“Huh?!”
Aiden blinked.
“I said, I want you to become one of Nimbasa City’s prides!”
“But I’m not even from Nimbasa.”
“I know.
Officer Jenny picked you up here!”
Aiden gave her a puzzled look.
“But aren’t you already Nimbasa City’s pride?”
“That’s exactly the problem.
I don’t want to be the only one anymore.
I’m happy people think of me that way, but…
it can get exhausting.”
As Elesa explained, Aiden gradually understood what she meant.
Ever since she first made a name for herself in the modeling world and later took over Nimbasa Gym, most of her life had been spent beneath spotlights and surrounded by fans.
Elesa genuinely enjoyed that life.
Even so, there were times when a title as heavy as Nimbasa City’s Pride felt like too much for one person to carry.
That was why she wanted Aiden to make a promotional video about Nimbasa City.
From what Elesa had seen of him, she was convinced Aiden would eventually make a name for himself.
If he released a video promoting Nimbasa now, then as his popularity grew in the future, the people of the city would naturally become more invested in him as well.
If everything went well, some of the attention currently concentrated on Elesa would gradually shift toward Aiden, and her own life might become a little easier.
Aiden nodded thoughtfully.
“So basically, you want me to make a video about Nimbasa City, become famous, and get the locals to like me too.
Right?”
Elesa nodded.
“Exactly.”
By now, the dessert-devouring woman from a few minutes earlier had disappeared, replaced once again by the poised and glamorous Shining Beauty everyone knew.
Elesa even took out her phone.
“I also have a friend you may have heard of—Shauntal of the Elite Four.
She specializes in Ghost-types, and one of the Pokémon on her main team is Golurk.”
It was an obvious attempt to sweeten the deal.
Aiden, however, fell silent.
His goal had always been to become one of the biggest influencers in the Pokémon world, so increasing his fame was already part of the plan.
Using his geographical connection to Nimbasa City and building a loyal local audience had also been something he intended to do eventually.
Which meant that, from his perspective, Elesa had personally come to the Pokémon Center to find him, bought him dessert, handed him a new content opportunity, and even offered to introduce him to a useful connection.
Aiden slowly sucked in a breath.
“You like me too!!”
“…?”
Elesa froze.
Then the meaning of his words registered.
She sucked in a breath of her own.
For several seconds, she couldn’t decide whether to question Aiden’s deranged train of thought or ask where the hell that too had come from.
“Wait.
No.
Hold on.
Give me a second to process this…”
Elesa took two deep breaths before staring at him with an utterly baffled expression.
“How did you possibly reach that conclusion?”
Aiden looked even more confused.
“Isn’t it obvious?
You came all the way to the Pokémon Center to find me.
Then you bought me food, offered me work, introduced me to one of your friends—”
The more he listed, the stranger Elesa’s expression became.
‘Sweet Eelektross…’
When he put it that way, those actions really did sound suspicious.
Either you did those things for family, or you were trying very hard to turn someone into family.
If Elesa hadn’t known her own intentions, then purely from the outside, her behavior really did resemble some workaholic who had spent years ignoring romance before suddenly falling in love and pursuing someone with all the subtlety of a charging Bouffalant.
“I’ve seen this exact plot on television…”
Elesa suddenly remembered a prime-time drama she had watched before.
The second male lead had pursued the heroine almost exactly like this.
And now that she was looking at her own behavior through that lens…
“That’s seriously not what’s happening!”
She hurried to explain.
Aiden nodded calmly.
“Yeah, I know.”
‘You know absolutely nothing!’
‘That expression alone proves you don’t believe me!’
Elesa was genuinely beginning to regret this conversation.
For a moment, she considered abandoning the entire proposal.
Maybe being Nimbasa City’s sole pride wasn’t so bad after all.
But when she looked at Aiden’s face, she immediately realized that giving up now would only reinforce whatever ridiculous theory he had constructed in his head.
‘She panicked because I figured out her true feelings!’
Elesa could already imagine him reaching exactly that conclusion.
Somehow, she had talked herself into a dead end.
Fortunately, Aiden suddenly gave her an escape route.
“Though now that I think about it, you probably didn’t even realize how all of that sounded.”
“Yes!
Exactly!”
Elesa seized the lifeline immediately.
“My battling style is fast, direct, and straightforward.
All these weird little hints and roundabout romantic signals aren’t my style at all!
Hahaha!”
She burst into relieved laughter.
Even Aiden seemed more pleasant to look at now.
Emolga, sitting nearby, quietly watched its Trainer.
‘You really have no idea that this entire problem only existed because you fell into his pace, do you?’
Emolga shook its head, increasingly concerned about the state of its Trainer’s brain.
Elesa, meanwhile, believed everything had been resolved perfectly.
She had made it clear she wasn’t interested in romance.
Aiden had acknowledged that he had misunderstood.
And her request had been accepted.
There had been a few minor complications, but overall, today was still a perfect day.
From Aiden’s perspective, it had been equally perfect.
He had eaten free dessert.
He had picked up a new content opportunity.
He had finally found a lead concerning Golurk.
And he had successfully teased Elesa badly enough to watch the normally composed supermodel lose her cool.
An excellent day by any reasonable standard.
“I’ll send you Shauntal’s contact information later.
You can message her directly.”
“Thanks.”
This time, Aiden’s gratitude was completely sincere.
Elesa really had helped him.
“See you!”
“Later!”
…
After Elesa left, Aiden didn’t immediately add Shauntal.
She was one of Unova’s Elite Four and also worked as a novelist on the side.
Even if Elesa had already spoken to her and Shauntal was likely to take Golurk’s situation seriously out of professional interest, Aiden still felt that asking someone for a favor required at least a little basic courtesy.
And considering Shauntal’s passion for writing, he decided to prepare a gift that would suit her tastes.
…
Inside a luxurious hotel room—
Ding!
The moment Shauntal saw the incoming friend request on her messaging app, she immediately remembered the favor Elesa had mentioned.
“If I remember correctly…
he caught a Golurk that had been dormant inside ancient ruins for years?”
She adjusted her round glasses and crossed her stocking-clad legs.
“And Elesa specifically asked me to give him some extra attention.
Interesting.”
A gleam appeared in Shauntal’s eyes.
A new romance plot was already beginning to form in her mind.
“Aiden Cross…”
Looking at the name attached to the friend request, Shauntal had the vague feeling she had heard it somewhere recently.
Still, she didn’t dwell on it and accepted the request.
Her pale fingers, tipped with glossy black nail polish, quickly moved across the screen.
[Hello, this is Shauntal.
Could you tell me more about your Golurk and the circumstances in which you found it?]
Before she could send the message, however, a document suddenly arrived from the other side.
The title immediately caught her attention.
The Domineering Cynthia Fell in Love with Me!
Shauntal stared at it.
As one of Cynthia’s close friends, she knew plenty of things about the Sinnoh Champion that very few outsiders did.
Which meant Aiden had somehow managed to choose a subject guaranteed to catch her interest.
“Interesting!”
Shauntal herself had a habit of drawing inspiration from people around her, so she didn’t hesitate for even a second.
She opened the document.