2025-12-25: Campfire Stories: Ethereal Ichika
- Log: Campfire Stories: Ethereal Ichika
- Cast: Tsubasa Seki, Ichika Kawase
- Where: THE GREAT OUTDOORS
- OOC Date: 2025-12-25
- IC Date: Fri Aug 31 2012
- Summary: Under the light of the full moon, Tsubasa manages to lay down some utterly smooth lines... and Ichika talks about how well things are going with Ryuji, too! There are some hints that Tsubasa might be a little TOO worried about doing right by Ichika, but they're able to push aside those anxieties for now.
- Content warning: (Shadowed) nudity, sexual references
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa's main hangup about going camping, in the end -- aside from the horses, THEY DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT HORSES! -- was the idea that they'd need to make a fire. Luckily, Ichika was able to assure them that the roaring flames of a fire pit were all entirely optional; she had a portable stove that would serve just as well.
With dinner put away (and put away), they're left to look up at the starry sky... and further away from the light pollution of Tokyo, there's a notable increase in the smattering of stars. (It's not quite as pronounced as it would be if they really were somewhere remote -- the city, geographically speaking, is still a stone's throw away -- but the lack of flood lightning, billboards, and streetlights present still make it so much easier to see nature's fairy lights.) "Holy shit, man," Tsubasa tilts back onto the tarp, looking up through the clearing. "We drive so far out the fuckin' sky's changed out?"
No one told them about light pollution, either, apparently. Well, there's a difference between sorting your rubbish and really understanding the human impact, isn't there?
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
It's electric! Ichika can assure Tsubasa that the only reason you'd really need a fire fire is if it were super cold out... which, it being the height of summer, it is not. And there's other ways to stay warm. She said that without even winking!
The starry sky above is beautiful, Ichika thinks. It's not the clearest sky she's ever seen--she's been farther out than this--but it's still much clearer than the sky in the city...
"Yeah," Ichika says, and nudges Tsubasa happily. "Or more like, the ground changed. There's not so many lights down here, so you can see better up there. It's like that."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
So camping is a summertime activity, huh...
(Well, certainly for Tsubasa, anyway.)
"Oh, yeah?" Tsubasa turns, reaching for Ichika's hand; it's the height of a full moon in the real world (though not, thankfully, during the Dark Hour), so they're actually able to see... okay without turning the torch on. Mostly. Good-enough. "Can't be true," and that dim lighting does, in fact, catch the flash of their teeth as they grin. "You right here shinin'."
(They have given her, just, so many smooth lines over the past couple days.)
"Man, tho'..." Tsubasa breathes out, looking back up at the sky. "Good thinkin' draggin' me out when it's a full moon, some shit out here's so dark I feel like I'm goin' mad. Like -- like, I thought shit were pre' dark at night? Turns out I was full a shit... there's so much shit lightin' up back home. Like, shit I ain't even think 'bout, like alarm clocks or phone screens or those little lights what tell ya somethins' idlin'... like a whole different world, man."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
So many smooth lines. Ichika has been storing them up. Or at least, they're adding up, over time, as Ichika turns to smile goofily at Tsubasa. "You..."
"You," she settles on, and lets Tsubasa take her hand. She smiles, and looks back up to the sky. "...Wish I could take credit," she says, "But I was mostly just thinking this is the last of the summer break... Best time for it, not having to worry about going back quick."
"But yeah, that's just right. Out here... it's different."
"It's... nice," she says.
"But I admit, it does get lonely being that dark, if you don't have someone with you. It's like in the city there's all these little reminders of how many people are all around you..."
"And out here, not so much."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa used to be the star of Debate Club, back in middle school. Did you know? (Probably not; only Makoto would really be able to pull a fact like that out now.) They might not be a naturally wordy guy, but when they put their mind to it...
"Heh," Tsubasa's grin widens, a little, at the repeated emphasis.
"... lucky break, huh? Yeah... be hard doin' this when school's on. Maybe if ya left Saturday, skipped first period Monday... ahh, guess I oughtna be thinkin' like that now, tho'." Tsubasa needs to be Responsible because they've got Dreams and Shit. ... and cops love booking delinquents skipping class.
