Another month passed, and Lumiere finally managed to muddle through his days as a babysitter once again.
After a period of recuperation, Eevee's body had mostly recovered. She had grown a little, and eating normal food was no longer a problem.
She was no longer wary of the other people living in the house, spending her days playing together with Rowlet instead.
Gible, traumatized from being beaten before, could only trail behind them meekly, full of grievance…
That morning, a cool breeze swept through, leaves rustling softly. Beneath the gloomy sky, a few raindrops fell quickly, sliding down the dark rain umbrella.
Hearing the splashing on the ground, two Buizel poked their heads out of the pool in the apartment complex park.
Seeing someone pass by quickly in front of them, they immediately dove back underwater, only resurfacing after a long while to enjoy the rain's nourishment.
Lumiere set his umbrella at the entrance of the Pokémon Center, patted the splashed water off his pants, then straightened his clothes before walking inside.
Logically speaking, today wasn't the weekend. That meant Lumiere should have been going to school to keep watch—so why was he at the Pokémon Center so early in the morning?
"Of course it's for a commission. What else would I be here for?" Lumiere answered himself in his head.
A little past five o'clock, that noisy bird outside the window had come back to sing again—this time bringing its buddies along—loud enough to drive anyone mad.
Rowlet was woken up by the noise, opened the window, and irritably fired off a Hyper Beam outside. Only then did things quiet down, but Lumiere could no longer fall asleep.
So he scrolled through his phone, browsing the Villain Mutual Aid Society app, filtering commissions within his area to see if there were any that could be completed within two hours.
After all, Cynthia started school at 8:30. Even though he wasn't a babysitter anymore, Rowlet and the others still needed breakfast, so the timing worked out perfectly.
And then, he just happened to see a newly posted commission related to the Pokémon School.
He quickly accepted it, paid the deposit, confirmed the meeting place with the other party, and headed out alone under his umbrella.
The commission content was as follows—
〔From Pokémon School — "Rowlet Is the Cutest" Commission: Due to family matters, seeking a trainer friend to substitute-teach for one day. Age 16+. Reward: 500. Details to be discussed in person. If no one accepts, this commission will be withdrawn at 9 a.m.〕
Teaching? Lumiere didn't dare think too deeply about it. But the only requirement was being a trainer aged sixteen or above—nothing else seemed to matter.
As for how old he actually was now… did that matter? Of course not. If he said he was sixteen, then he was sixteen.
Soon after, a somewhat burly red-haired man walked over.
Lumiere recognized him—it was the teacher at the Pokémon School who had a Decidueye. His name seemed to be Fanma.
Because of his extremely hardcore approach to teaching Pokémon battles, the students affectionately called him "Teacher Fanma."
When the man saw Lumiere, he said in surprise, "Aren't you Cynthia's bodyguard?"
"Even bodyguards have to earn extra cash."
"Got it. By the way, where's your Rowlet?"
"At home sleeping. So you're the one who posted the commission, right?" Lumiere asked.
Fanma spread his hands helplessly. "That's right. My wife's Gardevoir and Gallade somehow gave birth to a Machop, and now she suspects I cheated and wants a divorce. So I have to rush back to Canalave City to deal with it."
"???"
Lumiere spent a long time sorting that sentence out in his head and still couldn't fully process it. The information density was just too high.
All he could say was, "That's… quite a hi—tragic story."
Fanma let out a long sigh. "Tell me about it. Anyway, I've got a full day of classes today, so I had no choice but to find someone to substitute for one day. The pay is just the commission fee."
Five hundred for one day of classes—weren't teachers treated way too well?
Lumiere was honestly envious. Then he asked, "If I remember right, you teach battles, don't you? Isn't that a required course?"
Fanma explained, "It's raining today. The outdoor fields can't be used, and the indoor venue was borrowed by the city for an event. There's no way to hold practical classes."
"And now that all these students already have their starter Pokémon, they probably won't sit still anyway. Just take them to play a bit… casually talk about Pokémon knowledge or some wild adventure stories, give them something to look forward to in the future. Easy stuff."
Hearing that, Lumiere suddenly felt a bit unsure. "Uh… is that really okay? Your school has so many teachers—why not let someone else cover?"
"Why the hell would I let those guys teach my class? They borrow things and never return them, take all the credit and money too. Why should I let them have it!"
"..."
For a moment, Lumiere felt genuinely envious. If only he'd had a PE teacher like this back when he was in school—would he have needed to suffer in classrooms at all?
After confirming the commission, the two parted ways. Lumiere happily headed home—he wished there were more commissions like this that killed two birds with one stone.
Later that morning, Lumiere accompanied Cynthia to school as usual. Even the security guard at the gate was already very familiar with him.
Cynthia didn't express any particular opinion about his presence, as long as it didn't interfere with her normal classes.
Because Lumiere was so poor he couldn't even afford Poké Balls—they were ridiculously expensive, two hundred each at a region-wide fixed price, with a commemorative ball if you bought ten—
He had no choice but to carry the two little cuties with him everywhere, which greatly increased his presence at school.
A cosplay-loving Rowlet plus a shiny Eevee would draw attention anywhere. He'd heard Pokémon hunters loved idiots who flaunted their wealth like this.
Thankfully, security around the Pokémon School was excellent, and many powerful trainers lived nearby, so Pokémon hunters didn't dare target him at all.
After watching Cynthia enter the teaching building and greeting passing students, Lumiere checked the message on his phone to find which class he'd be teaching for the day.
After wandering around for quite a while, just before the class bell rang, he finally found the classroom.
Straightening his clothes, he pushed open the classroom door painted with Sinnoh's three starters, and the bell rang.
Inside, the students—who had been noisy because they couldn't do outdoor battle practice—fell silent. They all sat upright, waiting for the teacher to come in.
But when a strangely familiar-looking guy pushed the door open with exaggerated composure, their expressions slowly shifted from confusion to complete bewilderment.
Because of her height, Cynthia always sat by the window in the back row—the so-called "protagonist seat."
She took out her books and placed them on the desk, ready for class. But when she saw who walked in, her expression became just as blank as everyone else's.
With Eevee on his left shoulder and Rowlet on his right, Lumiere stood at the podium, hands braced on the desk, looking at the utterly dumbfounded students before him. He smiled and said,
"Good morning, students. Teacher Fanma ran into some curry-related trouble, so I'm here to substitute for him today. My specialty is baby teams—if you don't understand something, just ask!"