Finally, the *ahem* mysterious third person's point of view is here, and it's Popuri!
It's just occurred to me that the characters are probably very out of character. That's life, I suppose.
Is it just me or is each chapter getting shorter? .
Gaaah, I'm sorry!

Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. Harvest. Moon. *headdesk*

I hummed merrily as I skipped away from the Poultry Farm. I was pleased with myself! I had finished my chores REALLY early, so I had an extra hour yet before I had to go and visit Ann. I decided to take a detour through the forest and go up to the Goddess Spring for a bit, since I had some time to kill. As I approached the forest, I heard a blood-curdling scream, which made me stop in my tracks in alarm. I stood still for a minute, deciding whether to intervene in whatever was happening in the forest. What if it was something terrible? Then again, someone might have just tripped over a branch or something. I decided to carry on, since my destination was on the other side of the forest anyways. I started walking again, when a figure entirely cloaked in black shoved past me, in a hurry. I fell to the ground, as the force of their push knocked me off balance.

"Hey, that was RUDE!" I shouted angrily after them, standing up and brushing the dirt off my dress. I was even more intrigued as to what just happened in the forest, so I started running towards where I heard the scream. I stopped in my tracks as I saw what it was.

"CLIFF!" I screamed, running towards his body lying on the ground. My eyes widened when I saw what was lying next to him – a bloody knife. His side was bleeding rather heavily. I picked up the knife in astonishment – Was it that figure dressed in black who did this?

"Stop right there, miss!" barked a loud male voice, which made me jump up in astonishment. It was Harris, Mineral Town's policeman, "What have you done to Cliff!"

I was being accused of attacking Cliff?

"I haven't done ANYTHING! I've just found Cliff here, right now, sir!" I said, on the defensive.

"Well that don't explain why you're holding a knife and Cliff has a stab wound in his side!" he cried, face reddening and waving his finger at me.

Gotz walked out from behind Harris.

"Harris, maybe we should give her the benefit of the doubt? We don't have concrete evidence that she attacked Cliff, we didn't see who did it!" Gotz reasoned, putting his hand on Harris' shoulder to calm him down.

"Perhaps he's right," said Harris, "But Popuri, you must understand that you are the prime suspect,"

I nodded, understanding fully why he thought that.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to question you further another day, Popuri, because obviously, Cliff needs to get to the clinic right away," said Harris, nodding to Gotz, who picked Cliff up carefully, trying not to aggravate his wound even more.

"I hope Cliff gets well soon!" I said sadly, walking away. I needed to see Ann, before Manna spread some crazy gossip about town.

When I got to the inn, I saw Ann, who asked me what was wrong, and that was when I burst into tears, and told her everything that had happened.

"Oh no, poor Cliff!" she cried, shocked, "I believe every word you say, Popuri; I don't believe you could have hurt Cliff!"

"Within a matter of hours, Manna will have spread this around town, and somehow twisted it even more than it already is," I sighed, tears falling down my face. The inn doors flew open, and a very, VERY angry looking Gray stormed in.

"Popuri, can I have a word with you?" he fumed.

A/N. Poor Popuri has been framed for something she hasn't done! Whatever will Gray do next? Stay tuned for more!