As Xiu burst through the door, Pichu, still perched on his shoulder, immediately leaped off— landing nimbly on the smooth surface of the convenience store's front counter.
The young clerk behind the counter, whose initial alarm had been directed at Xiu's sudden, rain-soaked appearance, visibly relaxed upon seeing the familiar yellow Pokémon. Her gaze, however, still flickered nervously towards Xiu.
Feeling awkward under her scrutiny, Xiu instinctively took a step back. He caught his reflection in the rain-streaked glass door and winced. Okay, maybe her reaction wasn't entirely unwarranted. His clothes were damp and rumpled from the hasty pack-up, his hair plastered to his forehead by the wind and initial rain. He probably did look like some kind of vagrant or, worse, a delinquent attempting a bizarre hairstyle.
"Sorry about that…" He mumbled, trying to smooth down his hair and straighten his clothes, hoping to look slightly less alarming. As his face became clearer, he saw the clerk's wary expression soften slightly, though not entirely. He overheard her whisper under her breath, almost to herself, "Oh, it's you again… is it going to rain?" It sounded like an inside joke between her and the Pichu.
"Pichu Pichu!" The small Pokémon chirped excitedly from the counter, seemingly greeting the clerk.
Xiu watched the interaction, deciding not to interrupt. He found an out-of-the-way spot near the glass door, sinking down onto the floor, leaning his back against the cool surface. Outside, the drizzle had intensified into a proper downpour, rain sluicing down the glass, blurring the streetlights into hazy halos.
As the adrenaline from the sudden dash faded, the quiet hum of the store's refrigerators and the rhythmic drumming of the rain induced a contemplative mood. His thoughts drifted, carried away like the raindrops outside. The memory of that other rainy night, the one that had irrevocably altered his existence, felt startlingly vivid, as if it were only yesterday. The invasion, the chaos, the fear… It had shattered the fragile peace he'd begun to find. 'If I'd just stayed hidden that night, kept my head down… what would have happened? Would things be different now?'
"Pichu~"
A soft chirp pulled Xiu back to the present. He looked down. Pichu had hopped off the counter and was now sitting on his lap, looking up at him expectantly.
"Pichu~" it repeated, nudging his hand with its head.
Before Xiu could puzzle out what it wanted, another voice interrupted.
"Um… hello…" The clerk had approached hesitantly, holding out a steaming paper cup.
Xiu quickly scrambled to his feet, feeling slightly embarrassed to be caught lounging on the floor. "Hello," he replied quickly. "Sorry for intruding. I'll leave as soon as the rain lets up. Don't want to cause any trouble. If it's inconvenient, I can go now."
He took a closer look at the clerk now. She seemed young, maybe late teens or early twenties, with delicate features and a noticeably thin frame. Her long brown hair looked slightly dry, perhaps uncared for, and hung loosely around her shoulders. She wore simple, practical clothes beneath the standard orange convenience store vest.
"Um… my name is Xiaoyuan," she said softly, seeming surprised by Xiu's polite deference. She held out the cup. "Please… have some hot water."
"Thank you," Xiu accepted the cup gratefully, the warmth seeping into his chilled hands. He nodded his thanks.
"Here's… a tissue," Xiaoyuan offered, gesturing vaguely towards Xiu's still-damp hair.
"Thanks!" Xiu took the tissue, feeling slightly awkward again. He dabbed at his hair, unsure what else to say. The silence stretched. He decided to break it by returning to his earlier observation.
"I thought I heard you talking to Pichu earlier," He said, gesturing to the small Pokémon now climbing back onto his lap. "Do you two know each other?"
"Pichu!" Hearing its name, Pichu chirped affirmatively, confirming their acquaintance. Xiu smiled, gently scratching behind its long ears.
Seeing the easy interaction between Xiu and Pichu, Xiaoyuan seemed to relax further, a small smile touching her lips. "Oh, yes," she said, her voice gaining a little more confidence. "I know this little guy. It lives in the small park down the street…"
Perhaps it was the boredom of the late-night shift, or maybe just a need for conversation on a stormy night, but Xiaoyuan began to tell him Pichu's story, filling in the gaps, giving Xiu a new perspective on the small creature currently snuggled on his lap.
