Chapter Text
It was a cold winter when the farmer got out of bed, excited to head to the mines. Since the cold weather prevented crops from growing, she wanted to take the opportunity to collect some minerals and obtain the Slime Charmer Ring after killing 1000 slimes. Her motivation was at its peak when she turned on the TV to see what the fortune teller had in store for her. The fortune teller said it would be an exceptionally lucky day. Exceptionally lucky? Could it be that she would finally obtain the Prismatic Shard she needed? Her eyes lit up with excitement as she left the house, opening the door as if she were Shrek emerging from the bathroom, when a pile of snow fell on her
"What the...?"
Everything was covered in snow; there was clearly a storm, and she would have probably noticed if she hadn't been so impatient to leave the house. If she had checked the weather channel or at least looked out the window, she would have seen that you couldn't see five meters ahead. How was this supposed to be an exceptionally lucky day?
Struggling through the snow, she went to tend to her animals, reconsidering the idea of going to the mines. However, if it really was a very lucky day, it would be a waste to stay home. Besides, she knew the way by heart. What could go wrong? Well, the snowstorm seemed to be becoming a bigger problem as she got further from the farm. And Pam definitely wouldn't want to drive in this weather. But she knew that if she made it to the minecart at the bus stop, there was still hope. What she didn't anticipate was that upon reaching the bus stop, the storm would descend enough for her to notice a man further down the road inspecting his broken-down car. The silhouette of that person immediately caught the farmer's attention, and she recognized him easily.
He wore a huge, dark coat that shone like a reflection of the clear night sky, an elegant bearing, blue skin, black glasses, and purple hair. He wasn't wearing his characteristic hat, probably so it wouldn't fly away in the cold wind. But he was definitely Mr. Qi. The farmer stood still, watching him in disbelief. She didn't know him very well; they had spoken a couple of times, and from the first time she saw him, she had found him strangely attractive.
Just watching him was amazing. It seemed as if he was not aware that they were in the middle of a snowstorm and he was just casually looking at a flat tire. Seeing that the mysterious man seemed to be in trouble, the farmer gathered her courage to approach and offer help, preparing an internal dialogue so as not to stumble as she had in a embarrassing occasion at the casino, where they ended up just staring at each other awkwardly because she blanked and didn't know how to respond to his conversation topics.
Once she was close enough, she couldn't help but freeze for a moment when she noticed that Qi just looked at her as if he had been aware of her presence before she was of his. He just gave her a slight courteous smile and greeted her as if nothing. The farmer returned the greeting and approached, seeing if she could help in any way.
"Do you need help?" she said, more timidly than she would have liked.
Mr. Qi just gave her a friendly smile and looked at the car again.
"Thank you, farmer, but I doubt there's anything that can be done about this," he said as he casually walked to the front of the car and opened the hood, revealing the strange engine of the car. Was this what they called a hybrid car?
"Maybe Maru would know what to do with this," the farmer thought. "I know someone who might be able to fix it." Mr. Qi looked at her with clear interest, but suddenly the storm seemed to be getting worse again.
"But perhaps it would be best if we went to my farm to wait out the storm. It's closer, if you're okay with that, of course."
Mr. Qi nodded. "I would love to accompany you to your farm, dear farmer," he exclaimed, then walked to the driver's side door, took his hat from the seat, and pressed it against his chest.
"So that's where it was," the farmer thought, not considering too much how quickly the blue man had accepted. He was probably tired of being in the storm. "Well, we'd better hurry before this gets worse," she exclaimed, pointing in the direction of the farm.
The journey back was quite similar to the journey there. By this point, she had already forgotten about the Slime Charmer Ring. Right now, she was worried about something else. As she struggled against the wind and snow to get home, she was also thinking about whether she had left anything embarrassing in plain sight before leaving. Walking beside her was the weirdest and strangely handsome man she had ever met in her life, walking next to her with an abnormal grace. It was as if while she was fighting for her life, leaning her body against a snow tornado, he was just there adjusting to her pace, having a calm spring walk totally oblivious to the snow, the cold, the zero visibility, and the flying objects. A junimo flew past them in the air.
"Small, short legs, and a semi-round body. Clearly, the poor thing wasn't very aerodynamic," the farmer thought, hoping it could teleport with its forest powers to a safe place and assuming that Qi surely didn't see it.
"It'll be okay, sometimes these things happen." Did he also have knowledge of the junimos?
Once they arrived at the farm, Y/N opened the door as if it were a great triumph and invited Mr. Qi in. He gave her a gentle smile, wiped his feet on the entry rug, and made a small bow before entering. Immediately, he looked around with great interest in the farmer's house, which was already decorated with some Christmas ornaments.
"Do you like tea or coffee?" the girl asked, taking off her coat and heading to the kitchen.
"Black coffee is fine, thank you," he replied, clasping his hands behind his back and leaning his body towards the small, poorly decorated Christmas tree.
Now that they were inside the house and he was standing next to the tree, it was easier for the farmer to realize how tall the man was. What he did when he entered was not a bow. He was dodging the door frame! Away from the dim light of the casino, it was easier to see his features. Indeed, he was of a faint blue color. It was not an illusion from the lights of the casino machines. His hair was dark purple, and the suit genuinely shone as if reflecting the universe. Behind his dark glasses, when he was in profile, one could appreciate neon pink eyes. In addition to that, he gave an image of grace, confidence, and neatness that was difficult not to be fascinated by.
Y/N hadn't finished preparing the coffee when the mysterious man entered the kitchen and started examining it as well. She felt clearly observed, although not uncomfortable. It seemed like he genuinely had curiosity about what her life was like when she wasn't completing missions or fighting all sorts of creatures in the mines. He looked with interest at the Christmas oven gloves and then turned to look at the tree.
"Do you like Christmas?" The question seemed quite obvious, but coming from a blue man with a casino in the middle of nowhere, it might not have been so obvious.
"Yes!" the farmer nodded with a smile, which seemed to surprise Mr. Qi.
"I do too," he said, taking one of the oven gloves and continuing his tour. "It's an exciting time, gifts, games, people of all ages looking forward to doing and receiving fun things."
"Halloween is good, but Christmas has that something that makes it better," said the farmer, taking out two cups to serve the coffee. Mr. Qi left the glove where it was and approached.
"If I had known about our encounter, I would have brought some snacks," the farmer just shook her head.
"No need, it was a rather unexpected encounter," she said as she handed him his coffee cup, noticing how large his hands were covered by black gloves and feeling her skin tingling when their fingers brushed during the exchange.
They were sitting, having coffee, and having a rather pleasant conversation. Mr. Qi had taken off his gloves and put them in his coat when Y/N finally snapped out of her trance and embarrassedly remembered that they had come to her house to call Maru.
"Right, your car!" she said, getting up to find the phone.
"Don't worry, I'm not in a hurry," he said, playing down the situation.
"Still, it might be best to notify someone before it gets late..." she said as she dialed.
"Hello?" answered Robin. Y/N asked to speak with Maru, and when she answered the phone, Y/N explained the whole situation. "Oh, it sounds like it might not be such a serious issue, but I don't think we can take a look until tomorrow. It's impossible to go out in this storm! Actually, I'm impressed that you managed to do it, although not surprised coming from you! Haha!" Until tomorrow? Would he stay at her house until tomorrow? His presence wasn't unpleasant, not at all, quite the opposite, but... where was he supposed to sleep? Mr. Qi was just watching the scene out of the corner of his eye as he took a sip of his coffee. Y/N eventually hung up the phone, not entirely sure what Maru had said at the end about Sebastian, and looked at the blue man, still not quite processing everything that had happened that morning.