The Blooming Norm
Chapter 2: Under The Moon We Met
By: AnimayWriteY0
[At Sugano Village 6:30 A.M.]
The next day, Reina is currently laying on her makeshift bed reflecting on whatever the things those girls from the supermarket said to her along with one of them complaining about life being unfair. It literally makes no sense for anyone to say such a thing like that, especially when the person behind those is living comfortably and secured in a privileged lifestyle unlike hers. But that isn't something she's allowed to say for herself as well given the fact that other people may had dealt with much worse scenarios than what she had at the moment. Reina turns her body towards the entrance way, she notices the children playing outside like they should be, just being kids. Reina gave a small smile only to turn herself the other way again trying to hold back whatever is eating up inside her. The sheer ache coming from her left chest has become a constant nuisance the more she continues to watch over the villagers. Ever since she became a well-known resident in the village people around her had been going to her more often just to chat or when they're injured. It's as if she's the center point of her people, it's so strange, so weird like it continues to happen much more frequently no matter how hard Reina tries to avoid them.
Other than what was going on within herself, she still felt good knowing that Kozu had made a positive impression after going to Ishigaki for the first time and seeing the people praising the young lad for bringing in the stuff they needed to restock for the next summer. That made her feel more relaxed, a few minutes of easing her sore muscles from both her arms she's ready to go out and do her daily workout. She must stay in shape in order for her physique to be in place, if she ever slacks off then she won't have the strength to fend off anyone who may try to take advantage of her. Not that anyone would want to be with a girl like her anyway.
Other than that, she goes off and ran with her usual casual attire on only changing her casual shoes to a more active footwear. Reina goes off towards the ocean shores right by the village and does her jogging in laps from two palm trees to a couple of clustered boulders from the right as end points. For about 5 laps in she stopped to take a few breathers, after that she places her workout mat on the sandy floor and sets herself laying on top of the mat and does her routine pushups and sit ups. After 17 reps and 4 sets each she stops noticing that no one is out to see her. "That's weird...normally whenever I do my usual exercise a few of the villagers would join me...hmm I wonder..." Reina crosses her arms while placing her left hand to poke her cheeks constantly thinking what the deal is with all this silence? Oh well, it doesn't change the fact that she just had a quiet workout today. Once she got everything wrapped up, Reina went back to her hut and places her work out equipment back to where they are. Reina waited for a few minutes to have her sweat die down so she can take a bath right after.
Having all her sweat drying up Reina is heading towards Umichi Springs to take a quick dip to clean herself after her intense workout. She's accompanied by Sujo's mother whose about to join as well. "Oh great...so much for a quiet me time.." Reina thought with a disappointed look but immediately changes it to her usual stern expression.
As the two are in the springs, Sujo's mother Asami Araki proceeded to chat with her well known friend about her travel to Ishigaki. "Reina, I know it must be hard to step into the very place that gave you so much heart ache but I'm thankful that you have given Kozu the needed encouragement to pass through and successfully bringing in our recent food stocks." She gives off her usual motherly smile to the deliberate unknowing blonde as a sign of gratitude. Reina quickly looked the other way and only nods so that Asami could tell that Reina is listening even though she's not looking directly at her.
Araki San hesitantly mentioned the unfortunate verbal tussle Reina had with the girls in the market. "I also heard from Kozu that you'd dealt with another uncomfortable encounter with one of the town folks...my apologies for that..." To Reina, it didn't matter what those people think of her, but their words sure does keep popping up whenever she continues to give a minuscule thought about it. "I don't often let them have their way with me, and I know shameful words don't mean anything to me." As blunt as the blonde said Reina let out a sigh and continues. "That's exactly why I kept myself from getting emotionally drained from their usual blustery. Not allowing them to have their way with my feelings..."
Asami places her hand on Reina's shoulder and nods. "You're a strong girl Reina...I couldn't imagine how the people over at the mainland city would ever look down on you like that? But you continued to push on through. If any of the people in the village were to have the life you had...They most certainly wouldn't be able to handle the stress and obviously harmful dilemma." Reina doesn't reply but it was clear that Asami's right. If anyone from the village were to be in her shoes, then they wouldn't last a day or two. Being shunned and looked down upon by the people who held deep hatred towards her father thus putting all their frustration and anger out on Reina, the daughter of the man who they despise surely would make anyone lose their will to live on...
