A/N: Surprise, chapter two! This chapter is really long and I don't know why (eleven pages on Microsoft Word o.O) More for you I guess!


1,371 days. That's how much time I still had left. Every day I'd wake up with the number stuck to the inside of my brain like a superglued sticky note. Ugh.

I was making steady progress on my farm. All the seeds I'd planted had been growing like a dream, and I even got enough money on the side to buy a chick from Ash's family. I named it the first thing I thought of – Rain. She had been flourishing under my care, and thanks to me buying a lot of treats for her, I was certain she'd start laying more than one egg a day once she matured, as well.

Other than that, and the horse Kana gave me (something about my "accident," which I didn't really remember as a thing that actually happened, but whatever) my barn was as empty as the HG's brain. At least having something living around was nice, I guess.

Ina kicked down the door yesterday and gave me the ingredients (and recipe) for some traditional Konohanian dessert for the cooking festival. After this, however, she and Rutger somehow managed to agree that I would be on my own.

The dessert was done in a snap, and I carefully placed it within the confines of my rucksack. Stuff had a tendency to come out looking like they weren't in there in the first place, but you can ever be too cautious.

Watering my crops didn't take much time, either. I spent a little time in the barn with Rain, however. The small thing was still just a baby, and wouldn't mature until the summer. She took to me instantly, though – running up to me on her scrawny little legs and hopping on my hand.

"Hey, Rain." I cuddled her close, breaking up her treat into small pieces and feeding her. "I'm going to be gone for a while again today, so you'll have to spend some time with ol' Wind-struck here, yeah?"

The chick peeped in response, swallowing the last bit of her treat. I hopped out of her little pen after giving Rain one final pat.

Wind-struck the horse nudged me with his nose, and I gave him a friendly pat. "Maybe next time, bud. We don't want to be too early, y'know."


(Uh, that's hot)

It's tasty, it's like a cupcake

It's cotton candy, it melts in your mouth

And lately I been gettin' hunger pains

When you lick your lips while you check me out

Fast car? Boring!

Girlfriend? Boring!

Got money? Boring!

(No, oh, oh, oh)

Hot friends? Boring!

Rock band? Boring!

Not interested, (no, thank you)


The town and mountain were oddly silent, although the air seemed to visibly quiver and thrum with excitement. My climb was an easy one, even if it seemed so much longer by the silence that seemed to surround and press in on all sides. I sighed and shook my head free of thoughts as I began nearing the crest of the mountain, dessert in hand.

Ina was waiting for me up there, checking that everything was going according to plan. "Hello, Diana. Did you bring the dessert I asked you to make?"

I pulled it out of my rucksack and handed it to her. "Yup. Here 'tis."

Ina took the dish from my hands and waved me over to Yun and Nori. "You three will be competing in the first round today. I have no doubts that we have this competition in the bag!" Ina placed my dish in-between Yun and Nori's. "Diana, you know what to do, right? If you have any questions, please let me know."

I shrugged. "I'll be fine, Ina. It's not like I'm supposed to do much else than stand here and look pretty for the first part, anyway."

Ina nodded. "Very well. I'm certain we'll win this time…feel free to lose all you like over the summer, though," Ina smiled, although it didn't look nearly as warm and friendly as it should have been. "I certainly won't mind."

Konohana and Bluebell's culinary face-off was a well-known and well-loved treat for people who loved cooking competitions. Once in a while, Pierre will throw in a wild card and all of a sudden we're in some weird mix between cutthroat kitchen and Mario Party. Of course, there were camera crews everywhere, and the audience was more than just a few of the townsfolk. This thing happened once a month, so I guess in the world of TV shows it was a real big thing – not as big as a yearly thing, though. Ina scurried off to take part in one of those interview things they play over the episode. Or maybe she was commentating? I really don't know. It's not like I have a TV.

The competition had two parts – the pre-made dishes, and the Wild Card round. My first time, Ina and Rutger decided it would be best to leave me out of the Wild Card round, but I decided I wanted in this time. Last month, they had to make a dish using ingredients that started with the letter A – Bluebell pulled through with some creative uses of Alfredo sauce, alongside other things. After the Wild Card round, the cameramen left and it was pretty much just a potluck/party thing.

