Pokémon, but cultural invasion

She made no attempt to hide her rejection and suspicion of Izumi, coldly stating, "I am Lanxing, from the Mashiro Orphanage."

"No matter what your purpose is, I will never entrust the life and death of the orphanage to a frivolous person who has no sense of responsibility!"

Chapter Two: The Headmistress Isn't Very Friendly

Quanshu lay on the wooden bed she longed for, while outside the window, the moon and stars were few and far between.

After a war-like exchange, their relationship plummeted to a freezing point, and they parted on bad terms.

While they might not kick him out as the former dean's grandson, they certainly wouldn't treat him well.

The coffin is to be buried in thirty-seven days, so Quanshu temporarily places it in the southwest corner of the room.

Unexpectedly, after years of wandering, my grandfather still kept his room.

Lanxing slept in the attic on the second floor.

"The film and gaming industries in this world are indeed a blank slate."

He carefully checked the phone and found it to be exactly as he remembered; movies and games were still in their infancy.

A recent award-winning film at the Binu Film Festival is "Psyduck Loves Jigglypuff," which tells an extremely clichéd love story and has a rather questionable filming style.

This leaves only the initial funding issue.

Once you secure the start-up capital, all problems will be solved.

Beneath the familiar ceiling, Izumi Tree slept soundly.

The next morning.

He was awakened by a series of chirping sounds; the Pokémon at the orphanage had gotten up.

Quanshu pushed open the door.

Various Pokémon were playing and frolicking on the lawn.

Sandshrew, Nidoran, Zubat, Oddish, Exeggcute, Cyndaquil, Pidgeotto, Charmander, Bulbasaur...

After all, this is the Kanto region, and Izumi probably has enough to fill a Kanto Pokédex.

"Hey, you two aren't allowed to fight during breakfast time."

Lanxing rescued Rattata from Arbok's gentle embrace and gave Arbok a hard knock on the forehead.

The latter ran away in tears.

Quanshu fixed his gaze on Lanxing.

She wore a navy blue apron, the fabric beneath it faded from washing, outlining the girl's slender and delicate figure.

Seemingly noticing his gaze, Lanxing turned around.

"Lazy!"

Seeing his sleepy and unkempt appearance, Lanxing reprimanded him mercilessly.

"You know, I just got back from United States and I'm still jet-lagged."

Quanshu yawned nonchalantly, and what he said was, of course, the truth.

There's a downside to waking up memories of a past life: it's as if he's been exploited by the 996 work culture all over again, turning from an ambitious young man into someone who just looks like a typical office worker in one night.

"If you really want to work hard for the orphanage, please go and feed the Pokémon in the pond to the west."

Lanxing handed him a bowl of Pokémon food.

Izumi squeezed the thumb-sized brown granules in the basin. Despite the tight budget, they hadn't skimped on the ingredients for the Pokémon food.

Is it foolishness or excessive kindness?

Quanshu didn't refuse; feeding the fish was much more interesting than watching the Arbok kiss the mouse.

On the west side of the welfare home is a pond about the size of a football field, with an arched bridge over it, which was built when the home was first established.

He dared not gamble with the conscience of the construction team from back then, and walked straight to the shore.

On the lake shore, under the willow trees, the graceful face of the spring tree is reflected in the water.

The lake water was crystal clear. Soon, several goldfish and Squirtle swam slowly over, while a few pufferfish and mosquito tadpoles poked their heads out of the water in the distance, observing his movements.

"Gah?"

From the lush grass by the water, a Psyduck emerged, its head in its hands, gazing at him with intelligent eyes.

Several Marills hid behind Psyduck, hesitating whether to approach.

"Breakfast today."

Quanshu sprinkled some food into the water, placed the bowl on the ground, and took two steps back.

The Pokémon swarmed in and feasted.

"I see."

Looking at the satisfied smiles of the Pokémon, the smell of my class seemed to dissipate considerably.

Ten minutes later, Quanshu cleaned up the mess and returned to the house.

The dean is preparing breakfast.

A can of soybeans was served on the dining table.

Quanshu looked at the poorly packaged, unbranded canned food. "Are you serious?"

He was certain that this wasn't the headmistress abusing him, because she was eating the same food.

Special times call for special measures.

Lanxing opened the jar lid, took out a spoon, and started eating.

So this is where they cut corners?

