**DISCLAIMER** Alright, let's just get this out of the way now. I do not own, nor have I ever owned, any of the characters, places, items, etc. etc. relating to the Harvest Moon or Rune Factory series. All of the aforementioned are the exclusive property of their respective creators and affiliated companies…one of which I am not. I mean, as awesome as it would be if I could buy the entire Rune Factory series for myself, I just don't have that kind of money…yet.

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated! n_n

Chapter 1: A Great Day, As Usual

"YAAAWWWN!" Bleary-eyed and still half asleep, Raguna edged his legs over the side of the large, double bed before reluctantly shifting his weight onto them. It took no stretch of the imagination to see that he was utterly and completely exhausted.

It's not that he wasn't used to waking up this early. Being an avid farmer in Trampoli with a full field of crops to tend to, Raguna took pains to make sure he was always awake by 6:00 AM sharp. The night before, however, he had spent tackling the Snow Ruins once again. He had been so close to finally finding the staircase leading down to the third floor! How could he have stopped, regardless of how late it was? But then that Archdemon came out of nowhere… In the end, Raguna was forced to make a hasty retreat, casting return magic to escape. So, by the time he limped upstairs and collapsed onto his bed, clothes and dignity in tatters, it was already 0:59 AM.

Now, running on roughly five hours of sleep and still recovering from a particularly painful ice ball to the head (damn that Glaces!), Raguna wondered if he might not be better off crawling back into bed and sleeping for just a couple more hours. That is, until the other reason that always got him out of bed this early suddenly struck him like a charging buffamoo. Anette!

What time was it?! Raguna's view darted over to the clock which sat on the bedside table next to his open diary. 6:00 AM, it read. Raguna exhaled gratefully. That was a relief. He was up at his usual time, he hadn't missed her.

He left his bedroom and descended the wooden staircase sliding his hand along the smooth, stained-wood banister. Kross had installed the staircase and the upstairs bedroom for him just yesterday. He always could trust Kross to be speedy when it came to household renovations.

Having reached the bottom floor, Raguna walked over to the large toolbox by the window. He placed his rucksack onto the floor and began to root haphazardly through it. He pushed aside the Formula C, the multicolored rune stones, the bottle of E. Drink X., the…

Raguna's hands stopped their rummaging. Slowly, he lifted a bouquet of striking blue flowers out from the rucksack and into the light streaming in from between the open curtains. This was the wedding bouquet that Stella had taught him to make only a week before. The blue roses within it were as dazzling as the Whale Island moonlight under which they had grown and been transformed from pale, almost ghostly white into a brilliant azure. He smiled at the significance of these flowers, of the new, larger bed he had purchased from Lute, of having recently learned of Anette's passion to be a teacher as well as a mail carrier…

Slowly, reluctantly, he coaxed himself back into reality. He slipped the bouquet delicately back into his rucksack and searched through the latter's contents again briefly before pulling out some gold, quality fur, and a bag of magic powder left over from last night's exploration of the Snow Ruins. All of these things he dumped unceremoniously into the tool box before slamming the lid back down, slinging on his rucksack, and heading out the door of his house, a grin still lingering on his face.

Once outside, the routine that an entire year of life in Trampoli had taught him took over, and Raguna allowed it to guide his actions. He jogged into his fields, Joy Watering Can in hand and set to work watering the crops. Forty-five minutes later, he had finished, and just in time too, he realized. He needn't worry about picking the crops ready for harvest; he had a pet ant to take care of that. Instead, he hurried over to stand by the mailbox and wait for Anette to arrive.

Right on cue, along the path between Raguna's homestead and Trampoli's South District, the petite figure of Trampoli's resident mail girl came blazing in a blur of scarlet clothing and fiery golden braids. Skidding audibly to a halt just in front of the mailbox, Anette looked up and caught sight of Raguna. Upon seeing him, her ever-present smile broadened and any residual coldness that Raguna may have felt from his trip into the ruins vanished in an instant. Soon, he was smiling widely enough to rival even her, the most carefree, cheerful individual in all of Trampoli, and quite possibly, in all of Norad.

"Morning!" Anette addressed him in what was her typical greeting, "Let's make this a great day!" If it were physically possible to smile any more than he was at the moment, Raguna certainly would have. That voice! Anette's voice! It was utterly pure, therapeutic, angelic! "Oh, Raguna," she suddenly added, "I have a letter here with your name on it."

"Oh, yes. I'd like my mail please."

Anette rifled through the letters in her mailbag for a moment before finding the correct one and handing it to Raguna. "Here you go!" she said, not without a hint of triumph. As she was passing the letter to him, their hands brushed one another's, and Raguna could've sworn that he saw Anette's face begin to redden. "Well," she said hurriedly, "I should probably get going now. I have other deliveries to make and stuff."

She was just revving herself up, preparing to sprint off to the next stop on her route, when Raguna said quickly, "Wait! I have something for you." Hastily slipping the letter into his pocket, he reached into his rucksack and pulled out a juicy, red strawberry which he presented to Anette.

