Outside the window, the light rain continued to patter down.
Perhaps because of the rain, night arrived much earlier than Qingyu had expected.
It was only five, yet he could already see moonlight spilling into the room through the window.
Sylveon poked its head up from the sofa and watched the white light on the floor, looking thoughtful.
"Vee~"
With that cloyingly cute, almost lethal cry, the silvery moonlight before Qingyu suddenly turned scarlet. The instantaneous change in color made him shiver.
"Poni?!"
Ogerpon, who had been resting on the rug, seemed to sense an unusual pressure in the air. Upon opening its eyes, it sprang to its feet, clearly startled by the eerie colors around it.
"..."
Qingyu smiled fondly, stepped forward, and scooped the mischievous Sylveon up in both arms.
It was showing him what it had learned, wasn't it?
"You've gotten really good at using Blood Moon. Thanks for all your hard work lately, Sylveon."
"Vee~"
Praised by its Trainer, Sylveon narrowed its eyes in satisfaction, its four ribbons unconsciously winding around Qingyu's arms.
After encountering Bloodmoon Ursaluna in Kitakami, Sylveon had used Sketch to learn Blood Moon, a move that was theoretically exclusive to that Pokémon.
Although it had struggled to control the aura consistently at first, repeated practice over the past few days, combined with a certain special talent, had allowed Sylveon to master this power.
He just hadn't expected Blood Moon to double as mood lighting. That bright red backdrop really did give people the creeps...
It felt straight out of a Chinese horror story.
If he had Sylveon run a haunted house, with a few prank-loving Ghost Pokémon to help, that might actually be a way to strike it rich.
"But you should probably avoid using that move casually."
As Qingyu held Sylveon