Chapter 9

Summer 15, 2003

Yuki comes home exhausted after a long day of work. One of Yuki's cattle just gave birth, so he spent a lot of energy assisting in it's delivery. One of the chickens escaped the coop, so he spent a good thirty minutes chasing it around the farm. The sheep was also giving him a hard time while he was sheering the wool; jumping and running around nervously. The ducks gave him no trouble, but he was already exhausted long before them.

Yuki walks to the kitchen, sits on a dining room chair, and slams himself on the table. He takes a look at the clock, it's now 2:00 pm, far too early to rest yet. As he is catching his breath, he also thinks about what he wants to make for dinner. Choco hears her father hit the table and jumps for joy. She runs out of her bedroom carrying Uma-Kun up to his side. She then pulls on his shirt to grab his attention.

“Daddy, Daddy! Can we go to the beach today?” begged Choco.

Yuki turns and stares at her with a tired look in his eyes. “Again? We've been to the beach three times this week already.”

Choco smiles and says, “I know, but the beach is so much fun! I get to swim, I play with my ball, and Uma-Kun gets to help me build sand castles!”

Yuki places a hand on Choco's head, and pats her gently. He then says, “Choco, I'm sorry. But I had a hard long day at work today. I need to do a few more things like clean the house, and cook dinner. Why don't you just go around the valley to play instead?”

“By myself?” asked Choco.

“Of course not.” answered Yuki. “You can go play with Kate and Hugh. They are about your age, and you really do get along with them. You should become good friends with them.”

“Okay.” said Choco in a sad tone. Choco returns to her bedroom, and starts to pack some of her toys in her rucksack. She then waves at her father goodbye, and goes out to play.

Choco walks out of the farm and takes the road that leads to Romana's Villa. As she walks, she notices Hugh dash past her. She stops, and watches him run to his mother and father who are waiting for him by their house. His father hits the stop watch and compliments on his improving speed. His mother hugs him on a job well done.

Soon afterwards, Kate walks out of her house with her mother and father. They all walk past her holding hands like a happy family heading to the direction of Vesta's farm. Choco watches them walk away as they are all telling jokes and laughing cheerfully. Choco begins to feel a bit jealous and sad. She found her father, but she is still without her mother.

“Hi there kiddo!” yelled Nami surprising Choco from behind.

Choco turns around and says, “Hi lady!”

Nami looks around and notices that Yuki is not with her. She then asks, “Where's your dad? Are you here all by yourself?”

“Daddy is tired, and he wants to rest. He told me to play with the other kids, but they are playing with their mommy and daddy.” answered Choco.

Nami notices the sad look on her face. She couldn't help but to feel sorry for her. Yuki is a busy man, and he does try his best. But she knows that he is only one person, and Choco wants both a mother and a father. Yuki is stubborn, and refuses to date any of the girls for a reason none of them knows.

Nami kneels down and pats Choco on the head. She then says, “Hey, wanna hang out with me? I'll treat you to something to drink, what do you say?”

Choco looks up at Nami and nods cheerfully. Nami then takes her to the Blue Bar where they could relax and have a little fun. Griffin notices that he has guests, so he says, “Welcome ladies. What can I get you today?”

“I'll have a stone oil. Chocolate milk for the kid.” said Nami.

“Coming right up!” said Griffin. A few moments later, Griffin returns with a strong drink in a martini glass for Nami, and a mug full of chocolate milk topped with whip cream and a cherry for Choco. Nami enjoys her drink sipping it slowly. Choco drinks her chocolate milk through a straw.

After Nami finishes her drink, she stretches her arms and says, “So, how is everything at home? Getting along with your dad?” Choco nods as she continues to drink. “That's great, Yuki is a responsible man and even though he doesn't show it, I'm sure he cares about you very much.”

Nami pokes at her empty martini glass for a minute. She is remembering the good times she had with Yuki within the last three years. “Yuki is a really great guy. I came to live here not too long before Yuki moved into the farm. I was only supposed to be here for only a year, then I would leave like I would do everywhere else. I know that I'm not very feminine, and most of the guys treat me like another guy. But Yuki is different, he treats me like a woman. I always felt that I have a sporting chance with him, so instead of leaving, I decided to stay here. I keep hoping that maybe someday, Yuki will feel the same way I do.”

