The glowing sea is so bright that Taiga has to squint and momentarily cover his eyes. He has forgotten his sunglasses, and the day’s hot and sunny and perfect, at least if one likes summer and the sea. Taiga isn’t sure if he does, but he has come for his hobby.
Taiga crouches over his camera, shielding the screen from the sun to change some settings before pointing the lens towards the blue waves. He snaps a couple of test shots and then turns around, looking for interesting subjects around him.
Despite the sunny weather, the beach is rather deserted in this particular spot. Taiga can see some groups of people with blankets, tents and parasols a bit farther, and when looking the other way, he spots a guy sitting on the sand with an open backpack and a phone in his hand. That’s it.
Taiga follows the coastline with eyes until it disappears behind a rocky cape in the distance. He likes the scenery so he quickly snaps a picture of the beach with the lonely guy in it and then turns back towards the sea. He wants to try capturing the waves…
For about half an hour, Taiga immerses himself in documenting the sea and the beach. He takes wide landscape pictures of the sky and the sea, as well as close, detailed ones of seashells and trails in the sand. He then wanders closer to the waterline and snaps dozens and dozens of pictures of the incoming waves that wash the shore; the beautiful crests, the surges, the white foam. At some point Taiga takes off his shoes and socks and lets the waves wash his feet, taking pictures of that as well.
The water is surprisingly warm and feels silky smooth as it washed over his feet and ankles again and again. It also feels refreshing in the heat. Taiga doesn’t know how to swim but the sea suddenly looks kind of inviting to him. He’d want to paddle a bit deeper but he doesn’t dare to risk the camera getting wet.
Taiga pads back to the beach and puts the camera safely back in its case. Then, on a whim, he hurries back into the water, wanting to paddle as deep as his shorts will allow him (he rolls them up just in case). The water is bright turquoise and getting deeper with each step.
Just a bit farther, he thinks.
He’s just glancing over his shoulder to see how far he’s come, when the bottom suddenly disappears under his next step.
Taiga staggers and falls face-first in the water.
Suddenly all he sees is deep blue and his eyes and mouth are full of salty water. It stings, and he can’t even see which way the surface is. He flounders pathetically, panic creeping in his mind while his lungs scream for air.
Am I going to die here? Like this?
No…
Taiga turns, making the last desperate attempt to find the surface before his mind goes dark…
—
Shintaro stretches out his legs and sinks his toes into the warm sand. He gazes around the beach lazily, enjoying the sun and the sea breeze. Nothing can beat this.
A sudden growl in Shintaro’s stomach fractures the perfection a bit; he’s been at the beach since the morning, first surfing and the last hour just strolling around. He really should get going soon but leaving is hard.
Shintaro often enjoys watching people when he’s at the beach, and he’s now spotted a random photographer guy pacing around nearby. He keeps eyeing the guy while scrolling through his SNS feeds. The guy could be some art school student judging by his appearance (long, greenish hair and a t-shirt with a vintage comic print), though the camera looks professional enough to Shintaro’s eye. He watches as the dude walks around, taking pictures of the beach, the sky and even the sand.
A message from Jesse pulls Shintaro’s attention back to his phone and he quickly taps an answer to his friend. They exchange a couple of messages about the plans for the evening, and when Shintaro looks up from his phone again, he sees that the photographer guy has suddenly discarded his camera and is now paddling in the sea.
Shintaro looks as the guy pulls his shorts up to protect them from the coming waves while he keeps pacing deeper. He wonders if the guy knows or realizes that there’s a very sudden drop-off near where he’s currently paddling. Well, if not, Shintaro will soon have a good show to watch for sure.
Only mere seconds later the guy staggers and then falls in the water with a splash. Shintaro can’t help but snort. Amateurs.
Shintaro looks at the waves, waiting for the guy to surface any second, spluttering and splashing and then sheepishly paddling back to the beach.
He waits but… the guy doesn’t appear. It’s already been several seconds. Surely he can swim? He wouldn’t go into the waves if he couldn’t?
Shintaro sits up straighter and looks around on the beach. There’s no one else nearby, he’s probably the only one who’s seen the guy go into the water.
He still hasn’t appeared. It’s been way too long already, he’s going to drown…!
The second the thought hits him, Shintaro jumps up and runs to the waterfront as fast as he can. He strides into the waves, paddling closer to the spot where he saw the guy go down. When he reaches the drop-off, he can see a human shape underwater and immediately dives to get him.
