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This month is a rather hectic one. There are a lot of trainers from Paldea coming to Pasio, Halloween is around the corner, and Christmas is in two months as well. There will also be a Special Costume event between them. Plenty of events make Pasio more exciting and engaging for trainers, though it leaves Lear, his retainers, and other trainers helping out in his mansion very busy every day, especially at this time of the year.
Lear has barely gotten any proper sleep lately, with how busy everything has been, not counting on how Hoopa’s waking method often leaves him in an awful mood in the morning that he has to do something else to properly start the day—such as doing his usual laugh that possibly can be heard all over the mansion—and to keep up with his energetic and playful partner Pokemon, now accompanied by a fellow prankster made from a thousand coins. Lear doesn’t dislike the company, in fact, all of the help and company from people around him can keep him going.
But he still can’t deny that managing a lot of big events consecutively can be tiring at times.
Lear doesn’t even realize he’s been sleeping with his head on the table, surrounded by documents and books, when Bettie is calling. He is glad that no one sees his amazing and perfect hair kind of in a mess, and his fashionable sunglasses go off from his face, mixed with papers and books.
And now, here he is, sitting in the cafeteria in Pokemon Center, with no trace of his messy state before—that no one should witness—while staring at the cup of instant noodles on the table before him, currently waiting for three minutes as Bettie had instructed.
Hoopa and Gholdengo are playing together with the other trainers in the Pokemon Center, having a lot of fun, especially knowing how friendly Gholdengo is. Lear is currently sitting on a chair between Bettie and Cheren, the latter of whom for some reason gets invited as well in this strange meetup. Paulo sits beside Bettie, and his friend Tina beside him, laughing together. Meanwhile, Cheren is pouring the seasoning into the cup of instant noodles and stirring the noodles gently, from his expression he seems rather eager to dig in.
Lear turns his stare back to the cup of instant noodles before him. He assumes his noodles must be ready to eat for now, but his hand remains propping his chin, unmoved.
He did say to Bettie that instant noodles are the kind of commoner food that he happened to have tried in the past, and while he knows it’s not the most healthy one, he can’t help but feel sentimental, remembering the difficult time he had in the past and how Hoopa kept accompanying him for a while before they got separated again.
People say that instant noodles, be it ramen or soba or anything of that nature, is a self-indulgent food. Lear has to agree with that.
After Hoopa and Gholdengo have finished playing, they gather near Lear’s chair, while Bettie and Cheren hand each one of them a cup of instant noodles, with seasonings already mixed in, which they immediately eat happily. Bettie, Paulo, Tina, and Cheren have started eating their own cup of instant noodles as well.
“Hey, have you eaten instant noodles from a cup before? Let’s go eat it with everyone! A little break wouldn’t hurt, right? Besides, don’t you want to eat more of the food that we usually eat?”
That was what Bettie said when she called him. Lear frowns, he wonders if Bettie tells everyone about how much instant noodles mean to Lear, something that he told her the other day. Not that he would mind, though. Everyone knows he’s very rich, and pretty sure from there he knows rich people eat different food from commoners. He still has the urge to shake his head in disbelief if she does tell someone else about it. Though, no one seems to show any intention to make fun of him or anything. Cheren even tells him to quickly eat the noodles before the food gets cold. He looks at Lear with a slight smile and a slight tilt of his head, seemingly curious about what keeps Lear from eating. Nosy about other people's business as always.
Letting out a small huff—not from annoyance, though no one needs to know that—he pours the seasoning of the instant noodles into the cup, stirring it, and starts eating it.
Even though the taste is very basic, it is enough to make his mind travel back in time to when he shared instant noodles with Hoopa in the past. According to the books he had read, human senses can bring past memories like nothing else our sense of taste and smell, and that is correct in this case.
The corners of his lips begin to lift without him realizing it as he savors the taste of the seasoning and the texture of the instant noodles. Cheren probably has caught him smiling nostalgically, judging from the snicker of Hoopa near him, but for the first time in a long time, Lear doesn’t mind. If eating instant noodles is a form of indulging one’s self, then he temporarily lets go of his pride and indulges by taking a break from his hectic work and eating this commoner, unhealthy food, that everyone likes due to its practicality, efficiency, and taste.
A food eaten together tastes more delicious, after all, no matter how simple it is.
For some reason, this cup of instant noodles eaten together with not just Hoopa, but also with Gholdengo, and his friends in Pasio, tastes more delicious than all the expensive food that he has eaten alone.
Perhaps he will go out to eat together again sometime, along with Rachel and Sawyer. His research of commoner food is far from ending.