"Over the sea, I prefer to follow your footsteps…"
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Naoki went to the hot springs with Kotoko's father, his father and his brother, while Kotoko had to go in the company of his mother.
Before separating, he saw that Kotoko looked at them with a grimace of consternance, asking for help with her eyes and gesturing humorously the word "help", he laughed sideways, in which Yuuki wished her good luck, and his parents simply winked at them with skill.
Naoki bathed at ease in the water laden with minerals, feeling that his body relaxed after so much tension accumulated by the previous weeks in which he was emotionally worn out by trifles. His body thanked him as soon as he got into the water, and rested without any other reason for not doing so.
What I needed, he said convinced that this rest had more than deserved in his vain existence as a man in love.
When he finished the bath, he heard his mother shrieking phrases in relation to Kotoko's toned body. Phrases absurd to his point of view, because they didn't even matter to him with the purpose of enjoying a good bath that not every day he could deliberately arrange. He gritted his teeth, tense at his mother's mundane interference.
Why not just leave him alone even for a single day? One day! Was it too much to ask? Maybe yes, because of the kind of mother he got, he couldn't ask for anything else in return.
He put on the robe they were given in the temple and went for a walk through the dark sea, with the pure intention of breathing the clean air that the waves of the sea deliberately decanted.
At least, he could rest, right? It was supposed to be a short vacation to enjoy in their own way, well, for a while that night there was a chance to escape from the clutches of their mother and get rid of the weight she put on him without her consent.
Once he had arrived at the beach, walking through the soft textured sand, inhaling the greatest amount of air by storing it in his lungs, allowing himself to flow with the rhythm in which the oxygen entered his body and subsequently purified it.
Yes, that was what he needed very urgently.
He kept moving forward, and stopped when he saw Kotoko sitting near the waves of the sea, hugging her legs, resting her chin on her knees. She looked contemplative, to which he assumed that she, like him, needed such a break.
"Kotoko" He encouraged himself to speak to her.
"Ah, Naoki-kun." She didn't panic with her sudden appearance, on the contrary, she simply shook her shoulders and tilted to see him by chance. "Did you also get away from the others?" He nodded, tensing his shoulders. "Yes, I guessed it" She said, indicating that he could sit next to her, which he immediately accepted. "In fact, sometimes it is better to rest at one's own pace, don't you think?"
"I suppose" He swallowed, smelling her sweet scent radiating the strands of her hair that danced with the sea breeze.
She sighed.
"I like to see the sea in the dark" Kotoko said, clasping her legs to her chest. "It's intriguing, isn't it? As if it didn't exist but you listen to it and if you listen to it well, you realize it's right there in front of you" She pointed out, in a thoughtful tone. "It's similar to the new challenges, at the beginning you don't see its benefit in your life, but when you face them correctly, you can understand their purpose in your existence"
Naoki heard her words, and their importance brought together an irreplaceable meaning in her memory, since they came from Kotoko's mouth, but also, she said something that caught his attention: at first you don't see the benefit in your life, but then once his purpose in his existence… that is how he realized that he was in love with her.
"I didn't bring my walkman to play a song." She snapped, regretting her carelessness.
"What song did you want to play?" He turned to see her, seeing that she pouted. She looked funny when she did that.
"What if I sing it without music?" She suggested, motivated, raising her fists to her face.
"As you like" He looked away, since the intensity with which he was observing him was great, and the blush of his cheeks rose violently.
She took a breath, preparing to sing.
Soda Stereo's song "Pasos" rang through her sweet voice, being subtle to the ears, masterful to his eyes, and loud to his heart.
The remarkable difference that arose between day and night was that the night surrounded them in tranquility, a kind of austere atmosphere that interfered beneath their skin. Naoki felt as if the nebulous constellations flagellated in his retinas, reflecting in them, the kindness with which he had Kototo's company at his side, knowing that he was always behind him; following her wherever she went.
Following her regardless of the distance, or how long it will take to reach her side, in order to continue listening to her voice as she did that night when the two stood contemplating the mysteries of the sea.
Thus, they spent their three days in the hot springs, resting in excess, since Naoki did not specify how the next events would happen in his exhaustive pursuit.
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P.S. (Mention of the song "Pasos" from Soda Stereo)
