I'm the Owner of the Pokémon Day Care In the World of Pokémon-Chapter 1474: Natsuhiko and Buneary

Originally, Natsuhiko had planned to absolutely refuse to apologize to Haruki, but under his mother’s insistence—and remembering the lingering pain in his backside—he was ultimately forced to compromise.

When he finally apologized to Haruki, Natsuhiko did it with great reluctance. His face was filled with resistance, making it very clear that he wasn’t sincere at all. This made his mother extremely dissatisfied, and she nearly spanked him right there on the spot.

However, Haruki’s mother stopped her. Based on what she knew about Natsuhiko, she felt that an apology was already good enough. If they pushed further, the boy would likely retaliate later—and in the end, her own son Haruki would probably be the one to suffer for it.

So, on the surface, it seemed like the matter had been settled.

After Haruki’s mom finished buying Pokeblock with him, she left in a hurry because she had other things to do. Meanwhile, Natsuhiko’s mom stayed behind with her son to consult Yuga about purchasing a Pokémon.

Once Yuga learned that the Pokémon was meant to be a companion for Natsuhiko, he advised her not to buy one just yet. Judging from how Natsuhiko behaved during the apology, Yuga could already tell that this child wasn’t quite ready to interact with Pokémon.

Natsuhiko’s mom had been hesitant about buying a Pokémon from the beginning. After hearing Yuga’s suggestion, she began leaning even more toward the idea of not going through with the purchase.

But Natsuhiko wouldn’t accept that at all. Right there and then, he threw a tantrum. At that moment, Yuga finally understood—this was a textbook brat!

Because Natsuhiko made such a huge fuss, his mother had no choice but to go ahead and buy a Pokémon.

Her thinking was: if her son really couldn’t get along with the Pokémon, then she would just keep it as a pet herself. After all the grief her son had caused, she figured she might as well get a Pokémon to soothe her weary soul.

Of course, she didn’t have the qualifications to purchase a high-quality Pokémon. So, following Yuga’s suggestion, she ended up choosing a Buneary with a very outstanding rating among the yellow potential Pokémon.

This particular Buneary was actually one of the oldest among the baby Pokémon. It was very well-developed physically and its overall abilities far exceeded others of its kind.

Most importantly, it was obedient and sensible.

Originally, Natsuhiko had wanted to get a Sandile because he thought its vibe matched his personality better. But his mother firmly refused—she simply didn’t like Sandile.

Considering the high likelihood that the Pokémon would eventually end up with her rather than her son, how could she possibly buy a Pokémon she didn’t like?

And so, the Sandile that Natsuhiko had been longing for was replaced—at his mother’s insistence—by a cute little Buneary. What he didn’t know at the time was that this Buneary would become the nightmare of his life.

After purchasing the Pokémon, Yuga repeatedly reminded the mother and son to treat the Buneary kindly. If it really turned out that they couldn’t get along, they could return the Pokémon to YoYo Day Care, and the shop would issue a full refund.

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.

The League had always strongly advocated for humans and Pokémon to coexist peacefully, and in recent years, people had become increasingly focused on building equal and friendly relationships with Pokémon.

That’s why the vast majority of day cares now allowed full refunds if a customer truly couldn’t get along with a Pokémon, and would also take back the returned Pokémon.

After noting Yuga’s advice, Natsuhiko’s mom took her son and went home. Even though he didn’t get the Pokémon he most wanted, his mom had still bought one for him, so Natsuhiko was in a pretty good mood when he left.

However, that very night, he would come to experience the "malice" of the Buneary.

After Natsuhiko’s father came home, his wife explained her reasoning, and he warmly welcomed the new family member.

Buneary looked absolutely adorable—with big, round, black eyes that sparkled brightly. Even Natsuhiko’s father, a grown man, was completely charmed. For now, it seemed like the whole family loved Buneary.

In front of Natsuhiko’s dad and mom, Buneary acted very shy. Whenever they praised it, it would tug at the fluff on its belly to cover its cheeks, looking bashful and embarrassed—just like a timid little girl.

So in the eyes of Natsuhiko’s parents, Buneary was a shy and well-behaved child.

After dinner that evening, Natsuhiko couldn’t wait to play with Buneary. At first, Buneary played with him quite nicely, but Natsuhiko was a little brat—after a while, he started trying to bully Buneary, even reaching out to tug at its fur.

Buneary was hurt from the pulling. It turned its head to glance at Natsuhiko’s parents, who were both watching TV and not paying attention to what was going on. Seeing that they weren’t looking, Buneary raised its long ears and punched Natsuhiko in the stomach. (Its ears were Buneary’s most powerful weapons.)

