First up was Baina, who had come to congratulate us on our hard work.
Had she gained anything from going out of her way to watch my match?
Well, I had put a lot of effort into it, but I wondered how it had gone.
"Anyway, you're free until your appointment with Dawn in three days, right?"
"Huh? Well, I've still got plenty of Pokédex entries to fill-"
"You're free, right?"
"No, like I said-"
"You. Are. Free. Right?"
What was this oppressive feeling? Or should I call it pressure?
I involuntarily took a step back.
"Tagane, I'm exercising my authority as Champion right now. Assemble every Gym Leader in New King and the Elite Four within two hours! Top priority! Also, you recorded that Gym battle just now, of course? Get that footage ready too, all right?"
"Y-yes, understood."
Even Miss Bai Cai seemed a little overwhelmed by Baina's intensity.
As for the recording, Pokémon League regulations required all official matches to be filmed. Any one of them could become a valuable resource for future generations. However, recordings could be destroyed after three years, so the archive itself wasn't particularly enormous.
"Yuto, you're coming straight to the Pokémon League with us."
(What is with this woman? What's her problem?)
(Now, now, don't say that. Apparently, the effect of his treatment exceeded her expectations.)
(...Honestly. You really are the type to get the short end of the stick.)
Standing beside Ralts as she sighed in exasperation, I imagined the exhaustion, fulfillment, and joy the next three days would bring and smiled wryly, wondering which would outweigh the others.
Well, well, well. Three days passed.
I was now heading to White Body Forest to meet Dawn as promised.
Looking back, those three days had been absolutely exhausting, but they had also