2025-11-18: Beach-side Onsen
- Log: Beach-side Onsen
- Cast: Ririka Kawase, Suzume Fukura
- Where: Yakushima
- OOC Date: November 18, 2025
- IC Date: Sunday, August 12, 2012
- Summary: Ririka and Suzume had been hoping to go surfing on their Yakushima trip, only to discover the waves weren't particularly good. Instead, they opt for a local novelty: an onsen right off the ocean, right in the middle of a beach! They talk surfing, onsen, tomboys, photography, and punk-rock swimsuits.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka had been hoping (assuming) there would be good surfing available at Yakushima, mostly based on having a conversation with Mitsuru where the latter had said she'd been surfing before. After all, how many summer/beach homes can one ultra-wealthy family have?
Possibly more than one, as Ririka and Suzume had inquired locally about the possibility of surfing only to find out... the waves weren't great. If they wanted to go one island over, however...
... but that's kind of getting too far off track for their vacation.
But the locals they had talked to had a different suggestion: try some of Yakushima's onsen that are right off the ocean.
And so here they were at one of the gender-segregated options. A small donation box asked for 200 yen, which Ririka happily supplied. Ririka had stashed her clothes in a locker, taken a quick shower to clean herself off, and then... had proceeded into the fenced off beach to find one of the pools, carrying a towel with her.
It's a rocky beach, with pools of hot spring water bubbling up from beneath, and of course... the view of the ocean is fantastic. "Let's try this one, Fukura-san!"
Ririka is... incredibly tall, for a girl, and gets a little nervous about that sometimes, but she's doing her best to forge ahead as she lowers herself into the water, folded towel on her head.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume had been looking forward to surfing, because - like Ririka - she had assumed that that was a thing you could do at Yakushima. While she hadn't picked her swimming costume specifically because of it, she *had* made sure that it was something you could surf in.
Please ignore the fact that Suzume probably shouldn't be surfing; she is not an especially good swimmer due to lack of practice. She's great on her own two feet, but in the water... not so much.
But it doesn't matter because she's not going to be able to do it! It's disappointing, but not so much that she's broken up about it. It does mean she has an afternoon free that she wasn't expecting to, though, and so -
"Wait, the onsen? There's an onsen on the beach?"
Suzume doesn't go to onsens much. But it's gender-segregated, which means it's not a hard no, and though she is perhaps not quite as eager as she was to go surfing, she does let herself get talked into it without much fuss at all. It's not like Ririka's the sort to make fun of her.
Suzume also can find a few hundred yen for it. She spends extra time in the shower trying to tame her shaggy hair (no luck) - so much that Ririka might be forgiven for thinking that she bailed instead of getting in.
But, eventually, she comes out too. She's got the small towel kind of flopped on her head any which way, no neater than the hair beneath it, and she almost immediately vanishes into the water up to her neck in an attempt to stay more comfortable. Hopefully it's a little milky. (Some onsen are.)
"It's a good view," she agrees, reddening from the heat - she didn't exactly *lower* herself in. Just kind of went all the way under in one burst. "Seriously, I've never seen one you could see the ocean from."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka also bought an outfit that would be conducive to surfing, though she also had her regular swimsuit, of course. (A black rashguard with dark purple along the tops of the sleeves and across the top of the chest, and khaki board shorts.)
She was honestly more embarrassed to have gotten it for an activity that wasn't available than she is over her height or body.
Ririka's got much longer hair, which she's put up in a careful bun. (She had it braided with a tie anyway for the surfcing, since, who wants hair getting in their face during an activity?)
Ririka did go slow, and she sighs as she gradually sinks in down to her neck. "Yeah..." she agrees about the view. "It's kiiind of a shame surfing didn't happen but... honestly this view kind of makes up for it."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
If Suzume has any other swimsuit with her, it hasn't come out of the suitcase it is currently (theoretically) in.
Suzume's hair is not especially long, only shoulder length, but it's floofy under normal circumstances, and right now she could honestly use a haircut. It keeps getting in her eyes, and that's not new to tonight, though it's definitely happening right in front of Ririka. She keeps pushing it back in a manner that ranges from absent-minded about it to irritated that it keeps happening.
Once she's in, she slides even further down until just her head is above water. It's probably lower than she ought to be - her hair is threatening to get in the pool proper - but it feels comfortable to her. Even if she still is a little red-faced from being lightly cooked. (Lightly cooked is the goal here.)
