2026-01-03: Cornering the Bride
- Log: Cornering the Bride
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Ichika Kawase
- Where: Chrysanthemum Hall, Rengedai
- OOC Date: 2026-01-03
- IC Date: Tue, Sep 04 2012
- Summary: During the pre-dinner mingling at Yua's wedding, she found Ichika hiding out -- and assuaged some of her concerns. But can she really convince Ichika it's nothing when she sees Kimitake taking her away...?
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
It's the middle of the most opulent wedding most people will have been to -- though the opulence is all borrowed. (Takashi wished for his favourite daughter's lover to have a grand wedding, and so all the riches he's inherited were offered to a man of the branch line...) Yua, in her beautiful outer-wear, is mingling with guests before they're called to dinner and more formalised celebrations...
... and Kimitake is off socialising with Captain Shimazu and their friends, for the moment.
It is in a quiet corner she finds one particular girl, wedged between the display of the tea ceremony chest and the wall.
"Kawase-kun?" Yua asks, gently, her face whitened but still mostly recognisable. "Are you well...?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Strictly, the ceremony should be beautiful. The reception should be beautiful! And parts of it were; Ichika appreciates right now the tea ceremony chest. ...Partly because it hides her! Ichika is in a beautiful, pale yukata, her own preferred one, with her bleach-blonde hair done up. She stands out for many reasons, her height not least among them, and the Japanese iris on her yukata stand out nicely, too.
This is unfortunate, because she'd rather blend in with the wall at the moment.
She could handle the ceremony, though it made her a little uncomfortable, the emphasis on submission. But Shimazu's speech was a bridge too far. So was seeing Yua so obviously distressed.
...Did she want to be here at all?
Ichika isn't sure, and between that and all the noise, she's found a quiet corner to try to recover herself in.
And now... someone's there!
"Oh, sensei..."
Ichika turns to face her properly. "I'm... fine," she assures her. "Just a little crowded."
"Uh. Congratulations."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Mm... is that really it?" Yua wonders, frowning with concern. "When I saw you here, I found myself worrying... given what you've told me."
It's not just what she's told her; Yua saw the wedding reception in Eiji's mind, after all. That was a Western wedding, but...
Well, traditionalism is quite similar across the world, with regards to women.
"Still," she shakes her head, smiling gently. "Thank you. I will be very happy as an Ijuuin... I promise you that."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Well..." Yua can see through her a bit, and Ichika has no reason she knows that she can't confide in her, other than the fact that she doesn't want to burden her at her wedding. So she hesitates a minute. That gives Yua time to respond to her congratulations.
"Cool," Ichika says. "As long as you're happy, that's what counts. ...Crazy though, huh? We've got money and all, but nothing like this..."
She pauses, and then, "OK, it's not just the noise and the crowd. It's kinda..."
"All that stuff about 'made pure' and 'submission'..."
"The submission stuff doesn't usually bother me. I know your husband's supposed to protect you. But..."
"..It sucks," she settles on, "The way that head cop talked about your heritage."
"Sorry if that puts you in an awkward position. Just chalk it up to a delinquent talking."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"It's really astonishing," Yua agrees, about how crazy it all is. "When they said this uchikake was from the Edo period, my head was spinning... and there are so many rules just for rich people...?"
The way she says 'rich people' like an outsider, she's not from money. ... somehow, that might make it worse.
But Ichika gets to her feelings, and Yua sighs, her hands clasping in front of her. (Her right hand has a sheer white glove; the left, uncovered, features her wedding ring.) "Captain Shimazu is an important person to Kimi-san," she says, quietly. "Apparently, the Ijuuins were a retainer clan for the Shimazus, back in those Edo times... and Kimi-san cares a lot about that history. Plus... he works under him, so... it was surely difficult for him to respond to something like that," she settles on, though she's clearly bothered. "He defended me as well as he could...? Ah... this is those rules, you know, how to speak without causing anyone to lose face, how to disagree without causing a fuss... I suppose it gets quite complex."
