79 Black Box Warning

What do you call that feeling? You know that odd sense of twisting, impending doom in your stomach. The one you get when you're on your way to deal with someone who, if you had the option, you'd either let fade into the oblivion of memory or kill them. That was the feeling that Mr. Nojiri was feeling as he trudged over to the girl's makeup station. He had been perfectly fine up until now, not even acknowledging Fujibayashi's existence. As soon as he opened the door, that fragile and peaceful illusion was broken.

"And the prodigal dips**t returns", that snide voice called, "What took you so long? Did you have to forget the way here to make room for remembering how to tie your shoes?"

And just like that, the impulse to strangle something was roaring in Benjiro's head. She sat, reclined in her costume. The white, tattered dress, complete with the mountain of hair that shot straight up with a white lightning bolt shape down the side.

'You know, if we just let her go on stage as is, nobody would even know the difference between her and the actual monster bride', Inei suggested.

Benjiro tried to stifle his snort, 'You kidding, I'd pity the poor monster that's marrying her.'

The play was about to begin in forty five minutes, so speed was the name of the game. Calmly as he could, he laid out the various colors and asked which face she'd like to wear. Either out of a sense of tradition or just lack of imagination, Mio decided on using the whitish, grey look. It had been a hot minute since Benjiro had felt the need to block someone out in a while, so he took out his phone and popped in one earbud. He wasn't sure why, but he felt oddly connected while he listened to Mr. Staley bet someone to save him from being trapped in a box.

If he concentrated enough, he could almost not hear Mio's bored, arrogant tone as he applied the makeup. After getting that out of the way, he had to apply gray undertones to give her the dead body look. That is until, through his music he half heard her say, "So, after this, are you going to just go back to living under your rock with the whore next door?"

The brush in his hand that he was dabbing up stumbled. Looking up, Fujibayashi still looked bored, but her trademark smug expression shone through.

"You know, she just showed up one day, looking even worse than she usually does. When people asked what happened, all she said was that 'There was a boy who was being a jerk.'"

The lanky young man was unsure of how to respond. Memories of listening to Akiko vent her pent up frustrations about the human viper sitting in front of him came to mind. Thinking back, simple jealousy most likely wasn't the sole motivation behind her constant mood swings. Benjiro realized that he probably should've realized that better than anyone. That classic motif of responding to the world at large with anger to mask the hurt you really felt. It was something he had seen with Kenshiro many times, and even himself on occasion.

"Come on, you don't need to look so on guard. If anything, I kind of expected this to happen. It's a pattern with her. She likes a guy, she gets close with him, she gets worried, she implodes. It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic", she paused to do her best impression of thinking, "Actually, no, it is pretty funny."

Before he could even think about why he was going to say it, "What d-do you even have ag-gainst Akiko anyw-way?"

Mio just continued to smirk, "Other than the fact that she's a secret little whore, nothing."

When she saw the confused look on her makeup artist's face, "Ah right, I keep on forgetting, you only just got here this year", she crossed her legs, "You see, back in middle school, she stole the boy I wanted right from under my nose. Always acting like such a good little girl. It just made you sick to even look at her."

Benjiro was never exactly one to warm up to such sunny personalities. Although, Yamanaka was an exception to that. He made a mental note to check on her when he got a chance.

"But, in true good little girl fashion, she opened her legs pretty much from the word 'Go.'"

A sickening feeling of knowing where the story was going was felt in Benjiro's stomach. That roiling only became worse as Fujibayashi's smile became even more twisted, "But you wanna know the funny part? After she passed out from what was probably five minutes of ecstasy, at best, Nakano decided he wanted to keep a little memento of their first time."

The young man stood corrected, the story was becoming even worse than he thought.

"Problem was, that little memento ended up getting leaked to the entire school, and pretty soon, the entire surrounding area. Oh ho ho, you should've seen how confused she was when all the boys suddenly started paying more attention to her. Or how panicky she became when she realized just why. Ah, it was the most hilarious thing I ever-"

*Snap*

Not wanting to hear any more, Benjiro slammed the lid of his kit shut. Abruptly standing and stomping over to the door, "Your monster face is finished. You should probably get to the stage soon, it's curtains in twenty minutes."

