The Blooming Norm

Chapter 5: The Cause of Pain

Written By AnimayWriteY0

[At Sugano Village, Sunday 9:30 A.M.]

Within the village center further away from the cluster of larger and spacious huts, the sun pours its shining rays right onto Reina's small and poorly constructed home. The bright surface created more agitation for the obviously tired blonde who simply turned her body to the opposite direction away from the light. Unfortunately, not long after the sun fully rises, one of the roosters from her next-door neighbor's hut began to cock. Thus, having Reina opening up her eyes staring blankly at her hut's ceiling. Despite the abrupt wakeup call the motionless blonde couldn't help but reflect on what happened last night. It was clear that if she hadn't noticed the route Hiharu took to get back home then her new friend would have been in deep trouble with Hirae's fewer friendly locals. Notorious for a huge percentage of criminal activities. Going alone especially as a girl is a sure fire way of getting into all sorts of trouble.

There's more that bugged Reina, this one having to do with Hiharu giving her that gentle kiss as some sort of reward for saving her. The flustered blonde trying her hardest to keep her cheeks from turning pink because of that strange experience she had. What the hell Reina, this isn't the time to think so embarrassingly over a kiss! The now blushing blond comically shook her head. Though I'm just glad things didn't escalate further when I manage to get those punks away from her. Reina thought as she looked at both her hands. She's lucky knowing how to fight and defending herself, she's even more fortunate that the punks she took out are mere delinquent kids from Asagashi College. If the fight dragged any longer then the rougher crowds from that location would have taken notice and create more problems for the two girls. Even the blonde brawler knew better than to start a fight with any of the gangs Hirae Central has to offer. For now, it's already time for another day to go by. And lucky for her, Sunday is her favorite day of the week.

As soon as she got dressed up in one of her favorite attires consisting short-shorts, sleeveless gray tank top, and sandals. Reina grabbed a rowing paddle and life jacket near the door opening visibly excited. Today is the day where she and some of the other occupants in the village are preparing for some coconut gathering at one of the small islands not far from the mainland. And the time is right to pick them off, right now it's Reina's and seven other gatherers job to harvest them this time around. "Oi Kujima San! I have your canoe ready!" One young man called out to her the moment she reached the shores. "Oh, right thanks Kozu San. So, I'm gonna guess we'll be sharing this canoe?" The young teen scratches his head timidly but surprisingly upbeat. "I always wanted to ride on one of these! Going canoeing and being able to try anything new!" Kozu enthusiastically said while jumping into one of the seats causing the canoe to drag closer into the water. Reina immediately grabbed the pointed edge of the canoe sighing in relief. "O-oops sorry about that Kujima San…" Kozu apologizes in a disclosed and ashamed matter. The blonde twitches one of her eyes with a gloomy nonchalant gaze at the clumsy boy. "It's…quite alright Kozu. Now let me get into the other seat so we can go?" With that both she and Kozu are off drifting towards any of the islands the water currents are taking them to while using their paddles to steer the canoe for better directional control.

The other gatherers have already gone ahead of them as Reina and Kozu are occupied at keeping the canoe from drifting off grid. Luckily the wind is blowing behind them, allowing their boat to move forward at a faster rate. Their target island is the one right by the fishing zone, a miniature atoll about 10,000 square feet in length and width. Once the two young gatherers land on solid ground Reina got off the canoe first with a rope at hand. Kozu followed and assist Reina by keeping the canoe, their only source of coming back on the mainland from being taken away by the ocean's currents. The blonde found the right rock with enough weight and shape to tie it with the canoe. Kozu pulled the boat at the opposite direction to see if there's still any movement that could drag the rock towards the flowing waters. Luckily the canoe stayed in place after a few tugs. With that Reina and Kozu went separately to get some green coconuts and some coconuts from the palm trees. Not long after they left Kozu came back with a few green coconuts in a bundle along with a bucket full of cray fish and clams he caught from one of their nesting grounds in a tide pool.

Meanwhile Reina is currently busy getting those blasted brown coconuts off their respective palm trees. Her first try is to throw at them with rocks, but it always ended in failure due to how high those coconuts are above her. "Argh stubborn little guys...guess there's no way I can get those things down by chugging rocks at them at that range..." She did consider the thought of trying to climb her way up there to snatch it down but that would create a greater chance of a fatal injury or worse if she fell. But to her luck, she sees a palm tree that's angled about forty-five degrees down. She approaches it and smirks seeing a couple of coconuts hanging. Without any time to lose Reina quickly lifted herself up onto the palm tree, the moment she feels the slope becoming more flat-plain she slowly stands up while keeping herself balanced. The cautious blonde took easy and docile steps while keeping her hands onto the bark of the tree so she wouldn't flip over. Once she's about half a foot away from those coconuts she examines the bundle and came across some roots that keeps these round delectable treats together. The blonde took out her carving knife, using it to cut the roots off each coconut thus having them fall down onto a patch of palm tree leaves she placed to keep them from cracking. After removing the final one off the palm tree, Reina slowly climbed down at a safe and careful pace.

