"Xia Yan."
At the foot of Mt. Silver in the Kanto Region.
Inside the residence of Kanto's new Dragon-type Elite Four, Lance, in the hall for this "three-way trial," Lance sat upright in the chair at the head of the room, staring sternly at the "criminal," Xia Yan, below him.
His voice seemed to be suppressing anger.
To his left.
Sat Lorelei, the new Ice-type Elite Four, supporting her glasses with a stern expression as cold as frost.
To his right.
Sat Steven Stone, the young master of Devon Corporation, his face full of teasing amusement as he pressed his lips together with an expression that said, "I really don't want to laugh."
And opposite him, the person happily stuffing his face was naturally Xia Yan.
Hearing what Lance called him, the corner of Xia Yan's mouth twitched.
Had he gotten so mad he lost his head?
Why was he even bringing out that Beijing accent?
"How many days was I gone?" Xia Yan ignored Lance and instead looked at Steven with a smile.
"Days?" Steven raised a brow.
"A full two months."
Lorelei's indifferent voice carried not the slightest emotional fluctuation, as though an iceberg were speaking.
"How long?!" Xia Yan's eyes widened.
"Two months!"
Lance slammed the table and shot to his feet, pointing at Xia Yan as he shouted, "We won't pry into whatever you were going off to do, but could you at least say something before leaving? You vanished without a word after the Elite Four Exhibition Match, didn't even attend the banquet afterward. What was so urgent?"
Looking at the furious Lance, Xia Yan wiped his mouth.
He wasn't afraid of Lance's fierce-but-hollow display in the slightest.
Instead, he rolled his eyes. "How was I supposed to know I'd be gone for that long?"