“The police station?”
Half an hour later, back in the counseling office, Dr.
Solans looked troubled as he briefly explained what had happened.
It turned out that Solans had slept in the counseling office for the night.
When he woke up that morning, he suddenly remembered that it was freshman registration day and that he was responsible for some of the work.
He hadn’t slept much at all over the previous two days, though, and he hadn’t changed his clothes in several days either.
Since it was still early, he decided to go home, freshen up, and then return to the university.
His place wasn’t far away, after all.
But when he got home—
He discovered that his apartment had been broken into!
The place was a complete mess.
So the first thing he did was call the police.
A Officer Jenny then took him back to the Rustboro League Police Station to assist with the investigation.
The problem was that he’d left his phone in his office the previous night because he was afraid the sound would wake him.
He’d assumed he’d be back quickly.
He hadn’t expected to be delayed for so long.
And that was how he’d ended up disappearing for most of the day.
“What was stolen?”
Nathan Hale handed him a glass of water.
Dr.
Solans accepted it and smiled helplessly.
“That’s the strange part.
I looked around as best I could.
None of the valuable things were missing.
They only took some rocks that wouldn’t be worth much to most people.”
Rocks?
Before Nathan Hale could react, Steven’s response was noticeably stronger.
“Those rocks?”
“Yeah…”
To be fair, some of the rocks included relatively rare meteorites.
But to most people, they were just useless stones.
What kind of thief would risk breaking into someone’s home for a few rocks?
Yet there was clearly someone else in the room who understood exactly how valuable those rocks could be.
Steven’s expression turned serious.
Judging by his demeanor, he seemed prepared to help Dr.
Solans recover the missing stones.
For some reason, Nathan Hale suddenly had a feeling.
Could their real target be the stone in my possession—the one that originally contained Gastly?
It wasn’t impossible.
But if that really was the case, and they hadn’t found the stone at Dr.
Solans’s place…
Wouldn’t they eventually trace it back to him?
Nathan Hale suddenly remembered something from the original story.
Dr.
Solans had apparently gotten caught up with Team Aqua and Team Magma after discovering a meteorite.
Could this be connected?
Originally, Nathan Hale had planned to tell Dr.
Solans that the stone containing Gastly was in his possession and ask whether he could exchange something for it.
But now, that matter would have to be put on hold.
At least until he determined what those people were actually after.
“What’s important is that you’re safe,” Nathan Hale reassured him.
“Thank you.”
Dr.
Solans looked at him gratefully.
Whether it was because Nathan Hale had helped him sleep well the previous night, taken over his freshman registration duties that morning, or simply for some other reason, Solans seemed particularly appreciative.
Nathan Hale waved it off.
“No need to thank me.”
“All right.
I need to go to the Academic Affairs Office and let them know what happened.
I saw quite a few missed calls on my phone just now.”
Dr.
Solans gave a bitter smile and stood.
“I’ll come with you.”
Nathan Hale also stood.
Under the puzzled gazes of Solans and Steven, he reluctantly explained,
“My computer’s acting up.
I’ll see if I can apply for a replacement.”
“You can use mine for now,” Solans suggested.
“I don’t really use it anyway.
The application won’t be processed immediately, so once the new one comes in, you can switch back.”
After a brief hesitation, Nathan Hale nodded.
“…All right.”
Dr.
Solans left.
The counseling office once again fell silent, leaving only Nathan Hale deep in thought and Steven looking serious.
After a while, Steven suddenly remembered.
They’d only gotten halfway through the matter concerning Metang.
He thought carefully about how to phrase it before speaking.
“Professor Nathan Hale, about Metang…”
Nathan Hale came back to his senses and smiled.
“Don’t worry.
Metang’s problem isn’t serious.
Some psychological counseling should be enough.”
Steven breathed a sigh of relief.
He couldn’t help feeling somewhat guilty.
If he hadn’t been so busy dealing with company matters lately, and had paid more attention to Metang, perhaps…
Perhaps it wouldn’t have developed this problem.
Then another question that had been troubling him surfaced again.
The older he got, the harder it seemed to be to answer.
As the heir to Devon Corporation and a member of the Stone family, Steven would eventually have to shoulder the responsibilities of both the company and his family.
He wouldn’t refuse that responsibility.
Nor could he.
But at the same time, as a Pokémon Trainer, he had a responsibility toward his Pokémon.
And he also had a responsibility toward the dream he genuinely loved and yearned for.
He knew that a person’s time and energy were limited.
If Devon Corporation were merely a small company, or if his ambitions as a Trainer weren’t particularly great, perhaps balancing the two wouldn’t be a problem.
But…
“Steven.”
Nathan Hale’s voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
Steven looked over.
Nathan Hale had placed the “doodle” folder on the desk.
The drawing of Metang still stood at a fork in the road.
