"Kei!!" Natsuki proceeds to yell out his name as she walks around the shrine.

Meanwhile, Taehyung is supposed to check inside the altar room where the priest is.

"Yukio, did you find them?" she goes to find him inside, speaking in a low voice not to disturb the priest.

When she is about to enter the altar room, Taehyung comes out while putting a finger on his lips, indicating her to stay quiet.

"Shh! Tannie and Kei are inside." he said in a whisper-like voice and dragged Natsuki back outside, holding onto her forearm.

"What- but why are you taking me outside then?" she complains in a small voice, getting dragged away by Taehyung.

Taehyung takes her behind the shrine and leaves her arm, finally.

"They are not fighting for the first time and silently sitting around in the shrine where the priest is. I went to check on them and the priest told me to leave them there for a while." Taehyung explains what happened in brief.

"That's... strange, but, okay," Natsuki believes what he is saying and shrugs, "so, what do we do now?" she asks.

"He gave me a task to complete while we're here. I thought we could help him a bit so I agreed." he says and pulls out a small package of something from his pocket.

"What is it?" Natsuki asks.

"Lotus seeds!" Taehyung says and looks down at the almost dried pond.

"Ohh!! So, we have to plant some Lotus seeds?" she understands without him explaining anything.

Shrines often have this type of ponds around the shrine grounds where they plant Lotus flowers and it's pretty common so, she knew right away.

"Yes, but I don't really know so much about this, do you?" he asks her as he takes out a single seed of lotus, observing it. It's blackish brown in colour and similar to the size of a tiny acorn.

"And you think I would know?" Natsuki chuckles.

"I mean... you must know better than me, at least..." he concludes.

"You're not wrong, I'm just teasing you." Natsuki winks at him, however, she soon gets embarrassed for behaving childishly and clears her throat, moving away from him.

She takes the lotus seeds from him and inspects the area. The pond needs water; so much of it.

"Did he tell you from where we can get the water?" she asks Taehyung who is just standing like a stick.

"Um, no, he didn't say anything about it." he says.

"Then, I guess we can just use the water tap. It's down there, on the right side of the shrine, there should be a water pipe too, can you find it for me?" Taehyung nods obediently and takes off to find the water pipe while Natsuki filters out the bad seeds which are not hard enough from the bunch of seeds she has in the packet.

"Is this it?" Taehyung comes back with a long water pipe in his hand as he begins to unravel it, looking like an innocent kid.

"How old are you? Five?" Natsuki helps him in unravelling the pipe and then he goes back to turn the tap on.

"It's not easy to do it alone." he unconsciously pouts, feeling like he is getting teased by Natsuki.

"You pour the water in all the parts of the pond and then we will plant the seeds." she instructs when he comes back.

"Aren't we suppose to soak them in warm water first?" Taehyung asks her even if he isn't sure himself.

"Um.. I don't know. Maybe it's not necessary." she just shrugs.

"Why do I feel like we're going to mess this up?!" Taehyung mumbles, filling the small pond with water.

Natsuki again starts humming a tune while Taehyung stands with the water pipe in his hand, looking at the water getting filled inside as it splashes and dances around in the tiny place.

The sunrays shine upon the water making it sparkly. The small sparkles of rays reflect from the surface and fall onto Taehyung and Natsuki's face, lighting them up. The brightness of it is blinding and they have to squint their eyes to keep looking at it.

"You have a good voice, why don't you try singing at the cultural festival?" Taehyung suddnly speaks up, startling Natsuki.

"Eh? No, I'm not that good. I'm just like a bathroom singer." she laughs, not knowing how to respond.

"I think you're good though." he doesn't face her, still looking down at the stream of water running down into now half filled pond.

"Uh, come on!" she is not good with compliments, especially when she doesn't expect it at all and that ends up in her whining shyly.

"Just saying." he shrugs but he misses the little smile that finds its way onto Natsuki's lips as she stares at him.

He sometimes says things he doesn't realise and those things make her feel really good. It's a good feeling when it makes you smile, right?

"Let's plant the seeds now." Taehyung finally turns to her, startling her even more.

"Oh, yes." she quickly grabs her senses back, coming back to earth from her thoughts-land.

"How do we plant it in the middle of the pond?" Taehyung asks again. Somehow, he has a lot of questions today.

"I'm not going to ruin my clothes by bathing in the mud." Natsuki grimaces at the thought of it. Her mom would give her a nice scolding if she messes her clothes up.

"Then why would I?" Taehyung stands back, putting both of his hands on his waist.

"I'm a girl, I can't get messy in water." Natsuki tries to make excuses.

"Oh, isn't this a new era of equality? Come on," he questions and approaches her.

"No, no, don't come near me." she starts to backup as he moves forward and then soon, she finds herself running around the pond as Taehyung is chasing her.

It feels like deja vu.

She probably doesn't know that she is laughing, looking over her shoulder to see Taehyung smiling widely as he runs.

"Stop being a kid and help me, we can do it together." Taehyung attempts to catch her but the round shape of the pond doesn't help.

