Foooooooop! Finally finished the chapter! Sorry guys, I forgot my password.
Oh, and if you're wondering why this is rated T, it's for mild language later on.

Chapter 2

"Good morning, Erin. Thought I'd drop by for a visit," Ina said as she opened the door to Erin's house. Erin groaned and put her pillow over her head. "Hey, sleepy-head! Wake up!" Ina scolded as she shook Erin's shoulder.

"N-no…" Erin mumbled. "Too early… wake me… noon…"

"Noon!" Ina exclaimed. "Don't tell me you're used to waking up that late! Nope; here, we wake up at six o'clock sharp! Now get up before I pour water on your head!"

Erin muttered something unintelligible before groggily sitting up. "What?" she complained.

"Ah, so Sleeping Beauty has finally awoken!" Ina laughed. "I really am sorry to barge in on you so early. It's a good thing I did though. You probably would have slept all day!"

"That's… true," Erin admitted with a giggle.

Ina laughed again before continuing. "I'm actually here to tell you some things that will be handy to know for your life here. Come with me to the town square."

"Kay." Erin got out of bed, quickly made herself presentable, and followed Ina to the center of town. Ina led Erin to a large house shaped bulletin board in the middle of town.

"This is the message board," Ina informed Erin. "Villagers who need something done will post their requests here. I hope you'll take on some requests when you have the opportunity."

"And I'm supposed to do things for others…?" Erin grumbled.

"Of course you are!"

"Yeah, I know," Erin sighed. "Sorry I'm being so disagreeable. I'm not exactly a morning person."

Ina smiled. "I can tell. Now, there are three steps to requests. Accepting the request, getting the requested items, and finally delivering the items. It's simple really. However, just like there are three steps, there are also three things to remember. One, every request has a deadline. If you miss the deadline, then you've failed the request. By then, the requester will most likely have obtained the items by another means, so they won't accept yours anymore. But don't worry! There are no penalties for failing! So don't be afraid to fail!"

Erin looked thoughtfully at the message board. "That is the first time anyone's said something good about failing to me."

"Well, what I mean is that we won't like you less if you don't succeed," Ina explained to the slightly dimwitted farmer. "The second thing to remember is to have the items with you when you try to deliver them to someone. You wouldn't want to look silly by doing that." To Erin's surprise, Ina suddenly became very serious. "This is the final thing to remember, and it's important! If your bag is full when you're given your reward, you'll be forced to throw away either one of your items or the reward! You wouldn't want to lose the reward you worked so hard for, would you?"

"Phew," Erin sighed. "I thought something would explode or something if my bag was full. Wait, why can't I just take the item home with me? Does it have to go in my bag with me?"

"Hmm… guess not," Ina said after a moment's consideration. "But most things we give as rewards would be ruined if you dropped it, so it would be safer to put it in your bag."

"But I don't have to, right?"

"We've already discussed this!" Ina impatiently responded. "Just make sure you have some means of accepting the reward, ok?"

"Got it," Erin mumbled absentmindedly.

Fed up with Erin's attitude, Ina decided to test her attention. "Would you like me to repeat that?"

Erin started. "Oh, goddess, no!"

"Hmm. If you're so confident, why don't you take on a request right now?"

"…I have to what?"

"You heard me," Ina retorted. "I've put a request up for you. Why don't you accept it?"

"Fine," Erin sighed. She looked at the message board. Sure enough, there was a slip of paper. The handwriting was neat; the kind of handwriting expected of a mayor.

Welcome to Konohana! The request said. I want to tell you something. Reward: 3 Turnip Seeds; 3 Potato Seeds.

"Wait, wait, wait. So, you just tell me something," Erin analyzed, "and I just get free vegetable seeds? This request thing isn't so hard after all!"

"A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-no. I'm going to tell you how to plant them!"

Erin groaned. "So you mean I need to get up early, help people and, on top of that, work, too? How do you Konohanians live?"

Ina looked at Erin. "You aren't used to country life, are you?"

"Nope. Nein. Nyet," Erin responded. "But I am used to knowing many things education-wise! Like did you know that the word "the" is pronounced "thuh" when the subject starts with a consonant, and "thee" when the subject starts with a vowel? Or that cold fusion nuclear reactors have cathodes and anodes, just like batteries? Or that-"

"We are going to PLANT THINGS now!" Ina interrupted.

"Oh, yes. Plant things," Erin cheerfully responded as the two began their trek back to Erin's farm. "Hey, did you know that plant cells have larger vacuoles than animal cells? Or that-"

Ina groaned.

"Alright. Do you understand?" Ina asked.

"Yep," Erin exhaustedly replied. The two had been planting for hours. Ina had taught Erin how to cut the grass down with a sickle, till the soil with a hoe, plant the seeds and water them. "But could you go over how to harvest one more time?"

