The first challenger

Qingyu scrolled to the very top of their chat history. The first message was dated five years ago.

That was when he had left Celestic Town and moved to Cabo Poco with his parents.

For quite a long time afterward, their conversations had consisted of little more than everyday pleasantries. They even seemed to be growing more distant.

The gaps between conversations had clearly grown longer, too.

Those exchanges, devoid of any real substance, had continued until one day six months ago, when the conversation became one-sided.

[Cynthia:

Sorry, I've been so busy preparing for Victory Road that I had no idea something like this had happened to your parents...

If living alone in Paldea is too difficult, come back and stay in Celestic Town for a while. Everyone here is worried about you.]

The last message was from five months ago, roughly two weeks after the accident.

Read.

Why did the Pokémon world have something as awful as read receipts, too?!

Qingyu grumbled inwardly and let out a helpless sigh.

Given the previous owner's depressed mental state at the time, leaving her on read was understandable.

In fact, he probably hadn't even been in the mood to see what she had written, had he?

As he recalled this, a striking figure with blond hair and black clothing surfaced in his mind.

Unlike the mature, composed Champion Cynthia he remembered from his previous life, the thirteen-year-old Cynthia had radiated youthful energy at every moment.

She had been impossible to ignore.

Still, five years had passed. Her appearance must have changed quite a bit, right?

"So, that future the system described..."

Qingyu couldn't help thinking back to the "information from the future" the system had provided when it appeared.

[Marry your successful childhood friend.]

That "successful childhood friend" had to mean Cynthia, right?

Then, if I wanted to get back on the right track...

All I had to do was accept Cynthia's invitation and return to Celestic Town, and I'd enter the timeline where I became the Champion's househusband and lived off a rich girl?!

Being a kept husband in Sinnoh didn't sound so bad, actually.

Qingyu felt inexplicably tempted, but quickly shook his head.

No!

"A man born into this world cannot spend his life languishing beneath another!"

With his current popularity, as long as he made a name for the Gym, his future achievements might not fall short of a Champion's.

Besides, they hadn't seen each other in five years. He couldn't fall for one of life's three great delusions just because of a hint from the system.

That would be way too pathetic!

He should get the Gym up and running first, then take everything else one step at a time.

With his perspective broadened, Qingyu quickly typed out a message on his phone:

[Qingyu: Sorry I haven't replied all this time. I'm doing much better now.

The Gym my parents left behind is something I treasure, so if possible, I'd like to try keeping the Sunshine Gym running.

Also, congratulations on becoming the Sinnoh Champion!]

It was a rather formal, tactful rejection of Cynthia's invitation.

Though it came six months late, late was better than never. Continuing to leave her on read would have been far too rude.

After sending the message, Qingyu put down his phone and headed for the bedroom.

"Eevee, use Confuse Ray one last time!"

"Vee!"

Eevee swished its tail a few times, then a ball of energy emitting an eerie glow slowly floated out, striking the moving dummy with precision.

After a simple breakfast, Qingyu had spent another morning training diligently with Eevee.

Aside from the system's absurd influence, Eevee's talent had clearly played a very important role in its ability to learn Sketch, an incredible move normally exclusive to Smeargle.

Ever since they had discovered the proper way to use Sketch the previous night, Eevee's training had progressed as smoothly as if someone had switched on a nitro boost.

Just as Qingyu had thought after reading the notes, a little proper guidance had brought out the little Eevee's potential, and it no longer resisted training.

In just one evening and one morning, it had already learned both Encore and Confuse Ray.

That learning speed sent Qingyu's imagination running wild again-

If Eevee someday learned every Pokémon move, even the signature moves of Legendary Pokémon, wouldn't it be invincible?

Arceus?

Hmph. Nothing worth mentioning!

Still, achieving such a feat might require traveling through every major region, in addition to extensive training.

Even with the system's travel feature, that would take a great deal of time.

For now, he should focus on making a name for the Gym.

With training finished, Qingyu was about to get Eevee some nutritious Moomoo Milk to replenish its energy.

Just then, someone suddenly knocked on the Gym's front door.

Knock, knock, knock-

"Is anyone here?"

How long had it been since the Sunshine Gym last had a visitor?

The unexpected call left Qingyu frozen for quite a while.

"Coming."

Once he recovered, he quickly called back and opened the Gym's front door.

An energetic, tan-skinned girl in an academy uniform stood before Qingyu and gave him a friendly wave.

"Hi! I'm Nemona. I just moved to Cabo Poco. Nice to meet you!"

When he had glimpsed Nemona from a distance yesterday, Qingyu had already figured he would sooner or later meet this future Champion of Paldea.

But he truly hadn't expected her to show up so soon.

She really was a human Future Paradox Pokémon with initiative maxed out.

"Hello, Nemona, upper... fellow student. I'm Qingyu. Nice to meet you."

He had almost called her his upperclassman.

Fortunately, Qingyu had reacted quickly enough to notice her Naranja Academy uniform and correct himself in time.

"Okay, Mr. Qingyu!"

Nemona gave him a bright, cheerful smile and held out an elegantly packaged gift bag.

"This is a little moving-in gift. Please take it!"

Giving gifts was a handy way to quickly grow closer to one's neighbors. The custom had been popular in his previous life, and the Pokémon world was no exception.

As he accepted Nemona's gift, his gaze caught the prominent Rotom logo on the bag.

If he remembered correctly, Nemona was the daughter of the owner of Paldea's Rotom Phone company. She was another rich girl.

So her gift was probably a pricey Rotom Phone...

Wait, why did everyone I met seem to be a rich girl?

Was this normal?

Suppressing the urge to make a snarky remark, Qingyu accepted the gift from Nemona as another question arose in his mind.

Now that he had accepted her gift, what should he give her in return?

He didn't actually need to think about that, because Nemona, apparently equipped with the Own Tempo Ability, had already arranged everything for him.

As they spoke, her gaze had already drifted past Qingyu. After briefly taking in the room's furnishings, she quickly looked back at him.

The neighbors were right. This really was a Gym that hadn't opened for business in ages.

Her sparkling eyes were full of anticipation.

"I see! Mr. Qingyu, you're the Gym Leader, right?"

"Then, as thanks for my gift, I can challenge your Gym, right?"

Challenge the Gym?

Qingyu raised an eyebrow.

So Nemona's battle mania had already shown signs this early?

If this had been yesterday, he would have refused without a second thought.

But now...

The four Technical Machines he had chosen for Eevee hadn't been a random selection. Even with just the two moves it had learned so far, it might already have some fighting capability.

Nemona should have only just received her starter Pokémon at this point, too. As his first challenger, her strength should be just about right.

The accompanying illustration and the cover are from the same series. I quite like this artist's style, but I couldn't find the artist. What a shame...