2026-07-29: Study Break
- Log: Study Break
- Cast: Ririka Kawase, Suzume Fukura
- Where: Iwatodai Dormitory
- OOC Date: July 29, 2026
- IC Date: Monday, December 17, 2012
- Summary: It's finals! And after the first day, Suzume's had enough of studying for the moment, so she approaches Ririka about hanging out for a bit. They agree to head to the mall, and discuss finals, food, and maids along the way.
(|============================ Iwatodai Dormitory ============================|)
-================================================== Iwatodai City/Iwatodai ====-
A large four-story dormitory used by the Specialized Extracurricular Execution
Squad, only five minutes from Iwatodai Station. Upon entering, one passes a desk
with a sign-in book for guests to find a large carpeted common room that's well
appointed for co-ed gatherings.
A TV is usually on with the local news or a movie that's been loaded into the
DVD player for a student to enjoy. A table for shared dinners, or more often
study sessions, takes up the other half of the dorm, as well as a kitchen should
one dare to show off their skills to their fellow students.
There are two winding staircases on either side. The one on the left simply says
'Boys' while the other on the right states 'No Boys Except By Invitation.' The
implicit threat of execution need not be written down for those who violate
these rules. The second and third stories are living spaces divided by gender
with common spaces that have study areas and bookshelves available.
The fourth story is the command center with surveillance capabilities for not
just different parts of the city but each room within the dorms. The Chairman
has assured all who live here that this capability is strictly necessary.
BGM - Dormitory Theme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj-FrFI0qnM
AS: Fuuka Yamagishi has readied for combat as Lucia! She is now fully healed! Hana Fukami says, "how goes?" Shinobu Shimizu says, "Going okay! You?" Katsuko Yoshinaga says, "Fuunbobu!" Ren Amamiya says, "hiii" Shinobu Shimizu says, "Hello!" You say, "Shinobu!" Hana Fukami says, "today I realized" Hana Fukami says, "Ichika was in the same year at Gekkoukan Middle as the SEES FC third-years" Shinobu Shimizu says, "Oh, that's interesting." Eikichi Mishina says, "Dang" Shinichi Nagisa has arrived from Shibuya Station - Underground Mall.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Finals! Ririka is really hoping she doesn't have to fight a serial killer and witness his death this time around, or escape from an exploding blimp. She had enough of that at midterms, and she's trying to relax more. She'll review more in a bit, but for now... tmie to relax.
She's n her room, and she's already changed into some jeans and a warm flannel shirt. And she's on her bed, phone in hand, and she's smilinig. Not a big smile, but a small one as she reads and texts.
The door's not open, but she doesn't have any headphones on, so she'll hear if someone knocks.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume survived Day One of exams. Hurray!
She reviewed (a little bit) for tomorrow but doesn't want to, as she sometimes puts it, make her head explode. So she has given that up for now and decided to take it easy (or at least, easier) for the moment.
She'd considered bothering a few people. Hitomi she'd grabbed dinner with yesterday, so probably not. Reiya, too, was busy (well, when isn't he). There were a couple other choices too, but eventually she picked someone she hadn't had much opportunity to talk to for a while.
There's a knocking on the door. "Yo," Suzume says, slightly muffled. "You studying?" She hopes the answer is 'no'.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
It's been a minute since Ririka hung out with Suzume, huh? She's been trying to rest more, but that's also involved a little bit of sulking or moping hiding in her room. (She's still kind of embarrassed she fainted at the dorm.)
There is a burst of laughter from inside the room right as Suzume's about to knock, followed by what might be Ririka mumbling something about "Oh my god."
But then the knocking sounds and Ririka looks up. "Hmm? Nope. One sec!" She pockets her phone and stands up to open the door. "Oh, hey, Fukura-chan. What's up?"
Her room is as neat and tidy as ever. Bed, posters, desk, a shinai hanging on the wall over her desk. Ririka at least looks in pretty decent spirits.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume catches some of the sounds from within. She must have come at a bad time - oh, or maybe not? She thought for a moment there was someone else in there, but she must have just been on the phone.
Suzume does not look neat but when does she? She always manages to look a bit rumpled, whether it's the offhanded way she wears her clothes or her shaggy, floofy hair. Today it's more the hair than the clothes; her jeans are just fine and she has that baseball Tigers shirt that she seems to like a lot, but she needs a haircut so her hair's a bit more voluminous than usual.
