Chapter 9: All Hail the Queen
The class made various exclamations of surprise as they all turned their heads toward the desk of the unsuspecting boy. Nobody had expected this guy who as far as everyone could tell, was a complete recluse, to be one of the winners. But the one who was most surprised was the winner himself. It was then that Hiromi raised her hand and Mr. Watanaba pointed at her.
"Yes, Ms. Domon."
"Sir, would you mind explaining how it was that you decided on this?"
Hiromi's voice sounded so polite, but had a similar tone to a businessman wondering what happened to his stock percentages.
"I thought I already explained the grading criteria the week before?"
"You did, I was just wondering why two participants per class instead of just one? As you mentioned, aren't there many classes participating?"
"Yes, six classes in total. Originally it was only going to be one entrant per class but it was actually because of Mr. Nojiri that I decided to change things."
Now everyone was even more surprised than before. Benjiro tried to ask what he meant by that, but the proper word formation refused to work. Luckily he didn't have to ask for an explanation.
"It was a stiff competition in this class. Both his poem and your own were neck in neck in terms of quality. Your poem Ms. Domon, had an excellent use of vocabulary and the mental imagery it presented was good. However, Mr. Nojiri's poem was nothing to sneeze at. I've honestly never heard anything that was able to create such a variety of emotions in the audience and such raw images. I had such a hard time deciding which one was better that I decided I couldn't pick either. So, instead I changed the rules to where each class would have two entrants to keep it fair for everyone involved. Do you undertand now?
Hiromi nodded and answered, "Perfectly, sir."
The bell rang a moment later and Mr. Watanaba clapped his hands together.
"Alright, since we have our two representatives for class 2-C, that about concludes the day. The two of you stay."
The class was abuzz afterwards. Some of the kids figured they already weren't going to win, others had their hopes of ten points dashed but accepted gracefully enough. But there were more than a few that didn't just seem bothered by their loss, but rather by who won. Benjiro walked to the front of class, against the tide and for some reason he saw a few people from both the guys and the girls that shot him dirty looks.
"That guy had better not get too full of himself", one threatened
"Damn, I'd kill to be in that position", another claimed
"Do you think if I did, I could take his place?"
"You? Your entry was ten lines long and you used the word 'radical' unironically. If anything, I'd mostly likely be the runner-up."
As he advanced against the tide of exiting students, he pretended he didn't hear anything and just kept walking.
Benjiro had a little bit of trouble concentrating on what his teacher was saying, as he was standing next to such a pretty girl. They stood there listening and giving a nod where needed as the rules were explained to them. It was a fairly standard tournament style competition. Each month, every contestant would present their ideas to their teachers and the teachers would make a decision. One person would be eliminated per class for each round.
When all the rules and regulations were explained they grabbed their bookbags and were about to make their way home. Hiromi's gaggle of fans that always followed her was waiting outside. Benjiro wanted to try talking to her, but he was already a little nervous around her and adding a group of people into the mix was not helping matters. He started to walk down the hallways to get out of school, and plugged his ears in to maybe take a little inspiration from "The King" for what to do next.
As warnings of the disguised devil played, he noticed that oddly enough, the gaggle didn't seem to be walking away quickly like they normally did. Instead they seemed to be following right behind him. Benjiro turned around to see why they were trudging rather than marching and felt a little thrill go through his chest. Hiromi was approaching, looking at him and stopped right in front of him. She pointed at her ears and Benjiro slowly took out his bud.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Hmm?"
Benjiro's voice sounded like it came from a mouse, and his eyebrows shot up for a second before he returned to his normal face. He couldn't believe that such a beautiful girl was actually stopping to speak with him.
"Would you mind explaining where you get your inspiration from?"
He stood for a moment, confused.
"Um, I d-don't kn-know w-what y-you m-mean."
"I'm asking where you came up with that idea that has changed the rules of an entire competition."