"All right everyone, we're live in five!" The lead director announced. Nori gently touched my arm.

"You'll be fine," she said, in a voice quieter than a whisper. Yun nodded her agreement.

"You most certainly stole the show last time! I don't know what you were doing for your interview, but you had everyone laughing all the way home." Yun returned Ying's wave, smiling at her granddaughter fondly.

I didn't really think I did anything special for my interview. Mostly just made sure I picked my words carefully while also staying true to myself – this may be the Harvest Moon universe, but I don't trust the media to not twist my words.

The lead director's voice shouted over the crowds. "Five…four…three…two…one…we're live!"

Pierre walked up to the judge's table, his overly large hat slightly askew. "Hello, everyone! Welcome to another episode of Culinary Rivals! Today, we'll be focusing on desserts!"


If you want me

You're gonna have to catch me

If you wanna touch my whoa-oa-oa

And if you catch me

You're gonna have to show me

How bad you really want my whoa-oa-oa

You're Scrumptious

I kinda like it

I'm indecisive

I change my mind a lot

But you're hot (you're so hot)

But I think you kinda know it

Really hopin' you don't blow it so bring it


The first part of the competition went off without a hitch. Pierre was thoroughly impressed with Konohana's food, but it was up to the bonus round to decide.

"…As some of you may know, the Wild Card round is composed of several delicious challenges sent in by fans everywhere! Let's see what today's challenge has in store…" There was a large fishbowl on the center of the judges' table, and the petite gourmet had quite a time scrambling around trying to pick a slip from the very bottom of the bowl. "Today's challenge is…"

Dramatic pause. I really hoped I didn't have a bad case of resting bitch face. "…'our get-along shirt!' from a 'Miss A.' this is quite the game-changer, folks! This round, two contests from differing towns must work together to make a dish that's out of this world – and all while wearing…" Pierre reached from beneath the table and pulled out a large double-collared T-shirt with the words 'Our Get-Along Shirt' on it. I let out a snort but remained my neutral composure. "This! Now, let's choose our contestants!"

Two much smaller fish bowls were placed on the table, one for each town. Pierre didn't have nearly as hard a time with these. "Since Konohana rocked the previous round, they get to be picked first! Our Konohana contestants are…" he grabbed two slips of paper from the bowl on my right. "Dr. Ayame and Diana, from State Farm!" Yes, I named my farm after an insurance company. No, I don't regret a thing.

I didn't mind being thrown into the Wild Card round. The HG did mention that one of my main goals was still getting the two towns to reconcile, so I figured as long as I laugh and treat it less like an intense competition and more like a bunch of friends goofing around, I'd be fine.

Ayame walked up from the crowd and followed me to the judge's table. "Good luck out there, kiddo," she winked at me. "But I'm not going to lose. I have a PhD, you know."

I laughed. "Win or lose, I'm still going to have more fun than you."

Pierre smiled warmly at the two of us. "Dr. Ayame, please pick a teammate from the Bluebell bowl!"

Ayame shrugged and dug her hand in. "Looks like I'm stuck with…" Another dramatic pause as she unfolds the paper. "…Jessica! Oh, that's not too bad."

The proud mother of two (also one of the first round's contestants) walked up to us and have Ayame's hand a firm shake. The only thing she said was, "Let's do our best."

Pierre nodded proudly. "All right! Now, Miss Diana, if you please…"

I shrugged and stuck my hand in the Blue-bowl. "Step forth, my comrade named…"


You're tired? Boring!

You're sore? Boring!

You worked all day? Boring!

(Whoa-oa-oa-oa)

Big boat? Boring!

Black AmEx? Listening…

Six pack? Well, heh…

If you want me

You're gonna have to catch me

If you wanna touch my whoa-oa-oa

And if you catch me

You're gonna have to show me

How bad you really want my whoa-oa-oa


"…Ash!" I'm fairly certain this whole thing was rigged for two reasons –

1) Mother/son conflict-good times

2) Freaking harvest goddess wants me to suffer

But either way, Bluebell's generic farmer bachelor sprinted up to me from the crowd. "We've gotta win this one, Diana!" he grabbed my hands in his larger, callused ones. "I don't wanna lose to my mom!"