Natsuhiko was stunned by the punch. He froze for a moment, and then burst into loud wailing cries.

Hearing their son’s crying, Natsuhiko’s parents turned around, ready to see what had happened.

Buneary, seeing this, immediately flopped onto the ground, pouted its lips, and tears welled up in its eyes. It looked as pitiful as one could possibly imagine.

Upon seeing this, Natsuhiko’s father scolded loudly, "Natsuhiko! Did you bully Buneary?"

Natsuhiko howled through his sobs and pointed at Buneary, yelling, "It bullied me! It hit me!"

But his parents knew exactly what kind of kid their son was—they didn’t believe a word of it. Besides, Buneary was just too well-behaved.

Sure enough, when they looked at Buneary, it was sitting on the floor quietly sniffling, its eyes red from crying—clearly, it looked like the one who had been bullied.

"You behave yourself! Don’t bully Buneary again!" Natsuhiko’s mother turned back to watching TV, but not before giving him another warning.

Natsuhiko was dumbfounded. He stared blankly at Buneary, who had stopped crying and was now sticking its tongue out at him, even making a silly face—exactly like the one Natsuhiko had made at Haruki a few days before.

Buneary had hit him with just the right amount of force. For its incredibly well-controlled ears, managing the strength wasn’t hard at all. So while Natsuhiko screamed in pain, he hadn’t actually suffered any real injury.

Natsuhiko was the type to remember the pain but not the lesson. Even though he’d been tricked by Buneary the night before, the very next morning he was already thinking about taking Buneary out to show off to his friends.

Buneary didn’t hold any grudges about the previous night either. Under the concerned gaze of Natsuhiko’s mother, it went out the door together with him.

Sure enough, the neighborhood kids were full of envy when they saw that Natsuhiko had a Buneary. Among the kids of their age nearby, only Haruki and Natsuhiko had Pokémon.

Buneary was so cute and well-behaved that it quickly won everyone’s hearts.

Thinking back to how he had to apologize to Haruki the day before, Natsuhiko felt humiliated, so he decided to take Buneary to challenge Haruki to a battle.

So once again, Haruki found himself cornered outside by Natsuhiko and his little gang. Natsuhiko demanded that Haruki have a battle between his Chikorita and Buneary.

At first, Haruki didn’t want to do it, but Chikorita was afraid it would get bullied by Natsuhiko and took the initiative to agree.

Unfortunately, even though Chikorita agreed, Buneary had no interest in obeying Natsuhiko’s commands. No matter what he said, Buneary just stayed completely still. When Natsuhiko raised his voice even a little, Buneary’s eyes welled up with tears and it began softly sobbing, looking so pitiful that everyone watching felt bad for it. They even started advising Natsuhiko not to bully Buneary.

Buneary was just too cute, too obedient!

But Natsuhiko had already seen through this act the night before, so he didn’t buy it at all. He insisted that Buneary obey his commands. That only made Buneary "cry" even harder.

"Why would I listen to this little brat?" Buneary thought to itself as it continued (pretending to) cry.

In the end, the group of kids all dispersed unhappily.

Of course, the only one truly upset was Natsuhiko. The other kids were happy just from getting to play with Buneary. Haruki, too, was relieved that the battle never happened.

On the way home, Natsuhiko grumbled nonstop, complaining about how disobedient Buneary was. By now, Buneary had completely dropped the pitiful act it had shown in front of the others.

Finally, fed up with Natsuhiko’s constant whining, Buneary leapt up, raised its ear, and gave him another solid punch.

Natsuhiko went home in tears, crying miserably and very loudly.

When he got home, his mother was there. Seeing her son crying like that, she thought something serious had happened. When she asked what was wrong, Natsuhiko told her it was Buneary who had hit him.

Natsuhiko’s mother lowered her head and looked at Buneary. She saw that Buneary was obediently standing at her feet, head lowered, quietly sobbing. That pitiful appearance—so pitiful it was even more heartbreaking than Natsuhiko’s.

"You were bullying Buneary, weren’t you?" Natsuhiko’s mother didn’t believe her son’s words at all.

"No, it was Buneary who hit me!" Natsuhiko shouted, lifting up his shirt to show his mother his stomach.

But his little belly was chubby and soft, fair and tender, completely uninjured. There wasn’t even the slightest red mark.

And so, Natsuhiko was honorably given a spanking—because his mother believed her son had gone bad, telling lies again and again.

The next day, Natsuhiko’s mother went out of her way to ask around, and from the neighborhood kids she learned about how Natsuhiko had blocked Haruki the day before. That only strengthened her belief that Natsuhiko had tried to bully Buneary afterwards because Buneary refused to obey him.

Because all the children said that yesterday Buneary had been scolded by Natsuhiko until it cried.

