"So… whose gift should I open first?" Orin asked as he pulled out the packages from his bag.
The room lights were now on, and his luggage lay open on the bed. While he had already sorted most of his things earlier, he had deliberately left the gifts untouched until now.
"Me! Mine! Open mine first!" Duplica burst out, her screen shaking with excitement.
"It's his gift, Duplica. He should decide for himself," Terri cut in calmly.
"Ugh… fine," Duplica muttered, deflating a little.
Orin smiled at their back-and-forth.
For a moment, it almost felt like he was back in Saffron City, surrounded by his friends.
"Rio?"
Riolu curiously tapped one of the brightly wrapped boxes with her paw.
"Oh? Looks like Riolu's already made the choice," Orin said with a grin.
"Guess I'm opening yours first, Copycat."
"Yay!! I win again!" Duplica cheered loudly.
"Honestly… your parents are going to wake up and scold you at this rate for yelling so loudly in the morning," Terri said, rubbing her temple with a sigh.
"Hehe, I locked my door, so they can't come in," Duplica replied with a mischievous wink.
Meanwhile, Orin picked up her gift.
It was wrapped in bright red paper covered in glittering stars — easily the biggest and most eye-catching of the three.
Across the front, in bold, stylish handwriting, were the words:
"Happy Birthday to Orin!"
"This is… pretty hard to open with one hand," Orin said, struggling slightly as he held the phone in one hand and tried peeling off the tape with the other.
"Then just put the phone down for a moment," Terri suggested.
"No, no! I want to see his reaction properly!" Duplica immediately protested.
"I can help you, Onii-chan!" Brina chimed in, eagerly thrusting her hand forward.
"Ah! Orin, don't let her touch it — she'll destroy my present!" Duplica yelled through the screen.
"What? That's not true!" Brina shot back with a pout.
"Nii-chan, I just want to open her present… properly. Promise."
She added a tiny, clearly mischievous smirk toward the phone.
"See! She made a face at me, Orin!" Duplica complained.
"Alright, alright — no fighting," Orin said with a sigh.
"I've already got it open anyway."
He finally peeled off the wrapping and lifted the lid.
"Oh… what's this?" he said, blinking in surprise.
Inside was a bright pink box decorated with a Ditto's face, along with cartoon drawings of two playful characters.
"Ah! That's Didi & Dido!" Brina said excitedly, pointing at them.
"Oh right… from that cartoon you watch every Saturday morning," Orin said, recalling it.
"What was it called again? The Squishy World of Didi & Dido?"
"Yes! I love it!" Brina beamed.
"They're both Dittos who can turn into humans, Pokémon, even objects — and they live on a farm with all their Pokémon friends! And they're super funny!" she added, giggling.
Orin had watched it too when he was younger. These days, he only caught bits of it in passing during breakfast — though Brina was still a die-hard fan.
The show itself was quite popular, almost a classic at this point. It followed the adventures of two Ditto siblings who could transform into anything, spending their days causing chaos and having fun on their farm.
Simple, silly… but oddly charming.
"Oh, you like it too, Brina? It's my favourite show as well!" Duplica said with a wide grin.
"Did you see last week's episode where Didi turned into a hammer and smacked Dido into a puddle? It was so hilarious!"
"Hehe—yeah, it was so fu—wait, no! How can you like the same show as me?!" Brina snapped, suddenly pointing accusingly at the screen.
"Stop liking it this instant!"
Ignoring their bickering, Orin turned his attention back to the box.
"This says it's a 'Transformation Kit,'" he read, lifting it up.
"It includes face paints, props, and techniques for disguises…?"
"Yep! It's one of the best ones on the market," Duplica said proudly.
On the screen, she suddenly deepened her voice and slapped on a fake moustache.
"See? You can turn into Pokémon or even other people. Pretty cool, right?"
"Yeah… it's a great gift. I like it," Orin replied with a slightly strained smile, unsure when he would ever actually use something like this. Still, he opened the box to take a proper look inside.
"I know it's a bit weird, but trust me—you'll love it once you start using it!" Duplica insisted brightly.
"You can prank people like I do… or even do fun stuff like dressing up your Pokémon! Imagine Riolu in costumes!"
The prank idea didn't really appeal to him—
…but the second one made him glance at Riolu.
"Rio?"
Riolu suddenly stiffened, a chill running down her spine as she looked around suspiciously, as if sensing an unknown danger.
"Ah! Look, it has exclusive Didi & Dido keychains!" Brina exclaimed, pointing excitedly.
