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   Nozomi put herself to bed like usual.

   She got into her pajamas: a pair of shorts and button-up shirt, both pretty breezy for the late spring and early summer nights which could get quite warm. She brushed her teeth and swished her mouth out with water, too. She brushed her hair and put some curlers in. She told her parents that she loved them and would see them in the morning before finally turning off the lights in her room so she could crawl into bed.

   It was all pretty normal. She went to sleep, the darkness soothed her and then… She woke up.

   Not in the morning, no, nor her bedroom either. This was something else. This was a tiny little kingdom filled with tall coconut trees and the tiniest of residents. It was in the middle of a desert, huddled around a crystal blue oasis and there was a castle.

   Nozomi’s heart thudded in her chest. She realised something. This was the Palmiere Kingdom. A place she had never visited before but had seen pictures, heard stories. It was warm here: blazingly warm with azure skies overhead which lacked a single cloud. 

   She wandered around, feeling a giant amongst the settlement and found herself at the castle. Where else? It was one of the few places in the Kingdom, which she could see all of from east to west, that could accommodate her side. Even if she did have to get on her knees and wiggle through the front door. The guardian knights outside didn’t so much bat an eyelash.

   It was though they were expecting her - or that she wasn’t actually there.

   Upon entering the castle, Nozomi found Coco pretty fast and her oh. Her heart pounded.

   Of course. Coco had a family in the Palmiere Kingdom. A mother, a father, grandparents. His Grandfather was in bed and looked quite aged, grey fur and saggy whiskers. His wife, Coco’s Grandmother, held his little paw and Coco did his best to put up a smile.

   “I’ll go get a fresh wet towel. That might help with Grandfather’s fever.” Coco said but he sounded guilty for suggesting it.

   Regardless, his Mother encouraged the kindness. His Father just stared.

   Coco turned around and was shocked to see Nozomi in the room. Upon their eyes meeting, the room faded away. The smooth cobblestone walls, the decadent rugs of scarlet with their golden tassels. All of it.

   “What are you doing here?” Coco squeaked and then laughed awkwardly. “Actually, it makes sense you would be here. Your magic must be getting stronger.”

   “My magic?” Nozomi echoed.

   Coco began to walk forward and Nozomi walked with him into a white void. 

   “You are the Pretty Cure of Hopes and Dreams, your affinity is with light, it makes sense that your powers would develop in this space.” Coco said. “I’m proud of you, Nozomi, for being able to grow like this.”

   “I’m still confused, Coco.” Nozomi admitted. “What is this place? What does it have to do with my powers as Cure Dream?”

   “This is my dream. You are astral projecting right now, Nozomi. That means when you went to sleep tonight, you left your body and found mine, haha.” Coco replied.

   “Oh.” Nozomi swallowed thickly - and blushed just a little.

   “Ah, I worded that poorly but still, keep at it and you might be able to do it on purpose. Just think about it, your mastery is over light: dreams are the lights we see in the dark of sleep.” Coco furthered explained.

   Nozomi hummed and thought about Coco’s wisdom. She supposed it made sense. When she closed her eyes, she saw phosphenes on the back of her eyelids. During sleep, dreaming occurred dream the REM phase and REM stood for rapid eye movement. So those movements, they turned those lights into images akin to how animation functioned. Thanks to Coco’s tutoring, she remembered more titbits from science like this. Though not certain, she felt like she came around to what Coco meant.

   “I see.” Nozomi mumbled.

   “Here you go, I think we’ve walked far enough so you can go back to your own dream now, Nozomi.” Coco told her upon making an abrupt stop. He looked up at her and smiled, “Good luck with learning your powers better. I hope the other girls are able to master their magic just like you.”

   “Thank you, Coco.” Nozomi replied.

   “Oh, and, um, before I go… Don’t worry if you saw anything in my dream,” Coco’s voice sounded assuring, “I was dreaming about something that happened a long time ago and feel better about. In fact, it was nice to see my Grandparents again, even if it had to be like that.”

   “I understand.” Nozomi replied.

   “Good night, Nozomi.” Coco bade her.

   “Good night, Coco.” Nozomi returned his sentiments and then.

   Poof. He disappeared. 

   The dream ended and Nozomi reefed herself from her bed. She looked around her room. Her stuffed animals, the posters on the wall, her messy dresser. She paid close attention to the details just to make sure this wasn’t another dream. It definitely wasn’t but there was a strange feeling in her chest. Perhaps from that little scene of grief that Coco’s dream had showed her. There was a lot she didn’t know about being a Pretty Cure.

