Chapter 05: Pain and Pleasure
�TARGETS?!�
�Chill out! I just drew little dots on your lobes so I could see where to pierce you. Now hold still, let me check my handiwork.� Rika grabbed Reina by the chin and looked at both of her ears to see if the permanent marker dots were perfectly aligned. Rika even produced a ruler from her drafting table to verify the alignment, which was perfect. �Perfect. Okay, are you ready?�
�Wait! Isn�t this going to hurt?� Reina asked fearfully.
�It did for me.� Rika nodded.
�Then what do you suggest?�
�Something to take you away from the pain while it happens and then a pill or two later on to combat pain afterwards. Here.� Rika gave Reina a large pillow in the shape of an ice cream cone. �Hug that tightly while I pierce you.� Rika reached into the piercing kit for the hermetically-sealed piercing guns, one for each ear, and the small studs Reina selected to wear at first, two reasonably-sized gold balls. �So, are you sure you want these? You�ll need to wear them for the first month or so.�
�I�m sure. I think they�re pretty.� Reina looked at the gold balls with a satisfied smile on her face.
�They�re gorgeous on you,� Rika said reassuringly. �I just wanted to make sure you wanted these. It�s not too late, you know.�
�I want them,� Reina declared, nodding.
�Okay. I�ll count to three on each ear before I pull the trigger, okay?� Rika asked while she loaded one of the gold balls into one of the guns. �I disinfected everything, right?�
�Thoroughly,� Reina reported, remembering the chill of the rubbing alcohol on her ears.
�Great! I am a thoroughly awesome ear-piercer!� Rika held the gun in firing position. �Ready?� Reina tightened her grip on the ice cream cone pillow. �One�two�� Rika�s grip on the gun�s trigger tightened. �Three!� She squeezed the trigger, firing the earring into Reina�s ear. This action was met with a scream from Reina that made Toshiro run into the room, fearing the worst.
�What the hell�s going on here?� he asked.
�KOTODAMA!� Reina wailed.
�Will you get off the kotodama already?� Rika asked, jokingly. �I�m piercing her ears, Toshiro,� she explained to her baffled brother.
�I can tell,� Toshiro said, surveying the guns and Reina�s reddening earlobe.
�Okay, Reina, I�m halfway done. Are you ready for the other one?�
�Maybe?� Reina answered meekly, her knuckles whitening from holding the ice cream cone pillow so tightly.
�Pain for beauty, sweetie,� Rika said in a comforting tone as she held the second gun up to Reina�s other earlobe.
�That�s right, pain for beauty. And now that he�s in the room, it�s a little better,� Reina thought, smiling briefly as she saw how extremely baffled Toshiro was by the situation he stumbled upon. It was sort of cute�and then came the second earring and another scream of incredible pain. Everything is transient.
�Now you know how you have to take care of these, right?� Rika asked, looking at a sheet of paper entitled �Care of Your Piercings�. �Clean them and whatnot. Ah, you�re smart enough to know all of this already. I�ll just let you take the sheet and look at it at your leisure.� She placed the piece of paper atop the pillow that Reina still clenched like it meant life or death. �They�ll look a lot better when the redness goes away, trust me.� She patted Reina�s shoulder.
That night, as Reina brushed her teeth before bed, she closely examined her new earrings in the mirror. By that time, the redness had gone away, just like Rika predicted, which allowed the gold earrings to contrast quite nicely against her skin. As she looked at her new earrings, she smiled.
The length of Reina�s hair posed a risk to the new earrings�namely, a strand could become caught in the post of the earring and cause her a good amount of pain. To combat this, Rika took it upon herself to style her hair in a method that would prevent this. She gathered one piece of hair on each side and secured those pieces with elastics, taking a curling iron to them in order to make them wavier. The rest of the hair was allowed to hang straight down because it wasn�t threatening the earrings. Rika also experimented with some conservative-looking makeup, sending Reina off to school the next day with a coating of mascara and application of lip gloss. Toshiro noticed this when the two of them left the apartment building and the sun was able to hit her newly made-up face.
�Rika really made you look good,� he told her.
�Thank you,� she responded, smiling widely, deciding to edit out the first three words of the sentence and just remember the last three. �Hey, what girl doesn�t like to hear compliments? That doesn�t have to mean anything at all.� was her self-defense on this issue. She walked to school beaming, swinging her bag about and humming a song she heard Rika sing.
Miuna noticed these changes when Reina entered 2-A�s classroom that morning. Miuna was just sitting at her desk, reading a magazine, but she happened to look up at the sound of the door opening for Reina and her jaw dropped in sheer shock. She dropped her magazine and rushed to Reina�s side.
