2025-11-09: Last Minute Preparations
- Log: Last Minute Preparations
- Cast: Ririka Kawase, Suzume Fukura, Moriko Kumamoto, Koh Katsuhiro
- Where: Iwatodai Dorms, Iwatodai City
- OOC Date: November 09, 2025
- IC Date: August 08, 2012
- Summary: It's the eve of the SEES Yukushima trip, and various students are preparing for it in their own ways.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
It is the day before SEES is set to jet off to Yukushima and Ririka issssss...
... a bit stressed.
She has been doing all of the packing (and making lists of things to pack so she can check them off in both directions), but right now she is at a table in the common area, with a stack of paper, a box of button parts, and a button-making machine. She's been at this for a while, getting into a rhythm of cutting out images, stamping pieces together into a button, and setting it aside. She's got an intense, focused look on her face.
She's dressed pretty casually, in shorts and a t-shirt. Her hair is tied back in a ponytail and she's been blasting music on headphones while she's been working.
She's also been humming and singing along under her breath.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
It's the day before SEES is set to travel, and Suzume is...
...also a bit stressed. Probably not for the same reasons.
Suzume went shopping for the things she needed and didn't have in the dorm, either because she didn't bring them from her home (she never goes back) or because she just never owned them. She's actually packed, more or less; she'll shove a few things in her bag later, or more likely tomorrow morning in a hurried panic, but everything else is in there.
And now she actually has some time to burn and isn't sure what to do with herself, so she's heading down from the staircase (girls' side, obviously) with a DVD she borrowed from Jiro. She's hoping nobody's using the television. Suzume is wearing one of her oversized T-shirts in a blue, and there's denim shorts in the mix too. This one's American; it's got the New York Yankees logo on it.
"What are you doing?" she asks, not entirely sure if Ririka can hear her. She's never seen anyone make buttons before.
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko is... late coming back to the dorm. She's already packed. This part's easy for her, but when you're used to stuffing things into saddlebags. Or traveling around the country. Or both?
She does have a few shopping bags in hand though. Clothing stores. Like she last minute realized she had no real beachwear.
Which is why she comes into the dorm looking completely confused at Ririka singing and Suzume watching... something.
"Isn't that distracting?" She asks, her face still severe looking even if her tone isn't. "What's up?" She hefts the bags, not that they're heavy over her shoulder and walks over to settle down for now. She can talk! It's rare she catches people on her days out.
<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
Koh has not been doing any packing, because he planned to just do it later. Unfortunately there is not an infinite amount of later and Koh has actually had to go shopping this afternoon.
He, however, is in pretty good spirits. Which is not really unusual.
He comes after Moriko with two bags in one hand: one with beach supplies, the other with his dinner. Which he was planning to eat in the common room, per usual.
The fact that there's already people there to bother is convenient.
"Yo, Fukura-san, Kumamoto-san." He greets, moving to get a look at what Ririka is working on. He too wants to know: "What're you working on, Kawase-san?"
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka is very much absorbed in what she's doing, but even she can tell when three people are looking at her.
... Eventually.
She bliks and looks up to see her dormmates all looking at her, and her cheeks flush a bit. "Oh, sorry-- um, sec." She sets down what she was working on and fumbles with her phone in her pocket to pause the music.
"Hey, Fukura-san, Kumamoto-san, and Katsuhiro-san. I'm just... making buttons." She sits back in her chair, letting her headphones dangle around her neck as she stretches her arms overhead. "It's for our show. We were going to spend a day together putting everything together, but since I'll be out of town... I'm doing my part now."
She then stands up to stretch some more. "How are you all doing? How's everyone doing with packing?"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume sees multiple other people with shopping bags, and she has a pretty good idea what happened, judging by her amused expression. "Everybody had to go shopping last minute, huh?"
She pauses, then adds, "I did mine two days ago. I didn't know if I was gonna have to hit up two places or if I'd find everything I need at the first place."
