The next morning.
When Hayashi was awakened by the knocking on his door, he groggily picked up the smartwatch on his bedside table and checked the time. Seeing it was already 7:30, he yawned and sat up, calling out toward the door, "I'm up, I'm up!"
The knocking stopped, and Hisako's voice came from outside, "Mr. Hayashi! You can come straight to the dining room later. The young mistress is already preparing breakfast—"
"Got it—"
After responding, Hayashi turned his gaze to the Eevee yawning beside his pillow. He grinned, then flopped onto the bed, burying his face in the fluffy fur around Eevee's neck. He took a deep breath before exhaling with a long, contented sigh, murmuring happily, "Others get their fix from cats—I get mine from Eevee. Hehe—"
"Eve eve~"
Eevee happily nuzzled against Hayashi's face.
Last night, after entering this single room, Hayashi had taken Eevee into the bathroom and given her a warm, soothing bath with Pokémon-specific shampoo, leaving her smelling fresh and clean.
Eevee was such a neat and tidy little sweetheart!
...
...
By the time Hayashi finished washing up and walked into the hall with a refreshed Eevee, he found Erina and Hisako already seated at the table, eating their portions of breakfast. Milcery was still sipping on Moomoo Milk, while the gluttonous Pikachu—only caught yesterday—was tearing up with joy as it savored the delicious food.
"Pika pika—"
This is the life! Worth every second!
"Let me see what we're having this morning~"
Hayashi sat down beside Erina and lifted the lid covering the bowl. "Ooh! Tomato egg noodle soup with shredded pork—looks amazing!"
"You woke up too late, so I had to keep it simple," Erina said, twirling a lock of hair hanging by her cheek with her right index finger before glancing at Hayashi. "Does it taste alright?"
This was a lie. She had vividly remembered Hayashi's preference for homely, Eastern-style dishes, which was why she had specifically made noodles. Otherwise, her usual habit would have been to prepare a Western-style breakfast.
Hayashi lifted his face from the bowl and gave her a thumbs-up, mumbling through a mouthful of noodles, "Freakin' awesome! I can't live without you now—"
"Stop talking nonsense!"
Erina blushed faintly and lightly smacked Hayashi's elbow before quickly shifting her attention to Eevee, her lovely face breaking into a doting smile. "Little Eevee's up too~ Come here, I made breakfast for you~"
"Eve eve!~"
Eevee happily trotted over to Erina, wagging her tail as she waited for the prepared food to be poured into her bowl before lowering her head to eat.
Erina rested her cheek on her hand, watching with amusement as Hayashi, Eevee, and Pikachu all lowered their heads in sync to eat breakfast. She sighed softly, "It's like a dream."
Hayashi looked up at her and said, "This is reality."
"I was just expressing my feelings, that's all."
"You'll encounter even more unbelievable things in the future, so brace yourself—"
"Don't worry. Even if you turned into a magical girl one day, I wouldn't be surprised!"
"If anyone's changing, it's you—I'm Erina Nakiri, an ordinary high school girl. One day, I was suddenly chosen by a magic wand falling from the sky and became a magical girl fighting against darkness!"
"How are you so good at this? Just how many magical girl anime have you watched?!"
Beside them, Hisako watched Hayashi and Erina banter with a mix of amusement and exasperation. She shook her head helplessly before offering a piece of Pokémon food to Florges.
My Florges is so adorable~
...
...
"Hey, Ash, have you heard?" While Hayashi and Erina were teasing each other, two rookie Trainers walked past them carrying trays. The skinnier one of the pair said excitedly, "There's a haunted house on Route 2! Even Officer Jenny got involved!"
"No way?"
"Go search it up if you don't believe me! It's trending—"
"Damn—"
As the two walked away, their voices gradually faded. But still...
"A haunted house?" Hayashi's interest was instantly piqued. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and said, "Wonder if it's a Psychic or Ghost-type Pokémon playing tricks—"
"Y-you, you're sure it's a Pokémon?" Erina, on the other hand, looked nervous. She subconsciously rubbed her arms and said, "I remember you saying ghosts actually exist in the Pokémon world, right?"
"That's true." Hayashi nodded. In the original TV series, Ash and the others had encountered the ghost of a young girl at the Summer Festival, as well as a Gastly that could shapeshift into human forms and even speak human language.
