When i ca down the stairs, freshly dressed and ready for the day, her eyes landed on a Natu perched nearby—one with a strangely distinct aura.
At first glance, the Natu looked utterly unremarkable. It even seed... a bit dim.
But if you looked closely, there was sothing ineffably calm about it.
The kind of calm that made you believe even if a demon from the abyss showed up in the next second, this little bird would just yawn and quietly accept its fate.
Life was nice, sure. But if it ended? Eh, so be it.
No one tries to kill ? I’ll live. Soone tries? Guess I’ll die.
“Hello there, are you one of the new kids on the farm?” i walked up and waved a hand in front of Natu’s face.
After spending so much ti with Natsu, i had unconsciously started calling the Pokémon on the farm “kids.”
Which was kind of hilarious, considering she was still a bright and beautiful teenage girl herself. The whole “elder speaking to juniors” vibe had slipped into her vocabulary, and she was low-key troubled by it.
“Stare~”
Faced with this random woman who’d suddenly appeared…
Natu, perched on the stand by the door pretending to be a decorative item, didn’t even blink.
Its vacant eyes seed to be gazing past i into so far-off future—
Or maybe its soul had simply returned to the cosmic plane.
“Hello?”
i waved her hand harder, to the point it was practically spinning like a helicopter blade.
Still no response.
“This kid’s just like Samurott,” she mumbled, rubbing her sore wrist.
Ever since that trip a few days ago, Samurott had been in a state of deep gloom. It had clearly suffered so devastating blow.
It wouldn’t leave its corner, curled up in misery. i had tried everything to cheer it up, but nothing worked.
At first, she was really worried. But once she figured out what was going on, she decided to just let it have so space.
“I’m an 18-year-old girl,” i had reasoned. “I haven’t even figured out my own love life. How the hell am I supposed to sort out soone else’s emotional ss?”
Honestly, the whole situation was way too complicated. i had simply stopped trying to understand it.
Worst case scenario, she’d go with the usual fallback: send ‘em off for a few days of bootcamp with Shiny Furret.
Now promoted to Drill Sergeant of the farm, Shiny Furret had a 100% success rate in setting angsty Pokémon youths ablaze with passion and purpose.
“Well, they’re a little different,” ca a familiar voice from the door.
i turned to see Natsu, balancing a big tal box in his arms and trying to close the door behind him using only his heel.
He failed. Repeatedly.
And also managed to pinch his foot in the process.
Watching this embarrassing display, Persian gave an exasperated sigh, then gave Natsu a firm nudge with its head, shoving him a few steps forward.
With graceful poise, it followed behind him, its tail curling up and neatly wrapping around the doorknob. With a twist and a click, the door shut.
Persian shot Natsu a look that said, “Seriously?” and promptly bailed before it could get roped into anything else.
It knew exactly what was coming next.
“Whoosh—!”
A sudden breeze whipped past its rear as Natsu tried to launch a sneak attack.
Persian dodged it effortlessly and sauntered upstairs.
It had been wandering around the farm all night. Ti to hit the hay!
Upstairs, Ogerpon had just finished getting up for the day, only to see its roommate plop face-first into its favorite beanbag chair and instantly pass out.
One second flat. A sleep record better than 99% of users.
Sotis, Ogerpon did wonder if maybe their sleep cycles were just slightly out of sync.
“Mmwaah.” Cup and toothbrush in hand, towel perched on its head, Ogerpon padded into the bathroom.
A beautiful day begins with a good morning bath!
The sound of running water filled the air, but outside, Persian just rolled over in its sleep, not even flinching.
Everyone knows cats are hyper-alert when sleeping.
“Natsu, you’re back!” i ran over, her cheerful footsteps practically skipping.
Judging by her energy, she was clearly in a good mood.
After Natsu set down the heavy tal box, i hesitated a mont, then shyly slipped her hand around his arm.
It was the first ti she’d ever done sothing like this.
So far, all her experience and knowledge about romance ca from online posts and fluffy romance novels.
As for flashy stuff like kabedon acrobatics or doing the splits against a wall? Yeah, i couldn’t pull that off.
This was as much as she could manage.
