The split hot pot was your lie

Xin Mu and Old Liu arrived a little later than the rest of the team, who had flown straight in and taken the hotel shuttle over several hours earlier.

The others were resting in their rooms, while Li Han and Jia Qiong waited downstairs for Xin Mu and Old Liu.

Old Liu had managed to get some of his expenses covered this time. He personally wasn't on the reimbursement list, but if someone booked a twin room, there was no way to check whether he stayed there too.

It saved him a little on accommodation, which counted as some small compensation.

"We're heading out for a group dinner in a bit. I've already reserved tables at a hot pot place and arranged the cars. Are you coming?

If not, remember to get an invoice for your takeout, or you won't be able to claim it."

As she said this, Li Han gave Old Liu a pointed look. She didn't say anything, but the meaning was clear.

Xin Mu's expenses were covered, as were the Pokémon's. As for Old Liu, he could tag along for the group dinner, but he couldn't claim a separate order.

Although Old Liu had eaten only a boxed meal on the train during the journey, his exhaustion still made him opt for the group dinner.

After agreeing to go, Xin Mu headed to his room to drop off his luggage.

The room was over fifty square meters, with a small balcony and a separate bathtub in the bathroom. The amenities looked pretty good.

Li Han's definition of "don't go overboard" was fairly generous. Apparently, the higher-ups were fine with anything short of a suite.

There was also a travel guide and a safety booklet in the room.

There wasn't much to say about the travel guide; any larger tourist city had those. The safety booklet was much thicker.

It explained that Pokémon like Weezing might accidentally trigger smoke alarms while out of their Poké Balls, while Pokémon with visible flames on their bodies, such as Charmander and Ponyta, could easily cause fires and therefore had to remain inside their balls.

There was even a warning specifically aimed at the locals.

[Please keep your Pancham under control. Any damaged items must be paid for at their listed price.]

"Keeping Pokémon in an apartment building really isn't easy. At least Meownei's no trouble... Meownei? What are you doing?"

No sooner had Xin Mu called his Pokémon trouble-free than he discovered that Meownei had already begun rearranging the room.

Meownei raised a paw to size things up, then lifted the nightstand between the two beds and moved it aside before effortlessly pushing the separate beds together.

"Meow~ (That looks much better~)"

Ever since coming in, Meownei had felt that something about the hotel room looked wrong. She hadn't figured it out at first, but eventually realized that, unlike the double bed in their rented apartment, this room had two single beds.

Actually, members of the School Team shared rooms in pairs. Even Li Han, their data analyst, roomed with another female team member.

She hadn't refused when Xin Mu requested a twin room to himself, though. He was obviously the team's ace, so there was nothing wrong with letting him have his own room.

Besides, during his tryout, Li Han had seen just how unusual this Meowscarada was. For a while, she had even suspected Meownei had multiple cat personalities, given how quickly her attitude changed.

So in the end, she had booked him a separate twin room.

Xin Mu watched Meownei rolling around on the bed, pretending she had only wanted more space. Before he could say anything, the doorbell rang.

"Brother Mu! The cars Brother Han called are here. Time to go!"

Quite a few members of the School Team were graduate students, so Xin Mu's current age only put him somewhere in the middle. But his Pokémon could fight, which had earned him a promotion to the "brother" generation.

Li Han had booked two cars, with the main roster and substitutes riding separately according to their strength. She wasn't giving anyone special treatment; it was a university rule.

Whenever the School Team went out, they had to ride in separate vehicles and even maintain a certain distance between them. She and Coach Jia had to travel separately too.

Behind every seemingly absurd rule lay some bizarre experience. Apparently, many years ago, their "most promising" team had been in an accident while traveling in a chartered vehicle. No one had died, but everyone had been injured, forcing them to miss the competition altogether.

Since they never competed, there was no way to verify just how promising they had been. In any case, that rule had been added afterward.

"We're here. This hot pot place serves Pokémon too. They even have dedicated staff to cook the food for them."

Humanoid Pokémon were rare to begin with, and those with hands as dexterous as a human's were rarer still, so there were certain foods Pokémon essentially couldn't eat on their own.

They could eat ordinary food with their paws, but they couldn't exactly reach into a hot pot to fish things out. That had given rise to restaurants like this, which naturally charged an extra service fee.

Giving Pokémon the same treatment always came with certain expenses, but Pokémon could earn money too, so the two generally balanced each other out.

The hot pot restaurant's sign featured a Pangoro holding a large iron pot. There were Pangoro inside as well, though those were all staff in costume.

An artificial stream stocked with koi ran through the entrance. As Xin Mu passed, he even felt that several employees were watching Meownei, as if worried she might suddenly bend down and catch a fish.

The moment they crossed the little wooden bridge, a sharp scent hit them.

"They mostly do beef-tallow hot pot around here, right? This smells a little too spicy."

"Don't worry~ Our chilies are nice and fragrant, not the kind that burn your mouth~ If you can't handle the heat, just get a split pot. Pick the spicy broth or the mild one, whichever you like."

There was a local on the School Team, and she had chosen the restaurant together with Li Han.

"Hey, Brother Mu, how much heat can you handle?"

"A McSpicy chicken burger."

"Huh?"

"I think those are a little spicy."

The local team member said no more. With a tolerance like that, it wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say he could starve to death here.

In the end, Xin Mu was successfully assigned to the table with the lowest spice level. Then he learned why the split hot pot was the biggest lie of all.

The pot was indeed divided, but both sides held spicy broth. Only the little section in the middle contained clear broth.

Apparently, even this was an improved version. Older restaurants only had spicy pots divided into nine sections, without even that little patch in the middle.

It was certainly fragrant, and certainly spicy. In the end, he did at least manage to eat his fill.

As for Meownei, her feline tongue disliked both spice and heat, but she ate plenty of the complimentary chilled jelly.

When it was time to pay, Xin Mu noticed that the restaurant also offered a discount for voting.

"What's this?"

"Brother Mu, you really never paid attention to this stuff before, huh? It's a vote to decide where the next Academy Cup will be held."

Past competitions had included the Flygon Academy Cup and the Mawile Academy Cup. Each event was named after the host region's most representative Pokémon, and the host location was decided by voting for those Pokémon.

"Oh, I see... Which Pokémon represents Baiyun again? I should vote for that one."

If Meowscarada had been among the options, Xin Mu would definitely have voted for Meowscarada. Since it wasn't, he would much rather have morning dim sum than spicy hot pot.

The kind that wasn't premade, of course.