If he remembered correctly, this was Emily's Ten-Heart Event.
"Haven't we always been on good terms?" Emily looked at Ron with equal disbelief, then widened her eyes. "What? I always thought we were best friends in Pelican Town."
"Who?" Sandy had just walked back into the cabin and heard this. She asked, "Isn't your best friend me?"
"Aren't you in the Desert?"
"——Oh, right, I forgot, sorry." Sandy then glanced at the expressions on the two of them. Her intuition telling her something wasn't quite right, she slowly scooped Sailor up from the floor, backed out of the cabin, and thoughtfully closed the door behind her.
With Sandy interrupting like that, Emily had to gather her momentum again before looking at Ron with a hurt expression. "I always thought you were my best friend in Pelican Town."
"I also think you're my best friend in Pelican Town," Ron couldn't help but say. "Are you sure it's the Secret Woods?"
"..."
"If you can find another better place, that's fine too," Emily replied. "I just wanted to go out and have some fun... uh, that's all."
"Alright."
After the two confirmed the camping itinerary, Ron walked Emily out of the cabin.
"It's probably just a coincidence," Ron thought. "After all, this is reality; there shouldn't be any such thing as needing to trigger an event at a specific time."
After thinking it over carefully, Ron felt this made sense. After all, if everyone acted according to the game's settings, then Haley would have tragically lost her Fourteen-Heart Event—after all, Ron had long ago donated a sum of money as an educational fund to buy new books and stationery for the kids.
Thinking this, Ron let out another sigh of relief, feeling he had overreacted.
Outside the door, just as Emily was about to leave the farm, Indeedee came running up from behind, dragging Meowth along and chiming away.
"What's wrong?"
"It says... Ron got you a birthday present, meow. He forgot to give it to you, so it's delivering it for him." Saying this, Indeedee handed a large bundle of things to Emily.
"Indeedee, in, indeedee!"
"It's gems Ron collected personally, plus a bag of Stardrop Tea, meow," Meowth translated.
"Thanks." Emily, who had originally been hurt by Ron's comment, felt her mood lift again after receiving the birthday present. "He actually remembered my birthday."
"Indeed, indeed."
"He prepared this way in advance, meow."
Carrying that large bundle, Emily said goodbye to Indeedee and Meowth, then left the farm and started looking for Sandy.
"——They're at Meowth's place." Meowth gulped and said, "Liars have to swallow a thousand needles, meow."
"Indeed, indeed, indeed." (But you're a Pokémon, not a person!)
"What, you're saying Meowth is a Pokémon and not a human anyway, meow?" Meowth scratched its head. "Oh right, Meowth almost forgot, meow."
Saying this, Meowth felt reassured and, humming a tune, walked toward the Fern Islands warp totem alongside Indeedee.
"Are you done talking with Ron?" Sandy, holding Sailor, looked at Emily, who was holding a large bundle in her arms, and couldn't help but say, "I remember the Pelican Town tradition: aren't you supposed to buy a bouquet to confess your love? Why didn't you buy one? Is that why he rejected you?"
"What confession?" Emily asked in confusion.
"?" Sandy couldn't help but pinch her voice as she repeated the words she had accidentally overheard earlier.
"He is indeed my best friend in Pelican Town, is there a problem with that?" Emily continued. "I made plans with him a while ago to go camping; I was just confirming the time."
"Oh, a date." Sandy nodded. "No wonder you didn't want to tell me."
"..."
"Then what's all that stuff in your arms?" Sandy asked next. "Compensation to heal your emotional wounds?"
"——Birthday presents."
Hearing this, Sandy immediately found a spot, sat on the ground without a care, and slapped the earth heavily. "Anyway, it's not time to go back yet. Open it up and see what's inside!"
"Hmm... alright." Emily thought for a moment, figuring she couldn't go home right now anyway, so she sat down next to Sandy and rustled open the bundle, spilling everything out.
"Wow—" Sandy reached out and counted. "Amethyst, Emerald, Aquamarine, Jade, Ruby, Amethyst..."
Counting on her fingers, Sandy slapped the ground heavily again.
"Damn it, I've been outdone," Sandy said indignantly.
"Then what did you give me?" Emily asked.
"Gems I painstakingly dug out of Skull Cavern!" Sandy continued. "It took a lot of hard work for Cacnea and me to collect them!"
She then said in agonized regret, "If I knew this, I wouldn't have looked. How does he even know you like Survival Burgers?"
There was even a Parrot Egg!
"I don't know." Emily shrugged.
"How could someone guess such a niche preference?" Sandy said, reaching out to touch the Animal Hair inside. "Even the Wool is of such high quality... Should I drop a hint to him about my birthday?"
"The few wildflowers you like, Sailor alone could probably collect them all for you," Emily said, looking at the proud-looking Sailor, but a different kind of feeling stirred in her heart.
How does he know all of this?
Back in the cabin, Ron suddenly sneezed.
He looked around uncomfortably. Seeing nothing, he turned and walked over to Magearna.
During this time, Bellossom and Froakie had been sent to complete Mr. Qi's Special Orders, collecting a batch of Qi Gems. Ron planned to go to Ginger Island tomorrow to exchange them for the special Blue Grass recipe.
After the Tea Saplings were planted, Ron planned to find time to make a trip to Santalune City and sow the grass seeds. After that, he could officially start running his ranch in Santalune City.
Ron had been planning this for a while. Conveniently, this trip would allow him to build new barns in Santalune City, and then he could bring some animals over to raise there.
However, correspondingly, security measures also needed to be put on the agenda. For this, Ron decided to bring back a batch of Zubat after sowing the grass seeds, sending them all for intensive training in the mines. By autumn, when the pasture had grown and the barns were built, he could then assign them to guard the ranch.
Calculating this, Ron confirmed the current number of Qi Gems with Magearna.
"Magearna, Magearna."
"Is it enough?" Ron nodded.
Magearna pondered for a moment, then chimed, "Magearna, Magearna, Magearna."
"Are you saying... Indeedee took some gems from the chest, plus Cloth and Wool, and even took a Parrot Egg?"
"Magearna." Magearna nodded.
Ron paused. Remembering the Survival Burger Indeedee had made, he violently turned his head to look at the calendar on the board by the door.
Right below today's date, it was exactly Emily's birthday.
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