The First Rule of a Rest Day: Put Away the Training Signs

Before the shop opened the next day, Yan came in carrying Magby.

The little one was wrapped in his outer robe, with only its round head exposed. It usually woke up by the time they reached the street corner, but today it remained asleep even after crossing the threshold, occasionally puffing out a faint wisp of heat with each breath.

Hu Liena followed beside him. "How did it sleep last night?"

"It fell asleep as soon as we got back," Yan said. "It woke up once in the middle, only to drink water."

Xie Yue looked at the shadows beneath his eyes. "What about you?"

"I watched over it."

"So you didn't sleep."

"I slept a little."

Magby shifted inside the robe and raised a hand to press against Yan's chin, as if annoyed that they were talking too loudly.

The three of them immediately fell silent.

Indeedee had already drawn the curtains in the care room. Soft mats, a water bowl, temperature strips, and a record board had all been placed on the low table, with last night's notes resting on top.

Yan set Magby down in the middle of the soft mat.

It opened its eyes, looked around, and did not immediately get to its feet.

"Should we call a healing-type Soul Master?" Yan asked.

"Let's observe it first." Xia Che leaned against the doorway.

Indeedee touched Magby's forehead with the back of her hand, then placed the temperature strip into its palm. The strip slowly settled on the color from its usual records and did not darken further.

She then checked its eyes, nose, and feet. Its eyes were clear, there was no discharge from its nose, and the feet that had walked over the soft posts yesterday showed no scrapes. When one foot was lifted for inspection, Magby was still drowsy. Its body tipped sideways, and it leaned straight against Yan's arm.

"Magby."

The sound was soft, but not hoarse.

Indeedee circled each item on the record board.

"Does it have a fever?" Hu Liena asked.

"It's naturally hot," Xia Che said.

Yan looked at him.

"The same as usual," he added.

Magby opened its mouth in a yawn and breathed out a wisp of pale yellow flame. The flame was clean and quickly extinguished on its own, without any black smoke mixed in.

Rotom scanned the record. "Breathing is stable, body temperature is close to normal, and no external injuries are visible for now, Rotom."

"For now?" Yan asked.

"Continue observing through the morning. If its energy keeps declining, it refuses water for a prolonged period, or it starts coughing or breathing abnormally, then call a professional healer, Rotom."

Yan memorized every word.

Indeedee brought over a small bowl of warm water. Magby sat up on its own, held the bowl, and took several drinks before flopping back down onto the soft mat.

"It can drink." Hu Liena let out a breath of relief.

"And sleep," Xie Yue said.

"It sleeps more than it drinks."

"Today is exactly when it should sleep."

Yan did not argue. He took three boxes from his bag and placed them in order on the low table.

The first held Berries cut into small pieces, the second contained nutrition biscuits often eaten by Fire-type Pokémon, and the third was stuffed with a new soft blanket. At the bottom of the bag was a small brazier, which he would have taken out too if Xie Yue had not stopped him.

"There's a charcoal stove in the care room," Hu Liena reminded him.

"It likes being near fire."

Magby lifted one eyelid at the word fire, then closed it again.

Xia Che pushed the small brazier back into the bag. "Let it choose for itself today."

Pancham quickly set up four resting spots around the room. There was a heat-resistant mat beside the charcoal stove, a thick soft mat beneath the window, a low sleeping basket behind the screen, and Yan's newly brought blanket piled up by the door.

Yue Guan entered just in time to see the row. "Is this resting or house hunting?"

"Choosing somewhere it can sleep," Xia Che said.

"My guess is beside the charcoal stove," Yan said.

"Under the window is quieter," Hu Liena said.

Xie Yue looked toward the sleeping basket. "That spot is the darkest."

Zorua crawled out from beneath the counter and conjured a sleeping Magby at each of the four spots. All four hugged their bellies, even their breathing rising and falling exactly the same way.

Yan ignored the illusions and simply waited for the real little one to decide.

Magby slowly got to its feet. It walked past the charcoal stove first, then looked beneath the window. It bypassed the sleeping basket and finally came to the new blanket by the door.

Yan was just about to say he had brought the right thing when it reached out and grabbed his robe hem.

"You want me to spread out the blanket?"

Magby shook its head and kept tugging downward.

Yan had no choice but to sit against the wall.

The little one immediately climbed to his side, lay down with its head on his rolled-up outer robe, and pulled the new blanket over its belly. It did not choose any of the four prepared spots for itself.

Yue Guan said, "Looks like it chose a person."

Ghost had just entered and added, "This time, you were the slowest to guess."

Zorua dismissed the four illusions and conjured a wooden sign beside Yan that read Winner.

Yan turned the sign around. "No one's competing over this."

Zorua changed the words to Sleeping Companion.

Hu Liena turned away with a smile.

The signs for the morning's scheduled lessons had already been taken down, but two trainees still arrived at the entrance on time. Pancham showed them the rescheduling cards, then pointed toward the care room.

