Hearing Nijika describe the situation in the Pokémon World, many girls showed envious expressions, yearning for that utopian, wonderful world.
Then, Chika, holding Pichu and somewhat reluctant to let go, asked with shining eyes, "So, Nijika-san, do the other two members of your band also have these animals called 'Pokémon'?"
Hearing Chika's form of address, Nijika froze.
'Already using her first name so directly?'
But seeing Chika's enthusiasm, Nijika didn't want to refuse, and besides, she was the wife of Makoto.
She graciously called the other two members of the band, Yamada Ryo and Kita Ikuyo, and had them come over.
Soon, both arrived, and at the enthusiastic invitation of Makoto's wives, they took out their Poké Balls and released their respective Pokémon.
Yamada Ryo had a Marill and a Meowth.
The color of the former matched her hair well.
As for the latter...
Makoto noticed the shiny gold coin on this Meowth's head, and Yamada Ryo's eager expression beside it, and immediately understood why she had caught it.
Sensing her owner's covetous look, Meowth quickly covered the coin on its forehead and stepped back two steps, as if saying, 'This is mine! I won't give it to you!'
Bocchi's Jigglypuff was the same one from the original series that always drew scribbles on Ash and the others.
And seeing this Meowth, Makoto also couldn't help wondering if it was the Meowth from Team Rocket.
So, he crouched down and asked it, "Can you talk?"
Meowth tilted its head, looking at Makoto with a face full of question marks, as if saying, 'Are you deliberately trying to start something?'
At these words, despite their respect for Makoto's influence, the Kessoku Band quartet and Makoto's wives all showed speechless expressions.
Ikuyo scratched her cheek and explained, "Commander, Pokémon can't talk."
'Well, it seemed this Meowth wasn't the one from Team Rocket.'
'But that was fine... if Team Rocket's trio lost Meowth, they would lack their soul.'
Ikuyo's Pokémon was Fennekin, one of the Kalos region starters. Since it's extremely cute, it also caught the attention of many girls.
The Nakano quintuplets directly held the little one in their hands, relentlessly 'roughhousing' with it.
Even the cool-tempered Saeko and the socially anxious Kotonoha couldn't resist reaching out for a pet.
"Bocchi-chan, why don't you bring out your other partner?" Kita Ikuyo suddenly reminded.
Nijika froze, then vigorously clapped her hands, "Right, right! Bocchi-chan, show the Commander that one too."
"Eh? Eh, eh, eh?" Bocchi's body stiffened, and she didn't know where to put her hands and feet.
"..."
"Don't dawdle!" Nijika laughed and gave her a push, then turned to explain to Makoto, "It's not good to keep them in their Poké Balls all the time, right? Besides, there are no outsiders here."
Under the combined urging of Nijika and Ikuyo, Bocchi finally, trembling, pulled out a Poké Ball from her pocket.
"Co... come out..." Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's.
A flash of white light, and a blob of purple-pink, soft as jelly, appeared before everyone.
That thing had no fixed shape. Its body lay limply on the desk, its two little black beady eyes spinning around, like living play-doh.
Makoto looked at Bocchi, who turned into a blob of goo every time someone started talking to her, and then at this Ditto, and couldn't help but smile.
'This pair really looked alike.'
"This one is..." Itsuki's eyes widened.
"It's called Ditto," Ikuyo answered with a smile, speaking for Bocchi.
Hearing its name, Ditto's body suddenly bounced up. Then 'poof', its body began to stretch, transform, and reshape.
Within two seconds, a perfect Pichu appeared before everyone.
"Pichu pichu!"
The transformed Ditto made a sound almost identical to the real Pichu's voice, but with one distinct difference… this Pichu had beady eyes.
"Wow—"
Another collective exclamation.
The real Pichu poked its head out from Chika's arms, looking at this beady-eyed version of itself, tilting its head and letting out a confused "Pichu?"
Ditto tilted its head in response.
The sight of the real and fake 'Pichu' looking at each other melted everyone's hearts.
The beady-eyed Pichu noticed its owner curled into a ball. Its body reverted to its amorphous pink jelly form and began to transform again.
This time, it turned into a beady-eyed version of Bocchi.
"Wah! Don't do that!" Bocchi hurriedly threw herself at her Ditto to stop it.
"Hehe! I feel like if Bocchi-chan is too afraid to attend a signing event in the future, Ditto can go in her place," Ikuyo said, her eyes smiling.
"Can it!?" Bocchi looked pleasantly surprised.
For someone with her extreme social anxiety, being able to reduce contact with others would be wonderful.
Nijika immediately objected, "We still need to help Bocchi-chan overcome this condition."
The joyful atmosphere continued on this side. Over in the other corner, Chika was holding Pichu, looking at the four… Nijika, Ikuyo, Yamada Ryo, and Bocchi.
Each of them wore a radiant smile on their face, their eyes shining when they talked about Pokémon.
Chika suddenly fell silent.
She looked down at the Pichu in her arms. Pichu also looked up at her, its little paw gently patting the back of her hand.
"Pichu?"
Chika didn't answer.
Because a thought had suddenly popped into her head.
"Um, wait a minute!"
Chika suddenly looked up.
"Since Nijika-san and the others went to a different world from us, does that mean... in the future, we might also be separated from Makoto-kun and go to different worlds?"
The laughter stopped abruptly.
The air in the entire classroom froze at this moment.
Yotsuba's hand holding Fennekin stopped. The little red creature looked up in confusion.
Then, everyone realized the seriousness of the problem.
Since the Reincarnation Game could simultaneously send different people to different worlds, then—
It was very likely that the next time they were selected by the Reincarnation Game, they might not go to the same world as Makoto.
That is to say, the next time they entered another world, they would no longer have Makoto's protection.
Although most of them now possessed supernatural powers:
Magma-Magma Fruit, Flame-Flame Fruit, Bake-Danuki Fruit, Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Soul-Soul Fruit, Brush-Brush Fruit, Heal-Heal Fruit...
They knew very well that when real danger came, the one who truly stood in front to block the most dangerous enemies was still Makoto.
Also Yu, Beam, Four Gay Bros… these battle-hardened 'monsters'.
If one day, they were randomly scattered across ten different worlds…
No Makoto…
No Yu…
No one charging ahead of them…
Could they survive?
The Kessoku Band quartet looked at each other.
They watched these wives of Makoto, who had been laughing just moments ago, now each with empty eyes, as if their souls had been sucked out.
Nijika, the gentlest of the four, opened her mouth, wanting to say something to comfort them, but she didn't know what to say.
Because she had never experienced such a thing.
And Nijika realized she didn't have the ability to comfort them.
Perhaps the next one to face danger could be them.
After all, in the Pokémon World, they had never faced a life-or-death trial.
That world was far too peaceful.
Now, seeing the reactions of the wives of Makoto, Nijika and the others truly realized just how dangerous the worlds these people had experienced before were.