"For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday."

M. Bison

Prologue: Tuesday

Date: June 24th 2008

To most people, the day would have been extraordinarily beautiful, but to the people of Castanet, it was perfectly ordinary. As Kasey McCarthy walked down the road from his farmland to Harmonica town, he couldn't help but smile as he inhaled the mixed aroma of the salty sea and the flowers that grew near the roadside.

What a beautiful day, he thought to himself. It saddened him that the citizens of the island had probably grown so accustomed to the beauty of the land that they may have been desensitized to it.

I hope I never stop appreciating this place like I do now.

Though he was tired from the morning's work, he began to hum to himself as he walked; a lighthearted tune that his mother sang to him long ago. It brought a smile to his face; a slightly sad one, but nobody would have picked up on that.

As he turned the corner of the rock formation that the path wrapped around, connecting the farmlands to the town, he arrived at Harmonica Town, a colorful, coastal village on the southern end of Castanet Island, where the homes and business stacked by the streets like building blocks… but when he looked over the town, he could tell that something was wrong. The township looked as pretty as it always did, but the streets were mysteriously empty. None of the children were playing, none of the wives were gossiping… hell, he didn't even see any birds. It was as if the world took a day off.

"Hello?" Kasey called out, expecting somebody, anybody, to answer. Nothing. It was just too creepy. He had never seen the town that empty, except during the blizzard last winter. Even during the later hours of the night, there would usually be at least one person outside enjoying the stars.

What the hell is going on? On a beautiful day like this, nobody is outside? As he passed Simon's photography shop, he saw that the "closed" sign was still up. That's not right. Hmm… I better find Gill. He'd know what's up.

Town Hall was practically five steps away and when he tried to enter, the door was locked. Now that wasn't right either. Gill would never skip work and it wasn't Sunday. He looked in through the hall's window to see that the room was dark and nobody was at the desk. Where was Gill? If he wasn't at work, something had to be very wrong. The man's life ran like clockwork.

He sprinted up the hill to Gill's house and began banging on the door. "Gill? Mayor Hamilton? Anybody?" Nobody answered. When Kasey looked through the windows, he saw that nobody was inside the house, or at least in the main room.

As he turned around, the emptiness of the town made him feel even more distressed. It was like he was the only one left on the island… no, that was stupid. He hadn't been to Flute Fields or the Garmon Mines districts yet and Molly was still at the house, as he saw her not ten minutes ago. Maybe there was some festival that he wasn't told about? No, that couldn't be it either. He had them all marked down on his calendar. And it wasn't anybody's birthday either. Even if it was, it wouldn't justify the disappearance of an entire town.

What to do, what to do… Luna. Along with Gill, she was another good friend, making her the next person on his list to check up on. He rushed to Sonata Tailoring and began banging on the door, shouting for Luna, Candace, Shelly, anybody to answer. Nothing. The shop would never have been closed on a Tuesday either, but that day, it was locked. After a minute of shouting and knocking, Kasey just stopped, resting his head and fists on the door frame. What was a curious thing at first was suddenly a nightmarish situation. Where the hell was everybody? But the nightmare ended with the hand that touched his shoulder.

"Kasey?"

He jumped at the touch, staggering backward some, but he felt relieved when he saw who it was. "Gill!"

Sure enough, his friend stood there, the sun bouncing off of his kept, blonde hair and greyish-blue eyes. As usual, he was wearing a button-down shirt under one of his sweater vests, not seeming to be bothered by the 90-degree weather, but none of that mattered. Kasey embraced the man in a quick hug that took him by shock.

"Are… are you okay?" he asked, his voice as monotonous and steady as it always was. "About the news, I mean. Are you okay?"

"What news? Gill, where is everybody? Why aren't you at work? Why is this place a ghost town?" So many questions, but Gill's eyes widened.

"Oh, you haven't heard." His eyes fell as he stared at the ground. The worry came back to Kasey. Something was wrong.

"Gill, what's wrong? Where is everybody?" No answer. Gill just kept staring at the ground. "Did somebody die?" Oh, did he regret this question later.

"They're all divided between the inn and the bar. Father is at the inn, so he sent me to keep watch over the situation at the bar. Most of the residents of Flute Fields and the Garmon Mine districts haven't been alerted yet, so I don't know-"

"Gill!" Kasey grabbed his friend's arm and squeezed it, reminding him of one of his first question. "What news? What's going on?"

