In the living room, Bewear firmly pressed Kawaki down onto a freshly wiped chair, refusing to let him help. It happily continued sweeping the dusty daycare by itself.
Kawaki: ...
The little sun above Bewear's head was still glowing brightly—proof that this Pokémon was still in a cheerful mood.
But since there was only one broom in the daycare, even if Kawaki wanted to help, there really wasn't much he could do.
Now that he had decided to reopen the daycare and inn, there were a few things he had to prepare before officially opening for business.
As everyone knows, the most important factor for a successful shop is its location.
That alone almost determines the flow of customers.
While a daycare might be a bit different, if it was tucked away in some obscure corner, no Trainer would go out of their way to stop by.
While Bewear cleaned, Kawaki stepped outside to check the area.
Right in front of him was a wide road stretching into the distance.
According to the original memories, this daycare sat on the main road between Meteor Falls and Fallarbor Town. The road led straight to one of the most well-known adventuring destinations—Meteor Falls—and to Fallarbor Town.
Standing here, the daycare was very noticeable. Unless Trainers purposely avoided the route, they would almost certainly pass by.
Fallarbor Town was a small agricultural town in the northwest of Hoenn, best known for its Contest Hall, which attracted a constant stream of Coordinators from all over.
Meteor Falls needed no introduction—it had rare Pokémon, ancient fossils, and meteorites. It attracted Trainers daily.
In other words, this daycare would never be short of customers.
As Kawaki was thinking, he spotted three young Trainers—two boys and a girl—walking toward him from the end of the road. They seemed to be passing through.
Seeing the open doors of the daycare, they looked curious.
"Huh? There's a daycare here?"
"Looks kind of abandoned..."
They noticed Kawaki standing at the entrance.
"There's even a Pokémon inside cleaning!" the girl carrying an Eevee said in surprise.
Turns out Bewear hadn't found Kawaki in the living room and had followed his scent outside.
Kawaki's eyes briefly landed on the girl's Eevee.
[Pokémon: Eevee]
[Gender: Male]
[Ability: Adaptability]
[Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Growl, Covet, Sand Attack]
[Status: Healthy]
[Mood:]
[Joy: -20]
[Friendship: 0 (You and this Pokémon are strangers)]
[Description: Another troubled—Eevee from the heavens.]
Floating above the Eevee's head was a little dark raincloud, pouring rain down with a splash splash sound.
This Eevee... really wasn't in a good mood.
The girl asked curiously, "Hi! Are you the owner of this daycare?"
Kawaki gave a slight nod. "Yes, hello. That's me. But the daycare is still being set up and not ready to take clients yet. If you're interested, please come back the day after tomorrow."
The girl made a note of it and left with her companions.
Kawaki figured he needed to head to Fallarbor Town as soon as possible.
The daycare was completely empty. They didn't even have food for dinner.
And it wasn't just food—they also needed supplies, bedding, tools, and so on.
But Fallarbor Town was at least half a day's walk away. If he left now, he wouldn't make it back until late at night...
Kawaki frowned, feeling a bit troubled.
If only he had a Pokémon for transportation.
"Gu~?"
Bewear noticed the frown on its little master's face immediately.
Kawaki said, "I want to go into town, but it's so far away. If we walk, we won't make it back until midnight."
"Gu..." Bewear fell deep into thought. A moment later, a lightbulb popped up over its head: "Gu!"
It had an idea!
Before Kawaki could react, Bewear leapt over and scooped him up in its fuzzy arms, then charged off at full speed.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa!!"
Kawaki was startled.
Wasn't this the way Bewear hugged Team Rocket in the anime?!
"Gu~!"
Bewear cheerfully reassured Kawaki that everything was fine and kept sprinting ahead.
In the northwest of Hoenn, the towering Chimney Mountain stood tall, occasionally shedding volcanic ash. The ash enriched the surrounding vegetation, making the land ideal for farming.
The lush Fallarbor Forest surrounded the volcano. Nourished by ash, the fertile soil drew settlers who built an agricultural town with small farms—Fallarbor Town.
"Food, bedding, tools to care for Pokémon, changes of clothes..."
He only had 20,000 PokéDollars—he had to spend every coin wisely.
"Food, bedding, tools to care for Pokémon, changes of clothes..."
Kawaki silently went over his shopping list in his mind.
