"Who's talking about Iono? It's me, Iono! Good morning, afternoon, and evening, hello!"
On the phone screen, a cute figure with two floating Magnemite decorations on her head was waving her long yellow sleeves, greeting everyone.
"Didn't expect it, huh? I'm hosting again this weekend, hehe~ Friends who like Iono can also subscribe to Iono's Talk Live, there are all sorts of benefits waiting for you, watch me capture your eyes with…"
Iono bent slightly, touching her cheek with her finger and laughing, the camera perfectly capturing her impressive cleavage, completely disproportionate to her height.
Hoshino, in front of the screen, saw this and cursed, shouting, "If you can't wear clothes, then don't wear them! Am I here to watch your confident ball show first thing in the morning? Hurry up with the Sunday 8 AM lottery!"
Every weekend morning, he would wait for this TV show's live lottery. The prizes were excellent; the special prize was a travel invitation to Levincia City in the Paldea region, with all normal expenses for a week covered.
However, he never expected to win such a thing. What he wanted was the third prize, which was a very expensive set of ingredient gift boxes, but unfortunately, he had never won it.
Now that the kitchen at home was up and running, and he had learned a lot from Nai-chan, he had to put some of it to use. Nai-chan wasn't around these two days, so he had nowhere to mooch free food and could only cook at home...
Gengar sat on the living room coffee table, holding a bowl and eating noodles with a look of enjoyment. Ever since adapting to its body last night, it could feel hunger and was no longer just a simple doll.
It also possessed the abilities of a normal Gengar; eating and drinking were not a problem, but it couldn't soak its body in water. Also, it could hide things inside its belly, just not anything too large.
"Gengar~"
Gengar held up the empty bowl, indicating it wanted more. Cyclizar, sitting on the floor nearby, even held up two bowls directly, wanting more food.
"Cycli~"
"Alright, alright, there's plenty more."
Hoshino put down his Rotom Phone and took their bowls to the kitchen. As for why he didn't prepare some Pokémon food? Who eats that stuff in Kabukicho? Even dogs wouldn't eat that dog food, and there's nowhere to buy it even if you wanted to.
He already felt his expenses constantly rising, and pressure was building, but pressure equals motivation, as long as he wasn't completely crushed!
The large signboard for the Yorozuya, which was to be hung at the entrance, was ready. He just needed Cyclizar to lend a hand after breakfast to hang it up.
He had also set up a website for the Yorozuya and posted the link on some popular Trainer forums. Pokémon could click the link to book commissions online... impossible, purely dreaming.
In fact, the main purpose of the website was to let other Trainers pay to consult him on problems. Making money, after all, requires a two-pronged approach, especially since the knowledge he possessed, as a self-proclaimed Poké-scholar, also needed to be put to use.
Ever since he had internet, he realized how incredibly useful the Rotom Phone was.
It was incredibly smooth; when arguing with people on forums, it could open a floating window for AFK debates. When you saw lewd images online and were waiting for a hero to give you a source, it could automatically scan them and let you be that hero.
In short, it had many auxiliary functions. The most crucial one was incognito browsing; as long as you didn't foolishly expose yourself, others couldn't find your browsing history, preventing 'doxxing' attacks!
After bringing the pot to Gengar and Cyclizar, Hoshino continued to sit on the sofa and look at his Rotom Phone.
After listening to Iono tell a bunch of funny anecdotes about new Trainers, the show was finally nearing its end.
Then, Iono waved her hand, and a gold-rimmed red treasure chest suddenly appeared in the lower right corner of the screen!
No sooner said than done, Hoshino decisively reached out to grab it, and then the treasure chest, filled with gold coins, opened!
A Gimmighoul, shaped like a gingerbread man, appeared from it and tossed out a gold coin with a laurel wreath design on its back. When it flipped to the front, it was the first prize!
"???"
"!!!"
The surprise came too suddenly, and Hoshino instantly froze, but he quickly realized that he wanted the third prize!
"What was the first prize again?"
He paused, then quickly clicked on the prize pool to check. The special prize was a travel invitation, so the first prize naturally couldn't be bad.
"Today's first prize is... precious ingredients obtained from a Titan Pokémon in the Paldea region?! Is today's first prize also ingredients!"
Seeing this, Hoshino instantly became excited. Although he hadn't eaten this stuff, it was definitely much more precious than other ingredients!
