40 minutes before sunset, three sleek black helicopters ascended rapidly through the skies toward Mauna Kea Mountain Peak.
As it turned out, the three helicopters were advanced enough to transport Theo and the others to the camp near the peak of the mountain.
Although the camp was not at the peak of the mountain, it was sufficiently high to impede normal helicopters to reach it. Only the modern and advanced helicopters like the ones Theo and the others were riding were capable of flying on this route.
Theo and the others admired the mountain's amazing view as they ascended, and 10 minutes later they felt the helicopters slowing down.
"I think we arrived." Aurora commented as she saw a settlement built on the mountainside.
From up they were able to see that settlement was built like a village with a star observatory at the middle of the buildings.
Shortly after, the helicopters landed one by one at the heliport.
Theo and the others disembarked the helicopters and were immediately greeted by the hotel staff.
The hotel staff offered them coats and other winter clothes, and Theo and the others were glad when they saw that as they already could feel the cold weather assaulting their bodies.
The helicopter's engines were turned off and they were finally able to hear clearly.
"Everyone, if you follow me, I'll take you where you can watch the sunset." Nanth declared with a professional smile after everyone put on a coat.
He had ridden the helicopter as well, after all, he was their concierge and he was responsible for making sure that everything went well on their tour.
"Yeah!" Everyone exclaimed happily and excitedly.
When they were ascending the mountain, they already were able to see a peek of the sun setting, and they were amazed by it, so they couldn't wait to see without the helicopter barring their view.
Shortly after, they arrived on a platform built on the border of the village, from there they were able to see the sun descending towards the horizon.
Differently from when they watched the sunset at the beach, this time they were able to see many more things.
They were able to see hundreds of islands on the azure sea, it was indeed true that they were able to observe most of the Kokoro Islands from the mountain!
The sky was filled with red and purple clouds that seemed to form a sea of clouds, and the orange sun seemed especially spectacular.
Everyone's eyes lit up as they saw this view for the first time.
They had never watched the sun setting from so high in the sky, and they were amazed by it.
It was only a few minutes later that they woke up from their reverie.
"Yes, I thought no sunset could surpass the one we watched yesterday, but this one seems to be on par with it."
"The sunset seems so different from up here!"
They started commenting excitedly about what they were seeing.
"Look at those islands!"
"Can we see the island that we are staying at?"
"Let's search for it!"
"We can do that later, we should start taking pictures or we will lose the sunlight."
Just like that, the group of 18 people started to take so many pictures that they forgot the count.
The only thing that Theo knew was that he had at least taken a picture on everyone's cellphones, and he was sure that the ones were the same, But the girls had taken easily more than a thousand pictures. I think you should take a look at
At the end of their photo session, they asked for the hotel staff to take a picture of everyone together with the sunset at the back.
After many pictures later, they sat down to watch the sunset quietly, because they were high up in the mountain, the sun took longer to set.
Just like that they sat down on the comfy seats provided by the hotel and admired the stunning sunset.
The view was so breathtaking that it seemed to burn into their brains as they watched it.
They never imagined that they would live such a magical moment when they were traveling to the Kokoro Islands.
So far, the trip was so magical that they couldn't even put into words how magical their experiences were so far.
It seemed as though they were in a paradise free from all the worries.
This group that came from different origins felt a connection that they couldn't put into words.
Even the newcomer Kaori felt the same way.
They all felt that the friendship that they forged in the last two days was special.
This was highly unusual as a group of 18 people was too big to feel this kind of connection, but these things cannot be explained.
But they could feel that the friends they made here, they would take for the rest of their lives.
Shizuka and Ayia had their heads resting on Kaori's shoulders as the sisters shared the moment.
It had been such a long time since the three of them shared such a moment together, at that moment, they just wanted to enjoy the moment with their new family.
The others felt the same way, and just like that, everyone watched the sunset silently until the sun shed its last sunlight ray of the day.
And at that moment, they were greeted with another breathtaking view.
They were so high in the sky that city lights were not able to impede their view of the night sky.
From there they were able to night sky so clearly that they felt themselves swimming among the stars.
Everyone had their heads raised high as they watched the night sky with sparkling eyes.
The only question was if their eyes were sparkling because of excitement or because the stars were reflecting on their eyes.
But at that moment, it didn't matter, because they felt immersed among the stars.
"So beautiful..." Someone whispered in a breath.
It was only after a few minutes that they woke up from their reverie.
"I thought that we would only see the sunset, but I think this night sky is even more beautiful."
"I don't know if it is more beautiful, but I'm sure it is as stunning as the sunset."
"The only bad thing about it is that we cannot take a picture of it."
Everyone talked excitedly about the stunning night sky as they lamented the impossibility of taking pictures of it with their phones.
But that did not stomp on their enthusiasm as they watched the night sky with shining eyes.
The sunset and the night sky that they just watched were so beautiful that they could not help but feel happy from the bottom of their hearts.