Why Do You Always Have to Push Me?

Fourth.

On the final day of the Qualifying Round, Heiduo had been planning to watch Fred and Hesu's match when an old acquaintance blocked his door.

A truly old acquaintance.

Their history went all the way back to when Heiduo had still been with Team Rocket.

"Serea..."

Heiduo looked at the gray-haired girl before him with a mixture of surprise and complicated emotions.

She still wore that beret on her head, except unlike the black one from her Team Rocket days, this one was grayish-brown plaid.

How much did this girl like berets?

Serea's gaze toward Heiduo was equally complicated. She took the initiative to walk into his room, locked the door behind her, and said softly, "Long time no see... Can we talk?"

Why the hell did she lock the door if she just wanted to talk?

Heiduo narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling that Serea had not come with good intentions.

The two sat down on the sofa in the living room.

Umbreon was quite perceptive. The moment it saw Serea, it ran into the bedroom, looking as though it could not care less about their business.

That left only Heiduo and Serea in the living room.

A guest had to be treated properly.

Heiduo took the initiative to make Serea a cup of tea. The tea leaves came from the tea trees on Mt. Silver. There were only two on that huge mountain. He had plucked half the leaves, wasted half of those, ruined half again, and finally managed to process some crude, poorly made tea.

"Thank you." Serea truly trusted Heiduo a great deal. She picked up the tea and drank it without the slightest vigilance one would expect from an undercover agent. After taking two small sips, she hesitated before asking, "Have you... been well lately?"