But even that small gesture wasn’t easy for her.
Feeling i’s stiff, awkward movent…
Natsu stiffened too.
Right now, he desperately wanted to pause ti and Google a guide.
Q: A girl suddenly grabs my arm. What’s the best way to react?
If it were a high-level, flirty kind of girl, Natsu figured it wouldn’t matter what he did.
But for soone like i—so earnest and innocent—he knew he had to take things seriously.
All of it.
“What’s this?” i asked, eyeing the large box he’d brought in.
Inside were big, glossy, jewel-like blocks that looked a lot like Poké Puffs or Pokéblocks.
They even slled like it.
But she’d never seen energy cubes this huge before.
“Oh, these? They’re fresh out of the pot,” Natsu replied.
“Corviknight and the others have pretty big appetites, so I didn’t bother slicing them up.”
“I figured I’d just hand them the whole block and let them go to town.”
He lifted a whole uncut cube from the box and passed it to the side.
Indeedee's little sister, who’d been waiting nearby, reached out her hand—though it was really her psychic powers doing the work.
The cube floated smoothly into the air.
With a flick of her fingers, the giant cube levitated toward Ogerpon, who had just co downstairs.
As the “food from the heavens” descended into its arms, stars practically exploded in Ogerpon's eyes.
Waking up to a full al already prepared? Best. Life. Ever.
Of course, Ogerpon knew exactly where this gift from above ca from.
It gave Natsu a little wave of thanks before happily toddling off with its oversized snack.
Don’t let its tiny fra fool you.
Its appetite ranked near the top of the entire farm.
Small body, massive stomach!
“Eiii~”
More blocks lifted from the box, floating in midair under the steady control of Indeedee's psychic power.
Now it was ti to distribute the goods.
At first, she’d been nervous when given the job.
She’d heard rumors before coming here—about how insanely strong the Pokémon at Natsu’s farm were. Strong enough to take down Legendary Pokémon.
Even though she’d always been pretty confident in her own strength, she was seriously anxious at first.
After all, a proper maid should be able to do more than just wave a feather duster.
The well-known maids out there weren’t just cute—they could really fight.
Take, for example, the maid from a certain Scarlet Devil Mansion.
This maid Pokémon, Indeedee, wasn’t exactly powerful, but her strength was enough for most ordinary trainers.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t your average trainer’s place.
Indeedee's strength here was, frankly, a bit lacking.
Thankfully, the Pokémon on this farm all had pretty good tempers.
They didn’t make things difficult for this poor little delivery girl.
Over ti, once they got used to each other, that initial anxiety faded away.
“I’m counting on you, Indeedee.”
“Eiii~!”
Waving her little paw, Indeedee gave a gesture that said, “This is my duty.”
“No matter how many tis I see it, I’m always impressed by how beautiful the Pokéblocks Natsu makes are.”
i spoke with a touch of awe as she looked at the large, shimring cube floating in the air.
For various reasons, Natsu’s Pokéblocks had an aesthetic appeal that really stood out.
Compared to the mass-market kind that prioritized nutrition and absorption efficiency at the expense of taste and appearance, these were on a whole different level.
Most of the Pokéblocks you could buy these days were basically just glorified energy bars.
Apart from being nutritious and efficient to absorb, there was nothing worth praising about them.
“They’re not that special.”
Natsu was a bit awkward in the face of i’s praise.
He wasn’t soone who had received much praise growing up.
And honestly, that was true for a lot of guys.
Back in school, at work, even after getting married—
Doing well was expected. ssing up was unforgivable.
Praise was rare.
And gifts? Even rarer.
It seed like a lot of people lived like this.
Quietly going about their business, processing every success and failure on their own.
“Making Pokéblocks really isn’t all that hard.”
“If you want to learn, i, I can teach you.”
“We can start with so of the more basic recipes.”
“That way, if you’re traveling, you’ll have sothing in case of ergencies.”
This was a lie.
Maybe it wasn’t at first, but now that their relationship was official, Natsu had pretty much taken over all responsibility for i’s Pokéblocks.
There wasn’t going to be any “running out while on the road.”
Even if i caught a Snorlax and her Pokéblock consumption skyrocketed, all she’d have to do was call and Natsu would have a Delibird courier deliver them right away.