Jessica put her hands on her hips. "Excuse me, young man?"

Ash suddenly turned very rubicund in color. "I-I love you, momma."

"All right!" Pierre leapt into action. "You'll each have five minutes to decide what you're going to make and try and put these on," He handed Ayame and I a shirt "Because I seriously have no idea how they work."

Ash and I wandered back to the Bluebell's preparation area – a large tent emblazoned with blue and white. "We need to make something simple," I said, biting the inside of my cheek. "But first – are you left-handed?"

Ash looked much more uncomfortable with the whole sharing-a-shirt thing than I did. "What? Oh, no. Hey, do you think we'll have enough time to make Baumkuchen? That's one of my favorites."

I pulled the shirt on, sticking my left hand through the relevant sleeve. "Will we even have the stuff needed to make it? Here, I'll help you get this on."

Ash popped his head out the other collar. "This is really… awkward. Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"I have nine cousins, seven of which are guys. This isn't awkward – having a sleepover at their house is. Besides," I scratched the side of my face with my one free hand. "I trust you not to do anything. You're a good guy."

Ash's face turned rouge again. "U-uh, well. D-do you think we could just, hold hands or something? Just to be sure?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

Ash's hand was sweaty and kind of gross. I got him to wipe it off first, but second time was the charm. We were stuck together like glue – but the whole hand-holding thing was the least of my problems.

"What are our chances of them not recording all this?"

"…Crap."


If I let you catch me

It's because I think you're really cute

And if you don't get it right

I'mma be like really really mad

(Uh, insert rap here…1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 Go)

(Go -That's hot)

Whoa-oa-oa-oa

If you want me, you catch me, yeah whoa-oa-oa-oa

If you catch me, you show me, yeah whoa-oa-oa-oa

If you want me

You're gonna have to catch me

If you wanna touch my whoa-oa-oa

And if you catch me

You're gonna have to show me

How bad you really want my whoa-oa-oa


We ended up deciding to make something simple. Depending on how much time we had, I suggested we could try a Baumkuchen-esque cake. I caught a glimpse of what we looked like in one of the cameras, and laughed much harder than I liked.

"What?" Ash flailed around, trying to look for what was so funny.

"Oh, it's just - we must look so stupid right now." I placed my free hand over my mouth and giggled again. Ash gave me a look like I was clinically insane before he started cackling as well. We managed to compose ourselves before the competition started, though.

"Both teams will have ninety minutes to create the most delicious dessert this mountain has ever seen! I hope you're all prepared, because the challenge starts right now!" Pierre pointed at a large digital counter, which began slowly ticking down.

I knew the main challenge of this would be communication. "All right, let's get started. I'll start whisking the eggs."

"Right. You deal with wet ingredients, I'll deal with dry. Good plan!" Ash began reaching for the flour, disrupting my balance.

"Careful. I'm still here." Cracking an egg with one hand was no easy task, but somehow I managed, even if egg went everywhere in the process. The real challenge was getting the sugars in the mix.

"Uh…how many cups of flour was it supposed to be?"

I looked up, catching his eyes in my own as I struggled to remember. "…Three? Try to be careful measuring it out."

Ash grabbed the measuring cup. "I'll be fine. This isn't my first time in the kitchen, you know!" His first few attempts at scooping sent us coughing in a cloud of all-purpose flour.

"…It's your second, am I right?" I waved away as much of the flour as I could.

"Shut up."

Glancing over, Ayame and Jessica were really having a time of it. They almost looked even more ridiculous than we did. I chuckled again and returned to what I was doing. All the wet ingredients were in the mixing bowl, and with a flick of the wrist I had it mixing together. "Okay, what do you need me to do?"

Ash looked as lost as a stereotypical old person in an Apple store "…How much salt do we need?"

I offered him a half-smile. "A half-teaspoon. Here, I got it-"

So we continued to work together, all the while I was painfully aware of his left hand holding my right in a death grip.

