2026-01-11: Kendo Training
- Log: 2026-01-11: Kendo Training
- Cast: Ririka Kawase, Akihiko Sanada
- Where: Gekkoukan High School, Boxing Club
- OOC Date: January 11, 2026
- IC Date: September 08, 2012
- Summary: Akihiko arranges for some impromptu training for SEES. He and Ririka end up sharing some wounds, new and old.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka... wasn't sure what to expect when Akihiko asked her to stop by the boxing club room after school. Was she going to be asked to box? No, surely Akihiko wouldn't ask that of her, right?
Just because she was tall for a girl (and about average height for a boy), and ran on the athletic side didn't mean she was fit to be a boxer. After all, most of her skateboarding was lower body stuff, not upper body. (Not none of it, of course--she still needed to grab things for plants, but still.)
She knocked on the boxing club door first before opening it. "Uh... Sanada-senpai? I'm... here."
Ririka stands about 5'7", and overall leans to a more athletic build. She has long brown-black hair that goes to midback, currently in a ponytail, red eyes, and the Gekkoukan tracksuit on currently.
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
The door to the boxing club area is opened shortly after the knock, revealing Akihiko, in Gekkoukan's gym uniform. A gray tracksuit hangs off him, and open to show off his plain white t shirt. "Ah, Kawase-san! Welcome in!" He looks past Ririka into the halls a bit, before shrugging his shoulders. He steps to the side to allow Ririka enter.
"Sorry, I thought I invited more of my SEES juniors." Akihiko laughs a little. The boxing club room is temporarily set back up to facility strength training. "Anyways. I was thinking about hosting these... small training sessions, whenever this room isn't in use. I expect we'll only face stronger fights in the future. We can't be too careful, yeah?" He smiles.
"Remind me, Kawase-san, what weapon do you use during SEES activities?"
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka's tracksuit is zipped up for the moment, though under it she has a dark gray tank top. She blinks as Akihiko looks past her to into the hall, looking back. Thought he invited more. "Oh, I guess they must've been busy?" she offers. She doesn't know if they got the mesage or not.
She walks in, though, looking around. She wasn't sure what to expect; she normally doens't hang out in club sports rooms. (Well, she did with her older brother, but... she hasn't been able to do that for a couple yars now.)
Stronger fights. "Oh, yeah, that makes sense... It'll be good to have everyone in their best shape."
"Oh, I use a katana. My older brother used to do kendo, so... it seemed like the best choice. Though... most of the time I don't use my weapon much, since I'm usually busy Navigating."
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
"Probably." Akihiko nods. Though honestly, he doesn't totally mind it, he's sure Junpei at least is skipping... It was probably too short notice for people with other plans. "Don't worry about it. I won't."
He finds a spot to take a seat, on one of the prepped weight benches. "Right! Well, it's not a bad idea to have some strength in your back pocket. Especially if we get surprised, like when Yamagishi-san joined the team. The battlefield can change in an instant after all." Akihiko crosses his arm, as if he said something revolutionary there.
Akihiko then gets back up and goes looking for something. Two spare kendo sticks. "Well, I can't say that I'm better with a sword over my fists..." He tosses a kendo stick over to Ririka. "But I've done a few fill ins for the Kendo Club over my time."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"Well, if you're not worried about it then I won't," says Ririka cheerfully. (She is actually still worrying a little bit.
The night Fuuka joined... or rather, when they rescued her. Not one of Ririka's best moments--she'd joined intending to use the Evoker, but the sudden apperance of two Full Moon Arcana had overwhelmed her as-yet-Unawakened Navigator senses, and she'd been... well, useless. She glances to the side. "... yeah. I'm doing my best to learn how to keep tabs on a busy battlefield."
"I don't really throw a lot of punches," Ririka admits as she catches the shinai. "... though I have throw my fair share of elbow," she admits. Fill-ins. "Oh, cool."
She works her way through a few of the practice kata she remembers her brother using. She's never taken a class herself, but... well, she spent a lot of time watching Toshiaki practice.
"So... are we going to spar, then?"