Before the door shut, he heard the actual monster call, "Thank you, and if you want a reward, I actually kept some of the photos."

Benjiro's eyes widened in horror before the door slid shut. Secondhand revulsion was coursing through his veins as he walked as fast as he could without running to a secluded spot backstage. He was never one to excuse people's poor behavior, and was still plenty sore over Akiko's harsh attitude., but he could at least understand the poisoned heart of the matter. Without even realizing it, he found himself on the actual stage, which luckily hadn't been drawn yet.

Acting was an art Benjiro could appreciate, but never held too much appeal to him. The days when he put on his disturbing makeup and gave concerts to the empty furniture of his house were fun, but actually performing in front of a whole crowd was a whole other animal. Curiosity getting the better of him, he peeked through the curtain to see how many people had shown up. He let out a low whistle at the sight of the massive crowd. The auditorium wasn't exactly sold out, but there was still a respectable sea of faces. He scanned the faces, recognizing a few of the students and a few of their family members. But there was one face that stuck out to him. Sitting in the back corner of the left column of seats was one Akiko.

'Poor girl, she's probably too afraid of Fujibayashi to set foot up here', Inei mourned.

'But she still came to see the play. I can't tell if that's dedication or just sad', Benjiro observed.

'Well either way-"

"AAAAHHHHH!?"

Inei was cut short when the both of them heard the scream coming from the area where he just left. Off in the distance, Benjiro could see some of the other drama club members flocking to the commotion.

"Where is that slimy makeup artist! I'll kill him! I'll f**king kill him", he heard Mio scream.

His instincts were telling him to leave, but some of the other students were already eyeying him. Realizing it was most likely pointless to run, as well as his own curiosity getting the better of him, he went to go and see what fireworks were happening. When he saw the ring of students surrounding a large black and white wig, Benjiro could already feel the storm brewing.

"There you are", Fujibayashi growled, "What the hell did you do to me?!"

Before the mop haired boy could ask what she meant, he gasped as he saw her face. Or rather, what used to be her face. Mio's cheeks, forehead, chin, all of it was covered top to bottom in angry looking pimples and swelling. Were the situation not so serious, Benjiro most likely would've laughed, and was actively struggling not to.

"If this was some kind of prank, it's not funny, you troll!"

Saito interjected before Mio could do anything rash, "Everyone just calm down and we'll figure this out. Now, Fuji, what exactly happened? And why are we only now just seeing this? Wouldn't your face have reacted poorly when you first got a look you wanted."

Mio thought for a moment, "I... I never got this makeup done before."

Benjiro gasped in realization that the monster girl was right. The last time he was was giving everyone their look, Fujibayashi was the only one he skipped over just because of how much she was needling him.

"Whatever the reason, you need to see a doctor", Saito ordered.

"We can't do that", one of the other actors exclaimed, "We're fifteen minutes until curtains and we can't have "Bride of Frankenstein" without the actual Bride."

Amidst the protesting, an idea suddenly hit Benjiro.

"Prez", he called, "I'll be back in just a moment, I need to go and see about our reserve soldiers."

Before Saito could ask his pseudo member what he meant, Benjiro dashed off while he could hear Mio cursing him in the background. Exiting stage left, he approached his neighbor's row. Unfortunately, she saw him coming a mile away and was already worming her way out of her seat and out the door. With a groan, Benjiro increased his stride and followed her out of the auditorium. When he exited, Akiko was nowhere to be seen. Raising a finger to test the proverbial air, Benjiro picked a direction and saw Akiko heading down the one hallway. Turning around, she tried running off, but her short stature did her no favors against her neighbor's spindly legs.

"Where do you think you're going", Benjiro interrogated.

"What does it matter to you", Akiko deflected.

"It matters because you are needed."

She just shook her head, "Nobody needs me. Besides, isn't Fujibayashi going to just steal the show like she always does."

'Does it count as irony that that girl quite literarlly stole the lead role from Higaki?'

Shaking himself out of his head, "Fujibayashi is out for the count. She had an allergic reaction to something in my makeup. That means you're up to bat. Everybody wins. Now come on, you've got a show to save."

