In My Life

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With some fresh money from yesterday, an aching everything, bleary eyes, and nothing decent to eat in over a week, Makoto decided it would be good to go out and get some seeds to start with. He stared at the couple of spots he had tilled, ready to go.

"Doesn't seem too hard," he muttered to himself as he stood on the porch, hands shoved into his pockets. "Time to start planting."

How Makoto functioned on five seconds of sleep in two days, next to no food, and not to mention the hideous gash in his right arm was a complete enigma. He was some kind of monster, that's safe to say. Grabbing his bag from next to the door, he slung it over his shoulder and set into town.

He stood outside the Supermarket's door, looking down at his watch. Too early for anyone to open, even in this town. He sighed, and sat down on the bench outside of the store. Looking over his shoulder, he noticed that the Clinic was right next door, and Makoto remembered the physical he had to take.

"Better put that on my list…" Makoto muttered to himself.

The door of the Supermarket opened, and out came another girl around Makoto's age, with fair skin and pretty green eyes to match. Her hair was long and chestnut colored, with two blonde streaks up front that fell into her face. She turned, and saw Makoto sitting on the bench. Proceeding to sit down, she motioned for him to scoot over. Makoto did so, and she sat next to him.

"You're Makoto, right?" she asked.

"Finally, someone who didn't call me Sergeant…" Makoto muttered in reply.

The girl looked disappointed.

"Hey! I'm trying to make a conversation!"

"I didn't do anything…" Makoto shot back.

"Sure…"

"Then stop sitting next to me."

Makoto looked over at her.

"When's the store open?"

"Don't be so rude to me and then turn around and make small talk!"

"I'm sorry."

"Eight. It opens at eight, Makoto."

"Thanks… err…"

"Karen."

"Thanks, Karen."

Makoto sat back in the bench a bit.

"What brings you to Mineral Town?" Karen asked, looking over at him.

Makoto looked over, shocked that anyone wanted to make conversation with him.

"What, not used to having anyone talk to you?" Karen asked.

"Quite startled, actually," Makoto replied.

Before he knew it, an orange-haired figure approached from the distance. He was fairly tall, and skinny too, his blue eyes shielded by a pair of large glasses. He smiled a bit when he saw Karen, and groaned a bit when he saw Makoto talking to Karen.

"Oh? You're the new guy, right? The guy who moved in next door?" the guy asked when he stopped in front of the bench, looking down at Makoto. "The Sergeant?"

"Rick, he doesn't like being called Sergeant."

Makoto looked up at him.

"Ogawa's fine enough."

Rick looked back down, and pushed his glasses up against his face.

"Why are you sitting next to Karen?"

"Waiting," Makoto replied curtly.

Rick turned to Karen, and groaned.

"You owe me an explanation, Karen!"

"I don't owe you anything, Rick!" Karen hissed, shooting back his comment with every bit of rudeness Rick delivered to her.

Makoto got up, getting into Rick's face, giving him a quick shove.

"I don't care if you're her boyfriend. You don't force her around like she's your property."

Grabbing his knapsack and taking a quick glance at his watch, he headed towards the now open store, leaving Rick, mouth agape, as Karen took off in the other direction.

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Makoto walked into the store, muttering to himself about what a jerk Rick had been. Stopping to see the display of seeds, he arched an eyebrow. What was he supposed to plant??

The owner of the store, a man in his late thirties or early forties, walked out from behind the counter. He was on the short and small side, and he still looked very young, with shiny black hair, a thin little moustache, and a neatly pressed white shirt and black slacks. He adjusted his black bowtie as he walked up to Makoto.

"It's nice to meet you," the man said, holding out his hand. Makoto instinctively shook it. "I'm Jeff, and I own the Supermarket with my wife Sasha, and my daughter Karen. It's a pleasure, Mr. Ogawa."

"Same here," Makoto replied. Mr. Ogawa was certainly better than Sergeant, he had thought. Makoto then turned to Jeff, with a huge question on his mind.

"What do I plant?"

Jeff nodded, reaching for a bag of turnip seeds.

"This is going to get you money the fastest, but not as much as potatoes or cucumbers. Both the potatoes and cucumbers take longer to grow, respectively." He stopped.

