It seems that Gwen had found love in the Allen, but we swear it won't be as easy as what you guys see in the game!

Gwen

"Wake up! Wake up! I say WAKE UP!"

Ugh... Who was shouting so loudly so early in the morning? I barely woke up and I had to open the door for that damned person. I quickly went to the door and opened it, Neil was there.

"Hurry up and-"

BAM!

I slammed the door back at him. What kind of manner was that, shouting to people so early in the morning and ask them to hurry up with that annoying look of his without explaining what had happened first? I really could not tolerate this guy. I went back to our room to wake Reine up.

"Reine, wake up and answer that piece of trash!"

Reine went to the door without asking anything since she was partly-asleep. She opened the door and Neil was still there, obviously annoyed at what I had done but I could not care less.

"What the hell was that?! Hurry up and go to the coop!"

Reine rubbed her eyes lazily and followed that animal guy to the coop. I followed them from behind. I was worried about Chika (And I was worried that he might do something to Reine, too!). Both of them entered the coop and I peeked at them using the gap between the coop's door.

"I know! You come here to celebrate our birthday right?" Reine started the conversation. "But seriously, Forrester, you don't have to shout out loud in the morning. It's still freakingly six in the morning and that's not the way to wake girls up, y'know?"

Oh yeah, I just realised that today is 16th of Summer, it's our birthday.

"Huh? What? A chick was born, hurry up and name it."

I just realised that there was this little chick hiding behind Chika. Oh, so the egg I put in the fertilizer a few days ago had hatched. Why didn't he just said so from the beginning? I would have followed him happily (happy for the chick of course) if he had mentioned that. Was it only my eyes or Reine seemed to be quite disappointed?

"Ermm... Chiki?"

Reine's sense of naming was as lame as ever. I bet the next would be Chiku if she got to name it.

"Ugh, I'm so sleepy just take care of the rest, will ya?"

Neil stepped towards the door with me behind it. I quickly hid behind the barrels beside the coop. However, Neil didn't appear from the door. I decided to peek again, only to find out that he apparently turned back.

"Hey, I actually got something for your birthday. For the two of you. Nothing fancy, though."

He handed over a neatly wrapped box to Reine. Neil appeared soon after and left the farm. I rose from my hiding place and entered the coop.

"Oh, hi, Gwen look! He gave us a present for our birthday!" she said excitedly as she showed me the pink box. Oh yes, pink, I had always hated pink since I was bullied because of my pink hair.

"Okay, nice." I replied, feeling not interested at all, "I will feed Chika and Chiki now."

"Okay."

Reine didn't seem to be surprised that I knew the chick's name. She must have realised that I just didn't want to deal with that animal guy. And yeah, we used to peek at Dad together when he was in the barn or coop.

We came back inside the house before continuing our work. Reine was too excited that she got a birthday present other than Dad's or Mom's. She opened the wrapping slowly and took out the things inside. It was... Chicken treat? Reine chuckled and sighed. "Well, he did say it was 'nothing fancy', but still..."

"He is hopeless..." she concluded.

I nodded in agreement.

After that, we continued to do our farm work as usual. Reine was supposed to buy supplies from Hana and I did the farm work today. As I finished watering all the crops, I saw Kazuki approached me, biting something.

"What is it, Kazuki?" I asked him as I stroked his muzzle gently. Kazuki dropped the thing down. I took it and it turned out that it was Reine's wallet. So she went to buy supplies without bringing her wallet? Very clever indeed. Well, I did finish the farm works already, maybe I could go to the town on my own once in a while. Oh, I could take this chance to take a walk with Kazuki also.

I led Kazuki to the town for a short walk. We were heading towards the general store when I saw Reine and Allen in front of the salon. I could not hear what they said but both of them seemed to be enjoying themselves. Somehow, I was pissed off.

Allen took out something from his pocket, apparently it was pink flower. He gave it to Reine and she seemed to be very happy. I felt very annoyed by this.

"Kazuki, let's go to the mountain instead, okay?" I said to Kazuki as I turned back. As we reached the river, I let Kazuki rest for a while. I sat beside Kazuki, pondering about what had just happened. I was jealous. I was always jealous of Reine after all. She was able to speak up her mind and I wasn't. Because of that, she was the one whom everyone loved to speak with, whom everyone loved to share with. Not me... I was... feeling lonely... But this time, I was more annoyed than usual, maybe that was because today was our birthday.

