Sato let out a cold laugh. These guys were just jealous he had won the tournament, and when he was changing clothes earlier, they even prepared a dress for him!
Adjusting the black-rimmed glasses on his nose, Sato didn't even look at them and simply walked off with large strides.
"A dress? Not in this lifetime!"
Everyone exchanged glances and couldn't help bursting into laughter. After they finished laughing, they hurried to catch up to Sato.
"Toto, I want this one~"
--
"Toto, I want that one! Two orders!"
--
"Toto, I can't carry these skewers anymore… take them for me! And no sneaking bites!"
Sato took the meat skewer that Ralts had already bitten into and finally couldn't hold back.
"You should just evolve into Gardevoir already. Then you could eat even more!"
Ralts rolled her eyes at him.
"Have you ever seen a queen stuffing her face in the middle of the street?"
"…" That argument…
Was so strong he had no comeback!
And while Ralts was busy pigging out, Sato didn't forget to pack seven or eight servings of each snack. Then, when no one was watching, he tossed them all into his shadow.
"Gengi, these are for me to share with everyone later. Don't you dare sneak any… nom nom nom, so good~"
From the shadow, a pair of golden eyes peeked out, filled with overwhelming resignation.
Sato shot a side glance at Ralts. 'I paid for all of this. Gengar's carrying it. And you? Besides eating, what else are you contributing?'
"I'm taste-testing for everyone!"
"…Wow. That's so helpful."
"A simple task. Think nothing of it!"
Right as the telepathy ended, Ralts finished her second batch of takoyaki and immediately snatched the meat skewer from Sato's hand.
Sato the Pack Mule just shook his head, clearly done talking.
"Tooooto! Tooooto! Come quick, there's this goldfish scoop master over here!"
Just then, the others found something new and exciting. Rose shouted loudly using Sato's "alias" -Ralts's fault-, telling him to hurry over.
When he got closer, Sato slipped through the crowd with "skillful" footwork and managed to get to the front row.
At the goldfish scooping stall, a woman with long golden hair down to her waist was scooping up Goldeen one after another. Even with a thin paper scoop, she hadn't broken it once.
And the moment Sato saw her, he instantly recognized who she was.
"…Cynthia?"
Rip~
The paper scoop finally tore. The Goldeen splashed back into the tank with a plop, wagging its tail as it swam away.
"Aww~ I thought she was gonna scoop them all!"
A bystander said with regret, and others around nodded in agreement.
But seeing that she didn't seem interested in continuing, the guys got dragged off one by one by their girlfriends and slowly dispersed.
"What are you doing here?"
Sato didn't beat around the bush and asked directly.
"…If I said I'm here for work, would you believe me?"
"Oh? Chasing down criminals? Need help?"
"…"
"Sat… Toto, is she your friend? Introduce us!" Lance came over just then. He had the feeling he'd seen Cynthia somewhere before.
"Yeah, Toto~ Introduce us!" Phoebe chimed in, her gaze at Cynthia full of curiosity.
"…Toto?" Cynthia blinked. That nickname sounded so warm and familiar…
"Let me introduce you. This is a friend I met while traveling in the Sinnoh region, Cynthia…" Sato paused for a moment, then added, "She's strong."
"Hehe~ I don't know about strong, but beautiful for sure. Hello, gorgeous! I'm Phoebe!"
"Lance!"
"I'm Ryoko."
"Just call me Rose."
"Will. Pleased to meet you."
Cynthia nodded to each of them with a smile, then finally said,
"Nice to meet you all."
"I remember now! I heard there was an outstanding new recruit among the Sinnoh Investigators also named Cynthia.
That was you, wasn't it?"
Lance suddenly blurted out, and Cynthia responded with a confident smile and nod.
Absolutely self-assured!
Soon, the group started walking and chatting. The three girls, curious about Cynthia's "powerful" presence and also wanting to be considerate, naturally gravitated toward her. Before long, bursts of laughter echoed from their side.
Seeing this, Sato felt at ease. He had been worried that if Cynthia had come specifically to find him, it would be awkward to ditch the others.
On the other side, Lance and Will had naturally been left behind. The two of them stared at Sato with extremely curious eyes…
"It's been this long and he still hasn't noticed we're watching him. There's definitely something going on here~!" Lance said loudly, stroking the fake beard on his chin with a serious face, clearly hoping Sato would hear.
"…What are you two whispering about?" Sato turned around, squinting at them.
As soon as Sato turned to look, Lance immediately dragged Will over.
"Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence~?"
Sato frowned. "…Coincidence?"
"You had your final match today, and then ran into her that same night. Coming all the way from Sinnoh isn't exactly a short trip, you know~"
"So what?" Sato squinted. He knew Lance had more to say.
"So… she probably came just to watch you battle!"
Will suddenly chimed in. And for the first time, he realized!
Sure, Sato had surpassed him in Pokémon battles…
But in everything else, he was still just a kid!
---
Meanwhile, the four girls had already circled through topics like makeup, food, and fashion. Unsurprisingly, the conversation eventually turned to Sato.
"Sooo~ Cynthia, how did you and Sato meet anyway?"
Rose asked "casually", and Phoebe and Ryoko subtly leaned in to listen.
"…I lost to him in a Pokémon battle once. I wanted a rematch, so I traveled with them for a while."
"Them?" Rose caught the key word immediately.
"Joseph and Mark. Also Sato's friends. Don't you know them?"
"Oh, we do, we do. We know them very well~" Phoebe replied vaguely. The moment she realized it was a group trip of four people, her gossip fire was immediately extinguished.
"So this time… did you come to see Sato's match?" Ryoko asked in a small voice.
Cynthia glanced at the three of them. Each had their own charm, none of them lacking in any way. She didn't know if she was just annoyed by the questions or what, but suddenly she didn't feel like answering.
"…No. Just happened to be on vacation."
Rose seemed to pick up on a hint of Cynthia's impatience and quickly looked around. "Hey… where did Sato and the others go? They all disappeared."
"I see them! They're definitely over there talking behind our backs. Let's go scare them!" Phoebe added right away.
"Heehee, let's go, let's go…"
Cynthia followed behind them with her usual smile as the three girls tiptoed ahead, but of course, Sato noticed them right away.
Seeing the look of 'you're all so childish' on his face, the little bit of annoyance in Cynthia's heart vanished without a trace.