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
Akihiko nods, and prepares his own stance. He holds the shinai in both hands, pointing it forward, on the mat. "Heh, the battlefield is chaotic indeed. It can be best to seperate it into different engagements. One on one combat might be able to help you visualize it a bit better."
"Hey, that's not a bad strategy either. Elbows are tough! And pointy." Akihiko takes a moment to demonstrate, bending his arm and tapping his elbow. "Absolutely a great way to keep someone off you!"
Akihiko spins his shinai in a move that would certainly get Yuko Nishiwaki yelling at him. "I'm ready when you are." He says with a smile.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"Separate it into different engagements..." Ririka repeats softly. "Hmmm..." She looks thoughtful at that, closing her eyes for a moment as she flashes back to some of the last few battles she was in. "So like... separating out the melody and the accompaniment in an orchestral piece...?"
It's more to herself than to Akihiko, though... it shouldn't be a urprise to anyone at this point that Ririka chooses to frame things through music terms. Music infuses her Persona and its fighting style, after all.
But elbows are ahrd and pointy. "Oh, no, that's-- that's not..." Ririka laughs a little, self-consciously. "I didn't exactly mean for fights... eh heh..."
Mosh pits aren't exactly fights, after all.
But Ririka nods and takes up her stance, without the flourish, holding her shinai at the ready. "I think I'm ready."
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
Music certainly isn't Akihiko's speciality, but if it helps! "Yeah, like that. It takes practice, granted. But that's a fine way to look at it! Each fight is a different part of the battle. And understanding the battle, begins at identifying the individual components." Akihiko's pretty smart when he gets going!
"Ah." Akihiko says, not understanding the actual meaning. "Well, Knowledge here is it's own reward." He laughs, a bit awkwardly too. Mosh pits however, are indeed a type of fight on it's own. What else would an All-Out Attack be?
"Then I won't wait." Akihiko says. He shifts around Ririka, hoping for an opening. It's one part that's applicable to both boxing and kendo. He finds his opening, and swings at her shoulder! If it isn't blocked, he'll stop millimetre's from actually hitting her.
BBS: New BB message (1/18) posted to 'Public' by Naganaki Shrine: Reminder on Closing Policy
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Akihiko might not know music, but giveing Ririka a framework to work with is still a major help for Ririka. "... I think I'd rather get practice doing this than, uh... 'live application'... not that that's gonna stop those fights from happening..." she admits. "But thanks. I'm gonna think about that one some more."
Ririka's not certain she would agree with that... they're not usually all beating up the same person in a mosh pit...
It might be common knowledge that she skatebaords, but there's some stuff she isnt as ready to share.
Ririka watches Akihiko circle, trying to match his footing. She does leave that opening, inexperienced as she is, and she quickly--but clumsily--turns to block the strike with her own shinai.
... but it's a pretty close call. "Ahh-- whew." She takes a step back. "That felt... kind of awkward," she admits.
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
"It always helps to be prepared." Akihiko says gently. "And hope it never has to come to that."
Akihiko laughs a little, as he watches Ririka back up. "It'll come with time, Kawase-san. Could you play Beethoven the first time you played the piano?" He asks, as a rhetorical device. "...I didn't think so."
The boxer's guard is still up, but he purposefully leaves gaps this time, hoping that Ririka will take the initiative this time. After a pause, he speaks up again. "How old is your brother, by the way?" Would he know of the elder Kawase?
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka takes a deep breath and nods. "Prepared. Right." Except... they know it will come to that, don't they? Tartarus isn't exactly safe, after all...
Akihito asks what should be a rhetorical question. And yet, Ririka has an answer that is almost automatic. "Which piece?" She only catches on a moment later that it was rhetorical, and there's a light flush to her cheeks. "O-oh, right."
She hadn't been intending to brag, but...
Ririka does hesitate to take a few of those openings... but she does finally move forward to try and strike at one-- she doesn't quite have the control to stop millimeters away, but she's not swinging with full force, either.