Kazuki nudged my shoulder as if encouraging me not to feel lonely. I stood up, took his rein and walked home.

Upon reaching home, I saw Reine in the middle of the farm. She looked very tired and worn out.

"Gwen, do you see my wallet? Damn, I lost it."

I took her wallet and gave it back to her.

"Here, Kazuki found it."

"Really? Oh, thank you, you save my life!"

"Thank Kazuki, not me."

"If I thank Kazuki now, I would end up in hospital tomorrow morning," she said half-jokingly.

Well, it was late already. It was true that Kazuki went to sleep directly after he reached the stable and he didn't like to be woken up by people (including me, but he still would not bite or kick me).

"Hey, Reine, did anything in particular happened today?" I asked.

"Hmm, not really, why?" she answered, quite puzzled by my question I believed.

"Nothing," I briefly replied. Now, I felt very annoyed again. Clearly something had happened between her and Allen this evening. Why didn't she tell me about it? I still didn't know why I felt more annoyed than usual but I decided to forget about it and went to sleep instead.

Reine

After I finished my share of work, I decided to have ride with Thor to the forest. I purposely didn't tell Gwen about this. I fastened the rein and saddle on Thor and led him out of the stable. Only after we passed the grass field I rode on him to the forest.

"Reine!"

I turned around and found Allen. I came down from Thor and greeted him, "Hey."

"So, today's your birthday, right?" he asked.

"Uh-huh,"

"I got something for you."

He revealed a lovely pink flower and gave it to me. "This flower reminded me of your beautiful hair,"

"Why, thank you!" I giggled, as pink happened to be my favourite colour.

"I'm glad you like it," he said, smiling.

"Well, I need to go now. Thanks for the present, Allen."

"Sure, see you around, then."

I climbed on Thor and gently nudged him to start moving. I decided to stop beside the river and tied Thor's rein on the nearby tree. I took out my shoes and dipped my legs into the gently streaming water. It felt cold against my skin, but it was nice.

Today was our birthday, and to be frank it was actually not my favourite day of the year. My mind wandered back to our childhood as I silently watched the river.

Throughout these years, I had come to believe that Gwen was our Dad's favourite. Well, why wouldn't she be? She was everything you could ask from a daughter: she was kind, calm, and obedient yet no damsel in distress. She never got into nasty mess like I had: fighting with the neighbourhood boys or suddenly missing in the forest. I loved Gwen, mind you, and I hoped I could be more like her, but I guessed I wouldn't be the real me that way. I was content and happy about who I was, it's just that I hoped my Dad was, too.

Dad never explicitly told me about that, but I could pick the hints up: Dad sometimes told me to be more like her, or that I needed to control my temper (which I had managed to do over these years).

The biggest hint ever would be Kazuki, though. He was supposedly our seventeen's birthday present. Yeah, he was supposed to be our birthday present, but Dad gave him when I wasn't around. I only learned about him during dinner that night. They wouldn't even mention about him if I didn't ask them, "Whose foal in the stable?"

"Oh, he's Kazuki, your birthday present," Dad had mentioned so casually.

The feelings I got that night prevented me to love Kazuki as much as I do to other horses, and I guessed Kazuki kind of felt it, so Kazuki never liked me as much as he did to Gwen.

I had always kept this to myself, and no one ever guessed. Even Gwen never realised why Kazuki and I were sort-of nemesis. I found out if you spoke often enough, nobody would even guess you were hiding something inside. Yeah, I believed that was the case with me. Now I learned that one of the best way to hide your feelings would be talking of anything else other than that.

I spent some more time on the riverside until it was near dinner time. After I put Thor back into the stable, I realised that my wallet wasn't in my pocket. Shoot! Where had I dropped it? Well, the best place to start would be this farm, so I began to look for it.