"Hey," she says. "I'm done studying before my brain gives out. So I wanted to know if you were up to much, 'cause it's been a while when we weren't busy." With the festival, say. Or with SEES operations.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka herself eems fine. Her long, straight hair is back in a ponytail for ease, and under the flannel is a black band tee of some sort.
Suzume wants to know if she's busy, though. "Mmmm... not really. I was going to review more later, but..." She shrugs a little. "I've got some time free right now. And you're right, it's been a bit... You got something in mind?"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"I thought I'd ask if you wanted to either hang out here or go to Paulownia," Suzume says, casually. "Like I said, I don't even want to THINK about exams for a bit... today was bad enough and tomorrow, well... there's not much more studying's gonna do for it."
She doesn't precisely invite herself in, but she does take half a step, just enough that she's in the doorway and it would be hard to close it on her. (Though she'd probably back up if Ririka tried.) "'Cause, I mean, you've kind of been hard to find lately, outside work and school." Maybe it's that whole 'embarrassed about fainting' thing. "Though I saw you at the maid cafe, so it's not all bad. Not like you've completely hidden yourself like a hermit."
Suzume grins, making it more a joke than an accusation. Hopefully. "Better you than me. I don't think I'm cut out for waitressing."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Hanging out. "Oh! Sure. Yeah, that'd be great. Uh... if we go to Paulownia, we could... check out the arcade? Get something to eat? That might be good..."
She frowns sympathetically at Suzume's mention of exams. "Yeah... I was gonna review later, but... I've got some time until then."
Ririka does not close the door on Suzume. That would be rude! She doesn't object to Suzume leaning in the door frame, either. She rubs the back of her neck a little. "Eh heh... sorry 'bout that. I've just been... trying to take things easy, you know...?" That was a little over amonth ago. She's doing a lot better, but... what she hasn't really admitted to anybody is that it's the second time it's happened. And with all the extra things on her plate (read: supernatural stuff), she's trying to make an honest go of it.
As much as she can, anyway. Duty calls, and all that.
"I mean, it was kinda fun! Busy, a little stressful, but... still fun. Takeba-san kiiiind of stole the show, though. I don't think I could do it anywhere near like she does."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"Sure, let's go then," Suzume says. Everybody likes Paulownia Mall, right? Right.
(It's certainly the closest one. And there is the option, as Ririka has pointed out, of dinner on the way; both of the stations have options, the closer one with more of them.)
Suzume holds the door for Ririka, assuming she's good to go as is - it's not like she caught her in something she wouldn't be seen in public wearing. Suzume occasionally DOES wear things around her room she wouldn't wear out, though admittedly usually later than this.
She rolls her eyes at that. "I got nothing about Takeba-san," Suzume says, which is mostly true; they get on a lot better these days than they used to. "But I can't believe they ASKED for her after that. I mean, okay, I get that she's cute," Suzume admits. "Everybody says so. But after she dumped that on Junpei-kun I figured people would be AVOIDING her. What if she flipped out again? Coffee stains and milk stinks if you let it sit."
"So it's probably better you don't do things like she does, actually. At least, in that case."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"Sure. Sec." Ririka ducks into her closet to grab a more substantial jacket, and also her wallet and keys. It is winter, after all. She pats herself down really quickly after that. "Phone, keys, wallet..." she mutters to herself. "Annnd okay. I'm set."
She heads for the door and then pauses as her phone pings. She pulls it out to read it and then tries to stifle a giggle, hand coming up to her mouth. She types out a quick reply and then puts it away.
The mall also has food, presumably, so they're not lacking for options.
Yukari's cute. "She is," Ririka affirms, totally casually. "But... I mean, tsunderes are kind of popular for a reason, right? Tsundere maid is totally a whole thing... at least, that's what I've heard."
"I meaaan, Iori probably should've known better by now." Though sadly she does find herself in agreement with him on several occasions.
She must never tell another soul that, but, it still happens. Mostly about attractive girls.
"Yeah, 'tsundere' isn't really my type... I bet I could totally pull together some kind of 'rock star maid' look, though! That'd be way more up my alley."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume swings by her room to grab a jacket, too. She at least needs something. It's a week (okay, a week and a day) until Christmas! It's as cold as Port Island is going to get!
"Who're you talkin' to?" Suzume asks, curiously, when Ririka laughs at something texted to her. She's curious but she's not nosy, or at least doing a good job of pretending she's not; she doesn't press if Ririka is a little shy about answering. (Though she might remember for later.)