"T-t-then, what if it really is a ghost?"
Erina was unsettled. She was a materialist, but the problem was—materialism didn't hold up in the Pokémon world! No matter how much you believed in science, you couldn't deny the existence of Rayquaza's Dragon Ascent, right?
Unless you wanted to get wrecked by it!
"Unlikely, I think? From what I remember, there was only one actual ghost in the entire Pokémon anime—" Hayashi rubbed his chin thoughtfully before pointing at the PC in the Pokémon Center. "Didn't that guy say it was trending? Let's look it up!"
Erina and Hisako exchanged glances. With a mix of trepidation and unease, they followed Hayashi to the computer, watching as he searched for keywords like "Route 2" and "haunted house."
A few seconds later, Hayashi turned back to them. "The news says some Trainers wandered into the haunted house, heard eerie laughter, then lost consciousness. When they woke up, they were already outside the house, and hours had passed—"
"Eek—"
Erina and Hisako immediately clung to each other, shivering.
"Don't panic—" Hayashi reassured them with a smile. "If anything, this makes me even more certain it's a Ghost-type Pokémon playing pranks! Actual ghosts wouldn't have the power to knock people out for hours."
"R-really?" Erina swallowed hard, seeking confirmation.
"Really! Truer than pearls." Hayashi nodded firmly. "Trust me, I'm right!"
"That's a relief—"
Erina let out a sigh of relief. Patting her chest—which caused quite a stir—she hesitated before saying, "Um, you're not actually planning to go check it out, are you?"
"Uh, not for now," Hayashi shook his head. "Even though the news says that haunted house isn't dangerous, why would we go looking for trouble?"
"Whew—"
Erina immediately relaxed and muttered, "Thank goodness. If you insisted on going, I wouldn't have known what to do—"
It's a haunted house! A haunted house!
"Don't worry, I'm a total coward. I wouldn't willingly walk into dangerous places like that," Hayashi waved his hand dismissively with a laugh. "I was just curious and wanted to know more about it—come on, let's go back for dinner and then head to Pewter City."
...
...
"So…"
Hayashi stared speechlessly at the ominous-looking Western-style mansion shrouded in white mist before them and said, "I guess this means we've been targeted."
"Waaah—"
Erina and Hisako clung to each other with tear-filled eyes, looking ahead at the eerie mansion with expressions of fear.
From the very beginning, the team had no intention of exploring this haunted house, but as the three of them were making their way along Route 2 towards Pewter City, they inexplicably found themselves drawn into this abandoned mansion.
Erina stammered as she tugged at Hayashi's sleeve, asking, "Wh-what should we do?"
"We must have been influenced by some force, which is why we unknowingly wandered here—" Hayashi glanced at Erina, his expression helpless as he continued, "I'm not sure if it's a random release of power or if they're deliberately guiding us here. The former is manageable, but the latter could be troublesome."
The latter would mean that the ghost-type Pokémon residing in this mansion had set their sights on the three of them, and if they fled recklessly, it might provoke them— or it.
"So, does that mean the best way to handle this is…" Erina took a deep breath, then pointed a trembling finger at the mansion before them, saying, "Go inside?"
Hayashi nodded, saying resignedly, "According to the news, there haven't been any murders in this mansion, so we should only have to endure their pranks—probably?"
'Even if it's just a prank, I don't want it!' Erina gripped Hisako's hand tightly, her strength causing Hisako to feel both pain and joy: 'Ehehe, the young lady is holding on so tightly… it hurts, but it feels so tight… ehehe…'
"Let's go—"
Hayashi took a deep breath and stepped forward into the mansion, while Hisako and Erina trembled as they followed closely behind!
The moment the three of them stepped through the mansion's entrance, the white mist enveloping it thickened, compressing the visibility from several meters to about one meter.
"The… the road is gone—"
Hisako turned around and discovered that the door behind them had vanished without a trace, replaced by a bottomless cliff, causing her to hurriedly pull Erina forward a couple of steps, terrified of accidentally falling.
"Calm down—" Hayashi reached out to grasp the hands of Erina and Hisako, saying, "We're not in some supernatural world! This is the Pokémon world, and the ones playing pranks are likely ghost-type Pokémon. This should all just be illusions they've cast; don't scare yourselves."
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