Have You Brushed Your Teeth?

Have You Brushed Your Teeth?

"Gastly."

Seeing the Gastly, then thinking of that incredibly real dream he'd just had, Jing He slowly pieced things together.

His falling asleep and having a nightmare... had probably been this little guy's doing, right? But judging by Gastly's current appearance, it seemed... it had been frightened by him? Jing He found it both amusing and exasperating.

When he had first encountered Gastly—or rather, Ghost-type Pokémon—in that dream, he had indeed been startled.

But after getting over the initial shock and seeing that Ghost-type Pokémon truly existed, it wasn't quite so hard to accept.

Looking at the terror in its eyes, it was hard to imagine that it was the Ghost-type Pokémon that usually took pleasure in scaring and intimidating others.

One human and one Pokémon stared at each other for a full minute.

The whole time, it was as though Jing He were the terrifying Ghost-type Pokémon, while Gastly was the "victim."

"Gulp."

Gastly swallowing broke the strange silence in the room.

"So, you caused that dream just now?"

Jing He suddenly spoke.

Gastly nodded almost instinctively.

But it quickly realized what it had done and hurriedly shook its head like a rattle.

Seeing it act like this, how could Jing He not know the answer?

Perhaps knowing it couldn't hide it from Jing He, Gastly forced out what it thought was a very friendly smile.

"Koujie—"

Gastly was a gaseous Pokémon. Things like doors and windows couldn't stop it. But Gastly usually lived in graveyards or abandoned old houses where no one lived. His place was old, sure, but not old enough to attract a Gastly, was it? Still, as a Pokémon Psychology instructor, Gastly's reaction and expression made one thing abundantly clear to him.

Gastly was afraid of him.

Or rather, it was afraid of the Giratina it had seen in the dream.

What it was afraid of didn't really matter.

What mattered was that it was afraid.

As everyone knew, the best way to catch a Pokémon was to make it lose its ability to battle, then forcibly capture it.

Alternatively, building a friendly relationship or catching it while it was afflicted with status conditions such as paralysis or flinching were also excellent opportunities.

And Gastly was currently in a state of near stress response brought on by fear and tension.

Jing He slowly sat up from the sofa.

Under Gastly's watchful gaze, he unhurriedly folded the blanket and set it to one side, smoothed the wrinkles in his clothes twice, then took a small breath.

His slow movements and calm demeanor gradually made Gastly relax as well.

Maybe this human isn't that scary? Suddenly—

Jing He jerked up a hand.

"Look! Giratina!"

"Koujie!"

Gastly, which had only just calmed down, jolted violently and cried out. It instinctively turned around to look.

At the same time, Jing He somehow produced a red-and-white sphere from a corner and threw it at Gastly.

Buzz! A red light flashed, and Gastly was enveloped by the light before flying into the Poké Ball.

For a moment, the air in the entire room seemed to freeze. Jing He stared unblinkingly at the Poké Ball that had fallen to the floor, silently counting along with its shakes to three.

Thump! The Poké Ball rocked three times with only a small motion. After a locking sound rang out, it stopped moving.

"Phew—"

Jing He let out a long breath.

The joy on his face lasted less than three seconds before it was replaced by bland disappointment.

"So this is what catching a Pokémon feels like?"

It wasn't as thrilling as he had imagined.

He walked over and picked up the Poké Ball.

This was the choice he had made after a full minute of careful thought while staring at Gastly earlier.

There were three reasons.

First, although this Gastly seemed afraid of him, it would probably soon realize that he was only a human with nothing worth fearing. At that point, whether Gastly would choose to keep hypnotizing him or leave was impossible to say.

Second, if Gastly attacked again, having already ruled out the possibility that he possessed the physique of a Super Rookie, an ordinary person's chances against a Pokémon were practically zero—especially a Ghost-type Pokémon.

Lastly... the opportunity was simply too good.

If Ghost-type Pokémon weren't so creepy in real life, he probably wouldn't have hesitated for that minute at all.

But on second thought, if Gastly could evolve into Gengar, that would be pretty... distinctive.

"Gastly?" Jing He lightly pressed the button in the middle of the Poké Ball, and it opened.

"Koujie?"

A mass of black mist slowly gathered amid the red light, forming a thoroughly bewildered Gastly.

Its large white eyes were wide open, sharp teeth exposed, with a long scarlet tongue hanging out.

