A Chaotic Experience

Chapter 53: Jus 1 Kiss

The morning of the 20th was a pleasant one. Ewan didn't wake up too cold, so he was pretty sure that the day would be at least decent. Maybe he could usher up the courage to ask Popuri to the Starry Night Festival today. As usual, Ewan made sure that Rosie was taken care off before going off to take care of his typical farm chores. Once all that was over with, Ewan had a visitor in front of his house. He was waiting patiently for Ewan to be done watering the crops in his greenhouse.

"Hey, Stu!" Ewan greeted the child, jubilantly. It was a nice surprise to see him at the Rancho Farm.

"Hey, Brother," Stu greeted Ewan back with a small wave and smile.

"What do you need?" Ewan asked Stu. After a little silence from Stu's end and a little flustered mumbling, Stu finally explained that he needed help asking May to the Starry Night Festival with him.

"I mean, of course, we all go to the church together to see the performance with Elli, Maria, and Ann," explained Stu, "but afterwards, I wanna go watch the stars together with her. I already got permission from Grandpa, though!"

"That's good!" Ewan said. "I was actually about to ask you about that last detail." he chuckled, always wanting Stu and Kent to have permission to do the things that they wanted to do.

"So can you help me with how to ask her, Brother?" Stu asked Ewan with a needy frown.

"Of course I can!" Ewan replied, smiling. "First and foremost, you just have to be honest with her. You've been friends for a long time…" the blue-haired young man started drifting off.

"Brother?" Stu brought him back down to Earth.

"Hmm?" Ewan shook his head and chuckled sheepishly. "Oh, uh… you know what? Just say that you want to watch the stars after the church thing and I'm sure she'll want to."

"You think I can do that?" Stu asked, happily and with more confidence when he first started talking with Ewan. He nodded and Stu smiled. "Wow, thanks! I'll ask her tomorrow, then!"

"Great!" Ewan playfully messed up Stu's hair and they both chuckled. "Good luck!"

"Thanks again!" Stu thanked Ewan as he started walking away from the farm. "Bye!" once Stu was gone, Ewan sighed and shook his head.

"Dang it, Popuri," he groaned under his breath. "Get out of my head!" Ewan was obviously thinking of her when he spaced out while giving Stu advice earlier. He thought about what he wanted to do, but then his stomach told him what to do with a growl.

"Better make some lunch!" Ewan held his stomach and walked inside his house. He went into the kitchen and looked at his list of recipes. It wasn't cold enough to have something like soup, so after some thorough investigation of the list, he decided to have corn pasta. Ewan got this recipe from Basil. After making his dish, Ewan heard a knock at the door.

"Hi, Brother!" it was Kent!

"Hi, Kent!" Ewan greeted the brunette with a smile. "Come in; I was just about to have some lunch. There's enough for the both of us." Kent thanked Ewan and they walked to the kitchen. Ewan served Kent and himself a plate of the pasta.

"What is this?" Kent asked, frowning slightly. Ewan knew that Kent was very picky and chuckled.

"It's just corn pasta," replied Ewan. "Just give it a try, and I'll make a sandwich or something if you really don't like it." Kent hesitantly ate some and smiled.

"It's good!" he said, taking another spoonful.

"Why thank you," Ewan laughed at the unintentional compliment. The two kept eating for a while until Ewan realized that Kent probably wanted something. "So why are you here, Kent?" Kent finished his mouthful of pasta before speaking.

"Well…" he began, slowly. "I want to ask someone to the Starry Night Festival." Ewan could suspect who and raised his eyebrow.

"Why's that?" Ewan asked.

"Well, everyone else is suddenly either married or needing to ask someone on a date…" replied Kent. "So I thought that I would ask May." Ewan chuckled, softly.

"You know," he said, wagging his finger as if it made what he said seem more insightful, "you don't need to do things just because everyone else is. You really should just go by yourself! Then you don't have to worry about actually asking someone or who you ask."

"Really?" Kent asked, listening intently. Ewan nodded. "Okay!" Kent nodded. The two finished their pasta and Kent said that he had to go back to the potion shop to do some chores.

"I'm glad that I could help out!" Ewan said.

"Yep!" Kent smiled. "Thanks for your help, Brother!" Ewan nodded and decided to walk Kent home.


The next day, more people were starting to formally ask people out to the Starry Night Festival, but it was mainly the married couples. After lunch, Stu went over to find May at the midwife's house and asked to go play with her.

"Hey," Stu asked May once they were outside playing with the midwife's cats, "can I ask you a question?" May set down one of the tabby cats and nodded.

"Of course you can!" she said, brushing one of her braids of hair to the side.

"Well, I wanted to know if you wanted to go with me to the Starry Night Festival!" Stu said, dramatically. "If… you wanted to."

"We are going to the Starry Night Festival… like we always do," May told Stu with a small laugh.

"I meant after the church we go out to watch the stars…" Stu clarified, scratching his neck a little nervously. May let out a pensive sound and started brushing her hair with her hands.

"Okay!" she finally said after some thinking. "Let's do it! It sounds fun."

