when are we telling them about… me being a human?”

“I mean, do you want to tell them?”

“Ye—er…” I was about to say yes, but then I remembered Cole telling me that it’d be too much of a waste of time to explain it all… or something along those lines. Better to gloss over it.

…What’d be the point of telling them, anyway? What do I gain from it? I feared Stella would just harass me even more—that’s kinda what always happened when I opened my mouth to bullies.

Pfft, Stella isn’t even a bully anyway. They’re just some stupid remarks that I gotta be blowing out of proportion. I was rationalizing it in my head. I’m getting flustered over nothin’.

“…scratch that, let’s… let’s not bother.” I huffed, changing my mind. “How the hell would we convince ‘em anyway, haha.”

Ichi was looking at me with a frown, his head tilted a little. “…Rei, you okay? You don’t look so good.”

“I always don’t look so good,” I joked.

“You looked good before yesterday… What’s up?”

“…eh, it’s nothing.”

“C’mon. I’m your friend! I care about ya, buddy… tell me.”

I shook my head.

“Then… as your partner—business partner—I want you to tell me.” He had to correct himself mid-sentence.

“Don’t call me your partner,” I hissed. “…n-not when we’re sitting this close on the same bed.”

“You’re making this more gay than it is, dude.”

“Shut up,” I grumbled. I looked down at my nest for a little bit, before quietly looking back at the Pikachu. “…why am I your ‘business partner,’ anyway?”

“Eh? Why do you ask?”

“I dunno.” Stella’s words were getting to me, whether she meant ‘em or not. She probably did, honestly. “…the little confidence I’ve had has just been sucked outta me lately, gonna be honest.”

Ichi just quietly looked back at me with a smile. “…eh, I didn’t really have a real reason at first… When I first hired you, it only really made sense ‘cause you were like my first employee.”

“…the longer I stay with you, the less that first meeting felt like me begging to get hired for a job and more like… me just begging for a friend.”

“Yeah, maybe employee isn’t the right word here… After all, we’re equals, no?”

“…are we? I never thought so.”

“We’re helping each other out, aren’t we? You’re helping me with my dream, I’m helping you with adjusting to Pokemon life.”

“…Kinda feel like I haven’t really made much contribution at all. Hell, didn’t you pretty much shoo me away when you were ‘interviewing’ those two? Barely let me have a say in picking them… even though I was gonna pick those two anyways ‘cause they were the first ones.”

“…well… you know what, that’s on me, Rei. Sorry ‘bout that. I’m just a little hasty when it comes to decision-making, is all!”

“At least you’re aware of it.” I rolled my eyes.

“…anyway, back to my point. After getting to know you, I think I found a reason why we’re business partners,” Ichi said. “It’s simple—we just click.”

“…what.”

“Feels like we’re meant to be together, y’know? No homo.”

“This conversation is getting more and more homo the longer it goes on. Though… I can kinda see it, yeah. Even down to our names, hah.” I chuckled.

“Eh? What about our names?”

“Uh, how do I explain this… there’s this human language where ‘rei’ means ‘zero’ and ‘ichi’ means ‘one.’” I put it in the simplest way I could think of. “Zero and one. We’re complete opposites.”

“Woah, really? That’s such a cool coincidence!” Ichi’s eyes practically lit up.

“Yeah, I guess. I’m zero, you’re one. Hah.” I’m zero.

…no, no, no, I’m… I’m gonna be spiraling again.  

Ichi notices me suddenly falter. “H-hey, everything alright?”

“Wh-what? I-it’s fine, it doesn’t matter!” I automatically blurted. “Anyway…” I needed to find a new topic, quickly. Something to latch onto so I don’t start falling. “…uh.”

“…Wanna just lie back and chill here?” Ichi suggested.

“…yeah. Let’s- let’s just chill.” Relieved that the rat did it for me, I flopped down onto the prickly nest. “…ouch.”

Ichi snickered as he lay down beside me. We were both trying to share the space equally while also making sure we weren’t too close to each other.

“…hey, have you ever done any running, Rei?”

“Besides that little race to Swanna House we had? No.”

“Oh, I remember that… man, we should have a proper race, you and me.”

“…you’re obviously gonna win,” I scoffed.

“Well, you’re not gonna with that attitude~” Ichi smirked. “Come on, racing’s fun, we should have one sometime. Running helps me blow off steam.”

“…I’ll think about it.”

“Paradise is a perfect racetrack, too! Well, if you ignore all the rubble, that is…”

“…what’s your plan with Paradise now, anyway? We got a house, and we got a carpenter that we can hire.”

