Chapter Text
Chapter I
Awry Abience; Ataraxy Adrift
All the harmony is in the cacophony of utensils and chatters clashing across the cafeteria until it all descends into music background only to you. Perhaps its because you’ve been a student since the dawn of your birth that you’ve grown used to the incessant noises kids your age would make because none of them could just sit down and be still. Granted, you’re barely still when your leg bounces in the beat of the music on your earphones—but you’re still seated, unlike those playing a violent game of dodgeball in the court just beside the eatery, so you digress!
As you continued chewing on your spaghetti, your eyes dart to the numbers on the taskbar of your laptop; forty-two minutes into lunch time. A sigh slips by you as you continued to finish the incomplete sentence you left off. If you hurry enough, you might be able to finish the second part of your project report before time runs out. You really wanted to finish it just so you wouldn’t spend one more second with your least favorite subject—and because your older brother just gifted you a new set of art materials and you would literally die if you don’t get ahold of them soon.
However, before you could go any further, a hand unannouncedly slams the surface beside your laptop, inciting a startled sound out of you as all your ten fingers pressed down against the keyboard. You first registered the incomprehensible words you’ve typed out from your screen before you tilt your head to gaze at the person who barged into your humble bubble.
“What is it, Satoko?”
“Ahhh, chibi-chan, chibi-chan!” As if she sucked in all the color and wonder in this world, she presents her jitter movements to you on a silver platter by sitting beside you and pulling your earphones off their home, your ears. “You would not believe what had just happened!”
Unbothered at her behavior, you returned to your laptop and deleted the keyboard smash. Without looking, you only uttered, “I bet I can’t…”
“Agatsuma-senpai just complimented my archery skills! Could you believe that!?” The pink bow the size of her head bounces alongside her, “Because I sure don’t!”
The keyboard stops emitting tapping sounds as your wide eyes look over to meet hers, their color like blooming sakura petals in the fresh start of a school year, like the color of the bow you gifted her since the third spring you met. “Ohh. Really?”
“He said my accuracy is so astounding that I could shoot the hearts of various men at the same time!” The brunette clasps her hands together and leaned her face against it, crimson blotches coloring her fair cheeks with a sigh dreamy enough to actually attract said men. The rubescence worsens the more bashful her manner got. “You know, he even said that I might have grazed his heart!”
You picked up your fork to grab a twirl of spaghetti, “Did he now?” before eating it.
“Ahh, and he said it with such a sweet and husky tone, like he was implying something, you know?” She then snaps towards you as if to enact the scene she’s recounting, her astounding height even more convincing for the show. ”He was even leaning towards me, and his hands were gently grazing my bow, my fingers, and his eyes looked at me as if I were the only girl in his world worth fighting for, and he the knight in shining armor ready to raise hell for me the same way he’s willing to raise our family and– umPH–!”
Her waterfall of dramatization cuts short when a spoonful (forkful?) of spaghetti was shoved into her mouth. When you felt that the food was already processed by her teeth, you promptly pulled away and spoke through your own chews, “I get it, no need to go into details.”
No words could ever describe how much you love this girl, but you still enjoyed the momentary peace. Satoko immediately chews and swallows the food as her indignant eyebrows furrow. “You wouldn’t get it. And, don’t just feed me like that! That’s a choking hazard!” Her huffs bridge into a mutter only for the both of you to hear. “The only thing I’m going to choke on is some nice, big, juicy hotdog and that hotdog is from–”
“Wouldn’t get it, huh?” A purposefully loud and exasperated sigh comes after. You twirled for another round on your almost fully eaten spaghetti, twirling it more than your usual two to three twirls. Would you really? But you couldn’t respond when–
“Of course you wouldn’t.”
A familiarly light palm slaps your back, and another person emerges from your periphery. You only let out an unbothered hum as you continued eating while Satoko expresses her emotions more candidly. “Ozaki-chan!”