"How much for each?" Makoto asked.

"120 G for the Turnips, 150 G for the Potatoes, 200G for the cucumbers. You'll net a decent profit from each, though," he said with a grin.

"Don't exactly have much cash…"

"That's okay. You can pay on credit if you want."

Makoto looked up at Jeff.

"No way."

Jeff waved his hand sheepishly.

"I insist."

"Not gonna do business very well if you sell off to everyone on credit."

Jeff looked rather hurt. He grabbed his stomach and turned away. Makoto tried to think of something to say.

"Well, not assuming you actually do sell to everyone on credit."

Jeff looked back up at Makoto.

"I kinda…"

Makoto arched an eyebrow.

"I'll take two of each. I can cover that much."

Makoto's stomach rudely growled. It was Jeff's turn to arch an eyebrow.

"Are you hungry?"

Makoto shook his hand.

"I'm fine."

He had never been so damn hungry in his entire life.

"I'll take what's left and buy something for the house…"

Jeff motioned to the shelf behind the counter as he proceeded to ring up Makoto's purchases. "What would you like?"

"Food."

Jeff chuckled a little.

"Maybe some eggs…" Makoto said. "Don't have chickens yet… and all I have is a hotplate."

Jeff took down a dozen eggs from the freezer.

"1140 G, please. Anything else?"

Makoto took out his wallet and paid Jeff. He didn't have much leftover afterwards.

"I'm good," he said, taking his bags in his arms. He took off.

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Makoto was so hungry that he felt like eating the eggs raw. He was tempted, but somehow made it back home to toss two eggs onto the hot plate. They came out tasting like the hot plate, but Makoto didn't care. He put the rest of the eggs away in the fridge, and grabbed his seeds, and a dinky watering can.

More or less 10 AM.

He started, getting face first into the dirt as he planted little seeds into each tilled spot. Poke the soil, drop in seeds, cover, water spot. Poke the soil, drop in seeds, cover, water spot. Poke the soil, drop in seeds, cover, water spot. A regular round of excitement on a Monday morning.

Makoto got up from the ground when he was done poking and dropping and covering and watering. How exciting. He seemed thoroughly satisfied, and the nasty B.O was enough to say how hard he worked. Come to think of it, he hadn't bathed in a while either. He decided that was the best thing to do before going to the Clinic for his physical, heading inside the house.

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Once again, as soon as he left his house, there was someone waiting for him outside. This time, it was a pink haired girl who looked more than a little lost as she wandered aimlessly around his shipping box. Makoto cleared his throat rather loudly and deliberately, catching her attention. She had strange red eyes that showed straight into a bubbly personality, and wore a girlish dress to match.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I just wanted to see who had moved in!"

Well, it didn't seem subtly was one of her expertise. Makoto stood there, hands in his pockets.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Don't ignore me!"

"I'm not ignoring you."

Makoto emerged from the porch, letting the sunlight gently splash his face. The girl stared at him, entranced. She said something that sounded like "wow" under her breath as Makoto walked up to her.

"My name's Popuri… and yours?" Popuri asked, a blush covering her face.

"Makoto Ogawa."

Popuri smiled and blushed some more, holding her hands behind her back.

"Well Makoto, I live just down the road with my mother Lillia and my brother Rick. We run Chicken Lil's, the poultry farm! Come by and visit when you get the chance!" She gave him a little smile again, and whisked herself off the farm while humming a cheery tune.

Makoto stood there, arching an eyebrow.

"Certainly is strange…" he muttered to himself as he watched Popuri skip away. He wondered if her brother was the same Rick that he had shoved that morning. Now… how long before half the town found out about that spectacle? Makoto decided it wasn't best to worry about that, and headed off to the Clinic.

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Makoto entered the doors of the Clinic, and the receptionist looked up at him. There was a long, awkward silence. There stood Makoto in the doorway, the completely insane bleeding Makoto. 

"The Doctor's seeing someone else right now, but if you take a seat, he'll be with you soon."

Makoto nodded, taking a seat on the sofa. He grabbed a magazine off the rack next to him, and began reading. He took his eyes off the text to take a quick look at the receptionist. She was writing down something else, minding her own business.