"Great!" Stu replied, excitedly. The two went off to the forest area to play house, as it was what May wanted to play and Stu was not planning on objecting to whatever May wanted to do.

On the 22nd, there were a few more people getting dates to the festival. Later in the day, Megan decided to go visit the Green Ranch and see Gray, who was out in the fields with some animals.

"Afternoon, Gray," the waitress greeted Gray when he came into view. He was behind a horse brushing it, so he had to move a little to be seen by Megan.

"Oh, hey…" Gray replied, unenthusiastically. This made Megan giggle and she walked over to the horse. She stayed on the opposite side of the horse as Gray for some reason.

"So… you know what the 24th is," Megan asked, coyly, "don't you?"

"I think a Monday…" Gray replied, bluntly. "I dunno. I don't think people have really been keeping track of what day of the week it is recently…"

"That's not quite what I meant," Megan mumbled, slowly. She frowned and looked down at the horse's hooves. "It's the Starry Night Festival!"

"Oh, is it?" Gray raised his eyebrows curiously, although he wasn't really that interested. "I completely forgot."

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go with me," Megan finally told Gray, getting impatient of the conversation going nowhere. Gray paused and stopped brushing the horse, but then didn't say anything and went back to brushing the horse. "Hey!" Megan pushed the back of the horse and it walked away, removing the barrier between the two. "You should at least answer me, you jerk."

"I said yes…" he mumbled, quietly. Megan only barely heard Gray say this, but then she smiled.

"Terrific!" she clasped her hands together. "We can watch the stars from the river. I'll come get you." Megan waved to Gray and left the farm. Gray waved back and let out a small chuckle, shaking his head slowly.

On the 23rd, Ewan knew that he had to finally ask Popuri to the Starry Night Festival. Every time he went to the flower shop, Lilia would tell him that Popuri was working on the concept for the concert, so he would use that as an excuse to not ask her.

"Hi, is Popuri in?" Ewan, of course, stalled asking her until after dinner. Before dinner, Ewan had been with Kai, Raffi, Joe, and Alex, who all were breathing down Ewan's neck about asking Popuri. Lilia and Basil were in the store.

"Sure, she's in her room," Basil told him.

"Thanks," Ewan thanked Basil and knocked at Popuri's door. Once granted entry, Ewan opened the door and went inside to find Popuri sitting in a chair in front of some scattered papers. She was sipping on some tea.

"Oh, Ewan!" the florist gasped, quickly setting down her tea cup. She put all the papers in a stack and hid them under a folder. "You know, you're not getting a sneak peak of this… I'll be done soon; just be patient."

"That's not what I'm here for," Ewan replied with a chuckle. He turned to the fireplace, feeling the warmth from it.

"Oh, well, I'm taking a break from writing anyway," Popuri explained, picking up her tea and walking over to her bed. She sat down and ushered that Ewan do the same.

"Thanks," he said after sitting down. "I wanted to ask if you wanted to go to the Starry Night Festival with me." Ewan told her as she sipped her tea. Popuri opened her eyes to look at him, but kept sipping. "I know you didn't want to go to the carnival as a date, but there ain't a reason we should be alone tomorrow night." Popuri finally stopped drinking and set her tea cup down.

"Hmm… the Starry Night Festival…" she thought about it, closing her eyes. Popuri opened her eyes and smiled. "Okay. I'll go with you."

"O-Okay!" Ewan said, his tone sounding a little stunned, but he was happy nevertheless. "We can go to the church and then… Moon Mountain afterwards?"

"Sounds great," Popuri smiled and nodded. "If I'm gonna be busy tomorrow night, I'd better get back to work on the concert soon."

"Oh, okay," Ewan said, standing up. "Keep up the good work on that and I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Thank you," said Popuri as Ewan made his way out of the room and the florist transferred back to her chair to get back to work on her papers. The two waved at each other and Ewan was off to have a congratulatory drink at the pub with some friends.


The day of the Starry Night Festival dragged on way too long for everybody. They all just wanted the sun to go down and to be able to enjoy a performance at the church. After everyone got through the long day, there was quite a crowd at the church. No one wanted to miss the performance, not even those who had planned to see the stars afterwards.

"I love that we're doing something like this tonight!" Alex said, knowing the Winter traditions of Flower Bud Village quite fondly. "I just wish I got to… you know… sing."

"Maybe you'll be in Popuri's concert planning," replied Raffi, enthusiastically.

"Maybe…" Popuri said, coyly as she walked by the two with Ewan. Alex started gidding out of excitement to see if she would be in the concert or not.

"Okay, let's all go inside!" Thomas said. He made sure that Elli, Ann, and Maria all went in first. Since it was a flute performance with Ann and Elli, Ewan was asked to perform with them, but declined. Maria, of course, would be back playing the organ.

"I can't wait!" Karen's voice said from the crowd. "I know I'll want to dance along, but I'll try to control myself." she told her husband, who laughed in response.

"Shall we get started?" Ann asked both the crowd and the other performers. The crowd mostly nodded or said something that they were.

"I'm ready," Elli told the rancher. Maria nodded from the back. Ann started off the song with a small flurry of notes, followed up by Elli playing a similar series of notes. Maria finally followed up, backing up what they were playing. After a few minutes, the song was over and everyone was applauding them.

