After the girls finished bathing, changed, and came out, they found Makoto had already come out with Pochita, Ragnir, and Meowth.
He was wearing a loose bathrobe, holding a bottle of milk which he downed in one gulp, with his other hand stroking Meowth's head.
He looked exactly like Sakaki.
"So comfy, nya~"
Meowth stretched lazily, a look of enjoyment on its face.
Sakura, Ino, and the others found nothing strange about Meowth talking.
After all, in their view, the Pokémon of Kessoku Band were just summoned creatures.
But the expressions of Nijika, Bocchi, and the others were a bit subtle.
They hadn't expected Makoto to actually teach Meowth how to talk.
That's right. During a training session two years ago, Makoto had also had a 'Pokémon battle' with Ryo.
Although Ryo had lost badly at the time, she still took one of Makoto's suggestions to heart: teaching Meowth to speak human language.
The reason Makoto gave at the time was: how could Meowth not know how to talk?
The girls were confused. Why did Meowth absolutely have to talk?
But Ryo still took the suggestion to heart.
After that, she often took Meowth to learn starting from the hiragana.
Finally, a few months ago, Meowth officially learned how to talk.
"How about I give him to you? You two seem to get along pretty well."
Ryo watched Makoto petting the cat, her face expressionless.
Meowth's eyes immediately lit up.
His own owner always seemed to want to steal his money.
He sometimes suspected that if she ever got too poor to afford food in the future, would she sell him off?
"Pochita disagrees."
Makoto chuckled and stroked Meowth's chin, making Meowth purr and squint its eyes.
Whether it was because of the inherent cat-dog conflict or not, Pochita and Teddy Devil didn't really like Meowth. Whenever they met, they would hiss at each other.
"How can this be, nya..."
Meowth said dejectedly.
Compared to the unreliable Ryo, he wanted more to eat well and live well with Makoto.
Even if the colleagues weren't very friendly, he would accept it.
Makoto chuckled and stroked him a couple more times.
"Don't worry, with me here, Ryo won't sell you."
Ryo's eyes sparkled.
"Can you lend me some more money then?"
Makoto looked at her with a smile.
"Sure, but so far, you owe me a total of 3.5 million ryo. How about paying back what you owe first?"
3.5 million ryo.
That was no small amount of money. It was equivalent to the reward for a main A-rank mission.
One-tenth of Asuma's bounty.
Well, when put that way, Asuma was worth quite a bit.
Ryo looked around to make sure no one was watching her.
Then, she leaned close to Makoto's ear and whispered:
"I'll let you play with me tonight, okay?"
That's right. The other three members of Kessoku Band still didn't know that their teammate, who always borrowed money from them and never paid it back, had already gotten together with Makoto.
…
At night.
The lights had just been extinguished in Makoto's bedroom.
After fending off the seventh wave of attacks from Reze, Airi, and the others, Makoto leaned against the headboard, the girls sprawled messily across the bed.
Makoto extended his right hand, bent his index finger, and lightly tapped the bedside table twice.
Meowth, who was dozing outside the door, suddenly opened its eyes and pricked up its ears.
It immediately understood that this was Makoto's signal.
Meowth crept along the corridor on tiptoe.
It scurried to Ryo's room and gently scratched the door with its paw.
"Nya~"
After a moment, the door opened a crack.
Ryo poked her head out, glanced at Meowth, then looked toward the direction of Makoto's room at the end of the corridor.
"Shhh~"
Ryo raised her index finger to her lips, making a silencing gesture to Meowth.
Wearing only an oversized T-shirt and a pair of panties, Yamada Ryo quietly left her room and tiptoed down the corridor toward Makoto's room.
Meowth followed behind her but stopped at the door, taking on the duty of watchman voluntarily.
Inside the room.
By the light of the moon, Ryo saw the girls sprawled messily across the bed.
Even Ryo's normally expressionless poker face showed a hint of admiration. She walked to the bed, sat on Makoto, and said with feeling:
"Don't you ever run out of energy?"
A mischievous smile played on Makoto's lips.
"I was thinking recently of approaching the Akimichi Clan to get the secret techniques of their clan to teach to you all."
Saying this, Makoto reached out, wrapped his arm around Ryo's waist, and pulled her into his embrace. "Then you girls can experience a whole new sensation."
Ryo rolled her eyes beautifully, then let herself fall into Makoto's arms, burying her face in the crook of his neck, and whispered:
"Hurry up and give me some excitement... otherwise, I'm going to fall asleep."
Although she often stayed up late in the real world to compose music, this was just too late.
"Do you want the Sun Never Sets or the Female Levitation?"
Ryo thought for a moment. "Let's go with the high-angle cannon."
The moon outside the window quietly hid behind the clouds.
Inside the room, there were only muffled breaths and the occasional rustle of fabric.
Ryo desperately covered her mouth to avoid waking the other girls who had fallen asleep.
Her fingernails dug into Makoto's shoulders, her body trembling slightly.
The moonlight shone on her flushed cheeks. Her usually emotionless eyes were now covered with a hazy, misty film.
Seeing her like this, Makoto asked curiously:
"Why don't you publicize our relationship? They wouldn't mind."
Ryo signaled with her eyes for Makoto to pause for a moment.
When Makoto momentarily stopped, her complexion returned somewhat to normal, but she still kept her arms around his neck, leaned close to his ear, and whispered:
"Don't you think... the sneakiness makes it more exciting?"
Makoto was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh.
"It certainly does."
He lowered his head and kissed her forehead, a hint of admiration in his voice.
"As expected of someone who plays rock music, your ideas are really unique."
To be honest, when watching the anime in his past life, the impression that stayed with Makoto the most was Bocchi-chan, Goto Hitori, who became famous for her social anxiety.
But he never expected that the first one he got involved with would be the bad woman Yamada Ryo.
Not to mention anything else, Ryo often came up with all sorts of wild moves that suited Makoto's tastes. Even when not in bed, the two usually got along quite well.
With a suppressed, long moan from Ryo, the first round ended.
The two lay side by side on the bed.
Ryo turned on her side, propped her head up with one hand, and drew circles on Makoto's chest with the other.
"By the way."
Yamada Ryo suddenly spoke:
"When we were selected by the Reincarnation Game and entered the Pokémon World, the first place we arrived at was a small town called [Pallet Town] in the Kanto region. I felt like not a single Gym Leader in that region was serious."
Makoto looked at her with a half-smile, waiting for her to continue.
"After receiving our starter Pokémon from Professor Oak, we also encountered a kid who was late."
As soon as Makoto heard this, he knew who Ryo was talking about. He said with a grin:
"If we ever go back to the Pokémon World, we could follow him."
"Why?"
"Because we'll encounter legendary Pokémon."
After all, the title of [Legendary Pokémon Social Butterfly] wasn't given for nothing.
Ryo blinked. A glint of intelligence flashed in her usually emotionless eyes.
"Then why not just knock him out and tie him up by our side?"
Ryo wasn't someone who liked to make herself suffer.
Why did they have to follow that seemingly silly kid? If he could attract legendary Pokémon, why not just capture him and keep him by their side?
Makoto: "..."
Makoto was stunned for a while, then finally gave Ryo a thumbs-up. "You're amazing. That's so rock and roll."
Hearing this, Ryo cupped her slightly flushed cheeks in her hands, looking a bit shy.
This rare display of girlish shyness stood in stark contrast to her usual poker face.
Clearly, she quite appreciated this compliment.
Seeing her like this, Makoto's libido surged. He pulled Ryo into his arms.
"One more time."
Ryo turned around, lowered her head, and kept using that place to press against Makoto's mouth.
69, engage!