Black Holiday

No matter what angle he approached it from, for the life of him, Benjiro couldn't figure out what was going on with Higaki. On a day where he knew she was at her club, he tried asking her mother if something was wrong and she was told that Akiko had been acting rather strange. But every time she tried to ask her daughter, at best she was stonewalled and at worst, she could tell her daughter was lying. Benjiro contemplated his options on how he could figure things out further, but only more blanks. If he asked her friends, they'd probably tell Akiko that he'd been asking around and that was a situation he wanted to avoid. He could ask at the... of course that was it.

'I'll just randomly show up to the drama club', he planned, 'I'll just waltz in pretend I'm there to give an update, and I probably should do that while I'm there. Anyway, I'll hand Higaki the tickets and that'll be that. End of story.'

Or at the very least, he hoped that could mean the end of the story.

The next day, he didn't see Akiko walk out her front door, so that must've meant that she had gone to practice early that morning. The temptation to turn back around and pretend that he just forgot his phone and makeup kit was strong, but some small force compelled him forward. Although that small voice did nothing to drive the fatigue from his mind. If nothing else, he just needed to give her the tickets he won. Come to think of it, with this being the first week back from break, he was rather slow in giving his gifts out. In his satchel, alongside the tickets were the jersey and calendar.

Due to the lack of sleep, he had almost forgotten that they even existed. Over the break, his nightmares had somewhat abated. In the days that followed were another story. Except now, for whatever reason, his dreams were changing. Instead of just one monster, there were more. One of the monsters which also had long claws like the original seemed to enjoy scratching his face.

Regardless, when he got to school, the circles under his eyes were doing him no favors with his confidence. His lesson with Daitan was in just a few minutes, so he could just give hers to her there. The lights in the bathroom were harsh on his unrested eyes, and exposed every little detail on his unkempt face. Without even thinking, he opened his kit and took out and began dapping a little foundation on his face. After blending the blotches to an appropriate level, his face almost looked healthy. Benjiro scrunched his face a few times while his face itched.

Just as he was about to pack his things away and head out, three guys from the Domon battalion walked in. The lanky boy tried to pretend he didn't notice them and just focus on getting his supplies in order and slip out while they took a leak. But a knot in his stomach formed when he glanced up and saw them staring at him in the mirror. He knew what was coming next, but hoped against hope that they would just maybe spread a rumor about him having a girly hobby. But he noticed that one of the boys was the leader of the student council, Yashamaru Sakurai.

'Hopefully nothing will happen while he's around', Benjiro naively thought.

Before he could reach the exit, the door was blocked by one as Sakurai himself grabbed Benjiro and the final member wrenched his bag from his hands.

"Ah, a suspicious student bringing a conspicuous bag to the bathroom", the bespectacled president said in an oily voice, "This calls for a search."

"What is all this s**t", the one guy said as he rifled through the bag, "A Tokai Gakuen jersey, a calendar? If you were planning on giving a gift to Princess Hiromi, you should be ashamed of yourself. Especially since it's past the deadline for gifts anyway."

'They call her a princess now', Inei growled, 'If their heads get any further up their a**es they'll go right back around to looking normal.'

'The student council president is in that psychotic fan club too', Benjiro thought wildly, 'How many of these guys are there, and why is he one of them?'

Benjiro tried struggling but the guy holding him was too big. The grip on his arms was like a bird of prey as he could feel his circulation being cut off. All he could do was watch helplessly as Sakurai oh so happily sauntered over to one of the toilets, his gifts and even his makeup kit in hand.

"Oh, no no no", he repeatedly groaned.

But his groaning was lost on the sadistic gaze of the boy. Benjiro felt his heart rend as he saw the jersey and then the calendar get dropped into the filthy water. It was only through years of emotional suppression and not wanting to have his misery increased by finding out he was wearing makeup that kept Benjiro from weeping. With a satisfied look, Sakurai exaggeratedly wiped his hands together.

"Now that s**t has been put in the appropriate place", Sakurai cupped the restrained boy's face in his hand, "I don't really care what it is you do in your spare time. But I'll have you know that if you continue to try seducing Ms. Domon and abusing the fact that she graces your pathetic existence any longer, drastic measures will have to be taken."

...

"So", Daitan said nonchalantly, "Why do you keep coming here?"

She was sitting there with Yamanaka who decided to pop in to see how things were going for her friend and what she supposed was her old study buddy. Daitan's question however, was directed at the returning interloper, Hiromi.

"It's none of your business", she replied matter of factly.

Saori was equally perplexed at the rich girl's behavior but said nothing. Before Daitan could vocalize a response, the door slid open.

"Holy s**t, Scarecrow, " Daitan said as she shot up, "What happened?"

