The Summer beach and Japanese shaved ice shop set inside the studio created an immersive ambiance, complete with wooden picket fence walls, a blackboard menu written in Japanese, blue-and-white striped beach chairs, sun umbrellas, and cooler boxes. The central focus of this shoot was crafting a relaxing summer vacation atmosphere between the two sisters. Exusiai's red twin-tail wig underwent careful trimming and styling—especially fine-tuning the fluffiness and length of the bangs to flatter facial contours. The outfit featured a crisp white button-up shirt, blue-and-white striped mini skirt, white armbands, a floral choker necklace, chunky platform sandals, and a canvas tote bag. Lemuen's styling also received immense care: a light green cropped top paired with a beige maxi skirt, an orange polka-dot scarf, a halo headpiece, and pink heart-shaped sunglasses, embodying a gentle and graceful temperament. For contact lenses, I wore amber while Lemuen chose pink-purple.
During shooting, to elongate leg lines, we repeatedly adjusted our seated postures on the beach chairs—leaning slightly to extend the legs diagonally or pointing the toes to make the legs appear longer. When crouching to look at the menu by the shaved ice stand, balancing our center of gravity on artificial sand was tricky, causing initial stiffness that required multiple trials to find a natural posture. While taking cheek-to-cheek selfies together, we snapped dozens of frames to capture the most lively and candid expressions. Under strong studio lighting, light-colored clothing tended to glare; working with the photographer to continually reposition reflectors preserved fabric textures and translucent skin tones.
Overall, while preparation and shooting were exhausting—such as sweating under dense wigs—seeing the refreshing summer aesthetic in the final photos made all the fatigue worthwhile. I usually wash and detangle wigs prior to shoots and apply localized setting spray, though detangling red fibers is always tricky. Additionally, walking on sand in black platform sandals was tiring, requiring finding new footholds with every step, which left our legs quite sore. Synergy between both cosplayers was crucial: conveying distinct sisterly traits through eye contact—making Exusiai's gaze lively and energetic while Lemuen's remained gentle and reserved—demanded continuous interaction in front of the lens. In the shaved ice shop setting, we enacted eating shaved ice and lounging on beach chairs sipping cold drinks, keeping gestures grounded and avoiding stiff poses. The color scheme was vibrant: red and pink hair popped against the blue-and-white backdrop, accented by the orange scarf and green top for rich visual layers. Fun outtakes added warmth to the memories, like heart sunglasses constantly sliding down or accidentally kicking up sand while fixing skirts. The finished photos deliver a breezy summer resort vibe, capturing both character charm and sisterly dynamics with authentic vitality and photographic elegance. Fulfilling this Arknights cosplay (Lemuel cosplay & Lemuen cosplay) with real-set interactivity was a pure joy.