Chapter 164Yearning

"Although it has only been one week, it feels like forever since we last went to school. It's a little nerve-wracking..." Lillie remarked, staring out the window of a luxurious, ivory-white car.

"Mmn...I feel the same way..." Jason affirmed, his gaze similarly focused on the passing scenery and Lillie's profile, cast against the backdrop of a torrential downpour. It had been raining since the previous afternoon, but even if the weather had been clear, Lusamine had asked that he and Lillie be driven to school for their protection.

Noticing Jason's gaze, Lillie adopted a broad, somewhat cheeky smile and asked, "Oh? And just what are you staring at so intently~?" in a sing-song tone.

Shaking his head, Jason, without skipping a beat, smiled and retorted, "I was just thinking that, even with the heavens themselves opening to cast it in gloom, this world's radiance and beauty can't be diminished..."

"My fiancé, the poet~" Lillie hummed, closing her eyes and resting her head against Jason's left shoulder. At the same time, Runa, seated atop her lap, seized the opportunity to crawl over and sprawl across Jason's, lying stomach-down across his thighs.

Though it earned him a curious head tilt from Ren, Jason gently scratched the underside of Runa's chin, causing the petite Pokémon to hum and kick her legs.

'This world needs to be protected...' Jason thought to himself, a genuine smile developing across his face despite the worry lingering in the back of his mind. The revelations of the previous day had made it more apparent than ever that he lacked information. And while he didn't want to think of himself as the protagonist of some overarching story, he knew there was much more he could be doing—even if that meant having sex with dozens of women to empower them...

"Jason, look! It's Lana...!"

With such thoughts in mind, Jason barely registered his and Lillie's trip to the Pokémon School. It wasn't until Ren shouted that Jason came back to his senses, his brows rising considerably when he looked out the window and spotted Lana, presumably waiting for them with an ocean-patterned, Kyogre-themed umbrella.

"She must be here to greet you~" Lillie teased, bumping Jason with her shoulder before picking Runa up from his lap.

"This girl..." Jason sighed, exhaling through his nose but smiling as Lana perked up and ran over to the car, beating Hobbes to the door and pulling it open.

"Hurry up! It's raining Mudkip out here...!" Lana exclaimed, her expression serious as she extended a hand to help Ren disembark the car. Jason was tempted to remark that she hadn't needed to wait for them. But since that might come across as insensitive, he forced a smile and waited for Ren to scoot out before attempting to do the same.

"Wait—" Lana said, stopping Jason just as he got his right foot out of the car. Then, sporting an even more serious expression, she asked, "What do you think about my outfit?"

"...?"

Though he had noticed that Lana was wearing something different from her usual wave-patterned pants, it was only at the petite blunette's asking that he paid attention to the skirt she was wearing. It was pleated and the same color as her usual pants. More notably, it appeared to cover only the upper third of her thigh, giving the impression her legs were much longer than they actually were...

'Lillie must have informed her about my upskirt Quest...' Jason assumed, outwardly nodding and affirming, "It suits you..." before raising his gaze to meet Lana's surprisingly flushed face.

"It's easier access...you know...just in case..." Lana muttered, her words trailing off as she raised the front of her skirt with her left hand. Doing so revealed that she was wearing her usual sukumizu-style swimsuit. But it also made Jason second-guess his assumption...

"For now, we should all head inside~" Lillie interjected calmly, her words causing Lana to blink in surprise, as if she hadn't registered that there was someone other than Jason present.

"Oh, Lillie, Runa...Alola..." Lana muttered, the ruddy hue of her cheeks deepening as she made way for Jason to exit the car, shielding him with her umbrella.

"Thanks..." Jason expressed, readying his own, markedly larger umbrella and popping it open with a loud fwumph. The 22 km/h wind nearly tore it from his grip, but the cord wrapped around his wrist allowed him to wrest back the nearly two-meter-wide canopy and promptly stabilize it for Lillie and Runa to exit behind him.

"Wow...your umbrella is huge..." Lana remarked, stepping back so that she wasn't in the way. Jason's umbrella was more than large enough for three people to stand under, but with Ren naturally sticking to him, there wasn't room for her to do the same.

"It's a golf umbrella produced by the Aether Foundation, specialized for monsoon- and hurricane-prone climates~" Lillie chimed, causing Lana's brows to briefly rise before she promptly returned her gaze to Jason and asked, "Did you already complete your morning routine?"

"I did..." Jason affirmed, the image of Cynthia giving him an aggressive blowjob appearing in his mind. The latter had shown up that morning for the stated purpose of reinforcing their bond. But even if that hadn't been the case, there was a time and a place for propositioning, and it wasn't at school...

"Come here..." Jason muttered in faint exasperation, making a come-hither gesture with his left hand. Lana did her usual brow-rise at this. But instead of asking what he wanted, she immediately stepped forward and turned her umbrella to the side, pulling it shut.

"We don't need to rush things..." Jason asserted softly, cupping Lana's chin and angling her head back to punctuate his statement with a chaste but lingering kiss. Lana's eyes widened to their limits at first contact. But as the kiss lingered, she eventually closed them, tilted her head slightly to the side, and gave Jason's lips a tentative lick.

