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The raven-haired woman exhaled deeply as she dipped her dainty pale toes in the warm, wet sand while she stared out into the open water where the moon reflected. Nothing but the sounds of the waves that softly crashed upon the shore and the peaceful chirping of the crickets were heard in the cool night air. The breeze blew through her loose dress and her hair that was tied loosely.
She looked into the palm of her hand to look at the beautiful sparkling stone she found on the shore earlier that evening. It was just a small rock that would have been ignored by most, but Sayama saw something special in it. She had to make a decision in that moment whether to let it wash away to be lost again within the sea without a chance of anyone ever seeing it again and admiring its beauty, or for her to take it with her and let it be loved and awed by others who saw the same as she did.
And of course, she decided to keep that pretty rock.
She sighed as she closed her hand around the rock and held it against her chest as she stared off into the moonlit sea again. What if I had gone? She thought to herself. What if he had let me go, off to someplace I’ve never been? Would I have been happier? Did I make the right choice?
It wasn’t that Sayama disliked working for the police department in Okinawa. It was laid-back and relaxing, but work was a little bit dull. Sayama was an Osaka woman and lived off the thrill of her work, and though it was a pleasant life in Okinawa, she wondered what her life would have been if she had taken the other path.
“Hey, what are you doing out here all alone?”
Sayama slightly gasped and turned her head to see Kazuma Kiryu, her boyfriend, dressed in his red silk shirt, barefoot as he walked over to sit down beside her in the sand. Sayama looked down and sighed again. “It’s nothing.”
“Doesn’t seem like nothing,” Kiryu pointed out, leaning forward to try and look at her face. “You know you can talk to me, I’ll listen. You don’t have to be strong all the time. I don’t want you to carry whatever burden you feel like you have on you all on your own.”
Sayama closed her eyes for a moment before looking at Kiryu. “Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision, staying here with you,” she said in a somewhat solemn voice, looking away from him in shame of what she just said. “I love being here, in Okinawa with you, Haruka and everyone else, but…” She looked down at the stone in her palm again. “Sometimes I feel unsure. I wonder how different things would’ve been if I decided to actually leave.”
“Leave? As in going for that job in America?”
Sayama nodded. “Yes. I don’t mean it in any offence to you, but I really wonder how different my life would have been. ‘Cause America is so different from here, y’know? I wonder what I would be doing right now at this moment if I did decide to go… I’ve found myself thinking about it a lot lately.”
Kiryu slowly stood up and held out his hand to Sayama as she gave him a questioning look. “What?”
Kiryu gave her a little smile. “Let’s dance.”
“Dance?” Sayama snorted before chuckling. “I don’t dance, Kazuma.”
“Just take my hand,” Kiryu said with reassurance in his voice, as if letting her know that there was no funny business or any kind of mischievous intentions behind it. Sayama knew when he was being genuine and when he wasn’t. This time she knew he was being for real.
She hesitantly took his hand as he gently pulled her up, the breeze blowing through their hair and their clothes as the two gazed into each other’s eyes. Kiryu gently placed a hand on Sayama’s waist, making her blush, while he raised the hands that they held together. Sayama lightly placed her hand on Kiryu’s firm shoulder and smiled at him.
The two began to slowly sway, looking at each other’s feet as they tried to coordinate their footsteps while they danced to nothing but the sounds of the water that crashed along the shore and the crickets that sang in the night. It was a bit awkward as they would occasionally step on each other’s feet with a chuckle and a soft apology.
After a little while, the two didn’t have to look at each other’s feet anymore and looked into each other’s eyes, feeling similar butterflies in their stomachs from how good it felt just dancing like this, and the rhythm and coordination came naturally.
The two began to dance more elegantly, the warm sand beneath their feet. The two began to make use of the space on the beach, freely dancing together to the beat of the nature around them. It was as if they were both dancing somewhere far away, in their own sandy ballroom with just the two of them creating their own clumsy little routine.
“You’re quite the dancer,” Sayama teased in a low voice as she smiled. “I’d never have guessed.”
“So are you. I’m impressed,” Kiryu said with a playful smirk as he gave Sayama a spin under his arm as she chuckled. Kiryu loved the times when he got to see her smile and laugh. They were moments that she never showed to anyone else except with him, and he valued those moments dearly.
The two weren’t usually the type to dance—they never really did dance much, but somehow without any kind of choreography they were so in sync, like their bodies just somehow belonged to each other and knew exactly what to do.
Kiryu gave Sayama a little twirl before pulling her into him, her head resting against his chest as the two went back to swaying peacefully.
“You know, it’s not too late to go to America,” Kiryu whispered as he inhaled the soft scent of Sayama’s hair. “If it’s what you want, you should go for it. Don’t let anything get in the way of your dreams.”
Sayama sighed and closed her eyes as she only leaned her head on Kiryu’s chest, snuggling into them as her hands rested on his shoulders. “I have everything that I need here. With you,” she whispered back with a smile on her face.
Kiryu slightly pulled back and looked at Sayama with a serious look on his face. “I mean it, Kaoru. It isn’t too late.”
Sayama looked into his eyes, placing her hand on his cheek as she smiled, her thumb stroking his face gently. “I’ve already chosen what I’ve wanted. If I really wanted that job in America, I would have gone for it. There will always be opportunities for greater things out there, but there’s only one of you, Kazuma. I wouldn’t trade what we have for anything else. This is the path I’ve chosen, and I have no regrets.”
Kiryu placed his hand over Sayama’s, smiling back at her. “Kaoru…”
Sayama went back to leaning against Kiryu’s chest as she sighed softly. “Nobody’s ever seen me the way that you do,” she said softly. “I couldn’t feel the same way about anyone the way I feel about you. I know myself. I never thought I’d ever fall in love… But you really changed me.”
“I did, huh? You’re completely different from when we first met. But I like seeing your true self. Thank you for letting me in,” Kiryu gently whispered as he wrapped his arms around her. “Thank you for letting me see you, and letting me love you, Kaoru.”
Sayama began to feel her eyes sting with tears of happiness. She clutched onto Kiryu tighter, as if scared to let him go. There wasn’t much that scared Sayama, but it was the first time she’d ever felt love for someone. She didn’t want to let go. She wanted to hang onto this feeling forever.
“Thank you, Kazuma…” Sayama whispered through her tears. “As long as I have you by my side, I’ll be happy.”
The two spent a while just happily embracing each other, feeling nothing but pure happiness. Being in Kiryu’s arms like this, Sayama knew she had made the right decision. She still felt the beautiful stone in her grasp, knowing that pretty stone now had someone to love and appreciate it.
She would never let it go again.