"Aki-Kun, hurry and take off your shoes too!"
Sajuna urged Akira, who was sitting on the beach. She was barefoot on the fine white sand, and her toes quickly filled with tiny grains of sand.
Although her face was full of smiles, Akira noticed that Sajuna's toes always wiggled a few times, as if she wanted to get rid of the sand between her toes.
What a lovely shape.
Akira stared at the artwork in front of him, unable to help but praise it.
Seeing that Akira was thinking some naughty thoughts again, Sajuna couldn't help but start looking for where Akira's gaze was focused, then awkwardly dug a small pit in the sand.
Looking at Akira's dazed expression, Sajuna couldn't help but lift her leg and kick the sand, sending sand splashing towards Akira.
"Aki-Kun, hurry up!"
Sajuna called out.
Akira then quickly took off his outdoor shoes, and then his socks.
He didn't need to treat his socks as carefully as Sajuna's things; Akira casually tugged at them a few times and then stuffed them into his shoes.
Standing up, Akira slowly stretched, then walked towards Sajuna.
"Coming, coming."
Sajuna ran back and forth on the beach, occasionally turning around to look at Akira following behind him. Amidst her flying hair and melodious laughter, Akira felt as if the whole world had brightened considerably.
"Aki-Kun, let's wade in the water!"
Sajuna suggested, then ran towards the sea. Halfway there, as if remembering something, she ran back to Akira's side.
"Aki-Kun, hurry and keep up."
"I'm a bit afraid of falling there, after all, the sand in the sea is softer than here."
"I'm walking, Sajuna, don't be so impatient."
Akira was led by Sajuna's arm, walking slowly behind her. Although he said he was speeding up, he still looked so unhurried.
Since Sajuna chose to be more proactive, then he should appropriately rein himself in a bit, so that Sajuna's sense of accomplishment would be more satisfied.
Sajuna stood at the edge of the beach, one step forward would allow her to touch the flowing seawater. Behind her, her boyfriend watched her quietly. With an experimental expression on her face, Sajuna extended her right foot and tentatively dipped it into the seawater.
"Ah, so cold!"
Sajuna suddenly retracted her fair foot, looking as if she was grimacing in pain, but her eyes and mouth held a faint happiness. Her body swayed and she threw herself into Akira's embrace.
Akira reached out and embraced Sajuna as she threw herself at him, then looked at Sajuna, who was looking up at him, and stroked Sajuna's head.
"Sajuna, don't you feel hot?"
Sajuna also seemed to realize that it was no longer necessary for her to throw herself into Aki-Kun's embrace like that, so she paused, slowly straightened her body, and tried to assume a more natural posture as she walked out, then spoke to Akira with a slight bashfulness.
"It does seem a bit hot, but the water is still so cold."
It's just that Aki-Kun's embrace is hot.
Sajuna couldn't help but say in her heart.
"The sand must be hot from the sun, which makes the water seem cold."
Akira said this, released Sajuna's hand, and stepped directly into the seawater in front of him. The icy, soaking sensation raced from his toes all the way up, finally reaching Akira's mind, making him let out a breath.
He gently splashed the seawater around his feet a few times, and only then did Akira feel himself slowly adapting to the coldness of the seawater. He then extended his arm towards Sajuna, who was still standing on the beach.
"I'll hold Sajuna's hand, Sajuna, you try it too."
Sajuna nodded. It wasn't her first time at the beach, but looking at her boyfriend in front of her, she always wanted to show off her feminine side.
This way, Aki-Kun would like her more, right?
Seeing Aki-Kun's manly actions, she always felt very secure.
Akira felt that even such a simple thing as two people wading in the water, under their inexplicable interaction, had turned into a level-based game, requiring them to follow steps one by one.
However, Akira always felt that even when talking some inconsequential nonsense with Sajuna, or doing things repeated a hundred times, time always seemed to fly by like a wound-up clock, making one wish for more time.
Sajuna, holding Akira's hand, slowly stepped into the water. This time, she didn't show any signs of the water being cold, but instead walked towards Akira.
"Have you adapted already?"
"Because I have Aki-Kun, I adapted."
Sajuna said shamelessly, then started pulling Akira to walk aimlessly along the beach.
"Aki-Kun, look, it's a little crab!"
Sajuna pointed at the small crab fluttering in the seawater, saying that it looked like it would soon be washed onto the beach by the waves.
After walking in the seawater for a while, the two separated their hands. Sajuna wandered off to the side, while Akira stood in the seawater, watching the slowly setting sun.
In the eastern breeze, a thousand trees of flowers bloomed in the night, and more were blown down, stars like rain, the road full of the fragrance of ornate carriages. The phoenix flute sounded, the jade pot's light turned, a night of fish and dragon dances. Moths, snow willows, golden threads, laughter and whispers, a faint fragrance departing. Searching for him a thousand times in the crowd, suddenly turning back, that person was there, where the lights were dim.
Strangely enough, seeing the slowly setting sun, what came to Akira's mind were not various famous quotes about sunsets, nor related poems and songs. Instead, it was Xin Qiji's poem "Qing Yu An · Yuan Xi." Akira always felt that the artistic conception contained in this poem always satisfied all the beautiful fantasies modern people have about their own wishes.
Akira felt the seawater slowly flowing around his ankles, as waves continuously washed higher up his calves, making him constantly worry that his rolled-up pant legs might suddenly get wet.
With the cool scent of the sea in his nose, Akira listened to the sound of the water and saw small marine creatures fluttering in the seawater. He quickly extended his hand and caught a half-grown crab.
Suddenly feeling a coolness on his nose, Akira turned his head and saw Sajuna standing in front of him with a beaming smile. In her hands, she held two long strips of kelp, waving them continuously at Akira, her calves restlessly kicking water towards him.
"Aki-Kun, come and play with me!"
Sajuna's voice carried over, her movements in the water were exaggerated, as if she wanted Akira to feel her happiness.
"Come on, come on!"
Akira looked at Sajuna in the backlight. The slowly dimming sunset blended with the light reflected from the seawater, creating a colorful interplay of light and shadow. In the entire scene, only Sajuna was perfectly clear and exquisitely beautiful.
Akira looked at Sajuna standing in the center of the sunset, and a sentence suddenly popped into his mind, finally a sentence about the sunset.
"Why do you like sunsets so much?"
"Because it's just like my heart that loves you…"
"…?"
"Even if it sinks little by little, it will still rise tomorrow. That's how much I love you."