"You'll give those to your cute little sister, right, Nii-chan?" she added, already walking up to him with pleading, doe-like eyes.
Two keychains were attached to the inside of the box — one of the female Ditto in human form, and one of the male.
"Well… you can have this one," Orin said, handing her the female one.
"Yay!" Brina cheered.
"Look, Nii-chan, it stretches just like in the show!" she said, tugging at the keychain and stretching it playfully.
Orin simply nodded with a small smile.
"Won't you say thanks to me, Brina?" Duplica huffed, crossing her arms smugly.
"That box was limited edition! I even secured it last year just for Orin's birthday."
"Nope! You already gave Nii-chan his gift," Brina shot back, sticking her tongue out.
"He gave the keychain to me, so it has nothing to do with you anymore!"
"It obviously does! I bought it in the first place!" Duplica argued.
"It does not!"
"It does!"
"Enough, both of you," Terri said, rubbing her forehead.
"You always end up arguing like children."
"But she started it!"
Both of them pointed at each other at the exact same time.
"How about… I open the next gift?" Orin quickly cut in, knowing full well they wouldn't stop otherwise.
The distraction worked instantly.
"Let me open yours next, Terri," he said, picking up the neatly wrapped pink package.
Written across it in elegant lettering were the words:
"Happy Birthday to Dear Orin."
"Rio!"
Riolu quickly hopped over and stood beside him, watching with keen interest.
"Hehe… I already know what her gift is," Duplica said with a mischievous, almost sinister grin.
"Keep quiet," Terri warned calmly.
"Don't ruin the surprise."
"Oh… there's quite a lot in here," Orin muttered as he opened the package more carefully this time.
Inside were multiple neatly packed transparent packets.
The moment he saw them, he already had a good idea of what it was.
"Is this a—"
"Yes," Terri said, unable to hide the small excitement in her voice.
"It's a personalized training set for you."
"...That's actually really cool," Orin admitted, a genuine smile forming as he began checking the items one by one.
Terri had always given him gifts related to training, so this wasn't entirely unexpected. In fact, a good portion of his gear back in Saffron had come from her.
"These are towels?" he asked, lifting one of the neatly packed blue sets.
"Yes. They're high-quality training towels," Terri replied.
"I use the same brand myself." She briefly held one up from her side to show him.
"Ooooh… matching towels," Duplica chimed in with a teasing grin.
"T-they're just good quality, that's all," Terri said quickly, shooting her a warning glance.
"Wait… is my name embroidered on it?" Orin asked, running his fingers over the edge where Orin was stitched neatly in purple thread.
"Well… I didn't want you to lose them… or have someone else use them," Terri said, trying to sound casual, though the small smile on her face gave her away.
"Thanks," Orin said sincerely.
"This is really thoughtful… and actually useful."
That was all it took for Terri's smile to brighten noticeably.
"Riolu—Riolu!"
Meanwhile, Riolu had grabbed another packet, balancing it on her head as she bounced excitedly on the bed.
"Riolu, stop. You promised you wouldn't jump on the bed tonight," Orin called out with a sigh.
Noticing Brina slowly raising her hand, Riolu immediately froze, then quickly hopped off the bed and hid behind Orin.
Orin shook his head with a small smile and picked up the packet she had been playing with.
"These are… shorts?" he asked, a bit surprised.
Inside were neatly folded purple gym shorts.
"U-um… yeah. They're training shorts… they're really comfortable," Terri said, her voice turning slightly shy.
"Ooooh~ and how exactly did you figure out his measurements, Ter?" Duplica asked, eyes widening mischievously.
"Don't tell me you secretly—"
"They're standard sizes!" Terri snapped, her face flushing.
"And I swear, if you don't stop, I will come over there and kick you in the head myself!"
Meanwhile, Orin felt a bit awkward holding the shorts — especially after noticing his name subtly stitched into the corner.
"I'll… definitely make good use of these," he said with a slightly stiff smile.
Quickly moving on, he picked up another packet.
"Oh, these are hand wraps — like the ones we used back at the dojo," he noted, examining the neatly rolled purple cloth strips.
"Yes! I got you a better quality set," Terri said, her excitement returning.
"And I picked purple for you. Also, if you don't feel like wrapping your hands every time, there are fingerless training gloves included as well."
"Yeah… these are really good," Orin said, opening another packet to reveal the gloves.
Even on those, he noticed the same small stitched detail—
Orin.
"Riolu?"
