Hearthome City.
Around ten at night.
Cynthia returned to the villa with Lucario after training.
Cynthia's villa didn't have much living space, but it did have a yard.
It had all started earlier.
While Li Wei was at the supermarket buying ingredients,
Cynthia had noticed Metagross engrossed in a breeding manual and Lucario eager to train...
To thank Li Wei for going out so late just to cook her a meal,
Cynthia had decided to take Lucario and the others out for training. Garchomp could train Drakloak, too.
As a result, when Li Wei arrived at the villa,
There was no one home.
If the code Cynthia had given him hadn't worked, Li Wei might have thought he'd gone to the wrong house.
Once he learned that Cynthia had taken Lucario and the others out to train, Li Wei stopped worrying.
Even though she had taken them out late at night, anyone else who ran into them had more reason to worry.
With Garchomp protecting her,
Cynthia couldn't have been safer.
Cynthia deftly entered her birthday, 1029.
"Beep, beep... beep-beep-beep."
The moment she pushed down the door handle, Cynthia looked straight ahead, but there was no sign of Li Wei.
The aroma of food, however, had already drifted over.
She passed through the entryway into the living room, and the obstacles blocking her view fell away.
In the fairly small kitchen, Cynthia spotted his back as he busied himself.
By Cynthia's standards, Li Wei had an excellent build. His shoulders were broad, but he didn't look bulky.
Bruno and Dayou were both strong, but Cynthia had no interest in muscle-bound men like them.
It wasn't that there was anything wrong with that build. It simply wasn't to her taste.
She preferred the sort of build Garchomp and Lucario had: slender