"You want to… travel with me?"
To Dawn's surprise, she had expected Ash to be shocked or confused by her decision.
But Ash didn't seem particularly surprised. If anything, his surprise felt more like he was just puzzled about why she'd bring this up at this particular moment.
"Um… do you understand what I'm saying…?"
Dawn waved her hand in front of Ash's face, trying to make sure he was fully awake.
"Of course I understand. You mean traveling together, right? No problem at all. Our destinations are probably pretty similar anyway, aren't they? Starting from the first town, heading toward farther goals. Since our destinations and paths are more or less the same, traveling together makes sense, doesn't it?"
"Well… uh…"
Dawn had been ready to argue, but after thinking it over, she realized there wasn't really anything to dispute.
Since they'd already met and were heading in the same direction, traveling together was perfectly reasonable. Even so, Dawn couldn't shake the feeling that something about this seemed off.
"Right? No problem, yeah?" Ash seemed to find Dawn's flustered state amusing and continued, "Honestly, finding travel companions is pretty simple. Back in the day, I ended up traveling with my companions for all sorts of weird reasons."
"…Like what reasons?" Dawn asked, dazed, her ability to think nearly slipping away.
"Hmm… two of them had their bikes destroyed by Pikachu, so they said they'd travel with me… one wanted to see a bigger world, so we traveled together… one wanted to meet Professor Oak in person, so they joined me… and another came along because they were traveling with their older sister…"
What even are these?
Hearing Ash's explanation, Dawn couldn't help but feel a wave of confusion.
If Ash didn't look so serious, she might've thought he was making up random excuses to mess with her.
"Compared to them, I think you're pretty normal, Dawn."
Because you were supposed to be one of them.
Ash guiltily averted his gaze, avoiding eye contact with Dawn.
"Normal…?" Dawn furrowed her brow, pondering, but since she'd never traveled before and didn't know much about these things, she could only tentatively believe Ash was telling the truth.
"So… here's to working together?"
Dawn hesitantly extended her hand toward Ash.
She'd stayed up late thinking of all sorts of lines to convince him for every possible scenario, but she hadn't expected Ash to agree so readily.
Not only did he agree, but he also said that teaming up with someone you just met was perfectly ordinary, completely upending Dawn's long-held assumptions.
"Yeah, here's to working together."
Compared to Dawn's hesitation, Ash was completely at ease, grasping her hand. From this moment, their bond and story officially began to unfold.
…
"Ahem… ahem… Well, I'll head back to sleep then. If I'm too tired tomorrow, it'll be a hassle. What about you?"
With the matter that had been weighing on her heart finally settled, Dawn could at last breathe a sigh of relief.
She'd thought today would be an ordinary day, with her life only changing starting tomorrow. But Dawn never could've imagined she'd gain such incredible luck before her journey even began.
"I'll head back too. It'd be awkward if I fell asleep out here."
Ash yawned as he spoke.
Already feeling a bit sleepy from lying on the grass, he was now struggling to suppress his urge to crash for a good night's sleep. After reaching an agreement, the two headed back along the same path.
At the doorstep, facing the tightly shut door, Ash turned to Dawn and said, "So, about opening the door… huh? Wait, what's with that look?"
Noticing the embarrassment on Dawn's face, Ash froze, quickly asking, "That look… don't tell me…"
"Ehe~ Sorry, I forgot to bring the key and just closed the door."
Dawn knocked her fist against her head, trying to cute her way out of it.
Ash: "…"
He hadn't expected that before their journey even started, they'd run into such a massive problem. They couldn't exactly knock on the door in the middle of the night, could they?
Forgetting to bring a key after closing the door was one thing for him—he'd never dealt with this before, so it was an honest mistake. But what was Dawn's excuse?
"Didn't Johanna say something about this at lunch? How do you forget things this fast?!"
"What can I do? I wasn't even thinking about the door or keys! I just instinctively closed it carefully when I came out. What was I supposed to do?!"
"That's why you need to be more careful! If you're this careless when we're traveling…"
Just moments ago, they'd been polite and cordial, but now, over a trivial matter, they were bickering like nobody's business.
Though to Dawn, this was their first meeting, for some reason, arguing with Ash didn't feel awkward at all. If anything, it felt like this was exactly how it should be.
Would things like this happen a lot during their travels?
As Dawn bickered with Ash, a strange sense of anticipation bubbled up in her heart.
On Ash's side, since this was a do-over, his thoughts were naturally more complex.
Back during their original travels, he'd always felt his and Dawn's personalities were similar. Looking back now, he came to the same conclusion.
They were both kind of scatterbrained dummies, oblivious to anything outside their dreams, but that was exactly why they could become such perfectly in-sync partners.
Their future travels were bound to be even more exciting, right?
The same sense of anticipation welled up in Ash's heart.