"Well, it's not something that happens often."
I muttered to myself as usual.
It was part of my routine to stroll along the sandy shores of the Kuji River area as a pastime.
The reason? Sometimes, amber washes up on the shore. Since amber is lighter than water, it floats and drifts along the current.
And due to ocean currents, it occasionally gets washed up on these beaches.
Sometimes, I even spot pieces still floating before they land, so when necessary, I swim out to retrieve them.
Most of what I find is worthless junk, but every now and then, I come across a rare gem that sells for a decent price. It makes for an enjoyable way to pass the time.
"Hm?"
I noticed something unusual on the distant water's surface.
"A person?"
It wasn't a stone—something else was floating there.
"No, maybe just a mannequin?"
I squinted in hesitation. It really did look like a person.
"Is this serious?"
Without hesitation, I stripped off my clothes, grabbed an empty plastic bottle nearby as a makeshift flotation device, and jumped into the sea.
And to my surprise, it was indeed a person.
Not only that—He were incredibly heavy.
That was when I first realized just how difficult it is to carry an unconscious body in water.
It's probably knowledge I'll never need again, but at that moment, I was grateful for the buoyancy of a single 2-liter plastic bottle.
He still had body warmth, but there was no pulse or breathing. By all appearances, they were already gone.
What was it they said about drowning victims? Start the heart first? Or was it just a matter of getting the water out?
"Alright… deep breath… and go."
I steadied my mind, adjusted his neck and jaw to straighten the airway, and—
"Hmm hmm hmm~"
I keep pressed down on his chest in rhythm.
Instead of relying on arm strength, I used my body weight, letting the natural resistance of the human body help with the compressions.
I lost count of how many times I pressed. They always say you should count, but what mattered was how many seconds and how much force I applied.
As long as the blood had oxygen left, this should work. Plus, the impact supposedly made the diaphragm move, helping the lungs function. In the end, all that mattered was that I kept pressing.
Wasn't I supposed to use an AED or something?
"Okay,call 119!"
Feeling irritated, I kept my hands moving while activating voice recognition on my phone.
"Speaker mode! Just send an ambulance! They've drowned and stopped breathing! You have my GPS, right? The rest is up to you!"
I could hear the emergency operator getting flustered on the other end, but by then, I was too annoyed to care.
"Gah! Cough cough!"
A good, solid resurrection. He even coughed up water.
"Nice, you're back."
I helped him roll over, giving him a few encouraging pats on the back as they finished spitting out the seawater.
"Still got it," I said, feeling pretty proud of myself.
Their heart was beating again—good sign. I admired my own handiwork.
I tried talking to him, but he didn't seem to remember anything.
"Not even your name?"
"Anonymous wanderer" would've been too cliché, huh?
Better than calling him a drowned corpse, though. But I'm not great at naming things.
"Mind if I give you one?"
"How about… Kohaku?"
amber is called 琥珀 (こはく, kohaku)
"Amber is the only thing of value that washes up around here, after all."
"...You're still naked, you know?"
"What, does it bother you?"
He pointed it out, and suddenly, I felt a bit embarrassed. My face heated up.
Kohaku, formerly "Anonymous Wanderer," turned red as well, glancing awkwardly from side to side.
Their shy reaction was kind of amusing.
"Well? Thoughts?"
I struck a confident pose.
"...A feast for the eyes."
An unexpected compliment.
"Glad to hear it!" I said, laughing triumphantly.
In the end, the ambulance took its sweet time arriving, given how far we were from civilization.
Kohaku, having swallowed seawater, ended up getting sick and had to stay in the hospital for a while.
Since I was the one who found him, I took care of himm for a bit—and before I knew it, he got attached to me. So, we ended up getting married.
Back then, the male population was declining, but it wasn't exactly unheard of. Kohaku was a great guy, but the competition for him wasn't too fierce.
And that was the story of how I met and fell for Kohaku.