White Hell

It had been roughly two months since the initial craziness had started. Now it was that magical time of year known as Christmas. A soft blanket of snow coated everything, colored lights were on all the buildings and fences, a variety of cheerful and sad music was playing and enough festively themed food and drink to choke a herd of horses. In the midst of it all, Benjiro was just feeling miserable. While he enjoyed Christmastime just as much as anyone else, he absolutely despised cold weather. The biting wind, the snow blindness, not being able to just walk outside, and the inability to see the sun for days on end. All of it came together to make most days much more subdued than usual. Not being a winter person was nothing new, but for the people who adored winter, they would hear nothing of the sort.

"Just throw on an extra layer and you'll be fine", Benjiro sarcastically grunted, "Yeah, because when I want to go for a walk I feel like taking five minutes to throw on six layers that I'll have to take off soon after. And I'll have to try not to get snow in my shoes."

He continued his ranting the entire walk to school. Crossing the threshold, he took a moment to shake the excess snow from his clothes, grumbling about the cold wetness all the while.

"If you keep on muttering to yourself like that and people are going to think you're crazy", a cheery voice lightly ribbed.

Turning to give a mock angry look at Yamanaka, "I w-went crazy y-years ago after I b-brutally murdered s-someone."

Yamanaka raised and adjusted a hand as if she were holding something to her eye.

"I must say, such a confession will make my job easier", she said in as masculine a voice she could muster, "Lestrade, you may take this man to the station."

Ordinarily, Benjiro would be either annoyed at the volume so early in the morning, or just shocked to be greeted by anyone for that matter. However, seeing Saori back to her normal self, even if just for a few moments, made him grin. They had to part ways for class, but when lunch arrived, she came to visit in the music room. Benjiro felt slightly annoyed at having his quiet time interrupted, but concluded that it didn't really matter anyway.

"So, what do you think of all this snow", Yamanaka asked, "It just makes you happy doesn't it?"

Benjiro sucked in through his teeth and exaggeratedly grimaced.

"Oh come on", the chipper girl chided, "Don't tell me that you hate winter too. It seems like nothing except music, anime and some good food make you happy."

"Exc-cuse me if I d-don't like freezing my b-butt off when I-I walk outside."

"But when it first falls, everything is just so still and silent. Looking out over the houses or a bunch of fields that aren't shoveled or have any footprints. It all just feels so magical."

Benjiro raised a confused eyebrow, "S-Someone like y-you, I figured that still and q-quiet weren't exactly your thing."

Saori just threw her hands up, "Hey, what can I say? My Dad always said to me that if you just take a little time to appreciate the beauty of the everyday, you'll never run out of things that give you a sense of wonder."

The mention of Yamanaka's father noticeably dampened the mood. He felt like he was prodding, but sometimes that leap of faith was needed.

"H-How is your f-father doing?"

Yamanaka crossed her arms and covered her mouth as she thought of how to respond, "I... I don't know."

It was Benjiro's turn to feel worried, "Wh-what do you m-mean you d-don't know?"

Before either of them could properly formulate a sentence, the door to the music room opened and in walked Daitan. The look on her face could either be attributed to being tired or annoyed. It was often tough to tell the difference with her. More noticeable than her face though were her hands. Her fingers and knuckles were all bruised and scuffed up. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what happened.

Standing up with a concerned look on her face, "Geez, Haru, what happened to you?

Daitan rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Some punk a** tried saying that I'd gone soft. What with soccer and now these lessons the Scarecrow is giving me. And who said you could call me 'Haru?'"

Benjiro scooted over as well, "Y-You look like you p-put your hands th-through a meat grind-der."

Her annoyance gave way to grim amusement, "Yeah, they put up a pretty pathetic excuse for a fight. But, I gave them about... I'd say three reasons to believe that I'm still at the top of my game."

Both of the lunch buddies, having seen what Daitan could do to a person in a no holds barred fight, silently shivered at what she might've done to a lesser opponent. Unsure of what to say, everyone just awkwardly stood around until the music room door opened again. Turning to see who it was, Akiko made her way inside.

"Awh great, now what are you doing here", Daitan drawled.

"I saw you wandering outside the lunchroom and when I noticed the direction you were heading, I decided it might be good to make sure nothing suspicious was happening."