"I'm not a kid, you are." she sticks her tongue out at him but eventually stops to take a breath and wipes the sweat off her forehead with the sleeve of her shirt.

Taehyung does the same, catching his breath.

"The heat is going to kill me, let's just do it together." Taehyung says in a soft tone and Natsuki's heart melts. She doesn't want him to feel exhausted.

"Fine," Natsuki goes with her heart, agreeing to do it together.

"We are both going to get our clothes dirty." she mumbles, shaking her head but follows him.

He smiles, looking over his shoulder at her tired face. His smile makes her want to forget her tiredness and run another hundred miles for him.

Isn't that a bit too much?

She doesn't realise what she's been thinking about him lately, how it can effect her and the way she sees him. When the change is constant and made gradually, it's so smooth that you can't understand when your heart changes and starts doing things you never did.

"Get inside," Taehyung gestures her to get inside as she is still standing at the edge of the pond.

"Here I go," she sighs and puts her feet inside the water. It's surprisingly cool.

"It's not too bad." she mumbles again and gives half of the seeds to Taehyung who takes it and starts putting it in the water, gently pushing it into the mud.

"Should I just plant it however I want?" she asks, more to herself than to him.

"Of course not, it shouldn't be too tangled, right? Look-" he tries to turn towards her and doesn't realise that his hands are still in the water and accidently splashes her with muddy water.

"Yukio!!" she gapes at him, dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry," he says but he is laughing at her face which is now sprinkled with muddy water.

"But you're laughing at me!" she complains, whining but proceeds to splash him with the water too.

"Hey, hey!" he tries to save himself and in the process, splashes water all over her and around himself as he flails his hands around.

"Oh gosh!" She exclaims when she notices a visible stain on her shirt. "You are done for." she looks at Taehyung and threatens him.

She bends down, scooping a fist full of mud in her hands, a mischievous smile present on her face and approaches him with hasty steps and before he has a chance to run away, she smears all of it on his shirt.

"Oh shit- no, Suki, wait," he continues to laugh but yells in-between as the cold sensation reaches his skin when the fabric of his shirt is completely drenched.

"Tit for tat!" she laughs too, holding onto his shirt but he catches her wrists now.

"What are you doing?" her voice is high pitched as she struggles but he doesn't listen.

"I told you, we're doing this together so we're going down together too." he laughs and in a second, his arms are circling around her torso, keeping her close in a hug.

"What is this? Yukio-" she continues to struggle and break free from his hold but he has no intentions of letting her go without taking revenge.

As much as she tries to resist, he pulls her even closer. The mess on his shirt is now transferred onto hers as well as he keeps giggling at her struggling self.

She, however, already has a new plan in her mind. His arms are still around her waist and his face closer than ever. She takes the chance and cups his cheeks in her hands, which are, to be obvious, dirty with mud all over them, and squeezes his cheeks, smearing the mud on his face as well.

He is shocked and lets go of her, now trying to dodge her attack.

"Stop- My face!" he yells, grabbing her hands to stop her and she does. She can't outdo his strength.

He sighs, looking at her giggling like a child, "Is this how I'm going to go back home?" he shakes his head when she shows no signs of regret.

"You need to get dirty in summer, that's a must. So you can have fun cleaning up yourself afterwards." she speaks, not realising her hands are still holding onto the side of his neck.

"Oh my! What are you children doing in the water?" the priest comes to take a look at them because of how loud they have been and, obviously, he is shocked to see the state they are in.

"Oops!" Natsuki turns around, ready to get scolded.

"We're sorry, Father. We were driven away by impulsive thoughts and started playing around." Taehyung is quick to apologise while Natsuki silently fiddles with her now wet clothes, looking down, she almost laughs at Taehyung's choise of formal words.

"It's alright, but I'm afraid you will fall sick like this." the priest gently says.

Kei and Yeontan comes running behind him but they stop at the edge of the pond. They are surprisingly calm and obedient today.

"We will finish this soon and head home." Natsuki is the one who speaks this time and quickly resumes the work.

"Be careful and come out soon." he says again.

"Yes, Father." They both speaks in unison and the priest goes back.

"It's all because of you." Natsuki blames him in a whisper-like voice. They start planting the seeds again.

"Me? You were the one being childish." he snaps back, looking at her and she looks back at him but cracks up in a chuckle when she sees his face, covered in mud.

"How sad! This way, the girls won't swoon over you everyday." she laughs even more and continues to plant the seeds.

"Which way?" he questions.

"Just look at your face, full of dirt and mud." he wipes his face with his shirt upon listening to her words. It is of no use. His clothes, face and hands, all are covered in mud.

"Not like I care. And which are the girls who swoon over me everyday?" he asks in a sassy tone.

"You really don't know? While we're walking together, probably seven out of ten girls turn around to look at you. You probably attract all the girls in school too." she scoffs, not believing that he doesn't know how attractive he is. It can't be right!

"Oh? Does that include you as well?" the question he would never ask just comes out naturally.

Now, what will Natsuki answer?

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