Eavesdropper

That night before he went to sleep, Benjiro tried to think of ways to best wait out the predators in more ways than one. Daitan was certainly an excellent deterrent to any would be bullies from the Domon Battalion. The way he could mention that he had to teach Haruoka English and knowing her temper, was like an accidental bodyguard. But this particular week, after almost dying, Benjiro told the muscular girl that they could both probably use a day off. Surprisingly, she had tried to shoot that idea down for an unknown reason, but he insisted. While it had sounded like a good idea at the time it was most likely going to come back to bite him in the butt.

After all. who didn't like hearing that they could take a break from work? He most certainly would've, but winning that damn competition had thrown a whole bag of wrenches into his plans to have just one quiet afternoon for the first time in a few weeks. Walking down the echoing halls, jumping in surprise and quickening his pace every time he heard a set of footsteps coming his general direction was frazzling his already threadbare sanity. An excuse to be around a group of people that wouldn't bite off his head while waiting out the daily mass exodus was needed.

Yet, no matter what he thought of, there was nothing coming up. He couldn't wait in the classrooms, they'd find him there. There were no random friend groups he could hide inside. The teachers were either already heading home or in the process of finishing up in the faculty room and students weren't allowed there without permission. And to top it all off, he wasn't apart of any clubs, so he was effectively... Clubs. Clubs! That was it!

Morning came with its usual rude awakening.

"H-Hey, Higaki", Benjiro greeted.

The short girl turned to look at the lanky boy approaching her.

"Nojiri", she responded in a surprised tone, "What are you doing up so early? I thought you weren't coming to drama club because of your tutoring gig."

He couldn't tell her that he was trying to avoid being jumped in the street by a bunch of wild-eyed fanboys and girls. Either that would scare her away or just make her feel like some kind of meat shield. It may still have been a lot earlier than most students were up and about, but the point still stood.

Holding up his kit, "It's b-been a while s-since I've b-been back, and S-Saito asked if h-he could see some of m-my work every n-now and th-then."

It had been so long since he had accepted his pseudo-contract from President Saito that he had almost forgotten that the sleep deprived senior had asked him for an update. A near perfect excuse was practically handed to him on a silver platter.

"I forgot about that", Akiko recalled, "I hope you don't plan on showing him all those photos that you took of me."

Benjiro cracked a grin, "Wh-What, are you emb-barressed to have your ph-photo shown around?"

Akiko suddenly turned away, her face becoming rather cold and withdrawn. He couldn't begin to guess why but the mop haired boy began to feel as if he had walked into another minefield. Despite having a considerably shorter gait than her male companion, Akiko gradually began to distance herself from Benjiro. The feeling of uncertainty and guilt were beginning to increase.

"Um, hey", he called out, "D-Did I s-say something bad?"

"Just leave me be", she said without turning around, "I don't feel like being around you right now."

On friendly terms, definitely didn't describe the two of them, but Benjiro couldn't help but feel almost distressed.

'What did I do', he wondered as he maintained as comfortable a distance as could be managed with Akiko being so frosty. The young man giggled to himself as he looked at the car windows and grass that were also covered in frost. The amusement at the comparison was quickly lost as he saw the short girl disappear inside the school doors. Unsure of what to do, he continued following her into the auditorium. The members of the drama club were mostly there, but no matter where Benjiro turned his gaze, he couldn't spot the president. When he asked another member, they said that Saito had come down with a mild case of the flu just a day or so ago, and was out.

While the timing couldn't be any worse, there were still several things he could do. Mainly, he just wanted to talk to the actors, see which styles suited them best. There were still things like hair styling to worry about. He could braid hair, but just never on anyone but himself. A few weeks had passed, but it wasn't hard to remember how to get backstage. He went to the girls changing room but just as he was about to knock on the door, he heard two voices having a suspicious conversation.

"Wasn't expecting to see you here, Akiko. Aww, why do you look so sad?", he heard a gasp, "Did you go through a bad breakup again?"

"None of your business, Fujibayashi", he heard Akiko respond.

"Well, I do try to make it my business to know things, when I specifically told you that unless you had to be here for a meeting or something, you were to stay far away from the club? Did I not make that clear enough to you or do I need to do something rash?"

Benjiro had only been around Fujibayashi a few times, but it was odd not hearing that sickeningly happy voice of hers. It was like a hearing vocal mask get yanked off, listening to such a low, threatening voice came from her mouth. He heard Akiko take in a sharp breath.

"No, please! I just came in by accident. I didn't hear about Saito having the flu. I thought I needed to be here today."

Fujibayashi just sighed in a bored tone, "Oh well, I suppose I can let you off the hook this one time. Though I hope this won't happen again."

Akiko paused.

"No, it won't happen again", she responded in a strangled voice.

"It had better not", Benjiro heard Fujibayashi approach Akiko and almost whisper, "Or else you'll have to go through another year or maybe even two of people talking about how you'll open your legs for anyone that throughs you a sideways glance."

The sound of footsteps rapidly approaching made Benjiro remember that he had been eavesdropping and needed to run as fast as he could. No sooner had the door to the changing room opened than he had ducked around the corner out of sight. He tried squeezing himself into a small corner just as Fujibayashi walked by. Unfortunately, he wasn't quick enough and she spotted him.

"What are you doing there", she said in her usual singsong tone. Benjiro honestly wasn't sure whether he should feel annoyed at seeing her façade or terrified knowing exactly what lay behind it.

"You know, besides making yourself look like even more of a f**king weirdo."

That familiar burning was felt on Benjiro's face. He wanted to say something to reprimand her. Oh, how badly he wanted to just tear into her, pointing out everything he found annoying about her. That shrill voice, the way her face seemed to always be bored or sadistic, the outfit that screamed of a desperate plea for attention, the posture that belied a complete diva, everything. But the exhaustion of the last few days was making the mop haired boy feel like complete garbage. The flaming urge to break something was dampened by cold apathy. All he could do at that moment was sigh, and walk past her with his head hanging low.

"Yeah, that's right. Just walk away. You shouldn't even be allowed to breathe my air."

Flames returned to his stomach and his fists clenched hard enough for the handle of his makeup kit to dig into his palm. After rounding the corner, he decided to try going back to the changing rooms again. Maybe there was someone he could talk to at the boys room. Memories of that one guy, what was his name, Kyo? Yes, that was him. He seemed congenial enough of a soul. May as well ask him first. One of the guy's playing the monster would be a good place to start.

Just as he walked past the girls changing room again, he could hear the muffled sounds of sobbing on the other side of the door.

'Come to think of it, we didn't see Higaki walk out after her', Inei informed.

'You're right', Benjiro concurred, an unsettling twinge of concern replacing his earlier anger, 'Do you think she'll be alright? I have no clue what was going on, but it sounds like that Fujibayashi may be even more of a venomous cobra of a b**tch than we thought.'

Inei grunted while he thought, 'I couldn't say, chief. Those aren't the sounds of someone who's alright, but you already made her mad this morning.'

'You got any clue as to why?'

'I wish I could tell you, but even this one is beyond me.'

Benjiro just stood in the narrow hallway, staring at the floor, wondering what he should do. His painted counterpart stood across from him with his arms crossed.

'Let's just leave her be for now', Inei concluded, 'We don't know how she'll react to us. Besides, unlike us, she actually has a friend group she can rely on. I'm sure they can help her out. That's what friends do, right.'

It didn't completely sit well with Benjiro, but he figured Inei was most likely correct.

'Alright, but when we come back here at the end of the day, we have to swallow our fear and just ask a few questions.'