[I know that the moment I chose to give up, I had utterly lost at life.] This was a bookmark. Since it was for Misty's autograph, Heath had simply picked one at random from the novel bookmarks Zoroark no longer wanted and had Cynthia sign it without checking what was written on it. But now, as Misty looked at the postcard before her, she developed a curious misunderstanding. After all, she did not know that Heath had actually found this postcard at random, or that the words on it were merely something the protagonist of a book had said. She thought Cynthia was encouraging her, and this lent a little resolve to her wavering heart. How long that resolve would last, however, remained unknown.
After all, most people's enthusiasm for things was short-lived, and how long Misty could persevere was a question worth considering. Heath knew nothing of this, though. He was making the breakfast Misty had just eaten for another customer who had come in for a meal. Seafood fried rice was simple enough to make, but it was generally somewhat expensive. Of course, whether it was expensive mainly depended on the ingredients used and the region. Buying seafood in coastal cities was quite cheap, with low prices that made it excellent value. In inland cities, however, seafood was more expensive.
Yet even though Cerulean City was close to the sea, not everything there was cheap. On this trip to Cerulean City's vegetable market, Heath had bought some gooseneck barnacles. They were rare things and very expensive, qualifying as a luxury seafood product. Naturally, they tasted good too, but the main reason gooseneck barnacles were expensive was that harvesting them was troublesome. Since they grew close to the sea, specially trained Pokémon were often needed to harvest them, as