"What do you think I'm doing here then? Do you think I came here to make some sort of move on the Scarecrow?"

Akiko's cheeks slightly lit up, "For all I know, you could've. At least I have actual business to talk over with him. And you're getting in the way of that."

As Daitan was busy getting offended, "Getting in the way? I'm his official student. I have more reasons than anyone else to be here."

Akiko's color deepened, "Be that as it may, I don't like the idea of you skulking around."

"What, like you seem to be doing when I'm meeting someone that I need to regularly spend time around?"

Akiko held up a finger, "Don't even go there. I remember the days he had off after your first few lessons. He looked so scared and jittery that he had trouble focusing on his makeup."

Daitan smugly crossed her arms, "Oh right, the makeup. You mean like for the makeover he used to make you slightly pretty to get some petty attention and never once said 'Thank you' for? Plus, you got all pissy because of some mean chick got under your feathers and..."

Benjiro felt an old familiar sensation in his stomach. It was subtle, but noticeable. The two girls began bickering between one another about one thing or another. All the lanky young man knew was that he had no wish to participate.

'Just let the storm yell and eventually the rain will go away', he told himself.

Taking out his phone, he immediately plugged his earphones in and turned his music on as high as it could go without hurting his eardrums. For a precious moment, he just let Mr. McCartney tell him about his Mother Mary's words of wisdom.

'Can't you ever do anything right?', said a woman's voice

'Can't *you* ever look at something I do and not criticize me for the smallest mistake?', said a man's voice

'I wouldn't have to see any mistakes if you just did things right.'

'I'm not having this conversation. If you're such a stickler for details, you take care of it.'

'Oh, and just let me take care of one more thing, why don't you?'

Malignant recollections weren't an ideal way of walking down memory lane, but you don't garlic seeds and hope for peaches. As his focus came back to his music, he thought how part of the song held a certain dichotomy for him. Hearing about receiving such loving words from someone who wasn't even alive anymore. Briefly, Benjiro couldn't help but wonder what would happen if something similar happened to him.

'You most likely wouldn't hear something along the lines of 'words of wisdom, if that's what you're wondering.'

'I'm aware of that, Inei. But I'll probably never stop wondering.'

He remembered the description on the box when he bought his earphones. They said 'noise cancelling', but at the moment, Benjiro didn't know if they took into account just how much volume two teenage girls could generate. Unbeknownst to him as he tried concentrating on his music, the girls turned their attention to him, as if expecting something. This gave way to further annoyance at being both ignored and not being present. They started turning to yell at him, but instead of responding, all Benjiro wanted to do was retreat farther into his corner.

He felt two different hands roughly grab his lapels. Through the music he could see Daitan and Akiko both yelling at him. Their frustration turned from each other, now to him. Faint words, asking him about who he was siding with drifted through. Little beads of sweat formed as he turned his eyes from girl to girl. His inability to form a proper word seemed to frustrate them even more. Yamanaka in the background appeared to be saying something to the other two girls, but he couldn't hear. He watched the two of them draw back a hand. Letting his eyes glaze over, Benjiro found himself back on that beach once more. The apprehension and anxiety he was feeling moments earlier washed away as quickly as the retreating waves at his feet. Still, this may have been a safe place, but the circumstances that made him come here always tainted his peace. Inei appeared next to him and opened his mouth to say something but hesitated. They both just stood on the beach, watching the sun and the waves.

"It's all to familiar isn't it", Inei finally said.

The lump in Benjiro's throat prevented him from answering. All he could do in response was mutely nod his head.

As his chin quivered, "What did I even do? I tried staying out of their argument. And I'm not even sure if I know what was happening."

Inei just crossed his arms and sighed, "I honestly couldn't say. But it never hurts to ask."

Benjiro's imaginary counterpart suddenly got a look of inspiration, "Hey, even if it has nothing to do with you, maybe you can smooth things over. Christmas is coming up soon."

This idea caused his surroundings to disappear and his eyes to open up back in the music room. Like the time before, Yamanaka was sitting right next to him, lightly shaking him to wake up. The other two girls looked like they already left to go back to class. His face and body were stinging but he paid it no heed at the moment.

'OK then.'

Turning to the cheery girl, "H-Hey, Yaman-naka, what d-do girls like as g-gifts?"