Inside Celadon City's Celadon Hotel.
A busy day was about to come to an end. Grey took the scarves he'd gotten from Burgh and headed to the top floor of the hotel.
Knock knock knock…
The sound of knocking rang out suddenly.
Creak…
The door opened.
Caitlin and Sabrina were both resting on their own beds.
Psychics really had it good—no need to get out of bed just to open a door.
Grey couldn't help but marvel at how convenient psychic power was.
Of course, when it went out of control, it was also terrifyingly strong.
"What's up? Coming to our room this late at night… did your room lose power, so you want to stay here for the night?"
Caitlin blinked.
Grey's room was right next to theirs.
And it was already pretty late—aside from a power outage, Caitlin honestly couldn't think of any other reason he'd suddenly show up at their door.
Sabrina didn't say a word. She just stared straight at the bag in Grey's hands.
Her heart gave a small jolt.
It felt like…
There was something in that bag.
A gift for them?
Sabrina guessed Grey's intention right away.
Today, because of what happened with Colress and Giovanni getting hurt, Grey had spent the whole day running around nonstop.
The only time he'd truly caught his breath was that short break at Erika's Celadon Gym.
Overall, he was either running—or on the way to running.
He'd barely had any time to rest at all.
Thinking of that, Sabrina suddenly felt like Grey had it rough today.
"Yeah… something came up today, so I didn't really deliver on the sightseeing I promised."
Grey shook the two bags in his hands and said, "I had Mr. Burgh help me get these scarves. Try them and see if they fit. Autumn's coming in, and a silk scarf is actually pretty nice to have."
"Huh? Scarves woven by Mr. Burgh's Leavanny?"
Caitlin covered her mouth with one hand, her eyes bright.
Getting an appointment with Burgh was pretty difficult.
He was an artist, and he wasn't money-driven. On top of that, he was also Castelia City's Gym Leader, which basically made him a public official.
So even Caitlin's family had to queue up if they wanted to book him for something.
The fact that Grey had managed to get scarves woven by Burgh's Leavanny made Caitlin quietly happy.
"I'm leaving the two bags here. You can grab them in a bit. I'm not coming in—it's kind of inconvenient."
Grey set the bags down.
Then he closed the door.
After Grey left,
Caitlin and Sabrina exchanged a knowing look and used psychic power to pull the bags over.
Kacha, kacha…
A faint rustling and clinking sound came from inside.
Just hearing the noise from the bag, Caitlin could tell it wasn't that simple.
"So besides scarves… what else could it be?"
That thought made her excited.
She really wanted to know what Grey had gotten her.
Meanwhile, over on Sabrina's side—
Her expression stayed calm and unreadable,
as if nothing had happened at all.
But even though that was what her face showed,
inside, she was just as excited.
The two of them were complete opposites like that.
One wore her emotions openly, the other buried everything in her heart.
When the bags were opened—
"Wow! It's so pretty!"
Caitlin saw a bracelet.
It was made from gems polished out of something called Psychic Gem, strung together into a sparkling chain.
And on the bracelet, there were clear English letters you could see at a glance.
"Caitlin."
It looked incredibly nice.
Sabrina's gift was similar to Caitlin's.
But it wasn't a bracelet.
It was a necklace.
And carved into it were the English letters:
"Sabrina."
"He really put thought into this."
Sabrina's expression softened.
Then she put the necklace on around her neck.
Both of them were happy with the gifts they'd received.
Especially Caitlin—she was basically unable to put it down.
"Grey… he's really wonderful…"
Caitlin was so pleased she almost forgot where she was.
She even didn't feel like checking in with Cynthia about her whereabouts lately.
Perfect timing—
Cynthia sent a message.
Caitlin only glanced at it, marked it as "read," then flipped her phone face-down.
...
...
Sinnoh Region, Pokémon League.
"It's only been three days, and Caitlin isn't messaging me anymore?"
Cynthia watched the message change from "unread" to "read" with her own eyes, then waited for a long time afterward.
In the end, she had to admit a harsh reality:
Her worry seemed to have come true.
Caitlin…
was really about to be carried off by Grey!
No way. Absolutely not!
"But… why would it turn out like this?"
Cynthia thought it over again and again.
She couldn't think of a reason Caitlin would do this.
Even if Grey treated her well, Caitlin wouldn't just stop checking in with her.
They were best friends.
The kind with an unshakably close bond.
And Caitlin herself was a young lady from one of Sinnoh's most prestigious families—she'd received far more education than most people.
There was no way she'd get talked into running off after just a few sweet words from some blond guy, right?
Wait…
Cynthia suddenly thought of something extremely important.
What was the biggest "thing" Caitlin had gained by going to Kanto?
That was…
Freedom.
Caitlin usually stayed cooped up in the Battle Castle at the Battle Frontier.
Even leaving the door could be difficult for her.
This time, she'd only been able to go out to Kanto because Grey had basically "signed and stamped" the permission.
And Caitlin was Grey's boss.
So in Kanto, she could basically do whatever she wanted.
That meant Caitlin was experiencing a kind of freedom she'd never had before.
In that case, Caitlin not replying to her messages… maybe that was normal…
No—what am I thinking?!
Going to Kanto and then ignoring her best friend for three days?!
That really is getting carried off, isn't it?!
The moment Cynthia imagined a future where Caitlin might only come back during the holidays—
No, maybe even not returning to Sinnoh for years—
Cynthia admitted it: she was starting to panic.
Her fingertips began tapping against the desktop.
So what could she do to coax Caitlin back?
Outside the door—
"Lucian, Flint… what's going on in there with Cynthia?"
Aaron heard the commotion coming from the Champion's office and asked the other two Elite Four members curiously.
Lucian had originally planned to come alone.
But lately, every time he came by, Cynthia would dump a mountain of work on him, so he'd decided to drag along Flint and Aaron too—since those two usually didn't do much work anyway.
Hearing Aaron's question, Lucian narrowed his eyes and said slowly, "I think Cynthia right now is probably—"
Before he could finish—
The door to the Champion's office opened.
Cynthia had happened to be stepping out to get some air.
The instant the door opened, they all locked eyes.
The air filled with something called "awkwardness."
"Uh… well, Cynthia, Lucian, Flint—I think I've got something to take care of, so I'll head out!"
"Yeah, yeah—Volkner needs to talk to me about something important. I'm out too."
In the end, only Lucian and Cynthia were left standing there.
The result was obvious.
Acting Champion Lucian… reporting for duty.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810