"That's simple!" Ina responded. "For some crops, you'd just pick them, and they'd regrow, but for turnips, you just pull them out of the ground!" Ina bent down and yanked one of the turnips she had pre-grown up and out of the soil. "Like so!"

"Hmm, could you show me again?"

Ina sighed and handed Erin the turnip. "I'm not going to keep showing you until there are no turnips left. Why don't you try?"

"Fine, fine," Erin laughed. "So… reach down," she grabbed hold of the turnip's bright green leaves, "and yank!" Pulling too hard, the turnip came out at a surprising rate. Caught off balance, Erin stumbled backwards and landed on her backside. "Oww…"

Ina stifled a laugh as she held out a hand for Erin. "You've got a little ways to go before you're a farming pro," Ina observed as Erin gratefully took her outstretched hand. "I think you'll do fine if you practice, though."

"P-practice?" Erin asked as she wiped away a few tears- the result of falling hard onto solid ground.

Ina nodded encouragingly. "Uh-huh! You can do things like pulling weeds out of the ground to practice your harvesting. Foraging might actually be a big help to you. You can also ship the items your forage out for a little extra money while you wait for your crops to grow!"

"I see," Erin replied. The young farmer sat down on her knees. Was she really that bad at this? Was she so bad that Ina felt she needed to practice with weeds? Why was she even doing this if-

No. Giving up was not an option. She made a silent pledge to herself that she would become an amazing farmer. She'd show Ina that she would be helpful to this town. She'd be dependable! Helpful! Less pitiful! I'll show anyone who dares to doubt me! I'll show them! I'll show them by pulling the weeds, just like Ina said!

"I understand," was Erin's final reply. "Is there anything else you'd like to teach me?"

"Finally fully awake, I see. I like you a lot more like this. The awake you is much more pleasant to be around," said Ina. "I have a welcome gift for you, actually."

"Oh, no, I couldn't!" Erin protested. "You've been so nice to me already! I couldn't possibly take more from you!"
Ina laughed when she saw how flustered Erin was. "No, really, it's ok! It's just fertilizer! It really isn't that big of a deal anyway!"

"Oh!" Erin exclaimed as Ina handed Erin the green bundle of fertilizer. "T-thank you!" She smiled. "Thank you so much! I love it!"

Ina shook her head at Erin's excitement. "It's still just fertilizer. You can you it to improve the quality of your crops. This farm has plenty of space to grow crops, so grow as many as you can!"

"Got it!" Erin replied. She clenched a fist and looked at Ina with bright eyes. "I'll do my best! You'll see!"

"One more thing," Ina added. "I was thinking about how Rutger and I found you unconscious yesterday, and well, just don't push yourself too hard, ok? Eat enough so that you don't burn more calories than you take in."

"Alright!" Erin replied. "Eating won't be any trouble at all! It's all I ever did in my last town anyway!"

"Well, that fulfills my request on the message board, then. I've left some things in your storage. Feel free to use them." Erin nodded enthusiastically. "I'll get around to putting other requests on the board, so take a look at it from time to time. You can also visit me at Town Hall if you have any questions. Farming is hard work, but I'm sure you'll do great! It's great to have you in town!"

"Thank you, Ina. It's great to be in this town," Erin replied gratefully. "I don't know what I would have done if you and Rutger hadn't found me there."

"Well, I have to get back to Town Hall," Ina decided. "See you later, Erin."

"Bye Ina!" Erin happily waved. She continued waving until Ina was out of sight before turning towards the remaining turnips. "Alright," she told herself. "Just grab the leaves, and pull in a manner that is less abrupt than yanking!" The turnip once again popped out of the ground a little suddenly, but this time Erin was prepared and the force wasn't enough to knock her over.

Satisfied with her accomplishment, she went to put the vegetable in her storage, when a voice stopped her in her tracks. "Dum-da-da-da! You've just harvested your first crop! Congratulations!"

"W-wha?! Who are you?!" Erin called out. "What are you doing in my head?!"

"You mean you haven't figured out who I am?" the voice sounded hurt.

Erin looked around frantically for the source of the voice. "N-no. I've never heard your voice before, a-and I can't see you, s-so-"

"No matter!" the voice, which Erin deemed as definitely female, suddenly proclaimed. "I'll tell you if you can find me!"

"F-find you?!"

"Of course!" the voice agreed. "Anyways, keep up the good work! Toodles!"

Erin sensed that the presence of the voice's owner was no longer there. "Goddess, I'm going crazy," she muttered to herself. Suddenly wary of the rest of her turnips, she decided to turn her attention to the town. "Maybe I'll meet the locals before risking another chat with that overly happy voice."

