the farmer, the drawing and spring onions
Quitting his job was easy enough. Throwing everything away to follow his late grandfather's letter to a small town in the middle of nowhere, not so much.
It's been a couple weeks since Midori had moved into Stardew Valley. The old, abandoned farm was a piece of work, nothing like Midori remembered when his grandfather was still alive. Looking over the field, he could clearly recall his grandfather's figure, hunched over and hard at work among the season's harvest. After his retirement, and Midori's parents setting up shop by the city instead, the place eventually fell into disrepair. Instead of the carefully planted crops and lovingly cared for fields, in his view was a thick, overgrown forest, scattered boulders and logs, and an only growing invasion of weeds.
Trudging along the dirt path with the morning harvest, Midori made his way into the nearby town. Birdsong filled the air, the crunching of fallen leaves beneath his feet offering accompaniment. Upon arrival, a familiar voice called out to him.
"Midori-kun! Already hard at work this morning, huh?" Black hair with red streaks bounded towards him.
"Just the usual, Tetora-kun," Midori sighed, "I didn't think managing a farm on my own would be this much work..."
Between wrangling the ever-expanding weeds, tripping over rocks and fending off crows, he could only wonder how his grandfather had dealt with it all on his lonesome. An especially nasty one had nipped at his hands in a show of challenge. How gramps put up with this for decades remained a mystery to him.
His friend laughed, "Well, if you ever need any help, just give me a shout! I'm sure Shinobu-kun wouldn't mind lending a hand either."
The townsfolk were nice, and he had made a few friends already, like Tetora and his friend Shinobu. The saloon's bartender Morisawa had given him a hearty welcome despite Midori's protests, and his partner Shinkai was... rather eccentric, having beckoned Midori to the beach with a barely legible soaked note in the mailbox, only to appear out of the water to hand him a fishing rod and float away. He tried not to think much of it.
Parting with Tetora, Midori watched as his new friend raced away to the side of tall, slightly intimidating, muscular man. Must be the chief he's talked so much about, he thought.
Midori stopped by the bulletin board hanging outside the general store on a hunt for new requests. With the farm needing repair, money for buying new crops and setting aside any change for food, any extra funds would help. Whether its slaying slimes, mining copper pieces or fishing for sea cucumbers, he'll take them if it's within his ability.
The board was as crowded as usual, fresh papers stacked on top of the torn, weathered ones. Midori's eyes skimmed through the calendar, taking notes on the few upcoming birthdays of the various townspeople. Maybe he'll pick up a present or two if he had the time.
That was when a certain poster caught his eye.
Obscured by and tucked away behind several other fliers, a request for spring onions was put up, accompanied by a crudely drawn illustration. Shaky lines drawn haphazardly, a misshapen silhouette, and something curiously akin to a pair of eyes. One might have mistaken it for a sort of cursed talisman, it was almost as if some malevolent aura was emanating from it.
Horrendous as it may be to anyone else, Midori was awestruck at the masterpiece before him. Was it hand drawn? Who was responsible for such a work of art? How could anyone hide it away like that? He was brimming with curiosity. After a few moments of admiring the drawing, he turned his attention the the words below, where 'Please contact Fushimi Yuzuru' was handwritten in a neat font.
Midori couldn't recall meeting a Fushimi Yuzuru before. Maybe he missed someone while greeting the townsfolk? Pelican Town wasn't very big, but the possibility remains.
I'm sure I have some spring onions with me from yesterday... Midori rummaged through his bag, confirming as such, and proceeded to enter the store. Though, instead of the old geezer that usually manned the cash register, he was met with the sight of a dark blue-haired man, one who seemed not much older than him.
With his back turned towards the door, he had yet to acknowledge Midori's presence. He wore a gentle smile as he talked into the phone by his ear.
"...Yes, Young Master, I understand. Are you eating well? If I so much as catch word of you slacking on your studies, please bear in mind I won't hesitate to head there myself and whip you back into shape." A few audible protests spilled from the speaker as the man only chuckled. "Then, have a good day, Young Master. You know you can always give me a call. I know you weren't very thrilled by the rooming arrangements beginning this semester, but please do try your best to get along with Tsukasa-sama."
Having noticed Midori's arrival, the unknown cashier quickly ended the call and turned towards him with a polite smile.
"How may I help you?"
"Oh, um, I have some crops from my farm I wanted to sell..."