Both Reina and Kozu meet up by the canoe placing their foraged wild edibles onto the carrier net hanging on both sides of the boat. The young boy sets the bucket of shellfish onto the forefront of the canoe where it can hang. And so, the pair decided it's time to go back onto the mainland of Ishigaki. On their way back Kozu asked Reina a question she heard so many times. "Kujima San, is there by any chance you'll look into going back to the city?" Reina rolled her eyes at that same question and directly answers it with upmost honesty. "I wish I can Kozu, but there's no way I'll be able to handle the people who still have some beef with me…" Her expression changes to a more solemn look. "You saw what happened at that supermarket. I just don't think I'll ever find something that's worth putting in the effort for, especially with that type of disdain by the general public…" Kozu gradually slowed his pace at paddling back to Sugano village due to Reina's lack of self-confidence. Man, seeing her like this really makes me wanna know why the people over at the city dislike her so much? What did her father do to deserve this much hatred towards her? Kozu thought, but for now they need to get their gathered edibles off the canoe since they arrive back onto the village shores.

[At Asagashi College, 12:09 P.M. Lunch Break]

Despite being summer, Asagashi College allowed classes on a Sunday during this semester. There are far less students compared to the other seasons and weekdays but the majority of the students who spent their education on this day are usually the ones who work during the weekdays, while others wanted to finish their class prerequisites quickly as possible. Hiharu is one of those students who took her classes during this time. The twin tailed red head is currently studying her mathematics within a group study at the dining hall southwest of the campus. Right now, Hiharu is deep in thought about that incident in Hirae Road. Of all my gullibility, why did I end up falling for the oldest trick in the book?… Hiharu sighed while looking blankly at her half-finished worksheet. This caught a few eyes from her study buddies. "Tsunomori San? I've never seen you this deep it thought?" Hiharu looked at one of her friends breaking out of herself consciousness. "Huh oh uhh it's nothing. Don't worry about it guys."

This isn't enough to convince them as the other girl lazily twirls her pencil. "I heard rumors of a commotion down at the outskirts of Hirae. And someone did say they saw Reina in that same location being dragged by a red-haired girl based on one of students who were present there." Hiharu sweat drops until her best friend Kiyuza speak her thoughts about the homeless blonde. "She must have gotten into trouble again. The poor girl, I'm glad someone was there to get her out of whatever happened." Having heard that, Hiharu couldn't help but smile that Kiyuza isn't one of those people to join the bandwagon of bullying and making fun of Kujima san. That one got under her skin and nerves seeing how often she keeps hearing about her new friend Reina being this uneducated, ungrateful, violent, and deserving of all this ridicule from other students. And they all did it without ever knowing exactly who she really is or ever interacted in person. But some of the gossip she overheard did notice that it all started when Reina's father did something horrible in the past. But for now, there's nothing to go by other than what she heard.

[East Locker Sector, 2:30 PM After Business and Management Class]

Hiharu is on her own preparing to get her belongings in her designated locker. Along the halfway mark, she continued to hear continuous rumors of Reina being involved with the Hirae incident which causes Hiharu to ignore it entirely. She wants nothing of this, especially how much contempt she has to endure hearing these so-called "peers" of hers belittling and demean Reina behind her back. What is wrong with all of you? What could Reina have done to merit such vile behaviors? Hiharu thought while packing her belongings to go home. Before she could close her locker, she turned to her left due to the commotion happening over at the end point of building B-2.

Curious on what's going on, she doesn't want trouble following her. Before she turned her back, she ended up hearing one of the spectators mocking the tormented for being a Sugano villager. This instantly changes her state of mind. Could that person be Reina? The twin pig tailed girl thought the more she gradually come closer to check up on the circle of rowdy young adults. One of the on lookers notice her approaching and began to alert the others. "Oi it's Tsunomori San!" This instantly caught the attention of nearly all of the participants who enacted this bandwagon bully tactic on the helpless victim. One of the bullies chuckled nervously at the most popular and rich girl on this college campus. "O-Oh hi Tsunomori San! We were uh just doing some workout sessions." One of the young men said with sweat running down his face clearly hesitant to do anything when Hiharu arrived at the scene.

