Bibi Dong Had Dinner First

After night had fully fallen, Absol suddenly opened its eyes.

It had been lying beside the stone table in the back courtyard. Now its ears turned toward Old Street. After listening for a few breaths, it rose and walked into the front hall.

The doorbell had not rung yet.

Xia Che was about to flip the Closed sign. "Something loose again?"

Absol looked toward the door.

A moment later, footsteps finally sounded from the mouth of the alley.

One light, one heavy, with another nearly silent presence behind them. Bibi Dong, Yue Guan, and Ghost had arrived at the appointed time.

Pancham pulled open the shop door.

The moment Bibi Dong crossed the three-step rug, Absol walked up to her. It sniffed the hem of her robes, then circled to her right, its nose stopping beside her sleeve cuff.

"None of my buttons came loose today."

But Absol looked up toward the kitchen.

Indeedee emerged from inside, looking at Bibi Dong first, then Yue Guan.

Yue Guan straightened his expression. "Her Holiness has been busy with official duties today."

"Explain," Bibi Dong said.

"For dinner, she only drank half a cup of tea."

The front hall fell quiet.

Bibi Dong finally understood what Absol had smelled. A faint tea fragrance clung to her sleeve, but she carried no scent of food.

Xia Che pointed at the application form. "You wrote after dinner."

"It is already past dinnertime."

"Dinnertime may be over, but dinner hasn't been eaten."

Indeedee had already set out a bowl of warm soup and two soft rolls.

Bibi Dong looked at the simple meal. "I came for the meeting."

Absol sat beside the table without heading toward the Encounter Room.

"It's waiting too," Rotom said.

Yue Guan naturally took a seat on the other side. "In that case, eat first."

Indeedee casually placed a bowl in front of him as well.

Ghost's bowl remained in the corner by the wall.

Bibi Dong ultimately sat down and picked up the warm soup.

The doorbell rang at that exact moment.

Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan had finished their evening training and come together to collect the partners they had left at the shop. The three entered while talking, then froze at the sight of Bibi Dong at the table.

Yan took half a step back and nearly stepped on Magby.

"Teacher," Hu Liena spoke first.

Bibi Dong looked at them. "Training over?"

"Just finished."

"Today's records?"

Hu Liena took out a sheet of paper from her small carry bag. Eevee had practiced two rounds of short-distance turns, stopped voluntarily once, napped for half an hour, and had not eaten dinner yet.

Xie Yue's record was equally simple. He and Pawniard had only practiced footwork and had not touched real blades. Afterward, they had each cleaned their equipment.

Yan was the last to hand over his paper.

Magby completed three rounds of fire control, scorched half a Berry black, and rested twice.

Bibi Dong raised her eyes. "Half?"

"It went off at the last moment," Yan said. "I already washed the plate."

Magby nodded vigorously at his feet, indicating that it had washed up too.

Indeedee brought over three more bowls.

Yan wanted to say he would eat after returning, but Magby had already sat by the table after catching the scent of soup. He had no choice but to sit down as well.

Xie Yue first placed his Luxury Ball and practice blade onto the safety rack. Pawniard tucked in its arms and sat a little farther away from the others. Hu Liena got Eevee a shallow dish and took a chair by the door herself.

The dinner originally prepared only for Bibi Dong quickly became a meal shared by half the table.

Bibi Dong watched her three disciples skillfully take bowls, pour water, and leave space for their respective partners. "Do you often eat here?"

Hu Liena answered tactfully, "Sometimes."

Xia Che said from beside the window, "Every day lately."

The three looked at him together.

"The bowls are all assigned. There's no point hiding it."

Yan lowered his head to look at the bowl with a flame pattern beside his hand, unable to argue.

She ate quietly. Yue Guan was also unusually silent. Only when there was one soft roll left did he reach for the paper bag at the same time as Zorua.

Neither of them let go.

Yue Guan looked down. "Yours is over there."

Zorua turned to look. There was indeed still half a roll in its little dish, but it clearly thought the one in the paper bag was more complete.

"Aw."

"No trade."

Zorua's tail flicked, and the roll in the paper bag instantly became two.

Yue Guan only took the real one.

The illusion fell into Zorua's paws without any weight at all. It sighed and had no choice but to return to its own half.

Bibi Dong finished her bowl of soup. Her expression did not change, but the trace of fatigue in her eyes from reading documents nonstop had faded somewhat.

Only then did Absol stand up.

"Can we begin?" she asked.

The white Pokémon walked toward the door.

Their second meeting did not take place in the back courtyard.

Absol wanted to walk around Old Street.