"Iori-kun *should* have known better, but it's fun," Suzume says - because Suzume also finds herself in agreement with Junpei, though not always about the same things as Ririka. The two of them had done some studying together, too, and she'd voted for the maid cafe along with him right until she realized she needed to participate...
"Anyway, it's not like he even did anything wrong," Suzume adds. "I heard that all he did was asked for, you know. The whole maid cafe thing. And it's not like he wasn't going to pay the normal amount, either, even though he was technically part of the year that did it. Not that he helped much, actually. So it was mostly her being - well. Like you said."
Suzume talked to him afterwards. Once she managed to stop laughing so hard, anyway.
As they go outside, Suzume jams her hands in her pockets, slouching forward a little bit. "What would 'rock star maid' even be? Like, you bring a guitar or something? I dunno, I can't see it. Actually I was kind of surprised to see you do the maid waitress thing at all."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Suzume asks who she's texting. "Oh, just a friend, that's all." Are her cheeks tinged a little red? Don't worry about it, she's just anticipating the cold, that's all.
Say, wasn't she hanging out with someone after her shift at the maid cafe yesterday?
"I meaaan, he keeps things interesting, that's for sure..." She was fine with the maid cafe as long as Junpei wasn't going to comment about it or the outfits. (Junpei probably commented on the outfits.) "Besides, we had butlers too, you know."
"You know I was there, right? He was being kind of pushy about Takeba-san calling him 'Master' and everything. Like, sure, that's part of the whole 'maid cafe' thing, but... I kind of get Takeba-san's reaction. Like, okay, she went overboard, but still."
Ririka catually laughs. "Okay, bringing a guitar with me might be a biiit much, but... I dunno. I figured, put my hair up in a ponytail, do some makeup, maybe add some leather, put a little bit of my stage energy into it... It's weird but I bet someone would dig it."
She doesn't slouch somuch, but she does put her hands in her pockets as she glances over at Suzume. "You were? Why?"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Just a friend... "Hu~uh," Suzume says, thoughtfully. Well, she has a boyfriend now. Maybe she's not the only one. It doesn't occur to her that it might be another girl for Ririka. And that 'huh' is enough to be a little suspicious, except she drops the topic.
"I mean..."
Suzume has never been to a maid cafe for a couple reasons. And she didn't volunteer to do it this time either - she was making sandwiches - so she didn't get the whole explanation. "*Isn't* that part of it?" she says. "The whole point is that you play along with it, otherwise it's just a ... regular cafe. With girls in maid outfits, and boys in butler outfits." She saw them too!
(Junpei absolutely commented on the outfits. Suzume rolled her eyes at it and said nothing.)
Suzume probably shouldn't slouch. She's short enough as is! But it lets her put her hands in her pockets comfortably and also she's just kind of prone to doing it anyway. "Leather maid probably means something completely different," Suzume says, thoughtfully, thinking back to some things she's seen on the Internet. "But I guess. I dunno. You just don't seem the maid type."
"I mean, neither am I," she points out. "It's not like it's a bad thing. C'mon, can you imagine me doing that whole... thing?"
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka catches that tone and glances at Suzume again. "What?" Usuaully 'a friend' covers it, she really doesn't want to have to invent a lie or a cover story.
Ririka shrugs. "I mean, I guess, but... I dunno. He asked for her specifically? It's kind of different when it's your own team member or classmate doing it..."
Ririka hasn't been to one either! But she's seen enough in some of the manga and anime that she watches that she gets the idea, at least.
Ririka pauses, and quickly stammers, "Y-yeah, thaaat probably means something different. But I just meant, I could throw on my vest, or my bracelets or choker, you know. Stuff ilke that."
But she just doesn't seem the type. Ririka shrugs a little to that. "I mean, I guess not, but... it was fun to do for a little bit? Like, I wouldn't do it all the time, but... trying new things is fun. If you do the same thing all the time that gets boring..."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"Nothin'." Suzume grins, which suggests it isn't actually nothing, but it's nothing she's going to razz Ririka about right now. "And it's DEFINITELY something else. Though if you've just got the bracelets it's probably okay. Uh... not sure about the choker."
Now that they're acually on their way, Suzume has a habit of walking backwards, or partially walking backwards, when she's going somewhere. It's dangerous - she comes pretty close to bumping into people - but it lets her keep Ririka in view without quite walking alongside her; despite having short legs, Suzume tends to push ahead rather than hang back.
