"Thanks, Claire. For the job," Cliff said, after Manna and Duke had offered it to him, which he had happily accepted.
"Seriously, don't thank me. It was all… uh… Ann's idea!" Claire said, hoping it would change his view on things.
"I only took the job because Mr. Carter told me I was going to stay in this town," Cliff said, unaware that Manna was watching.
"We have to thank you too, you know. Why don't we go out and eat one night? Tomorrow?" Manna suggested.
Claire sighed, realizing she was unable to escape it.
"Okay. I guess I could," Claire replied, waved goodnight and headed for her farm.
"Well, see you tomorrow!" Cliff said, happily walking to the church.
"I don't know… there's something odd about that boy. It's like he lives in that church," Duke said, who popped his head out to say goodbye.
"I know. Oh, well!" Manna said and the two returned to their home.
"I'm glad you actually came! I thought you'd skip out on it!" Manna said as Claire sat down at their table.
"That was an option?" Claire asked, seriously.
"Ha! No, it wasn't," Duke replied, almost scarily.
"Uh… why don't we just start eating," Cliff said and the four pounced upon the meal before them.
"Wow. You guys are hungry," Ann said, scratching the back of her head, confused.
"Well, I haven't eaten over a week," Cliff explained while Claire said, "Me, two months."
"Well, I could last for the whole year," Cliff shouted back.
"Why are you two fighting?" Ann asked, even more confused.
The two shrugged and continued eating.
Ann sighed and returned to the kitchen, muttering, "What weirdoes…"
"Hey, why are you so hungry?" Claire asked Manna and Duke, her mouth full of food.
"We're just messy eaters," Duke said as he ate an apple, whole.
Claire and Cliff stared at him for a moment and then shook their heads.
Finally, they finished the meal, ready to return home.
Duke nudged Cliff and he sighed.
"Could I walk you home?" Cliff asked, obviously not wanting to.
"…No, I'm fine," Claire said and left the Inn.
"Oh, well. Try again next time," Manna said.
"When will you guys learn…" Cliff murmured to himself.
Manna and Duke left, while Cliff called, "Bye, Ann!"
He then left for the church.
"Hi, Carter!" Claire said cheerfully as she entered the church.
She then turned to Cliff and said, "You too!"
"Hello, Claire," Carter said, shaking his head until Claire returned her attention back to him.
"So, what brings you here?" Carter asked.
"Just wanted to say hi to Cliff, that's all," Claire said.
As she turned back to Cliff, Carter began shaking his head again.
"Well, hi, Claire. I need to get back to the winery soon," Cliff said as Carter began to nod.
Claire coughed, nervously and then held out a gift wrapped in white wrapping paper, tied in a pink bow.
"Uh… What is it?" Cliff asked.
"That's why I wrapped it. I don't want you to know until I leave," Claire said.
When she shut the church doors, she quickly put her ear to the door, eager to know his reaction.
Carter grabbed the present from Cliff, not caring that his smile died when he did so, and tore it into shreds.
"Don't do that again. Ignore her more often. Oh, and Cliff?" Carter said.
"Yes, Mr. Carter?" Cliff asked.
"Remember the goal," Carter muttered and then the slamming of a door was heard.
"Hmmm… weird," Claire said.
"Tell me about it," Popuri said, who was standing right next to her.
"Please give me some warning before you do that again," Claire said, shivering with surprise.
"Hi, Ann," Cliff said as he entered the Inn.
Ann smiled pleasantly and replied, "You've never come around this time before. What's up?"
"Well, with the new job and all…" Cliff said but let his voice trail off.
"Okay, I understand," Ann said, preparing to go upstairs and clean.
"Uh… Ann?" Cliff called.
"Yes, Cliff?" Ann called back, pleased that she had something to do other than clean.
"…This is hard for me to say… can we go someplace?" Cliff asked.
"Okay… uh... Why don't we go to the Harvest Goddess Spring?" Ann suggested.
"…If that's all you can think of," Cliff said, but through Ann's eyes it was almost an insult.
The two walked out of the Inn, just as Doug emerged from the kitchen.
He looked around, wondering where Ann had gone, but shrugged, thinking she was somewhere, cleaning again.
"So, what do you have to tell me?" Ann asked, comfortably sitting beside the Spring.
"…It's not really say…" Cliff said as he reached into his pocket.
Ann went dead silent as he pulled out something blue.
"A blue feather? Are you nuts? What the heck does it mean?" Ann said, a whirlwind of ideas catching her mind every second.
"…Well… Mr. Carter told me that I had to marry you," Cliff said.
"…What?" Ann said, stating plainly that the idea was mad.
"…Uh… Mr. Carter told me to?" Cliff said, still seeing no fault in his words.
"Why the heck would Carter tell you to do something like that?" Ann shouted, angrily.
