four: ambience

The cafe was unimpressive at first glance.

It wasn't big at all, with a humble wooden exterior and barely able to fit more than two groups of people, and it was positioned on a rickety platform that he didn't trust in the slightest. Had this been a world with currency, it would have failed right away.

Still, he didn't have any other choice. Beggars can't be choosers—where had he heard that phrase before?—and he was getting hungry.

He knocked twice before pushing the door open, hoping that he wasn't wrong about the cafe being open. There was a moment of silence, and then—

"Ah! Welcome!"

His vision was lit up by soft golden light, a welcome change from the murky dimness of the late evening, and he looked around until he found the owner of the voice positioned by the counter, blinking and shooting him a wide smile.

He squinted. Unlike the other people he'd run into over the course of the day, there was something he recognised about the girl that was staring at him—was it something from his life before all of this?

At this point, he was just desperate for clues.

"You're the one I ran into last night! Well, I didn't expect to see you come by so soon." She tucked a lock of her brown hair behind her ear, grinning as if it was the most natural thing to do in the world. "Are you here to get something to eat?"

For a moment, he was at a loss for words. He had really thought for a second that the girl had been someone important; someone he could recognised, but no, she was just the result of a mere chance encounter.

"Ah...hello?" She blinked. "Are you alright?"

"Sorry, I was just...trying to remember about yesterday." He took a seat in one of the chairs nearer to the counter. "Do you own this place?"

She nodded. "I figured it would be a good way to pass my time! Cooking is fun, and it's really nice listening to all the stories the customers have. Not many people come by, since the marketplace is the most common place to get food at, but it's still fun to talk to others."

I didn't ask for your life story. He tried not to let the thought show on his face. "That's, uh, nice. What do you have here? I just need something simple, if it's alright."

"Mostly pastries, actually." The girl rubbed her head sheepishly. "Since there's no money or stuff here, I just handle things on a case-by-case basis...but I could get you a quick dinner, if you want."

"That's fine," he replied, a little too quick for his liking. "I'll eat just about anything."

He didn't know what it was about the over-friendly nature of the people he had met in this town so far, but it was rubbing him the wrong way. All of them were too full of small talk and useless tidbits, and none of them even seemed bothered that they were trapped in a town without any of their memories.

Either way, it was making him stressed, but he couldn't say that out loud. He'd just try to research by himself for a little bit.

The girl let out a laugh, snapping him out of his thoughts, and she'd already turned her back to him.

"I'll see what I can do, then."

—

He decided to read while the girl cooked.

Her Shinx—at least, he assumed it belonged to her—watched him with large yellow eyes, flicking his tail back and forth and only hopping off the counter occasionally to assist his trainer with something. It was a little unnerving, but he could care less about things like that.

The journal's pages were scarce, and it seemed more handwritten than anything, with lines of words scrawled by in black pen—and as dubious as the whole book seemed, he told himself it was the most useful thing he had.

Reading through the first few pages wasn't very fruitful. There was just accounts of everyday life; things he already knew somehow, and it was boring.

However, after poring through countless diary entries, he arrived at something that stood out a little more than the mundane descriptions of various Pokemon and plants he'd skipped over.

The state of the world has been changed.

He paused, rereading the sentence again and gripping onto the journal's flimsy cover. It was just a short line of text, but whoever had written it had made it surprising enough for him to have to digest the words said.

Because of someone's selfishness, they took a risk that upset the entire earth.

They would not listen to reason, and could not be stopped.

If left unchecked, this will continue on and on, and one day, there will be not enough to stop it.

That was all that was written on the page, and it was so vague—just as he was about to turn the page, a voice behind him interrupted him and caused him to snap the journal shut.

"It's pretty late, so this was all I could whip up." The girl smiled, setting a plate of what looked like grilled Magikarp in front of him and a glass of Moomoo Milk in front of him. "Do you need anything else, or is this enough?"

He shrugged. "It's fine. I told you I would eat anything."

There was a few seconds of silence before the sound of a chair scraping against concrete sounded next to his ear, and he stifled a sigh, giving up any hope that he could continue with his book in peace.

"I thought I'd join you. I haven't eaten either, so..." She trailed off, taking a bite of her sandwich and pushing a bowl of food to the Shinx. "By the way, what's your name? You're the new person from the train this month, right?"

He nodded, keeping his gaze on the table—how much conversation was she planning on making? "The name they gave me was Lux. What about you?"

Truthfully, he wasn't interested in the slightest, but if he was going to pretend he was invested in her one-sided rambling, he at least needed her name.

