Yes I am in the middle of exams. Yes I have updated twice in this short time frame. Yes I bombed my nuclear and quantum physics paper (pun intended) because I taught myself the morning of. Yes I am a waste of life itself.

-Umbreonix

"When that happens…" He started, "Go out with me."

My jaw dropped. This was perhaps the most convenient developments of all time.

Yuri nodded quietly.

"Did that really happen?" Asked Neil in his nonchalant tone. As usual he sat in the spot at my dining table that had unspokenly become his.

"Yeah it was a total surprise." I said and leaned back in my own chair experimentally balancing it on two legs before it fell back forward.

He looked up a little hopeful, "In that case this might actually work. Yuri and Allen certainly have the potential to win the only problem is…" His gaze quickly snapped to me and his eyes narrowed. A defeated shadow hung over his face.

My lips twitched, "Why are you looking at me?" I asked lowly.

"I wonder if they should have asked you to be their model." He sighed.

I was about to murder him, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"Knowing you…" He counted on his fingers, "you'll either: fall on the walkway, not sleep for a week and come to the show as a skeleton, be too embarrassed to be seen wearing a dress and hole yourself up in the change room or show up all scratched up from the mines."

Each point stabbed into me. I refused to admit the jerk right but they certainly sounded like things that might happen. My lips quivered, "WHAT SHOULD I DO?!" I cried and launched myself at him over the table.

His arms flailed back, "GAH WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET OFF OF ME!" He yelled in a panic.

"I'M GOING TO MESS IT ALL UP!" I cried into his coat.

Still flustered he pet my head awkwardly, "It'll be fine…. Probably." He looked away on that last word. I quickly discarded him and looked determinedly into the distance clenching a fist. "It will be okay!" I announced. Yes I just needed to prepare, the show was less than two weeks away so I didn't have a second to spare! I quickly threw on my coat and boots and ran out the door, leaving behind a very confused Neil.

I returned hours later to my humble abode after rushing off to the neighbouring town's library and dropped the stack of books and tapes on modeling onto the couch. It was time to get serious. Later that day I was invited out to Clement's by the girls.

There was a round of squeals at the corner table. Yuri looked away with a slight blush. Michelle cried and buried her face into her fellow pink haired friend's shoulder. "My little Yuri is growing up!"

"He really asked you out? Oh this is amazing!" Felicity said warmly placing her hands together in delight.

Tina's eyes spiraled and I couldn't help but think she looked like a dog about to go foamy at the mouth, "This is headline news!" She spluttered. Iroha just sort of smiled, being not one to make a scene.

Yuri coughed into her fist nervously, "It's only when and if we win."

Tina clamped Yuri's hands, "Don't worry I thoroughly looked into each contestant! You're the best."

We all gave Tina a fearful look, there had to be at least a hundred people.

"… I was so surprised" admitted Yuri and fiddled with her napkin, "I've always just kind of gone at my own pace, I'm not really gentle like Felicity, or extravagant like Michelle or selfless like Rio." She said this next part as if admitting a deep secret, "and I tend to just daydream."

Michelle shook her head wildly her curly twin tails bouncing, "No Yuri! You're adorable!" She twirled a spoon in her hand, "I'm not that special, it's just all the pink and magic."

Felicity nodded, "I'm not gentle at all." She said with a soft smile then it darkened a few shades, "My gourmet reviews often make grown men cry." The table all turned to me now to reassure Yuri.

"I..." I began and they all leaned in expectantly. I blushed at the difficulty of what I was about to admit. "I'm really selfish!" I blurted. Twiddling my fingers I looked down. "You know how weird the town layout is?" I asked. "It's because when I was making the houses I'd just look for a random spot without many trees so I wouldn't have to work as hard." I bit my lip and wondered if I should continue. "And all the houses face south because I get dizzy entering houses facing north." (Author's note: Tell me I'm not the only one who did that in the game)

Finally looking up I noticed five angry faces glaring at me.

"Is that why I have to walk all the way across the village to get to work?" Asked Felicity icily. I reeled back in terror, she is still, without a doubt, the scariest of all of the bachelorettes even if, no, especially because she always smiles.

"That smile… Is a lie!" I cried and held the back of my head almost expecting something to hit me.

"I mean," she continued, "You'd think to put a restaurant right across from a hotel."

I quickly deterred from the conversation path and smiled at Yuri, "Anyway as you can see, none of us are perfect. You and Allen would be great together and I'll do whatever I can to make sure you win!"

Four Days Later…

Neil pried open the front door which was blocked by a table which I had moved out of the way for my practice run-way. "Rio what the heck, no one has seen you since lunch on Tuesday."

I looked at him blankly, "Tuesday… And when is it now?"

"SATURDAY!" He exclaimed in annoyance.

I panicked, "There's only a week left!"

He walked over to me, "What do you mean?"

"The show you idiot!" I cried, "I'm not ready!"

