Filial ties

After another hour of singing until their throats felt like they tried to swallow sandpaper everyone decided that some lunch was in order. Walking back out of the building made the glare of the sun harsh, to contrast with the crisp afternoon. One of the guys suggested a ramen shop they knew, nearby.

The inside of the shop had that feeling that only old restaurants could have. As if you could just feel the homeliness in the air. After their bowls arrived, everyone tore into their bowls just to try and melt the chill in their bones. Benjiro put his hands on the outside of his own bowl and just let the emanating heat return some of the feeling back into his stiff fingers.

The firmness of the noodles, the saltiness and spiciness of the broth and the feeling he hadn't experienced in nearly ten years. That feeling of sitting around a table with people that you wanted to be with. He was still uncomfortable being around people that talked behind his back, but after singing his heart out, they seemed less critical of him. Even so, this was the closest to it. Not particularly listening to the back and forth of everyone else, but just enjoying the fact that he could be in it, rather than eavesdropping was a novel experience to him, so much so that like always, it took about half a minute before he realized that someone was trying to get his attention.

"Hey, Mr. Screamo."

Benjiro was brought out of his revelry and noticed that it was actually one of the guys. Responding with a "Hmm" and turning towards him, the guy gave him a quizzical look while still keeping that odd smile. It was the type of smile you'd see if some shady salesman was trying to convince you to invest in a pyramid scheme.

"Where'd you learn to sing like that?"

"T-taught, my-yself" he said staring down at the dark contents of his bowl.

"No way you taught yourself."

"W-well, I l-learned f-from a f-few people. K-kids and p-people th-that w-worked with m-my Dad wh-when he w-was in the J-JSDF. But overal-l I c-came up w-with it mys-self."

"Is that also where you learned that song?"

Benjiro's raised his eyebrows a few centimeters hearing those words from Akiko of all people.

"Y-yeah, a lot of the g-guys there g-got me into r-rock and oth-ther stuff. Th-they also t-taught m-me to play g-guitar and a l-little p-piano."

"Come on Nojiri", Akiko said in a semi exasperated voice, "don't tell me that you're some kind of secret musical genius or something like that."

"Woah, woah!" one of the guys interjected, "Did she just say Nojiri?"

Benjiro raised one eyebrow in confusion: "Y-yeah, that's m-my s-surname."

The guy widened his eyes and his mouth began to quiver as he looked at Benjiro as though he were staring at a wild, hungry animal.

"Um, well" he stumbled and cleared his throat, "Ah-- you wouldn't by chance happen to have an older brother would you?"

Benjiro immediately felt his stomach begin to sink and twist as well as the taste of bile forming in his mouth.

"Is th-there s-someone y-you kn-know w-with that n-name as well?"

The guy wouldn't stop staring: "Yeah, I know someone."

'The faces are similar' he compared, 'but the personalities couldn't be any more like night and day.'

Nobody said anything for a minute, as things had come to a sudden halt. The rest of the kids at the table weren't sure what was happening, save for the two boys that seemed to have an inside secret.

"Hey", Maria piped up breaking the silence, "after this why don't we go and hit up an arcade."

Most everyone agreed. They had a few extra coins in their wallets and purses, enough at least to make a few crane games or whack-a-mole or maybe a round or two of zombie survival. Everyone began slurping the last of their broth and after paying, made their way down to the shopping plaza, to an arcade. The machines made their beeps and boops and flashed their spinning and rotating lights, giving mild headaches and probably a few seizures the incautious. At the very least, it made Benjiro have to stop for a few seconds at a time to close and rub his overstimulated eyeballs.

The entire time, Benjiro and the one guy kept more than a respectable distance, and occasionally exchanging a nervous glance with one another. The rest of the group could smell a potential gossip story brewing, but whenever remotely confronted about it, the guy outright refused to give a clue away.

"Come on, man", one of the other guys begged, "Just give us a little hint. Why is the Screamo Skeleton freaking you out so much?"

"Yeah", the other joined in, "Why were you asking about his family? Is he related to somebody really rich or famous?"

The guy looked over his shoulder to see if Benjiro was watching him, and fortunately when he glanced, Benjiro just quickly turned his head to look at his Street Fighter monitor.

"Look, I can't talk about it while he's here", he explained.

After wasting another hour and a half on gaming, everyone decided they had enough and decided to call it an afternoon before the after-work traffic jam came along. As they were parting ways, Benjiro felt the tension in his chest draw things practically taught, watching the three guys go their own way. The one looking as though he were divulging something he'd rather not say aloud. The sight made Benjiro feel nauseous as he sat on a train resting his head on his hands and his elbows on his legs.