She's at least trying, though. One might note the way she doesn't directly call Shimazu's words anything bad, aside from talking about how she needed to be defended from them.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Whoa," Ichika answers. "That's really something..." The Edo period! ...Not that Ichika is entirely certain when that was, but she's pretty sure she's got it. Reasonably sure. She passed history this time!
It does make it worse, though. "Guess you gotta learn them now, huh?"
But Captain Shimazu. And 'Kimi-san'. "Uh-huh." A retainer clan. "...Guess that's politics," Ichika allows, but her expression says she sstill doesn't like it. "Let me tell you, if I married someone like you, I'd wnat to get to know her history too, you know?" Pause. "...Not that... I'm gonna marry a woman, obviously. But you know, that's not the point."
Though the rumors at school place her pretty close with someone who's not a man, either. Hmm.
"It does, I guess," she agrees, get quite complex.
"It just..."
"It reminds me a little of how it was when I almost got married," Ichika says quietly. "It was all about what he wanted. About him. And that just... Shook me, I guess."
"But if you say you're going to be happy..."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Edo period is Hella Old, Ichika. Like, almost as old as her grandparents!
Maybe even OLDER.
"It's... a work in progress!" Yua smiles, encouragingly, at those social rules.
Still -- her expression grows more harrowed, when Ichika starts talking about marrying a woman. "I-I'm not --" she starts, and then clears her throat, looking down. ... does she know? Do they all know? Is she an embarrassment, even now? No, don't get upset, don't -- "Er... of course, it was just an example! In any case," Yua yanks herself out of her own horrors to focus on the implications of Ichika, "I know you're in your third year, but if there are people my age making those kinds of propositions to you, please be careful, all right? I know it can feel like you're quite mature... but it's unlikely an adult would be thinking the same way."
Yua has no problems with the rumours about Ichika's gang being particularly queer, but she is concerned about how easily she was able to imagine marrying someone of a teacher's age...
She frowns, though, when Ichika gets into her own marriage. (And that's why she's worried about how vulnerable Ichika is to adults muscling in on her dating scene; this poor girl has had experiences far beyond her age, but she's still only eighteen.) "I understand," she says, quietly. "It's true that this wedding... mm..." She shakes her head, though; she shouldn't say this is what Kimitake wanted, it's entirely the wrong message. "I'm getting what I want, too," she settles on, instead. "This way, I'll remain close to my... my very best friend," and she thinks of how Miho is elsewhere, in the wedding, her gut twisting as she has to shift the relationship for public consumption. "And since I won't have any concerns about money, I can continue just working part time... that's especially important, right now."
Why would that be important now?
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Super old...
But a work in progress, and Yua--Yua seems to have some trouble. Ichika doesn't know, though she is remarkably open about the idea. But Yua's reactions are all jumbled today as far as Ichika can tell, so she doesn't think too much on it. For now. Still...
"Huh?" Ichika asks. "Oh. Oh, yeah, hell no," she quickly reassures Yua, "I'm not thinking somebody your age, just... somebody who had a heritage they were proud of, or something. I've got a boyfriend and stuff. He's actually younger than me. Just a year, but still."
Quite mature... "I'm kinda... trying to act my age a little more," she admits, since she can say this to a teacher. "Instead of... feeling like my 'youth' is already over."
But this wedding...? "Mm. So it's like that... You're compromising," she says. That makes more sense to her, and perhaps she's ascribing more agency to Yua than is really there because she thinks of her as an Adult. ...Maybe.
"Well, glad you can be with your bestie," Ichika says, "But... OK." Pause. "Eh?" she wonders. "Why's that important now?"
Pause. "I'm glad you'll still be teaching, though. I like your lessons."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua has always seemed to have some trouble with queerness; perhaps she's against the idea of women being with women? Whenever it comes up, she gets... kind of weird, but...
"Oh!" She says, with relief, when Ichika goes straight to hell no. "Good, good! That's fine, of course," she assures her. "A year isn't too long... senpai-kouhai relationships aren't uncommon, in high school, really." Is -- is that what that is?! Yua seems to think that's what that is...
And if she glosses over her feelings about her heritage in the process, well: she's worrying about Ichika right now.
