Harvest Moon: Cosplay Madness
Chapter 1
After some time traveling, Yuu arrives at the town that he has been looking for, a place known as Waffle Town in Waffle Island. Outside the small town in the Caramel River District is an empty farm that was abandoned by it's previous owner. A newspaper article offered a job as a farmer to whoever was interested. Yuu was born and raised in the city, but he needed a job so he decided to take the farm. The farm isn't that expensive, but Yuu emptied out his savings in order to buy it.
Yuu takes a good look at his farm. There wasn't much he could start with. A house, some land to plant some crops, and a barn and coop to keep some animals. He takes a big sigh, and checks his wallet. By how light it is, he knows that he is in trouble. There is barely enough to get himself started, and he has a lot to buy. Food, clothing, little knick-naks to entertain himself when he's bored. However, just like starting any business, he'll have to endure some hardship before he can make any money. It is a bit hot, so Yuu takes out his little sweat rag, and wipes his face. There's not much he can do today, so he puts all of his belongings inside the house, and sleeps the afternoon away. His first day starts tomorrow.
The next day, Yuu wakes up to the sunny Summer morning. Back in the city, he always depended on air conditioning to keep himself cool. Now he needs to get used to the Summer breeze to keep him cool. After taking a bath, brushing his teeth, and having some breakfast, he looks in his suit case for a fresh change of clothing. However, as he searches through his clothing, he notices that he has a small problem. All of his clothing are not suited for farm work, they are all casual clothing used to go out with friends, or business attire for his old job. Yuu never actually went shopping for new clothing before he arrived at Waffle Island.
Even though he doesn't have much money, clothing is what he needed the most. Luckily, he received a map from Waffle Town's mayor yesterday. So he pulls it out, and takes a look at it to see if there is some way to get some clothes. He notices a place called the Chiffon Tailor shop in the village not too far from his farm. There are no other places he can see where he can get some clothing, so he feels that he might as well try there. He only hopes that he will be lucky enough to get something cheap.
Following the map is not too hard, it's accurate enough for anyone to follow without getting lost. On the way to the tailor's he meets a bunch of new people. They are all warm and kind, greeting him with smiles, and giving him advice on how to get around. This makes Yuu quite happy, since he is a newbie at farming, he felt that the people may not welcome him so easily. But meeting so many kind people has put his soul at ease.
He arrives at the tailor's shop a couple of hours later. The place is nice, and full of color and cloth used for making clothing. Since the rest of the town was gentle, he assumes that the people who work here are normal villagers as well. Without hesitation, he walks in.
"Hello? . . . Is anyone here?" he asked as he walks around the shop.
Yuu cannot find the owner, but he sees lots of fabric thrown around everywhere, and half made clothing on the tables. As he checks the clothing on the tables, he notices that they look a little bit strange. Some of the colors used are a bit flashy, and the fabrics used are strange. The other villagers wears old fashioned country clothing, but the clothing on the tables are pretty unique. They look more like Halloween costumes, not actual clothing.
As Yuu walks around the shop, the shop owner walks out of the back and says, "Hello? Is someone in the shop?"
The voice shocks Yuu, he thought for a moment that no one was in. As he turns around, he sees a person wearing very feminine clothing approach him. The shop owner stops right in fron of Yuu, and takes a good look at him. As the shop owner buzzes around him like a bee, he can't help but to feel a bit creeped out.
The shop owner stops in font of him and says, "I have never seen you before. Who might you be?"
He feels a bit nervous about introducing himself to the shop owner. But to avoid being rude, he says, "My name is Yuu. I just moved into the farm close by."
"Ahh, I see. You are the new farmer. But. . ." The shop owner scans his clothing briefly once again, and says, "You don't look like a farmer."
Yuu is wearing a white casual shirt, and brown slacks. Nothing a proud farmer usually wears wears. "Yeah, I know. That's why I came, to see if someone cam make me some farming clothes."
"I see. So what exactly are you looking for?" asked the shop owner.
Yuu takes a moment to think about what type of clothes farmers usually wears. He needs clothes that are tough, and easy to clean. Since he'll be working with dirt and animals a lot, he knows that he can't wear anything delicate or dressy. So he tells the shop owner, "I need a shirt that is really thick and hard to tear. I prefer something very light blue in color. I also need some loose carpenter pants with huge pockets. Since I'll be playing around in dirt, I'll need some gloves too. I also need something that goes around my neck that'll keep the dirt from getting inside my shirt. If you can, I'll need some boots as well."