"It is nice," they echo her, squeezing her hand. "It's real nice... 'least out here with you. Guess I'd go troppo real quick if I were on me own, tho'... like, I'd totally jus' be goin' for me phone if I didn't got you to stare at all the time? An' me phone ain't got that much battery? Plus, like, what am I gonna do... charge it with a potato? Ain't even seen no potatoes out here."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika didn't know.
Lucky break. "Yeah," she says. "...Yeah. It's cool. We have an easier time now, anyway, since we don't have to worry about last train and all that. That helps. ...But we gotta like, actually go to class, now..."
Cops sure do love that.
Ichika curls her fingers under Tsubasa's, and then laughs softly. "Yeah?" she asks. "Guess that's fair. Not everybody's thing. But I just... I close my eyes, and listen to nature, and feel... part of it."
"Though there's places in the mountains better for it. Hot springs and stuff. But down here's nice, too. Just the trees, the stars, and you."
Pause. "Potato..."
She shakes her head. "That'd be weird."
A beat, and Ichika looks back, "...But you can stare at me some more, if you want."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Th' fuckin' vomit rockets..." Tsubasa's talking about the night busses, of course; they've all had that ride of shame after the trains cut out for the night. The majority of the salarymen actually have gone home by then... but that doesn't mean that no one needs a ride. "Ugh, yeah, we'd be makin' life easy for th' cops playin' hookey like that. Man, it ain't too late to say screw it an' party..."
Being good means being good and that sounds so boring?!
... Tsubasa isn't really saying that seriously, though. They're just bemoaning the freedom they're giving up by giving a shit.
They laugh, soflty, shaking their head. "Nah. Ain't sayin' it's bad or nothin'. I'm enjoyin' it. Jus'... reckon I'd lose it if I didn't have no anchor. That's you," they clarify, squeezing her hand.
They roll onto their side, so their other hand can come over and rest on Ichika's wrist, too. "... you do look gorgeous in the moonlight, y'know," they say, as they take her invitation and run with it straight back to Hell. "It's like your hair's kinda... silvery, blue... like you all made a cool colours."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Blugh," Ichika agrees, and then considers.... "Mm-hm. We would." A laugh, then, as Ichika lays back. "Maybe it is."
But there was a certain kind of freedom in it. ...It's different, though.
"Oh," Ichika answers, "Well... That makes sense. I can do 'anchor', I guess." She smiles, and turns her head towards Tsubasa. "Ah...?"
Silvery, blue...
"I like blue," she says. "...and silvery."
"Colors, huh...?" A smile spreads across her face. "You're spoiling me, you know that?"
"...That's not a request that you stop, though."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Ahh, guess so..." Tsubasa makes a gutteral noise, head rolling against the tarp for a moment. "Ain't no one tell ya how hard it is to care about shit, man. All a sudden somethin' matters an' you can't jus' flip the world off an' dip. Like, you know how many problems in my life I solved by jus' pullin' a runner?" Most of them! Especially where they regard adults and therefore cannot be solved by fighting. Tsubasa's disappearing act is legendary enough that it's definitely part of the reason they haven't been convicted of more crimes. "But now I'm like, I got shit to work towards, like, dreams an' shit... if I bolt I'm just gettin' further away."
Don't mind Tsubasa's philosophy corner. They've been in nature for one and a half days and they're already realising the futility of a human thinking skull.
... also they're REALLY not looking forward to going back to school after scoring as badly as they did, regardless of whether that would make them a fucking legend in Kasugayama.
"You're a great anchor," Tsubasa assures her. And...
"Hey, c'mon," they run their fingers up her wrist, smiling to her. "You're th' one spoilin' me, takin' me out here like this. Like, days alone with you? Gettin' to see ya in your element, knowin' all this shit like the back a ya hand? That's fuckin' gold. Gettin' ta jus', be with ya like this... like, really heals that shit in my soul, y'know?"
(From Eiji's Palace, presumably.)
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Nobody does," Ichika agrees. "...But I guess I was never any good at not caring," she admits. "When I tried, I ended up with a gang for my trouble." A thoughtful pause. "...But yeah, there's a lot of shit like that, huh...?"
"So now it's like... you got something to run to, so running from gets you further from it."
It makes sense to Ichika, anyway. And now, nature! Days!
"Thanks," Ichika says, and sighs. She's in jeans today--jeans and a tanktop. Both black, obviously. "...Hmmm. You could say I wanted an excuse to spend some more time alone with you," she points out. "But..."
