Kanao Can't Communicate

•~chapter fifty-three: hay fever~•

When Kanao entered her classroom one day, she was surprised to see that it was completely empty. Of course, the silent girl was rather confused. When she arrived at school, there was usually a few early birds setting up for their day. But today, it was different.

After Kanao took a seat and arranged her pencils a few times, she heard a familiar, yet congested voice behind her say, "Hello Kanao-sa... ah, achoo!"

Kanao flinched when the sneeze came, and she whirled around only to see her friend Tanjiro. He was wearing a mask over his mouth and nose, which confused her.

Do you have a cold? she asked in writing.

Tanjiro's eyes squinted happily as he gave her a smile that she couldn't see. "No, no." he reassured Kanao, waving his hand around. "It's just hay fever... I forgot to take my medicine today... hence my clogged and runny nose..."

Kanao nodded. A soft voice drifted through the door saying "Morning." It was none other than Kiyoko. Kanao noticed that her newest friend's eyes were looking watery and a little strange, so out of concern, she wrote, 'What's happened to your eyes?'

Like Tanjiro, Kiyoko waved off the question. "Ah, it's just hay fever. I ran out of eyedrops, so my eyes are really itchy..." she said, blinking really fast. When Tanjiro offered her his own eyedrops, she turned away angrily, her ears turning rather red.

One after the other, the pupils of class 2-C filed into the classroom, all bearing some distinct symptom of hay fever. Genya was no exception, and as he cleared a path to his desk, he tried saying hello to his friends but it all came out in a series of quiet roars and growls due to his irritated throat.

Kanao was slowly starting to get concerned, and she was wondering why she didn't have any symptoms. Even Inosuke, who was always getting into some sort of trouble, was down in the dumps today, bearing all three symptoms of hay fever plus a horridly messy face.

"The fever's crazy today, disciples..." Inosuke groaned, his voice also coming out into a sort of growl. "My nose and eyes keep itching, and they're both keeping me awake..." Only those who actually had the hay fever could sympathize with him; which was everyone in class except Kanao. She could barely make out what her classmates were saying, and she was kind of starting to feel a bit left out.

Tanjiro suddenly had all attention on him when he pulled out a box of lotion tissues. Obviously, during a time of hay fever, anyone who brings tissues looks cool, so the class gratefully partook of Tanjiro's offering.

As her classmates took tissues and chatting about their medicine, symptoms, lack of soft tissues, and more, Kanao suddenly realized that she couldn't join the conversation, making her feel left out even more. She pinched and checked her nose, which wasn't itching at all.

She looked around at the rest of her classmates, wondering what she could do to fit in, when her nose suddenly twitched. Kanao paused, and then...

"Kichun.."

The classroom suddenly silenced, and all eyes were on Kanao. Tanjiro looked at her in concern, now asking, "Kanao-san... you have it too?" He wondered why she looked so happy, and why she was having so much fun.

Kanao stayed quiet for a moment. After looking around and thinking about what she had just done, she felt a bit embarassed after sneezing (albeit cutely) in front of everyone. However, nobody felt the same, as they had forgotten about their allergies and were now thinking of Kanao's adorable little sneeze.

Tanjiro noticed that she was feeling rather uncomfortable, so, after a long bout of silence, he piped up and said, "You know... I heard that Tamayo-sama at the infirmary has a very good medicine that works wonders for hay fever... shall Kanao-san and I go and get some for you all?"

At this point, everyone wanted to be relieved from their allergies, so after a concensus, Kanao and Tanjiro were walking down the hall towards the infirmary. They both remained silent- Tanjiro didn't want to talk because Kanao's sneeze was still on his mind.

When they made it to the infirmary, they both heard a gentle voice saying, "Yushiro... don't you have to go back to your class? Unless you don't have any symptoms or heartache anymore... I advise that you bring that medicine back to your friends, hm?"

Once the voices inside the office ceased, Kanao and Tanjiro headed into the infirmary. While Tanjiro talked to the school nurse, Tamayo, Kanao peered around the room. She was just in here with Kiyoko the other day, wiping away her tears...

Kanao's wandering eyes paused when she noticed the bed that she had been sitting at once before. It wasn't empty- a grumpy looking boy with rather pale skin sat there. His neatly styled hair faded from a dull, light green to black, and his lavender eyes got smaller as he scowled at Kanao.

Kanao started trembling. He sure was unfriendly, for a guy she hadn't met.

She looked over at her classmate, who was still talking with the nurse. After making sure that Tanjiro was still busy, she walked over to the boy. When Kanao approached, his scowl deepened.

"The hell do you want?" he growled, causing Kanao to recoil. She didn't realize that she was interrupting his beauty gazing.

You looked lonely, so I wanted to talk to you? Kanao wrote uncertainly. What's your name? she continued, trying to strike up a conversation.

The boy didn't talk, but instead he looked in the direction of his... ahem, lovely object of observation. He was hoping that she would shake her head, but instead she nodded at him to go on.

He groaned mentally, for that wasn't the response that he had wanted to receive. Hesitantly, but still angrily, he said, "Yushiro."

"Why do you talk like that?" he asked accusingly, pointing at the notebook. Kanao jolted, and started writing a message about her communication disorder. When she showed Yushiro, his expression remained unchanged, but he allowed himself a slight nod.

Well... do you want to be my friend, then? Kanao wrote.

That message really caught Yushiro off guard. He didn't really want to be her friend, but when he glanced over at Tamayo's disheartened expression, he mentally groaned again.

"Why not." he said shortly, extending his hand to Kanao for a handshake. She happily accepted it, and when Tanjiro called her over to bring the medicines back to class, she waved goodbye to Yushiro. He, although reluctantly, returned it.

Tanjiro wondered why Kanao looked so happy as she walked with him. When he asked her what had happened, she told him that she had made a new friend with a rather unlikely character.

•~•~•

A/N: this chapter was about of a stretch... hope you enjoyed!