The raven waves and sits down across you two, her neat ponytail seemingly a bit roughed up. Though her voice is gentle, the upbeat mannerism weaved in it was still palpable. “Well, in all honesty, I don’t get you either, Satoko-san. What do you even see in that player anyways? As long as you’re a breathing girl, he’ll flirt with you.”
You propped your elbow against the table to hide your chuckle behind a palm as the girl beside you fumed, “Eh!? Don’t start with me again!” She then stands up from the stool and lifts one foot up to lean against the edge of the table, pointing a finger down to your other companion. “You’ve no right to speak that way when all you’ve done is suck up to Kamado-senpai!”
But good-natured Ozaki merely blew raspberries and stuck her tongue out. “Suck up? Not my fault he’s such a good brother to me. You even admit to not minding getting married to someone like him–”
“Shut up! I’m forever loyal to Agatsuma-senpai–!”
From the corner of your eyes, you spotted another familiar raven-haired student, his cerulean highlights serving as an eyesore among the sea of teenagers and even more his resting bitch face that you've no doubt has essentially molded his facial muscles. You suppose that's why you both get along so well – it's easier to read his expressions when there's nothing to be read. You silently waved over to invite him to your noisy table.
“And I don’t blame you. Kamado-nii is just a likeable guy, you know?”
The usual scowl lightens before heading to your direction, his tray of food still as a statue despite his slight pace. You suppose he wasn't a kendo prodigy for nothing. The two girls have yet to notice his arrival, for they continue bickering.
“Since when did you start calling him so endearly like that!?”
He finally arrives and stops the banter by carelessly dropping his tray to the table that divides them, shutting up the altercation, his usual frown deeper (but not hostile). “Both of you are so noisy. I hear you guys from the other side of the cafeteria.”
Taking advantage of the girls’ stunned silence, you waved a lazy hand. “Nice to see you too, Yui.”
Yuichirou returns your smile with a softer nod before he goes to Ozaki’s side to sit beside. The ravenette makes space for him before leaning both arms against the edge of the table, her dark eyes glaring at the still pumped-up Satoko. “She started it.”
Said girl crumples air under her first as another rush of adrenaline flows through her veins, “You’re just mad I stated the obvious.”
“So you do admit you’re the root of all problems?”
“Yah! Stop twisting my words into your own–!”
A hand harshly pulls down the brunette and forces her to sit down on the bench. But before she could protest, your palm ruffled her messy locks while your other tapped the table surface in front of Ozaki.
“Both of you did. End of argument.”
Yuichirou sighs at the sight of the two girls gradually shedding out of their bared teeth and growing relaxed under your pacification. Though, he doesn’t really grow bothered when he feels those two sets of eyes glaring at his reaction or at the retort thrown in his way. He finds his phone much more interesting than their animosity.
“Oi, you don’t think you can get away, do you?”
After Satoko spoke through gritted teeth, Ozaki followed by harshly grabbing the boy’s uniform collar and swinging him. “Weren’t you the same guy who threw buckets of sand on us when we teased Hashibira-senpai’s physique? Bucket of sand with fire ants, might I add! All because we playfully poked at how weird he looks!”
Unfazed, the raven spoke eloquently despite swinging fifty kilometers per second, eyes and hand both on his little screen. “Did I? I don’t remember.”
“Liar!”
A hum slips past you when you feel no pasta left from your tray, and true to what you saw, all that’s left on your plate is the residue tomato sauce. You only shrugged and dropped your fork flat on the tray. “I don’t get you guys.”
All heads snapped towards your direction; The girl donned in the pink bow, who was suddenly behind the two, stops bashing the Tokitou with her fists; the gentle Ozaki, who was still shaking the hell out of him, stops at the slightest sound of your voice; and Yuichirou finally drifts his unconcerned, nonetheless intrigued, optics unto you.
Your instincts tugged your fingers to save your file (you've been betrayed by autosaves before) before speaking without returning their stupefied gazes. “I mean it as it is. You guys are getting worked up over them. Over those seniors.
I don’t get it.”
