2025-09-28: Peace
- Log: Peace
- Cast: Hyousuke Suzuki, Ichika Kawase
- Where: Outside Sumaru City
- OOC Date: September 28, 2025
- IC Date: July 18, 2012
- Summary: Hyousuke and Ichika take a hike!
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
A breeze whipped past Hyousuke as he stood outside the station, stinging at his skin and sapping the heat from his body. However, despite this, he failed to do more than twitch in response. Part of it was his own strength - a stiff breeze was hardly something he cared to take notice of. But it also seemed that he was distracted. His eyes were glassy, the shifting of his thumb over his phone's screen mindless and repetitive, his posture slumped as he leaned against a lamppost. His body was there, but his mind? That was another question entirely.
He glanced up occasionally, though what he looked at varied. Sometimes he looked to the path ahead, eyes glancing lazily over the start of the trail he was to meet Ichika outside of. At other times, he let his eyes linger on the station's exit, hoping to catch sight of a familiar face. Though, throughout it all, there was little sign of the energy that he usually displayed. His movements were sluggish, and he never focussed much or for long, even when he returned to scrolling through his phone.
His demeanour might not have been recognisable, but at the very least, his dress sense was. Clad in simple and practical clothing, his outfit was well-suited to hiking. A breathable top with sleeves short enough for the season, rugged trousers to keep errant flora from scraping or stinging at his legs, and boots that had seen so much dirt and mud that it was hard to tell where the leather ended, and the stains began. All of it was rounded off by a pack slung over his shoulders - a small thing, no doubt containing whatever supplies were needed for a fairly relaxed trail.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika Kawase is also dressed for a hike--green cargo pants, sturdy boots, and of course one of her skull tanktops, snug. She has an extra shirt with her, but it's hot enough that she's not using it unless they get into a wood-thick area where she has to protect her arms. Sunscreen, too.
And sh e arrives, a familiar face indeed, stepping outside the station and putting her phone away into a pocket as she looks around. "Oh!"
Ichika smiles, and walks over. The tears of yesterday are nowhere to be seen; she is in rather more makeup than one might expect for a hike, though. That's just her way.
...Her hiking clothes are cleaner, but not pristine. They've been used.
She has a pack, too. "Hyousuke-kun," she says. "Looks like we both made it."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke snapped to attention as soon as he heard her voice, stopping just short of jolting in surprise. He went silent for a moment, and fixed her with a blank stare, mind scrambling for an appropriate reaction before the silence turned awkward.
"Course I did." He eventually said, though his tone was a little flatter than one might have expected. He gave her a smile - a small one, with a hint of genuine happiness at seeing her, but it was largely forced. Realistic as it may have looked, it didn't reach his eyes. "I needed some air, and this was the closest place for it."
With that, he turned to face the path. It was only a short walk to the actual trail, as far as he could tell - the trail itself was the real challenge. "Come on, let's move. If we go now, we'll have time to eat something at the top and rest for a while before it starts getting dark."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Of course. Ichika smiles anyway. "I guess that's not a big surprise, since it was your idea, huh?" She doesn't mind a flat voice, or a blank stare to start; she's grown kind of accustomed to Hyousuke's ways in that way. "Right," she answers. "The air would do me some good too..."
Ichika walks on up and takes up position near Hyousuke, pointing herself for the path. "Let's go," she agrees, and starts off at a measured pace.
She's no stranger to hikes.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
The distance to the trail was covered in short order - a few minutes at most, given the pace they kept - and he soon arrived at the trail proper. Given the time of day, and the time of year, the place was quiet enough. Some few fellow hikers meandered along the sloping, winding, dirt path, all of them in various outfits with packs and bags slung over and across their bodies, but not so numerous that Hyousuke thought they'd be disturbed. Wordlessly, Hyousuke started on it himself, gait even despite his posture remaining ever so slightly slouched.
"You been on this one before?" He asked. He didn't look to her as he spoke, keeping his eye son the trail instead. "I've only read about it. Haven't had a chance to get a proper look at it until now."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika doesn't object if someone looks at her or even talks to her, but she's not going to go out of her way for it either. Instead, she sticks with Hyousuke, and starts along. Her posture's pretty good for hiking, her height serving her well with long legs and thus long strides.
