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her boots sink into rubber tiles, soles engraving fleeting prints on the grubby playground floor as she ambles further into the middle.

"ugh everytime..." there's muffled grumbling coming from behind her, then abrupt, continuous thumps of leather against concrete that follow. 

kazuha spares a glance over her shoulder and sees sakura smacking one of her shoes upside down against the ground, the look of annoyance gradually showing on her face. a tiny pebble jumps out of it not a moment after, kazuha's already smiling when she sees the older girl rolling her eyes.

sakura saunters over with a lone socked foot, her shoe that was a couple sizetoo big held tightly in her hand, no not in a death grip, more like— as kazuha would interpret it— with care. the way sakura always grabs it is as if the shoes would be taken away from her at any given minute. 

kazuha holds in her chuckle when she walks unevenly towards her.

"i don't get why you still wear those when they're too big for you, unnie." kazuha points out, settling down on one end of the playground's rusty seesaw with a content sigh.

sakura gives her a look, an eyebrow arched at her statement. kazuha looks at her intently as she places her socked foot on the other end of the seesaw, weighing it down easily (courtesy of kazuha lifting herself off her seat) before sliding her foot back into her shoe.

"because you bought them for me." sakura reaches down to tie the black laces, a little tighter than usual. 

she catches kazuha's eyes with a side glance,"nevermind that they're the wrong size." then she chuckles when she sees kazuha scratching her cheek awkwardly. 

she recalls how kazuha's face turned a deep scarlet when she saw how the shoes swallowed sakura's feet when she first wore it. the memory makes her laugh a little.

the seesaw plunges on kazuha's side once again, sakura walks over to give the latter's hair a mischievous ruffle, chuckling at her little moment of embarrassment.

"...i'm never ordering shoes online again. the measurements are always inaccurate." kazuha releases a short sigh, leaving her hair disheveled. the swing would ruin them again anyway. 

she trails behind sakura who then giddily took quick strides toward the vacant swings, now convinced that it was the only reason sakura had invited her out for a late night walk seeing how much it excited her.

"either that or the lack of mathematical comprehension, zuha-ya. can't really fault you for that." sakura teases, dropping herself on the swing with a crooked grin, her slender frame placed atop the rather wide swing emphasises her small stature.

the sight is almost endearing, kazuha thinks.

sakura's been teasing her a little more lately and kazuha could only put the blame on eunchae for being the influence. it's no secret that sakura is the maknae's favourite target when it came to teasing, the two was quite the pair when it came to generating noise pollution (and with yunjin, they were three peas in a pod).

"ah, let's see it!" 

kazuha tilts her head just as she sat in the swing beside sakura's, eyeing her with raised brows.

"...see what?" kazuha questions as sakura's glinting eyes full of anticipation bore into hers. just when she thinks her eyes couldn't get any bigger.

"pictures!" sakura beams, jumping out of her seat so suddenly that it had kazuha thinking she was born with a spring for a spine.

then it clicked, kazuha nods in understanding as she fishes out her phone from her pocket. sakura's already by her side when she does so, head hovering over her shoulder with that brilliant grin of hers.

just a while ago, she conducted a mini photoshoot for the cherry blossom around the area. if there was one thing kazuha learned, it was realising that the backdrop really didn't matter as long as your muse is utterly gorgeous.

and hers being the miyawaki sakura was pretty self-explanatory.

"oh you're good!"

"eh?" kazuha didn't really know, was it the stunning pictures she took or the warm breath tickling the shell of her ear that has her body rigid? she's uncertain but all she knows is that sakura's the root of it.

"the pictures, they came out great!" sakura cheers, placing her hands on firm shoulders as she bounces with bliss.

kazuha is kind of a professional when it came to ignoring the bubbling feeling in her gut, but her mind is always elsewhere when the familiar small yet warm hands that were unmistakably sakura's linger on her longer than it should. 

she doesn't realise she's picking at the edges of her phonecase until sakura reaches over and swipes at her phonescreen.

"ah, the subject is pretty so... i didn't really have to try." it wasn't a thought that came out, just something merely blurted out of out of pure genuineness. kazuha swears she didn't have a drop of flirtiness within her, really. 

a small shriek from sakura and kazuha immediately whirls around to see what ensued, arms already stretched out in case the sight of sakura on the floor greeted her. 

but it was a playful frown that she gets instead, and a shake of the head.

"very unnecessary, i almost face planted out of embarrassment." 

"unnie, really..." kazuha sighs, wondering how the cherry blossom is older than her with all that playfulness making up half of her whole being.

her worries disappear when sakura fills the place with her laughter, pulling her back over to the swings, wanting to fly under the nightsky blanketed with dots of stars and the gleaming of the waning, silver moon.