All eyes blinked, silent as they thought over your words, but you suppose you've had enough of their peculiar behavior. All of them. From your classmates to your teachers to even strangers to them.
It was when they all looked at each other simultaneously that you raised an eyebrow. Like they were sharing a telepathic thought. But you aren’t given any time to react when all of them loosened their stances as a sigh escapes them.
“Of course you wouldn’t get it.” Ozaki scratches her head as Satoko crosses her arms while nodding. Yuichirou was content being quiet as he let the girls express the shared sentiment.
“... What?”
With a speed incomprehensible to yourself, two arms have looped around your neck before they tighten to give you a hug. A high-pitched whine escapes from your captor, one that you recognized to have belonged to none other than the queen of theatrics and romance. “Chibi-chan’s taste in men is so off the counter, that’s why they don’t just understand…”
“True, true…”
“It’s a pity, sigh…”
“Did you just say ‘sigh’ out loud? Wait nevermind that,” you shook your head as you furrowed your eyebrows and looked at your two friends while you grasped your other friend’s forearm. “This isn’t my taste about men or whatever. You guys are just…”
By chance, your eyes then drift off to the outside court, and you see the particular blond leaning against a wall as he’s accompanied by two students you don’t recognize. His honey-colored optics had an unreadable shade, but as if his lips were the instrument, the girls just seemed to giggle at whatever he just said.
You blinked. “… weird.”
An overdramatic gasp erupts from behind you, “Weird!? Then explain your abnormality!”
But you only rolled your eyes and lightly scoffed, “My abnormality?” Am I even the abnormal one here, when all of these students are sucking up to those three like they’re people worth revering?
“But, still!” Your train of thoughts was broken off by Satoko releasing you from her hug as her hands grasp both your biceps, the usual zest coloring her blue eyes bright, “I don’t see how you can’t fall for the handsome, intelligent, chivalrous Zenitsu Agatsuma!” She then lets go and sits down, an expression that brings shame to beauty itself matching her airy voice,
“A man blessed with such resounding voice that could dictate his targets’ melodies, skillful in his hands through strums and keys – a demeanor that could sweep you off of the floor with his mighty arms just to protect you from any harm. Not only that, but he keeps his straight A’s and skills refined! What more could you want from a man?”
“Oh, I heard he had managed to stop a robbery all by himself in a jewelry store, didn’t he?” Yuichirou butts in as he finally took a bite from his granola bar. A rare instance of attention, though dog fights is his odd interest—a certain boar-headed barbarian proved such. With apparent pride radiating off of her, Satoko points her index to the newly invested boy,
“Bingo! Agatsuma-senpai was such a thoughtful boyfriend to gift his then girlfriend a pair of earrings—all because of her passing comment. Not to mention, the expense! But then a bunch of stupid thieves robbed the store when he was buying said jewelry. Unfortunately for them, though,” Satoko then wraps an arm around you as her other waved as if opening a world uncharted to your eyes. “Agatsuma-senpai had distracted the robbers with his euphonious voice, and when they got distracted enough, he had taken them down with his martial arts!”
“Hah, serve those bastards right!” Ozaki cheers on, such crude words reserved for those deserving.
So odd. You tilt your head as your hand rests on the girl's arm around you. “Isn’t he some kind of… A player, though? He jumps from one girl to another like an enthusiast eager to complete his collection.” You shrug. “Sounds like avarice to me, honestly.”
The brunette repeatedly slaps you with a heavy palm, “Ah, ah, sweet dear, you shouldn’t get swayed by those empty rumors.”
You merely blinked from her painless assaults as Yuichirou one-handedly held back a fuming Ozaki back from pouncing on Satoko. She’s always been your shield from said girl’s mindless blows. But the girl ignores everything else and then poses in an overly dramatic fashion that you would have found almost comedic had she not done it in a convincingly artful way. She always reminds you how much of a theater kid she was until high school responsibilities took much of her time away.