From that day forward, the little troublemaker Natsuhiko began living a life of suffering and torment. Every time he tried to bully Buneary, Buneary would certainly retaliate, and he would always end up getting punished by his parents in the end.

In contrast, to Natsuhiko’s parents, Buneary remained the most well-behaved child in the world.

Strangely enough, after being "tricked" by Buneary so many times, the spoiled and unruly Natsuhiko actually began to gradually become better behaved. Even the number of times he bullied Haruki decreased. It had to be said—this was nothing short of a miracle.

Of course, that was all still to come; it hadn’t happened yet.

As for what was happening in the Natsuhiko household, Yuga knew nothing. A few days after Natsuhiko’s mother had bought Buneary, he finally received a phone call from Licia.

"I got the Pokémon you wanted. Go receive them," Licia’s voice came from the other end of the line. "You have no idea how hard it was to get these Riolu for you!"

"But you’re not losing out at all. The Pokémon I gave you are such high levels, you’ll be able to raise offspring with way more stable genetics," Yuga replied, not buying into Licia’s dramatic complaints. "It’s not easy to find Pokémon at such high levels!"

"Hmph! You won’t even let me get the tiniest advantage out of this!" Licia grumbled in annoyance. "Next time something like this comes up, don’t forget to call me."

"I won’t forget. Here’s to a great partnership!"

After a brief chat, Yuga headed to the gym and received the Pokémon Licia had transmitted.

Licia had sent over a total of forty Pokémon, eight of which were Riolu. The other thirty-two were Psyduck.

All the Riolu were of green potential. According to Licia, just getting those eight with green potential had been hard enough. As for blue potential? Don’t even think about it—there were absolutely none available.

Among the thirty-two Psyduck, there were actually three with blue potential, which finally made Yuga much more satisfied.

After leaving the gym, Yuga took the forty Pokémon and went to the Ecopark.

He handed the eight Riolu over to Lucario to take care of.

In Yuga’s Ecopark, besides the Lucario that had paired with Zoroark’s younger sister, there were originally two Riolu, and later on, those two Riolu had also evolved into Lucario.

Now, with these eight Riolu added in, there were a total of eleven members. The Lucario family could now be considered a small group within the Ecopark.

Before leaving the Grassland Sub-Ecopark, Yuga looked at the couple—Lucario and Zoroark’s younger sister—for a long moment and suddenly said, "You two have been together for quite some time now. How come you still don’t have a child?"

The couple, suddenly being urged to reproduce, looked completely dumbfounded.

The other two Lucario nearby immediately covered their mouths and secretly laughed when they heard that, but Yuga suddenly turned and looked at them instead.

"You two as well. You’re not that young anymore either. It’s time to start having children."

The two Lucario immediately stopped laughing. They didn’t even have partners, and on top of that, both of them were male, so there wasn’t even a chance to internally resolve the issue, so to speak.

After leaving the Grassland Sub-Ecopark, Yuga went to the Shallow Sea Beach Sub-Ecopark and placed the thirty-two Psyduck in the Heart Lake at the center of Lake Island No. 2.

Among the three Lake Islands, Lake Island No. 2 currently had the fewest number of Pokémon. Only two groups lived there—Nihilego and Toxicroak—and both of those groups only inhabited the jungle on the island itself. There wasn’t a single Pokémon living in the central Heart Lake.

The arrival of the Psyduck brought a touch of life to Lake Island No. 2’s Heart Lake. The previously quiet lake suddenly became lively.

The silly, adorable Psyduck lined up for walks along the lakeshore or floated here and there in the water. It was quite amusing.

All the Psyduck Yuga had were normal—they could swim, unlike Misty’s Psyduck, which was a landlubber.

After observing the Psyduck for a while, Yuga left the Ecopark, only to see that Ninetales was filthy all over and was currently letting Doduo give it a bath. Feeling confused, he asked, "You went to the island again today?"

Ninetales nodded and said, "Yes."

"What exactly have you been so busy with? You’ve been leaving early and coming back late every day recently." Yuga had never asked before, but seeing Ninetales in this state today, he finally voiced his curiosity.

Normally, Ninetales loved cleanliness the most. What could possibly get it into such a messy state?

Ninetales thought for a moment and said, "It’s something good. Just wait a couple more days—I have a surprise for you."

Yuga became even more curious. "A surprise? You sure it’s not a scare?"

Ninetales rolled its eyes at Yuga. "Hmph! Don’t believe me then. You’ll find out soon enough."

Yuga pressed further. "Can’t you just tell me now?"

Ninetales shook its head. "No!"

Hearing this, Yuga could only give up on asking and turned around to leave.

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