Mysteries in the Jungle (Junjou Romantica)

[5]

After all of the passengers were formally introduced to Fauna, one of the many villagers who gathered the fruit from the trees, they were shocked when she introduced herself in broken Japanese. The surprise of the reveal wore off after spending a few days helping her and the group who usually grabbed the fruit for the tribe. She directed them to the proper areas to gather the right wood to build a fire in their shared cabin and knowing which vegetation was edible. There were days they just observed what everyone else did in their daily lives while they got a rare visit from Hiroki showing them the surrounding area. He never ventured too far in the forest, his explanation that they have anywhere else to go annoyed them, but they knew he had a point. They would get lost without anyone leading them around or memorizing the safe areas. Although, they were told the safe areas changed often.

The women tried not to openly ogle at the men who either wore loincloths or walked around the buff. Some couldn't help but stare at Hiroki when he led them around in his impromptu tour. He was right in front of them, it was not like he knew they stared at him, but their giggling might have given them away. The men also glanced at Hiroki but tried paying attention to what he told them, they still had hope in escaping, and they needed all the possible information to plan their escape. Nowaki averted his eyes from Hiroki throughout the tour, ever since he realized he checked him out in the beginning, he tried hard not to stare at his assets.

When Hiroki gave them an icy glare at the end of the tour before he dismissed himself, they realized he had knowledge of their stares from the very beginning. Before the man left, a wild boar charged out of the trees which freaked everyone out. The moment they saw Hiroki tackle down a full grown wild pig, they were glad Hiroki didn't retaliate against their disrespectful glances. Nowaki was in awe of Hiroki's grace even when he was wrestling that animal to the ground.

The second leader, Fuyumi, discussed how the weather grew hotter as the seasons passed. So, it would be to their benefit to get used to the lack of clothes of everyone on the island because their clothing didn't suit the tropical weather. They all placed their old clothing in one corner of the hut so they wouldn't get tempted to wear it out again. Their bags were also in the same spot.

Nowaki always caught Hiroki glancing over at him when he walked past him. Although, he made it seem like he didn't notice. He didn't want to assume why the leader's son stared at him. Hopefully it was because of something good and not out of something horrible.

At times, he wondered if anyone realized he had gone missing before making it to the United States. The flight and the passenger list might have gotten released already after such a short time it was missing. He knew the university which had his spot for the medical program was replaced with someone else. They wouldn't retain it in hopes of him returning back in time, he was way past the deadline to make it there in person. There were other students who wanted that spot more than anything. He wasn't mad about it.

He regretted not having started the program to begin with and completing his doctrine. So many hours he spent working part time jobs to help pay for tuition and the sleepless nights trying to memorize the human body. At first, anger filled his body when he pondered about this at night. He thought he did everything right in life to not have anything horrible happen to him. After such a hard life, he only wanted to live comfortable in a nice house away from the city between the times in between his job. He had no chance of attaining this anymore.

All of that hard work went to waste on this island. There was no modern medicine or equipment to do anything he had trained in his classes. His first aid kit would only last them for so long. He already noticed his bandages were running low after he replaced his own bandages when he bathed.

Eventually, the leaders might ask him and Kana to train under the Shaman since they knew a lot about medicine. It wouldn't surprise him. Leader Fuyumi was impressed that two of them knew a lot about modern medicine to help them out when anyone was sick. She understood how they had to conform to the limited methods of medicine on the island, but it was always a good thing to have more people who knew medicinal practices.