“A treasure vied by many, touched by few, yet none daring enough to embrace all his saint and sin. Anyone who had the pleasure to melt under his arms, deceitfully eternal, only for it to be a fleeting gift that will soon become a memory tucked in the folds of their entropy.”
You gazed at your friend with bemusement. “Oh. Is that so?”
“So, in short,” The mist-eyed man heaves as he finally placates the girl on his hold before turning to the still immersed woman, “Everyone knows a relationship with him won’t last long?”
She merely sighs dreamily, “Jumping from one experience to another, brave enough to try new things and start anew. It seems like he’s just looking for what might just satisfy his inexplainable, uncontrollable desires. How romantic~!”
But you only blew raspberries and muttered to yourself. “And I’m called the weird one here.”
“Hmph. Too much of a complicated guy.”
Whatever traces of awe sitting atop Satoko’s expression was immediately wiped out by Yuichirou’s comment as it’s replaced by a vein popping in her head. “Complicated? Oh, of course someone like you couldn’t appreciate the beauty in complexity. No wonder you’re such a devout follower of Hashibira-senpai’s simple-minded ways.”
Ozaki covered her gaping mouth with a fist, “Ooh, shots fired.”
Though, he was barely provoked and continued to chew on the bar he had just eaten. “I simply like his ways of doing things. Simple-minded. Driven by passion. All the violence of a beast for the reverence of a king. Plus, he's funny.”
“Funny. I suppose his physique is.” Satoko scoffed while Ozaki’s visage brightened. “Doesn’t he wear a headpiece that’s made out of boar?”
“Very odd, no?” His face remains unchanged but you've known him well enough to see the shine in his eyes. It truly is rare to see him so curious; a mirror of his twin brother whenever that guy spends his time with a certain redhead. “Though, he’s usually seen wearing it outside school since Giyuu-sensei reprimands him and his improper attire. He's no fun.”
You sighed. “Getting beaten the shit outta you by some… boar-headed person. What a sight that must use be.”
Your gaze drifts over your shoulder, and before the cafeteria is the court occupied by the rowdy students who had been the cause of the ongoing uproar, whether it were the players or the bystanders. Oh so coincidentally, the current holder of the ball was the same, infamous Hashibira as he threw the ball with a might ungodly of a beast, simultaneously hitting three opponents in just one swing. You decipher a look of belligerence spread upon his flawless, undeniably beautiful features, and you could perfectly imagine how blood would drip down from his cheeks.
The raven-haired follows your line of sight before his humble expression slightly broadened, an amused chuckle breathing out his next statements. “But an appealing one, you must admit. It’s nothing but the primal instincts driving you to your edge, satiating your hunger, and urging you to pine for more even if you’ve reached your peak. Despite all the deformed corpses under his fists, he doesn’t falter one bit; its his natural state. That’s how Inosuke Hashibira is. Isn’t that funny?”
“Your definition of funny is weird, Yui.”
“As expected of a humanities student. No wonder Hashibira-senpai considers you as his most loyal subject.”
“Ehh, I think i’d prefer him beating me into a pulp with that creepy headwear on. I don’t like seeing a lady’s face shitting on me.” Satoko shudders.
Yuichirou rose an eyebrow. “Don’t you really? I thought you, of all people, wouldn’t mind being stepped on by attractive people.”
“Don’t shit with me, Chirou-chan! A well-defined and masculine body with such a feminine face!? If I was such a simple person, I might have just fallen for his looks, and his looks alone! But I’d rather get beaten up by a handsome face with a masculine body!”
“Like Agatsuma-senpai?”
“Simp.”
Your eyebrows furrowed as you promptly closed your laptop, “So… he just beats up people? And people praise him for that?”
Every head snapped towards your direction. Again with that accusatory words that don’t befit your tone, though if it were any other than the three, such detail would have flown over their heads.
“Hmm. He often beats up gangs and bullies. And those who challenge him.” Yuichirou settles with a shrug, the least unbothered of the three with your questions. You suppose its because he’s gotten used to you the longest. “Senpai wouldn’t harm any innocent lives. Pretty sure there’s this old grandma he actually adores.”
