The Blooming Norm
Chapter 3: Forgotten Peace Resurfaces
Written By AnimayWriteY0
After trekking through the familiar pathway back to Sugano Village, Reina couldn't grasp the feeling within her the moment she and Hiharu were close like that back at Norimu. That meeting shouldn't have been a big deal, was it? "Nah it couldn't be, must be the thought of a kind stranger handing me the bag of clothes I had forgotten back at the store." Reina thought urging herself to stay focused and continuing on with her path back home. The moment she finally steps forth of a noticeable rock formation ahead of her signaling she's on the correct way to the village. "Alright time to face the music…" Reina ponders knowing she'll get scolded for being reckless on her budget and knowing full well that the red-haired girl went to the village in hopes to find her. Which may cause the caretaker to feel distressed of her long return after curfew.
So on, she proceeded to go through and remove a few patches of greenery blocking her path. Once Reina pushes away the remaining palm tree leaves, she finally arrive to the spot where she usually does her work out and surprisingly enough about every villager, she knew are sitting together by what looks like a bonfire. Everyone took notice of her and few of the people, primarily the children rush their way to her asking the blonde if she's alright? "Reina Kun! Where have you been? We are worried sick of you" A young preteen girl asked her while holding her hand. While a young boy hesitantly asked her if she's hurt. "Are you alright Reina kun? I hope nothing bad happened to you at the city…" More people start to converge around Reina wanting to know if she's okay. "I'm okay guys take it easy..." Reina shrugs off their overreacting worry only to be met with her Caretaker Asami who immediately hugs Reina and doesn't let go which took Reina completely by surprise of this closeness.
Asami then places her hands on her shoulders visibly shaken and worried for Reina knowing how dark it was. "Reina! I'm so glad you're okay! Do you have any idea how scared I was having to think that you could have gotten lost!?" Reina looking directly at Asami seeing how frighten she is for her. This type of behavior coming from her caretaker is strange because Reina has never seen someone who shed tears like that and exhibit so much worry for her well-being.
Normally she sees her people within the village being neutral and minding their business but nothing like this. Here everyone sat at the same spot praying for her safe return home especially for her caretaker. "I umm...I just needed time to adjust myself...I'm sorry Araki San…" Asami sighs and nodded knowing full well of what had happened to her when she's at the clothing store. "The young lady who came in search for you told me of your situation regarding a couple of girls harassing you." Reina turns her head away out of shame due to how bad she let her emotions get the better of her letting those girls have their satisfaction. "I know...I'm so sorry you had to deal with such a ghastly behavior coming from those girls…I should have come with yo-" Reina interrupts. "No, it's fine, you've got lots of things to take care of in the village, please don't push yourself too hard for my sake." With that Reina walk past Asami returning to her hut to rest.
A few hours have passed and the remaining day has finally turned to night as Reina lays motionless on her make-shift bed reflecting on herself to see if she can harden her feelings in order to get by with life. From what she has at the moment, she's pretty content with what she got. She can get her own food by fishing, she has her hut, what's more she can go out and about around the surrounding area to do some cool things like going surfing, climbing steep hills, hiking, and more just for the thrill. Unlike the girls from Ishigaki Reina is considered a tom-boy due to her interest in doing self-physical activities. Hence the reason why she's much taller and slightly muscular. So, in her mind, why does she continue to feel so lightheaded the moment she sees someone who she knows act so weird towards her like the other villagers waiting for her safe return. To Reina, it doesn't seem like a big deal since she does have the ability to defend herself if anyone tries anything on her, so what's the point? "Ugh…I can't sleep, what the hell is wrong with me?" Reina cursed mentally; nothing could get rid of the dreadful headache she's having. Having thought that, she instantly heard someone approaching thus breaking through her internal struggles. Reina slowly got up and observe her hut door. For a short minute she can hear a feint call from a young boy. To her relief it's Sujo who carefully opens her door. "Reina you're still awake?"
