A Wonderful Life

"There's not enough room." Umi sighs, taking another sip of her tea.

"Well, why not?!" Nico looks as though she's ready to toss the controller through the screen and they aren't even two minutes into the game yet.

"You get seven spaces. Just take out the 'Lovely' and keep the 'NicoNii'." Eli's got the game guide in hand, wondering if it was too early to regret their decision.

"Okay, fine." Nico huffs but the next page makes her smile, "Well, at least we don't have to worry about this one."

And thus Muse Farm is born at 1 am in the Nishikino vacation home for a hard core play through of Harvest Moon: It's A Wonderful Life.

Rin's gasp nearly bowls her over when the puppy appears on screen.

"WE NEED IT."

"We need it!" Honoka agrees.

"Alright, already! I wasn't gonna send it away!" Nico continues the game and groans when a name box comes up, "Okay, what are we naming them?"

"Alpaca!" Kotori opts.

"We get sheep later, you sure you wanna name the dog of all things that?" Eli says from behind the guide.

Kotori's eyes shine excitedly, "Can we name all the sheep 'Alpaca'?"

"All of them?" Umi startles, "Kotori, don't be ridicu-"

The pleading look in on her face all but disintegrates Umi's sentence and resolve, "...Fine."

Nico glances at Hanayo who looks like she wants to say something but is a bit shy. She turns back to the screen and plugs in the name 'Gohan'.

Hanayo flushes a pleased and flustered pink as everyone looks at the dog and agrees.

"Celia seems nice." Hanayo says, munching on another rice cracker, "She already works on a farm, too!"

"She'd know the ins and outs of the industry already. She'd make a good wife." Maki agrees.

"Celia's the boring choice. It's like we'd be marrying ourselves. Let's go for someone different than us! Like Muffy!" Nozomi glances slyly at Eli, "Cute, blonde Muffy."

Eli flushes and turns away, "There's another one here, I think. Look around some more."

Umi, however, is aghast with all of them, "We're just meeting our neighbors! It's rude to be... leering at them with impure intentions!"

"Umi, It's just part of the game, y'know? Don't worry so much!" Kotori tries to soothe her.

"Yeah, Umi, quit being such a stick in the mud!" Honoka does quite the opposite.

As their character moves around, by chance they find her and everyone is shocked into silence.

"No way." Rin whispers and quickly bursts into giggles, "It's her! We have to marry her!"

"Huh? Why?" Maki, confused by everyone's nods, blinks.

"Well, there's no one else we could pick after seeing her." Nozomi smiles.

"I don't understand! What is it?" She complains.

"It's settled." Nico proclaims, smirking at her perplexed expression, "Maki is our bride!"

It takes 10 minutes, but Hanayo and Rin are eventually able to convince Maki to come back in the room.

"We need a cow!" Honoka shouts as Nico finishes up harvesting crops.

"We'll have the money by tomorrow so hold on! Our farm won't survive if we only make hasty decisions! We're building a life, for heaven's sake!" Nico scolds. She'd gotten very into her role in the past hour.

"I want to get some chickens, though..." Kotori adds, "And some alpacas."

"We can only afford one and we've talked about this, Kotori; they're sheep, not alpacas." Maki grumbles.

"Cows are more lucrative. I think they're the better investment for us since we're starting out." Eli's advice seals it, finally putting down the guide in favor of some chocolates.

The game day cycles and Nico puts in the order.

"Muse Farm is on it's way with it's first animal!" Hanayo cheers, "I think we're getting good at this!"

"That's the spirit, Kayo-chin!"

Nozomi grins, "That's right! We've picked a bride,"

Maki clicks her tongue.

"We've got some nice crops growing," Umi nods.

"And now," Honoka beams, "We got one cow!"