After admiring Wallace's Milotic—surely no one was admiring Wallace's good looks, right? Right?—the group of four began browsing the gallery's photo wall.
"Most of these are Pokémon with very distinctive traits," Hisako remarked, looking at the portraits and the "reference photos" beside them.
"Either exceptionally strong, exceptionally beautiful, or exceptionally elegant," Erina nodded in agreement. "Seems the Contest scene is deeper than I imagined."
When she first learned about Pokémon Contests, Erina had assumed they were akin to beauty pageants in the Pokémon world—just about looking "pretty" and nothing more! Entering the gallery and seeing Milotic had only reinforced that idea. But upon spotting Pokémon like Machamp and Aggron on the wall, she realized Contests weren't as simple as she'd thought.
Hayashi chuckled. "It's one of the more popular competitions in the Pokémon world, after all. It wouldn't be that shallow."
Hisako, however, seemed full of confidence in Erina. "Erina! If you entered a Contest, you'd definitely win!"
Erina waved her hand with a wry smile. "I don't even have a Pokémon fit for competition yet. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
Hayashi pointed at the Pikachu in her arms. "What about Pikachu? Appearance-wise, Pikachu is plenty cute. And moves like Electro Web, Electro Ball, and Iron Tail could make for a great stage performance."
"Pika!" Pikachu thumped its chest. Trust me, Trainer! I can do it!
Erina looked tempted but quickly shook her head. "No, no. I know nothing about Contests right now. Jumping in unprepared would just be disrespectful to the event."
"I see—" Hayashi blinked and said, "Alright, I'll find you some contest recordings and such later."
Erina nodded, agreeing to Hayashi's proposal.
...
...
After touring the art gallery, Erina left satisfied and then rushed off to Lilycove City's department store with Hisako Arato.
"..."
Hayashi sat on a chair with a weathered expression, stroking the fur of the Eevee lying on his lap like an old man who had seen through the vanity of life, sighing, "Women's talent in this area is truly terrifying!"
You weren't tired after wandering around the art gallery for over forty minutes? You didn't even take a break before charging straight into the department store? How are you so fearless!?
Sabrina, sitting beside him, nodded. She hadn't joined Erina and the others at the department store—the crowd at the art gallery was still within her tolerance, but the department store was just too much.
"Eevee!"
Eevee lazily rolled over, exposing her soft belly to Hayashi's mischievous hands: after all, she didn't have to walk herself, so no big deal!
"You little rascal—"
Hayashi raised an eyebrow, looking at the lazy Eevee before lightly tickling her sensitive spots.
"Eevee!"
Startled, Eevee squirmed in panic, quickly scrambling up from Hayashi's lap before baring her teeth at his smug grin, complaining: Master is so mean!
Sabrina glanced at the interaction between Hayashi and Eevee, tilting her head in thought—maybe she should catch an Eevee to train too. Didn't Eevee have an evolution into Espeon, a Psychic-type?
"Haha, Eevee is just too adorable." Hayashi laughed, rubbing Eevee's soft cheeks. "Little one, learn Baby-Doll Eyes soon so you can evolve into a Sylveon!"
"Eevee-vee!" Eevee nodded seriously. She had already figured out the trick to Baby-Doll Eyes and would likely master the move within a week!
Faced with such an adorable Eevee, Hayashi—a firm believer in positive reinforcement—immediately showered her with praise, ruffling her fluffy head as he cooed, "Good girl~ Yes, yes, yes—"
"Purrr—"
Eevee narrowed her eyes in contentment, while Gengar, watching from the shadows, couldn't resist jumping out.
"Gah-gah!"
She pointed at herself, signaling for Hayashi to give her some head pats too—she was sure she'd feel great!
Hayashi paused, gently setting Eevee down on the chair before frowning and circling Gengar in deep thought. Under Gengar's bewildered gaze, he finally spoke up, "Uh, Gengar... I'd love to pat your head, but... where is your head?"
"Gah!?" Σ( ° △ °|||)
Gengar gasped in horror, frantically patting her own body before collapsing into a pale, defeated heap—only now realizing she lacked something as basic as a neck or head.
"Gah..."
The teary-eyed Gengar looked up pitifully, "Does that mean I won't get loving head pats anymore?"
Pfft—
Sabrina covered her mouth and turned away—she had to admit, this Gengar's performance had tickled her funny bone!
"Who said that?" Seeing Gengar so heartbroken, Hayashi quickly comforted her, "Even if I can't pat your head, I can still rub your body! Look—"
Hayashi spread his arms and hugged the round Gengar in front of him, saying, "Good Gengar~ Yoshi yoshi yoshi yoshi—"
"Ghehehe!"