Gill let out a long, troubled sigh. "You're better off seeing it for yourself. Follow me." He took Kasey by the wrist and began dragging him to the wrist to the bar. "I must warn you though, it's a bit… graphic."

What is he even talking about? But he followed.

When he entered the inn, he was taken by surprise to see that half of Harmonica Town was clustered into the bar, all crowded around something near the bar's back wall. It was weird, since the bar was never open that early, but there they all were. But what were they surrounding? Standing on his toes, Kasey could see that it was a television with a screen full of static that they were standing around. The residents surrounding it were either watching the blank screen intently, softly murmuring to each other, or crying.

What the… what's all this? he thought to himself. Most people on Castanet weren't even avid TV watchers, but that day, they were all waiting around for something to happen.

"Find another one," Chase asked in a hoarse tone from somewhere within the group of people. Kasey spotted him near the TV, looking down at the man who was fiddling with the dials.

"Give me a minute," barked a gruff voice that belonged to Hayden. "They're all going dead. Somebody keep playin' with reception while I change channels."

"What are they looking for?" Kasey asked, but he saw that Gill was moving to the back of the room to talk with Chase and Hayden. Once he arrived there, he calmly talked with Chase, and Kasey saw that the strawberry-blonde haired man's eyes looked kind of red and strained. Was he crying earlier or something like everybody else? But at that moment, he looked relatively composed. Wanting to ask them what had happened, Kasey took a few steps forward before somebody embraced him from the side.

"Selena?" He easily recognized her strong embrace and her lily scented perfume before he turned to see her cocoa colored skin and her crimson colored hair that she kept wrapped tied up. Normally, he would have gotten a kick over her hugging him like that, her provocatively clothed body squeezing up against him, but not that day. Something was off with her, as it was with everyone else. He turned to hug her back when he saw that she was still crying profusely.

That's new. He had never seen her so sad… or sad at all, really. "Selena, what's wrong?"

"It happened. I can't believe it, but it happ- It happ-" She stopped trying to talk to him and continued to cry softly into his shoulder. All he could do was hold her.

"What happened?" he asked, only to receive an incomprehensible answer. Before he knew it, Kathy was at this side now too, giving him a quick, yet strong hug before taking to Selena's side. The two were really good friends, so he figured that she would take care of the crying Selena from there. But as he looked into the blonde's eyes, he could see that while she wasn't crying, she looked scared. But of what?

"I'll take care of her," she whispered to him. "Sorry. I know how hard this must be for you."

"Thanks…" He still wasn't sure what he was thanking her for. He could have asked, but he decided to let her be for now.

She took over holding Selena for him and Kasey began making his way to the back of the room. The TV was still full of static without any picture, but the citizens were still watching and waiting. One of them was Luna, who was crouching in front of it, looking up at the screen. Normally, Kasey could have picked her out of a crowd by just her pink pigtails alone, but since the already short woman was crouched in front of the television, he had not seen her until then. But for once, she wasn't in the center of the action, talking or trying to get attention. She just sat there in a strange silence that was not true to her nature. He knelt next to her, not sure how to approach this anomaly.

"Luna?" he said, touching her shoulder lightly. Upon saying her name, he was bombarded by another tight hug. Like Kathy, Kasey could see that the young woman had not been crying.

She never cries either, he thought to himself. But she did look sad. Her porcelain-colored skin and sapphire eyes gleamed in the lights of the bar. Even with her cute, pink hair with the flower barrettes and her pastel-colored lolita dress, the sadness on her face outshone the cheery way she dressed.

"Oh my Goddess, Kasey, I am so sorry," she whispered into his ear as she held him close to her. "It's… I can't believe they actually did it. It's like... How could they?"

"Huh? What did they do? Who is 'they'?" He was getting tired of nobody telling him what had happened that would warrant such an emotional reaction. But in response, Luna's mouth fell agape.

"Oh wait, you don't know?" For once, the usually vocal girl seemed at a loss for words. "Kasey… I don't even know where to begin. It-"

"Stop, we got something!" Chase shouted. Everybody fell silent as the TV began to show some signs of life. The channel that they had found was coming in poorly, the picture fuzzy, but a voice came through.

