Chapter 1: Roles Reversed

Disclaimer for 'Jewel in the Rough': I don't own Harvest Moon or any of the characters that come directly from the series. I do hold some claim over their offspring, however.

2018 Author's Note: Boy HOWDY, is this a problematic piece of work.

Some of it was just sheer cringe worthy and it's one of those things I guess I needed to get older for but damn. Lot of slurs and super generalized gendering and, by God, I'm still not certain it has the best 'message'. And Julius is an asshole XD All that said, it has its moments and the ones I very well could not live with 9-10 years later, I updated.

One last interesting note if you've read my stories previously: I cannot explain to you have much technology has changed since 2008-2009. To me, it was always going to be like a slightly techier flip phone and a music device of some sort. Now we're walking around with mini-computers at all times. So, you may come across stuff in the older stories like 'wtf, Ryuu, who the hell still uses that?'. I am slowly but surely updating to now since this is WAY in the future. I don't know what we'll have in the future and I can't say I'll keep updating with every groundbreaking invention but at least we're updated for now.

2008-2009 Author's Note: Okay…I was writing Kyo's story and realized…well, Chapter 3 gives away almost this complete story O.O So year, I guess Kyo's story is on hiatus until this one catches up. Though I'm not sure why I'm so concerned, Jyun's story gave away everything for both stories, pretty much XD But alas, here we go.

This one is about Hoshiko, Jyun and Kyo's little sister. For those new to the series, Jyun, Kyo, and Hoshiko are the children of Nerimaru (Nelly), who is based off the farmer SLIGHTLY and owns the farm from BTN. He is married to Elli.

It'll be rough because as I said, 'This Love', the Roomi (Luna) and Jyun story, gave away a lot of plot lines in both Kyo's story 'Lessons In Life' and this one. And also, if you ARE one of those new people…prepared to be rather confused. I won't dissuade you from reading, just know that the current stories all kind of…help. There's an extravagant amount of characters so yea, good luck XD

For now, happy reading! I kind of took elements from the original game that would obviously be cut when translated into English…you know, the whole…transvestite thing. (Roomi apparently calls Julius this in the Japanese version a couple times n.n; ) So beware if that kind of thing offends you…

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"…You're Yagami Hoshiko?"

Hoshiko bit back growling as her superior seemed startled. Yes, yes she was. What of it?

He stared her over for a long moment before smiling quickly, "Well, uh, anyway, welcome to Roshinko Day. We're glad to have you join the team."

She betted. "Thank you for having me. I promise to work my hardest…but, um, if you don't mind me asking, how is Mira-san?"

The man sighed, waving her on to lead her somewhere. She followed as he shook his head, "She's crushed. Vanille was her pride and joy."

Right out of college, Hoshiko had been offered a job at a company, Vanille. It was a small company, slowly trying to reach the zeal of its mother company, Roshinko Day. The owner of Vanille was the CEO of Roshinko Day's wife. She was a passionate, sensitive woman…and her husband summed it up perfectly, how she felt about Vanille: It was her child.

…But unfortunately, it wasn't Roshinko Day and was forced to file bankruptcy.

The woman, a sweetheart to the extreme, got her husband to hire all the employees lost into what area he could. And even more awesome was that she especially mentioned Hoshiko to her spouse and that she could do much for the company. Hoshiko wasn't sure what and she was pretty sure he was just humoring his wife in her time of grief but Hoshiko would show him.

"Did Mira tell you about our nephew that works here?" the man suddenly questioned.

"…No. Was she…supposed to?" Hoshiko questioned, trying to keep the snippy, 'why should I care?' comment and tone of voice shut away.

"Oh, I suppose not. You'll just be sharing an office with him" laughed the man nervously.

…Okay, yea, she should care. "…Uh, is he…nice?"

"…He's…a character" he cleared his throat, coming closer to a set of doors.

…Oh God.

Opening the door, he cleared his throat, "Julius, um, your new office mate is here…"

Hoshiko walked in, planning to bow respectfully. She should have expected this, honestly. You really couldn't pick up three hundred new employees that you probably don't need and have room for all of them.

But as soon as they caught eye of each other, they both…gaped.

"…Oh my God, are you a lesbian?" and "…Are you a crossdresser?" echoed in time over each other.

Roshinko Eo stared between them as they continued to stare at each other, confused, and he cleared his throat, "I'll…uh, leave you two to get to know each other."

