It was almost six in the evening when Reiji got back to the Gym—and Cissy was waiting like she'd been timing him.
"Where did you go this afternoon?" She'd planted herself by the back door on purpose. Slipping out during work hours without a word? To her, it was the perfect excuse to strike back.
"Gym Leader, a friend came by, so I stepped out for a bit," Reiji said, unsure what she was setting up. Did Senta not pass along the message?
"Why didn't you tell me? You walked out without asking, and I spent ages looking for you. Do you have any idea how much you delayed me?" Cissy looked stern—almost angry—even though she was practically celebrating inside.
"I told Senta—" Reiji started, then caught Senta behind her, quietly blinking and giving him a look. He got it immediately.
Senta hadn't set him up. This was Cissy making a point. And honestly, she had one: Reiji hadn't asked her directly. He'd told Senta and left. If she wanted to be strict, he had no room to argue.
"Sorry, Gym Leader," Reiji said. "I went to find you, but you weren't around."
"If I wasn't around, you couldn't wait?" Cissy pressed, already deciding how she wanted to "cook" him for this.
"I—" Reiji tried again, but she lifted a hand to cut him off.
"Enough. Skipping out for no reason means a pay cut."
"…Right. How much?" Reiji asked.
He wasn't worried. A few thousand Pokédollars didn't scare him.
"Half a day missing, one full day's pay deducted." Cissy said it like she expected him to flinch, maybe even beg.
Instead, Reiji waved it off. "Fine. Deduct it."
He didn't even bother hiding the amusement in his eyes. It was such a small punishment it barely registered.
He recalled Poliwhirl and the others with their Poké Balls. The Trainers who'd been teaching them said their goodbyes and headed out, and Reiji climbed onto Pelipper without sparing Cissy another glance. A day's pay was only ten thousand Pokédollars. He'd just handed Naoki six hundred thousand for his trouble—ten thousand was nothing.
"Hey! You're just leaving like that?" Cissy snapped, watching him go. "Seriously?!"
It made no sense to her. This wasn't how it was supposed to play out. Reiji was an orphan—why didn't he care about losing money? Was he not short on cash at all?
"Sis," Senta said quietly, leaning in, "the Trainers Reiji hires get paid fifty thousand Pokédollars for teaching a single move."
Cissy froze, then everything clicked.
"So that's it…" She finally understood. Her monthly wage barely covered learning six moves. If Reiji could casually toss around hundreds of thousands, what was ten thousand to him? She hadn't miscalculated the punishment—she'd misjudged what ten thousand even meant to him.
"And Sis," Senta added, unable to stop himself, "his Pokémon eat premium Pokéblocks. They recover with Pokéblocks too. That crystal-clear stuff that costs a few thousand a box in town. He's got a whole team—just feeding them costs him tens of thousands a day."
"Right…" Cissy muttered, the heat rushing to her face. "How did I not think of that?"
Then she noticed Senta smirking.
Her expression went cold. She grabbed him by the ear and twisted. "And who asked you to remind me? Do you think I'm stupid? Have you finished copying Blastoise's notes yet? Or have you been getting lazy lately?"
"Ah—ow, ow! Easy, Sis—easy!" Senta folded instantly. "Alright, alright! I'm going. I'll copy them right now!"
He couldn't do anything else. When Cissy had fire in her belly, you didn't talk back.
…
By then, Reiji was already gone. He had no idea Senta was taking the blast radius alone.
He was back at the lakeside cabin, and Naoki had returned with the groceries.
"Butterfree, set up the grill," Reiji called, seeing Naoki sitting under the eaves with bags of meat and vegetables on the ground. The Pokémon were still playing across the grass like nothing in the world could touch them.
"Staryu, Poliwhirl—take the food inside and wash it."
Once the ingredients were handed off, Reiji put together dinner for his own Pokémon, and made an extra set for Naoki's team as well. When everything was ready, each Pokémon had its share laid out in front of it, and they ate under the fading sun.
The washed ingredients came back neatly prepared—Naoki had already sliced and plated everything. All that was left was to throw it on the grill.
