337 Chapter six, 2017, friends from far: 5 (1/2)
Through the windows Christina saw Yukio drifting away from the beach just to be promptly returned by Jenny. Watching the petite girl pulling him back with a life guard grip made Christina panic a little, but it was all over so quickly she never had the chance to become really afraid.
'Idiot, what were you thinking? It's the ocean and not a timid little pool. Besides, swimming isn't allowed here, or wasn't in the other world.'
”Miss Ageruman?”
Christina turned and faced the photographers. Crap, I botched the shot! ”Sorry, I saw something disturbing. Retake?”
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
She saw the man growling silently, and he had all rights to do so. She'd just wasted a good shot with the sun streaming through the windows, and now they needed to wait until it returned from behind the cloud where it was hidden.
Christina glanced at the clouds and ran to the second set followed by surprised stares and more than a few angry glares.
”You'll want some with neutral light. It'll be a few minutes before the sun's back again. What about it?”
Of all those present only her personal photographer, Kinoshita Dai, had the brains to move his gear from the moment she looked at the other set. Kinoshita Dai, an arrival like herself, and one of the best photographers she had encountered during her two lives.
They were inside the shopping mall. Inside a shop for surfing and beach volley attire more specifically. The cost for the shoot most likely surpassed what the shop made during an entire month, but the owner could easily afford it. This was part of a nation wide campaign using the Odaiba beach and mall as a lure for city youth.
Sitting in a chair by the wall Ryu returned her glance. Her boyfriend, but not really the man she loved. Still, she had grown fond of him despite his many shortcomings.
He was an idiot for missing out on the fun at the beach, but in truth she was grateful for his company. For some odd reason it dulled her longing for Ulf.
The shot drew out, and Christina had time to change into several bathing suits before the sun finally graced them with its presence again. By that time most of the club members had withdrawn under parasols, and Christina noted that only their Swedish guests still played along in the water, and of those the tomboy's boyfriend, Jun, seemed reluctant even from this distance.
That wasn't, she admitted to herself, entirely true. A bit further out in the bay Ulf clumsily did backstrokes, and had he been born here she would have been worried. As it was she saw how he lazily bobbed up and down on the waves whenever he got tired.
Then he had enough and made for the beach with heavy breast strokes. Just the way he had been taught once, just as they had both been taught once. Now the kids learned how to crawl – it was a more efficient way of swimming after all.
All at once forty years of life slammed into her. She missed her innocence and ignorance. In ways she missed her childhood more than her first youth, because memories from that youth were exactly what brought her to choose her career above love. Both times.
Regret.
Pain.