A week had passed since Selene joined the Pokémon School and met her new friends. She wasn’t just happy about learning more about Pokémon, but she also had a great time with the other kids. Even after telling them she knew quite little about Pokémon, they were nice enough to help her. Each one had their own personality, but that was what made spending time with them so much fun. Even though Kiawe and Sophocles were nice, Selene felt more comfortable when she was with Mallow, Lana and Lillie, learning more about their lives and tastes. The girls didn’t teach Selene just things about Pokémon, but also about the island and the city. They would tell her about places or stores she didn’t know or they would just talk about their activities, like Mallow working at her family’s restaurant or Lana training with Popplio to make a giant water bubble. Even though they were especially busy that week during the afternoons, Selene enjoyed every minute she spent with them all. With all that, Sunday arrived.

The sun had already risen, sun rays going through the window onto Selene’s face, who was still sound asleep, wearing a white gown with a happy Pyukumuku making a peace sign with its innards. She was usually an early bird, but she began reading an interesting book Kukui had about Ice-type Pokémon the previous night and went to sleep quite late. At that moment, not even the sun seemed to wake her up from her sleep, until…

*knock knock*

A loud knocking sounded at the front door. The girl jumped a little, woken up by that sound. She hummed a bit, not wanting to wake up yet, but the knocking kept going. Also, she was aware of the sun and it annoyed her.

“Selene, are you awake?”, shouted Professor Kukui from the basement. “I’m busy with something. Can you open up?”

She resigned herself to wake up and attend the visitor, whoever could be that early. Half-asleep, Selene climbed down the stairs carefully and walked slowly to the door. She was still so numbed that she couldn’t hear the whispers at the other side of the door, and when she opened it…

“SURPRISE!”

Mallow, Lana, Lillie, Kiawe and Sophocles shouted in unison as soon as they saw Selene. All her classmates were gathered at the door of the beach house, carrying small bags with them. Nobody said anything for a moment as Selene remained unaffected. Truth was, she was still processing the situation, her eyes only seeing a colorful blur in front of her. Lana giggled a bit.

“Wow, are you still sleeping?”, commented Lana comically.

Finally, Selene could open her eyes a bit more, the image turning clearer and finally visualizing her friends in front of her. For an instant, she was happy. She was ready to greet them. But then, she turned conscious of her gown and messy hair. Her face turned as red as Mallow’s Bounsweet, as fast as a Rotom could move. Feeling terribly ashamed, she slammed the door, surprising the whole group.

“What?”, exclaimed all the kids.

A big rumble was heard from inside the house. The kids could hear Kukui saying “Where you going?” while Selene screamed “I look horrible!”. Then, the professor opened the door and met the group.

“Alola, kids!”, greeted Professor Kukui.

“Alola, Professor!”, greeted the kids in unison.

“Sorry about that. Selene stood up too late and was just sleeping when you knocked”, explained Kukui.

“I told you we should have called first”, complained Kiawe.

“Then it wouldn’t have been a surprise!”, exclaimed Mallow in disagreement, making Kukui laugh.

“Why don’t you wait for her inside? She’ll get ready in a Flash!”, said Kukui, inviting all the kids inside.

After a few minutes, now Selene joining them with her usual attires, all the kids and Professor Kukui sat down in the living room. However, the girl was still hiding her face ashamed.

“Aw, my hair looked horrible!”, complained Selene, her hands muffling her voice. “Say the truth… I had drool on my mouth, right?”

“Don’t be silly!”, said Lillie. “You were not drooling. And your hair was not that bad. You should see mine when I wake up. It’s hard to keep a long mane.”

Lillie’s words comforted Selene a little, finally revealing her face to her friends. She was still a bit ashamed, but seeing all of them acting normally, she felt stupid for giving so much relevance to such an incident. After calming down, she asked:

“So what are you all doing here?”

“Well, we didn’t have time this week to hang out. So we prepared a surprise outing!”, exclaimed Mallow.

“First, we’ll go around Hau’oli City. I can show you where I buy the pieces for my inventions!”, explained Sophocles.

“I don’t think she’s interested in that”, scolded Kiawe lightly, making everybody else laugh.

“Still, we can show you around the shopping center and other places”, continued Lillie. “Then, we’ll go to Mallow’s restaurant to pick up lunch. You’ll love her food!”

