2026-03-08: Perspective

• Cutscene: Perspective
• Cast: Miho Ijuuin, Eiko Ikeda
• Where: Aoba - Penthouse
• OOC Date: March 8, 2026
• IC Date: Sunday October 7, 2012
• Summary: Eiko Ikeda gets a chance on her day off to relax--and chooses to spend part of it in the /very/ nice bath in Miho Ijuuin's penthouse. She asks her friend and employer to join her, and they talk about stress, duty, and love.

---

"The water's heavenly, Ijuuin-san," Eiko Ikeda comments as she sits back in the corner spa bath. A woman of 5'3" with short blue hair and gray eyes,she has been reclining here while Miho was washing off. She comes back over now and then as a close friend, not an employee, on her days off... often specifically to use this bath. "And still hot," she points out.

It's a really nice bath.

Miho--much taller, at six feet, with short green hair--turns the knob of the shower to /off/, taking a towel. "Good," Miho answers, and a few moments pads over. "I'd be surprised if it weren't, though." As she lowers herself into the end of the bath opposite Eiko, Miho can't help but sigh. The water really is nice. "...Mn. Jokes aside, I was sore..."

"I know," Eiko answers. She speaks more freely than usual, though she maintains that formal distance--for them, it's a sign of respect, rather than a lack of care. "You both came back very tired... The mission was difficult, I take it."

"Quite, Ikeda-san." Miho pauses. "I had to deal with very experienced foes. And it was hard on Yua especially. More even than usual, because of what we had to do." She sighs. "I've grown more or less used to what we have to do. But I don't think she ever will. 'Reality' is too harsh for her."

"Mm," Eiko vocalizes in response. "I can't say you're wrong. Your absence last night was especially difficult on her, Ijuuin-san." To say it so plainly is a difference; the context has changed with her out of uniform, off the clock. "And in her condition..."

Miho looks down, though she looks at nothing in particular, more through Eiko than at her. "I thought I was balancing my obligations... but I misjudged, in this case. I thought I had already reassured her about the necessity of our actions. Not that she'll be happy about what I have to do regardless. Almost any of what I have to do."

Eiko looks down over Miho in the bath as they speak, noting her scars, the lingering remains of her wound on her left upper arm, the strange Mark at her wrist, and then back up to her employer-and-savior's face. "You need not chastise yourself so much," Eiko offers. "You can make up for your absence, anyway. It troubles me, though. Seeing the two of you have to spend more time apart... This luncheon of the other Ijuuin-san's, for instance. Your cousin."

"Ah, yes," Miho looks up to Eiko's face, and actually looks /at/ her again. "It's been more difficult since she married him. But I can't say anything against him; he's helped us a great deal, and asks relatively little in return. I'm not thrilled about the situation, but it was Father's will..."

"I've been watching him as you asked, Ijuuin-san. But... Though I admit I'm suspicious of him, I see nothing untoward in how he's acting. ...No, maybe I'm the one who's biased. You were so happy together despite everything, before all of this. I can't say he's doing something wrong. But I want to keep watching anyway."

"...All right," Miho replies. "I suppose if neither of us sees a problem... Perhaps it really is what it seems. You know that I grow... paranoid, after all. I wonder, I watch, I imagine... I have to set those things aside." She sinks a little more into the bath, down over her arm with a slight intake of breath; even largely healed, the flesh is tender. There's much healing to be done yet on the inside. "But please do. Thank you, Ikeda-san. Sometimes I think you're the only one I can rely on."

"You're welcome, Ijuuin-san. I haven't forgotten how you saved me. ...I'd have been subject to the same 'disappearance' as the gentle lady if you hadn't. I might be dead now, or worse. You've given me a place in the world after I lost my family. But... You know it's not only gratitude, too." She pauses. "Besides, we're friends, too. I'm not the sort of person who forgets that. ...But as to Ijuuin-san himself, I will keep watching. And watching over her... and you."

"And me, hm?" Miho closes her eyes, and focuses on the water. The faint scent of minerals; the heat of the bath. The solidity of the spa tub beneath and behind her. Her senses count each, and she feels present in the moment. Miho's eyes open again. "You do," she says. "I try to watch over you as well... But I've been quite overwhelmed, lately." This, too, is different. "May I ask how Dairaku-san is doing?" Eiko's own significant other is a man Miho's met a few times; Eiko largely keeps him away from her professional life... but not completely. Miho mostly sees him when she goes to visit Eiko in her apartment nearby.

"He's good," Eiko answers, and smiles fondly. "The time off I mentioned the other day--it's for a trip he wants to take with me. Just the two of us. I'm looking forward to it; I think our relationship might be getting more serious."

"More serious, mm?" Miho smiles, and it's not so difficult as she thought it would be. "You've been seeing him for some time. I'm glad. You deserve a happiness of your own. I'll manage without you while you're away of course--just focus on him and you."

"Thank you, Ijuuin-san. I will." Eiko smiles, but it's brief--because she moves to another topic. "...I know the gentle lady is unhappy with your relationship with your gentleman--Hasegawa-san. I understand; I'd be unhappy in her place. But I'm more interested in hearing whether /you're/ happy with him. I know it's something of an obligation... But even so. How do you feel about him, for himself?"

