"I waited... and waited... and waited for so long that I almost turned into a skeleton." Jimin sighs dramatically as taehyung and natsuki approach them. They finally got to the discussed meeting point after half an hour.

"That's too much. I still see the flesh perfectly intact to your bones, aki-kun." Natsuki says, snatching the egg plushie from him.

"Yeah, yeah. So funny." Jimin rolls his eyes, rather playfully.

"Did you guys see a ghost?" Haruki asks as they start walking towards home.

"Nope! The ghost probably got scared of natsuki's screams." Taehyung snickers, making the others laugh.

"Oh, the fishes!" Taehyung takes natsuki's fish bag from jimin as he remembers.

"We had so many fishes with us and we were standing at the bridge, waiting for you. The passersby thought we were selling goldfish." Jimin laughs, remembering how a little girl had cried because she thought they were selling it and refused to give it to her.

"But, natsuki-chan, you sure are lucky." Jimin glances at her.

"Why?" she eyes him, curious.

"Taehyung was worried for you and went after you so you wouldn't be scared." His lips turn upwards in a teasing smile. "How caring!" he chimes happily.

"Of course! Unlike someone, yukio is my real friend." She says proudly and looks at taehyung, "right, yukio?" She asks with a sweet smile.

"Right!" Taehyung chuckles.

"Alright, I believe you, suki-chan!" He giggles, skipping over to her and ruffles her already- slightly -tousled hair then runs away as it's time for them to part ways.

"Heyy!!" Natsuki puts her hand on her head, trying to fix her hair.

"Have a good night!" He yells while running as haruki shakes his head. Taehyung smiles as he mutters a good night back at him.

"I'll go as well." Haruki says hurriedly and follows jimin.

"Aki-kun was too naughty today!!" Natsuki complaints as she grunts.

"I thought he was always like this...?" Taehyung asks.

"Well, that's right too." She giggles, forgetting her anger towards jimin.

"Well then!" Taehyung stops as they arrive in front of his house. "I'll see you tomorrow! Good night, suki." He says, honey like voice tempting natsuki to give him her biggest smile.

She restrains herself but smiles anyway and says, "Okay, have a good night." And she walks away.

As always, taehyung stands there until she gets inside her house.

•~•~•

"Ah!! Why does it have to be tomorrow?!" Fumiya whines, putting his head down on the desk.

"What?" Taehyung chimes in, taking a seat beside him on the bleachers.

The physical education class is about to end and school's basketball ground which is more like the gym class is empty now. Everyone must have gone back to classroom already or they are still getting changed back into their uniforms.

"The English test." Natsuki snickers, teasing him.

Taehyung lets out a long "ohh!!" at natsuki's words.

"What's so bad about it?" Taehyung mutters again.

"Everything is bad about it. I hate it." Fumiya fumes with fury as he says it, remembering the last English test which made him take extra lessons for two weeks straight.

Funny; I know!

"Are you good at it, yukio?" Natsuki asks, averting her eyes to him.

"Oh, yes. This will be your first test since the school reopened, right?" Fumiya looks at him too. "Wow! It's been a month already." His mind suddnly goes back in time.

The good old days of summer vacation. In one hand, a slice of watermelon and in another, a can of soft drink and silent waves of ocean in front of your eyes. Peaceful, isn't it?

"I've learned it in my previous school. I will be alright..." Taehyung trails off. "...I guess." He adds at the end, an awkward smile making its way on his lips.

"You'll be just fine." Natsuki enthusiastically puts her hand on his shoulder, cheering him up.

Soon, the school bell rings, echoing a little at the end because of how silent it is; including the hallways and the school ground. The remaining students who were lazily sitting around here and there, just like them, quickly scurries away into the classroom.

"Let's go or we will be late." Taehyung stands up, making his way outside. Natuski and fumiya follows him closely.

They walk past many classrooms, occasionally hearing a small chatter coming from inside as the teacher must not be in class yet. The silence is never too much. The insects, hiding inside the grass lawns or in the bushes around the school ground, are always making their presence visible in form of small noises.

•~•~•

"Hey, do you want to sneak up to the rooftop in lunch break?" Natsuki leans more on her right side, whispering to taehyung.

Fumiya hears her voice as no matter how hard she tries, she is never silent enough. He leans forward onto his desk, turning his head on the left to face natsuki.

Taehyung's desk is in between these two so he contemplates where to look at.

"Do you want to come along too?" She asks fumiya.

"Of course." He says, whispering back. "But, I can't. I have to finish the English homework." He makes a fake crying face, making natsuki almost let out a giggle but she forces herself to swallow it back.

"Yukio?" She asks him again.

"Um, okay." He shows her an okay sign as she nods happily.

Before the teacher can sense something, she sits back properly, again focusing on teacher's words.

Taehyung, very quietly, chuckles at her. She doesn't look at him, scared that the teacher will catch her chatting with him. Not the teacher, but, taehyung catches the small smile on her face from his peripheral vision.

