Lily's cheeks flushed slightly.
Embarrassed by Aaron's teasing, she hugged Growlithe and hurried upstairs.
Aaron returned to his own room.
The two Poké Balls at his waist suddenly began to shake.
With practiced ease, he took out Greninja and Sceptile's Poké Balls and released his two internet-addicted Pokémon.
"Grenin..."
"Scepti..."
The moment Frog Boss and Sceptile appeared, they rushed straight to Aaron's computer desk.
Greninja skillfully powered on the computer, opened Pooglee:
"Pokémon Fighting ..."
Then he and Sceptile grabbed the controllers and started playing a game called "Pokémon Fighting Tournament."
"Grenin, nin..."
"Scepti..."
A black figure and a green figure immediately clashed in an intense battle inside the room.
Aaron watched, the corner of his mouth twitching as he let out a long sigh.
"They're hopeless. Completely hopeless..."
"This is all my fault as a parent for not disciplining them properly..."
"Sigh..."
Then.
"Sceptile, you lost. My turn..."
"Let me deal with you, Frog Boss. Hmph. Back in the day, I was the king of the arcade."
"Grenin, grenin..."
"Holy crap... a 1A2A combo!?"
"Greninja, you... how do you even know such advanced combo techniques!?"
"Grenin. Grenin!!" (smug)
"I don't believe it... let's go again!"
"Scepti!?" (It's my turn... sob...)
"Damn it... I lost again!"
"I actually lost to a Pokémon!?"
"No way... again, again!"
"Scepti..." (When will it be my turn...)
...
The next day.
Lily knocked on Aaron's door early to wake him up.
While they were having breakfast together, she noticed the heavy dark circles under Aaron's eyes and asked with a puzzled look:
"Why are your dark circles so bad!?"
Aaron replied weakly:
"It's nothing... I just didn't sleep well last night."
Lily gave him a suspicious glance, then lowered her head and continued eating.
After breakfast, Aaron and his younger sister Lily headed to the school field together.
There were already quite a lot of people gathered there.
This event was only open to the top-tier class of the second year, so only Class 1 was participating.
Even so, the numbers were still large. 55 students, each bringing one family member.
110 people in total.
The moment Aaron and Lily appeared, the crowd erupted in surprise upon seeing Aaron.
"That's Aaron! our school's top scorer in the exam, right!?"
"Holy crap. It really is him..."
"The guy who scored 530 points is actually right in front of me!"
"I'm so excited. I'm going to ask him for an autograph!"
"Lily actually came with Aaron!? They have the same surname. Could Aaron be her older brother!?"
"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap..."
"This is huge news. One of our classmates actually has a top scorer as her brother!?"
"Ahhh... Lily is way too low-key. She never told us she had such an amazing brother."
...
Hearing the discussions around her, a faint blush appeared on Lily's cheeks as she nodded shyly.
Some students even rushed up to Aaron excitedly.
"Aaron, I'm your fan!"
"Can I get an autograph..."
"Yeah, yeah... Aaron, I love you!"
"How did you manage to score 530 points like that?"
...
Aaron's mouth twitched slightly.
Are you being polite!?
What do you mean 'like that'!?
These brats.
Aaron forced a smile and said to everyone:
"Please be rational when idolizing..."
"I just got lucky, really."
At that moment, the teacher in charge of the competition walked over, stopping a few overly excited students.
With a serious expression, she said:
"Alright, alright... everyone quiet down!"
"The competition is about to begin!"
Then she turned to Aaron with a bright smile.
"I didn't expect you to come, Aaron. Have a seat for now. The competition will start shortly."
Aaron nodded at the teacher, then went to wait at the side with Lily.
Only then did the crowd settle down and return to their respective waiting areas.
A girl glanced toward Lily, a deep trace of jealousy flashing across her face.
She was the class monitor of Class 1, named Rosaline.
Her grades had always ranked second in the year.
First place, of course, was Lily.
She had always been overshadowed by Lily, always envying her.
Now, seeing that Lily even had such an outstanding older brother, the jealousy in her heart was practically overflowing.
Especially after seeing Lily surrounded by classmates like the center of attention, the bitterness in Rosaline's heart was unbearable.
"Hmph. So what if he's the top scorer!?"
"What's there to be proud of!?"
"Young people these days are just too vain..."
Beside Rosaline, a man around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, dressed in green, looked toward Aaron with a mix of envy and disdain as he spoke.
"Tingting... just watch."
"I'll make that Aaron guy lose miserably."
The man in green said to Rosaline.
Rosaline nodded, a smile appearing on her face.
Her cousin had graduated from a second-tier university, and was already an Elite Trainer.
Aaron might be strong, but only compared to high school students.
Her cousin was eight years older than him.
There was no way he couldn't beat Aaron.
A bright smile spread across Rosaline's face, as if she could already see Aaron being completely crushed by her cousin, while Lily stood nearby, helpless and on the verge of tears.
...