Some panic-filled seconds later, Shintaro’s half-dragging, half-carrying the unconscious guy back to the beach. As soon as they’re off the water, he lays the guy on the sand, dropping on his knees beside him.
“Hey, can you hear me?” Shintaro shakes the guy’s shoulder, but gets no reaction.
“Oh shit, please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead…”
Shintaro’s racking his brains for first-aid instructions for a situation like this. He’s attended a first-aid course, but it was some years ago already, so all the steps and instructions aren’t as clear in his mind as they should be.
First, check if the person is breathing…?
Shintaro brings the back of his hand close to the guy’s mouth, hoping to feel a breath. He does feel something, but it’s kind of hard to tell since it’s also windy… Shintaro shakes the guy again, but in vain.
”Shit, shit, shit!”
If he’s not breathing, Shintaro should… resuscitate him? He sure doesn’t have confidence in that, but there’s no one else.
”Okay, you can do this,” he mutters to himself, gaze locked on the guy’s lips. Just a couple of blows and pumps and he’d hopefully regain consciousness.
”You can do this.”
Shintaro takes hold of the guy’s chin and slowly bends down over him.
—
Taiga stirs.
His consciousness slowly floats back from the darkness, and he vaguely realizes that he’s lying down.
Taiga opens his eyes ever so slightly, his vision blurry. It’s so bright and sunny, but something is shielding his eyes from the sun. There's a shadow looming close to his face.
Taiga squints and groans a little and when he blinks, his eyes finally focus on a random guy that’s bending down over him, looking like he’s about to kiss him?
”AAH!!”
Taiga flinches automatically, letting out a scream and the guy startles, his face disappearing from Taiga’s vision.
”Shit, you’re not dead! Thank god!”
”Wha—”
Taiga tries to speak, but he’s suddenly overcome with a coughing fit. He turns on his side, coughing up salty water, his throat burning.
”A-are you okay?” He hears the guy asking and feels him patting his back supportingly. For a moment Taiga just gags and spits and feels like he’s suffocating again, but gradually the coughing subsides and it gets easier to breathe.
With each breath, his mind also gets clearer and it slowly dawns to him that he was about to drown. But he didn’t. He’s alive and breathing, thanks to…
Taiga raises his eyes to the guy next to him and looks at him properly. He's the guy Taiga saw sitting at the beach earlier. He’s completely drenched, clothes and dark hair dripping wet and his expression a bit uneasy as he looks at Taiga. His eyes are so pretty, Taiga finds himself thinking. Actually, despite the peculiar situation, he can’t help noting that the guy is hot. Very hot. And with the sun shining right behind him, he very much looks like an actual guardian angel that has saved him.
”You saved me… right?” Taiga asks dumbly.
The guy nods. ”I saw you go into the water, and how you fell.”
”Thank you,” Taiga says weakly. ”I… shouldn’t have done that. I can’t swim.”
”Yeah, I noticed.” There’s a hint of smile in the guy’s voice. ”But thank god you’re fine! I was just about to try resuscitation when you came to, so. Sorry about that.”
”No problem,” Taiga says with a chuckle. The guy saved his life, he sure doesn’t have to apologize about anything.
Taiga sits up slowly and makes a face at his completely drenched clothes.
”Are you sure you’re alright?” The guy asks, still watching him a bit worryingly. ”I have a car, I could drive you to a hospital for a check-up or something?”
”What? No, no, I’m feeling alright, just a bit shaken up still. I could use some dry clothes, though…”
The last bit is meant as a joke, but surprisingly the guy smiles at Taiga.
”I have some in my car. I surf so I keep spare ones with me. If that’s good with you?”
Taiga looks at his suddenly appeared guardian angel, astonished.
”I’ve been such a burden already…”
”Nah. Let me help.” The guy stands up and offers a hand for Taiga, pulling him on his feet, too. His hand is warm and firm in Taiga’s, and he holds on a second or two longer than necessary.
Uh-oh.
”At least let me buy you a meal, or something,” Taiga suggests on a whim, his heart suddenly pounding. ”As a thanks.”
”Well, I won’t say no to that,” the guy says with a smile, and it’s also warm and radiating and wow Taiga feels his stomach doing flips. He fleetingly considers getting into the water again so the guy can save him and this time actually resuscitate him properly.
”I’m Taiga, by the way.”
”Shintaro. Nice to meet you.”
”Very nice indeed,” Taiga blurts and then quickly backtracks. ”I mean, since you saved my life and all.”
”My pleasure,” Shintaro grins.
”Now, let’s get the dry clothes and then we can talk about the payback meal?”