"It is at the Edge of a Petal that Love Waits" -- William Carlos Williams

Mina stepped out onto the sandy shore, breathed in a salty breath, and sorrowfully heaved yet another sigh. She did not want to be here. Not really, anyways. She agreed to come because her father had just been so eager when he came home from work two months ago with news of an opportunity to study practically untouched nature. She, being the “daddy’s girl” that she was, encouraged her father to go. After all, Mina loved him. Mister Myoui certainly was a character, and he was committed to his life’s work. The quirky man worked as a professor at a small college in Kobe for years, and he threw himself into learning anything related to biology. Even their house was filled to the brim with his latest studies.

Mina liked this, though. She loved the potted plants clumsily placed wherever leaves could reach a ray of sunlight, and she loved the cheerful whistles and songs of small birds that managed to become the background of their life.

Mina did not like, on the contrary, having to leave her comfortable situation for outdoor camping with complete strangers. She didn’t like that she couldn’t just walk a minute down the dusty country road to visit her classmates. She didn’t like that she most likely will not drink her favorite tea for half of a year. She didn’t like that she was about to be stranded in an unfamiliar place with no one she trusts to rely on. This “untouched nature” that she has been dragged to discover was simply too painfully far from home.

The small makeshift camp was nearly completed by the time Mina managed to drag her pair of bulky carpet bags through the unkempt tropical brush. It seemed happy enough, she thought. Firewood lay stacked near a small open spot in the forest