[ The contrast is made all the worse by the fact that one he takes her hand, Ai practically starts sparkling. Her smile's so bright that it's suddenly almost a little hard to look right at her. It's impossible to tell if she's genuinely oblivious to all the staring or if she's just so used to it by now that it doesn't even register. ]

Alright! We'll head down nearer the water! It should be a little cooler down there...

[ And with that, she starts cheerily pulling him along by the hand, still twinkling away.

Maybe it's a little silly for her to be getting this bubbly over a little handholding but she can't help herself. It's not something idols are allowed to do in public or really, full stop. Not unless there's a time limit, a handshake ticket and hundreds of thousands of yen added to the exchange. But here where she's not somebody anybody cares about, where she can at least playact at being a normal girl, it's totally fine for her to indulge in something like holding hands in front of everyone.

She directs him down to a spot a little ways away from the water - someone or something has politely set up a number of beach towels and umbrellas and she takes up under one with a satisfied sigh. ]

See? Isn't that breeze nice? And there's a little shade here for you, too.