Chapter 13

Fall 5, 2003

It's a quiet Fall day in Romana's Villa. Lumina had already finished her daily practice, so she heads over to her library of books to find something to read. In the many years that she has lived in the Villa, Lumina has already read all the books that she owns. Van is not in town today, so she'll need to wait until he comes around to buy some new books.

As she is searching through the titles, Romana enters Lumina's room. Curious to know what she is doing, Romana walks up to her and asks, “Lumina dear, what are you looking for?”

Lumina looks back at Romana and smiles. “Hi there. I was looking for a book to read. But I am not sure what I want to read today.”

Romana walks over to Lumina's collection of books and scans through the titles. She then pulls a book out of the shelf and hands it to Lumina. “Why don't you read this one? I'm sure the last time you read it was when you first arrived here so many years ago.”

Lumina takes a good look at the book titled 'The Snow of Spring'. “I remember this book! It's a romance about a kind and gentle man who fell in love with a lonely woman.” Lumina places her hand on the gold colored words written on the cover, and takes a deep sigh. “Wow, the title kind of reminds me of Yuki.”

“How so?” asked Romana.

“Well, think about it. Yuki means snow, and he was born in Spring. So he is like the snow of Spring. He is the kind and gentle man, and I am the lonely girl. I only wish that he would fall in love with me just like the main character in this book.” Lumina sighs again, and embraces the book joyfully.

Romana looks at Lumina and asks, “You really like that boy, don't you?” Lumina nods as she continues to embrace the book. “What is so special about him? I mean, he is a handsome young man, but just about every girl in Forget-Me-Not Valley likes him as well. There are other single and handsome men in the valley you know.”

“Yuki is not an ordinary person, he is special. We all may like him, but we have our own unique reasons.” answered Lumina. “Muffy likes him because he is young, and she feels that Yuki will not leave her for any other girl. Celia likes him because he is hard working, and they have a lot in common. Nami is not very feminine and guys don't take her seriously, but Yuki is the only one who sees her as a woman. Flora likes him because Yuki can eat her food without getting sick, not to mention that Carter doesn't even notice her at times.”

Romana nods and asks, “What about you? Why do you care about him so much?”

“It's because we understand each other,” answered Lumina. “When I first arrived here a long time ago, I used to be very sad and lonely because mom and dad died. I felt that nobody could understand how lonely I was without them. But then I met Yuki, he went through the same thing I did. His mother died from an illness, and his father died in the farm that he lives in. He noticed how sad and lonely I was, so he asked me to talk about it. I remember those words he told me that day, 'Don't worry, even though your mother and father are gone, they will always be watching over you. I promise.' I believe in those words, I know mother and father are watching over me.”

Romana smiles after hearing Lumina confess about how she feels. She then looks at Lumina's dress and asks, “Lately since last Christmas, you've been wearing that brown and olive dress a lot. What made you change?”

Lumina giggles and says, “I thought that if I show Yuki my feminine side a bit more, he would like me. I used to be such a tomboy, wearing jeans, shirts, and pink sneakers. Yuki has noticed me more since I've been wearing this dress and cut my hair a little bit shorter, but nothing has changed yet between us. I just hope that Yuki will understand how I truly feel about him, and he would one day he would feel the same about me.”

“I see. Well, I need to take a nap. Have fun reading.” said Romana.

Lumina nods. She then gracefully sits on her bed where she can read in peace. The book is heavy and will take several days to read from start to finish. She opens the book, and begins to read to herself out loud. As soon as she gets to the introduction of the main character, she couldn't help but to smile and think of Yuki.

Fall 8, 2003

Choco is in the kitchen cooking breakfast for her father. After the last pancake is done, she carefully takes it to the table, and gently places it on the others making a stack of three. She then places all the dishes she used in the sink so that they can be washed later. Seeing that her surprise is going as planned, she runs over to Yuki's room and bursts in.

Choco Climbs on Yuki's bed, and begins to jump yelling, “Dad! Dad! Wake up! Wake up! It's breakfast time! Let's eat!”

Yuki opens his eyes and says, “Choco, please be quiet. I had a hard day last night, and I want to sleep in today.”

“Aww, but I made you breakfast. Can you please wake up and have some?” whined Choco.

“I'll have some later, now let me sleep.” answered Yuki. He closes his eyes, and tries to go back to sleep. But only a second later, he wakes up again and jumps out of bed. He then looks at Choco with a shocked and confused look on his face asking, “You did what?!”

“I made you breakfast,” answered Choco.

“No!! My kitchen!!” yelled Yuki fearing the worst. He runs over to the kitchen to see what sort of disaster had Choco caused. But he stopped running as soon as he stepped out of the room. His jaw dropped as soon as he sees the kitchen unharmed. Not only that, but the kitchen is cleaner than it was last night. Yuki sees the chocolate pancakes neatly stacked on the table, he couldn't believe what he is seeing.