"But I won't, because... I like that idea. Nature was healing for me, too. Like, after... everything..."
"Mom just took me out to the mountains for like, a month. I wouldn't even leave the room at first. ...But eventually I got out, and got out walking and stuff..."
"We've been doing shit like this since I was little, right? So of course I know it now."
She turns towards Tsubasa again, just her head. "...Gold, huh...?"
"Gold and silver, then. Kinda funny."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"I mean, I thought I was pre' good at it..." Tsubasa shakes their head, as they admit: "... I'm happier carin' 'bout ya, tho'."
Glancing back to the starry sky, they rumble: "Yeah... runnin' towards somethin', huh."
Tsubasa's in another pair of jeans today -- they've got a few of those kicking around -- though the t-shirt's endorsing a different band, this time. (KITTEN BASKET, except the basket is a ribcage and one of the kittens is playing with a man's skull. Metal's just like that.) And she could say that -- Tsubasa would certainly like hearing it -- except...
Except, as it happens, she's pulled this trick before; it's how she healed. "Damn... that how it was for ya?" Tsubasa wonders, and recalls, for a moment, the voice of their father berating their mother for bringing them food when they wouldn't leave their room; a little twitch, in their fingers, before they squeeze her hand.
"I oughta thank ya, then," they smile, their expression gentling. "... it sure is somethin'."
And with another squeeze, they point out: "Yeah, you real sharp 'bout all this shit. I dunno how you pull it off... looks like magic where I'm standin'." They have ulterior motives for describing it in terms of intelligence, of course, not that they're entirely sinister.
Just telling Ichika she's smarter than she thinks she is... isn't something they're able to do. They can't just tell someone they're wrong about an intrinsic idea about themself like that. (Going against their father's conceptions never went particularly well.) But that's the trick about debating: it's about making a convincing argument.
Can't spite someone's self-conception if they decide to think about things differently!
"Is it really all that funny?" Tsubasa asks, smoothing their fingers along her wrist again. "You oughta get stuff like that... like, jewelry an' shit... you said it might be nice, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"I'm happy," Ichika says. "That you feel like that. ...That you care."
She's looking more at Tsubasa than at the stars, now, memorizing the lines of their face against the tarp and against the grass beyond it. As it happens, Ichika thought Kitten Basket sounded pretty great, when Tsubasa showed them to her. Her own tanktop has a nice starry sky pattern, but the real thing it supports is 'her'. Or at least, it tries.
She feels that little twitch, looks quizzicaly Tsubasa's way... but Tsubasa smiles, so she lets it be. "You're welcome," she says. "I want to share stuff with you."
Sharp? "Oh, I'm just practiced," she says, immediately demurring the idea that she's sharp about anything. But it'll stick, a little bit at a time.
But, "...Kinda," she says. "I mean, I'm used to thinking of myself as hot," she admits. "But not like... moonlight silver, and stuff. It would be nice, though..."
"If you ever got me something, I'd wear it, you know?"
She turns onto her side, then, brings out her other hand to place over hers and theirs.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Yeah?" Tsubasa's smile is audible, hearing someone caring that they care. "Yeah..."
They can't stop looking at her, either. She's like... one of the fae in their games, man. Positively fuckin' magical.
"I like it," they affirm, when she says she likes sharing this with them.
And, "Huh, coulda fooled me," they don't push too hard on her being smart about horses and mosquitos and not drinking river water and digging holes.
Even if Tsubasa wouldn't have fucking figured that shit out if their life depended on it.
YES, THEY FIGURED THEY COULD PROBABLY DRINK THE RIVER WATER BECAUSE IT WAS RUNNING OVER ROCKS AND THAT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS FILTERING IT PRETTY GOOD --
"Yeah, man, like..." Tsubasa pauses, for a moment, to heave a fond sigh as Ichika turns onto her side, too. "Like... I been sittin' here thinkin' ya look like one a them faerie queens or some shit, man. All like -- ethereal. Like, you're smokin' hot in daytime, but here you like... like you're so pretty you gotta be a bewitchin' spirit or somethin'."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika can see it anyway. ...But she's happy she can hear it too. She keeps looking at them, her hand under theirs.