"I wish I had a better camera," Suzume says, before she hastily adds. "I mean, I don't even have ANY camera in here!" Her phone is absolutely not entering the onsen with her. "Just, you know, to take pictures of views like that."
"It does suck about the surfing, though. I wanted to try it. I never get to go on vacation or anything to places like this..." It's already her first time out this way (no surprise, Yakushima is expensive, but she doesn't get away from Port City or Tokyo very often).
"...you ever done it before?"
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka's a bit more meticulous about her appearance... but she's honestly meticulous about a lot of things, when you get down to it. It's not always something she expresses outright, (and unfortunately she is still easily sniped and distracted by interesting music despite that.) It does, however, include her hair.
Suzume constantly pushing hair out of her eyes is maybe a little cute, but Ririka definitely doesn't comment on that.
Ririka can only slide down so far--she's got a good half foot on Suzume, after all, but she can still get down enough to soak and relax. She's a little flush, too, but not too badly.
"Yeah... Iii'd worry if someone brought a camera here, but... maybe there's a shop selling souvenir photos or something. This'd make a great postcard, don't you think?"
"Yeah, this is my first time taking a trip to a place like this... my family usually goes to the mountains for Golden Week, but it's a way different experience compared to this."
Ririka settles an arm on the rocky edge of the pool they're in. She shakes her head a little. "Nah... I was talking with Kirijo-senpai once, and she mentioned she's surfed, so... I was kinda hoping there'd be surfing here, but..." She takes a long, deep breath to relax. "... maybe there's a place to do it locally."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume is *not* meticulous about her appearance. The way she typically dresses is example enough, but she also does not use makeup. At least her hair is brushed, even if its style is kind of just 'floof' under ordinary circumstances.
(And if she's cute, it's by mistake. She tends to at least *try* to present tough.)
"Nobody's gonna have a camera in here! They'd better not, anyway - " Suzume sits up straighter and moves as if she was going to smack a fist into an open palm, but mostly manages to just makes a splash because her hands are still at about water level. Oops. She didn't mean to splash herself.
"...There might be postcards. And if there's not, I'm gonna go climb up a bit," she points a ways down the beach, toward a little rise, "and take a picture. I can do that much." Suzume has been taking a lot of photos this trip; more landscapes and townscapes than people, though she has a few of the other SEES members, and always volunteers to take pictures for a group. She's not bad at it, either. She has a good eye for composition.
She drops her hand back down afterwards. Ririka might rest with her arm along the edge, but Suzume would have to sit up straighter to do that (she could, she's not THAT short, but her most comfortable position is deeper).
Instead she actually shuts up for a moment, glancing over at Ririka and then out at nothing in particular. "If the waves aren't right I don't think hoping's gonna change them," she grumps. "Maybe they're better a different time of year, or around another beach, but we don't have time to try every one, or come back in June or something..."
It didn't even occur to her that Ririka meant 'Port Island'.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka isn't wearing makeup right now, and often doesn't wear it casually, but she still wears it sometimes. Mostly if she's dressing up to go somewhere nice or if she's got a performance or something like that.
(Ririka thinks a lot of girls are cute but definitely does not express that. Suzume is also cute in general, but is also specifically cute for having to push her hair out of her face.)
Ririka laughs a little as Suzume splashes herself, bringing up her own hand to shield herself. "Iiii don't think we have to worry about that. There's not a lot of other people here right now. And between the two of us we can probably take a creep, right?"
Ririka's been taking her own photos to share, too. She's largely thinking of her sister Ichika, who loves the outdoors, but she'll share them more generally, too. "Oh, yeah, that'd be a great spot. And you won't get anybody in the onsen too, I bet."
"Hmm?" Ririka looks over to Suzume, puzzled for a moment. "Why would we come back in June... Oh! Fukura-san, I meant back home, in Iwatodai. Or... I dunno, maybe Tokyo? There's some beaches there, I think, so you never know."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
It's not on purpose!! Suzume isn't trying.
But, well... "Yeah, I can take any weirdos," Suzume says, confidently. Though it's pretty quiet right now - wrong time of day, and this is a small pool anyway. So as Ririka says, there's not a lot of people here right now anyway.
And Suzume would have to get out to do it, and, well... she doesn't want to. She actually feels her muscles relaxing; as tense as she can be, the heat is really helping her.
"Well obviously *I* wouldn't be a creep." Suzume huffs. "I'm not going to go over there and take pictures of the people, that's weird. But I really do want to get a good one of the sea... I mean, another one." Mysteriously this won't be her first out-to-sea picture on this trip.
