Another two months had passed.
It was the weekend, and Makoto's group was training in the palace's training ground. The Kessoku Band girls had also arrived, each with their Pokémon.
By now, their Pokémon had all evolved into their final forms.
For example, Ikuyo's Fennekin, after several months of training, had evolved into Delphox.
But after evolving into its final form, Delphox wasn't as popular as before.
You see, before, thanks to its excellent appearance, Fennekin was the darling of the girls, even more popular than Pikachu. The girls loved holding and petting it the most.
However, after it evolved into Braixen, the number of people who wanted to pet it decreased significantly.
And after it evolved into Delphox, there was even less to say.
Seeing this change, Makoto couldn't help but chuckle.
He could understand why in the anime, Ash and his female companions didn't like letting their Pokémon evolve.
After all, cases like Charmander evolving into Charizard, where 'the appearance becomes stronger with each evolution', are rare.
Most Pokémon, after evolving, end up with an appearance worse than before, which is hard for many appearance-oriented fans to accept.
At that moment, Makoto was having a Pokémon battle with Ikuyo.
Ikuyo naturally sent out her only Pokémon, and her ace, Delphox.
Makoto, on the other hand, sent out Pochita in its puppy form.
"Delphox, Mystical Fire!"
Ikuyo shouted nervously.
"Pochita, Tackle."
Makoto gave the order with a smile.
Pochita's four short legs kicked off the ground, and its entire body shot out like a cannonball.
The Mystical Fire shot by Delphox was like a thin sheet of paper in front of Pochita, shattered by its head-on charge. The flames splattered and dissipated into the air as sparks.
"..."
Ikuyo's eyes widened.
And when she heard Makoto call out 'Pochita', Bocchi, who was holding a Jigglypuff and had a Ditto on her head, stood up instinctively, thinking Makoto was calling her… because her nickname was 'Bocchi-chan'. (T/N: In RAW, Bocchi-chan and Pochita has the same homophone.)
"Not you."
Nijika quickly pushed her back down.
"..."
Bocchi blushed and shrank back, burying her face in Jigglypuff's body.
Jigglypuff, squeezed by her, cried out 'Jiggly-puff' twice. Ditto's beady eyes were fixed on Pochita in the battle arena.
"Pochita, Chainsaw Slash."
Makoto continued giving orders.
This was a name Makoto had 'copied' from Zacian's [Behemoth Blade].
Instantly, the chainsaw on Pochita's head, which was originally only half a meter long, suddenly extended to a length of seven or eight meters, like Ichimaru Gin's [Shinso].
The chainsaw spun at high speed, emitting a piercing whine. As Pochita twisted its neckless body, it slashed down at the target.
Just as the chainsaw was about to split Delphox's body in two—
Delphox was so frightened its fur stood on end, its eyes wide open.
Ikuyo behind it screamed directly.
Fortunately, at the critical moment, Pochita stopped in time. The chainsaw halted less than a centimeter from Delphox, then slowly retracted.
The chainsaw contracted, reverting to its 'small antenna' form.
"Delphox is unable to battle. Pochita wins. Therefore, the victor of this battle is Nishikawa Makoto."
Yamada Ryo, the guest referee, announced expressionlessly, with her Marill following at her heels.
Ikuyo and Delphox both sat down on the ground, tears welling up in their eyes.
"I... I never want to have a battle with Makoto-sama again..."
Ikuyo said tearfully.
Delphox nodded vigorously beside her.
Makoto walked up with a smile and pressed down on Ikuyo's head.
"Let's battle again later."
"No!!"
Ikuyo shook her head like a rattle drum while hugging Delphox.
The other girls watching found this method of 'commanding pets to fight' very interesting.
Yui, who already owned a pet, had sparkling eyes. "It would be great if we get a chance to go to that Pokémon World Nijika mentioned someday..."
Just then, Yu walked over with his phone.
"Senpai, a phone call."
When Makoto took it, it was from Ichika.
"Makoto, can you come to the set? It's time to shoot the kissing and bed scenes."
Makoto hung up instantly, said 'I'll be right back' to everyone, then activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and disappeared from the spot.
In an instant, Makoto arrived at the set of White Album 2.
When they saw Makoto appear out of thin air, everyone on the set was shocked.
"Ma... Makoto-sama..."
The director's voice trembled.
Makoto nodded, his gaze sweeping over those present.
Ichika stood in the center of the studio, wearing a white one-piece dress and a twintail wig. It was exactly the look of Ogiso Setsuna preparing to go on stage.
Standing beside her was a girl with long black straight hair, wearing a black short-sleeved dress and a pair of Martin boots.
The 'four-eyed' Toma Kazusa: Sakurajima Mai.
A national-level child star who debuted at six, became famous nationwide, and was now eighteen.