"I dunno. I don't think it'd be much fun," Suzume admits. "I mean, for me. Though if you wanna do it, that's something else. You looked pretty good in it, anyway. I couldn't pull it off even if I wanted to." Her tone is a little more neutral about that, but, well... she does mean it, for what it's worth.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka quickly glances away. Nothing. She hopes Suzume means it, she's not sure what she'd have to say if Suzume pressed the matter. "... yeah. I guess I'd have to see how it lookd in real life. But it could be fun. I bet somebody's made a manga or an anime where there's rock stars who dress like maids but are also actually maids."
Ririka's keeping an eye on Suzume. She's a little concerned, but... if she doesn't hurt herself it' probably okay.
"I mean, if you don't like the maid outfits you could always try a butler one," Ririka jokes with a grin. But she brightens a little at the compliment. "Thanks! I'm glad you thought so. Like I said, I wouldn't do it all the time, but for an event like that it was fun."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume never quite hits anything (or anyone) hard by walking backwards into them. She does bump a lamp with her hip once but smoothly rotates around it as if it never happened, and she threatens to walk into someone going the other way but they dodge first, solving that problem. It is unclear if Suzume even noticed.
"Eh..."
Suzume's feelings on dressing up are a little mixed. She doesn't like being treated differently because she's a girl... but on the other hand, she also *is* a girl. She wants to be treated like one of the guys, but she's not sure she wants to be mistaken for one. It's confusing. Everything is confusing! Ririka can see at least some uncertainty cross her face, because Suzume isn't very good at hiding her feelings, though she may not be able to guess *why*.
Or maybe she can. If anyone around here could...
"If I had to I'd probably do the suit, yeah," she decides. "I'd probably look better in it... But, whatever. I made Sham onigirazu, it was fine, that was enough for me. I stole a couple of the leftovers. Still good the next day." ... "What? I wasn't gonna throw them out."
It's about this point that *another* person dodges Suzume, and while she still likes taking the lead, she actually noticed this time because she falls back to walk alongside Ririka.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka's keeping an eye out. If there's a real danger of imminent collision she'll reach out and grab Suzume to pull her from danger. After all, isn't that what being a Navigator is for? WAtching out for your teammates?
She would understand some of what suzume is feeling, as it happens. She's a girl, she just... wants to look nice sometimes and also skateboard other times. Why do they have to be mutually exclusive?
Junpei really kind of got under her skin for the comments at the beach, that one time.
But she sees that uncertainty. "Hey, no worries if you're not into it, right? You still pitched in way more than Iori did, so... it's all good." But Suzume took some leftovers! Ririka can't help but grin. "I won't tell anyone. Better than letting it get tossed out."
She winces at the near dodge, but thankfully Suzume stops walkig backwards. "For what it's worth? I bet you'd look pretty sharp in a suit."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Why indeed. Suzume doesn't get it either! If she did a lot of things would make more sense than they do!
(Junpei got under HER skin that one time, too. But for different reasons than Ririka, probably.)
"Right? YOu don't throw food out if you can help it," Suzume says, firmly. "And there weren't THAT many extra, so me and a couple of the other cooks took it. We were kind of doing it as we needed to, but it's easier to do eggs by the half dozen since we had the pack open anyway, so..." She shrugs.
Fortunately for Ririka's tension, Suzume is now walking *forward*, and at a normal pace; she's not running ahead and waiting for Ririka to catch up. (Which is a real thing that happens sometimes, but not today.) "You think so? I never thought about it," Suzume says. This is mostly true; she generally doesn't worry about what she looks like, but has a little more lately. She just has no idea what to do about it.
Maybe she SHOULD ask Yukari. Or maybe she should just ask Ririka -
She scowls, but it's more for herself than aimed at Ririka. It feels *wrong* to ask Ririka what she should wear in certain situations and she's not entirely sure why. Even though she's far closer to Ririka than she is with Yukari, it's kind of Yukari's specialty...
"So, uh," Suzume says, awkward again. "Do you think about fashion a lot, or..."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Why's the world gotta make everything complicated?
"Makes sense to me. I've been taking cooking lessons from onee-chan, but... there's really only a few things I'm really practiced at, so... that probably wasn't going to be a good fit for me."
