A Story of Seasons: The Story of Jill | Volume II: Summer

Chapter VI: I'm Rooting for You

What a mess... Roller thought, shaking his head as his eyes wandered the floor. The green, carpeted ground is scattered with cards and poker chips, with the card table lying on its side. Mick is seen on his knees timidly picking the cards up and stacking them in his hands, his eyes lowered to avoid eye contact. Roller sighs, crosses his arms, and turns away from the mess. He walks to Guts, who is sitting behind a counter spinning a coin on the table nonchalantly.

"Y'know, I'm surprised you let the kid off so easily." Roller says, breaking the silence. "I mean, we both know you aren't the biggest fan of hers."

Guts sniffs, drumming his fingers on the side of his face.

"Whatever. Money is money, but without the Goddess, I don't have any business." He slams the coin down with his palm, letting out a disgruntled sigh. "Even with a few sprites back, spirits are down, and no one's playing. It sucks."

Roller glances down at his feet, placing his hands in his pant pockets and not saying a word. Guts digs his fingers into the side of his forehead.

"Everyone gets mad at me for being so short with her, but no one wants to see it from my perspective. Part of me's shocked that you aren't more upset, Roller. It's your business, too."

Roller twists the corner of his mouth, his eyebrows lowering.

"We all have a pace that we go at, and for obvious reasons, this isn't the greatest time of year for her." His face relaxes, his body loosening up. He looks back at Mick pitifully, who is now picking up poker chips and sorting them by color.

"Y'know, the more I think about it, humans are like us Harvest Sprites." His eyes dim, and he pulls at the bottom of his goatee. "We're useless on our own. We all need someone, whether we like it or not."

Guts continues to rub his temple and stare at the wooden counter, remaining silent as his thoughts overwhelm him. Suddenly, Hops enters through the double doors, his usual blank expression on his face.

"You got a visitor." He says apathetically. Suddenly, Lila appears in front of him, her cloak burying her shoulders and arms. Her red eyes pierce through the shadow cast by her cloak hoodie, her expression intense. She pulls her hood down, glancing over at Roller and Guts.

"Oh, it's you two." She says wearily, bored. She eyes the room for a moment. "Didn't expect the mood in here to be so grim..."

Defensive, Roller gives her a blank scowl, crossing his arms.

"What are you doing here, Witch?"

She shrugs nonchalantly, the corner of her mouth twisting.

"Eh. I was in the neighborhood. Felt a bit blah. I figured I would stop by and mess with you guys. That always gets my spirits up." She reaches into her cloak pocket, a small smirk appearing on her face. She pulls out a small bag of goddess shrooms, clenching it in her palm. "By the way, you should tell your brothers to change the hiding spot of these guys. You're basically leaving your house door unlocked. You can thank me later."

"Just tell us what you want, already." Guts replies impatiently. "I'm dealing with enough right now."

The Witch Princess raises an eyebrow and glances over at Mick, whose body is visibly shaking now that she has made her presence.

"What happened here?" She asks roughly, pushing some hair past her face. Guts gets up from his chair and straightens out his jacket, letting out an impatient sniff.