“Ah, I’ve actually witnessed one fight he had,” Ozaki reminisced while looking at the ceiling, as if chasing the memory, “Like, there was this group of bikers that were picking on an innocent kid and asking for her money since she was bringing groceries. But then..! Hashibira-senpai immediately beats them to death and even used one motorcycle to drive over its owner. It was… quite bloody.”
The boy in the group just blew raspberries. “It was a sight for ages.”
You exhaled. “Is that so.”
The particular pony-tailed teen then drifted her eyes to your direction, a smile sitting across her visage. “I know, I know. Those two are quite messed up in their own ways, aren’t they?” Ignoring the flinches she received from the other two friends, the girl simply brings herself up and sat on the table to get closer, hooking her arm around your frame the same way Satoko did.
“That’s why for every chaos there is, an arbitrator is set to placate it.”
You ignored Satoko’s gasp at Ozaki’s not-so-subtle mimicry and hummed questioningly – thought you most certainly felt her trying to push the girl away with a palm; always so mindful of your personal space unless it came from them – but before you could ask any further,
“Kamado-kun!”
Both of you instinctively straightened your spines as you looked at the nearby entrance to the cafeteria to follow the direction of the call. There, surrounded by a bunch of students, is the dawn that puts the sun to shame. His smile is the sun and his actions animated towards those who turn to him like sunflowers. It's as if he graced the students with rays of light.
“The school’s resident sunshine. The sun among the darkest corners and leader of the crowd. He often helps people with genuine upbringings and indistinguishable zest. A big brother to all. His passion is a fire that continues to burn and consume others with his flames. That’s Tanjirou Kamado.”
You felt like squinting just by looking at the student. Of the three, he’s probably the most you’re familiar with.
“Well, that’s to be expected, though.” Yuichirou finally pulls Ozaki out of the table and forces her to sit on the chair, ignoring the hum of disapproval hum from the said girl, “That’s the student council’s president, after all.”
Satoko sighs and finally sits down after exhausting her legs with all her theatrics. “Yeah. He’s the perfect student. Even teachers outwardly show their bias of him. And he has such a silver tongue, too.”
A golden child. That much you knew.
“Not only does he manage to be a good president, but he’s also the bread winner of the family! At such a young age of thirteen, he had to take over his family’s bakery to support his widowed mother and his five other siblings. Who knew such a gentle and kind soul was toughened up by experience and hardships?” Ozaki stops herself as her solid tone fluctuates into a gentle one, “When I had held his hand, it was… really rough. I just wonder how he manages to be so kind after all he goes through.”
“I guess I’d admit that Kamado-senpai is an ideal boyfriend to have.” Satoko starts by placing an index on her chin, a thoughtful look on her features, “Benign, honest, supportive, and hardworking. But he isn’t so soft and naïve that he wouldn’t throw a punch if push comes to shove. I heard he has a master that works in a dojo, and he received training from him.”
“See,” Ozaki cheers. “Even you get it!”
“And he got the looks, too. Sometimes when I buy bread from their bakery, I end up buying the wrong product because I got distracted from his attire. It’s real hot.”
“Is that all you really think of?“ Unamused, the Tokitou mutters.
A chuckle resounds out from Ozaki. “Kamado-nii is such a peacemaker that he could pacify the strongest storms even just by his single reprimand. Who could resist his charms?”
You tapped the table with your index finger’s nail, somehow unable to look away. “... charms, huh?”
The bow on her head bounces alongside her sudden scoff as Satoko crosses her arms. “In a battle of charisma, Agatsuma-senpai and Kamado-senpai would most likely battle it out. But I wouldn’t doubt the win of my one and only.”
“After you just went off with a whole speech on how Kamado-nii is the perfect person? Dirty.” Ozaki snickers, resulting a vein protruding in Satoko’s temple and her stance ready to march to war yet again. “Oh? Did you want an essay why Agatsuma-senpai is just superior!?”
