Speaking of the Pacific Rim, we're back to Bryce in Tsukuba. He's found the Arahida residence, and when he knocks on the door, Keiko's little sister answers it with, "Mom, there's a white guy at the door!" I wonder if that was on Bryce's language tapes, or if there were no pizza-delivery incidents which would have met the Rosetta Stone Language Acquisition series, Foreshadowing Edition requirements for inclusion. Anyway, Mrs. Arahida is not so thrilled at the surprise gaijin, but when Bryce asks about Keiko, she's even less delighted. Bryce whips out his notebook and asks if his picture of Keiko in the Sushi Arahida shirt is actually Keiko. Mrs. Arahida remembers the argument with her daughter -- specifically the part where Keiko asserted there was someone else out there -- thinks about life with a gaijin son-in-law, then lies, "I don't know that girl." Ah, madam, you can fight destiny but you will not win. However, Bryce is left thinking he's reached a dead end.

Bryce calls to Nicole to moan about what an idiot he is, what with flying 5000 miles to find a total stranger. Nicole consoles him by pointing out that he did it to find a woman that he loved, and at least he now knows Keiko's name. Bryce sighs that he doesn't even know if it's the woman's real name, and nobody can tell him anything. Nicole counsels him, "Maybe you're trying to rush something that can't be rushed. You should be patient. Isn't that how love works?" Well, her twitterpation for him seems to be moving along those lines. Poor Bryce is still sad: maybe he misinterpreted this as a way to construct an escapist fantasy. Nicole urges him to come home; she appears to have an agenda that involves cheering him up in person. (But heaven help me, if this turns into "Nicole and Bryce fall into a fling and she feels guilty for distracting him from his KeikoQuest, so she embraces her death as sweet repentance," well ... there will be a lot of caps lock ranting.)