Midori quickly unloaded the contents of his bag, looking up for a moment at the young man as he priced his crops accordingly. Upon closer inspection, he found that his slightly messy blue hair, long eyelashes and the mole under his right eye were rather... attractive?
He said something about a young master... is he from some well off family? Assorted theories crossed Midori's mind. What would someone like that be doing out here in the middle of nowhere?
Midori snapped out of his thoughts once the young man spoke up.
"You must be the new farmer, I presume?"
"Ah, yes! It's Takamine Midori."
"Then, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Takamine-sama." He handed Midori a sack of coins in exchange for his crops, once again with that perfect customer service smile of his.
Takamine-sama? "A-ah, same here..."
Midori turned to leave the store, before suddenly recalling the request for spring onions he had taken earlier. Whipping his head back to the sales counter, he asked, "Actually, before I go, do you know anyone who goes by Fushimi Yuzuru here?"
The cashier stared at him with slight surprise. "Yes, that would be me. Is there something you need from me?"
Midori's face quickly morphed into that of surprise, and then awe and excitement. He attempted to stutter some sort of reply, to no avail, before remembering his original goal. After a few moments of fumbling around his bag, Midori took out the spring onions and held them towards him.
"Um, I saw you were looking for these from the request you put up outside, and I just happened to have foraged some last night, so...!"
"Oh! Why, thank you very much."
Yuzuru inspected the the vegetables closely, brushing off dirt here and there, before returning to meet Midori's gaze with the brightest smile of the day. He took a handful of extra coins from his apron pocket, much more than what was initially promised on the poster.
"Do keep the change. I've left that request up for a few days now, and was beginning to doubt anyone would take it." A drop of sweat trickled by his face. "Perhaps adding the illustration wasn't the brightest idea..."
Midori's eyes widened.
"Wait, so... you really did draw it yourself?"
"Hm? Yes, why?"
He squeezed the poster a bit closer. Midori couldn't believe his ears. Here, right here in front of him, was the very genius whose undoubtedly skillful hands had drawn the most awe-inspiring piece he had ever laid his eyes on. A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth, any sign of his usual tired expression was now wiped away with the pure, unbridled excitement he displayed. By no means would he let the chance of a lifetime slip right past.
A few onions were knocked aside as Midori fervently reached across the counter. Taking Yuzuru's hands in his, not even the man's startled face could deter the sparkling eyes focused solely on him.
If there was anything Midori knew at that moment, it was that he'd want nothing more than get closer to the wonderful artist before him.
"Fushimi-san— no, Master Artist!"
"...Pardon?"
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In film, mirrors are often used for moments of reflection, obviously, both the physical and emotional kind, but they are also used for moments of deceit, deception, dejection, juxtaposition, contrast and comparison, distortion, delusion, breaking down and breaking through.
The fact that they took the time to have Mike face his reflection in one scenario, like head on, but not in the other, despite both scenes including a mirror, feels extremely intentional.
El looking in the mirror is for the obvious reasons, as she is using it for its purpose, to look and see the physical changes and feel some way about it emotionally, based on her experiences leading her up to this point. Though for Mike, the meaning is not the same. And we see that in how they choose to film these scenes differently in regards to Mike and what is being implied in each scene.
Basically, there is a significance to them making a point to awkwardly put Mike dead center in the middle of the frame facing the mirror beside El when she looks most feminine, as it also creates this feeling of reflection for Mike, but I would argue it's also deceit/uncertainty, based on the fact that it is shot really eerily in this case.
For one thing, he's not following the rule of thirds, whereas El is. This meant the audience would feel inclined to focus on El because she is following a more common rule of framing than Mike is. And yet once you really look at it, Mike being in the middle just standing still, almost emotionless, feels like you're seeing something under the surface that is just barely within reach, hence why they filmed it the way they did.
Side note: Think of the snowball scene, where the camera has Dustin in the frame following rule of thirds, in focus, whereas Mike is smack dab in the middle not in focus. Most people were focused on Dustin, though putting Mike in the frame in the middle feels important despite that, because it's the damn middle.
A few episodes later, we get a parallel to the first pretty scene and with Mike present again, only they are alone this time. In this scenario, El looks less feminine, and in contrast to the first scene, Mike is not being forced to look in the mirror and reflect. This is because in this case there is no deception to confront since he is most attracted to El in this state and therefore he isn’t deceiving himself. This is also why he's forced to look down uncomfortably at himself, followed by overcompensating...
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