Sure enough, Cogita had seen through him.
When she hadn't mentioned it earlier, Elias had begun to think he was just overanalyzing—maybe she hadn't noticed after all.
Maybe she'd only gotten angry because the courtyard had been left in a mess.
Cogita cherished that little yard deeply. Her anger would be understandable.
But clearly… he'd been clinging to wishful thinking.
Unlike Dianna and Diancie, Cogita had indeed noticed something off.
"What do you mean?" Elias asked after a pause, feigning ignorance in one last attempt to evade.
Cogita didn't answer, simply staring at him expressionlessly.
For a moment, an eerie silence settled over the room.
Realizing he couldn't bluff his way out, Elias deflated and waved a hand.
"Fine, fine."
"I'll admit it—part of what I said earlier was to fool Dianna and Diancie."
He didn't dismiss it entirely as lies.
Because most of it had genuinely been the truth.
Cogita didn't dispute that.
She had already more or less guessed which parts were true and which weren't.
Besides…
That wasn't what she cared about.
"You're going to do something dangerous again, aren't you?"
Cogita ground her teeth as she asked him. As she spoke, her eyes widened slightly—she was genuinely angry.
Elias froze.
Cogita's guess was spot-on. Provoking Yveltal was indeed dangerous.
But to him, that didn't matter anymore.
The reason was simple—whether he risked his life or not, he only had one year left.
Rather than waste it, he might as well do everything he could to help Diancie clear up future trouble.
But…
Seeing Cogita's reaction, Elias opened his mouth but still didn't tell her the truth.
Doing something dangerous at least left a slim chance of survival.
If Cogita found out he was doomed in a year regardless, he didn't dare imagine what she might do.
"It's not anything that dangerous."
He sat down weakly on the edge of the bed.
At that, Cogita's fingers tightened again, crushing the blanket beside her into a ball.
She knew it. There was no way she could persuade Elias to give up.
She'd long understood his temperament completely.
Because of that, Cogita knew even more clearly—whether it was those two Pokémon running into trouble or herself facing difficulties,
Elias would always throw himself into helping with everything he had.
Under those circumstances, she simply couldn't bring herself to stop him.
"Cogita?"
Seeing she hadn't spoken after so long, Elias called her name with concern.
He worried he'd made her so angry she'd gone blank.
Hearing him, Cogita turned and shot him a sulky glare.
Thankfully… she still didn't say anything else.
"Go back. I'm tired. I want to sleep."
Returning to her expressionless look, Cogita flicked her hand in dismissal.
Instead, Elias quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Okay."
He nodded and headed for the door.
Just as he reached for the handle, Cogita's muffled voice came again.
"If you run into trouble, you can come to me. If I can help, I'll do my best."
Her voice was calm, carrying faint confidence.
"Alright. I know."
Elias smiled as he answered.
Cogita hated trouble. If she could avoid it, she absolutely would.
Only when avoidance was impossible would she grudgingly drag herself up and half-heartedly deal with it.
Taking trouble proactively onto herself like this was nearly unthinkable.
...
[Cogita didn't tell Dianna or Diancie what she knew.]
[From that day on, her life seemed to return to calm. Every day, she still stayed in her little courtyard, drinking tea and reading.]
[The only difference was… she now set aside some time each day to keep you company.]
[Diancie, meanwhile, began training seriously.]
[Her former laziness was hard to see now. She approached every session with earnest focus.]
[Diancie didn't want to become the sinner of her people, and she didn't want you risking danger.]
[Unfortunately, even though she steadily grew stronger—albeit slowly—]
[creating a giant diamond within a year was simply impossible.]
[Some efforts aren't rewarded by hard work alone.]
...
"Elias, I might need Gardevoir back for a bit."
"I need her to enter a tournament. This competition is really important—my other Pokémon might not be enough."
Holding the communicator, Elias listened to Diantha's excited voice through the receiver.
With the tournament approaching, she sounded particularly eager.
"Sure. I'll bring Gardevoir over on time tomorrow."
Elias smiled as he spoke, glancing at Gardevoir beside him with her ears pricked, obviously eavesdropping.
Thanks to the recent training sessions, Gardevoir had improved across the board.
He genuinely seemed talented at raising Gardevoir—he even knew precisely which muscles in her body tended to be tense.
The knowledge felt engraved into his mind.
Every time he massaged her, Gardevoir flushed bright red and melted limply to the floor.
Recalling that odd sight, Elias shook his head and pushed the image out of his mind.
"Okay—then I'll be counting on you, Elias!"
Diantha said happily.
Elias was usually busy, so even getting to see him through this opportunity was already a win for her.
As for Gardevoir's strength…
Diantha didn't think it would have improved by much.
First of all, Gardevoir had already reached Champion level.
Even if she'd only just attained it, that was nothing to underestimate.
For a Pokémon like Gardevoir, Diantha thought reaching Champion level was probably her limit, wasn't it?
To get stronger beyond that, slow accumulation over time was required.
Even Diantha herself couldn't push her to the next level in mere months.
And Elias, who'd never raised a Gardevoir before, was even less likely.
Thinking this, Diantha's lips curled into a smile instead.
She could already picture Elias standing before her, looking embarrassed.
With luck, perhaps she could draw him close, comforting him gently—and then personally teach him a few little tricks for raising Gardevoir.
If she did that, Elias would surely look at her with eyes full of admiration, right?
Just imagining it thrilled Diantha with excitement.
---
Diantha: A Champion-level Gardevoir should already be number one in the world, shouldn't she?