So SGP was writing the other day because for some reason writing and not doing my homework seems to kill my stress. :D (Which is weird, because...I should have been doing my homework. It ended up getting done eventually, though! :P)

But! I realized that the release of Animal Parade was coming up, so I was like "oh hey I'll write something for that to like celebrate or whatever!" since I did the same for ToT's English release.

So I did! And...it ended up being Juli-narrated, because I felt like I needed to get a better grip on his character. I dunno how well I did on that, but I did try...It turned out in the end to be a Juli x Wakuko (Hikari) friendship 'fic, sorta. And we can never have enough Juli 'fics around here, I think. :D

Anyways, I do hope you'll enjoy the story!

Occasionally, I take out an old sketchbook of mine and draw whatever I feel like drawing. People, landscapes, animals…I'm not very good, mind you, but it's a hobby I can't seem to break. I never usually showed anyone what I drew—maybe I'd show Miss Miori from time to time, but I never bothered to tell anyone else about my hobby.

Until…One day, she saw me drawing a picture by the bridge.

She and I were talking there as per usual in the good autumn weather, and she ended up noticing a tiny detail or something like that from the sketchbook I was doodling in. It wasn't a very good sketch, mind you—it was probably a simple landscape or something like that--but as soon as she saw the whole picture, the look of astonishment on her face was priceless! She even had to clean her little red glasses to make sure she was seeing correctly~.

"Juli," she said, "Teach me how to draw like you!"

Now, I was surprised to hear someone like her say something like that! For as long as I'd known her, she always seemed to have her silly little heart set on farming and nothing else…But there was something about hearing her say those words. I'd like to say it was 'magical', in a sense, but…that'd be exaggerating a little, even for someone like me.

I could only laugh at that determined little face of hers and say:

"Why, exactly, would a farmer like you want to learn how to draw?"

"Well," she said—I can remember that squeaky voice so clearly—"I wanna be able to draw pictures…so maybe I can give them to people! Y'know, like presents and stuff!"

The idea wasn't too pleasing to me at first, to be honest. For one thing, if I were to teach, I would have no clue where to start! I'd never really been a teacher before, after all.

For another thing, my friend the farmer had the attention span of a hyperactive child. I had gotten used to it at that point, but it still worried me. Would she really sit through a whole drawing lesson? I tried to imagine it many times over—only to find that whenever I did, the same thing would happen: she would end up putting down her pencil after about three or so minutes in my mind.

Yet…

"Hm~. I suppose I could give you a few pointers, if you'd like."

I still believed in her. 'Why not?' I thought. 'Everyone deserves a chance, don't they?'

"You'd really do that, Juli?!" she asked with that 'I'm-so-happy-that-I-may-just-explode' look. This was all fine and good, but…I felt something was missing.

Oh, what was it…?

"Well," I began, "If there's some Pumpkin Pie in store, then maybe I might just--"

"Oh, you bet! I can get you a whole pie, even! Um…If I'm not dirt poor at the time, I mean. But I'll try to get you at least a piece, okay?!"

There we go! I did need compensation for the class, after all!

We decided to hold our little 'class' of sorts at the accessory store; Miss Miori was nice enough to move some of the furniture so I could stuff one of my old easels in there. She'd informed me that if any customers came in that day, I could just say we were closed, but…I did feel bad, knowing that Miss Miori would make that kind of sacrifice for us. I didn't want her losing any money, so instead, I told her that I would direct the customers to the kitchen, and so she did her work there for the time being. She later told me it was almost refreshing to work in a different environment, even if it was one room away!

…But I digress. It's a bad habit, I suppose.

In any case, when she finally came to the store for class, I was surprised to see her in high spirits and with one of those 'more-colors-than-you'll-ever-need' crayon boxes…

"Wakuko," I told her, shrugging, "Art is a bit more sophisticated than just using crayons…"

But she just shook her head and said, "Yeah, but art doesn't have any rules! I can do whatever I want to, silly! That's, like…the freedom of it, isn't it?!"

…Touché.

"Fufu!" I laughed—it was rare for Wakuko to say something like that! "I guess we can let you go for now, then…" I sighed, "But no crayons next time, all right?"

"Yessir, Admiral!" my farmer friend pretended to salute. I could hear Miori's laughter from the kitchen…The both of us knew it was going to be an entertaining day.

When we'd finally set up, Wakuko took out her crayons as I instructed her on how to make a sort of 'framework' of a picture before you do anything final. She nodded intently and began to draw while I gave her more pointers. It took a few tries, but after a while she seemed to catch on quickly, and I was practically shocked by the amount of effort she put into all of those little scribbles, and how much patience she had to finish them. (The reason I could tell was because she actually started to get sweat on her brow—not to mention she stuck out her tongue every time she got to a more detailed part of the picture.) She never seemed to show that determined, patient side of herself, even when we were with close friends.

There were pictures she drew of people around Harmonica Town, her farm animals, the places she'd been to as a child…each told a unique story. I asked her about each one as she drew, and as I guessed, she had a story for each. It almost seemed as though each story she told, and each picture she finished…her style seemed to progress a tiny bit more every time. When we started, she drew little doodles that reminded me of things that the children at Harmonica Elementary would make, but after an hour or so, things began to take on more and more shape. (However, her doodles were still just that: children's doodles.)

It wasn't until later on that she asked me to step away from the easel and just stand in front of her. I had a feeling of what she was doing, but I kept it to myself as she took out a light purple crayon and began to scribble away at the last piece of paper on the easel.

"After this one," I told her, crossing my arms, "We'll probably have to stop…You used all of my good paper!"