Behind her stood a middle-aged woman in a women's OL suit… Mrs. Sakurajima, who was also Mai's mother and manager.
Seeing the ruler of the country right in front of her, Mai, a former child star, couldn't help but feel nervous.
Her palms were sweating, her heart was pounding like a drum, but she still maintained a polite smile on her face.
"Greetings, Makoto-sama."
The Bunny Girl Senpai bowed slightly.
Makoto nodded, his gaze lingering on her face for a moment before moving on.
"Can we start?"
The director asked cautiously.
Makoto walked over to 'Kitahara Haruki', that is, his Shadow Clone… reached out, and patted the clone's shoulder.
Poof—
The white smoke cleared, and the Shadow Clone disappeared.
All the memories came flooding back into Makoto's mind.
"Makoto-sama, the scenes to be filmed today are the kissing scene with Nakano Ichika-san as Ogiso Setsuna, and the kissing and bed scenes with Sakurajima Mai-san as Kazusa Toma."
The director swallowed and asked:
"Which one would you like to shoot first?"
Makoto thought for a moment.
"I'll shoot with Ichika first."
After all, they knew each other better. He'd deal with the simpler one first.
Ichika's face turned even redder.
Mai stood beside her, head lowered, seemingly lost in thought.
While changing clothes, Makoto asked the director: "How has my Shadow Clone's performance been these past two months?"
The director's expression was somewhat awkward. He braced himself and said, "Pr... pretty good."
But honestly, he had wanted to change the script.
Because over the past two months, Makoto's Shadow Clone playing Kitahara Haruki hadn't captured the indecisive, 'nice guy' protagonist vibe at all.
The aura of a clearly and openly scoundrel like Ousawa Akatsuki from Hagure Yuusha was too strong.
He completely failed to portray the guilt and inner conflict of Kitahara Haruki's 'two-timing'.
It felt more like 'I'm cheating on you, so what? I'm doing you a favor'.
But the director dared not offend this lord, so he could only shamelessly lie.
Makoto looked at the director's face, which seemed to want to say something but held back, and didn't say anything either.
He had come with a 'just having fun' attitude anyway.
Afterwards, Makoto began filming the kissing scene with Ichika.
The lights were dimmed, and the cameras were aimed.
The director called 'action'.
Makoto walked up to Ichika, reached out, and gently lifted her chin.
Ichika's eyelashes trembled, her cheeks flushed.
She stood on her tiptoes—
And then froze.
"Cut."
The director called stop.
"Ichika-san, you're too nervous."
Ichika apologized, blushing. "I'm sorry, Director."
Makoto looked at her and asked, "Is this your first kiss?"
Ichika bit her lip and nodded, saying nothing.
If she were facing Uesugi Futaro, the indecisive harem protagonist from the original work, the sly Ichika might have teased him by saying, "You're overthinking it. Big Sister has kissed more boys than you can count."
But in front of Makoto, an 'old scoundrel', Ichika unexpectedly dared not lie.
She was afraid of giving Makoto the impression that she was 'experienced'.
After several consecutive 'cuts', Makoto thought for a moment, looked up at the clock on the wall, and shouted to the director:
"It's almost noon. Can we have lunch first and shoot again in the afternoon?"
The director nodded repeatedly.
"Of course, of course! Makoto-sama, please rest!"
The next second, Makoto took Ichika's hand and activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The two disappeared from the spot.
The crew looked at the empty studio and sighed, "Superpowers are really convenient..."
Ichika opened her eyes and found herself back in a room at Nishikawa Palace.
Makoto's bedroom.
That big bed... After the morning's battle, a certain ambiguous atmosphere still lingered in the air.
"Ma-Makoto..."
Ichika's voice trembled slightly.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"A few more kisses and you'll get used to it."
Makoto pulled her into his arms.
Then, he lowered his head.
And kissed her.
Not a light peck.
It was deep, passionate, and aggressive.
Ichika's hands initially pushed against his chest, but soon softened, and she unconsciously wrapped them around his neck.
As they kissed, they fell onto the bed.
Makoto's hands began to misbehave.
He unbuttoned Ichika's shirt.
Her fair skin glowed softly in the sunlight, and the black lace bra wrapped around a pair of full shapes.
He began his assault on those 'thunderous peaks'.
Ichika couldn't help but grab his hand.
"What... what are you doing?"
Her face was as red as if it were about to bleed.
"I seem to have noticed that you're a bit bigger than your sisters here."
Makoto said seriously.
"I want to personally verify if this is true."
In his previous life, when Makoto read the original work of The Quintessential Quintuplets, he remembered one detail clearly.
The five sisters were all the same height, but Ichika's bust size was exactly one centimeter larger than her four younger sisters'.
He had always wanted to personally test if this was true.
Ichika instinctively wanted to resist, but Makoto's hands had already reached up.
With no choice, she could only let him 'tease' her.