   Astral projecting, dreamwalking… She had no idea that the magic of being a Pretty Cure could even be accessed outside of that alternative form of hers. She wondered what growing pains the other girls might start going through with their powers, what that would like for them. It made her curious and as their leader, the first Pretty Cure, Nozomi vowed to blaze the trail ahead so she could help better.

   So every now and again, Nozomi tried to see if she could trigger this power of hers on purpose. She couldn’t. Duh. She was Yumehara Nozomi, flunkee extraordinaire and generally an unlucky, clumsy person but every now and again, it did happen by accident.

   Nozomi got into all sorts of mischief, she would admit, being able to peek into the dreams of others. It wasn’t all fun and games, Coco’s dream having given her a baseline of what could be serious about a dream, but it could be. 

   Little kids had dreams which were tonnes of fun, mishmashes of anime and cartoons with candy coloured fairy tales. Adults had rather serious dreams, she discovered, realistic examinations of what they would do in emergency situations. Teenagers, like her, had dreams which were all over the place, in between the aforementioned age groups: sometimes childish, sometimes chilling. Occasionally Nozomi even saw something that made her blush. She believed those were called wet dreams. 

   None of it a true reflection of reality but the hope of seeing something out of the ordinary did make Nozomi’s nighttime routine a whole lot more interesting. She didn’t mind being a sightseer. Though, it did involve a lot of time management when she had school in the morning.

   It was funny. Coco had been the only dream she had entered that belonged to someone she knew. Until now.

   “Urara.” Nozomi breathed when she saw her dear companion.

   However… The atmosphere of Urara’s dream was off. Nozomi could feel it instinctively, though she was unable to fully articulate why because from her position looking in, this looked like Urara’s wildest dreams come true. 

   Her dream was taking place within a dramatic stage, made of the richest, darkest wood and adorned with heavy curtains of crimson velvet. The room was filled with faceless, shadowy people who clapped and cheered, their ordinance all calling for the name of Kasugano Urara. Over and over again and there she was.

   Up on the stage, dyed in dynamic lighting of amber and wearing clothes that reminded Nozomi of renaissance Europe. Her silhouette was akin to that of a cupcake, she was boarded up in stifling taffeta and large shifts of stiff silk. She wore silver and gold, her hair done up with a conical accessory of velour, topped with an opaque ribbon.

   “Wherefore art thou… Romeo?” Urara began.

   Nozomi got chills from that line alone. Urara’s pronunciation was immaculate. Her expression was beautifully tortured, a tear on her cheek which glimmered. Her hands were clasped together in prayer. 

   “Deny thy father and refuse thy name.” Urara continued.

   Shakespeare… Performing Shakespeare for such an enthusiastic crowd had to be the ultimate achievement of any thespian, Nozomi was certain. He was renowned for good reason and Urara’s performance thus far from the first two lines alone was sparkling.

   “Or if thou wilt be sworn my name, quoth the Raven-”

   Urara’s expression faltered. Now, Nozomi wasn’t a whiz of medieval English but she was fairly certain that was not how the monologue was meant to continue. The fact Urara looked so betrayed by her own lips, oh, it made Nozomi’s heart ache with worry.

   “The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun… the frumious Bandersnatch…”

   Those weren’t even words now, Nozomi was sure. Her stomach twisted and knotted. She drew in closer to the stage and then she felt it. A change in the crowd. They began to boo and jeer. 

   Urara fretted on stage as her credibility as an actor was torn to shreds. She looked through the crowds, not a caring face, not a kind word. She trembled and she fidgeted and she buckled beneath the weight of it all. Practice, schoolwork, scripts, and more. All the behind the scenes work and she couldn’t escape it.

   Not even in her dreams.

   Nozomi wouldn’t allow it. Her heart quaked in her chest. She knew that Urara was a brilliant actress. She was a reliable student and a polite employee. She wouldn’t allow the crowd to turn on Urara and torture her in this nightmare.

   The darkness that the audience wallowed in slowed Nozomi down as she tried to get up onto the stage. The flooring, once a crisp carpet, melted and turned gooey. The people, already faceless and unidentifiable, began to merge and turn amorphous. They grabbed at her, tried to draw her into their cruel blobs but Nozomi fought it off.