"-still no word from the United States Government or any oth-" The audio cut off, but the visual, from what he assumed, was from a helicopter cam that was giving a bird's eye view of what looked to be a massive, smoldering crater with debris scattered about.

"Oh no… It can't be…" he murmured hollowly. Everything was beginning to make sense, but he couldn't believe it. He was in such a state of shock that he was struggling to comprehend any of it. It was then when he noticed the caption at the bottom of the screen that read, "Ground Zero: Chicago, IL."

"Holy shit…" He stood up, blankly staring into the TV as its picture began to die again. It couldn't be real… It was impossible.

"I'm sorry." Gill was at his side again, his hand resting on Kasey's shoulder as he tried to offer some compassion. "It… it wasn't just them either. It's all over the world. They… they all got hit within a matter of hours. I wish I could tell you more, but I really don't know-"

"I gotta get home." He pushed his way through the cluster of people and threw open the door as his adrenaline began to pump through his veins. "I'm sorry, but I have to get home!"

He began to run. Suddenly, the beauty of Castanet meant little to him; it contrasted with everything he was feeling and what was happening. He just had to get home; back to where his sister was. I have to tell her. No idea how I'm going to break it to her, but I have to tell her. After sprinting faster than he ever had before in his life, he finally reached his home, Sinatra Ranch. The crops were growing as they should have been and the animals were grazing, ignorant of the events of the morning. Ignoring them, he burst through the front door.

He was greeted by the sound of the old radio in the kitchen. The voices were garbled, but he caught a few words. "Warheads." "United States." "Iraq." "North Korea." "China." "Radiation." "Billions."

Oh no. She already knows.

Kneeling next to the radio was his sister, motionless. Her head was hanging, so he couldn't see her face, but he already knew that her expression was one of desperation. Slowly, he approached her, knelt next to her, and took her hands in his.

"Hey, Molls," he whispered, trying to smile, though for once, he couldn't. Not then.

"They're all dead… all of them. Our family, our friends…" She wouldn't look up at him, but she just kept crying. So Kasey did all that he could for her. As she rested her forehead on his chest, he embraced her. He wouldn't cry.

Not now. Not in front of Molly at least. He had to be strong for his older sister. And unlike the other hardships he had faced, that one may never end. He would have to keep being strong for her sake and for his own.

Wow.

Though he felt such weighing on him, the day outside was still beautiful. So strange… if it weren't for the news, it just would have been another Tuesday.

Date: July 15th 2008

I guess I might as well write in this. Might as well have a testimony for posterity, assuming that there is any. Mayor Hamilton handed these journals out to all of us a few days after it happened. They're pretty nice looking too; moleskin and everything. He said that they were originally a gift for the townspeople this Christmas, but he decided to hand them out early. I guess he figured that the catharsis of writing would help or something. But given that the world is dying a slow, painful death, maybe he figured that we need them to pacify us. I don't know about that though. So far, it's not making me feel any better at all.

But I digress. My name is Kasey S. McCarthy, I'm 22 years old, hailing from Chicago, Illinois, and I am the proud owner of Sinatra Ranch on the lovely island of Castanet… for what that's worth anymore. Who knows how much longer we got at this rate.

What happened? About a month ago on the 24th of June, nearly every nuclear warhead on the planet was launched, fired, or dropped within a two-hour span, according to reports that we've picked up on the radio and TV. In hindsight, the buildup should have been obvious. For decades, there has been tension between the various countries over numerous political issues, but it didn't get really bad until after 9/11. From that point on, it got worse between the governments, concerning economics, religion, nationalism, the possession of nuclear weapons themselves… I couldn't explain it well enough. Not as well as Gill can. The man is a genius. But things began to spiral when it was made public that Iraq, Iran, and Cuba all, in fact, had nuclear arms. Then, North Korea made the announcement that they would "make a show of force" against various countries, such as South Korea, The United States, and others. After that, there was some sort of leak that reported that China was working with them on some sort of top secret project. It was terrifying, but I told myself things would be alright. I mean, we survived one cold war, right? Surely we could survive another. Even so, the paranoid side of me splurged on a geiger counter just in case. I'm glad I did too. It actually comes in handy now.

