The sweet-scented wind of Palmier Kingdom tickles Nozomi's cheeks. She smiles a little, brushing some of her magenta hair off her face with her fingers. While she spends the weekdays studying to be a teacher, weekends are her special days off. She gets to spend them with Coco—now her boyfriend—in Palmier Kingdom. Just like today.

All of her friends are in Palmier Kingdom now. Karen is off to the clinic to help the injured. Rin is still making accessories, usually surrounded by children. Komachi is in the palace's library with Nuts, bringing a new novel of hers for him to read and comment on. And Urara opened up a small stage somewhere to sing for the people, Syrup by her side. And Nozomi… well, she's with Coco—while in his human form—in a garden somewhere a little far from the palace. They sit back to back while enjoying their beautiful surroundings.

"How are your studies going?" Coco asks, breaking the silence.

"Good, I guess," Nozomi replies. "My grades are improving, but there are still some things I don't understand sometimes."

"Want me to help you?"

"Not today," the girl shakes her head. "It's my day off."

"You mean, our day off."

Nozomi giggles. "Being a king sounds very tough."

The brunette king shrugs. "Sort of. Having Nuts by my side is very reassuring."

"You two are really great friends, aren't you?"

Coco sighs. There's something that has been bothering him for a while now. He's been meaning to tell Nozomi something. Something very important. But he just doesn't have the courage. Plus, he and Nozomi is no ordinary couple. Nozomi is human, while he isn't. Even so, since they've been dating for a while now, he kind of wants to move forward.

"Coco?" Nozomi calls softly.

"Hmm?"

"Um… I'm not really sure how to put this, but," Nozomi hesitates. "I kind of wonder… about… about something."

Coco smiles a little. He can imagine Nozomi's blushing cheeks while she talks. Her voice even shakes a little. She's always like that when she's nervous. What is it that she wants to know?

"What is it?" Coco asks her. He meant to turn his face to hers, but Nozomi shakes her head.

"No, no—stay like that!" she says, shrieking a little out of panic. Coco stays in his position, but instead holds out his hand to reach hers and link their fingers together, hoping that the simple motion would calm her down. Nozomi sighs. "Um, I've been wondering…," she starts. "Since when do you… do you… feel… like, like this about me?"

Oh… Coco smiles even wider, blushing a little. "I don't really know when the feeling started, but I realized it when… when we went to the Nightmares Headquarters and they made you jump into a hole."

Nozomi remembers that time clearly. Everyone was forced to wear the Masks of Despair and they fell into a false world. It was Coco who found her and helped her return to her senses. Somehow, she was able to hear his voice calling her name over and over and she desperately reached for him that it broke the mask. The magenta-haired girl hugs her knees, hiding her tomato cheeks even though Coco can't see it.

"That time I realized how scared I was if I were to never see you again."

"Oh."

"How about you?" Coco asks.

Nozomi tightens her grip to her knees, hiding her face even more. Her blushing face feels warm. "Um… since the first time we met, when you caught me so I won't fall," she says nervously. "…I guess."

"'Guess'?" Coco tries to tease her.

"Jeez!" Nozomi hides her face even more as it gets more and more red. Coco laughs a little, turning his body to face her.

"No-zo-mi!" he calls.

The embarrassed girl just shakes her head over and over, refusing to show her face.

"Come on!" Coco says, trying to loose Nozomi's grip to her knees so that he can see her face.

The girl grunts and looks up to him, her face still red. She smiles a little. "Hehe. This is so embarrassing!" she claims, taking a deep breath to calm herself down.

This is his chance. Coco tries to calm the unbelievably fast beating of his heart. If he's going to say it, this is the time. "Nozomi?"

"Hmm?"

"I…"

Nozomi tilts her head a bit to the side, her eyes full of questions, but she waits.

"Never mind. Do you want to go to where everyone else is?" Coco says, standing up.

"Eeeeh… what is it?" Nozomi gets to her feet.

"It's nothing, really," Coco replies with a smile. He takes her hand. "Let's go!"