I Want to Change

It’s nice to meet you. I’m Hachinoya Nagi.

S-S-Same here… I’m Nishizono Renga. Tha⁠— I’m glad you could come in today…!

Wow… I can’t believe I’m getting to meet you in real life…

Thanks so much for the help, Nagi-kun. I know you’re busy.

No, most of the time my store isn’t all that busy anyway.

(Uh… I don’t know how to react to that…)

U-Um, I heard you know a lot about flowers… Me and my butler take care of this garden, but it’d be nice if you could give us some tips…

Okay. I can tell you about disbudding first…

Ah… I’ll get stuck by the thorns if I just go in like this, so if you have any gardening gloves, I’d like to use them.

You… You’re bleeding, you know?! You need a bandaid!!

It’s okay. I’m used to bleeding, so I can stop it on command… Hmph…!

…Yeah, can I get that bandaid?

…This friend of yours is kinda…weird.

(I-I can’t disagree…)

These roses are planted straight into the ground, so you don’t need to water them every day, but since they grow quickly at this stage, you can use about a bucketful and just check the dryness of the soil every morning.

…A bucketful… Check the dryness…

(He’s taking notes super carefully… He really cares about this garden.)

A lot of pests start coming out around this time. You’re fine for now, but it’s best to be prepared. For a pesticide, I recommend…

Roses can get sick too…?! I don’t want that to happen. Grandmother was able to make them bloom so beautifully every year… T-Tell me everything you know!

Okay. Make sure to watch out for lightning strikes, any flying signboards during windy days, and dogs that like to bite.

Lightning… Signboards… Dogs… Hm? Do dogs usually bite roses?

Those are all things that happen to me when I tend to my flowers, so I just wanted to warn you.

G-Got it. Gardening gets pretty dangerous… I didn’t know Grandmother dealt with that every day… I need to take this seriously.

(Hmm… I don’t think that kind of advice is really necessary, but Renga-kun seems to be into it, so I guess it’s fine.)

Wow, famous people are so experienced and fast at learning new things. Your brain is made up of completely different matter compared to mine.

Ah… Uh…

I’m so grateful that you would take advice from someone with below average intelligence like me. As a thanks for your kindness, please take this. It’s a point card for my shop. You can get a free bouquet with it.

Oh… I don’t really get it, but th… Th-Tha… *cough, cough* I’m also grateful.

Th-Th⁠— Tha… *cough* I owe you one. For introducing me to Nagi…

No problem. I did promise you, after all. And thanks for the tea. It’s really good. Sucks that Nagi couldn’t have any.

You think it’s good?! Our butler prepared it! He makes the best tea ever. I wish Nagi could’ve had some, but…

He’s busy with his job, so I didn’t wanna keep him here too long… I’ll bring him some when I go visit him.

(Wow… Renga-kun wants to visit him… I never would’ve expected that.)

(You can see the entire rose garden from this gazebo. It must be so pretty with everything in bloom.)

Oh, yeah, thanks for submitting the weekly report tape! I gave it a listen, and it was really good.

…R-Really? I’ve never done anything like that before, so I don’t think I did all that well…

Not at all. You spoke nice and calmly, so it was really easy to understand.

……

Um… Can I ask you for some advice on something?

…! Of course!

It’s about these…

Ever since we came back from the trip, I’ve been…studying…about the tourism industry… I’ve been learning some foreign languages too.

I’m not really good at this. I always forget things even if I write them down a whole bunch… I just can’t remember anything… So I was wondering if you had some pointers.

…Can I take a look at your notes?

(Wow, he rewrites things so much. Over and over…)

(I can tell he’s working really hard.)

(It must be tough to do this much work but not be able to remember anything. We have translator apps, so he doesn’t need to know any foreign languages, but…)

Let me see… When I have trouble remembering vocab, I try to connect them to stories. How about you try that?

Stories…?

Yeah. For example… Ah, this word, “complete.” It can mean when something’s done or when it’s perfect, so…

One time, I was planning on bringing my guests to a place with nice scenery during a tour overseas, but the path there was in really bad shape and kind of secluded, so I went there beforehand to scope it out.

The place was famous for its beautiful sunrises, so I got there in the evening and spent the night there so I could see it, but since I was on top of a mountain, it was, like, -20°C at night…

N-Negative 20?!

Most of the country is pretty warm, so I didn’t think it would be so bad and just went in regular hiking gear, but I seriously thought I was gonna freeze to death.

So what’d you do…? W-Were you okay…?

It was hard, but the sunrise was so gorgeous! It made me forget all about the cold.

The word that came into my mind at the time was “complete.”

“My life is complete!” I had the thought that my life was perfected by the view.

…You have some crazy life stories to tell. “Complete,” huh? Yeah, I don’t think I’d ever forget that either.

Even if you encounter hard times during your trips, they become good memories when you look back on them. I really love that about traveling.

I see… I haven’t really traveled all that much, so I guess I have stuff to learn there too.

Do you take all of your notes by hand? Have you tried to watch some videos or use some apps to study?

Y-You can do that?

Yeah. Here, you can find some videos on this site. They explain things about the tourism industry really well. It helped me out a lot when I was going for my tour guide certification.

“Dazzle”… I thought it was just a site for uploading photos, but I guess they have videos too…

If you wanna learn English, it can give you an analysis so you can find out the studying style that works best for you. Here, try putting in your strengths and weaknesses.

Oh, see? They recommend you to use videos to learn!

Ohh… I didn’t know about all of this. I thought there was only one real way to learn things…

People told me that I should be good at studying because I’m a Nishizono. If I knew I could do all of this, high school would’ve been easier…

(Renga-kun looks a little sad… I wonder if he thought about his grandmother and started regretting things again…)

*sigh*

I, uh, appreciate you telling me about this! I’ll try my best to study up…

So if you’re okay with it…can I ask you for help again sometime?

*gasp*

I-I know it sounds kinda pathetic, so I’m embarrassed to say it, but you already know that I’m bad at stuff…so it’s easy to ask you.

I’d love to help! Ask me anytime! That’s what I’m here for.

Th⁠— Tha… Ugh… I owe you one.

(He’s getting all shy… Maybe it’s kind of rude to say, but he really is just like a puppy.)

(Renga-kun’s changed so much. Now that he’s more honest…I know our tour will be a success.)

(And when that happens, I know Reika-san will be smiling at us from heaven…!)