As night fell, Natsume, having worked tirelessly all day, decided to order takeout for himself.

  Tonight, he didn’t feel like cooking.

  Making Pokéblocks was enjoyable, but cooking…

  Well, everyone knows that cooking involves far more than just frying up a dish.

  Buying ingredients, washing, prepping, frying, pting, and ing up afterward—frying is merely the easiest part, while the others are the real time and energy drain.

  Since he’d been busy all day, Natsume just didn’t feel like going through all that tonight.

  “Thanks, Delibird.”

  Taking the delivery from the Delibird, Natsume waved at it in thanks.

  The Delibird perched on his windowsill gave him a polite wave iurn.

  Uhe courier Delibird from before, this one wasn’t carrying a rge bag.

  Delibird’s tail doubles as a pouch, though its capacity is somewhat limited. That’s why the previous Delibird o carry a bigger bag for extra items.

  Watg the Delibird disappear into the night sky, Natsume sighed in refle.

  “W te delivering food… must be tough.”

  He suddenly regretted not the Delibird a Pokéblock.

  When it came to Pokémon, Natsume had always been fiving and fond. Even for Pokémon just passing by, he wouldn’t hesitate to show them kindness.

  Humans, however? Natsume wasn’t nearly as patient or kied.

  It’s like how the faults of humans—ziness, obesity, round faces, or small eyes—might annoy people, but those same traits on animals? They’re endearing.

  A zy cat gets cuddled, a chubby dog gets hugged... but no one hugs you (strikethrough).

  Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Natsume pced the steaming takeout on a small round table.

  “Leee.”

  Nearby, a shiny Furret, having just fis daily training, y sprawled fortably on the floor.

  Its body curled into a perfect C shape, making it the perfect makeshift couch for Natsume to lean against.

  “You’ve grown bigger, haven’t you?”

  Leaning against the shiny Furret’s fluffy body, Natsume rubbed its fuzzy head.

  It seemed noticeably rger tha first arrived at the farm. By now, its body length had exceeded the norm for its species by at least half.

  Despite its increased size, the Furret’s speed hadn’t dropped at all. In fact, it was so fast that it could now rival Persian for the title of the farm’s swiftest Pokémon.

  “Leee?”

  Have I?

  The shiny Furret tilted its head in puzzlement. It wasirely sure. Maybe?

  Growing bigger didn’t feel as obvious to it. After all, who really notices themselves getting taller day by day?

  But it did notice that it had beeing faster tely.

  In fact, it could now outrun most of the Pokémon on the farm during their training sessions.

  Great! The training’s w!

  Tomorrow, I’ll train even harder!

  Resolved, the shiny Furret silently vowed to keep pushing itself.

  ---

  After quickly finishing his meal, Natsume followed his usual routine of cheg on the Pokémon around the house.

  The Mino, fresh from ing, was taking a bath.

  Lopunny was tidying up.

  The Hisuian Zorua yfully chasing Togepi.

  Corvisquire was engrossed in watg videos on its Poképhone, occasionally mimig li found amusing.

  Persian and Butterfree were deep in versation, as usual, sharing topics they always seemed to have in on.

  Then there was Zorua… pying some sort of wobble game on top of an egg?

  “Wait a sed…”

  Natsume stared at the se, dumbfounded.

  “Where did you get that egg?”

  He didn’t recall any Pokémon on the farm ying an egg retly.

  Surely, no Pokémon would secretly y an egg, abandon it, and disappear, right? That seemed way too far-fetched.

  “Suo suo!”

  Perched atop the egg, Zorua raised a paw, as if trying to expin.

  It wasn’t stolen! Zorua found it at the bottom of the ke. It was just doing a good deed!

  “Found it?”

  “Suo suo!”

  Zorua nodded enthusiastically. It had sensed a familiar presend followed it to iigate.

  “What do you mean by a ‘familiar presence’?”

  “Suo.”

  You know, like someone I know!

  Zorua scratched its head, struggling to articute.

  It had never bee at expining things, and being asked to do so now felt awkward.

  It was like asking Togepi to expin why it always demanded a “friendship fee” from its Lopunny senior—some things were just hard to put into words.

  “Even after hearing that, I still don’t get it,” Natsume muttered, scratg his own head in frustration.

  One was bad at expining; the other was bad at uanding. Both sides found the versation exhausting.

  Finally, after some bad-forth, they reached a clusion:

  “Fet it. Let’s not overthink it for now.”

  Natsume decided to let it go.

  The egg was here, so it was here.

  “Just make sure you take care of it properly.”

  He trusted Zorua enough to hahe responsibility.

  “Suo suo!”

  Zorua eagerly nodded. It was thrilled with this arra—o expin further!

  While it didn’t particurly enjoy babysitting, pying with the egg was fun.

  For now, Zorua y atop the egg, wobbling bad forth like it was on a rog horse.

  “Alright, enough for today. Time to sleep,” Natsume said.

  He retrieved Togepi’s old incubator, filled it with nutrient fluid, and carefully pced the egg inside.

  Behind him, a rge crowd of curious Pokémon gathered, all eager to see the mysterious egg.

  “Tomorrow, I’ll o buy more nutrient fluid... and some berries too.”

  Looking at the egg soaking in the green fluid, Natsume began pnning tomorrow’s errands.

  With his schedule set, he slung an arm around the shiny Furret’s ned dragged it upstairs like a giant sack of fluff.

  The Furret, utterly spent from the day’s activities, didn’t resist—it was like a soft, furry pillow being dragged along.

  Following them upstairs were Togepi, clutg its b, and Lopunny, carrying its pillow.

  These two insisted on sleeping with Natsume every night.

  Lopunny had its own pumpkin-shaped beanbag chair to sleep in, while Togepi and the shiny Furret always led in bed with Natsume.

  At least, that was the current arra. Togepi might ge its mind after evolving.

  Gcell