It took Claire until late the next morning to get settled in, she pulled on a fresh pair of overalls and headed out the door. She had decided that a visit to the blacksmiths would be best since she was focusing her investigation on Gray, the blacksmith's grandson and assistant. The rather unpleasant smell of melted metal lead her straight to the front door, taking a deep breath she stepping inside.

"What! Explain what's wrong with it! Come on!" Claire heard a male voice shouting.

"What's wrong with it?" An older voice asked. "The answer is inside of you! You have much to learn!" As she stepped closer she saw that voices were coming from Gray and the man she knew as his grandfather, Saibara. Gray seemed to sense her presence and whirled around angrily.

"What are you looking at?" he glared. "If you have nothing-"

"Gray!" Saibara cut him off. "How dare you talk to a customer like that!"

"Sorry." he huffed; both Claire and Saibara knew he didn't mean it.

"It's alright." Claire assured him. "My name's Claire, I'm new I'm town so I thought I'd stop by and introduce myself. What's your name?" she asked, though she knew all too well.

"Gray." he replied, not attempting to sound the least bit friendly. Claire decided then and there that she didn't like him, he was rude and inconsiderate, defiantly not someone people she could ever see herself being friends with.

"Nice to meet you, Gray." she said with enough faked sweetness to make herself sick. Then turning to Saibara, she gave a respectful bow, "And what's your name, sir?"

"Saibara, miss. Pleasure to meet you."

"You too." she smiled. "Well, better get going. I'll be sure to stop by again sometime!"

"She seems like a nice young girl." Saibara commented as the door shut behind her. Gray only shrugged as he went back to his work, hoping that Claire and her obnoxiously happy-go-lucky personality was gone for good; she was almost as annoying as Ann.

Claire skipped down to the Inn, a popular hangout among the locals, she was bound to meet a suspect or two there. A wave of disappointment hit as she scanned the virtually empty room, she was about to leave when a sudden vocal outburst from another young girl startled her.

"Hey! You must be Claire, the new girl!" the loud cheery voice said.

"Y-yeah." Claire stammered as she turned around, her face white as a sheet. She found herself face to face with Ann, the innkeepers daughter, she was surprised that so much volume was able to emit from such a tiny frame.

"Mayor Thomas told me about you this morning." she explained. "I'm Ann."

"Hi, Ann, it's nice to meet you." Claire said, barely able to manage a smile through her aching eardrums.

"Right back at ya!" she grinned. "So... Wanna be best friends?" Well she sure is upfront, the undercover agent thought to herself.

"Sure-" Without a warning, Claire found herself being pulled into a giant bear hug from her new, greatly-in-need-of-a-mute-or-atleast-volume-lowering-button best friend. All air escaped the girl's lungs, she couldn't breath. Being a secret agent she knew friendships could put you in deadly situations but she hadn't anticipated something quite like this happening.

"Yay!" Ann shouted. Can she possibly get any louder? "I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo happy!" After what seemed like an eternity Claire was finally realsed from Ann's death grip. She wheezed and coughed but Ann barely seemed to notice, she was too busy audibly planning future trips to the beach, escapades to the Goddess Spring and other friendy trips. "Oh!" she stopped suddenly. Finally, Claire sighed inwardly, a moment of silence. "You haven't met everyone in town yet, have you?"

"Just Gray, Saibara, and the Mayor." Claire answered, then wished she hadn't when she heard Ann's plans.

"Great! I can take you on a tour of the town and introduce you to everyone!"

Joy. Claire thought sarcastically before being dragged out of the Inn. Today is going to be a long day.