The shop owner places his hand on his chin, and thinks about Yuu's request for a moment. After a minute, the owner gets a good mental image of what Yuu needs. He runs to the back to get his tools, and then begins to take all of Yuu's measurements from head to toe. After he is satisfies with the measurements, he says, "Okay, I got it! I'll make you the most beautiful set of farming clothes you'll ever own."
A bead of sweat fell from Yuu's head as he says, "I see. . . Beautiful. . ." Remembering that he needs to keep a budget, he asks, "Umm, by the way. How much will this cost?"
The shop owner shakes his head and says, "Since you're a new customer, I'll do this job for free!"
Suddenly, Yuu's image of the shop owner changes from strange to cool instantly. "Are you sure it's OK?" he asked.
"Oh, it's perfectly fine. Just make sure you come back and use our services again." reassured the shop owner.
Yuu takes a bow. He is about to thank the shop owner, but he hasn't learned his name yet. So he asks, "Umm, I didn't catch your name yet."
"I am Juli, a fashion expert and jewelry maker." he answers.
"Thank you very much Mrs. Juli." Yuu said thoughtlessly.
"It's Mr. Juli." he said in a sour tone.
At this point, Yuu's jaw drops as he realizes that he was talking to a man, not a woman. He fears that Juli is not going to do him the favor to make his clothing anymore. He bows down again, and tries his best to apologize. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking! Please forgive me."
Juli smiles and says, "Don't worry so much about it. I get that all the time from new people. Just try not to let that happen again."
Yuu sighs in relief. Juli then heads to the back where he can start making the preparations to make clothing for Yuu. But before he leaves, he says, "Oh, by the way. I won't be able to finish until tomorrow afternoon. The other girls get up a little bit later, and I need their help to make everything.
"Girls?" asked Yuu.
"Well, they are not related to me in any way, but they do work for me." answered Juli.
Just then, Yuu gets a very disturbing image of who these girls might be. More men cross dressing as women that works for the tailor's shop. But since they are making his clothing for free, he doesn't have much right to complain.
Yuu then leaves the tailor shop, and continues to look around Waffle Island for the rest of the day. Eventually he finds himself near the blacksmith's shop. At the blacksmith's shop, a very brawny man leaves the building to get some air. At that moment, he notices Yuu walking around aimlessly. So he goes up to Yuu, and introduces himself. "Hi there! Are you the new farmer that moved in yesterday?
Yuu looks up at this enormous person. Seeing his massive body scares him. But he would rather be his friend than his enemy, so he greets, "Yeah, my name is Yuu."
"Good to meet you! The name's Oso, my father is the blacksmith. Nice to meet ya!"
Oso then asks a lot of questions to Yuu. Mostly about his hometown, and other common chit chat. But even though Yuu enjoys the little chat, he still needs to see the rest of the town before dusk. So he says farewell to his new friend Oso. But before he leaves the blacksmith shop, Oso has one last thing to say, "Yuu! Me and a couple of friends are heading over to the Kirch Inn. Wanna come? It'll be our treat!"
"Sure!" answered Yuu accepting his invitation.
"We always go to the Kirch Inn at 8:00 PM. Make sure you come, OK?" reminded Oso.
Yuu then tours the town for a while longer. After some time, the sun begins to set. He heads home so he can change clothes to go out. Since most of his clothes are made for hanging out with friends anyway, he has no problem picking out something to wear. He arrives at the Kirch Inn at 8:00 PM on the dot. Oso greets him, "Yuu, glad you could make it! Let me introduce you to my friends. The guy with the cowboy hat is Calvin, he's an explorer. And the other guy is Luke. The carpenter's apprentice with limitless energy!"
"Hey, welcome to Waffle Town." greeted Luke and Calvin.
"Hey guys, my name is Yuu." he responded shyly.
Oso places his arm around Yuu's neck and cheered, "Now that we've all introduced ourselves, let's find a table, and have a celebration!"
