Author's Notes:

This is my first time to write a fanfic. I decided to write it in a single person's point of view because I believe it will suit the story best. If you have time after reading, please leave some creative criticism if there are any. I believe there are going to be some, and I welcome them.

In this fanfic, I'm going to try to be emphasizing more character and emotions into the seemingly stereotypical characters of Harvest moon. And in that attempt, I might over-exaggerate some character personalities. If you don't agree or find something you don't like about my characterizations, please inform me. I'll try to compensate.

Please remember to leave creative criticisms. I welcome them very much because this is my very first fanfic.

Chapter 1 First Impressions

The sky is gray, filled with clouds that were as dark as an unfathomable well. Lightning brightened up the sky every few seconds accompanied by roaring thunder.

I sat there on a bench not far from the pink building called the supermarket where almost everyone buys there supplies from. The very fact that everyone goes to buy stuff there is the the very reason why I'm sitting here so early. Too early. I've been waiting here since 6am, but in fact, the Supermarket doesn't open its doors until 10am. I don't want people to see me buying the blue feather that just got on sale inside. I don't want people talking or thinking about it. I'm not a people person. It might stir things more than it should.

Then, it started to rain, making a sound like a crowd in a football field cheering for their home team. It doesn't take long until I was totally soaked as if I took a dive into the lake. The droplets of rain drip from my hair as I cower down to cover my chest with my arms crossed and my fists clenched because of the cold. The wind was merely blowing a breeze, but being wet from the rain made it feel a lot colder than it should be. My lack of sleep doesn't make it better at all.

The weather is the way it is now because winter had just ended, and spring has just begun to set in. I was starting to shiver as more wind blew this way. I wasn't regretting the very fact that I'm here today at this very moment, shivering to death. And to be honest, I'm thankful for the rain. No one is going to be going out and visiting the supermarket if the rain keeps on pouring down like this, a better chance for me to get in and make the purchase unnoticed.

Sitting on the bench near the supermarket with my rucksack containing a blue feather's worth of gold strapped on my back, cowering for warmth, I start to reminisce the memories prior to this event in my life. The events that happened exactly a year and a week ago.

A year ago...

It's going to be the fist time I'm going to leave my parent's home and live a life all by myself. I'm all grown up now, and it was time for me to leave the nest, I suppose. I've been living with my folks for all the years in my life up until now. To be quite honest, I was kinda hoping this day would come. I didn't want to be their baby boy for the rest of my life. With that thought in mind, I lie on the bed in this ship's stuffy little cabin. I can hear the seagulls' cries; we must be nearing land.

"The ship is about to dock at Mineral beach. All passengers whose tickets are red please proceed to the deck immediately." A monotone voice was heard in every room with a speaker.I guess it's time to disembark.

Moments later, I found myself on a beach with yellow sand a really cool breeze. It was colder than any beach I've been on, probably because it's only 5:30 am in the morning and the sun has barely risen

That aside, with nothing but clothes and rucksack on my back, I started to make my way to where the sign was pointing with an arrow saying, "This way to Melody Farm". Melody farm, the farm where I spent a summer vacation when I was very little. I could remember playing with my granddad's animals all day long when I spent my days there. Without hesitation, I looked over to the path the sign was pointing and made my way there. I was so excited to see it all again. It's been almost ten years since I last seen the farm. Walking in a fast manner, I didn't even stop to take a gander at the scenery, not even to take a breath.

Moments after following the sign boards, I stopped because there wasn't any signboards to follow anymore. What lied in front of me was an entrance with a sign reading "Welcome to Melody Farm" overhead. "It's like a theme park", I thought to myself. This wasn't here when I visited. I took a glance at my watch. It was a quarter before six. With a lot of nostalgic feelings, I enter the farm.

The moment I saw the farm, moving my heard from left to right scanning the whole farm, I knew that this WAS the farm I had spent a summer vacation on, but it was unexpectedly a lot messier and chaotic than I imagined it would be after being abandoned for 5 years. There were tin cans on the floor. Weeds that grew as low as my knee and as high as my waist were almost everywhere. There were large and small boulders all over the field. Broken branches and twigs scattered everywhere. What was worst of all is that there was trash everywhere.

I really felt a small change of heart at this point, thinking to myself "I must have made a mistake coming here."

I looked to my right, only to see a small hut with a mailbox near the door. To my left was a puny brown doghouse with a pink roof. Memories of the huge dog that I used to play with start to animate in my mind. I walk over to the doghouse and took a look inside it. I knelt down and bent over on all fours to see what's inside. There was nothing in it.

"Ruff! Ruff!" a sound startled me. I turned around to see a cute little brown puppy panting. It sat down and began scratching itself. I remembered the old dog I used to play with, and this one looks almost the same as the old dog. I hesitantly picked the dog up by its front legs. It looked straight to my with it's two black eyes and tongue sticking out. It was a boy puppy. It must have been staying here in the farm even before I got here. "I'm gonna call you Daigoro." It started to wag its tail as I carefully placed him back on the floor.