Still, now that he thought about it, shouldn't there have been some kind of compensation for the shipwreck that claimed the original owner's parents? Why were there no memories of that?
Kawaki sighed, wandering through the department store with Bewear.
Bewear followed behind, pushing a shopping cart.
Kawaki kept piling things in:
10 packs of instant noodles, 20 bags of ramen, a bag of flour, 30 eggs, a jug of cooking oil, 2 sticks of ham, 10 potatoes, 5 comforters, and a big tin of Pokémon biscuits and snacks.
On top of that were all kinds of seasonings and daily necessities.
"We should also get some vegetable and fruit seeds!" Kawaki thought of the courtyard where the berry trees were planted.
With that, they could be self-sufficient in vegetables and wouldn't need to buy them from town—saving money.
"Too bad we don't have a Grass-type Pokémon."
According to the original memories, Grass-type Pokémon could use their moves to help care for plants, making vegetables grow faster and healthier.
Still, there were plenty of Grass-types in the forest near the daycare. He'd just go catch one later, Kawaki thought.
To do that, he'd need Poké Balls. A regular red-and-white Poké Ball cost 500 PokéDollars. Though it pained him, Kawaki gritted his teeth and bought two for the sake of the daycare's future.
He had the main ingredients now, and bedding too.
That meant the inn section could officially open for business.
It would allow them to host guests and offer simple meals—like ramen.
Once they earned some money, they could start upgrading the guest rooms, improving bedding, expanding the menu, and buying more items.
As for the daycare side, Kawaki—as a transmigrator—had plenty of knowledge about Pokémon. With his cheat, he figured teaching a few moves wouldn't be an issue at all.
Looking at the fully loaded cart, Kawaki's heart filled with determination.
This was the foundation of his survival in the Pokémon world!
Before heading back, Kawaki bought a small chalkboard and a box of chalk. On the board, he wrote the current services available at the daycare:
[Daycare Services]
[Current Available Move Tutoring: Baby-Doll Eyes]
Once he placed this at the door the day after tomorrow, Trainers who were interested would naturally come in.
He wasn't worried about getting customers. For Trainers, the more moves a Pokémon could learn, the more tactical options they had in battle.
Even a seemingly useless move could be the key to turning a match around.
No one would mind their Pokémon learning one more move.
On the contrary, if someone else's Pokémon knew something yours didn't—that made a big difference.
On the way back, Kawaki sat in the shopping cart, while Bewear pushed him and all the groceries effortlessly.
By the time they returned to the daycare, the sky was already dark.
In the kitchen, Kawaki whipped up two bowls of ramen with eggs and ham for himself and Bewear.
He wasn't a bad cook. The fact that Bewear drank every last drop of broth told him all he needed to know.
"Gu~!"
Bewear was overjoyed.
Little Master had grown up! He was amazing now!
Though it didn't know exactly what had happened, as a Pokémon, Bewear could tell its little master was getting better. That was enough to make it happy.
If things stayed like this, they wouldn't have to worry anymore, Bewear thought.
After a long day of work, Kawaki was exhausted. He locked the doors to the daycare and went to bed early.
After he fell asleep, Bewear stood by the bed, watching him happily for a while before curling up to sleep nearby.
Kawaki had a dream.
In the haze, he saw three figures.
Two adults held hands with a boy who looked about ten years old, standing in front of him, gazing quietly.
The man beside him sighed and said, "From now on, we'll leave that child in your care."
So the original didn't want to live... not after seeing his parents one last time after death...
"Please, take good care of Bewear!" the boy said with an apologetic face.
"You're going to run the daycare? That's wonderful... Oh, right, we have a gift for you as a thank-you," the woman added.
"That gift was originally meant for little Kawaki. Now it's yours. We didn't expect he'd do something so drastic just to find us... sigh. You just turned ten, didn't you? That gift should be arriving soon."
"Please accept it."
"Thank you. We're counting on you to help Bewear!"
"We're leaving now. We're heading to the spirit world."
With that, the boy took his parents' hands, turned, and disappeared into the mist.
Kawaki jolted upright, heart pounding wildly.
Holy crap—ghosts?!
Bewear woke up too. Seeing Kawaki's face pale with fright and his heavy breathing, it immediately understood.
Little Master had another nightmare?
Bewear got up, walked to Kawaki's side, and gently pulled him into a hug.
"Gu~"
Don't be scared, Little Master. I'm right here.