"Thank you very much, ladies!" Thomas said, amidst the applause, including his own. "I hope you all enjoyed the performance. Hopefully we'll have a similar event next year. Enjoy the stars!" everyone applauded once more and people slowly headed outside and scattered around the village.

Karen and Kai went to the beach, as they usually did for any event. They made sure that they were a good distance away from the water and set down a blanket on the beach. The two were lying down on the blanket and watching the stars the entire night.

Ann and Cliff, the newest married couple in the village, stayed on the field at Green Ranch. They didn't want to sit on the snowy grass across the field, so they brushed the snow off of the top of the fence and sat on it together. In contrast to how they usually were with each other, they didn't fight and were peaceful the whole night.

Megan and Gray went to the river, but on the side of the river by the carpenters and the cave. They were standing at first, but when their conversations became more casual they decided to sit down and let their feet dangle above the water in the river.

Elli and Trent went to the pond by the clinic. They wanted to go to the river, but they saw that it was taken and didn't want to ruin Megan and Gray's date. The stars still looked beautiful in the large pond. The two spent a lot of time reminiscing about fishing and they promised each other that they would do it more, especially Elli, as she loved to fish more than Trent did. As usual, Elli brought some sweets from the store for them to enjoy.

Raffi and Joe went to the halfway point on the mountain where the hot springs were. It was very memorable for them because it was where Joe asked Raffi to be her girlfriend and then proposed. They spent a long time talking about their memories of Flower Bud Village, as the two were always fairly close even back in the day.

May and Stu went to the Goddess Pond, not really caring if they wound up with other people. May noticed that the reflection of the stars from the small pond where the Goddess dwelled was quite beautiful. Before the end of the night, the two sat down on the stump and shared their first kiss with each other. It would be a moment that neither of them would forget, but would most likely not share with other people.

Maria and Harris, as they usually did, went to the Village Square to watch the stars. It was surprisingly empty so it was the first time that the two were able to spend a romantic festival together being completely alone in quite a while. They spent most of their time standing up and looking up to the sky, but when they realized that it was quite tiresome two sat down on one of the numerous benches around the square.

Alex and Rick were late finding a place to stargaze, so Alex gave up and decided to simply go to the crossroads and watch the stars from there. Alex wanted to climb a tree, but Rick said that it was probably a bad idea since he recalled his cousin, Ann, getting a sprained ankle from falling from a tree at the crossroads. The two enjoyed the night and Rick promised to make a super powerful telescope just for Alex in the future.

Popuri and Ewan went to the Moon Mountain summit. Ewan immediately felt nostalgia from last year, especially when they went back to Rancho Farm and they were boyfriend and girlfriend from that point. However, he knew that he probably wouldn't want to bring it up.

"I'm glad that I brought a blanket," Popuri said, bringing Ewan back to reality from his memories of last year. "I really want to lay down." she admitted.

"Pretty funny that I didn't remember to bring a blanket…" Ewan replied, laughing and scratching the back of his head. He helped her spread the blanket out in the place with the least amount of dirt, which was quite hard to find.

"Well, we were right at my house," Popuri shrugged, "so it didn't matter too much. Besides, this blanket smells like potpourri."

"Like… you?" Ewan laughed at Popuri and potpourri having the same pronunciation. Popuri laughed flatly and shook her head, smiling at Ewan.

"Okay, I think it's good," the florist. The two lay down and stared at the sky.

"This truly is the best place to watch the sky…" Ewan said with a small smile. Popuri agreed and the two watched the sky in silence. "Oh, I think that's a shooting star!" he pointed at what looked like a star in the sky.

"It's moving too slowly to be a shooting star, Ewan," explained Popuri. "I mean, you can think that it's a shooting star… if you want."

"Might as well," Ewan shrugged. "It's been a while since I've seen any." after some time of silence passed, the farmer turned to Popuri and asked her to lift her head for a moment. She complied and Ewan slowly put his arm around her shoulder, making Popuri blush a little.

"Oh…" she got closer to Ewan and put her head on his chest. Ewan took a deep breath and Popuri smiled, still blushing. "I can hear your heartbeat." this comment made Ewan smile, as it reminded him of what Popuri said last year.

"It's probably beating a bit faster now," the two laughed softly and returned to watching the stars silently. Once it got late enough, Popuri leaned up to usher that it was time to end the date. Ewan got up, too.

"It's been fun," Popuri said with a smile. Ewan nodded in agreement. Popuri started staring at the farmer for a while when they got up. Ewan noticed this and looked back at her. She slowly got closer to him and gave him a kiss on the lips. When the two pulled away eventually, Ewan looked out at nothing and blinked a lot. After a few seconds, he turned back to Popuri, held the back of her head, and pulled her in for another kiss. This kiss lasted longer than the first, but they were basically the same length.

"Wow," Ewan said after they pulled away. Quietly, and with secret smiles, the two folded the blanket back up, headed down the mountain, and went to the flower shop.

"Bye," Popuri gave Ewan a hug and then decided to give him a quick peck on the lips before going inside with her blanket. Ewan said the same thing and walked home.