"But I'm glad to hear you're embracing the stage you're at," she smiles, to Ichika. "I know it's probably easy to feel alienated from your peers, after those awful things... but the only thing which can truly steal your youth from you is the inexorable march of time!"
why does she always talk like SHE'S on a stage
She places a hand to her cheek, tilting her head into it, when Ichika names what she's doing. "I did," she admits, softly, "but it was the best option we had... oh! Sorry, soryy, thinking out loud..."
Yua puts her smile back on, looking to Ichika. "You see... as if today, I'm ten weeks along," she admits, and sees no harm in it, given she's already told some more of her students. It's a little early to be talking about it, still... but Ichika might have already guessed, given how Yua was late getting into class yesterday and looked a little pale when she got there, wearing a new set of compression socks and ankle-supporting shoes instead of her usual pointe shoes.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika thinks it should be more normal, and Yua hasn't come down harshly, just gotten weird... But maybe she should be more careful, all the same. Better not mention her first partner...
"He actually goes to a different school," she says. "We met by kinda coincidence..."
Ichika smiles, but briefly. "Yeah... I'm trying, anyway. I do feel pretty..." Alienated? "Distant," she decides on. "But I've got the crew, and I've got... other friends. And yeah!" Pause. "What's 'inexorable'?"
But Yua is compromising... and it's the best option they had? She wonders. She still doesn't understand why getting married would make her closer to her best friend, but suddenly--a different angle comes out.
"Oh," Ichika says, and then hesitates--but smiles a moment later. "Great," she says. "Congratulations, sensei. That's... that's really great."
She did guess it. But it's not nice to say you did when somebody shares something important with you.
"It's earlier than you'd usually talk about it, huh?" she asks. "I guess that's why you weren't feeling well..."
She puts it together. "Oh. The best option..."
"Oh, I see," she says. "So it's like that. Well, I hope you're really happy, sensei. I..."
She thinks about her mother. "If I can do anything in class to make it easier, let me know, OK? I... I know how hard it is, so..."
She has very complex feelings about this.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Oh! Yes, some of the boys at your school can be very..." Rude? Horrible? Wretched little monsters who make fun of her whenever she slips into Okinawan Japanese?! "... rough? In any case, it can be very interesting dating someone from another school! You can hear all about how they do things, too! And I'm pleased to hear you have so many good friends..."
Though she blinks, as she realises -- "Oh! Overwhelming, titanic, implacable and grim! Impervious to plea and persuasion! It's actually very romantic," Yua sighs, before she realises: "... oh, I'm being a little too theatrical, aren't I? I should speak as a teacher and just say... it means it cannot be stopped at all!"
Yua's smile is more genuine, when Ichika congratulates her on her baby. "Thank you!" She chirps, proving that her chirpiness hasn't been slain forever on the altar of the obedient wife. (Actually, she's much more animated in general now she isn't performing beside Kimitake, isn't she...?) "Yes, it's still quite early... I hope I'm not giving myself bad luck. But if something is this important, it's hard not to talk about it, isn't it...? I am very happy to be having a child," she assures her, smiling. "If he's a boy, I'm naming him Hiroki...! It's a different way to say 'Ooshiro', you see?"
Really, it's striking how different her smile is, now, speaking about her son instead of her husband. "But don't you worry, okay? Mimi -- ah, and everyone in my new family -- they'll be supporting me! So all you need to worry about is learning some new moves, okay? Haha... though I might need a little more help with the dance mats, eventually..." Yua helps her students clean up after class. It's so weird. What kind of teacher does that.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"There's some who are pretty good," Ichika says of the boys at Kasugayama, "But I never got really serious with any of them. This guy... He's different, yeah. His school's a lot nicer, but he's not some snob, either. ...Of course, his grades probably aren't any better than mine..." Well, that's fine, she's not seeing him for that! She shakes her head. "Yeah, me too."
But--a definition! Ichika blinks. That's very theatrical. "Romantic, huh?" she asks. "..." She thinks about it for a minute. "...So like, when your partner's kind of a badass?" she wonders. "That's cool I guess."
She is not so sure.