"I don't know… but he did," Cliff murmured, standing up.
He left the area silently, while Ann muttered, "What a weirdo."
"…Hmmm… I haven't been to see Carter today. I wonder what he's up to," Claire said, cheerfully as she skipped along the path of her farm toward the town.
As she neared the church she got an uneasy feeling, as if something bad was happening.
"I told you to build it up over time!" someone shouted from inside the church.
Claire put her ear to the door so she could listen to the conversation, although she was frightened by the anger in the voice she'd heard.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Carter," someone said whom sounded like Cliff.
"And never ever say that I told you to!" Carter shouted.
"Okay…" Cliff said but got no further as a creak was heard.
Cliff and Carter's heads whipped around towards the door.
Outside, Claire was waiting for them to continue.
"I don't mean to be rude but," Claire jumped at the sound of the voice, "What are you doing?"
"Oh, hi, Popuri. I was just listening to… uh… birds," Claire lied, and terribly at that.
She then looked back to see the door open and Cliff standing before her.
"Uh…" was all Claire said before Carter shouted, "Get her!"
Claire started running before anyone could understand the situation, but was quickly followed by Cliff, who had begun chase.
Popuri just stood there, surprised, until Carter grabbed her and hauled her inside.
"Hey, Cliff!" Ann called from the Inn but soon realized something was wrong as he continued to chase after Claire.
"What… A… Weirdo…" Ann said slowly as Doug came out.
"…What just happened?" he asked.
"Never mind," Ann said, returning to the Inn.
"Cliff, stop! Why are you chasing me?" Claire asked as they ran by her farm, almost out of breath.
"…I wish I could tell you," Cliff muttered but was surprised when Claire stopped running.
"What are you doing?" Cliff asked as he, too, stopped running.
"What the heck is going on?" Claire asked, exasperated.
"…Do you promise not to tell anyone?" Cliff asked after a moment.
"Okay," Claire replied, stepping closer.
"Well, I can show you," Cliff said, gesturing to the church.
Claire stayed silent as she suspiciously looked at him.
"At night! Of course," Cliff blurted out, surprised he hadn't mentioned it.
"…Okay," Claire said, wondering how she'd gotten so caught up in the entire scheme so easily.
She knew something was going on but she didn't know how long it had been going on for and how big it really was.
They then started to walk back to the church, in Claire's mind, a last attempt to save Popuri.
Hiding behind the church, Cliff and Claire tried to stay silent but as Carter started to search, Cliff immediately leapt out of their hiding place, grabbed Claire and said, "Here she is!"
Claire suddenly wondered if Cliff had betrayed her or if this was his plan all along.
The fear in his eyes suggested one thing but as Carter dragged her inside the church, she started to regret her choice.
"Um… Dad! Could you go to the church and give Carter his lunch?" Ann asked as she watched the scene from afar.
"Why can't you?" Doug asked lazily, biting into an apple as he flipped through an oven magazine.
The true reason in Ann's mind was that she thought they were kidnapping girls, but Ann didn't mention it as she said, "Just do it, okay?"
Ann shoved the boxed lunch into Doug's full hands and he was forced to get up, close his magazine, put away his apple and go to the church.
At the church, Carter smiled and thanked Doug for his lunch.
Doug looked around the church and said, "For some reason, Ann was frightened of coming here,"
"Oh, really?" Carter chuckled.
As soon as Doug left, Carter immediately said, "Ann might be on to us."
"Okay… so?" Cliff asked as he stepped out of the confessional room.
"Well, we'll have to capture her," Carter said, as if it was obvious.
"But I thought-" Cliff began but Carter went on to say, "Actually… that might be a good idea…"
"But the whole point of this was-" Cliff said, but was once again cut off as Carter glared at him.
"Oh, by the way, I don't think Ann likes me," Cliff said.
"Well, you'll have to change that," Carter said and the two went to check on their prisoners.
"Okay, let's test it," Carter said, standing before Popuri as he poured a purple liquid into her eyes.
"Popuri, who am I?" Carter asked.
"Carter. Why do you ask? You forget?" Popuri chuckled, although she was not awake.
"And who is this?" Carter asked as he gestured to Cliff.
"Cliff. Why are you asking such strange questions?" Popuri asked.
"And what happened when you visited the church?" Carter asked.
"I came for a few hours, asked you some pointless questions and left. What?" Popuri asked, her eyes flickering open.
"Okay, you will report to the church every Sunday, right?" Carter asked.
"Of course. I always do, don't I?" Popuri said.
"Good. Now deal with Claire, Cliff," Carter said.
Cliff headed over to the other girl who was tied to a chair and forced a purple liquid down her throat.
"This isn't over," Claire said, after she'd drunk the liquid, only to fall asleep as Popuri had.