What's in the Box?

Like usual, when Hiromi was brought to school in her usual, sleek, black Cadillac. As the chauffer opened the door for her, she was greeted by her usual legion of adoring fans. Unlike usual was that tucked underneath Hiromi's arm, her bookbag looked unusually bulky. The object was square in shape, but no one could tell what was inside by the shape alone.

"Big Sis Hiromi, can I interest you in sitting with me at lunch", one girl invited nervously.

"Shut up you banshee, she doesn't want to talk to you", a rival girl admonished.

One of the more flamboyant boys marched forward with his hand on his chest. And were those sparkles glinting around him?

"Miss Hiromi, it would be my pleasure to take your bag and-"

"No thank you", Hiromi responded with a polite smile.

The boy visibly deflated and walked away as he was followed by the more zealous member of her fans that were berating him for such a rash action.

'Strange, she usually is willing to let someone else carry her bag for her so long as they remain within her line of sight', observed a certain boy, pushing his glinting glasses onto his face with one finger.

"Is there something on your mind, President Sakurai", a peon asked.

"Oh no", he smiled sweetly, "Just observing the different things that make the day beautiful."

...

Hiromi's polite mask slightly slipped but she regained it before anyone could notice the change. She had never given much thought to how the students who loved her expressed themselves. They had just always been there for as long as she could remember. Even as far back as elementary school, there had always been a few spitefully jealous detractors, but twice or even thrice as many people were there to worship every little thing she did.

Such observations were not lost on her when she opened her locker and like usual, there was at least a dozen love letters waiting for her, 'Hm, three fewer than yesterday. That Kuroko or "whatever his name is" boy must've given himself a writers cramp again.'

The sight of all those letters had lost their novelty about eight years ago, and by this point it had grown into a tedious routine to simply take the letters as if she were going to read them. In reality, she would stuff them into her bag and discreetly find a way of disposing of them in private. After all, it wasn't becoming of a young lady to so blithely trample on the feelings of an admirer.

Of course there were some exceptions. If the admirer was too dogged in their pursuit of getting Hiromi to notice them, she would usually make sure they saw her tear the letter. In special cases, she brought a small lighter for extra flair. That particular admirer would usually feel the effects of her annoyance via her proxy fans.

'Oh, forget about those worthless letters. You have slightly more important things to be focusing on', she reminded herself.

Throughout the entire day, Hiromi's bag never left her side.

"Miss Hiromi, what are you carrying there? Isn't that heavy?"

"What do you think it is?"

"Beats me but whatever it might be, it must be quite important if she's keeping it close."

Hiromi never broke character, but she was silently cursing her popularity for once. Sure, all the attention was nice. Lord knew she hardly received anymore than was compulsory from her parents. But all the attention on her naturally included the precious cargo. When lunchtime came, like usual, she carefully selected a few girls that could sort of be considered an inner circle.

"Mistress Hiromi, the other day I-"

By this certain point, Hiromi mostly went on autopilot. She had been self trained from an early age to simply nod, smile and make certain responses when people rambled on.

"-res, Mistress."

Hiromi shook herself from her reverie, "Apologies, there has been much on my mind as of late."

The girls collectively said "Ahh."

"Is this about your upcoming birthday celebration?"

"Why yes", Hiromi quickly lied, "I've been preparing as well as practicing the piano so much lately that other matters have been removed from the forefront of my mind."

The elegant girl silently sighed in relief that her behavior was thoroughly explained, at least for the moment. To the casual observer, the way she was acting wouldn't look any different than normal, but her fans were anything but casual observers. Thankfully, the day was almost over. All she had to do was wait relatively two hours and she would finally arrive at her language arts class. Yes, that was the endgame.

...

When Benjiro tried to slide quietly into his language arts class, naturally he didn't do so well. The Domon Battalion was watching him when he arrived and gave him their, almost complementary at this point, glares. However, with the recent talk from his brother, he had a lot more on his mind than a bunch of simple fanboys.

'Could it really be true that Higaki likes me? And what did he mean by me and Haruoka spending all that time together. I mean sure, once you get past the fact that she's an actual gangbanger and would just as soon beat you as say hello, she' actually kind of pretty. Her short hair works for someone like her. Those tan lines are nothing to scoff at. And I'd be lying if I said she doesn't make those muscles of hers look good.'

