[Shocking! The Ace Tournant quarterfinalists have been decided… look who made it!]
[Five out of eight are newcors: What's going on with this year's tournant?]
[Strongest young generation or strongest privileged generation?]
[Tournant scandal! Backgrounds we never dared to talk about in the past]
[…]
--
Phoebe scrolled through the live News feed on her tablet, reading faster and faster, growing more and more irritated.
"What kind of news is this? We clearly made it here with real strength!"
"Bla the organizers for making things look this bad…
Mmm, this Kanto oden is really good."
Flint replied casually as he took another huge bite of the massive serving of oden in his hands.
Phoebe rolled her eyes at him, then turned to whisper sothing to Ryoko. Before long, the two girls were giggling again.
Seriously… won are so fickle.
"Sato, could you read this article for ? Yes, that one~ The lighting is too dim tonight… I can't see very well."
On the other side, Wallace shoved his tablet into Sato's face, his fingers pointing to one particular headline.
Sato glanced at it.
…And was instantly speechless.
[Wallace: A Once-in-Three-Millennia Heartthrob. The Eternal White Moonlight of Countless Girls… Learn More Inside!]
Without a word, Sato pushed the tablet away and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "I'm full. You guys carry on."
"Don't go, Sato! Read it for ~ I really can't see it!"
Wallace squinted on purpose, but the smug grin on his face completely gave away his true intent.
When it ca to people who acted shalessly on purpose, Sato usually just ignored them and walked away.
---
Wallace, Flint, Phoebe, Ryoko, and Sato made up the five new quarterfinalists after today's matches.
The other three were all veteran Trainers, including Mr. Alder, who had defeated Norman.
After the battles ended, the organizers gathered all eight to coordinate tomorrow's match procedures. Once that was done, the five of them naturally grouped up to grab dinner.
Once most of the food had been eaten, the chatting began. But the more they talked, the more chaotic it beca.
Wallace shalessly bragged about everything. Phoebe threw insults around freely. Flint just kept eating.
Sato looked wearily at the ever-smiling Ryoko and thought to himself, 'Now that's a professional fake smile. No flaws at all.'
As for himself? He chose to bail.
After leaving the table -and quietly settling the bill- Sato wandered the streets alone, going over the details of today's battles in his head.
After Ryoko and Will's match, Phoebe and Marshal had gone next. In the end, Phoebe claid victory with relative ease.
Fighting-types against Ghost-types…
Fighting moves don't even hit Ghosts. And Phoebe had always been skilled at using strange and mysterious tactics.
Straightforward Marshal was no match for Phoebe at all!
The two other matches had also been very impressive. By now, all the remaining veteran Trainers were at least High Ace level, and their tactics were refined and complex. The entertainnt value was top-notch.
Tomorrow would be the quarterfinals. Sato's remaining unrevealed tactics and Pokémon were growing fewer by the day.
"Ralts!"
Suddenly, Ralts tugged on Sato's ear and turned his head to the right.
"You want takoyaki?"
"Yes! I want it, I want it!"
Ralts nodded eagerly, then blinked her big eyes at Sato with a look that said: If you don't buy it, I'll cry right here
Sato twitched at the corner of his mouth. When he thought about Ralts's actual age, he felt an odd sort of confusion, though he didn't dare say it out loud.
"I'll buy it!"
"Yay!"
Ten minutes later, Ralts sat on Sato's shoulder, holding a huge handful of freshly made takoyaki, her mouth completely sared with sauce.
"Hey, Ralts."
"Hm?"
"Do you want to battle tomorrow?"
"…You an fight?"
"Uh… I an a match. You'll need to maintain Ace strength, and you can't evolve into Gardevoir and just steamroll the opponent."
"Emmmm…"
"It's fine if you don't want to. I can send Tyranitar or the others instead."
"I'll go, I'll go! …I was just wondering how many portions of takoyaki you were going to buy before I agreed!" Ralts quickly added.
"…You already ate a lot. You're gonna get indigestion if you overdo it," Sato said helplessly.
"Nooo! Just two more… NO, one more portion and I'll say yes!" ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NoveI(F)ire
"Half a portion."
"No waaay~ One full portion! And besides, the vendor doesn't even sell half-portions."
"Doesn't matter. I'll buy one and eat half myself."
"...(/＞皿
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