Monster Maker

When Benjiro followed Akiko into the auditorium, the first thing he noticed was how ridiculously spacious it all was. The ceiling was so tall, and there were so many seats in the dark room that he almost couldn't see the ones on the very end. He let out a slow whistle in admiration for just how massive and intricate the design was. Looking down he could see some of Akiko's fellow club members milling about the front row seats, looking like they were waiting for something.

Akiko who was used to the sight of the inside had continued walking while Benjiro had marveled, and he had to run to catch up to her. The club looked back to see who had just entered and recognized the girl, but the guy who was with her was a bit less certain.

"Akiko, you're late", called the president.

"Sorry, Prez. Our newest member wasn't prepared this morning when I came to fetch him."

When he approached, the first thing that came to mind when Benjiro looked at the president was 'odd' or maybe 'eccentric.' He looked physically healthy enough, but he had eyes with dark circles but still looked energetic. And his hair was sticking out in many odd directions, like he went to bed with wet hair and put in some styling cream when he woke up. He had the look of a guy that spent a lot of late nights of going slightly mad. The president gave Benjiro a once-over that made him instinctively take a small step backwards.

"I see. Well", he suddenly shouted out, startling Benjiro, "Good to have you along my good man. I'm the president of this little drama club, Masa Saito. Nice to meet you."

Benjiro lowered his head in greeting. The president seemed like a nice guy, but with that kind of exuberance, he wasn't sure Saito was someone he'd want to be around very much. He felt a hand on his back, urging him forward to the stairs that led to the stage. He tried to fight and stand still but the president was more well built than he looked. After some physical urging, Benjiro was in the middle of the stage, and he was rooted to the spot.

The president made his way back to the seats and waved his hand forward to say 'Go ahead.'

"Now, you may introduce yourself. Tell us, what's your name, age, class and why are you here right now?"

Benjiro's stomach churned a little, looking out at the club. There were about thirty or forty of them altogether. Some of them were staring right at him, others looked bored, one or two were staring at their phones, and a few were struggling to stay awake and he honestly wasn't sure which of those things he found more embarrassing.

Looking at them, he became conscious of his disheveled appearance and hastily tried brushing his hair a little and forgot that he had something in both hands. After a moment of acting like a one man clown show, which attracted a few chuckles, he was finally settled.

"Um, well, h-hell-lo. My n-name is B-Benjiro Nojir-ri. Um, I'm 16, v-very cl-close to b-being 17. Ap-parentl-ly, I'll b-be your n-new m-makeup artist-t. I'll d-do m-my best t-to m-make you l-look l-like a b-bunch of m-monst-ters. L-let's d-do g-good w-work tog-gether."

There was a smattering of applause that he just wished would stop as he scurried off the stage in a hurry. Most of them exchanged confused looks as they whispered to each other, most likely trying to decode his garbled introduction into a language they could understand.

Alright, with that out of the way", announced the president, " We can officially begin work on this year's project: The Bride of Frankenstein."

As Benjiro took his seat to listen along with everyone else, things began to make sense as to why Higaki had insisted on him being the one to do the makeup. Working in such close proximity to her would probably be uncomfortable, but he'd dealt with worse. Although, considering she was the closest thing he had to a companion in the school, maybe pushing her away wouldn't be the wisest choice. The president explained the timeline of when they should have certain acts memorized, and how they should be ready to perform their play by the time of the festival in the spring.

'Wait, why am I here then? If the play doesn't actually happen until the spring, shouldn't they only need someone like me until later in the production?'

When the president finished giving his few marching orders, he came up to Benjiro and gave his job description. It was explained to him that he wanted to take Fujibayashi and the other cast members day by day and get an idea what needed to happen.

"I'm no expert in your field", Saito admitted, "but I want each person to look like an honest to God monster, that was stitched together from dead bodies."

The president called over the cast members who would be playing the Frankensteins. There was one guy and one girl. While the rest of the club disbanded, Benjiro was backstage with one of his future monsters.

'One to play the Monster, and one to play his bride. That makes sense', he reasoned

He had his color palette practically memorized, but since it had been a while since he had decorated anyone but himself, he was at a bit of a loss. To get an idea of what needed to happen, Benjiro needed to look at their natural skin color, and find a way to make it look like they were, as the president put it, 'like they really were stiched together from dead bodies.'

So, he made a request to the president that he would like to see one cast member per rehearsal so he could figure out what he would need for each individual to which Saito agreed.

'It'll be good to have each of them get some one on one time with him. He can take better notice of details for each person's look', Saito inwardly concluded

'It'll be less stressful to work with one person at a time. Having them all sit there and watch me as I try to work, ugh, no thanks', Benjiro shuddered

After a quick explanation, the idea made sense so the girl was called over and asked to accompany their newcomer. Benjiro had never met this girl, but something about her automatically made him dislike her. Something about those eyes that were shut just enough to look bored, or the mouth that looked like it was halfway between a disinterested frown and a condescending grin.

'That upstart Higajki must have brought me a new plaything. Maybe she can be thoughtful every now and then', Mio silently plotted, 'She's probably hoping I'll focus on him, more than her. Oh well, nothing's to say I can't do both.'

Putting aside his instinctual annoyance, he found two chairs and gestured that the girl should take one. He plugged in his headphones and just sat back in his own chair, not taking his eyes off her. For the next short while, they did nothing but sit as Benjiro sat staring at her, staying perfectly still, barely even blinking as he slowly swept his gaze up and down at the girl.

"So, what are we going to do now?", she drawled

To him, she looked like she was saying something unpleasant, but thankfully he couldn't hear too many things outside his music, which helped him to block out all other stimuli.

"Hellooo. Are you in there? Earth to makeup guy." she called out while waving her hands around, trying to grab his attention.

Benjiro could hear her over the music but ignored her as he tried to return to his mental inventory of dead skin colors.

"What is this guy deaf or just stupid or something?", she said not so quietly to nobody in particular

'It's all relative to the size of your steeple', Benjiro quoted in his head pretending he was more lost in thought than he appeared

He continued observing her features, while she continued to say things about his intellect or lack thereof thinking he couldn't hear a thing. Pretending not to see the girl obviously making fun of him didn't make him feel any less angry. But refusing to give into this harpy's goading, he remained perfectly still, staring at her just to get an idea of what he should do to make her into the scariest, most realistic monster bride he could dream up.

'Maybe just completely white for the face?', he contemplated, 'No, that doesn't really say "dead body", more like "ghost." Maybe just a paler version of her natural skin color? It would be fun making this girl into an albino', he chuckled to himself.

Unfortunately his chuckle could be heard to the outside world as well. It wasn't that he tried to sound like a serial killer, but that's how it evidently sounded to most people. Mio sprang out of her chair, while grimacing.

"I think we're done here", Mio announced When you've got more of an idea for how you want to make me look, you can come find me and I'll decide if it's good or not. OK, bye then."

She trotted off, back to the stage and began to recite her lines when she rejoined. Benjiro, in an effort to keep from overreacting, slowly closed his eyes to picture the image of the monster in his head, but the girl's snide remarks made him bite his nails into the arm of his chair.

A few minutes and a few more options weighed later, Benjiro decided that he had burned at least one of his future monster's features into his mind enough that he could find a way to make them convincing enough. Taking out a notebook, he jotted down a few notes of what could potentially be used in the future. He cursed a few times since his hands refused to stop shaking.