"What reason would he even have to do something like this?" She paused, as if to compose herself.
Well, that had at least been less confrontational than she had been expecting. Kimiko resumed leaning against the nearby tree, head bowed and eyes closed, taking a deep breath to keep herself calm; again, she could
feel Olivia’s concern from down beside her, and she was grateful the espeon hadn't wavered in their task to check on her. They'd talk about it tonight. For now, she had more to press Amara about.
“Believe me, that’s what we
all want to know. What reason could
anyone have for kidnapping trainers on a vacation?” She looked back up at Amara, her expression softer as she considered another thought. “I don’t suppose you might have any theory on that, while we’re here? Think it could have anything to with the invited mythical Pokémon, maybe?”
"Ms Kimiko, you ought to think more carefully before you make accusations."
“Please don’t misunderstand,” she replied firmly. “I wasn’t making accusations. We all had
suspicions. If it were me, I'd want to know so I could clear myself. Wouldn't you?" She held up a hand in a half shrug. "I wanted to make sure I caught up with you because you could easily be mistaken for being a suspect, given then information we have. I'm not the only one to think so, I'm just the only one who decided come and find you. So that way, if you
were involved, better to know and deal with it now before you could act again. And if not, this gives you the opportunity to clear yourself.”
There was a boy and his Xatu as well. Kalo. When he first vanished I assumed he'd gone home. He seemed nervous to come in the first place, and he's from here. When Hypno also detected a trace of psychic energy I believed he'd teleported home with Xatu. Still, I asked Mr. Montorzi about it, and he told me Kalo had gone home."
Finally, something worth noting. And it only raised further questions. "Kalo is... from here? What do you mean? From the island? From this universe?" She'd only questioned Montague about the mythical pokemon... she hadn't asked about the other
trainers he'd invited. Again, though, there was a flaw in her explanation. "Answer me this, then. You say the host was the one who told you Kalo had gone home, right? How did he know that? Where's he getting his information from? And furthermore, if he knew that, why is he now searching the lake, as you said before?" Probably for signs of Reena or Franklin, she supposed, but then... what of Kalo and Xatu?
So... he'd told Amara that Kalo had gone home. How he knew that was a mystery. But he was surprised when Franklin vanished, too. "So, does he still think Kalo had gone home? Or does he think there's something more going on there, too?"
And we had forged notes to show Officer Jenny and Victor, in case someone asked."
"Wh-?!" And there it was, likely the detail she was determined to hide. Kimiko just stared blankly at her for a moment. "That's... Okay, so you were trying not to cause a panic among the remaining trainers by covering up the disappearances? Do you even have any idea what a stupid idea it is to forge anything in an investigation like this?" That complicated things. She looked down and got a subtle nod from Olivia; Amara was being honest about this. "
Why would you cover this up? From the rest of the trainers, fine, but from the officers?? That's... " She didn't know what else to say to that, throwing her hands up in frustration, instead.
When she spoke again, she met Kimiko's eyes and spoke with great conviction. "Do not waste your anger on me any further. I regret what we did immensely, but trust that the only thing I care about is finding those trainers."
Yeah, that was rich considering what she'd just been told. She felt plenty validated over feeling anger right now. Besides, it had worked, didn't it? Amara told her what she'd been keeping secret. It wasn't spectacularly useful, though, and Kimiko wasn't comfortable clearing Amara of anything just yet. "Believe me, I'm working on controlling it," she said with a sigh. "But that doesn't mean it was a waste. If it gets us one step closer to solving this mystery, it's worth it."
As if to punctuate her point, she didn't hide the irritation in her voice as she added, "Maybe from now on don't do anything shady like forging notes or anything, alright? If you're honestly innocent, we all need to be able to trust you, and each other. Shit like that doesn't help."
And then she sighed, as Olivia pressed against her leg, now looking directly up at her, and she decided to tone it down.
If Amara was being honest, then she could be a good ally in helping to solve this, able to get close to their host, or pretty much anyone, without too much suspicion. It was going to be hard to convince anyone else she was innocent enough to trust after this, though... perhaps if she had something to contribute? "So, what's the bottom line here?" she asked. "Have you done any real investigating besides just walking the forest? You said Honzo detected a teleport. Where? The beach? Here? Do you have any suspicions of your own?"