"A claw machine?" Taehyung gapes at the rundown claw machine that looks like isn't working properly.

"Is it even working?" He adds at the end.

"Of course, it is! Check it out!" Natsuki says enthusiastically and taehyung goes around the machine, looking for something unusual that made Natsuki this excited. His face remains confused at the end.

"Okay, so what are we doing again?" He asks.

"This claw machine is usually just for a show, no one uses it. That's why, I ask uncle sato to let me play with it sometimes." She says, eyes sparkling as she does.

"Okay..." Taehyung nods, listening carefully.

"Now that we're here, choose anything you want from the prizes. I'll win it for you!" She smiles brightly, showing her biceps, indicating that she has the strength to win anything for him.

"That was so dramatic! But, you owe me only 200 yen. Is it still worth it?" He asks, confirming.

"Don't worry about it. Think of this as a welcoming gift from me." She says, her voice filled with confidence.

"Isn't it too late for a welcoming gift already?" He chuckles.

"Come on! Stop wasting time and tell me, what do you like?" She gestures him to take a look inside the machine.

"Oh, There are only 2 plushies here?" He asks in confusion upon seeing two little plushies lonely lying around in the machine.

"Ow? Let me check." She pushes him out of the way and takes a look.

"I swear, I asked uncle sato to put some more things inside before." She smiles apologetically.

"Uncle sato!" She shouts and uncle sato walks outside, fanning himself with his brown hand fan.

"What happened?" He asks, looking at both of them.

"Why didn't you refill the machine?" Natsuki asks.

"I wanted to show you the new toys and plushies that just arrived, they are in the shop. Let's go inside, I'll show you." He informs and natsuki's smile gets bigger.

"Thank you so much!" She happily skips her way inside the shop as taehyung follows her closely.

They enter the shop. Natsuki knows her way inside the shop already and gets comfortable while taehyung takes his time to observe little things, standing near the entrance.

The right corner of the shop is occupied by the cash counter where, assuming-ly, uncle sato sits all day long and the left side has numerous things staked up neatly in a shelf.

The things consisting of various toys for kids, balloons, small sports equipment such as badminton shuttlecocks, tennis balls etcetera. The windows in the shop are made of glass so it allows proper sunlight to enter inside the shop which can make it lively.

Right now, because the sun is setting, the orange colour dominates the sky and the shadows get more and more tilted as the time goes by.

"Yukio! Come here, tell me, what do you like?" Natsuki calls him as he breaks the train of his thoughts and approaches her. She is standing at the far end of the shop, a bag in her hands.

He sees many types of keychains, small plushies and cute stationery items in the bag.

"Um, everything is cute." He says, rubbing his nape.

"You have to choose one so I can win it. I'm not rich, I can only get one for you." She laughs, followed by uncle sato's chuckle who is observing them from the counter.

"Then... how about those plushie keychains?" He points at the yellow and purple dog and cat shaped keychains. They were not very big yet not really small. Just perfect size to hang it on your school bags.

"Okay, which one?" She looks at him.

"I'm fine with anything." He doesn't avert his eyes, still looking at the keychains as he speaks.

The sun is setting in the sky just in front of the shop making the sunrays cascade directly onto natsuki and taehyung.

In the dimly lit small space, the bright sunrays make everything look magical. When the only source of brightness is the open door of the shop, it illuminates a certain part of the shop only and they both are standing right there.

"You like yellow, don't you?" She asks, looking fondly at him.

"Hm?" He turns to her.

"I'll get the yellow one for you." She finishes with a gentle smile which makes his lips gradually form a smile too.

They head outside. The claw machine is in the small corner part of the alley on the right side of the shop.

"Oh, it also has colourful lights!" Taehyung exclaims when the little light bulbs hung around the claw machine brighten up.

"Yes, it will be dark soon." Natsuki looks around while uncle sato fills up the claw machine with all those little cute things.

"Take your time! I'll be inside the shop." Uncle sato leaves them alone, heading inside.

"Okay! Let's go!" Natsuki almost yells, getting excited as she puts her hands on the controller with unwanted force.

"Calm down, you'll break the poor machine." Taehyung laughs but natsuki shrugs it off.

Natsuki slides a coin inside the coin slot, then prepares herself; one hand, on the joystick and another one, on the button which is used when one wants the claw to move down towards the plushies.