Shaking his head, Jason separated from Lana's lips and expressed, "This isn't the time or the place for these kinds of things..." while gazing into the depths of Lana's glossy, sea-blue eyes.

"That is correct," Lillie affirmed, nodding her head before stating, "While we're here at the Pokémon School, our priority is to learn as much as we can in preparation for our future travels. I understand the desire to spend more time accumulating experiences with Jason, but we must not neglect our studies."

"I know all of that..." Lana muttered, holding Jason's gaze with a rather intense look as she expressed, "But I can't help myself...I've always been competitive..."

Blinking in realization, Jason tilted his head slightly and asked, "Are you aiming to be the person I have the strongest bond with...?"

"At least in the top three..." Lana confirmed, continuing to hold Jason's gaze as she guided his hand under her sailor-esque top. A pair of passing students witnessed this. But since they had no frame of reference for the act's broader meaning, they just raised their brows and continued on their way.

"..."

Though he probably should have retracted his hand the moment Lana began guiding it under her shirt, Jason allowed it to linger and gave her small but soft breast a caress with his thumb. The fabric of her swimsuit was thicker than typical swimwear, but he could feel her heart racing and her body radiating heat like a furnace against the chill of the air.

Catching Jason off guard, Lana abruptly asserted, "I really like you...like, like-like you..." in a serious tone.

"I like you too..." Jason responded, attempting to remove his hand before Lana promptly cupped it with her own, asserting, "From now on, no more secrets. I want to know everything there is to know about you. And I want you to be just as curious about me..."

"..."

'She's serious...' Jason noted, his brain buzzing and his temples tingling in a way he hadn't experienced since his early days of cohabiting with Elaine and Korrina.

"I will try..." Jason acquiesced with a nod, unable to promise more as he didn't feel fully in control of himself or his circumstances. He did want to know more about Lana. But with so many additional women in his life, he wasn't sure he could give her the attention she deserved, much less the attention she wanted from him...

"Nn...I will also do my best to become stronger..." Lana asserted, offering a nod of her own before abruptly removing Jason's hand from her blouse, turning mid-sentence, and taking off with such urgency that she forgot to open her umbrella.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"It would appear that I have acquired a rival~" Lillie remarked happily, breaking the silence that followed Lana's departure before covering her mouth to stifle a giggle. She still regarded Korrina as her top rival, but it was apparent that Lana wouldn't be making things easy for her.

"It's a lot of pressure..." Jason remarked, mostly to himself. He hadn't started the day thinking he would be faced with a confession. And with Lana almost assuredly waiting for them in the cafeteria, he suddenly felt like he was walking onto a stage he hadn't prepared for...

"Fortunately, you aren't being forced to endure it alone," Lillie reminded, linking her hand through Jason's arm and beaming up at him as he turned to meet her gaze.

"Nn! Ren will help carry Jason's burdens also~!" Ren exclaimed, keeping Jason from being trapped in another emotional deadlock by grabbing and hugging the arm he was using to support the umbrella. The wind promptly got caught in the canopy, but thanks to its double-canopied structure and flexible yet durable make, it didn't invert. At the same time, Hobbes took it upon himself to step forward, smoothly opening a second umbrella before suggesting that they hurry inside with a warm, grandfatherly smile...

...

..

.

"Jason! Alola, man! It's good to see that you're back...!" Kiawe exclaimed, sporting a broad smile as he approached the table that Jason, Sophocles, and Elio were seated at.

"Kiawe? I'm surprised to see you made it here in this weather..." Jason remarked, his brows rising as he stood up and took in Kiawe's somewhat worse-for-wear appearance. The latter was visibly soaked through, but that didn't stop him from grinning as he retorted, "What? You call this little drizzle rain? Bruce and I barely noticed it."

"You're completely out of your mind..." Sophocles muttered, punctuating his words with a loud sniff. The cold front preceding the storm caused his sinuses to act up, so there was a very conspicuous bead of snot that kept trying to escape his right nostril as he nursed a cup of hot cocoa.

"Seriously, man. How have you and Lillie been?" Kiawe asked, accepting the handshake Jason had offered whilst simultaneously giving him a clap on the shoulder.

"Lillie is well," Jason answered, offering a smile of his own as he freed himself from Kiawe's vice-like grip and gestured to the table, explaining, "Our absence had less to do with our physical condition than the news that's been circulating."

"You mean that news about Team Rainbow Rocket...?" Kiawe asked, his brows shooting up.

"That's correct," Jason affirmed, nodding his head before taking the seat next to Sophocles and repeating the conversation that had been going on before Kiawe's arrival. By that point, virtually every informed citizen of the League knew about Team Rainbow Rocket and the otherworldly Pokémon they employed. More pertinently, Jason had received permission to speak about the Zinopup—with the reasoning of the League being that it would get the other students of the Pokémon School to take the threat seriously. Thus, while he was unable to tell them everything, Jason revealed what he could to Kiawe, Elio, Sophocles, and those eavesdropping, while Lillie did the same at the girls' table...

...

..

.