We had a couple of missteps. I'm fairly certain we added too many chocolate chips, and we almost fell backwards a couple of times, but as a whole I think we did pretty well, all things considered.

Putting the cookies into the oven was the hardest part, but after that it was all smooth sailing. I wiped some sweat off my flour-coated face. "That is much harder than it looks."

"No kidding. You have egg in your hair, by the way." Ash pointed out.

I glanced up at the clock. "Better than egg on my face, am I right?" We still had a decent amount of time left for the cookies to bake.

"That's gotta be the worst joke I've ever heard," Ash snorted.

I offered winning smile number seventeen. "Bad jokes are the best jokes. This is scientific fact."

This is fine. I can handle this. It's like I can convince myself that I'm just making friends – this first year should be a snap. "So, since there's not much for us to do–unless you want to make a side-dish–do you want to tell me your life story or nah?"

"Why not both?" Ash shrugged. "There's not much to tell, anyway. How about we try a milkshake?"

I nodded in a sage-like manner. "I approve of that idea whole-heartedly. Let's see if we can find some ice cream."


Fast car? Boring!

Girlfriend? Boring!

Got money? Boring!

(Whoa-oh-oh-oh)

Hot friends? Boring!

Rock band? Boring!

Not interested

Whoa-oa-oa-oa


The main parts of the festival ended with a snap. Ash and I rocked the Wild Card round, which meant for the first time in quite a while Bluebell and Konohana were tied at the end. The tiebreaker was Ina and Rutger duking it out one-on-one in one final hurrah, and Ina won – but just barely. Before Rutger could call for a rematch, Pierre wrapped everything up and everyone who wasn't an inhabitant of the two towns packed up and went home.

The potluck was always a more casual affair. People spread picnic blankets and enjoyed themselves, mostly – there was always this big empty space between where Bluebell and Konohana folks ate, and it was there where I spread my blanket.

We mostly ate leftovers from the competition, but since dessert wasn't exactly dinner material there was some other stuff as well. Since there wasn't any concrete rule saying inhabitants from one town couldn't eat the other town's foods (and because I'd be moving to Bluebell pretty soon anyway) I got a bit of everything and reclined on my blanket, watching the clouds and enjoying myself.

Once you get past the cameras, the cooking competition is a lot of fun for everyone involved. A part of me wondered if this huge feud was less between the towns themselves and more between the mayors themselves. Well, also Georgia and Kana, for some reason. Other than that, I guess it's no big deal.

Due to some unspoken decree that festivals must be done on days that are completely sunny, it was a wonderful day. The top of the mountain was always windy and took the edge off the heat from the sun. A few butterflies and the like flit around peacefully, as well. It was nice.

"Do you mind if I sit with you, Diana?" Kana stood over me, on the edge of the Konohanian-side of my blanket. I blinked and swallowed another mouthful of food.

"Nah, I don't mind. Take a seat." I forced myself to sit up instead of just lying in my best 'draw-me-like-one-of-your-French-girls' pose. I grabbed my water bottle and took a gulp. "How are your horses?"

Kana's plate was resting on his lap while he sat crisscross-applesauce on the ground. "They're doing fine. Hayate just got her shots, so she should be good for the summer. How's Wind-struck?"

"He's fine. I've been riding him every day I can, and he seems to appreciate the exercise," I took another gulp of water. Fudge, how am I supposed to continue this discussion? "That Wind Card round, though." I burst into giggles at the memory. "I haven't had that much fun in…a while."

Kana laughed – his deep voice was accompanied by an equally deep laugh. "You looked kind of ridiculous out there, stuck to that other guy like some two-headed monster."

I snort. "What about Ayame and Jessica? They must have looked doubly-funny. Oh man," I wiped a laugh-tear from my face. "I'm going to have to get a TV now, just to see that episode."

Kana laughed with me for a while. "The only thing that would have been better," he chortled, "would be if Ina and Rutger were stuck together."

This really caused me to bust my sides. "YES." The two of us laughed for quite some time. "OH MY GOSH, YES."