“First thing tomorrow, I’m talking with Mr. Gurdurr, and hopefully he’s on board with my pitch. We’ll get this land all tidied up in no time so that fellow entrepreneurs can flock to us to start their businesses here!” he cheered. “One step closer to a proper Paradise! Man, I can just imagine this big plot being littered with buildings…”

“…right.” I… envied Ichi. He’s younger than me, yet he’s got so many ambitions in his head. He’s so good at pretending like he knows what he’s doing.

But I can’t just say that. No matter how much I spill my guts to Ichi, I can’t let him know that. I don’t want our friendship to be tainted.

“Need me to do anything to help?” I asked.

“I can handle it on my own, don’t you worry.” He winked. “Besides, don’t you wanna go on a mission now that you’re an official rescuer?”

“…ehhhh…” I cringed a little.

“Oh come on! You’re the one that wanted us to be a rescue team, no?”

“Only to spite Cole!” I admitted. “He- he was begging for my help, and I kept telling him no, so he just suggested that I join a rescue team so I could be useful…” I was obviously paraphrasing him, leaving out the oh-so-important fact that the world was in danger.

“Did… he really say that?”

“Well that’s how I saw it, at least.”

“…whatever he told you must’ve freaked you out real bad, huh Rei?” Ichi noted. “Since you came back yesterday you’ve been a little… off, to say the least.”

“It’s… nothing. Nothing important, really.” An obvious lie, but I didn’t care so much.

“…I’m here for you, buddy. Just so you know.” Ichi said. “Whatever he said, don’t let it get to ya…”

Ichi and I sat in silence for about a minute. 

 

Eventually, I laid down on the nest. “…hey. I got a question.”

“Huh?”

“Say you’ve been told to do this… really daunting task for somebody you don’t know. Say you’re expected to do something way outta your league. What would you do?”

“Real specific, huh?” Ichi laughed. “…well, I’d take that with pride! I like a good challenge!” he flaunted. “And besides, if they’re expecting so much outta me, that must mean they think I’m strong or talented! I’d take that compliment for sure!”

“Uh-huh.” I stared at the ceiling. “…guess that complete opposites thing from earlier rings true here.” People expect way too much out of a zero like me. At least, that’s how I see it.

I’m expected to save the world, I’m expected to be some kinda business associate to Ichi, I’m expected to know every single move a Snivy can fucking learn… even worse pressure than the usual. Wack.

I wanna be able to take challenges “with pride” like Ichi. How in the world does he think that it’s a compliment, having so many expectations held against him? It just results in an even worse crash when you find that you can’t meet them.

I sighed. I never wanted the pressure and stress that comes with an isekai to actually be a thing… I didn’t wanna have to save the world! I didn’t wanna keep all this shit a secret! I didn’t wanna cope with no longer being human! I never asked for this! Why can’t this shit be an easygoing slice of life?

…wait. It… it kinda has been one, hasn’t it? 

 

“You got awfully quiet there, Rei…” Ichi sounded concerned.

“…maybe you’re right…” I finally said, at last able to grasp the cap I needed to bottle this shit up again. “I’m dwelling too much on what Cole said. I’m letting him win by letting his words get to me, haha…”

“…what’s this daunting task you mentioned?”

“I keep telling you, it’s nothing to worry about… you shouldn’t be caring about it.” I then quickly added, “A-after all, you got some deals and business to take care of, eh?”

“Rei, come on, man… I can’t help if you aren’t gonna tell me!”

“Why do you think I need help?” I scoffed. “Look, there’re more important things for you to fret about.”

“But-”

“Ichi.” I stared him in the eyes. “Drop it,” I told him straight up.

The rat was silent. My stomach was churning as I finally got him to shut up—I felt awful about it, but better than letting him know the truth.

I just wanna protect my friend, after all.

He’s the only one I’ve ever had.

 

“…Can I at least, like, give you a hug or a nuzzle or something? You look like you need one…” the rat offered. 

“That sounds so gay—wait, nuzzling?? ” I realized what he mentioned. 

“What? Do humans not nuzzle each other?”

“Uh, NO! Not at all! At least, friends don’t do that shit to each other, that’s just… weird!”

“Well here in this world, us ‘mon do it all the time to our friends. But if you’re really not comfortable with it…”

“Just give me the hug, dammit,” I grumbled.

“Aw, c’mere, buddy…” He opened up his arms to give me a hug. I felt a bit of an electric tingle as I felt his fur.

“…this is so gay,” I repeated.

“It’s gay for friends to care ‘bout each other?”

I shrugged. “I dunno. I dunno how friends work.”

“Well now that you got friends, you can learn, no?”

“…maybe.”