•~•~•

"Finally!" Natsuki runs to the roof guardrails, taking a deep breath, smiling to herself as she opens her arms wide to breathe peacefully.

"You seem to love handrails." Taehyung comments as he sits down on the ground, leaning his back on the fence.

Natsuki looks at him and sits down besides him, fishing out a pack of sweet bread from her pocket.

"Oh?" She tears open the package, taking out the sweet milk bread. "Don't handrails feel like the last barrier against your freedom?" She takes a bite, the airy, soft and sweet bread instantly melting on her tongue, making her happier.

"That sounds... dramatic." He mutters, opening the packet of his bread as well and looks at her.

"Are you sure you're gonna be alright with just one bread?" He glances at her hand.

"I'm alright, I'm alright." She shrugs him off. "But yukio, you're the same." She laughs, "you're also eating the curry bread only."

"But, I have two of them... see!" He shows her another pack of bread.

"That doesn't make much difference." She eyes him weirdly following by a shake of her head.

Taehyung stays silent, biting on his lunch.

"Why do you think that the handrails are the last barrier of freedom?" Taehyung suddenly breaks the silence, eyes focused on the ground.

"It stops you." Her words come out in a small voice; smaller than she intended. He doesn't look at her but at the guardrails. From his vision, he can only see the vast blue sky as he looks up.

"I'm not depressed but I can still understand how they must feel... those who yearns for freedom. This handrail must look like the last barrier to them before they find their freedom." Natsuki stands up, dusting off her hands as she again stands near the guardrails, looking beneath, on the ground where students are playing around.

"If you really like the guardrails and that's what your reason is; are you sure, you're alright?" Taehyung approaches her, inhaling deeply as he stands beside her.

"Of course!" She turns to look at him, finding him looking at her already. "Ah, I just copied it from some book I read long ago." She chuckles, "did you think, I could come up with something like that by myself?" She laughs more, making taehyung kiss his teeth in disbelief. He was dumbfounded.

"Here!" He smiles, tearing the second pack and giving the half bread to natsuki.

She looks at his extended hand, perplexed.

"Let's share." He smiles his usually boxy smile. She nods, taking it from him.

"Curry flavour instantly became my favourite after coming to Japan." He says randomly, eating his part of the bread.

"Have you tried melon bread? And chocolate cornet one? Yakisoba bread?" She quickly finishes her bread, wiping her mouth after she steps back.

"I have yet to try them." He steps back as well, turning towards the exit.

They silently agree to exit the rooftop without any agreement as the break time will be over soon.

"Let's try them together next time." Natsuki is excited about it. It's so evident. She is like an open book, most of the times.

Taehyung, who likes to observe little things, finds her interesting. She is innocent, almost child-like but she is not childishly foolish. She is clumsy, tends to make mistakes but never forgets to care for her friends and loved ones.

He feels better; knowing he has found some really good friends in a new, unknown place. He can trust them, he can trust her.

"Come on! What are you thinking about?" He hears natsuki whisper yell at him from a couple stairs down. He realises that he has been thinking mindlessly, stopped on his tracks.

"Nothing." He smiles, running up to her as they walk down, back to the class now.

•~•~•

"I heard that it is usually in September or October?" Taehyung asks on their way back home.

"It is. But, it's almost August now so we have to prepare for it. If we start now, we can do it without much stress." Fumiya explains him as taehyung thinks about it.

"I'll tell you everything. Let's go to the shrine this weekend, are you in?" Natsuki asks him.

"You mean tomorrow, Suki-chan." Fumiya corrects her.

"That's the same. Tomorrow is saturday." She tells him to shut up.

"Sure." Taehyung, of course, agrees.

They just got to know about the annual cultural festival that will take place in their school around the time of autumn. It's still August, so they have plenty of time... or so taehyung thinks.

"Aki and Haru will be there too since their school will also participate in it." Fumiya reminds them.

"Oh, yes. It is going to be fun." Natsuki, as always, says happily.

"Well then, see you later, suki-chan." Fumiya halts in his steps, turning to her as he gives her a smile.

"See you!" She says, waving.

"Bye, yukio-kun." He then turns to taehyung and they eventually part their ways.

Natsuki skips her way down the street as the orange hue is all over them. The sun is setting, birds are going back to their nests, ocean waves have apparently calmed down, more and more insects are awake now.

"You're always happy." Taehyung remarks, hands inside his pocket as he strolls carelessly behind her.

"Is that not okay?!" She turns back, still walking so now she is walking backwards, her hands occupied with her handbag as she flings is left and right with both hands.

"It's good. It can make everyone happy too." He says, stopping on his way in front of his house.

"Does that include you too?" She smiles, slightly teasing him. He looks surprised for a second as he can't find his words.

"I'm just kidding." She smiles more, "see you tomorrow! I'll bring kei with me." She informs and takes off towards her house.

Taehyung waves at her back and soon gets inside as well.

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It took me longer than I expected to write this. Hope it's still interesting and soothing to you.
Vote and comment!! <3