"Johto?" Janine asks again, pausing in the middle of pouring the tea.

It felt fulfilling to perform the duties of a Gym Leader, and the opening ceremony had gone well with no accidents (unlike the Muk Incident three years ago which everyone had agreed to never talk about again). Still, it was nicer now that it was over, unwinding a bit with her sister and loosening the persona she had to maintain. It was also finally the opportunity to learn what Sakura's plans for her journey were; she'd stated she was only going to share her goals after officially passing the Trainer initiation (as if there was any doubt of that). Janine had a secret of her own that she was happy to finally reveal, but Sakura's revelation made her forget about her plans.

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"Johto," her sister said firmly, still smiling and pleasant but her gaze resolved. Ino gently took the teapot from Janine's hands and continued pouring the girls tea. The Audino was unsurprisingly unsurprised. She was probably the first person Sakura had told.

Out-of-region journeys were more and more common as the regions grew more centralized and forged or reforged their connections, but Janine had still expected Sakura's first journey to take place in Kanto, even perhaps starting in Pewter as befit tradition. Part of her, borne from a sense of duty, of civic and cultural pride, wanted to protest the choice. But mostly…

Janine was happy to find that most of her just wanted her sister to be happy.

And she hoped their father would be too.