Arc IV- Development II: Reflection (Revelation)

DV- Happy New Year Everyone! We're back with another chapter, brought to you by those obscure authors that write that one fic that kind of feels like a cult classic movie. Not mainstream, not popular, but we have at least a decent few who still enjoy this, which is nice. So we know that the monthly schedule was kinda thrown aside, but it's now 2021. We'll try to get back to normal soon.

US- We have a fun selection of innocuous, friendly, non-confrontational events to enjoy, in this fanfic where nothing bad ever happens. Are you ready for the Hot Springs Episode? The Cultural Festival? The inexplicable Musical Episode? The Battle of the Bands? The Volleyball Sports Anime where Joseph works hard to not let down his Sempai?! All this and more, in today's episode of Partners.

Disclaimer: In Soviet Pokemon, Pokemon own you. In Normal Pokemon, you still don't own Pokemon. (Oh.)

XXXXXXXXXX

Joseph POV

"Well, at least the city is still there?" Sophie tried to cheer me up, speaking cheerfully. I was less convinced, and reached over to turn off the radio. I didn't really see it as something worth celebrating. The casualty number was way too high for that.

"I'm glad we left." Amora muttered from behind the protective layer of a whole slice of buttered toast. "Sometimes you need to know when to stay out of the way."

"Rightly put!" Keiko said in a tone akin to affectionate as she patted her shoulder. It was a little odd how Keiko was often so supportive to Amora, but it made some sense. She was the Alpha - managing Pokegirls is what she is meant to do. She could hardly call herself an 'amazing wife' if she couldn't even treat an abuse victim with the kiddy gloves.

"It… was the right decision." I acknowledged. I didn't like doing it. Heck, I still hadn't heard back from Ben yet. For all I know, he's one of the dead. But I had to leave. It was for the safety of those I'm responsible for, and I won't regret that.

"The responsible choice, yes." agreed Keiko, trying to get on my good side. I'm pretty sure she'd figured out by now that appealing to my sense of duty was way more likely to yield positive results than 'traditional' seductions. I gave her a nod of acknowledgement, then returned to the cereal the hotel had provided: a Cheerios knock off, with a Vespiqueen as the mascot. It tasted fine, anyway.

"So… what's the plan?"

"I don't know." I admitted. "I just want to spend some time wrapping my head around things. We'll be grounded for a while, anyhow. Maybe we can see if a branch of the Battle Club is in Cianwood City. There is a gym here afterwards."

A chiding slap to the shoulder courtesy of my first. "We've got potentially weeks of waiting. There's no rush."

"There is." I insisted. "I'm still compartmentalising… but I don't want to be weak. I don't want to be powerless if shit like this keeps happening. So we have to put the work in. We need to. I don't want us to die."

"Darling, as your Alpha, relax." Keiko had gotten up from her chair, and was pouncing at the sight of weakness. She was behind me, hands on my shoulder, face close to my own. I stilled the panic in my heart, and carefully removed her hands. "When exercising, you need rest days. This is the same. We've been through a lot. All of us."

"In other words… you need a break." Sophie, working with her arch nemesis against me. Betrayed again.

"Amora! Surely you are on my side!?"

The Electric type said nothing. Half her toast shield was gone now, but her silence was protection enough.

"So it's treason then, is it?" I rasped, brandishing a small bread-roll like a lightsaber.

"For the love of Arceus…" Sophie sighed. Sophie, oh closest of friends, what is with that look of despair on your face? Why are you looking at me like I'm something quite pitiful that is making more references nobody understands? "Joseph… go to the goddamn beach."

"I don't want to." I'm being petulant now, but damn it all, I'm trying to be good. We won't always have someone like Morty or Mia around to bail us out. We live in dangerous times.

"I'll use my secret weapon." warned Sophie.

"I call your bluff."

"I'll tell Mia you're being a sourpuss."

And like how Atlas bore the weight of the sky, so too was the inevitability of relaxation forced upon me. "Fine. You win this round. We'll go to the beach again."

I swear to god that if our next stop is a hot spring episode then I can NOT be held responsible for my own actions…

XXXXXXXXXX

The good news is that I didn't stay at the beach for long. Not since I was kidnapped and what not.

"I see you're as cheerful as ever, boy toy." There was only one man that obnoxious.

