The morning after Quad Four entered Vivid Forest yesterday, it went unaffected by the green crystal. After spending some time in the forest searching for a topic for the group of friends to discuss in Biology class, Sheila found a rare blue flower with white highlights around the tip of the petals, much to the satisfaction of the others.
Nate Elfirm, however, is the only one who remembers the events of the green crystal, making him quite concerned about Vivid Forest. He tried his hardest to forget about what happened with Vivid Forest, and that anything out of yesterday wouldn't be associated with Quad Four anymore.
Luckily, Nate's in his bedroom on a Sunday Morning, without a need to go outside at the moment. He could even stay there all day and use his computer to talk to his friends when needed. However, something kept bothering him, enough to make his body feel fluttered and especially surge in... something unknown.
He couldn't quite identify what it was, and ever since he returned home yesterday from Vivid Forest, he had to walk straight up the stairs to his bed, wanting to rest after a day's visit to the forest, while trying to find a Biology topic.
Quad Four, unlike Nate, didn't seem to remember what happened yesterday at all, only that they needed to find their Biology topic in Vivid Forest. Cloey didn't remember that her camera was missing, claiming she lost it during her search in the forest, which confused Nate even more.
Sam was injured, but suddenly all the scrapes and bruises suddenly vanished. Additionally, even Manson and Sheila, who are the ones in the group who typically tried to get it "real" for everyone, didn't know anything about the green crystal. All of this made Nate perplexed about what had happened in Vivid Forest.
Three consecutive knocks were pounded at Nate's door, immediately making Nate guess who the knocker was without them entering the room first.
"Hey, the camera that lent you yesterday had some dust in the lens. Did you not try to clean it up after your Vivid Forest trip?" Nallie questioned.
"Is it really that important for your camera to be in top-notch quality as brand new?" Nate said.
"Is that supposed to be a question? Of course, I mean, I bought this with my hard-earned cash, basically it's like my family treasure that I hold closely with my heart."
"It's not that serious, Nallie, it's just some old camera." Nate scoffed.
Nallie looked offended when Nate made that comment. "As if you would understand the value of my things. Whatever, I'm gonna leave now to do something actually productive with my life."
Nallie promptly closed the door with a bit of force and left without hesitation. Nate sighed and let himself tumble over the pillows and sheets on his bed, preparing himself for a lengthy slumber despite waking up thirty minutes ago after the crack of sunrise.
Nate waited for an hour to fall asleep in his bed, but he felt as if energy surged through his restless body. Recognizing that fighting his body's inability to sleep was pointless, Nate got up and quickly dressed to go outside, to burn off the energy inside him, like a power stirring within him.
Nate went downstairs and immediately went for the front door, but a hand was placed on his shoulders, effectively stopping him from making further steps.
"In a hurry on a Sunday morning?" Bethani, Nate's mother, said.
Nate stretched his limbs out while cracking his knuckles. "Yeah, just need a little jog outside to loosen myself up for homework later."
"I see... Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt if you see Miss Lisjurbule while you're out. I want to thank her for giving me the ingredients for our dinner days ago."
Bethani pulled out a bouquet from behind, each of them in a different color and size.
"I want to give these flowers from the backyard as a token of my appreciation. I would do it myself, but a last-minute call from work said otherwise, heheh," said Bethani. "Can you give the flowers to her for me?"
"Oh, sure, I guess, not that I have anything to do right now," remarked Nate.
Despite wanting to rest a little bit more, even when considering that Nate lay on his bed for a considerable amount of time this morning, he appreciated the opportunity to focus on something else rather than ponder the Vivid Forest incident.
He took the flowers from his mother's hand and briefly went outside the door. The flowers exhibited a sense of sweetness, almost as if it was made to be edible delicacies.
Nate arrived shortly at Ollie's house next door, knocked on the door, and waited for her to answer. Looking at the outside of the house, he assumed it wasn't very well-maintained, even though Nate knew Ollie tried her best to take good care of her home.
