… He wanted to hug her. Hold her as she let her frustration out, cried, did something better or worse than this quiet anguish, this quiet wait over someone who’d promised their return, yes, but failed to deliver.
But, as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t. He couldn’t because he’d done the same. He’d done the same to so many people on his birth world, and all for the same reason.
It hurt. It hurt so much that, every time he even saw them, he felt his heart, his very soul, tear asunder, with no chance of recovery. It cut so deeply that even he couldn’t heal the wound.
He could only hope that wasn’t why N had never returned.
Green eyes looked at the sky, and, after a few blinks, he gave a sigh and an answer.
“News or not, I’m sure he misses you. Fateful encounters such as those stay marked within one’s mind, and the people you bond with during that time are not easily forgotten. He might return, he might not, but I’m certain, absolutely sure that he thinks of you. Maybe not as often as you want, nor as often as he wants, but he thinks of you and misses you. Deeply.”
Rebecca looked up at Hark, hope in her eyes before she gave him a happier smile and nodded.
“Y-Yeah, I bet he does… Even so, I’m gonna give him a noogie when I see him again, just for worrying me.”
Her pout could only be described as adorably determined. She huffed and crossed her arms underneath her head with a tiny smile on her face.
“I miss him a lot too. He’s a giant dork and I just hope he’s doing okay.”
She was quiet for a moment, thinking about something before speaking up again.
“… N’s the one who suggested the orchard before he left. He said I could help out the whole region with just ten simple berries. And look at it now, the orchard’s huge and I supply berries to a lot of people who help out trainers.”
Back in the Game 