"Then… what about mine?"
Seeing that Tetsuya had received his ID Card and Pokédex, Catherine could not help becoming a little anxious.
"Don't worry. It's already been taken care of. The Gym Leader of Hearthome City mailed it today. It should arrive in three days at most," Matsuba said.
Catherine responded with an "Mm." At last, she could finally see some hope. Without a Gym Leader like Matsuba stepping in, simply applying for an ID Card would have taken an entire month. This was already considered extremely fast.
After obtaining his identification, Matsuba took Tetsuya to have his assets restored. All of his bank cards, along with the three properties registered under his name, were officially returned to him.
Since Matsuba handled everything personally, it was simply a matter of transferring the assets that had been temporarily held under his name back to Tetsuya, so the procedures were very straightforward.
As for the apartment in Ecruteak City, after obtaining the necessary certificate from the Department of Housing, Tetsuya directly hired a locksmith to force open the door, replace the lock, and obtain a new key. Tetsuya then entered the home he had been away from for more than four years.
The house was filled with the smell of dust. Tetsuya opened every window to let fresh air circulate.
Tetsuya first went to his own room and opened the drawer where he kept his valuables. The Property Certificate for this house, along with the Property Certificates for the two mansions in Goldenrod City and Hearthome City, were all still there, as were all the keys to those two houses.
There was also the agreement he had signed with Mr. Shellby. Once he finished dealing with everything at hand, Tetsuya intended to pay him a visit. He wondered whether the old man had successfully bred any qualified Gligar. Now that he had Koffing, it would be easy to test a Gligar's toxicity. An unqualified Gligar had no value.
There were also two bank cards. The account holder on both cards was his father. Since Tetsuya did not know their PINs, transferring the money from them would require additional procedures.
His father had been involved in maritime trade. Aside from these properties, he probably had very few fixed assets. Merchants usually invested their money in cargo, and after the shipwreck, that money had naturally sunk to the bottom of the sea along with the goods.
Even so, money was still money!
He definitely intended to transfer it out.
Afterward, he went to the old man's room and looked around. He noticed the safe lying on the floor, still exactly as it had been when he had taken the Property Certificates and bank cards from it before the old man's death.
Tetsuya casually set the safe upright and happened to notice the combination written on top of it.
An idea suddenly flashed through Tetsuya's mind…
The old man had always kept those two bank cards for him, so he certainly knew their PINs. Moreover, an old man like him probably was not very creative. Most of the places that required passwords would likely use the same one. It was entirely possible that the PINs for those two bank cards were the same as the combination for this safe.
Thinking of this, Tetsuya hurried downstairs and went to an ATM. He inserted one of the bank cards and entered the combination from the safe.
"…"
Correct.
Back then, he had actually overlooked such an obvious possibility.
How stupid…
Tetsuya inserted the second bank card. The same PIN worked again. Sure enough, it was exactly what one would expect from an old man with such limited IQ, ahem.
He checked the balance. The two cards contained a total of two million Pokédollars. For his current situation, this could absolutely be considered an enormous sum of money.
Those two million Pokédollars could accomplish many things. Tetsuya also still had an Aerodactyl, which should sell for between 600k and 800k Pokédollars, fully three times the price of a Dragonair. It was undoubtedly the most valuable "item" he had obtained from the Shadow Team.
Tetsuya immediately had his original bank card reissued. It still had a balance of more than twenty thousand Pokédollars. He deposited eighty thousand of the one hundred ten thousand Pokédollars in cash that he was carrying, then transferred all the money from his father's two bank cards into his own.
As a result, the bank upgraded his card to a Platinum Card. From then on, he could withdraw cash or make transfers at any bank in any region without paying transaction fees.
One card in hand, the world was his!
The following day, Tetsuya also had Catherine open a bank account. After all, the Aerodactyl belonged to both of them. At Catherine's insistence, he transferred 300k Pokédollars to her.
Under normal circumstances, the Aerodactyl would "only" sell for 600k Pokédollars, but how much more he could charge depended on his own ability.
If Catherine returned to Sinnoh, she would need money for many things, so Pokédollars were very important to her. Together with the previous Pokédollars, she now had 400k Pokédollars in available funds. Naturally, many things would become much easier.
Originally, Tetsuya had planned to take care of things around the house, but since Catherine would be leaving in the next couple of days, he instead stayed with her at the Pokémon Center, accompanying her and their Pokémon through their regular training and care.
Three days later, Catherine's ID Card and Pokédex also arrived.
At last, it was time to say goodbye…
That evening, Catherine finally spoke after much hesitation. "I'm going back to Sinnoh. There are many things I have to face… Thank you very much for everything you've done for me over the past two years, Tetsuya."
Tetsuya smiled faintly without saying much. He took out a set of keys and said, "These are the keys to my parents' house in Hearthome City. Take them. Once you get there, you'll need a place to stay."
"N-No! It's fine. I already have somewhere to live," Catherine declined.
Tetsuya took Catherine's hand and placed the keys into it. "Tch, silly girl… I'm not giving it to you, so what's there to refuse? Besides, leaving the house empty would only be a waste. Help me clean it up and make it feel lived in again. I've attached the address to the keys. Once you've found a place of your own, you can return the keys to me whenever you like."
He intended to sell that house in League Year 699 anyway.
After saying that, Tetsuya returned to his room. Catherine herself had no idea that it was because of all the help she had given Tetsuya in his previous life that he now took such good care of her. At least, that had been his original intention. As for what had changed afterward… even Tetsuya himself could no longer explain it.
"Tetsuya…"
---◓---
The following day, Catherine said her farewells to Matsuba, Morty, and the others before setting off alone on her journey back to Sinnoh.
Watching Catherine's figure gradually disappear into the distance, Tetsuya could not help but feel countless emotions. In this life, he had no idea what Catherine's fate would become. He had never known where the Catherine of his previous life had gone, nor had he ever received any news of her.
In this life, this was all he could do for her. Now Catherine had an ID Card, a Pokédex, money, and a place to live. Whether she could change her own destiny would depend entirely on her own capacities.
As for himself, his goal was still the power and status he had failed to attain in his previous life. Everything else would have to wait.
"Ahh… she's really gone just like that!!!?" Ryuto let out a sigh.
"Tetsuya, don't be sad. Next time I go to Hearthome City, I'll take you to see her," Morty said earnestly as he patted Tetsuya on the shoulder.
Tetsuya glanced at Morty, thinking that he really was making things far too simple, then simply said, "I'm leaving."
Morty and Ryuto returned to Ecruteak Gym, while Tetsuya still had many miscellaneous matters to take care of, so he parted ways with the two of them for the time being.