Chapter 12 – One Summer Night

Pete walked into Blue Bar. When he opened the door, Muffy was about to leave for her usual walk with a troubled look on her face, but upon seeing him, she smiled and pulled him into the bar.

"Griffin! I know! Pete can help us!" She exclaimed.

"Help with what…?" He thought for a while. "You wanna experiment some new beverages?"

Griffin came out of the back room. "No, Pete." He brought along with him a piece of paper. "See this paper? It's from Phantom Skye."

Pete had the feeling that he heard of that name before. He tried to recall when. At last, he remembered that Claire mentioned about the thief once when she was looking for a Harvest Sprite near Romana's mansion. "What's up with him?"

"He said he's coming here to get our drinks…"

"He's not getting his hands on our drinks for free! We'll make him pay!" yelled Muffy.

"That's not what I mean…" said Griffin.

"I know… Heehee…" Muffy giggled. "So, Pete, care to help us?" asked Muffy.

Deep in Pete's heart, he did not want to meddle in Claire's problem, but since he already got involved in Griffin's mess, he had no choice. Perhaps, he could get something out of the thief. "Sure. Count me in."

"Thanks a bunch, buddy," said Griffin.

"We'll wait for you here between 10-12. Be sure to come!" stated Muffy.

Claire screamed in excitement when she heard from her brother that Skye would come. Dropping her watering can, spilling all of the water onto a single pineapple plant, she joyfully went into her house to change her cloth. Pete was dumbfounded for a while with his sister's behaviour. He did not care much if she had a crush on Skye, but he needed to make sure the phantom could handle her since she had this principle. If she couldn't have him, nobody else could have him. He sighed as he saw his yandere sister left the house wearing her new black overall.

"I hope she will change…"

Pete entered the Blue Bar at 10.10 pm. Griffin and Muffy were already there waiting patiently for the hero of the bar to come. They chatted for a while. Out of the blue, Griffin and Muffy sniffed something delicious. The elderly man identified it as curry, so both of them, attracted by its aroma, left Pete all alone in the bar.

The young man was about to tail after them when a silver-haired man entered the bar. The green-eyed man eyed Pete suspiciously.

"Why are you still here?" asked the intruder.

"Are you Phantom Skye?"

He smirked. "What if I am?" Skye retaliated with another question.

"What are you gonna do now that I'm here?" Pete challenged the thief.

"Heh… Of course I'm gonna finish my job," answered the thief.

Pete then smirked. "You lose, phantom."

"What?"

"Do you realize?"

"Realize what?"

"Do you realize that we've been answering questions with questions?"

Skye looked puzzled for a moment, but when he got it, he put on his charming smile. "Heh, is that so?"

"Don't you think so?"

"Then, why did you say I lose?"

"You answered my question," said Pete confidently.

"Now you lose…"

Both of them stood there, quiet… Then both of them laughed. Pete patted Skye's shoulder as if he was his old friend. "You're quite good!"

"And you're not so bad either," said Skye. "So… whatcha gonna do now?"

"Catch you…"

"Hahaha…" Skye spontaneously walked to the back of the counter and rummaged the shelf. "…Let's see…"

Pete felt as if Skye was ignoring his existence. "…You…!"

The so-called prince of stars suddenly threw a large bottle of liquor to Pete. The farmer had no choice but to catch it. Then, another few bottles were flung towards him. He tried to catch them, but one of them slipped of his hands. He used his left foot to hurl it upwards. In the end, he juggled the bottles and could not move to catch Skye. The satisfied thief grinned before getting his hands on another bottle of drink.

"…That's funny. I swear the smell comes from here…"

"…Me too…"

"…Let's go back to the bar…"

As Skye heard the voices of Griffin and Muffy, he hurried to the exit. "Well then, see you again, skilled juggler." He left.

A few moments later, the two bartenders returned. They were in awe to see Pete juggling their bottles of beverages. When inquired about what had happened, Pete could only say that Phantom Skye knew how to handle with unexpected situations. Muffy went to check the shelf after Pete informed that Skye took a bottle away.

"The Okuhattan is missing!" exclaimed Muffy.

"That's too bad…" said Griffin as he placed all the bottles that Pete juggled onto the counter.

"Sorry I couldn't help you two," said Pete, guilty. After all, he did play with Skye for a short while.

"Nah… Don't mention it. It's just a bottle of drink. Not that bad…" said Griffin.

"Griffin… Ha! Well then, let's just let it go! Tomorrow's another day of work! Though I wonder how the thief is… Anyway, good night Pete!"

"A toast to my coming-of-age ceremony… This Okuhattan sure is a fine liquor. If I were to put it in my curry, will it be the best curry in the world…?" Skye mumbled to himself as he sat at the edge of the Goddess Pond. He sighed. "I wonder if she's back…" He took out a strawberry he stole from Claire's farm during spring and threw it into the pond.

"Dum-da-da-DAA! Thanks for the offeri…! You…!" Harvest Goddess' sweet face turned into a derogatory one. "I bet this is another stolen one!" She held the strawberry up.

"Oh… You're back… How's vacation?" asked Skye.

"Vacation? Oh! I find the shipping bin a lot better place than this pond. Claire's been shipping so many strawberries in spring, so I got to eat my favourite food every day. But, summer's been tough… She fed me onions… Can you imagine that? I had to bathe in the sprites' bath for three whole days! If I bathed here, nobody will come to this place ever again…" Harvest Goddess blabbered.

"So… You should be grateful for the strawberry I gave you…"

"Yeah… Wait…! Why should I?! If Harvest King knows I gave you the Chick Beam in exchange for all those stolen strawberries, I would be sent to another vacation! I hate stolen strawberries!" She yelled with her eyes filled with strawberries.

"Haha… Don't let such raw anger spoil your beauty, goddess," said Skye.

"Hmph! You're lucky that you're charming. If not, I would have given you to Witch. Maybe she can make a good potion out of you." She placed her arms across her chest.

"Witch Princess? Oh… She won't do it, ever. I've been giving her curry once a week. If she eats me, she won't get her curry anymore."

"Who says something about Witch eating you? …Huh…? You've been bribing her?! You're gonna get it from me! Take this!" Harvest Goddess threw a huge heap of weeds towards Skye, but it suddenly caught fire.

Witch Princess' voice spoke, "I can't let you harm him." It seemed that she spoke via magic as she was not physically present.

Harvest Goddess looked pissed off. "What spell did she cast on you? Ughhh…! I'm heading back!" She left with the stolen strawberry.

Shush! Shush!

Skye turned around to see a blonde coming out of the bushes. "Hmm… What's a fair maiden like you doing out here this late? It's not good for your skin…"

"You can see the goddess?"

"You too? Who are you? Wait… You're there at the mansion, right?"

She nodded. "I'm Claire." She saw the bottle in Skye's hand. "The Okuhattan… You stole it from the bar?"

"Hehe… I'm a thief, after all. It's nothing to be surprised at. After all, it won't hurt to have a little celebration on our coming-of-age day, isn't it? Wanna join me?"

Claire blushed slightly. Summer 10th… 'I won't ever forget this date…'