Chapter 787: I'm Sorry, Lorelei
"There, there, don't cry, don't cry~"
Feeling the pressure on her head and the words by her ear, the past and present overlapped.
"...Wuu wuu—"
Chloe couldn't hold it back any longer, her tears flowing down like a waterfall.
"?"
A question mark popped up over Kazuya's head.
The next moment.
Chloe threw herself into his arms, wrapping her hands tightly around him.
"..."
Kazuya froze for a moment, but when he came back to his senses, he didn't push her away. He just gently patted Chloe's head.
Chloe shrank into his embrace, gently sniffing the scent entering her nose.
"Grandma... it really is the taste of Mr. Sun... so warm."
Once Chloe calmed down.
She slowly let go, rubbed her red nose, and then cherishingly ate that portion of the Secret Treasure of the Sea.
She knew clearly.
This might be the last time she would ever eat the true Secret Treasure of the Sea.
While Chloe was enjoying the food alone and reminiscing about the past.
Kazuya walked over to a wall filled with photos, earnestly looking at every bit of Lorelei's past.
He actually knew the contents of these photos.
Because she had told him.
He just hadn't seen them with his own eyes.
His fingers slowly traced across the photos one by one.
A thirty-two-year-old Lorelei had just gotten married. The photos she left behind that year were not very happy. The smile on her face was extremely forced and complex, perhaps because she separated from Kazuya, or perhaps because she realized that marriage wasn't as beautiful as she imagined.
Seeing this, Kazuya also felt depressed.
A thirty-seven-year-old Lorelei was already a wife, with a husband who loved her deeply and a cute child. The look in her eyes as she looked at her child was incredibly gentle, exactly like her mother's. Her face gained a few more warm smiles, while simultaneously forever losing the heroic spirit of her youth.
Kazuya smiled slightly, looking at Wallace's face in the photo and nodding.
A forty-five-year-old Lorelei had two more fine lines at the corners of her eyes, and her glowing pupils began to be dyed with a hint of cloudiness. The Pokémon she used to travel with had one by one started families or left. That year, she seemed no different from an ordinary housewife. The invincible Water Elite Four of the Indigo League completely vanished from the public's view.
Kazuya pursed his lips, filled with emotion.
A sixty-year-old Lorelei suddenly looked incredibly weathered, with streaks of gray hair on her head. That year... both Kazuya and she lost their mother, and after Kazuya finished handling everything, he chose to head north. In their small home on Four Island, there would no longer be anyone waiting for her to return.
Kazuya took a deep breath, lowered his hand, lowered his head, and didn't look any further.
"From this moment on, Grandma was like a stubborn child, always clamoring and making a fuss about wanting to go home. After Grandpa passed away, no one could stop her."
Chloe's voice came from the side, lightly seeping into the bottom of Kazuya's heart, "She said Piplup only had her left, and she had to go keep him company. At the very least, she had to let him know that he wasn't completely alone, that at least she was still at home waiting for him."
"..."
Kazuya lowered his head and clenched his fists tightly, his lips pressed together and trembling slightly.
A tear quietly fell.
It hit the floor without making a sound.
Just like when Lorelei reached out her hand to him far away on Four Island back then, but Kazuya gave no response.
That year.
He didn't wait for her on Four Island, nor did he go to Sootopolis City to find her. Instead, he made his own decision to leave.
Because during the two years when Lorelei's mother was in a vegetative state, Lorelei barely came home a few times from beginning to end. She hardly came to see her mother, only calling and video chatting a bit more frequently.
So Kazuya was very angry, believing that Lorelei no longer cared about this home, which meant he had no reason to stay and wait for her.
It wasn't until later.
When Kazuya also had a family of his own.
He finally understood that after a person starts a family, they lose their autonomy and can no longer do whatever they want like when they were young.
Moreover, an elderly person couldn't withstand the constant tossing and turning of various means of transportation; that was a very painful thing.
However.
Lorelei always thought of him.
