12. Small Goldfish
"Hey, suki-chan!" Fumiya and haruki run to them, big smiles present on their faces. "I won that one plushie you wanted. Remember the last hangout before the summer holidays?" He says excitedly.
"Really? The big egg plushie?" Natsuki springs up from her seat, eyes sparkling with joy.
"Yes. The shopkeeper said we can fetch it when we're returning back home." Fumiya's eyes sparkle as well.
"That's why you're my best friend." Natsuki almost squeals, jumping on him as she hugs him. Jimin giggles looking at them while sitting beside taehyung, still eating his cotton candy.
"I ship it." Jimin whispers to taehyung making his eyes go wide.
"What?" Taehyung exclaims, dumbfounded.
"What?" Jimin looks at him with innocent, doe eyes.
Taehyung's face shows pure disbelief and he doesn't say anything while jimin shrugs.
Taehyung sighs, standing up.
"What's next?" He asks, throwing the paper bowl into a nearby trash-bin.
"I saw a kingyo sukui game store on our way, wanna try it?" Haruki points towards his back.
"Aren't you guys hungry yet?" Jimin asks him as he walks upto them, throwing a hand around haruki's shoulder.
"Don't worry, we ate something before." He says as jimin humms.
Taehyung is obviously confused about the said game and turns to natsuki for asking but he is about to open his mouth when natsuki speaks.
"You're confused, I know." She chuckles, continuing, "it's called scooping goldfish game."
"Oh! I know about this one. I've seen it on Internet." Taehyung smiles, thanking her through his eyes and by her smile, it seems she got it.
"Let's go then!" Fumiya says as he starts walking, very enthusiastically, towards the shop.
"Wait!!" Natsuki suddenly stops walking, making everyone stop as well.
"What happened?" Jimin asks, turning back.
"The annual dance will begin soon, yukio has never seen it. We should watch it first and then go for kingyo sukui." She reasons.
"Oh, I totally forgot about it." Fumiya says, walking back.
"Okay, let's do that." Haruki and jimin agrees too as they all walk back to the shrine.
"Let's take our places first before it starts to get crowded." Jimin runs ahead of them while muttering, but him being as loud as ever, everyone still heard him.
They all laugh at him but hurry behind him as they all sit down on the benches. It is more like bleachers that people created throughout the years, so that they can comfortably sit down and enjoy the show.
Jimin is the first one to take his seat, then haruki and fumiya joins him. Lastly, natsuki and taehyung sit down beside each other.
"Yukio-kun, do you want to change seats with me? You're sitting in the corner." Haruki leans ahead, peeking at him. He tries to be generous.
"No, no. He's okay here. I'm in charge of explaining him if he doesn't get anything." Natsuki pokes her nose in between, peeking back at haruki with a smile.
"Oh... okay." Haruki gives up, shrugging as jimin snorts.
"What?" Haruki smacks his arm.
"Haru got rejected." Jimin whispers.
"That's not called getting rejected. Shut up." He scoffs, looking away from him. He is gone in a sulking mood now, jimin will have to make up with him later.
As they chat about random things, people start gathering. More and more people come and sit down around them, the chattering noise gets louder.
"After the dance is over, the fireworks will go off." Natsuki informs taehyung, taking a glance up the sky.
"Oh.. so that's why there are so many people here." Taehyung nods.
"Yeah, dance is just a tradition now, most younger people, like us, are here for fun so they focus more on fun things." She says, looking ahead as the stage is now lit up with bright yellow, white and red shades of lights.
The street lights around them is turned off right now, until the annual dance is over. So, while everything is dark, the only source of light being the stage in front of them makes the surrounding beautiful.
Different shades of colours that cast on their faces as the lights change from red to yellow and then white is mesmerising.
Taehyung's eyes are fixed on the stage as he watches the dancers gather, now finally starting the dance. But, a sudden sound of laughing coming from beside him results in him turning his head to his side.
"Why are you laughing?" He can't help but smile too as he whispers to her.
"Oh, sorry. Your face just looks cute- I mean funny because of the lights." She continues to laugh quietly.
Taehyung nervously touches his face, smiling timidly.
"Shh! It's starting now." Fumiya puts a finger on his lips, gesturing her to keep quiet and she gulps down her remaining laughter.
Taehyung shakes his head, smiling too and focuses on the dance.
The dancers are wearing red and white kimonos. A beautiful off white colored Japanese fans in their hands as they sway it gracefully, their body moving with the music just as gracefully.
Everyone stays silent, watching the traditional dance with respect.
The sound of taiko drums and shakuhachi flute merges together and the dancers' feet step forward and backward in rhythm; in sync.
"You know, the dancers aren't just random people. Their families have been performing this dance for years. They have inherited this chance from their ancestors and their kids will have to keep this tradition going." Natsuki leans towards taehyung to tell him more about the festival.
"Oh, no wonder the dance looks really special." Taehyung whispers back.
"Yes." She nods as the dance ends and people cheer. The dancers bow down politely, showing their gratitude and get down the stage one by one.
Everyone's eyes are now on the sky, waiting for the fireworks.
"The moon is beautiful today." Taehyung mutters and natsuki turns her head towards him in a snap.
"What did you say?" She doesn't know if she should laugh or get confused.
"Hm?" Taehyung looks at her innocently.
"Do you even know what that means?" She giggles, shaking her head, figuring that taehyung doesn't know anything about the hidden meaning behind that phrase.