But Yua's all lit up now, and maybe that's nice. Is this some kind of sugar daddy situation gone weird? She does have all that money that's not hers... And then there's that 'friend'--
"Oh, that's cool," she says of the name Hiroki. "It's hard not to worry about bad luck," she admits, "But I think it's nice to share. It's important."
It is striking. "Mimi, huh?" She smiles. "Yeah, I can tell she's important to you. I'm glad you've got somebody like that." ...It oculdn't be like with her and Tsubasa, could it? ...Nah. Couldn't be.
"Oh, that's not gonna work for me," Ichika says then. "You're not putting away heavy mats in that condition! I'll round up some guys to do it for you." She actually smiles. "I know you'll have to quit for leave eventually, but promise me you'll show me your baby when he's born, OK?"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Oh, of course!" Yua assures Ichika. "Kashihara-kun is a very gentle boy, for instance... not all boys of Kasugayama are so rough-and-tumble." Jun's also definitely not looking for a girl, but maybe Yua doesn't get that, especially if she doesn't like the gays. "But there's more to life than grades," she encourages her. "Do your best, of course... but tests can only measure so much."
Ichika decides that being implacable is like being a badass, and Yua laughs. "That's very true! No one can beat he--im! Ahem," Yua coughs, as if something were caught in her throat. "Sorry, sorry, I meant to say... he's very impressive!" Wait, how can no one beat him when his cousin's the gold medalist? Maybe Yua's just biased...
And it might be that kind of situation. She's certainly above her station, now, and it's one explanation for why she wouldn't speak over her husband, even when her very culture was being insulted.
Yua is all smiles when Ichika comments on how important this Mimi is, though. "Mm! Every woman needs someone who'll always be there for her!" You know, platonically. Friend-styles.
She laughs, though, when Ichika starts bossing her around. It's... it's...
IT'S SO CUTE!
(How mortified would Ichika be, if she realised that Yua had this sudden urge to mother her...?)
"Heeheehee...! Okay, okay! No heavy lifting, promise!!" She smiles, to Ichika, too. "I'll be sure to introduce you," she promises her baby viewing, too. "And don't you worry... I'll be coming back once he's settled enough to be nannied!"
Yua pauses, there, though, uncertainty flickering over her face. "Er... unless I need to move right to having another one... I did promise," she sighs, looking a touch distant, for a moment.
... is it, like, safe to have a baby right after having a baby?
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
More to life than grades... What a thing for a teacher to say! Ichika stares for a moment before she nods. "Yeah. I'm gonna try, anyway."
No one can beat... he-im? Ichika tilts her head. "Oh, right. I guess he must be. You don't get high up without having something going for you, right?" He's certainly tall. That's one way of being high up...
Someone who'll always be there for her... Ichika would hope that person could be her husband, but it's not always that simple. "That's true," she settles on instead. And--
Super mortified. Ichika may be trying to be 'youthful' but she's still basically an adult. That's important!!!
"Good!" Ichika nods back, and then--good. She smiles back. "Cool," she says. "That's cool. I'll be..." Pause. Uncertainty? "...I'm sure nobody's gonna make you go right into it," Ichika says. "I wasn't even allowed to have sex for a while after--" Pause. "I mean, not that I wanted to. But I wasn't allowed, either."
Pause. "It's not safe to go too fast. Be careful, OK sensei?"
She lets out a breath. "...And thanks. I do feel better. I was worried about you, but I guess things are OK after all..."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua is a terrible teacher. Did she even pass teacher school? Is this one of those things where the girl with the lowest grades in teacher school is still called a teacher when she graduates?!
"That's right," Yua says. "He's very talented." And she wonders, as she says it, how much of his rank in the police force is talent and how much is help... but that's not a matter for her students, certainly. ... even if some of her students might run afoul of the Order, Ichika surely wouldn't.
It's definitely not that simple. And tragically, if Shiryuu isn't safe from Yua's rampant nesting, Ichika absolutely isn't.
"O--oh, it wouldn't be like that," Yua shakes her head. She told Ichika, once, that she went to an IVF clinic because it would be impossible for her to have children any other way... which at least suggests that she wouldn't be having physical sex again that quickly to do it. "Though I suppose the doctors would want me to recover first, too..."
