Akari presses on her temples as if the dull pain would take away the throbbing headache while entering the Sundae Inn. Just her luck, Maya bounces around the corner carrying strawberry shortcake to Chihaya. He tastes the poison, sticking out his tongue in disgust. "This is horrible! Did you use salt instead of suger?!"

This makes the blonde's eyes swell with tears as she shrieks in a shrill voice. "You're cruel Chihaya!" Then the waitress dashes out, leaving them alone. Too late to be an Inn, too early for the bar.

"Seems you're girlfriend is mad at you Chase." Akari mocks, using his English name. The farm girl hates this man with a passion. Never has she met such a jerk! Plus he wears barrettes. What straight man wears clips in his peachy hair?

"That child is not my girlfriend! What are you doing here anyways?! We're closed for this hour, I should kick you out," he snaps rudely, turned away to cook.

She doesn't look well; usually Akari would bounce in and cheerfully volunteer to help at the bar. But that would not be for another hour…

"Keep your stuck-up comments to yourself for once and just get me a drink," Akari plops down on a plush bar chair, and lays her head away from light.

Now he knows something is wrong, she never drinks.

"What would you like?" Chihaya tests, thinking she would say something like Apple Juice. The dork.

"Strongest alcohol you have…" she looks up to see him turned to her with question in his violet eyes. He was beautiful, she has to admit. And…perhaps some kindness was hidden behind those eyes. "Just hurt myself and the clinic's not open…" She expects a smart-ass comment, but instead he gets her a drink and moves the other side of the counter. Their lips inches away to the point she can feel his hot breath on her face, strong scent of oranges and spice filling her nose.

"Out of the goodness in my heart, I'll let you pay me 250G to clean and wrap it." He smirks as Akari sucks in a breath. Chihaya has nothing but alcohol, it will hurt. But…she could not leave it alone for much longer…

Akari looks down and lifts up her left pant leg to reveal a bloody poorly wrapped wound. The chef moves to unwrap the bandages, making the girl hold her breath. Even the lightest touch brings horrible agony.

"I think you might have cut to the bone…"

Her heart races at his words, knowing the pain would intensify very soon.

Akari remembers getting the wound vividly. She had pulled out the wrong tool when about to brush her new cow. On the edge of the small hill she was forced to back away from the kicking animal. The fall was not far but the axe drove in enough to make up for that.

Akari rubs her head again. Stupid Luke. If he had not kept her up all night she would have been more careful.

"S'not that bad, maybeeee I can fix it at home." He chuckles at her slurs, clearly getting drunk from the gulps of alcohol in tea.

Carefully he lifts the girl to the counter in between the fridge and sink, washing it with soap and disinfecting alcohol.

Oh god, that hurts! She bites her lip, tears stinging yet she refuses to let them fall.

Chihaya can practically taste her pain—his tongue sweet and sour as he finally dabs it dry and wraps it firmly. The peachy haired man then brushes away the hidden tears before the G was exchanged.

For the next seven hours Akari sits on the counter against the icy fridge watching him cook for the bar. No one bothering her, not even Chihaya who simply works around her. Eyes heavy, she drifts into slumber.

"Kathy can you ride her horse back? I'll carry her home." Chihaya lifts the chocolate hair girl bridal style with a grunt; she sure is heavier than he thought, especially to the very end of Carmel river district next to the caramel falls. How could she live so far?

"Be more careful." He mumbles while pulling a warm blanket over her before looking around. She has a big house, though it is rather empty. Must be new. He notes before walking out into the crisp air of fall to met eyes with her farm.

How in the world is she going to take care of all this, plus her other land with that leg? She would need help… It was then that the chef wrote a note, saying something that would change the way she thought of him forever:

Dear farm girl,

Look, the doctor is away for this week to visit his family. Your legs not an emergency so there is no reason to take the ship to the city, but you will need help around this smelly farm of yours. If you pay me, I suppose I could do a few things to help you out… but not much! And don't tell anyone I'm helping you! Oh, and also… Your kitchen has nice cooking ware.

-Chihaya

The last part about her kitchen sounded funny to him, too nice… Crossing it out he places it on her diary stand and leaves to wander around before going to sleep. Tomorrow was Sunday, no work for him…at Sundae at least. Would she respond to his letter?

Chihaya enters his house, wondering why his heart was beating so fast and why he was so worried if Akari would say nothing to him.