FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Three years prior.

--

"No crushes at all and vice versa? How's that even possible? You've been here for an entire year," the gray-haired Fiorean girl who sat across from Ayame said, putting a nugget in her mouth. "Not like you're ugly either."

"Because she's boringg. A boring loner," the brunette who sat beside her said.

Both were a year older.

Ayame sipped her carton of moomoo milk.

The trio sat at a small, rounded table among many in an indoor cafeteria. Seated at each were uniformed girls. Teens from ages fourteen to eighteen-- all girls.

They wore thin burgundy coats over tees that created white cuffs and collars, plaid burgundy and white skirts, and stockings that led into black flats.

They stood in line with trays to get lunch and filled tables either individually or in groups while giggling and buzzing in conversation. Generally high-pitched and tinged with gossip.

Young and older women in formal blue and white outfits occasionally made rounds around the room, shooting eyes from table to table and scolding any inappropriate behavior.

"No, for real, Ayame, why don't you like anyone? Everyone likes someone. It's so boring here without a lover," the first girl said while leaning her elbow on the table.

"It's not love..." Ayame replied. "It's pleasure."

"Psh," the brunette said. "There are lots of torchickies here who're crazy about each other." She sat upright and scanned the room, stopping. "Like them."

Ayame followed her eyes and landed on two girls sitting across from each other, chatting with coy smiles. One glanced around the room before reaching her hand and placing it atop the other's, drawing her fingertips over her knuckles-- then pulling away as an older grump walked by with laser eyes.

"It's prohibited regardless. It's not worth the risk when you can be expelled," Ayame said.

"You're so actually boring, Ayame. Arceus," the brunette groaned. "Just talk to a few people. I don't even know how you landed us. No one cares here as long as you age gap by two years."

"The faculty do," Ayame said, glancing as one of the women passed between tables behind her.

The gray-haired teen sucked her teeth and grabbed her milk carton. "She'll ease up. Just needs to meet a girl worth getting caught for."

---

Ayame exited school alone with crowds leaving the grounds through its double doors down a sun-slicked stretch of pavement promising a tame climate.

Step after set with her backpack over one shoulder that shifted against her motions.

The building behind her was wider than it was tall, a polished, formal white with classy windows.

Ayame glanced down after her phone buzzed in prolonged gaps in her skirt pocket; she took it out and flipped it in her hand, answering and holding it up to her ear. "Dad?"

She slipped outside while listening to him speak, strolling the sidewalk with grass, benches that students sat on, and bushy trees on both sides of her toward the open gates ahead. She saw a few students texting or talking with one another on the benches, and most were getting into lined-up vehicles or turning down the sidewalk to walk home.

"I'm on my way. I'll be home soon." She hung up and put her phone away, then reached in her adjacent pocket and brushed her fingers against a fold of bills, pushing them down.

Ayame turned out of the gate and sauntered down the public sidewalk behind other teens, rolling her shoulder to bring her bag up after it began to slip.

On one side of her was her school's extensive tall gate and the field behind it. On her other was gentle traffic, general markets, and alleys accentuated with light graffiti that led a mile down into apartment complexes. Otherwise, no tall buildings.

The school trailed the end of Castelia's outskirts and sat in a calm, middle-class area.

Ayame scanned the line of shops that vehicles parked before at metered curbs and that locals entered. Students jaywalked to reach them, from salons styling people's hair to small restaurants and convenience stores.

She passed them all by and strolled to the end of the block, taking the crosswalk south toward Castelia Central.

She didn't live in Central, but nearly.

Ayame strolled for the next fifteen minutes with her head down when not glancing at her surroundings.

Speaking of her surroundings, they'd altered slowly from a calm residential-esque atmosphere to taller structures closing in on each other, as well as around her.

More people, more pokémon that their owners ensured to keep close-- and a lot more noisy traffic.

Passing market after market with some shady individuals lurking that made Ayame tense up while passing, she cut short before the corner crosswalk and turned into a small Fiorean mart.

She went almost daily after school with her father and went alone when he couldn't pick her up due to work.

It was set up like any other grocery market: aisles and a stretch of refrigerated products in one corner with a focus on Fiorean products.