She shakes her head, and smiles. "In any case, I haven't even asked how that will work, yet... he might even want to wait a few years!" If she really thought that, she wouldn't be so preoccupied with it. "But please, don't worry at all... I know my situation might seem a little similar to yours, at first, but Kimi-san is a gentle man."
"I am, am I?" -- that's Kimitake; he's come up behind them, all five foot ten of him, looking for his wife. He slips an arm around her shoulder, and she smiles, to him, her hand coming to rest over his.
"I was just talking to one of my students... Kimi-san, this is Ichika Kawase! She's a Kasugayama student... and a very good dancer." And Yua certainly looks pleased to see him, even if she's a touch theatrical, again, as she looks up to him... and at a squeeze of her shoulder, she remembers not to speak so loudly as to need exclamation marks. "Kawase-kun, this is my husband, Kimitake," she introduces him, in turn.
"A pleasure," he nods, to Ichika, before returning his attention to Yua, with concern. "I'm just glad you weren't hiding in this corner... you're sure you're not feeling unwell any more?"
"No, no, I'm fine," Yua assures him. "I was just checking on Kawase-kun, here. Though, should I take more pills before the dinner...? It's been a little while since the last ones..."
"It's been over four hours," he confirms, for her, as if he's the one keeping track. "Do you want to step out for a moment and get those...?"
"I'll feel a lot better about eating if I do that," she says -- and then adds, to Ichika: "Oh, but please don't worry, they're my normal medications. I need to take them so I can eat well, that's all." Yua... forgot the word for anti-emetics, again, didn't she.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Indeed, Ichika would never* run afoul of the Order, and definitely isn't a Phantom Thief.
But Yua reminds her--of one of the reasons she thought it was like That, with Yua, and her Mimi. "Oh, right," Ichika says. She remembers the clinic now. "Yeah, I think it's not just because it's rough on your body down there, but because it's rough on your body as a whole."
She smiles at that. "Yeah," she starts, and then--
"Oh, hey," Ichika says to Kimitake, and--"Er, hello... sir?"
She's definitely not used to being polite in this particular manner, but she's trying.
"Nice to meet you," she says. "Sensei was just checking on me. I was the one hiding in the corner; big crowds kinda get to me sometimes..."
Unfortunately, of course, Ichika can't actually get out with both of them in the way, so she'll have to wait for Kimitake to leave before she can. She glances between the two of them, and then, "See you, sensei," she says. "Guess it's Ijuuin-sensei, now. Congratulations again."
A beat, "I'm not worried," she assures her. "Thanks for looking after our teacher, Ijuuin-san." She bows lightly, since--she's close enough that she'd have to ram her head into somebody to bow lower.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"It is... very difficult," Yua admits, and admits, in the process, that this is a complicated pregnancy.
How cruel is it to tell an expectant mother struggling with so many complications that her role is to bear children? And what does it say that Kimitake didn't shout Captain Shimazu down, back then...?
Well, don't say anything now, he's right here. And he felt free to listen in before interrupting, apparently.
"It is quite the crowd," he agrees, sympathetically, releasing Yua so that he can turn around. "Do you see those doors back there?" He indicates to a prominent set, along the right wall. "They go back to an enclosed courtyard... I was just out there a little while ago, and it's much less crowded than it is in here. In a large function like this, all the noise can get overwhelming... finding the places you can step outside can really help you to get through a party," he smiles, and he is making an effort to be relatable despite the status of his hitatare.
"I'll have to remember that, too," Yua smiles -- and her smile widens, when Ichika calls her Ijuuin-sensei. "Eee!" She squeals, waving her curled hands excitedly, in a manner which might be -- strikingly familiar to the Kawase household's eccentricities. "Mmhm, mmhm! It's Ijuuin-sensei, now!"
"Ha ha... all right," Kimitake laughs, taking Yua's hand. "Please, enjoy the party," he nods, to Ichika, and leads his wife off somewhere she can take medication in private to avoid scandalising the crowd.
Still, he's the one who bid her farewell...