'It's not like I'm a sucker for trouble, but Zanya's being kinda hard to convince. Kinda. Kuguru asked me if I could help to push them together and I've used almost every trick I can think of. But it's not like they're very much closer,' Baku thought.

Kuguru was holding a small sized stuffed teddy bear, courtesy of Baku of course. She held it like it was her precious tablet, close to herself. Zanya was following quite closely behind the girl, seemingly thinking of something.

'Ugh, is this gonna be cliche?' Baku thought to himself. 'That's the only way for me to push them any closer though. I'll try when the time's right.'

It was around three in the afternoon. Due to the season, the sun seemed to want to go to sleep already. The sky was painted very different shades of orange, yellow and red; a perfect sky for a Ferris wheel ride.

"Hey guys, look at the giant wheel," Baku said.

"What about, man?" Gao asked.

"Kuguru have you gone on it yet? You told me you wanted to try the ride," Baku lied, making it up on the fly. His eyes sent Kuguru a 'Please play along' message, and Kuguru understood.

"No, I haven't had the chance to yet," she replied, showing a longing face.

"How about you go accompany her, Zanya?" Kiri suggested, trying his best to help Baku out.

"Hey, what's this all—" Tetsuya asked but was cut off by Gao, who was somewhat aware that something was going on.

"Nothing really!" Gao called out, clamping Tetsuya's mouth, ordering him to shut up.

"Sure thing," Zanya replied to Kiri. "You still up for it?" he asked Kuguru, who by now had turned slightly red.

"Y-yes."

'Finally, it's our turn,' Zanya thought to himself. 'This ride is so huge, it's gonna take a while before we get down on the ground again.'

Kuguru slipped her fingers around Zanya's and grasped his hand gently, the other hand still hugging the teddy bear. The operator showed them into their car and closed the door for them, smiling as she did so. Kuguru smiled back but Zanya had little to no emotion, he was thinking of other things.

"So umm, Kuguru…" Zanya started off, feeling a mixture of nervousness, awkwardness and embarrassment.

"Yes?" Kuguru asked with her usual perky voice but inside her, she felt millions of butterflies.

"Ah… umm… it's nothing."

"Okay then," Kuguru replied, turning her head a little. There was a silent pause before Kuguru broke the silence.

"Isn't the sunset just beautiful?" she asked Zanya, stealthily reaching for his open palm again.

"Yeah. I wish I could draw it though," Zanya replied. Kuguru laughed at his answer.

"Your art isn't very good is it?" Kuguru asked the boy, still smiling.

"No, how I wish for it to be though."

"Zanya, I know it's a little too soon, but did you give it anymore thought yet?" Kuguru asked, knowing that this was going to be the end of the trip. She had wanted to make it memorable but now was her last chance to do so.

"I guess I have an answer," he replied. "But before I answer yours, you answer mine."

Kuguru stayed silent. She had no idea, and maybe she didn't want to know, what Zanya would ask her. But she gave him a slow nod anyway.

"Why did you rush the confession in school the other day?"

"I… umm…" she mumbled, not knowing how to express herself. The butterflies she had now became an angry mob inside her. She was confused for a moment.

"I heard you were gonna change schools next year, so I rushed to tell you," she finally replied, in a way relieved that she managed to say what she wanted to.

"Who told you that?" Zanya asked, feeling confused. He wasn't going anywhere else for middle school next year.

"Er… gossip?" she replied.

Zanya sighed. "Most gossip are lies, Kuguru," he said rather sternly.

"They said your dad was getting promoted or something, so you guys would move," Kuguru told the boy.

"The part about my dad getting promoted, true. Me changing schools? Totally out of the question."

'And I was such a fool to believe them,' Kuguru thought, feeling embarrassed.

"So that's the reason you rushed it with telling me?" Zanya asked.

"Yes," she replied with her head hung pretty low. "I was afraid that I'd miss my chance at getting it straightened out with you."

To her surprise, Zanya started smiling, then stifling laughs and finally laughed out loud. She was shocked for quite some time before Zanya opened his mouth to say something.

"So you believe stuff you hear on the grapevine? And then act accordingly to it?" he said as a sudden outburst. Kuguru's cheeks turned redder.

"I guess I panicked a little, heh heh."

"It's okay," he replied, finally calming down. "So… my answer."

Kuguru perked up a little, paying full attention to Zanya.

"Kuguru, you're a very nice girl, and I think any boy that manages to get you is very lucky," he started. Kuguru's hopeful expression dropped a little, this sounded like a rejection rather than the other answer that she was hoping for. She felt tears of emotion rush to her eyes.

"You're pretty, smart, sensible and energetic. Any boy out there in the world would be happy to give anything to be with you," he continued.

'Except for you,' she thought. Even more tears gathered. Some were about to come flowing out but she forcefully held them back.

"Kuguru, I…" he said, letting his voice trail off on purpose. He was happy with the drama he created, but he hid his real emotions anyway. A rather sorry face he hung on himself, making Kuguru start to believe that he was really going to reject her. She couldn't suppress the tears; they came flowing down one by one bitterly.

"I love you."

…

One.

…

Two.

…

Three.

…

"You what?" Kuguru asked, sounding a little hurt but happiness covered it up in no time.

"I thought you were going to reject me!" she shouted, pressing herself against Zanya. He let out a satisfied laugh after having toyed with her emotions properly. He wrapped his arms around her and patted her back. The tears of rejection suddenly became tears of happiness.

"Here, let me wipe those tears," he said, pulling out a handkerchief from his jacket and gently wiped it off.

"Zanya, you idiot…" she mumbled, embarrassed by the boy for the second time in a row.

The two of them looked at the sunset for a while then looked back at each other. Kuguru threw her arms across Zanya's shoulders while he reached for her delicate face. Shutting their eyes, their lips touched and for once, Kuguru felt happy beyond words. The feelings for her had bottled up inside Zanya for some time as well, and he was happy that he finally said what he had meant to.

"Looks like it went pretty well," Baku said, the four looking at Zanya and Kuguru get off the ride. A light blush was visible on their faces as they approached the others.

"Yeah, it did," Kuguru said, finally clearing her throat from crying earlier.

"You guys set this up, didn't you?" Zanya asked with his arms crossed.

"Look, admit that you're happy already!" Kiri said.

"Aren't you gonna thank us for pushing you guys into the situation?" Gao asked.

"You were never going to do anything on your own so we decided to help you guys along," Baku said.

"Thank you," Zanya mumbled, muffling his words in his scarf.

"Shouldn't we head back to pack our bags, yo?" Tetsuya asked.

"Yeah, let's go," Kuguru replied as she grabbed Zanya's hand, walking side by side with him.

Phoenix: Wow, I never thought I'd get it done.

Kuguru: You shouldn't have left it to the last minute.

Phoenix: Okay give me a break!

Kuguru: Fine, whatever.

Phoenix: Contradicting my previous author's note, I might or might not wanna write more stories. For now, no. School is gonna reopen soon, dammit. I'm falling behind the rest of the class already X3

Zanya: That's why you should take studying seriously.

Phoenix: I get it, genius. So read, enjoy and leave a review. Thank you all for reading my story and bye bye!