Chapter 1

In a small valley about 5 miles away from a small village called Mineral Town, a young man arrives with only the clothes on his back, and a rucksack full of tools. He gazes over the beautiful new settlement known as Forget-Me-Not Valley, and sighs. He has been traveling for some time, looking for this vast valley to take up a job offer he heard of recently.

The man is named Hiro, age 21. Before he arrived in the valley, he used to work in his grandfather's farm in a village called Homeland. Feeling that he needs a new place to live, he heard of a farm that needs someone to work on it. He has over a year of experience under his belt, so he left his grandfather's farm, and moved to Forget-Me-Not Valley to start a new life.

As he heads towards the farm in the middle of the valley, he passes by another farm, In the farm, a young woman notices the new face walking around the valley. The young man's well groomed long brown tied up hair catches her attention. Hiro is a handsome young man, but because he likes to keep his hair long, he sometimes has people staring at him. The sleeves of his white shirt are tied up, showing off lean muscles that he got from working in the old farm. Like many farmers, Hiro wears heavy carpenter jeans with suspenders, red and black gloves to protect his hands, high work boots, and a red bandanna around his neck. He wears a blue and yellow cap on his head that used to belong to his father who is also a farmer. From the front of the hat, three long strands of bangs stick out in different directions.

The directions on his map are very clear, so he arrives at the farm quickly. He takes a good look around and nods in appreciation. He finds a large barn that can hold many animals in the middle of the property. Next to the barn is a huge pasture, with a single cow grazing on the grass. He finds two houses in the property, one close by, and another in the distance. The distant house has three plots of dirt that is used for growing crops. From where he is standing at, all three plots are of different quality, ranging from fertile to low quality. He also finds a chicken coop beyond the farm, and a tall building close by.

As Hiro look over the property, an older man walks out of the house close by. It takes him only a moment to notice Hiro standing by the entrance of the farm. He approaches him curiously and says, "Hi there young man, can I help you?"

Hiro looks at the old man for a moment. By the looks of him, he looks like your typical old man. He has a grumpy look on his wrinkled face, black poorly groomed hair, over sized eye brows, and his eyes were barely open enough to see. He has a huge slouch, which gives Hiro the impression that he has some sort of back injury. Like himself, he wears heavy jeans, high boots, and a towel around his neck which serves the same purpose as Hiro's bandanna.

Hiro nods and replies, "Hi, my name is Hiro. I came because I heard that you needed a farmer?"

"Ah yes. I was wondering if anyone was going to take the job. It's been about a year since the last farmer left. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Takakura. I help take care of the farm. Usually shipping and other small jobs."

Takakura walks off towards the other house. Hiro nods and follows him. Takakura then opens the door to the house, and allows Hiro to enter. Hero finds the house to be quite cozy, maybe a bit too big for his taste. The den has a decent sized television set, but it is rather old. There are two bedrooms in the house, a full sized kitchen with a washroom and bathroom.

After the small tour of the home, Hiro asks, "So, what happened to the past owner?"

Takakura nods, but he doesn't answer immediately. He moves to a nearby window, and stares out into the distance for a good minute. The look on his face tells Hiro that the story he is about to tell is not exactly a joyful one. But he sighs and begins, "My original partner died some time ago. He left the farm to his only son, but that boy wasn't interested in it. He only remained in the farm for only a year, then he left to pursue other goals. Ever since then, I have been looking after the farm. But I am old, and I need a younger person to take over."

"I see." answered Hiro. He wanted to say something to him, but he knows that he should just keep quiet.

Takakura sighs for a moment, then turns to Hiro and says, "If you want, the farm is yours now. I still have a few years left in me, so I'll help you out for a while. I just only hope that you'll decide to stay."

Hiro nods. He was expecting some sort of red tape to earn the right to the farm, like an interview. But for some odd reason, Takakura is just handing the farm over to him.

Takakura shows him around the farm. Since Hiro is already experienced in farming and animal care, the tour didn't take long at all. Afterwards, Takakura took Hiro out around town to have a look around.

During the tour, Hiro met a lot of people. Some of them were attractive young women who live around the valley. One of them is a tomboyish read head who happens to be a traveler. Then he met a lovely blond woman who works at a bar. Later, he was properly introduced to the young girl who works at the farm Hiro passed by earlier. Another girl that he met was a young woman who works at a dig site by the mountain.

He met a lot of new friendly faces, and saw many strange and unusual places. However, what caught his attention the most is a huge mansion at the top of a hill. The mansion looks like if a very rich person lives there. But Takakura told Hiro that the old woman who lives at the mansion had recently died. He is not sure if anyone lives there anymore since the place has been locked up for a while.

After the tour, Hiro returns to his new home, and rests for the day. The work for the day is already done, and Hiro is tired from his long travel to the valley. So he tosses himself onto his bed, and falls asleep quickly.

The next day, he opens up his rucksack, and starts unpacking his tools. Along with his tools, he also brought a small number of possessions that he cannot let go. One of them is a framed photograph of himself and a younger girl. Even though the photograph makes him feel sad, he doesn't have the heart to get rid of it. So he places it into the bookshelf between some books that were left by the previous owner.

After he gathered up his tools, he leaves the house, and begins his new life in the farm. Like clockwork, he starts off by planting crops in the plots of dirt. This was a challenge for him, since the valley's seasons are a bit different than Homeland. Because of the changing of the seasons, different crops grow at different seasons. In Homeland, it is relatively warm all year long, so he is able to grow anything anytime. Using the notes left behind in the house, he is able to buy the proper seeds, and plant them in the proper plots of land.

Afterwards, he starts with the cow. There is only a single brown cow in the farm, but it's a good start. Usually, Hiro starts with a chicken. But the cow he now has came with the farm, so he isn't complaining. He can buy chickens and more cows later on if he wishes.