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
"Really? I thought it was karaoke hour." Moriko drawls, a hint of laughter there. The good natured kind. "Buttons huh." She tilts her head to one side, then the other. "Should take proceeds and do patches too. Stuff for bags you know?" Not that she's got her satchel on her right now. She just likes patches too though.
"I didn't want to wear the school swimsuit." Moriko replies to Suzume simply enough, lifting the bag up. "And it was an excuse for new sandals and a new dress." Tomboy or not, she likes to be cute sometimes.
"I'm packed other than that one thing." She admits.
Her hand goes up to Koh though, "Yo!" then she tilts her head, checking the bags, "If I'd known you were in the same area I'd have offered a ride."
<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
Koh raises his bag of beach goods in response to Ririka's question. There's a snorkel poking out of the top.
"Working on it," He says, making a rueful grin and dipping his head over in Suzume's direction to indicate she got it right.
To Moriko he nods. "Ah, it's cool, I was out all day. But now that I know it's an option..." His tone indicates he's joking. Probably.
"Anyway, I'm good. You need any help, Kawase-san?" He has no idea how to make buttons. "Otherwisewhat are we watching?" This question is for Suzume. Such is the problem of the communal TV.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"I think I have most of what I need, but... I'm probably gonna go home later and pick some stuff up from there. But my packing is... in-progress."
She glances over to Suzume. "What DVD are you watching?" she asks, curiously.
March! "Yep! We're gonna sell some CDs, too, too, really try to do the whole show and merch thing. Hopefully we'll get enough people coming to meet our quota, so the merch sales can be a fun extra." She looks to Moriko and nods. "That's not a bad idea... I don't know..." She taps her thigh for a moment before she pulls her phone out and sends a text.
They probably can't do anything this time, but maybe next time.
"You got a new swimsuit, huh? Maybe I should think about..." Blink. "Oh, dangit." She pulls out her phone again and makes some last minute additions to her packing list.
"Did you get that tire fixed, Kumamoto-san?"
Koh's got a bag, too! "Oh, cool! You gonna go snorkling? I hadn't thought of that, but... I wanna give surfing a try! I've never done it before, but I bet I'll catch on quick."
"Oh, thanks, Katsuhiro-san, but I think I'm good. I just gotta... sit down and power through my share of things, you know?" And she wouldn't ask a non-band member to do work for her band, that's just weird.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"Nobody does," Suzume says, a bit sour. "That suit sucks." And everybody will judge you if you do; that's just a thing in Japanese schools.
She brightens. "But I did find something to wear. And sandals." Suzume seems pretty comfortable right now in her denim shorts and comfy T-shirt, but it's rare she dresses in anything more revealing than that. Certainly nobody's seen her swimming. It's the one kind of athletics she goes out of her way to avoid. "Snorkling? Like... diving but shallower, right? I've never done it."
She just looks at Ririka. "If you wanna buy a swimsuit you'd better hurry. Or if you forgot to pack it - we're going to the beach! Even *I* remembered that one, and I didn't even have one that fit before this. I think you're stuck with wearing beach clothes no matter what."
At the question, she holds up the DVD case. "Borrowed a copy of Wild Max from Yamamoto-san," she says. "I was gonna watch it. I can hold off for a bit, though, but I'll put it on later, and if anyone else wants to watch you can stick around." Action movies! Suzume brings them down now and again.
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko scratches her cheek and says, "It's functional. Just not. Cute." She halts over the words. She had been trying to think of how to describe her thoughts on it and ended up just going with the obvious.
Suzume pointing out that Ririka would probably need to scramble to get something cute is met with a, "You're too tall or I'd offer one of mine." Suggesting one pieces there at least.
"Is it the one where he's in a car or the one with a bike?" There was a bike wasn't there? Or is she thinking of something else...
"Yeah, got it fixed with a used tire. Not my favorite solution, but it's better than nothing." Her hand idly goes to her throat at that thought, but she shakes her head. "Keep an eye out for him. And just brain him if you see him. Don't let him talk."
