Ben-To! Chapter 1 part1

I have no idea what just happened. I just coincidentally walked into a supermarket nearby my dorm and at the sight of a half-priced bento being sold, I suddenly lost my consciousness. When I regained my consciousness, I found myself lying flat on the ground at the higher-grade meat section.As far as I can remember, I was just about to take a bento with a half-price sticker…

And everything after that was just a blur…

I clumsily tried to support my body weight as I tried to stand up. At that moment, I saw that there were about eight other people who were in a similar state as me. Some were at a loss of words, some were utterly confused, and some were petrified with tears, as if they witnessed or experienced ‘a certain incident’. Although, I’m quite sure that our circumstances were different, our expressions tell the same story…

…The story of ‘Fear’…

Most of them were staring at the four who were completely knocked out cold on the floor.

What happened just now? As if having a blindfold removed from my eyes, I turned back to observe my surroundings, whilst putting the pieces together as to what happened up till now. From the disappearance of the half priced bentos, the people who were queueing at the cashier with a bento in hand respectively, the empty-handed people who were lying all around the area in fear, and the people with empty baskets who seemed to be shocked….

Something definitely just happened.

Something definitely happened at this place, and it only lasted for a few minutes.

At this moment, my stomach started to grumble, it seems like my appetite is running at the same pace as my brain. Well, I didn’t eat anything since the two melon buns and the packet of soya juice since noon, and it has already been 8 hours since then.

The most important thing now is to fill up my empty stomach, even though I’m very curious as to what happened, no one can think on an empty stomach! Since I had bread for lunch, I should get some rice for the sake of variety… But the bentos have disappeared, so I have no choice but to take the half-priced onigiri….

…Just as I was thinking about it, the idling people around me started to take the onigiris on sale, there were even people who were taking the fine foods at the side. As I hurriedly took the last onigiri, I see that even the fine foods were swept clean.

This onigiri was veiled in a sexy costume, otherwise known as a transparent plastic wrap, it was almost as if it were a traditional beauty, clad in black underwear. There was a sour plum inside, protected by layers of pure white rice, the label, sporting the two big red words “Kishū”, was constantly seducing me. The way it was intently written as “Kishū” instead on “Kii no Kuni”, is so perverted… no, I mean terrible.[1]

I unconsciously swallowed hard, while reaching out to grab the onigiri…. Ehh? Why is there a warm sensation?

“…Ahh…”

What I felt wasn’t the surface of the plastic wrap, but it was a slightly moist… palm?! I couldn’t understand what was happening. I started to move my vision towards the palm which I was touching, and then moving up towards the wrist, shoulder, and finally, I found myself exchanging glances with a woman who was wearing glasses.

Her hair was tied in a small ponytail, her eyes wide open, with a blush flushing her cheeks. Rather than a ‘woman’, she may be better described as a ‘girl’.

Judging by her school uniform, she was from the same school as me. I noticed that her ribbon was blue, which means that she was also a freshman like me. I’m not sure who picked her uniform for her, but the size was definitely too big. The shoulder width was too wide, and her sleeves were long enough to cover the entire hand I was holding.

The two of us were petrified. If this was some drama, this would be the time where the main protagonist would say, “At this moment, our story had just begun” or “The moment of destiny” or something of that sort.

This scenario would have been great if it took place in some romantic park, where the character was trying to pick up his or her handkerchief. However, my current location is at the bento section of a supermarket, the item that caused this ‘touch of fate’ was an onigiri worth ¥100, and there was even a half-price sticker on it.

What is up with this unneeded sense of reality ruining this romantic moment between two cheapskates?!

“…Err…Good evening…”

“G-Good evening…”

Although her voice was so soft that it could barely be heard, I felt that it wasn’t the main problem, our entire conversation seemed to be problematic. Our hands were already tightly gripping each other’s, so why is a simple greeting proving to be such a problem? How I hate how traditional Japanese-styled greetings can’t be as casual as a simple English greeting like “Hello~”[2], being able to communicate just via one word.

For the next few seconds, I started to think about whether I should start a political revolution, and push for English as our official language. Little did I know, I was clutching on to her hand tightly, not allowing her hand to escape my grip.

“S-Sorry!”