"Hello! Anyone home?" she called as she knocked on the door of the tall red house. "Anyone?"

No answer came from inside.

She tried again. "Is anyone there?"

No answer.

Getting impatient, Erin pounded on the door with her fist. "Is ANYONE there!?" she yelled.

"No one lives there, y'know."

Erin jumped and gave a little shriek at the sound. "Oh, no. Not another one. I can't take ANOTHER voice in my head!"

"Voice in your…? I'm standing behind you!"

Erin slowly turned to face the stranger. He had long hair for a man, tied up into a brown ponytail. His eyebrows were very noticeable compared to his small eyes, and the corners of his mouth were turned down in confusion.

"Hey, you're a new face in town!" he realized. "Awesome! I'm Kana!" He stuck out his hand. Erin stared at it for a moment before understanding what he was expecting.

"Erin," she replied as she grasped his hand with her own and shook it. "I'm the new farmer."

Kana looked shocked. "Really? Someone as small as you?" Erin pouted. "Well, looks can deceive. If you need anything horse related, I'm your guy."

"Hmm," Erin hummed. "Wait, did you say horse related?"

Kana nodded. "I live in that brown house over there with the stable," he pointed towards the other house Erin had seen the day before. "I run the animal shop in Konohana."

"If you see a white pony wandering around, could you bring her to me?"

"Yeah, totally!" Kana agreed. "Is she yours?"

"Uh-huh. She ran off after I crashed on the mountain," the farmer explained.

"Whoa! You CRASHED on the mountain?" Kana asked in disbelief. Erin nodded, pushing up a couple bangs so that he could see the bump on her head. "Ouch," he breathed when he saw it. "Anyway, I could rent you a bigger horse. I have thoroughbreds, and drafts, so if you want to-"

"Oh, no, I couldn't!" Erin interrupted. "I'm very sorry, but I couldn't imagine being separated from Uma. We've always been together. You understand, right?"

"Oh, totally," the tanned storeowner acknowledged. "I could never replace Hayate. It's great to know that you're close with your horse."

"I'm glad you understand," Erin replied, relieved. "I hope there's something else I can get from your store."

"Oh, yeah!" Kana confirmed. "I also sell pets, and anything cart related. So you can totally still shop at my place!"

Erin nodded excitedly. I'm usually not good at making friends quickly! She was genuinely surprised at how fast she and Kana had become acquaintances. She hoped the other villagers were as friendly as he was. He seems really fun to be around. And we're technically neighbors. She smiled to herself. Maybe I'll finally be able to get over that stupid shyness of mine.

What? You didn't realize Erin was shy? Sure, she has a slightly sharp tongue in the morning, but Erin had met Ina already. And wouldn't you talk back a little if you were woken up six hours earlier than you're used to? Don't be so quick to judge people. Gosh!

"Oh, it's almost 10!" Kana exclaimed. "I gotta start heading off to work."

"No problem! I'll see you around, then?" Erin asked.

"Totally! See you later, Erin!"

As Kana left to go to his house, Erin decided to follow the path south into the main area of Konohana, where the message board was. She was surprised when she noticed how many houses there were here compared to near her farm. She stared in awe at the beauty of the buildings while she walked forward.

However, not paying attention, she bumped right into someone. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she apologized when she realized what happened. "Are you alright?"

"The greater question is will this old man still be able to have fun today, hmm?" The "old man" was short and stout, with white hair and a drooping white mustache. He wore a large cone shaped hat on his head, and his outfit was completely blue, besides the red vest he wore over his shirt.

"I assume."

The man studied her for a moment. "Ah, and who would you be?"

"Oh!" Erin exclaimed. "I'm Erin, the new farmer."

"Erin, hmm?" the man said thoughtfully.

Erin waited in silence for the man to tell her his name, but no attempt to do so came. "And your name would be…?"

"Hmm? What's my name? I'm Gombe. Nice to meet you."

"You too!" Erin warmly responded before Gombe sprinted off in the direction of a teashop.

Erin spotted the figure of a young woman not too far off. She started to come up behind the woman, remembered that sneaking up on people does not make a good impression, and made her way around front. The woman must have spotted Erin, because she turned to face her when Erin came down the path.

"Oh, hi!" the woman greeted. "Are you Erin?"

Erin nodded. "Uh huh!"

The woman smiled warmly. Her long black hair went past her waste, and she was clothed in a pink dress with a matching headband. "Nice to meet you! I'm Nori. I help my grandpa out on his farm."

Erin looked in the direction Gombe had gone. "Is your grandfather…"

"Gombe?" Nori finished. "Yes, he is. He can be childish sometimes. Always running around at such an old age… He runs the seed shop here."