She tilts her head at Koh suggesting he'd be down for a ride on the bike, "If you scream I have to kick you off though. You know." She says it deadpan. That was probably a joke right?
"Never done snorkeling. Used to surf back home though. We lived right near the beaches." Sort of.
<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
"Oh, yeah, there's cool stuff under the ocean. And also sharks and stuff but it'll be fine. And a lot easier than diving, all you need is some goggles, really."
Koh doesn't seem offended that he doesn't need to help with buttons. He just smiles politely. "Good luck. And, yeah, swimsuits, uh, important."
He settles down and reveals his meal: a neatly packed contained of omurice. "The second one is the good one," He says of Max. "Like, in the first one he doesn't even get Wild until like the last ten minutes."
He offers a humored grin at Moriko. "Hey, I didn't scream that time with Arasato-san." He was trying pretty hard not to.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka shakes her head. "No, not that. It's something else I just remembered. It's..." She takes a deep breath. "... I've just had a lot on my mind, is all." she looks to Suzume curiously. "But you got a new swimsuit? I can't wait to see it, Fukura-san, and yours too, Kumamoto-san."
... She means that platonically, don't read anything into it.
"Wild Max, huh...?" Ririka walks over to look at the DVD case. "That looks interesting. Maybe... I'll listen in? If the button-making machine doesn't bother you too much."
"Eh heh... Thanks for the offer, Kumamoto-san, but I think I'm good."
But the bike! "Oh, well, at least you can use it, right...?" She tilts her head a little. "Wait, who's 'him'? I'm not sure I know who you're talking about."
She lights up, though. "Did you really? Can I ask you for some pointers when we get there? I've skateboarded, but... I know there's gonna be differences."
"You should probably try to avoid sharks..." Sadly, Ririka can't sense sharks, probably.
Unless they're magical, maybe?? But then she'd probably have other problems to deal with.
"Thanks!" But the movie... "Oh, so you've sen it too, huh? What does... going 'Wild' entail?"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"They don't make anybody look good," is Suzume's agreement with Moriko. "I'd rather look cool than cute, though. And it definitely doesn't do that. Ugh. But it doesn't matter; I couldn't wear mine anyway, it didn't really fit anymore. But I definitely wasn't gonna go there with nothing." Even if she isn't generally much of a swimmer, she'd feel very weird if she showed up at a beach without any swimsuit at all.
Ririka wants to see hers... "It's nothing fancy. I'd rather be comfortable," Suzume says. She does show the case to Ririka when she wants to look at it... she has borrowed a two-pack, with both the first and second movie in it. It looks a little worn. "I've never seen it. Figured I'd start at the beginning. If the first one's a bit of a slower burn... eh, I'll live." But she'll be disappointed.
She does look at Moriko a little confused. "What, you want to beat someone up?" she guesses, based on the comments. "And I'd like to try the bike too, honestly. All I got is one you pedal, and it's not the same thing at all."
Suzume goes to mess with the DVD player. She still doesn't start the movie. "I heard if you punch a shark in the nose it will back off," Suzume says, "but I'm hoping we don't have to try it. They don't have sharks there, do they? At the beach? But snorkeling looks easy, and I'm good at holding my breath anyway. Maybe I shoulda gotten goggles..."
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
"Sharks aren't really too worried about you. It's an accident most of the time. Or you look wrong." Moriko shrugs, "That kinda stuff always killed tourism so I kinda had to used to look into it." She wobbles her hand as she talks. "You know. Inn things."
They probably don't.
"The first one's fine. The second one's more uh. Quotable?" She shrugs, "I always liked that it inspired the omae wa thing though."
"I did!" She replies to Ririka, "You want to see it? I haven't really shown it off aside from holding it up to the mirror."
"Some weird otaku. I told you guys about him a few weeks back. Dressed like an extra villain in a wuxia flick." She lifts her hands up like she's ready to fight for emphasis. "He's who stuck a knife in the tire."
"Cool?" She's not sure what qualifies as cool. She's pretty sure Suzume wouldn't find biker leathers cool like she does for example. Arms crossed as she thinks about it.
