I Started a Lover-for-Hire Service, And For Some Reason, Only Beautiful Girls Are Requesting Me

“Mmhh…”

Himeno let out a sweet sigh as she clung tightly to Ryoma, just like a koala.

She sat firmly on his thighs, gripping him securely.

A pleasant fragrance drifted from her—what kind of shampoo or body soap did she use? And her soft, smooth skin, like a freshly boiled egg. Even through her fluffy pajamas, he could tell.

In a situation like this, there was no way Ryoma could focus on playing Pokémon seriously. But that wasn’t the only issue.

“Himeno?”

“…”

“Hey?”

“…”

No response.

The only movement from her was the gentle nuzzling of her cheek against his chest.

With the Switch in both hands, it looked like Ryoma was hugging her back.

Given this level of closeness, she had to know how loudly his heart was pounding.

As someone who had never been this physically close to a girl before, Ryoma was desperately trying to suppress a certain biological reaction.

His mind was overloaded, and his only choice was to focus on Pokémon with all his might.

(Wow, the graphics are really nice…)

Forcing his thoughts in a different direction, he turned his attention back to the game.

The last place Himeno had saved her game was inside a Pokémon Center.

Since this was his first time playing the new title, Ryoma wasn’t familiar with the town or the controls. For now, he decided to check Himeno’s party and Pokémon storage using the PC inside the Pokémon Center.

“Alright… so this is the team she’s using.”

Saying it out loud helped him concentrate.

He moved the cursor over the six Pokémon in her party, skimming through them.

Pokemon Slot 1: Nickname—A-chan.

(Wait… This Pokémon’s name doesn’t have the letter ‘A’ in it at all…)

Ryoma was right. The Pokémon’s actual name contained none of the characters in “A-chan.”

Pokemon Slot 2: Nickname—I-chan.

“…I see what’s going on here.”

By the second one, he already figured out the pattern.

Himeno was naming them in order of the Japanese syllabary—A, I, U, E, O.

(I thought she would be really particular about naming her Pokémon… but maybe not?)

He silently moved on to check the third one.

It was a legendary Pokémon, caught in a cute pink ball. Unlike the first two, its nickname didn’t follow the pattern.

Its name? “Centipede-kun”.

Most legendary Pokémon didn’t have a gender, but Himeno must have decided this one was male.

Her naming sense was… unique.

(Well… I guess it does kind of look like a centipede…)

Was she meticulous about naming them, or completely random? Ryoma couldn’t tell anymore.

But going through all these nicknames was surprisingly fun.

After checking the rest of her party, he decided to take a closer look at all six of them.

“Wait… all of them have perfect IVs…?”

Individual values (IVs) were hidden numerical stats assigned to each Pokémon.

These values caused slight differences in stats even between Pokémon of the same level and species. In other words, to train stronger Pokémon, one must search for those with higher IVs.

This alone made Pokémon a deeply strategic game.

After that, Ryoma began checking “Himeno’s Box 1.” The box name hadn’t been changed.

Box 1 contained Pokémon caught in the wild. Box 2 was the same. However, starting from Box 4, an unusual sight unfolded.

Newly hatched Level 1 Pokémon. A massive number of eggs.

This continued all the way from Box 4 to Box 32.

(So she is IV breeding…)

Breeding eggs and hatching Pokémon with good IVs—this had always been the fundamental method of IV breeding, both in the past and now. It seemed Himeno was deeply invested in the process.

“…Huh?”

But something caught Ryoma’s attention.

Himeno’s boxes were nearly full. Yet, she had kept many low-base-stat Pokémon. Moreover, each one had a name—random ones like Runtan, Kinnikku (Muscle), Yawarakasou (Looks Soft), and Sawaritai (Want to Touch).

“Himeno?”

Rub, rub.

Still lost in rubbing her cheek against him, Himeno didn’t respond. But this was something Ryoma really wanted to ask.

“Hey, sorry for interrupting.”

“…!”

Thinking it would startle her if he spoke out of nowhere, Ryoma gently stroked Himeno’s silver hair resting against his chest.

—In an instant, she tensed up with a shudder on his lap.

“Ah, my bad…”

Ryoma had meant to be considerate, but he ended up surprising her.

“W-What?”

Her arms loosened slightly from around him, and she lifted her face to look at him.

At last, she was paying attention.

“You haven’t released any of the Pokémon you hatched? Even the low-IV ones?”

“Mm, I haven’t.”

“Why not? Keeping them takes up space, and you only have a few dozen slots left…”

If the boxes ran out of space, she wouldn’t be able to store any more Pokémon. It was common practice to free up storage for future catches.

“Because I was the one who brought them into the world, it would be too sad to release them.”

“Even though it’s just a game?”

“Mm. They even have personalities, like ‘lonely’ and stuff.”

“That’s true…”

Maybe Himeno wasn’t overly focused on strength. If her boxes filled up, she wouldn’t be able to breed more Pokémon.

In a way, that meant her progress in training stronger Pokémon would come to a halt.

“So you never feel like releasing them?”

“Mmm… I do, actually. I want to make space for new Pokémon…”

“Haha, so you want to, but the guilt outweighs it, huh?”

“Mm.”

“That’s just like you, Himeno.”

“Really…?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Is that good?”

Himeno looked up at Ryoma, her amethyst-colored eyes widening expectantly. She clearly wanted to hear him say it was.

“Hmm, well, how people play games is up to them, so I can’t really say… But in a way, not throwing things away is better than throwing them away, at least emotionally speaking.”

In games, it was often easier to play without bringing real-life emotions into the mix. That was especially true for FPS games, for example.

“So, do you play FPS games?”

“I do. I defeat a lot of enemies.”

“Oh… so you don’t feel bad about that?”

“If I don’t take them down, they’ll take me down instead.”

“I see… kill or be killed, huh?”

“Mm.”

Ryoma had no idea that Himeno was just as dedicated to FPS games as she was to Pokémon.

For her, this was important. As someone who spent a lot of time writing manga and novels, she needed an outlet.

Gaming was her way of unwinding.

“Shiba, Pokémon time is over.”

“Wait, I can’t play anymore? I haven’t even left the Pokémon Center yet…”