Author's Note: Harvest Moon is the Property of Natsume, and I don't own either. This is just a hobby of mine. (Once again, thank you for starting me on this kick, ManaMage.)

Harvest Moon: Friends Of Mineral Town

The Differences Between Love and Hatred

On one sunny morning of Spring 2, the Pullet Family, which was recognized by the village as the Chicken Farming Family, was busy setting up shop at their own home.

The Mother and proprietor, Lilia, stood patiently behind the counter as always. Her daughter Popuri was busy coddling one of numerous chickens raised at the farm. Finally, Rick came inside after feeding said chickens.

"So, the chickens are in their best condition, right? Our new farmer should be coming in today, I want to make sure they're in presentable form." Lillia said.

Rick nodded. "They're well-fed and everything! If there was a chicken beauty contest, any one of them would win it hands down!" he assured.

Popuri giggled. "I'm sure they'd have an easier time winning a "cute" contest!" she exclaimed.

Rick groaned. "A "cute contest"? Seriously, Popuri, you're just way too childish!" he claimed.

"Hey! Lay off me!" Popuri shouted before going back to her chicken. "There, there, honey, don't you listen to mean Rick and his stupid insults at me."

"You're doing a pretty bad job of trying to act more "mature" so far." Rick smirked.

Immediatley, an unfamiliar young man came barging into the Chicken farm.

He had short black hair and wide blue eyes. He wore a long-sleeved dark blue jean jacket with a matching pair of jeans, along with some crimson sneakers and a flaming neck bandana.

"You must be new farmer from the city! Welcome to the Chicken Farm. How may I help you?" Lilllia greeted in a friendly matter.

The new guy breathed a sigh of relief. "So, the sign didn't lie! That's good!" he said aloud with a grin. "This is just so awesome! I've always seen chickens at fairs and on TV, but it only made me yearn of my childhood when I first met one up close!" exclaimed.

Poppuri blinked a few times as she stared curiously at the stranger. "Hm... he seems excited about seeing a chicken..." she thought to herself.

"OKAY!" the stranger shouted in delight before making his way towards the counter. "Yes, I'm the new guy!" he boasted. "My name is Mitchel Blaze from Chickadee City, and I 'm the new owner of the Red Roost Farm. I want to start of my business by being the proud owner of a little clucker!"

Lillia gave a pleasent smile. "You sure can't wait to get your hands on one, huh?"

Mtchel nodded vigorously.

"Okay then! My daughter Popuri happens to be carrying one of our chickens right behind you!" Lillia said as she faced Popuri.

Immediately, the eager young man turned around and spotted the feathery creature with glee.

"Sweet! A real live chicken!" he cried as he snatched the chicken from Popuri's ask before rubbing his cheek in its feathery body. "Ah, it's soft like a pillow... I love it..."

The pink-haired chicken girl would've been deeply offended by the stranger's recent actions if she wasn't so genuinely intrigued by his peculiar actions.

"What a strange man..." Popuri thought.

At that time, someone came crashing into the Chicken Farm by kicking open the door. It was firey-haired Ann, the daughter of the Innkeeper.

"Yo! Popuri! I was just wandering if you wanna come with me to the Goddess Spring again and hope for the best!" she cried.

She then noticed everybody was looking towards one direction, so she decided to follow along and look at the bizarre stranger with the flame bandana around his neck.

"Say, who's the freak with the chicken? Is he one of your relatives of or something?" Ann blatantly cried out loud.

Unfortunately, this got the city boy's immediate attention. Mitchel carefully placed the chicken in the gawking Popuri's grasp before giving Ann a piece of his mind.

"Oh no!" Lillia called out pleasently. "This is Mitchel Blaze, the young man taking over the farm and---"

"DID YOU JUST CALL ME A FREAK?" Mtchel shouted.

"Well, yeah!" Ann answered back casually. "I've seen this family treat these chickens affectionately before, but I haven't seen go crazy like you just did."

"That doesn't give you the right to insult me!" Mitchel growled.

Ann had devilish smirk on her face. "Do you really like chickens so much, or are you just some curious kook?"

"I happen to like chickens... a lot. They're my most favorite animal, okay?" Mitchel cried.

"Well you know what?" Ann sneered. "I happen to pluck and cook chickens before! I've even seen one running around with its head cut off!"

