Chapter 260: With Ducky Here, Nothing Can Go Wrong! (Membership Extra - )

Chapter 260: With Ducky Here, Nothing Can Go Wrong! (Membership Extra Chapter)

"Ducky, the temperature in Incubator No. 3 is 0.3 degrees higher than yesterday. Open the vent a little more."

"Quax."

Quaxly precisely nudged the vent dial with the tip of its wing, moving with a level of familiarity that didn’t seem possible for a duck.

Hina finished writing the last entry, placed the clipboard on the shelf beside her, then crouched down and gently stroked Quaxly’s head.

"Ducky, we’re done with this morning’s work. Good job."

Quaxly narrowed its eyes happily and rubbed its head against Hina’s palm.

"Quax, quax~"

Just then—

The incubation-room door was violently thrown open.

A blue figure shot inside like a cannonball, sliding nearly half a meter across the floor before barely managing to stop.

Piplup threw itself at Hina’s feet and wrapped both wings tightly around her leg.

"Piplup, Piplup, PIPLUP!!!"

The impact nearly knocked Hina over.

She stumbled two steps before finally regaining her balance.

Immediately afterward, Dawn’s light footsteps came from outside.

"Piplup—! Stop running!"

"I adjusted the proportions this time! There definitely won’t be any problems!"

"Just try it! One bite! Just one bite!!"

Dawn walked into the incubation room carrying a bowl.

Inside were several colorful Pokéblocks in an extremely suspicious shade somewhere between neon pink and neon green.

They didn’t look like Pokéblocks.

They looked more like experimental waste in the middle of a chemical reaction.

The moment Piplup saw the bowl, it frantically shook its head.

The entire penguin hid behind Hina and clamped both wings firmly over its mouth.

Quaxly stared silently at the ominously glowing Pokéblocks for a moment.

Then it reached out and gently patted Piplup on the shoulder with one wing.

"Quax, quax~" (Someone has to be the brave warrior who ends this conflict.)

Under Piplup’s horrified gaze, Quaxly picked up one of the fluorescent Pokéblocks with the tip of its wing—

And stuffed it into its mouth.

It had barely chewed twice before Quaxly’s entire face visibly changed from pale blue to neon pink.

Its flat beak opened.

Closed.

Opened again.

Then closed again.

"...Quax."

The next second—

Quaxly toppled straight backward.

Both feet pointed toward the ceiling.

Its eyes turned into matching spirals while a stream of tiny rainbow-colored bubbles began drifting out of its mouth.

"Ducky?!"

Hina immediately crouched beside it in alarm.

"Are you okay?"

Quaxly weakly waved one wing to tell Hina not to worry.

Unfortunately, bubbles were still continuously escaping from its mouth.

They floated upward through the air, each one a different color—

Red.

Blue.

Green.

Purple.

Like a tiny rainbow slowly rising toward the ceiling.

Piplup pointed one wing at Quaxly, then turned toward Dawn with an extremely certain expression.

"Piplup, Piplup!" (See?! I told you this would happen!)

[VIP Chat Group]

[Aaron]: That Pokéblock color... I’ve raised Bug-type Pokémon for years, and even the poisonous powders I’ve seen weren’t that fluorescent. That’s not food anymore. That’s a chemical weapon, right?

[Koga]: Could you share the recipe? That stuff looks more potent than my Arbok’s venom.

[Dawn]: That’s parallel-world me! It has nothing to do with me! Besides, the Pokéblocks I make in reality are perfectly good!

[Misty]: Why does that excuse sound so familiar?

[Cynthia]: Hubby used it before.

[Elesa]: So did I.

[Diantha]: We’ve all used it.

[Johanna]: Dawn’s progressing pretty quickly, isn’t she? Looks like I should start packing my luggage early.

[Dawn]: MOM!! (? ??? )

The video continued playing.

Dawn lowered her head dejectedly and traced circles along the rim of the bowl with one finger, her voice growing quieter and more miserable with every word.

"I’ve been learning from hubby for so long..."

"Why do I still keep failing...?"

Piplup walked over and gently patted Dawn’s knee with one wing.

