Knock.
Knock-knock.
Someone rapped on the door.
“Come in.”
Hearing the voice, Nathan Hale was a little surprised, but he answered anyway.
With a click, the door opened and a middle-aged man stepped inside.
He wore a light-brown archaeological outfit and round glasses.
His entire appearance screamed exhaustion.
“Dr.
Solans.”
The moment he saw the visitor, Nathan Hale immediately recognized him from his predecessor’s memories.
Dr.
Solans Takao, a doctor specializing in meteorites and rocks.
He was also a history professor at Rustboro Pokémon University, and his office happened to be right next door to Nathan Hale’s Pokémon Psychology Counseling Office.
Much like Nathan Hale, Dr.
Solans’s history classes weren’t exactly popular.
And his particular field of study—meteorites and rocks—was even more obscure than Pokémon psychology.
The difference was that Dr.
Solans was a genuine doctorate holder.
“Nathan Hale.” Dr.
Solans forced a smile.
“Could you make me a cup of coffee?”
Watching Dr.
Solans slowly shuffle over to the desk and pull out a chair, Nathan Hale couldn’t help noticing the heavy dark circles beneath his glasses.
“Aren’t you the one who hates coffee?”
Despite saying that, Nathan Hale still got up and began fiddling with the coffee machine.
“Don’t even ask.” Dr.
Solans shook his head weakly.
“I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in two days.”
Before long, Nathan Hale had skillfully brewed him a cup of coffee and set it down in front of him.
The rich aroma filled the room.
“You look like it.”
Nathan Hale gestured toward the thick circles under his eyes.
Dr.
Solans gave a bitter smile, picked up the coffee, hesitated for a moment, then suddenly gulped down a large mouthful.
The next second—
His entire face crumpled like a sheet of discarded newspaper.
“Ugh, that’s bitter.” He set the cup down, brows tightly furrowed.
“I really don’t understand how you people can enjoy drinking this stuff.”
His expression quickly relaxed, however, and he seemed slightly more alert.
“Does it stay this effective by being bitter?”
“It does seem to work.”
Nathan Hale was speechless.
“Drink enough of it and you’ll probably develop a taste for it.
When that happens, you can ask the administration for a coffee machine.”
Dr.
Solans shook his head.
“Forget it.
I’m hardly ever in my office anyway.
No point wasting the university’s resources.”
Nathan Hale merely shrugged before changing the subject.
“By the way, did you make another discovery this time?
Two sleepless nights is a bit much.”
The moment the conversation turned to his discovery, Dr.
Solans immediately perked up.
He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
“I did find a pretty good rock this time.
Very valuable for research, and one of my students actually discovered it.
But that’s not why I haven’t been sleeping.”
After briefly describing the rock he’d found, Dr.
Solans wilted again.
He scratched his already bird’s-nest-like hair and said bitterly,
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
Ever since I got back, I’ve been having nightmares for the past two days.
One after another.
I can barely sleep.”
Nightmares?
Nathan Hale paused.
After looking Dr.
Solans up and down, his expression grew slightly more serious.
“Don’t tell me you’ve disturbed something you shouldn’t have.”
“Something I shouldn’t have?”
Dr.
Solans’s face instantly went pale.
“Y-you mean…
a ghost?”
As a professor who spent his days digging around underground ruins, he’d certainly heard plenty of stories about archaeologists supposedly digging up ghosts and other supernatural things.
But he’d never actually encountered one himself.
In the Pokémon world, however, ghosts really weren’t all that uncommon.
Nathan Hale smiled faintly.
“Don’t be nervous.
It could simply be that something during your expedition caused you anxiety or unease, or perhaps you were frightened by something and your subconscious self-defense mechanisms are trying to make sense of it.”
He continued reassuring him.
“Besides, even if there really were a ghost, it wouldn’t just settle for appearing in your dreams, would it?”
As he spoke, he stood and walked toward the corner of the counseling room, where an extremely comfortable single-person sofa sat.
It was where he usually took his afternoon naps.
He patted the backrest.
“Want me to help you get some proper rest?”
Dr.
Solans hesitated, but soon slapped both cheeks and drained the rest of his coffee.
“Later.
I finally managed to get some energy back.
I need to hurry and finish my lesson plans first.
School’s about to start.”
“Suit yourself.”
Nathan Hale didn’t press him.
He simply walked over and lay down on the sofa.
“Then you’d better hurry.”
His own lesson plans had been finished ages ago.
There weren’t many of them to begin with.
Dr.
Solans slapped his cheeks once more, thanked Nathan Hale, and strode out of the counseling office.
Judging by his determined stride, he looked like another classic case of one man, one pen, one night, and one miracle.
Drizzle tapped against the windows, leaving tiny droplets scattered across the glass.
“Mm…”
Nathan Hale opened his bleary eyes.
Only then did he realize that he’d somehow slept all the way until evening.
The sky outside had already darkened.
The bright afternoon had long since vanished, replaced by a gloomy gray landscape.
Mist rose from the rain splashing onto the streets, draping the entire city in a thin veil and lending it an almost mysterious air.
“Nathan Hale…”
Suddenly, a low, hoarse, somewhat ethereal voice drifted through the room.
Hearing that weak, ghostly voice, Nathan Hale instinctively jolted and shot upright.
“Who?!”
“It’s me.
Solans.”
Only then did he make out the figure standing in the dim light.
Nathan Hale let out a breath of relief.
Rubbing the goosebumps that had risen along his arms, he slowly stood.
“Dr.
Solans, you’re still not off work?”
Solans sighed helplessly.
“I just finished.
And honestly, even if I went home, I don’t think I’d dare sleep.
I saw you were still here, so I thought you could do me a favor.”
“Now?” Nathan Hale glanced out the window.
“You’re not going home?”
“I’m used to it.”
As soon as Nathan Hale got up, Solans immediately flopped down onto the sofa.
He was single, after all, and he occasionally slept at the university to save time when he was deep into his research.
“All right.”
Nathan Hale rubbed his dry eyes and yawned.
He pulled over a chair and sat beside the sofa.
Dr.
Solans seemed to have prepared himself long ago.
He placed his hands over his chest and closed his eyes.
“…Slowly.
Take a deep breath.
Hold it…
and exhale.
Now, you’re completely relaxed.
You’re lying on a grassy field, beneath the warm sunlight…”
Nathan Hale’s slow, gentle voice was like a spring breeze brushing against the heart.
His deep, soothing voice naturally put the listener at ease.
Hypnosis.
With Solans willingly cooperating, putting him into a simple hypnotic state to help him sleep wasn’t difficult for Nathan Hale.
In fact, according to his predecessor’s memories, this wasn’t the first time he’d helped Solans sleep.
Before long—
Steady breathing filled the room.
“Get some good rest.”
Seeing Solans sleeping peacefully, Nathan Hale stood up and carefully closed the door.
Time to go home.
What Nathan Hale didn’t know was that, after he left, a faint reddish glow suddenly appeared on Solans’s chest.
Then, strands of black wisps began to curl upward.
They slowly gathered into a single mass.
Two eyes emerged.
The creature stared at Solans lying on the sofa, displeasure flickering in its eyes.
But that displeasure was soon replaced by curiosity.
It turned toward the closed door, and the curiosity in its eyes grew even stronger.
“Ko-gee?”
How can that person do it too?
After a moment’s hesitation, it transformed into something resembling smoke and effortlessly slipped through the door, following after him.