Of Yokai and Hopeless Romantics

Chapter 8

Another week had passed by and as Benihime made her way to her shoe locker that morning, her mind was on the math test that she would be taking that day. Once again there were nameless love letters in her locker. She set them aside and out of her mind. The test proved to be a hard one, she was glad for the extra study session with Yayaka and Inna. Luckily the period after math was lunch, so everyone got to relax from schoolwork. When Benihime pulled up a chair next to Yayaka, both her, Noriko and Shoji all looked like their brains had burned out. Mari was the only one smiling looking happy, Benihime wondered if she would get a perfect score again. According to Noriko, Mari would sometimes get questions incorrect on purpose, just so she didn't always get a perfect score. Benihime didn't know if the girl was that smart, but seeing her sit there looking smug, made it hard to deny.

" Ugh," Yayaka let out rubbing her temples, " that was a hard test."

" I guess it would be for you," Mari said.

" Show some humility, some of us are just regular mortals," Noriko said lightly shoving her friend. " How did you do Shoji-kun?"

" I think I did ok, math isn't my best subject," Shoji said.

" I'm sure Mari-chan and Beni-chan did great, the rest of us have to hope for the best," Yayaka said. " I don't want to think about it anymore, let's eat."

" Maybe we need to go out and have some fun?" Mari said a smirk on her face. " We need to do something as a group to blow off steam."

" I think you actually have a good idea for once," Yayaka said, but Benihime caught something in her voice.

" Some time together might be fun, the rest of the school year is only going to get harder," Noriko said.

" Why don't we spend the night at one of the campsites, it might be fun," Mari said.

" That sounds like a lot of fun I haven't been camping in a long time," Yayaka said.

Benihime knew something was up, Yayaka had agreed too quickly. " Sleeping under the stars would be nice, we have to get Kurosawa-sama's permission first though. "

" You have no sense of adventure do you Benihime-san? Don't you want to just go to the mountains, disappear for a day," Mari said.

" We all know that Kurosawa-sama would know the instant we set foot in one of the mountains," Benihime said pointing out the obvious.

" More reason to just do it without permission," Mari said.

" Let me stop this argument right now," Yayaka said. " In case you have forgotten, you're part of the Student Council now Mari-chan, we have to set an example."

" Fine, like your not breaking rules all the time," Mari said in a bored tone.

After that the group planned their camping trip, promising to work out the details later on that night. Even though it would only be a night, Benihime was excited about the prospect of a night spent under the stars and in nature. Like most yokai, Benihime had a connection to the natural world and enjoyed being in forest and mountains. Soon enough though lunch was over and it was time to get back to schoolwork. By the time classes ended Benihime was ready to get back to the dorms, but she had her Student Council responsibilities. Benihime made her way to the Student Council room with Yayaka and Mari.

" Let's get down to business ladies," Yayaka said as Inna came in and they all sat down. " I submitted our idea for the Cultural Festival to Kurosawa-sama, she thinks it's ambitious, but didn't turn it down outright. She wants to see a schedule for the day to make sure we can organize it correctly."

" You would think she would favor us being so ambitious," Mari said in an annoyed tone. " I can rough out an estimate for expenses as soon as we get an idea of how much we'll spend in concessions."