Most of the Domon Battalion gave up after a moment. Others seemed almost disturbed at the fact that their usual methods of hazing didn't seem to be working.

'But what about Hiromi? Could that also be true for her as well?'

Benjiro looked up to sneak a quick glance at Hiromi's side profile. As usual, she looked like she stepped out of a Renaissance painting. But, closer to more recent events, that familiar sight didn't fill him with the butterflies from the past. It didn't even exactly fill him with anger either, just simple disgust. Her fans enjoyed pushing him around for no reason other than she, as she put it "She enjoyed the challenge."

'Ugh, that's some bullshrimp', he mentally groaned, 'Her liking me can't be true. And even if that were true, there's playing hard to get and being a regular stone wall.'

His quick observation and reaction weren't lost on the more observant members of Hiromi's fan club. They looked like they were going to say something, but Mr. Watanaba walked in before they could do anything. It wouldn't exactly be true that the lesson went on without incident. For whatever reason, Hiromi had something in her bag that had been the hot topic of school gossip that day.

'If the biggest thing that people are talking about is that some girl is carrying around an extra lunch box with her, this school may be even less interesting than I thought.'

That and the fan club refused to let well enough alone. There was the occasional paperclip and paper hornet aimed in Benjiro's direction. Other than that, the day ended like it always did and the wiry young man was gathering up his things so that he could get to his tutoring lesson. Benjiro put his hand on the railing to start his usual slow descent down the staircase. He still wasn't sure how to think about Haruoka, but he'd most likely just put that on the backburner and-

"Nojiri, may I speak to you a moment."

That voice, oh how it stirred up so many conflicting emotions within him. Turning around, Hiromi was looking at him with a rather determined expression. Not too far behind her, he could see her fans looking as though murder was on the brain. Whatever the situation was, most likely a sting of some kind, Benjiro wanted no part of it. Setting his mouth in a hard line, "What do you want, Domon?"

There was some not so subtle sounds of anger coming from the mob.

"Good students, would you please quiet yourselves down", Hiromi lightly called, "I'm trying to say something to Mr. Nojiri."

Her voice was perfectly even, but something about her tone and that smile held a subtle yet clear edge of warning. The fan club took the hint and backed away, noticeably scared. Benjiro couldn't help but almost be impressed at how easily Hiromi commanded them.

"Seriously, what is it that you want? I have places to be."

Hiromi's smile twitched at that. Nonetheless, she reached into her schoolbag and produced the mystery item that had been perplexing the school. In her hands was a full, professional Maybelline makeup kit.

"I wanted to give this to you. From what I understand, this is considered a rather valuable brand that should replace everything that you lost", she paused before slightly raising her voice, "And now that it is in your possession, I trust you will keep it in good condition."

Benjiro was slightly confused at her tone but firmly responded, "You can t-trust me, it's a select few I'm n-not sure of."

Hiromi continued using the unusually loud tone, "As this is my gift to you, I assure you, no one will touch it, but you."

Taking the box from Hiromi's slender hands, the young man looked inside. There were so many different shades he could use. A few of the more monster-like colors were missing, but at least he wouldn't have to clean out the drama club's budget to request the whole shooting match. Turning his gaze back to his surprise benefactor, "I'm not sure w-what to think of th-this, but thanks anyw-way."

It was almost imperceptible, but Hiromi's features softened, "Not only that, but I would also like to extend an invitation to my birthday party happening in three weeks."

Before, Benjiro had been surprised, but now he was simply shocked.

"I would appreciate it if you would be there. And that you would keep this matter private. I'd rather not deal with the headache of everyone's gossip."

All the wide eyed boy could do in response was nod dumbly. With a firm nod, the young lady turned, 'Now that that matter is out of the way...'

As she walked down the hall, she put a hand on top of her chest, 'Why is my heart beating so fast right now? All I did was offer recompense.'

Back with Benjiro, who was equally confused about this recent development, couldn't help but stare at the sleek box sitting in his hands.

'Could Ken really be onto something', he wondered.