"I hit him with my helmet previously. I.. didn't I go over this?" She frowns. "Uh. Yeah. Dangerous otaku. He talks funny. Just hit him until he goes away." She's underselling it a bit. "We can probably get some overpriced ones on the beach at least Fukurua."
<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
"Shooting people, mostly." Koh explains when asked what going Wild might be about.
It's too dangerous to comment on girls swimsuits, so instead Koh sets to picking at his dinner.
"Huh," He says of the otaku. "Weird. I'll keep an eye out." He doesn't sound that worried.
"If you can't find any cheap goggles you can borrow mine. Not like I'll be using them the whole time." He waves his fork magnanimously.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"Hey, comfortable's not bad." She's wearing shorts and a t-shirt, herself, after all. She takes a look at the DVD, though. "Oh, a two-pack. Cool. Well, e-even if it's slow... I'll have button-making to keep me busy, at least."
"Kumamot-san gave me a ride on her bike, once. It was really cool!" Ririka gushes. "Definitely worth giving a try sometime."
"Do you really think that works?" Ririka says ponderously. "I think I heard actual shark attacks are pretty rare, so hopefully it'll be okay? I... don't know if there are sharks in Yakushima, though..." She looks to Suzume. "I bet you can find a place that sells goggles there, since it's a beach and all."
"Inn things...?" She looks at Moriko curiously. "Did your family used to run one?"
"I'll see it at the beach tomorrow," Ririka says cheerfully. "I don't want to get int he way of you getting packed, and I still have buttons to make."
"Wow. What a creep. I hope you don't have to deal with that guy again."
"Oh, I see," she says to Koh. "So it's that kind of movie..."
That might be wise, Koh. Good discretion!
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"Oh." Suzume doesn't know much about sharks, honestly. "Well, I won't complain if I don't HAVE to smack one." She doesn't really want to get bitten by a shark! She can't even summon her Persona to handle a shark. (Probably. Unless it's a Dark Hour shark and that's a whole different problem.)
Are the Dark Hour sharks? Is there a Shadow shark somewhere out there...?
"Yakushima has a town, I checked," Suzume says, "but I don't know how close we're going to be to it, because I don't know where the summer homes are on it. Must be nice, to be so rich you have TWO houses." She sounds more impressed than annoyed. "Overpriced on the beach... Hopefully I don't need them." She might take Koh up on his offer.
Suzume is perfectly happy to walk into the dangerous grounds Koh is too clever to avoid. "What kind did you get?" she asks, since swimsuits seem to be the topic of the day. She shoves her hands in her pockets and slouches a little bit, waiting for a moment for Ririka to finish looking; when she passes the case back, she takes it, meandering over to the couch to flop down on it.
She's looking for the remote. It's here somewhere.
"I'd try the bike for sure. You already showed me skateboarding. I want to try that again..." It was fun, okay? Suzume's scowl has faded as she looks excited instead... until Moriko finishes. "Some guy went after you and your bike? You didn't tell me any details! Next time if he tries something I'll show him what's what." She laces her fingers together, stretches her arm to full extension to crack her knuckles.
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
"Used to?" Moriko asks, "Mom still runs the place. Gramps is who decided we needed to have better education before continuing on." She thinks. "I intend to go back on graduation. She needs the help. I can get my college done while pitching in."
"Really we didn't have a lot of shark attacks. It's something about body boards and surf boards more than anything."
"I haven't really ridden a skateboard." she admits, "Wrong kind of balance for me." Which is, she hasn't tried at all. Oh well. "Like I said, just keep an eye out for him. He's weird and stands out for it."
"That's not really that wild is it? It's not like uh-" she snaps her fingers, "Uh. No not Ichi. Crap." She frowns. "I forgot the movie I wanted to reference now." There's some grumbling. "Aagh it's going to bother me all night now."
<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
"Huh. I didn't really think about the town, or where we're staying." Koh's eyebrows furrow. "...It's not just gonna be more dorms, is it?" He sounds worried.