“And finally, we’ll hit the beach!”, said Lana in excitement. “Sun, water, games… Maybe I’ll catch Kyogre this time!”

“So whaddaya say? Nice plan, right?”, asked Mallow.

Selene couldn’t answer that question. She was overwhelmed with surprise and emotion. Those kids that she just met around a week before had prepared such an amazing plan to welcome her. Even though words couldn’t come out, she felt moved inside. What actually came out was a tear from her right eye, shocking the others.

“Selene, you’re crying!”, exclaimed Lillie as she took out a handkerchief from her bag. “Are you alright?”

“Oh, yeah!”, said Selene with a nervous voice. She took Lillie’s handkerchief and dried her tear. “Sorry, I got a bit… emotional. I didn’t expect this. You didn’t have to go this far for me.”

“Hey, don’t worry!”, exclaimed Mallow. “You are our friend now! We want to spend time with you and do fun stuff!”

Hearing her friend’s words, Selene smiled bashfully. Although she already saw them all as her friends, she wasn’t sure what the other kids felt towards her. But seeing them all around her, wanting to spend time together, made her feel immensely happy.

“Well, thank you all! Now, about the beach thing…”, said Selene awkwardly.

“You ain’t going to say you forgot how to swim, right?”, asked Kiawe jokingly.

“Of course not!… I hope”, answered Selene with some doubts, but she put that aside in her mind. “The problem is that… I don’t have a swimsuit.”

“What?”, exclaimed Lana in shock. “How can you NOT have a swimsuit?”

“Well, it’s just, you know… I just got here, I don’t have a lot of clothing…”, said Selene a bit ashamed.

“It won’t be because I didn’t tell you to buy a swimsuit!”, scolded Professor Kukui playfully. “At least I convinced you to buy some extra clothing.”

“But it’s not fair! You already let me stay here and buy me food. You bought me some clothing too! I don’t want you to spend more money than needed in me. I’m already bothering you a lot, Professor”, complained Selene with a sad voice.

A weird silence filled the air. The kids could see it clearly. Unlike them, who had their parents taking care of them, Selene relied on Kukui’s generosity to keep going and she felt bad for being a burden. At the same time, as they saw the Professor sighing, they knew the man was kind enough to help anybody in need, money not being a problem for him. Still, knowing that was something for them to solve, Mallow tried to calm them down saying:

“H… Hey, no problem! We’re going to my house, remember? I have a spare swimsuit somewhere, I can just…”

However, Mallow couldn’t finish her words as Kukui left a brown envelope that he took out of his coat on the table.

“With this, you’ll have enough for a nice swimsuit!”, exclaimed Kukui smiling.

“What?”, asked Selene in shock. Then, she turned towards Kukui. “No, Professor, I said…”

“Stop”, interrupted Kukui. “I know you feel bad, but don’t worry. I have enough for us both. Also, if you think I’m not putting limits on you, you are naive! I’m not letting you buy a new computer or get me broke, but I want to take care of you. I want you to have a great time here with your friends. And I know very well you are responsible. Besides, in Alola, a swimsuit is not a whim, it’s a basic necessity!”

No matter how much she could try, Selene knew there was no way of changing Kukui’s mind. She could still feel guilt inside her heart. That man had taken her for so long out of generosity and he was willing to go that far just for her to enjoy her time in Alola. While she felt bad for receiving so much attention, she also appreciated that there was someone taking care of her. Nervously, she took the envelope and muttered “Thanks” while blushing. The Professor smiled and looked at the other girls.

“Girls, I trust an important mission to you three: help her find a nice swimsuit! And I hope you all have a great time!”, exclaimed Professor Kukui happily before standing up and going back to his basement.

The kids were left alone in the leaving room. They all looked happily at Selene, who still held the envelope in her hands while smiling gently. She looked at her friends and could see in their eyes that there was nothing to worry about. Kukui was just like that with everybody, including them.

“He’s really nice”, simply said Selene, everyone nodding in agreement.

“So… this means we have a new plan for the morning: getting you a swimsuit!”, exclaimed Lillie.

“Let’s not waste more time! We’ll walk around the city to our first stop: the shopping center!”, exclaimed Mallow with excitement.