Feeling Hayashi's affection, Gengar immediately wore a satisfied expression. She giggled and then whoosh—dived back into Hayashi's shadow—I'm satisfied now! Master, you can go back to petting little Eevee, hehe!
Compared to the still-childish Eevee, Gengar was more of a big sister, so her every move carried an elder sister's demeanor.
"Hmm, Eevee—" Hayashi gently poked Eevee's soft belly with his finger and said, "After you evolve into Sylveon, let's enter a Contest together and experience the atmosphere, okay?"
"Eevee?"
Eevee's ears twitched slightly. She shook her little head and proudly puffed out her chest: Okay! Master, just you wait—I'll easily win that Contest championship for you!!
"Oh-ho-ho, Eevee is so amazing~" Hayashi buried his face in Eevee's belly with a doting smile, then said blissfully, "Ah, can cat-lovers possibly be happier than me petting Eevee? Petting Eevee is better than being an immortal, woohoo!"
"Eevee!"
Eevee happily waved her little paws—this was also one reason she disliked battles. What if she got dirty from fighting, or sweaty, or developed a strange smell that made her master stop petting her?
No no no! Little Eevee must stay pretty and clean!
Just as Hayashi was immersed in the boundless joy of petting Eevee, a call from reality snapped him out of it.
"Mr. Hayashi—" Hisako shouted to him, "Come here for a moment! Erina wants to buy you some clothes!"
"Huh?"
Hayashi looked up, then turned to Hisako in surprise, unable to help asking, "Me? Buy clothes for me?"
Hisako nodded vigorously, cupping her hands like a megaphone as she called, "Hurry up! The clothes here are quite nice!"
Hayashi scratched the back of his head with a wry smile, muttering, "What a waste of money. It's not like I don't have clothes, geez."
Hayashi stood up, then glanced at Sabrina and asked, "Want to come with me? Or...?"
Sabrina quickly shook her head, saying, "I'll just wait here. Just come back soon, okay?"
If she'd wanted to go in, she would have done so already—no need for an invitation.
"Alright then." Seeing Sabrina's reluctance, Hayashi didn't press further. He turned and headed straight for the elevator, arriving at the clothing store on the third floor.
"Come here—" Erina beckoned to Hayashi and said, "Try this outfit. I think it suits you well."
The top was a black T-shirt with a white pattern of crossed knives and forks, while the bottom was a pair of black cropped pants in the same shade, featuring a mischievously grinning Gengar printed on the left thigh.
"Ooh, it's Gengar!" Hayashi's eyes lit up. Hearing his exclamation, Gengar "whooshed" into view, cupping its face with both hands and staring at the pants with a "Wow!" expression before tugging vigorously at Hayashi's trousers.
Hayashi scrambled to hold up his pants, hurriedly saying, "I know, I know, I'll wear it... Stop pulling! Stop it, hey! They're falling, they're falling!!"
"Ahahaha—"
Erina and Hisako couldn't help but burst into a series of clear, melodious giggles at Hayashi's flustered state. Unfortunately, he missed their radiant smiles—too busy keeping his pants up.
After finally calming Gengar down, Hayashi hadn't even taken the clothes from Erina when little Eevee started causing a ruckus.
"Eevee-vee-vee!"
Eevee vehemently patted Hayashi's face with its paws, then huffed and puffed while yelling at Erina.
Why Gengar but no Eevee, huh? Where's mine? I wanna be worn by my trainer too!
"Ow, ow, ow..."
Hayashi frantically pulled Eevee off his head and said with a wry smile, "Hey, no need to hit me! It's not like I picked the clothes, right? The real culprit is obviously Erina!"
Erina: "?"
She widened her eyes at Hayashi and couldn't help but ask, "Do you have no conscience? How are you so skilled at shifting blame? Just how many times have you done this?"
Hayashi flashed a smug expression. "I'm the Canyon Blame-Shifter, the Non-Stick King, the heir to Bage!"
Erina deadpanned, "Why do you sound so proud of that?"
Come on, winning by doing nothing is super cool, okay?
Hayashi chuckled, stuffing Eevee into Erina's arms before grabbing the T-shirt and pants and heading into the changing room. "Let's see how good the young lady's taste is."
"Eevee-vee!"
Eevee continued to squirm in Erina's arms, glaring at her indignantly as if demanding to know why she hadn't chosen clothes with an Eevee pattern.
"Little one, you're an Eevee now, but you'll evolve into a Sylveon soon, right?" Erina said calmly, looking at Eevee. "Do you really want him to keep wearing Eevee-themed clothes after you evolve?"
"Eevee?!"
Eevee's expression turned shocked. After a few seconds of wide-eyed contemplation, it patted Erina's shoulder approvingly.
Mhm, you've done well—big merit to you!
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