"Seeds?" Erin repeated. "Good! Because I'll need more soon."

Nori laughed. "I'm glad to see you have a farmer's spirit! We open again on Wednesday, so you can get seeds the day after tomorrow."

"Alright!" Erin stared at the fields of potato Nori was watching. "Um, if it's your day off, why are you watching over the fields? They aren't going to go anywhere."

Nori looked at Erin quizzically.

Erin became flustered and explained, "At my old home, on my days off, I stayed as far away from work as possible. Of course, I never really had a real job, but, you understand what I mean, right?"

Nori thought for a moment before nodding. "You have a point. The potatoes won't get up and walk away. In that case, would you like to go to the Teahouse with me, Erin?"

Erin started. "M-me? Even though we've just met?"

Nori nodded.

"And…" Nori nodded again. Erin smiled. "I'd love to. Thank you, Nori!"

Nori giggled. "You panic easily. That's cute!" Erin looked down, embarrassed. "The Teahouse is this way. Come on!"

Nori took Erin's hand and gently started pulling her in the same direction that Gombe had run off to. The building was white, with brown supports and a green roof. A string of bright red lanterns made the place look welcoming.

The two girls climbed the few steps to the door. It was already open, so they entered the room. In the center was a large counter with a kitchen behind it. Standing at the counter was an elderly lady. Her face was kind, and her gray hair was tied into a bun.

Nori pointed to a table. "You make yourself comfortable. I'll order for us. Are dumplings alright?"

Erin's stomach growled as if on cue. "Dumplings sound wonderful!"

Nori nodded and headed off to speak to the woman. Erin fiddled with a lily blossom in the flower vase in front of her as she waited.

It didn't take long before Nori returned to the table. "The dumplings will be ready any minute!" She informed Erin.

The two waited in silence- the kind of silence you experience when you aren't sure what you should talk about- until the teahouse owner came by with a plate of steaming hot bamboo dumplings.

"Mm! That looks delicious!" Nori complimented.

The teashop lady smiled. "I'm glad you think so! They're all yours!" She set the platter down on the table before turning to Erin. "My, my, you must be Erin. I'm Yun. I run the teahouse. Please stop by for a meal whenever you want!"

"I'll have to take you up on that offer one day. These dumplings look REALLY good!" Erin replied.

"Why, thank you!" Yun graciously said.

Erin was about to grab a dumpling when something moved out of the corner of her eye. A little girl was peering out from behind a door in the back. Her long black hair was tied into a braid, and she wore a yellow shirt over her pink dress. Clutched to her chest was a stuffed panda.

Yun noticed Erin's change in attention and looked to see what had caused it. Her face filled with recognition and understanding. "Ying, what are you doing back there? Come say hello to our new neighbor!"

Ying nervously made her way over to the table. She looked at her feet and blushed. "Oh… H-Hi."

Erin smiled reassuringly. "Hello there! My name's Erin!"

"Your name's… Erin?" the child repeated. "…Ying… my name is… Ying. I live… with my grandma."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ying! I hope we can be friends!"

Ying looked up. "Friends?" She smiled shyly. "Yes… I'd… like that."

Yun and Ying returned to the kitchen to wash some dishes, while Nori and Erin enjoyed their dumplings. About an hour had passed before the two were ready to return home.

"Thanks again for the dumplings, Yun!" Nori called out as the two farmers left the teahouse.

"Mmm… that was scrumptious!" Erin complimented. Giggling, she twirled around until she tripped on a rock. Gasping, she fell face first to the ground. "THAT… was not."

"Are you ok, Erin?" Nori asked, concerned.

"Y-yeah… just a scraped knee," Erin concluded after a brief self-inspection. "I hope it doesn't get infected."

"If you're worried about that, you can always go to the clinic and have it looked at."

"Clinic?" Erin questioned. "What direction would that be in?"
Nori pointed at a two-story white building with a blue roof.

"Alright. Thanks, Nori!" said Erin before skipping off in the direction Nori had pointed. "See you later!"

Erin knocked on the door to the clinic. When no answer came, she knocked again and then waited, rocking back and forth on her heels. "Hello?"

When still no answer came, and it seemed nobody was coming, Erin pushed on the door to see if it was unlocked. It swung open, hitting someone on the other side smack in the face.

"O-ow!"

"Oh no!" Erin cried. "I am so sorry! I didn't realize you were coming to the door so I-"

"Wait…" the boy Erin had hit interrupted. "Have we… met before?"

...Suspense! Well, I hope you liked this chapter!

America: Fine! I'll just ask Google maps, and he'll tell me how to get there on top of how long it'll take!
England: We can't Google stuff in 1942! Ass-hat.