We don't know who launched nukes first, but as I said, every warhead on the planet within a matter of two hours was launched at pretty much every country on earth. Some malfunctioned and fell places where they shouldn't have, but in the end, the Earth was blown to shit and whatever didn't get blown up has been poisoned with radiation. Not to say that there aren't any survivors out there (radio and television reports suggest that there are plenty) and there are some governments that are intact, but we're no longer thriving. Not even close. Not with radiation and most technology frying from the aftereffects (luckily, none landed close enough to us to ruin our stuff.) When I can find a radio station from time to time, most of the stuff I find is either garbled or useless information that we've already learned. I've heard conspiracy theories about how the reason all of the warheads were launched within two hours was because of the Illuminati's involvement, but I left my tinfoil hat back in America, so I have trouble believing it. At this point, speculation is pointless. It's all about surviving.

Reactions here have been… mixed. Not to say that we're all skipping through the daisies, because we aren't. But some people are handling it better than others. Because the island is largely self-sufficient, running on wind, mill, solar, and oil power, and since we support the people on the island who provide us with said utilities, we have no shortage of power, so for some people here, life has changed very little. We still work our jobs, but there's an overlying fear and uncertainty that sits like a cloud over our world. It's even harder for those of us with family friends on the outside. I think of my family a lot. Mom, Kevin… even Dad. But to put it bluntly, they're most likely dead. Hard as it is to think about, I accept it. It's just so much easier to block it all and do what I can to not think about it. I'm sure that's not healthy, but this town needs me and my ranch. so I gotta stay focused on that.

Obviously, not everybody is taking it well though. Molls still spends most the day in bed, crying. She'll come out of it when she's ready, but I don't know what to say to her. We've never been close and she was only visiting on vacation when she came here. She has no connection with this place or with these people. To feel so cut off like that… I could never understand that. I mean, I did for a little bit a few years ago, but I always bounce back. But Molls... never been the most social of butterflies. The only thing I can do is be there for her when she needs me. I just really hope I can help. Otherwise, most of my friends seem alright (all things considered), but I have noticed that Selena has been very moody lately. So strange to see such a confident person shut down like that. But still, the town continues to function… for now.

There is a question though that has plagued us all: where are the side-effects of a nuclear holocaust that we should be dealing with by now? No fallout, no radiation in the ocean, no nuclear winter… our island seems to be unaffected. But if you take a boat over to Hazelwood, that's a different story. The water is unsafe to drink and fallout has rained on their factories. Things are up and about there now, but why was it so different between these islands? Some people are beginning to speculate that the Harvest Goddess is protecting us. It's possible, I guess. I mean come on, I had to ring all those bells to restore the island or whatever and I've seen the Harvest Goddess with my own eyes. I don't doubt that she can help us. However, I don't know where she is. I used to see her at her spring, but now she's gone without warning. So many questions I would have asked, but now… that's all I really have in the end. Questions…

If there is a silver lining to this dark, dark cloud, at least I'm trapped on this island; this slice of heaven. Throughout my life, I have never felt more "right" than I have here on Castanet. I just hope that if we are being protected by some sort of outside force, it will continue to keep us safe. And hopefully, we can keep it safe in return. There have been several people who have washed up on this island who we took in, but will there be others who will try to take what we have? If history has taught us anything, desperate times cause people to do desperate things. If mass amounts of people were to find out that this place was a safe haven, what would happen next? So long as this place is safe, I'll be happy. And I'll do whatever I can to make sure it stays this way and that we can survive.

If anybody is reading this (assuming that you're not one of my friends going through my stuff… seriously, stop going through my stuff), hopefully things have gotten better. For now, I will continue to write, chronicling my life since the nukes. I just hope it will somehow help me find some sort of peace…

Author's Note: You do NOT need to read my previous stories to follow this one, even though it takes place in the same continuity as "Among the Mushrooms: The Madness of Jack", a story I discontinued (and you probably shouldn't bother looking up that story either because it had a lot of problems.) This story will stand on its own. I started getting the idea for this story in the middle of my last and after numerous tweaks and plenty of pre-writing, here it goes. I won't be updating it super frequently after the first ofew updates, but I'll see if I can do a better job on this one. This story is going to be a bit more lighthearted and based on the relationships between the characters. Also, I don't own Harvest Moon, but you already knew that.