"You don't look so good, you know."

Lifting up his head, Akiko was still there, standing above him, as though expecting him to either curl up into a ball or start acting as though he had won the lottery. He just groaned in response and went back to looking pathetic.

"What's even all that bad about someone knowing your last name?"

'That's not it', he thought while shaking his head

"Why are you shaking your head? That's not telling me anything."

He just continued shaking his head and staring at the speckles on the floor. They kind of looked like the skin of those goldfish. Just swimming lazily in a pond, no cares in the world but also nowhere to go besides their small aquatic abode.

"Or, is it something about him asking if you have a brother?"

Benjiro gripped his head tighter than before upon hearing those words. Just trying to squeeze out that impending feeling that his world was going to start collapsing from underneath his feet. The train stopped back in their town and with the sun making another early departure, the sky once more bled. Akiko tried a few more times to see what was bothering Benjiro so much, which she didn't understand why she was so dead set on figuring it out.

"Hey", he mumbled out

He said it almost imperceptibly but after so much prodding, Akiko thought she finally had broken through his defiantly silent exterior.

"Th-thanks f-for c-coming to get m-me."

She knit her eyebrows together, "What do you mean?"

This time it was his turn to be confused at her not understanding, "Wh-when I w-was going to r-run off. Y-you conv-vinced me to st-stick around."

Despite the slowly lowering temperature, she felt her face light up. Clearing her throat and straightening up, she tried to give off an air of indifference.

"Well, I couldn't have you running off, like a coward. Besides, if you had, I'd be the only person on that dumb quadruple date without a date to speak of," she made sure to throw her hands up in the air.

"Th-that was honestl-ly one of th-the b-best t-time I've h-had in alm-most a year. And its-s the f-first g-good m-memory I've h-had s-since w-we m-moved here."

A sad but sweet smile crept onto his face. Akiko didn't trip, but her steps faltered a little as a twinge of pity wrung in her heart. Hearing him speak had a way of making her feel sad, but at the same time a sense of satisfaction.

"Y-you've g-got a g-good way of m-motiv-vating people."

'I just told you what I tell myself every morning', she thought

They both seemed to walk a little straighter, and their steps much less heavy than when they had started out their day.

"Y-you'll find out t-tomorr-row," he stumbled out

Akiko turned towards him to ask what he meant, but before she could: "Th-those g-guys go to o-our sch-school don't th-they? Y-you'll f-find out wh-why th-that one b-boy was so f-freaked out wh-when he h-heard my n-name."

With that final statement, cryptic as always, Benjiro left to go back inside his house. Little did Akiko know just how right the guy on the quadruple date was to be afraid.

Stares were nothing new to Benjiro, but this time he honestly wasn't sure what he was going to do about it. The last time something like this had happened, he was taken to another prefecture, away from a majority of anyone who would know him or care. Gossip tended to spread around school pretty quickly. All morning long during play practice, and all throughout class he could see people staring at him and whispering. In the back of his mind, this secret getting out wasn't as bad as his other one, but even so, the attention was agonizing.

Knowing what might happen, Benjiro packed a lunch the night before to avoid the hassle of going into the cafeteria this time. He wasn't expecting to be swamped or anything, but he wasn't in the mood. Although on a positive note, the Domon Battalion seemed much more hesitant to do anything more than glare at him. Sliding down the wall in the empty music room, the silence, only broken by the occasional clicking of shoes, he felt comforted by the stillness.

That was until the stillness was broken by the door opening once again. Fortunately, it was only Akiko again and surprisingly Yamanaka. Happy wasn't what Benjiro would describe at seeing them, but he would rather see the two of them than anyone else at the moment. Akiko sat on the piano bench while Yamanaka plopped herself down in front of him.

Yamanaka clapped her hands together: "Bet you're feeling like the star of a drama right now aren't you?"

Benjiro's eyebrows hung down and he mustered as much of an annoyed glare as was possible for him.

"Hey, come on", she tried to defuse while holding up her hands, "I'm just trying to relieve a little tension here."

"So, this is what you meant yesterday, isn't it?", Akiko asked.

Benjiro just gave a defeated nod.

"So, your older brother is a real life yakuza enforcer" Yamanaka marveled, "An honest to God gangster?"

"Yeah", he sighed, "M-my older br-brother is K-Kenshiro the Cyclops."