The others in the house gasped, but Mitchel was just completely pissed. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU JUST CASUALLY MENTIONED COOKING CHICKENS IN A CHICKEN FARM! HOW DARE YOU COMMIT SUCH BLASPHEMY?" he cried.

Ann chuckled. "Ah, you're just overreacting! I'm sure these guys ended up offing at least one of their chickens when they stopped egg production, right?"

With that said, the entire house became dead silent as all blank stares rested on the red-headed interloper.

At that point, Mitchel had a strong urge of socking Ann straight at the nose, but he realized this might just be a first meeting gone awry.

"Maybe... if I catch this chick... on a better day... maybe we could actually get a long..." he rationalized to himself.

"Anyway, you realized you're getting carried away with this whole "chicken love" thing, right? You need to get over it, cuz' I think you'll start to scare everybody else away!" she suggested. She then turned to Popuri. "So, will I see you there soon?" she asked her.

Popuri nodded slowly. "...Yeah, hold your horses. I'm coming." she assured her friend.

"Good!" Ann exclaimed cheerfully. "Well, good day, everybody!" she cried as she waved a friendly goodbye to everybody else in the house as if she never quarreled with Mitchel at all.

The angry black-haired chicken lover was just about to have a word with Ann right before she slammed the door in his face. Steam seemed to pour from Mitchel's ears has his faced turned bright red from anger.

"...That little... She just treated me like crap, and in an instant, she pretended like nothing happened! What is wrong with her?" he thought as he contemplated rushing out the door and reconsidered landing a blow on the aggravating red-head.

"Uh, Mister?" Popuri softly cried as she poked Mitchel's shoulder.

In reaction, Mitchel turned to face her.

"Yes? What is it?" Mitchel asked. He then carefully observed the pink-haired girl carrying a chicken.

"Hmm... she's cute, but I don't see much else in this girl. At the very least, she's a fellow chicken lover, so she'll make a trustworthy comrade." he thought to himself.

"Didn't you want to purchase one of our chickens?" she asked as she pointed back to her mother.

"Oh! Right! I'm sorry! It's just that rude girl from earlier riled me up, and I sorta lost my head for a second!" he said while laughing bashfully. "Thank you, Miss!"

"You're welcome! And I hope you take great care of your new chicken!" Popuri answered before making her towards the door. "Anyway, Bye everybody! I'm going outside, now!" she cried as she turned the knob.

"Bye, Popuri!" Her family cried back as everybody, including Mitchel, waved goodbye.

Afterwards, the farmer boy turned to face Lillia.

"So yeah, your daughter has a point. I want a chicken, so I gotta pay up. What's the price?" Mitchel asked.

Lillia pointed up an index finger. "1500 G!" she answered in a friendly town.

Upon the mention of the price, Mitchel went into a state of shock.

"1500 G? But I... that means I don't have enough!" he thought.

After spending some time sulking, the dejected new farmer made his way out towards the chicken farm.

A peppy Rick then stuck his head out the door, since he felt obligated to give him a warm goodbye. "I'm sorry we could not serve you today, but please come again! I assure you that we'll still have a quality fowl waiting for you when you finally earn the money!" he cried.

Poor Mitchel let out a long sigh as he carried his shattered spirit around the rest of the town. "But the main reason I came out here in the first place was to raise my own chickens..." he muttered to himself.

With news of Mitch and Ann's infamous first encounter spreading throughout the town, Manna of the Aja Winery found herself some interesting new gossip.

"Aha!" she exclaimed as she thought it over by her lone self. "I see through this personal conflict between Ann and the new guy! They're actually two stubborn, reluctant lovers who don't know how to express their feelings! It's really just some awkward display of affection! How sweet!"

Little did the poor fool realize how wrong she actually was...

Omake: In the Midst of the Tour...

While checking out all the buildings of the town, Mitchel came across a really big one. He decided to check it out, so he opened up the doors leading in, only to come across Ann during her cleaning sessions. The spunky red-head gave a friendly wave as Mitchel made a sour face.

"Oh, hello! Welcome to--- wait a minute! It's you, the freak guy!" Ann cried blatantly.

"Uh...whatever..." Mitchell grumbled.

He then took a slight look around to see the tables and the stools by the counter, then back to Ann.

"So, this is the Inn, huh?" he muttered aloud.

"Yeah! This is it! And let me tell ya, the food here is--"

But Ann gets cut-off by an immediate door slam.

"HEY!"