KNY | In Different Circles (Muichiro X Tanjirou)

Chapter 4

Tanjirou's POV

I sat in class, quietly staring out the window, 'My arm hurts, I'll take an aspirin at lunch...' I thought as I looked at the blob on my arm. I sighed, this class felt like it's been going on for eternity. I looked at my watch, then at the schedule taped onto my binder. 'Another nine minutes...' I looked behind me at the girly faced guy with his head buried between his arms, the top of his face and eyes still visible. His large eyes a light teal accented with a darker teal, his pale skin almost glowed in the light, he had his hair pulled back into a messy bun with a few strands of loose hair framing his face. I stared at him like he was some valuable jewel 'Pretty...' I thought to myself, 'Wait... what?...'

'RING!'

I was snapped out of my thoughts at the sudden bell, 'What the!? Has it been nine minutes already!? Was I really staring that long!?' he stood quickly and hurried out of the room before anyone could blink. I gathered my things and swiftly and followed after him. But as soon as I stepped out into the hallway, I lost sight of him immediately, his petite stature weaving through the crowd of people, almost vanishing, like smoke in the wind. "Mmmn" I hummed in disappointment, but started off into the crowd, looking for my lonely friend.
I popped an aspirin into my mouth and gulped it down with a sip of water, it was lunch now and I was still looking for Muichiro, I'm not sure why though. I looked in the cafeteria, hallways people most commonly eat lunch in, but nothing, I couldn't find him. Wait... "I like the quiet", I remember he said that when we ate lunch together, but it's too cold to eat outside today, so let me think, if I was a secluded introverted person with no friends who liked being alone where would I go?

"Mmm?..." I put my hand on my chin and thought out loud, "The bathroom? No, he doesn't seem like the type, plus, gross. The library? No, you can't eat in there. Where else? The stairwell?... THE STAIRWELL!' I rushed towards the end of the corridor and onto the stairwell.

"Muichiro?" I called out, I rushed to the bottom of the stairs, I looked around but saw nothing, but then a foot. I saw a foot retract from behind the stairs quickly, "Muichiro?" I asked as I walked towards the end of the stairwell. I saw him sitting under the stairs with his knees pulled into his chest and a half-eaten sandwich in his hands, "I finally found you!" I sighed loudly, I walked to his side and sat down with my back against the wall. I saw him stiffen up, "I was looking for you all lunch!" I exclaimed.

"Umm, why?" he asked nervously.

"Well because you're my friend and I wanted to talk to you?" I asked. He smiled slightly to himself, but then frowned when he saw my arm.

"Um, what happened to your arm? If you don't mind me asking..." he asked, staring at my forearm.

"Oh, well on the weekend, I was trying to save Zenitsu from plummeting to his death, but then Inosuke tackled me and I fell down a hill and I got this" I explained. He nodded and went back to his sandwich, "Um, sorry about that thing at the yogurt shop, Inosuke is a pretty hostile person, especially with people he doesn't know. It was rude of him to make that comment, I'm sorry" I apologized.

"It's fine, I'm used to it" he said in a tranquil matter.
"Well, it was still rude of him, you shouldn't get used to insults, or bullying, it's not right!" I said.

"That's easy for you to say, people know you, you're a nice person to be around. They like you, you have a likeable personality. But I don't, I can't talk to people like you can, we're in different circles that's why it's easier for you to say those things. But for me it's not the same, you don't have to be afraid to stand out because you know people won't do anything to you. But I HAVE to be invisible to make it through the day without having an issue with anyone, it's not the same for you as it is for me" he frowned, then I frowned, because I realized he was right. We are in different circles, we're different people with different personalities. I sighed.