"Nope," Ichika answers. "I haven't been to a lot of the ones around Sumaru," she admits. "I grew up closer to Iwatodai, so I found trails around that area instead."
"What do you think? It's pretty."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke fell into silent thought again, ruminating on an answer. He didn't bear a blank look as he searched for one, however, nor a look of strain or frustration as he tried to pick the correct words from his fairly limited vocabulary. As he drew his eyes slowly around the greenery, breathing deep to fill his lungs with its scent and pricking his ears up to listen to whatever lurked beyond his sight, it seemed more like he was simply observing, and trying to draw inspiration from the world around him. The pause grew to a silence, then was broken with but a single word.
"Peaceful."
The word was not so much spoken as it was breathed out. Soft, and almost wistful, his tone was a stark change to the usual energy he displayed. "I like it. Seems like somewhere I can come to think."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika tilts forward to glance at Hyousuke's face as he thinks; no blank look, no difficulty. She puts her eyes back on the trail ahead after she notices his Looking around at everything. And eventually...
"Yeah," Ichika agrees.
Peaceful. It is different, to see him like this. "Cool," she says. "...Guess there's a lot to think about, huh?"
There is for her, anyway.
"...But I like the peace, too. Being out in nature is a good way to... recharge, you know?"
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"Mhm."
A short, almost dismissive, reply. One delivered without Hyousuke so much as glancing at Ichika, instead staring absent-mindedly at the trail ahead, and only seeming to pay enough attention to that to make sure he didn't trip over into the underbrush. The thoughtful look that he had worn faded out as gradually as it had crept into his features, replaced once again by that blank, distant, look that spoke of his thoughts being elsewhere. Of all things, it was a stray stone that brought him back to the waking world, making him stumble just enough to force him to pay attention.
"Yesterday was..." He searched for a word, mouth opening and closing every time he thought he was close, but to no avail. The sentence was left hanging, never to be finished, the thought still incomplete. "it all happened at once. I... don't even remember half of it properly."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Short. Ichika listens anyway. She continues to walk, a step after a step. The air is cleaner out here; the sun, late as it is, seems brighter. It's far away from homework and trouble...
A lot of trouble there was, too.
"Whoa--" She catches the stumble, and--there, he speaks, so she doesn't have to ask if he's OK. Instead...
"Yeah," Ichika agrees. "It really did. I wasn't expecting it at all, and then..."
"It all went south at once."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"Yeah. It did."
Another short answer that, on its own, might have brought the conversation to a screeching halt. But the way he trailed off as he spoke and stared into the middle distance told that he had more to say - he simply could not find the words for it. When he did resume speaking, he did so hesitantly, as if every word that fell from his mouth felt like a bad idea. "The fire just came out of nowhere, and I thought Tsubasa died, but they-" He bit his tongue, in both a figurative and literal sense. So disjointed were his thoughts that he could not even keep from speaking without an accident happening.
"What the hell's happening to us?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
The fire did come out of nowhere. Ichika remembers walking to one of the exhibits, and never making it there. Of course, Hyousuke would remember that, too.
"They didn't," Ichika says. "...But I thought so, too. I was..."
She shakes her head. "I couldn't handle it."
She looks back to Hyousuke, and has no answer for that, slowly shaking her head. "...Is it just us?" she wonders.
"There's this psycho killer on the loose, who can use fire and demons and stuff. ...There's these suits that can push around even people with powers."
"...There's alternate versions of people who were pretty bad in the first place."
Ichika looks skyward. "...I guess it's not normal. But I haven't... had a chance to stop and think in a while..."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
There was no witty retort, no declaration of courage or intent. There was just silence, interrupted only by the quiet chorus of nature, and heavy footfalls against the uphill path. He said not a word - but what was there to say in response to any of that?
"I came here trying to get my act straight." He mused. Another piece of his past, his mouth letting it slip before his mind had a chance to catch the words. Instantly, he felt a pang of regret for opening up and revealing another part of himself, but there was no stopping it now. The floodgates had opened.