"Is its partner unwell?" one of them asked.

"Tired," Yan said quietly.

"Then we'll come back tomorrow."

"The day after tomorrow," Xia Che said. "Tomorrow is a rest day too."

Yan looked up at him.

"One day to sleep enough. One day to see whether it really slept enough."

The two trainees wrote down the new time and did not come in to watch. Before leaving, they gently pulled the door shut behind them.

Yan had originally wanted to test one stop at the soft posts, to see whether Magby was merely sleepy or unwilling to obey even its usual commands. His hand had barely reached toward the equipment cabinet when Hu Liena pressed the cabinet door shut again.

"No testing today," she said.

"Just two steps."

"Even if it can walk, it should rest."

Xie Yue took out a small blackboard and wrote three lines on it: no soft-post running, no fire testing, no temporary jobs.

He propped the blackboard beside Yan. "Whenever you think of something, read this first."

Yan read it. "I wasn't planning to take any jobs."

Pancham happened to bring over a basket of cleaning cloths that needed drying. Catching the scent of damp cloth, Magby drowsily raised a hand.

Yan stopped it first. "Not today."

Indeedee carried the basket to the ventilated area. Magby watched her walk away without insisting on following, merely resting its raised hand back on Yan's knee.

Xie Yue drew a circle after the third line.

The shop remained quiet for a full hour.

Xia Che fell asleep once behind the counter, Yue Guan finished two pots of tea, and Ghost found all three dried fruit pieces Duskull had hidden. Magby kept resting on Yan's outer robe, making only a faint snuffling sound whenever it turned over.

Yan did not move at all.

"Legs numb?" Xie Yue asked.

"No."

Magby's head slid down a little.

Yan immediately supported it with his hand.

"How about now?"

"Shut up."

At noon, Bibi Dong came by with Absol. She did not lift the curtain, only stood outside the care room and glanced at the record board.

"Has it eaten anything?"

"Not yet," Yan said.

Indeedee happened to bring over some warm Berry mash. As the aroma drifted closer, Magby's nose twitched, and it finally opened its eyes.

It did not pounce on the food bowl. It first hugged the water cup and took two sips, then accepted the small spoon. It ate the first bite very slowly, then took the second a little faster. After finishing most of the small bowl, it pushed the rest away and leaned back against Yan.

Bibi Dong looked at the record board. "Write that down."

Indeedee had already done so.

"Still training?" she asked Yan.

Yan shook his head. "No training."

Hearing that, Magby raised a hand and patted the back of his hand.

Bibi Dong did not ask further and took Absol to the backyard. When Absol passed the curtain, it lightened its steps and kept its tail tucked close, making sure not to knock the wooden signs hanging nearby.

In the afternoon, Magby slept again.

After waking, it walked to the water bowl by itself, drank half a bowl of water, then ate two soft Berries. Yan took out its usual favorite nutrition biscuit. It sniffed it, broke it in half, kept one half for itself, and stuffed the other into Yan's hand.

"I don't eat these."

Magby held it up without letting go.

Yan had no choice but to take a bite.

It tasted bland, with a faint scorched bitterness.

"Delicious," he said.

Hu Liena watched his expression. "You could have said two fewer words."

But Magby was very satisfied. After eating its own half, it stretched lazily and finally walked one lap around the soft mat.

When it reached the doorway, Pancham was just gathering the cups used by the two morning trainees. Magby reached out, took one, and slowly carried it toward the wash basin.

Yan immediately stood up.

"It wants to work?"

"It only carried one cup," Xia Che said.

Magby set the cup down steadily, then turned around to find everyone staring at it. It blinked in confusion.

Pancham handed over a second cup.

Yan was about to refuse, but Magby had already shaken its head. It walked back to the soft mat and sat down with both legs stretched out, clearly only willing to carry the cup it had happened to catch earlier.

"It can refuse. Its spirits are good," Hu Liena said.

"Being able to refuse doesn't mean extra lessons." Xie Yue pointed at the blackboard.

Yan sat back down. "I know."

Magby leaned against his leg and looked over the three lines with him.

Zorua changed no soft-post running into Yan is forbidden from running soft posts.

Yan stared at the blackboard. "Change it back."

The little fox sprawled atop the cabinet, pretending to sleep, but the words on the blackboard did not change.

At the bottom of the record board, Indeedee wrote: energy improving, rest still required. This time, Yan did not hurry to ask when training could resume. He only folded the new blanket neatly, leaving the hollow where the little one had just slept.

When the shop closed in the evening, Magby stood amid the four resting spots and thought seriously for a while.

It grabbed Yan's robe hem again.

Yan sat against the wall. "Sleep a little more before we go home."

Magby leaned against his leg and quickly closed its eyes.

It had chosen twice on its rest day, and both times, it chose the same place.