In japanese, when you say, the moon is looking beautiful tonight. It is a form of saying I love you.
Before taehyung could ask anything, the sound of fireworks reaches their ears, stealing their attention.
Beauty resides in the eyes of beholder. The same thing which is simple for you might look the most beautiful in someone else's eyes. It's all in your vision; in the way you see things, which makes you unique and different from others.
Natsuki realised the beauty of simplicity when she met taehyung. His simple gestures, ability to blend in with everyone without being flashy and always staying down to earth, loving normal and little things; she would usually overlook these qualities but taehyung is strangely interesting in her eyes.
Her eyes; which stare at taehyung's smiling face instead of those flashy fireworks.
"Let's go!!" Fumiya stands up as natsuki looks away, low-key embarrassed of herself and probably starts scolding herself in her head for getting driven away by thoughts.
Everyone gets up too, the fireworks have ended and the streetlights are on again.
"Im going to catch the most fishes. Mark my words!" Jimin says, confident dripping off his words.
"We will see that." Haruki scoffs once again, maybe he is still mad at him.
"Are you guys up for a competition?" Jimin jumps through his steps.
"Why not?!" Fumiya says, confident as well.
They soon arrive at the store. A big blue tank full of water, filled with small goldfishs is in front of them. The annual dance is over so the people are probably heading towards the food stalls and elderly people must still be at the shrine.
"We're lucky, it's not crowded here." Natsuki mumbles, looking at the fishes as they swim around calmly in the swarm.
"Are you in for the game?" Jimin asks taehyung who is silently looking at the fishes.
"Huh? Me? No, no. I'll just watch you guys play. Besides, I don't really know how to play this properly, I'll just waste the money." He rubs his nape, awkwardly.
"Okay! Then, natsuki, are you in?" He turns to her.
"Sure!" She smirks, all ready to play.
"Then, me and haru will be in one team and you and fumiya-kun in one. Whoever gets the most fishes wins. You can use only three paper scoopers." Jimin says, getting all worked up.
"You're too enthusiastic, it's making me tired by just looking at you." Haruki comments, sighing as he looks at jimin with folded arms.
"Come on! It's not fun if there's no punishment for the losers." Natsuki says.
"Right! How about a test of courage? Whoever loses will have to take the longer route home. If you lose, you have to go through the dark path that goes around the mountain; not the usual path. What do you say?" Fumiya suggests, mischievous intentions brimming in his eyes.
"I'm in." Jimin says and everyone agrees as well.
"Hey, but what about the egg plushie?" Natsuki remembers about it.
"Don't worry about it. Whoever wins will fetch it from the shop. That uncle knows us all." Fumiya says and they all take their places in front of the water tank.
The shopkeeper gives all of them a separate bowl and paper scooper. Paper scooper is a ring like equipment made with thin net by which you have to scoop the goldfish from the water tank. It requires patience and practice to master it. If you hurry too much, the net will break and the fish will escape.
They fix their eyes on the fishes, slowly aiming for their targeted fish.
"One in." Haruki says, a small fish swims around in his bowl.
"What?! It's been like, 2 seconds." Natsuki gasps, getting competitive.
"What do you think I did after school everyday? I've practised enough." He says proudly.
"Wow, haru!" Jimin is happy. Seems like their victory is visible in his head.
"Don't get too ahead of yourself. We can do it too." Fumiya says, suddenly his face turns serious and determined.
They bicker and at the same time, try not to break their paper scooper while collecting the fishes.
"I got four!" Natsuki exclaims happily. Though if she noticed haruki's bowl full of fishes, she'd get disappointed but she is so into playing it that she doesn't look at others.
"Yukio, do you want to try?" She looks up at him, offering him her paper scooper.
"Oh, but I'll most probably break it and you'll lose. This is your last scooper." He looks at her, concerned.
"It's okay, it's okay." She shrugs, handing him the scooper.
"Okay, if you say so." He crouches down, trying his best to be patient.
"Um, but I don't know..." he trails off, his brain malfunctioning.
Natsuki exhales, shaking her head as she grabbes his hand which is holding the scooper, guiding him.
"Keep your hands close, so you can put the fish right into the bowl before the net breaks. Also, keep them steady. Relax." She says in a small voice, both hands holding taehyung's, helping him.
"Keep the scooper still in the water. Once the fish is above the net, gently scoop it out." As the fish is above the net, he does as told but as expected the net breaks just as he pulls it out of the water and the fish escapes.
"It's so tough." He exclaims, turning his face towards her.
"It's alright." She says, eyes blinking more than usual because she is now suddenly nervous, realised that she's holding his hands all this time.
"Um, sorry." She retreats her hands, rubbing them on her yukata in nervousness.
She used to laugh while reading rom-com comics when both of the main leads would behave stupidly and shy around each other, thinking 'what's so good about this? Why would your heart suddenly go thump thump because of him?', but now when she is in the same situation, she knows how it feels.
"We won!!" Jimin laughs loudly, proudly showing off haruki's bowl.
"Eh? You lost all your scoopers too, fumiya-kun?" She asks him, as he nods, disappointed.
"Ready for the punishment?" Jimin is enjoying it a bit too much.
Natsuki pouts, groaning. The shopkeeper packs their fishes in a transparent plastic bag and hands it to them.
Natsuki is happy to get four goldfishes but she still lost.
"Yeah, yeah. Get more happy, aki-kun. I'll take my revenge." She scoffs at jimin's happy face.
Fumiya's mobile suddenly goes off. There's a call.
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