In the Little Garden, the first rays of morning light always carried a touch of divine warmth.
But for the NoName community's base of operations, that warmth came laced with a strain of headache-inducing absurdity.
Suke pushed open the manor's front door and stretched with a long, lazy yawn.
Not far away, Athena — once the very picture of haughty divine wisdom — was dressed in a drab, dirt-streaked set of farming clothes, sweating through her work with the grim determination of someone who deeply resented every second of it.
"You... you all remember this," she said through gritted teeth.
The dark-gold ring around her neck caught the sunlight and gleamed with a distinctly mocking sort of radiance.
"If we are doing land planning, then it had better look like actual land planning."
Beside her, Leticia observed the scene with perfect composure, jotting notes into a small notebook.
"Miss Athena, complaining won't accomplish anything. The soil fertility in this plot is unevenly distributed. As the Goddess of Wisdom, you should be able to determine the optimal planting density simply by examining the texture of the earth."
"This is a desecration of wisdom!"
"No," Leticia replied, adjusting a pair of plain-lens glasses she had procured from gods-know-where, her aura radiating full managerial authority. "This is respect for labor."
At the far end of the field, Alger was crouched in the dirt, locked in a fierce, red-faced argument with a cluster of NoName's younger children over who rightfully owned the last Golden Star Melon.
"That melon belongs to Al-chan! Anyone who tries to take it, I'll turn into a stone statue and stick you in front of the bathroom door!"
"Big Sis Al, please, just let me have one little bite..."
The scene was positively harmonious.
So harmonious, in fact, that Black Rabbit found herself thinking: if days like this kept up, NoName's revival was just around the corner.
Though the particular manner of that revival would probably have every past leader rolling in their graves.
"My, my. Looks like everyone's settled in nicely."
Shiroyasha appeared at Suke's side without warning, fanning herself with a folding fan, gold eyes glinting with barely-concealed mischief.
Behind her, Indra looked like a salaryman who'd had his soul surgically removed — dark circles so deep under his eyes he could have passed for a panda's long-lost cousin.
"Suke-dono, I have fulfilled my end of the bargain," Shiroyasha said, snapping the fan shut and pointing to a wooden box — sealed under multiple layers of ice — cradled in Indra's arms.
"Finding this little one nearly burned through every last favor this fellow had to his name."
Indra set the box on the table with a thud that conveyed profound exhaustion.
"Don't even get me started... You'll never guess where we found it. The thing had frozen itself into a popsicle and stowed away inside one of the Heavenly Army's outgoing delivery boxes."
"It's somewhat different from the purple one, but I'd say it meets the requirements."
Suke stepped forward and tapped the box lightly with one fingertip.
The authority of the Shepherd's Crook flowed through his touch, and the ice dissolved in an instant.
Sitting on the table, shivering violently, was a Junimo — round and plump, its body translucent as crystal, shimmering with a faint pale-blue ice-crystal quality. It clutched its own chubby little hands against itself and peered around at the surroundings with wide, wary eyes.
Then it caught the unmistakable scent of pure, authentic Stardew Valley drifting from Suke's direction — and both of its little bead-like eyes lit up all at once.
"Winter Melon! Winter Melon!"
It was a Junimo — and its name was Winter Melon.
"It's not the Grape, but finding it probably means finding the Grape isn't far off," Suke mused to himself.
This whole trip to the Little Garden had been about more than just tracking down Junimos. The real point was that he had now established a genuine foothold here.
Even if the process had been... slightly roundabout. (Namely: the kidnapping of two or three three-digit-tier deities to serve as farmhands.)
"Well then, Shiroyasha — consider this phase of our deal concluded," Suke said, his tone growing serious.
"I'll tend to NoName's territory. Once the blessed crops come in, the split is as agreed: five parts to me, four parts to NoName, and the last part... call it your broker's fee."
Shiroyasha burst out laughing.
"Splendid! In that case, I shan't overstay my welcome. The old fogeys up in the upper levels of the Little Garden are still bickering over the divine vessel incident — I have to go stuff their mouths shut."