The sound of someone clearing their throat caused our hysterics to calm down. Turning around, I saw Rutger himself. "Terribly sorry to interrupt, but you do have everything packed and ready for your move, right, Diana?"

I pushed myself to my feet, dusting invisible dirt off my clothes. "Yeah, I'll be ready by the thirty-first. It's not like there's much for me to pack, anyways."

Rutger nodded. "Very well. I will be seeing you then." He doffed his hat before moving back to his wife.

I turned to Kana, who had also risen from sitting to standing. "I should probably finish packing. Sorry I have to bail on ya, man."

Kana shrugged. "It's no big deal. Here, I'll help you fold your blanket." It didn't take us long for us to dispose of our trash and fold my picnic blanket. I stuffed it in my rucksack and waved good-bye.

"See you later!" I shouted, beginning my steady walk down the mountain. I didn't get far before my vision was serendipitously blinded by white.

"Great going there, hotshot!" The harvest goddess appeared in front of me, doing the infamous double-pistols-and-a-wink pose. "You're slowly helping the two towns get along!"

"Yeah, yeah," I held a head to my hand, resigning myself to being the good person – again. "Look, I'm not going to apologize or anything, but-"

The harvest goddess placed her hand on my shoulder. "No need, Diana. I'm not rescinding my requests of you, but I am a goddess – it's not good for us to hold grudges!" She let out a giggle. "Anyways, I just wanted to give you something to help you keep track of your progress!"

I looked up. "Oh?"

"Yes!" she clapped her hands together merrily. "I was inspired, you could say. Ta-da!" with a wave of her hand, a small stand with seven flower pots appeared. Each flower pot had one of those sticks to help the plants grow, and wrapped around the sticks was a vine-like plant with white flowers. "As your relationships with the boys grow, the flowers will change color depending on how well you're doing. When the flowers have all bloomed and turned red, your mission will be considered successful! I'll go ahead and send it to the Bluebell farmhouse, since you'll be there soon anyway." With another wave of her hand, the stand vanished.

"…oh," I blinked. Well, even if things had gotten off on the wrong foot, I still felt we were both somewhat trying. "Th…anks?"

The HG put her hands on her hips. "No problem! Don't forget to stop by and leave me a gift sometimes, Diana. I know you've been holding out on me," She winked. "Good call with Cam, though! He was very appreciative of your gift, you know."

"I figured, what with the flower stand and such," I sighed. "Look; I should really be getting home and finish packing."

The HG slapped her forehead. "Right! I'll teleport you down there real quick. See you tomorrow, Diana!"

With a splash of multicolored light, the white faded into the interior of my comfortable abode. Shutting my eyes in sweet relief, the number in my head counted down one.

1,370


FUN FACTS DIDYA KNOW:

-In this fic, there is a twelve-month calendar with a leap year every four years, in case that wasn't clear. The main difference between their calendar and ours is that their year starts in what would be March for us and ends on what would be February. I feel like the reason for the whole season-month thing in all HM games is because playing through a full twelve-month year would probably be really, really boring :'D

-Continuing from before, the cooking competitions between Bluebell and Konohana happen, as the fic mentions, once a month. The salad and soup competitions are rolled into one and occur near the beginning of the first month, the main course takes place in the middle of the second month, and the dessert round takes place near the end of month 3! I just thought it was weird how they kept dragging Pierre out every week and there not being some sort of show going on orz.

-Also continuing from before (I'm sorry I can't help it) since the HM universe's last month of the year is February, leap years are considered a pretty big thing and are considered to be a "last chance" to tie any loose ends/party hard before the next year takes hold.

-The phrase "I have a PhD" is a reference to Game Grumps, more specifically Brian. I'm fairly certain there has yet to be an episode with him that doesn't mention his PhD. He has a PhD, by the way. I don't know if you caught that.

-This chapter's song is "Boring" by P!nk. I don't know why I love this song, but I do!

Feel free to suggest whacky Wild Card rounds! I won't mind lol.

NEXT CHAPTER: EVEN MORE HILARIOUS SHENANAGINS!