Saturo:
"Authors really be like—"
"I have an amazing idea for a brand-new webnovel with a super rare crossover.
Oh, and one original story about some demon prince or something."
Saturo:
"Do you even have time for that?"
Author:
"No?!"
Saturo:
"Have you finished the first two fanfics?"
Author:
"No!???"
Saturo:
"So you're just a deadbeat."
Author:
"(0△0) WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN?!"
Saturo:
"You ain't Yosuke Hirata. Stop acting like a green tea and go to work."
Author:
"(√°△°)√" ."Then I'll go on strike…"
Saturo leaned closer and whispered something.
Author:
"WHYYY?!"
Saturo: "Chop chop."
Continue—
Saturo: "Good boy."
A/N: "(….)"
"Come here, y—"
Saturo slowly raised his Black Glasses.
A/N:
"…Never mind."
Continue—
Cynthia was completely bewildered.
Today was already embarrassing enough because of Saturo, but now he had actually dared to block her punch. Normally, whenever one of them was right, the losing side would silently accept the mocking remarks and wait for the other person to slip up later for revenge.
But today, when she tried to knock him unconscious, he stopped her punch midair.
Throwing hands with each other had basically become a normal occurrence at this point, so seeing him block her attack genuinely caught her off guard.
Cynthia:
"…What bet?"
Saturo suddenly remembered his older brother James.
The self-proclaimed "playboy" who constantly tried teaching his little brother how to "have game" and charm girls like some young master from a romance novel.
Saturo:
"Yare yare… are you sure you aren't secretly Chinese?" "The DNA testing centers aren't running away, you know."
A/N: grabbed a piece of chalk and launched it directly at Saturo's head.
A/N: "ANYWAYS—"
James once proudly explained to Saturo the so-called:
"Five Stages of Dealing with Ladies."
Or, in simpler terms:
"How to Properly Treat Young Ladies," according to James and apparently their father before him.
Written by ______ Morgan, this list was definitely not created to slowly prepare James into becoming Jessibelle's future puppet after she sent her endless demands.
A/N:
"It's not like forgot the his father's name , okay?" if I ever gave him one i:e.
First Advice:
The girl is always right.
Saturo stared blankly at Cynthia while zoning out.
Meanwhile, without him noticing, Cynthia started becoming more nervous and redder than a tomato.
Saturo:
"…Nope. That's definitely wrong."
Second Advice:
Say sorry. Even if it's her fault.
Saturo: "Nope.!!!"
Third Advice:
Maintain elegance and tolerance.
Saturo:
"…Absolutely not."
They both knew each other's darkest secrets.
Like Cynthia almost burning the house down while trying to bake a chocolate cake.
Or Saturo nearly destroying the nearby barn's fence while "training" his Pokémon.
(Though, to be fair, he was the one
getting trained by Cynthia that day because she had some black mail material on him.)
Fourth Advice:
Follow her words like a creed. The lady will approve of you in her heart.
Saturo looked directly at Cynthia.
Saturo:
"Nope. Not happening."
Fifth Advice:
Use bets to deal with women. You need to bend your fingers sometimes.
In reality,
His father wrote this while making absolutely sure that if James ever made a bet with a Jessible, he would unconditionally lose through behind-the-scenes manipulation.
Unfortunately, James thought this was genuine advice.
Saturo:
"Now this… I like."
He leaned closer and said:
Saturo:
"We'll each begin our journeys in our respective regions. The first one to collect all the Gym Badges while following the other person's conditions wins."
Cynthia smiled.
She already knew exactly what to do.
Cynthia:
"You're the one proposing the bet, so it's only natural that you get the handicaps."
"Don't worry… I won't be too hard on you."
Meanwhile, inside her head—
Cynthia's Thoughts:
("Perfect. Now I just need to lure him into my trap."
"If I win, I'll make this white-haired weirdo my servant for a whole year."
"What do you think about that, L?"_
"That's right… this is my perfec victory."_
" That's right. I win.")
Cynthia continued speaking normally while internally celebrating like a villain who had already conquered the world.
Saturo:
"Alright then, my dear lady."
"Let's stick to our first bet."
He leaned closer and whispered into her ear:
Saturo:
"The loser becomes the winner's lackey for one year."
Cynthia:
"…Deadass?"