Stuck In Paradise

Sprout Mole Village

Damn it, Hero, stop making yourself sad by remembering the past.

“Why is there so much Sweetheart merch here?” Aubrey suddenly spoke up, looking at the table to their left filled to the brim with accessories all Sweetheart themed.

Hero silently recalled the fact of SpaceBoy who was dating Sweetheart, that is if he remembered correctly.

Wasn’t Sweetheart that anime that came on in the morning? He and the others would go to Sunny’s place and watch it with the others. Mari sort of liked the show and she would hum the theme song mindlessly while cooking.

The thing is that Sunny absolutely despised the show. He never saw that much disgust on his face until they watched it for the first time and Sweetheart showed up on the screen. It was honestly quite funny to watch his neutral face morph into fear whenever he heard the theme song play in the living room.

He wonders if in the four years he watched it to remember her.

There was a sign nearby the merch that read, “Sweetheart Presents, Sweetheart’s Quest For Hearts!”

“Wow, this looks absolutely boring…” Kel muttered.

“Imagine if Basil was in there.” Aubrey jokes.

“Knowing our luck, I have a feeling that he would be.” Hero sighed.

“You know what? My legs are tired, we can take a break and watch the show.” Kel decided.

“Where would we- oh! We got tickets from that sprout mole, remember?” Aubrey pointed out.

“Yeah! We can get in with them no problem-o!” Kel nodded.

“Alright, alright...Omori.” Hero turned to look at the boy in question, “Do you wanna watch the show?”

Omori had a look of shock across his face before it quickly turned back to normal. He looked down and nodded slowly as if he was embarrassed.

“Sweet! Showtime!” Kel laughed.

Hero walked over to the ticket booth and greeted the sprout mole running the stand.

“Ah! Hello, strange-looking sprout moles! Are you here to see the wonderful show Sweethearts Quests for Hearts?” The sprout mole asked, “Cause if so you came to the right place! This sold-out show will start very soon!”

“Yep, that is what we are here for.” Hero went and pulled the four tickets from his pockets, “Here ya go.”

“Oh? Oh, my! I can’t believe it! These are for the front row!” The sprout mole admired, “You must have made some great sacrifices to be alive today!”

“Tell me about it…” Kel grumbled.

“Forgive me for calling you strange-looking! At another glance, you all look like the most normal and fancy sprout moles I have ever seen!” The sprout mole complimented, “Please, enjoy the show!”

Hero nodded to the sprout mole and the group proceeded ahead, climbing up another ladder leading them to a castle-like door.

Inside was the brightest and pinkish room Hero was ever forced to walk into. Sprout moles filled up most of the seats, loudly blabbering about what the show might feature today. Sadly there was no sign of Basil in any of the seats.

The show stage was huge, almost as large as the one in schools that plays and concerts take place on. The first row on the left was empty so Hero and the others quickly settled down in their spots.

A few moments after the group had sat down the lights had dimmed. Two spotlights turned on and danced across the curtain on the stage before finally disappearing. A sprout mole with green hair came from the left side and moved their way forward to a microphone placed down, almost exactly their height.