[ The sun has nearly completed its descent, warm summer rays still beating down on them until that very last moment before it slips beneath the horizon line. Maruki wipes at his brow, throws his satchel over his shoulder as he stands. The silver sand of Lumindeas' beaches crunches beneath the soles of their shoes now that they're fully dressed again.
A whole day spent doing nothing more than lounging on the beach, cat napping and chatting and horsing around in the water, seems like such a mundane joy for a reality as fantastical as this. It's nothing they couldn't do back in their true realities, really.
But they wouldn't be able to do it with each other. Therein lies the difference.
Restless is a kind word for how Maruki has felt for months now. Being purposeless has never suited him, and he has never been a patient man. Teetering on the knife's edge of what comes next for him after his time in this reality for so long has made him a bit stir crazy. He still wants to believe he can defy his fate, but that's not what Chihaya saw in the cards for him. But if he's destined to walk the path he started on Christmas Eve, if he can't stray from it when he leaves–
It's a circular path his mind will follow relentlessly until he collapses if he lets it.
To what extent he can, he's readjusted his focus lately. He'll still always help others in any way that he can, but no longer does Maruki run himself ragged actively seeking out those opportunities. No, much of his downtime now is simply spent with the people he loves, doing anything they can, or nothing at all.
People will always need his help no matter where he goes, and it will certainly continue to be true back in reality. But people will not always want to spend a day at the beach with him. People will not always want to boulder up the side of a cliff with him. People will not always want to bake an untold amount of macarons with him, or nap for hours in a field of wildflowers with him, or share a bottle of sake beneath the stars with him. These simple joys are the ones he must seize upon while he's here, and they're what he must cling to when he finally returns home–
But especially this. Here and now with Akira. This Akira.
Maruki looks over at him as they trek along the beach, the first unfamiliar stars beginning to wink overhead as dusk falls. ]
It's a shame we can't grant one another's wishes anymore. [ He smiles, eyes shining behind his glasses. ] Although I suppose that would have been a little too on the nose today, wouldn't it?
> july 7
A whole day spent doing nothing more than lounging on the beach, cat napping and chatting and horsing around in the water, seems like such a mundane joy for a reality as fantastical as this. It's nothing they couldn't do back in their true realities, really.
But they wouldn't be able to do it with each other. Therein lies the difference.
Restless is a kind word for how Maruki has felt for months now. Being purposeless has never suited him, and he has never been a patient man. Teetering on the knife's edge of what comes next for him after his time in this reality for so long has made him a bit stir crazy. He still wants to believe he can defy his fate, but that's not what Chihaya saw in the cards for him. But if he's destined to walk the path he started on Christmas Eve, if he can't stray from it when he leaves–
It's a circular path his mind will follow relentlessly until he collapses if he lets it.
To what extent he can, he's readjusted his focus lately. He'll still always help others in any way that he can, but no longer does Maruki run himself ragged actively seeking out those opportunities. No, much of his downtime now is simply spent with the people he loves, doing anything they can, or nothing at all.
People will always need his help no matter where he goes, and it will certainly continue to be true back in reality. But people will not always want to spend a day at the beach with him. People will not always want to boulder up the side of a cliff with him. People will not always want to bake an untold amount of macarons with him, or nap for hours in a field of wildflowers with him, or share a bottle of sake beneath the stars with him. These simple joys are the ones he must seize upon while he's here, and they're what he must cling to when he finally returns home–
But especially this. Here and now with Akira. This Akira.
Carefree.
It's possible, when I'm around you.
Maruki looks over at him as they trek along the beach, the first unfamiliar stars beginning to wink overhead as dusk falls. ]
It's a shame we can't grant one another's wishes anymore. [ He smiles, eyes shining behind his glasses. ] Although I suppose that would have been a little too on the nose today, wouldn't it?