I was busy looking between the crops when Gwen came back. Thankfully, my wallet was with her. She said Kazuki had found it. I noticed she wasn't in a good mood, but I hadn't had the chance to ask as she immediately ask, whether anything particular had happened. I didn't want her to probe into where I had been, so I just replied with a 'no'. She just shrugged and went back into the house. I was tempted to ask her what happened, but I guessed it wasn't a very good idea. With Gwen, it was much better to let her talk about it on her own time. She didn't talk much, true, but she also disliked people poking into her private life, so I better left her alone.

It was a clear summer day and we were tending the crops in the field while Dunhill came into the farm with two new residents. We dropped our tools and greeted them.

"Hey, they are the new residents in town. They come here to say hi."

The first person was a serious-looking young man with raven hair and dark brown eyes. He gave me the impression of being the contemplative kind of guy, you know, one that thought things through and ended up thinking too much.

"My name is Richard Trent," he said with a deep, clear voice. "I'll be opening up a clinic here."

"That's nice!" I said. It's good that we were speeding things up to build the clinic, because we figured that we needed a doctor around.

"If you are feeling unwell, please see me." He said, "And thanks for preparing that clinic. It was very nice and neat."

Both of us smiled at his compliment.

"Hi! I'm Tina Laughlin!" the next person said. She was a cheery girl with chestnut-coloured short hair and orange-dominated attire. "I'm a journalist, so if you guys have any juicy gossip, be sure to drop by!"

"Tina will take over the newspaper delivery as well," Dunhill added, "thanks to both of you, now I can have more rest."

We chatted for a short while before they went off. Their coming reminded us that we had been stalling our work on the restaurant and inn. Well, the inn was an easy piece of work, since it was only abandoned not too long ago, so all we needed to do was to clean it up and repair the sign board (which I was working on). The restaurant would be harder since we needed to check on the kitchen condition and made sure there was no leak at all and we also needed to make new tables and chairs since they were left in irreparable condition.

"Let's continue working on the restaurant." Gwen said as if she had been reading my mind.

"Yeah, sure, after we finish the farm work."

I was walking aimlessly on a Saturday afternoon at the village. I had finished taking care of the crops and foraging, so I got the rest of the day as my day off.

When I walked past Neil's house, it hit me: Maybe I should ask him for a walk; today was his day off, too, after all. I was about to knock on his door when it was opened and Rod came out. Rod?

"Oh, hi Reine, looking for Neil?"

"Uh, yeah.."

"He's inside." He said, "I need to go back and take something, see you later!"

I went inside after Rod left and was about to call Neil when I saw him squatting on the floor and talking to... a dog.

"Don't worry, your master will be back soon!" Neil said as he stroked the dog very gently. "You're such a cutie, aren't you?"

Cutie? I'd never thought that Neil got such vocabulary in his personal dictionary. I stood there, speechless, yet enjoying the scene that was unrolling before my eyes. However, my fun was rather spoiled when the dog noticed me and approached me innocently. Neil stood up and turned back, only to find me in his house. "Kreiss?!"

Wow, he didn't realised I had been standing here for a few minutes.

"H... how long have you been there?"

I studied him carefully and realised that he was blushing. The inner me burst out laughing at this. Maybe I shouldn't tell him I saw it. That would spoil my fun, and I guessed I didn't want him to feel embarrassed.

"I just got here."

"G.. good." He said awkwardly, "Rod asked my to look for his dog while he got back to take something he left in his house, but I need to go. I'm going to his place, wanna come along?"

"Sure!" I said, still trying hard not to laugh.

So, we walked to Rod's house, which was actually just next to his house. Neil knocked on the door and opened it, letting the dog went in first. Rod was clearly surprised to see us (and his dog). "Neil? I was just going to go back there."

"What kind of master are you? A dog needs his master! Besides, I can't do favour to you all day long!"

"Wait, what? But you volunteered-"

"Enough double talking! I don't know what are you talking about!" Neil cut in, "I'm going! Bye!"

With that, Neil stormed off the house and was gone at the next moment. Rod was clearly clueless, "What the hell was his deal?"

Well, maybe I should tell him what had went on in Neil's house. "I saw him playing with your dog. He baby-talked him!" I finally burst out laughing while saying the last sentence. Seriously, I couldn't hold it anymore. Rod was puzzled for some seconds before he joined in laughing with me, "Are you serious? Hahahahaha..."

