A few mornings later, I checked my mail to find something regarding the town's Egg Festival.

Ah, egg hunting. That was exciting. One year, my father had put rare coins in plastic eggs for me and my niece to find.

Then one year, I asked when we were going to go look for eggs, and I was told the family hadn't prepared for an egg hunt that year. From there, I figured I'd become an adult and I had to leave it behind.

Even if I figured this egg hunt would probably just be for the kiddos, I jotted the festival down in my calendar.

I decided today would be a fishing day, so I quickly watered the seeds (which were growing quite well), as well as Laslow's water bowl, and headed toward the beach.

I fished, and day quickly became night. Or more accurately, when I'd run out of room for any more fish, the stars were out in full force.

I checked my watch. 9pm. Yeah, Pierre's closed at 5 if I remembered correctly, so the backpack upgrade would have to wait.

I didn't really want to get up from my sitting position on the sand, though. I think I was having another one of those moments where I'd opened my mind up to the awareness of my overall situation, as in it was dawning on me once again that I was sitting here, calm as the night itself, after having gone through so much prior.

I decided to lie down on the sand and get a more direct look at the sky.

These stars looked no different than they did in the city. They were the same stars (or memorials of stars, technically) as always.

…How many different possibilities existed for what my life could have ended up being at this exact moment? If I had said perhaps one more or one less word to anyone, I could have been a yakuza. Or a bride. Or living in a dumpster in an abandoned alley. Or selling dumpsters. But because I did EXACTLY what I had done, movement for movement, word for word, I was here. On the beach of an area named Stardew Valley, with not many people, but all the charm. There were other people who did what they did movement for movement and word for word, but ended up in much worse or much more mundane situations. Life's crazy.

…I still didn't want to leave. I didn't want to zone back into the world. I needed something else crazy to think about.

Well, Sam's sorta crazy. Had to be, considering his face suddenly appeared in the sky.

And I don't mean in some sort of "Oh, I'm falling in love and he's always on my mind" kinda way.

As in he, looking down at me, said "What's so special about the sky?"

I instinctively sat up and asked "Where did you come from?!"

"…Pelican Town," he answered, sitting down beside me.

I sighed in defeat at how very right he was.

"…Anyway," I said. "I could probably write a thesis on how special the sky is. I mean, everyone on this Earth is looking up at the same sky. People looked at this same sky who are long decomposed, and people will look at this sky who have yet to even be cells now."

I decided to lie back down.

"In addition," I continued. "Some of these stars are dead. They're just… ah, what was it? Something to do with light travel and just how far away these things are. They're so far away we haven't even seen their light go out yet."

Out of curiosity, I looked over at Sam. His eyes had been on me for that entire speech.

"Y-Yeah," he said, looking up at the stars themselves. "That is very crazy."

He lied down as well.

"Hey, your monologue just now reminds me of Penny," he said. "She lives here, and she is such a bookworm."

"Oh, really?" I asked.

"Uh huh," said Sam. "She also tutors the kids, considering there's… not really a school here."

"Cool," I said.

"Oh, and as far as kids go, there's only two here," said Sam. "My little bro Vincent, and a girl named Jas."

"Jas…" I said. "…Would it be weird if I said that's a cute name?"

"…No, not really," Sam replied. "She's Marnie's niece. Oh, Marnie's the one that… I'm pretty sure she's the one to go to regarding animals around here, so… I guess you'll be talking to her a lot."

"What sorts of animals?" I asked. "Cows, sheep-"

"Yeah, that sort of thing," said Sam. "…I-I'm sorry, I cut you off, didn't I?"

"Nah, you answered my question anyway," I said.

"…So, uh…" said Sam. "You a gamer?"

"Hell to the yes I am," I smiled.

"Awesome!" Sam replied. "…You and my friends Sebastian and Abigail would probably get along very well."

"Oh, yeah, I've seen them!" I said.

"…Yeah," said Sam. "You saw Sebastian completely kick my butt at pool again, didn't you?"

"Again?" I laughed. I knew this was a regular thing, but it made me laugh that he'd accepted it, too.

"I'll turn the tables one day!" he vowed dramatically.

"I believe in you," I told him wholeheartedly. "Realistically, there's no way someone can suck at something forever, especially with how often you seem to play."

"…Heh… thanks," said Sam. "…You should drop by the saloon more often."

"I'll be sure to do that," I smiled. I was just invited to hang out. Whether I wanted it to or not, that meant the world to me.

We laid in silence for a moment then. I checked my watch. Somehow, there was still plenty of time left in my night.

"…What kind of music do you like?" asked Sam.

"I… like a bit of everything," I answered. "Although I've been real into electronic music as of late. My favorite band does vaporwave music."

"Oh, wow," said Sam. "I'm trying to get a band together with Sebastian. And I guess Abigail, too. Sebastian really wants her to be the drummer for some reason."

"Oh, really?" I said, raising a brow. "…'For some reason'?"

"Maybe he likes her or something, I dunno," Sam shrugged. "…Actually, that'd explain a lot."

I chuckled a bit, not really knowing what to say. Sam also gave a bit of a chuckle.

Then, another bout of silence. After a few seconds, I glanced at Sam, who was looking at me, but quickly looked away when he saw me looking. Of course, half of me was like "HE LIKES YOU! SOUND THE ALARM!" until my more logical half shut that first half's mouth.

"…Let me know if this is too much," said Sam. "But what brings you here?"

"What brings me here?" I answered.

"Of all the places you could have moved, you chose a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere," said Sam. "Sounds like something out of a romance novel or something."

I couldn't help but laugh pretty solidly at this.

I then said "Yeah, true. Well, it's… something like that. See, that farmhouse was once my grandfather's. Basically, before I came here, I was stuck in a horrible job with Joja."

Sam let out a pretty loud laugh.

"I work at the JojaMart here," he told me.

"No way," I said.

"I'm serious!" he said. "…It sucks. Don't worry, I get 'cha completely."

Another second of silence.

"So…" said Sam. "Hated your job and moved here, to… Did you inherit that place?"

"…Pretty much," I answered. Golly, if it wasn't for that bit of generosity from Grandpa, where would I currently be? There was no way I wouldn't have snapped by now in that metal cube called an office. I almost said this aloud, but something in me told me not to.

"We've lived here since I can remember," said Sam.

He sighed. It was a long, heavy sigh. It was almost like something was wrong, but I didn't want to push it incase either there wasn't or there very much was.

It was at this moment that I crashed. Feeling like a lead statue was the last thing I remembered.