"After pressing the red button, you may leave the examination area."
"At the same time, every student must take note: you are not permitted to kill the Pokémon in the forest or anyone else's Pokémon."
"If discovered, your qualification for the competition will be revoked immediately."
"Also, riding Flying-type Pokémon is prohibited during the competition."
It was Eichi's first time participating, so he needed to listen carefully to the competition's various rules and precautions.
While listening attentively, he also observed the others. Aside from some lower-grade students who were listening seriously, no one else seemed to be paying attention.
They were already extremely familiar with the rules, so there was no need for them to listen.
Among any crowd, there were always people who stood out, such as the blond-haired boy less than five meters away from Eichi. A group of people surrounded him, making it clear that he was their center.
The people around him occasionally glanced his way. Similar to him was a blue-haired girl not far behind Eichi. She had not joined the crowd; instead, a group of girls surrounded her.
Their eyes were filled with admiration as the blue-haired girl calmly greeted them.
Eichi looked around and saw that such scenes were far from rare. On the contrary, there were quite a lot of them.
The top ten students in each of the five grades were all prominent figures in their respective grades, so naturally many people gathered around them.
Eichi was different. He had only entered 4th Grade not long ago, and he usually kept to himself without interacting with others.
Even if others wanted to be with him, he might not have been willing.
Of course, while Eichi observed others, they were naturally observing him as well.
Du Cang stood more than ten meters