Chapter 400:
March 12th.
When life gets busy, time always seems to flow differently compared to leisurely days.
Fortunately, everyone had found their own things to do.
The popularity accumulated during the New Year period, along with the pent-up consumer desire, gradually subsided during this time. Plus, recently, some were returning to school, others to work, and some were embarking on journeys.
Like Takagi Megumi, who had also set off on her journey during this time.
So, the number of customers at the Breeding House slowly stabilized to a more moderate level.
Although compared to last year, the number of customers was still high, it did make things a bit easier for the big brother Indeedee.
However, the ones who would have a busier year were Pidgeot and the others.
Because the demand for the delivery service had greatly increased.
It was common to see one or two Pidgeot carrying storage capsules flying into the sky.
Since the flight distances were longer, Hayashi Kaede had equipped each Pidgeot with a tracking device to prevent them from getting lost.
It was another sunny day today. Growlithe faithfully guarded the entrance, offering its trademark smile to any customer who approached.
Some customers, finding Growlithe's appearance endearing, would take a bit of the Energy Cubes they just bought and feed them to Growlithe.
It wasn't shy either, eating whatever was offered. It didn't resist head pats either, which made many customers nod in approval, praising it, "What a good dog, what a good dog..."
Even Hayashi Kaede found it amusing when he saw this.
Speaking of which, Officer Jenny would patrol the bluestone path every day with a majestic Arcanine.
Because the town was quite crowded with people now— trainers coming from everywhere for the challenge, locals from Aogiri City...
So security naturally had to be stricter.
At such times, his Growlithe would run out, follow behind the Arcanine, and also pretend to look around authoritatively.
In reality, it was much shorter than the Arcanine.
But considering the time, it should be ready to evolve now.
Looking at the Growlithe, which had reached levels 21-23, Hayashi Kaede felt the time was right.
He petted the now grown-up Growlithe—who felt even heavier to hold than Alolan Ninetales—and couldn't help but ask, "You can evolve now. Do you want to evolve?"
"Woof woof!"
The Growlithe was already thrilled that Hayashi Kaede had come out to see it. It lay down in front of him, wagging its tail unrestrainedly. Now, hearing it could evolve, its tail wagged so fast it almost became a propeller.
It had wanted to evolve for a long time.
Because it thought the other Arcanine in town was very impressive...
It heard from that Arcanine that its duty was to assist its Trainer in protecting the town and it had no interest in playing with "little kids."
So Growlithe had long wondered when it could evolve to be like that Arcanine, so it could protect the town together with it!
It had even proactively asked its Trainer about this once, but that time, the Trainer told it it was still too young and needed to grow a bit more.
Now, it could finally evolve. One could imagine how excited it was.
Kaede lead Growlithe inside to evolve as he couldn't let it be done at the shop entrance.
After bring Growlithe inside, Hayashi Kaede immediately took out the Fire Stone and gently placed it on Growlithe's forehead.
The familiar white light emerged, and Growlithe's body began to stretch and change.
Actually, even before evolving, Growlithe was only slightly smaller than Alolan Ninetales. Now, after evolving, its size expanded as if it had eaten potent fertilizer.
When the white light faded, the form of an Arcanine was fully revealed.
With tiger-like fur, a full, thick mane, sharp eyes, a small black bean-like nose, and a pair of sharp fangs partially visible, it looked extremely majestic.
"Woof woof?"
Arcanine barked twice, its voice changing from the previous crispness to a deep, powerful tone.
Standing nearly two meters tall and weighing almost three hundred pounds, it looked like a Legendary Pokémon.
[Pokémon: Arcanine]
[Gender: Male]
[Ability: Flash Fire]
[Aptitude: Gold]
[IVs: HP (27) Attack (20) Sp. Atk (30) Defense (24) Sp. Def (27) Speed (27)]
[Strength: 29]
[Moves: Leer, Ember, Howl, Bite, Flame Wheel, Morning Sun, Flamethrower, Extreme Speed, Agility, Flamethrower, Fire Fang...]
