Hope happily pull out two names from the hat, not caring who they might be, and said, "This time... Rosefinch and Lin Chung!"
Lin Chung suddenly could feel a glare from Mano, knowing the male pilot have a bit of a crush on Rosefinch. Actually, almost everyone in Big Green knows about it, except for Rosefinch herself. Pointing at the colorful boxes of pocky, Hope ask, "What flavor?"
"Um... Cookies and cream?" Rosefinch said.
"Cookies and cream." Lin Chung said.
"Cookies and cream!" Hope shouted, holding the pocky in her hand.
As Lin Chung and Rosefinch held the pocky in their mouths, Hope said, "I wonder what's taking Apetrully so long?"
There was a bit of worry in her voice.
"I'm going to find out why." Hope said, leaving her room.
She quickly stick her head back in the room, and said with a small glare, "You better play the game while I'm gone."
The monkey earned nods from everyone, except for Lin Chung and Rosefinch since they don't want to break the pocky.
"Okay." Hope said, slowly leaving the room.
"Hello?" Hope whispered, poking her head in the commander's room with her eyes close tightly as she could.
She open one eye when she heard the sounds of the shower on.
Oh... He's taking a shower. I guess that lemon-lime soda was pretty sticky. Hope thought with a small chuckle.
The pink and white monkey was about to leave the room when she notice something on the commander's bed: His umbrella-like signal he always wore. A smile appear on Hope's face and she thought, I always wanted to try on that signal of his. It seems to be pretty interesting and cool to me for some reason, and I always thought that thing might be attach to his head until now. Now here's my chance to wear it!
Hope quickly tiptoe to his bed, hoping he wasn't be able to hear her if there was a chance that the showering will stop, and pick the signal into her hands.
That's odd. I never notice these strings before on Apetrully. Hope thought, holding one of the strings of the signal in her fingers.
She put the signal on her head and tie the two strings together so it won't slip off. Hope smiled as she took out a hand mirror out of no where, looking her reflection in it. The monkey let out a small chuckle and said, "It looks pretty cute on me."
Hope suddenly let out a loud yelp, feeling something wrapped around her waist. Looking in the mirror's reflection, Hope could see Apetrully hugging her from behind. She could just feel his grip on her gotten a bit tighter, holding her closer to his chest.
"Oh, hi Apetrully." Hope said.
He looks kind of different without his signal. Hope thought.
"Hi, Hope." Apetrully said. "Why are you in my room? And why are you wearing my signal?"
"Well, you were taking a bit long to clean up yourself, so I decided to check up on you. When I notice your signal on your bed, I decided to wear it." Hope said.
"I would like to have it back."
Hope jerk her head away from his hand and said, "No thanks. I like it on my head."
She let out a small squeak when Apetrully gave her a kiss on the cheek. He try to reach for the signal, but Hope still was able to jerk his hand away.
"I know you're distract me by surprising me like that, but it's not working!" Hope said. "I like your signal."
"But I need it just in case I get into trouble." Apetrully said.
"Oh... You're in Big Green! You won't be able to get capture by anyone."
"Well... I feel and look different without it."
"I can see that."
Is that a hole in his head? Hope thought.
"Would you let me go now?" Hope ask. "This is an awkward position."
Apetrully quickly let her go with a bright red blush on his face. He coughed a bit and said, "Sorry about that."
"That's alright." Hope said.
The monkey took off the signal and said, "Here. Sorry about before."
As Apetrully took his signal, he thought, I think it's kind of odd on how Hope is acting a bit different than usual. For pete's sake, I just learned that she get real mad in a real scary way. A Twin Masters scary way.
"Hope," Apetrully said.
"Yes?" Hope said.
"I remember earlier when we first started this pocky game, you seem like you don't want to tell me the rules of it. Why's that? You could have told me about them."
"Well... I thought it was awkward to tell a friend the rules of a kissing game."
"Okay. I guess you're right about that."
Hope sat on the edge of the bed, making Apetrully sit next to her.
"There's a reason why I played along with this game." Hope said. "I was so bored! Okay, I wanted to go to Vocaloid Castle, but now you guys seem to get interested in it and I don't want to disappoint you. You did-"
"I know. I know. Took you in." Apetrully interrupted. "Hope, you have to forget that fact."
"I can't! I tried to, but it always comes back and trying to forget about it makes me feel more guilty."
Apetrully look at Hope, noticing a depressed look on Hope's face. He suddenly hug Hope and said, "Well, stop. I don't like it when you become so sad."
He held Hope's chin to bring her closer to him, and said, "Stop feeling so guilty. I just love your happy face and I want to make sure to keep it that way."
Hope smiled and said, "I'll try."
She was able to get out of Apetrully's arms, and said, "See you back in my room."
Once Hope left, Apetrully said, "I hope she would stop feeling so guilty."
When Hope enter her room, she could see Kowloon holding back Mano, who was trying to strangle Lin Chung.
"I'm guessing Lin Chung and Rosefinch won." Hope said.
"Yeah..." Mighty Ray said.
"By the way, what took you so long?" Rosefinch ask.
"Oh, Apetrully and I just talked." Hope said with a smile.