Note: I am writing this because I've seen a lot of fanfics about Lilian -the main character from Two Towns- while the other characters are being left in the dark. While I was reading topics regarding rival couples, I started to think about what the rivals feel about Lilian being their rival. And since I like Reina as a character, I decided to write this as my take on that idea. Lilian is by no mean an antagonist in the story. She's still the sweet new farmer, but Reina, who is beginning to learn what it feels like to like someone, feels a bit "threatened" by her personality that allows her to easily approach Cam.

For those of you who wants to go away from LilianxBachelor pairing, this might be a story for you? My writing isn't perfect, but I will try to stay true to the villagers' personality as provided by the US release HM: Two Towns.

Morning had always been my favorite part of the day. When all the plants were still damp from the early dew, their gentle movement of waking up was always a treat to watch. Maybe not all could see it, but to me, it was as if they were stretching to greet the day.

"Reina, can you help me with breakfast?" Mako's voice from below snapped me out of my trance. I quickly sprayed my face with water and snatched my bandana before walking downstairs.

Mako had already prepared his favorite green tea and was enjoying warmth of the steam. It was a Wednesday and we both knew that it was the day when I get to go out to the mountain so it was no surprised that I only had time to make simple rice balls along for lunch. I set a plateful of rice balls in front of my uncle.

"What's this!? Rice balls again?!" He exclaimed in protest. Despite his scary outlook, Mako was kind at heart. I've learned to accept that his sudden outburst was just part of his character though not a dangerous one.

"It's a Wednesday. I don't want to be late." I myself was too busy making small braids to be eating the rice ball. My grandmother used to dress my hair this way and I've been doing it like this ever since her death. She wanted me to keep my hair long but because it always bothered me when looking at plants, she taught me how to put it up.

"Aww, couldn't you at least try to add something inside it? Umeboshi? Tuna?"

"Ugh..." I shuddered at the thought of having to deal with tuna. "Sorry, Mako. I'll make it up to you during dinner." I took a couple of the rice balls and put it in a small cloth bag before leaving the house.

"You'll need to get used to making breakfast for your husband one day!" I could hear Mako's voice as I closed the door behind me. It was just like Mako to joke about family with me. Clearly, he never took me seriously when I told him I wanted to be a botanist and spend my life studying plants like him. He simply laughed it off because he thought I was too young to be thinking about something like that.

As usual, I was lost in thoughts while walking past the town hall and Kana's shop. Kana was already letting all his horses out and paying a special attention to his favorite horse, Hayate. He had his back towards me so he didn't see me. I didn't greet him because I, for one, never liked being bothered when researching so I assumed he wouldn't like it either when concentrating on his horse. Once I exited the town gate, I could hear Sheng's hammer smashing against some metal while singing some made-up panda song. It would have been another familiar Wednesday morning if I hadn't heard running footsteps that seemed out of place.

"Morning Kana!" A cheerful voice stopped me from my walk to the mountain. I couldn't help but be curious as to who was talking to Kana so early in the morning. I was sure no one was behind me and that didn't sound like Nori no matter how cheerful she can be.

"Morning Lilian! Out already?" Kana's mentioning of her name answered a few of my questions but raised even more questions. How did Kana know this Lilian person? Where did she come from? Was she staying with Kana? I realized I was immobile for at least 10 minutes. This was bad for my research. I had been planning to watch a certain plant open up her bud when the sun touches her petals. I continued up the mountain path. This new girl had to wait. I had other important things to do.

Luckily for me, I didn't miss much because the sky was a bit cloudy at the moment. "Good morning little bud. I hope you're ready to reveal your beauty to me." As a matter of fact, I had been waiting for this particular bud to open up ever since I discovered her last season. Once she opens up, I would be able to determine what type of plant she was and I could add it to my research notes.

I was so into my thoughts that I didn't notice there was someone behind me. When a shadow covered the flower and myself, the thought of a bear went into my mind so I screamed.

And the person screamed back.

"Aaah! You scared me!" She said, falling on the grass to a similar position as me.

"Don't sneak up on people like that!" I could feel my face heating up. This was our first time talking to each other and I already showed her an embarrassing side of me.

"I thought you knew. I was calling out to you earlier... You weren't answering so I went closer and..."

"Ah ... Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something." I replied, glancing back at the flower.

"I see... well," she said as she went up on her feet. She offered her hand to me and I carefully took it. "I'm Lilian. I'm new here. Just moved in this Monday."

"... Reina. I'm a botanist, someone who studies plants. Nice to meet you."

Once I said 'nice to meet you', her cautious expression broke into a smile. It seemed that she was relieved I wasn't mad at her. Well, I was until I realized I was in a trance again so I was at fault there.

"A botanist, huh? So is that what you were doing earlier?"

"Yes, I was simply trying to identify what that plant is called. Since it hasn't bloom yet I won't be able to tell until later on. The leaf itself isn't enough to state the type even though I have my suspicion already."

"Maybe you should ask Cam. He knows a lot about flowers too!"

Her bubbly reply simply caught me off guard. Cam? I didn't recall anyone in Konohana with that name and I expressed that thought to her.

"Oh, he's a florist from Bluebell. He also loves flowers so I'm sure you two will have a lot in common. I'm actually on my way over there to buy some flowers from him. I didn't have enough money yesterday to buy. Wanna come with?"