"And now I'm fighting serial killers, I've got some ghost armour fighting for me, I-" He clenched his jaw, as if doing so could trap the words in his mouth like a cage. "I think you're right. I think we need this. Peace, I mean." He gestured slowly and vaguely at the trail. At the stillness of it all - how the leaves rustled only slightly in that cool and lazy breeze, how the clouds drifted overhead at a crawl, at how even path's meandering seemed relaxed.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
To get his act straight. "...Yeah," Ichika answers, regarding Hyousuke in light of what she knows about him. It sounds right, anyway. From what he's said, from what she's guessed...
"...Is it better?" she wonders. "Better that we can do something? ...That woman I had to knock the demon off of... I don't know for sure if she lived. She had her daughter with her."
But the path is still peaceful.
"I hope so. ...But yeah, I think..."
"I think if you don't stop and get that peace, you go crazy. You need it somehow. This is one of the ways I like to get it."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke let her words sink in. He mulled them over, letting them echo in his mind, pondering what he was supposed to say to her. Though he might not have been conscious of it, the path only served to help him reflect on it. It was by no means a strenuous one, and required little thought to traverse, letting him focus on the more pertinent problems he faced.
"Am I doing something?" He asked, once his thoughts had managed to settle for a moment. "I just... ran in. I didn't help anyone, I just fought."
He couldn't bring himself to look Ichika in the eye as he spoke. By that point, it wasn't clear if he was speaking to her at all, rather than simply thinking aloud. "Ever since I got those powers, it's all I've been doing with them." He chuckled, but there was no joy behind it. It was a grim one, as if he were accepting that such a thing was to be his fate. "But you're right. We need peace right now. Yanno, I used to go on walks like this before I came here. No gang, no parents, just me and a flask of hot tea. It was... it was nice."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
His question doesn't get an immediate answer. Ichika has to think about it. She doesn't want to bullshit him, but...
It's her first instinct to say something 'nice', an instinct that she foregoes.
"Guess not," she admits. "I mean, somebody's got to do the fighting. That's important. ...But if that's all you do, without thinking... I guess it doesn't help that much."
"You seem to like fighting," she says. "... But yeah?" she asks. "That is pretty nice. I used to go out like this a lot, too. Sometimes alone, sometimes with my brother..."
"Sometimes with other boys."
"After... what happened with Eiji," she says, "I spent about a month out in the mountains."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
There it was. The truth. As nicely as she had tried to deliver it, there was no hiding the meaning of the words. They hit him with force enough to make him flinch, and left a bitter taste in his mouth that he did not think would ever wash out. He opened his mouth, instincts and pride both demanding that he retort with something - anything - but he knew she spoke no lie.
"Figures." Was all he said. It was not the response itself that belied his feelings, however, but the way he delivered it. The word all but fell from his lips, spoken with a quiet sigh and a tired voice. He tried to suppress the quiver that came with it, but there was only so much that could be done.
Hyousuke tried to move on, and bury his feelings once more. He could bottle them up and deal with them later. For now, the hike had to be his main concern.
"I would've too." He said, when she mentioned Eiji, and what she had done after him. Perhaps a little less sensitive a response than he'd intended, but he spoke softly, and agreed without hesitation. The intent was there, even if phrased poorly. "Sometimes I wanted to just run out here and never come back. Didn't have to worry about anything or anyone. I... I've missed it being this quiet."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika winces, as she detects that flinch. 'Figures', he answers, and Ichika says, "But we're still figuring it all out. ...I haven't been a lot of help yet, either, and my Persona heals. ...I'm still working out how to go from 'power' to 'action'."
But...
"Yeah," she says. "My mom took me. ...She knew I liked it out there. And it was away from everything, everybody..."
"You could, you know. One day. ...When you get older, maybe. You'd just have to find a job out somewhere rural, I guess."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"Maybe. I don't know." Again, he sounded tired - and he began to look it too. Somewhere along the way, he had stopped trying to put on airs in front of her, whether consciously or not, and the true weight of all that had happened had begun to show. Bleary and unfocussed eyes, a gait that was only kept even by virtue of the path ahead being smooth enough to traverse without thought, a slouching posture, arms limp by his side when they weren't moving somewhat sluggishly to adjust his clothing and gear... He was exhausted.
