Hey everyone! This is a one-shot based on the game Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. I thought I'd try my hand at fanfiction, and being I really like the Harvest Moon series of games, I thought I'd start with what I knew. I actually have future ideas for this story, but I wanted to test the waters to see if this concept is any good. Please let me know if you would like to read more!

1982

"Oh my God, I can't stand him!" shouted a young, dark haired beauty walking beside an awkward, yet handsome man about her age. Their feet clopped on the cobblestone road of Mineral Town, matching each other in a rhythmic pattern as they approached a streetlight. The lines of light brightened the dark road that stretched from the Town Square to the north.

"I honestly don't even understand why he had me!" the girl said angrily.

The young man brought their footsteps to a halt and turned to her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't say that, Aja," said the man with a sympathetic look on his face, "you know your father loves you."

"Well he has a funny way of showing it!" shouted Aja. "All we do is argue, Harris!"

Harris looked at his best friend with sad eyes, not knowing what to say.

Aja looked out farther down the road. She could almost see the point where the cobblestone ended and the wooden dock of the beach began. The salty smell of sea air was barely noticeable over the rural village, but as she looked toward the edge of the small town, Aja swore she could almost taste it. Not just the air of seawater, but the sense of adventure beyond the confines of her home village.

"I just want to leave this place."

Harris looked in the same direction as Aja, but he did not sense adventure. He sensed danger. He feared for the young, idealistic girl who stood near him. Knowing only stories of the city that lay far away, he feared that his beloved country girl would march, unexpectedly into danger. No, he could not sense the same things as Aja, but he knew better than to force his way over her. Not just in principle, but due to specific cases in his childhood when he'd try to force her to do something and was rewarded with a punch in the stomach.

"I wish you wouldn't say that," said Harris sadly, "It makes me think that you'll do it one day."

Aja looked up at the young man. He was tall and lanky and his nose was a little too big for his face, but when he smiled, she couldn't help but do the same. Whenever the occasional visitor came into town, they would always comment as to how lucky Harris was to have such a beautiful companion in Aja and Harris would smile and say nothing, trying to keep coy. But no matter how relaxed Harris tried to seem, Aja knew the truth. She could almost hear his heart beating in his chest, the sound and the speed of that organ beating as fast as a locomotive.

"Harris…" said Aja, looking into his eyes. "I don't mean to make you feel bad. It's just that I can't take life here anymore. All there is to do is to live another day in the same old boring existence. Learn the job that your parents did. Go to the church that your parents go to. Marry someone you've always known. Work for you living. Have children. Die. It's too monotonous for me. You know I can't live that way."

"What's wrong with that kind of life Aja?" asked Harris suddenly, much to Aja's surprise. "You make it seem like such a bother. There are people who would love nothing better to live the life you've just described. I don't need excitement to make my life meaningful! I can make my own excitement!"

"Maybe you don't need excitement," said Aja, "but I do. I can't live that life Harris! I can't!"

"Why not Aja? Why not?" asked Harris, intent on an answer.

"I've told you a million times!"

"No!" shouted Harris, getting angry. "I don't want the same 'I can't stand my father' argument. Why do you want to leave?! Why do you want to leave so bad?! Why Aja?! Why?!"

"Because I hate this village!" shouted Aja at the top of her lungs. "I hate this village and life here! I can't stand the monotony! I'm unhappy, Harris! Is that what you wanted to hear? It's because I'm ashamed! I'm ashamed of this place! I'm ashamed to call this place home! I'm ashamed to say that I'm from here!"

Harris looked at the girl in front of him who had just confessed the way she truly felt about the place he loved. His mouth hung open in disbelief. He turned away from her and put his hand on a tree so that he was leaning into it with his head hanging down. It was as if he wanted to throw up from the news of Aja's true feelings about the village. He couldn't believe what he'd heard.

Aja started to catch her breath, thinking over what she had just said, but, she didn't regret it. She had kept this secret bottled up within her for many years and she had to tell someone. She'd try to tell her father, but he would never understand, thinking that she was just ungrateful. Yet, from the look of things, it seemed that Harris just couldn't understand either.

"Sometimes," said Aja, "I think that you're the only thing keeping me from leaving."

Harris looked back at her, his finger tracing the heart that had been carved into the tree for ages. Some of the bark broke off of the tree as he picked at the trunk. The look in his eyes still echoed the disbelief from earlier. He stood as a man whose worldview had been shaken at the foundations.

"But," said Aja, "even you can't stop me."

Harris nodded. "Looks like you made up your mind."

"Yeah," said Aja, "I have."

"You already called for the boat, didn't you?"

Aja nodded at Harris's premonition. "How did you know?"

Harris turned back to the tree. "Men's intuition."

Aja turned her back from Harris as well. "I want you there," said Aja, looking toward the eastern sea.

Harris looked at the shattered pieces of bark in the palm of his hand. He looked up toward the western mountains. Harris remained silent.

The silence continued for a little while the two of them stared in opposite directions, not knowing what to do or say. Eventually, Aja couldn't bear the silence any longer.

"I'll miss you Harris," said Aja.

"I'll miss you too, Aja," said Harris.

"You know," said Aja, eyes still looking away from Harris, "if I wasn't leaving, I'd…well, I'd want to tell you that…"

The clopping on the cobblestone began again. Aja turned around to see Harris walking toward his house. She couldn't see his face, but she knew that there were tears in his eyes. Two little diamonds began to form in Aja's eyes as well. As she watched her oldest and dearest friend walk away from her, she looked around at the little lights of Mineral Town and looked up to see the stars shining over her like a wedding canopy. She sighed and continued walking, the sound of soft taps of cobblestone eventually turning into the deep booms of wood on the dock.