MY PLACE s02:e32 - Yuka Forlorn

By the time Blathers had finished telling his sister and I about the “abhorrent little pest” I had presented to him, the night had well and truly fallen.

Of all the times to listen to one of that owl’s lectures, perhaps the evening wasn’t the best to choose from – this is when he’s at peak lucidity, after all. Well, perhaps saying that I ‘listened’ to Blathers was somewhat of a stretch as my short attention span failed to keep up with him. It was always my downfall at school.

Still, it’s not as if I mind the night walk home in Place.
Back home? I wouldn’t to dare stick my little toe out the front door. Here, however, you needn’t worry about getting into any awkward situations. Not to mention how peaceful it can be. Even with Main Street being so empty and quiet, save for the subtle beat of Club LOL, I never feel at edge.

On my way out of Main Street, I couldn’t help but notice that the lights inside Nook’s Homes were still on. That’s weird. Tom’s supposed to close up shop before sunset. Maybe I should check in?

Before I could make up my mind, the front door opened, and a familiar blue koala stepped out into the cold evening air. A blessing, really, as it saved me from having to communicate with Mr Nook when I really didn’t need to, but right off the bat, I could tell something wasn’t quite right.

Yuka stood in front of the entrance and sighed with her eyes aimed at the cobblestones and grass. Once she realised that I was stood there staring at her, she met my gaze – not with her usual scowl or upright nose – but with tired and, dare I say it, depressed eyes. It was hard to tell exactly what sort of face she was making from the distance we stood apart and the lack of decent lighting, but she definitely wasn’t her usual grumpy self.

For a moment we stood in silence – I was almost too afraid to say anything until she did.

“Was I really that much of a pain?” she asked.

I heard her clear as day in the middle of this silent darkness, but I couldn’t help but respond with:

“Huh?”

“…nothing” she mumbled, looking back at her feet. “I’ll be moving out of Place tomorrow. It’s been nice knowing you.”

She began towards the steps that lead into the village. Wait… what!?
She’s leaving? Why? What’s happened?

“You’re leaving?” I called before she could disappear from sight. “Why? What’s happened?” Her statement had blind sighted me so bad. Had I done something wrong?

She paused for a minute, as if to consider her words with the upmost care.
“I obviously won’t be able to take my orange trees with me,” she said after a deep breath “so if it’s not too much trouble, I will ask that you take care of them for me.”

“Y-yeah, of course. Absolutely” I wasn’t sure what the appropriate emotion was here. Should I be ive of her sudden decision? Why is she so sad about this? What did she mean by what she said earlier?

“Thank you” she continued. “Oh, and… good luck with the town and everything. You’ve done a good job so far.”

Then Yuka vanished into the shadows, leaving me utterly perplexed and weirdly guilty.
What had just happened? Was this about our argument at The Roost? We’ve squabbled plenty of times before then. What, did this hit too close to home or something?

I made sure to catch her before she left the next morning…

~Author’s Notes~
Keen eyed viewers may notice that Yuka is wearing her GC/Wild World clothes in this pic.
Nothing too deep behind her decision, I just thought she looked better in it than what she has by default in New Leaf. I assume she has more than one set of clothes anyway, you know?