"..."
Raihan wanted to know when he planned to leave Galar. What exactly was this guy up to?
Shiro stayed silent, simply watching the man's overly friendly grin.
Marvin quickly stepped between them,
glaring at Raihan as he tried to pull Shiro away.
Then Leon suddenly spoke, his tone bright with realization. "Right! That's it! It's Shiro's battle style! The way he commands his Pokémon! Wait… what are you two doing?"
To help him prepare for the upcoming Champion Cup, the company had analyzed all the strong participants, and Shiro was one of their key focuses. His Pokémon were strong, but what truly stood out was his unique command style. It was precise, efficient, and completely focused on victory. He was incredibly skilled at seizing opportunities.
Leon's gaze shifted to Raihan, who now had one arm around Marvin and the other still half-extended toward Shiro. The corner of his mouth twitched.
He'd known Raihan for years. Though they'd only met a handful of times, was he always this chummy?
"Hahaha…" Raihan laughed awkwardly, waving a hand to brush off the embarrassment. "I was just asking Shiro some battle tips, that's all! His style's really something. I'd love to learn from him."
Leon rubbed his chin, his face lined with thought. He wanted to ask more, but the vibration of his communicator snapped him back to reality.
One glance at the message, and his expression changed.
He immediately looked around, scanning the area. His eyes caught the figure of Lina walking dejectedly toward Hulbury. Leon hurried after her.
"Lina! Miss Lina!"
He stopped her, and under her puzzled gaze, explained the situation briefly.
Hulbury Gym Leader Nathan had gone missing.
He didn't mention that Nathan might have gone out searching for Nessa; he didn't even know where the man had gone. He was only asking out of routine to see if Lina knew anything.
"My… my dad's missing?" Lina stammered, completely at a loss. She had no idea what was happening.
Her father rarely left the gym. On occasion, he would visit one of two restaurants in town to eat, and his favorite dish was Wishiwashi fillet… and that was it.
After a short exchange, Leon excused himself and ran toward the group of cameramen and staff.
Shiro and the others watched him go. They'd heard every word of the conversation.
Raihan gave Shiro a curious look before speaking up. "Uh… this might sound a bit forward, but mind if I ask, where did you go right after your match, Shiro?"
"Me?" Shiro blinked, surprised by the question. Just as he was about to answer, Marvin pushed Raihan away.
"Who are you trying to accuse?" he snapped. "Shiro and that Nathan guy didn't have any bad blood! And even if they did fight, we'd have heard it! There's no way something like that happened quietly!"
Raihan raised his hands apologetically, smiling in a placating way, though he didn't reply to Marvin. His eyes, however, lingered on Shiro.
Shiro said calmly, "After my match, I left the gym and rested by the outer gate for a while. When I saw the other matches wrapping up and the roadblock challenge about to start, I came straight here."
"Oh…" Raihan nodded in understanding, but the doubt in his eyes only deepened.
* * *
Meanwhile, after finishing Nessa's post-battle interview, the camera crew wrapped up their equipment.
Everyone was in good spirits, ready to eat and rest, until Leon approached them.
"What?! Gym Leader Nathan is missing?" Ryan was the first to shout, looking utterly alarmed. "We had no idea! We came straight from the Hulbury Gym, same as you! No clue at all!"
The rest of the staff chimed in.
"Yeah, how would we know? He's the Gym Leader. Who knows what urgent thing he had to deal with."
"Even if he's missing, that's none of our business…"
"Let's just head back to Hulbury. It's lunch time! He's probably at a restaurant already, right? Makes sense, doesn't it?"
Everyone gave a nod in agreement, Ryan included. Seeing Leon lost in thought, he took the lead and herded the crew back toward town.
They'd been working all day. The Gym Leader disappearing out of nowhere? Not their problem.
"A big guy like that, maybe he just went somewhere to take a dump…" one of the staff muttered as he hurried off.
Leon froze, speechless, but didn't stop them. He just stood quietly, watching as everyone left. Then his eyes shifted to Nessa, who was still standing there.
She blinked at him, shook her head, and followed the others without saying a word.
Leon didn't press the matter. He sighed, took out his communicator, and reported the situation to headquarters.
* * *
Within half an hour, the news had spread through most of the company and the entire Hulbury.
Gym Leader Nathan had vanished.
Did he go out to eat, or... to the bathroom?
No one knew.
The company didn't know, the League didn't know, and even the Gym Trainers, the ones who followed Nathan daily, were clueless.
Who would stay glued to the Gym Leader all the time anyway? And how long had it been since he went missing? Half an hour? Maybe an hour?
In front of the Hulbury Gym, several Gym Trainers in blue uniforms sat on the steps, eating lunch as they talked.
"Where could the Gym Leader have gone? Eating or pooping seems most likely."
"Haha, maybe both. Ate first, then got constipated and took forever in the bathroom."
"Good point! Those guys are overreacting. Imagine if they found him mid-squat, how embarrassing would that be?"
A few nearby staff members nearly spat out their food at the crude jokes and quickly moved further away.
There were still twenty minutes before the next Gym Challenge match began. None of the gym staff were in a rush. The cameramen weren't either, and neither was the host.
Only Oleana, far away in the Macro Cosmos headquarters, was going mad, ordering everybody on-site from both the company and the League to find Nathan within ten minutes.
People searched. The rumors of his disappearance had spread across the town, but no one had seen him, and no one had found a trace.
* * *
On the southern bridge of Hulbury, Nessa nervously pulled Shiro aside and whispered "Are you sure this is okay?"
"…" Shiro shook his head, pausing for a moment before saying quietly, "Relax. Don't let a little chaos like this bother you. A missing person's got nothing to do with us. Let the company handle it."
"I mean…" Nessa pressed, her voice tense. "What if they start using Psychic-type Pokémon to search?"
That, admittedly, was a problem. If they did, it wouldn't take long before someone connected the dots, and realized what had really happened.
Shiro rubbed his chin, thinking. The timing felt about right.
"In that case," he said calmly, taking out his company communicator, "Let's call Oleana and explain. No point in letting her waste time looking for a dead man."
**
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