"Not a chance."

"But-"

"No."

The girl crossed her arms and pouted up at the man in front of her. "But Ash! You would look so cute! All the girls would be all over you!"

"I don't care. They can fawn over Cam, or whatever other unlucky guy decides he wants to take up the farm you left," he, who went by the name Ash, replied, not even bothering to look over his shoulder to see the slightly younger woman to whom he spoke with.

"Blah! Are you seriously still going on about that?!" she exclaimed , slapping her face down into her two palms –would he ever get over that?

"Yes. I am. How in Goddess' name did you think that living there would be better than here? Is there some guy or something that you're interested in over there or something?" With the last sentence, his words got slightly cold, as he continued to refuse to look at the farmer girl.

"Of course no- Wait… Ash? Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?" she cooed, snatching his hat –not a hard feat, as she had the height advantage of being perched on the fence behind him.

His face went bright red as his hands instantly went up to feel nothing covering his strawberry blonde hair. "W-w-what?! No! O-of course not! Lillian! G-give that back!"

"Ahaha! Awwww! Ashy is jealous! D'awww, are you finally going to confess your undying love for me?" the brunette teased, holding the hat above her head, just out of his reach.

"Don't be stupid!" he muttered, stepping on the first support of the fence, reaching up to grab the hat that was oh so close.

Of course, that wouldn't do.

Lillian hopped down the fence, yanking the hat down with her as the farmer boy grasped empty air. Giggling, she held it behind her back, skipping backwards to put some distance between them. "Ash is j-e-a-lous! Ash is j-e-a-lous! C'mon Ashy! Just admit it, and I'll give it back!"

"I'm not jealous of anything!" he spluttered, face still flushed.

"Jealous of what?" a pitched voice asked. Lillian and Ash looked over in unison, seeing none other than the fellow's younger sister, Cheryl.

"Heya Cheryl!" the violet eyed farmer chirped, waving the hand that held the other's cap in a greeting, "Oh, nothing really. We're just talking about how Ash is jealous of the- uwaa!" Before being able to finish her sentence, the girl fell over and backwards over one of the sheep that decided to get in the way of her skipping.

"Not so high and mighty, now are you?" Ash's voice snickered from just a short ways away.

When he came into Lillian's line of sight, she turned her head. "Cheryl! Quick! Keep this away from your brother!" Just as he was about to take the accessory from her hand, the woman tossed it to his younger sister, who caught it with relative ease.

"Cheryl. Come on. Give it back." He ordered, turning towards the child. Seeing that the girl was wavering, considering giving it back to him (not surprising, as he was her dear elder brother), Lillian shot up like a bullet and held Ash's arms back, attempting to slow him down.

"Quick! Run! Hide it in our special place! It's a game of keep away!" she told the girl.

Cheryl stood for a moment of considering before a grin broke out. "Sure thing Lilly! Sorry Ash! That's what you get for eating my pudding!" And with that, she hopped the fence with practiced motions, and charged down the path that led out of the village.

"I hate you," he mumbled, letting out a sigh.

"No you don't. You love me. I'm still waiting for that confession, you know," she giggled before tugging his arm. "Come on! I finally got that blasted thing away from you, so you might as well give in and let us girls dress you up! I'm sure Laney will just fall for you once we're done!"

"And who says I want Laney to fall for me?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow. Even so, he let Lillian drag him along towards the café; he wouldn't find his hat for a while yet, plus it gave him an excuse to walk through town with the farmer girl on his arm for the first time since she moved to Konohana.

"Like, everyone in town. Just hurry up."

--- * --- * --- * ---

"Why am I doing this again?" the strawberry blonde asked for what had to be the thousandth time. "And where did Lillian go?" That was likely the millionth time.

"Because we're making you look amazing. And don't worry about that; you'll see her in a while," Georgia replied, running a comb through Ash's hair.

