A New Year's Hatsumode and the Destruction of the Statues at Loyalty Plaza

A new year brought a fresh start. On its first morning, while everyone else was still resting after the fun they'd had the night before, Mingyou was already up and cleaning.

After clearing away all the spent fireworks and firecrackers in the yard, he went back inside to make breakfast. Just then, his Rotom Phone chimed with a notification from a priority contact.

"Who's messaging this early...?"

Mingyou checked his Rotom Phone. To his surprise, it was a New Year's greeting from Cynthia.

There were plenty of other greetings too, but he had only enabled notifications for a few important contacts, so he was just seeing them now. They were all from friends, and some had also asked when his shop would reopen.

"A few more days. I should get some proper rest first."

He smiled and sent a New Year's greeting to everyone in return. Just as he was about to put his phone down, another priority notification sounded.

It was from Akari. She must have seen the greeting he'd just sent to everyone.

"Already busy this early?"

"Yeah. Why aren't you sleeping in?"

"Your priority notification woke me up..."

(The other party deleted a message and patted your kitty head.)

Akari suddenly deleted the message she had sent, then sent another: "Give me a minute. I'll get ready and come downstairs."

"Sure."

Mingyou shook his head gently. When he looked up, he found that Riolu and the others were awake too.

"Rio~"

Riolu was considerate enough to start cleaning when he saw the living room was still a mess, taking care of the post-meal chores for Mingyou.

The first thing Munchlax did after waking was hunt for snacks. He even shared two candies with Mingyou before running back to the sofa to turn on his game.

"Can't you