"I still gotta figure out what I'm supposed to do with my life." A common enough sentiment for highschoolers, especially those in their final year. On the cusp of adulthood, it was only natural to have questions about the future. But there was weight to those words he spoke, even if he did not linger on them long enough to elaborate. "Your mum... She sounds nice. Did you walk with her like this much?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika keeps up her energy better--or maybe she's just more used to projecting it. Maybe something between them. Either way, she notices the change in Hyousuke, and wories a little about it. It's a common sentiment, but...
"Any ideas?" she wonders.
Then, "Yeah. ...We used to go out to the mountains every year," Ichika explains. "And that month... she stayed with me. When I was ready to go outside again, she came along. It was... nice."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke didn't answer her when she questioned if he had any ideas, choosing instead to focus on shifting the conversation to her mother. That, in itself, might have been an answer. His avoidance of the question spoke volumes on his thoughts, even if he himself remained silent on the matter.
"Yeah. It sounds nice. I like coming out here alone to get my head straight, but coming out here with someone..." He paused, thoughts lingering on something else for a short moment, before he finished. "...It's good too." He looked to the distance, then squinted. "I think we're getting close to the top. Or a clearing. It's hard to say from here."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika has ideas, these days. Is it too late? Maybe. She's almost halfway through her third year of high school already.
Something else? Ichika nods. "Yeah," she says. "...I kinda like it better," she admits. "I don't..."
"I don't like being alone, anymore."
A pause. "Oh, yeah? Cool. Maybe we can see some stars before we have to head back."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"Might be a little while until they show." He said, sounding a little resigned. At the very least, he sounded less tired, even if it was just because he was distracted by the prospect of stars. "We're still pretty close to the city, so there's probably gonna be a ton of light pollution." As they crested the top of the path, it soon became clear that he was right the first time. They had reached the summit of the trail - not a particularly high or difficult one, but the summit nonetheless.
"But it's probably worth waiting just in case. Want to rest here for now?
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"That's fine," Ichika says. "I don't mind waiting." Resigned... At least there's some improvement, right? But, "That's true, but like, there'll be a little less than in the city proper, so... it still might be nice."
The summit! Ichika smiles, but takes a moment to roll her shoulders, stretch a little.
"Sure," she says. "That sounds good."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
With the summit reached, Hyousuke turned back to look on everything below them - and relaxed. Though he had been the one to suggest they sit and wait, he could not help but remain standing, wanting to take just a moment more to drink in the sight of it all. Those blinding lights that bore down on him everywhere in the city, the towering concrete behemoths and masses of people and all the intricacies of their lives... it all looked so small from there. Like something he could hold in the palm of his hand, or shut his eyes to completely as he let the sound of the breeze whispering through the grass drown out the clamour beyond.
Whatever tension was in his body slipped away, lending him a posture that seemed altogether more relaxed. Not tired, not slouching or hunched, just relaxed. Not that he gave much time for Ichika to study it. He soon sat idly in the grass, pack placed at his side before he dug through it. That didn't take long either. With one hand, he drew a length of stainless steel, wide and rounded with a dome at the top. The other held a plastic tub, its thin and transparent walls showing what appeared to be bread.
"Tea?" He asked, unscrewing the top off his flask. "I thought it'd get pretty cold out at this time of night. There's enough for both of us if you want some."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika looks back, too. The place where they started looks small and far-off now. She doesn't mind the city, but there's a different kind of appreciation someone can have for being out in something closer to real nature. The greenery; the breeze.
Ichika glances at Hyousuke, but she doesn't stare. Instead, she slings off her pack and sets it down, taking a seat on the grass. "Mm."
A pause. "Sure," she answers. "Tea sounds nice."
She'll accept whatever he offers there. "I brought some granola and stuff," she offers.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
He nodded at her acceptance, and poured a portion of the drink into the lid. The tea was dark - not quite black, but a cursory observation was enough to show that he'd not mixed a particularly generous amount of milk into it. Sniffing it, however, might have yielded that there was more than just milk and boiled water in that cup. Faint hints of honey wafted upwards with the steam, its aroma a sweet and distinct contrast against those of the tea it had been mixed into. He himself drank straight from the flask itself, unbothered by how it might have made him look.
