Disclaimer: Okay, so I do not own Harvest Moon, that's Marvolous Inc Natsume. I also do not own any of the Harvest Moon Characters, including: Jack, Celia, Muffy, Nami, Rock, Takakura, etcetera. So basically I don't own anything Harvest Moon businessy, except for a copy of the game. I'm not trying to offend Natsume by twisting the basic story and blah blah blah.


"I swear, Lena, I'll be back next year," said Jesse, giving his wife a quick kiss on the cheek. "Okay, please be careful, Jesse," Lena said. Jesse was packing up his rucksack when his daughter, Rachel, entered the room.

"Daddy, aw you weaving us again, daddy?"

"Only for a little while, Rachel. I promise when you get older you and Hunter can come visit the farm with me, okay?"

"Yay!"

"I'm off now. Hunter you watch over your mother and sister while Dad's away, okay? Rachel you be a good girl and always listen to your brother and momma. And Lena, I promise, I'll be back by next year," Jesse said, walking out of the door.

3 Years Later

Hunter was outside playing jacks with his sister, Rachel. Hunter's 16th birthday was just a few days ahead. He wondered what had become of his father. He said he'd come back in a year. It's been three years. Where was he? "Children, come inside. I've just received a letter from your father!" called Lena.

Rachel and Hunter ran into the house, where they met there mother sitting in the big red armchair. "Can I see the letter, Mom?" he asked. Hunter took the letter and read.

Dear Family,

I'm sorry I haven't returned as soon as I said I would. There have been problems at the village and the farm. There were two tornados that visited the village. The year I was supposed to come back was when the first tornado hit and the year after that a second one hit. The damages weren't easy to repair. I couldn't just leave the village and farm like that. Takakura and I have been helping the rest of the villagers rebuild their houses. You remember Takakura, right? The farm was completely blown away and most of the animals were dead.

Everyone is in distress. The local hotel, The Inner Inn, collapsed while we were trying to repair it and a man was killed inside. Everything is in total destruction. I'll try to come home by Rachel's 8th birthday. And happy birthday Hunter. I sent you a present in the second envelope and Rachel your gift is in the yellow package. I'm very sorry Lena; I'm trying to come home as soon as I can.

Love,

Dad

"D'you think he'll be okay, mom?" asked Hunter. "I'm sure he'll be fine. He's a strong man, your father. Did I ever tell you about the time your father rescued me from a mudslide?" she asked. "No you haven't! Tell us, Momma! Tell us!" exclaimed Rachel, popping with excitement. "Okay then, come sit down on the rug," said Lena, motioning them to the soft cream-white rug. The children immediately scrambled forward for a spot on the warm rug. "It was a really stormy night. The rain was pouring everywhere…"

4 Years Later

"A tennis ball of diameter 1 has a disk inside it, sewn in along the equator. It is tossed around and lands in a random orientation. The disk projects down to an ellipse, with major axis of length 1. What is the expected length of the minor axis? Okay, Hunter" said the teacher. Hunter was staring out the window, thinking yet again about his father. He wondered if the repairs in the village were finished? "Hunter? HUNTER!" yelled the teacher. "Huh?" Hunter snapped his attention back. "What is the answer to the problem?" questioned the teacher. "Could you repeat it again Mrs. Stout?" he asked. But even after she repeated the question, Hunter still didn't know the answer. A few of the students snickered. "Well, Mr. Samuels? Do you have our answer?" the teacher asked, getting impatient. "Um, I don't know the answer, ma'am" he said, turning red. "Well that would explain your poor work on yesterday's quiz. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Would anyone paying attention supply the answer to this math problem?" she asked the crowd. A boy in the front row shot his hand up in the air. "Yes, Mr. Higgins?" she asked the skinny boy up front. "A half, ma'am. You see it is a simple process. Restating the problem using the ellipses, look at a random direction in a sphere, with the disk being normal to the random radius. Using spherical coordinates, the length of the projected minor axis is Abs sin(π/2 - φ) when φ is the angle from the vertical axis. Finding the average, then, is an integral with integrand equal to Abs π × sin(2φ), then divided by the area of the surface of the sphere gives us ½," stated the scrawny boy. "Very good, Mr. Higgins!" beamed the teacher. One of the boys in the back row threw a crumpled up paper ball at the boy. "Detention, Mr. Stevens, I don't want any paper throwing in my room. Class dismissed!" said Mrs Stout.

While Hunter walked down the school halls, a lot of the guys teased him and shot out insults like "Hey, no brain!" and "Didja ever consider getting a brain transplant!" But what really got him angry was when a husky boy surrounded by students called out "Hey, Stupid! Why don't you just quit school and crawl back to your farm with your dum-dum daddy? 'Cuz that's what cha are! Right boys? Little Hunty-Wunty's a dum-dum like his dum-dum father! HA HA HA HA-ARRG" In one swift move, Hunter had pinned the boy up against the lockers by his neck. "SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH! DON'T YOU DARE INSULT MY DAD! YOU FAT PIECE OF FILTH! YOU DESPICABLE PILE OF-" Hunter had been beating up the boy when a hand gruffly grabbed him by the collar from behind. It was the Dean. "HUNTER! You don't beat up students just like that! I want to see you down in my office! NOW!" said the Dean.

