The streets of Nanohana buzzed with laughter, merchants calling out deals, and children weaving between the stalls. Among them was a little girl with sky-blue hair, her cheeks flushed from running under the sun.
"Faster, Koza! You said you were the leader!" yelled Vivi, all of five years old, arms flailing as she dashed barefoot through the marketplace.
"Leaders strategize, they don't always run first!" barked a seven-year-old Koza, trying to sound important even as he tripped on a watermelon rind.
Behind them followed their usual crew:
Riku – the quiet, brainy one, holding a half-broken compass and sketching directions in a worn notebook.
Meeka – wild, scrappy, and already climbing a streetlamp to shortcut the alleyway.
Tago – waddling after them while munching on a date-filled pastry, his mouth stained with sugar.
Despite her royal status, Vivi never wore a crown or flaunted who she was. She refused to have guards follow her around, and if anyone addressed her as "princess," she'd yell, "I'm just Vivi today!"
And so, she was.
One man, however, had to suffer through her freedom-loving spirit.
Pell the Falcon, then a young officer in the Royal Guard, had been assigned to "casually monitor" her outings. But Vivi's version of a "walk" included chasing scorpions, jumping into fruit barrels, and pretending to be a pirate while standing on barrels yelling, "Hoist the sails!"
"Princess Vivi, please, stop climbing the camel cart—!"
"Only if you admit I'm the best rope fighter in the group!"
Pell would groan. "By the heavens… Cobra-sama is going to have my wings plucked for this…"
Still, he never truly tried to stop her. Because he saw what she saw — that the people loved her because she never acted above them.
One late afternoon, the group found themselves near the outskirts of town, where an old sandstone ruin sat. They called it "Pirate Fort." Most days, they pretended to fight imaginary villains — but that day, they met a real one.
A low-bounty pirate, barely worth 300,000 Berries, had been camping nearby. Seeing children play, he stepped out with a grin and said, "What a nice day for some ransom."
Vivi didn't scream.
She stepped behind Koza, who puffed out his chest.
"You're trespassing on our hideout, mister!" Koza declared.
Meeka grabbed a long stick. Riku checked his bag for sand bombs. Tago prepared to use pastries as projectiles.
Koza turned. "Plan 'Palm Tree' — now!"
The kids scattered. While Meeka and Tago distracted the pirate, Riku and Vivi ran to the guards.
Just before the guards reached the scene and the pirate was subdued, there was a brief, shining moment of chaos.
The pirate lunged at Tago, who had fallen trying to toss a basket. Koza, acting on instinct, grabbed a gnarled branch and charged in.
"KOZA NOOO—!" Meeka yelled.
"YAAAH!" Koza screamed back and swung with all his might — aiming for center mass…
CRACK.
The pirate went cross-eyed and collapsed to his knees, wheezing something that didn't sound human.
As the guards finally seized him, Koza stood with the branch over his shoulder, panting and triumphant. Vivi ran up, beaming.
"You did it!"
Koza puffed his chest. "That's what you get for messing with my friends!"
But Pell, who had just landed in his falcon form and seen the finishing blow, looked horrified.
"Koza," he barked, "you struck him… there."
Koza blinked. "Yeah. It worked, didn't it?"
Pell crossed his arms, face red from fury and embarrassment. "One should never hit a man in that place unless they've truly lost all honor! It is the code of warriors, the last line of dignity!"
Koza scratched his head. "But he was a pirate."
"…Tch. Fair."
Vivi burst out laughing, and even Meeka collapsed into giggles. Tago just kept chewing his crushed pastry like nothing had happened, and Riku scribbled the whole exchange down with a title: Koza's Codebreak Swing.
They caught him moments later, but word spread — the "Desert Petal Squad" had "defeated" a pirate.
Back in the now-dried Yuba, Vivi sat outside the tent, gazing at the rising sun.
Vihaan walked over with water, offering it wordlessly.
"You ever think about your childhood?" she asked, staring at the dunes.
"All the time," Vihaan said softly. "Though mine had less fruit-pelting and more near-death experiences."
She chuckled, resting her head on his shoulder. "Koza was such a good leader. Strong, confident… I wish I could just talk to him again."
"You will," Vihaan said, brushing a strand of her hair back. "And this time, he'll know the truth."