Eating Gardevoir's Buns

Thud! Thud! Thud!

"..."

Thud! Thud! Thud!

"..."

Boom—

"!!!"

Hearing the tremendous boom, Xingye and Cyclizar jolted awake instantly. Thinking something had exploded, they hurriedly threw open the door and ran into the living room.

"What the hell?! Did an Electrode get in? I locked the door, didn't I...?"

"It wasn't an Electrode. It was a Slowking, Alola~"

"Huh?"

Xingye froze for a moment before noticing Boss Slowking standing in the doorway with his hands behind his back, sunlight streaming in from behind him. Beside him lay the front door, bent against the wall as though it had taken a heavy blow.

"My door... it's done for..."

"Fix it yourself. I knocked forever and nobody answered."

"Was that really necessary?! Even if it's just a door, it has dreams too! Its dream was to protect this home, and you trampled all over it like this..."

"I'm the landlord."

"..."

That single sentence completely choked Xingye up. He could not even come up with an excuse to make the other party repair the door. It looked like he would have to fix it himself later.

Putting that aside for the moment, he asked irritably, "So why did you come over so early in the morning, Boss Slowking? It's only... seven in the morning."

After what happened last night, he did not have a good impression of Slowking at all. He even had the feeling that this breaking-and-entering stunt was meant to force him to pay rent.

But Slowking seemed to have already guessed what he was thinking and slowly said, "Don't worry, I'm not here to collect rent. There are only a few days left in this month anyway, so we'll start counting from next month. Pay every two months, and you can make up the rest by the end of the year."

"You're really letting me stay for free for a few days... So what did you come here for?"

"Household registration. I just remembered that you aren't from Alola, are you? You never say 'Alola' when greeting people, and you've got a Cyclizar even more vacant than a Slowpoke. Are you from Paldea?"

"I'm a drifter. I haven't had a home for a long time."

"Is that so? No wonder you came here. So, what's your name? How old are you? What do you usually do?"

"Are you interrogating a criminal?" Xingye asked helplessly, but he still casually replied, "Xingye, fifteen years old, and I'm a... Whoa!!!"

Before Xingye could finish, a gust of fist wind came flying at his face. He only felt a sharp pain in his cheek before letting out a strange cry and being sent flying several meters away.

Slowking withdrew his fist and suddenly shouted, "Kids should go to school properly! A place like this isn't for a kid like you!"

Hearing that, Xingye lay on the floor clutching his face, yelling with an exaggerated expression, "Hey! This kid is getting punched by you! Mega Punch... That was Mega Punch, wasn't it?!"

"This was a minor protection punch."

"Protection my ass! As long as you finish me off, you don't need to protect me anymore, right?!"

"You could put it that way."

"Damn it!"

Xingye panicked in an instant. What kind of Pokémon was this? They started throwing hands at the slightest disagreement.

Could he really make it out of this street alive? These guys really would take him out and make his coins drop. They meant what they said.

Seeing him suddenly get hit, Cyclizar immediately stepped between them again and took up an attacking stance. It just had no intimidation whatsoever, not a hint of presence.

Slowking glanced at it, then shifted his gaze back to Xingye and slowly said, "Fifteen years old, able to drift here without going to a relief station... You definitely don't have valid identification, and you definitely aren't a Trainer either. That's extremely rare. But you don't look like a criminal on the run, either. So, do you not have any family?"

"Family?"

Xingye rubbed his cheek and got to his feet. His expression suddenly calmed as he replied, "Where would I get something like that? I've never seen them, okay..."

Slowking looked at him like that for a long time. Then he suddenly turned around, returning his hands behind his back as he said, "Come with me."

"Hm? Where to?"

"Breakfast, then I'll help you sort out some identification. I don't expect someone who can't even find a place to work to be able to afford rent."

"..."

Watching Slowking walk outside and let the sunlight wash over him, Xingye's expression gradually turned to surprise. Had he heard that right?

"If you don't follow, I'm leaving."

"Wait!"

"Cyclizar!"

Xingye and Cyclizar hurriedly followed. Who would say no to free food? They would leave the broken door there for now and deal with it after they came back...

At this moment, Kabukicho had basically lost all traces of last night's appearance. It had completely returned to looking like the Drifter District, and even the streets had been swept spotless.

After going downstairs, Slowking headed deeper into the district. Xingye sat on Cyclizar's back and slowly followed behind, then curiously asked, "Everything's closed at this hour. Does Night City still have breakfast?"

"Of course. Gardevoir's buns..."

"Do they have Kirlia buns? Compared to the big-sister type, I prefer the slightly younger little-sister type!"

Xingye was already starting to adapt. This was Pokémon Kabukicho, after all. Could the Gardevoir here possibly have a respectable profession?

Slowking glanced back at him and slowly said, "What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Do humans spend all day thinking about lewd stuff? You can't live without being lewd, is that it?"

"You understood it instantly!"

"I am the omniscient Slowking!"

"Cyclizar?"

Cyclizar could not understand what they were talking about. It just wanted breakfast. Those buns...

Before long, Slowking led them to a place called Smile Restaurant.

From the outside, the place looked very nicely decorated, with a distinctive Chinese style that made it especially eye-catching among the surrounding buildings.

"So it really is a proper place to eat..."

Xingye looked at the half-closed restaurant before him. There were no customers in sight inside, and the waitstaff seemed to be gone too, but for some reason, the lights were still on and it was still open for business.

Slowking explained, "Kabukicho usually opens from six in the evening until six in the morning. By this hour, most places are closing. Drunken Pokémon often get tossed out of bars once they close."

"So this restaurant stays open until eight. The employees have already gone home, and only the owner remains to cook some breakfast for those drunks, help them sober up, fill their stomachs, and send them home."

"In every sense of the phrase..."

Xingye felt that he could not treat these people entirely as Pokémon. It would be more accurate to see them as something between Pokémon and humans...

As they entered, Slowking suddenly called toward the kitchen.

"Slow~"

"Nae..."

An answer came from the kitchen. Then, beneath the lights, a Gardevoir emerged with a languid expression, as if she could barely summon any energy.

What stood out was that her arms and curled hair were different from those of an ordinary Gardevoir. They were pale blue. She was a Shiny Pokémon!

But that was not the most important part, because this Gardevoir was wearing a red qipao. Her white skirt had been completely replaced, the qipao was decorated with golden rose patterns, and she even had matching twin buns tied on either side of her head!

"This..."

Xingye was completely speechless. Where had this fellow countrywoman come from? The Chinese style was practically overflowing off the screen... No, even before crossing over here, he had never personally seen anyone dressed like this!

"Slow~"

"Garde..."

"Slowking~"

"Nae..."

The two Pokémon began conversing like that. Xingye could not understand what they were saying, but he could tell that Gardevoir's voice was equally languid. Still, there was something oddly tingling about it.

After their conversation ended, Slowking turned around and introduced her. "Nae-chan is the owner here."

"What kind of nickname is that? So gross."

"Nae?"

"Sorry, I wasn't talking about you..."

Xingye hurriedly explained so he would not upset her. But at that moment, Cyclizar suddenly vanished from beside him. When he realized what had happened, he discovered that Cyclizar had actually bitten down on Gardevoir's head!

"Cyclizar, Cyclizar~"

"..."

Xingye blanked out for an instant, then instantly snapped back to himself. He rushed forward, yanked Cyclizar away with all his strength, and shouted, "You can't eat this one! Let go!!!"