"How many chances do you have per coin?" Taehyung asks, half of his attention is stolen by the claw machine's faint mechanical voice.

"One chance per one fifty yen coin." Natauki casually says, focusing on the now moving claw inside the machine.

"That's kind of cheap compared to other claw vending machines." Taehyung points out.

"Uncle sato knows my family and this machine is old, plus, it's not used for sales so he lets me use it at cheaper price." She controls the joystick, carefully positioning it above the yellow keychain.

"There you go!" She mutters and presses the button as the claw slowly gets down, diving into the pool full of plushies and toys.

Taehyung clicks his tongue when the claw comes back up without anything stuck in it. "This isn't gonna work!" He shakes his head, hands folded in front of his chest as he looks at natsuki.

"It will work this time." Natsuki hasn't lost her confidence yet.

She again puts the coin inside the slot as the machine runs to life. She plays with the joystick, pressing the button when the claw is perfectly aligned with the keychain.

"Please! Please! Please!!" She chants under her breath, almost jumping on her place.

Taehyung sighs again when she doesn't succeed.

"Uh, this time for sure." She glances at taehyung, who nods, trying to cheer her up.

She exhales, putting another fifty yen inside the slot and gulps before operating the joystick.

"Eh? This is stuck! Oh my god!" She panics as the joystick doesn't move from one place. "This machine is getting older and older." She frantically fidgets with the joystick.

"Hey, hey! You'll break it." Taehyung says, rushing towards her as he grabs the joystick, stopping her from moving it more.

Her back collides with his chest when he tries to stop her, his hands positioned on top of hers as he bends down, attempting to help her. His hands move slowly as the joystick start working again.

"Let me help." He whispers, resulting in natsuki almost having goosebumps because of his low voice.

His breath fans her shoulder but his focus is on the claw machine.

"Press the button, natsuki." He says.

Natsuki blinks in confusion and sudden panic.

"Suki, press the button now!" He says again, more loudly this time. Her hand is still on the button but her mind is in a frenzy. Taehyung puts his other hand on hers, pressing the button himself.

"What are you doing?" He laughs, stepping back as he watches the claw return without the keychain.

"This is to tough!" Taehyung mutters, disappointed.

"Now is your last chance!" He reminds natsuki who is eventually gaining her senses back.

"Okay! Let me do this." She says, again repeating the same process.

"Please! Let me win this time, kamisama!" She prays to the god, joining her hands as the claw once again goes down and this time it comes back with the keychain stuck with it.

"Yes!! I did it! Finally!" She springs on her place, shouting out loud in excitement.

Taehyung joins her as he laughs. Natsuki steps forward, her hands high in the air, celebrating her victory. Taehyung moves forward as well, catching her hands in the air, grabbing them gently as she is still jumping and giggling.

The delight is purely visible on her face because of the success after all those efforts and it gets conveyed through her actions.

The dark blueish orange colours of twilight, mixed with the sparkles of different colourful lights create a very beautiful atmosphere. It's serene and lively at the same time.

As if the time has lost it's meaning when they're happy, everything seems slow and peaceful. There is a certain level of joy in the slow pace.

They don't realise what they've been doing until the small voice of the claw machine dies down and they've been welcomed with pure quiet.

"We were so loud just now." Natsuki laughs and retreats her hands, looking away, embarrassed.

"It's fine." Taehyung shrugs, taking a look at the small box attached to the machine where the won prize would show up.

"Hey! There are two keychains here!" He exclaims as he picks them up, holding them up in the air.

"How come? Wow!" She excitedly takes a look.

"We're lucky!" Taehyung smiles brightly.

"Then... you take the purple one, I'll take the yellow." Taehyung suggests, extending the pastel purple colored plushie keychain towards her.

"Really? Thank you, yukio." She takes it from him, observing it. "It's a cat." She mutters happily.

"Now I don't owe you anything, okay?" She looks up at him.

"Sure, sure! You've gained back your freedom." He speaks in a lower tone, surprising her.

"And you say that I am always dramatic." She rolls her eyes.

"That you do." He shrugs playfully and natsuki shakes her head.

"Yukio, It's so dark already. Let's head home now." Natsuki takes a glance at her wrist watch.

"Yes, let's go." Taehyung says and they start walking after bidding their goodbyes to uncle sato.

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