Everyone cheers, and then sit together in a table. In the Kirch Inn, Yuu also meets two cute girls working in there. The first girl was named Cathy, the village tomboy. Even though she is called a tomboy, Yuu couldn't see why they would call her that. Her dress was very feminine, but she does speak her mind. Cathy is Oso's girlfriend, so Yuu knew better than to make any moves on her. There is a younger girl named Mai working there as well. Yuu feels that she is very cute and cheerful, but she is dating someone else named Chihaya who also works at the Kirch Inn.
Even though Yuu didn't meet any single girls at the Kirch Inn, he had a lot of fun anyway. The other guys have a lot to drink, and tells lots of funny stories. Yuu can't hold his liquor very well, so he takes it easy on the drinking. Soon enough, Yuu starts to feel a little bit drunk, so he decides that it is time to leave.But before he leaves the inn, Oso asks, "Yuu, where you goin?"
He looks at Oso with his half drunk expression and says, "I need to call it quits for today. I need to start working tomorrow, and if I keep it up, I wont be able to wake up in the morning."
Calvin laughs and says, "That's fine. But watch out for Samurai Princess!"
"Who?" asked Yuu curiously.
"You don't know? There is a girl who guards the town at night. Even the slightest crime will get her blood boiling. She calls herself, the Samurai Princess!" answerd Luke.
Yuu thinks about it for a second. Is what they said really true, or are they pulling his leg? To Yuu, it sounds like something they just made up. But rather than spoiling their fun, Yuu asks in a joking manner, "So, is she some sort of super hero or something?
Everyone at the inn starts laughing as hard as possible. Yuu is now completely confused at everyone's reaction. After the laughter dies down a bit, Oso answers, "Yeah, I wish. She's the biggest trouble maker Waffle Town has ever had. Ha ha ha!"
Yuu taks the whole incident as some sort of silly joke. Even though he is slightly intoxicated, he is still able to march straight back towards the farm. But someplace outside of the village, Yuu's forehead becomes a bit sweaty from the heat. So he takes out his rag from his pocket, and wipes the sweat off. He tries to put the rag back in his pocket, but it falls to the ground instead.
As Yuu walks away without realizing that he dropped his rag, a shadow appears behind him. A young girl wearing a shinto priestess uniform watches Yuu walk away leaving the rag behind. She strokes her very long blue hair that is braided in a twin ponytail that almost reaches the ground. She waits for him to pick it back up, but as Yuu walks further away from the rag, the girl becomes very angry. She then unsheathes her large katana that she has hanging from her waist, and prepares to strike. As quick as the wind, she runs in front of him in a fighting pose, stopping him from proceeding to his farm.
"You there!" she cries out to Yuu.
Yuu takes a look at the girl in front of him, and then looks around to see if she was talking to someone else. Confused by her sudden entrance and her strange taste in clothing, he points at himself wondering if the strange girl was talking to him. Seeing that there is nobody else in the area, Yuu then asks, "Me?"
"How dare you litter in this town. I don't know who you are, but I cannot welcome disgusting swine in this town. For I am, Samurai Princess!"
A huge bead of sweat forms on Yuu's head. He feels that this young girl, who calls herself "Samurai Princess" can't possibly be serious. So he laughs it off, and tries to ignore her. "Listen, I have no time for games. I need to get back home now, so if you would excuse me."
Yuu tried to go past her, but she isn't going to let him through without some sort of punishment. She swings the sword dangerously close to Yuu's face. The quick flash of light from the blade freezes him out of shock. She then holds the blade close to his nose to show how serious she was. The luster of the blade shone brightly which made Yuu nervous. "Hey, is this thing real?" he asked.
The look of anger in her eyes as she points the blade dangerously close to his face only makes him even more nervous. "You better believe it is! Now repent for your actions, or I shall cut you down!" she yelled.
Yuu takes a few steps back and says nervously, "Hey, calm down! You're going to hurt someone! I have no idea what you're talking about!"
The strange girl moved forward, which forced Yuu to move further back. As Yuu gets close to the side of a nearby tree, another shadow appears on the branches of another tree. Suddenly, the shadow figure steps into the light and shows herself. She is barely four feet tall wearing a fancy scarlet red dress, a matching pair of red gloves and glossy sandals. On her face is a red feathered mask that covers everything from the nose up. In her hand, she had some sort of steel bat, but decorated with hearts and stars, and a large yellow star welded to the end . Her light purple hair was tied to the sides into a pair of thick spiraling pig tails.
"That's enough Samurai Princess!" yelled the smaller girl from the top of the nearby tree.
