Disclaimer: Harvest Moon and all its characters are not mine. I only own this fanfic. :3

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~1~

"One Million Joule Energy of Your Smile"

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Spring.

Claire looked out of the train's windows, enjoying the rural scenery which passing by quickly. Spring just had come and some signs of winter still remained here and there. Green shoots emerged, pointed out from the bare soil, barks, and the thin snow covered them. The air was fresh, cool, yet getting warmer and it made her felt so comfortable. As she looked at the beautiful scenery, her smile had almost never leaved her lips. The scenery was not the only reason for her happiness, though. She finally found him. Yes, him: her love, obsession, and –perhaps, her whole life.

~ 000 ~

8:30 am. After traveling for two hours by train and three hours away by boat, Claire finally arrived in her destination: a small village called Mineral Town. The sound of the seagulls that blended with the waves, the light brown sandy beach, the clear blue sky with just a bit of clouds –those were the first sights she saw in this town.

She groped her jacket pocket and pulled out a small notebook. She opened a page where she wrote the address of her new home. Because she was completely had no sense of direction, she asked one of the ship's crew. Lucky the crew was familiar with this area. By following his direction, Claire walked quickly with a big rucksack on her back. She could feel her heart was beating faster as she entered the residence area. Actually, she didn't bump to anyone along the street. Even so her eyes couldn't help but searching for the man who had become her reason of coming to this town.

After walking for a few minutes she finally found someone. A man with glasses and weird haircut. He seemed to be feeding his chickens.

"Ah, hello, good morning!" Claire said her greeting as she walked toward him. He replied her greeting with a friendly smile.

"Hello! This is the first time I saw you... are you a tourist? A trip to hot spring? Ah, looking for an inn?" he asked some questions in a row.

Claire smiled and shook her head, "No, I'm the new farmer who will be living in the farm. My name is Claire!"

Her introduction apparently made the guy quite shocked. Claire could see it from a frown on his forehead.

"Eh? You?" he asked, pointing his index finger to Claire. The way he said it made her felt a bit offended.

"Yes, I am. Any problem?"

"Err, no. I thought that it was a man! I mean, to take over that super abandoned farm…" he paused when he noticed Claire's worried face. He bet she didn't know how bad the condition of that farm and just bought it on a whim –just like some other persons before her. "Well, no problem. My name is Rick! If you need chickens or anything, just tell me, Claire," he continued with a smiling face.

"Of course! Nice to meet you, Rick!" Claire replied cheerfully. Both then waved a goodbye to each other. She continued her walk and saw a building with a nameplate "Saibara's Blacksmith". As her eyes read the nameplate, a sudden warmth infiltrated her heart. And somehow, tears started dripping from the corner of her eyes. This was the reason she came to the town.

Clang!

The Blacksmith's door opened and a man with orange hair walked out. Their eyes met for a moment. Seeing the crying girl, the man raised his eyebrows a little, a bit startled. She noticed it and quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"H-hello," said Claire with a slightly trembling voice.

"Ah, hello. Excuse me," the man said. It seemed like he did not want to involve in this awkward situation any longer and chose to go.

But Claire's feeling was ragged at the sight of the man's back went farther. She wanted to reach it. She wanted to hug it. But as she'd thought... the man didn't even recognize her.

What should I do?

He's going to go...

Am I going to lose my chance again?

No...

"Sen..."

Don't go...

"GRAY-senpai !" She cried so loud with all her strength.

Hearing his name was called; the man halted his steps and turned around. What he saw was a blonde girl with her tears kept dripping, one by one. This strange sight made him frown. How did this girl know his name?

Claire clenched her hands, stared at Gray intently.

"Uhm, I..."

Nervous.

"I, I..."

Aah... I don't care anymore!

"I love you!"

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Finally, I said it…

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"Eh?" Gray struck dumb over the unexpected love confession from a girl he didn't know.

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The feeling I've been keeping for all these nine years…

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"Eh… Ac-actually! I'm your underclassman in middle school. Ma-maybe you don't know about me... b-but I've always, always, always love you all this time!" Claire said haltingly. She tried to see Gray's blue eyes, but could not. More than this, she felt like she might die from a heart attack.

