In Noah’s memory,
Nessa was supposed to lose to Grass-type Gym Leader Milo and get eliminated.
Instead, she’d been knocked out by some nameless nobody trainer whose name Noah couldn’t even remember.
Clearly, the plot was deviating from what he knew.
But whether she lost to a nameless nobody or to Milo,
Noah felt there wasn’t much difference.
If Nessa was the worst Gym Leader in Galar,
Then Milo was the second-worst.
Their fight was just two bottom-feeders pecking at each other.
Some of Nessa’s fans liked to say, “Milo only won because Grass-types counter Nessa’s Water-types.”
But they forgot that Water-types also have access to Ice-type moves—which are strong against Grass-types.
So type advantage wasn’t really the deciding factor in a match between Nessa and Milo.
Regardless, Nessa had made a complete fool of herself this time.
She was the only Gym Leader among the ten who got eliminated in the very first round.
“Sigh~ I guess your words really did affect Nessa.”
Sonia sighed.
Noah raised an eyebrow at that.
Then—Bam!
He flicked Sonia on the forehead.
Under her resentful glare, he scoffed:
“If you can’t perform, don’t blame the road.
Say something like that again, and I’ll punish you even worse.”
‘How annoying!’
Sonia cursed inwardly, then stood up and headed for the players’ lounge.
“I’ll go comfort Nessa.”
Near evening,
The first round of this year’s Galar Star Tournament officially ended.
Tomorrow would be the round of 32.
And Nessa would undoubtedly be the headline story for the next two days—
Though none of it would be kind.
“Poor Miss Nessa…”
Serena scrolled through her phone, her sympathy overflowing.
Noah glanced at her screen.
[She’s just a vase—probably spends all her time flaunting herself.]
[With this level of skill, she’s a Gym Leader?
LOL.]
[Ten Gym Leaders and she’s the only one knocked out in the first round—haha, the embarrassment is real.]
[Hugging my Nessa~]
[LOL, even with this performance, she still has simps?]
Countless negative comments like these flooded the internet.
Serena and Marnie—both fourteen-year-old girls—were full of sympathy.
But Noah was unfazed.
Haters were beyond rational reasoning.
Even if someone managed to find the cure of cancer in his previous life, they would still definitely get criticized.
Let alone someone like Nessa, whose strength was genuinely questionable.
“Let’s go comfort Miss Nessa?”
Serena, the little angel, suggested.
Marnie nodded as well.
‘Sigh—these kids had clearly never experienced how harsh the world could be.’
‘This is still nothing, you know.’
But since they had nothing better to do, Noah let them go.
Ten minutes later.
Noah and the two girls arrived at a famous scone dessert shop in Motostoke.
They’d called Sonia earlier and learned she was there with Nessa.
“Waaaaah—”
But the scene they walked in on made all three of them freeze.
Nessa was slumped over a table, letting out pitiful sobs.
Her best friend Sonia sat beside her, looking equally helpless, unsure what to say.
She could only gently pat her friend’s back, trying to comfort her.
“What’s going on?”
Noah walked over with the two girls and casually popped a piece of cream cake from the table into his mouth.
Seeing Noah eat the cake she’d already taken a bite of,
Sonia muttered “shameless” under her breath, then explained:
“Chairman Rose wants Nessa to focus more on her modeling career.”
As she finished speaking, Nessa suddenly lifted her head.
Her reddened eyes still had tears hanging at the corners as she said:
“He wants me to give up my Gym Leader position!”
“Oh?”
Noah blinked.
That was different from what he remembered.
In his memory, after Nessa’s crushing defeat,
Rose had indeed spoken with her.
He believed Nessa couldn’t split her focus between two careers.
But in the original story, Rose wanted Nessa to give up modeling.
Now, however, he wanted to strip her of her Gym Leader position.
The situation was much more serious.
But within half a minute, Noah figured out the reason.
It was almost certainly because Nessa had performed even worse than in the original this time.
Rose had probably given up on her.
And although Galar didn’t have many top-tier powerhouses,
Its overall strength wasn’t weak.
Finding a replacement for Nessa wouldn’t be hard.
“That’s just how it is—you’re weak.”
At Noah’s blunt words, even the easygoing Sonia couldn’t hold back.
She kicked Noah under the table.
‘I asked you to come comfort my best friend, not pour salt on her wounds!’
“That’s just reality.”
Noah didn’t back down.
And under the table, he gave Sonia’s plush thigh a firm pinch.
His first impression: Bouncy and smooth.
It reminded him of the heroine from Atelier Ryza in his past life.
‘It seems those people are telling the truth… Not all good legs had to be long and slender.’
Sonia’s body jolted sharply, and she shot Noah a murderous glare.
‘You’re taking advantage of me?!’
Noah rubbed his chin, struck a Conan-style thinking pose, and after a moment of contemplation, asked Nessa:
“Want to come work for me?”