   She grabbed the edge of the stage. The wooden planks were hard and hot, warmed to a boiling point by those terrible stage lights. The amber colour had become a harsh, urine-coloured yellow. But Nozomi pulled herself up nonetheless with all her might.

   She leapt onto the stage and to Urara’s rescue. 

   “You were doing great, Urara, don’t listen to them,” Nozomi urged her, “this isn’t real, this is just a nightmare.”

   She knelt at Urara’s feet. She had all but curled up into a ball, hands over her head. Her once majestic dress that had trapped her, now ribboned and dirty. With tremors in her fingers, Nozomi reached out and coaxed Urara to look up.

   Trembling, terrified, Urara slowly looked up and her eyes watered when she saw Nozomi. Nozomi smiled weakly and held her hand gently, peeling it away from the side of Urara’s face which was puffy and smeared with dried tears.

   “I’m here now.” Nozomi told her.

   “Nozomi…” Urara’s voice was high and warbling. “My hero!”

   Urara flung herself at Nozomi. Her arms flapped out wide and then inwards in an enormous hug. She buried herself against Nozomi’s breast, clad in her pyjamas, and held onto her tightly.

   “Thank you, Nozomi, thank you.” Urara’s voice was high and pithy and grateful. 

   “Your welcome-”

   Nozomi attempted to reply to Urara but Urara was quicker with a kiss of all things.

   Her hands rose and caressed the side of Nozomi’s face, she zoomed in and kissed her. Urara’s hands were delicate but her lips were anything but. Her passion was intense, and open-mouthed. Nozomi stiffened, her eyes widened as this happened.

   Her first kiss.

   Did it even count as a first kiss? She was really, truly here but to Urara, she was a figment of her imagination. 

   Yet as a first kiss, despite these surreal circumstances, it was not a bad kiss. Quite the opposite in fact. Urara overflowed with her affections, her lips were all but electric. She was sweet and supple and when Nozomi calmed down despite the surprise, she was able to kiss back. 

   Nozomi kissed Urara back with reverence, chastity. She did her best to enjoy it, the dream shifted around them. The stage lights softened to a mellow buttercup. The auditorium was emptied of those people and their cruel jeering. The orchestra began to pluck upon silver notes that were jovial and merry. Urara sighed when she ended the kiss and gazed adoringly into Nozomi’s eyes.

   “Nozomi…” Urara professed in a low voice, drawing back. “I love you. Thank you for saving me from my bad dreams… hehe, you really are my dream girl. I - I could never confess such things in real life.”

   Nozomi’s heart could have leapt out of her chest. She decided that it would be best to play along. To keep pretending she was just a manifestation of this crush that Urara on her, appearing in her dreams to safeguard her. It was sweet, honestly, even if it left Nozomi awestruck.

   She stared, all but unable to breathe as she processed this kiss - and her feelings regarding it. Nozomi licked her lips and felt a trill when she got a scant taste of the remnants of her and Urara’s kiss. That seemed to be confirm her now budding feelings…

   “I-I’ll see you tomorrow at school, Urara,” Nozomi replied, through wracked nerves, “but, um, just know… you are my dream girl, too.”

   “Thank you, Nozomi.” Urara replied with a smile that could out shine the stars. It was so dazzling.

   The dream began to fade and Nozomi found her escape. She felt bad, leaving Urara behind on the stage but when she turned her back, she was able to see Urara rise to her full height, short as it may be, and resume her monologue.

   “And I’ll no longer be a Capulet…”

   That made Nozomi happy as she disappeared, making her way home and to her body again. She woke up not too long after - and before her morning alarm even. Nozomi blushed as she recalled the events of last night’s dream. Her lips still felt kissed as though it had been real, in the flesh.

   She was all but in fantasy herself as she got ready for school. She resolved to pretend that it had never happened! It would be better that way. To kiss and exchange such confessions, it was too much, embarrassing, and yet enough to make Nozomi swoon.

   But Urara was the first person she saw in the daytime, in her school uniform. She looked as giddy as she normally did, bounding up to say hello. The rest of the school looked dreary and dull for a Monday morning, all stone walls and sleepy students, and yet Urara was an energetic beam of sunshine outside those curly, steel gates.

   “Nozomi, Nozomi, you’ll never guess,” Urara teased her, bouncing on her heel, “but last night… you were in my dreams!”