The sentence wasn’t said by me, but by the girl. By this point, I was already utterly confused. Maybe this short apology was her way of saying, “Give me the half-priced onigiri that you were planning on taking.” How sneaky, was she planning to take advantage of how she looks like a small animal to guilt trip me into letting her have things her way? How I hate how one simple phrase in Japanese can mean so many different meanings, I should start a political revolution …(abbreviated…)[3]

Thus, I let go of my hand… or more correctly speaking, my hand loosened due to my current lack of strength.

She immediately took out a white floral-patterned handkerchief from her skirt pocket, and handed it to me. What did this action mean? How I hate how this white handkerchief…(abbreviated…)[3]

“That… hand…”

“Hmm?”

“Ahh…ermm…I may have dirtied your hand…”

Hearing her say that, I checked on the status of my hand, it seemed normal, without any stains of any sort. Just as I was prepared to answer, “It’s fine,” she immediately added on:

“This was washed using bleach…so…it should be very clean…”

She panically spread open the handkerchief, and started rubbing my hand with it, to the extent of almost wrapping my entire palm in it, while apologizing to me repeatedly.

I felt many menacing glares piercing me like daggers, what would other people think of this scene?

I was quite worried, so I hurriedly looked around to check my surroundings. All whilst my hand was still being ‘cleaned’ by the girl, seemingly like a King having a feast while being served by his female servant.

In the end, I exchanged glances with a woman queuing at the cashier.

ﾉﾑE-999-020[1]

She was definitely more suited to be described as a woman, even though she wasn’t as tall as my 173cm self, she was considered quite tall amongst girls. Her messy hair was purposefully kept to the sides with style, and she had long luscious eyelashes, giving off the impression that everything she sees will get sucked into her eyes. However, due to the effects of strong light, her pale white skin created a perfect contrast.

Her expression corresponds to her dark eyeshadow, giving of a mysterious aura. I was not sure whether it felt like she was the cold and cruel type of person, or if she had the air of a foreigner…but I’m definitely sure that I have not seen this type of woman in my entire middle school life…

Although she has an unapproachable air, she also has many attractive features worthy of glances. Just the plain sight of her black stockings and boots which contrasts her school uniform, gave me a strange unexplainable sense of pleasure and stimulation…

Beautiful, with slim limbs, alongside a nearly perfect three-size proportions…This should be an ideal-shaped woman, however the aura she was emitting was strangely contrastive to her outfit, but it somehow suited her quite nicely. Deducing from all these mutually contradictory observations, which may be the reason behind her high ‘attractiveness’ factor.

However, it cannot be denied that she is definitely a ‘beauty’, this is no doubt one of the simple yet important factors.

Wow, high school really is different. In what sense you ask? Of course it’s the name, “middle school” and “high school”, these two have a gigantic difference, with the latter being almost as if it was a minor miracle. From the colour of her ribbon, she should be an upperclassman one year older than me, and compared to the girl who was frantically scrubbing my hand, she was a lot more mature.

At the sight my senpai[4], I started to understand something. The reason 90% of males in Japan choose to enroll in high school must be just solely to get a legitimate excuse to get closer to older girls.

It seems that it was almost her turn to pay at the cashier, as she turned her face back towards the front. At the last moment, I caught a glimpse of her cold expression fading, she might have even smiled at me. That suddenly made my heart rate increase, although her expression was extremely mesmerizing, I can’t help but turn my focus to the half priced bento in her basket.

That half priced bento was taken when “that incident” happened, right? At that time, I was knocked unconscious and flung towards a faraway area, just how did she manage to get the bento then?

Yet, the question was interrupted by a sudden pain on my right hand. That was because the girl was using the strength comparable to someone who was trying to avenge his father to wipe my hand, my palm was already completely swollen red, and I think that the handkerchief was starting to tear…

I open my mouth in an attempt to tell her something, but at that point, she suddenly regained her senses, and pulled her arm, along with her handkerchief back… Following that, we once again exchanged glances. Unfortunately, this wasn’t like the start of a romantic and touching love story, as both parties didn’t dare to say anything.

Well it couldn’t be helped, as if it weren’t for the only food left, the half-priced ¥100 onigiri, we wouldn’t have even touched hands in the first place… In other words, both of them already knew each other’s intentions…

At this point of time, it is often expected for the guy to be a gentleman and step back… Wait… What if that seems like I was mocking her poorness, wouldn’t that be an even worse case? But on the other hand, if I snatch away the onigiri now, it may seem like I was bullying a girl, yet that was the only way for me to satisfy the entity in my stomach.