She cast a meaningful glance at Tsukishiro Yuki, who stood behind Suke.
Since she is the returning vessel of the Saint Child, it would be better to let her return to that 'Land of Return' sooner rather than later.
Otherwise, who knows what trouble might erupt if those two were to meet.
[Stardew Valley Farmer · Suke — Stardew Valley, the Farm.]
The familiar scent of earth and forest wrapped itself around Suke's senses once more.
Tsukishiro Yuki adjusted her sun hat and drew in a long, deep breath. The murderous undertone of jealousy that had been radiating from her back in the Little Garden — the unmistakable aura of someone mentally broadcasting "all of you, stay away from my Animus" — dissipated by more than half.
"Home is still the most comfortable," she murmured.
With the most natural ease in the world, she tucked her arm through Suke's, a faint softness flickering through her pale blue eyes.
Abigail had already dashed off cheerfully to poke at the Slimes, while Winter Melon drifted through the air, curiously taking in this farm that "the Grape"... no, this farmer had cultivated into such a well-ordered place.
"Jii-jii... Winter Melon!" it chirped, then landed on Suke's shoulder. The cool touch of it gave Suke's mind a sharp, pleasant jolt.
Come to think of it, he still had no idea which part of the Community Center Winter Melon was responsible for, or what it could actually do. He figured he'd better ask.
"Winter Melon, now that you're back — can you help me with something?"
"Winter Melon!" it chirped. (Is it about Stardew Valley's marriage rules?)
Winter Melon already knew what he was thinking before he said a word. This farmer, after all, was not so different from the Grape — his thoughts were easy enough to read.
"Yes!"
"Jii!" (Of course I can.)
It flew toward the center of the farm, its small body radiating a brilliant, sparkling ice-blue glow.
In that moment, Suke felt the very laws governing the farm shudder.
The rule that had been bound to this little corner of Stardew Valley — the constraint known as "only eligible marriage candidates may be chosen" — was cracking apart like ice, reshuffling, and reknitting itself into something new.
A moment later, Winter Melon floated back down to the ground and rubbed its eyes with tired little fists.
"Jii!" (Done. The rules here have been rewritten. Farmer, you and the Grape really are alike!)
Alike? In what sense? Where exactly was the resemblance?
Suke didn't quite follow what Winter Melon meant by that, but as long as Mabel's request had been fulfilled, that was what mattered.
"Winter Melon — jii!" (Oh, right — and there's this!)
Winter Melon suddenly seemed to remember something. It reached out its plump little hand and plunged it into empty space in front of its chest.
From that void, it pulled out a purple, semi-translucent sphere.
Inside the sphere, a mass of writhing purple matter was faintly visible — pulsing with a rhythm that unmistakably resembled a heartbeat.
"What is this?"
Suke leaned in for a closer look, and his eye immediately started twitching.
At the center of that purple mass, wrapped within it, was a single dried, withered grape leaf — cut cleanly, as if by a cleaver.
Looking at it that way... wasn't that purple substance essentially grape flesh?
"...?"
"The Grape is dead?"
Was this a severed limb? Had it been dismembered? Had someone cut it apart?
No, wait — had it been divvied up? Split among all the Junimos it had ever annoyed, taking their revenge at last?
For reasons he couldn't quite explain, a cold feeling crept down Suke's spine.
"Winter Melon! Jii-jii-jii!" (No, no, no! The Grape left this behind before it departed. It said it had its own mission to fulfill. Just now, rewriting the rules — Winter Melon was able to do it precisely because of this!)
(With this... it should be possible to find the Grape again. Yes... it'll definitely work out!)
Winter Melon explained, its tone carrying a note of helpless resignation.
Suke wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and let out a long sigh.
It wasn't a direct retrieval, but at least he now knew where the Grape had gone.
And most importantly — Mabel's request had been completed. With the marriage restrictions in Stardew Valley now lifted, he could finally get down to planning the wedding in earnest.
____
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