Lucario Only Knew He Was Nervous

The one pacing back and forth in the training room was a young umbrella mender.

His name was A-Zhuo. He had arrived before the afternoon class began. The old umbrella in his hands had already been opened and closed more than a dozen times. The ribs were fine, and so was the tie, yet every two steps, he still lowered his head to check it.

Lucario stood outside the door, the black appendages behind its ears lifting slightly.

A-Zhuo noticed the blue-and-black figure at the entrance and abruptly stopped. "Is this a Pokémon too?"

"Lucario," Xia Che said.

"How did it know I was in here?"

"It heard you."

Lucario turned to look at him.

"And sensed a little too," Xia Che added.

Rotom flew over to Lucario's side and displayed a brief Pokédex entry. "Lucario, Fighting and Steel type. It can sense Aura, Rotom."

At the word "Fighting," Yan's gaze immediately fell upon the padded targets in the training room. "Want to go a round?"

Lucario pushed an old stool closer to the door and shook its head.

"Not even one round?"

It shook its head again.

Magby ran over and touched the old stool, discovering that the wooden surface had become smooth from years of use. It looked up at Yan, seeming to think that Lucario had only come to deliver a stool today.

"Fine, no fighting today." Yan withdrew his hand.

Xie Yue asked Xia Che, "Has it always been in the backyard?"

"The Quiet Courtyard."

"Why didn't it come out before?"

"The front hall was too noisy."

Yue Guan held his teacup and looked at Yan.

Yan immediately said, "It definitely isn't only because of me."

Ghost spoke from beside the wall. "You make up half of it."

Lucario's ears twitched lightly, but it did not nod. It sensed many sounds and emotions. As for who accounted for what portion, that was not an equation it could calculate.

Indeedee brought over a water bowl with a blue rim. Lucario first set the old stool firmly in place, then accepted the bowl and bowed its head to thank her. It did not drink right away, merely placing the bowl beside itself while continuing to watch the training room door.

"Will it come out for everyone who's nervous?" Hu Liena asked.

"No," Xia Che said. "Seven people attended class yesterday, and it didn't come even once."

"Then why today?"

Lucario looked at the old umbrella A-Zhuo kept opening and closing.

Every time the umbrella ribs clicked, the unease inside him grew heavier. Lucario had listened for a long time before finally leaving the courtyard with the stool.

"It decided on its own that it should come," Xia Che said.

Hu Liena nodded and did not try to define this choice as a fixed duty.

Yue Guan grew interested. "What did it sense?"

"He was very nervous."

A-Zhuo tightened his grip on the umbrella handle. "It knows what I'm thinking?"

Lucario shook its head.

It could sense the Aura emitted by living beings, and it could distinguish emotional fluctuations and their general direction. But why A-Zhuo was nervous, or what exact words had crossed his mind, still had to be spoken by him.

"Then why did it bring out a stool?" Yan asked.

Lucario placed the old stool by the training room door, then stepped back, keeping enough distance between the spike on its chest and A-Zhuo.

Xia Che understood. "It wants him to sit."

After hesitating for a moment, A-Zhuo sat on the old stool.

Lucario also sat cross-legged three steps away. Its breathing was slow, its hands resting naturally on its knees, and it did not stare at him the entire time.

After sitting there for a while, A-Zhuo's hand around the umbrella handle gradually loosened.

Hu Liena asked, "Are you willing to tell us why now?"

"Yesterday, the people who came were all stall owners and errand runners. But today there's the Saintess, two Elders, and even Her Holiness the Pope." A-Zhuo glanced at Bibi Dong, then quickly looked away. "I'm only an umbrella mender. I was afraid that if I made even one mistake, everyone would see it."

Bibi Dong sat by the backyard entrance, drinking tea. "I was not watching you."

A-Zhuo became even more nervous.

Absol raised its eyes to look at her.

Bibi Dong paused. "I'm not watching now, either."

She turned her chair toward the window.

A-Zhuo finally let out a breath.

Yue Guan hid the corner of his mouth behind his teacup. Ghost remained concealed by the wall, and only a faint cough could be heard.

Yan circled around to stand in front of Lucario. "You really can't know what people are thinking?"

He hid both hands behind his back and moved a piece of dried Berry between them three times. "Guess which hand it's in."

Lucario looked at him without moving.

But Magby smelled the fruit and ran straight to Yan's right side, hugging his wrist.

"I wasn't asking you," Yan said.

Magby pried open his hand and took the dried fruit.

Xie Yue said from beside them, "It guessed right."

"By smell."

"Still right."

Lucario remained seated where it was, completely uninvolved in this question.

Yue Guan asked again, "Which pot of flowers am I thinking about now?"

Holding a blue flower, Flabébé flew first above the coarse clay pot.

"Don't answer either," Yue Guan said.

Ghost spoke. "Everyone can tell."

