The night can conceal many things.

Crime, desire, conspiracy, and beings beyond common sense.

In the desolate countryside, shadows unnaturally gathered, flowing like murky liquid or forming large clusters of blackness. Anyone with a weaker heart might scream in fear.

Yet, Akira, the boy standing amidst it all, felt no discomfort. Instead, he grinned with excitement, his red tongue tracing the corner of his mouth. His expression looked unmistakably... like a hentai!

The shadows seemed enraged by Akira, surging and rolling, threatening to spray him in the face.

However, just before the shadows could strike, a brilliant white light suddenly illuminated the darkness.

Pure, clean, starkly contrasting with the surrounding filth.

Wherever the white light touched, the filth retreated, carving out a purified space around the boy.

Akira looked toward the source of the light, his expression softening instantly. "Thank you, Kirlia."

"Kirli~"

With a crisp response, a peculiar girl emerged from the light.

She wore a white dancing dress, her limbs impossibly slender.

Her long, green hair was adorned with red spikes arranged like ornaments, and her eyes, also red, radiated an inhuman charm.

Kirlia danced lightly around Akira, circling him without uttering a word, yet Akira could clearly understand her thoughts.

When Kirlia drifted to his right side, Akira skillfully reached out, gently ruffling her hair.

"No need to hold back. It's no longer useful. Sorry for keeping you restrained for so long—this time, let it all out."

"Kirli~"

Kirlia nodded lightly, her seemingly weightless body rising higher.

At the same time, the surrounding white light began to distort, rippling out into irregular yet more dazzling rainbow colors.

Unlike the previous dispersal of shadows, this rainbow light was more aggressive. The lurking shadows in the darkness didn't have time to retreat before they were caught, twisted, and reduced to dust-like particles.

A gust of evening wind blew, scattering the dust until no trace remained.

"You've worked hard, Kirlia."

Akira opened his arms toward the slowly descending mysterious girl. Kirlia gracefully leapt into his embrace, her soft "kirli-kirli" calls now carrying a hint of affection.

First, Akira lifted her high, then pressed his forehead against hers, his black-and-white eyes staring unblinkingly at this strange existence that had always accompanied him, speaking softly.

"This will be the last time I call you by that name. The next time I call you, it'll be a different one."

After speaking, Akira closed his eyes, and in the darkness, a familiar status screen appeared before him. The number that had been stuck at 29 for so long finally jumped up to 30.

"Level 30, finally. Come on, I can't wait to see your new form."

"Kirli!"

Kirlia spun gracefully away from Akira's embrace like a ballet dancer, lifting her skirt in a curtsy.

In the next moment, pure white light once again enveloped her petite body.

When the light faded, the girl was no longer a girl.

Her height had grown from 80 centimeters to 160 centimeters, and her limbs had become even more slender.

Her hair, skirt, and decorations remained the same, but the overall look was much more mature.

If Kirlia had been a young girl before, she was now a noble lady.

The noble lady maintained her curtsy, greeting Akira with a more mature voice and tone.

"Garde~"

Akira's stance remained the same, but the excitement on his face was impossible to hide.

Eight years, a full eight years, he had finally waited for this moment.

A Pokémon that consistently ranked among the top in popularity, number one on the list of Pokémon "waifus," the leader in the "shouldn't exist, but does" category.

Beautiful, obedient, powerful... able to single-handedly bridge the gap between Pokémon and Digimon.

Before he realized it, the corners of Akira's mouth had once again curved uncontrollably.

Fortunately, he noticed Gardevoir's puzzled expression and the slight step back she took, so he quickly restrained himself.

Whether it was Gardevoir, Kirlia, or even her previous form, Ralts, all were highly sensitive to emotions. They loved positive, sunny feelings and disliked negative, dark emotions.

Akira didn't want his stray thoughts to affect Gardevoir.

"Congratulations, Gardevoir."

"Garde~"

That simple statement seemed to flip some sort of switch as Gardevoir pounced on him skillfully.

Now that she had an adult's height, she no longer needed Akira to lift her up to see eye-to-eye. A slight tip-toe was all it took for their foreheads to touch.

But it didn't end there. After a moment of affection, Gardevoir exerted strength with both hands and actually lifted Akira off the ground.

"Hey, hey, I'm not quite used to this," Akira initially tried to resist, but upon seeing Gardevoir's joyful expression, he relented.

"As long as you're happy. Before, you sat on my shoulders; later, I carried or piggybacked you. Now it's your turn to lift me—it's all good."

Hearing Akira say this, Gardevoir became even more excited, trying out all the roles Akira had once done for her.

Sitting on his shoulders from her Ralts days as a child.

Being lifted high, princess-carried, and piggybacked as Kirlia.

Though Akira was now sixteen and had grown past 170 centimeters, Gardevoir executed these moves without the slightest hint of awkwardness.

After all, Gardevoir had another nickname: "The Psychic Queen." She wielded psychic powers and could twist and crush enemies effortlessly with telekinesis, so lifting a person was no challenge at all.

As their playful session came to a close, Gardevoir used her telekinesis to make both herself and Akira float gently in the air, asking with a soft whisper.

"Alright, let's go home."

Akira stretched lazily, his posture relaxed, but Gardevoir, who had lived with him for eight years, could sense the energy beneath the laziness.

This side of Akira, she had only seen twice.

Once was when she was born, and he had jumped around excitedly, shouting, "Finally, after all this time, I got lucky!" and "Ralts, Kirlia, Gardevoir are the best!"

And now, though he didn't express it aloud, it was clear he felt the same way.

Though she didn't fully understand why her master was so happy, Gardevoir didn't mind.

As long as her master was happy, she was happy too. After all, she was the most loyal Pokémon.

With a gentle tug of her hands, aided by telekinesis, the boy and girl floated together toward home.

In the past, it had been Akira who brought her home when she was little. Now that she had grown, she could do many things she couldn't before.

Their home wasn't anything grand—just an ordinary house with a gravel path leading up to the door, flanked by some flowers.

They weren't particularly valuable, but they were carefully tended, giving their simple home a unique charm.

Since they were flying, Akira and Gardevoir didn't use the front door, instead floating directly into their room.

With Gardevoir's psychic abilities, even if the window was locked from the inside, opening it was no difficult task, and no traces were left behind.

As his feet touched the ground, Akira lightly tapped Gardevoir on the forehead. "It's getting late, let's sleep for now. Tomorrow, I'll find a chance to come clean with mom."

Before he could finish speaking, the door opposite the window swung open, accompanied by a voice:

"No need, you can say whatever you need to right now."