Ron touched his cheek, remembered Clint's behavior at the blacksmith shop, and left in silence.
Arriving at the farm, Ron turned his attention to getting busy for early spring.
Come to think of it, he also planned to make a few Warp Totems for Haley and the others. That way, if they were ever truly in a desperate situation, they could save themselves by teleporting back to Pelican Town.
Aside from these preparations, Ron planned to take a quest from Mr. Qi in the next couple of days.
His target was the recipe for the blue grass seeds sold in Mr. Qi's workshop. Aside from yielding twice as much grass as before, Ron also wanted to see if it had any additional effects on animals.
For example, if this type of grass would be tastier, or if it would result in better animal products.
With this in mind, Ron went to the beach, got on Willy's boat, and headed to Ginger Island.
On the other side, Clint.
Today also happened to be Clint's birthday. Although he hadn't demanded Ron deliver the gift today, he secretly hoped Ron would do so.
If Emily happened to remember it was his birthday, even if she just gave him an insignificant wild flower, Clint would be thrilled for a long time.
Fantisizing about this, Clint worked hard. By the afternoon, a knock came from the blacksmith shop's door.
Clint shot up from his workbench. Just as he was about to run over to open the door, he realized he had been crouching by the forge all day and was covered in sweat. He pulled out a spray bottle from the side, spritzed himself, and only then went over to open the door.
Seeing that it was indeed Emily.
Clint felt his heart skip a beat.
He looked at Emily expectantly, waiting for her to say something.
Just then, Emily shoved the amethyst right into his hands.
"What, you don't like this?"
"No," Emily shook her head, handing him a piece of paper along with it. "This is the design sketch. Since Ron is leaving for Kalos on Spring 3rd, could you please finish it early? Ideally, I need it the day after tomorrow."
"Ah—" Clint was completely caught off guard by this turn of events. He stood there stunned for a long time before finally nodding under Emily's gaze. "Oh, o-okay, no problem—is there anything else, Emily?"
"Anything else?" Emily thought for a moment. Under Clint's expectant gaze, she shook her head. "That should be it. If I think of any brilliant designs, I'll come find you! Bye! I'm busy making clothes, so I won't chat! See you at the Saloon when I'm done!"
Saying this, Emily hurried off again.
Clint sat down in his chair dejectedly. Staring at the amethyst in his hand, he thought for a long time before slowly opening the design sketch.
"At least, I'm the only one in Pelican Town who can do this work, right?" Clint muttered to himself.
"Slug?" His Slugma called out from the side.
"—" Clint gave a bitter smile and turned back to work.
Time shifted to the next day.
Today was Saturday. As usual, Penny took the kids to play at the playground.
Because it was winter, the two children were having a snowball fight.
After playing for a while, Jas jogged over to Penny. "Miss Penny! Are you going to the Fern Islands to find that kid tomorrow?"
"Mhm, his name is Leo," Penny said softly. "If he's willing, I'd like to bring him to live in Pelican Town so he can go to school with you two."
"Yay!" Jas cheered.
Vincent, on the other hand, tilted his head, lost in thought.
"By the way, Miss Penny, can he really talk to birds?"
"It seems to be true," Penny smiled. "Why don't you ask him when he gets here? I can't understand bird talk either."
Before she could finish, a rustling sound suddenly came from the nearby bushes.
The kids jumped in fright. Penny quickly stepped forward, shielding the two children behind her.
She stared intently at the bushes, just about to pull out Clefable's Poké Ball, when Linus poked his head out.
"Did you say there's a little boy who can also talk to birds?" Linus stared at Penny.
"Ah—yeah." Penny recovered and nodded. "He's on the Fern Islands—come to think of it, he's quite similar to you."
"Similar to me?" Hearing this, Linus grew even more excited. "Can I go meet this kid?"
"If you want to, of course."
Penny nodded. Worried that Linus wouldn't be able to afford the boat ticket, she was even prepared to pay for him out of her own pocket.
The next day, Linus was waiting outside Penny's house bright and early.
Penny, who had originally wanted to set off early, was startled the moment she opened the door to see Linus, who was covered in so much snow he looked like a snowman. "Y-you're here so early. Have you eaten breakfast? I have some cookies inside, do you want me to get you some?"
"I already ate," Linus waved his hand.
Seeing how eager Linus was, Penny didn't dawdle. She grabbed a hat from the hat rack, put it on, and followed Linus to the beach.
They went straight to the fish shop and got on the boat heading to the Fern Islands.
Linus lay on the ship's deck, enjoying the feeling of the sea breeze on his face. He took a deep breath, full of anticipation for the kindred spirit he was about to meet.
Until the boat slowly came to a stop at the Fern Islands.
Because Penny had promised to tell him stories on the weekend, Leo had been making a mark on a tree every single day. When the Sunday Penny mentioned finally arrived, he waited at the harbor bright and early, watching for that massive ship to dock on the shore.
Seeing the boat dock, he excitedly ran up to greet them.
Just then, a stranger—who was dressed surprisingly similarly to him—ran out from the ship first.
The moment their eyes met, Leo had just taken two steps back out of fear of the stranger, when familiar sounds came from the mouth of the man over there.
"—" Willy listened to the two of them chirping and making bird calls at each other, and turned to look at Penny.
"They're probably negotiating," Penny said softly.
On the way there, she had specifically chatted with Linus about the boy's education.
Even though she knew this wouldn't happen overnight, if Linus could use a familiar language to communicate with him and help the child lower his guard a bit sooner, that would be good too.
If he could move over by spring, she guaranteed that within a year, Leo would be able to catch up with Vincent and Jas's progress.
She could tell that this child was very smart, incredibly smart.
Of course, if the child ultimately still wanted to live in the jungle, Penny would support his decision then too.
The prerequisite for all of this was that he had a choice.
Rather than staying in the jungle day and night, accompanied only by parrots, because he knew nothing else and had no other options.
Just as Penny was thinking this, as if having heard the two discussing, a large flock of parrots gathered over as well.
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