| The Summer of My Youth | KTH

13. Twinkling Galaxies

She gulps through her dry throat as the noise fades more and more with each step she takes. The silence is like, running to swallow her alive. She is never really afraid of ghosts or such, but again, this is her first time doing a test of courage at night alone. Anyone would be frightened.

She takes out her phone, turning on the flashlight as the street ends. She enters the bushy area with no houses around, only small trees and bushes of thorny plants lay in front of her. The flashlight illuminates the path in front of her, some insects fly from left to right making her flinch unknowingly.

Her feet slowly move forward, eyes straight on the road, not wanting to look around and find something frightening which can make her more nervous than she already is.

She must have walked quite a bit when the dry bushes around her seem to have rustled. Her heart thumped inside her chest loudly and she could feel herself getting anxious, unbeknownst as to what is lurking behind the dark leaves and branches.

She shines the light on the bushes, looking left and right but there was nothing. It's back to how it was before. She decides to shrug it off and starts walking again.

"Natsuki-" She feels a presence behind her as a hand stops right on her shoulder.

"Ahhh!!" She screams, almost flinging her phone at whoever that was behind her in a frenzy.

"Holy shit! It's me- yukio." Taehyung almost loses his balance as he steps back to save himself from the sudden attack. He gets scared because of her scream too.

"Yukio? Why are you here?" She catches her breath, putting a hand on her heart.

"I was... worried that you'd be scared." He says in between his shortened breaths.

"Me? I wasn't scared a tiny bit..." Natsuki scoffs, straightening out the wrinkles on her yukata.

"Oh my god!! There's a dead spider on your shoulder!!" Taehyung yells, not so loud but enough to scare her and make her jump on her spot.

"Where? What?!" She jumps, letting herself fall on taehyung for safety who catches her in time. He breaks out in a fit of laughter.

"I thought you were not scared a tiny bit?" He says after he stops laughing as natsuki stands properly, distancing herself from him, embarrassed.

"Yukio!" She whines, groaning out of frustration and embarrassment.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, I won't play around like that. Let's get out of here quickly." He finally stops laughing completely, now just smiling at her.

Natsuki humms, walking beside him as the path in front of them is illuminated by the flashlights of their phones. Their footsteps resonate and the silent noise of nature at night envelops their ears. The road starts to go up in an angle, indicating that they're climbing up the small mountain.

She didn't realise but when he made fun of her, laughed his heart out, her fear disappeared. More like, knowing someone is with her, the worries dissipated just like that. He really does know how to make someone feel better.

"You know, there's an urban legend about the cliff we're about to pass by." Natsuki speaks in a small voice, maintaining the peaceful environment.

"What is it?" Taehyung, of course, is curious about it.

"If we stand at the edge of the cliff and yell out our wish, it will be resonated back by the spirits living in the cliff and the wish will come true, but, if the voice doesn't resonate back to us, that means the spirit will not be fulfilling our wish and we might get haunted by them." Natsuki finishes, glancing at taehyung to see his reaction.