Another day passed in the blink of an eye. It had now been two days since Cynthia had left the Breeding House.
Victor woke up bright and early and, with the help of Gengar and the other Pokémon, finished the Breeding House's morning chores ahead of schedule.
He then had Dali go and pick up Shana, while he himself sat in the lounge area with the Vulpix in his arms. The rest of the Breeding House's Pokémon sat nearby, all of them quietly watching the television.
Today was the start of the Sinnoh League Conference, which would be broadcast live by a Rotom.
Victor held a small brush and gently combed the fur on Vulpix's back. When he got to its tail, he saw that the color was already slowly changing from white to red, though it still hadn't split into six separate tails.
He was confident that with his care and the rich nutrition at the Breeding House, it would soon become a true six-tailed Vulpix.
"Good morning, uncle! Good morning, everyone!"
Shana's voice came from the doorway. Victor turned and saw her holding a large bouquet of flowers as she slid down from Dali's body.
"Good morning, Shana. And to you too, Tinkerbell."
"Ching~"
Today, Shana had her hair tied in two cute buns on either side of her head. Paired with her beautiful princess dress, she looked utterly adorable.
She came over to Victor with the flowers, took the cup of honey water he offered, and drank it all in one go.
"Uncle, this is for you."
Victor looked at her as she gently pulled two flowers from her bouquet and handed them to him.
He took them. They were common wildflowers you could see on any roadside, their stems of varying lengths. The stems were slightly bent from being held so tightly in her small hand, and some of the petals looked ready to fall off.
"This one is for Gengar, this one is for Petilil, and these are for Dali, Erli, Sanli, Mime Jr., and Vulpix. The rest are for the Staravia that protected me yesterday."
Victor couldn't even tell Erli and Sanli apart, but Shana could identify them with perfect accuracy.
"Gengar—(◦˙▽˙◦)"
"Lili~"
"Machoke." x3
"Mime~"
"Yip~"
"?" The Staravia looked at the flower Shana gave it, momentarily stunned.
I get one too?
After she had given out all the flowers, Victor reached out and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Thank you, Shana. We all love them."
Shana's face broke into a heart-melting smile.
"Where did you pick such pretty flowers, Shana?"
"I saw them on the way here when Dali came to get me. I thought they were really pretty, so I had Dali take me over to pick some to give to all of you."
"Because I was thinking, if it wasn't for you, uncle, I might never have met Gengar and the others, or Tinkerbell. And I might not be this happy every day."
"So I wanted to repay you and everyone. But I'm too small, and there are a lot of things I can't do. So I'm going to work hard to do the jobs you ask me to do. And then I saw these pretty flowers, so I picked them for all of you. I hope you can all be happy every day."
Shana's face was flushed, and she paused for a long time as she spoke, but Victor and his Pokémon all listened intently, without interrupting her.
When she finished, the Vulpix jumped down from Victor's lap and came to her feet.
Victor looked at the flowers in his hand one more time, then gave them to Gengar, stood up, and scooped Shana into his arms.
"My little Shana, how can you be so cute?" Victor said, looking at her and laughing. "Did you know, this is your home. You don't have to think so much, okay?"
In his arms, Shana looked at Victor with her bright, watery eyes. "That's why I want you to be happy every day."
"We're happy when you're happy."
"Then I want you to be even happier. Every single day. Just like me and Tinkerbell."
"I want you to be even happier than when I hear the grandpas and grandmas who order tea praise me and the Breeding House."
Victor was stunned for a moment. He then reached out and playfully flicked her cute little nose. "Then you have to be even happier every day, too," he said softly.
Shana's eyes darted around, then she said with a crisp, clear voice, "Okay! Shana will be happier every day. Happier today than yesterday, and happier tomorrow than today!"
"Then uncle has to promise Shana that you'll be the same as me every day."
"Okay~" Victor replied with a smile.
"Gengar and everyone else, you have to promise too!"
All the Pokémon immediately cried out in agreement.
The heart of a child. The words they speak can touch one's soul in the most unexpected ways. Childlike innocence, childlike words.
After playing with Shana for a bit, Victor put her down. He then gathered all the flowers from the Pokémon, trimmed the stems with a pair of scissors, found a precious vase, and arranged them inside. He then tidied up the petals, and the bouquet looked quite beautiful.
This was the first gift Shana had given him and everyone at the Breeding House, so Victor placed it in the most prominent spot on the counter.
To the left was the group photo with Cynthia, and to the right was the one with Laura and the others.
Looking at Shana, who was now following him around, Victor put the vase down and picked her up again. "Shana," he said, "you know, I'm happy every day, ever since I came here."
He returned to the lounge area, sat her down on a chair, and then sat beside her, surrounded by all the Pokémon.
"Here, there's no boring, annoying socializing. There's no endless overtime, no constant scolding. Instead, I have you all, and Gengar, and this Breeding House. Every day, I just need to water the plants, loosen the soil in the garden, pull some weeds, have some afternoon tea, and make delicious food for all of you."
"This kind of life—sometimes playing with Petilil, sometimes play-fighting with Gengar, watching Dali and the others wrestle, teaching Mime Jr. how to cook, and then cuddling with Vulpix—I'm liking it more and more."
Who, after experiencing a grueling 9-to-9, six-day-a-week work life, could possibly refuse a life like this? Victor thought to himself.
The Pokémon listened quietly, but Shana was completely lost. She didn't understand most of what he was saying.
Seeing her furrow her brow as she tried to understand, Victor couldn't help but laugh.
He laughed for a moment, then patted her small head. "It's okay. You just need to know that I'm also very happy every day."
"Okay," Shana nodded happily.
That part she understood. Uncle said he was also very happy every day.
As for all the other things he had said, she didn't understand, but she planned to ask her parents about them when she got home that night.
Mom and Dad should know what it means, right?
Shana held the Petilil in her lap, with Tinkerbell, as always, perched on her shoulder. She gently stroked the Petilil's head with her small hand.
Ever since she noticed that Victor liked to pat her on the head, she, influenced by him, had also taken to patting the Petilil's small head.
Just as she was lost in thought, the sound of the opening ceremony cannon for the League Conference boomed from the television.
"The conference is starting," Victor's voice pulled her back to the present, and she turned to look at the TV.
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