With a scowl, I tore the hat from my face and scowled at the burly man leering over me, his torso blocking out the sun such that it was as if the light radiated from him. "Chuck…" I said the name like a curse.

"There we go, mister sourpuss. Not spending time with your girls?"

I looked over to them. Today Mia was off doing something else (a woman is entitled to her private time) so it was just us. Amora and Sophie had joined a pick-up Volleyball game (with Amora flubbing the whole thing and beating herself up about it with every missed shot - might need to talk to her about that), while Keiko was reading close by.

"They're doing fine as is. Nothing… wrong with doing nothing?"

"Eh, but you wish you were being more proactive, weren'tya?" Dang it, stop casually Gym Leadering!

"Maybe." I admitted. "I'm just tense."

"Well, if you're doing nothing, then I guess you're free."

"Eh?" Blink. Blink.

"Oi, Vulpix! Fine if I borrow him!?"

Keiko looked between us, weighing up her desire to control me and alternatively not piss off the Gym Leader. Finally, she made her choice, smiling sweetly. "We should be fine here since this is a public beach, and my darling has already been kind enough to leave us some money. Good luck, honey!"

"Go die!" Another sin to thy name, Keiko...

"Right then." With that, he effortlessly picked me up and slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"O-Oi! What the fuck do you think you're doing!?" I fruitlessly struggled, unable to loosen his grip.

"Kid, I train with Fighting Types." Then he laughed like a madman.

"Help!" I shouted. "I'm being abducted!"

A few passerbys looked on curiously. All of them shrugged. Alas, I'd forgotten that they had Chuck as their Gym Leader. They were used to his personal brand of nonsense.

"What's going on anyway!?"

"Geez. Chill your pill. I had a day off scheduled in for now, and like fuck am I letting any crisis get in the way. As for where we're going… to pursue only the most manly of bonding activities." Here, he gave me a grin. "We're going fishing."

XXXXXXXXXX

Ben POV

Perhaps in another time I might have set off for Floaroma Town right away, my thirst for answers overriding common sense. But not now. In blood, my blood, I've learned not to make any hasty moves. I'm not making the same mistakes twice. So naturally, we hit the local library. Some research is better than no research after all. If I'm truly lucky, I'll even find the answers here, but I don't truly expect that to happen. That's not how the world works.

With a long sigh, I set down an old magazine. "Find anything interesting? Mine was a bust."

Katsumi looks up next to me from the book she's buried in. "Not really. Well, it is certainly interesting that Floaroma is less than fifty years old. That's quite odd. Just about every other place I'm familiar with has a history measured in centuries. You'd think that would be something talked about more, but no, I remember my schooling and it's never even brought up."

"Really? I wonder why. Then again, you are a Johto girl so the specifics of a small town in Sinnoh probably wouldn't exactly be considered super relevant. On the other hand, starting a new town can't exactly be an easy endeavour, what with Ferals and all, so you'd think it would be used as an example, if nothing else."

Katsumi hums a little, looking oddly at the book, likely wondering whether it's accurate or not. "It's not easy to start a new settlement at all…"

Klara bounds over to us. "Hey! Guess what I found!"

She immediately settles down when the Library Matron gives her an acidic glare. I quickly mouth "I'm so sorry" at the woman, who frowns but turns back to herself.

"Klara." Katsumi says, her tone soft and sisterly, completely unlike the tone she takes with Lorraine. "I have a question for you, if you don't mind." Klara nods and Katsumi continues. "Was the formation of Floaroma Town covered when you were in school?"

Klara tilts her head to the side, thinking for a moment. "Uh, like, kinda sorta? Not really though. Why?"

"Just curious." Katsumi says, giving me a meaningful side-eye. "Now, what have you found?"

The younger girl takes a seat across from us, sliding over to us a newspaper dated to about sixty years prior. "Look in the personal ads section. I don't know if it's relevant, but like, it was totally strange and so I thought you two should see it for sure."

We flip over as I start looking through them. It's blatantly obvious, as it sticks out like a sore thumb.

"Для всех наших потерянных товарищей, мы здесь ждем вас."

Cyrillic script in a world that I've only seen using Latin script so far? It's blatantly obvious that something is up. As for which actual language it is, I don't know. Russian is the most prevalent and well known of the group and almost all the stuff I've seen that also came from Earth being Soviet, the only exception being American and British. The picture of a young man wearing a cap with a very distinctive badge also plays a part. How many places will you find a golden hammer & sickle in a red star? Besides, even if the guy isn't Russian himself, the Soviets did force everyone in their puppet states to learn their language, so even then… eh, it's probably irrelevant overall.

