Fumiya's laugher reverberated in the hallway full of silence after Natsuki was done screaming her heart out. Taehyung was as startled but held onto her, also seeking support for a moment there.

Fumiya decided to pull a prank on them at a very interesting place though! Natsuki was scared from his jump more than the actual ghosts actors present in the ghost house.

Her heart felt heavy with every beat that resonated in her ears. Or was it Taehyung's heartbeats that she heard? She was practically pressed onto his chest to start with so it wouldn't be weird that she would listen to his heartbeats.

While it felt embarrassing, it was more scary and her heart needed some time to get back on track so she took it slow, not thinking about Taehyung's hands surrounding her back ever so tightly and gulped, trying to breathe deeply, and yet again, she was reminded about the position she was in as Taehyung's scent filled in her lungs.

She was trapped in a very critical situation, according to her, anyways there was no doubt that Fumiya did it with proper evil intentions.

He probably thought of scaring her off in front of Taehyung as she kept on pretending not to be scared but this turned out even better as he got to see her hiding in Taehyung's arms. This was even better thing to tease her about!

"Are you alright?" Taehyung, slowly gaining his senses back, asked her with an embarrassed look on his face as he looked down on her.

"Um, yes, I'm sorry, Yukio." She quickly distanced herself, straightening out the wrinkles on her clothes out of nervousness.

It felt like hours when in fact it had only been a minute or two and Fumiya was now laughing under his breath, trying not to laugh out loud again.

"What the heck, Fumiya-kun?!" Natsuki suddenly turned to him, enraged but still flustered.

"I was just trying to make it more fun, Suki-chan," he pulled an innocent face.

"This is fun for you, I was about to have a heart attack, if it wasn't for-" she trailed off, eyes traveling to Taehyung and she shut her mouth.

"Yes, Yukio-kun helped you, didn't he? You didn't die, so it's fine." Fumiya was being unreasonable, but what is reasonable and what is right was the least of Natsuki's concerns right now.

"What did we miss?!" A very curious Jimin came running to them from across the hallway as he yelled out the words for everyone to hear.

"Oh, Aki-kun, you missed something really amazing." Fumiya eyed Natsuki, searching for her expressions and went back to looking at Jimin and Haruki who now stood in front of them.

"Aw, man! What was it? Natsuki-chan got scared by the spider web or she got chased by a one legged clown with big red nose who wore bloody clothes?"

"None of that, Aki-kun, it was something even more amazing. Something romant-" and before Fumiya could finish his sentence, he was stuck in a headlock by Natsuki who prevented him from talking but she couldn't prevent him from laughing at her.

"What is it? What is it?" Jimin was still curious but Fumiya was too busy laughing.

"I think we should head out now, it's getting late." Taehyung reminded, looking around the eerie gym class.

"Yes, the manager guy came to remind us before that it's time for them to pack up and go." Haruki said, getting distracted by Natsuki's violence towards Fumiya but did nothing to stop her.

It was normal for Natsuki to strangle Fumiya once in a while. They were always bickering like Tom and Jerry so it had become a daily routine for everyone else.

"Uh, I'm kind of concerned for Fumiya-kun now." Taehyung looked troubled though! He didn't think that it was normal and so, Natsuki let go of Fumiya who was still smiling.

"I'm all fine, Yukio-kun, but please take care of Natsuki-chan along the way to home since she still seems frightened. What if a ghost jumps in front of her again?" And that was all it took for her start running after him as Fumiya ran towards the exit, knowing that she was coming after him.

"How sweet!" Jimin commented, muttering as they all started to walk towards the exit.

Taehyung's brows furrowed at that but he kept silent.

"What are you, a Natsumiya shipper?" Haruki made a disgusted face towards him.

"Natsu.. what?" Taehyung was utterly confused.

"Oh, you don't know, right? A few years ago, some students made this ship name for them as they always bickered and apparently, they found it cute." Jimin said and Haruki almost rolled his eyes.

"Eh? Do you also think they behave like lovers, Jimin?" Taehyung asked, skeptical as he held his breath, waiting for his reply.

"Sometimes, yeah," Jimin replied nonchalantly.

"No, dude, I don't. They're like siblings." Haruki put his opinion down.

"Right? I also think that way." Taehyung chuckled, low-key embarrassed. Why would he suddenly want to defend Natsuki and Fumiya on being lovers? It was already weird that he couldn't get his thoughts straight and now he was acting on impulses as well.

They got out of the ghost house and spotted Natsuki and Fumiya by the entrance of the school building. They were standing around, chatting with each other. Seems like Natsuki had already taken her revenge so they were again on good terms now.

Fumiya waved at them from afar, "Let's head home now, we need to arrive back early tomorrow." Fumiya then turned to Natsuki, "get some good sleep, yeah?" and smiled sweetly.

"Natsuki, let's go, your mom must be worried." Taehyung said, walking past them as he didn't look but muttered those words.

"Alright," she nodded and turned to face Fumiya and others, "bye, bye, have a good night." Then she took off, turning around as she saw Taehyung waving goodbye to others and joined him on the street.