They like it... Ichika's red eyes almost glow in the reflected light of the stars. Almost; not quite. But Tsubasa would be forgiven for thinking so.
"...Heheh. Maybe I'm sneaky," she says of fooling Tsubasa, and that might be an angle; maybe not smart, but clever, like a thief.
...T-the rocks really weren't filtering the water that good.
"Really?" Ichika wonders. "...What's 'ethereal'?" she wonders. She actually asks, unlike a lot of the time; this time she wants to know. "A spirit..."
"Maybe," she allows. "But if I'm some bewitching spirit, you're the guy who convinced me to come live with them."
"...Tsubasa..."
"If I turned out to be like that... If I became some spirit, ran off somewhere..."
"Would you come and find me?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
They wouldn't mind if she were aglow. Didn't they say she was a light in their life, right here?
"Sure are," Tsubasa grins, and, yes: they see it. Indeed, that's why they used the word sharp to begin with.
... but it's incidents like that stop at the river which prove that no matter how much book learning a guy has, sometimes they're, just, INCREDIBLY dumb. Smartness isn't a universal trait, huh?
"Ethereal's, like... airy, light, see-through, somethin' hard to sense or touch or even define... sometimes it can mean somethins' delicate, too, tho' it's not as clear-cut as jus' callin' somethin' weak. More like... 'cuz it's only halfway in this reality. It's got all these associations with like, Gods an' spirits an' magic an' shit." It takes Tsubasa a second to pin it down, because they're trying to use words Ichika actually is familiar with, which means they're not quite sure calling it 'insubstantial, impalpable and intangible' will really cut it.
They have to laugh, when she points out that they invited her. "An' I'd do it again," they promise, blithely.
They grow more serious, though, when she asks them her question. "I'd march right into th' spirit world an' start kickin' ass an' takin' names 'til they told me where you'd gone," they insist. "I'd sell me soul a dozen times, an' get all me debtors in a fight over who's really got it. I'd eat th' food jus' so I could get past a party, even knowin' it'd make it real hard for me to get out. Hell, I'd make a pact with the Devil Himself jus' to find me way around. If you jus' disappeared one day without tellin' me you were done... there's no way I'd let somethin' that suspicious rock. Like... what if you were in trouble, man? What if you'd got lost out there? What if you needed help...?"
Tsubasa shakes their head. "... so nothin'd stop me."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
They did. And she smiles at being told so. But Ethereal... That word means soemthing important, here; hard to sense, hard to define... Ichika listens thoughtfully as she catches the meaning. Magical, even. Tsubasa manages to explain in a way that doesn't make Ichika feel dumb for not knowing in the first place; instead it feels like secret knowledge passed on. "A word like that..."
"Good." They'd do it again.
And Tsubasa gives her a very serious, very intense answer. Ichika opens her mouth, her lips parting just so, black lipstick that might as well be shadow itself in this light. Her eyes track to Tsubasa's face, and she thinks.
"...Better make sure I don't go anywhere then," Ichika says, "So you don't have to do all that."
"...If I were the moon, I'd want you to be the sea. So you'd always come back to me when I came close."
She bites her lip. "...But," she says, "I don't want to be all distant..."
"So I'm happy you'd come get me."
"I want..."
"I want you to remind me I'm 'here' tonight, OK?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Under th' moonlight, ya downright magical," Tsubasa affirms, smiling.
It's a smile that sticks around, when Ichika declares it good they'd invite her in.
Tsubasa, though, is a pretty intense guy. It's veiled, a little, under their no-good punk aura, but they're all black and white, all the volume knobs turned to max volume or silenced entirely. They don't really do half-measures.
"I mean... if you ever wanna step out," they assure her, "you jus' lemme know th' score, yeah?"
But she wants them to be the sea, and Tsubasa smiles, again, hearing that. They unlace their hand -- but it's just to rise up to their knees, reaching to her. "C'mon," they urge her. "Let's get in th' tent. Too many bugs, an' it's gettin' a bit chilly out here... but it's like ya was sayin', right?" A light pause --
"We can always jus' share a sleepin' bag."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Magical... Ichika is still smiling at that one.
"I appreciate that," Ichika says of stepping out. "I do. ...But I don't want to. I want to stay. With you, and with him too. ...I should tell you about some of that, how it's going, you know?"
