TO MY YOUTH, DEMON SLAYER

027. seat from hell & kaigaku to the rescue

"Why are you sitting here?"

"Nakime forced me. Don't think otherwise," Kokushibo mutters out in frustration, and you could hear Douma's vague complaints towards both the male sitting beside you and Nakime. "If she didn't, why would I be sitting here?"

You clicked your tongue, already dreading the long way home - and the bus hasn't even moved yet. At the same time, you didn't know whether you should be angry at the culprit behind this whole thing or not.

"There's a seat empty there, you can move now." Kokushibo shot you a glance (that felt like a glare) but hey, you could care less of him and his eyes as of now. Your main focus was getting him out of the seat next to yours, "Why're you even listening to Nakime in the first place?"

"Shut the fuck up." He spat.

"Don't tell me what to do." You spat back at him, averting your gaze outside where the sun was barely showing itself. The sky that was blue now tainted with different shades of orange and pink, and you were tired; today was a lot of fun.

Until now.

You thought of moving seats, but it was too much of a hassle. Especially with all the things you managed to buy from the flower garden, which you guaranteed will all go to waste somehow (most of them at least). And plus, everyone was already seated on their own places and the bus started moving a few seconds ago.

Kokushibo was silent. He spoke nothing to you, but you found him squirming on his seat a few times. Like he was at the edge of his seat. The male had his headphones on, and his eyes were tightly shut, you could hear his music from time to time. A certified heavy metal fan.

"Stop looking at me."

The male said it so suddenly that it shocked you too. Not realizing that your eyes had been trained on his facial features for a while, immediately after he said that, you looked away embarrassed. Threading your fingers with each other.

The ride back until your supposed bus stop was still a long time, and with Kokushibo sitting beside you, it was as if time moved on slower than usual. God, you just wanted the bus to arrive quickly so you could get out of this position.

"Hey man."

Kaigaku popped up from behind your seat, his headphones weirdly positioned where his right speaker was behind his ear, and his left speaker was in the right position. And you guessed that he had been listening to what Kokushibo was saying. Kokushibo fluttered his eyes open slowly, looking up at Kaigaku.

"Wanna switch seats?" asked Kaigaku, his eyebrows dancing happily.

Kokushibo grunted, grabbing his not so big but not so small bag, "Move." The sole reason he had decided to move now when he had all the time before was Nakime being asleep, and you were glad somehow. Cheering internally as you watch Kaigaku slip into the seat where Kokushibo was, smiling brightly.

"He's a dick, right?" You snorted, nodding at his question. "Heard what he said before, and you seemed pretty uncomfortable."

You thanked the heavens that Kaigaku was sitting behind you, "You're the best. Here, I bought something for you and the others," Kaigaku lit up like a lightbulb, giddy as he waited for you to give him the said "something".

And you did a few seconds later.

"Woah, you got this for me?" He grabbed a keychain shaped like a lizard. The only one they had left, and you thought that it suited him well, "Do you know lizards are portrayed like a message for ego? Like a message so people can reflect on themselves?"

You looked at him, weirded out but fascinated at the fact, "Really? How do you know that?"

"An old teacher of mine told me that. He told me I was egotistical," Kaigaku chuckled, chaining the keychain onto his bag's zipper slider, "he was kinda right though, so no complaints."