The narrator tells us that he's been waiting for the prince to show up at the flower shop, but he hasn't. He's happy to have the prince back at the shop, because it's nice to have someone to talk to when you're in the middle of nowhere. The narrator says that the prince's name means "thousands of cherry blossom" , which is a pretty good description of the flowers. He also says that he loves the way the prince handles the flowers, which makes them look delicate and gentle. He adds that the narrator's expression is different from that of the usual cherry blossom, so he'd like to combine the flowers with other flowers. The prince says he was totally wrong about the timing of the visit, and that he was just going to be a regular customer. He says that if the cherry blossoms keep blooming, the prince will see the narrator as something more than just a customer, and he'll think of the prince as a "different customer." The prince suggests that he cut a cross from the cherry blossom's stem and place it in a water-filled vase, so that the flower will bloom right away. It's a good idea, the narrator says, because there are lots of stories about how the prince used to cut his own cherry blossom tree when he was a kid, but there's no way to know if he actually did it.