I ignored this building that has been festering within the valley for a long time, but it was time to finally check it out.

  Of course, I was talking about JojaMart. The market stood before me, all blue and big and uh… looking like every other fucking supermarket. No point in describing it.

  I entered and was immediately greeted by a slightly nerdy and high-pitched voice.

  “Hello there!”

  It belonged to a man with dark hair parted to the side, wearing a suit with a red bow. He had these weird, small glasses lowered down that nobody ever used in real life, and his face was like that of a sneaky, sleazy salesman. Who else could it be but the manager of the local JojaMart – Morris?

  “Don’t come close, I’m just looking around.” I held up a hand.

  “Ah, of course, our dearest customer. However, may I interest you with a-”

  “No.”

  I walked around the shop and noticed Shane working, fixing up the shelves.

  “Hey, Shane,” I said.

  He didn’t even spare me a glance. “I’m busy.”

  “Right, right.” I scratched my head. I didn’t come here just to check out JojaMart, that would be a complete waste of time. There was another, more important reason. “You know, I just came here to say this. Jas really wants to see you more. She doesn’t tell you, but it’s true.”

  Shane stopped for a moment, but resumed his work right after. “What do you even know? Just leave already.”

  “Just remember this, alright? There’s someone out here that cares about you,” I said.

  Shane, to put it bluntly, had suicidal tendencies. Even during the game, in that one cutscene, he considered ending it right here and there. The player would then stop him, and over time, his mental health would get better.

  But this wasn’t the game. It didn’t cross my mind before – my interactions with townsfolk varied greatly, so just how far could this go? What if that time, when Shane was all drunk and about to end his life, I wasn’t there? What if only later I realized I had the chance to help him?

  I couldn’t allow this. I had to help him, but we weren’t friends. Not yet.

  Right after, I left the JojaMart without buying anything. I could have spent the rest of the day just playing around, working on the farm, going to the mines, or fishing for my bundles… but after what I had just done, I came up with a better idea.

  I first went back to my farm and collected all the forage I had, including some other food I farmed. Then, I walked north, meeting Sebastian on the way.

  “Oh, hey John,” he said.

  “What’s up, Sebastian. How’s it going with Abigail?” I teased him.

  He blushed a bit. “N-Nothing. Why would there be something?”

  “Oh, come ooooonnn.” I elbowed him. “Abigail has been visiting you more lately, I saw it. You’re going to ask her to flower dance with you, right?”

  “Maybe…” he coughed. “And? What about you?”

  “To be fair, I don’t think anyone will want to actually dance with me.”

  Sebastian chuckled. “You can just ask Sam in that case. Some consolidation, huh?”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  I wouldn’t really mind it much in a normal case – it would have been a funny joke, after all. Just two bros doing the flower dance. The problem was that every single bachelor and bachelorette in this town was literally bisexual. I mean, maybe not, since this differed from the game in some ways, but I still didn’t want to risk it.

  “I’ll leave you to it. You should think about who you’ll ask,” Sebastian said, then began to walk away.

  “Have fun at Abigail’s house.”

  “Shut up!”

  But it really was an important question – who should I choose? First off, I was straight. Let’s just get that out of the way. That removed half of the possible options. Abigail would dance with Sebastian, and the two were heading in an interesting direction, which I was happy for, of course.

  Whatever, the time would come. For now, I had something else to deal with. Soon after, I found Linus who was walking around the valley, admiring the mountain like.

  “Hey there, Linus,” I said.

  “Oh, John. Hello,” he replied.

  “I brought some fresh food. Do you want to, you know, cook some of it together?” I asked.

  A small smile formed on his face. “Of course.”

  We walked to his tent, and I presented him with all the food.

  “Wow, that is truly a large amount…” he looked over all of the food. There were potatoes, cauliflowers, parsnips, potatoes, leeks, and horseradish. A true feast.

  “I understand you wishing to help me, but… are you sure this isn’t too much?” Linus asked.

  I sat down on the log and looked upwards, as if in thought.

  “You know, Linus… at first I thought it would be best to go at it slow. Meet the people here, I mean. Over time, I would become friends with them and so on. But I just realized this isn’t my way. So, uh, yeah. That’s it.” I scratched my ear. It sounded a bit embarrassing now that I thought about it.

  Linus nodded. “If that’s what you want, then good. I won’t deny your friendship.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled.

  Something then hit me. I suddenly remembered something from the past. During my first ever play-through of the game, it was Linus who I got to ten hearts first. It had been so long that I had forgotten all about it.

  We then started to cook a good meal, and I reminisced about what I just said. In my life before all of this, I spent most of my days at work, just trying to survive. I was so tired that I never felt like going out, and over time, I rejected any invitations to hang out with other people. That was a mistake. Eventually, they stopped inviting me, and I lost all of my connection to other people, except for those at work, but there wasn’t one person here whom I could call a friend.

  Whatever it was that sent me here, I was grateful for it. It gave me a fresh perspective.

  A thought then occurred in my mind. I left Linus for a moment and walked over to Robin’s house.

  “Oh, hey there, John. Are you looking to buy any upgrades?” Robin asked.

  “No, actually…”

  After some convincing, Robin, Demetrius, and Maru joined me. Maru looked a lot like her father, except younger, a girl, and she wore glasses on top of that.

  “I do have to say. You really took me by surprise with your invitation,” Demetrius said.

  “Well, you live close by, so I thought, why not?” I replied.

  The four of us then joined Linus, and he accepted the company with a smile. It was as if his heart warmed after today. It wasn’t just from that one moment, though. I talked to Linus several times before this; it’s just that it wasn’t anything nearly as drastic. Come to think of it, some other people were living nearby…

  Soon after, or rather not so soon since Gil was taking his time walking, Marlon, Gil, and I returned to the camp. Gil was an old man with a large gray beard who lived in the Adventurer’s Guild with Marlon.

  Marlon also brought some meat with him, and when I asked him where it came from, he only responded with “Don’t worry about it.”

  I did worry about it.

  Now, we were all sitting around the fire, as if we were camping and preparing food. Fortunately, I brought more than enough. It was meant to be all for Linus at first, but oh well.

  By the time we finished cooking, the sun was starting to set, and it became dark and slightly cold.

  Sebastian even returned and walked up to us when he saw us sitting in the campfire’s light.

  “And then, I was surrounded by mummies from all sides. Of course, though, I was young back then. They didn’t stand a chance, but then…” Marlon talked about his adventuring stories from his youth.

  “Hah! As if you could defeat even a fly back then,” Gil said.

  Linus talked about his own stories from his past. Sebastian and Maru didn’t open up much, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Demetrius asked me if the offer to check my cave was still on the table. It took an awful long time. Maybe I scared him off back then? Heh, how ironic.

  The food came out very well. My crops were truly of the best quality, and I brought out enough courage to try and taste Marlon’s mea-. Hold on, that sounded wrong. I tasted the food he brought, and it was surprisingly tasty. Then, for the next few hours, we all joked and talked about random things.

  It was night, and the fire was the only source of light. The stars were vast – visible, unlike in the city back when I lived there.

  As Linus started speaking about how to forage, I smiled.

  This was how life was meant to be lived.