Yue Guan decided not to test it anymore.

Zorua felt that it was its turn. With a flick of its tail, two Yans suddenly appeared in the training room. Both stood with their arms crossed, wearing identical expressions.

Magby froze at first.

Lucario, however, looked only at the real Yan. The illusion had an appearance, but no living Aura. To Lucario's senses, the difference was obvious.

Zorua created a third, then a fourth.

Lucario's gaze never changed.

The real Yan grew pleased with himself. "It recognizes me."

Zorua turned all four Yans into Xie Yue.

Pawniard slowly raised its head, glanced at the real Xie Yue standing by the door, and was not led astray.

"Dismiss them all," Hu Liena said.

The illusions vanished, and the training room finally became quiet.

After watching that round, much of A-Zhuo's earlier restraint had faded. He placed the old umbrella on his lap. "I brought an umbrella today because I wanted to learn how to handle long objects around my partners."

Xie Yue gestured for him to open it.

Once the umbrella canopy opened, it occupied half the mat. A-Zhuo was used to pointing the tip outward, making it easy to sweep someone beside him when he turned. Lucario stood up and remained outside the three-step line, only shifting one step aside when the umbrella tip came near.

"Close the canopy first, then turn," Xie Yue said.

A-Zhuo did as instructed. The umbrella ribs folded together, but the tie hung onto the floor.

Lucario lightly tapped the end of the tie with its toe.

A-Zhuo lowered his head and saw it. He wrapped up the tie first, then turned while holding the umbrella. This time, neither the umbrella tip, the tie, nor anyone beside him was touched.

"Did it know I was going to step on the tie just now?" he asked.

"It saw it," Xia Che said.

"Not sensing?"

"Eyes were enough."

Lucario looked at Xia Che, seeming to feel that explanation was far too simplistic.

"It might also have sensed that you were about to step forward," Xia Che added. "But whether you'd actually step on it depended on your feet."

A-Zhuo nodded, finally separating sensing Aura from predicting the future.

After the three afternoon students had all arrived, they all wanted to enter the training room with Lucario. Yue Guan also stepped forward with his teacup, while Yan, Xie Yue, and Hu Liena had no intention of leaving either.

Nine people crowded the doorway at once.

Lucario stopped inside the white line.

Pancham stood outside the door, spread its paws, and indicated that only six could enter.

"We're only watching," Yue Guan said.

"Watching still takes up space," Xia Che said.

"I'll stand by the wall."

"The water bowl is by the wall."

Ghost had already retreated to the front hall. He sat on a new low stool and poured himself tea.

Yue Guan glanced at him, then finally stepped back as well. "I'm only making room for the students."

The training room was left with three students, Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan—exactly six people. Lucario did not enter. It sat on the old stool outside the door, keeping watch over the emotional changes inside from afar.

Whenever someone was nervous, it would raise its head, but it would not speak the reason for them. When someone truly needed to stop, Hu Liena would notice their movements first, Xie Yue would clear a path, and Yan would hand them water.

Lucario only tapped the doorframe when they overlooked one student's whitening fingers.

"You're gripping too hard?" Hu Liena asked.

The student loosened the knot. "I'm afraid it'll fall."

He spoke the reason himself.

After class, everyone followed Lucario back to the backyard. It did not accept everyone's touch merely because it had appeared in public. When Yan reached out, it turned aside to avoid the spike on its chest; when Yue Guan tried to touch the appendages behind its ears, it raised an arm to block him as well.

"Looking only?" Yue Guan asked.

Lucario nodded.

"Quite a few rules."

Ghost said, "Fewer than you."

Indeedee placed a blue-rimmed food bowl at the outer edge of the long table. Lucario looked at the old stool, then at Xia Che.

"If you want to sit, sit," he said.

It finally sat beside the stool it had brought. It was a little farther from everyone else, but still at the same table.

After dinner, a curious student followed it toward the Quiet Courtyard. Lucario crossed the yellow line inside the entrance, heard the footsteps, and turned to stop.

The student stopped as well. "I just wanted to look inside."

Pancham pointed toward the front hall from the side.

Xia Che leaned against the doorframe. "It comes out to eat. The backyard isn't open to everyone."

The student retreated beyond the yellow line.

After Lucario confirmed that the footsteps had gone away, it continued inward. After two steps, it turned back to look at the blue-rimmed food bowl on the long table.

Indeedee had not put it away, leaving it where it was.

Bibi Dong looked at the bowl. "Will it come out again tomorrow?"

Xia Che yawned. "Depends on whether it wants to."

Lucario paused at the end of the corridor, its ears twitching in their direction.

It had clearly heard them.

A moment later, it turned back and pushed the blue-rimmed food bowl beneath the old stool. Only after doing that did it walk toward the Quiet Courtyard again.

Indeedee placed a clean placemat beside the bowl, saving its place for tomorrow.