Nakahama

Following the marked paths, the group came to the caldera lake.

The hike there is a bit too warm, but once the party crests the rim of the mountain, it's (probably) all worth it!

A gentle breeze blows along the water, swirling along the edge, providing refreshing cooling. The slope down, excepting the path, is lush and vibrant. The occasional fish can be seen jumping.

In short, it's pretty nice!

"Oh, it's beautiful! Wow."

She stood, staring. Awed by the beauty.

If this wasn't the jimen tori's secret place, it was still a heck of a secret place.

Sumiko paused at the top, looking around. Entirely because of the view and not due to being tired from the hike, honest!

"Wow" she did mange to say though, as she took off her bag and put it down to open "I bet this would make for an incredible swimming spot for anyone who can swim. "

"This is great," Sorato agrees, sounding content. He, too, stands looking at the view for a few long moments... before noticing a new kind of shrub and crouching down to clip off a sample.

Brushing off the knees of his trousers as he stands up, he comments, "Some of these caldera lakes can be really deep. Steep drops, too. Fun to swim, but you've got to be careful." His lips curve in a slight smile that suggests maybe he hasn't always been maximally cautious about things like that.

"This really should be a more popular destination." Kiyoshi said. "But, it should also be preserved. I would hate to see this developed in any way."

"If this gets more popular it will be developed and the appeal will be lost" Sumiko carefully removed her drone from her bag - a holorecorder had been tied to the top of it "I'm going to send this up to get a view of this and the surrounding areas. We're not going to find nests but it might give some ideas."

Haruhi smiled.

What a perfect place to bring a date!

"I wonder if there is more we could be doing to help support the natural places here. I know you all have some experience establishing nature sanctuaries. Does anyone know if the Governor has any interest in that kind of thing?"

Sorato, who has started to crunch down the trail leading downslope to the waters edge, pauses and turns his head to reply. "Conservation, I don't know. She is interested in tourism money, though. If preserving this turns a profit somehow, that would help."

"Tourism doesn't always mean preservation. Tourism means profit, preservation often requires more funding and thus less profit to make" Sumiko let her drone launch with the camera attached so it could move around and film the immediate area around the crater.

"Depends." Sorato is eager to get to the water's edge, but an interesting lichen growing on the volcanic scree has sidetracked him again. "If keeping this scene undisturbed means more people want to visit in the long term, that's a greater advantage in the end. Economically useful species that need the habitat--that would be another reason." Unshipping his holorecorder, he begins recording some still images of the lichen and rocks in situ. Without looking up from this task, he adds, "Most Phoenix governors could be convinced by longer-term advantages like those. Yasuki, I don't know."

She nodded.

"It is a beautiful place. Tourists like beauty." And not only Crane!

"Being that the Yasuki built a hotel in the middle of the wilderness, then abandoned it leaving it as a danger to wildlife I'm not sure they've considered habitats" Sumiko commented as she steered her drone carefully around the area "I've seen worse and studied worse, and I could see this becoming extremely profitable, but I also see it not remaining as welcoming to the wildlife in the process."

"True. There are much worse examples of how nature can be ruined." He agreed. "As for tourism, why would anyone visit the island, if not to enjoy its beaches amd views? If the right approach can be found, I think some of the natural habitats could be preserved. "

Sorato finishes scraping lichen shavings from a rock into one of his little glass vials and wipes his field knife on his sleeve before putting it away. "Well put, Kitsune-san. The Yasuki are holding this conference because they want other people's ideas for developing the island, right?" He pushes himself back to his feet with a soft grunt of effort, a little stiff from crouching awkwardly near the ground. "If they already knew exactly what they wanted to do with all this, we might not be here."