It was Monday, March 30.
Originally, Qingyu had planned to set aside a day after the tournament to explore Goldenrod City properly with Cynthia.
Unfortunately, with it being a weekday and the end of the month, Cynthia needed to return to the Sinnoh League as soon as possible to deal with the work she had accumulated during her absence.
It was true that Cynthia had always had plenty of free time as Champion. She could even disappear for a month on a whim to join an archaeological expedition.
But the main reason for that was Lucian, the Grind King among the newly appointed Sinnoh Elite Four, who was so reliable that anyone could trust him to watch their back.
However, Lucian had also competed in this Psychic Power Masters Tournament. By the end of the month, he too had a mountain of work piled up, and clearly had no spare energy to share the Champion's workload.
During the week or so Lucian had been away, the Sinnoh League had been left entirely in the hands of those two goofballs, Flint and Aaron. Even with the veteran Bertha supervising them, there was no telling what trouble they might have caused.
Lucian knew all too well how talented those two were at shirking their duties and stirring up trouble.
So, barely had the tournament ended before Cynthia, urged on by Lucian, boarded a ferry back to Sinnoh with Caitlin.
She left behind only one remark:
"I keep feeling like Lucian would make a better Champion than me..."
Qingyu wholeheartedly agreed.
Cynthia was certainly a powerful Champion who could turn the tide at a critical moment, but when it came to responsibility and dedication to work, Lucian seemed to have the edge.
Perhaps, when Cynthia eventually started considering retirement, Lucian would be