"I am! He called your dog a 'cutie'! He didn't realise he was the cutie himself! You should have see it!"

"Yeah, maybe I should have." Rod agreed, "He is actually shy, Neil, I mean."

I took a deep breath and nodded, "So I realised." I told him. "Hey, are you mad at him? For... just now?"

"Nope, especially now that I know why." he said, "He must be embarrassed, although he may not look like it,"

"Yeah, he's really one of a kind, isn't he?"

Rod grinned, "I'm glad to see someone understands him!"

"Hm?"

"Well, people often misjudge him because of his appearance."

"And his harsh words." I added, "but I know he's much more than that."

Rod smiled, "Yeah."

Gwen

The day was quite late when I realised that Allen's umbrella was still within my possession. I planned to return the umbrella as soon as the rain ceased, but that day, the rain never stopped at all. I ended up forgetting until today. Rain fell and I saw his umbrella when I picked up my own umbrella.

I decided to go to the salon before doing any work so I would not forget again. I took his umbrella and went to the salon.

The salon hadn't opened yet when I reached there. Of course, it was still very early in the morning. I knocked the door and waited for a reply. He should have been there anyway. Soon after, Allen came out from the door.

"Oh, it's you, Gwen. Come in first, you don't want to stand in the middle of the rain." he greeted me, as sweet as he had been that time.

I nodded and went in without saying anything. It was the first time I entered the salon and it was neater than I thought. I was the one who built it, but I guessed Allen did some decorating here and there. It looked much nicer than the newly-built salon when Allen hadn't moved in.

"What business do you have here? I am not in the mood to talk in the morning, so I prefer you don't talk to me much now."

I didn't want to annoy him so I quickly took the umbrella and gave it back to him.

"Here's your umbrella," I said.

He seemed to be quite puzzled seeing me returning his umbrella, but he still took it and smiled (Shoot, he was very charming when he smiled).

"It was a man's responsibility to help a lady in need. Thanks, you sure are very nice to run an errand for your sister."

Wait, errand? sister? So he thought I was Reine at that time? Oh, I knew now: he was pursuing Reine all this time. That umbrella and that kindness were all for Reine, not me. Why did we look so alike? Why were we twins? And why did I feel so pissed off by this? I tried to hide my disappointment, but I just couldn't. I really felt like crying right now.

"Yeah..." I answered softly, faking my smile the best that I could and I ran outside as fast as possible, not caring about the rain anymore. This was too much for me.

I ran back to the farm only to find Reine playing with Thor, her horse. Damn it, she was the last person I wanted to see now. Reine seemed to notice me as she ran towards me with her usual smile. "Hey, Gwen! Where have you been?"

"That's none of your business." I hissed, not bothered to hide my anger.

"Are you okay?" she said, looking puzzled.

"You took everything away from me!" I snapped, could not pent up my anger anymore.

"Wait, can you tell me what exactly happened?"

I could hear that she was actually a bit annoyed, but I was very annoyed at her that time that I didn't care about how she felt at all.

"Why it's always you?! Every time! People notice only you! People want to be your friend but not mine! Even Allen..."

"Wait..."

"Shut up! Go away! I'm sick of you!"

I could see Reine's face reddened. She turned her head and shouted, "Thor!"

Apparently she had trained Thor pretty well, since he immediately ran to her and stopped just before her. She jumped on Thor, not bothering to put on any saddle or rein on him (well she could ride pretty well even without those and Dad had once thought Reine would be a horse racer instead of farmer). She gently kicked Thor by his belly and with that, they disappeared from my sight.

The moment she left, tears flowed down on my cheeks. I really couldn't take it anymore. I was feeling very lonely all this time. Beside Reine, I always felt like a shadow, ignored. I'm just like an extra to Reine after all...

I didn't know where Reine had run off to, but I could not care less at this moment. I went to the barn, trying to occupy my mind by taking care of Remu and Kazuki.

It had been a week since I stopped talking to Reine. She had been avoiding me as much as she could after finishing her share of work (well, I knew she always come back around midnight to sleep, though). There wasn't much work to do right now because it was the end of the season already and it had been raining so heavily these days that I didn't need to water the crops. Nice, just when I needed more work to occupy my mind. I finished everything before noon, this was too early, so I decided to go and take a walk near the river. I needed time to reflect by myself.