Because those were the eyes which were always on her mind; the face that kept popping in her brain even though she had tried to get rid of it. An absurd feeling –she didn't ever meet him since graduation, but it was too real to be ignored.

"Uhm… sorry? Maybe you've got wrong person? My name is indeed Gray, but..."

"No, IT'S YOU," interrupted Claire. "Gray Freecs-senpai. Born in the Emerald City, Winter 5. You studied in Emerald Middle School and Forget-me-not Valley School of Engineering. Your best friends when middle school were Mark-senpai and Amir-senpai. You love baked corn and high places. And, back at middle school, you really loved to read astronomy books!" she explained diffusely without any paused.

Gray's mind went jumbling. He gawked. He didn't know what to say, because that Gray was indeed him. How could she know about so much detail, when he didn't even know her… could it be...

"Are you a stalker?" he asked with a frown on his forehead. The question seemed to hit the right spot.

"Eh... N-no. Ma-Maybe? Ah... but I've never done anything bad! I..." Claire tried to defend herself. "I just wanted to see you. That's why I looking… for… things," said Claire with a voice that was getting lower.

Gray inspected her from head to toe. On her back there was a big rucksack, obviously she just came from a long journey. He remembered Mayor Thomas mentioned about a new farmer who bought the farm at south. The Mayor said he felt relief because finally he could get his hand off of that super abandoned farm. And that was when Gray realized something. "Don't tell me...?"

Gray's suspicion was answered by Claire's wide smile. He was sure he could even see pink flowers were flying around Claire when she expressed her determination so bluntly.

"I'm here to chase after you. Yoroshiku, Senpai!"

Since then, Gray's peaceful days began to change.

~ 000 ~

"Did you hear that new farmer? She's a girl, but she's such a hard worker!"

"You're right! Yesterday, I looked she was still working on her farm until 6pm!"

"Oh... If it were me, I won't be able to do that!"

"Right? But I feel sorry for her. That kind of girl might have no time to think about love and romance!"

"Yes, yes! I'm sure there's only one goal in her head: to be a success farmer!"

"Ahahahaha!"

Gray frowned when he heard a loud noise coming from some housewives who were gossiping in Rose Square. Actually, he just happened to passing by the Rose Square to deliver a box of kitchen knives –an order, to Zack. His heart itched by uncomfortable feelings. Those housewives were wrong. Claire's intention might be completely far from becoming a success farmer. As he remembered his conversation with her yesterday, Gray felt a goose bump on his nape.

"Chasing... me?" Gray ascertained that he didn't hear it wrong.

"Yup! Ne, Senpai, do you have a girlfriend?" she asked bluntly. A question that hit the mark for Gray who, since he settled in this town one and half years ago, continuing on being single. Not because there was no girl he liked here –no. It was because he had no courage to tell her his feeling. Once the face of the girl he liked appeared in his mind, his face was automatically flushed.

"No, not yet. But soon!" with an awkward smirk, Gray proclaimed his determination confidently.

Claire smiled over his attitude. Her eyes shone. Just like an explorer in a cave full of beasts and evils, who finally found a light after walked for days.

Since then Claire really always came to Blacksmith every morning to greet him. Gray gulped. He might have taken the wrong step. He should just tell her that he had already married, to make her give up. Being chased by a girl he didn't even remember made him feel very uncomfortable.

Thinking and walking at the same time, without knowing he had reach Zack's house at Mineral Beach. The door was locked, and there was no answer even though he had knocked for a couple times. So the man wasn't at home. He decided to wait for him –maybe he just went for a while to supermarket, as usual.

Gray's eyes were screening down the scenery of pale blue sky and dark blue sea afar. His gaze moved closer to shallow greenery sea near the coast, continued along the coast line, searching for some signs of life. But as usual, Mineral Beach was always empty unless there were festivals or when a passenger ship docked. Ah, no. Not only the beach which seemed empty. Even the residence area had not many people living there. This was such a quiet, desolated village. It was even quitter around the Mother's Hill forest. No one lived there, except Gotz the carpenter who dedicated his life to guard the forest while doing his routine collecting woods.