�Reina, you look amazing! What all have you done?� she immediately queried.
�I�ve, um, I�ve done my hair differently, I have some makeup on, and I got my ears pierced.� As Reina named each change, she pointed to each changed part of her body.
�All of it looks great!� Miuna exclaimed. Her eyes darted from side to side before refocusing on Reina. �Say,� she began, her voice�s volume dramatically lowered. �I�m free this Friday night.�
�For what?� Reina asked innocently.
�Superpark,� Miuna answered quietly. �With Toshiro, you know?�
�Oh, oh, right!� Reina nodded, her pigtails bouncing around. �I�m sorry, I forgot. Well, why are you telling me? Why don�t you tell him?�
�I have a mental block,� Miuna explained. �I�m shy!�
�Do you want me to handle this one?� Reina asked, recognizing a problem that needed solving.
�Could you?� Miuna pleaded.
�I can.� Reina patted Miuna�s shoulder. �Don�t worry, we all get nervous sometimes.�
At lunch that day, after Reina bought her lunch (Rika and Toshiro�s general stance on bento lunchboxes was that they had neither the time nor the skills to prepare them; Reina was thinking of changing that mindset) and headed outside to eat it in the expansive courtyard of the school, she saw Toshiro chatting with an unfamiliar-looking boy and decided to go introduce herself, nibbling on her roll of bread while she walked.
�Hey, Toshiro!� she said in a cheerful tone, smiling as soon as she saw him.
�Oh, hi, Reina! Takashi, this is Reina.� Reina and Takashi bowed to each other. �Takashi is in class 3-A. He�s going to be graduating soon.�
�That�s cool,� Reina said, nodding.
�I�m out of here, I tell you, I�m going to university in Tokyo,� Takashi bragged, shaking back his fairly long auburn hair and grinning. �The small town life has gotten to me.�
�Plus you�ve heard about the girls in Shibuya,� Toshiro cut in.
�Maybe I have!� Takashi said defensively, sticking his tongue out at Toshiro.
�We�ve been talking about the sports festival that�s coming up next week,� Toshiro told Reina.
�Is there any sport you excel at, Reina?� Takashi queried.
�Swimming,� Reina answered, nodding.
�Very true,� Toshiro said supportively.
�That�s cool, that�s cool. Toshiro here�s been saying something about signing up to be part of the baseball event,� Takashi told Reina, whose eyes widened in surprise.
�Yeah, I know, the nerd playing baseball, what a surprise, huh?� Toshiro asked sarcastically.
�You�re not a nerd, Toshiro,� Reina said reassuringly because reassurance was part of her job. Just as she was hoping Takashi would find some reason to walk away, so she could get down to business, Miuna wandered by, alone because both Eri and Sayumi were absent on this particular day. �Hi, Miuna!�
�Hi!� Miuna replied cheerfully. �It�s so weird without Eri and Sayumi here, huh?�
�Tell me about it,� Reina said, slightly exasperated.
�Hey, do you mind if I eat with you guys?� Miuna asked, looking towards the two boys for their approval because she knew Reina wouldn�t mind.
�It�s fine by me,� Toshiro replied.
�Sure,� Takashi said, grinning again. Miuna smiled and sat down on a nearby bench to crack open her bento box and get a peek at what was inside.
�That looks so good, Miuna. Who made it?� Toshiro queried.
�Oh, I did,� Miuna replied, smiling at her handiwork, because she had arranged some sort of sweet to look like a flower and it looked realistic.
�That�s cool,� Takashi added.
�Thank you,� Miuna said, still smiling into her food. Reina decided to bite the bullet and go for it, Takashi be damned.
�So, what do you guys say to going to Superpark on Friday? I hear they stay open extra late,� Reina offered, having done research on Superpark�s amenities.
�That�s true, they do,� Miuna said quietly.
�Oh, my sister works there,� Takashi said matter-of-factly. �I can get us all half-price tickets.�
�No kidding?� Toshiro, who was adept at getting a bargain whenever he could, asked.
�No kidding,� Takashi said with a nod. �Um, you don�t mind if I come along, right?�
�Hey, the more the merrier!� Reina chirped, taking a bite of chicken curry.
�Yeah, the more the merrier,� Miuna added shyly.
�We should all meet up there at�how about six o�clock?� Takashi suggested.
�Mm, six is fine,� Toshiro said.
�Yeah, that�s cool,� Reina said.
�Fine,� Miuna said.
�Cool. I�ll wait right outside the front gate. I have to go talk to the class rep about some sports festival stuff now, so I�ll see you all later,� Takashi told the crowd, waving once before turning on his heel and walking back towards the building. Toshiro couldn�t see it, but Reina saw Miuna sigh in a satisfied manner as Takashi walked back into the building and decided that this was a possible roadblock towards the goal Reina was assigned to achieve. She was nervous and didn�t know what should be done, so she decided to go ask for some advice later on.