"How's Sujo doing?" Reina starting a new conversation to evade a serious and gloomy topic that's slowly becoming too personal for her to talk about. "He's doing okay, though he constantly want to see you whenever you're out and about." Asami let out a casual smile while placing her hand on her cheeks. "That young boy just couldn't stop talking about you." Figures, but to Reina it made the more sense since she and Sujo are much closer than anyone in the village, but it was due to the fact that she played a sisterly role for him whenever his mother is out working to look after the other villagers. "Sujo has been pretty good at fishing and cooking up food lately..." Asami added. This in turn brought Reina to smile a bit, not one that is forced but one that is genuine for the first time, though she kept it subtle so the mother of Sujo won't notice it. Time passes on as Reina got up off the springs and dries herself up, before she can put her clothes on. Asami asks Reina a simple request concerning her health. "Reina, I believe it's time to get some new clothes, I don't mean to be rude, but I worry that the clothes you have now are starting to wear out...I'll lend you some money so you can get some new ones." This suddenly stops Reina thus listening in on Asami's kind words.
She stood still as the brooding blonde looks down with her eyes being covered by her hair thus only seeing her physical features. Her body shakes while her hand tightens, though Asami didn't see it. Reina's eyes gradually begin to envelope with overflowing tears trying her hardest to not let her emotions sprout out but for what she heard made her so thankful. Once the teary blonde cools herself down she informs her mother figure that she'll pay her own money for the clothes and once she comes back Asami can pay back the money she offered. With that plan settled Asami nods thus having Reina going back to her hut to get herself ready.
While she continues to find her wallet, her thoughts of having Asami looking out for her like that just isn't right for her. She shouldn't have to put all that attention on her. Why does she have to do that, especially now? Before, she never thought of offering something unless she did something to have made Asami worry for Reina that much. "Ugh...why do I keep having these things in my head and why does it hurt so much just by avoiding it!..." Reina cursed due to how headache inducing she's having when someone did something kind for her. But it's also rude not to take the offer, so she had no choice but to accept. The thing that made her uncomfortable is not how much care she's been getting recently but it's the fact she's going back to Ishigaki to get some new clothes there.
Once she finally found her wallet from one of her old clothes, she finally notices how wear and tear her attires are. She sighs deeply knowing full well that she really needs to get new ones given the condition she's in now. With that, Reina took her gray t-shirt and her light blue short shorts, along with her favorite chromatic style jacket. After she's ready, the blonde grabbed the walkie talkie. Her only source of communication from the Sugano Village to a distant area. She can only communicate with them when she's only 10 miles away and luckily Ishigaki is not too far from the village.
So with that, she puts her dark high heeled sandals on and headed out to the closest clothing store she can find from the nearest part of Ishigaki. Due to her choices of wear, she's handling the hot weather well with no signs of slowing down, Reina taking the same route as yesterday arrived at the same area in just 30 minutes.
Now that she's here, she began her search around town starting with the small section of Higushima Street Boulevard. She walks casually with the other group of people to blend in. That way she won't be noticed like a sore thumb. The Fugugaki district of Ishigaki is typically crowded so this is a good opportunity for Reina to mow through the crowd without having anyone speak ill to her while she searches, however her stomach abruptly begins to growl. To her luck she manages to spot a food cart right by two taxi cabs and next to a small cafe ahead of her. As she manages to get through and wait for her turn to get a small snack to try and save her remaining money for her new clothes.
As the last customer before her finally got his food, she sees the menu on the truck sides menu, Reina orders the 6-piece Takoyaki for only 500 yen. Paid off and the food being handed to her, she enjoys and savors the food due to her not having anything else other than what she had at her home. She misses the taste of freshly cooked and delicious foods like this, if only she could have the money to buy some more but she knows that she needs the rest for her prime objective.
After taking the last bite of her takoyaki while sitting at a nearby bench she gets up and throws what remained of her meal into the garbage can. She stretches then continues her search for a good clothing shop near the area she's in. With each step she took she continues to see a few eyes taking a glance on her by people who pass by, this sort of unwanted attention now drifts to uncomfortable territory. "Oh, just my luck…now I got a few eyes locked onto me...calm down Reina...you'll be able to get through this…just gotta keep going...and get those damn clothes as soon as you can..." She muttered as she paces herself to the point of power walking making it even more noticeable for on-lookers.
"Crap biggest mistake!…Oh man..." The easily flustered blonde hurries herself until she instantly stops to see a shop with clothes on display from the window right in front of her. Reina took a deep breath and lets out all the uneasiness off her shoulders. Without any time to spare she goes into the shop. To her surprise when she took a good glance at the clothe racks, she realizes that this shop has some pretty fancy apparels. She couldn't make of what kind of clothes she likes because they're just way too fancy for her casual taste. Clothes ranging from business uniforms, long dresses, and florid casuals. The hardest part of this is the fact that the racks of clothes doesn't have a price range for them, making it hard for Reina to choose the most affordable one.