Ichika can occasionally be poetic herself. She tries, anyway--and when Tsubasa gets up, Ichika takes their hand, starting to rise too. "Yeah," she agrees. "Too many bugs."
She thinks about it, and gets up, unzipping the tent flap so that they can go in. "Besides," she admits, "I gotta get out of these," she shakes her leg a little to indicate the jeans.
"...But can I?" she asks. "Tell you about that?"
"...I still wanna have you be the one who's showing me the score tonight, you know. But I... kinda want to talk about it, too."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Great," Tsubasa smiles. "Makes me real happy."
Ichika unzips the flap, and Tsubasa heads in, too. "Yeah, same here," they nod, because they're in their own jeans. ... and a binder which they really ought to take off at some point today.
Indeed, they're in the middle of getting out of their binder when Ichika asks if she can tell them about that -- they have to take their wig off first or it will get tangled up in it -- rolling it up their chest and then reaching behind them to yank it off in a gesture which is deceptively difficult for someone with so much scarring. "Sure thing, babe," they grunt, and -- yoink -- YOINK. "Hrrrah," Tsubasa rumbles, as they finally get free. That's normal! That's a normal noise.
Luckily, their jeans aren't NEARLY as liable to strangle them on the way out.
"'Bout you an' Sakamoto-kun, yeah?" They ask, as they sit down on a sleeping bag. "I wanna hear how it's goin'."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika doesn't have a binder to contend with, but she does have boots and socks and jeans to worry about, all of which are snug enough to require a little work. So by the time she hears that 'Hrrrah', Ichika has gotten all three off and is a lot more comfortable. "You OK there?" Ichika asks, lifting an eyebrow because that is not that normal of a noise. She pauses with her hands at the hem of her tanktop, tilting her head.
But then she smiles, and hopefully gets a good answer.
"OK," she says. "Well..."
"Things are going... good," she says. "Like, physically, too. Not as good as with us," she allows, "But still good. And maybe that's better? He's younger..."
"Anyway that's not the important thing," she says. "Or well, it is important, but--" Ichika realizes she's babbling a little.
And then she says, "He said he loves me."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Yeah, jus'... kinda hurts after runnin' 'round all day," Tsubasa says, shrugging a shoulder. "It's cool, tho'." They're probably not adhering to best binding practices, going over time and exercising in it, but they at least haven't cracked a rib.
It doesn't stop them from orienting on Ichika, either. "Yeah, man, he's a year behind us," Tsubasa agrees. "Ain't gotta go that far that fast." Being fair to Tsubasa: they only went fast if one considers the raw length of their relationship and not the months of friendship before it.
They're still attentive even if she is babbling, apparently. Their eyebrows raise in surprise as she says what he said, and they smile, to her. "Oh, yeah? That's great! Must feel good, yeah?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Oh," Ichika answers. "...You sure?" she wonders. She doesn't really know that much about binding, but she knows it's more intense than wearing a stiff bra. But with no ribs cracked...
Well.
"Yeah. I mean, I got started younger," she says, "But... Eiji kinda pushed me at first. I was really happy when we finally did 'it', but..." She shakes her head. "Before that I did feel a little rushed. I don't want to do that to him."
Ichika went pretty fast--Ichika goes pretty fast--but not so much, this time.
She is babbling a little, but she smiles back at Tsubasa's reaction. "Yeah!" she says. "It's really great."
"...He says he's a screw up, and can't promise me what I want, but..."
"If I've got the two of you I already have what I want, you know?"
"I said I feel the same way. It's really exciting! I..."
"Well, I wanted to tell you. And think about it."
"It is kinda soon, huh? But we've been through a lot already. He already knows so much about me. ...So what do you think?"
"...You got there first, after all. You think it might really be...?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Yeah," Tsubasa assures her. "... might jus' take it easy tomorrow. Throw it on when we headin' back."
(Gross.)
"Y'ain't gotta do that," they assure her, with a double contraction, which means they're putting actual effort into being super cas. "Like... bet ya anythin' if ya sat with it it'd look like more than 'at first', jus' somethin' you got somethin' outta it after it started."
They're pretty sure Eiji didn't stop pushing the minute Ichika put out; it just got subtler.
If Hajime learned all his shitty tricks from him, after all... that was one of them.