I turned to look at farm that stretched a long way. I pondered upon the thought of going back to the city. Looking at the farm really made me discouraged at this point. I really didn't know if I was up for the job.

"Hello!", a voice back from the entranced called to me. A small mustached man wearing a red suit and a red hat was standing at the entrance.

"I'm Mayor Thomas, the Mayor of this small Town. You must be Jack, Frank's grandson, if I'm not mistaken. You've grown up to be quite the strapping young gentleman, wouldn't you say?", he said with a smile.

"Anyway, this farm was abandoned a some time ago when your granddad was rushed away to the hospital a few years ago.", he put on a serious look.

I couldn't say a word of affirmation since I felt guilty for not having gone to the hospital to see my granddad during that time.

Taking a deep breath, he then continued to speak.

"We, the townspeople, have agreed upon giving this farm one more chance though, if you can turn this farm around and make it prosper again within 3 years, we will welcome you as a part of this town. Otherwise, we will have no other choice but to take matters into our own hands. Are you willing to work with these conditions?" His face turned all sad-looking.

At that moment in time, I had a lot of thoughts running through my head. The thought hit me like a block of cement. What the mayor said reminded me why I was here in the first place. I was here to prove to myself and the people of the city that I wasn't an inferior person, that I could make it on my own, that I didn't have to rely on anyone to survive. That I was going to prove to them what I was really capable of. Thoughts of my former friends teasing me for being so dependent and playful. Thoughts of my friends saying "go ahead and waste your life. It's your life anyway". Thoughts of my granddad when he was still with us. He worked really hard to make this farm work. If I abandoned it now, I'd fail everyone, including myself.

"Yes! I am willing to work on those conditions!" I said with a clenched fist, and a look filled with determination.

"I'm glad the way the farm looked right now didn't discourage you even one bit." He said with a smile on his face.

Filled with enthusiasm, I started to lift the heavy lumber blocking the entrance to the house. Bent over, lifting the logs with all of my strength. Though of carrying the logs one by one never crossed my mind. I totally ignored the mayor after those thoughts burned across my mind.

I place the logs at the lumber cabinet that was just near the house. I broke a sweat carrying those all those lumber all at once. There was so much to do and so little time. The mayor was still standing there muttering about something. I didn't quite here him. I didn't feel the need to anyway.

Remembering all those people who looked down on me, I wasted no time gathering up all the trash I can see in the entrance. The only real thing that I really didn't like was people looking down on me. I'm going to prove to them that I'm not below them in any way.

"Would you like me to show you around town?" That was about the only thing I heard from the mayor at this point in time.

"Thanks, I appreciate the idea, but I think there's a lot of work to be done here." I said with an enthusiastic smile on my face.

"Oh... okay..."his faced turned to sad little prune."We'll be seeing you then." He said, turning and leaving.

I looked at my analog watch to tell the time. It was 6:15 already. I remember once, when I was in the city studying, this was the time I usually ate my breakfast that my mom had made for me. I guess I kinda missed that part of living with them.

In order to clean the entire farm, I needed some equipment. So, I thought to myself that my granddad used to keep the tools inside the house. Maybe there are still in there.

I walked towards the hut, which was the size of a little mountain cabin. I reached for the rusty bronze colored knob. Turning it made a small screeching sound, the kind of sound that you get from rubbing two rusty things together.

As I opened the door, scent of moldy bread blew my way. Across the sunlight you can really see the dust flying. It smelled all moldy in the cabin and on the bed you can almost say there were molds. There's an old television set that was the size of a cabinet and a table in the middle of the cabin. A tool box lied on the floor beside the door and the calendar.

I opened the toolbox and a few insects even came crawling out. It was filled with cobwebs and such. The dust made me cough a little. Inside the box was a rusty ax, a rusty sickle, a rusty hoe, a worn-out watering can, and a heavy hammer. I took the hoe and the ax out and placed it in my rucksack. I never should have done this, because after that I cleaned the entire room with a broom and a mop while still wearing the rucksack on my back made the entire task more tiring. I only realized my mistake after I had felt the weariness went to change the covers of the bed and realized that I couldn't even lie down for a while on the bed because I was all dirty after cleaning the entire cabin. After cleaning up the cabin, I could swear it looked larger in the inside than it looked in the outside.

When I stepped outside after cleaning the entire cabin, a tall man wearing a tank top with muscular arms started to walk into the farm.

"So you're Jack I suppose?"He spoke with a very low pitch, crossing his arms.

"I'm Zack. I used to handle your granddad's shipment. You can place all the livestock products, poultry products, and produce in the bin you see right over there." He said as he pointed to the bin behind me.

