Chapter Eleven: The Clinking of Beer Cans

"Sister Ling, have you finished handling that matter from today?" Heath asked, carrying his meal as he sat down beside Jun Sha Ling. Jun Sha Feng had already left; she always ate very quickly.

"Yeah, I suppose it's taken care of. After all, the runaway note written by the genius Joy was found, and we confirmed that no one coerced her into leaving home," Jun Sha Ling replied, eating the curry beef rice that Heath had made. It tasted quite good, and Jun Sha Ling liked it very much.

Heath’s expression was somewhat odd. He hadn’t expected Miss Joy to actually have run away from home—it was truly hard to believe.

"Heath, I heard from Feng that you’re taking the final driving test tomorrow, right?" Jun Sha Ling put down her chopsticks and looked at Heath, asking.

Heath nodded. Indeed, he planned to finish the final test tomorrow and get his driving license—that was already decided.

"When are you planning to... set off on your journey?" Jun Sha Ling glanced around before lowering her voice to ask.

Heath paused, uncertain. He hadn’t really decided when to leave. His heart was torn—he wanted to embark on a journey, but his homeland was hard to leave behind. Everyone here, every road and facility, had become familiar to Heath.

"Probably tomorrow," he finally said after much thought, letting out a long sigh.

Jun Sha Ling nodded silently, then poured a glass of juice for Heath before continuing to eat her curry beef rice quietly.

With a complex mix of emotions, Heath returned to the dormitory. Feng wasn’t there, perhaps out exercising, which relieved Heath. Otherwise, sneaking the phone he had bought back would have been difficult.

"Hmm... If it’s Feng, she probably won’t open my door again after I leave, right?" Heath touched his chin, pondering the best place to hide the phone.

After some hesitation, he decided to leave the phone on the dormitory’s living room table just before leaving, so Jun Sha Feng would see it immediately upon opening the door.

After preparing food for his Pokémon, Heath lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Though he had resolved to leave tomorrow night, the day before departure was unbearably difficult.

He thought of the day he graduated from university, when he and his dorm mates had moved out. They drank plenty of beer in the dorm, vowing to leave only when the first person woke up the next morning, without waking anyone else.

The clinking of beer cans had been a sound of farewell.

Yet the next morning, everyone woke up, smiled at each other, shouldered their backpacks, grabbed their luggage, and left the dorm, saying goodbye at the station one by one.

Though they now had phones, computers, WeChat, and other ways to stay in touch, the days of gathering every day in the dorm to chat and joke were long gone.

Returning to the dorm to retrieve something he had left behind, Heath looked at the empty room and vacant bed, realizing he was now truly alone.

"How embarrassing, to be this old and still sad over such things," he muttered, shaking his head. Then he took out his Dream Microphone, feeling he wouldn’t sleep well tonight and hoping the prop might help.

Gripping the microphone, Heath cleared his throat and started singing, only to find the microphone didn’t light up. Puzzled, he realized it lacked batteries.

Heath’s mouth twitched. The magical items given by the golden finger were incredibly realistic—even the microphone needed batteries to work.

"Forget it, time to sleep," he said, setting the microphone aside, turning over, and pulling the covers over himself.

...

The next morning, Heath yawned as he got out of bed. He hadn’t slept well the night before, lost in thought for a long time before finally drifting off.

"Zorua, Farfetch’d, get up," Heath yawned again and then got up to change clothes for the day.

"It's too cold... can I just stay in bed today? I love my bed..." Zorua wriggled deeper under the covers but was soon pulled out by Heath, who grabbed him by the scruff.

"No! Bed! My bed! Don’t leave me!" Zorua put on a dramatic show like a Korean drama in front of Heath, who could only roll his eyes at the little rascal.

"If this keeps up, I’ll start worrying if my blanket will get leukemia or cancer, then have an accident and lose its memory," Heath joked as he dragged Zorua along, Farfetch’d in tow, out of the bedroom.

Calling Charmander from the living room where it was exercising, Heath went to wash up, supervising his Pokémon as they cleaned themselves. Afterward, he left the dorm and headed to the food truck.

As soon as he opened the food truck door, Heath spotted a pink Pokémon floating inside, holding an iron spatula and staring at him wide-eyed.

He blinked, and the pink Pokémon vanished in an instant. If not for the spatula dropping to the floor with a clatter, Heath would have thought he was hallucinating from lack of sleep.

"Mew?" Heath was stunned. He never dreamed he’d see the legendary Pokémon Mew inside his food truck.

Mew, the mythical Pokémon considered by some researchers as the ancestor of all Pokémon, though others disagree, is known for mastering a vast array of moves. It has appeared in the anime as well.

Its most memorable appearance is naturally in the “Pokémon: Jirachi Wish Maker” anime, where a young trainer named Max became inspired to catch Mew after seeing it—though Max is often regarded as one of the least popular characters in the Pokémon series.

"Can I claim insurance for this?" Heath wondered, surveying the food truck, which was now in disarray. The state of the truck’s protection was frankly disappointing.

He hoped to earn some rewards soon to repair the damage; otherwise, sleeping in the truck at night would be difficult.

"Ah, forget it. I don’t even know if damages caused by wild Pokémon are covered by insurance, and besides, I didn’t buy any," Heath sighed, deciding to just let Mew experience the joys of being a chef.