"But why do I have to look amazing?" he complained. "Why can't I just wear my normal outfit? I feel like I stick out so much! Who else in town will be wearing something like this for no reason?!" As he said it, he motioned to himself; he was simply wearing black dress pants with shoes to match, a white button-up shirt to top it off. Nothing fancy by any standard means, but for someone who was used to wearing loose clothes where it didn't matter if they were dirtied, it was like wearing a suit from the Victorian era.

"H-hey! Laney! I thought we were supposed to be setting him up with you!" Lillian's muffled voice from up the stairs, where the two had disappeared eariler. At the sound, Ash looked up expectantly and quizzically at the same time.

"Oh please," the blonde girls' voice came, a giggling lilt, "that was just an excuse to get you and him here at the same time!"

Before Lillian seemed to have time to retort, she was stumbling down the stairs in a manner that showed she had likely been pushed. Seeing her, the fellow stopped amidst his complaints, freezing and staring.

Her usually let down hair was pulled back in a pony-tail with some hair left to frame her small face. She wore a white sundress, a jean jacket, and simple slim, black shoes. A rather plain outfit, something you would often see in the city or something, but it was ten times better than seeing her in the outfits from Konohana she wore.

"Wait, what are you doing?! Let me go get changed!" she snapped, having not even glanced Ash's way yet. "I told you I would try it on to make sure it still fit properly after letting you borrow it, and then I would change back!"

"Oh hush," Laney giggled, making her way down the steps, taking Lillian by the shoulders, and harshly spinning around, "and look."

Violet eyes stared into pale blue ones, and blinked. Cocking her hip and tilting her head to the side, she crossed her arms and gave a quick once over. "Who the hell are you?" she questioned sceptically, mustering the straightest face she could.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" he retorted, cheeks flushing yet again that day –see! This was exactly why he never dressed up!

Lillian started into her fit of giggles, shooing Laney's hand away when the blonde gave her a slight push. "Now, now, I know how to walk," she snickered, closing the rest of the distance between Ash and herself on her own. "Your collar is all messed up," she stated, grabbing said collar and straightening the one side that had been popped (likely on purpose by Georgia), "What ever would you do without me? Oh right. Nothing. Still waiting for that confession, by the way."

The strawberry blonde was stiff as stone, his heart going a mile a minute as the girl went to her normal girl business of straightening up his clothing. "Hey, do you two even know what today is?" Georgia asked, a sly smile spreading across her lips as she and Laney started toward the staircase.

"Summer 18th?" they asked in unison, Lillian stopping what she was doing to look over at her friends, Ash letting out a mental sigh of relief as his tension began to ease. Dear Goddess, he was so whipped.

"Think a little harder there, you two!" With that, the giggling duo walked upstairs, leaving the clueless duo standing in the middle of the café.

"Is there supposed to be something important today?" Lillian asked. As the words passed through her mouth though, the date clicked in both her and Ash's heads, both giving a drawn out "oh" in unison.

"It's the… Uh, Star Gazing Festival, huh?" the man asked awkwardly, his cheeks regaining the colour they had just barley lost as he scratched his cheek.

"Yeah…" she muttered, just as awkwardly.

"Do you… Uhm… W-want… Want to go with me? I mean, erm, the s-stars… They're supposed to be… Really bright this year.... W-well, that's what Cam was saying, at least."

At the question, Lillian looked up to him. Standing in thought for a few moments, she turned and took a step towards him, loosely taking his hands in hers and looking down at them. "You know that's a festival for couples, right?"

"I-I know." he asked, looking down at her, even though her eyes didn't meet his until she spoke again.

With a cheerful smile, and a blush of her own on her cheeks, she nodded. "I'd love to Ash."

A smile of his own broke on his face, as he lowered his head to give a light kiss to her forehead, "Great," he whispered, before walking towards the doors of the café, entwining his fingers in hers.

"So. Does this count as your confession?"

"Only if you tell me where my hat is."