"I hope you'll have something to ship by the end of each day. I'll do the inventory, and you can check the receipt along with the money that I'll leave inside the secret compartment inside the bin over here." He walked over to the bin and opened a secret compartment.

"I'm looking forward to a happy and prosperous working experience with you." He reached out his hand hoping to shake with me.

I took his hand and he shook me like a rag dog.

"I'll be coming here every 5pm except on holidays. I guess we'll be seeing more of each other, then. See ya."He said, as he exited the farm.

Daigoro was lying there and then he gave a big yawn. I was feeling really tired as well. I really wanted to lie down on the grass I'm standing on. I was just about to, when I stopped and realized that I haven't done anything to the field yet.

It was nearing lunch time when I finished pulling out all the weeds. My back felt like it was about to break from the strain, as every weed I pulled became harder and harder to pull. By this time, I usually ate lunch with the family. I'd really appreciate a good bento right about now.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled out my ax. There wasn't anything I can do with the huge boulders and pieces of rocks that was scattered all over the field. I could only chop all the branches and twigs that were lying before me. I moved all the little pebbles and stones that I saw to the sides of the field. They can serve as a fence for my crops when I decide to plant them.

Raising the ax up high, I give the large branch a mighty chop. With the aid of gravity, the branch split into two little pieces which can be carried to the lumber cabinet later. Doing this to every branch and twig I saw under this searing heat made me sweat profusely. "Where's the breeze when you need it?". I took of my cap and started to fan myself. I took of my gloves as well as I sat in the middle of the field under the scorching midday sun. No wonder my hands were painful. Underneath the gloves that were supposed to keep my hands clean, the part connecting my finger to my palm of my hands had several blisters and torn skin and flesh.

I was staring at it for a while now, and noticed that some clouds covered had already covered the sun.

"Sigh, so this is what granddad had to go through when he started working on this farm.", I though to myself.

I wonder how all the others are doing back in the city? They must be all having a splendorous time without me.

I took a glance at my watch once more and felt that time had just flew. It was almost 3pm. I needed to put something on the bin before Zack gets here or else he'll think of me as a slacker and a lazy bum.

With that I ran outside the back entrance of the farm into a path surrounded by greed pine. In the distance there was a waterfall. There were so many flowers on the foot of the trees.

I spotted some bamboo shoots on the ground. I thought to myself that it wouldn't be nice shipping something I didn't own, but I realized that I desperately needed it, so I ran towards the bamboo shoots, knelt down and started to pick them up and place them inside my rucksack.

The sky was starting to become gray as dark nimbus clouds started forming of the puffy cumulus clouds. I had to hurry back. I picked the rucksack and started running, making my way towards the farm. When I reached the farm, the sun had totally been blacked out by the clouds. I placed all the bamboo shoots inside the bin. I didn't bother counting how many. I panted like a dog trapped inside a car in a hot day with all the windows closed.

It's a good thing those clouds are there to block out the sun, so I thought. It was growing darker and darker and I just realized that the branches I cut were still lying there on the now-weedless field.

My back was aching. I felt hesitant to carry all those pieces of lumber into the lumber cabinet.

It was really growing dark. It's late afternoon and the clouds made the situation even more discouraging. But then I thought to myself, the lumber will just be washed away by the rain later and will just make a big mess if I'm not going to place them inside the cabinet. All my hard work will all just go to waste. The blisters on my hand are not going to be in vain, I thought to myself.

Without hesitation, despite the weariness in my limbs and back, I run towards the scattered lumber. Almost stumbling, I make my way, but it started to drizzle. A little rain wasn't going to hurt me. I placed around 6 pieces of the broken branches in one pile and scooped them all up into my arms. I ran towards the lumber shed as fast as I could, ignoring the dreaded pain on my lower spine. As I ran for the other scattered lumber, the rain started to literally POUR. I placed them up into a group of 9 pieces this time, in hopes that I'll be able to carry it.

I scoop them up with arms, hoping that I will be able to carry it. I scoop them up and manage to lift it up 7 inches from the ground, but I weary mind made me lose balance. I felt a huge pull forward and then stumbled forward flat on my face, with all the lumber lying scattered in front of me. Lying on the ground, I forced myself to get up trying to think of what people back in my city would say if I were to come back as a failure and what the people here in Mineral Town would say if I were to back out on the agreement.

I take a huge gulp and start to stand up, but it felt like the world was spinning around. It was as if I spun 20 or so times. Forces were trying to push me from side to side as I see the lumber all scattered on the floor. They were blurring gradually before my eyes that tried to stay still but couldn't.

When I tried to close my eyes for a second, it was really hard to open them up again. Come to think of it I never got to open them up again at that time, and I fell face first into the muddy field, losing consciousness under the pouring rain.