Once Reina finally relaxes, she gets up and checks up on the little scamp. "Hey kiddo, why are you doing up so late? You know you could get in big trouble if your mother found out you were sneaking out like this." Reina rubs the young lads head messing up his hair as the little boy chuckles. "Well, I couldn't sleep, I was just so anxious to give you something, but mom told me I have to wait until morning, but I just couldn't help but want to give it to you now!" Reina raises an eyebrow to the young boy wondering what he has been up to when she was off.
Then she realizes that whenever she was out working out, she remembered that Sujo has been scouring for something at the far edges of the shores and digging around his intended spot for a couple of days. "Oh? Does that have anything to do with you digging up for some stuff?" Sujo enthusiastically nods while explaining his reason to giving Reina a gift. "I realize how hard you work to help the people, and how things go when you came back from your visits of downtown Ishigaki. I want you to be happy Reina Nee San! So, I did the best I can with this gift." Sujo goes out and came back with a small wooden box with an open latch mannerly hands it to the blonde. "Oh a small box huh?..." Reina slowly accepts it but felt quite confused. This box looks to be very easily crafted knowing that it was made by one of the palm trees around the village. "Oh..umm thanks Sujo..."
That is until Sujo shakes his head and explains it to Reina. "No, no the real gift is inside that box!" Reina glances Sujo and then back to the wooden box, as Reina begins to unravel the box she's immediately stunned as her whole body begins to freeze, her hands shaking, and her eyes beginning to shed tears the moment she saw the actual gift. Laying on top of a bundle of leaves the features of the gift began to shine, the circular reflections begin to form coloration based on Reina's attire, and there are three of them in one. What Sujo had just gave Reina is a bracelet made out of three beautiful Akoya pearls.
Reina dropped to her knees and gave Sujo a heartfelt hug for this while the young boy proceeded to deliver his own hug in return knowing that Reina absolutely loves it. Reina slowly picks up the bracelet and gently insert the round opening through her right hand and to her joy the bracelet fit perfectly onto her wrist. "Oh Sujo...I really don't know how to thank you for this! You must have worked so hard looking for these pearls, have you?" Sujo nods triumphant. "It was hard! I went so far to try and look for the clams with the pearls underwater. I happen to find one by a couple of soft-shell crabs hanging around at the tide pool next to our fishing grounds. Then I found the other two underwater right by the two big boulders near the entrance way you arrived at." Before Reina could get up, she then offers Sujo one more token of her appreciation for him. She closes in on him and presses her lips onto his forehead giving him a thank you kiss. Sujo chuckles and places his hands on his forehead. Reina gets up and bows. "Thank you so much Sujo this gift has made this day all the more worth it!"
Sujo proceeds to bow back and then sees himself off giving Reina her space back. "I'm so glad you love it, Reina! Okay goodnight!" He waves and goes off returning to his home. Reina finally places herself on her bed while looking at her new bracelet feeling warm and thankful, with this she shuts her eyes slowly and have fallen asleep with an obvious genuine smile on her face.
Meanwhile after taking a taxi ride back home Hiharu arrived back taking a quick glance at her home and smiles. She enters into the entrance of a small mansion. The moment Hiharu took her shoes off one of her maids arrive to check up on her. "My lady you've come home! Your curfew was past a few minutes ago!" Hiharu smiles nervously. "Right right, my deepest apologies Cecilia San, I was out getting some new article of clothing. I happen to forget." Once Hiharu gets settled in, her maid offers her something to eat and drink. "My lady does you wish to have your tea prepared and some edibles?" Hiharu politely declines. "Thank you but I may have to pass on it. I have already gotten my fill back at Norimu. So, I'll be fine." The maid bows graciously.
"As you wish." Before she could go back to her room, she asks her maid a question. "Cecilia San? Do you happen to know how things are with my brother?" Cecilia tilts her head from her question. "Master Koiyama? No, he happened to be still locked in his room for some reason. I asked if he needed anything, but he told me that he doesn't need further assistance and wanted to be left alone." Hiharu sighs. "Still not letting himself go out for fresh air I see…Anyways thank you Cecilia San." Once that question has been settled Hiharu shows herself to her father's living quarters.
