Chapter 3: Hide-and Seek

3 days after the robbing incident in Clock Town, Link, Misaki, Cremia, and Romani continued to live in the Romani Ranch in peace and harmony. While working on the ranch, Link noticed Misaki with a cow in the barn and went inside. While inside, the door was actually left open and when Link looked at Misaki, she was sitting on a stool in front of the cow. While Misaki kept staring at the cow, the cow mooed at her very happily.

"Moo," Misaki mooed, making the sound of the cow. "Moooooooo."

"Misaki, are you having fun with the cow?" Link questioned his sister, causing Misaki to turn around and smiled at her brother.

"Yes, Big Brother. Misaki is enjoying fun here with the cows," she said as she got off the stool and hugged Link. "There's also a Cucco and a dog here. Isn't it fun?" she said to Link.

"Yes, it is," Link replied. "Misaki, do you love animals that are very cute?" he questioned.

"Yes, Misaki loves cute animals very much!" she replied happily, until Cremia came in the barn.

"Good afternoon, Link and Misaki," Cremia said to her adopted siblings. "What are the both of you doing here in the barn right now?"

"Misaki was having fun with the cow," Misaki said and Link nodded in agreement.

"Really now?" Cremia said with a chuckle.

"Yes," Link and Misaki said at the same time and then they looked at each other with a very confused look.

"How about a little game of hide-and-seek?" Romani said as she entered the barn, looking at her siblings.

"Romani, that's a great idea!" Cremia said with excitement.

"What's hide-and-seek?" Misaki asked to her siblings very confused.

"Hide-and-seek is a game that when a person is "it", the others with have to hide in a very good separate spot that the "it" has to find while the "it" has to count, however the "it" must cover their eyes so that he or she can't see where the others are going to hide at. It's basically easy, but sometimes hard," Link replied back to his sister. "It's a very fun game for children like you, me, and Romani."

"Wow, it really is fun. Misaki wants to play hide-and-seek with her Big Brother and sisters!" Misaki said.

"Well, I wish I could play, but I'm needed in Clock Town for an errand that Anju had asked me for. You can play with Link and Romani instead," Cremia said and Misaki nodded when she understood.

When Cremia left the ranch 10 minutes later, Link, Misaki, and Romani decided to go over the rules of the game. They must not leave the ranch, they have to find a decent hiding spot that is good enough for the "it" not to find them at, and they can also hide inside the house, the barn, the Cucco Shack, or the Doggy Racetrack. However, the owners of the Cucco Shack and the Doggy Racetrack actually won't mind if they are going to hide in the racetrack for a while. However, the only problem for them is to decide who "it" would be during the game, until they figured out that Link should be "it". Although, Link doesn't want to be "it", but he doesn't want to whine about it in front of his sisters. Nevertheless, Link accepted to be "it".

"Alright, Link. You count to 20 while me and Misaki hide. You understand?" Romani said & Link agreed.

"Get ready. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven," Link counted as Romani and Misaki went to hide.

"Ready or not, here I come!" Link said after he was done counting and he started searching for Romani and Misaki around the ranch. Although it was very tricky to find them anywhere in the ranch, but he kept searching for them no matter how hard can hide-and-seek can really get.

"Wow, it's hard to find them. They must have picked really good hiding spots that I don't even know," Link said as he continued searching, until he saw the barn door closing, which caused him to run towards the barn, open the door, and looked around. "That's funny. I thought someone was hiding here and-" But before he could finish his sentence, he heard giggling coming straight behind a cow. When Link looked, it was Romani and he made a really smart look on his face.

"Whoops?" Romani nervously said when she looked at Link and then went with Link as they both continued searching with Misaki, until they found her under Cremia's bed.

"You found Misaki! Yay!" Misaki said as she got out of the bed and hugged both Link and Romani, and they decided to continue playing for a few rounds.

"Maybe we should let Sister be "it". Don't you agree, Big Brother?" Misaki said to Link.

"I'm not sure and I have been it for 11 rounds already, but you have been it for 4 rounds, Misaki," Link replied to Misaki, starting to feel very tired. "But, yes, we should let Romani be "it", since she hasn't been it for a single round already."

"Yeah, I should be it since I haven't been "it" yet," Romani agreed and she counted for 25 seconds while Link and Misaki went to their hiding spots. After Romani finished counting, she searched around the ranch and spotted Misaki inside the Cucco Shack, much to her excitement. Then they decided to continue searching for Link. The sun was starting to go down and it was 6:00PM, but Romani and Misaki kept searching for Link.

"Where is he?" Romani said with worry.

"Did Big Brother leave home?" Misaki said, also worried. This made Romani and Misaki even more worried and they knew that Cremia would be home at 6:30PM and they've only got 10 minutes left.

"He probably ran away!" Romani angrily said and she kicked a tree very hard. Suddenly, someone fell down the tree out of nowhere and landed with a thud. Romani and Misaki saw that it was actually Link that fell down out of the tree and they both laughed at him, much to his annoyance.

"Ow….." Link said as he groaned in pain a little and lost his consciousness in the process, until Cremia got back from Clock Town.

"It looks like you guys had fun, haven't you?" Cremia asked her siblings.

"Misaki had a lot of fun today, Big Sister!" Misaki said and she hugged Cremia, which caused Cremia to smile at Misaki. Romani, too, joined in the hug.

"How about dinner, Cremia? We're starving already after playing hide and seek," Romani said.

"Misaki is hungry, too," Misaki said to Cremia and Cremia smiled at Romani and Misaki.

"Come on, let's get something to eat. I'll cook you something," Cremia said to Romani and Misaki as they entered the house. However, they forgot Link, but they never noticed.

"Girls? Little help here?" Link groaned, since he was still on the ground and passes out.

~END OF CHAPTER 3~