The Elfirm Family offered to help care for the house, but for some reason, Ollie politely declined. It must be because she is too nice to accept help from anyone, but it still felt wrong to leave all her housework to Ollie.
After a brief period, the door slowly opened, revealing Ollie Lisjurbule with a bag of fertilizer in her hands.
"Nate, good morning, what brings you here?"
"Nothing much, Miss Lisjurbule. My mom wanted me to give you this." Nate pulled out the bouquet and presented it to Ollie. Her eyes fixed upon the bouquet, and she smiled with joy.
Ollie took the flowers without a second to spare and held them close to her chest, as if it were her firstborn child. "Ah, Bethani, the flowers you grew are so beautiful - I might just explode in happiness, not that I will actually explode, of course."
"I think I know what you meant," Nate reassured.
"Come in, come inside... and help yourself with a snack or two." She directs Nate to her kitchen, decorated with a variety of flower-related trinkets and vases, almost like Ollie is growing a garden inside her house, too.
The walls are painted in a shade of green that makes it feel like being in a space of nature, and the decorations inside are made of old-fashioned materials. Believing it to be one of the most valuable items there, the piano appeared to be in perfect condition, with not a single patch of dust on its surface.
Nate loomed over a bowl filled with a colorful assortment of candies. There are chocolates, lollipops, and gum-sticks of all kinds of flavors, which Nate decided to pick a simple fruit chew, which was hidden at the bottom of the bowl.
The bowl of candies looked rather stale, even dull, when he squinted through the wrappers. Ollie didn't have many visitors, which made Nate feel bad for how she had to put up with it.
Nate then wondered why Ollie insisted that she maintained her house on her own, without asking others for help.
Ollie returned from outside after planting her flowers in the available space in her garden, which Nate saw through a large window panel between, and he inferred that the window is also that way to let more sunlight into the potted plants inside Ollie's house. She then sat on the other side of the table across from Nate.
"Miss Lisjurbule, you don't have to keep doing these chores around the house if you're feeling tired. My family and I would help out if you want, so what's stopping you from doing so?"
As soon as Nate spoke his last few words, Ollie briefly looked over to her gardens before her eyes shone more than usual, as though his words made her remember a memory.
"Nate, I'm sure you weren't around the time I moved in here, but there was... someone else who lived here, a close friend of mine."
Nate somewhat blinked at the revelation. "So... someone was here before? But where are they now?"
"She moved away from Standart City. At first, I was weeping that she was going away, probably somewhere far from here, but I knew deep down that it was her decision," Ollie said.
"It must have been tough to see her go, then."
"However, she told me to be strong and that I was capable enough to handle myself around the house. So I did handle myself and made some new friends along the way."
Ollie grabbed a candy piece, unwrapped it, and plopped the whole thing into her mouth.
Nate saw that Ollie stopped chewing and looked directly at him, as if she saw something inside of Nate, something of certain value.
"Nate, it's because of my friend who drives me to take care of myself. Even when people you care about move away, your memories with each other that you hold dear to your heart can be something of help," Ollie stated.
She smiled as she looked down at the ground like she was looking for something to say. "And you, Nate, do you have experiences of loved ones that you know have to move away, but their memories with them inspired you to strive for your goal, or something like that?"
Nate also looked down as if he were imitating Ollie's actions previously. He was not sure if the answer he would tell Ollie would be quite what she was expecting, but he went with the answer that he could muster up.
"I mean, my grandfather, who's sometimes away, like he makes me more motivated to help protect my friends and family. Our memories with each other are personal with me, though," Nate reluctantly worded.
"Oh, you mean Arley? I see, so he's the one who drives you to your ambition, isn't that right?"
"Mm-hmm."
"In that case, keep holding your memories dear, it's one of the ways to make your spirit strong, but then again, it's my opinion, just so you would know."
Ollie glanced in the direction of where the clock was and stood up to stretch her legs.