Choco follows Yuki out of the room and yells, “Surprise dad!”

Yuki looks at Choco and asks, “Choco, you did all this? You actually woke up earlier than me to cook breakfast, and clean the kitchen?”

Choco nods and answers, “You're always taking such good care of me, so I thought I'd help out.”

Yuki walks over to the table, and closely examines the pancakes. They are cookedperfectly, not burnt or under cooked. He looks over at Choco and says, “I appreciate the breakfast Choco, but I promised that I wouldn't eat any more chocolates, remember?”

Choco puts a fork in Yuki's hand and pulls Yuki's chair out saying, “Come on dad, I think you deserve some chocolates. Now sit and have some.”

Yuki nods and takes a seat. He pours some chocolate syrup on his pancakes and has a bite. His eyes jerk open in delight as he yells, “It's great! Choco, this is incredible! Where did you learn to make pancakes just as well as I do?”

“I watch you do it every day. I memorized the recipe, and I felt confident that I could do it. I know that I should have asked first, but I really wanted to surprise you. I hope you're not mad at me dad.”

Yuki then looks at Choco awkwardly and asks, “Choco, when did you start calling me 'Dad' instead of 'Daddy'?”

“Just today.” answered Choco. “I'm a big girl now, so I'm going to call you dad from now on. Is that okay?”

Yuki nods, and continues to eat. After breakfast, Yuki and Choco both start to get ready for another day. Yuki heads over to the fields to water the plants, and Choco heads out with her mini rucksack full of stuff.

Several hours later, Yuki finally finishes watering the huge field of crops. He walks over to the carrots to check on them. According to what Vesta told him earlier, the carrots should ripen the next day. But Yuki sees that the carrots still need a little bit more time to ripen.

He stands up and says, “Looks like the harvest will be a little late. I wonder why the crops are growing a bit slower this year? Maybe they need fertilizer, I should think about getting some this Spring and fertilize the field before I plant the crops.” Yuki stretches his arms and continues, “Well, it's time to gather the milk and eggs!”

Yuki walks over to the shipping bin where he left his basket to start collecting the animal produce. But he notices that it's missing as soon as he gets there. He checks all around the bin, near the lumber sheds, and near the stable in case that he has misplaced it. But no matter how hard he looks, he cannot find it.

He scratches his head and says, “Don't tell me that the hobo took it again? That's the third time that he took it since I came to live here.”

“Dad!!” cried Choco from a distance. “Can you help me please?”

Yuki turns around and says, “Sure Choco, what do you-” Yuki's eyes popped open as soon as he saw Choco with his missing basket. Choco is dragging it into the farm overflowing with random fall crops.

Yuki runs to her side and yells, “Choco! What is all that?! Please don't tell me that you went to Vesta's farm, and picked her crops!”

Choco shakes her head no and says, “Nope, these are mine.”

Yuki tilts his head in confusion and asks, “Yours? What do you mean?”

“Remember the allowance you've been giving me? Well, I used it to buy seeds and planted them in my secret crop field.” answered Choco.

“You have a 'secret crop field'? Where?” asked Yuki.

Choco pulls the heavy basket once more and says, “Help me ship these, and I'll show you.”

Yuki carries the basket over to the shipping bin and dumps the contents inside. Choco takes a deep breath of relief, and wipes the sweat off her forehead. She then grabs Yuki's shirt, and takes him out of the farm. They move to the east, and then walk north up the path next to Yuki's farm. At the end of the path is a small garden where wild flowers grow next to a lake. In the corner of the field, there is an enormous rock that nobody can break. Choco climbs over the rock, and moves along the hidden path behind it. Yuki has a harder time getting over the rock, but he is able to manage.

At the end of the path, Yuki finds himself in a hidden field in the middle of the forest. Clear from trees, there is more than enough light to support the enormous field. In the field, Yuki sees many crop plants that has been growing and bearing fruit. Eggplant crops, spinach crops, carrots, yams and peppers grew healthier than the ones in Yuki's farm. Some of the crops has already been picked by Choco, but there is still a lot more to pick.

Yuki gasps in amazement as he looks at Choco's field of crops. “Choco, you did all of this all by yourself?”

Choco answers, “Not by myself. Hugh and Kate helps me out whenever they can. I found this field when we were playing hide and seek during the Summer. Since nobody was using it, I cleared out whatever I could, and used my allowance to buy seeds. I thought that if I tried doing what you do, I would be just like you.”

Yuki scratches his head and asks, “But Choco, where did you learn how to farm? I didn't teach you how to do this.”

Choco pulls a notebook out of her rucksack and hands it to Yuki. “I found it back at home. I learned how to farm from that.”

Yuki opens the notebook, and nearly faints from shock. “Choco, these are dad's notes! You actually understand this stuff? Even I don't get half the things dad wrote here!”

