At noon, after lunch, Xia Hunao and Xiao Meng were sitting on the grass. Next to Xia Hunao was a pale humanoid life form, which, from a rational perspective, could be identified as Feng Bing.
The reason for skipping the previous class and lunchtime was mainly due to the extremely inhumane treatment Feng Bing had received earlier. He had sat alone in the first row while the other classmates sat neatly in the back, staring at him, making him feel incredibly uncomfortable throughout the entire class.
When class ended, the classmates surrounded Feng Bing, preventing him from leaving until he agreed to treat the entire class to lunch. This meal consumed half of Feng Bing's monthly living expenses. Looking at his empty wallet, the fact that Feng Bing was still alive could only be attributed to his strong psychological resilience; he was a true man!
Xia Hunao patted Xiao Meng's hand, "Xiao Meng, give him a Heal Pulse."
It turned out that Heal Pulse had no effect on psychological damage. Feng Bing's face remained pale, and he was like ice, living up to his name.
Xia Hunao felt somewhat guilty, as he was the cause of this predicament. He walked over to Feng Bing, "Brother Bing, don't be like this. At worst, I'll cover your meals for the rest of the month."
Feng Bing still showed no reaction. Xia Hunao's eyes darted around, "Brother Bing, do you have a girlfriend?"
Feng Bing did react to this question. He shook his head, then sat there like a plaster statue.
Xia Hunao stood up and leaned close to Feng Bing's ear, "How about I introduce you to a girlfriend, my friend?"
Hearing this, Feng Bing seemed to come back to life. He turned around and excitedly clasped Xia Hunao's hand, "Assistant Instructor Xia, are you serious?"
Xia Hunao wasn't prepared for Feng Bing's outburst and fell back onto the ground. "Whoa, you scared me. Xiao Meng, give me a Heal Pulse."
Feng Bing quickly helped Xia Hunao up, "Assistant Instructor Xia, are you alright? I got a bit excited just now."
"Was that excitement? I thought you were going to get a girlfriend, not get married."
Feng Bing rubbed his hands, "Well, I haven't dated anyone before. Who were you planning to introduce me to, Assistant Instructor Xia?"
"Hmph, hmph, hmph, hmph."
Xia Hunao mysteriously pulled a golden invitation from his pocket, "Look, what's this?"
Feng Bing's eyes turned green as he looked at the invitation in Xia Hunao's hand. "This, is this the legendary Rose Gathering invitation? How did you get it, Assistant Instructor Xia?"
Xia Hunao put the invitation back into his pocket. "Just now, while we were eating, Chu Xiaodie gave it to me and said I absolutely had to go."
Feng Bing's gaze followed the invitation into Xia Hunao's pocket. Xia Hunao felt a chill down his spine from Feng Bing's stare, "I say, Brother Bing, with that look in your eyes, I suspect you might not need a girlfriend, understand?"
Feng Bing quickly retracted his gaze. "Assistant Instructor Xia, does that invitation say if one can bring someone?"
Xia Hunao shook his head, "Dream on! It's a girls' gathering, why would they let you in?"
Feng Bing pointed at Xia Hunao, "Then why can you go?"
Xia Hunao stroked his chin, "That's right, why *can* I go?"
After a moment of awkwardness, Xia Hunao said, "Now that you mention it, I don't think I should go. We'll talk about introducing you to a girlfriend another time."
Feng Bing panicked, "No, don't! Please help me, Assistant Instructor Xia."
"Don't worry, don't worry. I already promised you, so I wouldn't go back on my word, would I?"
That evening, Xia Hunao looked at the invitation in his hand, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door before him.
"Assistant Instructor Xia is here, Assistant Instructor Xia is here."
The girl who opened the door excitedly announced this to the other girls inside. The next moment, Xia Hunao was ushered into the room by a group of girls.
The room's decoration was nothing special. There was a round table with refreshments on it. Beside the table were some cushions, and that was all.
Xia Hunao sat among the girls, looking at the bevy of faces before him, "Um, why would you invite me to something like this?"
Chu Xiaodie handed Xia Hunao a cup of tea, "Let me introduce the girls present first. This is Qin Peipei. Next to her is her sister, Qin Huanhuan..."
As Chu Xiaodie made the introductions, Xia Hunao gained a basic understanding of the dozen or so ladies present, at least remembering who was who, though the system was primarily responsible for that.
After introducing all the girls present, Chu Xiaodie finally explained the Rose Gathering to Xia Hunao.
The Rose Gathering was essentially a get-together for these first-year female students to exchange experiences on dressing up their Pokémon and themselves. Because all attendees were first-year girls, and when asked, they uniformly said they were going to a gathering, interested boys gave it the name Rose Gathering.
However, Xia Hunao's confusion remained: why was he invited to this Rose Gathering?
Chu Xiaodie said with some embarrassment, "Actually, it's not you we invited, but rather your Pokémon, Xiao Meng. And we believe Assistant Instructor Xia won't tell anyone."