After the tasks of the farm are done, Hiro heads out to the valley to pick other things he can sell. In the wild, herbs and flowers grow begging to be picked. He also got a part time job at the dig site, and found some valuable coins and crystals. The tool shed had a fishing rod, so Hiro also did some fishing.

At 3:00pm, Hiro's rucksack is getting overstuffed with stuff to sell. In Homeland, Hiro is used to selling his goods directly to the shop owners for money. However, there are few shops in the valley, and none of them buys directly from him. So instead, he decides to set up a shop next to the inn of the valley where he sells to the other passing villagers.

Because Hiro is experience with selling as well as farming, Hiro is able to round up a good crowd to buy his milk, herbs, fish, and other goods. But as he is selling, he has caught the attention of a young girl who is living inside the inn. She looks out the window, and watches him closely. She has never met this new face before, but there is something about him that interests her. Curious to get to know the newcomer of the valley, the girl exits the inn, and approaches Hiro's shop.

As Hiro is distracted by the other customers, the girl picks up the flowers that Hiro laid out for display. As soon as Hiro gets a free moment, she asks, "Excuse me, but how much are these flowers?"

At that moment, Hiro's brown eyes met her amber colored eyes for the first time. During yesterday's tour, Hiro thought he met everybody, but he was proven wrong with this other girl. Hiro doesn't know exactly why, but there is something about the way she looks and stands that catches his interest. She is about his age, and a bit shorter than he is. Her light brown shoulder length hair sways in the gentle breeze of the valley. Her olive green and forest green plaid dress looks more elegant than the rest of the valley. Her gold colored hair band, the orange bandanna around her neck, and the flowers in her arms give off a cute and innocent charm. Out of all the girls in the valley, Hiro finds this young woman to be the most attractive. But there's something else about her that Hiro cannot pinpoint at that moment.

Hiro snaps out of his daze, and realizes that this young woman, is waiting for an answer. He looks at the flowers that he had picked earlier and responds, "Well, back in my hometown, I used to sell them for 5 bucks each. But I guess I can knock off a little. How's about 20 bucks for the flowers?"

The young girl smiles and pays for the flowers. She then asks, "May I ask for your name?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." he said sheepishly. "My name is Hiro, I just moved into the farm yesterday."

The young girl bows gracefully at Hiro and says, "My name is Lumina. It was a pleasure to meet you."

After they greet each other for the first time, Lumina returns to the inn where she places the flowers she just bought in a vase full of water. Hiro continues to sell the rest of his goods. About an hour later, he is done selling all of his goods, and he packs up for the day. But for the rest of the day, that girl that he met earlier remains stuck in his head.

The next day, Hiro leaves the house, and is about to start another day of work. But just as he is leaving the house, Takakura stops him and asks, "Hey there Hiro! I noticed this morning that you had nothing in the shipping crate. Is something wrong?"

Hiro looks at him awkwardly and asks, "Shipping crate? We have one of those here?"

"Indeed we do." answered Takakura. He the takes him to the store room where he finds the shopping crates where Hiro was supposed to place the milk and crops he collected through the day. Takakura explained that usually, Hiro would deposit the milk, eggs, crops and fish into the bin, and Takakura takes them to Mineral town every morning, and pays him when he gets back. Hiro nods joyfully, since he doesn't have to sell everything manually like he did before, that leaves him extra time to do other things, like make friends with the villagers.

Hiro continues on to do his chores after getting briefed about shipping and ordering new animals from the store room. Because he only has a cow to take care of, and a few plants, he gets done very early. So instead of tackling the village for wild sellable goods, he decides to go for a tea break.

As Hiro is preparing tea, Lumina decides to pay a visit to the farm. She finds Takakura, and asks him if Hiro was in. He tells her that she can find Hiro in the house preparing tea. As she approaches his home, she begins to get butterflies in her stomach. She knows that what she's about to do may seem crazy to most people. But even so, she knows that it's her duty to do it anyway. So she gathers up her courage, and knocks on Hiro's door.

Hiro answers only a moment later. He is shocked to find the girl that he met yesterday in his farm. They greet formally, but there was a strange feeling coming from her. He is unsure why she came to his home so suddenly, but there is a look on her face that tell him that she has something on his mind. So he invites her inside, and offers her some tea.

There was a moment of silence as Hiro places a cup of tea in front of her. She seems to be embarrassed for some reason, Hiro knows she wants to say something. After a few minutes of silence, Hiro decides to take initiative and says, "So Lumina, how are the flowers?"

"They're great. They give my room a bit more color, and the air smells nice." she answered nervously.

The idle chit chat wasn't getting them anywhere. After taking a sip of his tea, Hiro decides to ask, "So, is there anything I can help you with? You look like you need something."

Lumina fidgets with her fingers for a moment, then answers, "Well, I kinda need a favor. It's a really big favor, so you can turn it down if you like."

"A favor? What kind of favor?" asked Hiro.

"Well, you see. . . I was wondering if maybe. . . We could have an arranged marriage?"

"Oh I see. Is that it?" responded Hiro. He then takes a drink of his tea. It takes him a second to realize what Lumina is asking of him. Shocked to realize it, Hiro chokes on his tea, and starts coughing like crazy.

Lumina stands up in a panic and asks, "Hiro, are you okay!?"

After coughing a few more times, he says, "Yeah, but. . . Did you just say an arranged marriage??"

Lumina nods. The silence returns, Hiro stares at Lumina in shock, while she just looks down embarrassed that she had just proposed to a guy she had hardly met. Neither of them know what to say to one another. Marriage was the last thing Hiro ever thought that she would ever talk about, let alone ask for it.

To be continued.