Ignoring the abrupt attention from the crowd, the young twin pig tails notice a young man lying on the floor tattered and heavily bruised."Oh my god! Why did you guys attack this young man?!" Clearly angry for this poor young man, Hiharu calls out anyone in the circle to know who's responsible for this unacceptable display of violence. No response given clearly not wanting to deal with the heavy ramifications by the daughter of the richest man in Ishigaki and owner of Benkiyo Shipwright. Without a minute to spare Hiharu helped the injured Sugano resident back up to his feet with his arm around her shoulder. Unbelievable! What kind of people would do this?! Regardless of any reason, this is downright abusive and cruel! As soon as Hiharu is preparing to take the young man right at the infirmary, one girl chuckled and decided to speak out this act of hostility. "It's quite simple Tsunomori San. He's from Sugano Village just like that trash girl Reina Kujima."

That comment instantly stopped the red head's tracks and took in that answer. Is that the reason why?! No, there's more to that! She turned to see the person who said those words. Standing front and center with the on-lookers is a brunette with long hair, two lip piercings, and wearing an exaggerated goth-like attire. The Red head knew of this girl due to having the same class as her during the mid-week. "Asagi Inaru…" Hiharu cursed. "What exactly does him being a Sugano Villager have anything to do with you?!" Then there was the part where she even brought and insult Reina behind her back. It's clear she and Reina have some very tense and unpleasant history given her dislike of Kujima San. The red head thought while changing the subject, putting her full attention on taking the injured fellow straight to the infirmary. "Honestly, I'd expect you to join us on teaching those lazy bunch a lesson in humility and hard earning."

That was enough for Hiharu to walk away, ignoring everything that awful individual said entirely. Who does this fully grown woman think she is?! She clearly has no place in disturbing people regardless of who they are or where they come from! Asagi took huge offense towards the rich girl walking away. "Hey, don't you ignore me! Get back here you coward!" Her outburst is met with a hasty interference with one of her audiences. "That's seriously not a good idea Inaru San...You're dealing with the daughter of Yutaro Tsunomori, the RICHEST man on Ishigaki." The goth girl scoffed and just walks the opposite way brushing off that blatant mention. "Pfft whatever…"

[Meanwhile At Shujifuko Mansion, Tsunomori Residence]

Cecelia slowly knocks on the young master's room to see if she could be any assistance. It's concerning how long he stayed in his room without ever going out for a breather. "Master Koiyama, your father is becoming worried of your recent behavior." There's no response. "Please do answer the question, all your father wanted is a straight answer to-!" Before she could finish, the door opened quite quickly which startled the young maid while trying her best not to scream and fall from such an abrupt action. "Tch, Cecelia, I much appreciate it if father did the talking than having you come here and waste both our time." The young maid blinked twice before apologizing. "My deepest apologies young master but your father only wishes for you to be proactive with your future career as the CEO of Benkiyo Shipwright." This causes Koiyama to roll his eyes and proceeded to go out for a little walk. "Oh, and Cecelia San, once I come back, please make me some jelly filled onigiri?" This made the maid smile in an earnest degree. "As you wish young master and do be careful." Koiyama gave her a slight nod and waves goodbye.

Koiyama Tsunomori is now currently walking down the path where he usually takes his morning jog in the morning. It's gotten pretty repetitive for his father to keep pressuring him into taking over the family business, yet he still does his best to keep up with the studies at home taking online classes. Though there are times where this sort of expectations made the young heir to his father's business quite nervous. But for now, he needed to keep that sort of responsibility on another time. To his surprise he'd gotten a call from one of his friends. Curious to know what's to learn from this call he answers. "Yeah? It's Koiyama…What?! Ishima has been captured by the police?!...Where did it happen?!...Fine I'm on my way to your place!"

After hanging up, Koiyama gritted his teeth feeling quite angry at the fact that his buddy has been busted. As soon as he called a pickup driver using a taxi service app on his phone, he asked the driver to take him straight to the known location where his friend got arrested.

[At Asagashi College Infirmary 3:18 P.M.]

From within the infirmary room, Hiharu is currently discussing her witness statement regarding to the young man's recent injuries to the nurse. "It so happens that the reason why they attacked him is because he's from the Sugano Village. Honestly, why would anyone do this to another human being Kokuro San?" Hiharu initially laments while Nurse Kokuro sighs in agreement. "Yes and it's the 3rd time I've encountered this situation for awhile now this year." This instantly brought the red head's attention quick as she exclaims. "You mean this happened before?!" Nurse Kokuro nodded unhesitatingly clearly unaffected by such predicament but still unnerved.

Rightfully upset, Hiharu spoke out the obvious thing anyone should do if someone is putting another human being's life at risk. "This type of action should had been reported to the campus authorities if it continued!" The nurse nodded in agreement yet given her sad disappointed facial features, is enough to let Hiharu know that such a thing won't do any good. "Unfortunately, the campus police are currently busy dealing with a number of gang violence near by. What's more, it's up to the higher ups in the school district to decide on how actions like this should to be handled within Asagashi College. I'm sorry Tsunomori San."

