Whirlwind afternoon

Benjiro sat down and tore the envelope a little more than he meant to, thankfully the actual letter was fine. He didn't know exactly how fast it took Mine to respond, but he had a feeling the postal service was most likely at fault, "Ah well, no p-point in getting m-mad over nothing." He straightened the folded paper against the table and started to read:

Dear Benji,

No, stamps don't cost too much, but the principle still stands. I'm glad that you found something to be apart of. I always thought you were weird enough to be a drama kid. I also remember you sometimes mentioned stuff about makeup, but I didn't actually know you were learning how to do it. And you can do Halloween makeup? That's really cool. I'm sure you'll find someway of turning them into something scary. Just don't do anything too creepy like that little girl from The Ring. That movie gave me nightmares for almost four nights after I saw it.

As for the other thing, I never pegged you for the teacher type. Considering how little you go out of your way to interact with people, I'm a little surprised you're doing it. And if she's "abrasive" as you're putting it, you're probably going to have one hell of a time. But, you got yourself into this mess, so you've only got yourself to blame. On the other hand, I know that if it wasn't short term, you definitely wouldn't have taken the job.

With Kazusa, hey, you know how it goes. People grow up and before you know it, they're practically someone else. And, don't you start. When Dad found out that someone wanted to go out with her, he freaked out almost as much as he did when a guy asked me out the other week. Before you start freaking out yourself, don't worry, the guy that confessed is a good guy. I'm sure if you two sat down, you'd hit things off pretty well. But you don't have to worry about intimidating him at all, my Dad already gives him enough grief and is constantly looking for opportunities to embarrass the two of us.

We've been going out for a little less than a month now. He was pretty nervous about asking me out, but he gathered enough courage to spit out the words. I thought he was going to die of fright. I wasn't too sure about it, but once he got over his initial fear, things went well. His parents own a restaurant, so he knows how to cook. The lunches he brings to school for us are delicious, but they could probably use a little work in their nutrition. He also talks about the places his parents take him with their catering. They go to all sorts of places like carnivals, festivals, birthdays and even weddings.

But onto the most important part. You know that despite how much you tell me not to, I'm going to be seriously worried about you. However, I'm glad that you're not hiding things from me, because friends can tell each other secrets. And those secrets can be about anything, no matter what. I remember how intense those damn night terrors got whenever you'd sleep over. I didn't even know what was happening inside of them and I felt scared half to death. I can only imagine how scary it must be like for you to go to bed every night and have to deal with them. But, I'm glad that your Dad is giving you the help that you need with them. I know it can't be easy for him either. I'm sure he doesn't like seeing you like that.

But I didn't know waking up at a regular time could help with them. Does what you eat play a factor too? I thought it was mostly just due to being really stressed out. I don't know a whole lot about that kind of stuff, but I hope it gets better eventually. I do know that listening to relaxing music can help, but I also know from what you told me, you listen to some really weird and heavy stuff. Listening to too much heavy music can affect how you think after too long. You need to balance it out with listening to some happier stuff every now and then. I know you despise most pop songs, so maybe try giving Maximum the Hormone a listen, or if you don't like them, classical music is usually a good go to. I've only ever heard of guys like Beethoven before, but it could be a start.

And finally, since I got a new boyfriend, I don't know if I'd be available for Christmas. We've only been going out for a short time, but the way things are going, we'll most likely spend the holidays together. So, we may have to put our plans on hold for a little while, but that doesn't mean we're completely abandoning them. Maybe we can do something during spring or summer break? I don't mind it so much, but I remember how you hate the cold. Going swimming or a trip to the mountains would most likely be more your type of fun anyway.

I think I'm all out of things to mention for now. Write me back soon.

As always,

Mine

It was unusual but for once, Benjiro didn't feel good after reading Mine's letter. Instead, he felt incredibly bothered. More than bothered, he felt genuine disappointment, maybe even a little hurt. The letter was mostly positive and encouraging, but then there was that last paragraph. What in hell's name was that last paragraph doing in his letter? What did it mean when it read how their plans would have to be canceled. Their plans weren't even out of the loading bay, let alone in the air, and they were already being shot down? These were her plans, it was her that proposed the idea. Why would she so quickly propose an idea to only say "Screw it", I'm doing something else.

He knew it didn't compare to Yamanaka's situation, but between listening to her revelation, and the enws he just received, nothing good had happened since he woke up. There was the study materials he was preparing for Haruoka, but what good would those be? He'd be lucky to walk away with just a sore arm. "She'll probably think I'm sayin' 'You're so dumb that my pity outweighs my sense of survival' or something like that."

Benjiro didn't realize it, but he had been frustratedly scratching his head while all those thoughts were rocketing in his mind. And he had been scratching so hard that he reopened his forehead cut. Letting out an annoyed grunt, he trudged over to the bathroom. This wasn't his first time digging for the first aid kit while mumbling a long string of curse words under his breath, but the memories did nothing to make the dark storm cloud over his head any less dark. More curses escaped his lips as he cleaned away the seemingly unending stream of blood, spurting from his forehead.

The bandage was on at a crooked angle, but Benjiro was too bummed and hated ripping off the sticky bandages too much to care. Taking his guitar in hand, he tried to think about songs to play when you're feeling pissed off. He remembered one of the older American vets at Okinawa really liked Elton John and right now he was feeling kind of b*tchy. So it seemed fitting to start playing "The B*tch is Back". Benjiro did an angry little dance around his downstairs trying to work off some of the cortisol in his blood.

About that time, the front doorbell rang and while he wasn't in any particular mood to deal with the human species, maybe dealing with a salesperson would also take his mind off his frustration. He opened the door and grumbled ,"Hello?"

"Nojiri, is that you? You sound like a depressed cat", came a female voice.

Benjiro's eyebrows slowly raised and winced from the movement, at seeing Akiko. He probably looked a little crazy with his wild eyes and being sweaty.

"Are you okay? What happened to your head?"

"It's nothing", he quickly responded.

Regaining his lack of composure, Benjiro groaned, "What do you want, Higaki?" I'm not in the mood for working right now. Go home."

He was about to close the door but met resistance. He reopened the door, hoping to tell her off, "I just said I'm not in the mood. Don't you understand that?" he barked.

"Hey, I was just in the area and I thought I'd swing by", Akiko said.

'In the area? What's she talking about? She's already in the area, is she on meth?'

"And I was just wondering, since supposedly neither of us are working over the weekend, are you free on Sunday?"

The sentences coming out of the short girl's mouth were making less and less sense, the more she talked.

"N-No, why?"

"My one friend said she wanted to go and see a movie and asked if I wouldn't mind paying since she was flat broke."

'The point being, just spit it out woman!', Benjiro privately screamed.

"If you're not doing anything tomorrow afternoon, I have an extra ticket."

'This can't be going the way I think it's going, can it?' he wondered.

During the awkward pause Akiko stammered, "This is just cause my friend bailed on me last minute, get it? It'd be a waste of money otherwise."

"Wh-What about y-your other f-friends?"

"I tried asking but all of them had plans suddenly come up."

'I've been working on that lesson plan for hours now, and it wouldn't be until later in the day.'

"Fine, I'v-ve got n-nothing better to d-do anyway."

"Well if all you're going to do is be rude about it, I can take someone else", Akiko threatened.

"No! Sorry, it's j-just been a l-long day", he described, "If y-you're offering, I'll ac-cept."

A slight pink tint appeared in Akiko's face, "Good! Now that that's settled, I'll see you tomorrow", she called before robotically marching back home.

Between Yamanaka, the tutoring, the letter and now this, Benjiro began to wonder, "What is even going on with my life right now?"