Sophia quietly observed the boy in front of her—still as sharp-tongued as ever—and found herself unexpectedly lost in thought.
Maybe it was because she'd faced a string of recent setbacks, but she was starting to feel a bit nostalgic for the past.
To be honest, this was the first time she'd really taken a serious, up-close look at him—and to her surprise, he was actually quite handsome. If only he didn't talk so damn much.
With looks like his, he could probably charm any girl he wanted—so why was he always so annoying to her?
The more she thought about it, the more her cheeks reddened. For the first time, she had a dawning realization:
When a guy keeps messing with a particular girl... isn't the most common explanation that he likes her?
Wait—seriously? Did that guy actually like her?
Cough cough! What the hell was she thinking? Where had that narcissistic idea even come from? Was it the aftermath of her gym battle loss messing with her brain?
"By the way," Li Yuan spoke up, studying her with interest, "how'd you even find my shop? It's in a pretty remote spot. Unless someone told you, you wouldn't just stumble across it... don't tell me you followed my scent here?"
Sophia had actually guessed right—Li Yuan did like her, quite a bit, in fact. After all, she looked exactly like May and even had a name like "Sophia"? She was a living, breathing heroine candidate.
Out of all the Pokémon anime heroines, May was one of his favorites.
If he could win her over, it would be like fulfilling a dream—plus, it would light up an entry in his system's Pokédex. Win-win, right?
And if he failed? Well, then so be it. He wasn't about to die without her.
Li Yuan was lazy by nature. If he had a goal, he'd put in some effort—but if it didn't work out, he wouldn't force it.
"Can you not be disgusting?" Sophia's face darkened. "I was just wandering around, okay? Is that so hard to believe?"
Followed your scent, she scoffed inwardly. What scent could a guy possibly have? Sweat?
Only he could say something so gross and still look proud of it. Unbelievable. Did he want her to walk right out the door?
"Alright, alright. So, tell me—what brings you here today? Since we're old classmates, I'll give you a special deal… 5% off," Li Yuan offered casually, spreading his hands.
"...Five percent?" Sophia couldn't help but grumble. "You might as well not offer a discount at all…"
She started to question whether he'd ever really liked her. Shouldn't a guy offer at least 30% off at this point?
Even 10% off would be a sign of basic sincerity! At this rate, there's no way he was going to win any girls over.
"You sure you want to turn it down?" Li Yuan raised a brow. "My services aren't cheap. That tiny 5% might save you tens of thousands."
"Wait, that expensive?!" Sophia was startled.
"See for yourself." He casually handed her a price list.
When Sophia heard the discount might save her thousands, she was already surprised. But the moment she looked at the list—she cursed out loud.
"Holy sh—… Overheat move tutoring: 100,000. Blaze ability awakening: 500,000?!"
She stared, wide-eyed.
The price for Overheat made sense, she supposed—after all, teaching a high-powered move wasn't easy, and success wasn't guaranteed.
But awakening the Blaze ability? What kind of scam was that?! Half a million?!
Why didn't he just rob a bank?
At least bank robbers had the decency to be direct! And yet here he was, casually helping people change their Pokémon's ability and charging a fortune for it. How generous of him!
Seriously—she could buy an Ability Capsule for a few thousand yuan. And this guy wanted 500K? Was his shop made of gold?
"You sure you didn't misprint the price for Blaze?" Sophia checked it again and again, unable to believe her eyes.
"Nope, that's the price," Li Yuan shrugged. "And even then, not just anyone gets to learn it."
"...Do you even get customers like this?" she asked, stunned. This was the most outrageous pricing she'd ever seen.
"Duh. If you weren't an old classmate, I wouldn't even see you without an appointment."
"Then tell me—what, is your Blaze ability made of gold? Or is your store built from diamonds?" she scoffed.
"Actually, it's better than gold," Li Yuan said seriously. "You really think I'm just helping Pokémon switch their abilities?"
"...Aren't you?"
"I remember your Torchic had the Speed Boost ability, right?"
"It's a Blaziken now."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now, what if I told you I could let your Blaziken keep Speed Boost and activate Blaze at full health?"
"Are you kidding me?" Sophia blinked. She imagined the scenario in her head—
A Blaziken with Speed Boost was already ridiculously strong. But add a full-health-activated Blaze on top of that? That's basically a free Adaptability boost!
If he could really pull that off, her Blaziken wouldn't just gain a 50% boost in power—it would practically have a custom-made exclusive buff.
Where in the world would she find another Blaziken like that?
The moment it appeared on the battlefield, the shock factor alone would be massive. She could easily attract sponsors, investors, or even a Champion's attention.
In that case, wouldn't the ¥500,000 training fee be worth every penny?
Still… it sounded too good to be true. Her first instinct was not to believe it.
"Real or not, you'll find out after you pay," Li Yuan said with a shrug. "My shop's legit and right here in the open. You think Officer Jenny would let me stay open if I was a scammer?"
Fair point.
What he said sounded impossible to most—but hey, he had hacks.
Everyone knows Ability Capsules and similar items can switch a Pokémon's ability. But here's the catch—
Switching abilities assumes that the Pokémon already has the new one dormant in its body.
If it only has one ability, then no capsule will help.
That meant the Blaze ability had always existed within Sophia's Speed Boost Blaziken—Li Yuan was simply using his Aura to extract and activate that latent potential. Nothing too mysterious, at least in theory.
Anyone with his kind of Aura could probably do the same.
"Hmm…" Sophia hesitated. She was starting to believe him.
His shop didn't look brand new. If he'd really been running a scam this whole time, no way Officer Jenny wouldn't have shut him down.
That meant… he probably really could awaken Blaze in her Blaziken.
Even if she still found it hard to believe, the idea of a Speed Boost Blaziken that could also use Blaze was incredibly tempting.
"Still think 5% off isn't generous?" Li Yuan asked with a meaningful grin.
"Maybe the problem isn't the discount," Sophia muttered, eyeing the post-discount cost of ¥450,000 with a sigh, "but me."
Where was she supposed to get that kind of money? She was just a sophomore in college!
Raising Pokémon was expensive, okay?
"Wait, don't tell me your life's this rough after leaving me?" Li Yuan said with mock concern.
"Oh, please! It's not like I was living any better with you!" Sophia snapped. "And don't talk like we were actually a couple! I've survived just fine without you!"
...Dammit! Why'd she fall into his rhythm again?!
"Ugh… fine, fine," Li Yuan sighed. "Why do I even bother? Alright, I'll give you a 50% discount. Happy now?"
"No."
"I think this time it'll work."
"Still no."
"Come on, are things really that bad?"
"They're that bad."
"..."
God help me, Li Yuan thought. I've never seen a heroine this broke before.