But Moriko's talk of inn life and her family seems more interesting than dwelling on that. "After? Ah, well, good luck. Where are you from, anyway?"
He gives Suzume's fists a side-long look when she cracks her knuckles. But his smile doesn't falter, even if it is a bit scary.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"Punching a shark would be pretty stressful, and we're supposed to be relaxing, right...?" Says the girl who is rolling her shoulder from tension after hunching over a button-making machine for the better part of a few hours.
... Maybe she really needs this vacation, even if it's also the cause of some of her stress.
"I didn't even think to check..." Ririka admits. "... well, I'm sure we can work it out. And yeah, it's... impressive, but... I wonder how often they use it..."
"Purple and black one-piece," Ririka answers Suzume. "Buuuut I probably want more than just the swimsuit if I'm going to give surfing a try. "I have a store in mind I just... haven't had the chance to get there yet. What about you?"
She hands the case back to Suzume, then smiles. "Sure! It was fun showing you the basics, and you seemed like you were catching on really quick. Maybe I can show you some basic tricks next time."
Present tense, not past. "Oh! That's interesting, I didn't know about that. Where's the Inn located?"
"If you ever wanna give it a try, let me know," she says of skateboarding, to Moriko. "I think they're still fun to ride on, even if you don't do tricks right away."
She shrugs to Koh. "I dunno. I figured... summer house meant like, a place with a bunch of guest bedrooms or something?" Beat. "... probably super deluxe guest bedrooms, considering..."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"Maybe I want to try surfing though!"
Suzume has no idea how to surf. She has no idea if the island is somewhere you can surf; she is pretty sure only some beaches make the right kinds of waves. She doesn't even know if it's the kind of thing she'd be any good at. But if she could try, she would.
"Oh, I meant her, 'cause she was shopping," Suzume explains, tilting her head toward Moriko. "But if you're gonna go you'd better hurry. We leave tomorrow, remember. That kind of stuff is why I went shopping earlier, so I didn't have to do it today! Plus it meant me and Mandai could go up to Tokyo for the fireworks... even if we got rained out." She scowls. "That sucked."
To Moriko: "I didn't know you knew about inn stuff." Suzume, of course, knows nothing. ...about that, anyway. "You planning to learn how to run it, or...?" She can't really see Moriko running one of those fancy inns, or even a not-very-fancy one. She doesn't seem the sort.
She considers sleeping arrangements. "I bet they're huge," she says. "The house, I mean. So there's room. I dunno how many rooms they'll have, though. ...are they gonna make us share rooms? We don't even have to do that here."
...
"Oh, HERE's the remote. You guys wanna watch too? I'll go get a drink before I turn it on."
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
"No seriously, you're not going to need to punch a shark. Probably." Moriko insists, "Stop worrying about it!" She puts her hands up, "Just enjoy the swim!" And hopefully no weird midnight hour pink dolphin or something.
Belated, she does state, "A green one." Which doesn't really answer the question of what kind of swim suit she got. Other than it being green. She thinks it's obvious!
"I could give it a shot, sure." Moriko nods to Ririka, "Pick a time and date so I can clear up work days or other. You know. Weirdness."
She nods to Suzume too though, "Yeah. Bandana, apron and dress with a broom and all." She holds her hands out like she's holding one. "It was nice. There near the beach back home." Osaka, clearly. "I don't know if I'm going to run it long term, but that's a long while away. My mom won't be giving it up any time soon after all."
"Grab me one too please?" as she starts to drag the chair she stole over to watch.
Koh asking where she's from confirms it though. "Osaka. It's not the biggest one there, but we try to make it nice." She points back towards the direction she knows home to be!
"What about you three?" Hey if she has to admit she's a bumpkin, the others are getting the same question.
<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.
"Super deluxe bedrooms would be way better." Koh muses, spooning in a few more mouthfuls of curry. "...I guess sharing wouldn't be that bad if they're big enough right?"
