On June 28, 198 of the Alliance dar, with the pletion of the new house, Naoki's first summer in the Pokémon world officially came to an end.

  That m, after nearly two months of hard work, Kelly officially handed over the new house to Naoki.

  She directed the stru crew and the special forces to load the tools aover materials onto the trud then took Naoki on a tour of the house.

  As they pushed open the door, Naoki was greeted by a rge, spacious living room. However, the room was pletely empty—there wasn't a single piece of furniture yet, making the house feel vast and open.

  Kelly led the way, expining, "This is the living room. As per your request, we've installed a new firepce here. Once you light it in the winter, it'll keep the whole house warm."

  Naoki's eyes followed her gesture toward a brand-new firepce with transparent gss, beautifully set against the wall of the living room.

  Kelly tinued, "You'll o stock up oy of pressed firewood as that's the main fuel for the firepce."

  With a bright smile, she added, "And, if you need firewood, I sell it at my store!"

  Naoki: "…" Kelly was ever the entrepreneur, always seizing the moment to promote her products.

  But he had to admit, he really did need some.

  "Alright, I'll check it out ter," Naoki agreed.

  Kelly then offered another idea. "Alternatively, you could use the help of Pokémon. If you have a Pokémon like a Slugma, you could pce it in the firepce."

  She grinned as she expined, "Slugma will treat the warm firepce as its home, and the heat from its body easily repce firewood."

  "Slugma?" Naoki was intrigued by the idea and made a mental note of it.

  However, he khat Pokémon like Slugma typically inhabited volic regions with extremely high temperatures, making it difficult to find them elsewhere.

  Plus, Slugma didn't live in the Paldea region, so if Naoki wanted one, he'd have to travel to anion. But for now, he had no pns to leave Paldea.

  The season was ging, and he o prepare for autumn. That meant buying seeds for fall crops and pnting them. He also o purchase some wooden barrels to begin turning the hops he'd stored in his utility room into beer.

  "There are five rooms on the first floor," Kelly said as they tihe tour. "The master bedroom is to the right of the living room, and the open kit and dining area are on the left. The bathroom is all the way on the left."

  She opened each door, allowing Naoki to peek inside.

  "You buy a bathtub ter, whichever style you like," Kelly suggested. "After a long day of farm work, nothis a warm bath to rex and unwind."

  Naoki nodded, clearly pleased with the yout and the possibilities the new house offered.

  Seeing this, Kelly chuckled and led Naoki up the stairs to the sed floor. "There are more rooms up here—five in total. There's a guest bedroom for when you have visitors, a study for w or reading, and a children's room. If you ever have kids iure, they stay here."

  Children… Naoki hadn't even thought about that. At twenty years old, he wasly in a rush to settle down.

  Sure, marriage might happen someday, but he wasn't worried about it for now. If he met the right person, great. If not, he erfectly fiaying single for the foreseeable future. Everything would happen in its own time.

  As they passed through the small hall upstairs, Kelly opehe doors to the other two rooms. "These are empty for now. You decorate them however you like, depending on your needs and preferences."

  Naoki nodded, satisfied with the yout, but then asked the most important question on his mind: "Where's the celr?"

  Kelly smiled, "The entrao the celr is on the first floor."

  They headed back downstairs, and Naoki spotted a small wooden door in the southwest er of the living room.

  Kelly opehe door to reveal a staircase leading into darkness. It was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

  "The light switch is on the wall to the right of the stairs," Kelly said as she flicked the switch. With a crisp click, warm e light from retro-style wall mps illumihe entire celr.

  "The temperature here is perfect for brewing wine!" Kelly added with a knowing smile that Naoki was starting tnize.

  Naoki sighed, "I get it. I'll e buy a barrel from you ter."

  With the money he'd saved over the past month, he figured he could purchase everything he needed in one go.

  Kelly grinned, "I'll give you a dist."

  After the tour, Kelly was getting ready to leave. Outside by her truck, she turned and said, "I'll be at the store all afternoon. If you need anything, don't hesitate to stop by."

  "Okay," Naoki replied, already mentally pnning when to move his belongings into the new house.

  He also had pns for the old house. He wao transform it into a Pokémon tavern, but there were still some things he o prepare first.

  After a brief moment of thought, Naoki asked, "By the way, Kelly, do you sell bar ters?"

  Kelly blinked in surprise. "A bar?"

  "Yeah," Naoki expined, "I'm pnning to turn the old house into… a kind of tavern for Pokémon gatherings."

  "Tavern? That's easy," Kelly said casually, thinking Naoki just wao give his Pokémon like Pawmo a fuo py. "When you e by the store this afternoon to pick out furniture, I'll bring everything you'll need."

  Naoki nodded. "Okay, sounds good."

  Kelly waved as she drove off in her van.

  Naoki turo his Pokémon, who were eagerly iing their new home.

  "This is going to be our new home from now on," Naoki said with a smile. "What do you think? It's a lot bigger than the old pce, right?"

  "Gaao!" Cyclizar nodded enthusiastically.

  Meanwhile, Alcremie and Butterfree began expl the rooms with wide-eyed curiosity. Koraidon, however, seemed unfazed by the ge.

  The little Alcremie found it tricky to climb the stairs, so Pawmo, ever the helper, carried it up on his back.

  Watg the two small Pokémon vanish at the top of the stairs, Naoki sighed and got to work.

  He opened all the windows to let fresh air circute, then mopped the floors, scrubbing the entire house until it gleamed. By the time he finished, it was already noon.

  Exhausted, Naoki headed back to the old house and colpsed onto the bed, his bad arms ag from all the ing.

  At that moment, he realized that having a bigger house wasn't always a good thing—it meant a lot more ing, and doing it all alone was tiring.

  As he stared at the ceiling, Naoki's mind drifted to the Pokemon siblings he had met a couple of months ago. He wondered if they had grown up, what they might look like now, and whether they still remembered him.