ʟᴏᴠᴇSTAY ֶָ֢𖹭 ˢᵏᶻ ᵃᵘ

⁰³ 𖹭 ʰᵉˡᵖ ᵃ ˢⁱˢᵗᵉʳ ᵒᵘᵗ

「 ʷᵒʳᵈ ᶜᵒᵘⁿᵗ 𖹭 ¹,⁶⁶¹ 」
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⋅ POV⋅
⋅⊰ MEI ⊱⋅

My eyelashes fluttered happily, soaking in the euphoric atmosphere of tangerine hues and little waves of water lapping on the shore. The air was peaceful and quiet, the scent of seawater and a restaurant in the distance surrounding my senses...

"OH MY GOSH, A STARFISH!" Shrieked an ecstatic voice that had become all too familiar to me.

Peaceful quiet is gone.

Lowering my paint-splattered fingers from the canvas, I couldn't help but start laughing as I lifted my head to see Koji happily running towards me. His hands gripped the outer handles of the clear box he brought with us to the beach. Upon reaching me, I found that he had filled the box with sand and plenty of seawater to gently place the starfish inside and bring it to me for my eyes to observe.

"Can you paint her?" Koji requested, catching his breath as he sent me a hopeful grin.

Smiling to myself as I wiped off my fingers on one of the washcloths I brought, I responded, "'Her'?"

Koji nodded confidently. "Yeah. The gender isn't apparent but it just feels like a 'she', you know? Look," he explained, almond eyes casting back down to the golden and fuschia sea creature.

Following his gaze, I examined the animal with my own eyes, my face lighting up at the gorgeous hues that vibrantly blended over the sharply pointed exterior. It slowly moved its limbs bit by bit as Koji placed the open container down on the ground, gentle as ever.

"She's very pretty," I agreed, satisfying Koji who gazed up with an eye smile. "Yes, I'll paint her. Does she have a name?"

Koji paused and hummed, examining the creature carefully while I carefully exchanged the half-painted canvas before me for a fresh one.

"Asa," he decided with a single nod of affirmation at his choice. "Because she looks like a sunrise."

Giggling in amusement, I agreed and began assembling my finger paints that resembled the vibrant shades of orange and purple on Asa. The boy behind me took a seat on the sand beside the box, eyes flickering between the fish and my canvas as I collected a freshly sharpened pencil to begin sketching an outline.

Music began to float through the ocean air as Koji selected our shared playlist and hit shuffle, and he simply observed while I worked for the next several minutes.

Koji was one of the few people with whom I felt completely and totally free. I never felt obligated to carry on a conversation or convince him that I'm something that I know I'm not. The silence wasn't awkward nor was it unnecessary as I sketched and painted while he happily bobbed his head to the melodies playing.

However, the peaceful serenity was soon shattered as my phone vibrated with a new text message, a specific notification sound I'd dreaded for years now. Despite this unfortunate fact, there was still a little blossom of hope in my chest at the possibility of him surprising me with a message unlike others in the past.

Silently bracing myself, not letting it show on my facial expression, I unlocked my phone and selected the text notification. My eyes scanned the message several times over as if doing so would change the words.

"Who's that?" Koji wondered aloud. It wasn't in a nosey way; simply in a curious way, one he couldn't avoid. It was in his nature to be like a child in many ways, unaware of bad things in the world to some extent.