The husky boy sniggered with his friends as Hunter slumped down the hall towards the dean's office. He then realized he had given the boy a black eye, a bloody nose, and a few bruises. He was quite satisfied with himself, even though he knew he shouldn't be. "What were you thinking! Why are you happy! You beat up a student! What do you think your dad will say!" scolded his conscience. Hunter walked into the office. It was very bright. The lights were almost blinding. The walls were colored a shade of jade green, with framed certificates plastering the walls. There was also a glass apple on the desk, with "Dean of the Year" engraved on it. "Why in the world did you attack Conner! Hunter! I'm speaking to you! You can't just start beating up a student like that! Why did you do that!" shouted the Dean "He just said something," mumbled Hunter. He hoped that the Dean wouldn't ask what. The Dean calmed down. "Do you know what I got this for?" the Dean asked, picking up the glass apple. He didn't wait for an answer. "I received this from the Board of Education for keeping this school violence-free. I'm very sorry, Hunter, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to expel you for this. I do not tolerate violence in this college," said the Dean.

Hunter was shocked. WHAT! You're expelling me for kicking that guy's ass! Do you have any idea what you're "students" are like here! You think that isn't violence! But no words came out. "Please leave my office. Starting tomorrow, you are not permitted to come back to this college," said the Dean. Hunter walked out of the office. He felt very numb. He couldn't even hear the crowd of students that stood outside of the office jeering at him. All he could hear was those two words. You're expelled. He just sat quietly through his last classes.

On the way to his apartment, he saw two boys throwing rocks at the window. "Hunter! It's us! Roy and Jimmy! Hunterrrrrr! Open up!" they yelled. "Guys I'm over here," sighed Hunter. The boys immediately stopping throwing and turned around. They ran towards him, with excited faces. "Hey, Hunter! Everybody says that cha got expelled! Is it true, Hunter? Huh, is it? What was the Dean's office like? Did he shoot flames from his nostrils? Did he?" they asked excitedly. "Guys, I'm really not in the mood to talk, but yeah, I did get expelled," he said, sighing even more. Hunter sulked up to his cramped apartment. It was very small, considering he didn't get paid much. There were only two rooms. A bedroom and living room combined and a kitchen. He plopped himself on the lumpy armchair and put his hands on his face. Hunter wondered how he'd tell his mom. Or his dad. He wondered why his father hadn't written to him yet. Duh! You never checked the mailbox! "Gawd, I'm slow. His letter's probably in the mailbox," Hunter scolded himself.

He ran outside towards, but tripped and fell at the last minute. He cursed himself and got up to see what he slipped on. It was one of Roy and Jimmy's rocks. At first Hunter was angry, but then dismissed the emotion and headed toward the mailbox. The red plastic flag was up. Something was in there. It could be a letter. A letter from his father. He could finally be coming home. Hunter calmed himself and opened the mailbox. There was a whole jumble of letters and a red package. He took the bundle and walked up the stairs into his apartment, carefully stepping over the rock that he tripped on. This time he sat on the bed at took a look at the mail.

There were some water and electricity bills, a letter from his mom asking how college was (Hunter shuddered at the thought of college), a letter from his sister, Rachel, and a letter from his dad taped onto the red package. He decided to read the letter before opening the package.

Dear Hunter,

How are you? I have great news! The reconstruction of Forget-Me-Not-Valley is finished. Everything looks great! I'll be taking the train to come back home tomorrow. I'll probably be there around 5 o'clock. I've already sent a letter to your mother and Rachel. Oh, I've also left something very important for you in the red box. It's something every young man needs, but I'll explain it more when I come home tomorrow. See you soon.

Dad

Hunter wondered what it could be. He started tearing apart the wrappings and found a light blue feather sitting on a red velvet cushion. Why in the world would I need a feather? What purpose could it possibly serve me? He mulled it over for a few more minutes and went to bed.

The next morning Hunter went into the kitchen to get some breakfast. All there was were a half full carton of eggs, some sliced bologna, and milk in the fridge. He turned on the stove and decided to make some fried eggs. Hunter wondered what he'd do until work. Hunter sat in the couch and flipped through the channels on his small broken down TV. Not too long later did he find that he had fallen asleep on the couch. It was already 4:36; his dad would be coming in a half hour.

Hunter gave himself a shower and put on his cleanest shirt. He drove his beat-up Jeep to the train station and waited at the "Arriving" port. "Hmm, it's 5:27, wonder were he is. It's getting late and I already missed work," he said, with a worried expression. Then, just as the train arrived, people started pouring out. Among those people was a man about his father's age. The man had black hair drawn back, a firmly built body, and was wearing some old jeans with a white shirt. But for his facial features, Hunter saw the hugest eyebrows that he could ever imagine. The man walked towards him. "Hello. You must be Hunter. Yes, you dad told me a lot 'bout you. I'm Takakura by the way, your dad's friend at the farm," he said, shaking Hunter's hand. "Oh…uh yeah, my dad sent a letter about coming today. Do you know where he is?" Hunter questioned. "Oh, yes about that, well your father…he's um…I think it's best if I tell you at your apartment," Takakura said, looking down. "W-where's m-my dad?" stuttered Hunter, trying to sound confident. But Takakura just kept quiet and led him to his apartment.

Once in the building, Hunter blurted out "Where's my dad? What happened to him? I know you know what happened! Tell me! Where is my father?" He was trying to keep his balance from falling because he was shaking so much. Takakura walked towards his lumpy couch and told him that it was best if he sat down. Hunter sat down, still shaking. Takakura gathered his breath and said to him "Hunter, there is no easy way to tell you this, but your father…. your father is…well he's…he's….Hunter, your father's dead."