After going upstairs from the spiraling stairway, on the second floor she then enters the main hall, a wide room ranging at nine hundred square feet best suited as a guest lobby. Hihari casually walks through the enlarged room as she can hear her own footsteps echoing. Having gone through the main hall she strolled into the family hallway where the bedrooms are. Her father's room is down all the way to the end on her left. The bubbly red head notices that her father's room door has been left opened indicating that he's expecting her to arrive. Feeling ready to speak to her father she stood up, her arms behind her back and enters the room. "Dad I'm home!" being in her chipper self. Her father then turns his head while still working on the boat model he's putting together giving her a nonchalant smile. "Hey sweetie! I noticed you've showed up a little late from your curfew." After he explains his worry, he goes back building the Yoshinora Battle Ship model.
Hiharu scratches the back of her head giving off a passive submissive chuckle. "Yeah, I was spending way too much time going out and stuff. I missed my bus, so I had to stay a little longer at one of the clothing stores, mainly Hokubei Fashion Wear just to browse."
"That's understandable, usually bus drivers tend to leave much earlier if they don't see anyone on the bus stops, so I figured your bus arrived at your intended waiting bench where there's no one in sight." Her father explains his thoughts of public transportation, Hiharu also mentions that she has been on the go to return a forgotten item from a stranger. "Dad, I also went to return the bag full of purchased clothes back to a girl who ran off from the store without taking it. That's also why I was late." Her father laughs while getting up and pats his daughter on the head. "You always love to help others don't ya sweetie?" Hiharu smiles and nods "I mean it felt wrong to just leave it in the store when it was bought, plus I fear someone would take advantage of it, so I went out of my way to make sure she got the stuff."
After taking his hand off her head and sat back down on his office chair the relaxed man then asks her another question. "Hiharu, how far did you go to return the item to the girl?" The twin pig-tails answers immediately. "Around 10 miles using a taxi, I went to Sugano village believing the girl lives there." Her father sighs and realizes this the moment she mentions that place. "Oh, right that place, I was wondering why you looked quite ruffled honey." Hiharu took notice as how dirty her clothes are, mere scratches and stains from the sand and tropic foliage.
"To be fair, those people in the village are quite nice but the main issue is the route between Ishigaki and Sugano Village, the area in the middle tend to have the most criminal activity." Hiharu stopped and let out a feint gasp. "I didn't know dad I'm sorry!" Her father shook his head calmly. "It's fine dear the most important thing is that you came home safe, well other than the fact you look like a flower pot." Her father laughs hysterically from his bad jokes, this however left Hiharu not amused from his lackluster antics. "Ha Ha very funny dad...Oh! How are things going with your three week break from work dad?" He spins his chair out of boredom. "Well, I could say that it wasn't all that swell. Besides being the prime owner of Benkiyo Shipwright business, I happen to try and think of new gear to modify a boats engine to be more efficient on gas consumption. Most of our consumers often buy more gasoline to start up their boat motors, along with extensions to operate the motors functions." He stretches and yawns aggressively. But having three weeks to myself was definitely refreshing, I finally got to work on this model." He also figured what is on his daughters mind. "You're worried about Koiyama right?"
Hiharu nods hesitantly. "Yeah, ever since he reached his adolescent age, he suddenly changed…He's less interactive with us. And more into the online world." Her father rubs his forehead. "Honestly the boy just doesn't feel like himself either, he used to be one of the most active in our family. Cooking food like our maids, enjoy doing chores, playing his favorite sport baseball, and going out with us. Now he's stuck in his room…" Knowing well that her brother had already told their father that he doesn't want to do anything or even explain his unusual behavior, so she avoids asking him if he talked to Koiyama.
