In the end...
Natsuhiko watched Hilona dash into her room like a gust of wind and couldn't help smacking his lips.
He really hadn't expected the cool, aloof Hilona to be hiding a girly heart.
"What are you laughing at?"
Right then.
Lance, already washed and dressed, appeared behind Natsuhiko.
"This early?" Natsuhiko was a bit surprised to see Lance.
"I usually get up at this time when I'm on missions. Besides, aren't you up too?"
Natsuhiko tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Lance got up early? Please, the guy basically didn't sleep all night.
Luckily, he was a Superpower User, so even if he didn't sleep all night, it wouldn't affect his energy much.
"Morning, Senior Natsuhiko."
Almost like they'd agreed on it beforehand.
Kona was up as well.
She was even holding a book in her hands, walking in from outside.
She'd probably already been outside reading for a while.
This was what a real top student looked like.
No wonder she was the current face of Silver Academy, and a future representative of the academic school of thought.
Born with excellent talent, and then adding hard work on top.
Being a stepping stone on Lance Champion's Road wasn't without reason.
"Morning, Kona." Natsuhiko smiled and greeted her as well.
When Kona walked over, Lance wanted to say hi too, but she just turned and showed him the back of her head.
Lance's raised hand froze awkwardly in midair.
Creak——
Hilona's door slowly opened.
Hilona, the blush on her face not yet fully faded, walked out as well.
Everyone greeted her, and she responded to them one by one.
Only when she saw the deliberate, half-smiling look on Natsuhiko's face, Hilona also turned to show him the back of her head.
Lance nudged Natsuhiko with his elbow and whispered, "What's up with them?"
Natsuhiko rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"How would I know."
Lance couldn't help smacking his lips.
Women really were mysterious creatures.
"You're all up so early."
The last one to appear at the door was Flint, fidgeting with his cuffs.
Judging from how energetic he looked, he must've slept pretty well last night.
Indeed.
This newly built Sakuragi Research Institute actually had pretty decent housing conditions.
Seeing everyone else up so early, Natsuhiko couldn't help sighing.
Don't fear geniuses; fear geniuses who work hard.
These guys all belonged to that batch of people with abnormally excellent talent, and they were all this hardworking—no wonder they'd achieve big things.
Lance's rich battle experience, Kona's solid knowledge reserves, and Flint's Money Power.
Hilona might not be the strongest among them in experience, knowledge, or Money Power, but she was the most well-rounded, not weak in any category.
The only reason she didn't stand out was because the people she was compared to were all too excellent.
Since everyone was already up, Natsuhiko gave up on the idea of catching up on sleep.
They went and had breakfast together.
Then they headed to the lawn in the back yard of the institute to prepare breakfast for their Pokémon.
That was when Lance suggested they have a battle as morning training.
For Lance, morning training was a great way to fire up his Pokémon for the new day.
He rarely went back to live in Yanmo City.
So most of the time he stayed at the Kanto Alliance Headquarters.
And there was only one person who'd drilled this habit into him.
Sheba.
Only a fellow battle maniac like Sheba could get along with a mission maniac like Lance.
Sometimes, even Sheba's enthusiasm would be a bit too much for Lance to handle.
Lance's suggestion got everyone's approval.
After all, to them, battling was basically like everyday routine.
Except for Natsuhiko.
Feeling all their gazes land on him, he couldn't help twitching his lips.
Especially when each of them had that meaningful smile on their face.
He had every reason to suspect they'd secretly coordinated this in advance.
He just had that "the scheming peasants want to harm their emperor" kind of feeling.
Natsuhiko quietly exhaled, and his answer actually exceeded their expectations.
"Sure."
"Huh?" Kona pushed up her glasses and looked at the other three. "Senior Natsuhiko.... agreed?"
Natsuhiko just smiled and didn't bother explaining.
He wasn't that ordinary Trainer who could only look up to them anymore.
After his "journey through space" with Rayquaza, Natsuhiko also wanted to see how big the gap between him and them was now.
Purely talking about main Pokémon, overall strength-wise he was definitely still behind.
After all, his Monferno and Latios were only at Elite Level.
But if they were comparing just the top few of their main Pokémon, Natsuhiko felt he still had a shot.
His reaction really did go beyond what they'd expected.
But since he'd agreed, all the better.
"Then let's keep it simple: one-on-one round robin?" Lance said.
Meaning everyone would at least battle each of the other four once.
Since Natsuhiko wasn't refusing, everything else would be easy to arrange.
After drawing lots, the five of them each got a number.
Natsuhiko drew number five, while one through four went to Lance, Kona, Hilona, and Flint, respectively.
Which meant—
Lance would first battle Kona, Hilona, Flint, and Natsuhiko in turn.
Then Kona would battle the three who came after her in the order.
And so on.
Natsuhiko, with number five, only needed to wait and receive challenges.
The Sakuragi Research Institute was newly built, and the yard out back was huge. The institute's Pokémon hadn't been moved in yet, so there was plenty of space for them to battle.
So.
Natsuhiko, Flint, and Hilona sat under a nearby tree, watching Lance and Kona standing on opposite sides not far away.
When Lance learned that he and Kona would be battling first, his face was full of inner conflict, all the excitement from before gone. Kona, on the other hand, was in high spirits, looking like she couldn't wait to get started.