Sakura Park

Fujo pulled a concerned look. "Hm? Why? Something wrong with that place?"

"full of dangerous things..." eye twitch.

Rena heard the two mention the Northern Woods and rushed over to them. "Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but you guys weren't thinking of going into the woods were you? I wouldn't recommend it. Vei and I almost got killed there." She said, in a serious tone.

"See, fuko. I don't suggest that we go there...we can go to the outside of it, but not in it." Crossing her arms.

"Good idea." She said, looking at Sakku.

Miko giggled. "Haha. Sure." She spotted some flowers and let go of Akio's hand. She squatted and looked closely at the flowers.

Akio exhaled as Miko let go of his hand. He could breathe normally again now. He watched her movements as she sat down to look at the flowers. He wanted to ask her what made her so sensitive about people's talk about her but he wasn't sure if he should bring the subject up again. Maybe she'd start to cry.

"Bears?" Fuko blinked. "Why is there even bears there, in the first place?"

"Its a forest"

Miko turned around and looked at Akio, he looked more comfortable. Miko picked a lily and smelled it. It had a bitter-sweet smell to it

Akio decided it was worth a try. He had come here with the wish to finally make some friends and friends knew these kind of things about each other, right? "Miko," he said, "Can I ask you something?"

Miko cocked her head to the side. "Huh? What?" Miko was curious

Rena sighed, looking at the two, Miko and Akio flirting with each other. "Tch, lame." She though aloud. Love and romance had never interested her, in fact, it repulsed her.

"How come you're so sensitive about people's talk?" he asked, carefully watching her and waiting for a reaction.

Miko froze. She realized how stiff she was and awkwardly unfroze. Miko stepped away and looked down. "When I grew up, people always whispered behind my back about everything. They knew about my dad's debt and they laughed at me at first it was small pranks but then they started to do real pranks. They gang up on and and they would beat me. That's why I transferred here. But also, they laughed at the way I looked. My hair was unnaturally pink and I was rather short at the time so...that's why."

Akio listened quietly to Miko's story. He couldn't imagine how any man could make himself beat up a girl. He could feel the anger pulling the outermost hairs in his neck. It sounded like the usual scenes he'd watch back at home. The reason why he was always involved in fights. But somehow he got more mad when it was Miko. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said, looking at her with that protective look in his eyes. "Didn't anyone do anything about it?"

Miko realized that Akio's tone was a bit more aggressive. "No. I didn't want anyone to be hurt. I would've been the only one hurt right?"

Akio didn't get her. "How is that fair?" he asked, starting to get annoyed by the thought of the people who used to bully Miko. "If anyone should be hurt, it should be them."

"Haha. Thanks. That's why I came here.....Then I met you."

Akio stared at her.



"I-I see..." he said, turning his head away.

RIko walked into the park and spotted Miko. Her blood boiled. Next to her, she saw a cute guy and Riko smirked. She ran over to the boy and purposely ran into him. She gave him her most innocent look, "I-I'm s-s-sorry."

(her reaction)

Akio looked at the girl who'd just run into him. He didn't move an inch by the collision. She kinda looked like Miko, now he was definitely confused. "It's okay," he said.

"R-riko? What are you doing here?" Miko grimaced. She was shocked at the fact that Riko was here. She knew about Riko's tactics.

Riko

"Ehh??? You come here? I had no idea." Riko acted. She looked at the boy and smiled cutely, "Hello. I'm Suzuki Riko. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Akio Isamu," he said, still confused. "You two know each other?" Akio looked from one to another.