Xia Hunao, while not entirely agreeing with the reason, understood it. After all, his Xiao Meng was so adorable.
He released Xiao Meng from her Poké Ball and said to her, "Xiao Meng, would you like to play with the ladies for a while? Let them dress you up nicely, and we can take pictures for Yu, how about it?"
Xiao Meng tilted her head, and after some thought, happily went to play with Chu Xiaodie and the others.
Watching the group of girls and the Pokémon around them, Xia Hunao couldn't help but think, "Isn't this just a watered-down version of a Pokémon Contest?"
Of course, Xia Hunao's description was a rather generous understatement. Considering the Pokémon Contests in the series, how many cuts would it take to reduce them to the scale of this Rose Gathering?
Xia Hunao rested his chin on his hand, looking at the girls, his thoughts rapidly forming and merging before he stood up.
Qin Peipei, seeing Xia Hunao stand up, asked the girls around her, "What is Assistant Instructor Xia doing?"
The girls watched as Xia Hunao took a tablet from his backpack, tossed it into the air, and Rotom suddenly appeared, flying up to merge with the tablet in front of Xia Hunao. Rotom-Tablet, present!
Xia Hunao's coordinated move with Rotom drew applause from the surrounding girls. To be honest, it was quite cool.
"You guys carry on. I just have something I need to look up."
The girls continued with their Rose Gathering, while Xia Hunao was engrossed in something on the tablet.
As for that cool move earlier, it could only be said that every accomplishment came with tears.
That was something Xia Hunao had practiced with Rotom when he had nothing else to do. Throwing his phone and merging mid-air. This maneuver was quite difficult. So why didn't he practice it on his bed? If he dropped his phone on the bed, it would be fine. But this silly boy insisted on practicing on the floor tiles. The tiles were unharmed, but the phone screen was beyond recognition.
Fortunately, it was a phone Xia Hunao had already discarded, so he didn't care how badly it broke. And it proved their training was effective. Whether it was a tablet or a laptop, Rotom could successfully merge with anything Xia Hunao threw. In fact, Xia Hunao felt Rotom could even merge with a diesel generator if he threw one.
Returning to the story, two distinct scenes gradually formed in the room where the girls were having their Rose Gathering. On one side were the girls chattering merrily, and on the other, Xia Hunao sat in silence.
Finally, Xia Hunao threw a Poké Ball, "Rotom, return."
Everyone looked at Xia Hunao. Xia Hunao just smiled mysteriously, "You all carry on, don't mind me."
Xi Qingqian, sitting next to Chu Xiaodie, asked, "Isn't it a bit rude to leave Assistant Instructor Xia hanging like this?"
The girls chatted and discussed in hushed tones for a while, then returned Xiao Meng to Xia Hunao, "Thank you, Assistant Instructor Xia."
"Are you all done? Then I'll be heading back."
After everyone dispersed, Xia Hunao and Xiao Meng walked home together in the evening breeze. Chu Xiaodie, however, stopped Xia Hunao, "Um, Assistant Instructor Xia..."
"Didn't we say you could call me anything you want in private? Did you need something, Xiaodie?"
Chu Xiaodie took another invitation from her pocket and handed it to Xia Hunao, "We'd like Xiao Meng to attend the next Rose Gathering as well, and we hope..."
Xia Hunao nodded, "I understand. Confidentiality, right?"
"Mm."
"Of course, I can agree. However..."
"Assistant Instructor Xia, please speak. As long as it's not an unreasonable request, we'll agree."
Xia Hunao smiled and turned to leave, "We'll talk about it later."
...
The next day, as Xia Hunao was eating breakfast in the cafeteria with his three Pokémon, someone suddenly sat down in front of him. (With Froakie and Rotom: You still remember to eat with us?)
"I say, Brother Bing, what's wrong?"
Feng Bing, with dark circles under his eyes, asked, "You said you'd introduce me to a girlfriend. Did anything come of your trip to the Rose Gathering yesterday?"
Xia Hunao blinked, "Oh dear, I completely forgot. What should we do?"
Feng Bing clasped Xia Hunao's hands, "Assistant Instructor Xia, you can't do this to me! I waited all night yesterday."
Xia Hunao nodded empathetically, "Yes, I also had a sleepless night. So many beautiful young ladies. At the Rose Gathering yesterday, ahem, I promised them I would keep it a secret."
Seeing Feng Bing's expression, Xia Hunao continued, "Alright, don't look like that. I didn't say it's off. You need to be patient and wait a bit longer. You know my planning abilities; it just takes time. Just wait with peace of mind."
After breakfast, Xia Hunao rushed to Tong Ruo's office and started operating his computer.
"Hmm, this needs to be done like this. This part should be more intricate. Damn, I'm only realizing now that I have zero artistic talent. System, could you lend a hand?"
The system crackled in Xia Hunao's mind, "Leave it to me. Let me show you the system's power."