Looking at Jade clinging to his thigh like a koala, Julian simply scooped her up into his arms.
"Big brother, why did you come?"
Jade looked a bit curious. Just yesterday, her parents had said they would come, so why had Julian come instead?
"What? You don't want me here? Then I'll leave."
Julian deliberately put on a hurt expression and pretended to lower Jade back onto the ground.
Seeing this, Jade hurriedly said, "No way! Jade loves big brother the most!"
Afraid Julian might misunderstand, her little face became filled with anxiousness.
Julian stopped teasing her.
Otherwise, if he made her cry, he would have to spend a long time coaxing her again.
"Your parents suddenly had something to deal with, so they asked me to come instead."
Julian explained briefly and checked the time—there were still three minutes left before one o'clock.
Looks like he wasn't late after all.
"Teacher Lily, long time no see."
Holding Jade in his arms, Julian walked up to a beautiful middle-aged woman.
Back when he attended this kindergarten, she had been the teacher in charge of his class. And because Julian had possessed an adult soul at the time, he never played with the other children around him.
As a result, Lily had been very worried about him, afraid he might have some psychological issues. So she had spent that whole period constantly chatting with him to cheer him up.
Because of that, Julian remembered her quite clearly.
"Ch-Champion Walker…"
Lily looked at Julian with an awed expression.
Although she had only taught Julian for three years—and they had only been kindergarten years—no matter what, she was still technically Julian's teacher.
Most importantly, Julian still remembered her and acknowledged her as his teacher.
She could clearly feel the envious gazes from the surrounding teachers, making her feel extremely proud.
Everyone had a bit of vanity.
For a teacher, nothing was more satisfying than having taught a student who achieved extraordinary success.
And Julian's accomplishments were practically unprecedented in history, and likely would never be matched in the future either.
"Teacher, just call me Julian."
Toward people he knew, Julian never put on airs.
"Mhm."
Lily nodded.
"Big brother, you know Teacher Lily?"
Jade curiously asked.
"Teacher Lily used to teach me," Julian said.
Hearing that, Jade's face lit up with surprise and delight. "Teacher Lily is teaching me now too! Big brother, that means we were taught by the same teacher!"
"Oh?"
Julian was a bit surprised. There were quite a lot of teachers at Beldum Kindergarten, so he hadn't expected such a coincidence.
"Teacher Lily, then please take good care of our Jade in the future," Julian said with a smile.
"Jade is far more popular than you were back then. Unlike you, who was so withdrawn, Jade is currently the most popular child in the entire kindergarten."
Lily naturally understood Julian was joking. With Jade's status, every teacher in the kindergarten would naturally take special care of her.
The reason she had become Jade's teacher was largely because she had once taught Julian before.
And among all the teachers in the kindergarten, aside from the principal, she had the most seniority.
If the principal retired, she would definitely become the next principal.
Soon, one o'clock arrived, and the parent-child activities officially began.
The activities mainly consisted of small family-based games designed to strengthen the bond between parents and children while improving the children's mental health, social skills, and overall development.
In every single parent-child competition, Julian effortlessly took first place.
And the final event was a Pokémon battle between the children.
The Pokémon were provided by the kindergarten, each at level ten, and all had undergone professional training, able to perfectly execute every child's commands.
From this alone, the difference between wealthy families and ordinary families could clearly be seen.
Children from wealthy families could begin interacting with Pokémon from a very young age. While many civilian children had to wait until middle school or even high school before truly coming into contact with Pokémon.
That was a gap of at least nine years.
The Pokémon were assigned by drawing lots, meaning whether you got a strong Pokémon or not depended entirely on luck.
The Pokémon Jade drew was a Litten—not bad at all.
At the very least, it was much better than the poor child beside her who had drawn a Grimer.
The Pokémon didn't differ too much in terms of strength, as there wouldn't be any particularly weak ones like Caterpie or Weedle randomly thrown into the mix.
With the Pokémon selected, the matchups were arranged next.
Jade was only in the junior class, so naturally her opponents were also from the junior class.
Watching them battle was like watching novices stumble around—all straightforward, blunt commands, with most of the kids not even knowing the names of the moves.
Some children didn't even know the name of the Pokémon they were commanding.
The only real highlight was Jade.
Not long after the competition began, however, when it was suddenly interrupted.
Because a Moltres and an Arcanine had arrived.
"Arf!"
Before Julian could even react, he was directly tackled to the ground by a giant dog.
The next moment, the huge canine moved right up against his face and began enthusiastically washing it with its tongue.
Arcanine: "Master, I missed you so much!"
Julian kept his mouth tightly shut, afraid that if he opened it even slightly, the dog's saliva would get in. At the same time, both of his hands desperately pushed against Arcanine's massive head.
But Arcanine hadn't seen Julian for nearly a year. How could it possibly let itself be pushed away?
Instead, it licked him even more enthusiastically.
At this moment, Julian felt complete despair inside. There were so many parents around.
Didn't you see them already secretly pulling out their phones to take photos?!
"Tres~"
Moltres: "That's enough, you dumb dog."
Moltres looked at Arcanine, who had arrived before it, was hogging Julian all to itself, and felt thoroughly displeased.
With a bang, it slammed into Arcanine and shoved it aside.
Julian originally thought he had finally been saved. But the next second, Moltres pinned both his arms to the ground with its claws.
Then it turned around and aimed its rear toward him.
Julian: 'What the hell… no way.'
Seeing Moltres beginning to lower itself, Julian's face instantly changed. He shouted in horror, "Moltres, stop right there!"
Moltres paused and looked at Julian in confusion, as if asking: 'Is there something wrong with this way of showing affection?'
"My face is covered in saliva already. It'll dirty your feathers. A hug is enough," Julian awkwardly explained.
He couldn't exactly say he didn't like that kind of butt-in-the-face closeness; that would just make Moltres sad.
[T/N: Dunno what the author was refrencing here to, but whatever.]
Looking at Julian's saliva-covered face, Moltres felt that his reasoning actually made sense.
That dumb dog's saliva really was filthy—it absolutely could not be allowed to cling to its noble feathers.
So Moltres released Julian, while Julian quickly hugged its long neck.
See? Wasn't this kind of interaction much better than pointing your butt at me?
Arcanine had already been annoyed after getting knocked away by Moltres. And then Moltres even dared to complain that its saliva was dirty.
If Julian complained, that was one thing—after all, he was its trainer. But what right did this stupid bird have to complain?
Just as Arcanine was about to argue things out with Moltres, Jade suddenly grabbed its tail.
"Big doggy, where did you go during this time? Last time I went looking for you, big brother said you went out to train. Is that true?"
Arcanine: "Nope, I went to save the world."
Jade: "Big doggy, you're lying again."
*****
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