"Well, I'll be off to my room dad. Have a good night." Before Hiharu could go, her father asks her regarding to her visit to Sugano Village. "Sweetie if you did show up there then I can assume that you've made a friend, primarily the girl who you handed her the forgotten bag of clothes." Hiharu tilts her head and raises and eyebrow coming from what her father mentioned. "Yeah? Do you have something in mind?" He stood up and went to his office table drawer and search through them. After that he turns around and hands her what looks like a simple cell phone from that looks to be ten years old. Hiharu looked up to her father in confusion. "Dad?" Her father smiles and explains. "Consider this a gift for your friend, I'll be activating that phone again so she can use it." Hiharu is shocked at how enormously generous her father is to a complete stranger. "Dad? This is not like you to offer a gift even to someone you don't even know or even met?" He finally tells her. "It's quite simple really, the moment you told me your story concerning your lady friend, you obviously have interest with her right? Besides I couldn't let my daughter be lonely. I mean that was one of the first things you told me during your day out."
Hiharu's eyes widen and her cheeks flashes red for how well her father can read her words and catches on quickly. That begs the question, will her friend have to pay for the plan? As her father answers. "No, I'll pay for it and the plan I'm going for this is the unlimited call and 60-minute text limit plan that's probably worth just a measly 3,000 yen. I practically don't know what to do with all my money." He slowly took the phone and places it in a small cardboard box while getting up. "I'll be going to E-Mobile to activate this thing and then have the phone send to the Village. All I need is your friends name so that whoever is in charge can give the package to her."
Hiharu hesitantly answers but also excited. "Her name is Reina!" Her father nods. "Alright good, okay sweetie I'll get this done, okay? Be sure to laundry your clothes." Hiharu nods happily. "I will, thank you so much dad!" With that Hiharu goes into her room and wore her well pressed pajamas and sees herself to bed.
[Back at Sugano Village 10:35 A.M.]
Saturday late morning, at Sugano Village the villagers are doing their usual tasks to keep them busy. The hot sunny day continued to shine upon the inhabitants. Most of the people stayed under the shade from the palm trees to cool off, others are suturing some clothes to repair the open tears. Others are fishing to keep food supply sufficient, as for Reina she's working hard on drying clothes and grinding more ointment treatment using her small grind club to bash the fruits until they are reduced to dust in a stone bowl. For a while she watches the children especially Sujo running around playing tag, at the moment she took another look at her bracelet then looking on at Sujo having a fun time with the other kids have really put a smile on Reina's face.
After finishing up with all the clothes hanging, she suddenly turns her attention to a big black truck stopped near the edge of the overpass and coming out of the truck looks like a delivery person standing out and threw wrapped package at the nearest hut from the far left. This brought everyone's attention and converging their way to the package as it sits onto the sand, half buried. Asami being the cautious one informs the villagers to stand back warning them that this could have a bomb inside. When she examines the cubic object, she carefully picks it up only to see the name for who this belongs to.
"Reina!" Asami calls out as the amber haired girl came through to see what the deal is. "What is it Asami?" Asami slowly hands the package to her. "I believe this is for you."
Reina is utterly confused to see that she has gotten another gift, so she looked directly at Sujo as the young tyke shook his head and shrugs having the same feeling as Reina. She even notices that all of her people shook their heads indicating that they aren't involved with that package. "Then...where exactly did this thing come from?" Reina questions rightfully. "We'll see it once you open the package." Asami answered wryly. And so, Reina does exactly that as she slowly unwraps the box and uncovers another box colored in red as she slowly took the lid off and reveals a cell phone. "A cell phone?!"
Reina is shocked to have gotten something like this. Asami wonders as well. "Goodness Reina? Do you happen to have someone you know who could be close to you giving you this gift?" Reina immediately responds still confused from this. "There's no one I know of other than you and the others here, and I absolutely don't think this came from my father. He would never give me anything knowing how much he despises me..." Sujo pokes his cheeks from this mysterious acquisition. "Then where did it come from?" Reina couldn't answer. "I just don't know..." That is until the phone she's holding begins to ring, nervous at first but overly curious she flicks open the screen and sees an unfamiliar phone number. She began to answer. "H-Hello?" Coming from the other end she starts to hear a familiar voice responding to her greeting. "Hello! Is this Reina?" Unsure who this is she bluntly confirms her question. "Yes, this is Reina? Who is this?" Then out of nowhere Reina eyes widen as the person behind the calling is actually Hiharu! The girl she met at Norimu River Bank.
To Be Continued.