Hey guys, sorry for the long wait! I have been occupied with some other things lately, so I haven't been able to write. This chapter is long, unexpectedly so, but I hope you guys will enjoy it.

I am also planning to write a story on Story of Seasons, with a new OC (her name will be revealed later). If you're curious, yes, this OC is also a pinkette (I can safely say that pink hair will be my OCs trademark hahahaa). However, since we don't know whether Story of Seasons stories will share the same page with Harvest Moon, I can't do much about it. But, consider this as an announcement :)

She boarded the bus, sitting at the very end between two other people—office men. The bus was fairly crowded with people going out from work, those around her age and younger coming out from either cram school or workplace. She came into the latter category; well, not really, since the last place she visited was a bakery. She saw strawberry shortcake, Gwen's favorite, so she decided to buy a slice for Gwen. She just received her pay, after all, so she could afford some extra spending.

Hopefully this will cheer her up, she thought.

Reine held the small box tightly on her lap, hoping that the cake would retain its appetizing appearance when Gwen opened it.

She looked at the plate on the bus stop she had just passed. It wouldn't be much longer until she reached the hospital. There would be a crossroad, then one more bus stop, then the hospital.

How long has she been in the hospital this time? Reine pondered. She realized it was long enough for her to forget the attire Gwen had worn when she stepped into the hospital for the umpteenth time in her life.

Then it happened.

Reine was jerked forward by the impact and almost fell to the aisle if she hadn't hold herself back and pressed her legs as hardly as she could to the floor. However, nothing could prepare her for the second blow from the side. She felt her world turned upside down, quite literally, as the bus rolled and crashed to the ground.

Her whole body was sore and she opened her eyes slightly. Her vision was blurred, but it was still enough for her to discern her surrounding. Bodies, many of them bloody, were sprawled in front of her. Groans and moans of pain filled her ears. The cake fell nearby, completely crushed by the impact. From what she saw, Reine quickly deduced that the bus had turned a whole one hundred and eighty degree.

Near the cake, there was a little girl, writhing in pain while fighting for air. There was another person above him, not moving—dead, perhaps. Forcing herself to stand up, Reine dragged herself towards the girl, moving the other body aside to free him. "It's okay," she assured her. "Everything will be fine."

It was then she saw, through the broken window, another car was going towards their way. Her instincts took over her; she wrapped the girl in her arms and turned around.

But it was not quick enough. She still could see, from the corner of her left eye, the car slammed into the remaining glass on the window, completely crashing them. She held her breath.

Then, there was only pain.

"Reine!"

The pinkette opened her eyes to find a certain blond farmer was waving her hand excitedly at her. "Today's your day off, right?" she asked while jogging towards her. "Let's go foraging!"

Reine weighed her option. Foraging was always a good way to bring some extra cash, especially when the business was low. Plus, there were some things that were better to be found in the forest first hand… like wild fruits.

Reine stood up and took her basket. "Yeah, sure, let's go."

Rio grinned and pulled her towards the forest. The girls chattered while doing their own gathering. Rio was looking for some branches and stones for materials, while Reine was more interested in finding something edible.

"So… it's been two… three weeks?"

"Yeah…"

"How's everything?"

"I think the pace is just right for me," Reine said.

"Anything else?" Rio asked curiously.

Reine straightened her body as she threw another batch of wild mushrooms into her basket. "Like what?"

"Like… neighbors?" Rio trailed off carefully, eyeing for Reine's reaction.

The pinkette simply shrugged. "Nothing much."

"I saw the three of you eating together," Rio smiled. "That's quite a good development."

"It's Gwen," Reine replied quickly. "She's not the kind who can let someone go starving when she can help it."

"I see…" Rio intentionally trailed her voice off again. "So, it's Gwen, huh?"

"Yup," Reine responded, ignoring the not so subtle hint of Rio being unconvinced at all by her answer.

Finally, the reached a hollow stump on the uphill. Reine remembered Rio telling her about this once—that this hollow stump was connected to another at the downhill—but she never tried it for herself.

Rio closed her eyes. She grinned behind Reine's back and opened her eyes again. "Hey, Reine," she called. "Let's use this stump!"

"Huh?"

"C'mon, it's much faster than walking downhill!"

Before Reine could say anything, Rio pushed her gently and Reine stumbled into the stump. Rio could hear Reine's yell of her name, "Rioooooooo!" echoed through the stump and she couldn't suppress her giggle. "Sorry, Reine," she said sheepishly.

Neil was enjoying his time alone in the forest when he heard a strange sound coming from the hollow stump. He had no idea why that hollow stump was there, the purpose of it, since he rarely foraged. Neil walked closer to the stump and craned his neck to see what's inside. A moment later, something blasted out from the hollow stump and hit his neck with a force enough to make him fell on his butt. A moment later, something heavy fell on him that he couldn't suppress a painful growl.

He heard another voice, though, and he held his breath as he opened his eyes to find Reine sprawled on him. "W-What?!" he cried out in shock, trying desperately to deny that his heart was beating wildly that he could hear it inside his ears.

Reine opened her eyes while rubbing her head, which had been the point of crash on her part and was equally shocked when she found out whom she was crashing into. "Rio…" she hissed, swearing that that one blond farmer would pay for this humiliation.