“You two, cut it off. You’re getting rowdy again.”
Of course, the pony-tailed teenager has remained laid-back for way too long to pass up the opportunity for another tease. “Oh, please. I don’t need an essay to prove my thesis, unlike yours.”
“Tch,” The brunette competitor slammed a fist down to the table, earning glances from nearby students, but you know she’s handled way more eyes on her to care. “The chances of him winning against Agatsuma-senpai is as low as a ball hitting Chibi-chan square in the face right at this moment..!”
“Ugh, you guys really don’t know when to quit–” but Yuichirou doesn’t get to finish his sentence when his eyes suddenly widened, those same eyes looking at no one else but–
“Wait, don’t–!”
SLAM..!
Gasps quickly filled the silence as all eyes settled to look at the origin of such resonance. You feel the prickling sensation of so many pairs of eyes on your figure, but none are as painful as the spike of pain burning the back of your head as if intending to dig deeper and slice your brain in it’s symmetrical crevice.
A ball rolls off to the floor until it’s stopped by an unmoving closed shoe. A hand picks it up, and Yuichirou secures the ball with his two hands before a petrified look came across his features as his eyes darted to your quiet figure.
The first to break the silence was Ozaki’s laugh as she points toward you, “What the fuck, where’d that ball come from–!?”
“CHIBI-CHAN! ARE YOU OKAY!?” Satoko worriedly tends to your stupefied self as tears started to bubble in the corner of her eyes. A blank hue coloring your optics darted to meet your friend’s deep blue ones,
“That hurt. I think that just made a milkshake out of my brain.”
“We’re so sorry!!”
A gentle voice shouts, footsteps running towards your humble group in the cafeteria. You slowly lift your gaze to meet the only other person who would have such a gentle voice. The only one capable of shining down benevolence to those he pulls into his orbit. Who else, if not the student council president?
“Please, accept our apologies!” Tanjirou humbly bows down, his peculiar earrings clacking with his vigor. ”Inosuke doesn't know how to handle his strength!!”
Satoko narrows her eyes at him as she continues tucking you under her chin, though her pink cheeks are very noticeable. She’s quite weak to gentlemen, you suppose. “What was that again, Chirou-chan? Hurting only the innocent?”
“Oh, sure,” Said man rolls his eyes, “Because that was intentional–”
“Please tell Hashibira-san to be careful next time,” Ozaki interjects with a humorous laugh. “Not that… it'll even get through him…”
“Of course!” The redhead beams as he stood back up, like sunshine in the darkest pits of hell. Such a charm displayed for everyone to degust upon because greedy is the person who lacked kindness in this godforsaken world and this angel – with a slender hand across his golden heart – pours his tenderness for all. “You can count on me to drill that into his head!”
The cafeteria awes in silent veneration.
Of course, his magnanimity knows no bounds as he turns to you, who was still clutching your head. “If you'd like, let me treat you to a meal sometime? Perhaps it doesn't tantamount, but I do know food is a way to a person's heart.” He flashes a smile. Blinding. Heart-melting. You underestimated how much handsome he really is because he’s often overlooked appearance-wise but you can truly see the appeal. You’re pretty sure he could cure a blind man from how much they’d be willing to see such beauty incarnate with their very eyes.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” Satoko mutters to you while she starts shaking your shoulders, making your head hurt even more. “Even I wouldn't pass up this opportunity.”
“Hah! Lucky.” Ozaki slaps Yuichirou’s back. “Kinda wish it was me who got hit.”
You look up to return his gaze.
You wonder if your words are as peculiar as them.
“Why are you the one apologizing?”
This time, the silence in the cafeteria is deafening. You forgot being under his eyes meant being under everyone’s as well—its weird to be in such a place. You’ve always been under the radar. If a pin fell as of this moment, even the masked janitor cleaning outside the school grounds could hear it. Your friends are still, as well; Satoko has even loosened her hold around you.
But you're more focused on this unreadable gaze of the sun, no longer a composition of benignity.
