Looking for Me?

The next day

Once the novelty of going back to school wore off.

Roy listened absentmindedly to Lina's lesson at the front of the classroom.

Roy would still pretend to take notes on type matchups, but when it came to knowledge about Pokémon training, he simply gave up and lay down.

Most of Lina's training knowledge concerned methods for raising Rock-type Pokémon, since most of the students below had Rock-type and Ground-type Pokémon.

The lesson was whether one should use a kitchen knife or Horn Drill to massage a Rock-type Pokémon's body. The answer was obvious: Horn Drill, of course.

Lina then described in detail how to use Horn Drill to shave away the impure mineral components on a Rock-type Pokémon's body, reducing wear on its body.

As for the Armor Ore, Obsidian Iron Ore, and so on mentioned in training manuals... they could just look at them.

Many precious ores were beyond the reach of commoner students like them.

They could only use their breaks to search the mountains for common ores to replenish the minerals their Pokémon needed.

Or they could buy some cheap ores from Devon Corporation.

As for other Pokéblocks for Rock types and Ground types, they could sometimes cost even more than rare ores.

When Lina saw Roy sleeping with his head on the desk, she chose not to wake him.

After all, she had never raised Ghost-type Pokémon herself. What she knew about Ghost-type Pokémon might not even be more than Roy did.

Besides, Roy's two Pokémon were about to reach level thirty. With how disgusting they were in battle, getting the Junior Trainer Qualification Certificate should not be a problem.

In the blink of an eye, it was nearly time for class to end.

Roy, who had slept all morning, opened his eyes the moment he heard Lina leave. His gaze instantly became clear.

Sure enough, even a beautiful person could turn into a lullaby when teaching a boring class.

He was already planning what to do after school and dinner.

The dismissal bell rang right on time.

Just as Roy was about to leave his seat, a slender arm stopped him. Looking up, he found yesterday's defeated opponent.

"Roxanne?"

Roxanne blushed and stuffed a sheet of letter paper into Roy's arms, then covered her face and fled the classroom as if running for her life.

Huh? This was!

He had nearly forgotten. This was the reward for yesterday's battle.

Hehe, Roxanne had written me a love letter when she was little.

Permanent Trainer Title +1

"If I beat the boss too, will the boss write me a love letter as well?"

Watching Roxanne's retreating figure, Little Fatty, one of Roxanne's underlings, muttered to the tall, skinny boy beside him.

Roxanne, their boss, was usually outstanding in both presence and strength. This was the first time he had seen Roxanne run out of the classroom with a red face.

Little Fatty fell into a fantasy, imagining that he could receive Roy's title too.

"Are you dreaming?

First, your Roggenrola can't beat the boss's Onix.

Second, this sort of thing depends on your character model..."

The tall, skinny boy stopped himself, glanced at Little Fatty's acne-covered adolescent face, and continued, "Actually, forget it."

"What do you mean!? Don't run! Is my character model that bad? Isn't my face way more masculine than that pretty boy's?"

The two put on a chasing and scuffling show in the classroom.

Just as Little Fatty was about to catch the tall, skinny boy, Roy stepped in front of him and stopped the stunned Little Fatty.

"Come outside with me. I have something to discuss with you."

Roy wore a "kind and friendly" smile.

"I was wrong, bro! I shouldn't have called you a pretty boy!"

Little Fatty apologized at light speed. After all, Wei Junjie had said that survival came before everything else.

"It's not about that."

Roy shook his head. He did not care about it at all.

Not about that?

Then could it be because of yesterday... Little Fatty suddenly remembered how, in order to boost Roxanne's momentum yesterday, he had specifically gone around spreading the news that Roy, the Ghost-type trainer, was about to get brutally beaten by the boss.

"Then it's... I really shouldn't have run my mouth yesterday and spread around other classes that you were going to get completely crushed by Sister Roxanne."

"Yes and no."

Seeing Roy nod, Little Fatty assumed that was indeed why Roy had come.

Roy really had come because of that matter, but he was not angry over Little Fatty's publicity.

On the contrary, so many people had come to watch the battle yesterday partly thanks to Little Fatty's promotion, allowing him to gain so many Popularity Points.

It was clear that this was a publicity talent. He could not let such a talent slip away.

After suffering Roy's triple blow of strength, presence, and appetite yesterday.

Little Fatty had eaten only ten large buns as a weight-loss meal that night, and now his entire body felt weak. Otherwise, he would not have let the tall, skinny boy get away just now.

"Then... then what... what is it?"

Seeing that there were still so many people in the classroom, Roy decided that this was something he needed to discuss with Little Fatty alone.

"Let's talk outside."

With that, Roy slung an arm around Little Fatty's shoulders and left the classroom. Little Fatty braced his feet against the ground with all his might, clearly unwilling to go outside alone with Roy.

Yet his weight of over one hundred and sixty pounds was forcibly "guided" outside by Roy.

With his back to Roy, Little Fatty kept mouthing words at the whole class. It looked like he was saying, "Save me."

That damn strength left everyone dumbfounded. Was Roy sure he was not a Fighting-type trainer?

Mainly because Roxanne was not there, no one dared stop Roy. The tall, skinny boy, meanwhile, watched with schadenfreude as Roy dragged Little Fatty outside with a dead-fish expression.

Roy brought Little Fatty beneath a large tree outside the classroom with his arm around his shoulders, then directly pinned him against the trunk.

"Big brother, I was wrong! Don't use black magic on me! I shouldn't have gone against you! My uncle is the academy's dean of discipline. Tell him whatever you want, but please don't kill me!"

What black magic? Who wanted to kill him?

"You aren't here to kill me?"

Roy shook his head. He had never said anything like that. This was a law-abiding society governed by the Pokémon League; how could he just casually kill someone?

"If you're not killing me, then why are you looking for me?"

"Didn't I say I needed your help with something?"

"You need my help?"

Little Fatty uncertainly pointed at himself.

"Yes, you! ¥$&#¥%#%$¥&¥$&..."

After hearing Roy's plan, Little Fatty's facial expressions changed more vividly than a master of face-changing from Roy's previous life.

"Big brother, if we... if we do this, are we sure we won't get beaten up?"

"The one getting beaten up won't be you. What are you scared of?"

Little Fatty's eyes shifted. That did seem to be true.

It seemed Roy really did not harbor any ill intentions toward him. After thinking it over, Little Fatty, who was never afraid of trouble, nodded heavily and decided to help Roy.

Mostly because the candle-headed Pokémon that had suddenly appeared on Roy's shoulder kept staring at him. It seemed as if Litwick would burn him with a single burst of fire if he refused.

"Now that's more like it!"

Seeing Little Fatty agree, Roy smiled in satisfaction and helped straighten the collar of Little Fatty's XXXL academy uniform.

By the time Roxanne returned, Roy was no longer in the classroom. She heard from her best friend beside her that Roy seemed to have gone toward the battle arena.

And he had gone with her underling, Little Fatty.

Together?

Since when had those two become so close?

"Didn't he leave any message for you?"

"A message? What message?"

Guimi looked at Roxanne in confusion.

"N-Nothing."