Ririka's got a pretty long stride, she wouldn't worry about Suzume getting ahead of her that much. "YEah, totally! I'm not sure what it is that makes a girl look good in a suit, but... some girls do. Maybe it's like... an attitude thing? Like, if you believe you can pull off a suit, you can definitely pull off a suit. Or something."
But there's a scowl, and Ririka looks to Suzume curiously. "... everything okay?" But at the follow-up question she nods. "I mean, a little bit? Most of the time I like keeping it casual, but... I still like to dress up sometimes. When I'm performing I definitely think about my look. Why do you ask?"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"Yeah, I only know how to cook a few things. I mean, besides instant ramen and stuff, but I don't think that counts," Suzume says, waving one hand. "Oh... I mean, Aragaki-san showed me a few things. But I make that Sham stuff for me, and it's at least CLOSE to a sandwich, so I figured it'd be fine if we had one hot thing to go with the regular sandwiches."
"And - huh?"
Suzume didn't even realizing she was scowling. "Yeah, I'm fine?" And she is, mostly, though she's having some thoughts again. Mostly about that 'girl in a suit' thing. She still isn't quite sure what she thinks about it. Maybe it'd suit her? It'd suit her better than a skirt anyway... she's not a big fan of them, as people have certainly noticed by now. She basically does not wear them outside of her school uniform, where they're required.
Why does she ask? "Well," she says, "Takeba-san's kind of a jerk about it, like, 'you *definitely don't know how to dress, are you afraid of what people will think'?" So was Kiyomi, though she doesn't say that part. "And you're not. So I wanted to know. I dunno, it's just..."
"...it never used to seem important," she shrugs.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"Yeaaah, even I can do that one... but, I dunno. You get to the more complicated recipes and it feels like there's just so much to keep track of, you know...? And sure sometimes it comes out great but sometimes you just wanna have the thing you like instead of risking your time on something new..."
Ririka that might be a little bit of a you thing. (Also she doesn't complain when a song is really complicated, as anyone who's seen her tackle complicated piano pieces can attest.)
Her hands are in her coat pockets but her fingers are still tapping away in there.
Ririka likes skirts! But she'll also wear jeans or cargo pants--it's jut a matter of what she's doing. (She doesn't wear the skirts to go skateboarding, after all.)
But Yukari... "Yeaaah, she's kind of intense, but... she was realy good with Aigis-chan." But she's not. Ririka looks to Suzume, considering her a little. She offers the other girl a soft smile. "Hey, if you want to experiment with something, then... we could do that sometime. I might not have Takeba-san's fashion sense, but... I can at least offer you a low-pressure experience."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"Eh," Suzume says, from the point of view of someone who will eat pretty much anything even if it's not her first choice. Or not good. Sure, she'd *rather* it be good, but... well, sometimes things don't work out, or you buy the cheap one because it's what you can afford with what's in your pocket, and then it isn't.
(Today, though, she is going to get something good. Or at least good by the standards of fast food. If you can't treat yourself when you're stressed about exams, when can you?)
"Yeah, I should have figured she was in charge of that." Suzume hadn't been able to make that trip, though she'd originally planned to. She doesn't do a lot of shopping with others - she's been with Hitomi a couple times, and that's about it - but she figured she could at least find a hat or something to cover Aigis'... ears? Not-ears?
"..."
"Maybe," Suzume says. Her slouch worsens as she shoves her hands deeper in her pockets, no longer pulling ahead. "I dunno. I've been... thinking about it a little more. And not because of what Ikeda said," she adds, and that *definitely* sounds sour. "Just for reasons."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka has a tendency sometimes to stick to stick to a handful of items she knows from the restaurants she frequents. Giving her an entirely new menu she's unfamiliar with can stress her out--as might have been observed on the Yakushima trip.
"Well, we all pitched in, but... yeah," Ririka admits of the trip.
Ririka clocks that slouch, though, and frowns a little as she considers. "Yeah...? Whatcha been thinking about?" She leans over to give Suzume a gentle elbow bump. "Hey, whatever Ikeda-san said, what you're thinking about can just be up to you, okay?" she says softly. "So... if you've been thinking about stuff, you can tell me. I promise I won't laugh or make fun, okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
New things do not stress Suzume. She likes trying new things. This applies to... a lot of things, actually, not just food. It might be part of why she never seems to stick with her hobbies for all that long... is she still doing that knife tossing she was trying out a month ago?