"Ah, I must have been keeping you here for some time. I'm sorry, you can go wherever you need to go. Oh! And here is a gift for the whole family as a thank you gift in return," Ollie said.
I'm sure it was only a few minutes that we talked...
She went into the kitchen pantry and remained there for several minutes, causing Nate to be anxious for a bit when muffled sounds of plastic utensils dropped onto the floor. As soon as Nate stood up, Ollie quickly strided across with a green bag.
"Here it is. I won't tell you what's inside, but there are chocolates I got from Honoway Mall, but I don't know what your family likes in particular, but I got one of every kind in that new store that opened recently."
Nate grabbed hold of the bag, which was heavier than it looked from the outside. "Thank you, Miss Lisjurbule, I'll make sure to make them finish all of them, because they were a gift from you."
Ollie giggled at what he said and made her way into the garden, where the flowers awaited her beloved return. "Goodbye, and take care," she said before closing the door to prevent any flies from entering inside. Looking through the window frame, Nate saw Ollie carrying more fertilizer next to the garden from the small shack in her backyard.
Nate then left Ollie's house with a green bag of chocolates, although he's not sure he could resist hogging all the chocolates from his family. It was definitely chocolate, and to make it worse, it was from a new chocolate shop at the mall, making it hard for Nate to stop staring at the chocolates.
Sam Davis sat quietly in his bedroom; the room was adorned with posters of various sports celebrities, particularly baseball players. Every figure on the posters seemed to look down on Sam; it was as if the room wasn't made for his privacy, but for those who expected him to accomplish at least something.
Sam felt a strange sensation, one he couldn't quite shake since the day Quad Four first arrived at Vivid Forest to gather their group project idea for Biology class. After confirming that this feeling wasn't just a normal experience that most people have in life, he decided to go for a walk outside.
When in the middle of walking to the front door, Sam's mom, Annie, is preparing groceries for dinner tonight. She sees Sam preparing his shoes for outside.
"Sam, what's going on here? It better be not one of those days where you practice baseball in the school fields again, right?" she interrogated with a raised eyebrow.
"It's not like that, Mom, I'm just gonna walk around the street to get some air out," Manson answered.
"Mm-hmm... Okay, try not to do anything dumb. Make sure not to mess up your clothes again like last time... Always having to scrub off the dirt and grass from the cloth..." Annie mumbled.
Sam felt a little better when he was outside his house compared to being stuck in his room, but a feeling hidden inside himself had managed not to escape.
His feeling wasn't exactly an emotion itself, but more like a sense of storing energy inside him. The way Sam would tense his muscles unexpectedly, like at school, during meals, or even while sleeping, without moving at all. All of this made him feel like he had to do something, or else this feeling wouldn't go away—like he needed to find an action to calm himself down.
He saw some people he knew, like the sleeping guy in a tattered blue tent, which, based on what he saw inside, must be Pallnem. It was a strange name for someone like him, although, now that he thought about it, that strange name is enough for someone like this old man.
Sam kept walking until he reached an abandoned shed at the edge of Vivid Forest. When he stumbled into the building, his reflexes kicked in, and his arm shot out like a motorcycle, smashing through the shed as the top and bottom halves collapsed together.
His arm felt as though nothing had happened to it, causing shock to Sam, who didn't expect his arm to do that to the shed itself. Knowing that something was definitely wrong with him, he decided to stay next to the broken shed and rest until this apparent power eased and canceled.
"What the heck is going on with my arm? Did I just do that... right now to that shed building? This feels like a dream, or a story of some kind."
Even though Sam made it clear in his mind that he was going to stay until he looked well-adjusted and his power would calm down in the slightest, he felt extremely dazed as he fumbled with his attempts to stand. Just like his plans to go home, his mind soothed as he fell asleep from the overexhaustion of today.
He could only see through the slits of his eyes before sleeping that the crack of the sun descended below the horizon, where the night crept up towards the sky.