"... it is pre' soon," they admit, rubbing at the back of their neck. "But, like... les' think 'bout that a sec. We were real business-like up 'til ya rang me up needin' that assist. After that, we got close real fast... seems to me like that kinda traumatic shit can bring hurtin' people together." Why would they include Ryuji in that classification? "So, like... ain't like ya met him a couple months back an' jus' went on some superficial dates an' now ya promisin' ya souls. Context, y'know?"
They draw a leg up to their chest in the shrouded darkness of the tent, one hand looping around it as the other gestures. "I reckon he's for real," and that wasn't a joke, it's just a normal turn of phrase, though it is kind of funny reflecting on what Ryuji often says. "He's real jazzed 'bout bein' with ya, an' real nervous 'bout gettin' it right. Like... we were gonna meet up wit' him when we got back tomorrow, yeah?" Tsubasa gestures out a little more. "Let's go out, man. Do somethin'. ... or, like, have a nap, then go out 'n do somethin', don't wanna get all exhausted on his ass."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Mmm," Ichika says. "We can stay around here, if you want," Ichika offers. "...I bet we can find things to do."
But double contraction! Still, "...Maybe," she admits. "But it's not like that with us. Not you and me, not me and him. I want to keep it that way."
That's definitely true; that Ichika happened to like sex a lot was convenient for him. It meant he didn't have to push as hard.
But it is soon. "Yeah," she agrees. "I feel like I got kinda caught up in the moment, too. I definitely feel it, but I didn't expect to this soon..."
But that's true, too. Business, trauma... Hmm. "Context, yeah."
"...Thanks," Ichika says. "I wanted a second set of ears, you know? Like... I've been burned before, I guess."
"But that sounds great. Maybe nap first, but then go out and do something. Together."
She smiles. "I appreciate it," she says, and reaches out to Tsubasa's hand. "He is pretty jazzed, huh? I am, too."
She tugs at Tsubasa's hand, then. "...But hey."
"We were gonna get warm, right...?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"So long's it's what ya wanted ta get outta it," Tsubasa hedges, with another shrug.
"Yeah... ain't that way with us. Don't worry... I ain't gon' do ya like that." But it was Ichika who was worried about pushing her partners...?
Still... Ichika's caught up in the moment. "Prolly a bit," Tsubasa confirms her own feelings. "Noticin' it's cool... but it ain't necessarily a bad thing, neither. Ya got reasons why ya might be feelin' freer to pursue this shit now, anyway... an' I guess we been workin' on this whole commitment bit a while."
They take her hand, squeezing it, gently. "It's cool when ya jazzed," they say. "I like seein' ya happy." And so they're tugged, and their knee shifts to rest beside Ichika, instead.
"Bit cold, huh?" They ask, and even in the darkness, she can certainly hear them smiling.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"As long as I'm the 'things' you find to do, I'll be happy," Ichika jokes. "...But seriously, alone time with you is a lot of what I wanted out here. Just us."
But it isn't that way. "...?" Ichika wonders. "You never have," Ichika says. "I was worried I was pushing you too hard," she admits. "But... thanks. It really is different with you. You seem happy just to be with me, not... demanding stuff."
"I want to give, you know? I just... want to be asked sometimes, too."
But, conirming... "Mm, yeah," Ichika says. "And we did. And then you encouraged me to go for it."
But she smiles. "I know," she says. "...Long as you're looking at me, I will be."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Heh heh... no problems there," Tsubasa chuckles along with her joke. "... cool. Won't mind not havin' me kit on, then."
They pause, though, when Ichika says she was worried. "Nah, man, you ain't," they shake their head. "I really do wanna be with ya, y'know? Ain't jus' me feelin' that way... but I really do." And if there's a light hitch to that line... perhaps they're just remembering some more of Hajime's tricks.
But so long as they do the opposite of what he did, it'll be fine, won't it?
It'll be fine.
"Don't reckon you'll have no problems with us askin'," they assure her, reaching out to feel for her hair and tuck it back behind an ear.
And, "You're doin' great," they encourage her, a little more.
"Well, dunno how well I can see in here..." It's all shadows and outlines, with the tent filtering the moonlight like it is. "... but we'll make it work," they assure her, their voice lowering to a rumble as they press a hand to her shoulder.
Maybe they'll tell her about the anxieties they're carrying, but tonight, they're rather too occupied to worry about it.