Eating Gardevoir's Steamed Buns

Thud! Thud! Thud!

"..."

Thud! Thud! Thud!

"..."

Boom—

"!!!"

Hearing the massive boom, Xingye and Cyclizar jolted awake, 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 Slowking, Alola~"

"Huh?"

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

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

"Fix it yourself. I knocked forever, and nobody opened up."

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

"I'm the landlord."

"..."

That single sentence choked Xingye off. 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 now, he asked irritably, "So why did you come here first thing in the morning, Boss Slowking? It's only... seven in the morning."

After what happened last night, he did not have a very good impression of Slowking. He even had a feeling that this break-in was an attempt 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 aren't many days left in this month anyway, so the rent will start from next month. Pay every two months, and settle the rest by the end of the year."

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

"To check your registration. I only just remembered that you aren't from Alola, are you? You've never said 'Alola' when greeting someone, 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?" He was speechless, but he still casually answered, "Xingye, fifteen years old, and I'm a... whoa!!!"

Before Xingye could finish, a gust of wind from a fist struck him head-on. He only felt a burst of pain in his face before screaming and flying several meters away.

Noble Pokémon withdrew his fist and suddenly shouted, "A kid should be in school! This isn't a place for a kid like you!"

Hearing that, Xingye lay on the floor clutching his face and yelled dramatically, "Hey! This kid is getting punched by you! A Megaton Punch... that was a Megaton Punch, wasn't it?!"

"This was a Minor Protection Punch."

"Protection my ass! Does that mean you don't need to protect me once you finish me off?!"

"You can understand it that way."

"Damn it!"

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

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

Seeing Xingye suddenly get hit, Cyclizar immediately stepped between them again and took up an attacking stance. It just did not look intimidating at all, with not a trace of imposing presence.

Noble Pokémon glanced at it, then turned his gaze back and slowly said, "Fifteen years old, able to wander all the way here without going to a shelter—you definitely don't even have valid identification. You're definitely not a Trainer either. That's extremely rare, though you don't look like some criminal fugitive. So you don't have any family?"

"Family?"

Xingye rubbed his face and got to his feet. His expression suddenly became calm as he replied, "What's that supposed to be? I've never seen anything like that..."

Noble Pokémon watched him like that for a long while. Then he suddenly turned around, returning his hands behind his back, and said, "Come with me."

"Hm? Where?"

"Breakfast. Then I'll help you sort out identification. I don't expect someone who can't even find a place to work to afford the rent."

"..."

Watching Slowking walk outside and bathe in the sunlight, 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 immediately followed. Who would turn down free food? The broken door could stay there for now; they would deal with it when they got back...

At this time, Kabukicho had basically lost all traces of last night's appearance. It had completely returned to being a drifter district, and even the streets had been cleaned spotless.

After going downstairs, Slowking headed deeper into the district. Xingye rode on Cyclizar's back and slowly followed behind, asking curiously, "Everything's closed. Does Night City even have breakfast?"

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

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

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

Noble Pokémon looked back at him and slowly said, "What the hell are you talking about? Are humans really full of dirty thoughts all day? You can't live without being horny, is that it?"

"You understood it instantly, didn't you?!"

"I am the all-knowing, all-powerful Slowking!"

"Cyclizar?"

Cyclizar could not understand what they were talking about. It just wanted breakfast—that thing called steamed buns...

A short while later, Slowking brought them to a place called "Smile Restaurant."

From the outside, the place was decorated very nicely, with a distinctive Chinese style. Placed among all the surrounding buildings, it stood out especially well.

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

Xingye looked at the half-closed restaurant before him. There did not seem to be any customers inside anymore, and the staff appeared to have left too, but for some reason, the lights were still on and it was still doing business.

Noble Pokémon explained, "Kabukicho generally operates from six in the evening to six in the morning. Around this time, most places are closing. Drunken Pokémon often get thrown out by bars that have shut for the day."

"So this restaurant stays open until eight. The employees have already gone home, and only the owner remains to cook some breakfast for the drunks, sober them 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 out toward the kitchen.

"Slow~"

"Garde..."

An echo came from the kitchen. Then, from beneath the lights, a Gardevoir with a somewhat lazy, listless expression walked out.

What drew attention was that her arms and curled hair were both light blue, unlike those of ordinary Gardevoir. She was a Shiny Pokémon!

But that was not even the most important part, because this Gardevoir was wearing a red cheongsam. Her white skirt had been completely replaced, golden rose patterns decorated the dress, and her hair was tied into matching twin buns 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 coming to this world, he had never seen anyone dressed like this in person!

"Slow~"

"Garde..."

"Slowking~"

"Garde..."

The two Pokémon began conversing like that. Xingye could not understand what they were saying, but Gardevoir's voice sounded just as lazy and languid. Still, hearing it sent a tingling sensation through him.

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

"What kind of nickname is that? That's so gross."

"Garde?"

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

Xingye hurriedly explained, lest he upset her. But at that moment, Cyclizar beside him suddenly vanished. When he realized what had happened, he saw that Cyclizar had actually bitten down on Gardevoir's head!

"Cyclizar, Cyclizar~"

"..."

Xingye blanked out for a moment, then snapped back to his senses and rushed forward, yanking Cyclizar away with all his strength as he shouted, "You can't eat this one! Let go!!!"