Is he wrong about her also being a Player? Is this, like, a game where nobody knows it's a game? That would be novel! He tries something else just in case. "Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it's not real. It's just...real and also a game, you know?"

He nods like he knows what she's talking about. He hasn't read his Guide yet. As far as he'd been concerned, he already knew about Pokemon. Increasingly, he's finding out he's forgotten a lot.

"Geez, a week..." It always took, like, a matter of minutes on the GameBoy. Funny to think of that translating. John wonders if someone was playing as him and taking minutes for years of his life. Someone else he'd like to theoretically trade places with. "But this one doesn't, right? How long did it take you to find Hei-chan?"