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...Crash!
Waves crash against my bare legs.
It's cold...! I thought to myself. In front of me lays a vast sea, seeming to span endlessly, the clouds covering the low afternoon sun, staining the entire sky golden. I gaze upon this horizon, dazed by the beauty of it all.
"■■■■!"
A voice snapped me out of my reverie. I turn my head toward the source of my name being called. There, the love of my life, Suishitai, was splashing around in the water, her short pink hair wet from how often she dived under the water and jumped back out. She glistened under the golden ray of the sun, the droplets of water on her skin making it seem like she was glowing.
"Are you really just going to stand there?" She giggled, and dove once again. I stood there, watching her figure under the water get closer and closer to the shallower part of the beach where I was standing.
Splash!
She suddenly jumped in front of me, startling me slightly, causing me to stumble and fall into the water myself, dousing my entire body.
"Hehe! ■■■■, did I scare you? Come on, join me! We went all the way to the beach, you can't just be standing there gawking at the sun!" She grabbed my wrist, pulled me up, then started pulling me deeper in the water. "Instead of admiring the sea... you should just admire me!
"After all, aren't I more enchanting than anything natural?" Suishitai-chan exclaimed naturally, as if it would be against all logic to believe otherwise. Her eyes locked with mine as she said this, leaving me stunned as she let go of me when the water reached my chest. She dove yet again and resurfaced around 5 meters away from me.
"Sui-chan! Don't swim so far away! You'll get swept up!" I said, jokingly, adoring the way she was so adept with how she moves in water and how natural swimming came to her— as if she was a mermaid or a siren— her voice and allure fit them as well. I wouldn't doubt her if she told me she really was either of them.
"Pfft, are you doubting me? Just watch me!"
"I'm not, I'm not! I'm just worried!"
"Worried about what? me drowning? Don't even joke, ■■■■!" Suishitai-chan said as she practices various strokes and various ways to swim underwater. Freestyle, butterfly, backstroke... all of them, she does perfectly. I can't help but marvel at her figure flowing gracefully under the waves. She moved with pure joy, grace in her eyes, as if she belonged here. She looks so beautiful, illuminated with the blue hues of the water and the golden rays of the sun, it seemed as if a mythical being had appeared to lead me deeper into the depths.
...
...Crash!
Suddenly, the sky went dark, clouds covered the sky. The tide grew stronger and the currents felt like the ocean itself was trying to pull me in deeper. I stumbled backwards and fell, my entire body submerged. I can't die like this. I struggled to find footing against the rushing tide. I pushed against the water, flailing my arms, trying to get closer to the lighthouse illuminating the sea. My hands then felt the sand, using it to push myself up and stand on the loose sand underwater.
At this point I had gotten to a shallower part of the beach and was safe from being swept away into the deep sea. I turned around, trying to find Suishitai's figure in the dark, only being illuminated briefly by the lighthouse at a set interval. My eyes darted around, trying to find her.
Suishitai's figure was gone.
...
I woke up in a cold sweat, my breathing heavy.
I take a moment to steady my breathing.
Haa. Hoo.
My phone alarm goes off, shaking me awake from my reverie.
7 AM. I had woken up before my alarm had gone off.
As I grab my phone and turn off the alarm, I was greeted with text messages from Suishitai-chan.
"Heeeey~ you up?
"Don't tell me you forgot about our date at the beach..."
"Ah!
"No, I haven't forgotten! Sorry, I just woke up, are you ready?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, I'll meet you at ■■■■■■, 8:00 AM?"
"Mhm! See you there, ■■■■-kun!
"I love you!<3"
"I love you too, Sui-chan."
...
Carrying our heavy luggage to the empty beach, I watched as Suishitai-chan ran gleefully toward the water. I set up our beach umbrella and towels, and quickly joined her. I can't leaver her alone. I have to watch over her.
"My my, can't wait to join me, hm, ■■■■?"
"As if, Sui-chan. I just wanted to play with you." I said as I splashed her with water.
"Wha— hey! I'll get you back for that!" She tried splashing me, but I was already running away. I looked back to see her chasing after me, almost catching up to me from time to time.
"Get back here!!!
"You little rat, I'll get you!"
"Pff— hahaha! You can't get me!"
I ran a couple more lengths and stopped to catch my breath, bending down and grabbing my knees as I breathe heavily.
Haah.
I straighten my back and look towards where Suishitai-chan was and was met with a force knocking me down into the shallow water.
Splash!
"Heh! Told you I'd get you back!"
"Wha?! How's that fair?! I splashed you and you kicked me in return?!"
"I mean, you got splashed in the end, didn't you?"
"In a completely different way from how I splashed you!"
"Potato tomato... blehh!" She replied curtly.
Suishitai-chan turned around and ran away in the opposite direction, with me hurrying to stand up and chase after her.
"That's not how the saying goes...!!"
"Bwahahaha! See if you can catch me, ■■■■!"
...
The sun has set.
I lay beside Suishitai-chan, gazing at the stars, enjoying the silent ambiance of the waves crashing against the sandbank.
We talked— be it meaningless or not— such as what we'd like for dinner, where we'd go tomorrow, if we'd move in together, what the future entails for us.
"Hey Sui-chan?"
"Yeah?"
"...Did you have fun?"
"What a stupid question.
"If I didn't have fun, I wouldn't be here now, would I?"
"That's true."
"What's up with you today anyway?"
"Huh?"
"You've been acting weird— making sure I was in shallow waters, by your side, saying stuff like how you can't stand the depths..."
"Oh, well...
"I suppose I'm just afraid of losing you...?"
"What about me seeming like a siren? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, you're just... so alluring. You're out of this world, you know?
"It feels like what we have between each-other is an attempt to drown the both of us... or, err, just me, actually, since you're the siren."
"That's stupid."
"I know."
"But it's the kind of stupid that made me love you."
"Shut up..."
"I mean it, ■■■■.
I love you."