Just when reached the bridge, I saw Allen walking from the other side of the bridge.

"Hey, Gwen," he greeted me.

I wasn't in the mood to socialize with other people now, especially him, but I just nodded and tried to smile at him for the sake of politeness.

"You're lucky, actually, running into me right now. Really lucky!"

What? Hello, you're just the second last person I wanted to see after Reine. How could I be lucky meeting you?

"I was just starting to feel thirsty, so I was going to get some tea," he said, "You don't have anything to do, right? I'm feeling pretty good today, I'll take you along with me if you like. Come on."

I didn't even have a chance to answer his offer as he already started walking to the town. I was confused at the moment so I stood there, trying to process what just happened.

"Hey, what's wrong? Come on, get a move on!"

Dang it, how did it end up like this? I decided just to suck it up and follow him quietly from behind I followed Allen until we reached the restaurant. We took a seat and Allen ordered some food for us. It was very awkward, didn't know what to say and I kept silent while waiting for the food. The good thing was, the food came soon enough. However, I still didn't feel right to eat with him like this. Allen seemed to realise that I wasn't really feeling comfortable though.

"What's up? It's my treat, so you don't have to hold back."

Allen's word broke the silence between us. I didn't know why but I suddenly feel very relieved and I was able to smile from my heart.

"Thank you," I said to him, feeling very grateful. Somehow, I forgot all my worries for the moment.

"I invited you here, no need to thank me," he said, smiling back at me, "Having a woman pay for food or drink while she is eating with me goes against everything I stand for."

"You're very kind," I spontaneously replied and he seemed to be quite amused by my reply.

"You think that makes me kind? No. I'm just doing what anyone would do! Come on, let's eat."

We finished eating the Genovese Pasta he ordered (He ordered one for me too) and he went to Clement, the restaurant owner, to pay for the meal. I stood up from my seat and approached him.

"Hey, Allen, do you know that the one you met in the rain was me, not Reine?" I asked. I didn't like to keep things undercover.

"I do," he answered briefly.

He knew? I thought he didn't know about it, that's why he said I was running an errand for Reine. Did I just make a mistake?

"I thought you thought it was Reine?" I asked again, puzzled.

"I did, but I do know now. It was so obvious when you ran away that time."

Shoot, I was so embarrassed now.

"Even someone like me can make a mistake, I really can't differentiate both of you in the rain when your hair are damp," he added.

"But, you were actually going to give it to Reine, right?" I said, while looking down to hide my embarrassment. I didn't dare to look at him directly right now. There was silence for a short while.

"I would do exactly the same thing even if I knew it was you."

Oh, dang it, I believed my face would be damn red right now.

I could hear Allen chuckled and he patted my hair gently.

"So you wanted to be helped by me that much? You sure are cute, aren't you?"

I was at loss at words, I could not say anything even though he teased me that much. I could feel blood rushing to my cheek.

"Anyway, I better get going now. Do you enjoy today?"

I only nodded, still unable to say anything else.

"That's as expected. I'll invite you out again sometime. Look forward to it," he said as he walked out of the restaurant. Just before he took a step, he turned back at me.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forget about this," he said as he took a pink flower out from his pocket, "I'm supposed to give this to you on your birthday, but you rarely go out so I didn't see you at all. Happy belated birthday, Gwen Kreiss."

And just like that, he gave the pink flower to me.

"You know, actually I hate pink, but I can make exceptions sometimes." I muttered softly, but smile was plastered on my face. I could not help being happy. Just when I thought that I was ignored. Just when I thought that I was left out.

Allen smiled back at me and left the restaurant.

If that's the case, why did I snap at Reine? I just made a big misunderstanding between both of us. I needed to go back, find Reine, and clear this as soon as possible.

Reine

I didn't understand what Gwen was talking about at all. Until she mentioned Allen Rosencrantz. I didn't know how she got that crazy idea, but I guessed I had to tell her I had nothing for that Rosencrantz guy. As I wanted to tell her that, she shouted at me to shut up and go away.

Okay, I didn't want to blow my fuse on my own sister. Not after I had spent half of my life controlling my temper. I called for Thor and decided to ride to the mountain area to cool my head off. I let Thor wandered around near the pond while I sat down on one of the flowerbeds.