Yuu looks up at the tree, and notices the girl screaming from up there. His eyes pop wide open as he says, "What the hell is going on here? Is this some sort of screening for a very lame cartoon or something?"
The girl jumps down, and runs towards Samurai Princess. Samurai Princess swings her shining blade, but the little girl swiftly dodges the attack. In a flash, the little girl gets between Yuu and Samurai Princess. She holds up her bat as if she was trying to shield him.
Samurai Princess smirks and says, "Well, if it isn't my arch rival. Stand away, that man will be punished for his thoughtless actions!"
"You shall not harm this man, or anyone in this island! For as long as I am here with my magic wand! I am-" before she finishes her line, she does a silly magical girl pose and yells, "Magical Warrior Ruby!"
Yuu can't believe what he is seeing. First, a grown young lady carrying a large Japanese sword thinking she is the police and executioner. Then a petite overly dressed warrior with a iron rod she calls a "magic wand" appears. For a moment, Yuu forgets how serious the situation is. The girl that calls herself ruby nudges Yuu and whispers, "Hey, get out of here while you still can!"
Yuu is still stunned by what is happening. Ruby then stomps on his foot snapping him out of his trance. She then yells, "If you stay here, she will hurt you!"
Yuu has no other choice but to run away. Samurai Princess tries to stop him, but Ruby continues to get in her way. She feels very annoyed that she allowed Yuu get away. So she puts herself in a fighting stance, and prepares to attack Ruby. "I am getting tired of you interfering with my duty! Today will be the day that I strike you down!" she yelled.
"Bring it on!" provoked Ruby.
Both girls start to fight. Ruby's "Magic Wand" is made of hard steel, so she is able to block all of the attacks from Samurai Princess' blade. As Yuu runs away, the sound of metals clashing between the two girl stops hims. Even though both girls are very talented fighters, Yuu feels obligated to help Ruby.
He remembers that Samurai Princess mentioned that he littered earlier. He then looks around for anything that he may have dropped. After a monent, he quickly spots his rag that he dropped while he was walking home. So he picks it up, and runs back to the warring females.
Before Yuu arrives back at the scene, Ruby and Samurai Princess get into a deadlock between weapons. Samurai princess is taller and stronger than Ruby, so she is able to push her back. As she pushes, Ruby trips on a rock, and falls down on the dirt. She drops the bat, and it skids too far away for her to recover. Before she is able to get up, Samurai Princess pins Ruby down, and points her sword at her.
"I finally got you!" Samurai Princess yelled proudly.
"Darn! What do I do now?" Ruby thought to herself.
Samurai Princessgrins cheerfully and says, "I'll finally get rid of you, and I'll deliver my justice in peace from now on!"
She raises her blade, and is only moments away from eliminating Ruby. But Yuu stands between then and yells,"STOP!!"
The two girls look at Yuu who came back to stop them from fighting. They are both shocked to see him return so suddenly. "What are you doing here! I told you to leave!" whispered Ruby.
Yuu ignored Ruby and presented Samurai Princess with the rag that he dropped. He then yells, "I picked up the thing I dropped! I'm sorry for dropping it, it was a mistake! So stop fighting already!"
After seeing that Yuu had picked up his rag, Samurai Princess feels that her job is done. So she put away her sword, and walks off into the night. As she leaves, she says, "I'm impressed that someone was able to admit that they were wrong, and did something to correct it. But be careful, I'll be watching you!"
She then vanishes into the darkness. Yuu takes a deep breath, and falls to his knees. He thought that he was going to get hurt, but he is relieved that everything turned out okay. Ruby stands up, and pats the dirt off her dress. "You actually came back to help me?" she asked.
Well, you did help me out. I thought it was the least I could do." answered Yuu.
Ruby laughs and says, "Falling like that never happened to me before, so thank you very much. If you would have ran away like everyone else did, I could have been hurt really badly."
Yuu then asks, "What's going on anyway? Why is she acting so crazy, and why are you both dressed like that?"
Ruby winks and says, "Sorry, but that's a secret. But we shall meet again!"
In a heartbeat, she jumps into the air, and on a branch. She jumps off disappearing into the night like Samurai Princess did. But after she left the scene, Yuu asks himself, "How the heck did she do that? . . . Well, at least I now know that I'll need to be a little more careful about what I do at night."
To be continued.