At five o'clo the evening, Zack arrived at the ranch to collect the goods. Naoki eagerly helped him load the truck with vegetables, fruits, and melons.

  Seeing Naoki's unusually cheerful expression, Zack raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Why are you so happy all of a sudden? Did something good happen?"

  Naoki nodded enthusiastically. "Tomorrow, I'll finally have saved enough moo build a proper house! No more squeezing into this tiny wooden ."

  Zack grinned widely. "Well, that's definitely something worth celebrating. grats in advance!"

  After exging a few more words, Zack drove off in his truck, leaving Naoki with a quiet, growiement.

  Baside the , Naoki sat at his desk and ted the money he had earned from the day's sales. He then pulled out the savings he had been gradually colleg over the past few months from his drawer.

  "Alright... including what's in my bank at, I now have a total of 2,153,400 Pokédolrs. Two million will go toward building the new house, and the rest be spent on furniture and whatever daily essentials we need."

  Naoki tapped his fingers on the desk as he silently pnned out his moves.

  Building the house was just the start. He'd need more funds to furnish it properly. He also had to purchase wooden barrels for the celr, where he po start making wine. And then there was the matter of the Pokémon tavern he dreamt of opening. That would require a bar ter, tables, and benches designed specifically for different Pokémon sizes.

  'Ohe Pokemon siblings arrive', Naoki thought, 'I statio the tavern to help with eaining guests.

  His thoughts were interrupted when several Pokémon that had been pying outside all day suddenly burst into the . They crowded around Naoki, tilting their heads in fusion as they saw him deep in thought.

  "Gah?" Koraidon nudged him curiously.

  Naoki smiled and expined, "I'm just thinking about our new home. Tomorrow m, we start building it. It'll be a much bigger house with plenty of rooms, a living room, and more space for all of you to py."

  At this news, the Pokémon's eyes lit up with excitement.

  Alcremie articurly thrilled, boung in pce. "Mree?!"

  Naoki chuckled, guessily what Alcremie was thinking. After all, he had promised her something special before.

  "That's right," Naoki said warmly. "I'll make sure you have your very own cream workshop. We'll have ovens, cream barrels, and all the tools you o create delicious desserts."

  "Mree!" Alcremie's eyes sparkled with delight, already imagining her dream kit.

  Naoki turo the rest of the Pokémon with a smile. "What about the rest of you? What kind of rooms would you like?"

  He pulled out a bowl of peeled melon seeds as he asked, them to the eager group.

  Cyclizar was the first to respond. "Gah!" it cried enthusiastically. (A warm room!)

  Naoki thought about how Cyclizar always shivered in the cold. "No problem," he said with a nod. "We install a firep the living room. That way, the whole house will be cozy and warm during the winter."

  Cyclizar let out a happy "Gaao~," clearly pleased with the idea.

  , Naoki turonite, whose eyes gleamed with anticipation.

  "Oooh!" Dragonite excimed, raising its arms dramatically. (I want a big room! With a ke to swim in, a spot to sunbathe, and a pce to watch the stars!)

  Naoki blinked. "That's... a lot of requests."

  Truthfully, Dragonite preferred the outdoors over being i first, it used to sleep in its Poké Ball, but as it grew more aced to life on the ranch, it started sleeping on the grass uhe stars instead of indoors.

  Naoki scratched his head, trying to think of a room that could possibly aodate Dragonite's needs.

  Unfortunately, no room in the world could match that.

  Naoki poked Dragonite's big belly and said with a grin, "There's no su in the world, buddy. You'd better stick to sleeping on the grass outside! There's plenty of space, a ke for you to swim in, and you watch the stars and bask in the sun. It checks all your boxes."

  Dragonite's shoulders slumped slightly. No special room? Well, if that was the case, the grass wasn't so bad after all. Every night, it could still gaze at the stars and the moon.

  "How about you, Koraidon?" Naoki asked, turning to the a beast.

  pared tonite's grand demands, Koraidon was much simpler. "Agasi!" it decred. (I'll sleep in your room!)

  Naoki blinked. "I should've seen that ing."

  After scribbling down Koraidon's preferen his notebook, Naoki turo Pawmo. "And you, Pawmo? Where do you want to sleep?"

  Pawmo was full of excitement. "Pawmo!" (With Naoki, of course!)

  "Alright, sounds good." Naoki patted Pawmo on the head and looked around the room. "So, are we all set?"

  None of the Pokémon raised any objes. Everything seemed to be in order.

  The m, Naoki headed to town to meet with Kelly, the local builder. Upon hearing Naoki's request to start stru, Kelly raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Already? That was fast!"

  Naoki grinned. "Yup! I owe it all to the Miltank and the Gogoat."

  "Well, that expins it," Kelly chuckled, thinking about those tireless goats. "Follow me!"

  She led Naoki to a small workshop cluttered with blueprints and stru tools. The room was in disarray, with various sketches strewn across the table and floor.

  Kelly sifted through a drawer, pulled out a few designs, and hahem over. "Here, take a look at these house pns. Let me know whie you like."

  Naoki reached out to take the blueprints from Kelly and studied the two different house designs. One was a charming, Nordic-style try cottage, with its fairy-tale aesthetid the other was a traditional two-story Japayle mansion, remi of Nobita Nobi's house from Doraemon.

  Kelly smiled as she hahem over. "Take your pick!"

  Naoki's gaze lingered on both designs, but his heart settled on the try cottage. The design reminded him of the house from Stardew Valley, a fitting choice for a ranch, with its warm, rustic charm.

  "I'll go with this one," he said, pointing to the cottage.

  Kelly nodded approvingly. "Good choice. It definitely suits the ranow, let's move on to the internal yout."

  She unrolled a more detailed blueprint. "Typically, we pn the key rooms on the first floor—bedroom, living room, kit, bathroom, and dining room. The sed floor usually has a side bedroom, nursery, study, and two extra rooms that be used for ste. There's also a celr beh the house, which be used for wine-making or verted into a basement."

  Kelly g Naoki, her pencil ready. "Do you have any special requests besides these?"

  Naoki reyed the requests from his Pokémon after their discussion the day before.

  "A cream workshop, huh? For making desserts?" Kelly jotted it down. "That's easy enough to set up. Anything else?"

  Naoki shook his head. "That should cover everything."

  Kelly did some quick mental calcutions. "The total cost for materials and stru will be about 1.8 million Poke Dolrs. That includes fl, carpets, and aper, which you choose."

  She flipped to ane. "Our store also offers furniture—basic tables, chairs, benches, sofas, ste ets, beds, lights, whatever you need. You furnish the house to your liking."

  Naoki had anticipated this and nodded calmly. "I'd like ordinary wooden floors and wood-grain aper throughout."

  Kelly smiled and tucked her pencil behind her ear. "Got it. I'll get the materials ready. We'll start stru tomorrow m, and it should take about oo two months to finish."

  Naoki smiled, excited for what was to e. Finally, the dream of a rger, fortable home for him and his Pokémon was being a reality.