Afraid that he would feel lonely on Four Island.
"But that Piplup abandoned her and left on his own. She must have been very sad, right?"
Kazuya closed his eyes, opened his fists, and his entire body seemed to deflate.
"Sad... she definitely was. I often saw Grandma missing Piplup."
"Flipping through old photo albums, records of tournaments... Whenever she saw those, a complex expression would appear on Grandma's face—whether nostalgic, joyful, or regretful..."
"But when she learned that Piplup had embarked on a new journey alone..."
"She was very happy."
Chloe cast a glance at the side of Kazuya's face.
From where she was standing, she couldn't see his expression.
"Why?"
Kazuya's pupils twitched as he asked carefully.
"Grandma said that her life was pretty much set, but Piplup still had a long way to go. Being able to see him let go of the past and hit the road again in her lifetime, she could finally rest assured."
As soon as Chloe said these words.
The Darkrai beside her suddenly turned into a liquid-like state, transforming into a floating shadow on the floor.
The shadow shrank into a corner, trembling incessantly.
In no time, it dampened the floor.
Chloe turned her head and glanced at the water stains in the corner, lowered her eyelids, and gently sighed.
A few minutes later.
The shadow on the ground morphed back into its shape.
"I should get going."
Kazuya headed toward the door.
"Wait a moment!"
Chloe suddenly called out.
Before Kazuya could turn to look at her, she ran upstairs.
A moment later.
Chloe hurried down holding an ocean-blue scarf.
Kazuya's gaze landed on the scarf in her hands. His single blue eye, resembling a burning flame, flickered gently, masking the emotions within.
"Grandma's memory wasn't very good those last few years. She mistook Empoleon for the Piplup of the past, so she knitted a small scarf..."
As Chloe spoke, she stepped forward and personally wrapped that scarf around Kazuya's neck.
Although Empoleon's size was too large to wear it.
It fit Darkrai's slender neck perfectly fine.
So warm.
Kazuya raised a hand and gently rested it on the scarf around his neck, slowly rubbing it with his fingers, as if feeling her palm.
"The weather in this era is quite cold, especially in the humid Hoenn region. You need to be careful not to catch a cold."
Chloe helped Kazuya tighten the scarf and reminded him.
"Thank you."
Kazuya uttered these two words and turned to leave.
Walking out of the house.
Hurried footsteps suddenly came from behind.
Accompanying them was a seemingly unwilling question: "Darkrai, have we met before?"
"...I have seen you."
After a long silence, Kazuya gave an ambiguous answer, and immediately vanished before Chloe's eyes.
Chloe took two steps forward, looking at the empty ground before her, and gently waved her hand: "Goodbye, Bobo."
Standing in an isolated alley of Sootopolis City.
Kazuya stared blankly at the wall in front of him, lost in a daze for a long, long time.
He regretted it.
Greatly regretted it.
He shouldn't have just left like that back then.
Searching for Meowscarada wasn't something that could be accomplished overnight, whereas Lorelei's remaining time was visibly decreasing.
He shouldn't have just left like that.
"If I had gone to Sootopolis Island back then to accompany you through your remaining time... I think you would have been especially, especially happy."
Kazuya raised his hands to cover his face.
Tears sneaked out from between his fingers, rolling down and disappearing into the scarf wrapped around his neck.
It was as if Lorelei had reached out to wipe away his tears, comforting him and telling him not to mind.
"I'm sorry, Lorelei."
I always thought you were the willful one.
But looking at it now...
It was actually me.
"Meow!"
Skitty's voice rang out from outside the alley.
His companions had found him hiding in the dark corner.
Kazuya knew it was time to set off.
He still had things he absolutely had to do.
"Wait for me just a bit longer..."
Kazuya muttered, turning and heading out of the alley.
In order to be able to go back home with you in the future.
I will definitely save this world.
~~~
Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
~~~
Every 5 new reviews = 1 extra chapters
Every 150 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter