Ave Mujica's Sakiko Toyokawa and Wakaba Mutsumi, embracing the summer sea breeze and warm afternoon sunshine. From the very beginning, the concept for this shoot was set to an everyday casual tone—completely setting aside the stage's glamour and weight to capture their most natural and relaxed moments in private.
In terms of costumes, Sakiko Toyokawa chose a classic white shirt paired with a black bow tie and a grey plaid pleated skirt, complemented by light blue wavy hair in twin tails, with dark green silk ribbons on both sides serving as the crowning touch. Wakaba Mutsumi wore a dark blue plaid one-piece dress with a large white lace collar and long straight mint-green hair, with the black choker around her neck adding a familiar touch. This Summer JK style look was carefully styled with JK stockings to bring out a natural student aesthetic. Before heading out, we repeatedly checked our wig styling—especially the curl at the ends of Sakiko's hair and the thickness of Mutsumi's bangs—striving to ensure they didn't look stiff under the sunlight and wind.
For makeup, we opted against traditional heavy cosplay makeup, prioritizing summer translucency. The foundation was light and radiant, with eyeshadow only subtly deepening contours with earth tones, focusing instead on elongated eyeliner and natural aegyo sal (under-eye highlights) to give our gaze a softer, more expressive charm. For the lips, we selected a peach-toned lip gloss close to our natural lip color, enhancing complexion without looking jarring.
Location scouting was equally meticulous. The seaside was our first stop. The wind that day was surprisingly strong, which posed quite a challenge by blowing our hair all over, but unexpectedly created an intense summer atmosphere. Sitting on the bench with the breeze blowing hair to one side, the dynamic motion felt narrative-rich without needing forced poses. Afterwards, we moved to an indoor café, where street views outside the floor-to-ceiling windows blended with daytime natural light, while raw-wood tables, chairs, and lush background greenery formed a wonderfully crisp Japanese-style frame.
The interactions in the café felt the most comfortable to me. We ordered matcha lattes and mango pudding, sitting small plush props beside the table. Capturing the moment where Sakiko Toyokawa rested her chin on her hand looking at Wakaba Mutsumi required no redundant expressions—that sense of quiet companionship was already palpable. In another shot, Wakaba Mutsumi looked down playing with the plushie, cheeks slightly puffed, completely zoning out. That rare sense of relaxation seldom shown in the storyline was captured by my lens.
In post-processing, I deliberately restrained heavy skin retouching to preserve original skin texture, applying only slight micro-adjustments to overall brightness and color temperature. This gave the images a natural, translucent aesthetic reminiscent of regular film photography, which, alongside the sea breeze and sunshine, makes for a perfect healing post to share on my feed. Oftentimes, what we wish to showcase for the works and characters we love isn't merely the dazzling, glamorous side; these lifelike, everyday moments are equally worth preserving beautifully through the camera lens.