Hey everyone! I know that it's been a while since I last updated (almost a month actually). Sorry for the long wait guys, I've been SUUUUUPER busy with a lot of things lately, such as midterms, a script for a short that I'm working on for someone, and papers that are due next week. Originally I planned to try to get in maybe two chapters in considering it's been spring break for me. Unfortunately, I didn't have that leisure and plans had to change. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter! In my opinion, it's not the best that I've done, but I hope you guys will still like it. To be honest, after The Ice Queen, I also had no idea to know how to tie in the third chapter. It was hard for me to find a way to follow it along. I felt like I wanted to do one chapter that included the bazaar. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Feel free to review this chapter! More will be up again soon! I'll try to update as often as possible! REMEMBER: BAD REVIEWS/FLAMES WILL BE DESTROYED BY MY DELETE BUTTON OF DOOM! Keep on reading!

Thought
Emphasis/Author's Notes
Dialogue

Chapter 3: The Bazaar

The next morning, Kite walked towards the square and overhears a couple of chatter about the bazaar coming up. He can hear people being excited about the next bazaar; however some were not too excited. Kite couldn't wait for the bazaar, but at the same time he felt a little nervous. It's his first time working in there. As Kite enters the café, he was greeted by the smell of coffee and freshly made goods wafting in the air. He looked around for a seat and notices that Antoinette is already seated, eating a cheesecake. Kite chuckled a bit.

"Cheesecake for breakfast? That doesn't seem very healthy."

"Aren't you supposed to say something like 'good morning' as opposed to giving out health tips?"

Kite's little smirk creased down to a small scowl. Behind him, he couldn't help but overhear some guys saying how the bazaar was going to be a total waste of time and how it always has been. After the two guys left, Kite's self-confidence dwindled.

"Has the bazaar really been that bad?"

Marian sighed.

"Ever since the last farmer left, the bazaar hasn't been doing so well. When the old farmer was here, he always had a large variety of items in stock. Nowadays, no one would even give anyone the time of day at any of the stands."

"For some reason, my confidence just lowered a bit after hearing that."

Antoinette smirked.

"Well, try not to mess up on your first day."

"And that only made things worse…"

Kite sighed and went back to the town. He wasn't feeling hungry after with what he heard. Antoinette decided to tag along with him, which surprised Kite.

"Since when did you take an interest in walking with other people?"

Antoinette blushed a bit and became flustered.

"I-I can do what I please can't I?"

Kite smiled and chuckled silently as Antoinette became even more flustered.

"Wh-what?"

"Haha… it's nothing."

As Kite and Antoinette walked towards the bridge, both of them were greeted by Sherry.

"Good morning, Kite-san!"

"Oh morning."

"I hope you're ready for the bazaar in a couple of days!"

"Uh… Oh yeah! Can't wait!"

Sherry gave Kite a warm smile, which made Kite blush a bit. Sherry then turned her attention to Antoinette.

"It's nice to see you and Kite get along so well now, Antoinette!"

Antoinette blushed.

"P-please… He's still kind of a dog…"

Kite frowned.

"What happened to calling me by my name?"

Behind Sherry, Lloyd approached the three of them. After seeing him, Kite's mood went from angry with Antoinette to sudden dislike for Lloyd.

"Oh great… HIM… I haven't seen this guy all week, where has he been?"

Kite remembers the first time he met Lloyd. He was rude and very arrogant towards Kite. Sherry turned around and greeted him with a warm smile.

"Oh, good morning Lloyd!"

Lloyd pushed his glasses and smirked.

"Morning, Sherry-san. I see that you've been talking with the newbie."

"Are you ready for the bazaar Lloyd?"

"I've already made some preparations ahead of time. Have you made any preparations yet, Kite?"

Kite didn't know what to say. Throughout the entire week, he didn't really make any preparations. In fact, he only collected a few items for the bazaar. Kite mustered up all the courage in him, cracked a fake smile, and lied through his teeth.

