Eda had passed away.
It still had not gotten through Minori's head. This morning, the farmer had woken up and made sure to change into her warmest clothes. She watered and fertilized her crops, took care of her livestock, and strode to Eda's house with the idea of helping the elderly, ailing woman out on the farm.
And she remembered that Eda was dead, and that this land was now hers.
Minori had dropped to the ground then. She didn't remember when she blacked out, or maybe it was immediately. It was the second time in the last couple weeks since Eda's death that she had forgotten.
She woke up (or became aware of her surroundings, because Minori really couldn't remember what had happened) in the clinic a little later.
"You're awake," Marian said, a kind smile on his face.
She squinted up at his face, which was awfully blurry. "Where are my glasses?"
"Here, sweetie," Marian said. He handed her a pair of cobalt glasses. He gave her a ring, too. "Fritz said that this fell out of your bag. Anyway, Raeger and Fritz brought you here. They found you, passed out in the snow. Again. They had to go back to work."
She didn't reply.
"You're still as pale as a sheet and you probably got a cold, but you'll be alright. You can go home now if you want, but please take care of yourself from now on," Marian said lightly.
With only a mumbled goodbye, Minori rushed out of the clinic, nearly colliding into the guildmaster of the town. She looked worried sick.
"Minori!" Veronica exclaimed. "I heard about what happened, are you okay?!"
"I-I'm fine," she said, cutting the older woman off and scurrying out of the Guild Hall.
When Minori was finally out, the woman began walking slowly up towards her farm. It would be a long walk.
The next evening, Minori went to Raeger's restaurant for some dinner. He made her some curry with a smile on his face and worry in his eyes.
"Eat up," Raeger told her cheerfully. Absentmindedly, Minori mixed the curry and the rice together.
"I haven't thanked you yet. For yesterday."
Raeger's smile grew wider.
"You don't need to thank me. Remember when you helped me? When I had a cold? And you stayed with me until it was nighttime. I'm just paying you back." He laughed.
Minori definitely remembered that. It was weeks ago (in fact, just a couple of nights before Eda passed away) but it was something the farmer remembered perfectly. She had been thinking about giving him a ring and confessing then. Eda and Iris had insisted that she should confess as soon as possible, because Raeger was a popular man.
She said nothing in response to Raeger and essayed for a smile, looking up at his face. Minori still had feelings for him, of course, but it was too difficult now. And he deserved better than someone like her. There were plenty of ofhers interested in him.
When Raeger leaned over the counter and brushed aside a strand of her black hair saying, "You should tie your hair up when you eat", she couldn't stop herself from blushing. He coughed embarrassedly and pretended that nothing happened.
"Enjoy your meal." he said. "Oh, and... please take care of yourself. The entire town was worried sick. She... would have been too."
Minori tried to get that stuck into her mind. Though Raeger did not mention her name, the person was referring to was obvious.
Iris had invited her for tea. It was Winter 20 and it had been nearly one full season since they had gotten to do anything like this. The woman supposed that it would be nice to get her mind off of things for a day. There was no sense in brooding.
"How have you been holding up?" Iris asked, stirring her tea with one hand and cupping her cheek with the other. This woman was so beautiful it was calming just to look at her. Sure, Minori herself was rather pretty, but not in a mature way like Iris.
"Fine," Minori mumbled, sipping her tea.
Iris raised an eyebrow and she tried to look away, because there was something about Iris that made Minori want to spill her entire life story out immediately.
"Come on, Minori, you can talk to me. The entire town is worried shout you."
"…I miss Eda. That's it," Minori said. That basically was it. Iris's face softened and the writer reached over the table to squeeze the farmer's hand.
"I miss her too. But we have to move on, you know? Eda wouldn't have wanted us to be so sad, especially not over her. She died and lived a long, full life." The corners of Iris's lips quirked up slightly. It was the faintest hint of a smile. "At least she got to meet you before she passed."
Minori stared at Iris, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
"I hate you and your beautiful face. Everything you say always makes sense." She couldn't help but laugh as she was crying, and then Iris laughed too.
"I've been waiting to hear that laugh of yours," Iris said with a gleam in her eyes.
She and Iris went out to eat at the restaurant a couple days later and Minori felt, for the first time in ages, as if she would be okay.
Iris kept nudging her whenever Raeger looked or came their way even though Minori told her it was never going to happen.
"The Starry Night Festival is in a couple nights, you know," Iris whispered when Raeger had just given them their food.
"You shouldn't be talking right now. You still haven't confessed to Klaus yet," Minori replied.
"I'm not interested in him that way!" Iris insisted. Minori shrugged and pouted.
"Sure you aren't. Maybe I should ask him?" She was only teasing, of course. Though it would be a lie to say that Minori had never had the teensiest crush on him.
Iris avoided the question. "What're you going to do if Raeger gets a girlfriend? What's stopping you from asking him out now?"
"Everything!" Minori exclaimed, perhaps a bit more likely then she would have liked. "I don't like him at all!" That was an obvious lie.
Her eyes met Raeger's then. Her face felt like it was on fire. Iris was most likely mentally facepalming herself.
The chef looked away, a deep blush on his face.
She had come to see him the next morning to apologize. Fritz had td her that Raeger was really upset by her words.
Raeger was taking some cakes out of the oven when Minori had stepped into the restaurant.
"Hey," Raeger said, looking away.
She decided to be as blunt as could be.
"I'm sorry for that outburst last night. When I said that I didn't like you, I only meant in the romantic sense."
The chef looked away, mumbling a small 'Oh' before he turned towards her again and said, "That's fine, because I really d-don't..." He trailed off, stumbling over his words, before Raeger shook his head and took off his oven mitts.
"Okay, that's a lie," Raeger said. Minori's raised an eyebrow. "These last couple seasons, I… I've really fallen for you. I can't stop thinking about you and both of the times I found you passed out where Eda's farm used to be, I freaked out and... I was really hoping that you liked me back. Especially after you stayed with me back then. I-I heard some rumors that you liked me, but I guess they were wrong." The man took a deep breath before he realized what he'd just said. "You can forget about all of that."
But Minori couldn't just forget. She took a step forward before taking her rucksack off and rummaging through it. The ring was still in there somewhere. The woman had made it a habit to keep the ring with her at all times, even though she stopped planning on confessing a while ago. She found it after a couple awkward seconds; Raeger was about to run upstairs.
"Do you see this?" Minori asked finally. "I made this for you a long time ago. I lied yesterday." Raeger's face was the color of a tomato now.
"A-Are you confessing to me now?"
Minori blinked and finally realized the full extent of her actions. She tried to think of a witty thing to say.
"You confessed to me first," she said.
They stared at each other before Minori said, "I'm going to cut to the chase. Do you want to go steady now?"
That evening, Minori went to Eda's grave, a bouquet of blue roses and hydrangeas with her. She didn't feel pained anymore, walking to the farm that Eda had passed on to her or looking at Eda's grave.
"I finally did it, Eda," she began with a wistful smile on her face. "It was really awkward. But I did it. wish you could have been here to see it. We're going to the Starry Night Festival later."
Without another word, the farmer placed the bouquet on the grave and left to her farmhouse.
This is my Harvest Moon fanfic ever, I hope it's okay. Even though I finished it at like two in the morning. Um, I don't really have much to say? Please enjoy and leave comments! I plan on writing more Minori/Raeger fanfiction and maybe some Minori/Klaus. Which one would you guys prefer? Also, Minori and Iris's friendship is totally inspired off of Leslie Knope and Anne Perkin's friendship.