Gastly blinked twice, then slowly realized what had happened. It looked at Jing He with an expression that seemed to say—I treated you like a brother, and you wanted to—

"KOU!! JIE—"

A shrill, teeth-grating cry suddenly rang out, impossible to tell whether it was furious or ferocious.

Buzz! Jing He, who had long since prepared himself, did not hesitate to use the Poké Ball again. Red light flashed, Gastly was drawn back into the ball, and its cry abruptly cut off.

After quite a while.

Jing He released it again.

"Kou—!"

Back in.

Released.

"Kou—"

Back in.

Released.

"..."

After repeating this several times.

Gastly: () "Koujie~~"

Its voice was clearly much gentler now, and it even looked somewhat ingratiating.

Let's talk, okay? We can talk things out. Why can't we just speak properly?

Seeing that it had finally calmed down, Jing He breathed a sigh of relief as well.

Sure enough, all that nonsense about becoming inseparable after catching a Pokémon is a lie.

He was very glad he had struck first.

Now that they could communicate, things would be easier.

"Grrr—"

"Koujie?" Gastly looked confused.

What was that sound? "Ahem." Jing He raised a fist to his mouth and coughed lightly.

He turned his gaze aside and asked with an unchanged expression, "Want something to eat?"

"Koujie?"

Ten minutes later.

"Koujie!"

On the small dining table sat two steaming bowls of... instant noodles.

But Gastly looked utterly astonished, as though it had never seen them before.

It stared at the instant noodles in front of it, sniffed their tempting aroma, and swallowed hard.

"I've used up most of the food I had stocked at home. There are only two bowls of instant noodles left."

Jing He explained.

Wits and nerve against Gastly had taken a fair amount of energy, especially that dream.

Gastly nodded blankly, though it was impossible to tell whether it had heard him.

It only stared at the bowl of instant noodles, the mist around its body writhing as it temporarily had no idea how to begin.

"Then let's eat."

Jing He did not say much more. He picked up his chopsticks, rolled up a large mouthful of noodles, and stuffed them into his mouth.

Slurp—

The rather loud sound finally drew Gastly's attention again.

It watched Jing He's movements and suddenly understood.

A wisp of black mist extended from its body and formed into the shape of a hand. Mimicking Jing He, it picked up a pair of chopsticks and reached into the bowl.

However, this seemed to be its first time using such utensils, or perhaps its first time eating noodles. After several attempts, it either failed to pick up any noodles, or the noodles slipped off halfway. Gastly was desperate to eat but couldn't, and its frustration quickly turned to anger.

Watching its somewhat comical movements, Jing He smiled. After swallowing the noodles in his mouth, he said, "You can try the fork."

Only then did Gastly notice that there was a fork beside its bowl of instant noodles, while Jing He had none.

For some reason, warmth rose in its heart.

It decisively abandoned the chopsticks for the fork.

Having tried several times already, it immediately managed to eat the noodles once it used the fork.

"Koujie!!"

The moment Gastly tasted instant noodles for the first time, both its eyes lit up.

Before it had even swallowed what was in its mouth, it reached into the bowl again.

Seeing it wolf down the food, Jing He smiled again.

He introduced himself for the first time.

"Nice to meet you, Gastly. This is our first meeting. My name is Jing He."

The dining table was the best place to build a friendly relationship.

"Koujie, koujie!"

Gastly called out twice with great vigor.

Compared to earlier, Gastly still wasn't particularly close to Jing He, but at least it no longer rejected him.

"By the way." Jing He set down his chopsticks and asked, "Gastly, why did you come here?"

This was the question that had troubled him all night.

"Slurp—"

Gastly sucked in the final mouthful of noodles. It did not answer Jing He's question, merely licking its lips as it stared longingly at the noodle cup, which now held nothing but broth.

"I'm full."

He pushed the bowl of instant noodles, less than half eaten, in front of it.

"Koujie?"

Gastly stared at him blankly.

Didn't you eat because you were hungry?

But this really was the first time it had tasted something so delicious.

And it was also the first time it had felt something warm flowing through its heart.

Jing He smiled gently. "As long as you don't mind."

"Koujie, koujie!"

Gastly floated in front of Jing He, and before he could react—slurp—

Its scarlet tongue made intimate contact with his cheek.

Jing He's expression stiffened.

It took him quite a while to wipe the saliva from his face.

"Have you brushed your teeth?"

For now, updates will be at twelve noon and six in the evening. If everyone thinks that works, I'll stick with it. New author, new book—please support me~~