“Good morning, Blake!
I figured you’d already be awake!”
The moment Blake opened the door, a bright, energetic greeting rushed in with the freshness of youth.
“Morning, Nessa.
No training at the Gym today?”
Blake smiled.
The person standing outside was none other than his childhood friend, Nessa, the future Gym Leader of Hulbury’s Gym.
At the moment, though, she was still fourteen like him and only a Gym apprentice.
“The scenic area opens tomorrow, and my teacher has to give a speech at the ceremony, so we get today and tomorrow off.
Hehe.”
Nessa had not yet developed the mature style she would have in the future.
Right now, she gave off a lively, youthful energy that seemed to brighten the whole doorway.
“Chewtle!”
Nessa’s Pokémon, Chewtle, also called out to Blake in greeting.
“Good morning to you too.
Have you eaten breakfast?
Want some?”
After greeting Chewtle, Blake turned back to Nessa and asked.
“I already ate, already ate.
Anyway, where’s Gastly?
I don’t see him.”
Nessa leaned slightly to look past Blake, only to find nothing there.
That was strange.
Gastly was usually the type who could never sit still!
“Maybe you should check behind you?”
Blake smiled and pointed.
Behind Nessa, Gastly had already gotten into position.
“Boooooo!”
“Gas?!
Σ(゚д゚lll)”
Nessa suddenly spun around and made a scary face, startling Gastly so badly that even the color of his gaseous body seemed to fade a little!
“Hahahahaha!
I knew you were hiding there!”
Nessa burst out laughing at Gastly’s reaction.
After all, she had known Gastly for a long time, so of course she understood his playful, prank-loving personality.
Even without Blake’s reminder, she could have guessed what he was up to.
“Gastly, heeheehee!
ヾ(●´∀`●)”
After his initial shock, Gastly immediately returned to his usual grin and started laughing along with her.
Meanwhile, Blake picked up Chewtle and took an Energy Block from the waist pouch at his side, choosing one suited for Water-type Pokémon before popping it into Chewtle’s mouth.
Chewtle immediately wore an expression of pure bliss.
“All right, what brings you here?
I was just about to head to the shop.”
Blake looked at Nessa as he asked.
“I’m coming with you!
I’ve got nothing to do on my day off, and if I stay home, my mom’s just going to nag me all day, so I thought I’d come hang out with you.
Oh, right, since the scenic area opens tomorrow, have you thought about how you’re going to attract customers?
Want me to help?”
Nessa clasped her hands behind her back and asked with a smile.
“No need.
I’m not planning to actively pull in customers, i’ll just let things happen naturally.
But if you’re coming too, give me a moment to get ready.”
Blake was not short on money.
In this life, his parents had left him enough to live comfortably.
After confirming that he could take care of himself and asking Nessa’s parents to keep an eye on him, they had gone traveling around the world in search of ruins.
Yes, they really were that unreliable.
Still, Blake was not especially unhappy about it.
His family circumstances were unusual to begin with.
They were not an ordinary household.
His father’s side of the family had originally come from Lavender Town in the Kanto region, and for generations, they had been famous for spiritual communication, exorcism, and soothing Ghost-type Pokémon.
This was not some street-performer scam either.
It was a special ability passed down through their bloodline, something similar to Aura, psychic powers, or the Viridian Power.
Every generation would produce someone who awakened it.
As for why their branch of the family had come to Galar, according to Blake’s father, the family had once been torn apart by irreconcilable internal conflict.
Their ancestors had taken some people and left, eventually choosing Hulbury as their new home.
The reason was simple enough: they had gotten lost in a storm at sea, drifted off course, and somehow ended up here by accident.
On top of that, sailors in the past tended to be superstitious, and sunken ships scattered across the ocean often became gathering places for Ghost-type Pokémon.
Because of that, Blake’s family ended up putting down roots in Hulbury.
However, as the times changed and sea travel became much safer, the family’s role gradually diminished.
