For Natsume, Mei was the first friend he made after taking over the farm.

  And, at this rate, she might just bee his only friend.

  After all, ever since he took over the farm, Natsume had lost tact with his former cssmates.

  He had always beeype to disappear as soon as vacation started and go pletely off the grid after graduation.

  After elementary school, he vanished from his cssmates’ radar.

  After middle school, no one could find him anymore.

  After high school? Even more so.

  To Natsume, being in the same css as someone was a kind of fate.

  But whether that turned into friendship was a different matter entirely.

  The same applied to dormmates.

  Just because they ended up in the same room due to some random dorm assig didn’t mean they had to be friends.

  Everyone came from different pces, grew up in different enviros, and had different values.

  If they got along, that was great.

  If they didn’t, well, that was just how things were.

  o feel bad about it or wonder if you were the problem.

  Holy, Natsume sidered it a win that he hadn’t bee one of those novel protagonists who single-handedly isoted everyone around them.

  Not everyone could maintain a calm mi and i with a bunch of kids using the rational thinking of an adult.

  It had beey rough for him, to be ho.

  Not that he hated kids or anything.

  But seeing them gh their gey, edgy phases made him recall his own dark history.

  Just watg them made him want to curl his toes so hard he could dig a hole through the floor.

  My embarrassing past is currently delivering flying elbow strikes to my soul.

  On the flip side, Natsume was also an important friend to Mei.

  With her bright and cheerful personality, it was no surprise that she had a lot of friends.

  Ba school, plenty of girls were happy to befriend her.

  What? Bullying?

  First, you’d have to beat Mei in a fight.

  She was he type to just take a hit and cry about it.

  Whether it okémon battles or actual bat—

  Mei, 18 years old, a genius fighter who could throw hands.

  For now, both Mei and Natsume had a pretty good impression of each other.

  As friends, sure.

  As members of the opposite sex? Also, sure.

  Holy, love at first sight and whirlwind romances were overrated.

  Most retionships started with two people thinking the other seemed det, dating to see how it went, and just tinuing from there.

  Not that many made it to the finish lihough.

  "Delicious~!"

  Mei beamed, happily mung on a skewer of grilled meat.

  For the first time in a while, the farm's open space was hosting a barbecue party.

  The st time had been shortly after Natsume moved in.

  Sihen, he hadn’t bothered doing it again.

  Not because of his cooking skills or a ck of ingredients—

  Just pure ziness.

  After all, barbeg wasn’t just about grilling food.

  It meant prepping ingredients, setting up the grill, getting skewers ready, and worst of all—ing up afterward.

  More importantly, barbeg was about the atmosphere.

  Even with Pokémon arouing alone just felt... off.

  But now that Mei was here, Natsume had finally dug out his ed barbecue set from the ste.

  "Right? I do have some fiden my cooking skills," Natsume grinned from behind the grill.

  Beside him, Lopunny carefully wiped the sweat off his forehead with a small towel.

  pared to the barbecue itself, Lopunny was more ed about Natsume.

  As long as the other Pokémon were having fun, that was good enough.

  "Natsume, you're really amazing. It feels like you do anything," Mei said, watg him work with admiration in her eyes.

  To her, Natsume was the definition of an all-rounder genius.

  Pokémon battles, training, Pokéblock making, everyday life—he seemed to excel at everything.

  pared to that, Mei felt like a brainless brute who only knew how to fight.

  Especially when it came to daily life skills.

  Sure, traveling had forced her to pick up a few things here and there, but—

  pared to Natsume, she might as well know nothing.

  Better not to pare.

  Otherwise, she’d start feeling self-scious.

  Her brown eyes reflected Natsume’s face, illuminated by the firelight.

  For a moment, Mei found herself staring absentmindedly.

  “…What’s wrong?”

  Pg a freshly grilled skewer oray, Natsume turned his head—only to see Mei watg him, pletely lost in thought.

  Her expression was like… he had flrowing on his face or something.

  "Huh? Nothing, nothing!" Mei quickly waved her hands, snapping out of it.

  Her fair cheeks seemed to have taken on a slight red tint—probably from the firelight.

  "Right, about that tour you mentioned before."

  "I actually signed up for it, too."

  After a brief pause, Mei awkwardly ged the subject.

  Though, to be fair, she had wao tell him this earlier.

  She’d just been too distracted by Serperior’s evolution.

  Now was as good a time as any.

  "Oh?"

  "That means we’ll be oppos then, Mei."

  Natsume didn’t seem too surprised by the news.

  Handing Mei and the Pokémon their grilled skewers, he wiped his hands on his apron and smiled.

  "Oppo? Yeah, no, I have zero ce of winning."

  Mei accepted the food with a helpless smile.

  At this point, she couldn’t see any way to beat him.

  Earlier, Natsume had mentioned his touream: Mudkip, a shiny Furret, and Corviknight.

  Mudkip was ohing.

  But the other two? Straight-up powerhouses who could solo eeams.

  "Just… go easy on me, alright, Natsume?"

  Mei grinned pyfully, putting her hands together in a pleadiure.

  She even leaned in slightly, giving his shoulder a light squeeze—like she was trying to butter him up.

  "Got it. Full power, no mercy."

  Without hesitation, Natsume decred that he’d give it his all.

  "Eh?! You’re my official transtor! Shouldn’t you at least let me save some face?!"

  "Giving my all to defeat my oppo is the greatest form of respect!"

  "I don’t hat kind of respect!"

  Mei huffed and gave his shoulder a hard squeeze in protest.

  Would it kill him to be a little gentler with girls?!

  Looking at Natsume’s face, Mei suddenly had the urge to bite him.

  Just a tiny little shock to his system.

  The barbecue party celebrating Serperior’s evolution and their first day of special training ed up in a lively atmosphere.

  Ba her room, Mei instinctively reached for her phoo send Natsume a goodnight message.

  Then, she suddenly remembered—

  They were only separated by a single wall.

  Barefoot, she padded across the floor and knocked on the door o hers.

  "Hm? What is it, Mei?"

  "Nothing much. Just wao say goodnight."

  "Well then, goodnight, Mei."

  "Mm-hm. Goodnight, Natsume."

  That night, Miss Mei slept very well.

  Gcell