[Harvest Moon: A New Beginning] Rio to the Rescue

Super Rio

Rio squinted at the sunlight interrupting her sleep and groaned. The clock showed it to be six a.m., an hour before she needed to start on her morning chores. 

"Ugh...what a horrible way to start the day. I seriously need to learn how to sleep in."

She got out of bed and shuffled her way towards the kitchen with plans to make some tea. A small smile flitted across her lips as she looked through the window and out into the yard. One year was all it took to make the shabby looking farmland the beautiful place it was today.

After placing some hot water and a bag of her favorite summer tea leaves in a mug, Rio made her way to the table and sat down. It was one of her favorite things to do in the morning; just relax with a mug of tea and think. Whether she thought about chores, cats, or what kind of superpowers she wished she had, it always made for a peaceful morning.

This particular morning she was thinking about chores. Suddenly, a frown came over her face as she realized that she had run out of chicken feed the day before. And her chickens would most definitely be unhappy if she forgot to feed them, in fact, they could be quite feisty if not fed early in the morning.

Rio smirked and thought 'Luckily, Neil's stand is open today. At least now he can't complain to me about wasting his time with conversation while I had no intent to buy anything. Hmm, but now how will I bug him?' She always set aside time to tease her favorite animal dealer; he was grumpy and mean, but she just knew that deep down inside he had a heart of gold.

She quickly put on her work clothes and headed out to the coop. Her favorite chick, Doodle, waddled his way to her feet. She bent down and picked him up, whispering and petting the bird, much to his delight. Rio set the bird back down on the floor of the coop and walked to the door, making sure each chicken was picked up along the way. Before making an exit, she spoke. "Don't worry little guys, I'm off to get you some food right now!"

An idea struck as she exited the coop. She decided that today she was going to have some fun with Neil. After walking to one of the many storage closets in the house, she pulled out a small, red blanket. She tied two of the corners around her shoulders to create a makeshift cape.

With a childlike giggle, she ran out the door and straight to Neil's stand where he had his back turned towards the cart. She took a deep breath and practically screamed. "Neil! I have an emergency!"

Neil, having not noticed the frantic Rio approach, jumped and turned towards her. He looked shocked and more than a little worried. 

"Rio! You scared the crap out of me...what's the emergency?!" Rio noticed the scared look on Neil's face, then threw her head back and laughed.

"Did you see the look on your face? I thought you were gonna just hop over the counter and run to wherever help was needed! Oh Goddess, messing with you never gets old." She grinned widely and hopped up on the counter like nothing had happened. "Anyways, how are you doing today?"

Neil glared, Rio smiled back. She knew he didn't like his time wasted, especially not by her, but for some reason, she was determined to break through his rough exterior. He always seemed annoyed with her, but she had a hunch that this was just a way to mask his true feelings. Besides, his face flushed adorably when she teased him--not that she would ever admit that; even to herself.

As his glare became more pronounced, he decided to break his silence. "Rio. What the hell were you thinking? Playing a joke like that just isn't funny, I thought something was actually wrong. Now I have things to do, so get out of here!"

"Aw, Neil...I was just having some fun. Lighten up a little, will 'ya? Sheesh! What's a girl gotta do around here to make you laugh?" Rio stuck two fingers on either side of his mouth and forced the corners upward. "There! See? That's much better! Have you even ever smiled before? I like your smile, you should do it more often!"

Neil blushed at her comment and their close proximity and moved away. "Whatever. Are you going to buy something or not? I don't have all day." A look of confusion quickly came across his features. "Hang on, why are you wearing a blanket?"

She scoffed. "Neil, this is a cape. 'Ya know--like superheroes wear?"

Neil was pretty used to Rio's antics by now, but he still had to ask. "Yeah, okay. But...why are you wearing it?"

"Remember when I said I had an emergency? I wasn't totally lying. I completely ran out of chicken feed yesterday, and I need more. Otherwise, it'll probably be the end of the world as we know it. Chickens will rampage, pecking at unsuspecting pedestrians' feet! Sigh...and I really hate it when the chickens peck my toes." She slipped off the counter and turned towards Neil. "So...50 bags of chicken feed, please!"

Neil blinked at Rio, then smirked. "I always thought so, but now I'm convinced. You're the weirdest person I've ever met." He transferred five bags of feed from the cart to the counter in front of Rio. "7,000G for the feed. You can take these for now and I'll deliver the rest after I shut down the stand for the day."

She set the money on the counter and threw a hand to her forehead dramatically. In a fake southern accent, she exclaimed "My, what a gentleman! Delivering the feed to my farm and everything! How kind of you, Neil! What would a frail girl like myself do without you?!"

Neil deadpanned. "What the hell was that accent? Stick to farming, please, because acting is certainly not in your future."

She huffed. "Excuse me, sir. I'll have you know that I was the star of the show in the community Christmas play when I was younger!"

"Let me guess," he started, "you were the 'Grinch who stole Christmas'?"

Ignoring his insult, she laughed. "No, I was literally a star. Apparently, I was a handful and preferred making up my own lines to reading the script!"

She watched as Neil deadpanned. "Of course, I should have known you were being literal."

She looked up at the sun and realized she should probably get a start on chores. "Anyways, as much as I would love to rehash embarrassing stories from my younger years, I really need to head back. Thanks for the feed!" She tightened the knot of her 'cape' as she prepared to complete her mission.

"Off to save the world from rampaging chickens?" Neil smiled. "We wouldn't want baby chicks pecking your toes, would we?"

Rio looked and Neil in shock. "Did you just...smile? On your own?!" She rushed over to him and felt his forehead with the back of her hand. "Weird, you don't have a fever, so you're not just delirious from being sick."

"Good observation, detective. You're pretty good at pointing out the obvious." He noticed that Rio's hand was still on his head, and her face was inching closer to his. He blushed. "Wh-what the heck are you doing, weirdo?"

Her eyes squinted as she moved in. "Why does your face turn all red when I get closer to you?" She thought for a second and came up with a brilliant plan. Mission: Embarrass Neil--and potentially figure out if this crush was really as one-sided as it seemed.

Neil became nervous as Rio got a mischievous glint in her eye. She grinned evilly. "R-Rio...why are you looking at me like that?"

Rio quickly untied the blanket from around her shoulders and retied it around his. She then moved her face so that it was just centimeters away from his. His blush deepened even further and he froze in place. "H-hey, why are you getting so close?!"

Without hesitation, Rio quickly kissed Neil's jaw, just centimeters away from his lips, and spoke. "Because now you're super red! Get it? It's your superhero name!" She then grabbed the bags of feed from the counter and started to run back to her farm.

...

Neil's face felt like it was on fire. But he felt happy. It was weird, but her actions didn't bother him as much as he thought they would.

He suddenly turned towards Rio's quickly retreating figure and yelled "Rio!" She looked back at him and waved before making it to her farm, and out hearing range. He shook his head and stared in the direction of her farm while waiting for the red in his face to disappear.

He smiled and thought he wouldn't mind so much if Rio came to 'save the day' more often.