Even for Gray, there wasn't much to do in this small village. He was just learning about blacksmith, going to the library, to the mountain and mine sometimes, and chatting with his friends at Inn... Well, maybe those were lots enough. But what about Claire? Did she really come to this village only to chase him? Just how crazy is that girl could be?

"Sigh… whatever," murmured Gray, decided to not care about her. He sat down on a bench in front of Zack's house; put the box contained knives near his feet. The sound of wind, waves and seagulls made his mind somewhat in peace. Not long after that, he fell asleep.

"Senpai!"

Gray opened his eyes. With his eyes blurry, he could recognize the shadow of two people in front of him. Zack and... Claire. Well, of course. Who in this village called him 'senpai' aside from her?

"Are you waiting for me?" Zack asked.

"Ah... yes," Gray nodded. He stretches the stiff muscles of his neck, arms and legs. "Could you deliver this box of knives to Mr. Chen at Sunshine Island's port?" asked Gray, handing him a long brown envelope. Zack opened the envelope, peeked at something inside, and smiled.

"All right, Mr. Blacksmith. This afternoon you'll have your box send with others!"

Gray felt calm that Zack accepted the job. "Okay, thank you, Zack," said him with a smile –pretty ordinary smile for Gray and Zack. Not for the only girl among them, though. For her, the smile was equal to medusa freezing rays. She had been bewitched and turned into a red-cheeked statue.

"Hello, Claire?" Zack wagged his palms in front of Claire's face. There was no response. The girl was completely enchanted. Zack and Gray looked at each other, frowned. Only when yelled very loudly that she was back to reality, "Claire!"

"Ah... yes!" she answered nervously. Her cheeks were red. Her heart felt like it was going to explode. It was so much to the point that her tears might flow at any time.

"What's wrong?" Gray asked with frowned eyebrows. She looked at Gray again and realized that she couldn't hold back her feeling any longer. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

"... MARRY ME!" Claire shouted.

"NO WAY." Gray replied firmly with plain tone. "Zack, I'm going home. Thanks again," said him to Zack who was still in daze after hearing Claire's 'spontaneous proposal'.

"O, oh. Sure. You're welcome," Zack replied. When his back could no longer be seen, Zack turned his head to look the rejected girl. Her shoulders trembled, her cheeks bulging, her eyes narrowed, and a pair of her eyebrows nearly fused. When his eyes met hers, the girl's tears fell from her eyes.

"Za-Zaackk..." Claire sobbed.

"Huh?"

Unexpectedly, Claire shook her head hardly. As if she had found her own determination, she wiped the tears with the back of her hands.

"I'll give my best," she said. Although he didn't quite understand the situation, Zack knew what she meant: she hasn't given up even though she was rejected. And Zack liked that girl's spirit.

"Well said! Good luck, Claire!"

She nodded, "Uhn. That one million Joules smile surely will be mine."

"One million joules… what?"

"Uhn. One million Joules smile," repeated Claire with her face trying hard to hold back tears.

I love you... to the point that I want to cry.

And your smile… is equivalent to one million joules of energy for me to keep living.

~ 000 ~

* To be continued ~ *

A / N:

Hello! Though I've published this whole story in Indonesian language, I feel like I want to make an English version… :)

This time is the story about Claire who has an incurable obsession to Gray, and her impure motive to go to Mineral Town. Sorry if you find her personality here is rather strange, haha! I think that her personality or motives to live in Mineral Town all depends to each game player. Let's say this player just fell in love after saw a super-hot Gray's fan art and decided to play Harvest Moon to marry him. This player worked so hard in farming only to be able to buy a double bed –and then getting married, lol. That's my main interest in playing this game, though *yes, to get married*

Claire's obsession –couldn't move on for her nine years unrequited love, isn't something can't happen in real life, though. It just, how much of them who are desperate enough to chase after his/her obsession?

Ah, the term of one million joules smile is the phrase I used for my bias back in middle school, fufufu. Well, you know, something that boosted your spirit to the scariest level xD

Okay, thanks for read this fanfic, and my long A/N –if anyone ever read it xD. See ya.