"How to look for them, right—first off, you want to scan the whole beach like this."
Just like Misago said, I glanced around. The beach was wide, the waves rough, and the air had a chilly vibe that didn't exactly scream "let's go for a swim."
Well, it was way too early in the season for that anyway.
Not that I had a swimsuit on. Instead, I was kitted out with some rugged trekking boots, of all things.
We didn't come here to swim. It started when we were talking about mixing in a bit of fun with our training, and she said stone collecting could be surprisingly enjoyable. And here we are.
If I go too hard and end up with sore lower abs after just one night, that's no good as a man. So I've got to take training seriously too.
"Most of the good ones are in the white-ish color range, but green doesn't always mean it's a dud, so it's worth checking just in case."
She said that while picking up a white stone from the sand at her feet.
"Now, pros use tools—like those grabber things—to make picking easier, but since we're using this as training, we're going tool-free. You squat down to pick it up, then spring up like this."
As she spoke, she dropped the stone, dropped into a push-up position in a blink, grabbed the stone, and popped back up in one fluid motion. No sand clung to her shirt—guess she didn't fully hit the ground.
That little peek of a toned stomach, the subtle bounce of her chest—it stirred a few inappropriate thoughts, but I shook them off.
After a quick hop to adjust her posture, she started examining the stone.
"This is called a burpee, by the way. Since we're not doing them in rapid succession, it's not too bad."
She kept her eyes on the stone as she said it.
"Now, for spotting the duds—if it's just plain white with no transparency at all, that's white feldspar. Trash. Just toss it."
With a practiced motion, she chucked the stone overhand toward the sea.
"Next, if it's white and has a bit of translucence—see how you can see through it when you hold it up to the light?"
She did another spring-up move, brushed the sand off the new stone, and held it up to the sun.
She beckoned me over to look too. Sure enough, it was a semi-transparent white.
"But the surface is rough, almost like it's cracked. That jagged break—it's characteristic of quartz."
She said it with a bit of regret, then flung the stone away with a solid swing.
"If it were clearer, with a smooth crystal structure like glass, then it could be worth something as crystal. But the kind we find around here is just plain white—basically trash."
"That's harsh," I muttered without thinking.
"Okay, next. This one's a nice green, but if you hold it to the light—see? No transparency at all."
She was right. It was green, but not even a hint of translucence.
"This one's called kitsune-ishi—fox stone. It sparkles when wet, which tricks beginners into thinking it's valuable. Like a fox playing a prank. Official name is rodingite, but just calling it 'fox stone' gets the point across. Anyway, toss it."
She handed it to me, so I mimicked her overhand throw and sent it flying into the waves.
"Nice throw."
She said it casually, like she was enjoying herself.
"Now this one—see the smooth, greenish surface with black specks? That's a snake stone—serpentine. When gems like jade, topaz, or aquamarine rise from magma, this stone comes along as their host. So areas with this stuff are often treasure-hunting hot spots. But the stone itself? No value."
"Think of it like a teaser in a pachinko machine. Just a hint of something better."
"It's glassy, so if it's thin, the green parts let light through. But the black spots don't, so overall it doesn't really shine through."
She pulled a flashlight from her pocket and held it up to the stone. It stayed dark.
"So, here's the real deal—it's less green and more milky white. You'll find some with hints of green, purple, blue, or pure white, but when you shine a light through it, it glows throughout."
This time, she didn't pick it off the ground—she pulled it from her pocket and held it up to the flashlight. It really did shine beautifully.
"It has a dense crystal structure with no cleavage lines, so the surface is smooth and slick, and you won't see many cracks either."
"Anyway, here—have a look." She handed me a sample of jade.
It definitely looked different, but whether I could actually find one on my own was another matter. I looked it over from every angle before handing it back.
"So, that's all the basic theory. Now it's time to learn by doing—let's go!"
Turns out the burpees were way tougher than the actual stone hunting. I was exhausted in no time.
Meanwhile, Misago was still bouncing around like a machine.
Every few seconds she'd sprint down the beach, squat, drop flat, and spring up again. It was insane.
So, how'd the haul go?
I kept getting tricked by quartz—white and shiny, but not the right kind. It was way harder to tell them apart than I expected.
"You'll be able to tell at a glance once you get used to it. It's all about experience," Misago said with a wry smile.
"Sometimes when jade separates from its host stone, it breaks off in these weird, unnaturally flat surfaces. Spotting that kind of 'off' detail is key."
"Also, this beach only has tiny ones, and not many at that, so it's more of a practice zone," Hachikuma added with a smile of his own.
Still, seeing Misago bouncing around nonstop triggered my pride, and I pushed myself to keep searching… until about an hour later, when my legs finally gave out.
"So yeah, the idea is to do this every day, ideally just after sunrise. Once the sun's up, more people show up, so early morning's your best shot."
Her toned, athletic build made total sense after all that.
I tried not to think too hard about the small crowd that had gathered to watch us from a distance.
Author's note :
This is Misago's normal workout routine. She's kind of a beast.
And when she got tired after picking up that jade? That was after lugging 50+ kilos of gear over five kilometers of rocky, unstable shoreline in an hour. So yeah, can't blame her.