"Y-yeah! Of course I did!"

Lloyd pushed his glasses against the bridge of his nose and smirked again.

"That's good. I'll be expecting you at the bazaar in a couple of days. Anyway, I have to leave soon and make some final preparations. I hope the three of you have a good day."

As soon as he left, Kite let go of his façade and took a deep breath. Sherry turned back towards Kite and Antoinette and said her goodbyes.

"Unfortunately, I have to leave too. I have to help father out with setting up the bazaar. Hope you two have a great day!"

As she walked back to her house, Antoinette's lips curled into a smirk.

"You know, Lloyd has always been one of the top sellers in the bazaar. Even if the bazaar didn't do well, he still had more business than any of the others."

Kite started to get nervous.

"How good is he?"

"I came here roughly around the same time that the old farmer left, so I wouldn't know. However, I heard that he was actually the second best seller at the bazaar, compared to all the others."

Antoinette looked back at Kite and noticed that he was sweating bullets.

"Hey… you didn't prepare for the bazaar at all, didn't you?"

"Uh… well… no… not really…"

Antoinette sighed and lowered her head.

"*sigh* Just find some random stuff around town and sell them."

"There's no way it can be that easy."

Antoinette walked towards her house and gave Kite a faint smile.

"Just trust me alright?"

As soon as she went home, Kite walked around town to try and find stuff to sell. Throughout the entire day, Kite talked with some of the bazaar's sellers to get tips on what to sell and how to sell them. He learned a lot about working a stand and how to get customers as well as quality items to sell. After getting some advice, Kite started to forage for things to sell. He tried everything from foraging in the forest to diving into the local river. While diving, he swears that he could hear Kevin and Lauren giggling behind him.

"This is getting ridiculous… I look like a total idiot."

The next morning, Kite hopped out of bed and marked off his calendar. Today was the day of the bazaar. Kite stretched and scratched his head as he made his way to his storage. He didn't get much in a couple of days, just a few pieces of lumber, material stones, and other things as well.

"*sigh* It's not much, but I hope that it'll at least get me through the day…"

After one final stretch, he put on his clothes, put on his hat, gathered his things, and went out the door. Outside, he could feel a nice breeze in the wind as the sun shone brightly in his face. Today was a perfect day for a bazaar. As he went down the hill towards the square, Sherry caught up to him.

"Good morning, Kite-san!"

"Oh Sherry, good morning."

"Are you ready for the bazaar today?"

"Uh, yeah! I didn't get much, but I hope it would at least get me through the day."

Sherry smiled.

"Well, good luck, Kite-san! Hope your sales will go well on your first day!"

Kite could feel his face blush after Sherry left. He started to space out until he heard a familiar voice behind him greeting him rudely.

"How long are you gonna keep spacing out like that?"

"Huh? Oh… Antoinette."

"Hmph. You better hurry. It's gonna start soon."

Kite looked at the time and saw that it was fifteen minutes before it opens. He rushed towards his stand and set everything up in a hastened fashion. As soon as he got done, he notices that Lloyd's stand is filled with many different kinds of ores and minerals.

"So that's how he's able to earn so much…"

By the time that everyone's all settled, Felix came to the gate with a pair of giant scissors and a bullhorn. As soon as he spoke into the bullhorn, his voice boomed throughout the entire town.

"WELCOME EVERYONE TO ANOTHER GREAT BAZAAR DAY! WE HOPE THAT OUR SELLERS WILL PIQUE YOUR INTEREST IN OUR VALUABLE ITEMS! THE BAZAAR IS NOW OPEN!"

As soon as he cut the scissors, people started pouring into the square. Kite started to ring his bell and tried to get the attention of many buyers. He tried to offer some of the things that were on his table, however not a lot of people were interested. He looks over Lloyd's stand and sees that he's gotten a couple of customers. Then, he looked behind him only to see that a lot of people were going to Marian and Joan's café. As the day went on, most of the people who went towards his stand have only either asked him for directions to another stand or just asked for help with their personal problems. Meanwhile, Freya noticed that Kite has been having some trouble.