"Ack!" She gasped, tilting her body away from the easel so I could see the worry on her face, "I-I'm really sorry! I probably should have brought money to pay for it…I couldn't even afford to buy you a silly piece of pie…Did you know they're like 2000G at the Inn now?! Mai said the price of pumpkins went up or something!"

"No need to worry~." I smiled, "If this next picture is a good one, you won't have to worry about a thing."

Another priceless look out of Wakuko—more determined than I'd ever seen her. To be honest, I really wanted a pie that day, but…I supposed I'd let her slide today.

"O-oh! I'll make this one as best I can, then! I promise!"

"Fufu," I laughed, "I'll be looking forward to it!"

"Just, um…would you, uh…"

"Hm?" I tilted my head, noticing that Wakuko's face had grown red.

"Well, it's your jacket…could, you, um…"

My jacket? I always wear it in the wintertime when it gets cold…Even indoors. It's fashionable as well as practical! What exactly was wrong with it?

"Well?" I asked, "Spit it out!"

"Umyourjacketiskindofinthewaysowouldyoubeabletotakeitoff?!"

I heard Miori chuckle again from the kitchen. If I'd heard correctly, she asked me to…take off my jacket?

"Wh-what for?!" I asked, unaware at the time that my face was bright red (as Miss Miori told me soon after), "And how is it 'in the way'?!"

"Um, please!" she pleaded, "I can't tell you why just yet, but you have to!"

I sighed…At this point it would be hard to say no…If I did she'd probably end up bawling on me…And then I'd never hear the end of that from our friend Mai…So, gently, I took off the jacket and placed it on the couch for safe keeping. It was a tad embarrassing with only my yellow ribbon-tie and striped shirt, but Wakuko seemed to be oddly fascinated with my shirt and tie nonetheless.

"Fine…but you have five minutes, all right?" I shifted my gaze to anything that wasn't Wakuko's smile, "I-It's cold."

"Okay, okay!" she sighed, but went back to her normal 'peppy' mode soon after, "I'll be done in a jiffy!"

And off Wakuko went, scribbling away at the large piece of paper with that very-dull crayon of hers she'd been wearing down for the past two hours. Every so often she'd stare right at me with her tongue out, as though she were taunting me to come see her picture, but I just looked away, embarrassed. (Oddly enough…)

As promised, though, she finished in the five minutes I allotted for her, and of course, I took my winter jacket from the couch and put it right back on!

"Okay! All done!" she said, almost like a nurse would after administering a shot to a child or something, "Come and look!"

I wasn't really sure what to expect out of that piece of paper. Hopefully it wasn't going to be extremely creepy or odd-looking…Because I knew it had to be some kind of drawing of yours truly! For the Goddess' sake, she used a purple crayon for almost the whole thing! But, being the brave soul that I am, I swallowed my fears down and looked at the canvas.

"Ta-dah!" she smiled, "I had to have you take off your coat because it kinda looked hard to draw, but…I hope you like it!"

I stared in awe.

It was nothing special, really! It was just something that looked like a child's version of a doodle of me!

But…at the same time…it was me. Really, truly me. She gave the drawing a wide smile, even with a scribble of red for the tinge of rouge I use every so often! The eyes were the exact shade of red, spot-on, for a children's drawing! (Although Wakuko may have just gotten lucky by bringing all of those crayons…) When I looked into the face of the drawing, I didn't just see a kid's doodle. I saw myself. The exact smile I would see in the mirror every morning before I left the house. 'She knows me too well', I thought.

Sure, the arms may have been completely out of proportion and the legs looked a bit chubby, but…It was the first time anyone had drawn me, and…

"It's…It's wonderful, Wakuko," I smiled. I don't think I'd smiled that wide in a very long time.

"You…you really think so?!" She gasped—Fufu, I could almost see the stars in her eyes, she was so happy!

"Mhm~!" I nodded, "I think you've just won yourself a free art class!"

"Hooray!" the farmer jumped for joy, once, twice…maybe even a third time?! "I-I'm so glad you like it, Juli! I worked really hard on it!"

And then (as expected of our Little Miss Glasses), she gave one of those trademark hugs of hers. It was warm. Friendly.

"I'm glad I could help you," I told her, still smiling like a fool.

"I'm glad you could teach me!" she said as she let go. When I heard that, I finally felt like a teacher…that teacher I thought I could never be to someone like her.

And if I learned anything at all from her that day, maybe, just maybe…despite how childish that girl may be on the outside…Wakuko is grown up. Wakuko is determined.

Wakuko is…more than just a friend to me.

…Although I'd rather you kept that last part between you and I.

It wasn't until she left that I realized Wakuko left the drawing of me on the easel. Miori was astonished by how well the face resembled me, as well, and we decided to keep it in the shop, so I could take a look at it every now and then.

During work, I usually tend to polish up some of the gems Miori leaves in the cabinet for selling so they stand out a bit more, but…nowadays, I've been drawing more and more. I keep my sketchbook in the drawer of Miori's desk, the same place where I keep my other precious possessions: the polishing cloth from my master, and Wakuko's funny little drawing of me. I always take a look at it and smile before closing the drawer. I suppose it's become something of a habit.

One day, not too long ago, Wakuko came in the store and asked:

"Juli, how come you've been drawing so much lately? Miori's gonna dock your pay if she sees you without your polishy-cloth and stuff!"

And I told her, embarrassed, "Well…all of the other gems are clean right now! And Miss Miori says it's all right if I draw occasionally to pass the time."

When she left, though, Miori gave me one of her sincerest smiles. We both knew the reason why.

That girl had become my inspiration.

I do hope you guys liked it! :D As always, reviews and constructive criticism are great, and I'd love to hear from you! ^^ Even a little comment makes SGP's day!

Thanks a bunch for reading! ^^

-SGP