"Nightlight," she smiled, lacing her fingers together as she leant back in her chair. "I mean...that was the most prominent thing in the train I came in, so I don't mind. What about you? Was your train really bright or something?"

He shrugged. "It was white."

Her words had interested her, though. It gave him a little more insight on the appearances on others' trains—he'd only had Cup's and his own to go off on before, and he wondered just how there was a train catered for everyone.

Physics didn't work like that. He'd learnt that much in school before, years ago—

How many years had it been?

And that was the question that got him stuck again? Had it even been a year since he'd been in school?

He decided that it wasn't worth his time thinking about that. As much as he was still conflicted about going into this without any knowledge of anything, it would just slow him down if he was to stay stuck on that topic.

"Right, do you need any food for your Pokemon—I mean, if you have any?" Nightlight tilted her head, pausing her dinner to glance at him. "I could give you some if you need it."

He was about to refuse when he realised—did he have a Pokemon?

Frowning, he reached into his pocket and fumbled around for a moment—he hadn't left anything at the house, he was sure of that—and stiffened a little when his fingers met the cool surface of a Pokéball by his hip.

He'd been so self-absorbed in his own thoughts and goals that he hadn't even realised he'd been carrying one.

Absentmindedly, he pressed a thumb to the sphere's button, releasing whatever creature was inside in a burst of white light.

Yellow eyes that seemed more like metallic platters than anything stared back at him. The unreadable expression on its face was somehow different than the Shinx in the corner—and its gaze remained on him as its flat, circular body rotated around.

"Ah, a Bronzor? I've never seen one of these before." Nightlight smiled, pausing to stuff the rest of the sandwich into her mouth, and got up to rummage through one of the cupboards. "I have no idea what it would eat, but..."

She grabbed a can of food, prying it open and emptying its contents into a spare bowl. Bronzor hovered nearby, curious as to what she was doing, and he watched the situation with a sort of detachment.

After a few moments, the Pokemon made a tinny noise, floating to the bowl and beginning to eat.

He looked at the creature for a minute longer before turning back to his meal, noting with relief that he was almost done—he didn't know if he could handle the conversation any longer.

"You know, I'm glad you came." The girl wasn't at his seat anymore, and she was more focused with cleaning up the café than the topic at hand. "I don't get many customers, and it's rare that someone my age comes over."

A question came to his mind. "Are there not many teenagers or something here?"

"Mm, I wouldn't say that. It's not like we're nonexistent." Nightlight drew her eyebrows together as she wiped down a table. "It's just that most of them choose to get their food from the marketplace. I think it's a pretty even spread, actually."

He made sure to note it down. Even though the demographic of a town seemed like pointless information, it could come in handy later on.

At the rate he was going, anything could come in handy. He just needed to cling on to everything he got, trivial or not.

If he had to endure small talk for that, then it would be...tolerable, at the very least.

"Anyway, you're roommates with Paint, right? He comes here sometimes, when the marketplace gets too crowded. It's the same with Sweet, but he's not the type to want to talk a lot."

"I see." She was back to feeding him pointless tidbits, but thankfully, he was done with his meal now. His mind lingered on the name Sweet—both Cup and Nightlight had mentioned the boy now—but he suspected it was just another regular citizen. "Thanks for the meal."

"Welcome! It's always nice to see new faces around here." She waved as he made his way to the door. "Next time Paint comes, feel free to tag along too!"

He shrugged. "I'll think about it."

Having his dinner at the café wasn't that bad of an experience, if he was to count out the fact that talking to the girl made it far too time-consuming. The food was decent, and even though the building was too small to be fully functional, it had the right ambience about it.

Perhaps he'd come here again—he'd be spending a lot of time in the library, after all, and if he winded up staying late again, it was a convenient place to go.

He shook himself out of his thoughts, realising that he hadn't left yet. The door was cracked open, and he rested a hand on the doorknob, basking in the feeling of the cool night breeze for a second longer before stepping out.

The sky had darkened even more now. He didn't have a clock on him, but if he were to guess, it would be around ten, and he'd spent more time than he'd anticipated talking to Nightlight.

"See you!" she chirped, glancing over at him as he closed the door behind him—and her voice was muffled by the wall between them. "Stay safe!"

--

oh wow i actually finished it before i'm leaving for holiday

anyway i think i was in some daze when writing, so i didn't really pay much attention to anything :")) sorry if it doesn't make much sense or flow well, yell at me if that's the case - i will,,, see what i can do after i come back

thanks for the votes on the previous chapter, though!! i'm really surprised people were still reading this LOL