Rowan and Old Liu arrived a bit later than the rest of the team. They flew directly from the airport and then took the hotel shuttle over. They had actually gotten in a few hours ago.
The others were currently resting in their rooms, while Li Han and Jia Qiong were waiting downstairs for Rowan and others.
Old Liu had managed to sneak into the reimbursable list this time. He technically wasn't on the list, but since someone had booked a double room, it wasn't easy to question Old Liu staying in the same room.
It saved him some lodging fees, which could be considered a bit of compensation.
"We'll be heading out for a team dinner soon. I've already reserved a table at a hotpot place, and the car is ready too. Are you guys coming?
If not, remember to get a receipt when you order take out, otherwise it can't be reimbursed."
As she said this, Li Han glanced pointedly at Old Liu. She didn't say anything else, but the meaning was clear.
The expenses of Rowan and Pokémon could be claimed, and if it's him, joining the team dinner was fine, but ordering separately was not.
Even though Old Liu had a boxed lunch on the train earlier, the exhaustion still nudged him toward joining the dinner.
Rowan, after agreeing, went to drop off his luggage in his room.
The room was over 50 square meters, had a small balcony, and even a private bathtub in the bathroom. It looked pretty well-equipped.
Li Han's "not too excessive" standard seemed fairly broad; apparently as long as it wasn't a suite, it was within acceptable bounds.
In the room, there was also a travel guide and a warning manual.
The travel guide was nothing special. Most big tourist cities had those. The warning manual, however, was much thicker.
It noted that Pokémon like Weezing could accidentally trigger smoke detectors due to the gas they emit. Charmander and Ponyta, whose bodies have visible flames, could easily start fires and therefore had to be kept in their Poké Balls.
Umm.. there was also a warning specifically for locals:
[Please keep an eye on your Pancham. Damaged property must be compensated at full price.]
"It's really not easy raising Pokémon in a building, Nekomi is much less trouble... Nekomi? What are you doing?"
Just as Rowan praised his own Pokémon for being low-maintenance, he noticed that Nekomi had already started her "relocation."
She gestured with her hand, lifted the nightstand between the two beds and moved it aside, then effortlessly pushed the two single beds together.
"Meow~ (Much better now~)"
Ever since they entered, Nekomi had found the hotel room a bit displeasing. She hadn't realized why at first, but eventually figured it out. Unlike the double bed back at their rented apartment, this place had two single beds.
Actually, everyone on the Varsity Team was sharing rooms between two people. Even Li Han, who was a data analyst, was rooming with another female teammate.
It was just that when Rowan requested a double room all to himself, Li Han didn't object; after all, he was clearly one of the team's carry. Having a room to himself wasn't a big deal.
Plus, during the tryouts, Li Han had witnessed just how special that Meowscarada was. For a while, she even suspected that Nekomi had multiple "catsonalities," given how quickly her attitude could change.
So in the end, they booked a double room just for Rowan.
As Nekomi rolled around on the bed, pretending she just wanted more space, Rowan hadn't even said anything yet when the doorbell suddenly rang.
"Brother Rowan! The car Brother Han called is here, we're heading out!"
There were quite a few graduate students on the Varsity Team. Rowan's age only put him somewhere in the middle, but because his Pokémon was so strong, he'd been promoted to the "brother" status.
Li Han had booked two vehicles. The main team and substitutes were split according to strength. Not because she was playing favorites, but because this was a rule set by their university.
When the Varsity Team went out, they had to travel separately and even keep a certain distance between vehicles. Li Han and Coach Jia were also in different vehicles.
Every seemingly absurd rule usually came with a bizarre story behind it. Reportedly, years ago, the school's "most promising" team was traveling together in a chartered vehicle when they got into a traffic accident. Although no one died, everyone was injured and they had to miss the competition.
Because they never competed, there was no way to prove just how promising they really were. But ever since then, this rule has been strictly enforced.
"We've arrived. This hotpot place serves Pokémon too, there's even staff to help Pokémon cook their food."
There weren't many humanoid Pokémon to begin with, and even fewer with hands as agile as humans, so some kinds of food were nearly impossible for them to eat on their own.
Ordinary food could be eaten by hand like finger food, but with hotpot, it's not like they could just reach in and grab it. That led to the rise of specialized restaurants like this one, though of course, they charged extra for the service.
If you wanted your Pokémon to enjoy the same treatment, it inevitably came with a cost. Still, Pokémon could earn money too, so it generally balanced out.
The hotpot restaurant's shop sign was a Pangoro hugging a giant iron pot. You could also see 'Pangoro' inside the restaurant, but those were actually staff in costume.
The entrance featured an artificial stream filled with many koi fish swimming inside. As Rowan walked past, he felt like quite a few employees were watching Nekomi closely, probably worried she might suddenly crouch down to catch a fish.
The moment they crossed the small wooden bridge, a pungent, slightly sharp aroma hit them.
"This place is beef tallow hotpot, huh? Feels like it might be too spicy."
"Don't worry~ our peppers are super fragrant, not too spicy~. If it gets too spicy, you can just switch to a yin-yang pot*. We've got red broth and clear broth, take your pick." [TN: *Hot pot with a divider, containing spicy soup on one side, mild soup on the other]
There were also locals on the Varsity Team. This restaurant had actually been picked by one of them together with Li Han.
"Hey, Brother Rowan, how much spicy can you handle?"
"McSpicy Chicken Burger."
"Huh?"
"I think that kind of spicy."
That local team member didn't say anything else; after all, with that kind of taste buds, to exaggerate a bit, one might starve to death around here.
In the end, Rowan was successfully assigned to the table with the mildest spice level. And then he learned what it really meant when people said a "yin-yang pot" was the biggest lie of them all.
Sure, the pot was shaped like a yin-yang symbol, but both sides were spicy pots. The clear soup was just a tiny portion in the middle.
And apparently, this was already an improvement. Even older places only had a nine-grid spicy pot, with no middle section at all.
It was definitely fragrant though, and spicy enough too. In the end, he still managed to eat his fill.
As for Nekomi, her cat tongue didn't like spicy or hot food, but she had plenty of the free ice jelly.
When it came time to pay the bill, Rowan noticed the restaurant was running a discount voting campaign.
"What's this?"
"Brother Rowan, you really never pay attention to this stuff, huh? It's a vote to decide the location of the next Academy Cup."
The other members of the Varsity Team were much more familiar with things like this. Even though this year's competition was called the Pangoro Academy Cup, the only constant part of the name was "Academy Cup."
In the past, there had been competitions like the Flygon Academy Cup, the Mawile Academy Cup, and so on, each named after the most representative Pokémon of the host location, and the hosting site itself was determined through a Pokémon vote.
"I see... What Pokémon represents Baiyun? I'll vote for that one."
If Meowscarada had been on the list, Rowan would've voted for Meowscarda without hesitation. But since it wasn't, he'd rather have dim sum than spicy hot pot. [TN: Don't know what the author is hinting at here.]
Preferably the kind that isn't pre-made.
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