Chapter 10: Threatening's and slaughter
Hiromi started walking in the other direction and Benjiro just stood there perplexed beyond words.
'OK, I'd like to ask what the hell that was all about but she's leaving and it's clear that this discussion, if you can even call it that is finished.'
He tried to turn his own way and leave but someone's hand latched around his arm. It was one of the guys from Hiromi's fan troupe. In fact, it wasn't just him but the entire group, save the object of their worship. All in all, there looked to be about ten of them in total, half guys and half girls.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Benjiro tried to tug his arm away but the guy had a stronger grip than he would've thought at first.
"Listen here, worm, we-"
Benjiro stepped forward, drove his palm into the guy's face, grabbed his own hand and started running away. He took off while the group was still asking the guy if his face was alright. He tore down the hallways, hearing the group a short distance behind him.
'Great, I've done it now. Although considering how tightly he had my arm there, this is probably a dead if you do, dead if you don't situation.'
The hallways only had a few people in them. In the time their teacher had taken to explain the rules to them most of the students were already on the ground floor at their lockers and most likely out the door. The remaining students gave confused then surprised stares as they saw the escaping boy and his pursuers.
He thought he was making good time getting away, but then he stopped in front of the staircase. Looking down those steps made him feel dizzy and and he found it hard to breath but he didn't think it was from the running.
'Shit! Why does this school have to have more than one floor?'
Benjiro just muttered a curse, gripped the railing and tried to start descending. He lowered one foot, then set the other down. It was difficult trying to keep himself from hyperventilating but somehow, he though he was doing alright in keeping calm. A hand grabbed his collar and yanked him backwards. He found himself back in the midst of the fan troupe, except now, there were two people holding his arms still. The guy that grabbed him a moment ago stepped forward, glaring heavily. His eyes were a little watery and his nose looked red but not broken.
'Good, maybe that makes me a little less liable.'
"Now, like I was trying to say before you assaulted me:"
'And rightly so, you crazy bastard,' he thought, 'I'm being unlawfully restrained and I'm assuming it's not so you can take me out so we can sit around and have an ice cream social.'
"We don't really care about that dumb competition you're apart of. What we do care about is the fact that you disrespected our goddess Hiromi and made her angry."
"Nobody makes her upset without us teaching that person some manners," The girl holding his left arm growled out.
"How did you even come up with something like that when you can't even form a real sentence when t-t-talking to people?"
The group all got a decent laugh out of that comment but Benjiro wasn't sure whether he should be insulted by the insult itself or by the lack of creativity.
'OK, if you're going to insult me, the least you could do is try to actually make a burn. Like "Hey, you'd make a decent sailor if you're that good at getting your tongue tied up." Ooh, that is good. Wait, no it's not. What about- oh, that's not something I want to see.'
The guy got into a boxing stance. Benjiro's mind was racing a thousand miles an hour trying to think of a way out of this situation, but no realistic solution came to mind. Both his arms were being held, and even if he broke away from them, there were another eight people standing by. He knew only one or two moves for how to break away from someone but they weren't going to work. His thoughts were cut short when he had the breath expelled from his lungs.
"That-" he delivered a right jab to the solar plexus.
"-is for making the goddess upset. That-"
A cross to just below the sternum.
"Is for mouthing off to her. And that-"
An uppercut to the stomach. Benjiro convulsed and swallowed heavily to try and keep himself from throwing up. Then he remembered "the place". It had been a hot minute since his last visit, but it was the only thing he could think of.
"-Is for punching me in the nose."
He stepped back for a moment to observe his handiwork. Ordinarily about now, most people would start crying, swearing up and down that they would never disrespect their goddess again. But this guy was remaining defiantly silent and his face which looked mildly scared before had only a neutral expression.
They waited for him to do or say something, anything, then for some reason the boy started humming. The leader made a gesture to the two holding Benjiro's arms and they just let him collapse onto the cold tiles. The group surrounded him and just stared down as Benjiro lay flat on the floor, almost perfectly motionless.