Beside him, Riolu kept poking at the remaining packet curiously with her paw.
Now only one item was left.
Orin picked it up — a small, jar-like plastic container.
"What's this?" he asked, looking at Terri.
"Oh, that's a healing balm," she replied casually.
"It's actually Sensei's secret recovery gel. It works really well for muscle relief… I just borrowed some when he wasn't looking," she added with a small, mischievous smirk.
"Looks like I'm rubbing off on you," Duplica said proudly.
Orin couldn't help but recall how their Sensei used that balm whenever someone got seriously sore or injured. If he guarded it that carefully, then it had to be effective.
"Rio!"
Riolu suddenly picked up a small folded note stuck to the bottom of the container and handed it to him.
Orin unfolded it and read:
"You always push yourself harder than you should.
So at least take care of yourself properly.
— Terri"
A soft smile formed on his face.
She had always been like this — quietly looking out for him, especially when it came to his training.
It warmed him more than he expected.
"I really like all of this, Terri. Thank you," he said, meeting her gaze with a gentle sincerity.
"Just make sure you actually use them," she replied with a small, satisfied grin.
"Hehe… but admit it, my gift was cooler, right?" Duplica chimed in immediately.
"Ugh, why do you always have to ruin the moment?" Terri sighed in annoyance.
"How about I open the last gift?" Orin said with a wry smile, stepping in before they could start arguing again.
Both of them nodded.
The final package was from Kyle.
It was noticeably smaller and lighter than the others, and the wrapping itself was plain and unimpressive.
There was a simple birthday sticker on it, with "Orin" scribbled in what could barely pass as handwriting.
"…His handwriting is still terrible," Orin muttered with a chuckle as he tore open the wrapping.
"Is that… a birthday card?" Duplica asked, incredulous.
"That idiot," Terri snapped, her expression darkening.
"He forgot to buy you a gift and only bought something when I reminded him! And this is what he sends? I swear, I'm going to drag him out in front of his customers and beat him shitless—"
"Alright, alright, calm down," Orin cut in with a grin.
"It's not that bad. It's the thought that counts."
He opened the card — and paused.
Inside, there was a folded piece of paper.
"Oh? There's something else in there!" Duplica leaned forward excitedly.
Orin unfolded it carefully and squinted at the contents.
"…Yeah, this is definitely Kyle's handwriting," he said dryly.
"But from what I can make out…"
His expression shifted slightly in surprise.
"…this is his personal secret recipe of Battle Noodles."
"What?! I've been asking him for that recipe forever and he just gives it to you?" Duplica cried out in anguish.
"Quick, show it to me, Orin! Or better yet, just send me a picture!"
Orin ignored her, carefully folding the paper and slipping it back into the card with a small smile.
"So he did give a proper gift in the end," Terri said with a snort.
"Fine… he lives to see another day, I suppose."
"I'll call him later and thank him properly," Orin said.
"And both of you… thanks for the amazing gifts. I'll definitely cherish them."
"Aww, it's nothing…" Duplica said, suddenly a bit shy.
"As long as you liked them," Terri replied with a soft, satisfied smile.
"Riolu~!"
Riolu had already begun tossing the wrapping paper all over the room, turning the place into a mess.
"…I think I should get some sleep now. It's getting late," Orin said, glancing at the time.
"Hopefully she calms down soon," he added with a wry smile, looking at Riolu.
"Yeah, I need to head out for my morning run soon anyway," Terri said.
"And you've got a full day ahead tomorrow."
"And my bed is calling me… so bye!" Duplica said with a big yawn.
"Bye, take care you two," Orin said, a warm smile lingering on his face as the call ended.
"Thanks again for everything."
"Did you really like their gifts that much, Onii-chan?" Brina's voice suddenly cut in.
Orin turned toward her.
She had been unusually quiet the whole time, sitting on the bed and absentmindedly playing with the keychain.
And for someone like Brina…
That was very unlike her.
"Yeah. They were all really thoughtful," he replied with a warm smile, carefully gathering the items and placing them back into his bag for now.
"Hmph… they were okay, I guess," Brina said, standing up on the bed.
"But I guarantee my gift is still the coolest!"
As she said that, she lifted her palm.
Orin's eyes widened.
A small object suddenly slid out of his bag on its own, gliding through the air before landing neatly in her hand.
"Happy birthday, Onii-chan!" Brina beamed.
Resting in her palm…
was a Poké Ball.
"Is… there a Pokémon inside that?" Orin asked, stunned.
Brina's smile only grew wider.