The longer I knew Lilian the longer her sentences became, it seemed. A complete opposite to myself; Lilian's light brown hair glistened under the peeping sun and her cheeks were red from excitement. For some reason, I felt like becoming a mimosa plant so I could curl up and hide.

"I ... prefer the company of plants than people..." I blurted.

Lilian's smile turned apologetic as she backed off. She let out a nervous laughter and was clearly uncomfortable. "Right... sorry, I was being... sudden. Sure. You were busy. I'm sure. I'll... maybe some other time."

Busy? Perhaps. It was my day off from researching in my room but… was I really busy? "Yeah. I need to study the plants..."

With a last weak smile, Lilian continued her journey to the other side of the mountain. Once she was gone I sat back to where my current obsession was. As usual, I began to speak out loud to it. "Bluebell has been enemies with Konohana for a while now, you know? Why was she talking about them so casually? Perhaps she's too new to notice it? I highly doubt this ... Cam guy would talk to me." My fingers idly traced the sharp edges of the leaves.

I laughed to myself as I imagine Mako being similar to this plant. From the outside he looked rugged and dangerous but he was actually soft and kind just like the leaves of this plant; sharp looking but soft and gentle against my fingers.

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My whole mountain trip did not give me new findings. The plant didn't bloom so I came home empty handed. I wasn't in a good mood when I arrived home. Mako was too busy in his orchard to notice me coming home but the sight of him reminded me of the dinner I promised to make. Soon my mind was caught up with food to be thinking about other things.

In the middle of making miso soup, I heard a muffled conversation outside although I could clearly hear what my loud uncle was saying.

"Oh! Hello Lilian! Have you business with me?"

A muffled voice replied to him that surely came from Lilian. So even Mako met her already, I thought to myself. I wasn't surprised. I never really left the house when I work. I must've missed her the past 2 days.

"I believe she is inside. She's supposed to be preparing dinner that I hope is BETTER THAN BREAKFAST!" He shouted the last part for me to hear. It was not at all necessary.

The muffled reply was soon followed by a knock on the door. I called out to her to enter and Lilian's head poked in behind the door. Her smile has returned to her face and she went inside the house with a suspicious hand constantly behind her back.

"What're you making?"

"Miso soup with okonomiyaki." I replied while tasting a bit of the soup.

"Okoni-what?"

"O-ko-no-mi-ya-ki." I said to her a bit slower. I couldn't help but smile at her surprised face. "It's simply a fried dish where you mix flour with cabbage and fry it with oil. Of course you can add egg with it but Mako doesn't really like egg so the flavor is pretty bland."

"I see.. It looks good though."

"It tastes better when Mako's being annoying because I would add egg to annoy him." When I chuckle at the memory, she appeared to be a bit relaxed and took out what she was hiding behind her back this whole time. It was a flower.

"Here. I bought you a Mar..Marge… Margerit?"

I stared at the beautiful white flower in shock. "M-marguerite…" I exhaled in disbelief.

"Yes! That's the name." She said as she handed the flower to me.

"Where did you get this? I don't see this kind of flower in Konohana often."

"Cam was selling some flowers over at Bluebell and since you were into flowers, I decided to buy one for you. Do you like it?"

"Yes! This is a great addition to my research. I have to keep this fresh though. I'll need to put this in a vase. Or maybe try to extract a seed? Or perhaps dry it to trace the shape and then take a little piece of it to see under the microscope but then the living cells might be dead already and ... oh!"

Lilian was intently staring at me as I mutter to myself like a fool. Twice already today she saw me acting weird. She probably thought I was a funny person.

"You're funny, Reina." She laughed. I knew it. Well, at least she was being honest ... though listening to her laughter made me realize that she didn't think of it as a bad thing. "I guess I know what to bring you next time I visit Bluebell. Actually, I was going to buy a couple of seeds to plant in my farm but the flower was a bit more expensive than I thought so the next time I buy seeds, I'll give one to you."

"H-how much was this? I can pay you back. You can go back and buy your seeds."

"Don't worry about it. It's a gift after all and Cam's probably closed shop already. He closes at 5pm and it's," she glanced at her watch, "too late to go back there."

"Then, at least let me repay you with dinner." I pulled out a chair. "You were just talking about how tasty the okonomiyaki looked. You've never had one before, right?"

This offer perked Lilian's interest. I saw her gulped with interest but before I could tempt her even further, she shook her head violently and smiled her thanks.

"I have to go water my plants. It's probably dry by now. Maybe some other time."

With that, she exited and left me with my newfound Marguerite. I turned off the fire and ran upstairs to sit in my worktable. I carefully placed the flower under the microscope and took notes of its beauty.

'Wow, this flower was grown well. It seemed to have earned the perfect amount of water and sun to be able to bloom beautifully like this. The petals are quite similar to the chamomiles I've been studying. Perhaps this can work as a herb? I read somewhere that flowers can be eaten but…'

I was soon so entranced with my research that I didn't realized Mako had went home from his trip to Town Hall and finished all the food. But with a new flower on my table, I didn't feel hungry at all. This Lilian girl wasn't so bad after all. And this Cam guy she was talking about? I might want to visit him after all.

AN:

UPDATED ever so slightly after getting feedback from Buttersketch. Thanks for the reviews :) It helps!