Still, this is tangible proof that Joseph and I aren't the first actual people to come here and actually survive, unlike those poor USAAF pilots. It was kind of an abstract concept before. Yeah, I knew that there was stuff that got over somehow, I had plenty of proof of that. I'm wearing proof of that. I knew from the bomber all that time ago that sometimes the people didn't make it. This is my first proof that other people have actually made it. That's…

"Are you alright, dear? You've been staring at that ad for several minutes now."

"I'm... mmm. Not sure how I feel about this, honestly. Still." I turn to Klara with a smile and draw her in for a hug. "Good job. This might just be the breakthrough we've been working towards."

What to do with this information though? It's hardly like I can just go there, find them and demand answers. Even if they have them, there's no real incentive to give them to me. On top of that, I'm American. If they still have any loyalty to their land of birth, they'll refuse on principle, especially since they have no way to know about the end of the Cold War. Do I have any better ideas, though? That's the rub, isn't it?

I fucking hate this.

I hate having no real options. There is something I must do, so I must go do it. Why oh why couldn't adulthood be more of an open sandbox? Still, complaining isn't going to solve my problems. All roads lead to Rome, after all. Or I guess Floaroma Town, in this case.

"I guess Pryce was right. We're going to have to head to Floaroma."

I'm so fucking done with old men telling me where to go right now.

XXXXXXXXXX

Joseph POV

We were out on the open waters. Just two men in a small boat, anchored to a pleasant, calm spot away from land. I could concede that the coves around Cianwood were beautiful, that the sound of the waves was refreshing… but even so. This was truly hell.

I had never fished before. I had no idea how to use the stick presently dangling over the edge of the boat. I'd never personally done this before, and never really considered doing it. And I was doing it with Gym Leader Chuck of all people!

I glared at him to my right. He seemed perfectly content, simple wooden rod casually held out with an ease that comes with practice. He didn't seem to be worried - why should he care that these waters might have Ferals in them? I noticed two Pokeballs on his belt. In the worst case scenario, he could happily break up this 'male bonding' trip for some serious firepower. Though knowing him, he could probably just beat up a tonne of Ferals himself.

"Poke for your thoughts?" Chuck eventually asked, a little more chill than normal.

"Why'd you drag me here? Don't you have fishing buddies?"

" A few." he shrugged. "This is just as much a solitary hobby as a bonding one. It's as equally nice to have the entire sea to yourself and your thoughts, as it is to drink a few beers with a friend. On that note…" he reached into his icebox and pulled out a pair of chilled beers. He offered me one.

I accepted the peace offering. Mostly because I was thirsty.

"In other words, your other friends were busy."

"Nah." he dismissed my suggestion easily. "When you're a Leader, you have no shortage of boating buddies. Guess you could call this an extension of my curiosity and obligations to another."

"Did Whitney set this up?"

"She suggested it." he shrugged. "Apparently, you really need a masculine role model in your life and 'the stupid mafia prince doesn't count'."

I coughed awkwardly. "He's more 'distantly related to the throne', really."

Chuck laughed loudly and boisterously. "You live in interesting times! I mean, do I even want to know why you're chummy with some underworld prince?" Then, he blinked. "Hang on a tic. Underworld... mafia prince… where have I heard that before… we aren't talking about that asshat from Titan who fucked off to Sinnoh, are we?"

Wait a sec. Asshat? Ayup, that's Ben alright.

Blink.

Wait another sec. Ben's in Sinnoh? When the hell did that happen off screen? And just when the hell was he planning on picking up the damn phone and telling me this? "... I don't know what you're talking about."

He laughed. "Fuck me, I hate that guys guts. Yup. No choice but to be a proper role model if that's the alternative. Honestly, the whole company should just die, and not just because they keep sticking their noses into my businesses or the whole 'Rocket' shindig they're likely balls deep involved in."

I sighed. "Look, I really don't want to get into this shit right now. Can we leave it?"

He put up his hands in false protest. "Geez. Fine. Peace, okay?"

I nodded, looking back to my rod. "Peace. I just… I just want a little peace and quiet, where my ridiculous social circle isn't causing me problems and liable to get me killed, okay?"