Given a solemn answer, Hiharu then asked the nurse if she have any clues as to why students like the one laying beside her are usually targeted? "Was there any motive to this?" The nurse answered with what she can hypothesize. "If I had to guess, maybe it has something to do with their lifestyle." The red head raises her eyebrow from that hunch. Then it clicked when she witnessed a couple of her peers looking quite terrified of her when she approached. "Wait you mean, the only reason why the people who bullied this guy is because he's poor?! That's it?!"

Nurse Kokuro further explains. "Like in high school the kids who arrived as freshmen are the most likely to get picked on by their higher grade peers. So it isn't any different for college students bullying the others for their status in life." Once Hiharu realizes the severity of the poor persons perspective. "So, even if the victim decided to fight back while legally suing them. That wouldn't matter because those students responsible for their violent behavior would be able to avoid getting punished because they can financially gain the trust of the court while the victim still suffers!…" That's simply awful especially for those who aren't able to protect themselves from people who can afford their lawyers to fight for them in their legal battles.

For now the biggest priority is to make sure the young lad is doing okay. "Kokuro San may I have a talk with young man?" The nurse softly smiles and nods. "Of course! Just be mindful of his space, he may still be in shock." Hiharu nods. "Noted." Hiharu entered the other room to meet the young man personally. When she sees him, she could tell that he's clearly fearful of making eye contact with her. Slowly she sat at the seat right next to the operating table as the red head finally addresses herself. "Hey you, my names Hiharu Tsunomori. What's yours?" The young man hesitated for a moment but spoke warily. "Yumaki...Yumaki Hojino."

"Ah Hojiko San! How are you doing, are you getting better?" Hiharu bluntly stated while Hojino sighed. "I-I'm managing but it still hurts…" Every time he moves his right shoulder, he would feel agonizing pain. "Yeah, you should definitely keep that cast on your right arm completely still. Sorry for not noticing sooner but I honestly wanted to know why people from earlier were attacking you?" The young man looked away but said what he heard. "That girl with that weird goth outfit is the one who started this...saying I should go back to the village and grovel." So Asgai is the one who instigated the bullying. Hiharu thought while she listens inventively on Hojino's side. "She even said that people like me should never have the opportunity to grow because me and the villagers in Sugano had it easy."

That's the excuse?! Hiharu eyes widens when she heard that comment. "Then she clearly doesn't understand what it's like to be in your shoes Hojino. I'm sorry to pry but how long have you been here?" The young man blinked a couple of times but answered. "Uh I started last two semesters, but I had been doing well. Gotten a lot of A's on my classes, studied really hard for each upcoming test." Judging from this, it's clear he wants to build himself up for a chance of a good career in the near future if he keeps this up. Not only that it showed that he's more willing to learn than her unfortunate Statistic's classmate Asagi Inaru. Compared to him, Asagi is by far the laziest, since she tends to sleep in class, or when the teacher doesn't pay attention, she would text to her friends wasting valuable learning time. "It's ironic because she's the indolent out of all the students within the same class we have at the moment." Hiharu said while sighing.

This causes Hojino to look at her in surprise. "R-Really?" The red head nodded while smiling. "Yeah, shocker huh? Oh, and there's one thing I've noticed, it's clear she has some sort of history with Kujima San? Do you have any clues as to why she's so bitter towards her? "Unfortunately Hojino doesn't have any clues why, but it was definitely obvious to him that Reina is clearly the most hated person to the local towns people within Ishigaki. "Most hated person?...But why? Does it have to do with her father?" Hojino answers with the upmost honesty to that question. "I honestly don't know but I'm more worried for Reina than myself...in fact pretty much everyone in Sugano Village is worried for her. They really want her to succeed in becoming a nurse or doctor for her excellent knowledge of making ointment and medicine."

After learning a little about Reina, she points out the true reason why Reina refuses to go back. "But she wouldn't want to finish because...people around here would destroy her self-confidence and she doesn't want to deal with the emotional stress. Is that right? Hojino?" The young man turned the other way and nodded visibly shaken.

[Meanwhile at Hirae Road Near the scene at the Alleyway. 4:50 P.M.]

Koiyama examined the area to see if his boys are still present. To his luck about two of them arrived and bowed to their aniki. "Koiyama Aniki! We're sorry for what happened! We almost got another one from our trap." The stoic spiky head glared. "And I suppose it didn't go well than the last?" The other one nodded fearfully. Koiyama sighed and asked them both how this one failed? "Judging from your bruises and missing teeth, someone interfered correct? So, whose the poser playing hero?" The other person with a giant bump on his head answered bluntly. "It was a blonde girl from Sugano Village...Reina Kujima…"

To Be Continued.