[Friendship: 95]
[Happiness: 75 (Now I can go find Hana!)]
Just after checking Arcanine's status panel, Hayashi Kaede was pondering who 'Hana' was, when the newly evolved Arcanine gave him a wide, grinning look.
It was telling him it wanted to go out and play.
When it was still a Growlithe, Hayashi Kaede, to prevent it from running off into the Wilderness Area, had set its permitted area to just the town.
This meant even after evolving into Arcanine, it still asked for permission every time it wanted to go out.
"Go on, go ahead. You don't need to tell me when you want to go out and play now. Just don't use Fire-type moves on people's things." Hayashi Kaede patted its head, giving it the confidence to go play.
Arcanine immediately shot off like an arrow.
"He ran off so fast..." Watching the swiftly departing Arcanine, Hayashi Kaede couldn't help but comment again.
In the town, the only one who could really play with it was Officer Jenny's Arcanine.
But that Arcanine always seemed rather indifferent to his Growlithe.
Now that it had evolved, it couldn't wait to show off in front of the other Arcanine, could it?
These thoughts flashed rapidly through Hayashi Kaede's mind.
But when the word "show off" appeared, he paused.
Show off?
Shouldn't "showing off" be something done between members of the same sex?
Like when all your friends are single, and one suddenly finds a gentle, cute, and beautiful girlfriend.
And then praises her in front of you.
That's showing off.
But... Officer Jenny's Arcanine is female!
Could it be...
His Arcanine likes her?
Hayashi Kaede immediately shook his head, feeling he was definitely overthinking it.
Because his Arcanine was, after all, only a few months old! How could it have a love interest so quickly?
It must be because of the chat he had with Kazephyr yesterday.
He had stopped trying to set him up on dates and had started trying to set up his Pokémon instead.
He asked about the gender of his Dragonite, wondering if it could get to know Kaito's Charizard.
Hayashi Kaede's reply was, "Let the Pokémon decide these things themselves. If Dragonite is willing, fine. If not, then forget it."
Then he asked Dragonite and got a 'no'.
So that was that...
Hayashi Kaede stopped speculating wildly.
But this time, reality turned out exactly as he had guessed.
After Arcanine evolved, it no longer appeared at the entrance.
By dinnertime, when he noticed Arcanine still hadn't come home, he decided to go look for it.
Well, it was fine until he looked. Once he did, he found Arcanine stationed in front of the police station, tongue lolling out, staring at Officer Jenny's Arcanine...
This time, Hayashi Kaede clearly saw the nameplate on Officer Jenny's Arcanine. It read—Hana...
Inside the police station, Officer Junna wore a somewhat helpless expression when she saw Hayashi Kaede approach. "Mr. Hayashi, your Arcanine has been talking nonstop to my Arcanine..."
Hearing this, Hayashi Kaede felt instantly embarrassed, looking at his own Arcanine's eagerly attentive demeanor.
Then he looked at Officer Jenny's Arcanine, whose face mirrored its Trainer's—somewhat helpless.
*No way?*
*Is my Arcanine... a simp?*
Hayashi Kaede had a bad feeling.
However, Officer Jenny's Arcanine, having undergone strict training, sat there—even if a bit smaller—with its mane ruffled by the evening breeze, its gaze sharp, it was the very picture of heroic grace!
Perhaps in his Arcanine's eyes, this was a very beautiful and dashing big sister?
But then again,
if it really liked her, it could pursue her!
He fully supported his Arcanine!
"Sorry, sorry. This Arcanine hasn't been born for long and hasn't had much training, so its personality is a bit too lively," Hayashi Kaede apologized first, then tentatively said, "But it seems it really likes its senior."
At the same time, he used the [Eye of Exploration] on Officer Jenny's Arcanine.