Nami notices that Choco is staring at her oddly. She laughs and says, “What am I doing? You're still too young to understand what it means to fall head over heels for someone.” Nami slams on the table and says, “Hey Griffin! Red Punch please!”

Griffin takes a moment to prepare her red punch. It is served in a mug and has less alcohol than the stone oil. Nami drinks the fruit flavored alcoholic beverage quickly and hits the empty mug on the table. Choco then finishes her chocolate milk, and then eats the cherry.

Nami looks at Choco and asks, “So tell me. What is your mother like?”

“Mommy?” asked Choco.

“Oh yeah, I forgot. You don't remember her. How strange, a child who doesn't remember her own mother, even though you've lived with her for 10 years. Be that as it may, I am still curious about her. So, do you remember anything?”

Choco shakes her head no. “I don't know why, but I can't even remember what she looks like. I don't know why, but after I found daddy, I forgot about mommy. . .”

Nami saw another sad look in Choco's face. She places an arm around Choco, and pulls her closer trying to make her feel better. “Don't worry baby. I'm sure you'll remember soon enough. After all, you are still just a kid. Whatever happened in the past is over now. You're with friends now, and I'll protect you like if you are a member of my own family.”

Just like most of the other people in Forget-Me-Not Valley, Nami feels that Choco does remember her mother, but she refuses to talk about it. But Choco really cannot remember anything about her. She only remembers Yuki's face, and what little memories she has of her past. Unfortunately, none of what Choco tells anyone makes any sense, so everyone just smiles and wishes the best for her.

Summer 16, 2003

Choco walks out of her bedroom in the middle of the night. Her stomach is rumbling with hunger. She ate dinner, but she wants chocolate. Yuki told her that he is out of chocolates, but Choco knows that he has said that many times before. He always has a secret stash of chocolates hidden somewhere.

Quietly, Choco grabs a chair and climbs on the kitchen counter to search through the cupboards for chocolates. After some time, she finds nothing. She sits on the counter, and thinks for a moment.

“Where did daddy hide the chocolates today?” Choco asked herself. “There is none in the kitchen, yesterday I checked in the TV room, but I found nothing. Where could daddy be hiding the chocolates?”

Choco stares at the bedroom door to Yuki's room. She then feels that if there is anyplace where he would be hiding the chocolates, it has to be there. She opens the door slowly to avoid waking her father up. She then tip toes over to the night stand next to his bed, and opens the small drawer. Inside she found his stash of chocolates. She grabs a couple of bars, and closes the drawer slowly. But as she is about to leave, she finds Yuki's diary resting on top of the nightstand.

She picks up the diary and whispers to herself, “Daddy's diary? Every night before he goes to bed, he writes in it. He told me that I should never read it, so I better leave it alone. But. . .” Choco becomes excited and yells, “Maybe he wrote something about mommy!”

Choco covers her mouth, and Yuki turns on his bed. Luckily, he does not wake up. Choco walks out slowly and returns to her bedroom. She jumps on her bed, and opens the diary starting with the latest entry. She doesn't read anything, but she skims through the pages looking for anything that might be a clue as to who is her mother. However, the earliest entry in the diary is Spring 5, 2000, the day Yuki moved into the farm.

She cannot find anything useful, so she closes the diary and returns to her father's room. She returns the diary to the place where she found it, and tip toes away. She wants to leave, but she finds herself looking through Yuki's room for anything else that she could use instead. Quietly without waking her father, Choco finds Yuki's photo album. She walks out carrying the album with her, and creeps into her bedroom.

She checks all the photographs carefully. The more recent photos are of Yuki and the girls. One of the photos has Yuki standing next to Lumina practicing the piano. Another one has him in the bar having a drinking contest with some of the other guys. Muffy is in that photograph. Another photo has Yuki standing next to Nami with a huge fish that they caught together. Several photographs has Celia and Yuki planting crops together. And other Photos have Yuki volunteering in the dig site helping Carter and Flora.

As she flips the pages from the back to the front, she notices that one photograph is missing There is an empty space that has traces that a photograph was torn out. Choco has no clue why is the photograph missing, but since the empty space is in the middle of a group of photos of Yuki's first Summer Festival, she pays it no mind.

Choco continues to flip the pages, and finds photographs from before Yuki moved into Forget-Me-Not Valley. In many of those pictures, Yuki is by himself, or surrounded by people who Choco does not know. She then finds herself looking at the first page of the photo album. In that page, there is a large photograph of three people. Two of them are young adults, and between them is a ten year old child.

