Part 1:

It's Christmas eve night in Landsol. Everyone has gone to bed or is wrapping up work for the Landsol Christmas festival that was to take place that very next day. One of these events included a Christmas day performance by the guild/idol group Carmina.

A group of workers had been hired to set the stage up for their performance the next day. The stage sat looking pretty with all sorts of Christmas decorations on it, and plenty of lights that would illuminate the dancers on stage. In spite of this, there was still one person left on stage that day, and it was Carmina's leader, Nozomi.

"One two, one two, turn and pose!"

While her fellow members Chika and Tsumugi went home for the night, she was still on stage practicing her dance routine for the performance.

"Hmmm. I don't know. Everything seems pretty good, but I think there's a little bit more I could do. Maybe the angle of my hand on the finish should be higher?"

While she was discussing to herself what she would do for the performance the next day, she was unaware that Yuuki was watching her silently. Not wanting to scare her too much or look like a stalker, Yuuki made his way on stage to greet her.

"Good work." Yuuki said, slowly approaching Nozomi. Despite his careful consideration, Nozomi was still surprised to see him there, and let out a small yelp.

"Yuuki? You frighten me…what are you doing here?"

"I'm one of the workers who was helping set up the stage. I was making sure that everything looked and worked good for tomorrow's performance."

"I see. I'm working a little late too tonight. I've been doing some extra practice for the performance tomorrow. With all the hard work you guys have done on the stage, I don't want it to go to waste…"

"Well, I think it looks good so far." Yuuki said with a modest smile. "I hope you don't mind but I have been watching you practice a bit."

"Really! I'm happy to hear that!" Nozomi said, her smile as bright as the lights on a Christmas tree.

"What did you think of my new song? I wrote the lyrics myself! Oh, and the setlist was great too right? It had me stumped for a while. Oh, that's right, I have loads of new merch!"

Nozomi couldn't help but continue to try and chat with Yuuki. It had been a while since the two had chatted with one another, as both of them were busy with different things. Nozomi was busy with her work in Carmina, while Yuuki was busy helping out his guild among other side gigs that he had gotten.

"You've been quite busy with the idol work huh?" Yuuki said.

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I love being an idol, but it is hard work. However, I don't want to let any of my fans down…" Nozomi was tempted to say "Including you", but had to stop herself. Getting her feelings across to Yuuki wasn't something she was good at, and it didn't help that Chika and Tsumugi seemed to have feelings for Yuuki as well.

"Say Nozomi, do you want to get something to eat?" Yuuki asked. "Most of the places had closed for the holidays, but I did pack a lunch with some nice treats inside."

"I'd love to Yuuki…but I want to practice to make sure that everything is perfect for tomorrow…" Nozomi said with a sad look on her face. She truly did want to have something to eat with Yuuki, but she didn't want the Christmas day concert to turn out bad.

"I understand. Just don't work yourself too hard." Yuuki said, patting the idol girl's head. Nozomi didn't even flinch at the gesture of Yuuki's hand going up, and she was hoping Yuuki would do more than pat her head.

"Have a good night…" Yuuki said.

As he walked off, Nozomi couldn't help but feel a pain in her chest.

"There…he goes…"

Nozomi looked back at the stage that she was on, and then back at Yuuki. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to spend time with Yuuki, she quickly ran off stage to catch up with the boy.

Part 2:

Yuuki and Nozomi sat on a bench not too far from the area where the stage was. Out of his heavy winter jacket, Yuuki had pulled out a round container that was filled with all sorts of Christmas cookies he had made with the gourmet guild.

"Did you make these?"

"Well, it was mostly Kokkoro and Pecorine who made them, but I did help out. I'm still trying to get used to baking."

Nozomi took a bite out of one of the cookies. Immediately, her eyes glowed with delight.

"These cookies are really good."

"Thanks. We're going to be selling them tomorrow for the holiday festival."

"Will you be helping them out?"

Yuuki nodded.

"Man…Yuuki is just as busy as I am. He tells me not to overwork myself, yet I feel I should ask the same thing of him. I mean, I know he's a guy and all but still, shouldn't anyone, male or female, be able to take some time off and relax?"

"You OK Nozomi?" Yuuki asked, noticing her face change to a worried mood.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I was just worried that you were overworking yourself. I mean, you said tomorrow you're going to be helping hand out the cookies for the festival with your guild, but you also might have some stage work too."

"That's later on in the day, so I should be fine." Yuuki said with a smile. "Though I understand your concerns. Kokkoro has been worried about me overworking myself."

"I think her concerns are valid, you have been all over the place from what I've heard."

"Well, you tend to overwork yourself too, right?"

"W-w-well true. But it's because I…well…can't let you down." Nozomi covered her mouth and blushed. Yuuki also blushed a bit when he heard the words come out of her mouth, but quickly regained himself.

"As a fan of course…I have a lot of fans that I don't want to let down." Nozomi said after a few moments of silence.

The two just sat there in silence for a moment, with Yuuki unsure of how to go forward with the conversation, and Nozmi not sure of what to say next. Eventually, Yuuki broke the silence up with a proposal.

"If it's alright Nozmi…" Yuuki began to say. "I'd like to hang out with you on your days off if possible. I figure since the both of us are super busy, it would be nice if we could both do something fun together."

"I'd love that." Nozmi said with a bright smile.

"Just promise me that you'll do it." she said, putting her pinkie out.

"A pinkie promise?"

Yuuki looked a bit unsure, but one look at Nozomi's face and he knew that she was serious about the promise. Yuuki stuck his pinkie out and agreed to Nozomi's promise.

"Now don't break it or else OK?"

"OK…"

The two went their separate ways that night, but Nozomi felt better knowing that she was going to see Yuuki once again in the future. She was already making a mental list in her head of the things she wanted to do with him.