Ayame beelined past a few people shopping and others checking out with the older male Fiorean owner to the refrigerated aisle at the back, specifically to the dessert corner.

She opened one of the fridges and crouched to the dessert section holding various sweets, from coffee jelly to berry-filled buns.

Ayame reached and grabbed a small transparent carton of six sugar rice balls with a mini cup of custap berry sauce and wooden chopsticks on the side, then moved over and took a slim glass of sugar milk.

She stood and headed to the front of the store but stopped with a squint.

The line was backed up before the register. Six people waited with items while commotion rang from up front.

Ayame walked past a few customers and peeked around at the owner, who glared from behind the counter at a very slim blonde teen standing before it in faded cargo pants and a black jacket with a cup of plastic noodles in her hand.

The owner pointed to an aisle. "No, you are two hundred pokédollars short. You go and return that."

The girl looked aside at the door; however, the owner paced from behind the counter and blocked her path with crossed arms.

"Go put it back now!" His glare hardened.

Ayame took slow steps, approaching the situation with eyes on the girl. She reached inside her pocket and took out two bills.

Both turned their heads to Ayame.

The owner raised his brows. "Ayame, nani shi teru no? Kono dorobou wa ichi shuukan naka jimoto no mise kara nusun de iya ta (What are you doing? This thief has been stealing from local stores all week)!"

Ayame stared at the girl, whose tired eyes shifted away.

Ayame lowered her hand with the bills in it, glanced at the owner, then took the noodles from the girl, who shot her eyes back up. "I'll buy it."

"Ayame?!" The owner gritted his teeth.

Ayame looked up at him. "Kore o kaimasu (I'll buy it)."

The owner's cheeks reddened; he turned abruptly and went back behind the counter, where Ayame met him and set the noodles next to her carton and milk.

"These too," Ayame said.

He rang up and bagged the order after Ayame handed him more cash from her pocket, then stared at her while shaking his head. "You have aided a criminal, Ayame." He scowled at the blonde, then refocused Ayame. "What would your father think?"

Ayame eyed him, then grabbed the bag and headed toward the door, passing the girl. Ayame beckoned with her hand as she did.

The girl glanced back at the owner and every customer, who were all staring, then slowly stepped before walking after Ayame.

They strolled together, side by side down the pavement, passing the population by.

The teen stuck her hands in her pockets.

Ayame looked at her for a moment. "Have you got a name?"

The girl barely returned her eyes. "Everyone does," she mumbled.

Ayame looked over again, subtly studying her face and clothing.

"Katie."

"...Is it true?" Ayame asked.

"What?"

"What he said."

They stepped into a crosswalk with other pedestrians, whose signal counted down from five while cars inched to take off at the first flash of green.

Katie shrugged. "Don't speak Fiorean."

"Have you been stealing?"

She kept her head down.

After they were back on the sidewalk, Ayame reached inside the bag and handed her the noodles.

Katie glanced but kept her hands in her pockets.

"Yours," Ayame said.

"You bought them."

"I paid two hundred. You paid three." Ayame pushed the cup against her waist.

Katie brought a hand from her pocket and pushed them back. "I don't fucking want them," she replied with an edge.

Ayame stopped as she kept walking. "Then why did you try buying them?"

Katie stopped after and then turned, approaching Ayame. She stood before her while looking her up and down, forcing people to walk around them. "I don't need some private academy princess buying shit for me."

Ayame leaned on one leg. "I was trying to get you out of the situation."

"Thanks. I didn't ask for your help." Katie turned and started walking again.

"...What point are you trying to make?"

Katie stopped again and bit her lip, turning again. "I don't need anyone's handouts."

"So you will keep stealing to prove this?" Ayame asked.

Katie stared, began to backpedal, then turned once more, slipping between crowds until blending within.

---

Ayame sighed while approaching her home. Around her were wide sidewalks, trimmed bushes and verdant grass lining them, and big homes with bigger lawns.

She opened her gate to a white two-story with a luxury sedan in the driveway and upkept grassy lawn.

Between it was a single stretch of beige tile leading to an open walkway and the front door.