He quickly fled and Hoshiko swallowed, staring him over. He was probably 5'10", a decent height, indeed, but…that wasn't what knocked her senseless.

…He was wearing red pants with strange diamond silver stitching, a green belt, a pink shirt, a yellow scarf, and a pink and purple striped jacket with black fur on the bottom and the collar, and a pair of white and yellow shoes. His hair was way long, layering down his back in a ponytail, and purple with yellow and green highlights. And…he had heart shaped earrings.

…Yep, her boss was right: that was pure character right there.

The man propped his hands on his hips, staring over her, up and down, "…Aunt Mira usually has a sharp eye. I have to wonder this time."

She stiffened but didn't miss a beat, "I don't know who you are to question someone's 'eye' with that outfit."

His red eyes, which reminded her a lot of her Aunt Popuri's, narrowed, remarking almost snidely, "So what's your name again?"

"Yagami Hoshiko."

"Mm, that's too girly. Maybe you should just stick with 'Hoshi'" he snorted.

…Jesus Christ, she just met this idiot!

Hoshiko wore men's clothing. It just was what she did. Her dress shirt was huge, she had on a decent sized blazer, and a pair of billowing pants. And her hair…she had no time to wake up an hour early to prep curls or straighten locks, she kept her golden brown hair cropped to her head. Jewelry was useless. Even though her mother had gotten her ears pierced young, she never wore earrings. Useless.

She glared at his name tag…Shimizu Julius.

Slamming down at the desk that she assumed was hers, she went to work researching the company. She glanced up at Julius who was sketching something. She was in the jewelry department…

…Didn't she just say jewelry was useless? Sure it was useless, but…she kind of liked how beautifully useless it was. Did that make sense? She…loved it. She just couldn't seem to pull it off herself…

"How long do you plan to be at RD?" demanded Julius suddenly.

"I don't know" she shrugged.

"Hmph, maybe I can get Uncle Eo to reconsider. This is a stylish company, after all" he grumbled.

Hoshiko smiled in a fake sweet manner, "Then I'd have to ask him to reconsider you being here too, Shimizu-san."

He looked up and glared at her and she glared back…

…This should be interesting indeed.

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Hoshiko skipped behind her brothers who were following their father…the man glanced back at them and smiled some, crossing up the paths into the mines. Kyo, her older brother, stuck out his tongue at her.

"EWW, why are you following? We're doing guy stuff!"

She stomped her foot in all her seven-year-old glory, "I can do guy stuff too!"

"Boys do guy stuff, stupid" Kyo countered.

Kyo got thumped lightly in the head by their father, "If your sister wants to come with us, she can come with us."

Hoshiko proudly stuck out her tongue and Kyo pursed his lips, face drawing a little. Nelly wandered into the opening and Hoshiko looked around in the dark space. Squealing, she nearly tripped over a rock. Jyun, her oldest brother, caught her at ease and steadied her on her feet.

"Be careful, it's hilly."

She nodded and he wandered off, following their father down the cavern into the lower level. When they got to their apparent destination, she sat on a rock and watched her dad search for stray minerals he needed for the farm. After a while though, she started to regret her choice. So boring!

"Baby, come here" her father suddenly called.

Pouting, hating being his 'baby', she wandered over to him and he knelt, picking her up in one arm. She scowled, ready to demand what he was doing when he pointed a dirt smudged finger at something. Frowning, she followed his hand and gasped. A large purple jewel was embedded in the side of the wall along with some rubies.

"Daddy, it's so pretty!" she proclaimed.

He chuckled, "If I had a pick, I'd try to get them out for you, sweetie, but it's a lot of work. And they're not very refined."

"What does 'refined' mean?" she questioned.

"Mm, it's when they take this jewel and make it into a nice, shiny shape for jewelry or whatever. Right now, it's just kind of natural and no one would want it this way…"

"It's still pretty though!" she protested, "It doesn't need any fixing."

Nelly kissed her temple, reaching up and fingering the jewel, "I think you're right. When a jewel's in the rough like this, where it was born in nature, I think it's prettiest of all."

Hoshiko hugged her dad's neck then. She didn't get along with her family as well now. She…really couldn't stand how…happy they were. Ugh, that sounded so awful though. She really deserved to have no one with that train of thought…

…But what her dad said then would stick with her for eternity, a jewel in the rough. For years after that, she went back every day to make sure someone hadn't removed it from that place. As of seven years ago, it was still there.

And at 24-years-old, she still kind of hoped it still was.