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Takina squints out towards the beach, shading her eyes with one hand while the other holds her bag steady over her shoulder. She’s still not convinced about this whole sand thing, but Chisato begged and begged and begged her to come play in the ocean, going out of her way to drag Takina shopping for a swimsuit. So she doesn’t have much of an option at this point, she supposes.
Hasn’t it always been easier to just give into Chisato’s whims?
“Isn’t this so exciting, Ta-ki-na?!” Chisato exclaims, grabbing her arm. She hooks her chin over Takina’s shoulder, and while Takina can’t properly see her face from this angle, she can clearly picture the bright grin she must be wearing in her mind.
“I think I prefer the weather in Japan,” she states. The only temperature settings here are hot, hotter, and welcome to the surface of the sun. Even only wearing a loose t-shirt and shorts over her bathing suit, Takina has already begin to sweat just from the short walk here. Chisato, of course, never seems bothered by it. But she’s also had longer to grow accustomed to the heat.
“Just wait until you get in the ocean,” Chisato promises. “You’ll cool down soon enough!”
That’s all the warning Takina gets before Chisato is dragging her forward, and Takina nearly trips over her own feet trying to keep up. She doesn’t think she likes the flip-flops Chisato picked out for her either—they’re much harder to walk in than the shoes that went with her Lycoris uniform—but Chisato insisted they were imperative to completing the beach look. So Takina let herself be convinced.
They kick up sand behind them as they go, racing towards the ocean, and Takina grimaces at the feeling of it clinging to her skin and sticking between her toes.
Thankfully, Chisato doesn’t pull her into the water just yet. She comes to a stop far enough from the shore that they can safely spread out their blankets and pitch the brightly-colored umbrella Chisato picked out during their shopping trip. Takina sets her own bag down carefully, then peels off her shirt and steps out of her shorts. She folds both articles of clothing, setting them aside, and rummages through the bag for…
Success!
She pulls out the bottle of sunscreen Mizuka and Mika both made them promise to put on. It’s supposed to be wtaerproof, and has a high SPF level, so it should prevent sunburns as well as any other skin diseases that can be caused by extended sun exposure.
“Let’s swim!” Chisato declares, pumping a fist into the air.
“Wait.” Takina grabs her by the wrist before she can take off. She holds up the bottle of sunscreen, silently reminding Chisato of their promise.
Chisato groans, deflating. “Do we have to? I barely ever remembered to put that on before you guys got here, and I’m totally fine!”
“How many sunburns have you gotten?”
“Er…”
Takina sighs as she uncaps the bottle. “I don’t know how you survived so long without us.”
“Hey! I’ll have you know, the sunburns barely even hurt, and I’m basically immune to them now! Can’t you see how tan I’ve gotten?”
Takina ignores the argument. Chisato’s skin has darkened a little, but even if she won’t get burnt, it’s still important for her to protect her skin. There’s no reason for her to risk her health any more than she already has, and Takina would like her to live as long as possible. The new heart can only do so much to sustain her, and it won’t make her immune to skin cancer.
She squirts some of the sun screen onto her hand, then hands the bottle to Chisato. “Turn around.”
“Eh?!”
“Turn around,” Takina repeats. “I’ll put it on your back for you.”
“O-oh!” Chisato pivots quickly. Her neck looks a little red already, but Takina supposes that might just be from the heat. She’s certain her own face has been badly flushed from the moment they stepped outside.
She starts spreading the cream over Chisato’s exposed back, and Chisato jumps at the first point of contact.
“Stay still,” Takina hisses.
“But it’s cold!”
“Shouldn’t that feel good in this weather?”
“Takinaaaaaaa,” she whines.
Takina continues rubbing the sunscreen over Chisato’s back, shoulders, and arms, even as she whines and wiggles. It’s a bit strange, to be touching her in a way that’s so casual yet intimate. Especially after so long spent apart, not even knowing if Chisato was alive. It’s grounding, in a way—the physical reminder that Chisato is still here despite everything; that she survived. She doesn’t make it easy, but Takina thinks she would gladly do this for her every day.
“Okay.” She takes a step back, wiping the excess cream on her own arms. “You can do the rest yourself.”
Chisato pouts. “But what if I want Takina to do it?”
Takina furrows her eyebrows. “It’s just your legs, stomach, chest, and face left. Can’t you do that yourself?”
“W-well, I mean, yeah, but—” Chisato flounders for a moment, then apparently gives up on whatever she was trying to say. She dumps too much sunscreen into her palm, then passes the bottle back to Takina. Takina watches her for only a moment before determining it was just Chisato’s typical strange behavior and setting to work putting the sunscreen on herself. She works quickly and diligently, and ends up finishing everything apart from her own back before Chisato is done.
“Ah, wait, I can help you, Takina!” Chisato exclaims, cream still sitting heavy on her cheeks.
Takina hears herself laugh at the sight. She reaches out for Chisato on instinct, wiping away some of the excess. Chisato yelps, knocking her hands away, but that only causes Takina to laugh harder.
(She was forgetting how it felt to be so freely happy like this—it wasn’t something she’d experienced before Chisato, and in her absence, Takina had resigned herself to the fact that it wasn’t something she would be able to experience after her either.)
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Chisato grumbles. “Just turn around!”
Takina obeys, holding her hair up out of the way as well. A moment later, Chisato drops a glob of sunscreen onto her before starting to rub it into her skin. Her movements are clumsy, but still obviously taking care not to miss anything. Takina still isn’t used to being touched like this, but she’s found she doesn’t mind when it comes to Chisato. She would like for it to become a familiar comfort, someday—something that happens without a second thought; something that is as normal to Takina as her Lycoris uniform and the weight of her bag on her shoulder.
She would like to be able to return the favor of Chisato’s physical affection, too. But she knows she still has a long way to go before that comes as easily to her as it does Chisato.
She only hopes she has time—that Chisato’s new heart will last long enough to wait for her.
“Done!” Chisato announces, breaking Takina from her musings. “Now can we swim?”
Takina turns to look at her and finds Chisato rubbing in the last of the cream that had been lingering on her face. A vague sense of disappointment wells up in her at the fact that she didn’t have a chance to do it herself. She shakes that thought away.
“Fine,” she agrees.
“YES!”
Chisato grabs her by the hand, linking their fingers together and tugging her towards the ocean. And Takina still doesn’t really like the way the sand sticks to her or the overwhelming heat, but Chisato’s company more than makes up for all of it.
She would go anywhere in the world to stay by Chisato’s side.