"You want to... travel with me?"
To Dawn's surprise, she had expected that after she told Ash of this decision, he would be surprised or find it difficult to understand. However, Ash didn't seem too surprised now. If she had to say there was any surprise, it was as if he just didn't understand why she would say this at this time.
"Um... do you understand what I'm saying..."
Dawn reached out and waved her hand in front of Ash, wanting to confirm if he was awake.
"Of course I understand. Isn't it just traveling together? Of course, it's not a problem. Anyway, our destinations should be similar, right? We both start from the initial town and head towards a more distant destination. Since the destinations and the roads we have to travel are similar, traveling together should be reasonable, right?"
"That... well..."
Dawn originally wanted to refute, but when she thought about it carefully, it didn't seem like there was any problem. Since they knew each other and were going the same way, then traveling together was reasonable. But Dawn always felt like something was wrong somewhere.
"Right? There's no problem, right?" Ash seemed to think it was fun to see Dawn looking so flustered, so he continued, "Actually, finding companions for traveling is a very simple thing. Back then, I traveled with those companions for all sorts of strange reasons."
"...So, what are some of the reasons?" Dawn asked blankly. She was about to lose her ability to think now.
"Um... two had their bicycles destroyed by Pikachu and then said they wanted to travel together... wanted to see a wider world so traveled together... wanted to see Professor Oak in person so traveled together... and one traveled with his sister..."
What is all this about?
Hearing Ash's explanation, Dawn couldn't help but feel this way.
If Ash didn't look so serious, Dawn would have thought he was just making up some reasons to trick her.
"Compared to them, I think you're pretty normal, Dawn."
Because you were supposed to be one of them anyway.
Ash guiltily looked away, not meeting Dawn's gaze.
"Normal...?" Dawn frowned and thought, but after all, she hadn't traveled before and didn't know much about this, so she could only tentatively believe what Ash said was true.
"Then, please take care of me?"
Dawn tentatively reached out her hand to Ash.
She had stayed up all night thinking of so many lines to say to persuade Ash to deal with all kinds of situations, but she didn't expect Ash to just agree directly. Not only did he agree, but he also said that it was a commonplace thing to travel together right after meeting, which kind of broke Dawn's understanding of things for so long.
"Yeah, please take care of me too."
Compared to Dawn's restraint, Ash was generous, took Dawn's hand, and the bond and story between the two officially began at this moment.
...
"Cough... cough cough... If that's the case, I'll go back to sleep first, otherwise it'll be troublesome if I'm too sleepy tomorrow. What about you?"
With the matter she had been worried about settled, Dawn could finally breathe a sigh of relief. She had thought it was just an ordinary day, and her life would change from tomorrow, but Dawn didn't expect to have so much luck before the start of her journey.
"I'll go back too, otherwise it'll be awkward if I fall asleep here."
Ash said with a yawn.
He was already a little sleepy from lying on the grass, and now he could hardly restrain his urge to sleep well, so after reaching an agreement, the two walked back together.
Arriving at the door, facing the closed door, Ash looked at Dawn and said, "Then opening the door is... um? Wait? What's with that expression?"
After noticing the embarrassment on Dawn's face, Ash was stunned and hurriedly asked, "That expression, don't tell me..."
"Ehehe~ Sorry, I forgot to take the keys out and closed the door."
Dawn knocked her head with her fist, trying to gloss over it.
Ash: "..."
He didn't expect that before the start of the journey, they would encounter a huge problem. They couldn't just knock on the door in the middle of the night, right? He could understand if he subconsciously forgot to close the door and had to use the key to open it, after all, it was the first time he had encountered this, but what was Dawn's situation?
"Didn't Aunt Johanna just say that about you at noon? Isn't the speed at which you forget things a bit too fast!?"
"There's no way! I wasn't thinking about the door and the keys at all at the time. After coming out, I subconsciously closed the door carefully. What can I do!"
"That's why you should be more careful! If you're so careless when you're out traveling..."
The two, who were still polite the moment before, started bickering the next second because of a small matter. Even though it was the first time the two had met, Dawn didn't feel any sense of incongruity with Ash's bickering, but instead felt that it should be like this.
Will this kind of thing happen often on future travels?
Dawn bickered with Ash, and at the same time, a strange expectation arose in her heart.
And Ash, because it was a redo, naturally had more thoughts. When he was traveling in the past, he felt that his personality was very similar to Dawn's, and now looking back, he still got this answer.
They both seemed to be careless idiots, insensitive to things other than their own dreams, but precisely because of this, they were able to become the most tacit partners between each other.
Future travel will definitely be more interesting.
Ash also had this expectation in his heart.
....