"Jojo, this is peace. You're just trying very hard not to grasp it."

I snapped around, almost throwing aside my rod altogether. "You're the one who brought up the 'mafia prince' in the first place!"

The burly man leveled a hard stare at me. "You know that's not the problem here. You know exactly what I'm meandering towards. You aren't a dumbass."

"..." I said nothing, but that was just as much an answer as any. I knew what he was likely trying to get me to acknowledge, before the Ben point kinda blew up a little more than expected. He's saying that here and now I have a peaceful chance to fish, and the only one ruining my enjoyment of the experience is me. And objectively, on paper, he's correct. I'm safe and secure and my peace is right here in the palms of my hands.

"But you just can't accept it, can you? You can't just turn off." Chuck continued. "I think I know why Whitney asked this. I don't mind your puny little presence too much, and it's fun to tease you. But you really need to learn to let things go."

"How can I just, let it go!" Maybe I was being silly. But it feels like the universe punishes me equally for not being prepared and for actually putting the work in. Catch 22 - either way the universe dumps on me.

I couldn't take this peace because it was too easy. Ever since coming to Bizarro World, there has been one universal law: good things cannot last. Either Ferals fuck things up, my Pokegirls fuck things up, Whitney fucks things up, I fuck things up, or something completely different comes out of nowhere specifically to fuck things up.

Just… when is the shoe going to drop this time?

"If I don't bleed in peace time, then someday I'll die in wartime!"

"Don't shout so much." He chided me quietly. "There is a limited number of fish here you know, don't want to be scaring them away."

"Fine." I sighed loudly, forcing myself to take deep breaths. This trip would be fine. I had a Gym Leader to protect me. Unless I wanted to swim home, there was nothing to do but see if I could find some form of peace here.

With that, I returned my focus to my fishing rod.

For a time I lost myself staring at it. It wasn't relaxing. Too many thoughts, too much going on. The situation with Keiko, Amora's trauma, Ben's absence of messages, all the blood and violence and that oh so troublesome crush on a Sempai.

"Tighten your grip." Chuck suggested. I did so. "Yeah, and move your grip a bit further back. Yeah. That should be fine. More comfortable."

After that correction, it was back to silence once more.

The sound of waves. The sun. A cool beer. A peaceful fishing trip absent of any fishes to have yet done us the honour of dumbly swimming up to our lines.

Eventually, Chuck spoke up once again. "What do you want?"

"The fuck off this boat."

"Be serious. Deeper question. What do you want?"

"I don't fucking know." I gave him an incredulous look. Nobody my age truly knows what they want in life. "I want… I want…"

To be back home, where there's no Ferals to worry about and a family that loves me.

To be able to redo the clusterfuck this adventure has been so far. To take back every shitty, short-sighted, self-righteous choice I made, and save everyone a lot of trouble.

Maybe even to just not have taken this stupid Tamer gig.

Maybe I just wanted to be able to forget everything.

Maybe I wanted everyone to get along.

To just… stop being so fucking complicated.

I wanted Ben to put his child first and get his ass out of Rocket and maybe call me already.

Hell, at this point in time, I'd be satisfied if Ben would just answer the damn phone.

I wanted Keiko to quit the stupid lover routine.

And I guess right now…

"I suppose I want power."

"Heh. Never a good thing to admit you want power." Chuck had a point, but was the point of lying?

"Money can't buy you happiness, but it buys things that can help you find happiness." I pointed out. "And power is the same. It won't do anything alone… but you can't get anything done without it. Even if you want it, if you don't have the power to get it, what's the point? I want to be strong enough that no Rocket goon can threaten me, strong enough that no Feral can get past my girls, strong enough that I finally have time to just… sit down and figure out what I want. Long term, that is."

Because here and now, I was operating solely through duty and survival. I had thrown my own wants largely out the window ever since I learned the truth of why Pokegirls needed sex to survive following the Siege of Ecruteak. It wasn't the wrong choice, but… "Even if you know it's a bad idea, and that you have more important priorities… you can't stop wanting the things you want."

Case in point, reckless crush on a girl way out of my league and already fairly happy with an attractive harem of female Pokegirls.

"You aren't wrong." Chuck admitted, taking a deep gulp of his drink. "Power opens many doors and windows, and sometimes you can't help wanting things. But there's one thing you forget."

"Which is?"