Meat hissed as fat hit the heat, and Reiji clinked his ice-cold beer bottle against Naoki's.
Clink.
They each took a drink, then Naoki reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of papers. "Boss, these are the one-million Pokédollars' worth of task vouchers. I swung by the Pokémon Center while I was out buying food."
There were seven or eight slips in total. Each one paid a little over a hundred thousand, and they were all low-friction jobs: sparring work, escort work, helping catch wild Pokémon. A few had even been posted through third parties Naoki paid, just to make the pattern look natural. One person dumping that many tasks at once would stand out, and Naoki's own identity meant he couldn't safely rely on the Pokémon Center system the way normal Trainers could.
Reiji looked them over. With these, he could submit tasks whenever he wanted—but not tonight. The tasks had only just been posted. Turning them in immediately would look far too clean.
"How've things been?" Reiji asked, putting the vouchers away. "Has Team Rocket or the Black Ship come sniffing around?"
"No," Naoki said. "They've probably forgotten about me. I'm not hiding anymore. I joined a small club on Mandarin Island North under a false identity, settled in, and started raising the new Pokémon I caught. I'm keeping my head down."
Reiji nodded. That was the smart play.
Then he glanced over with a grin. "And you haven't secretly contacted your crush, right?"
Naoki's smile vanished. He shook his head. "No. I don't dare. I don't want her seeing me like this."
Reiji sighed and patted his shoulder—half sympathy, half relief. As long as Naoki didn't reach out, he wouldn't drag trouble down on himself early. And if that longing stayed in his chest, it would keep him moving forward. Sometimes obsession was its own fuel.
Still, Reiji couldn't help thinking: when Naoki eventually realised she'd moved on, it was going to break him. He could keep him from doing anything reckless, but it would hurt all the same.
"I know," Naoki said quietly. "I have to endure it. If I get careless, I lose everything."
"Just watch yourself," Reiji said, ending it there. He picked up a strip of grilled meat and ate, savouring it. He hadn't had barbecue since Valencia Island.
Footsteps cut through the calm.
Rapid, uneven—too fast, too close.
Even before Reiji turned his head, several Pokémon had already shifted toward the treeline.
The bushes at the forest's edge shook, then split apart, and a figure stumbled out of the dusk and collapsed onto the grass. He looked up and saw the cabin, the Pokémon, and Reiji and Naoki under the eaves.
"Naoki," Reiji said, voice flat, "take him."
Naoki moved instantly. "Flygon, Spinarak."
Spinarak fired silk first, pinning the intruder before he could scramble away. Flygon hauled him back toward the cabin.
"Acting Gym Leader—spare me! Please!" the man yelled, dropping to his knees without resisting.
He thrashed as if he wanted to explain, but Spinarak's silk had sealed his mouth.
Naoki lifted a foot, ready to stomp the panic out of him—
"Hold," Reiji said, raising a hand. He recognised this guy. Then he put a finger to his lips in a clear warning: quiet.
When the man finally stopped struggling, Reiji said, "I'm going to let you speak. Say what you need to say. But if you scream or try anything, I will kill you."
The man nodded so hard it looked like his neck might snap.
"Spinarak, clear his mouth."
The silk peeled away.
"Acting Gym Leader, save me—save me!" the man blurted out in one breath. "Other bounty hunters are after me. My two partners are dead. They're strong, and they're here for the Meditation Method!"
It was Gai—the Golduck guy who'd traded Reiji information for that method. The moment he could talk, everything spilled out.
Reiji's eyes hardened. So much for peace and quiet.
"How much do they know?" he asked. "And what do you know about the ones hunting you?"
"There are two of them," Gai said fast. "They're bounty hunters too. I've dealt with them before. Their strongest Pokémon are two Gyarados—"
"Boss…" Naoki said under his breath. He didn't know what the Meditation Method really was, but he didn't need details to understand this was trouble. Right now, he was at his weakest.
Reiji looked toward the forest behind Gai.
"Too late," he said quietly. If Gai had made it here, the hunters were already close.
Then Reiji turned back to him. "How did the Meditation Method get exposed?"
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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