Xia Che had intended to have Rotom follow them, but Bibi Dong said, "I'll go myself."

Ghost's shadow shifted.

"You stay too."

"Your Holiness."

"It's only one street."

Ghost said nothing more.

Absol went out first, with Bibi Dong walking half a step behind it. Xia Che leaned against the doorframe and reminded her, "When it stops, look around first. Don't rush onward."

Bibi Dong did not look back. "I know."

One person and one Pokémon headed east along Old Street.

Most of the stalls had already packed up for the night, leaving only a few lamps along the roadside. Absol did not walk quickly. Its ears occasionally twitched, and its red eyes swept over eaves and alley mouths.

At the first corner, it suddenly stopped.

Bibi Dong stopped as well.

There was no one ahead, and the ground was perfectly level.

She waited two breaths.

A wooden top rolled out from the alley. Right afterward, a child ran around the corner chasing it. The child was looking down, focused only on finding the top, and nearly ran into someone. Bibi Dong reached out to steady his shoulder, then picked up the top and handed it back.

"Thank you."

The child hugged the top and ran away.

Absol continued onward.

It stopped a second time outside a cloth shop that had already closed.

Bibi Dong looked up.

The colorful cord tied up again during the day slapped loudly in the night wind, and one of its knots had come loose once more. Absol stared upward, clearly recognizing that kind of sound.

"Have someone remind the owner tomorrow," Bibi Dong said.

Absol did not move.

She glanced at it, then reached out herself and retied the dangling knot tightly.

"Like this?"

The white Pokémon turned and continued walking.

Bibi Dong had never imagined that the first thing she would do after leaving Papal Hall at night would be tying a cord for a cloth shop.

At the end of the street, Absol stopped for a third time.

This time, nothing had fallen, and no one came rushing out.

It merely stood beneath an eave and lifted its head to smell the wind.

A few breaths later, tiny raindrops began to fall.

The rain was not heavy, only covering this small stretch of Old Street. The spot Absol had chosen in advance was just enough to keep them dry.

Bibi Dong stood beneath the eave and watched the road slowly darken.

"Every time you stop, it's for these little things?"

Absol's ears twitched.

A wooden top, a loose cord, and a brief shower were indeed nothing major.

But if it had not stopped, the child would have bumped into someone, the cloth banners might have fallen all over the ground by morning, and her outer robe would have been soaked by the rain.

Bibi Dong extended her hand, catching a drop of water from the edge of the eave in her palm.

"Very precise," she said.

Absol looked at her.

"I mean, you notice things very precisely."

The white Pokémon gave a low sound in reply.

The rain soon stopped.

After returning to the shop, Bibi Dong did not ask to see any moves, nor did she ask again whether it could fight. She sat in the back courtyard and took an unfinished document from her sleeve.

Xia Che reminded her, "The half hour is for keeping it company."

"I can sit here and read."

Absol walked to the table and lowered its head to look at the spread-out paper. The pages fluttered in the night breeze, making a continuous rustling sound.

It turned and went to another table.

Bibi Dong fell silent for a moment, then folded the document again and put it back into her sleeve.

Only then did Absol return and lie down beside her chair.

Xia Che chuckled from the window.

"What is so amusing?"

"It's better than I am at making people rest."

Bibi Dong did not answer.

She sat there for a full half hour and did nothing.

Indeedee placed a small hourglass at the corner of the table to keep time.

The sounds from the front hall faded one by one. Pancham put away the number tags, Magby burrowed into Yan's outer robe for a nap, and Pawniard polished a whetstone in the stone room. Eevee and Zorua chased each other for half a lap before squeezing onto a cushion and lying down together.

Xia Che was the first to fall asleep.

Bibi Dong had originally been lightly tapping the side of her chair with her fingertips. On the fifth tap, Absol's ears twitched along with it. Before the sixth could fall, she stopped on her own.

There were no documents, and no one came to seek instructions.

She merely watched the last grains of sand slowly fall.

When only a thin layer of sand remained in the hourglass, Absol suddenly raised its head. Then the final grain dropped to the bottom, and only then did Rotom make a soft chime to announce that the time was up.

"You can hear even that?" Yue Guan asked.

Absol rested its chin on its front paws again.

When Bibi Dong rose, the obvious weariness between her brows from when she had first entered was gone.

Ghost had waited in the corner all along without urging her even once. Only after she put on her outer robe did he silently follow.

When she left, Absol did not see her to the door. It only watched from where it was. Once the footsteps disappeared, it placed a front paw on the edge of the chair Bibi Dong had used and gently touched it.