Sure, express delivery for wandering trainers was expensive.
But Natsu didn’t care about that at all.
It was a cost he could easily afford.
The point of saying all this was really just to create a reasonable excuse for them to spend more ti together.
Even in a relationship, you had to put in the effort to keep it going.
Just being a couple didn’t an everything would be smooth sailing from then on.
You still had to take the relationship seriously.
“Learning how to make Pokéblocks” gave them a shared activity, sothing they could do together.
“Sure! I’d love that!”
i nodded enthusiastically, agreeing without hesitation.
Even in this internet age, the art of Pokéblock-making wasn’t exactly a secret anymore.
With the help of those user-friendly Pokéblock machines, even total beginners could produce so basic ones.
But the top-tier Pokéblocks still ca with sky-high price tags.
And mastering the craft? Still incredibly hard.
Machines couldn’t replace human skill—not yet, anyway.
“But I’m not very confident about making Pokéblocks...”
“You can’t call dumb, okay?”
i didn’t think she had any natural talent for this.
She’d tried learning online before.
After wasting a bunch of ingredients and breaking several tools, she had decisively given up.
Maybe she had just allocated her “talent points” elsewhere.
That’s how i had comforted herself at the ti.
But now, with Natsu—the undisputed Pokéblock master—personally teaching her, i figured she could give it another shot.
She hadn’t taken any official certification exams or anything, but in her mind, Natsu was without a doubt a master of Pokéblocks.
Way more legit than any so-called “experts” she’d seen online.
“Of course I won’t.”
“Really? I might ss up a bunch, you know.”
“That’s fine. Just take your ti. Everyone starts out that way.”
“But I’ve seen a lot of ‘one-and-done genius’ videos online...”
“They’re fake.”
Natsu answered without hesitation.
Out in the world, identity is whatever you say it is.
Post a video saying you succeeded on your first try? Boom, instant genius.
Natsu’s alt account on the forums claid to be a hardcore otaku from another dinsion, after all.
And when he got into argunts with people, he’d even claim to be an orphan.
Activate 3D Defense Mode! Full firepower, no rcy!
Ahem.
Anyway, don’t take everything online too seriously.
Ever since Natsu beca famous, a whole crowd of “forr classmates,” “old friends,” and “neighbors” started popping up online.
He didn’t know any of them.
All that stuff? Just enjoy it for the laughs. Don’t take it to heart.
No matter how legit it sounds, it’s still fake.
Like that —
“It's in the chat logs now, guess we have to believe it.”
“Fair enough.”
i didn’t dwell on it any further.
It had nothing to do with her anyway. She wasn’t planning to make a living off Pokéblocks or get certified.
“Later, I’ll take you to see my old workshop.”
“Nowadays, Gardevoir’s the one using it the most.”
“w~”
Just as Natsu was speaking, a pink feline figure flew in through the window.
“w…”
Natsu, Natsu, the thing you asked to prepare—
With a loud “smack!”, Natsu swiftly lunged forward and clamped a hand over w’s mouth.
“What’s going on?”
i looked at him curiously.
What was that all about?
Did w do sothing again?
“It’s nothing, nothing. Just so stuff with the Gym.”
Natsu laughed awkwardly.
w, now muffled in his arms, began to squirm with great effort.
Didn’t you tell to prepare sothing as a gift for i?!
Now you're pretending it never happened?!
Still in his arms, w sneakily kicked Natsu in the stomach with its little feet.
Last night, Natsu had co to w and admitted that his confession had been too abrupt, and he hadn’t prepared anything.
He said he wanted to make it up to i with sothing more formal later.
And so w had been dispatched to take care of it, because apparently there weren’t many “reliable” Pokémon on the farm.
w had cheerfully accepted the task.
But now, back from its mission, it got silenced at the door—utter betrayal!
So w began a stealthy flurry of kicks to Natsu’s waist and stomach with its tiny black feet.
anwhile, a forest ranger on assignnt arrived at the edge of a sweltering forest aboard a Pidgeot.
“What a ss...”
Staring at the scene before him, the ranger muttered reflexively.
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