[Pokémon: Arcanine]
[Gender: Female]
[Ability: Intimidate]
[Aptitude: Purple]
[IVs: HP (24) Attack (20) Sp. Atk (23) Defense (24) Sp. Def (21) Speed (28)**]
[Strength: 32-35]
[Moves: Leer, Ember, Flamethrower, Agility, Fire Fang....]
Hmm, just over a year old? Not much older.
Officer Jenny walked out of the police station and to Hayashi Kaede's slight surprise, saluted him.
Then she walked to her Arcanine and patted its head.
"Actually, it's not a big problem. It's just that this one often has to work with me, so it doesn't have much time to play."
Hearing Officer Jenny say this, Hayashi Kaede quickly assured her, "Mm-hmm, it's fine, it's fine. I'll teach it properly later."
While saying this, he internally felt this might actually work out.
Officer Jenny didn't explicitly object.
So the rest was up to him to teach his Arcanine properly.
When pursuing a girl... no, a female, can you just stick your tongue out and stare at her foolishly?
"Let's go, let's go! Time for dinner!" Hayashi Kaede pulled his somewhat reluctant Arcanine along, leading it home.
.....
"Do you like Officer Jenny's Arcanine?"
On the way back with Arcanine, seeing the silly smile still lingering on its lips, Hayashi Kaede was almost certain of his guess.
But he still asked.
"Woof woof?"
Arcanine barked twice, froze for a moment, then shook its head left and right at a loss, its tail drooping, looking at Hayashi Kaede cluelessly.
"It's okay, it's okay. It's fine to like someone..." Hayashi Kaede stopped, crouched down, and first affirmed its feelings.
Then, holding the face of this newly evolved Arcanine, who was clearly still awkward about its first crush,
He wanted to say something, but then realized he himself had never been in a relationship either.
In the end, all he could carefully offer was, "It's normal to like a good-looking member of the opposite sex. But it depends on your approach. If you want to be with her, you can't just say you want to play. She has a job, she's an Arcanine with duties. If you follow her around every day, you'll disturb her work and make her dislike you."
"Woof woof?"
Arcanine immediately became alarmed. So that was why Hana never wanted to play with it. It had thought it was because it was too small and unevolved before.
But even after evolving, her attitude hadn't changed.
So the problem was here.
"Woof woof?" Arcanine's tail started wagging again, its eyes shining brightly as it looked at its Trainer.
Since its Trainer knew the reason, he must also know the solution.
Although it felt a bit like a single person giving dating advice to another single being, seeing the expectant light in his Arcanine's eyes, Hayashi Kaede couldn't help but show a bit of confidence. "It's like this. To make someone like you, you need to share, grow together, and let them see your good qualities!"
"Let me teach you. For example, when you eat something delicious, do you think of her? If you do, you can bring some for her to try too. Also, Arcanine is Officer Jenny's Pokémon, meant to assist her. So what are Officer Jenny's daily tasks?"
"Patrolling the town, stopping any troublesome incidents in the town. She also takes her Arcanine for kilometer-long obstacle course training. You can go learn too, then show your heroic side, let her see what makes you special!"
Finishing in one breath, Hayashi Kaede got himself quite worked up.
Arcanine's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
Looking into its eyes, Hayashi Kaede suddenly remembered he had a mutated flower in the garden.
That flower hadn't withered even through late autumn, deep winter, and early spring.
It was called the Elegant Morning Glory. Its effect was to make the wearer more charming in the eyes of the opposite sex.
But it would slowly wither after being picked.
It seemed perfect for Arcanine right now.
However, Hayashi Kaede wouldn't give it to him now.
For matters of pursuing happiness, it was better to let it take action itself first.
Whether for humans or Pokémon, when it comes to love, that kind of flower is only suitable as a finishing touch, not as a tool for the pursuit itself.
"Alright, alright, come back with me for dinner now."
"Woof woof!"
Hayashi Kaede patted his Arcanine's head. The latter appropriately let out two happy barks, wagged its tail, and under the faint, swaying moonlight, they walked together towards home.