Upscale

Among the things that Benjiro had done over his life, he had come to expect a lot of things. None of them exactly good things, but he was at least expectant that they could happen. Going to a rich girl's birthday party with another female, sort-of-friend wasn't one of them. The event leading up to his invite still perplexed him, what with Hiromi's constant tonal shift in attitude towards him. One minute she acts like he doesn't exist, the next he's like a rival and in a rare moment, suddenly she acts as though she's interested. And no, not that kind of interested. More like one of those judges on a talent TV show, who evaluated people to see if they'd be interesting to watch down the road.

His friendship with Yamanaka was equally unclear in terms of classification. It was true, he knew about her deepest fears, ambitions and had seen more sides to her than most people would think her capable. But despite that, to say that they were close just didn't seem the right word. They knew nothing of each other's family, likes and dislikes, dreams. Hell, they didn't even know what each other's favorite color was. Benjiro could honestly count the number of regular conversations they had on one hand. Luckily it had been enough to convince her be his plus one, although that hadn't been easy either.

"Um, I'm really not all that sure", she responded while rubbing her arm, "If this is a party involving Domon then it's bound to be way out of either of our leagues, right?"

It took Benjiro a moment to think of a proper answer, since she did kind of have a point. Despite appearances, Yamanaka was nowhere near the social butterfly that she presented herself to be. Granted she could blend in better than he could, but the point remained that this party would probably be way too upscale for either of them. Then again, "Look, it may be really fancy, but at the same time, I'm a complete rando, and I still got invited for whatever reason."

"Why not invite your neighbor or something? Aren't the two of you dating right now?"

Again, a perfectly logical solution to the problem. One that most likely would be just the right decision in the grand scheme of things. Although there was the slight fallacy, "No, we're not dating right now."

"Still, she'd probably appreciate it more than I would."

In the end, Benjiro wasn't able to convince Yamanaka into coming. She was too focused on desperately finding any scrap of information she could, and with what little the young man knew about dementia, he honestly didn't blame her in the slightest. Which was why, at present he was about to enter the gates of the Domon estate accompanied by Akiko. She had been surprised but delighted at being invited and leapt at the chance. She was wearing a light yellow dress with white heels. Benjiro didn't have much to wear, aside from a white shirt and black slacks, and actually took some time to tie his hair in a ponytail.

When Akiko saw him, she snorted a little at how stiffly he was walking. He tugged at his collar and mumbled, "Not my fault th-the shirt is so t-tight."

In truth, he didn't mind getting dressed up, but with wearing his uniform, his neck already felt kind of raw. But, there was a party to attend and by God, this wasn't one they were going to miss. It was a little embarrassing for the both of them to have to be dropped off by Akiko's father, but what else could you do when you didn't have a driver's license? He checked under his arm to make sure that the gift he and his Dad had picked out was still tucked there, which thankfully it was. With no further ado, they had somewhere to be.

To say that the Domon mansion was impressive would be a massive understatement. The two teenagers stared in awe of it for a moment from outside the gates. The estate itself had to be nearly fifteen acres of land and the house itself was three stories tall. It had to take up at least two thousand square feet of land. The outside was an imposing white brick and the wide staircase leading to the oak front doors had to have been made out of marble.

"Invitations please", the voice of a security guard broke them from their marveling. Benjiro presented his invite and said how Akiko was his plus one and they were inside the gates. The inside was even more mind blowing for the two most recent party goers. The closest the two of them had ever gotten to an actual mansion was either through movies or just looking from the outside. It was now that Benjiro understood why they called places like the venue 'Great Halls.' And great it certainly was, the room seemed to stretch out as far as the eye could see. Of course it didn't help that the main hall had two rows of pillars going up the center.

There were dozens of people attending too. Akiko had expected it to be big, but not quite this big. And she never expected to see so many adults at what she thought was going to be, for all intents and purposes, a girl's birthday party. It took Benjiro all of ten seconds to scan the various faces through the great hall. He had no idea who was and wasn't invited, but he was beyond relieved that none of the Domon Battalion seemed to have been invited.

'Wait, but why would I be invited then', Benjiro puzzled to himself, 'Hiromi and I are, at best, a weird kind of rivalry and yet, I ended up here and none of her friends?'

"I was beginning to think you'd never make it."

Benjiro turned around to see Hiromi approaching the two of them. A lightning twitch went through his hands when he saw her. She was wearing a form fitting black dress that had little diamond studs to contrast the darkness with her hair was braided into a bun, overall giving her an air of regality.

"Why, Nojiri, don't you think it's a tad impolite to not even say hello", Hiromi slyly chided.

Clearing his throat, "S-Sorry, it's just a l-lot to take in at o-once", not particularly talking about the house he was standing in.

Quirking her smile a little more, "Oh trust me, you never get used to some things", she glanced down to look at the package underneath one arm, "And just what did you bring with you?"

Benjiro tried and failed to smile coyly, "W-Wouldn't be much of a su-surprise if I told you w-would it now?"

Akiko walked over and grabbed Benjiro's free hand, "Come on, Nojiri, you should set that down at the gift pile like all the others.

Hiromi frowned as she watched the smaller girl drag Benjiro away from her, 'What's her problem? I was just making friendly conversation', tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, 'Hmph well, it's not like I wasn't prepared for a fight. And unlike some, I refuse to settle for mediocrity.'

She was about to follow along before one of the staff blocked her path, "Ms. Hiromi, your father is about to make the announcement for your performance."

Hiromi huffed in annoyance, but made her way towards the designated piano. Across the room, Benjiro and Akiko were standing with drinks in their hand, unsure of what to do or who to approach. The party was much more formal than either of them had been expecting. For someone like Benjiro who didn't know the proper rhythm of regular parties, let alone one in such a classy setting, he was practically terrified. The irony of Hiromi and Akiko being the only people he could talk to somewhat normally wasn't lost on him.

The clinking of a fork against a glass brought the attention of the party goers to the center of the room where an older man with dark but greying hair and sharp eyes stood. He was wearing a standard tuxedo and despite the formal yet festive mood around, the look on his face was anything but amused.

"May I have your attention", he announced, "I'd like to thank you for coming here to celebrate the seventeenth birthday of my daughter."

'That's Hiromi's father? He looks stiff as a wooden plank', Benjiro and Akiko thought simultaneously.

"In honor of this momentous occasion, my daughter has decided to showcase her talent for all of us by playing the piano."

The crowd lightly applauded as he turned and extended a hand to show Hiromi approaching from the parting crowd. The fair girl glided over and sat herself down at the piano bench. She lightly wet her lips as she extended her fingers over the ivories.

'Wait a minute', Benjiro thought, 'Is this the reason why she was in the music room so much these past couple months? This is probably why she's been practicing that one piece as much as she has.'

Looking at Hiromi, Benjiro noticed that she seemed to be taking a few deep breaths before playing, 'But the last time I saw her, she was still getting mad at herself for making even the tiniest mistake which butchered the rest of her-- uh oh.'