"Piplup, Piplup."

"You’re right."

Dawn sighed.

"Looks like I’m really not good at developing new recipes. I’ll leave this kind of thing to hubby from now on."

She stood up and took the bowl away to dispose of its contents.

After washing it, Dawn dried her hands and turned back toward Hina, her usual energetic smile returning to her face.

"Oh, right, Hina! Mommy almost forgot to tell you—your dad and I are going out for a while later."

"Huh?! Going out?!"

Hina raised her head, her eyes instantly filling with panic.

"Mm-hmm!"

"I’m planning to do some special training for the next Grand Festival! Your dad already agreed to be my training partner, and I don’t get opportunities like this very often!"

"So—"

Dawn clasped her hands together and winked at Hina.

"We’ll leave the Day Care to you this afternoon!"

"B-But..."

Hina pressed the tips of her index fingers together in front of her chest, her voice growing quieter and quieter.

"I... I’m not very good at talking to people..."

"What if a customer comes in and... I get so nervous that I can’t say anything?"

"I’d cause trouble for the Day Care..."

"No problem, no problem!"

Dawn patted Hina’s shoulder, her voice bright and carefree.

"You just have to watch the front counter. It’s super easy!"

"Then... okay."

"I’ll try."

"Yay! Then we’re counting on you!"

Dawn kissed Hina on the forehead, scooped up Piplup, and dashed toward the door.

"Piplup, let’s go!"

After the incubation-room door closed, Hina lowered her head and looked at Quaxly beside her.

"Ducky..."

"I’m not good at talking to people like Mom and Dad are."

"If customers come in and... I get too nervous to speak, what should I do?"

"I don’t want to cause trouble for the Day Care."

Quaxly looked up at Hina.

Then it puffed out its fluffy chest and confidently patted itself with one wing.

The meaning couldn’t have been clearer—

I’m here. Don’t worry.

Hina looked into Quaxly’s bright little eyes.

Finally, a small smile appeared on her face.

"...Then I’m counting on you, Ducky."

The video continued playing.

The first customer arrived much sooner than Hina expected.

Less than ten minutes after Dawn and Asher left, the bell above the Day Care’s front door rang.

The first customer of the day—

A boy wearing a baseball cap pushed open the door and was greeted by the following sight.

A duck was sitting perfectly upright behind the counter.

In front of it were a registration form and a pen.

Its wings were neatly folded over its stomach, and its expression was so dignified that it looked less like a duck and more like the concierge manager of a five-star hotel.

The boy froze.

Then he looked around.

"...Excuse me? Is anyone here?"

An extremely soft, tiny voice came from behind the counter.

"...Yes."

The boy froze again.

He had definitely heard someone answer him—

But he couldn’t see anyone who could possibly have spoken.

Quaxly tapped one wing against the counter, drawing the boy’s attention back toward itself.

The boy stared down at the duck, whose movements were far too practiced to be normal.

After hesitating for a moment, he cautiously spoke.

"Um... I’d like to leave an Eevee in your care for about three months."

Quaxly opened its beak.

That same barely audible voice came out again.

"H-Has your Eevee been sick or injured recently?"

"No. It’s perfectly healthy."

The boy took the Eevee from his shoulder and placed it on the counter.

"Okay..."

"While Eevee is staying here, we’ll prepare its food separately according to its usual diet."

"If you’d like, we can also send you photos and condition reports every day..."

"But... um... we’ll need you to leave your contact information..."

The boy watched as Quaxly skillfully flipped open the registration form with one wing.

Then—

It picked up the pen in its beak and wrote a line on the form.

A duck was filling out his registration paperwork.

And apparently it could talk.

The boy’s entire worldview suffered some kind of irreversible damage at that moment.

He stared blankly as Quaxly pushed the registration form toward him and pointed one wing at the signature box.

He picked up the pen.

Signed his name.

Then handed Eevee over to Quaxly.

The entire process went unbelievably smoothly.

It wasn’t until the boy had already walked out of the Day Care that he finally turned around and looked back at the sign above the entrance.

Only then did he mutter to himself in a daze—

"...Is this Day Care run by a duck?"