“You're not the one who hurt me.” You mumble, realizing how uncomfortable you actually felt. No doubt, your little group could decipher such sentiments with how much little it makes you seem. Still, you try to push it off. “Those whose at fault should be the one to apologize, if nothing else.”
The redhead finally blinks.
“Hey!” Ozaki was the first to interrupt. “What they meant to say is… maybe they'd prefer if it was Hashibira-san who asked them to be treated for a meal? Haha!”
“You're crazy.” Satoko mumbles. “He, of all people, would not want to share food.”
“I don't want to be treated.” You shake your head. “I'm… going back to class. The bell is about to ring.”
Regardless of eyes scrutinizing your movements, you ignore them to pick your things up. It feels so… isolating, with how everyone else, even your friends, merely watching your spectacle that you try so hard to dispel.Those beside your table, the staff in the canteen. Even the blond knight in shining armor heard the clamor from afar. You don’t even need to turn to feel the actual perpetrator staring.
And as you are about to leave, your gaze meets his one last time and you shudder at the lack of warmth in his bearings.
Whatever.
And you leave.
The laugh mocks him.
“It didn't even work on them—not one bit!”
The pencil in his grasp snaps in half. Though the blond registers this, he doesn't care. The laugh – often a mimicry of an arco – merely rings louder as he leans against the couch, head thrown against the headrest as he covers the mirth in his face with a hand. Regardless, the president glares at the paper beneath his hand, uncharacteristic of the sunshine he often exudes.
“How dare they,” Another voice rings throughout, in between their munching. “Demanding I apologize…? Me!?”
“What'd you expect? That they dodge? You truly believe them competent enough to dodge your, oh so greatest attack, Inosuke-sama?”
The wild teen glared at Zenitsu, more at the sarcasm, but there isn't really a difference—so long as you’re the one and only crybaby, mophead freak, he’ll always have the reason to talk smack. “I'll grind your bones to a motorcycle if you keep this up.”
The blond laughs, taunting with a sing-song. “If you can catch me.”
“Enough.”
The two finally acquiesces. The difference being that their senses have finally registered the unbidden ire emanating from the only man who had been quiet on his desk, still writing with the half broken pencil. The two shares a glance, finally understanding.
“It seems we found the defective.” The redhead starts calmly, the strokes of his pencil the only other thing cutting through the silence. “Isn’t this wonderful? Oyakata-sama will be pleased.” Tanjirou blankly smiles, his tone is anything but elated. And both Zenitsu and Inosuke understands what this means.
“Does that mean we can proceed with the plan?” The Hashibira was the first to ask. This time, the president smiles much warmer.
“No better time than now.”
“Then,” The oldest among the three stands up from the couch. “How about you leave this to me?”
The redhead raised a brow at Zenitsu. “Between us, I'm the one with full contact. It’d be better to keep it that way.” To which he's only scoffed at.
“Oh, please.” He starts walking towards the centerstage of the office, approaching the young man behind his desk with steps in rhythm of a tune undecipherable. Truly, the man they all dub the sunshine looks like he belongs there, with how the afternoon sun peeks through the window to grace his shoulders with those benevolent rays.
“If it didn't work on you the first time, what makes it work the second? Third? Fourth?” He then sets a palm on the table, his other taking the broken half of the pencil before slapping the Kamado’s writing hand away. He then starts erasing his written plans, arrogant gaze only trained on the narrowed ones returning his. “Settle down, prez. Your insanity is showing.”
The response is a mere laugh, reminiscent of the light-hearted facades he puts up with his audience. He leans back to his chair, leaning against his hand that's propped against the armrest.
“Is that a challenge I smell?”
“Call it however you like.” Zenitsu shrugs. “Between you and I, the loser is not gonna be me.”
Tanjirou smiles.
“Don't cry when you lose.”
Inosuke only huffs, continuing to shove the rest of the chips on his mouth, though a part of him wished it was popcorn instead as he watches the fire in the two create an unhealthy spark.
So annoying.