"She is," Miho sighs. "I can't blame her. I'm not being faithful to her, the way I want to be. But my baby needs a father, in order to be legitimate... if I ever want to claim him as mine, instead of Kimitake-san's. And I do." She looks up to the ceiling. "And I can't have that be someone I don't trust. ...Yua asked why i couldn't just pay him, just make a deal... But we have so many enemies. How much loyalty does a name and wealth alone buy?"

"That's true," Eiko says. "...Go easy on yourself. It's not easy, loving a woman in your position. If you /could/ run away from it all... I'd go with you, you know. I'd need a new job, I suppose, without your family's money--but I'd go." Eiko lets that hang on the air for a moment before she continues, "But my question, Ijuuin-san, was not how she feels." This is gentler; she is still contradicting her boss. "It's how you feel with him."

"Ah..." Miho looks back to Eiko's gray eyes. "You're right," she says. "Yes. Well, part of how I feel is guilty, of course. Knowing it makes Yua unhappy..." She glances away. "But how do I feel...?" A hard question, sometimes. "...I like him." She watches the surface of the bath, instead of Eiko. "I'm starting to like him more. I know I mostly accepted him in the first place because my older sister pushed me, but... As we've gone out, he's been kind and reliable. And funny. And I'm just not the sort of woman who can sleep with someone without feeling."

"Right," Eiko answers, encouraging. "So even though you have a 'purpose' in mind..."

"It's true that he makes me more legitimate in the eyes of society, of my family. That there are things I have to do. But he doesn't ask to be my only loyalty. He knows at least most of the situation with Yua, and only seems to ask that I make /some/ time for him. And when I'm with him, I feel..." Miho trails off.

"How do you feel?" Eiko wonders, making a light splash as her hand comes up from the water and her arm moves to rest on the ege of the tub. It's to get Miho's attention, but also to get more comfortable.

"I feel..." Miho weighs the matter. "Lighter. His world is somewhat difficult--dealing with his parties, with his famous friends, with being 'shown'... It is hard. But when we're alone together, I feel as if my burdens lighten. That I'm safe. He's a reprieve from the battles I must face... somewht like Yua herself is. I don't know that I could say that I love him... but I care about him. I think I will, one day. If we stay together. I think I'm beginning to trust him, in any case."

Eiko sighs softly. "I'm relieved," she says. "I remember Satake-san--how controlling he was, until you split. The way your mind spun up ways that he was just the pawn of greater powers. If you feel safe instead of threatened by Hasegawa-san, than I'm satisfied."

"Noboru-san," Miho recalls. "He was so vicious, when he left me. ...I suppose he wasn't entirely wrong; I was paranoid, and had bigger things on my mind than him."

Eiko watches Miho's face as she remembers. "Right. But you say Hasegawa-san is different. ...I'm glad." She pauses. "Forgive me for being blunt, but... Don't feel guilty for enjoying your time with him, Ijuuin-san. I know it's hard on her," Yua, "But you'll poison yourself if you think of it as just an 'obligation' to him. I've seen it happen. I don't want that for you."

"Ikeda-san," Miho starts. There are aspects of Eiko's life story that she talks about rarely--but rarely is not never, and Miho knows why in this case.

"But at the same time," she asys, "Make sure she still knows how much you love her. I know you won't lose sight of the reason you're doing all of this in the first place. ...The Ijuuin-san I admire can always find her reasons, even after the darkest days."

"..." Miho looks down, and then closes her eyes while she nods. "Thank you," she says. "I will. Yua and our baby... They're the most important to me. But I do also care about what my family wants. I have so many things to balance."

"You do. But you aren't alone. You have me... and her. She's stronger than you both think. I've seen that, too."

Miho smiles. "Yes. ...I'm sure that's true. I see her at her worst, and I'm very protective of her... but there are things she wants that she'll fight for, too."

"But there is one thing," Eiko says. "...One thing that concerns me. You say you need a husband, for your son's sake. But what if he wants sons of his own, or daughters? Are you sure you can accomodate that? I know in the past..."

Miho turns her face back to Eiko's, thoughtful. "...Ever since I saw my older sister pregnant," Miho says, "I didn't want to do it myself. The changes she went through, the difficulty... My body is something I work so hard at. To think of myself changing like she has--or worse, having the difficulties Yua is having--It's... not something I relish. I'm not as afraid of it as I used to be, but I'm still far from eager." Miho shakes her head. "I'd think about it. But not yet. Not while Yua is having so much trouble with our son already, not when she'll need my support after he's born... That's my priority. Besides, I might still want to compete in the next Olympics. I'm not so old yet..."

"All right," Eiko says. "That's as much as i'll pry into that."

"Thank you, Ikeda-san."

"...Later, I'd like to show you the part of the garden I've been working on," Eiko segues. "Your gentle lady has beenhelping me with a few flowers of my own..."

"Is that so?" Miho asks. "Then I'd like that."

"Yes. ...But for later." Eiko closers her eyes. "The water really is lovely..."

Miho takes the cue; frankly, she'd like to do some quiet soaking, too. But it's reassuring to talk about her feelings a bit.

And Eiko certainly seems more at ease.