A New Beginning

Chapter 9

He entered his dorm room with Pikachu. The room was locked for a few hours so it had become quite suffocating. He opened the door to the balcony, and spread an air freshener around the room. The weather was quite nice today, as warm sunlight poured inside through the curtains.

He sat on his bed with Pikachu curled up beside him, as he fiddled with his phone. The web page of the academy had already posted the results. He started scrolling through the comments. Ash's group was praised by many students for coming in second place. No one seemed to talk about Drew, who had come in first place.

This was quite a common psychology. If you already expect outstanding results from someone and they meet your expectations, no one would bother to say anything except 'Oh, it was expected of them anyway.' But if an unrecognized individual achieves the same feat, they would get double the praise and attention, more if the said individual had lower expectations. The expected individual would even get criticised in some cases.

Ash thought about Drew and smirked unknowingly.

'This must be pissing him off. Good.'

He switched off his phone and decided to eat the food he brought. Pikachu must be hungry too. That's when a knock was heard on the door.

"Yes?" asked Ash, and immediately the door flew open as May came from her room. She threw herself on his bed and let out a huge sigh.

"I am sooo exhausted. And hungry too~" she said, stretching her arms, completely dropping her persona without a care. Ash was quite shocked seeing this side of hers.

"I... brought some lunch with me. Do you-?"

"YES!"

May yelled and looked at him with sparkling eyes. Seems like she really liked food. Ash stared at her actions as May huffed.

"W-what? You expected me to be some elegant cold princess? I am a human being too you know," she said with a pout. She was clearly embarrassed but was trying to hide it.

Ash slightly laughed and started unpacking the parcel. Hearing no response, May warily asked him.

"Y-you think it's weird of me to act like this?" she asked.

Ash kept focusing on serving the food.

"Of course not. In fact, I think it's pretty cute," he said without thinking anything. Those were his genuine thoughts.

He didn't hear any response from the brunette, so he proceeded to open his mini fridge for some drinks.

Meanwhile May:

'No No No No! How can he say something like that with such a straight face! Baka Baka Baka!' she thought blushing red, as she shook her head sideways.

"By the way, isn't the student council helping to reorganize the gym for tomorrow's battle?" asked Ash. May quickly regained her composure.

"Well, the school staff is handling that stuff. They wanted to give us a break I guess. The third year senpais are there so there is no need for us," she said. She suddenly remembered something

"I almost forgot! Great job on getting second place. I have to watch out for your team from now on after the stunt you pulled today."

"It's nothing really," said Ash, but May wasn't convinced.

"You don't have to be so modest. You should've seen Professor Nomura's face after your group cracked the riddle. It was hilarious," she said laughing.

'I am guessing he was the one who made the riddle,' thought Ash.

May stood up and walked closer to Ash. She leaned on the counter and looked at him with a gleeful look on her face. Ash noticed it as he pu down the glass and looked back at her.