"this is fun!" 

"we're swinging at the same timing!"

they're a little too preoccupied to lower their voices, just pure joy in their voices and squeals. they could only hope there wouldn't be a complaint, it's already dead into the night. nonetheless, they laughed without a care in the world. 

in what mind would one interrupt such a euphoric sight? when you picture it in your head and think about it as you absorb the joyous depiction, the synchronized melodious laughter ringing in your ears, the wide smiles etched on their faces, you realise there's the tendency to overlook the little things that make us burst with utter happiness. 

in a world where everything is priced, happiness is the only thing that doesn't cost.

"your ponytail's a mess unnie." kazuha guffaws, head thrown back when she captures the sight of a disarrayed miyawaki.

it doesn't seem fair, kazuha thinks, how she's still a sight to behold even with all that hair poking out in various directions. 

ah, the thought hits, kazuha pulls her lower lip between her teeth, she's just enamoured.

"me? look at your mess." sakura doubles over, pointing at kazuha's brown locks practically curtaining her face, then ambles to take a closer look at the younger girl.

there's the soft laughter they shared again, kazuha looking up into the pair of eyes so focused on fixing her hair, the feeling of dainty fingers grazing her face feel as light as feather. it's easy to get mesmerised when it comes to sakura, really.

"how're you feeling?" sakura's voice comes out gentle, when she pulls her hand away from kazuha's face, her fingers deliberately brush her cheek. it doesn't go unnoticed, yet kazuha doesn't speak on it.

"um, blessed." a small smile made its way onto kazuha's lips, eyes never leaving the cherry blossom. 

sakura rolling her eyes for the nth time has her giggling, the way a corner of her lips curved up upon her heartfluttering words doesn't hide it.

"how about you?" kazuha gets up when sakura signifies with a jerk of a thumb that it was time to leave.

it doesn't take half a jog to catch up to her, and when she matches her pace, sakura pinches a hem of her shirt and tugs her a little closer, away from the edge of the road. 

"very happy that you tagged along. i would've been sad if i had to take a stroll alone." sakura admits half jokingly, her hand moving up to loop around kazuha's arm so naturally.

there's a short silence, just the sound of their feet dragging against the ground, the warm breeze their faces, the moon shining brightly upon the two. 

then kazuha parts her lips. "that can't happen."

sakura hums in question, wondering if her little joke went past her head. 

"hm? why not?"

kazuha pretends to ponder, looking up with a puzzled expression before glancing at the curious cherry blossom waiting patiently for an answer.

"well... what's a flower without a petal?" 

it's witty, a little cheesy but rather witty that it made sakura's big, protruding yet endearing ears burning red at the tips. there's a wave of satisfactory and a tinge of giddiness that washes over her when she sees how sakura's cheeks were painted pink.

a brief squeeze on her arm, then a tiny scoff. 

"kazuha, if you keep this up... seriously," sakura trails off, when kazuha tries to lean over to see her face, she quickly turns her head away, a swish of the ponytail greeting the younger girl in the face.

"what...?" kazuha couldn't suppress her smile, enjoying the state of fluster she had brought onto sakura.

"nothing." sakura huffs, clearing as she looks onward with twitching lips.

kazuha doesn't push her for it, instead basking in the comfort that their little late night walk had bestowed them. it's a little hard to clear off her mind at the moment, especially with sakura effortlessly sliding her hand down from her arm to her hand which easily engulfs her small one. 

it has kazuha thinking, wondering what books meant when they describe the hands of two lovers are a perfect fit like puzzle pieces. it didn't seem like so when it came to them, but what did it matter? all she feels is just her hand wrapping around sakura's like a warm embrace, the light touches of her thumb rubbing against her skin feel like whispers of comfort. it's certainly enough to convey her feelings.

she shifts her gaze to the brilliant moon, and all she thinks about is the lovely presence beside her.

"the moon..." kazuha hesitates, lips parting halfway just as she lost the courage to continue, because it's such a common allusion back home that she wonders how fast sakura would catch on the moment it leaves her lips.

"...is beautiful tonight, isn't it?" 

turns out she didn't even have to finish it. it's surprising because she began with korean just to be a little more subtle but then sakura caught on so quick and ended it smoothly in their mother tongue. 

as if she had been waiting for that moment.

sakura's just giggling at her astonishment, it's when kazuha realises that she wasn't alone. the thought made her heart swell with bliss, her chest feels like combusting. 

then she finally answers with a relieved sigh, hiding her reddening face behind her free hand when fingers slip between hers in the other one.

"yes... yes, it is."

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