kira-kira | ✔

Barried mimes cutting the carrot carefully, as if turning a slice round and round slowly to carve out a star. Koharu follows his example silently, deftly finishing a star and moving on to the next. Her stars look more like cherry blossoms than stars, and Gou tells her so for the millionth time. Her eyebrow twitches, and she turns her familiar glare on him—only it's softer, more rounded on the edges than he remembers.

"I'm a Sakuragi," she scoffs. "My stars are cherry blossoms." Then she smiles at her mum and dad, who beam back at her proudly. Gou shakes his head, but he can't hide that he's smiling, too.

By the stove, Barried is stirring the stew in the pot, round and round, round and round. The familiar, lovely scent of chopped onion, garlic and anchovies, thickened with milk and starch, fills the air and permeates Gou's nose. He and Koharu continue cutting carrots in companionable silence. It's been a while since it's just been the two of them.

Suddenly, Koharu breaks the silence. "What about you?"

He looks up. "Huh?"

"What are your stars?"

He stills. "What do you mean?"

Koharu sighs, like she's talking to a child. Maybe she is. ( But you're still a kid, though? Her words during the Orienteering Event ring in his ears, ever so clear.) "Please, Gou, you're like an open book. I know you didn't call for dinner here for me. My stars are my family. They're for Mum, Dad, Sota and Wanpachi. But yours..." She pauses, and Gou already knows what she's about to say even before she continues, "Your stars are for Satoshi, aren't they?"

He feels himself flush, and he turns away from her, bowing his head adamantly and continues to slice the carrot. "I don't know what you're talking about."

His voice quavers.

Koharu says nothing for a while. Seconds slip past them like the melted butter Barried slides into the pot. Then, she asks, "What time is Satoshi coming here?"

"7p.m. He said he was going to Hanada City to visit an old friend." Gou tries not to let a tinge of bitterness seep into his voice, and tries to remind himself that Satoshi isn't his. Even though Satoshi never says anything, it's clear that he's travelled the world, been through so many experiences, made so many friends in people and Pokémon alike. It's clear from the way every city they go to screams his name, the way he walks in the streets, familiar and self-assured. It's clear from the way people like Visquez speak of him, like he's a faraway legend, the way people like Korni and Mao and Kaki and Suiren and Maamane gravitate to him just like how he gravitates to Satoshi. Even Dande, the strongest of all Trainers, gravitates to Satoshi. Satoshi is the sun, and Gou is just another one of the many planets that orbit around the sun, utterly captivated by its irresistible pull.

The Rotom phone buzzes and rings in his pocket. "Incoming call!" it bleeps. "Incoming call!"

"Speaking of old friends," drawls Koharu as Gou fishes his phone out to see it's a video call from Mao. He answers it, and Koharu edges out of the frame. Mao's cheery disposition fills the screen, her Amajo waving at them.

"Alola, Gou! How's the stew coming along?"

"Alola, Mao. It's going great so far! We're currently cutting the carrots." He pauses, casting a sideway glance at Koharu, then whispers into the phone, "Thanks for all your advice, I couldn't have done it without you, since my parents and grandmother weren't available."

Mao's sunny smile turns teasing in a split second, as unpredictable as the weather. "Oh, anything to help prepare a perfect meal for your boyfriend!" she says very loudly amid Amajo's giggles. In the background, Gou can hear Mamane and Suiren snickering.