Okay, I have a fever, I'm bored and I need some more Benkei in my life. So let's ponder him and Clementia a little.
Now as we know (if you're past ep.4) he's the former Clementia advisor/professor and now runs the campus shop under a cat manager (hilarious). His name is taken from a Japanese monk, very fitting for the advisor of a curse/church/temple/magic centered house.
It's of course for tension building reasons in the story that the we know so little of Clementia and by extension Benkei at this time. Like, Clementia would prolly be one of the best, if not THE best house to take care of MC's curse, so they can't have been a part of the arc yet to just magically solve the problem early on.
BUT THIS ROBS US FROM SUCH COOL THINGS and I honestly hope we'll see Clementia guys and their cards this year after Dionysia sits down. To further thicken the soup that is the plot.
Haku and Rui have been part of the house before. It honestly makes sense for both of them; Haku is the heir to a temple and Rui knows his shit with anomalous plants and herbs and has an interest (and contacts) in witchcraft. But both are spiritual and magical skills and interests and I need ALL of that in my life IMMEDIATELY.
We know quite little of Benkei, but he does sell all sorts of anomalous medicine and magical items in his shop. Even the shop background has those Japanese curse dolls (wara ningyô) on display that MC used in her performance in the haunted house, mimicking the Ushi no toki mairi-curse ritual.
So Benkei knows his shit, prolly having been a monk before getting a teaching/advisor job. But to just openly have curse items for sale in his shop for students to buy...? That's ballsy and dangerous as fuck, especially now since Clementia is defunct and Benkei isn't teaching anymore.
Does Darkwick's curriculum even have curse or straight up magic related classes anymore?
(Off topic kinda but I hate the steel blue waistcoat and salmon tie on Benkei, he looks like a fucking sushi or a cheap hotel auditor lol. He looks so much better in the shop apron, the green and the gold really suit him and I swear to fuck if Twist doesn't make Clementia's house colour green I'll explode something in Minecraft wwwwwww)
Now, the poor guy is super worried he's being creepy towards students that he does indeed come off a little creepy, to his own detriment. I believe the game devs tried to write a fresher take on the 2000's "pervy monk" trope and turned it to um... You know how when you go through airport security checks, you've made sure you have nothing on you and something still beeps and you panic like "oh shit what if I'm accidentally a drüg mule??"
That. They made the poor guy that.
Sure, as per the later episodes he's involved to at least to some extent with the academy's bullshit like the other professors, but honestly? I trust him more than I trust Nicolas at this point. Even if we know so little of him.
(I just think Nicolas is a sus henchman that keeps fucking up and feels guilty for dancing to Darkwicks tune lol)
And I have a stupid little theory why Benkei is so worried about coming off as creepy towards students. Being the advisor of a magic/spirituality/herb etc. forward house, he might've been involved with an accident involving love spells or love potions, even love related curses before Clementia got shut down.
I don't think it's anything related to the main plot, but who knows.
But why would a guy like him ALSO be the advisor to Ultio? A house literally named "revenge" that runs a fucking prison/holding facility??
It doesn't really fir his personality and vibe, at least knowing what we know so far of the facilities, but then again, all the professors are sus as fuck. Benkei just less so. I kinda hope he's in kahoots with Haku to throw Darkwick's plans off. Maybe he's one of the people Haku calls so often? Or the Institute? Dunno, just spitballing.
So far he just seems like a more straight up kinda guy than any of the other faculty members. Maybe I'm holding on to false hope for ONE professor to not be a conniving asshole lol
What was the point of this? Was this fruitful or full of new ideas? No. Heh.