His answer to Moriko's question is a bright: "Aomori." So a proper city, if smaller than Osaka. "Kinda bounced back and forth between here and there."
And then it's movie time!
"Yeah, sure. Lemme go put my stuff away, you can start without me." And, once he does, he'll return to enjoy the show.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka doesn't know, either, but, she talked to Mitsuru one time and Mitusur talked about surfing, so she's willing to hope that it migt be a good surfing spot.
"Oh, right." She nods, "I know, I know. I just--" She pauses and takes a deep breath. "--had to rearrange a bunch of my plans, that's all. But I'll get it all done."
Maybe she can finish the button-making later, even if she has to stay up a little bit for it. That's... probably fine, right...? She'll short herself on sleep, but she doesn't do it that often, and then she can get everything done for everybody she needs to get things done for.
Foolproof!
"Yeah, they haven't really told us what they're going to do... it'd be nice to know," she says about the sleeping arrangements, with just a litlte bit f grumpiness slipping into her voice.
"I think green'd be a good color on you," Ririka says to Moriko. But she nods. "yeah. Let's talk after we get back. Not a lot I can do about it now, and... I might be busy with rehearsals for the show.
"Oh, Osaka, cool. My family moved here when I wassss... six? I think? Right for the start of second year of elementary school. We've been here in Iwatodai ever since. We moved when my dad got a job at the hospital, but I don't really remember a lot about where we lived before. I think... I used to have to share a bedroom with my sister..."
"I wanna watch, but..." Ririka sighs and starts to pack up her button-making materials. "... I'd better go finish getting ready for the trip. But have fun, and I'll watch something with you another time, okay?"
She gathers everything into a neatly packed box and heads upstairs.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
It's fine, Ririka, surely you can sleep on the trip.
"No, THIS punching is about that guy that bothered you!" Suzume shadowboxes with the air for a moment before lowering her hands. "I'll ease up if you want first dibs though," she promises.
She looks at Moriko thoughtfully for a long moment. "I can't see it. You getting dressed up all like that, I mean," she eventually decides. She just can't get a mental image. "And okay; what do you want?" Suzume is going to get Moonkist, almost certainly - she keeps some around, but if Moriko has her own soda she'd prefer, she'll grab one of those instead.
As for where she's from: "Here. I've never lived outside Port Island. I've barely been anywhere else except on the train into Tokyo or Sumaru. I never did vacations where we travelled or anything." This may be as far away from Port Island as she's ever been...
Maybe that's the other reason she did all her packing so early.
She's certainly not going to add anything about her sleeping arrangements, though. "If it's real nice we can camp," she calls from the kitchen, before adding: "That's a joke. I don't know how to set up a tent or anything."
A few moments later, and Suzume returns with drinks - hers and Moriko's both - and one of her stashed bags of chips. "I've got the movie borrowed for a couple weeks, because he knows I'm on a trip," Suzume says, "he just wants it back eventually. So if you want, you can watch the first one when we're back and we can all watch the second at once."
But for now, at least it's her and Moriko (and Koh, when he gets back down). Decent. More than Suzume expected!
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko admits while scratching her cheek, "I always figured the accent gave it away." Which probably explains why she thought it was obvious at least.
"Could try to help you find some under the table work or something." She says to Ririka, "Then you can just hire someone." Which might explain where Moriko's money tends to come from. It's fine.
She does nod, "I thought so too. I'll make sure to show it off tomorrow." She holds the bag up with a faint smile, "I don't get to swim as much any more. It's good though, Works all the right muscles for biking too."
Suzume saying she can't see it gets a genuinely confused look, "Really?" As she looks down at herself. "It always fit so well though." Because self-perception's fun.
"Oh. Well come next big break, maybe we can visit the beach back home. We have a spring nearby and all too." She points once more. Then pauses, "I promise I'm not shilling."
She's perfectly happy to settle in with the drink! "Thanks" and then the movie's on. "I could go grab a few movies too. If we want to sleep on the ride out." Which might work. Until some upper classman sort insists they sing or something.
"Maybe not."