Creative Streak

From his spot in the back, Benjiro couldn't help but glance at Hiromi Domon every now and then. He couldn't tell exactly what, but something definitely didn't seem right. Her posture was always straight and perfect, but there was usually a simultaneous hidden grace or ease about it. Compared to now, which was her sitting more still and tense than a sculpture. Naturally, when their goddess wasn't in a pleasant mood, neither was her fan club. They were proceeding to give him the usual round of glares and even had one or two mean things scribbled on his desk when he arrived. It tore at his heart to have to look at them, and it was something an eraser just couldn't completely erase from memory.

It was one of those days that, while not exactly stellar, was one that Benjiro considered a good one. Today was the last of his mandatory one month tutorage of Haruoka. Admittedly, in an odd way, he had grown attached to the muscular soccer player. On an instinctual level, part of him still felt afraid of her, but that feeling had subsided in recent days. When she wasn't being about as receptive as a sleepy cat to his lessons, Haruoka was actually kind of fun to tutor.

With their time together nearing an end, Benjiro had been drawing up a series of small quizzes. It caused no small swell of pride in his chest when, despite taking a while to complete, he saw a significant exponential increase in her English skills. Conversations were obviously quite rocky, but if not pressured, she could give a foreigner directions, order some food and make small talk with a very patient listener. He'd never admit it in front of her, as she'd most likely hit him again, but he could've wept tears of joy. Not just from seeing her butcher another language, but also to see her slightly enthusiastic at times.

True, when your lessons also partially consist of games, it didn't feel like teaching. And maybe, that was the trick to it all. Memories of his when his older brother actually cared enough to study as well as Benjiro's own struggle coalesced with his teaching. Trying to sit through a boring lesson, being told to look over an impersonal sheet or chart of facts and regurgitate it all on command, ugh. While not a fan of Haruoka's particular way of showing distaste in things, he could understand her mental barriers.

These and similar thoughts were brewing in his ever stimulated brain. That is until he found himself stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"Where do you think you're going? I've been wanting to talk to you for a while now."

As far as encounters went, this one was new to Benjiro. Ordinarily, those words would already put him on edge, as they usually came from the Domon Battalion. But hearing them from Hiromi Domon herself. Now that was something to truly fuel his apprehension. That familiar thrill still shot through his heart. Annoying as it was, Hiromi still made a whole kaleidoscope of butterflies take flight in his stomach. Regardless, he had somewhere to be and he couldn't help but subconsciously thank Haruoka for being such a scary person.

"I h-have to go to my t-tutoring ses-sion", he explained, "S-So, I can't t-talk right n-now."

The tiles on the floor had a very nice speckle pattern on them. Trying to count the number of speckles was definitely easier than trying to look at the offended expression face that Hiromi was giving him. Benjiro was nobody's fool. He knew that by nature, people just didn't say 'no' to Domon a good day. Going by what he saw in class, today was certainly not a good day.

"Then I shall accompany you to this tutoring job", Hiromi succinctly replied, "I'm usually not one much for wasting time, but in this case, I feel an exception must be made."

'Oh how very gracious of you', Inei drawled, his silent voice dripping with sarcasm and a monumental eye roll, 'Just how high is this girl's horse?'

'That depends', Benjiro contributed, 'How tall is the sky again?'

Inei grunted in half amusement, 'If I didn't know who this girl was, I'd assume you were just being hyperbolic.'

The young man suddenly paused on the stairs, 'Wait a minute. Did she just say she was coming with me?'

He turned with his face going slack and his eyebrows shooting away, giving Hiromi a bewildered stare. After picking his jaw up from the floor, he politely asked, "Say what?!"

"I said that I shall accompany you to this lesson of yours. And then I shall wait for your teacher to finish said lesson. After that, I will demonstrate that you are not superior to me in any fashion."

Neither Benjiro nor his imaginary counterpart could wrap their heads around what was happening. Either due to the fact that it simply was happening, or just at the surprising illogical nature of what Hiromi was saying. But, since first things were first, "I'm n-not the student. I'm t-the one giving l-lessons. And m-my pupil h-has trouble concent-trating, s-so an extra person will inter-rupt her train of thought."

If Domon were surprised at the revelation, she barely showed it in her slightly raised one eyebrow and restrained tone, "I see... in that case, I require your immediate attention and this failing student of yours can wait patiently until then."

Benjiro's confusion and anxiety were giving way to annoyance at his secret crush's presumptuousness, "Excuse you, but do you really expect me to just abandon my job, which was appointed to me by the principal herself", he sarcastically asked as he threw up some jazz hands, "Sorry if you are not currently a priority. I don't owe you any sort of attention. Especially not at the expense of someone that actually needs it."

'Boy, if Haruoka heard this, she'd probably floor me for basically saying that she needs to wait on me to help her', he shivered.

It had been weeks since Benjiro had his argument of sorts with Hiromi. He still couldn't even really figure why she had reacted so negatively. As far as he remembered, all he had done was offer some light constructive criticism. That is before they had devolved into their debate about whether classical or more modern music was a preferable genre. Who even got into arguments that intense over such a mundane topic. But he still did remember how he finally saw Hiromi looked when she wasn't maintaining her usual ladylike face. Before, she had looked miffed, but this time, she looked positively offended.

"Nobody says 'No' to me", Hiromi angrily choked out, "Either you give me what I want or you will regret it."

