2026-05-19: Fatherly Approval
- Log: Fatherly Approval
- Cast: Ririka Kawase, Dr. Soutarou Kawase (Played by Ichika Kawase)
- Where: Port Island Station - Main
- OOC Date: May 19, 2026
- IC Date: Sunday, November 11, 2012 (Afternoon)
- Summary: After passing out in the SEES dorm, Ririka wakes up in the hospital. Unfortunately, it's the hospital where her father works. They have a chat, but reach a new understanding.
(|======================== Port Island Station - Main ========================|)
-======================================= Iwatodai City/Tatsumi Port Island ====-
A sunny arrival greets people who ride the monorail to the artificial island
every day, as once off the platform, Port Island Station is open-air, allowing
the sea breeze to spread throughout it. Columns slice a diagonal towards a
curved wall that makes the station take on an amphitheater type appearance.
A vendor at Rafflesia makes the enticing offer of flowers for decorations and
gifts to your sweetheart alike, while Screen Shot Cinema presents matinee
pricing for students getting away from the stress of school and wanting to catch
the latest releases. Police dot the place, stopping people before they might
make a wrong turn towards certain alleys. Of course, you wouldn't know anything
about going to places like that, now would you?
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka is staring at the ceiling of a hospital room. The smell of antiseptic was bad enough, as was the fact that she was in an uncofortable hospital gown, but the place was an auditory nightmare for her.
Multiple sets of monitors with their own noises, all out of sync with each other, making it impossible for her to find a rhythm to tap along to. And knowing that hers was among those noises...
The shame was the worst part. Hot and raw. She'd been insisting for a while now that she had everything under control, and realizing that she hadn't been able to keep it together, that she'd failed...
And she knows it's going to get worse. She knows what hospital she's in. And she knows who's liable to find out pretty quickly...
Ririka closes her eyes again, trying to summon some internal melody in her head to distract herself from the cacophony. She's humming lightly to herself, trying not to disturb the other patients.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Indeed, 'he' found out rather quickly. But he didn't go to Ririka immediately; he's not going to act as her doctor, after all. There are ethical guidelines about tht. So instead, Dr. Kawase has had time to compose himself, familiarize himself with what actually happened, and...
Arrive. Dressed in medical scrubs still, he knocks at her door. "Ririka-chan," her father's voice comes, and after a moment he steps inside and then moves over to the private area she's in. He parts the curtain and steps over, frowning thoughtfully.
"You made me worry," he points out first. "...But, as the doctor should've told you, you seem to be largely all right, except for the exhaustion. Do you have any questions he hasn't covered?"
He has things to say, but her care comes first.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka tenses, for a brief moment, as she hears taht familiar voice, but forces herself to relax right after. Tensing won't help anything. There's no hiding from it.
"Hey, dad," she says quietly. She doesn't quite bring herself to look at him right away.
She made him worry. Ririka visibly winces. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make anyone worry." She'd wanted the opposite of that, in fact. A long, slow breath, and then a slow nod. "He told me. He answered all my questions. I tried to pay attention."
She knows she's going to have to cut back quite ab it, but... she's too exhausted to think about that right now.
Her fingers are tapping along with the steady pace of an EKG machine now. she looks to her father. "Sorry for taking you away from your work. I know how important it is."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"I'm sure," Dr. Kawase answers. "...That seems to be the problem." Not wanting to make anyone worry. But the doctor mentioned everything she needed to hear, so he'll leave that matter at that. Instead... "Good," he says. "Then just do as he says, and you'll do fine."
A pause. "Yes," he says. "It is important. I have a lot of people to take care of. Howver.."
"You're my priority. I will put others aside to see to you; it seems to me that you may not realize that, Ririka-chan." His voice is stern, but caring; he does care, after all.
"If you'd had so much to take care of, I would have thought you'd have been able to tell your mother or me. It seems to me that we need to make it clearer that we're here for you. If it's a matter of scheduling, your mother is very good at balancing tasks; if it's just a matter of trying to do too much..."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
'... That seems to be the problem.' The words sting. Wasn't she supposed to just... be able to handle things? then again, she'd relied on Toshiaki... but it was different, with him.
How did it turn out that trying to do everything right ended up being the wrong thing, in the end?
She may not realize it. "No, I--" There's an impulse to say she does realize, that there was just some other problem that was unforseeable, that this isn't anything to worry about...
And she's got nothing left in her for lying right now. She looks down at her lap. "... okay," she says meekly.
She listens. Mom is good at schedulig stuff. Ririka probably learned a lot of what she uses from her. That's not the problem... "I just... I know you and Mom expect a lot, so I... try to do a lot. A-and there's always... toshi-nii, or onee-chan, or mom's..." Mom is pregnant now, she means.