The clock in the sterile lobby ticked and tocked on. Makoto wondered what in the hell was going on back there, what was taking so long. Or maybe it seemed that way. That is, until a little boy walked into the Clinic, his tiny hands cupped together and a deceptive grin on his innocent face. His dark mushroom cut made him look even more boyish… no more than six years old. The receptionist looked up from her work again, and smiled.

"Hey Stu! Is there something you need?"

Stu looked up at the receptionist, and frowned.

"Sis, you never play with me anymore," he said, taking his cupped hands close to his chest. "You still are coming home on Wednesday, right?"

"Of course, Stu," his sister replied.

Stu smiled.

"Great! Hey, come look at this! I wanna show you something!"

"What is it?" she asked, coming out from behind the counter.

"This!" And with that, he shoved his cupped hands into her face, and revealed a huge beetle.

Makoto put down his magazine at that moment. She looked like she'd seen a century-old murder victim in a drained river. Stu kept laughing on as his sister glared at him.

"Don't ever do that again!!" she snapped, getting in his face. Stu backed away, turning to run. There must have been a "SANCTUARY" sign flashing over where Makoto was reading nonchalantly, so Stu took it and dove under the sofa. His sister followed, stopping in front of Makoto.

Makoto didn't look up for a solid minute as he flipped through the pages. Stu's sister waited for him to look up, which he finally did.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

She smiled sweetly.

"I'm sorry for such a delay. The Doctor's just running some tests on the patient back there. It shouldn't take much longer, really."

Makoto nodded, pretending to be interested.

"Uh-huh…" he grunted, continuing to read. "You just want me to move so you can kill your brother, right?"

"Right."

Makoto got up.

"All yours," he said, motioning to the sofa. He dropped the magazine back into the rack.

Stu popped out from under the sofa.

"Oh, come on! I just wanted to play!" he whined. He looked over at Makoto. "You understand me, right?"

Makoto crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Hmmmm…" he hummed. "Not really."

"Come on, defend me!" Stu begged Makoto.

"Ehh… I don't feel like it. Defend yourself."

Tears gathered up in Stu's eyes.

"Ohhhhhh..." he moaned, beginning to cry. "You're such a jerk!" He ran out of the Clinic, beetle in hand.          

Stu's sister turned to Makoto.

"He doesn't mean that… don't worry about it!" she told him.

Makoto nodded, then noticed that she was looking at his right arm.

"Come to think of it…" she began, looking up at his face. "We haven't actually even met. I'm Elli."

"Makoto."

Elli smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Makoto. Thanks again."

Makoto looked over at her, nodding. Then Jeff emerged from the backroom, the Doctor following close behind. Jeff turned to the Doctor, and the Doctor began to speak.

"Just take it a bit easy. I know there's a lot of stress on you."

Jeff nodded.

"Yeah…" he said weakly.

"Well, anyway, go get your prescription from Elli," the Doctor said, shooting a quick glance over to his nurse. Makoto took a step back to let Elli go back to her desk. Jeff followed her, leaving Makoto and the Doctor standing at the entrance to the examination room.

"Bring a file form for the Sergeant while you're at it," the Doctor called over Makoto's shoulder. Makoto groaned under his breath at the title.

"Got it!"

The Doctor led Makoto into the examination room. It still was just as sterile-looking as the rest of the Clinic, with a long table along the wall, a scale, and various charts on the walls.

Makoto was waiting for the Doctor to ask something like, "What brings you to Mineral Town?", but he didn't. Didn't seem much like the small talk type anyway. Good. Elli came in and handed Makoto's forms to the Doctor and left again after glancing at Makoto.

The Doctor sat down, and told Makoto to sit on the table. He began to fill out his name, not forgetting to tack "Sergeant" on as the title.

"D.O.B? Nationality?"

"Fall 17th, half Japanese, half Russian," Makoto replied.

The Doctor nodded.

"Let's start the measurements. Step on the scale over there."

Makoto did so, kicking off his boots and standing on the scale. The Doctor measured his height and weighed him.

"6'1" and 158 pounds…" the Doctor announced. "A little underweight, even with your body frame."    

