Communicator

After saying that, Roxanne blushed and walked into Roy's room on her own. The dormitory converted from an abandoned warehouse was old, but Roy had kept it quite clean, without any strange smells.

"Roy, why don't you even have a light in your room?"

Roxanne turned on the flashlight function of her communicator and found Roy's room completely empty. The only furniture was a rickety stool with only three legs left and a bedside table. Roxanne made do and sat on the stool.

"Who said I don't have one? Litwick, turn on the lights! Make it soft lighting!"

"Lit."

Litwick hopped onto Roy's bedside table. The dim blue flame atop its head instantly brightened, illuminating the entire room. Roy considered it a smart appliance.

Roxanne: Who taught you to use Pokémon like that?

Roy: Just tell me whether it's bright enough.

Using Pokémon as furniture was something Roxanne had never seen before.

Roy figured that was only because she had never seen Rotom, Mow Rotom, Frost Rotom...

Of course, he only thought those words to himself. There was no need to mention the destructive power of Rotom's various forms.

Roxanne took small bites of the skewers Roy had brought back from the venue's night market. They had gone a little cold, but they still tasted quite good.

Roy could not be bothered to argue with Roxanne. He still needed to prepare for tomorrow's Pokémon Contest. What kind of tricks should he pull tomorrow?

"Alright, once you're done eating, hurry back. We'll talk about the challenge in a couple of days. I've been really busy lately."

The voice came from the hammock behind Roxanne. She was just about to turn around and demand what could possibly be more important than her challenge.

But when she turned around, she saw Roy taking off his sweatshirt, preparing to change into a black set of pajamas.

Roxanne had never seen anything like this before. She hurriedly covered her eyes and shouted:

"Y-you... you... ah!!! You pervert! Changing clothes in front of a girl? Do you have any sense of decency?!"

Though Roxanne said that, the scene she had just witnessed involuntarily replayed in her mind. Had she just seen Roy's abs? They seemed... pretty firm... She wondered what they felt like.

No! Roxanne, what are you even thinking? You came here to beat Roy up and defend your dignity as the boss.

But they really did look firm...

Roy paid no attention to any of that. He changed into black pajamas printed with Litwick patterns, flipped over, and lay down in the hammock, thinking about tomorrow's tricks.

Roxanne could no longer look Roy in the eye. Every time she saw him, she imagined the scene from before. She picked up the barbecue from the table, left behind the words, "Then I'll come challenge you again next week," and fled Roy's room as if escaping for her life.

On the way out, she even accidentally knocked down the door Roy had just propped back up.

Roy stared calmly at his fallen door once more. He did not understand why this person had such a grudge against his door.

Roxanne jogged all the way back to her dormitory. She did not even hear the dorm manager chasing after her and asking, "Which dorm are you from?"

Her best friend looked at the figure that had suddenly barged into the dormitory. She was about to demand why the intruder had rushed in, only to realize it was Roxanne.

At that moment, Roxanne's face was as red as a ripe apple.

"Roxanne, where did you go this afternoon? I messaged you, but you never replied. Didn't we agree to go shopping together this evening?"

Her best friend on the opposite bunk complained.

"I... I didn't go anywhere."

Roxanne stammered out an explanation.

Guimi was lying on the bed, holding a communicator in her hand. On the other bed lay a Buneary with one arm wrapped in bandages.

Seeing that Guimi still wanted to ask more questions, Roxanne hurriedly changed the subject.

"Is your Buneary not better yet?"

"Don't mention it. Joy said Buneary needs to rest and recover, so it can't take part in any battles lately. Otherwise, I would've taken Buneary to the Rookie Cup being held in the city.

"With our Buneary's strength and cuteness, it would definitely be championship material."

"Buneary!"

The Buneary on the bed stood up and raised its uninjured arm, supporting its Trainer's words.

"Oh, right. I just saw an interesting video. Want to watch it?"

"Forget it. I'm going to wash up."

Seeing that the topic had already passed, Roxanne hurriedly picked up her toothbrush and cup and headed for the bathroom.

"Alright, then. This video is about that new transfer student in our class. If you don't want to watch it, then forget it."

The transfer student? That was Roy, wasn't it?

The moment she heard Roy's name, Roxanne put down her cup, crossed the room in two steps, and snatched Guimi's latest-generation communicator.

The Pokémon League's communicators were about as developed as smartphones had been a year after first appearing in Roy's previous life. Since they had not been around for long, though, not many people used them.

Her roommate Guimi was one of those people. She loved chatting and watching videos on her communicator.

Guimi did not dream of becoming a Trainer. She wanted to become a Coordinator, so she paid close attention to Coordinator competitions. She had also been following this Rookie Cup.

However, Buneary had accidentally been injured two days ago, and Joy had told her it needed to rest. As a result, she had been unable to participate in this Rookie Cup exhibition match.

The communicator displayed a video that had been uploaded online.

The video's cover was a photo of the Rustboro City Pokémon Contest venue. It began with Roy teaching a little girl not to be influenced by other people's words and ended with Roy returning the little girl's bow with one of his own.

Roy had looked every bit the gentleman at the venue. There was not the slightest trace of the campus bully he had been two days ago.

The entire clip had been shared by the Pokémon Coordinator Association, immediately attracting countless comments from people who loved browsing the internet.

The first topic of discussion was whether the Ghost-type Pokémon in the battle had truly been a Ghost type.

After all, many people had never seen a Ghost-type Pokémon in their entire lives.

A Pokémon researcher later replied with Litwick's Pokédex number, proving that Litwick was indeed a Ghost-type Pokémon.

Some people even said Roy had brought a Ghost-type Pokémon with malicious intentions, hoping to absorb the life force of the tens of thousands of people attending the Pokémon Contest.

Most people ignored such idiotic comments. After all, the judges at the event were not useless either.

So Roy had gone to participate in a Pokémon Contest. Was that why he had returned so late today?

The moment Roxanne thought of that name, the sight she had seen in Roy's room surfaced uncontrollably in her mind.

Her emotions, which had only just calmed down, immediately boiled over again, and her little face turned scarlet.

"Exactly! They just can't stand seeing Roy doing well!"

Guimi looked curiously at Roxanne, who was unusually speaking up for Roy.

"Roxanne, didn't you say yesterday that he was disgusting? Weren't you going to get Payback and beat him up this morning?"

"D-did I? I'm only being objective."

Roxanne said one thing while meaning another.

"No, you still haven't told me why you came back so late."

"I... I was studying at the library, of course."

"Then how come I didn't know the academy library sold grilled skewers?"

"That's... I... Ugh! I'm not talking to you anymore. I'm sleepy. I'm going to Rest, so turn off the lights already!"

Roxanne pulled the blanket directly over her head. She did not even wash up, and no matter how her best friend called to her, she made no further sound.

Something was off. Not just a little off—this was seriously, incredibly off! There had to be something fishy going on!

Guimi and Buneary looked at Roxanne, who was wriggling around in bed while wrapped in her blanket. Was this really the boss Roxanne she knew?

One human and one Pokémon activated deduction mode.

But no matter how Guimi and Buneary tried to reason it out, they could not figure out what had happened to Roxanne.