As if it wasn't enough to embarrass them, someone walked in on them—and from all the people in Echo Town, it was Allen. His eyes twinkled as he smirked mischievously. "Summer's not here yet but both of you are already in heat, huh?" he teased. "Go get a room."

Reine quickly removed herself from on top of Neil. "This is not what you think it is," she grumbled.

"I thought I was rammed by a bull," Neil groaned.

Reine shot a threatening glare at him. "A bull?!" she cried out. "Tch. I thought I was slamming into a dead tree. You couldn't even stand."

"What the heck?!" Neil retorted. "You slammed into me and the first thing you have on your tongue was an insult?!"

"You started it!"

Allen, although amused entirely by their interaction, decided to walk away, shrugging to himself. Besides, the two fools had completely ignored him in favor of their heated argument. Like he said, they were really in the heat.

Rio, after giving some pause, appeared from the stump and played dumb about Neil's presence. "Reine, are you okay? Oh, hi, Neil."

Reine was still rubbing her head. The fact that Neil's face was oval didn't work in her favor at all; his chin was painfully sharp.

That didn't escape Neil's eyes and without saying anything else he pulled her towards the town. "Eh, hey! Ya! What are you doing?!" Reine asked, trying to yank her arm from Neil's grip.

"Clinic, dumbhead," Neil replied. "Let's go check whether the hit had just reduced your brain even further."

"What?!" Reine snickered. "Are you sure it's not your sorry head we need to check? I have a pretty hard head, you know."

"Can tell," Neil retorted. "You're a bullhead, after all."

"You—" Reine hissed.

"What?" Neil asked. "You need me to haul you like some potato sack?"

Reine rolled her eyes. "With your lanky, sorry excuse of a body, you—HEY!"

Proving his words, Neil hauled Reine easily to his shoulder and carried her. Reine wriggled and struggled—"Put me down or I'll shout you're a pervert hey I'm serious don't pretend you can't hear me I'll shout in your ears…"—but couldn't free herself because Neil had strategically placed his hand on her thighs and behind her knees, preventing her to move around.

Rio watched them leave in amused silence, suffering the same fate like Allen before her. She didn't mind at all, though, because they were so entertaining. She realized that Neil and Reine were of the same kind: the pearl oyster kind; those who hid away their precious, fragile heart inside a tough persona. Their concerns and affections were laced with numerous insults and sometimes it was hard to tell, especially those who didn't know them well.

They said it took one to know one.

Rio couldn't help but to wonder what would happen with these two oysters.

The town doctor was a nag. Reine knew he meant well, but it was still hard to sit through his long lecture about being careful in the forest and blah blah…

"We'll check your eyes,"

"What?" Reine responded. "There's no need."

"What do you mean by that?" Dr Klaus asked sharply. "Must I remind you that…"

Reine groaned internally, Here we go again.

"Just do it," Neil hissed under his breath, obviously he couldn't stand Dr Klaus any longer than she was—well no one asked him to stay, anyway.

Only then Reine realized that Neil was staying beside her throughout the examination.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Dr Klaus flashed a flashlight at her. "We'll start with your right one. Close your left eye."

It was easy. She followed the light and it was done quite soon afterwards.

However, when it was her left eye's turn, Reine couldn't help but to feel nervous. When she closed her right eye, as expected, there was only darkness.

Silence… then, there was Dr Klaus' voice: "Reine? Do it just like the other one."

Gritting her teeth, Reine knew she couldn't stand it any longer. "I told you there's no need!" she said, opening her right eye and winced slightly when the light surged through it.

Reine stomped away from the clinic, ignoring Dr Klaus' frantic call. In the end, it was Neil who caught up to her. "Hey!"

Reine yanked her arm free; this time, she did it. "Leave me alone," she said.

"He's a nag but—"

"There's nothing to do with him being a total nag!" Reine yelled, turning her body towards Neil. "It's useless trying to see whether my left eye is okay, can't you see?"

Neil held his breath. Somehow he knew this outburst was different from her other ones. "What do you mean?"

Reine didn't know how, or when, tears started to build up inside of her eyes. She felt the tears flowed out without her being able to prevent it.

"It's useless…" she muttered quietly. "The only thing this eye can do now is to cry…"

"Wha…"

He stood in front of her, speechless, while she was trying to contain herself. She rubbed her eyes, making a mess with her long fringe. Her words finally hit him.

Is that why she keeps her fringe long? He thought to himself. So that others won't notice?

Reine was still sobbing when she felt a hand pulling her face up. She felt a fabric of some sorts rubbing against her cheeks carefully. Reine opened her eyes to see that it was Neil, with his sleeves, trying to wipe her tears off.

She then saw his hand reached out to her, entering her blind spot, and a moment later she felt her fringe was being lifted off. "Your eyes are staring straight into mine," he told her. "Both of them."

Reine was at loss at what she was supposed to say; all her comebacks didn't pop out in her head when she needed it.

"I think it's a shame if you cover it," he continued in an unusual, unlaced honesty.

Because if she had shown him her vulnerable side, he thought it was only fair if he did just the same.

Seems like Neil and Reine's relationship is improving for good...

What would happen after this?

Stay tuned to find out!

Thanks for reading, please rate and review :D