…No, I know I must be gentlemanly in this situation… but I still really want to eat that onigiri…

At this moment, her stomach let out a soft, but distinct, yet indescribable growl. Her face started to flush red, but it seems like she didn’t have the intention to leave. I started to understand just how much she wants this half-priced ¥100 onigiri as well.

What should I do? Just as the both of us were having the same concerns, an on looking bastard started to take action, it seems that he was planning to snatch away that last half-priced ¥100 onigiri.

Humans are certainly amusing creatures, as I just noticed this, my hand had already reached for the onigiri. I wouldn’t have minded if it was that girl, but I definitely won’t allow anyone else gaining an advantage from this situation.

Thus, I grabbed the onigiri with lightning speed… along with the girl’s small hand…

…Five minutes later, I split the disposable chopsticks as I slowly opened the lid for my “Sweet Beancurd Udon Instant Noodles”, the fragrance of the snapper fish soup stimulated my taste buds, along with the white coloured water vapour rising… On the other side of the vapour, I saw the girl slowly unwrapping the onigiri.

After her introduction, I learned that her name was “Hana Oshiroi”.

As for why I am sitting on the same bench as her in a random park in the middle of the night, it wasn’t for “doing some dangerous stuff on the first night of spring” or any perverse stuff of that sort.

Simply speaking, we were having “dinner”. In the end, we each bought a cup of instant noodles, and decided to split the onigiri in half.

“Err… Saitō-san…”

“Ahh… No, my surname is Satō… Satō Yō.”

“Ehh?! Sorry!!! Even though I just asked… Then Satō-san… Do you want the seeds inside the onigiri?”

“No… Ah… Never mind…”

Oshiroi-san then gently started to tear the seaweed, and soon, the onigiri and even the plum inside, was split perfectly in half. Suddenly, she stopped her hand motion, and idly stared at the onigiri with a concerned look. She then turned over to look at me with a scary expression.

“T-That…. That Onigiri… I just touched it… I’m Sorry…”

After calming her down and chatting for a bit, I learnt that Oshiroi-san has a strange fear. She is always afraid that people will feel troubled by the things she touches. It’s something like germaphobia, just that it was the exact opposite of it?

I received the onigiri and took a big bite, she looked as if she was relieved of a stressful burden and started to eat her own share of the onigiri.

After slowly chewing, the stimulating smell of seaweed, sweetness of the rice, and rapid spreading taste of familiarity from the plum, along with the thick pieces of meat from the instant noodles, the sweet and juicy beancurd and exquisite taste of the soup, all these flavours mixed in my mouth and made me forget my very surroundings, forcing me to put all my attention solely on enjoying the food. Although both of us were from the same school, due to that being our only shared feature, adding on to the fact that we didn’t plan on having dinner together, there was no topic to for us to chat about.

However, if we remained silent after finishing the food, it will just make the mood awkward, so I decided to ask about ‘that certain incident’. She might at least have a clue about what happened, seeing as she didn’t faint like me.

“Honestly, I wasn’t quite sure what happened… How should I put this… When the bento was attached with a half-price sticker, almost 10 people started to gather at that area. Although I wanted to follow them, but there were too many people there, I was so scared that I froze on the spot……”

I also remember this part, was I included in the 10 people she said?

“In just a blink of an eye… there was only me left… The people at the bento section miraculously increased by two times, it’s as if they all came out of nowhere…”

“Just when I had a lot of questions in my mind, someone from the crowd got tossed out, I think that was you, Satō-san, after that, you flew towards the meat section.”

Yes, that was definitely me.

“I don’t know what actually happened in the crowd, but all I know is that just in that few minutes, the bentos disappeared one by one along with the crowd…”

She started to apologize for her blurry memory, I glanced at her pitiful appearance, whilst gulping down the rest of my soup from the instant noodles.

After hearing her description, I found that it coincides with my memory from being knocked unconscious. Thus, the conclusion we have come to was, that we had no idea what happened just now.

“In the end it’s still all a mystery…”

“Mystery… Feels like the future will develop into something full of ‘Manliness’… Hmm…”

She said that while playing around with the plum seed in her mouth. She then continued:

“Ah… What I meant was, if there was a super muscular famous detective and his sidekick, then they could use their muscles as a weapon to force out an answer to this mystery…”

I had no clue as to how a detective is linked with muscles, and she was also staring at the night sky idly, so I just followed suit.

Looking at the crescent moon, I started to think of the upperclassman at the cashier just now and her eyelashes, along with the bright colours of the half-price sticker on her bento.