But then that question makes her pause, and her expression grows clouded for a moment as she withdraws. It takes her a moment to work up the very simple answer. "... he would have been 19," she says, quietly. "... but he passed away two years ago."
He was only a year ahead of Akihiko--so he would've been a second year while Akihiko was a first year, and he was known for his incredibly strong academics. Even as far back as Gekkoukan Middle School, as well.
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
"Heh. Or maybe you're just a prodigy." Akihiko teases lightly. When you're used to being humbled like he is, it's easy to brush it off.
He blocks the hit effortlessly. The resulting *thwump* of bamboo against bamboo is less than satisfying. As Ririka responds, Akihiko lowers his shinai slightly.
"...I'm sorry." A year older than Akihiko is, then. He vaguely remembers the name on public test results.
"...My younger sister is gone, too." Akihiko offers. An eye for an eye, as it were. "She'd be around your age."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririak rubs the back of her neck a little, laughing a bit self consciously at being named a prodigy. It's true, she just doesn't like calling herself one. "W-welll... I have been playing piano since I was 7," she admits, quietly.
"... Thanks," Ririka says softly. And then she sucks in a smlal breath. "I'm so sorry, senpai..." There are so many things she could ask, but she's not sure what to say first. But thinking of her own brother... one thing comes to mind. "Were you close?"
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
"That's still really impressive, you know!" Akihiko says. He's not quite sure why Ririka is blushing now, but... Talent, huh? That'd be nice. "It's good to know what you're good at."
Akihiko nods. He puts his sword at his side now. "Very. We were in the orphanage together. She died when she was 6." A year before Ririka picked up piano. Would Miki have enjoyed piano? Those sorts of questions will haunt you. Best keep it out of mind. "It's an old wound by now. It's apart of me, but it doesn't rule me anymore." Never mind that it's opening back up again.
"What about you...?" He asks, gently. "Were you and your brother close? Would you like to talk about it at all?"
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka loves music--and she happens to be very good at it. But she also has... a lot of complicated feelings about all the pressure that talent seems to bring.
And of course, she really doesn't want to be seen as bragging.
"Yeah, well... I'm just happy as long as people enjoy my music, you know?"
Ririka lowers her shinai as well. "Oh... I'm so sorry." An orphanage, huh...? That's not really an experience she can relate to. An old wound. "Oh, I see..."
It doesn't rule him anymore... Ririka can't really relate to that feeling, either. Her grief still has its hold on her, and untangling herself from it, well...
She just nods, lowering her gaze. "... Yeah, we were close. He, well... Toshi-nii and I had a lot in common. He didn't play music, but..." Is it bragging on his behalf to say he was academically gifted?
But talkinga bout it more. Ririka pauses to consider that and shakes her head, then lifts her shinai again. "We're... here to train, right?" Her head clearly isn't in it, though.
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
Akihiko shakes his head. "Don't worry about it. It's fine. I'm lucky to have had a good life." He says
"It's still fresh?" Akihiko asks, gently. He doesn't want to push...But he knows what it's like. "I remember he was at the top of his class. I remember asking him for studying tips, once."
The grief still weighs heavily on Ririka. Akihiko can tell. And he knows a good way to push through grief. He puts the shinai back up.
"C'mon. Try and hit me as hard as you can!" He demands, hoping to shock Ririka into complying. They can go back and forth for a while more, until it's time to head back to the dorms.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
A good life. Ririka nods to that. But it's a longer pause before she slowly nods to the question of it being fresh. ".. yeah." It was already Fresh, but after what she learned, how her brother's death was a murder, not an accident...
It's torn open that wound in a way she still can't fully come to terms with.
But Akihiko asked for tips, once, and that actually gets a small smile out of Ririka. "He alwqays liked helping people." Both of them did... though they always put a lot ot stock in living up to their reputations.
Ririka blinks and jerks herself back as Akihiko makes that demand. "Wait--what!? Senpai--" she starts to protest, then catches herself. She takes a deep breath, and for the moment, she's back in the task again. "I'll just... take my best shot."
She raises her shinai again, and for now, she'll rejoin the sparring session in earnest.