Then, as ancient ruins around the world began to be developed, the Pokémon living within them were naturally affected as well.
Dark, hidden places like that were often inhabited by Ghost-type Pokémon, which gave Blake’s family abilities a new purpose.
His father had even registered with the League because of it.
As for Blake’s mother, she had been born with such a strong spirit of adventure that she simply could not sit still.
After hearing about his father’s work, she had naturally followed him without a second thought.
That left Blake as the child holding down the house alone.
Not that he minded much.
He actually liked his current life quite a bit.
As for the so-called shop, it was a small souvenir store in Hulbury’s soon-to-open seaside scenic area.
In a way, it was something Blake had found for himself to do.
When he told his parents over the phone, they had been very supportive.
His family’s wealth, accumulated over many years and passed down through several generations of only children, had already grown into a number that would make most people’s jaws drop.
Even so, they still approved of their child finding something productive to do.
Even if he did not inherit the family tradition, he could not just lie around at home every day, could he?
“Okaaay!
I’ll wait for you!”
Nessa clasped her hands behind her back and began playing around with Gastly, while Blake quickly tidied himself up.
He had to admit that the technology in this world was truly ridiculous.
For example, the perfectly ordinary-looking backpack in his hand was actually something similar to a spatial storage item.
It could hold far more than its appearance suggested.
Blake put on the backpack, changed into his shoes, pushed his bicycle out, and came to the doorway.
“Ready to go!”
He called out.
“Coming!”
Nessa picked up Chewtle and ran over.
She placed Chewtle in the basket at the front of the bicycle, then smoothly sat down on the rear seat and wrapped her arms around Blake’s waist.
As for Gastly, he could fly.
“Target: scenic area!
Charge!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Listening to Nessa’s energetic shout, Blake smiled, pushed down on the pedals, and set off.
The wind brushed past their ears.
The morning streets carried the sea-salt scent unique to Hulbury, and many people had already gotten up and started work.
As the boy and girl rode through the town, the residents along the road showed no surprise at the familiar pair.
Some people who knew them even called out greetings, and since Blake was not riding particularly fast, he responded to them one by one.
“Come to think of it, is your dad coming back soon?” Blake asked.
The “dad” he mentioned was Nessa’s father, a well-known fisherman in Hulbury who owned his own fleet.
He had been out on a deep-sea fishing trip for more than a month.
“We talked on the phone yesterday.
He said he should be able to make it back this afternoon.
He wants to see the scenic area’s opening ceremony, and he said he’s going to be the first customer in your shop.” Nessa said it with a smile.
“Then I definitely won’t turn him away.
My parents are the troublesome ones, though.
Last time I contacted them, they said the earliest they could come back was the end of the year.
At this rate, I’ll probably have to stand in for them at the Great Catch Festival again.”
Blake complained helplessly about his unreliable parents.
They had left when he was ten, and while they used to come back once or twice a year, since last year, they had even started missing Hulbury’s annual Great Catch Festival, leaving Blake to handle it instead.
The so-called Great Catch Festival was a Hulbury tradition.
Overall, it was nothing too complicated.
It was essentially a ceremony held before temporarily closing the waters and banning large-scale fishing, since the fish breeding season would arrive in a little over a month.
Fishermen who made their living from the sea naturally would not do something as foolish as exhausting the very waters that fed them.
The Great Catch Festival was held before the closure as a way to thank the sea for the fish it had provided and to pray that the catch would remain plentiful once fishing resumed.
Last year, Blake’s father had failed to make it back in time, which forced Blake to take on the role of chief officiant with almost no preparation.
Fortunately, nothing had gone wrong.
This year, however, it looked like the same thing was about to happen again.
“Hahahahaha!
Then you’d better do your best, Lord Chief Officiant!”
Nessa laughed and patted Blake on the shoulder.
Blake could only shrug helplessly without saying anything more.
With parents like his, what else could he do except endure it?