He stood up tall now, strong and menacing and grinning like a loon. "All of that nonsense is meaningless if you aren't happy! Sometimes, Joseph… your first priority should be to just do what makes you happy!"

"What a pile of Tauros dung!" I spat. "My first priority can't be myself." It can't. I still had too much to make up for.

"You can't make other people happy if you aren't happy yourself." he countered. "You can't love another person, truly love them, until you can love yourself. I'm telling you this here and now, as one of the strongest Tamers in this country, with unparalleled control over my little fiefdom, with Pokegirls of unparalleled power and the strength to physically match some of them myself… the biggest strength of all is found in here!"

He pounded his chest, his heart, and laughed without any care at all in the world. He laughed simply for the sake of laughter. "The strength to be emotionally happy, to fight for your own happiness and fight through the consequences of when you're wrong! Heart is the best Superpower of all!"

I didn't quite know what sort of look I was giving him. I figured it was something between an amused smile and confused grimace. "You are the oddest combination of fighting, brick-for-brains, alpha male stereotype… and actually remarkably competent warrior monk. Who spends his free time making up the most generic of shonen motivation speeches."

"Eh. I am what I am. I have the strength to be whoever the fuck I want to be, and damn anyone who says otherwise." And that, perhaps, is the biggest symbol of how this man got to where he is today. It kinda felt like he became a Gym Leader as a side effect of just naturally being the strongest, best version of himself he could be.

"I can respect that." I admitted. His personality could be grating, and he had a terrible habit of daytime kidnapping. But damn me to hell, the Stockholm Syndrome was kicking in.

Chuck isn't a dumbass. He got to where he is with good reason. And… maybe he wasn't speaking completely out of his ass.

"Fuck it. Let's fish then." He has a point that your mental health is a big part of your strength of character. And if I can't drop out of this little manly bonding exercise… I might as well try to enjoy myself?

I won't even think about it (what's the worst that could happen?).

Instead, I'll just try not to worry about anything. Focus less on outside problems, maybe a little more on inside ones?

Something like that anyway.

Tug tug.

"Oh look," pointed out Chuck, a small grin stretching out his face. "Looks like you've got something. Now you just need to reel it in…"

XXXXXXXXXX

Ben POV

There are many things I prefer about Sinnoh when compared to Johto. How much easier it is to get around is one of the best. Sinnoh is more militarized than Johto, Kanto or Hoenn and it shows very well in how much easier it is to move between cities. If I still had both my legs I might as well have walked, since Canalave and Jubilife have intersecting safe zones, but alas, when one is wheelchair bound, such things are simply not practical. With all that said, the real takeaway is that it was incredibly easy to get a ride to Jubilife.

Once there, I release my girls from their Pokeballs, letting them take in the sights.

Katsumi is on my case immediately. "Ben, we've talked about this. Another seat wouldn't have cost that much, there was no reason for me to wait in my Pokeball. Honestly Ben, what if you needed us?"

I raise an eyebrow at her, as if we both didn't know I could have all three of them out in less than ten seconds if need be. I turn to Mikhail, leaning forward, resting my elbows on the arm rests while propping my hands under my chin. "So this is Jubilife, huh? Nice place."

Mikhail shrugs. "I mean, I guess. It is the largest city in Sinnoh after all. It's decent I guess."

"The big city lights not to your taste?"

"Not really. Too crowded, too noisy."

I give him a sympathetic nod as we start to make our way through the wide, thankfully paved, streets. "It's not for everyone." I wave my hands around my wheelchair vaguely. "It's gonna be a pain for me now too. So let's get through this as fast as possible, eh farmboy?"

He purses his lips for a long moment, but in the face of my teasing smirk, he breaks and starts laughing a bit. "Yeah. Ah, it's nice to be heading home."

Home? Don't tell me… "Mikhail, Floraroma is your home?"

"Sorta." He says, shrugging as if it wasn't really important. "It's not where I was born or anything, but it's where my grandparents live and after my dad died, my mom and I lived with them for a while before…"

"Before you joined up with Galactic."

He just nods.

"Hmm." I contemplate that for a moment. "How is that going anyway? I'm not messing anything up by having you with me all this time, am I?"

He laughs, but it's hollow. "Bit late to be asking about that, isn't it?" His face pulls into a tight frown. "The truth is… kinda. On one hand, time spent with you is less time doing stuff to integrate myself further into Galactic. On the other hand, this is a well needed vacation and your initial help with my mother made it possible to advance further in the first place."