Ayame went up and opened it, then shook off her shoes at the door, leaving herself in socks. "I'm home!" She also dropped her backpack and bag and stood on her tippy toes for a second to relieve stress from her calves.

Before her was a spacious living room-- carpeting, a huge TV, long table with padded chairs around it, trees and pottery against the walls, and abstract art on the walls.

To the left was a just-as-spacious dining area: a long glass table with ten high chairs, a black gemstone chandelier above it, and shelves of glass-cased pokéballs. They comprised everything from the common ball leading up to the hyper-expensive prototype master ball, of which only five existed.

"Ayame?" a preteen male's voice called from upstairs, which were just past the living room.

"Hm?" she called back while taking a left and going into the nearby guest restroom to wash her hands. Ayame shook out her hands after she was done and stepped out.

A brunette boy stood before her in a tee and shorts, his height just over her chest. His appearance and accent was of the Accord, differing significantly from hers.

"Kodi." She pulled him into a rocking hug while grinning. "How was school today?" Ayame released him and took a step back.

He shrugged. "Super typical, and I think I failed my math test."

Ayame sighed. "Ah, again? I thought the tutor fixed your confusion. Dad's not going to like that." She looked around him and scanned the living room. "Where is he?"

"Not home yet. He's been staying out later recently."

"Hm." She patted Kodi's shoulder and leaned to kiss his forehead. "I'm going up to my room. Did you eat, and do you need help with any homework?"

"I had a lot of chips, and nah... at least not right now. You can go rest."

"Sure. Do you want any rice balls? I bought some on the way home."

Kodi shook his head.

With that, Ayame snagged both bags and took them upstairs. She went down the corridor lined with more paintings and a few valuable pokémon statues, then took a right into her room.

She shut the door behind her and walked her backpack to her bed, where she set it on the floor. Ayame put the market bag and her phone atop her blanket.

Her room was modest, more or less, though it had a couple of cute touches.

A cushioned hammock chair hung from the ceiling over the floor by her bed with sorted mini pillows on it.

Her dresser and standing TV were on the wall across from her bed, alongside a few miscellaneous items, such as a fallen espeon plush, a couple of inkless pens, and some papers.

Above it were art canvases on shelves with pieces she'd painted over the years, including a vague grassy field, a more detailed alolan ninetales standing on an arctic summit with dotted snow all around, and a purrloin rolling on its back. They varied in quality.

Ayame undressed and folded her uniform, placing it in one of her drawers and slipping into purple pajama pants and a shirt. She then approached her bed and stared at her bag, which she grabbed the noodles from after a moment and set it beside her fallen espeon on the dresser.

She also grabbed the espeon and sat it up. "There you go."

Ayame got into bed and sat, grabbing and opening her dessert carton; she grabbed her phone with her other hand. She afterward unlocked and went to her apps, tapping one of many assorted mobile games called 'Home rings.'

It loaded on a white screen with a black bar filling up. When the game rendered, a pixelated 2D grassy stretch with an umbreon standing on it appeared. Above the screen flashed 'Tap to start!'

"I'm sure I was on level thirty..." Ayame tapped the level list at the top right, where it showed a rowed assortment of twenty-eight completed levels, the one she was at, and a locked level thirty beside it.

At the top of the screen stated: 'Bixo is almost home. Keep running!'

"Twenty-nine." Ayame took and broke apart the chopsticks, rolled them, then picked up a rice ball that she dipped in custap sauce, putting it in her mouth.

She set the chopsticks down and held her device in both hands, tapping her screen to start the level, which consisted of her having to swipe up to jump over pokémon in Bixo's path, tap to shadow ball obstacles, and collect floating oran berries and lost eevee that followed Bixo to the finish-- sometimes in puzzly, difficult-to-reach places.

As one passed the levels, the number of berries and eevee one had to acquire to complete it increased, forcing more puzzles.

On top of that, hostile pokémon could kill the rescued eevee with attacks and projectiles, so quick reactions were necessary, such as hopping over attacks or stunning enemies with shadow balls.

In the middle of playing, the noodle cup stared at her from across the room, present in her peripheral vision.

Ayame paused the game, staring back. "...Strange."