The staff led Rowan and Nekomi to a window-side table. Pokémon like Nekomi, whose body shape is close to that of a human, are the most welcomed in this kind of restaurant.
No need for specially designed seats, nor any extra arrangements—just treat them like regular customers.
If a guest brings a Pokémon like Snorlax, while it might bring in a lot of money, swapping out seats and such would still be quite a hassle for the staff.
The chopsticks in front of Nekomi were swapped out for a knife and fork. The Pokémon in the restaurant all used this kind of cutlery—it seemed to be designed specifically for Pokémon.
"We are a 'Cooking Master Boy' themed restaurant. Today's recommended dishes are 'Magic Panda Mapo Tofu' and 'Flash-Frozen Bream Glacier.' The main course is 'Spicy Shrimp Risotto.'" [TN: Cooking Master Boy is a Japanese manga and most of the dishes are mentioned in it.]
"We'll go with that, and add a Berry platter."
"Alright, please wait a moment."
Looking at the pictures of the dishes on the banner, at least in appearance, the dishes were pretty good looking. As for taste—well, who knew?
According to the staff's explanation, the restaurant had several Pokémon chefs who rotated daily, and the menu was determined based on who was cooking that day.
Today's chef: Chikorita.
A small, quadrupedal, and overall adorable Pokémon.
At this moment, Chef Chikorita was wearing a specially made little apron, standing on a mobile cart, showcasing knife skills live at each table.
An assistant placed a piece of minnow meat on the cutting board in front of Chikorita.
Then Chikorita lowered its head and gave a swift flick—its leaf whipped through the air, leaving a blur behind, slicing the thick fish meat as thin as cicada wings, then arranging them with its Vine Whip onto a prepared ice mountain plate.
The knife skills earned applause from the diners. When they arrived at Rowan's table, he noticed that there was a small speaker next to Chikorita.
It was playing an advertisement synthesized in Chikorita's voice.
Chef Chikorita specializes in this craft—its signature Leaf Blade move preserves the freshness of freshly caught fish to the utmost, while the delicate fragrance that comes with the leaf will blend into the fish meat...
Rowan knew that Chikorita's leaf carried a scent—but that whole line...
Who knew if it was true or not. Either way, it helped them sell at a higher price.
"Chiko~~~"
Chikorita first completed Nekomi's portion, placing a small ice mountain in front of her, and then prepared to make Rowan's portion.
However, before Chikorita could begin, it was stopped by Nekomi.
"Chiko?"
"Meow~ (Miss Chef, could you please step aside for a moment?)"
Under the puzzled gazes of Chikorita and its assistant, Nekomi walked up to the mobile kitchen and wiped her claws with a disinfectant wipe.
Then, she tossed the remaining piece of sea bream into the air. As a cold gleam flashed, three claw blades sprang from her right paw.
Before the fish had even fallen, Nekomi quickly swung her claws.
Just like that, the entire piece of fish was sliced into equally thin pieces by Nekomi. She then grabbed another ice mountain plate.
Not only did she catch every slice of fish flawlessly, but she even arranged them into the shape of a heart.
Clap clap clap…
The familiar sound of applause rang out again—only this time, it felt like Chikorita's whole world had collapsed.
"Chiko!! (Sabotage! You're sabotaging my business! You can't just steal my job this brazenly!!)"
What exactly Nekomi was thinking, Chikorita didn't know. What Chikorita did know was that, as a master of knife skills, someone was showing off in front of it!
And the worst part... this cat was better than it!!
Feeling thoroughly provoked, Chikorita looked like an angry little beast, nearly ready to pounce and start a Pokémon battle to defend its pride—if not for the assistant who quickly scooped it up.
Though called "assistants," these helpers were, in fact, the Pokémon's Trainers. Having Pokémon as chefs was mostly part of a marketing strategy.
"Chikorita, calm down! That's a customer, you can't do that! I'm so sorry—our chef may not be in the best mood today…"
"It's alright, I understand. Chikorita's probably a little girl, right?"
"Yes, sir—you actually figured that out?"
"No big deal. You can go to the next table. We're fine here."
Determining a Pokémon's gender is actually a tricky thing. Aside from species with obvious gender differences, it's often hard to tell a Pokémon's gender at a glance.
For Pokémon he was familiar with, Rowan could sometimes guess—but even then, it wasn't easy.
In truth, Rowan figured it out by listening. Perhaps because he'd clapped during Chikorita's knife skill demonstration earlier, it stirred up some jealousy in Nekomi, which led her to challenge Chikorita in a display of skill.
"Alright, thank you for your understanding. Please enjoy your meal."
For business owners, no one in their right mind wants to argue with a customer. The fact that nothing blew up was already considered a good outcome.
"Meow~ meow~ (Next time, let's just cook at home. I can do it too.)"
"Well, we don't go out every day. It's nice to relax once in a while. Here, eat this first. Let the rest cool down a bit."
Nekomi's cat-like tongue made her extra sensitive to temperature—she couldn't handle food that was too hot. Sashimi and fruit slices were her main course.
After finishing her performance, Chikorita returned to the kitchen and didn't come back again. Instead, Chikorita's Trainer came over.
They mainly asked whether Rowan and Nekomi were interested in working here—after all, in terms of skill showmanship, Nekomi really did outshine Chikorita.
In a way, Chikorita's statement about "sabotaging my business" half came true—since someone was now actually inviting Nekomi to become Chikorita's colleague, with free training included.
However, if a Pokémon wanted to become a chef in this kind of restaurant, they had to go through extra training, which meant being away from their Trainer for a while, and also serving other people.
The moment Nekomi heard that, she shook her head like a rattle drum—she clearly had zero interest.
So in the end, the restaurant didn't recruit a new chef. Rowan, on the other hand, left with a discount coupon.
After wandering around the mall for a while and successfully avoiding the evening rush, Rowan boarded the subway home, then hopped online to see if there was anything suitable for him to do.
At this point in time, university was more or less finished—he was just waiting for his graduation certificate and degree.
Some of his classmates who had already signed job offers had started internships at their companies. Rowan, meanwhile, was one of the few "tough cases" still affecting the employment rate stats.
He hadn't yet figured out exactly what he wanted to do. At the moment, he was looking up strategies for nearby Gyms, planning to find a good time to go "make a withdrawal."
In this world where the internet era has been developed, there were plenty of online strategy posts about Gyms—but the one he was eyeing... had been getting a lot of negative reviews lately.
The complaints mostly revolved around the Gym's successor. The new Gym Leader wasn't actually a Ground-type specialist, but instead focused on Flying-types. Since the new Leader hadn't officially inherited the Gym yet, the Gym was still listed as Ground-type on the official site.
As a result, many Trainers came fully prepared for Ground-type only to suffer crushing defeats, and so they flooded the internet with angry reviews...