Time passed to the next day.
Emily climbed out of bed and then shook the still-slumbering Sandy awake.
"—Can't we sleep in a little longer?" Sandy sat up on the bed groggily, then leaned lazily against Emily. "It's so rare that we get to stay overnight in Pelican Town—"
"Are you still opening your shop today?" Emily couldn't help but ask.
"—God, why, just why can't I open a branch in Pelican Town?" Sandy complained as she put on her heavy winter clothes. "I don't want to go back, Emily, think of something. How about we beg Lewis? Ask him to approve a plot of land for me, right next to your house. Oh wait, behind your house, isn't there an empty patch there?"
Ignoring Sandy's chattering about her nonsensical ideas, Emily made breakfast in the kitchen. After waiting for Sandy to come out and eating breakfast, Emily wrapped a scarf around her neck and accompanied Sandy to the bus stop.
"You really need to think of a way, get a plot of land approved, just that one—" Sandy pointed as she spoke. "We can call it Pelican Town Oasis No. 2!"
"..."
"Pelican Town doesn't need an oasis," Emily ruthlessly shattered Sandy's fantasy, dragging her toward the bus stop.
"This is unfair, this is really unfair. I came here to keep you company! You can't be this heartless." Sandy complained, but then remembered something and pulled a little flower out of her pocket.
Because Sandy hadn't told Lewis she was coming, no Secret Santa had been arranged for her.
Although Sandy didn't really care about that, what she never expected was that Sailor would give her a flower.
It happened right when everyone was exchanging gifts.
She originally thought no one would notice her, but to her absolute surprise, Sailor had carefully noticed her situation and found her a very fresh Crocus.
There was even a little snow on it, as if Sailor had just dug it out of the ground.
She was incredibly touched.
"By the way, Spring 15," Sandy said. "I heard from the Adventurer's Guild that they'll be hosting a two-day Desert Festival in the desert that day. Bring Sailor over then, okay?"
"Sailor?" Emily looked up at Sandy.
"Mhm, bring it over and tell it I prepared some tasty treats." Sandy said, stuffing the Crocus back into her pocket. She walked a few steps to the bus stop, paid for her ticket, and waved to Emily. "See you next time!"
"See you next time!" Emily waved back.
On the other side, at the Blacksmith shop, Clint was crawling out of bed with a melancholic expression. He sat dismally at his desk and, like usual, tried to write a letter to Emily, attempting to put his unconfessed feelings onto paper.
Then he would imagine Emily's reaction, despairingly crumple the paper into a ball, and burn it or throw it away.
Burning it was the safest option.
But realizing that no one would gossip about his meager love life anyway, Clint no longer had the motivation to hide it. He just tossed the crumpled paper toward the door and went back to resting his chin on his hand, sighing deeply.
If only she liked him too.
If only he could be happy.
Clint was sighing deeply when a knock came from the door. He stood up, walked over, and opened it.
"Who is it?"
Clint asked with a gloomy expression. Seeing that it was Ron, he instantly remembered Robin's words from yesterday and couldn't help but sound a bit emotional: "What is it?"
"I—" Ron paused, checked the time to confirm the shop was open, and then said, "I wanted to commission you to build some machines, like the ones from before."
Because he was planning to expand his livestock scale in the spring, the machinery needed to be upgraded across the board.
In addition, there was the barn. Ron had already asked Robin to help him expand the farm. The newly expanded plots of land would all be used to build more barns and plant grass for grazing.
"Oh, oh, okay." Clint took a deep breath, realizing his mood was a bit off, and couldn't help but apologize to Ron. "Sorry, I'm just in a bit of a bad mood today."
"It's fine." Ron didn't take it to heart at all.
He was entirely results-oriented. As long as the machines were delivered normally and Clint hadn't blatantly offended him, this wouldn't affect him in the slightest.
Remembering Robin's words from yesterday, Clint recorded the number of machines Ron needed while mustering the courage to ask for some advice: "By the way—I heard you seem to have a pretty good relationship with the ladies in town?"
"I'd say I have a pretty good relationship with everyone," Ron carefully phrased his answer.
"That's true—how do you do it?" Clint thought for a moment before asking.
"Probably by giving everyone gifts and things like that?" Ron pondered for a moment before answering.
He didn't intentionally try to maintain these relationships. At most, he would only give gifts when he happened to notice something.
"I see—" Clint frowned in thought for a moment. "Then do you think if I give—"
He hastily swallowed his words. Glancing at the massive pile of orders in his hands, he asked after a while: "Are you free these next few days?"
"Why?"
"Could you help me get a piece of Amethyst? To give to Emily."
"Sure." Ron agreed immediately.
Since he didn't need to donate the minerals to the museum, rarely used them for anything else, and they didn't sell for much anyway, Ron had hoarded all of them. It was a completely effortless favor.
Especially since Ron was planning to visit Emily anyway.
Because he was heading to Kalos in the spring, he planned to ask both Caroline and Emily if there was anything they needed him to bring over, so he could easily take it along for them.
He deeply understood the feeling of having a loved one far away—the baseless worries about whether they were eating and sleeping well, and the desire to send them the best things you had on hand. He was more than happy to help everyone deliver their longing.
Seeing that Ron didn't ask for his reasons, Clint couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He carefully observed Ron's expression, Robin's words from last night still echoing in his head.
He simply didn't have the courage to admit in front of anyone that he liked Emily. He was afraid of people finding out, afraid of being dragged in front of Emily for a comparison, only for everyone to ultimately conclude that they weren't a match.
Love itself makes a person cowardly, let alone someone as unremarkable as himself.
"Then I'll be in your debt." Clint smiled at Ron. "If you can deliver it, let me buy you a drink at the Saloon?"
"Pass on the drink." Ron waved his hand. "It's no trouble at all."
"Thanks." Clint said gratefully. "They were right, you're a really good guy."
If that's the case, then it made perfect sense for Robin to rank him as the number one man in town.
Clint thought gratefully. After watching Ron walk away, he turned around and started working with renewed vigor.
His Slugma crawled out from the side to help him.
"I just hope my feelings can reach her," Clint said.
"Slugma~"
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