What if a skill could control a teammate for ten seconds?
Hisako did it.
With a single sentence, she made Erina silent for ten seconds, and after several deep breaths, she barely managed to dismiss the thought of "My essence is actually a masochist."
I can't think! Otherwise, I won't be able to look at Hisako straight in the eye anymore!
Erina tugged at the corner of her mouth and glared at Hayashi, saying helplessly, "Let's eat."
Hayashi blinked innocently and muttered, "It's not my fault; I just proposed a very constructive idea. It's Hisako who couldn't control herself—"
'Who couldn't control themselves!? Who could!? No one can! So is it a problem that I couldn't control myself? No!'
I am justified!
But she couldn't say it out loud, so she could only pretend not to hear and obediently eat the curry in her bowl, occasionally squeezing out a dry compliment, "So delicious, the lady's cooking is as excellent as ever."
Erina felt stiff as well; aside from responding dryly to Hisako's praise of her cooking with "Just doing my usual," she couldn't find any other topic—heaven knows, every time she tried to speak, she would imagine the scene Hisako had just described.
'Think of a way to open up the conversation—'
Erina lightly kicked Hayashi's calf with her toe and signaled him with her eyes to find a topic to ease the awkward atmosphere.
Hayashi blinked innocently and then focused his gaze on Gengar, who was comfortably lounging in her chair, enjoying a popsicle.
Hey, the purple little chubby one is so cute!
"Speaking of which, Gengar—" Hayashi propped his chin on his hand, curiously asking, "Why do you lure those passersby in?"
"Kukuk?"
Gengar, happily licking her popsicle, paused slightly, struggling to sit up from her chair, and scratched her head in confusion, saying, "Kukuk?"
Aren't those passersby the ones who wandered in by themselves?
"?"
Hayashi, Erina, and Hisako exchanged glances and then turned their attention back to Gengar.
Hayashi asked, "We weren't planning to come to this mansion, but by the time we realized it, we were already standing at the mansion's door—this means someone intentionally guided us here."
"Kuk, kukuk!?"
Gengar clearly showed a surprised expression; she immediately shoved the popsicle into her mouth, shivering from the cold, and transformed into a shadow, disappearing from in front of Hayashi and the others.
"Eh eh?"
Hisako made a confused sound, looking at Erina and then at Hayashi, weakly saying, "So, it wasn't Gengar who brought us here?"
"From Gengar's reaction, it seems it wasn't her—" Hayashi frowned and said, "And there are indeed many doubts about this matter."
Erina perked up, adjusting her sitting posture slightly, and asked, "Elaborate."
"First, you should also see that there are many signs of Gengar living in this mansion, right?" Hayashi looked around and said, "For example, this mansion, which should have been uninhabited for a long time, shows no dust; and occasionally, you can see photos of Gengar—"
Erina and Hisako exchanged glances and nodded in unison—when they were first "tricked" into coming in, they had indeed panicked for a bit, but once Hayashi fainted from Gengar's lick and Gengar almost turned white from fear, they suddenly felt that Gengar didn't seem so scary anymore.
Later, Gengar had hugged Hayashi and brought Erina and Hisako to the previous bedroom, and the clean room surprised them for quite a while! After all, they initially thought they would have to clean the room before Hayashi could lie down.
"Secondly, if you recall carefully, you'll find that the 'haunted house' disturbances in this house only started in the last half month—" Hayashi rested his chin on his hand, striking a pose reminiscent of Commander Ikari, and said, "If Gengar really had prankster intentions, it wouldn't have only started in the last half month, right? Or was she sleeping before this, and upon waking, started cleaning and then pranking?"
Erina and Hisako exchanged glances again, nodding in unison—this analysis makes a bit of sense! It seems to be true?
"Finally, there's Gengar's reaction just now!" Hayashi raised an eyebrow and said, "Her reaction directly negates the second possibility! In other words, she should have been living quietly in this mansion all along, being a shut-in for ages, but in the last half month, someone else has been pretending to be Gengar living here..."
Erina and Hisako gulped, suddenly feeling as if they had uncovered some significant secret—damn it, are we getting involved in something strange?
