Chapter Fifty: The Way They Converse

If they spoke face to face, Ralts would probably only communicate with Tang Yi through questions and answers, and might not reveal her true thoughts. With this in mind, Tang Yi gave up on confronting Ralts directly. This way was fine; if she couldn't say things out loud, it was still nice to chat like this. It was much better than Ralts bottling everything up inside and feeling troubled all day on her own.

After all, in just two days' worth of browsing history, Ralts had left messages that contained a lot of information Tang Yi had never known before. For instance, about making money—he suspected Ralts had considered it for a long time but was too embarrassed to mention it. That day, when he said the scholarship was thanks to Ralts and that she should get half the money, it was sincere, but still something he had said on a whim. He hadn't expected Ralts to take it to heart, and even start eyeing the prize money for the selection tournament.

Compared to the school's eight-thousand-yuan scholarship, if they could place in the final round, the provincial education department was far more generous than the school; aside from awarding extra points for the college entrance exam, the annual scholarships were always quite substantial.

The next day, Tang Yi attended school and came home as usual; their interactions hadn’t changed at all, as though the conversations in the browsing history had never happened. That night, Tang Yi once again opened the browser to check the search records.

[Watched the video—the battle was so intense!]
[But I won't give up. I don't want to be a lazybones like you!]

Tang Yi felt a little offended. The reason he chose to be so laid-back was to avoid overburdening her; he didn’t want to force her into battles she wasn’t suited for. He’d rather be a peaceful, easygoing “lazybones.”

He continued scrolling.

[What I’m going to do is a secret for now.]
[Don’t get any ideas about my money.]

Ralts was starting to have her own little secrets. Tang Yi sighed, realizing that the girl would indeed grow up someday. The search history was sparse today, just like the previous two days, with only message records and no other searches.

Clearly, every day Ralts timed it perfectly, waiting for a window before Tang Yi got home from school to delete her daytime search history, leaving only the messages behind. Once he got used to this, Tang Yi found it quite entertaining. Checking the browsing history each day felt a bit like underground agents exchanging secret information—mysterious and thrilling.

Thus, on the third day—Friday—Tang Yi purposely asked his homeroom teacher for leave over an hour early, using the same excuse: Ralts’s mood had been unstable lately, his parents were busy with work and couldn’t come home early, and he was worried about his Pokémon companion, so he wanted to leave school early to check on her.

His story was full of holes. With the college entrance exam approaching—even if the pressure here wasn’t as high as elsewhere—the exam was still taken seriously. In the past, the homeroom teacher would have flatly refused such a request, maybe even called his parents.

But recently, the teacher had been in a good mood, having just received word that her performance in the school’s internal evaluations was excellent this semester, and her raise would be higher than in past years. She owed it all to Tang Yi—his outstanding performance in the first round of the selection tournament had elevated her as well.

“All right, go ahead. Take good care of Ralts,” the teacher said gently, approving his request and reminding him, “Don’t neglect your studies. And once Ralts is better, don’t forget her training. There’s just over a month before the second round of the tournament.”

Surprised that his tentative request was approved, Tang Yi happily thanked her and dashed out of the school.

He was planning to give Ralts a surprise.

When he got home, Tang Yi opened the door quietly, tiptoed toward his study, and gently pushed the door open, calling softly, “Ralts, I’m home.”

“Ah!”

There was no joy—only shock. Ralts was truly startled, like a frightened rabbit. As she turned, she swung her hand, and a ball of blue light controlled the cup on the desk, sending it in a graceful arc through the air—straight into Tang Yi’s forehead. The cup then fell to the floor and shattered.

So much for his last water cup—gone.

Groaning and clutching his forehead, Tang Yi saw that when Ralts realized it was her trainer, she became even more flustered, hastily pushing back her chair to stand.

Hoping for a scene where the remorseful girl would rush over to check his wound and fuss over him, Tang Yi was instead met with Ralts blocking the computer screen with her body and swiftly clicking away with the mouse.

Hey, I just got hit by a cup here!

Tang Yi was both disheartened and bewildered. He didn’t even need to look to know Ralts was frantically deleting browsing history, just like a spy destroying evidence after being exposed.

Only when she was done did Ralts come over and apologize sheepishly, “I accidentally used telekinesis. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s okay, you didn’t know it was me.”

“But why are you home so early today? It’s not even five yet.” Ralts glanced at the clock in confusion—she really kept track of Tang Yi’s schedule.

“Because I was worried about you. I didn’t know if you were really feeling better, and I was afraid you’d be lonely or overthink if you were home alone. I wanted to come back early to check on you. The homeroom teacher almost didn’t let me, but I argued my case, and my concern for you even moved her, so she let me leave early.”

“Oh.”

After his elaborate explanation, Tang Yi waited a moment, but the girl only responded briefly and blinked her big eyes at him.

Tang Yi felt a little indignant. “Uh, you could at least act touched.”

“Oh, right, I’m so moved,” Ralts blinked even more, trying to look touched, but only managed a silly, adorable expression.

Tang Yi sighed in exasperation. “Your acting is terrible—it couldn’t be any more fake.”

Ralts tilted her head, troubled. “But it’s hard. You must be lying—I can sort of sense it.”

Tang Yi was pleasantly surprised. “Your ability to sense emotions has gotten stronger!”

“I didn’t really feel much. Is it because I didn’t notice before when you lied to me?”

“Uh… of course not, I’ve never lied to you. I meant other things.”

Tang Yi grew alert—good grief, he’d almost dug a pit for himself again. Luckily, this time he caught himself just in time.