I never knew Gwen had a crush on Allen. I'd never even guessed it. She never told me anything concerning guys, just like she had been with Will. No, no, that wasn't the crux of the problem, but how on earth she came to the conclusion Allen and I were an item? Now she hated me, for something I didn't even know I had done. And I didn't even do it in the first place.

For Goddess' sake, I knew someone much better than Allen Rosencrantz in my mind.

"Whoa, isn't this Reine's horse?"

I turned my head and found Rod walking to Thor. He looked around and found me. He smiled and greeted me cheerfully, "Hey, Reine! I thought he ran away from you!"

"Uh no, I rode him here."

"With no saddle? That's cool!"

I put on a slight smile.

"Sooo... what happened?"

"Huh?"

"You don't just ride your horse without your saddle and rein even though you know how, I guess?"

"Well, you're right." I admitted, "I got into a fight with Gwen."

"What?!"

"Apparently, she got a crush on Allen Rosencrantz and she thought that I had something going on with that guy." I continued, "I'm not saying Allen is not a nice guy, but man, we're just friends! I wanted to explain to her, but she wouldn't just listen to me!"

Rod didn't say anything, he just looked at me with his warm blue eyes, and then he smiled. "It will be all right," he said, "I'm sorry Reine, I can't do much to help you, but I know it's going to be all right."

"I hope so..." I murmured.

It had been raining since morning. What a wonderful Saturday, I thought to myself, and now it had been a week we stopped talking to each other. It felt awkward, but I kind of got used to it by now. I ended up making a checklist of what we were supposed to do and indicated to her which part was hers. She thankfully got the message. But still, it would have been much nicer if I could talk to my sister. I missed Gwen, but I guessed I needed to give her some space.

I decided to forage since we were already low on lumber and rocks for our next project, which was another house, moreover, Gwen once told me that we could get some downs if we go to the forest while raining. It would be nice if we could dye some of the furniture we made.

I put on my pink raincoat and took my basket. As I walked past the village square, I saw some people outside, such as Hossan the inn proprietor who had come back to this village, Emma, and Iroha. I greeted them before I headed to the forest. Iroha was bringing some ores; she sure was hard working.

"Why, Reine, the forest is dangerous during these times!"

"Got no choice, we need some rocks and lumbers." I told her, "And Gwen told me we can find some downs during rains."

"Well, true..." she said, "Just be careful, dear, okay?"

"Will do! Thanks Emma!"

There was less animals in the forest and I could spot some frogs jumping around while croaking happily. Just as I looked around, I spotted some red downs on the cliff. Yeay!

Unfortunately, I had to take a detour since the cliff was too steep to be walked on.

As I walked to the cliff, the rain became even harder and the wind blew even stronger that I had to hold my raincoat tightly so that the hoodie wouldn't come off. I gathered any rocks and branches I could find along the way and after walking for a while against the wind I managed to reach the cliff and noticed those red downs that were so eye-catching because of their bright colour. I took and put them in my basket, stacked neatly between the rocks and branches. After I gathered all of the downs there, I stood up and turned around, without realising that I stood on a slippery ground. My feet slipped and I swung backwards. My lower back hit the slippery edge of the cliff and it happened so fast I couldn't find anything to grab on that I back-somersaulted before free falling to the cliff.

"Dammit!"

My body hit the rocky surface of the steep cliff and rolled down to the forest ground. It was no way a smooth 'journey'. I tried to cover my head but I could feel a painful thud when I hit the ground both on my head and my left leg. Then there was nothing but burning pain on my whole body, especially my leg. I rolled to the flat ground next to me. At least grass was more comfortable than rocks.

I could feel the rain on my face. It was sharp and cold, but it couldn't beat the stinging pain from my leg and head. I tried to move my head to no avail, since the pain stung so much I could barely hold out a groan. I started to feel dizzy and my vision blurred. Shoot, what would happen after this? Was I going to die?

I was… scared.

I was cold, in pain, and worst of all, alone.

What would happen to Reine? Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out!

How do you guys find this story so far? We hope it's getting more and more interesting as we've promised!

Thanks for reading! R&R will be much appreciated!