"I have to do it...but how??" I sigh, walking back and forth in my room, "what if she doesn't feel the same? O-or if this makes her hate me!"

Hate me? She wouldn't hate me..

"But, no matter what happens, I should probably tell her.." I flop down on my bed.

How should it be done? I've never done something like this before...

I heard knocking at my door.

"Come in." I sit up, seeing Hop Pop entering.

"I couldn't help but hear your stress..." he chuckles, sitting down next to me, "you want to talk about it?"

I nod, and look down at my feet.

"Alright, I'll admit it, okay? I like Anne..A-a lot.."I confess, "but, how would I even tell her? I can't just walk up to her and say it! I'll turn into a blubbering mess by just thinking about it!"

"So, what should I be looking for?" Anne asked, almost to the top of a tall tree. She cut me off before I could say anything, "oh! I found the first clue!"

She said climbing down the tree. She ran up to me, and read it aloud.

"A man with no arms.

A nice place to eat.

The clue's in the cabbage,

where people like to meet..."

🤣

Maybe this was a bad idea...she's not going to get it-

"STUMPYS!!" She says enthusiastically, "right?!"

I nod, surprised. She's good at this...

"You should tell her in the best way you know how! If you can't talk to her about it, then make it into a scavenger hunt or something!" Hop Pop chuckled.

"A scavenger hunt?" I ask.

Would that work?

"Just think of good clues, and lead her to places! Anne does love adventure."

We got to Stumpy's pretty quickly.

"Anne!" Stumpy waves from behind a counter, "I see you've come back, Sprig." He says quietly, winking to me.

Yeahhhh...he may or may not know why I made the scavenger hunt....

"Hey Stumpy!" Anne waves back. The then took out the clue again.

"Alright...cabbage?" She looked around.

While she was looking, I walked up to Stumpy.

"So, you're good with tonight?" I whispered.

He nodded, "aye, I'll make something for ya two."

I'm not sure why Sprig made this scavenger hunt, but it was surprisingly fun! I never knew that he was good with riddles..

I found the cabbage, and found the next clue! And then the next. And the next.. and, the next....

"Sprig, how many more riddles are there?" I sighed.

"T-there's one more.." he chuckled nervously.

Why does he seem so nervous?

The sun was setting, and I had been running around for about an hour now.

I look around the brook, and find a group of rocks that looks like an arch. I look through the arch, and see a tree with a clue on it.

"Face the red dot,

and left 90°.

Walk 30 steps

Straight through the trees."

Alright, is Sprig a murderer or something? Luring me in to the middle of the woods, and having me go further?

.....

Eh, I'm having fun.

I face the red dot that was on the trunk the clue was on, and turn to the left.

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Thirty!

I look around, and see a ring of trees around me. Glowing mushrooms everywhere, and a large table-looking mushroom in the exact center. On the mushroom were two plates of food, and another glowing mushroom.

"W-What's all this?" I stuttered.

"Hehe..surprise?" He nervously chuckled.

I felt like I was in an actual fairy tail. B-but..why'd he do this??

"So..w-would you like to sit?" He asked, gesturing to two chairs.

I nod, and sit down. He sits across from me.

I could hear cicadas all around us, and it was almost like they were singing because of us. We both started eating, and the entire time, I was trying to make sense of all of this.

I-is...is he going to..tell me?

Oh gosh.

He is!

How should I respond?!

I...

I feel like..I feel the same way...

But how should I tell him that?

What if I say something that I don't mean, and then he gets hurt, and he doesn't want to speak to me and then—

"Are you Alright?" He asked, breaking me out of my trance.

"Hm? Oh, yes!" I chuckle nervously.

After a few moments, I began to hear rustling in the woods. Eh..it's probably nothing.

Sprig cleared his throat.

"S-So Anne...I've been meaning to tell you something.." he starts, rubbing the back of his neck.

Oh gosh. This is it!

"I-"

He gets cut off by a wild hedgehog attacking him from behind.

"Sprig?!?" I jump up.

Sprig's on his his stomach, the hedgehog pinning him to the ground. Three or four more move out and surround him.

Ah! Gotta think fast!

I look around, and see a big stick. I grab it, and start hitting the hedgehogs.

"GET. AWAY!" I shout, kicking and hitting them. One ran away, but the rest remained. One jumped and scratched my arm bad.

I squeezed my eyes tight, pained. But I can't stop now. I raise the stick high up and swing around at them. The rest scampered off.

"Anne! Are you alright?!" Sprig asked once there wasn't a hedgehog about to chew off his face.

"Y-Yeah..just a little-"

And everything went black.