She was looking straight at him, but Benjiro couldn't look her in those eyes. Those beautiful bright eyes. He screwed up his face as he tried to think of a good answer. He was slightly disappointed he wasn't being asked about something else but no matter.
"I-I d-don't know. I've n-never r-really th-thought ab-bout it-t b-bef-fore."
Benjiro leaned back against a wall to think for a minute. He was always annoyed by his stutter but being so nervous always made it worse. Especially on the rare occasion a nice girl talked to him.
"I g-guess it's pr-probably b-because I d-don't r-really underst-stand what e-emotion is.
She gave him a look of confusion
"I'm s-serious, I h-have tr-trouble with em-motions. Ov-verall, they j-just d-don't come all th-that easily t-to me. I j-just h-have a collect-tion of thoughts in m-my brain that h-have no r-rhyme, reason or p-pattern."
"Maybe it might be easier to think if you weren't constantly listening to whatever it is you have coming through those headphones of yours."
"Y-you n-noticed th-that?"
"We've been in the same classroom for months now, and you just had them in a second ago, of course I'd notice at least one thing you do. It's just that this is the first time we've had a reason to talk."
"I sup-ppose a-that w-would be tr-true."
"Well, wouldn't you find it easier to think if you aren't always trying to pay attention to two things at once?"
"Not r-really. I listen to m-music so m-much b-because it h-helps me to l-let my listl-less thoughts b-become f-focused. But wh-when I see p-people or anim-mals or th-things in n-nature, words j-just spr-ring into my m-mind, and s-so, th-that's w-why I write. I tr-try to p-put it into w-words just t-to make s-sense of th-these th-things that I d-don't underst-stand what it is th-that I feel when I s-see them."
"We're getting off topic. Where did you get your idea and why is it apparently so good that this competition has become much steeper?"
Benjiro didn't understand why, but he was starting to feel uncomfortable with the way Hiromi was asking questions. He knew exactly where he got the idea, but that wasn't something you just brought up in a casual talk.
"It j-just c-came to m-me. I was st-staring at a p-paper, an idea c-came, I st-started wr-riting and th-that was the e-end res-sult."
She looked even more confused but now a hint of disbelief was making its way onto her face.
"It just came to you. A great idea just came to you?
"Yeah, l-like I-I j-just said, I j-just locked m-myself in m-my r-room, a l-line came t-to me and th-the rest f-flowed from th-there."
"And pray tell, how long did this whole process take you? The entire week?"
"N-no, it w-was onl-ly... m-maybe a c-couple hours-s."
"A couple of hours?"
"Yes, n-nothing h-hap-pened for a w-while, b-but once it c-came, writing ever-rything d-down t-took mayb-be thirty m-minutes at the m-most."
Hiromi turned away from him for a moment to collect herself. Benjiro felt completely lost. He wasn't sure why he was getting asked these questions and he was even less sure of where she was going with it. She turned around and looked more put together. She had a smile on her lips but something about her eyes didn't look happy or calm to Benjiro.
"Are you some kind of genius then? Have you done this kind of thing professionally before?"
"H-how old d-do I l-look to you, of-f c-course not."
"Did you even take any of this seriously?"
The smile was beginning to look a little strained
"Well, w-winning sound-ded nice, but I w-wasn't tr-trying to s-stress out over it or anyth-thing?"
"Do you think you actually have what it takes to compete with the top students in our grade?"
"Our t-teacher s-seems to th-think so. And I'd l-like to b-believe that there's at least a ch-chance."
Hiromi's lips pressed together as if she popped a piece of sour candy into her mouth.
"Very well, if that's how you want to play it, fine. But just so you know, I plan to win this competition and I plan on doing it so thoroughly that everyone else will look illiterate in comparison."
Hiromi spun on her heel and walked down the hall with her back completely straight and a look of determination.
'It's not as if I was planning on letting anyone else win anyway. What's one more opponent that will ultimately only taste failure?'
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