Erina hesitated for a few seconds and then said, "So what do you plan to do? Leave quickly, or—"
"In times like this, we, who have little combat power, would easily get into trouble if we act recklessly—" Hayashi rationally shook his head and said, "The best course of action is, of course, to seek help from powerful outside observers."
Erina and Hisako: "Hmm?"
...
...
Fifteen minutes later, with the help of Professor Oak's Dragonite and Alakazam, the matter was successfully resolved.
"According to the culprit's confession (hypnosis was employed), he accidentally wandered into the mansion and was saved by Gengar! While recovering in the mansion over the next few days, he stumbled upon the former owner's belongings and was instantly consumed by greed!"
"But he knew full well that he was no match for Gengar and couldn't steal the belongings under her watch. So, he began using Hypno to hypnotize passing rookie trainers, making them unknowingly enter the mansion in hopes of drawing official attention."
"Once Gengar—'a threat to passing trainers'—was either driven away or captured by the authorities, he could return to the mansion, take the inheritance, sell it on the black market, and move to another region to live a wealthy life."
After hearing Officer Jenny's explanation, Hayashi, Erina, and Hisako immediately shot the shifty-eyed male bystander looks of disdain and disgust—forget the moral issue of coveting someone else's belongings, but Gengar saved you, and you planned to betray her? That's just not right.
Hayashi looked at the purple, chubby little ghost, who was sulking like a ninety-pound child, and couldn't help patting her belly. "At any rate, Gengar's been cleared of suspicion, right?"
"That's true, but to attract more trainers' attention to this mansion, he posted extensively online and even hired trolls to hype it up. As a result, the 'haunted mansion' has already spread among horror enthusiasts—" Officer Jenny rubbed her temples in frustration. "In other words, for a while now, plenty of haunted house fans and horror lovers will come here to check it out, which will definitely cause trouble for Gengar."
If Gengar does nothing, she'll have to watch as strangers barge into the mansion she's carefully tended for over a century—some might even jump on the beds, kick the cabinets, or worse.
But if Gengar drives them away? Well, wouldn't that just prove the house is "haunted"? That would only draw even more people, possibly even attracting the attention of a powerful trainer.
"How did it come to this?"
"Shouldn't the authorities do something about this?"
Faced with Erina and Hisako's questions, Officer Jenny sighed helplessly. "Gengar's trainer passed away over a hundred years ago, and the property rights to this house expired long ago—now, rather than saying people are intruding into Gengar and her trainer's home, it's more accurate to say a wild Gengar has taken up residence in an abandoned mansion."
As harsh as it sounded, there was no law in this world allowing Pokémon to inherit their trainer's property. So, this house, left without an owner for a century, was indeed ownerless.
Officer Jenny took a deep breath. "In fact, if someone were to buy this house after learning about the situation, the League might even have to step in to help them evict Gengar for trespassing."
"Geehee!?"
Gengar immediately opened its mouth wide. Oh no, have I become the villain who's occupying someone else's house?
Wh-what should I do now??
Gengar nervously clenched its little hands, the visible distress on its face making everyone present show expressions of pity.
"The simplest solution is for Gengar to take its master's belongings and leave this place," Hayashi said, rubbing his head. "Of course, if this house holds special meaning for Gengar, then just forget I said that."
"G-ge, geh." Gengar froze for a moment before looking sadly at the house behind it and muttering softly, "Geh geh!"
Hayashi nodded, then turned to Professor Oak. "Gengar says it actually doesn't remember much about its master anymore. The only reason it's stayed here is out of habit."
"Habit, huh..." Professor Oak sighed emotionally, then suddenly realized something was off. His eyes widened as he stared at Hayashi. "Wait, you—you can understand Pokémon language!?"
Hayashi scratched his cheek in confusion. "Huh? Didn't I mention that?"
"Absolutely not!!" Professor Oak clutched his head. "Do you have any idea how rare that ability is!? Being able to communicate freely with Pokémon could speed up research progress several times over!!"
Hayashi quickly shook his head with a reluctant expression. "No way, Professor! Thinking too hard makes me feel weak all over!"
Professor Oak immediately put on a pained expression: 'Then what's the point of you having a brain!'
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