Chapter 294: Falling in Love

The hotel restaurant.

Baimu and Hikari sat facing each other, with Munchlax and Piplup beside them each happily devouring two cups of fruit parfait.

"I didn't expect you to be a Coordinator too, Baimu-san."

"Just call me Baimu."

He gave Hikari a friendly smile. "I didn't expect to run into you here either. You and your Pokémon are all excellent—your performance at the Contest was amazing. Especially Piplup—small in size but with an astonishing presence."

"Pip?"

Hearing someone call its name, Piplup pulled its head out of the fruit parfait and looked at Baimu in confusion, its short beak covered in ice cream, looking rather cute.

Realizing it had nothing to do with it, Piplup buried its head back in and kept eating frantically, afraid that if it didn't eat fast enough it would lose to Munchlax.

Munchlax, however, had no idea that the little penguin in front of it was competing in eating speed. Seeing it eat so fast, it assumed Piplup simply really loved the food.

"You're too kind." Hikari's cheeks flushed slightly as she waved her hand, but she was clearly pleased by Baimu's praise.

As the female lead of the Diamond & Pearl series, she was naturally confident, brave, and cheerful. As travel filled in her various gaps in experience, she increasingly shone with a radiance uniquely her own.

Meanwhile.

The Diamond & Pearl anime was also one of Baimu's particular favorites, so he had a very deep impression of Hikari.

He smiled and said, "No need to be so modest—I can still tell the good from the bad. Speaking of which, you've already finished the Contest in Canalave City, right? Or are you planning to register for one?"

Hikari's eyes lit up at his words. "We're about to go register! Let's enter together!"

"I don't mind, but…"

"Let's hurry and set off! Maybe we'll make it just in time to register!"

Hikari stood up in a hurry. Piplup caught the movement out of the corner of its eye and immediately tried to follow, but seeing Munchlax still eating unhurriedly, it was put in a dilemma.

Fortunately, Baimu helped it out.

"Don't rush. The Canalave City Contest just ended yesterday—even if you go, you can't register."

"Is that so? Ahahaha…"

Hikari sat back down, a little embarrassed.

Piplup let out a small sigh of relief and was about to dig in, only to see Munchlax had already finished its fruit parfait and was elegantly wiping its mouth.

It instantly petrified.

"Pip…lup…"

Two noodle-like tears rolled down its face. Dejected, it sat back down and kept eating, leaving Munchlax with a strange expression, thinking the little guy had some kind of illness.

Baimu then took out his phone and held the screen toward her:

"Of course, if you follow the city-level Contest bloggers on Pokéblog, you'll see the relevant information. You do have a phone, right?"

"Yes, yes!"

Hikari pulled a pink smartphone from her pocket, looking at Baimu's phone screen while operating her own.

"Sorry, I got too excited just now."

She was a little embarrassed, then excitedly tapped away at her phone again and said, "But this is my first time knowing the official Contest accounts have so many!"

"I only just figured all this out recently too."

Baimu put his phone away and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at the clear sky. "There's still six days until the competition—I hope we can finish as soon as possible—"

"Ah! So many views! So many likes! There are even comments from so many top Coordinators!"

The sudden shriek made his heart jolt.

He turned his gaze back and saw Hikari holding up her phone, playing a video of Munchlax performing the Flaming Cyclone Dance, her face full of astonishment as she asked, "So Baimu-san and Munchlax are actually such a famous Contest combination!?"

Without a doubt, she had also been recommended this related video.

"I told you, just call me Baimu. Those are just empty names puffed up by traffic—they don't really have much to do with actual strength."

Baimu gestured for her to calm down and pulled up clips of her performances that people had captured in various places. "Look, you have even more than me—it's just a gimmick."

"Really?"

Hikari skeptically compared the videos on the two phones. Munchlax's clearly had several times more views and likes than hers.

Ai Yue Shu Xiang

But she felt Baimu's words made a lot of sense.

"Really, I just finalized my theme and haven't even started practicing yet." The latter said with complete sincerity.

Hikari's interest was piqued again at his words. "Practice? Do you need my help? Why don't we practice together! A friend of mine once said, move first before you hesitate!"

Young people really are full of energy…

But Baimu still greatly valued her years of Contest experience, so he said, "Then I'll trouble you—will it be too much of an inconvenience?"

"No problem at all!"

Hikari said her classic catchphrase with a beaming smile.

Beside them.

Piplup had just finished its fruit parfait, its little belly swollen round, its eyes glazed as it stared at the ceiling. Seeing its Trainer stand up, it hurriedly tried to follow.

But it couldn't get up in one go, and went rolling across the floor with a gurgling sound, all the way to Munchlax's feet.

The latter politely helped it up.

"Mun?"

"Pip…lup…" Piplup looked at Munchlax's cute face up close, smelled the faint fragrance of perfume on it, and heard the gentle chime of the Soothe Bell.

In an instant.

This male little penguin fell head over heels in love.

"Pip~"

Its two eyes turned into heart shapes, and its cheeks flushed slightly pink.

Yet Bidoof found the fellow stranger and stranger — clearly a Water-type Pokémon, so why was its face so red?

"Piplup!"

Ash's voice recalled a sliver of reason to Piplup, but it had unquestionably been utterly captivated by Bidoof, edging toward its trainer while gazing back at Bidoof with lingering reluctance.

That strange look sent Bidoof scurrying to All Baimu's feet, tugging at the hem of his clothes.

"Bidoof!"

That Pokémon is so weird! Could you take a look for me!

"Huh?"

All Baimu glanced down at it, then glanced at Piplup's utterly lovesick expression and couldn't help laughing out loud, saying to Bidoof: "Your charm is too powerful — you've bewitched the poor thing!"

"Bidoof?"

Bidoof couldn't understand a word of that, assuming Piplup was just another fan like the people before.

Ash, hearing All Baimu's words, called out in utter embarrassment to Piplup — who was watching Bidoof even as it walked — "Get a grip! Piplup!"

"Pip—lup…"

Hearing its trainer's voice, Piplup briefly regained its senses — but only for a single second.

"Piplup!"

Its eyes were once again filled with hearts.

"Hahahahaha." All Baimu could hold it in no longer and burst into laughter.

Bidoof, annoyed, gave him a kick in a huff — it still hadn't figured out what was going on with Piplup, but its trainer was definitely up to no good.

Ash sighed helplessly, a smile tugging at his lips despite himself.

"In that case, you'd better put on a good showing later!"

"Piplup piplup!"

Piplup puffed out its chest, looking every bit the picture of "leave it all to me."