Suzume ordinarily wouldn't say anything. But she has like two close female friends - Hitomi and Ririka - and honestly that's two more than she's had for a while; most of her friends are, and have been, boys. She doesn't think that matters, or didn't; she's still not sure it does that much, but there are some things she could never ask Jiro (well, they've kind of drifted apart over the last school year) or Junpei or even Reiya.
"I know I'm not very ...girly," Suzume says, lowering her voice. "And I don't want to be, really. But... I wasn't gonna say because it's not anybody's business but mine, but I actually *am* dating Reiya-kun. And I'm like, what am I supposed to *do*? What should I wear? What do I even do? I mean, not about the dating bit. We're friends, that's not the problem..."
Suzume trails off. That's what dating is, isn't it? You should be close friends with your boyfriend... she thinks. She's never dated before. She sounds more like she's stumbling for words, not that she's trying to find an escape - she really does like Reiya.
"...but, yeah. I was looking at clothes. And I'm like... does any of that even WORK for me? Am I supposed to or what?" She looks up, sharply; "And if you DO laugh I'm going to kick your ass," she adds, and she means it. But if she doesn't -
Well, who else could she ask?
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka, sadly, is forever caught between seeking new stimulation and craving the comfort of the alreadyy-known. Not that she really stops to think about it most of the time.
Ririka's had a few male friends--maybe the closest are the two boys in her band, but even she doesn't tell them everything that's going on with her. Nor they to her. But she's never thought it mattered much as long as they were all on the same page when it came to music.
Ririka listens, and nods. Not very girly. "And you don't have to be," says Ririka. "I still think you're pretty cool even if you're not." But dating Reiya. "Oh yeah, how's that going?" But she listens. "Well... it's... admittedly been a bit since I've been on a date with a guy," she admits, and there's almost no hesitation between the words 'been on a date' and 'with a guy'.
Almost.
"I mean, what you should wear I guess depends on what you're doing, right? Like, there's a difference between... going to a movie theater or a nice dinner, right? But I think you should probably aim to e comfortable. If you aren't, you wont be able to relax and enjoy things."
"Hey, I won't laugh. We can take a look at clothes sometime if you want. Maybe we can shake things up, find you something new to try."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"...thanks," Suzume says, about being cool. "You are too. I mean. With everything and all." OK that was the *least* useful way to explain herself, but she means it! Now if only she could figure out what 'it' was.
There was some hedging there in Ririka's statement!
...which Suzume completely failed to pick up on. "Yeah, I haven't seen you go out or anything. It's hard in SEES. I don't know how I could if, you know, Reiya-kun wasn't in it too so I could just *tell* him what was going on. ...and I just wore whatever to the theatre," Suzume admits, "but I wasn't sure if I was doing it wrong." She scowls. "If I'm doing things my way I at least want to *know* when it's different, you know?" That doesn't really make sense, even to her, when she inevitably thinks about it later; isn't the whole thing supposed to be doing it her way?
...
"...That's pretty cool of you. Sure," she agrees with Ririka. "We'll do that sometime. But right now I wanna get a burger and the arcade. I need to turn my brain off for a while. You game?"
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka does laugh a little bit at how suzume phrases that, but it's a good-natured laugh-- it confused her too but she appreciates the sentiment, and she gives Suzume a bright smile. "Thanks! I'm glad you think so."
"Yeaaah, I guess... I dunno." There were some reasons she stopped--as far as most people know, the last date she was on would've been middle school, in her third year. But it's true, they're both in SEES. "I guess that'd make it easier, huh...?"
But she looks at Suzume thoughtfully. "You... want to know when it's different? What do you mean?"
"Burger and an arcade sound great, honestly. Iv'e spent so long just trying to rest and take it easy I'm kind of going stir-crazy, you know?"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume does something between a snort and a laugh. "Yeah, can you imagine without him knowing? Sorry, I have to go out at midnight because, uh..." She trails off as if she can't think of a good answer. "It's easier just to say 'we've got Tartarus planned'. I mean, even odds he'd be going, anyway. And that's not even all we get up to, some of it would be even worse. Imagine calling out of something because there was a Full Moon Shadow and you can't even tell him why you bailed." Look at Suzume's inability to respond to Ikeda!
"And, like..."
How does Suzume put this? She considers it for a moment, then grins, that slightly crooked grin that she gets sometimes. "If I'm gonna break a rule," she says, "I'm going to do it *on purpose*." That explains it, right? ...right?
"Great," she says. "Then let's do that. And not do any work. Just for tonight."
Hopefully tomorrow's exam goes okay...