Her eyes sting, and she looks away. "... I just... didn't want to be a problem. Our family's already gone through so much, I just thought... if I hadnled it..."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Dr. Kawase listens; he can tell she's hving feelings about it, but he's never been the sort to step overcautiously when it came to what he felt needed saying. His willpower is part of what saw him through to becoming a doctor, and he's accustomed to people listening to him--his family included.
"That's true," Dr. Kawase answers, about their expectations. "We do. ...You've always been quite reliable, and even moreso, with Toshiaki gone... and Ichika with her own difficulties. I can see where you'd feel you had to take it all on your own shoulders."
He looks seriously at Ririka. "But you are not a problem. You couldn't be. You're our precious daughter. So instead of 'handling it', I want you to rely on us more."
"...Remember," he says. "For all that I've been able to do, I've always had your mother to support me. Her support may be quiet, but it is the bedrock of our family."
"...If you can't lean on us all the time, then consider your sister, or your new friends. But something will have to give, Ririka-chan. I don't want this to happen again in a few months."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Reliable... and she's ruined that now, it feels like. She looks to her father, as he says he can see where she'd feel that way... but she knows this isn't going to be absolution.
She's not a problem.
She's their precvious daughter.
Ririka can't help but sniff and let a few tears out, her chest heaving a little with the sobs. It passes quickly, but she still looks mierable.
Her mother's the bedrock... "... she held everyone together while you were still in med school..." ?She doesn't remember that first-hand, as such, at least not in great detail. But she knows the circumstances around their moving to Iwatodai, at least.
"I tell Ichika-nee some stuff..." But she recently realized she never stopped to ask Ichika how she felt about some specific things. She's trying to be better about that. But there's other things she hasn't mentioned.
And the same for her friends in SEES, really. They get the supernatural stuff, less so the more... personal stuff.
And of course, there's just some things she can't tell her parents, because it'd be too dangerous for them to know.
Ririka sighs a little, resting her head back. "I... I don't wanna let you or Mom down..." Which is a separate concern from making them worry, and perhaps a deeper one. "If I just... if I just stop, if I can't do everything..."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Dr. Kawase doesn't comment on Ririka's tears, except to pick up a pack of tissues and wordlessly hand them to her. He does care... but he doesn't want to embarrass her further, either.
Instead, "She did."
Some stuff. Hmm. "You won't be letting us down," Dr. Kawase says. "Quite the opposite. If you collapse like this because you take on too much--then we'll have to worry. If you learn from it, then we'll be proud of you for being realistic about what can be done."
"I don't think you should just stop--but cut back on some of the things. Do it gradually. I know you have many obligations, but you're young yet; nothing is something you're stuck with, yet."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka silently takes the tissues and carefully dabs her face.
Everybody gets some stuff. But there's nobody she really feels like she can confide everything in. Later she might think about how to fix that--or at least, get more support for the things she keeps too close to her vest.
Quite the opposite. Ririka sits with that for a long moment, fingers tapping away on her thigh. It's hard to think right now--partly because of the physical toll pushing herself has had, of course, but also because she's trying to sift through years of bad habits and assumptions and unpack them, and under less than ideal circumstances.
But on the other hand, these may be the best circumstances.
But cutting back, and if she won't be a disappointment... "I... don't want to give up music, but... I feel like... everybody expects me to do... amazing things with the piano. They talk about how gifted I am, or... they use all these words to describe me, and..."
Ririka looks to her father, her posture vulnerable and open, really open for the first time in years. "... it's exhausting," she admits, in a quiet, plaintive voice.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Dr. Kawase knows better than to fuss about Ririka's tapping; in some situations it's best avoided, but right now, she needs to self-soothe, and he can recognize that for what it is. ...he's only known her all her life, after all.
But...
"Hm..."
Dr. Kawase comes closer, and takes a seat in a chair, rather than just standing over her. All these words; gifted.
"It's all right," he says, "If that style of music isn't what motivates you. ...Certainly, i hope you've enjoyed it. But it's important to me that you choose your own path, Ririka-chan."
"If it includes more with your band than with the piano, for instance... That's acceptable to me."
"I just want you to be happy and successful, whatever that looks like."
"...Don't decide anything right now; just rest. We'll get you home, and after you get a good night's sleep, then we can talk about overscheduling."
"But if you want to change how you're living... That's all right."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
There are times when she tries to hide it... but she doesn't have the wherewithal to do that right now.
Ririka watches her father sit. She's open but still tense, still afraid of what the reaction might be. It's a scary thing she just admitted, after all...
"I have!" she insists, and it's true. "And I still like it, I just... I have to keep... doing amazing things to keep meeting everyone's expectations, right? Nobody's gonna think I'm a prodigy if I just... do the same thing for the rest of my life, right?" At least, that's how she feels.
And she's always framed so much as 'proving' herself. She wanted to 'prove' that she could skateboard and not let the music stop. Her new band is a chance to 'prove' herself in a different way.