Benjiro reached forward to grab her elbow, but Akiko just shied away, "That's even worse! Do you know what would happen to me if I even indirectly steal her thunder? She'll-"

"Restart the gossip about you from middle school", Benjiro finished much to her surprise, "She bragged to me about it not all that long ago."

Akiko hung her head and slumped her shoulders in shame, "It's all over for me. If I stay away, the entire play will go under, but if I actually do it...", Akiko just shuddered at the implication, "I finally thought I could stop worrying about all the stalkers and catcallers."

Benjiro had a minor flashback, "The first time we met. Is that why you..."

She nodded her head, "Yeah, I thought you were just another guy who saw those pictures and was trying to test your luck with me."

No words were said for a moment as the two students just stood there in the hallway, not knowing what to do or say next. Looking at the short girl in front of him, all Benjiro could see was something he supposed he still was. He could see that familiar look of someone who felt trapped on every side. Someone who felt the icy hands of the past tightly around their throat, daring them to move forward.

Taking a deep breath, "Look, I know you're afraid. I know that you feel like a rat in a cage and you're torn between what you love and what's been drilled into your head."

"What do you know, all you do is run away or hide", Akiko shot back.

"Yeah, that's me, but not you", Benjiro pointed a finger at her face, "You are the one who puts her all into the things she's passionate about. Don't think I forgot about all those long sessions where you made me listen to you rattle off the lines of this damn play until you were blue in the face and your brain filled with nothing but Frankenstein."

"I-"

"Ah ah, I wasn't finished. Those were some of the only times I ever really saw you in your element. You looked like you could take on the world", he said as he held out clenched fists, "You looked free", he reached out to take one of her hands, "I don't know how things will ultimately turn out. But I know just how passionate you are about your craft, and I know that there's an auditorium full of anxious drama kids who don't want to see all their hard work go to waste. Especially that crazy haired president of yours. It's hero time, Akiko. What are you going to do about it?"

Akiko looked scared and uncertain for a moment, but she squeezed Benjiro's hand and hardened her face, "How soon can you get me turned into a monster."

A crazy smile exploded on Benjiro's face as he yanked Akiko from her spot and dashed back to the stage. The play had already begun but thankfully, the actual Bride didn't show up until a bit later. Saito looked frantic but relieved when he saw his makeup artist return with his runaway understudy. Quickly but skillfully as he could Benjiro got Akiko all monstered up. Thankfully, Fujibayashi was already taken to the nurses' office, so there was no fear of being nagged while he worked.

Benjiro finished just in time for Akiko to bolt away and onto the stage. Nobody could've ever noticed that it had been a few weeks since the little monster girl had actually been on the stage with her fellow co-stars. She was a natural. There were hardly any noticeable mistakes as she breezed through her lines, all delivered with perfect diction, timing and emotion. Everyone gave a stellar performance at seeing the tragic love story of the monster who simply wanted but was constantly denied true love.

When the curtains were finally lowered, the crowd cheered loud enough to make your ears ring. Their cheering was redoubled when all the actors came out to take their bows. Everyone looked so proud and relieved that they somehow managed to scrap their way through. And nobody received more congratulations from their fellow drama members than their pinch hitter. Akiko looked almost confused at the praise being heaped upon her. But for once, she wasn't hiding behind a mask of anger. For once she looked truly happy.

After she finally found a chance to break away, Akiko made her way over to the one member that didn't yet approach her. Benjiro was slumped in a chair, completely physically, and mentally exhausted from the day. He smiled when he saw her approach, "How's it feel to be a rockstar?"

Akiko didn't say anything as she gave him a hard look. He was confused when she drew close to him. His hands instinctively drew up as he feared he was going to be hit for something.

'Is she mad that I basically manipulated her into this? That I called her by her first name? That I-'

All his thoughts were cut off as instead of a smack, he felt Akiko give him a kiss on the cheek. As he turned to look at her with his cheeks burning, she couldn't even look him in the eye, but he could tell her own face was red as a fire truck.

"Don't get the wrong idea", he heard her mumble, "That was just to... Actually nevermind", she yelled as she ran off.

Rubbing the spot where he was just kissed, Benjiro began to wonder if his brother actually, just maybe had a point.