"I see. Anything I should be aware of?"

"What a concise question." He rolls his eyes. "Unfortunately, nothing you'd be particularly interested in. You Rocket types are the practical sort. Cyrus and Saturn have their heads in the clouds, chasing fairy tales. Day to day internal administration has fallen to Mars while Jupiter handles operational leadership."

"No, that is interesting. Not anything I can or would want to do anything about, but interesting nevertheless. You're under Jupiter, yes?"

Mikhail nods. "Yeah, she's my boss. Actually, I've advanced enough that she's my direct boss instead of overall manager. Which is why I have the freedom to be here instead of being ordered elsewhere."

"Fair enough." I acknowledge. "Do you know anything about what Cyrus and Saturn are after?"

Mikhail says nothing for a long moment. "Legendaries." He finally says derisively but quietly, rolling his eyes. "Everything they can find about the Legendaries. Old archeology projects, every rumor, every bedtime story, every shadow that looks like how the stories describe them, everything."

Ah. Legendaries. Of course. That was his plan in the games, wasn't it? Fuck. What was his end goal again? Now that I think about it, was Rocket the only crime team to not have some master plan using legendaries to take over the world or some such insanity?

"That's amusing, if nothing else." Katsumi mentions. "Also, Ben, I'm hungry."

"Hmmm?" I look at her with a smile. "Alright, no worries. If you see someplace you'd like to eat, let me know and we'll stop. That or we can go looking if you already know what you want."

Mikhail gives Katsumi a look. "Yes, I suppose 'amusing' would be the proper descriptor for someone like Cyrus attempting to get their hands on the Legendaries."

I snort. "Alright, so we've established that Cyrus actually succeeding would be terrible, but let's face facts, what are the chances of him actually succeeding?"

Mikhail gives a quick laugh. "The Legendaries are just that. Legends. No one is actually sure if they exist or not… or at least not from where I am. I mean, there has to be some reason the Leagues have made it a felony for anyone not on their payroll to look into it, right?"

I stop as I feel Katsumi's hand on my shoulder. "Ben, let's stop here and get some burgers."

I turn to her. "Sure. Lead the way, dear." I turn back to Mikhail. "Maybe, maybe. Or maybe going into old ruins is just dangerous. Old Pokegirls. Dangerous ones. Don't first look for government malice when standard human stupidity suffices. Here's what I propose. So long as Cyrus is chasing shadows, there's no reason to intervene. If that changes, though I think both of us doubt it will, we'll reevaluate. Fair?"

He sighs. "That's the best I'll get, isn't it?"

There's a lapse in the conversation as we enter the restaurant and place our orders. Finally, I restart the conversation. "For now, it has to be. I have more immediate issues at the moment. I wish I didn't, but I do. As you said, as a Rocket member I have to be practical. There are people who wish me dead for far more grounded reasons, perhaps most notably a Venasaur with vengeance on the brain because I was forced to kill her Tamer. I have no wish to be put on another hit list for interfering with a grand plan unless there's no other choice."

"I suppose that's fair." He says after a moment of contemplation.

With that conversation settled, there's a long silence as none of us take initiative, unsure of where to take it next.

"So, what can you tell us about Floraroma?" Katsumi asks.

"Depends on what you want to know." Mikhail says. "It's a small, quiet place. Not a lot of visitors or residents."

I take a moment to think. What would be useful to know in advance? "What can you tell us about its founding?"

"Ah." Mikhail says. "Well, I'm sure you may know this, but Floaroma is the newest settlement in Sinnoh. My grandfather was actually one of the original founders. He and many of the people he knew."

Hmmm. That's curious. "Do you know why they felt the need to settle somewhere new as opposed to settling in one of the existing cities?"

He shrugs. "My grandfather always liked to talk about making a place a little closer to where he grew up, but… he's never really liked talking about it. I've never managed to get more than the name of his birthplace out of him in regards to it and even that was reluctant."

"Oh?" I ask, tilting my head slightly. "Do you mind sharing?"

"I mean, I guess. I've never heard of the place before, but maybe you have you."

Katsumi stares down at him imperiously. "Stop rambling. Out with it."

"My grandfather is from a place called East Berlin. Is the name familiar?"