“To treat Metang, we can take two steps: psychological counseling and physical intervention.”
He wrote “Psychological Counseling” and “Physical Intervention” on the two diverging paths.
Then he looked up at Steven and asked casually,
“Which one are you planning to take first?”
Steven almost instinctively asked,
“Can’t they be done together?”
Nathan Hale smiled.
He continued drawing with his pen.
He added a series of vertical lines between the two diverging paths, gradually turning them into one broad road.
“Exactly.”
He looked at Steven meaningfully.
“Can’t they be done together?”
Steven’s body trembled slightly.
He stared stiffly at Nathan Hale.
He couldn’t explain why, but those words seemed to carry another meaning.
And when he met Nathan Hale’s meaningful gaze, that feeling only grew stronger.
But Nathan Hale had already put the folder away.
He leaned back in his chair and took a sip of coffee.
“It’s getting late.
How about we start tomorrow?”
Steven hesitated as though he wanted to say something.
In the end, he smiled warmly.
“Okay.”
After Steven left, Nathan Hale added one final line to the bottom of the paper.
Steven Stone — Extreme Perfectionist.
“Gastly, what do you think this stone actually is?”
The counseling office had returned to its usual quiet.
Nathan Hale took out the strange stone once again.
The more often he looked at it, the more convinced he became that its connection to the break-in at Dr.
Solans’s home was no coincidence.
“Ko-gee.”
Gastly floated down from the ceiling.
Seeing that Nathan Hale wasn’t going to pursue the matter of the damaged computer, Gastly breathed a sigh of relief.
Then it looked completely confused.
It didn’t know, either.
Perhaps it had known once.
But after sleeping for so long, it had completely forgotten why it had chosen this particular stone as its resting place.
“Could it be a fossil?”
Nathan Hale had to make what seemed like the most reasonable guess.
If it were a fossil of an Anorith or Lileep, it would certainly be worth quite a bit.
“Ko-gee?”
Gastly floated over to the stone.
It looked at it from one side, then the other, but couldn’t find anything unusual.
“Should we return it to Dr.
Solans?”
Nathan Hale looked at Gastly, testing the waters.
If this stone really was the source of trouble, returning it to its original owner seemed like a reasonable solution.
It might be a little irresponsible, but Nathan Hale would at least give Solans a warning.
“Ko-gee!
Ko-gee!”
Gastly immediately shook its head vigorously.
It pointed at the stone in Nathan Hale’s hand, then pointed at itself.
It firmly rejected the idea and made it clear that it was the true owner of the stone.
Nathan Hale couldn’t help laughing.
“All right, all right.
Technically, it did belong to you in the first place.”
“Ko-gee!”
The mist around Gastly’s body formed a hand that patted Nathan Hale on the shoulder.
It looked like a teacher congratulating a promising student.
Nathan Hale gave it an exasperated sideways glance and didn’t bother arguing.
His attention returned to the stone.
“Maybe I’m overthinking it.
Perhaps those people already got what they wanted…”
Do you actually believe that yourself?
That was the look Gastly gave him.
Nathan Hale decided not to dwell on the matter.
From beginning to end, the initiative wasn’t in his hands anyway.
“Gastly, do you feel unwell?”
He suddenly remembered that when he’d looked at Gastly’s information earlier, its condition hadn’t been listed as perfect.
“Ko-gee?”
Gastly shook its head in confusion.
Unwell?
No.
Seeing that, Nathan Hale furrowed his brows.
Whether it was Pokémon or humans, one of the biggest problems was that people often couldn’t tell when something was wrong with them.
Nathan Hale had studied some Pokémon medicine alongside his Pokémon psychology courses, so he knew enough to deal with ordinary minor ailments.
But when it came to problems that might be hidden beneath the surface, his knowledge was rather inadequate.
And Gastly was a Ghost-type Pokémon, after all.
It couldn’t necessarily be treated like an ordinary Pokémon.
Should I take it to the Pokémon Center?
But whenever he thought about how much treatment could cost for a Trainer who wasn’t registered with the League, he got a headache.
Money.
It wasn’t just medical expenses.
Raising Gastly properly would require a considerable amount of money, too.
And there was practically no upper limit.
Nathan Hale sighed inwardly.
Fortunately, he had a stable job.
If he was only raising one Gastly…
It should be enough.
Probably.
“All right.
Let’s continue from earlier.”
Gastly had only demonstrated the beginning of its moves that morning before they were interrupted.
Only now did they finally have time to continue.
“Ko-gee—”
“Your other moves are fairly straightforward.
As for Hypnosis, I actually have some experience with that one…”
“Will-O-Wisp should prioritize stealth over speed, in my opinion.
Of course, speed is still important.”
“Confuse Ray can afford to prioritize speed a little more because it’s harder to conceal.
But you could try combining Confuse Ray with Will-O-Wisp…”