As the amber haired girl continues her search for some clothes, a familiar red head took a quick glance at her direction. "Huh? What is she doing here?" She tilts her head seeing that Reina is struggling to find the right clothes that best suits her. "Oh my, she shouldn't buy those clothes, it's much too expensive for her." As the young girl who happens to be buying herself some new cute casuals, she notices a few other girls talking about Reina. "Hey, isn't that Reina?!" The first girl standing at the same row where the red head and Reina are. "Oh my gosh! That is her! What the hell is SHE doing here?…" The second girl gossips. The two girls continue their unnecessary chatter about Reina thus causing Hiharu to move somewhere else so she wouldn't have to deal with such an atrocious behavior coming from a couple of girls who came from the same school as her. When it was all quiet, Hiharu then places her shopping basket down and watches Reina from afar trying to see what she's doing. "Oh good, she finally found the urban section…I just hope she can afford something there…" So, with that Hiharu continues on with her own shopping needs.
At the other side of the shop, Reina finally found the perfect section that she likes. As she scans through some of the shirts with some cool looking detail in the front, to her guess the shirts here are about 1,200 yen each. With that, she took two shirts, one that held a symbolic choice of words on it. "Life Shall Not Falter." Reina scoffs but it's a keeper for her. The other, a jacket that looks strikingly identical to her old one but with short sleeves this time. As for her pants she goes for the usual jean short shorts, with all this together she believes that these sets of clothes should cost around 6,600 yen.
Once she glances at her wallet, she has 7,500 yen left over thus feeling confident enough to pay off her new set of clothes. With that Reina went in line that have less customers waiting. For a couple of minutes have passed, it's her turn to cash out her attires. Once she places her clothes for the Cashier, the worker scans each of her clothes and typing in the cost adding them together in total for the results. Once it hits the results Reina's confidence broke into panic, the cost was actually 7,900 yen total, just 400 yen short. She doesn't have the money to pay for that amount thus having her own body tense up and sweating.
"Ma'am I need you to pay for this amount, do you have enough to compensate for your purchase?" Oh no, then the shook blonde realized that she actually does have enough before but thanks to her stomach she had to use those 500 yen to buy the takoyaki. She mentally cursed herself for getting greedy on her tight budget. "H-hold on I need to do something..." She took out her walkie talkie and tries to get help from Asami but to her dismay the distance between the walky talkies is too far thus not allowing her to proceed her message from the village. "Ma'am you must hurry, the other customers are waiting too long..." Reina plead with the cashier to try and wait but her patience grew thin until. "I'll pay for her stuff with mine." This took Reina completely off guard and turns herself to look at the source of those words.
"Are you sure ma'am?" The Cashier questions the generous customer. "Of course, I don't mind." Hiharu nods eagerly as she gives the cashier three 10,000 yen bills to pay for Reina's and her own sets of clothing. This puts Reina into a state of shock, guilt, and most of all relief. "Y-You know you really don't have to do that..." Reina spoke in an ashamed tone. "But I want to!" Hiharu spoke immediately with a wide smile. Reina sighed in relief as her anxiety slowly dissipates. "T-Thanks..." Then out of nowhere more gossip resurfaces by the same two girls behind the two. "Tch, of course she ran low on cash, heh what a downer…what does she expect of coming here?…" The first girl mocks. "Oh, and look at that thing?! What is that a walkie talkie, jeez the girl is a freakin dinosaur for still using that crap! At least my phone can do a billion more things than that piece of garbage."
The second girl smugly states as she crosses her arms in sheer impatience. "Hurry up a lot of us are trying to get going here!? Go back where you crawled out of!" All of this mockery added to the already panicking Reina just couldn't handle it anymore, the troubled blonde ran off completely disregarding the clothes that were just bought from Hiharu. "Miss wait! You forgot your clothes!" Hiharu called out but was too late. "Oh no…" She grabs hold of Reina's forgotten bag of clothes only to meet more cruel words coming from the same two girls. "Good riddance. She held back the line for too long now..." This in turn made Hiharu sick to her stomach as she approaches them rightfully tells them off on behalf of Reina, calling out for their hideously toxic behavior. "You two are the actual problem in this world! You girls should be ashamed of yourselves for putting down that girl! What has she ever done to either of you two?!" With the silent reaction coming from the two girls, they stopped not because she demanded it but it was due to the fact the most popular and richest girl in Asagashi College is defending a low life like Reina. Hiharu tries her best to calm herself down saying her piece to them as she grabs her stuff and Reina's purchased clothes beginning her search for the amber haired girl.
