Catch Feelings, Not Just Pokemon

It took a full twenty minutes, but Lillie finally managed to haul Nemona back into her room—without causing too much of a scene. She had done it all on her own, with help from her Alolan Ninetales.

If possible, she would've liked to ask Nebby for assistance, but it was far too late. If Nebby showed up now, it might attract the attention of other students.

Lillie didn't want to disturb anyone's rest over her own problems. Worse, if someone saw her heading back into Mr. Haru's room this late... that'd be hard to explain.

"Huff... What a troublesome one. That really took some effort."

She glanced at the soundly sleeping Nemona and took out the small vial of antidote from her pocket, scratching her head in confusion.

"But… does this antidote really have a knockout effect too?"

Of course, all the meds had been pre-tested, but Lillie had never heard of the antidote causing sleepiness.

Then again, she had never tried it herself.

So it wasn't out of the question that Nemona passed out because of her antidote.

Otherwise, what could it have been? He hadn't had anything except what she gave him, right?

Whatever. Now that Nemona was taken care of, it was time to head back to Mr. Haru's room.

He was probably… already waiting, and impatiently at that.

To ensure the medicine took effect properly, Lillie had adjusted the dosage just a tad higher—but still within safe limits, she figured.

She'd taken so long settling Nemona that by now, the medicine should've kicked in.

With that thought, Lillie turned off the lights in Nemona's room, shut the door, and tiptoed back toward Haru's.

The door was locked again—but that was no problem. She'd gotten a key earlier that afternoon, just in case.

Lock or no lock, it didn't matter.

But...

When she pushed open the door, what she saw wasn't just a barely restrained Haru... but a completely drained Iono.

And the state Haru was in... definitely didn't match the dosage she'd prepared.

He looked as if he'd been completely overcharged—mentally and physically overwhelmed to the point of losing control.

Upon seeing Lillie at the door, Iono, despite her state, reached a trembling hand out toward her:

"Lillie? P-please… help…"

"I know I messed up, okay? Just… let me—agh!"

Before she could finish, Haru struck her again—twice. Her arm dropped back down, limp.

She had clearly overestimated herself… and underestimated just how dangerous Haru could be.

Maybe that four-way battle in Alola gave her a false sense of confidence. She thought she could handle Haru when he wasn't in full battle mode.

She thought wrong.

Now she really needed Lillie's help—desperately. She couldn't take this much longer.

"..."

Lillie froze for a second, stunned by the scene in front of her—it looked like something out of a nightmare.

But in the end, she didn't yell at Iono. She didn't even try to separate the two.

Instead, she quietly… shut the door.

Whatever happened next, one thing was clear: no one else could see this. If anyone else witnessed this mess, Haru's reputation would be destroyed—Iono's too, maybe, but Haru's for sure.

Rather than jump into the chaos, Lillie walked to the bathroom, turned on the tap, and splashed cold water on her face.

The more intense things got, the more she needed to stay calm—she had to think this through.

Five seconds later, she made up her mind.

Haru was in bad shape—completely out of it. If she rushed in now, she'd only end up like Iono. Or worse.

She wouldn't be able to save anyone. And she'd probably be dragged into the mess herself.

Getting too close to Haru in this state was dangerous. Odds were, she'd be pulled into the "battle" whether she wanted to or not.

And honestly... if they were going to do that sort of thing, Lillie still preferred it to be at least somewhat normal.

A one-on-one, maybe?

So yeah… probably best to wait a little.

She didn't know how Iono had pushed Haru to this point, but since she had, she could deal with the consequences.

Wasn't Iono always into this sort of chaos anyway? Let her enjoy it.

With her mind made up, Lillie pulled a chair over and sat down in the farthest corner of the room—away from Iono.

Yes, she was going to wait out Haru's "peak state." Then she'd step in.

In the meantime, Iono was just going to have to tough it out. Lillie didn't really have a better solution.

And Iono… finally understood what Lillie had decided.

"You… you can't just—no! Don't leave me like this!"

She'd thought she'd found someone to share the burden with. A teammate. Instead, Lillie had chosen to stand by and watch.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

Haru had her completely pinned—like she was strapped to a crucifix. Totally locked down.

Resisting wasn't even an option anymore.

Ten minutes passed... then thirty... then an hour...

Everything in front of her started to blur. Iono could only respond on instinct to Haru's relentless pressure—her eyes had lost focus long ago.

She had repented, resisted, and even cooperated.

But eventually, none of it mattered anymore.

Her vision dimmed. The only thing keeping her aware she was still "alive" was the unrelenting waves of pressure surging through her.

Even that was starting to fade. Her mind had long since floated off somewhere else.

She didn't even notice when Haru finally started to slow down.

Only when she finally reached her limit did poor Iono get a moment of peace—though by that point, she couldn't feel anything at all.

Huh? Is she done for?

Lillie glanced at the unconscious Iono, then at Haru, who finally looked fatigued, and stood up from her chair.

Time to wrap things up.

Soon, her Haru would regain a shred of self-awareness.

Then, she'd take him for a quick rinse, lay him next to the knocked-out Iono, and… personally help him burn off the last traces of the medicine.

After all, no matter what, her Haru deserved to know what he was doing.

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