Mei was taken aback. "You are...?"
The woman took off the mask on her head, revealing her true face. Only then did Natsui see that she was a short-haired woman of about the same age as Mei, around twenty-four or twenty-five.
"It's me, Mei! It's been so long!"
"Oh my~" Recognizing her, Mei's eyes lit up, and she said happily, "It's Carol! After graduating from the Mandolin branch school, it's been a full five years since we've seen each other, right?"
"Yeah," Carol smiled. "After being apart for so long, I never thought we'd meet again at a time like this!"
Although she was very happy to see her friend, Mei looked at her strange attire and asked, puzzled, "What's with this outfit?"
"The festival, the festival!" Carol waved her hand. "The annual festival starts today. For us residents of Shamouti Island, it's a big day!"
"Ah, is it that time of year already?" Mei said with realization. "So, are you still playing the flute as the festival maiden like you used to?"
As she spoke, Mei even mimed the action of holding a flute to her mouth.
From their conversation, it was easy to tell that the two were good friends, or at least very familiar with each other.
But the Mandolin branch school?
Natsui had never heard that name before. It was probably some kind of university unrelated to Pokémon.
"I retired long ago," Carol said. "I'm not a kid anymore. My younger sister has taken over the role of the festival maiden."
With that, she was about to wave her sister over, but looking left and right, she couldn't find her anywhere.
"Huh? Where is she?"
Just then, a girl appeared on the seawall, seemingly out of nowhere.
"I don't want to be any festival maiden!" the girl said, looking down at the crowd, her hands on her hips as she complained. "You force everything on me. It's so unlucky to be your sister!"
Natsui and the others looked up at the sound and saw a girl who looked to be a year or two older than Ash and Misty. She wore a beret slanted on her head, sunglasses, jeans, and a pink tank top, with an orange messenger bag slung over her shoulder. She looked very trendy.
As for the girl's tone, Carol seemed to be used to it. Even when being contradicted by her sister to her face, she didn't seem to mind at all, showing no signs of anger.
"Oh~ so there you are. What's with that outfit? Where are your festival clothes?"
The girl waved her hand with a look of disdain.
"No way, I'm not wearing that tacky outfit right now! The festival doesn't start until the evening anyway, so what's the rush?"
"Honestly..." sighing helplessly, Carol turned back to Natsui and the others. "As you can see, this is my sister—Melody. She's a bit rebellious. I'm sorry you had to see that."
"It's understandable. We've all been that age."
Just then, Carol's gaze turned to Natsui's group.
"By the way, who are these people with you?"
"Ah, I forgot to introduce them. I'm on my way to my parents' place on Convex Orange Island, so these people are all guests I'm giving a ride to," Mei said, then pointed to Natsui and Ash. "These two are trainers, and the other three are their traveling companions."
"Pokémon trainers!?"
Unexpectedly, the moment they heard that Natsui and Ash were trainers, the group of strangely costumed islanders instantly erupted in cheers.
Even Melody on the seawall turned sideways to look over.
Now, it wasn't just Ash's group who was confused; even Mei looked completely bewildered.
And just as they were trying to figure it out, a short, elderly man slowly walked out from the crowd, took off his mask, and said in a deep voice, "The legend says that when the world is on the verge of destruction, the god of the sea will appear and, together with a chosen one, will quell the anger of the gods. And the chosen one... refers to a Pokémon trainer!"
When he drew closer, he said seriously, "And you are the chosen trainers from the prophecy!"
Perhaps feeling that his tone was too serious, or seeing the nervousness on Ash's face, the old man's attitude changed, and he suddenly smiled. "Relax, this is just a tradition on the island. We say it every year!"
Hearing this, Ash breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment there, he thought he was about to be chosen as the savior of the world!
However, just then, Melody had somehow come down and joined the crowd. She came closer and looked Natsui and Ash up and down with a scrutinizing gaze.
"So you're both trainers?" Melody put a finger to her lips. "This handsome man looks the part, but as for this little kid... oh, well, it's just a tradition anyway. Come on, give us a kiss!"
With that, Melody took off her sunglasses, and before anyone could understand what she meant, she stood on her tiptoes, gave Natsui a kiss on the cheek, and then turned and kissed Ash as well.
This action could be said to have instantly angered both Sabrina and Misty!
Sabrina's brow furrowed, but since she had heard the word "tradition," she didn't do anything to Melody. Only Misty, like a mother cat whose fur was standing on end, stepped in front of Natsui and demanded loudly, "What do you think you're doing!?"
"My, what a big reaction!" Melody glanced at Misty and teased, "You wouldn't be his girlfriend, would you?"
"G-girlfriend!?"
Misty's face instantly turned bright red, and for a moment, she didn't know how to answer. Seeing her like this, Melody found it amusing.
"No, no, I think that pretty lady in the back is his girlfriend. As for you, you must be his little sister."
Misty was not happy to hear this, but she didn't know how to refute it and could only purse her lips.
"Oh? Not his sister?" For some reason, seeing Misty like this made Melody want to tease her even more. She feigned surprise and said, "Could it be that you have a secret crush on him?"
Misty's face turned an even deeper shade of red, as if her secret had been exposed. In front of so many people, she was both shy and extremely embarrassed. She could only open her mouth, silently admit defeat, and take a step back.
Just then, the dark clouds in the sky began to gradually disperse, and the last rays of the sun filtered through the gaps, falling upon the earth.
With a "The festival begins!" from the old man, the islanders present began to beat hand drums, shake bells, and play special instruments, welcoming Natsui and the others into the town behind the seawall.
As the oldest and most geographically central island in the Orange Archipelago, the town on Shamouti Island was much larger and more populous than any of the other islands they had seen before.
Walking down the streets, they could see men and women in traditional clothing everywhere. And just as Carol had said earlier, the whole place was decorated with lanterns and colorful banners. In an instant, the entire town of Shamouti was filled with the atmosphere of a festival.
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