But she trails off, as her father says that if she focused more on her band than on piano... that's fine with him. There is both a great weight lifted from her, and a terrifying sense of freedom, all at once, as she stares at him.
"... really?" She pauses, swallows. "... you mean that?"
She nods a little, resting back against the bed again. "... I think I'm too tired to make any decisions right now," she admits quietly. "But maybe when I'm less tired..."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Doing amazing things to keep meeting expectations... "I can see where that would compound on itself," Dr. Kawase says.
But Ririka stares at her father, and he nods back. "Once," he says, "I would've insisted that you focus on the 'reliable' means of success. I would've said that your band is a nice possibility, but you've proven yourself on the piano. ...And then, we lost your brother."
"I'm more concerned with keeping you--and keeping you happy--than with a particular brand of success. Now, to be clear--if you do decide to focus on your band, I want you to make it the absolute best band you can manage. I won't stop expecting great things from you."
"...But it's all right, for those things to be your choice. You'll have to choose your priorities. Your mother and I will be there for you."
"So think about it," he suggests. "You don't have to do everything. You won't disappoint us if you can't. ...I just expect you to do your best. ...And part of 'your best', as you become an adult, is learning what you can and can't keep up with."
"People will always have expectations--but if you focus only on their expectations, you won't satisfy yourself. And satisfying yourself is what lets you accomplish great things."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
The more reliable means. "... the piano." There's a whole track for that, after all--music conservatory, arduous lessons in sight-reading and composition... a lot of which she's done already.
But she doesn't want to be stuck just doing the one thing, either.
And then...
Ririka looks down. She still feels that loss keenly.
But she looks up and manages a small smile, for just a moment. "I wouldn't be happy with it unless I was doing my best." The smile fades quickly enough though.
Her choice... "... I won't give up piano. I... I've been working on some new material that uses it..." That briefly makes her think of her unfinished schedule for the week, and she pushes that thought aside for now.
She lets out a long, slow breath as her father confirms taht she doesn't have to do everything. That they won't be disappointed if she can't. "... thanks."
She's been needing to hear that for a long time, now.
Learning what she can and can't keep up with. "... right. I... I'll try to do better. Promise."
Satisfying herself... "I'll remember that."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Right." The piano. There's indeed a whole track, one that he was inclined to push her along back then. And would still, truthfully, prefer she pursue. But as he said... he has different priorities than he once did.
"I thought not."
"Mm. Good," he says. "It'd be a shame for your learning to go to waste. But remmber that you don't have to go at full speed on everything, either. Just slow down."
"You're welcome," he says. "...I regret that I couldn't communicate that to you before this happened. But we'll do our best moving forward, yes?"
And she will try to do better, too. "I'll hold you to it. But for now, just rest. They'll let you go soon. I can take you home; I'm leaving early today, anyway."
"Then, we'll see your mother. She won't make you go through this conversation a second time... But she will want to check in on you herself."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
If Ririka is being honest with herself, she knows the piano track would be rigorous, but 'easier', in a lot of ways. More socially acceptable.
Less hassle than trying to be the frontwoman of a band, anyway.
But while she loves classical and piano music... her heart craves new challenges and experiences.
"I still use all the music theory, too..." she adds, softly. But full speed, or rather, not. "... hai."
Her father regrets, and it still hurts some part of her, knowing that it came to this. Even if she's beginning to begrudingly admit what she was doing might've been unsustainable. "... I'm sorry too. If I'd said something..." She looks up and nods. "Yeah."
"... are you leaving early because of me?" she asks quietly.
Ririka sighs a little. She couldn't handle this a second time. "Maybe... I'll ask her help clearing my schedule for the week." It'll require making a few phone calls, and right now she's not up for those.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Good," he says. "Your music does seem more complex than most of what I hear on the radio these days," he says, and that's probably the closest he's going to come right now to pointing out that he has listened to her stuff.
"It's all right," he says of her apology. "We can move forward, then."
A pause. "Yes," he says. "I won't lie to you about that. ...But don't feel too bad that I have a reason to spend extra time with my family, either. It's not a bad thing, going how early now and then."
"Good," he says. "Think on that. ...See you soon, Ririka-chan."
He rises from his seat, and reaches out his hand to place briefly on her shoulder. With a squeeze, he takes it back, and starts away for his rounds.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka blinks a little, and then she manages a small smile. She doesn't comment on it, either, but... it helps her to know that someone's noticed--and that her father has noticed, at that.
"Oh." So it is because of her. "... I'll try." Not to feel bad, that is. She's still going to feel a little bad. Even if he hadn't decided to leave early, she's still caused an inconvenience for others.
She lifts a hand to place it over her father's, when it rests on her shoulder, before letting it drop down to her lap. "Bye, Dad. See you soon."