"Hello there, Kite."

"Hm? Oh Freya. What brings you here?"

"I noticed that you're having trouble selling stuff."

"Oh yeah… I guess Mayor Felix wasn't kidding when he said that the bazaar hasn't been doing well lately. No one here would buy anything."

Freya took out her purse and took one of Kite's Nymph Butterflies. She gave him a big smile and gave him 40 G.

"Well, since I'm at your stand, I might as well buy something."

"Uh… th-thanks… Freya…"

"See you later, Kite!"

After that encounter, Kite felt relieved having made his first sale. It wasn't much, but at least he was able to sell something. Throughout the rest of the day, he only sold about 1000 G worth of items. The sun was setting as soon as more than half of the people at the bazaar started to go home. Kite sat on his crate looking at the ground, tired and disappointed that he wasn't able to meet his quota. As he was about to close up, someone approached his bazaar.

"It looks like you didn't do well enough today huh."

"Hm? Antoinette… *sigh* I'm not surprised that I didn't do well. It was kinda my fault for not being prepared ahead of time."

Antoinette surveyed his counter and sees that he has one can of Straight Tea Leaves.

"Where did you get this?"

"Huh? Oh, I found it inside the local river. Weird huh? Who would just leave a good can of tea leaves floating in the river?"

Antoinette looked at Kite's defeated face and back at the tea leaves. She reached into her pocket, took out her purse, and bought his can of tea leaves.

"You sure? I mean the bazaar is almost over and-"

Antoinette smiled.

"I might as well help you out. It's the least I can do in exchange for those flowers you got me the other day."

Kite took the money and couldn't believe how much those tea leaves cost. As Antoinette walked back home, she waved goodbye to Kite.

"It won't help you beat Lloyd, but at least it's one small step closer to getting there. Just don't think I'm doing this just for you. I'm doing it because I don't wanna see you kicking yourself."

Kite placed the money in his pocket and smiled.

"Heh… Maybe she's not so bad after all."

The next morning was the day that the results were being announced. Everyone gathered in the center of the town to hear the results. Kite reluctantly decided to go there. He didn't know why he went to hear the results, he knew he didn't win. In the middle of the crowd was Felix holding his trademark bullhorn.

"Alright everyone settle down, settle down! In third place with 15,000 G… Raul!"

Everyone cheered as Raul started to hop up and down in excitement, swinging his hat around.

"In second place with 17,000 G… Lloyd!"

Lloyd pushed his glasses up as he smirked a little. Kite was surprised that Lloyd got second place, even after hearing that he's been the top-seller for a while.

"I guess that can count for something…"

"And in first place, with 20,000 G… Joan!"

Everyone congratulated Joan as she was given milk as her prize. Kite gave Joan a round of applause. Finally, Felix had one final announcement to make.

"And the seller with the happiest customer is… Kite!"

Kite didn't know what to say. He didn't sell a lot, but he did help a lot of people out. As Kite went up to Felix, he received his prize, which was butter. Everyone applauded for Kite, congratulating him on his first day. The announcement was made that the next goal for the bazaar is best in the region, which prompted Kite to try and do better next time. To Kite, this was some sort of a victory for him. He didn't exactly win, but at the same time he didn't exactly lose. Antoinette went up to him to give him her "congrats".

"Well, looks like you didn't beat Lloyd… but then again, you didn't exactly lose to him."

"I guess I'll have to do better again next year."

Antoinette then gave him a sharp punch to his sides.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"You never thanked me for my help last night!"

Just when Kite was about to tighten his fist, he then rested his hand on top of her head.

"Alright then… thanks."

Antoinette's face flushed red.

"Uh… y-y-yeah…"