Disclaimer: I do not own any Harvest Moon's characters.

Author's Notes: This chapter is going to be very intense :3 I think... Maybe it will get you to be very curious of Lillian's decision :) Well, thank you for continue reading. Have a sugar-sweet day!

Lillian fidgeted her finger while she walked toward the school board. The anxiety she kept inside was only making her more nervous. The echoes of screaming, cheering, and whining spread throughout the school. Lillian squeezed through the crowd until she stood in front of a big paper that written the name of top 50 students. Her eyes scanned the result from bottom to top. There it was. Her name was written next to number one. Many loathsome gazes were fixed on her as the silence danced in the atmosphere. She felt an arm rested on her shoulder.

"Number one student, huh?" Cam said.

Then there was a hand gently grabbing her shoulder. It was Ash's.

"I'm number three? I deserve better!" Ash pouted. He stared at Cam and spoke, "It's not fair! You got higher score than me!"

Cam scowled at the ground.

"That's life…" He muttered.

Cam's words made Ash silent. He knew that his words must had had reminded Cam of his past in a way. Ash glanced at Lillian who was staring at his best friend. They said nothing to each other except they only sent the absence of sound to the air.

"Hey! The sport festival is next week!" Ash interrupted.

"What's sport festival?" Lillian asked.

Ash pointed to the big poster with large text that said "Sport Festival with Konoha High!"

"Is Konoha High a friend?" Lillian asked.

For a moment, the other students were giving her virulent glares like she had said something to upset them.

"They're our enemy. We have a different theme festival every month against Konoha," Cam explained.

"Yup! There are four themes: English, history, math, and sport," Ash added.

"The school only picks students who would fit for the competition. For example, if it's an English theme, the top students with the best grades in English will be select to join the round."

"What about sport?" Lillian asked.

"The coaches observe their students during P.E a week before the sport festival. They chose the ones who are skillful enough to help the school win."

Lillian looked back to the poster and said, " Will I get pick?"

Cam smirked and replied, "That's funny. How can the coach pick someone who is chubby as you?"

Lillian gave him a cold glare then a smile. She answered, "How can the coach pick someone who throws weaker than a girl as you?" '

As the words left the girl's mouth, she began heading toward her classroom. Ash counted his fingers and nudged his best friend.

"That's 14 words, she's serious, dude," Ash whispered.

"Good," Cam smiled.

The coach stood firmly in front of the class and scanned the students.

"You know what to do! Pick a partner to do your warm-up with!" The coach shouted.

Lillian sat quietly on her number until two different hands reached out to her.

"Want to be partner?" Cam and Ash asked.

Lillian's eyes widen at their unexpected invitations. She was shocked as everyone else. It was like Ash's question from before. Was Ash trying to test me? Lillian thought. She hesitated for a few moments then finally she reached her hand up for the hand that was held out to her.

Unexpectedly, Nancy grabbed Lillian's arm and replied, "She'll be my partner for the warm-up."

Lillian let out a sigh of relief. She was secretly praying that something would interrupt the scene so she didn't have to pick between Cam and Ash. Nancy pulled Lillian far away from the boys.

"Thank you," Lillian whispered.

"What are you talking about?" Nancy asked.

"You saved me from a lot of troubles."

"I don't like Cam and Ash being too fond of you!"

"I know."

"Good. Don't get too close to them next time."

Nancy and Lillian faced back to back with their arms crossing each other. Ones began pulling the other forward and back. After a while, they switched to other exercises.

The coach led the whole class to the school entrance. She showed them the map of the school's campus.

"Listen up! Today, you are to run around the school three times in less than twenty minutes. That's a total of two point five miles," The coached explained as she marked the correct route on the map.

"What? How is that possible?" A student yelled.

"The students that completed the assignment will be award. The rest will get 25 push-ups!"

No one could argued with a strict coach. They obediently listened and began to ran when the whistle echoed. Lillian's shirt was damp with sweats after running for ten minutes without stopping. Ash and Cam was racing ahead of her until they came to a sudden stop.

"Come on, Lillian! We gotta do this!" Ash yelled.

They walked back to be next to Lillian. Cam held her left hand while Ash held the right.

"What are you doing?" Lillian yelled as she tried to pulls her hands away.

"Helping you," Cam replied.

The two boys grabbed Lillian's hands and began to ran at their pace.

"W-wait!"

Even if the poor girl's legs' muscles were starting to burned more, Ash and Cam continued to pulled her along without giving her a break.

"I-I can't…" Lillian cried. Her breathing was getting stronger and harder.

"C'mon! We're almost there!" Ash promised.

Lillian nodded and moved her legs faster toward the finish line.

"Good job, you three! You made it in fifteen minutes. Pass!" The coach said.

Lillian sucked up as much air as she could. She began to feel dizzy and her feet trembled. Cam caught her before she fell down to the ground. His right arm supported her back and his left arm under her knees. He lifted her up in a bridal carry way.

"How…?" Lillian asked.

"What?" Cam replied.

"Isn't it tiring?"

"Are you admitting that you're fat?"

Lillian glowered at Cam and replied, "Put me down."

"If I put you down, you'll be unsteady and lose balance, again."

"I don't care."

"You can rest in my arms."

"No."

Cam smiled and leaned closer to Lillian's ear. He whispered, "I enjoy being like this."

Ash watched the unpleasant scene in front of him. A part of him wanted to walk up to his best friend and give him a good punch, yet the other part refused the thought. He had never seen Cam smiles so much before nor he had ever seen him showed his kindness to anyone. There was definitely a change.