Pichu had appeared in the neighborhood some time ago. Xiaoyuan first became aware of it not by sight, but by the faint, erratic ding-a-ling of a tiny bell, wandering the streets late at night. Occasionally, she'd glimpse a small yellow shape rummaging through the trash bins outside the convenience store. The bell belonged to Pichu. Their 'contact' was limited to these fleeting glimpses and the ghostly sound of the bell in the night.
She hadn't paid it much mind initially, just another stray creature surviving on the city's fringes. The faint bell sound was sometimes even a little annoying during quiet nights. Until one day, after a sudden, unseasonal downpour, the bell fell silent. Days passed, and the familiar ding-a-ling wasn't heard. She hadn't realized she'd grown accustomed to it until it was gone. A strange sense of worry crept into her heart. 'Where did the Pichu with the little bell go?'
She worried about it during the subsequent rainy nights. Then, a couple of days later, walking home through the small park after her shift, she heard it again – a faint, weak ringing. Following the sound, she found Pichu huddled in a corner beneath the slide, barely conscious, soaked and shivering, the tiny bell still attached to a frayed cord around its neck. It looked close to death.
Knowing nothing about Pokémon first aid, she'd done the only thing she could think of: offered it some fresh water from her bottle and crumbled pieces of bread from her own packed lunch. For the next three mornings, she made a point of stopping by the park after work, leaving water and food near the slide.
Slowly, and miraculously, Pichu recovered. It must have been incredibly resilient, surviving the illness or injury that had laid it low. After that, a tentative familiarity grew between them. Pichu would sometimes wait near the store entrance when her shift ended, accepting small food offerings before darting back to its park sanctuary. Until today.
"The heavy rain you mentioned," Xiu interrupted gently, piecing things together, "when the bell disappeared… could that have been…" He described the timing of the massive storm that had coincided with the park invasion.
Xiaoyuan confirmed it. The dates matched. "It was terrible," she murmured. "Came out of nowhere."
'So, the storm affected more than just my life,' Xiu thought, surprised by the connection. Pichu nearly died because of it, too.
"So now," Xiaoyuan continued, looking fondly at the Pichu on Xiu's lap, "whenever it rains hard like this, it knows to come here for shelter. Smart little thing." She paused, then added thoughtfully, "I don't know what happened to its bell, though. Haven't seen it in ages."
"You mean… this?" Xiu reached into his backpack pocket and pulled out the small, tarnished brass bell on its faded red cord.
"That's it!" Xiaoyuan exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise. "Where did you find it?" She looked from the bell to Xiu, then to Pichu, confusion dawning on her face. "Wait… so… are you its Trainer, then?"
"No," Xiu shook his head. He looked down at Pichu, who was now curiously batting at the dangling bell. He briefly recounted his own encounters with the small Pokémon over the past two nights – finding it scavenging, the accidental shocks, the 'apology' gift of the bell.
"But… shouldn't all Pokémon have Trainers?" Xiaoyuan asked, her brow furrowed.
Her question revealed her limited understanding, likely gleaned from idealized television portrayals or common hearsay. Xiu sighed inwardly. "It's… more complicated than that," he began gently, trying to explain based on his own rapidly expanding knowledge. "Not all Pokémon live with humans. Many are wild. And sometimes…" He glanced down at Pichu again, considering its initial fear, its lack of a collar besides the bell cord, and its apparent homelessness, "…sometimes, they get abandoned."
"Abandoned?" Xiaoyuan repeated the word, her expression clouding over with sympathy and perhaps a touch of anger.
"I'm not certain, of course," Xiu cautioned. "That's just a guess based on the circumstances. The only way to know for sure…" He looked meaningfully at the Pichu, who had stopped playing with the bell and was now looking back and forth between the two humans, clearly confused by the long conversation it couldn't understand. It tilted its head. "Pichu?"
"…is to ask it directly," Xiu finished.
"Ask it?" Xiaoyuan echoed, bewildered again. "But… how? It can't talk." Her reaction mirrored Pichu's confusion.
Xiu allowed himself a small, confident smile. He reached for the Poké Ball clipped to his belt. "Actually," He said, enjoying her surprise, "there are ways…"