Then Ririka reveals the Secret of Surfing...
"...Oh." Suzume slouches even further, slightly embarrassed by her mistaking it. "I never even looked at that," she admits. "You always think of surfing as, like, a Hawaii thing. And it's not like we're ever going to go to Hawaii... I know some schools get to, but I don't have a passport or anything, you know? If we'd been surprised with THAT I would've had to stay home." She scowls at the thought.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Not trying makes it cuter, though!
Getting out to deal with a creep might be a logistical problem... thankfully, they don't have to deal with it at the moment.
"Of course not!" Ririka agrees of Suzume not being a creep. "I'm just, agreeing that that's a good spot to take a picture from." She nods. "It's a good view... I'll come over and take one with you, when we're done."
"I mean, I never did either?" Ririka admits, a bit sheepish. Hawaii! "Yeah, exactly! Like... I only thought of it because we were coming here, and... well, we'll have plenty of summer left after we get back, right?"
"... I mean, the Kirijo Corporation could probably afford to fly us all to Hawaii, though..." she points out. "... but, yeah, I don't exactly have a passport either." Ririka sinks a little more into the water. "God, this trip had me stressed enough with the notice they gave us. I can't even imagine if it had been a surprise trip to Hawaii instead."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Less a logistical problem, more a laziness problem.
Look. Suzume is frequently high-energy. She likes to keep active. But sometimes she just likes to chill out, too. And it's been a long time since she was in a *good* onsen, and because there's not many people she's actually letting herself relax more than she usually does.
"It's already almost the middle of August," Suzume points out. "I mean, exams weren't that long ago so we've still got, like, a month, but even so... But that's still plenty of summer to do SOMETHING. Especially if we aren't going to travel as far!"
Suzume is warming to it. "When we get back, I'll see if I can find anything about surfing locally. Maybe we can manage it... I mean, it's gotta be around somewhere. And if there's not, there's always sailboarding or something." A pause. "Actually that looks kind of fun, anyway... maybe we should have asked about that."
You don't need as much of a specific beach for that! Just some wind.
Suzume huffs. "Right? It was so little time! I had to go out shopping for beach stuff since I wasn't expecting to... I didn't even have a swimsuit, unless you count the school one, and it was a little out of date..."
No self-respecting teenager would wear one of those anywhere but gym class.
"...that's why me and Mandai-san went into town and all. It worked out though." Another pause. "Did you see her swimsuit? It's American..." Everybody saw it.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka occasionally hits up a spa in Sumaru with her sister, though it's been a minute since she hit up an onsen like this one. She can be high energy, too, though it's probably in a different way than Suzume. And even now, fully relaxed as she is... the one arm up on the rocks is still tapping very slowly in time to the rhythm of the ocean waves.
"I mean, there's plenty of places we can do as a day trip, right? That we can reach by train? So we're bound to find something... Even if we want to spend a couple of days it's not a big thing to go back and forth a couple of times."
Ririka smiles. "I'll take a look, too. I'm sure between the both of us we can figure something out... and we can invite our non-SEES friends along, too!" That thought has her warming up to the idea pretty quickly, but Ririka brightens as Suzume mentions sailboarding. "Hey, yeah. Plenty of wind on the ocean, right? Let's definitely ask about that when we're done here."
"Yeaaaah, and, well... you saw me scrambling to get my share of the band's merch done before I left, and I still had to take another trip shopping that night..." She pauses, frowning, and seems to be silently counting something off.
And then she facepalms. "... I had time to get it done after the trip was over," she admits with a groan. "Why did I think I had to do it beforehand?" Because you were worried about disappointing your friends, Ririka, and you were scared they'd decide to get it done anyway while you were out and then get mad at you anyway.
And now she's blushing a little in embarrassment.
"Oh, yeah, no the school one definitely doesn't count. I liked the one I found, but... ugggh, why did Iori have to get so weird about it? So what if I like to go punk rock? I can also like cute things too, right? Sides, how am I even going to make a swimsuit punk rock, anyway? Wear a bunch of leather with it?"
But Hitomi's swimsuit. "Oh yeah, that was a cool-looking suit... I thought she looked really good in it. So it's American... huh. How'd you guys find it?"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
'We can invite our non-SEES friends along too...'
"I dunno if Yamamoto's interested," Suzume says. She hasn't been talking to him as much lately as she used to anyway. There were the rumours that they were dating, but he's certainly never come around the dorms asking for her...
