[closed]

[chibisu]

Who: Ebisu, Aomi, and various out-temple workers
What: Time for a relaxing trip to Kanagawa, before the next thing blows up.
Where: Kanagawa
When: Sometime after that compound mess

Kanagawa Prefecture has a lot of good points. There's an opening to the ocean, a lake for touring, beautiful views of Mt. Fuji wherever you look, and all sorts of interesting museums or temples. Aomi, the organizer of this little trip, agrees for everyone to meet at Iiyama Kannon an hour or two before noon. An easy famous place that people hopefully won't get lost going to, and all. Until then, well, people are free to go wherever they like. They don't even have to stay in Atsugi, where the meeting area is supposed to be. There are beaches not that far off, zoos to enjoy various animals, parks where carefully cultivated flowers are in gleeful bloom, a bustling Chinatown, and even the little island of Enoshima.

When the time comes to meet up, however, Aomi can be found alongside Ebisu with a bulging backpack and he does a quick headcount to make sure everyone is there before continuing on. The ultimate destination isn't any of the many tourist attractions in Kanagawa, but rather he leads away from the cities and towards the forests of the prefecture. Aomi would have made sure to remind everyone that morning over text to wear hiking boots.... so hopefully they all remember to do that, because the path chosen is one that has no actual path at all. Hopefully no one gets hurt, although it shouldn't be too hard.

What's the destination? That much becomes obvious once they hit some more even land, where a small stone monument has been placed at the base of a fully blossoming Japanese wisteria. Here, Aomi will let everyone know it's fine to take a break, and settle down. It's here that he'll help spread out some various picnic blankets and begin unpacking from his enormous backpack. He's been courteous enough to pack lunch for just about everyone, and a good variety in case any one dish doesn't suit someone. There's delectably spicy yokosuka curry, juicy shirokoro horumon, rare to get shonan pork sausages, and a variety of sushi that takes full advantage of being from a seaside prefecture. Everyone is free to relax beneath the wisteria blossoms and enjoy the view peeking out from the trees.

Comments

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Is it the physical activity or the being outdoors?" One was easier to solve than the other, but anything that cheered up Suzaku from his usually glum and dour attitude was something worth doing more of in the future.

[swordofzero]

"Perhaps the outdoors." After all Suzaku didn't lack physical activity in his day to day life, practically the only times he was ever still was when a task at work meant he had to sit and concentrate or when Saber had him sit and watch a film with him.

"Perhaps the mixture of both." And being with people he liked and trusted, spending time with Edge and Saber doing something different that wasn't killing ayakashi or battling cultists.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"I'm keeping this in mind for you the next time you get gloomy." Edge made that into a threat, though obviously not a terribly dangerous or effective one. He was pretty bad at giving Suzaku any advice that would actually cheer him up or improve things, so finding another way to get the boy from being way too dour might just help a lot.

[swordofzero]

"You don't have to worry about that." Edge had been right the day they had cleared the restaurant of ayakashi, he had to get better at internalising things. It was almost embarrassing how both Edge and Saber always knew when he was feeling less than happy, especially when he tried to hide it.

He didn't want them worrying about him.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Like hell I don't!" Edge rolled his eyes dramatically, to make sure Suzaku got the point. "You'll just go around trying not to show it and it'll be awkward when we have to point out you're terrible at it. Besides, we're friends."

[swordofzero]

Suzaku was really lucky to have friends. Like most things he felt that gratitude had little context, he was just glad he had people who called him a friend and seemed to like him. The few moments he had remembered of his life had not painted a picture of someone who was well liked.

Despised more like it. "Thank you Edge. You're a good friend."

He doesn't have tears in his eyes, that's just the wind, stinging them as he stares out into the distance.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"You're not so bad yourself." Actually acknowledging that was a bit uncool, so Edge did it with casual arrogance to make it seem all manly.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku just smiled again, "We should catch up." He nodded to the walkers, who had gotten a little distance ahead.

They probably needed to go distract their god and save whichever of Ebisu's shinki he had decided to talk at...

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Edge understood precisely what Suzaku meant without him needing to say it.


"Good point." He increased his pace, hopping over a large boulder to vault himself forward. Better keep up!