"What the hell is he doing?"
"I don't know, he's humming a song?"
A couple of them tried kicking him in the back or the legs to catch his attention, but his face didn't change, his breathing corrected and the tune continued. While the troupe was wondering why the boy was humming, Benjiro opened his eyes and found himself inside one of his sanctuaries. Looking around, the view hadn't changed a bit in the last few years.
The waves were making their hypnotic motions as they rose, fell, crashed and retreated back into the sea, leaving behind their foam. The sea was so blue it didn't look real. More like those pictures you always see on a pamphlet, but there it was, every bit as light blue as the sky above it.
And there was the sun, gradually sinking lower behind the horizon, giving the sky an increasingly artistic touch as the seconds ticked by. Lots of gold, then a few splashes of orange, then pink and then a deep red started to paint the ordinarily white clouds. The sand felt both soft and coarse simultaneously, underneath his feet as he dug his toes into it.
He thought he was alone until he glanced to the side and saw his alter ego. He was all dressed up in his torn clothing and his face covered in all that makeup. The two of them didn't say a word for little a while, just staring at the view.
"So, been a while since you came here. What's it been, a month?"
The raspy voice sounded harsh as usual.
"I think it's been about three. That's most likely a personal best. I was hoping I wouldn't have to come here for a while."
"Yeah, I think we were both hoping this place would become a less familiar setting."
"Inei, can you tell me? Why does it seem that since I came to this damned school, every time I meet a woman, people start crying out for my blood for no good reason?"
The pale-faced man took a deep breath in and out, crossed his arms and drummed his fingers across his elbows.
"Well, the first two times were just not quite so innocent misunderstandings, nothing that couldn't be cleared up without some minor communication. This however, is the first time in a while that we seem to be dealing with people acting with preordained malice towards us."
"I realize that. I'm asking why all these crazy people are just now crawling out of their holes and why does it only seem to be when I'm close by?"
Inei faced the water and donned a thoughtful gaze
"Way I see it, they probably view you as a threat."
"Me? A threat? In what universe am I threat to anything?
"Well, these guys are die hard fans of Hiromi and now you are competing against her. If what you wrote was compelling enough to put you on the same level as their 'goddess'-"
Inei made air quotes saying that last word
"Then they're going to want to stamp you out so that she can remain on top."
"It's just a poetry contest. People have these kinds of things all the time just for the heck of it. If this were something like on a national level, I could understand the wanton intimidation, but this is ridiculous."
"Oh come now, you know the reason why they're doing this. It's no different than when someone is trying to slander an anime or singer for no reason other than they don't like what's being presented. In their tiny brains, that girl is so perfect that if anyone 'disrespects' her, it's more offensive than if someone spat on a family member's tombstone."
"But I'm not trying to disrespect anyone", Benjiro complained, "She was the one who asked me what my thought process was, and I tried answering her. I didn't even say anything mildly offensive towards her."
"That's correct", Inei affirmed, "You didn't say anything wrong, but that's not the issue here. Hiromi practically declared war on you for this, so they are going to do anything they can to make sure she wins. Rules be damned."
"Crazy f***ers."
"Indeed. Hey, I think they're about done. Someone's trying to get your attention, and it's not one of the cultists. You can probably leave now."
Benjiro just turned back to look at the sea for a few more minutes, just drinking in that spectacular view.
"I suppose you're right. I don't feel my body taking any more damage at the moment. Wonder who it could be?"
Inei extended a fist towards Benjiro
"Until next time, friend."
Benjiro extended his own and gave a fist bump.
"Let's hope that isn't for a while."
The beach and the sky began to dissappear and he began to return to the real world. Everything turned black and actual sounds began to register in his ears.
"... Nojiri, wake up. What … down there?"
The real world came into steady view and he saw the silhouette a girl standing over him. He blinked a few times, shook his head and saw the local loudmouth Yamanaka was the one calling to him.
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