The Champion of the Hoenn region, heir to the Devon Corporation.
They had met in the Granite Cave.
Ariel swiped to answer, and Steven's magnetic voice immediately came through the pokédex.
"Hello? Ariel? It's Steven."
"It's me," Ariel's reply was as concise as ever.
"Great, I finally got through to you," Steven sounded relieved. "Where are you right now?"
"Route 116."
"Route 116? That's not far from Rustboro City!" Steven's voice sounded even more pleased. "Perfect! I have something to tell you. The company has been so busy lately that I almost forgot to notify you."
Ariel listened quietly without interrupting.
"Next week, our Devon Corporation will be hosting a press conference in Rustboro City. The theme is about the latest breakthrough in Ancient Fossil Pokémon Restoration Technology. We'll be exhibiting some very rare revived Pokémon, and I'd like to invite you to be my special guest."
Steven's tone was very sincere: "Seriously, Ariel, you're one of my few friends. You can't turn me down on this one."
Hearing the word 'friend' again.
Ariel wasn't exactly repulsed by Steven's enthusiasm, but he wasn't particularly delighted either.
In his view, relationships between people were essentially an exchange of value.
Steven valued his strength and potential, and he, in turn, could indeed make use of Steven's status and resources.
"Fine, I'll be there," Ariel agreed straightforwardly.
Attending a press conference of this caliber would not only allow him to obtain the latest technological intelligence but also introduce him to figures in Hoenn's high society, which would be beneficial for his future plans.
"Fantastic! It's a deal then. I'll send someone to pick you up when the time comes!" Steven seemed very happy.
With the business concluded, Ariel's heart stirred as he recalled the incident from this morning.
He hesitated for a moment but decided to speak up.
Perhaps, from a bystander's perspective—especially from someone like Steven, who seemed to have high emotional intelligence—he could get a more objective answer.
"Steven, I have a question I want to ask you."
"Oh? Go ahead. As long as I know the answer, I'll tell you everything!" Steven was very generous.
Ariel cleared his throat, organizing his words somewhat unnaturally: "It's like this, I have a friend..."
The classic opening line.
"He ran into something recently that he can't quite figure out."
"A girl said to him, 'We're friends, right?' and my friend said yes. Then the girl said, 'Can we be more than just friends?' and that their relationship could change..."
Ariel tried his best to use a straightforward, emotionless tone to recount what Nurse Joy had said to him from the perspective of a "friend."
However, as soon as he finished, the other end of the line fell into an eerie silence.
A full three seconds passed.
"Pfft—"
A sound of suppressed laughter came through.
Immediately following that was Steven's unbridled, earth-shaking roar of laughter!
"Hahahahaha! I can't... Ariel, let me laugh for a bit... *hic*... this friend of yours, what remote mountain forest did he crawl out of? Hahaha!"
The laughter echoed through the pokédex speaker in the silent forest, sounding particularly grating.
Ariel's face darkened at a visible rate.
"That friend of yours... he's a genius! A total genius!"
Steven laughed so hard he slapped his thigh, his voice coming in bursts.
"The girl already spelled it out for him. This isn't a hint; it's practically a declaration! She might as well have said, 'I like you, please go out with me!'"
"'Our relationship can change'—isn't the subtext of that phrase going from friends to lovers? He couldn't hear that? Is he made of wood? No, even a block of wood would be more perceptive!"
Steven's mockery continued, each word like a small hammer precisely striking Ariel's nerves.
"So, how did your friend answer?" Steven finally caught his breath and asked curiously.
Ariel replied expressionlessly, "My friend asked her, 'If you don't want to be my friend, do you want to be my enemy?'"
"..."
The other end of the line fell into a deathly silence once more.
This time, the silence lasted even longer.
It lasted so long that Ariel thought the signal had cut out before Steven's groan—filled with pain, sympathy, and disbelief—slowly drifted over.
"...It's over. There's no hope. Just bury him."
"Ariel, listen to me. Tell your friend to stay far away from that girl and stop tormenting her. A man like him is destined to be alone for life, seriously."
"In all my years, this is the first time I've seen such a... such a... Straight Man! He's a Straight Man on the level of reinforced concrete! Not even the gods can save him!"
A vein on Ariel's temple throbbed uncontrollably.
He didn't want to say another word to this gloating fellow.
"I've reached Meteor Falls. Hanging up."
With that, he unilaterally cut the call.
Tranquility finally returned to the forest.
Only Krokorok tilted its head in confusion, looking at its Trainer's face, which was as black as the bottom of a pot.
Ariel stood in place and took a deep breath of the damp air, trying to calm his mind.
Steven's laughter seemed to still ring in his ears.
Am I... really a Straight Man?
He began to seriously reflect on this question.
He replayed the conversation with Nurse Joy from that morning in his mind.
Her flushed cheeks, her dodging gaze, her fingers tied in knots from nervousness, and that cautious, hopeful tone.
Looking back now, combined with Steven's disastrous translation, everything seemed to make sense.
So, that Nurse Joy really wanted to confess to him?
Ariel frowned.
But even knowing the answer now, his first reaction wasn't regret or secret Joy, but an incomprehensible confusion.
He couldn't understand at all why anyone would want to fall in love.
Isn't that just actively creating a weakness for oneself?
His thoughts involuntarily drifted back to an experience deep within Meteor Falls not long ago.
It was a pair of capable male and female Trainers who were secretly deceiving and hunting other Trainers.
At that time, he had only killed the meddlesome woman to protect himself.
He clearly remembered the expression on the man's face the moment the woman fell.
First was shock, then extreme pain, and finally, a madness completely consumed by hatred.
He was like a crazed beast, losing all reason and judgment, commanding his Pokémon to attack in a suicidal manner.
It was disorganized and full of openings.
The outcome of that battle was never in doubt.
But in Ariel's view, it was an incredibly stupid battle.
That man had originally been a calm and powerful opponent, but because of one woman's death, he instantly turned from a shrewd hunter into a fool for the slaughter.
His emotions became his most fatal weakness.
In a rapidly changing battle, what was the difference between such a weakness and cutting off one's own arm?
Furthermore, his current identity involved walking on the edge of darkness, where he could face life-or-death crises at any time.
A lover?
What was that?
A burden that required distraction to protect? Or a hostage that could be easily used by enemies to threaten him?
No matter how he looked at it, it was a losing bargain.
It would seriously affect the efficiency of his growth.
"I really don't get it..."
Ariel murmured softly to himself, shaking his head to dispel these chaotic thoughts from his mind.
These questions were neither meaningful nor had answers for him.
Instead of wasting time thinking about this, it was better to put more effort into how to improve his strength.
He picked up the pokédex again, glanced at the markers on the map, and continued forward.
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