"But if it's just a day trip, yeah. I DO know some other people who might come. Not sure about Mandai-san, she's not much the physical type, but..." Suzume considers for a few moments, then shrugs. "We'll figure it out. First we gotta see where we're going!"
Suzume is either polite enough or bad enough at scheduling to not bring up Ririka having time to do it afterwards until Ririka does it first. (Did Suzume know?) "Well, if they're gonna start selling them," Suzume says, unsure if they do any outside their actual performances.
Why did Iori have to get so weird about it...
Suzume suddenly flops backwards, head looking up at the sky. "Ugh. Don't REMIND me. What he said about Reiya-san isn't true either - I mean - it might be but it has nothing to do with ME. I don't care if he calls me a tomboy," she half-lies, "but I don't got a shy side or anything! I'm as brave as anyone!"
Suzume is extremely lying.
She suddenly jerks forward again, causing a watery slosh. How to make a swimsuit punk rock is beyond her (she isn't even entirely sure how to make clothes 'punk rock', specifically). "Studs on the collar," she says, mostly joking. "Like those jackets."
And as for the swimsuit: "She knew about this American import store. It's where I got my stuff too. I'm surprised you don't know about it, I figure American sizes would be easier for you sometimes." A pause as she realized exactly what she said: "Not that that's a bad thing! I'm not calling you fat or anything, just - you know what I mean!"
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
It's not too hard for anyone interested to know that Ririka hasn't done any dating for... nearly two years now. Understandably, it happened right after her brother died, but then... well, she never started again. Mysteriously.
"Yeah, we can figure that all out when we get back. It's cool if some of the other SEES folks want to join, too... but yeah. Let's figure that out when we get back."
"No," Ririka admits with a sigh. "We're saving them all for the show..."
"I mean, it's not like you're the only person that could be called a tomboy... I skateboard, after all..." Ririka shrugs. "Though... I guess I don't really think of myself as one. I like skateboarding, but not all the time. I like being punk rock, but not all the time... I'm just... a girl who likes doing those things sometimes."
She likes music, and definitely likes it all the time, though.
"I mean... it's probably possible to be both shy and brave... Eh heh, not that I'm calling you shy, of course," Ririka quickly adds on with an apologetic smile.
Ririka actually giggles at the suggestion. "Yeah, that might be a better suggestion than trying to wear the leather cuffs in the water, at least."
"Well, tell me the address later and I can check it out. They honestly are a lot easier sometimes, but maybe it's just a store I didn't know about." Ririka blinks. "... oh! No worries, Fukura-san. I figured you meant it was because I was tall."
Which still makes her a little embarrassed, but not as embarrassed as if she'd thought Suzume was calling her fat.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Whether Suzume is or is not a tomboy is...
Well OK, by most people's lights it is not a difficult question. She acts like 'one of the guys' on a regular basis. It's just, do you have to phrase it quite that way, Junpei?
"Yeah you better not," Suzume says, but the grin she produces suggests she wasn't taking Ririka particularly seriously. "I'll show you the place sometime, sure, or give you the address. You gotta go into Tokyo for it, and it's a bit of a walk, but not that bad, and you can stop at Shibuya on the way back - that's how the trains work out."
Suzume had in fact meant it because Ririka was tall, and not heavy (she isn't) but Suzume is also very, very good at putting her foot in her mouth when she doesn't mean to. At least it wasn't a problem this time... "Yeah," she agrees. "It's good if you're looking around."
"I'm gonna soak a little more and then get out," Suzume decides. "I'm feelin' better already. I almost never go to an onsen..." Well, onsen are kind of 'special occasion' compared to a sento, but Suzume doesn't like those much either.
"...it wasn't such a bad idea if we couldn't go surfing."
That's praise. Really, it is.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
There are a lot of things it'd be nice if Junpei phrased differently.
Ririka relaxes a little seeing that grin, and says, "Don't worry, I won't." She nods, "Oh, in Tokyo... it's not like I don't ever go out that way, but I don't know all the stores in Tokyo as well as I do the ones in Iwatodai, so I'll be curious to check out a new store."
Ririka runs more skinny and athletic, so definitely not fat.
"Yeah..." Ririka shifts her position a little and sinks just a bit lower, letting out a contented sigh. "It's hard to make the time, sometimes..." But she offers Suzume a smile. "Yeah, this was really nice... and now we have some plans for when we get back home, too!"