Quanshu hesitated for a moment, then lifted the lid and took a bite.

Well, the taste is okay, but the texture is very crumbly.

"I'm planning to hand out flyers in Golden City today, and I need you to look after everyone at the orphanage."

"Flyers promoting the welfare home?"

"Correct."

"Can I take a look?"

...

Izumi picked up a stack of papers on the table, on which were neatly written the origins, conditions, and Pokémon information of the orphanage.

Such a thick stack of handwritten notes?

"Don't we have computers at our welfare home?"

He muttered to himself that the computer was used to manage the data of the Pokémon admitted to the hospital, and information about donors would also be entered.

"I think handwriting is more sincere."

Lanxing didn't realize the problem. She said:

"I hand out flyers in the morning and work at a convenience store in the afternoon. Since you're here, I can extend my working hours a bit..."

"Wait a minute."

Quanshu interrupted her, "Have you been working to support the orphanage all these years?"

Lan Xing replied matter-of-factly, "There are fewer and fewer donations from society. What's wrong with me working part-time to help support the hospital?"

In Quanshu's eyes, she overlapped with some of the kind-hearted people in her previous life who adopted a large number of stray cats and dogs.

The biggest difference is that the kind-hearted people in the previous life knew how to monetize internet traffic by posting a "stray pet rescue" ad.

She buried herself in her work and saved every penny.

"Putting everything else aside, are you planning to use these promotional materials to raise funds?"

Lan Xing asked in confusion, "Yes, what's wrong?"

"Sir, times have changed."

Quanshu scratched his head. He wasn't a primary school student. Who would be moved by a few unimpressive handwritten flyers?

"In this day and age, singing is all about being miserable. If you want white-collar workers in the city to open their wallets, you can't do without pictures and stories."

"For example, a picture of an injured Pokémon with pitiful eyes, paired with a touching story, is what makes it appealing."

"Or you could paint a few beautiful women on it, and even if you threw it on the street, someone would pick it up and take a closer look."

"As for your carefully prepared flyers, the most likely outcome is that students will fold them into paper airplanes and fly them during boring breaks between classes."

After a long silence, Lanxing sighed.

"I admit you have a point."

"But it's impossible to fabricate a Pokémon's past. Most abandoned Pokémon have serious psychological trauma, and it would be too cruel to reopen their wounds."

Quanshu clicked his tongue, "Even if this story is fictional?"

"Yes, using Pokémon to gain sympathy goes against the original intention of the Tingxiang Welfare Home, not to mention deceiving the public."

"...So you don't object to pictures of beautiful women?"

"..."

"If we have to use a picture, I think it should be a group photo of the Pokémon and staff at the welfare home, and printing a large number of them would cost a lot."

"Printing is easy." Izumi took out a Poké Ball.

"TuTu Dog, come out."

A gray-white elf with a tail like a paintbrush and wearing a painter's hat appeared in the room.

"Tulu—"

Tutu crossed its arms and stood to one side with Eevee, looking like a professional painter.

"TuTu Dog is very fast at drawing; hundreds of flyers are no problem for him."

"But I have to tell you, it's no use handing out more flyers or taking on more jobs to keep the welfare home going. You can't afford to feed so many people."

Lanxing gripped the spoon tighter and tighter, her knuckles turning white from the force, and her voice was filled with deep weariness and confusion.

"So what should I do?"

Izumi looked up, staring into her dim eyes, and said firmly, "Give the Pokémon in the orphanage a job, so they can get moving."

"Let's make a movie."

Chapter Three: The Last Dance

filming?

The only movie Lanxing ever watched was in the open-air playground of the orphanage.

That summer night, kind-hearted people brought a projector and screen to the orphanage. Amidst the clicking of duct tape, she watched her first movie.

Even now, Lanxing still remembers that movie.

However, with the economic downturn in recent years, I've heard that even Hollywood, the largest film production center, is in decline.

Only a handful of films remained in the Binu Film Festival's competition.

More importantly, the welfare home simply has no money.

"Making a movie requires too much investment, we don't have that much money."

Lanxing was pleased that Quanshu wanted to do something, but his proposal was impractical.

"We could make a movie entirely starring Pokémon, with the human voices dubbed in post-production."

"The cameramen are Zubats, and the props and scenes can be Ditto."

"Once these things are settled, the cost of the film will be greatly reduced."

"Making a good film can turn the welfare home around."