"Sure, I'll take a bite." He said, still not looking at her, though he could hardly be blamed. After all he'd been through, such a sight in such a quiet place was no doubt captivating enough to keep him rapt. "There's egg in these, if you want one." He placed the tub down between them, and opened it to reveal the results of his culinary efforts - two egg sandwiches, packed tightly into plastic confines. Were one to open them, they'd see that they were comprised of little more than butter spread hastily over two slices of bread, with scrambled egg and roughly-chopped salad thrown in between. Nothing fancy, but enough to tide one over.
"...Thanks." He said, after allowing the quiet to go on for a little while. "For coming out here. I don't know if it would've been good for me to think about yesterday on my own."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika accepts the lid, and sniffs the tea. "...Honey," she remarks. "That's really nice." She sips the tea, and doesn't make a point of rushing it; instead, she savors it for a bit, especially after all the walking. It's warm against the chill of the mountain.
Ichika doesn't blame him; it's kind of nice, actually, that he's more focused on the landscape than on her. It makes a few things easier for her.
So, she pulls out a bar she made and hands it over, and accepts one of the sandwiches. "Thanks," she says. "...Mm."
"These aren't bad," she says. "Egg came out nice."
But she doesn't make much conversation. Instead... She likewise sits in quiet, until he says that.
"You're welcome," Ichika answers. "...Probably wouldn't have been."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
He chewed softly, the granola surprisingly quiet as he bit into it. There was still some noise, of course, but he kept it as low as possible. He had no intention of spoiling the moment.
"We should do this more." He said idly. His voice changed again, relaxing as his body did, and letting the tension fade into the cool night air. "There's been so much. Just... it's been a lot to deal with. I just want to be somewhere quiet for once." A long, quiet, drag of his tea followed, punctuated by a low sigh. "I don't know what's gonna happen to me. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do about it."
Whether he spoke of his future or the supernatural was unclear.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika's a quiet eater; she's been trained by years of being a girl in situations that made her have to be smaller. But it does make the moment nicer.
"I'd like that," Ichika says. She sips her tea again. What's going to happen...
"Yeah," she says. "There's a lot. ...A lot's gone on."
"I guess it's hard to know. ...I've been thinking about career stuff lately, but..."
"I'm not sure if it's too late," she admits. "We're kind of on a time crunch, huh..."
She took it to mean 'the future', it seems. Though, "Maybe the quiet'll help you think."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"Maybe it's too late. But I'm not giving up." There wasn't a second's hesitation when he responded. It was almost reflexive, such was how matter-of-fact he stated his intent. He didn't face her, intent on gazing into the lights below, or the sea of blackening sky that hung above, but there was no need for him to do so. In that moment, there was nothing he was trying to hide, and no scrutinising of his features or any errant twitches they made would have hinted that he was putting on a front. For once, there was nothing but honesty. "...But it's probably gonna be easier if we've got friends to face that future with."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"..."
He's not giving up. Ichika smiles, and she does turn to look at him; the scenery is beautiful, but she's always been the type to wonder about the people around her in it. And now, she sees it; nothing to hide...
"That's good," Ichika says. "I'm not, either. ...If it doesn't work out..."
"It won't be because I didn't care enough to try."
She looks up to the sky, again. "True, though. ...A friend or two makes everything better."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
A silent, solemn, nod was all she received in response, but it was all he thought to give. There would be time for idle chatter and fretting over mundane topics after they had finished descending back down to the waiting maws of the city once more. Now was a time for quiet and contemplation. It was a time for him to organise his thoughts, and allow himself the peace that neither the supernatural nor the waking world cared to offer him. It was a time to breathe, and simply be.
Even his expectations being dashed was not enough to wring a word from his lips. He remained silent and reverent as he gazed up into the endless black, and the stars that lay amongst it. Those distant pinpricks of light were faint, each one little more than a mote of silver that the dark threatened to swallow whole. Yet still, they clustered together, as bright and blazing as any wildfire.
Against everything, they shone.