"Really?" she spoke excitedly while taking the fruit and placing it in her bag, "It's for me? Thanks! I mean, you know how much I love fruit, so this is really great!" She giggled, and to hear a sound as wonderful as that every day, Raguna thought, he would gladly trade away all of the Emery Flowers and Little Crystals in the world.

Finally, not wanting to keep her from her deliveries any longer, he said as jovially as he could manage, "I hope you have a great day too, Anette." Anette looked up at Raguna, acknowledging him with her sweetest and most heartwarming smile. Then she was off, feet flying, leaving a cloud of dust behind her as she sped away.

"I'll see you later then, Raguna!" she shouted behind her as she went, "I'll be at Mist's after I finish making the deliveries!"

Alone again, Raguna retrieved the letter that he had placed in his pocket, opened it, and began to read. It read:

I'm bored…

I had some time on my hands, so I decided to write you a letter.
I don't have anything exciting to say or anything.

Mist

Raguna let out a deep sigh at the absurdity of the letter he had just received. That was just like Mist to send him a letter about nothing. Slowly shaking his head, even chuckling slightly despite himself, he returned the letter to the pocket of his earthen-brown farmer's outfit.

Now all that was left for Raguna to do was pick up his daily routine where he had left off. As he trotted over to the barn, he was already planning out the rest of the day in his mind. After tending to his monsters, he would have to check up on his Runey distribution at the clock tower. Then, once he had sorted that out, he would stop over at Mist's and have a proper visit with Anette. His sky-blue eyes lit up at this thought, practically radiating with anticipation.

Walking along the road to the Church District, Raguna could already picture himself walking through the front door to Mist's house. He could imagine Anette glancing up from the table where she sat, the tender expression on her face as she beamed at his arrival…

54/0/0/31 read the Runey distribution diagram for the Beach Road, Raguna's "Grass Runey factory" and also the district where Mist lived. In that case, he would have to go there, gather up twenty-one Grass Runeys with the Harvester and release…

"Hi, Raguna!" Anette's voice would ring, "It's great to see you!" He would walk over to stand by her as she told him about how the day's deliveries had gone. "So anyway, I was placing a letter for Stella in her mailbox when I suddenly looked down and realized that I dropped my wallet again. *Giggle* I know, silly me, right?"

He had started with twenty-three Grass Runeys. Checking in his rucksack, Raguna saw that he now had thirty-eight. That meant he only needed to gather six more before he released ten of his Rock Runeys along with…

"I delivered another package of books to Selphy. I kinda wish she wouldn't order so many of her books through the mail. I mean, they're just so heavy! Having to carry them around in my bag starts to make my shoulder hurt after a while."

Raguna quickly took note of how many of each type of Runey he had: Thirty-seven Tree Runeys, twenty-eight Water Runeys, thirty-two…

"Danny was waiting by his mailbox for me again…," and the way she said this showed obvious distaste. "Well, you know how he is. I guess he's trying to be friendly, and I should really give him a break, but still…"

Done harvesting ten of each Runey except Grass from the beach, Raguna released two of the Grass Runeys from his rucksack. They floated off happily to join the rest of the Runeys in prosperity. Now he just had to make his rounds, dropping off two more Grass Runeys in each of the…

"I had to skip breakfast this morning because I overslept again, and I was sooo hungry after I was done delivering everyone's mail. Erik was nice enough to treat me to lunch, though. Boiled eggs always taste so much better when I'm tired from running around all morning."

He released two Grass Runeys into the Business District. Seeing Uzuki and Eunice, he stopped briefly to talk with them before continuing on to…

"Hey, um, Raguna…could I ask you a question?"

The South District was particularly lively. A dense rainbow of Runeys hovered in the air all around him. Raguna…

"Do you…like m- *Cough* I mean, um…"

He was almost done with the day's distribution. Just Lake Poli was left for…

"Do you like m-m-…melons?! Y-yeah, that's what I was going to ask. Do you like melons? Heh heh…"

With the familiar SWOOSH of a return spell, Raguna materialized on the front step of his house. He had finally finished all of the necessary daily chores. Glancing through the window of his house at the wall clock, he saw that it was just after 11:00. Anette should be at Mist's by now, he thought, recalling her earlier promise. His spirits instantly lifted by the mental image he had conjured of her, Raguna set off toward the Beach Road in earnest. Today is as good a day as any, he reasoned, yes, I'll ask her to come flower viewing with me today. The mood will be perfect. All I'll have to do is wait until… And then…

His thoughts trailed off.

Meanwhile the bouquet remained where he had left it, nestled comfortably within the confines of his rucksack.

Thanks so much to my amazing betareaders: LovelyxxMelody & Shadows-of-Realm

Coming Soon: Chapter 2, in which Anette falls victim to pumpkin-induced paralysis... ;-)