"What have you been doing to prepare?" He asked curiously.

"So far I've gone through the tv guide, taped any show related to modeling, read books on the basics, then the advanced steps- not neglecting my animals of course- and tried walking in shoes." I said gesturing down to my feet which were sporting some very high heels.

His brow creased, "Your feet are bleeding."

"Well I'm not used to the shoes, and I've been practicing the walk for five hours now." I admitted.

He frowned, "You're a complete mess."

I waved him off, "there'll be time to fix that later." He didn't listen and without warning heaved me over his shoulder. I might have resisted. But his shoulder was still incredibly boney and the wind was instantly knocked out of me.

He flung me into my bathroom and shut me in. I blinked and then tried to open the door but he held it shut. "I'm not letting you out until you clean yourself up." He said.

I had the suspicion that if I really tried, I could out-power him and force open the door but instead I decided to accept his rare gesture of concern and just take the shower. It's not like I wanted to destroy the little manly pride he had left after eighteen years with his family.

I emerged later and grudgingly admitted that I felt a little better. He continued to look at me suspiciously, "When was the last time you ate?" He asked.

"Why?" I wondered.

"Because I know you." He growled, "You only ever do something for your body when you're on the brink of passing out." I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. It actually might have been awhile since I ate. Sometimes I just forgot about those kinds of things.

Neil grabbed a fistful of his hair in defeat, "I knew it, talk about a one-track mind." He walked to the front door and looked back in annoyance. "Grab your coat we're going to eat."

I nodded and walked over to where my coat was hung ignoring the pain in my feet. Suddenly walking without the heels was dizzying. "You're limping." He sighed and removed himself from the doorway. He walked over to the kitchen instead tapping the couch on the way. "Sit."

I complied and watched him in wonder and confusion. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"There's no helping it, I'll make something." He said looking through various drawers for the proper utensils.

"And why are you doing all this?" I asked.

He stopped rummaging for a moment and continued facing away from me, "Because we're friends. Right?"

I suppressed a laugh. "Right."

I watched him pull out my recipe book and he crinkled his nose in distaste at the number of waterlogged and dirt stained papers I got from mining and fishing. "I'm not even going to ask." He said and started flipping through the book.

"Hey Neil." I said quietly.

He grunted.

"Do you think that it's wrong of us to be forcing all these people together?" I asked. "I feel selfish, it just seems like we're going through this not even sure if Yuri and Allen even good for each other."

His piercing red gaze slid up from the recipe book to meet my eyes. "It's fine, unlike you I actually have a clue to what I'm doing. Probably."

"So you know that they aren't just going to break up in a year? You know that we aren't going to end up responsible for breaking their hearts?" I asked.

"No." He said simply. "No one can see the future Rio, but as far as I can tell, Yuri and Allen are the only two for each other." He broke eye contact to walk over to the refrigerator. "He's smug and self-obsessed and needs someone who is so out of it that they don't notice. Then she's so distant and oblivious that she needs someone as open and straight forward as Allen or she'd never get the hint. That's the nice way of saying he's a shameless flirt by the way."

I was getting the sinking feeling that my sidekick might actually in some ways be smarter than myself but I shook my head, that thought was ridiculous. "You know." I said slyly, "You pretend you couldn't care less about the people in town but you're secretly quite observant aren't you?"

He ignored me and rather scowled at the contents of my fridge. "I don't get you." He sighed. "I really don't get you at all." He looked over to me and gestured at the contents. "What is this garbage?"

I leaned forward from the couch, "Oh, I keep at least one of everything I get in case I need it when it's out of season. Although every so often I feel the urge just to pack everything in my sac for later so there are a lot of ingredients from the forest."

"Fried egg it is." He muttered, "How do you live like this?"

He made it pretty fast and slid the dining table back to where it should be, then created a clearing in the heaps of papers.

"Thanks." I mumbled.

He blushed and looked away, "Next time if time, if this happens again I'm leaving you for the crows."

There was a knock at the door and Allen and Yuri walked in. I was suddenly glad Neil made me shower, the hair dresser would have never let me hear the end of it. Allen's eyes instead skimmed over the messy house unimpressed.

"Ah." Said Yuri, "You're not dead, that's good. I was afraid you might not be able to wear the dress."

I sweat dropped, is that all she cared about? "Plus," she started, "It would have been really gross and your clothes would be ruined."

Allen smirked and wrapped his arms around her waist, his slim frame towering over her, "Princesses shouldn't think such disturbing thoughts."

She blushed lightly and wiggled out and he shrugged.

Neil sneered "what a lecherous pervert." I cringed at the language.

Allen was unaffected, "Is it so wrong to show affection?" He sent Neil his signature smug smile, "Rio will leave you if you stay such a cold-"

"So what brings you to this neck of the woods?" I quickly interjected.

"The dress…" Said Yuri, "Is done."