Pokémon from Galar

"Yes, this kid must be Mary, haha~ I often see you two walking together on TV, you two are really close."

"Hello."

After a brief chat, the uncle started the engine and drove off towards Mugan Town. Mary glanced back at the increasingly smaller pickup truck. Although it was just a trivial encounter, she gained a real understanding of the atmosphere of this small town.

"Speaking of which... Yuri, did you go to school in Mugan Town before?"

"Yeah, it's not far anyway. Everyone can just go to Mugan Town whenever they need to do something."

The road was not short, and the two walked for quite a while before finally seeing the edge of the Misty Forest, which meant they had almost reached their destination.

"Once we arrive, that's my home."

Pointing to a detached house, Yuri seemed excited, perhaps because she hadn't been back for a long time, or perhaps because Mary was there. She pulled Mary along for a few steps, then pushed open the gate and went inside.

The spare spaces in the yard were filled with flowers, which seemed to have been carefully tended. All the plants were growing very well, and if you looked closely, you could see a few tiny buds mixed in with the others, pretending to be real flower buds.

The walls and eaves were covered with vines, which actually enhanced the atmosphere.

Just as Mary was looking around, Yuri had already taken out her key, opened the door, pushed it aside, and turned to look at Mary.

Come in, come in~

"oh oh--"

Turning her gaze away from the budding hibiscus basking in the sun, Mary nodded and stepped inside somewhat hesitantly.

"Excuse me..."

Yuri's house is a single-story structure, but it occupies a considerable area. The spacious walk-in closet connects to courtyard rooms on both sides. A woman with a side ponytail and wearing denim overalls walked over.

"Welcome! You must be Mary-chan. Thank you for taking care of Yuri these past few days."

"No, no, it's me here, sorry to bother you—"

This time, it was Mary's turn to experience the nervousness of meeting the parents, and Yuri next to her was obviously thinking the same thing. Not only did she not try to help her out, she even pretended not to notice and squatted down to rummage through the shoe cabinet for suitable slippers.

"Mom, are there any new slippers inside?"

"Yes, the top row is all new."

"Oh, Mary-chan, is this okay for you?"

Yuri took out a pair of slippers that looked a lot like Morbeco's and handed them to Mari.

"Thank you."

Although the overly cute design made her a little uncomfortable, Mary wasn't a picky person; slippers were nothing to her.

The three of them entered the house, and a little Snorlax suddenly appeared out of nowhere, pouncing towards Yuri. Yuri immediately crouched down, opened her arms, and hugged the little Snorlax, rubbing it between her hands with practiced ease.

Yuri's mother recommended a fruit platter that was placed next to Mary, which looked very fresh.

"Yuri, Mommy's going to the ranch now. I'll leave Mary-chan in your care. I'll be back later to cook. What does Mary-chan like to eat?"

"I understand—fried food will be fine for dinner!"

Yuri crouched down and answered on Mary's behalf.

"No way! I'm asking Mary, not you. Besides, you're still eating. You've been traveling for half a year, and I feel like you've gained weight."

"I haven't gained weight! I've clearly grown taller!"

Caught in the middle, Mary forced a helpless smile.

"Well, Yuri and I have similar tastes, so just make it as usual."

"I see, I understand."

After listening, Yuri's mother nodded to indicate that she had an idea. She then gave Yuri a few more instructions before pulling the little Snorlax from Yuri's arms and leaving the house with it.

Chapter 367 A Little Time for Two

"Hmm~ what should I do?"

After sending the Pokémon off to roam freely, Yuri took Marie to her room and put down her backpack.

Yuri sprawled out on her bed without any regard for appearances, staring at the ceiling and asking a question.

"Let's rest for a while."

Mary looked around the room with some curiosity. Compared to her own room, it had a much more girlish feel to it.

Two little dragons carrying Nebula whizzed past the window. Mary could only hope that the two of them wouldn't chew up the flowers and plants outside.

Yuri's ranch seems to be right behind the house, but there are no windows in the room facing the ranch, so Mari can't see what's behind it.

She picked up a book from the table next to her. It was an outdated fashion magazine with a beautiful model on the cover and a well-maintained Tanabata bird. It did look like something Yuri would read.

"Want to watch TV?"

Yuri sat up in bed, glanced at Mary who was sitting at her desk, and then patted the spot next to her.

"You even have a separate TV in your room?"

Mary walked over, held her skirt, and sat down, then leaned against the shoulder of the person next to her.

"It's more comfortable to watch games on a big screen occasionally."

As Yuri answered, she picked up the remote control from the bedside table, pressed the switch, and the TV turned on. The screen showed the Pokémon League channel, and the program playing was introducing Hop.

"Wow—this editing is pretty cool."

Yuri, for reasons unknown, spoke in a strange tone next to Mary.

"...If I'm not mistaken, it might be the two of us next. Are you sure you still want to laugh at Hop?"

"Oh, let's go outside for a walk instead of watching TV!"

Upon hearing Mary's words, Yuri instinctively tried to turn off the TV, but Mary quickly stopped her. Mary grabbed Yuri's hand as she tried to press the remote control, and placed her other hand beside Yuri, making it look like she was about to tackle Yuri to the ground.

