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They say Psychic Pokemon excel at reading minds and uncovering the truth deep within one’s heart. The fact makes Homare shiver.
But guess what? His late father left him with a Ralts of all things! And a Dawn Stone for some reason. Homare thinks his father has a cruel sense of humor for all his seriousness, but one side of Homare still wants to believe that his father must have a good reason behind this.
It’s hard. Whenever Homare tries to bond with Ralts, the little guy shudders and flees. People say if Ralts will hide upon sensing hostility in one’s heart. Homare is sure that he really means no harm, but why does Ralts fear him?
If the little guy has been probing his heart…
Ralts fears his mechanical heart, doesn’t it?
What a cruel joke from his late father.
Homare decides that he’ll never see eye-to-eye with Ralts. One day, Homare approaches him with the Pokeball.
“I am truly sorry,” he says tearfully. “You deserve someone better than a broken cyborg like me.”
Ralts quietly returns to the ball, but Homare can also see he’s clearly saddened by this.
When Homare boxes the Pokeball, he can imagine his late father’s disappointed face. Usually he finds comfort in listening to the jingling of his Kommo-o’s scales, but this time the guilt won’t leave him.
⚔️
Then comes the plan for the next Winter Troupe play. Homare will play the lead: Gui Yu the hotheaded warrior who leads the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
Tsuzuru says Homare is free to make a wish when it comes to the specifics of Gui Yu. Of course wishing Gui Yu to be a warrior poet comes to mind, but Homare thinks since it’s his long-awaited second lead role in troupe plays, he’d better think of something else.
And he has a task from his editor too: write his life story. That sounds easy, until his editor decides that everything he wrote is too shallow; everyone already knows that Arisugawa Homare is a poet, an artist, an actor. Homare can’t believe that in order to write something proper, he has to confront the very thing that scared Ralts off: his mechanical heart.
Homare keeps hitting the writer’s block when writing the new draft, so he has learned to alternate between writing and practicing for his role. At home, Kommo-o is his partner.
Problem? Kommo-o is a fully-evolved Pokemon known for combat prowess. Homare has yet to touch it with the prop guan dao after so many rounds, although he knows Kommo-o’s weakness. Kommo-o always reveals his weak spots whenever he vigorously clangs his scales, but the sonic blast from the clang already blows Homare away before he can do a thing.
Homare ends up pondering about Kommo-o’s clanging scales. Kommo-o’s fighting style feels dangerously familiar to him, but he can’t quite figure it out yet.
⚔️
It’s thanks to Izumi and Winter Troupe (especially Azuma) that Homare finally figures it out.
He isn’t different from Kommo-o, one of the few Pokemon he immediately bonds with. Just like how Kommo-o is unreachable when he clangs his scales, Homare’s heart is also unreachable when he’s being loud with his poetry and art.
And it’s Izumi and Winter Troupe who can reach and comfort his heart. They know Arisugawa Homare isn’t just poetry and art, but also an emotionally awkward man who loves too much. This is also when Homare realizes why he bonded with Bewear, his other Pokemon, almost immediately.
Homare loves Bewear as much as Izumi and Winter Troupe love him.
Which means, there’s never anything wrong with his heart. Maybe what scares off Ralts all this long isn’t his mechanical heart, but his loathing of it. With Izumi’s and Winter Troupe’s love and support, he learns to accept his flaws as part of himself, because flaws are just part of humanity.
Homare decides to try bonding with Ralts again, but now his heart is at peace. With Kommo-o accompanying him, he grabs the Pokeball from the box and summons the little guy.
“Good day.”
Ralts turns to Homare.
…
…
…
Ralts approaches Homare and hops onto his hands. The little guy feels so warm as he chirps.
But the warmth keeps escalating to the point Ralts is now glowing. Soon what’s in Homare’s hands is Kirlia.
“Marvelous! You evolved!”
But it doesn’t end there. Kirlia hops off Homare’s grasp and approaches the Dawn Stone in the box, and glows again.
“Huh? I heard that if a male Kirlia is exposed to a Dawn Stone…”
The glow fades, and what remains is a knightly Pokemon: Gallade.
“I cannot believe this!” Homare exclaims in excitement. “Father…” A pause. “That’s it! I am certain Father left me with Ralts so that I learn to accept myself, flaws and all!” He chuckles. “I had a rough start though. I suppose that was just Father being himself, stern but full of love.”
Behind Homare, Kommo-o has started to howl and clang his scales in celebration. The noise draws Homare’s attention, and Homare smirks.
“Got you!”
Homare nudges Kommo-o in his weak spot at the right time, causing it to flinch. After recuperating though, Kommo-o only laughs and continues clanging his scales.
Homare and Gallade perform a celebratory dance under the tune of the clanging scales.