Despite his own rising anger, caution was calling louder. Visions of the Domon Battalion all coming after him at once or something similar were flashing in his head. Clenching his jaw, "Fine, you can tag along, but", he held up his index finger, "Just let me finish my lesson, please. That's all I ask."

Hiromi didn't look pleased with the idea, but she sighed in resignation and nodded. Benjiro lengthened his stride since talking had made him a few minutes late. Punctuality wasn't always a priority, but keeping Daitan from getting angry was always a priority. The elegant beauty was confused as to why they weren't going to the library and even more confused when they arrived at the music room where the two of them first talked. Confusion was replaced by curiosity when she saw who was waiting inside.

"Geez, Scarecrow, ya took forever to get heee-", Daitan's voice trailed off as she confusedly observed the newcomer.

"Haruoka, this is Hiromi Domon", Benjiro introduced.

"Yeah, the rich chick that's got her own bootlicking cult. Kind of hard to miss."

It took considerable restraint on both people's part to not react, Benjiro with laughter and Hiromi with offense.

'So he's tutoring the school's resident sociopath. How quaint', Hiromi observed.

Benjiro clapped his hands together, "Anyw-way, we're alr-ready behind. Let's g-get started."

He went over to the corner and picked up his guitar and began tuning it, "OK, we w-were working on h-how to conj-jugate verbs."

As per usual, Benjiro gave his part music, part game, part lecture lessons. Having an observer threw him off a few times and which wasn't pleasing Daitan, but not for the reason he was expecting.

'What's this pushy broad even doing here', Daitan thought, 'She's literally just showing up for no reason, with no invitation.'

It was rather slow going, and Benjiro's pupil made slow progress, but progress all the same. Setting his guitar down, he turned to Domon and asked, "So, wh-what did y-you want?"

"What I want, is for you to simply sit and listen", Hiromi pointed at the piano, "As I prove that you don't know as much as you think you do."

Without premonition, Hiromi sat down on the piano bench and took a songbook from her schoolbag. After turning to the page she wanted, Hiromi began playing a tune familiar to the lanky young man.

'That's the Clair de Lune', he noticed, 'She's definitely good. And why does it seem to be a theme to play songs with references to the moon?'

Her playing was excellent and mostly followed the notes on the sheet. About halfway through, she had to slow down or outright pause to make sure that she was getting the timing right. And right there, was where things began to slowly devolve. Feeling as though she made a blunder, Benjiro saw the elegant beauty grow noticeably agitated. After that, her rhythm was off by a slight measure and once or twice, the wrong key was pressed. Each tiny mistake only served to further aggravate the player until she began to gradually play so ham-fisted that by the end, Hiromi was probably doing an accurate impression of Beethoven.

All Benjiro could do was stare, whether in fear or concern, he wasn't sure. Even Daitan, who didn't know the first thing about the piano, classical or otherwise, could tell there were a few flubs. Hiromi was looking at him simultaneously expectant yet almost fearful.

Rubbing the back of his head, "W-Well, it's c-clear that you p-practiced."

He honestly was unsure of how to go about explaining his thoughts, "Th-there were a few m-mistakes, but otherw-wise it was played well."

"And? That isn't what I wanted to know", Hiromi spat.

Benjiro flinched, unsure of what she was requesting of him.

"I want to know if my music 'has life' as you put it before."

Realization dawned on the mop haired boy. He drummed his fingers together as he tried and failed to think of a sensitive way of explaining to her.

"Well...ah...uhh...", Benjiro fumbled, "It's, ah... nnnooo."

If Benjiro could've somehow made a veil with his long bangs, he would've done it. Just as he expected, it didn't go over well.

"What do you mean 'No'?"

That was the second time that day this boy had told her 'No.' And that was something she certainly wasn't going to tolerate.

"I practiced this piece specifically to show that I have the superior technique", Hiromi ranted, "I've been working at it for a week now and have been trying to get it d**n near perfect. So don't you dare say to me that it's lacking 'feeling.' Because I've put plenty of feeling into it."

"Hey, back off", Daitan interjected as she drew herself up, "You're the one that made Scarecrow late, just marched in here and now you're getting all p**sed off because of your own f**k up."

Hiromi turned from the shrinking Benjiro to the imposing Daitan. Though the former gang leader made Hiromi pause, she still didn't want to give ground, "I-I wasn't asking for your input. I came here to settle the matter of why he thinks himself the better musician."

Now it was Benjiro's turn to feel offended, "When did I ever say that?"

Glad to find an excuse not to stand before a monster of a girl, Hiromi replied, "You practically shouted it at me when I was practicing the Moonlight Sonata. I was working hard, and you had the nerve to say that I was lacking something. You, when you clearly have much less formal teaching and imperfect technique."

Finally having enough, Benjiro crossed his arms and drawled, "Well, m-maybe that's the thing. I-I'm not l-looking for perfection. I just p-play what I feel, whether that's happy or dark. And from th-there, I just l-let it all flow. It may not be perfect, but it still love it."

The wind was officially taken from Hiromi's sails, having nothing to say. She wanted to yell or just say something to contradict the lanky boy's audacity. But, try as she might, nothing he said was something that could be denied, refuted or disproven. While she'd never admit that she was wrong or beaten, she instead said, "I have no idea what you're babbling on about, but... I'll be back sometime soon. And you had better prepare yourself."

With nothing more to say, Hiromi slid the door open and left. Daitan and Benjiro exchanged equally confused looks.

"Do you h-have any idea what j-just happened", Benjiro asked.

Daitan scrunched her face and shrugged, "Hell if I know."