It was late autumn.
— Lumiose City.
In the Emerald District stood LeBlanc Café. The shop was empty, without a single customer. Leaning back in a chair behind the front counter, Leo was perfectly content enjoying the leisure of slacking off.
Having just cleared the Summit Battle storyline in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Leo opened his eyes and discovered he had transmigrated into the Lumiose City from the game.
Unlike other transmigrators, he had no system to support him, nor did he own a Gym or a Pokémon Day Care. His only asset was this sparsely visited coffee shop.
It took Leo several days after arriving to figure out the various coffee recipes and the café's operating model, but unfortunately, customers remained few and far between.
He didn't have any Pokémon of his own either—and even if he did, he was too lazy to go out and become a Trainer.
Wasn't drifting through life in the shop better than braving the elements outside?
Fortunately, Leo wasn't lonely. He had a "virtually raised" Pokémon girlfriend to keep him company.
Um… just to be clear, he wasn't a pervert.
After transmigrating, a strange app had mysteriously appeared on his phone. The icon was the headshot of a Shiny Gardevoir.
Well, he was bored anyway.
Leo reluctantly tapped it to give it a try.
The game's main interface displayed a 3D model of a normal Shiny Gardevoir. The modeling quality was quite impressive—surprisingly similar to the real Gardevoir he had seen walking around the streets of Lumiose City.
The gameplay was similar to Travel Frog.
Around 7 a.m., he would send her out to work and earn money. When she finished work between 7 and 8 p.m., she would return with a random number of gold coins and a chance of bringing back items.
Leo could use the gold she earned to buy clothes, food, or other items.
Gardevoir also had a health stat that had to be maintained with food or medicine. If her health dropped too low, she would fall ill and be unable to go out to work.
Most frustrating of all, the money Gardevoir earned from working barely covered the cost of maintaining her health. After playing for several days, Leo still couldn't even afford a single piece of clothing.
Clearly, this was a conspiracy by the developers.
The goal was to make players spend money—the exchange rate between this terrible in-game currency and real-world money was 1:1.
Damn developers, you've miscalculated.
"I, Leo, have incredible self-control. If I say zero spending, I mean zero spending. I won't put a single cent into this game. If I spend money on you, I'll starve to death. Sorry, Gardevoir, just keep working hard!"
It was now seven in the morning. Since it was early, the Gardevoir on the screen looked like she had just woken up.
"Let's see… where should you go today?"
"Go work at a coffee shop. Hopefully you'll bring back another dessert recipe book."
This game was strangely realistic in certain areas, such as the food modeling, which was comparable to the famous meal scenes in Monster Hunter.
Not only that, but the food made according to the in-game recipes actually tasted delicious.
Take yesterday, for example.
When Gardevoir returned from work, she brought back a recipe for Cream Cake. When Leo followed the recipe, the result tasted unexpectedly good.
Leo updated the café's menu overnight.
He stood up and stretched. First he would bake some small cakes as free samples, then head outside to hand out flyers.
He had to quickly boost the café's popularity, or he might not even be able to pay basic living expenses like water, electricity, and internet.
A while later…
Leo rubbed his aching shoulders and placed the freshly prepared cake bases into the oven.
Ding-dong~
The café door opened, causing the wind chimes behind it to ring softly.
"Welcome—?"
Leo's voice suddenly trailed off.
Standing in front of him was a Shiny Gardevoir.
His eyes widened instantly. He was actually seeing a real Shiny Gardevoir in person.
This wasn't a game—it was a living Pokémon!
If he'd known he'd have this kind of luck today, he would have bought a lottery ticket.
If he really had a Shiny Gardevoir in real life, why would he bother with some cheap electronic girlfriend?
He had never imagined that the first Pokémon customer after taking over the café would be a Gardevoir, let alone a Shiny one.
The Gardevoir gracefully lifted the edge of her skirt and bowed slightly. Her small cherry-like lips moved as she spoke.
"Gardevoir!"
"Are you hiring temporary workers here?"
Leo froze for a moment. He could actually understand what she was saying, then quickly realized it must be Gardevoir's Telepathy.
A temporary worker…
Do I look like someone who can afford to pay wages? (Sad face)
For a moment, the thought of capturing her flashed through his mind—but he quickly suppressed it.
In Lumiose City, many Pokémon worked jobs like this. They all possessed official citizen status, and capturing them at will was illegal.
A Shiny Gardevoir stood right in front of him, yet he couldn't catch her.
How frustrating!
Still, Leo wanted to keep her around for as long as possible. Even if she only worked for a day, just being able to look at her would be nice.
"Would it be okay if part of the wages were replaced with desserts or coffee?" he asked tentatively.
Gardevoir nodded, her tone calm and neutral.
"No problem. What do you need me to do?"
"Wait a moment."
Leo hummed softly as he returned to the kitchen. The cake bases had just finished baking.
A short while later, he came back to the counter carrying a large tray of Cream Cake cut into pieces. Beside it were the flyers he had prepared earlier.
He separated half of the items and pushed them toward Gardevoir.
"I'll have to trouble you to go outside and hand out flyers on the street. Let people try the small cakes for free. If you get hungry, you can eat some too."
"Thank you."
Gardevoir nodded and used Psychic to lift the tray and flyers before walking out of the café.
Watching her departing figure, Leo's thoughts drifted to his electronic girlfriend.
His own Gardevoir probably worked just like this, right?
Once he earned some money, he'd spend a little in the game. That way she wouldn't have to work so hard, and he could play dress-up with her for some emotional satisfaction.
With that thought, Leo picked up the other tray and flyers and headed outside.
---
The sky gradually darkened.
Inside LeBlanc Café, Leo and Gardevoir were slumped in chairs in front of the bar counter, both looking exhausted.
He hadn't expected this.
In the morning, everyone who tried the samples praised the cakes—but actual business was only average.
Perhaps it was the celebrity effect of the Shiny Gardevoir, or perhaps the Cream Cakes were truly that tempting.
Once the afternoon arrived, customers suddenly flooded the café. Gardevoir didn't even have time to go back outside to hand out flyers, while Leo stayed buried in the kitchen cooking nonstop.
As evening approached, the flow of customers finally began to thin.
"Gardevoir."
"Hmm?"
She tilted her head to look at him. Her blue-green hair swayed slightly under the café's warm yellow lights.
"You worked hard today."
Leo took out two chilled Berry Milkshakes from beneath the counter and pushed one toward her.
"As promised, this is your extra compensation."
She lowered her head and took a sip. The sweetness spread across her tongue, and her tense shoulders finally relaxed.
"Thank you."
She paused for a moment before adding softly,
"The cakes you made… are very delicious."
Leo then counted out a stack of bills.
"This is your pay for today."
Gardevoir counted the money, then pulled out a few bills and handed them back, looking confused.
"We agreed that part of the payment would be offset with desserts and drinks. I can't take this."
"I didn't expect business to be so good today," Leo said with a smile. "Take it—you earned it."
"Also…"
Leo scratched his head a little sheepishly.
"Um… would you be willing to work here long-term?"