Choco raises her index finger and says, “It's easy dad, all I need to do is plant the crops in a square pattern leaving just enough room to walk around without harming the plants. Since the earth here has not been used in a long time, it's very fertile, and rich in nutrients to allow crops to grow at a rapid pace. the crops back at home cannot grow well because you used too much space making a pasture for the animals. The grass is stealing nutrients from the earth which slows down the growth rate of the other crops.”

As Choco continues to talk like an over-educated young lady, Yuki just stands there watching her in shock. He then whispers in his mind, “What the. . . Am I really talking to Choco? Just a little while ago, she was a pretty naive little girl. Now she's cooking, cleaning, and knows more about farming than I do.” Yuki thinks for a moment and continues to whisper to himself, “Now that I think about it, Choco does have a fast learning pace. Like when I gave her the art pad and crayons, she didn't know how to draw anything at first. But in only a few days, she was able to draw so well, that even though she drew on my walls, I actually complimented it. Her language is developing pretty quickly too, when she first came here, she was talking in baby mode. Now she is using bigger and more complicated words. And when we went to the circus, Choco was able to learn how to tame lions just by watching cartoons. It takes a normal person years to master something like that. Choco can read and write pretty good now, I don't think she knew how to do that when she came to live with me. It took me years of practice to learn how to cook. But Choco only watches me, and she is able to do it as good as I can. I remember when she tried to cook for the first time, she blew up my kitchen. Now this, she learned how to farm better than I can just by reading my father's notes.”

Choco notices Yuki lost in thought, so she stops her explanation and asks, “Dad, is everything okay?”

Yuki snaps out of his daydream and says, “I'm fine Choco.” Yuki looks around and asks, “What tools do you use to care for these crops?”

“Those!” Choco points at the rusted old tools in a corner. Yuki sees his old watering can, his old sickle, and an old hand trowel which is the only thing that didn't belong to him. “Carter gave me the trowel because he wasn't using it anymore. Your hoe was too heavy for me to use. I got the watering can and the sickle from your tool shed. I noticed that you never use them anymore, so I borrowed them.”

“I see.” said Yuki. He then continues to examine the field, and sees that there is still a lot of tree stumps and boulders in the field. “Why didn't you clear everything out Choco?” he asked.

“Well, I need a hammer and an ax to clear out the rest. But they are too heavy for me to carry so I just planted around them.” answered Choco.

Yuki kneels down and pats Choco on the head saying, “You did a great job on this field. Mind if I help you clear out the heavy stuff?”

Choco nods, and Yuki grabs his tools to clear out the stumps and boulders for Choco. They went back home carrying the lumber to be placed into the sheds. Yuki then takes Choco over to the barns and coops where he could teach her how to care for animals. Just as Yuki suspected, Choco learned how to do his work very quickly, and is able to do everything he could after only a few tries.

Yuki and Choco finished working on the animals very quickly, and it was only noon by the time they finish. Yuki was feeling quite happy, so he pats Choco on the head and says, “Hey, you want to come to Mineral Town with me? I want to introduce you to all my friends over there.”

Choco looks up at Yuki, and nods cheerfully. They catch a boat, and lands in Mineral Town. Since Summer is over, Kai is no longer in Mineral Town until the next Summer. He is still able to introduce Choco properly to the other villagers. They were all confused about how did Yuki have a 10 year old kid at his age. But Choco is so cute, nobody really cared too much. Whether it made sense or not, Choco is his daughter and they must accept that.

Yuki and Choco returns to Forget-Me-Not Valley that evening. Yuki's pay was already left in his mailbox, and he takes Choco's share of the money and gives it to her. Strangely, Choco's crops made far more money than Yuki's crops ever did. Her crops are by far better quality than the crops that Yuki grew which fetched a higher price. Yuki then decides to let Choco help in the farm in exchange for more play time, and a bigger allowance.

That night, Choco was put to bed, and she fell asleep quickly. Yuki went back to his own room, and starts to write in his diary. He writes:

Fall 8, 2003

Today, I learned a lot about Choco that I never thought possible. I seems that she can learn things very quickly, and she can even surpass me who is double her age. I find that to be quite amazing, she even has her own crop field that is healthier than my own. I can't stop but to feel a bit jealous because a kid is doing better than I am. In the same time, I am proud of her. I guess I never noticed because I never gave her a chance to show me what she can do. I even took her to Mineral Town where she could meet my friends over there. I was freaked out at first because I had no idea how they would react. But they were pretty cool about it. I guess that they needed a bit of time to accept Choco, just like the people in Forget-Me-Not Valley. I am so lucky to have such good dependable friends.

Yuki starts to think for a moment, and concludes.

But I wonder. . . Choco is supposed to be really fast at learning, but why did she come to me with the mentality of a 5-year old? Did her mother just ignore her for 10 whole years without giving her a chance? It just doesn't make any sense. But I still need to remember that nothing about Choco made any sense before. I wonder, who is her mother?