"Goodness, are you alright, Nojiri", Yamanaka said with concern.

Benjiro's face was haggard, his dark circles fully showing, his eyes full of defeat and a mouth forcing itself not to quiver. Hiromi didn't stand, but she found herself shaken up at the young man's dreary appearance. Daitan and Yamanaka looked at him expectantly, the mop headed boy was unable to look them in the eye. All he could do was just shake his head while staring at the floor, as if denying everything's existence.

"What are you doing with that wet shirt", Daitan said while pointing.

Indeed, there was a completely soaked shirt of some kind in his hand. He tried hiding it but to no avail. Haruoka reached forward and spread it out enough before Benjiro ripped it from her grip. At first, the tomboy didn't know how to respond out of surprise. Her face went from confusion to realization and then questioning before returning to its natural authoritative look.

"What was that for", her voice was firm.

Benjiro whispered while still looking down, "Gift."

"For who?"

He just lightly jerked his head at Daitan who despite her stony expression was a little scared at the light feeling bubbling inside her chest.

'He knew that I like Tokai', she thought, ' Was that going to be some sort of gift?'

Never being one for gentleness, Daitan simply snatched the shirt from Benjiro when his guard was down.

"D-Don't", he protested as he tried to reclaim it, "Th-that was almost f-flushed down a t-toilet. I r-rinsed it, b-but still."

'That would've been nice to know three minutes ago, Daitan thought in disgust, 'But were you really trying so hard to keep this fresh?'

"Eh, I don't really care. I'm confiscating this and you can't stop me."

She turned away to get a better look at the jersey. She wasn't pleased about the condition, but it was nothing that a quick spin in the washer couldn't fix. Meanwhile, Saori was still trying to coax Benjiro out of his funk. He seemed even more unwilling to look her in the eyes than Daitan.

"Nojiri, whatever happened, you can tell me and I'll listen."

Her words were reassuring and Benjiro believed them, but he just couldn't muster the strength to look at those warm brown eyes. Instead, he just reached into his bag and brought out the second gift with shaking hands. Yamanaka's eyes widened.

"Did you buy this for me too?"

The pages of the calendar were still wet and crinkled and in spots some of the ink had run. It looked as though, the young man had tried drying the pages under the air dryer. While unsure of the calendar's cleanliness, Yamanaka still hugged it close.

"Thank you, that was a really sweet thing for you to do."

"What did you do, wash them in a toilet before bringing them here?"

The third voice that Benjiro wasn't even aware of ripped into his awareness. Belonging to Domon. There was that name again. Like some sort of ancient curse.

"What did you say", he said in a muted voice.

"I was just-"

"Why don't you try asking THAT F***ING PYSYCHOTIC FAN CLUB OF YOURS", Benjiro suddenly exploded with tear stained eyes.

His sudden outburst reverberating in the room's low ceiling made Yamanaka jump and even Daitan stop what she was doing. Hiromi herself was even more surprised than the other two. She'd seen the young man before her in many lights. As someone who was barely a blip on her radar, as an annoyance and more recently as a curiosity.

"Those bastards you call 'fans' ruined my gifts", he bent down and jerked his kit in front of Hiromi's face, "Not only that but they also trashed my makeup kit. Do you have any idea how much even one or two of the things in here cost? Probably not much with all of your father's money you probably hoard. Hell, forget the cost, do you know how long it took to piece the products together individually?"

Seeing him so blatantly angry at her was new and Hiromi was perplexed at the blizzard of emotions this outburst was causing.

"And now thanks to the little brainless peons of yours, I probably won't be able to get the work I promised to get done for the drama club. Their play is coming up soon ya know. And yeah, they said they'd reimburse me, but these kits are expensive as hell."

Hiromi was unsure of what she was going to say, but she tried to explain, "I don't know-"

Benjiro shot his hand up, "No, I don't want to hear anything from you. Just get lost, I don't feel like dealing with your petty little challenges or whatever. And over what, a stupid poetry contest? What do you want from me?!"

" I simply refuse to accept defeat", Hiromi responded easily.

With an exasperated face, all Benjiro could say through his blustering, "Are you really that petty? Dios en el Cielo."

For once, Hiromi was at a loss for what to say. After collecting her thought a moment she said in a nearly humble voice, "Would you believe me if I told you that I didn't want to stop simply because I enjoy this. You are one of the few people in my life that challenge me in such a manner. Everyone else either is simply a peon that has little to no will of their own, or they are in this because they think it will score them some potential chance to be close to me."

Without any further ado, Hiromi simply got up and left the music room. Now it was Benjiro's turn to be confused. He turned to see both Saori and Daitan just staring at him . They were unsure of how to feel about the spectacle that had just transpired but one thing was clear. Without even realizing, a new competitor had joined the race.