"I really haven't been eating well lately. I'm normally 160."

The Doctor nodded.

"You'll get back soon. Take your shirt off."

Makoto did so, handing it to the Doctor. The Doctor slung it over a chair. Makoto had a really streamlined body, with toned abs, shaped arms, and no bulk. The Doctor took notice to an unsettling scar on his stomach.

"What happened there?" he asked, pointing to it.

"Got shot."

"I see. Well, I just want to make sure you're entirely healthy, that your time as a soldier didn't leave any permanent damage. Let's continue, shall we?"

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The Doctor certainly was thorough, doing everything from the examination to changing Makoto's bandage. By the time all was said and done, it was nearly four o'clock! Makoto took a quick glance at the clock, and focused on the Doctor.

"Well," he began. "You're about as healthy as I'd expected you to be. Your lack of food is taking a toll you, so first of all, I'm going to call Doug at the Inn and have him get a good meal for you right now. Next, you should really get some sleep. You look like you're about to drop dead, even if some crazy military training's forced your mind to think otherwise. Take tomorrow off too. It's supposed to rain, so you don't have to worry about watering plants." He must've found out from Jeff that Makoto had purchased seeds early that day. "I'll give you some Bodigizer, on me. It'll make you feel a bit better when you need it." He got up, and pointed Makoto to the door.

Makoto got up, heading to the lobby after the Doctor. Elli looked positively bored again, but seeing the Doctor got her to jump up and look interested in her work.

"Elli, get him a Bodigizer," he said.

"Right away!" She turned around and grabbed it, handing it over to the Doctor. She blushed quickly when the Doctor took it from her hands. Makoto watched, shoving his hands into his pockets.

The Doctor gave Makoto his Bodigizer in a small, white bag, and he was on his way out the door when he looked over his shoulder again. He saw Elli blush as the Doctor said something at her. He turned back, heading out the door.

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Makoto headed off to the Inn. The afternoon sky had turned a smoky gray, he had noticed. Turning down the corner, he stood in front of the Inn, looking up at the huge, two story building. He proceeded inside, standing as he stared at what looked like an Irish pub, with dim lighting, several round tables, and an old, wooden floor. He noticed the tall, built, orange-haired bartender polishing off the glasses behind the counter. His blue eyes remained focused on his work, and he hummed to himself underneath his orange moustache. It must've been Doug.

Makoto stood in the entranceway, waiting for Doug to finish his job, until a door leading from the kitchen opened up in front of his eye, and out came a girl holding what looked to Makoto as… food. Makoto's stomach howled, but he tried paying no attention to it.

"Dad, the food's ready!" the girl said. She shared her father's traits, but she was a tiny thing. She looked twelve, but she could've been Makoto's age! Makoto took notice to how she worked with diligence as she set up a table for the guest they were anticipating.

Doug noticed Makoto in the doorway.

"You must be the starving kid! Well, have a seat, the food's on me." His voice was rather gruff, but strangely friendly.

Makoto did so, setting his bag under his feet. Doug and his daughter stood next to Makoto from either side. Makoto looked up unsteadily at them.

"Go ahead!" the daughter encouraged. "I made it myself!"

Makoto took a fork and knife, and began eating like mad.

"Whoa, slow down!" Doug shot in. "You're eating so fast that you probably don't know what it is!"

Makoto stopped for a minute.

"Fish."

And continued eating. He put the utensils down when he was done, looking to the both of them.

"Good meal."

Doug and his daughter both grinned to each other.

"Glad you liked it!" the daughter began. "It's nice to meet you! I'm Ann!"

Makoto nodded, his expression unchanging.

"Name's Makoto."

Ann smiled at Makoto as he got up from his seat, Makoto not taking any notice to this. Doug did, and he grinned to himself when he saw Ann staring at Makoto.

Makoto looked up at Doug and Ann.

"Thanks a lot."

Grabbing his white bag, he walked out the door, leaving Doug and Ann exchanging glances.

"Good kid, but he's about as social as a snake," Doug muttered to Ann. There was no one else in the Inn, so the two of them headed to clean up a bit before the drinking crowd arrived in a couple of hours.

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Next up. Makoto meets someone just as broody as him.