"Don't be so shy. I often see our discussions online, why are you shy now?"

"No, that's different! This is an introductory program broadcast on official television!"

Yuri's cheeks gradually flushed red, as if she still wanted to struggle a little. Unfortunately, after using her waist and abdomen, she not only failed but also lost her balance due to the excessive movement, causing her to fall onto the bed along with Mary.

Staring at the shy girl beneath her, Mary smiled, leaned down, kissed her cheek, and then sat up.

"Alright, there will definitely be more shows like this from now on. Unless you quit being a trainer, you'll have to get used to it."

"Hehehe—it's like you're used to it!"

For reasons unknown, Yuri sat up and deliberately bent over, bringing her face close to Mary's gaze and sticking out her tongue in a disgusted manner.

Mary gently pushed Yuri's forehead away, then turned her head with a half-smile to meet Yuri's eyes.

"Thanks to someone, I've become quite used to seeing all sorts of images of myself on social media platforms."

"Cough—! Oh... well, that's truly something to celebrate!"

Yuri shrank her neck. Although she had been reprimanded by Mary before, since Mary hadn't specifically said she wasn't allowed to, Yuri went even further. Later, she wasn't even satisfied with just photos, and she would occasionally take short videos of her daily life and post them on her personal social media account.

Although Mary knew about it, she was careful with the details and didn't bother to interfere. Besides, it was best to keep this kind of thing to herself as a trump card. She could easily make Yuri back down by revealing it at the right time. It was incredibly useful.

Yuri, being rather straightforward, never realized Mary's extremely 'insidious' little scheme. Instead, she smugly continued to add dirt on herself on her social media accounts.

Seeing Yuri quickly back down, Mary smiled inwardly, raised her arm and extended her palm, gesturing to Yuri.

"Waaah..."

Yuri understood what the gesture meant. She had seen many similar short videos or comics online recently. Although she had fantasized about it, the object of her imagination was obviously Mary, not herself!

I glanced at Mary cautiously, still with that ambiguous smile. Although I knew Mary would never get angry over such trivial matters, she would still be very timid when it came down to it.

From Mary's perspective, she could see Yuri's slightly trembling body and her ears gradually turning red, clearly indicating that she was engaged in a very intense internal struggle, which made Mary feel exceptionally happy.

It was originally just a little joke, but now it makes people want to see Yuri's next reaction.

After a few seconds of stalemate, Yuri finally moved. She placed her hands on her chest, tilted her head back slightly, her closed eyelids trembling slightly, and carefully rested her chin in Mary's palm.

A strange feeling slowly rose between the two of them.

We've played with each other's cheeks and chins many times before, let alone touched them. But today, when one of us leaned in like a puppy, it gave us both a very novel and exciting feeling.

He subconsciously scratched Yuri's chin twice with his index finger.

"Nya—! It's so itchy..."

The sudden attack on her weakest point caused Yuri to involuntarily make a strange and embarrassing sound.

Just then, the TV screen switched from Hop to Yuri's introduction. Accompanied by a lively background music, Yuri, who had been edited to look quite cool, was suddenly entangled with the soft and gentle girl in front of Mari.

Unfortunately, before Mary could even speak, Yuri couldn't bear the overwhelming shame and suddenly curled up into a ball, rolled onto the bed, and rolled to the corner of the wall, covering her face with her hands and turning her back to Mary as if she had fallen into a state of self-isolation.

Seeing this, Mary moved her body back to Yuri's side, reached out and touched Yuri's head without saying a word, just gently stroking her fur.

My gaze returned to the television, and I continued watching the video that I hadn't paid attention to before. However, for some reason, the scenes of Mary and Yuri's two battles appeared more and more frequently in the latter half of the video, and Mary even showed her face several times in the video.

While battle highlights inevitably include footage of opponents, Marnie's appearance rate is still several times higher than other gym leaders, which is strange. Who edited this video? Could it be that they're shipping her and Yuri as a couple?

Chapter 368 On the Ranch

The TV program had been changed to a detective drama. Yuri was lying on the bed, her head resting on Mary's knees, watching the plot unfold intently.

Mary didn't intend to disturb her. She simply placed her hand on Yuri's chest, where Yuri's fingers entwined around it, and quietly enjoyed the plot as well. However, since Mary hadn't seen the first few episodes, even though the plot was quite engaging, she couldn't immerse herself in it as much as Yuri.

Just as she was mentally planning to catch up on what she had missed, Rotom's phone suddenly rang twice and floated in front of Mary. It was an email from Alola.

Mary raised her hand and tapped the screen, quickly checking the contents before a smile unconsciously crept onto her lips.

"Where did the email come from?"

The ringing bell may have distracted Yuri, because although she was still staring at the screen, she suddenly asked Mary a question.

"Dr. Kukui's information is the specific flight details. It's a flight that departs late tomorrow night and arrives in Miyamon City the day after tomorrow morning."

"Eh—"

Mary lowered her head, looked at Yuri's profile, and asked with a smile:

"You seem a little unhappy."

"..."

Yuri silently turned her head to look at Mary, then quickly looked back.

“Because if they come, Mary, you’ll have to go home.”