The night was young, and because of the crickets and cicadas murmuring about in their natural habitats, the atmosphere was somewhere between peacefully calm and noisy. With the moon shining in the sky ahead of them, the windows of the houses on their left side were lit up with lights and on their right side was the ocean. The chilly yet calm breeze blew past them, coming from the ocean, fluttering the usually calm tree leaves as Natsuki and Taehyung walked in silence. Their shadows walked side by side, zooming small and big as they passed numerous streetlights.

Taehyung wanted to talk but he was afraid that his current state of mind wasn't safe enough to converse with her. He might probably end up blurting out something random or something that he didn't want to let anyone know, so he kept silent.

His breathing sounded too loud to his ears because he was a bit too conscious about everything at that moment and felt like he wanted to suck his breath in and never let it out. Of course, he was just overthinking and there was no way he could do that.

His mind repeated the moments from the ghost house. His hand clasped in Natsuki's smaller one, lips tugged up in a subtle smile, the tight grip of her arms around his torso when she was scared and the relieved sigh that left her mouth when she was relaxed in his embrace and felt safe. He didn't want to make assumptions but it was really apparent how she had felt better as soon as he had talked about his sweating palms because it was only normal and he wanted her to feel better which he definitely succeeded in doing so.

"So, was it fun?" Her sudden voice made him flinch as he said, "huh?" and looked at her.

"Oh, sure it was." He smiled unconsciously.

"Tomorrow will be even more fun, Aki-kun and Haru-kun will be performing with their classmates."

"Haru-kun? He doesn't seem like the type to participate in these events though?"

"He isn't, had he not been forced by Aki-kun, he would never participate." she chuckled.

"I can see him rolling his eyes as Jimin whines to him about it." He laughed as well and just like that, he was standing in front of his house.

"Oh, didn't even realise," Natsuki glanced in the veranda but found no movements.

"Okay then, good night, Suki." One smile and Taehyung was out of her sight as she waved back.

Natsuki silently walked back, "he didn't wait this time," as if a string was attached to her heart and someone tugged on it, something nudged her from the inside.

It was like, she was bothered by something so trivial that she was ashamed for feeling that way. It was just a small detail she had noticed about him, it wasn't anything special, was it? She had no rights to be upset too, and why would she be upset in the first place? He was probably too tired to wait for her to get inside first, she thought and scoffed with a reassuring smile and a shake of her head.

"Mom, I'm home," she called out and put her thoughts on a rest.

•~•~•

"Oh, I know, right?! Aki-kun almost tripped back on his feet and landed flat on his butt if it wasn't for Haru-kun holding him in place." Natauki laughed, doublin over as she tried to catch her breath.

"They almost... almost ki-"

"No way in hell!!" Haruki screamed, running at full speed, away from them. He ran straight, parallel to the ocean waves as the wind caressed his hair, messing them up.

They were currently sitting at the beach, chattering about how Jimin and Haruki's group performance went. The day had ended with no troubles with the event as they all had fun but some particular incidents stuck out like an itch which they had to scratch so they ended up talking about everything that had happened.

"Why so shy, Haru-kun?!" Fumiya teased him but Haruki didn't turn around. He never left a chance to tease anyone in five meter radius from him.

"I should have never forced Haru to play the role of antagonist. I guess God was punishing me for always forcing him to do things." Jimin shuddered again at the thought of the incident that happened a few hours ago.

No, they did not have an accidental kiss but it almost happened which even shook Jimin who usually had too many faces to lose that he was never embarrassed to do anything, but this time he fell silent, not jumping around like always.

"Punishing you? It's more of a punishment for Haru-kun than you." Taehyung chimed in.

"True, look at him! Poor Haru-kun, he looks traumatised." Natsuki said with a sympathetic voice but soon broke out in small giggles.

"Haru!!" Jimin whined, shaking his head as he ran after Haruki who refused to come back. They ran around in circles while the others snickered.

Taehyung couldn't help but chuckle and admire their bond.

He was extremely thankful to find such amazing friends in such a short amount of time after he came to Japan. He sure was a little nervous when leaving Korea but he was happy here right now and that's all that mattered.

He looked at everyone, smiling softly as his eyes caught the shine of moonlight. There was Jimin who, at first, made him feel familiar and known as he shared the same nationality with him and now he is the source of his, and everyone's, daily laughter. Then there was Haruki, even if he didn't play much of a role in his daily life, Taehyung could feel that he was a really good person at heart.

There was also Fumiya, someone as easy-going as him would truly make anyone feel lucky to have him as a friend, and his eyes trailed towards Natsuki who was the first person he befriended after his shift to the new neighbourhood.

She was as cheerful as ever, making his introvert self want to hide behind those smiling eyes of hers and remain within the reach of her voice so he could bask in the light of her positivity.

Natsuki had always been someone who made him feel at ease in situations he didn't want to be in. Whether it be an awkward conversation with the other people around them or just an awkward silence fallen upon them because of any reason, Natsuki's clumsy yet sweet personality would lighten up the room in no time.

He was thankful! A lot more than he could have imagined, and he didn't want this peace to end. He'd want to try and maintain things just how they were so he could keep living happily, but is it really the right thing to do?

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Got a 'little' periodic assessment coming up soon so it might take a while before the next chapter comes out.
Vote and comment please <3