"Hmmm...where is she, wait if I go to Sugano Village maybe she'll be there..." With that, she goes to the nearest taxicab and pays for the fare. "Please take me to Sugano Vilage." The taxi driver obliges.
Just as the taxi arrived at the location, Hiharu stepped out and continues her search for Reina only to be met with a worried woman who came to her. She immediately begs Hiharu of where Reina is. "A-are you from Ishigaki?! Please you must know where Reina is!" Asami begged Hiharu. "I-I'm sorry ma'am but that's why I'm here. Reina had forgotten her clothes in the shop after she ran off due to some people berating her..."
Hiharu answered honestly. "Oh no..! She's all alone out there at night!…oh no...oh no…why didn't she call me on the walkie talkie?!" She asked in a state of anxiety. "The signal between yours and hers are too far that's why...don't worry I'll find her..." The worrying caretaker nods. "Please do so, I'm worried sick for her and so are the villagers!" Hiharu places her hand on the worrying woman. "You have my word..."
Suddenly one of the villagers have manage to get a call from Reina, she said that she's at the riverbanks of Norimu just a mile away from the village. With that Asami looks directly at Hiharu as she nods. "Right, I'll find her for you." Asami places both her hands on Hiharu's. "Thank you miss! Me and the villagers are in your debt for doing this for us! Please bring her back!" Hiharu nodded giving the worried woman a thumbs up. "I promise! You can count on me!" With that Hiharu went off in search for the run-away blonde at Norimu riverbanks.
For a while Hiharu is currently walking around, towards the destination where Reina is at. The routes are easy due to her already knowing where to go. Once she can see the patch of green from the slopes on her left, she vaguely sees a girl sitting in the middle of the grassy area. "There she is..." Setting her eyes on the blonde, Hiharu took her time to walk carefully on a slightly sloped patch of grass and headed her way.
Meanwhile not knowing that she's been spotted, Reina grabbed a nearby rock and threw it over the stream of water as the rock dives in. "I'm so pathetic…how can I let them get to me so easily...I should have handled it...Why did I let myself get worked up over that stupid mistake I made?" Reina hugging her knees while her tears continue to flow down. That is when she heard her name. "Reina? Is that you?" The blonde looks up and saw the same red head who purchased her
clothes. "Oh it's…you..." She places her face right back at the river. "I'm so sorry that you have to go through that." Hiharu mentioning the incident back at the clothing store. "I'm used to it..." Reina simply answered. "Your people from the village are worried sick for you, and it's getting pretty late as well maybe it's time to go home yeah?" Hiharu with a gentler tone from her voice somehow eases Reina as she gets up.
"You're right…I shouldn't have made them worry me that much especially for the caretaker..." Reina states while sighing. "I'm sorry…for my umm...outburst back there..." Feeling embarrassed for letting her emotions get the better of her, Hiharu handed her the bag full of her clothes. "Hey umm...what's your name if you don't mind me asking?" The red head smiles and nods. "My name is Hiharu Tsunomori it's nice to meet you, Miss Kujima!" With such a highly energetic and yet still calming demeanor coming from Hiharu, Reina just bluntly says the same thing to her as well. "R-Right...nice umm..to meet you too...Tsunomori San..." Then she sees Hiharu staring at the moon as her eyes is entranced by the beautiful light illuminating over them.
"What a beautiful moon…" Reina sees it as well and agrees to Hiharu knowing that something about this meeting holds a lot of significance and meaning. The two girls stood there acknowledging the beautiful full moon as if they somehow found a similar connection to how they cross paths. Suddenly Hiharu for some odd reason asked a simple request for the entranced blonde still looking at the moon. "We should hang out as friends; this may be a good spot to meet right?" With that, the blonde thought about this and in just 5 seconds she answered. "Yeah…totally… thanks for bringing my clothes…Tsunomori San." Hiharu happily nods "No problem! Please take it easy okay Miss Kujima?" With that the two are split, going their separate ways. The further out they become as they walk away from each other the more intense it got. The two girls begin to have similar feelings that struck them from within, something strange, something warm. Just as they are about away from each other from sight both girls said the same dialogue in motion. "Until we meet again."
To Be Continued.