"Quick, quick, fill in the address... the street next to the Wanderer District... delivery date? By the end of the year... huh? Delivery within six months?"
The excitement he had just felt instantly vanished upon seeing this information. Delivery within half a year? Do you have no stock at all? Or do you slaughter them on demand?
"Forget it, I'll never trust these TV lotteries again, they're all the same. Next time, I'll try other lotteries, maybe I can win something for Gengar to play with."
Hoshino was greatly disappointed. He filled in the shipping address and left it at that, just waiting for whatever ingredients to slowly arrive. Maybe he'd even forget about it by then.
However, his disappointment quickly faded, because there was still something very important to do today.
...
"Don't you dare smash my signboard!"
Slowking stood downstairs, shouting at the guys on the second floor. Hoshino had Cyclizar hold the signboard, then he hammered nails in little by little. Braixen also came upstairs to help.
The several-meter-long signboard was fixed by him outside the railing. Gengar sat on the railing, watching curiously.
It took a while, but they finally managed to fix it in place. However, the cloth covering the signboard's surface wasn't pulled off yet; there had to be a bit of ceremony.
They all came down to the street below and looked up at the second floor. Then, Slowking directly used its Psychic power to pull the cloth off, revealing the true name. Several characters written with black ink were left on it, very wildly.
Hoshino had gotten up early today and pondered for half an hour before putting pen to paper. The small signboard in the living room naturally had the same writing on it.
This Yorozuya, which might become incredibly famous in the future, was simply established amidst the joy of Hoshino and Cyclizar, without even a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Looking at the words on the signboard, Slowking said with some disdain, "Hoshino Yorozuya? Your naming ability is completely lacking, it has a bootleg feel to it."
"Homage! Do you understand homage?! And I do have self-awareness, but I don't want to be told off by a guy who can come up with a name like Slowpoke Izakaya."
"Slowking~"
Slowking was too lazy to argue. Then it glanced around; it was truly pitiful. A new store opening, and only a few onlookers. It was beyond pathetic.
"I can't believe you dared to open it. Don't really get yourself into trouble one day. This street has many untouchable things, and you've only seen the surface."
"..."
What he said was true. Currently, within Kabukicho, Hoshino only operated within Slowking's area, and the surrounding shops were relatively normal.
But as a red-light district, there would naturally be unsavory things present, hidden deeper within the district, and there must be individuals more formidable than Slowking there!
"The Elite Four's Kabukicho, huh... No rush, slowly but surely, I will develop the Yorozuya!"
Hoshino hadn't even met the four administrators of this place yet, so it was still early, but attracting attention was only a matter of time.
Seeing his response, Slowking clasped its hands behind its back, shook its head, and then slowly asked, "Coincidentally, I have something here, do you want to do it?"
"Hmm? You actually have something to do?"
"It's for another guy. He's short-handed these past two days and can't keep up. He even wanted to borrow Braixen to go fishing in the sea, but I ignored him."
Hearing this, Hoshino pondered for a moment. After all, this was the Yorozuya; he could do anything for a reward. So he asked, "So, who is that guy?"
"The owner of a grilled fish shop, he's an Octillery. His specialty is octopus teppanyaki."
"???"
"The weather has gotten a bit colder recently, and the octopuses in Melemele Sea like to float to the surface to sunbathe. Many of them have been caught by humans, causing his supply to greatly decrease. And with the busy weekend business, he doesn't have time to catch them."
"Got it..."
Hoshino instantly understood. It was about picking up octopuses on the sea surface. The weather had recovered today, so it wasn't too difficult. This commission could be accepted. What was most needed now was to get the Yorozuya's name out there!
"So where is Octopus Bro's grill shop?"
"Near Smile Restaurant, but he should be at Kala'e Bay catching octopuses by now. You can find him there. Tell him I introduced you; he won't make things difficult for you."
After saying all this, Slowking and Braixen left directly. It was only right to help out a bit with a new store opening, but they couldn't always help.
Hoshino naturally understood these principles. Moving forward, he still had to rely on his own efforts to make the name of the Yorozuya famous in Kabukicho!
"Let's go, we're going to Kala'e Bay!"
"Cycli!"
"Gengar~"
Just as they set off and left the Wanderer District, a golden light, accompanied by lightning, flashed across the sky and disappeared...
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