One of the adults is a young woman in her early thirties. Choco is amazed at how much she resembles that woman. The hair color, eyes, and cheekbones are very similar to her own. Even the hairstyle matches her a bit, but the woman in the picture has longer hair.

The man in the picture looks a lot like Yuki. But his hair has a darker color, and he has no hat. The child in the middle has the same blue hat that Yuki now wears. Seeing that many of the traits of both adults can be seen in the child, Choco assumes that the Child is Yuki when he was her age, and the two adults are his parents. She can also notice some stains on the picture that looks like teardrops.

Choco doesn't know what happened to his parents, but judging by the photograph, he misses them very much. Even so, she doesn't find any clues about her own mother. She closes the photo album, and returns it to her father's bedroom. Before quitting, she searches the room quietly once again. As she searches, she finds another diary. So she quietly takes it back into her bedroom.

She opens the diary and takes a look inside, but she notices that it is empty. The diary is a spare in case that Yuki runs out of room in his old diary. Instead of returning the blank diary, she decides to keep it and write a diary of her own. She grabs a pencil from her rucksack and makes the first entry to her diary.

Dear diary,

I want to be just like my daddy, so I want to write my thoughts just like he does. My name is Choco, and I am 10 years old. I live with my daddy, and my best friend Uma-Kun. My daddy works hard, and I promised him that I be a good girl and wait for him. But waiting at home is so boring. Daddy sometimes comes home tired, and can't play with me. But I love my daddy, and I want to stay here with him. But I also want to know who my mommy is too. People think that I keep my mommy a secret, but I really can't remember. Maybe one day, mommy and daddy could be together again like before, and I could have a family like the others do.

Choco closes the diary, and hides it under her bed. She then goes to bed and falls asleep. She dreams about the day that her mother and father would play with her like they did before. Just like other nights, she can see Yuki's face clearly, but her mother's is only a blur.

That morning, Choco wakes up to the smell of chocolate pancakes covered in chocolate syrup. She sits down at the table and waits to be served. As Yuki cooks, he says, “Had a rough night last night Choco?”

Choco yawns and says, “I'm still a little tired.”

“You wouldn't be so tired if you weren't poking around in my room in the middle of the night.” said Yuki.

“How did you find out?” asked Choco nervously.

“I noticed that a few of my chocolate bars went missing this morning. Only you would do something like that.” answered Yuki.

Choco sighs in relief. She feels that Yuki did not find out that she has been looking through his other possessions last night. So she pretends that nothing else happened and said, “I was just hungry daddy. I'm sorry.”

“I'll go buy you some chocolate today, but promise me that you won't enter my room without my permission again.” said Yuki.

“Okay!” answered Choco.

Then Yuki places a stack of pancakes in front of her. He then says, “Good girl. Now I have a lot of work to do today, and I will not be home until late. Try to play with the other kids, or hang out with Muffy, Lumina, Celia, Nami, or Flora.”

Choco nods. After breakfast, Yuki grabs his rucksack and leaves to do his job. Choco grabs her bag of toys and takes another stroll around the valley. As she walks around, Hugh walks up to her from behind nervously. He has a flower hidden behind his back.

“Um. . . Choco?” said Hugh.

Choco turns around and says, “Hi Hugh! What's up, wanna play?”

“Actually, I um. . .” Hugh reveals the pink catmint flower to her and says. “I have a present for you! I um. . . I really like you Choco!”

Choco accepts the flower and says, “Thank you Hugh. I like you too!” Hugh's face turned red feeling bashful that Choco said that she liked him. Choco continues, “I like you, Kate, daddy, and the five ladies that follows my daddy around.” Choco runs off and says, “Let me show my present to daddy! Be right back!”

“Wait!” yelled Hugh. But Choco runs so fast that she did not hear him. Hugh scratches his head and says, “I knew it. She didn't understand what I meant by 'like'.”

Hugh then felt a homicidal aura behind him. He turns around and finds Kate behind him with the most angriest look on her face. She then jumps on him, knocking him down on the ground beating him up yelling, “You two timer! I thought it was me you like!?”

“When did I ever say that I liked you?” asked Hugh.

“Shut it! You know that you liked me, but now you like her instead! I'll never forgive you for this!” yelled Kate.