�Advice� for a girl like Reina comes in the form of instant messaging another girl like her, a more experienced one, in order to learn a lesson from a more senior girl. That evening, while Toshiro was at work, Reina got onto his computer and onto his instant messenger program, though her friends list and user name was strangely different from his. Instead of using a cute nickname as a user name, Reina used a nearly unintelligible strand of numbers and letters and her friends list was full of people with similar strands for user names. She scanned the list, applying names to each strand, before selecting the fourth one down on her list.
�Hitomi-san,� she began typing. �It�s Reina. How are you doing?� She sent the message and a reply came almost instantaneously.
�I�m all right. I�m bored just sitting around here. I really want to go on a mission soon.�
�Speaking of missions, do you think you could help me with mine?�
�Reina-chan, I can�t take your place, you know that.�
�No, I don�t mean standing in. I mean just giving me a pointer about something.�
�Oh, okay. That�s very much allowed.�
�Good, good. So, my assignment is to get a fairly reticent, shy guy together with a girl who tends to act the same. However, today as we were working out plans for a date, another guy came in. He had an offer for half-price tickets to the place I had in mind, so I had no choice but to invite him along. As he was leaving the scene, the girl I�m working with showed classic signs of an unrequited crush.�
�Oh, that�s bad, Reina-chan, you have to stop that at all costs. If that proceeds, you will have a problem on your hands and may even be recalled.�
�I don�t want that, Hitomi-san!�
�I understand. Now, here�s what you can do to stop it. Make absolutely sure that the girl is interested in your client and not this new boy. It is your job to facilitate situations for them to work out alone. Where are you all going for this date?�
�An amusement park.�
�Good choice, Reina-chan, I�m impressed.�
�Thanks.�
�Okay, so at this amusement park, you�ll need to allow them to go on some rides alone. You can stand in line with them, but when it comes time to choose an actual row to ride on, you need to distance yourself. Let them sit up front; you�ll take the back. This gives them a sense of security�your prying eyes aren�t too close by. You know what I mean?�
�I think I do.�
�It might also be best to leave early. That�ll give them more chances to be alone. And perhaps this problem boy will take the hint and leave, too.�
�I hope so.�
�Try your best, Reina-chan. I�m cheering for you!�
�Thanks, Hitomi-san. I think I hear my client coming now. I have to go.�
�Okay. Tell me how everything goes, all right?�
�I�ll do that. Bye, Hitomi-san!� Reina hurriedly closed the instant messenger program right as Toshiro, exhausted from another shift of work, came into the room.
�Huh, you�re on a computer. Seems like a weird scene,� he commented.
�Not really. I can talk to other girls like me this way,� she explained.
�Do you have the ability to go in and out at will?� he asked.
�No.� Reina touched the monitor screen. �See? I�m stuck here.� She saw his face grow longer. �I don�t mean that in a bad way. I don�t mind being stuck here.� She smiled, but he didn�t. �What�s up? Something�s wrong. I can tell.�
�They have me working like a dog over at that bookstore. It gets hectic.�
�I imagine! It�s so much bigger than Jellybean, so I imagine it gets full!�
�Yeah, especially when I�m on shift.� Toshiro groaned and sat down on his bed. �Plus, there�s just�some personal stuff going on.�
�What�s wrong there?� Reina asked, leaning forward in the computer chair to hear him better.
�I just realized that today would have been my mother�s birthday,� Toshiro replied.
�If you don�t mind my asking, what happened to your mother?�
�You deserve to be told anyway, so here goes. Both of my parents were killed in a car accident two years ago. By that time, Rika was already 18, so she just went to some legal office and claimed me as her dependent instead of releasing me into the foster care system. She was starting college at that time, too, and was worried about money, so we both took jobs and she worked out some sort of scholarship thing with her college. We�re lucky that we live here, too. The landlady knows our situation and helps us cover the rent and utilities.�
�Toshiro, that�s terrible! What happened to your parents, I mean, not the landlady thing.�
�Not a day goes by where I don�t think about them. Most of the time it�s just wondering how differently things would be if they were still around, but on days like today, it�s just their memory that I think about.� Toshiro looked grim, so Reina knew she had to do something. She got out of the computer chair, walked over to where Toshiro sat on his bed, and hugged him. �This doesn�t mean anything, this is just a friend consoling a friend, don�t read anything into this�� she thought as she took a hold of him.
CONTINUE to Chapter 06: Assertiveness
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