TO MY YOUTH, DEMON SLAYER

052. seventy & creamy chicken mushroom

"Tell me why did you bring everything else but not educational stuff," you looked at Sanemi who could only bore a sharp gaze into your own eyes intently before clicking his tongue out in despise. And here you were nervously chuckling as you clutched onto the strap of your bag.

Which might I say — was kind of pointless to bring since you ended up filling it with something practically useless for today's study session.

"I got a little sidetracked . . ." You told them, full of shame. Most of them weren't even surprised anymore; but the disappointment on their face was visible — and you saw a few of them visibly sigh out in exasperation. "Okay, but I got snacks."

Douma chuckled, "You're in a study session (Name). Snacks are beside the actual point," he tells you, actually serious for once.

You nodded your head, "Should I go home and grab my books and stuff?"

Kanae who had been silent and observing immediately stood up, "You don't have to, I bring some of my books, we can just go over the most basic things today. So it would be pretty easy, and you can use my notebook."

You looked at her, a little embarrassed that you've managed to embarrass yourself upon the first meeting, "Sorry. And thanks."

She kindly smiled at you, waving her hand, "We make mistakes sometimes. It's fine, should we get started?" your head bobbed once and it took no longer than ten minutes to sit down, you were a group of almost twenty people inside a fairly small cafe.

It was like a raid. The terrified looks of the workers there made your smile vaguely wider, you remembered how that was you at one point. You've always hated big crowds entering the cafe — especially if they're messy.

You were currently seated in between Kanae and Shinobu, while the others were seated in a random order. You could see Gyuutaro and Uzui seated next to each other, loudly bickering about pizza or pasta.

"Let's get started then?" Kanae asked you, ripping your thoughts away from the bickering duo.

"Yeah."

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"I'm sorry, but what do you mean by that?" Kanae blinked her eyes innocently, a little confused by the same question for the fifth time in a row.

Studying is a total burn out. You never really did like it anyway, "It's alright, let's take things slow . . . do you get the basics at least?" You nod your head, although a little unsure, you did understand part of what she had been explaining for the last hour.

"Yeah. I guess so."

Kanae took out two sheets of paper, sliding it towards you, "I made a quiz, it's basic. Everything I have explained to you beforehand is all in here, let's make the passing grade . . . seventy five?"

You raised a brow, "Forty."

Shinobu snorted beside you, coughing to cover up the fact that she just did that. Rolling your eyes, Kanae chuckled, "Seventy."

"Sixty five?" Again you tried to bargain.

Kanae shook her head, "Seventy's the lowest I will go — will you take it?" She pats your back a couple of times, "You're going to do great, have some faith in yourself."

You huffed out hopelessly, knowing there was no other way to convince the female sitting beside you. Pressing on the mechanical pencil Kanae had lent you, your (Eye Color) eyes began scanning the questions.

And much to your surprise, you remembered roughly (almost) all of them.

"Hey, I remember these . . ." Kaigaku who had been sitting across from you blew raspberries, like he had been doing for like three times in the past hour. You didn't know what his point was, but it sure was distracting, "What are you doing?"

Kaigaku point towards himself, "Me? Nothing."

"Why are you blowing raspberries at me?" He shook his head nonchalantly, "I will end you if I get more than seventy."

"Deal, but if you get less than seventy, I get to take most of your snacks home, loser." He blew more raspberries at you in a mocking way, grinning widely after.

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"You're doing great," Kanae raises up your paper, showing a large and red colored "85" on the top right corner, "We'll move on to the second chapter tomorrow?"

You stretched, "That sounds great. I'm burnt, where's the menu?" Everyone around the table now focused on you — eventually Shinobu slid the book towards you, they had been ordering frequently the past hour and now it was your turn.

"What do you recommend here?" You questioned nobody in particular, the menu was a little, odd. It was a mix of everything, and a mix of everything was never a good sign because you knew damn well that you're going to at least waste more than usual here.

"I had the banana split. It's great," Kaigaku pointed towards an empty bowl by his side.

"I want something salty," you mumble out.

"Eat salt."

It was short and simple, but it managed to irked you the slightest bit. You were hungry and angry, hangry. And here is the thing, you get a lot more emotional and sensitive when it comes to dealing with hunger.

"I'm this close," your thumb and index fingertips almost touched each other, and whilst squinting at Kaigaku, you said, "to throwing this book to your face."

The male snickered loudly.

"The waffles are great!" You averted your gaze to the side, seeing Mitsuri take a bite out of the waffle and bacon. Not going to lie, that seemed great, but you wanted something heavy. Something that will make you full for what seems to be the rest of the day, "I heard the creamy chicken mushrooms are great here."

"Oh, that sounds great actually," you told her, wasting no time in calling over for the waitress nearby.

It didn't take too long for your food to be served, and everyone was practically talking amongst themselves, "Mushrooms are disgusting . . ." Daki belched, sticking her tongue out.

"Finally. Something we can agree on." Gyuutaro replied, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up, I'm hungry." You answered, "And Kanae, can I ask you something?"

The female nods her head, humming softly, "Have you ever done a scholarship test?" Kanae looks at you before slowly nodding, "Is it scary?"

She chuckled, "I was pretty nervous. And I didn't end up finishing it on time because I forgot almost everything I studied . . . so I didn't get accepted," you blinked, wondering if you'd end up the same way, "it was a pretty upsetting phase — but hey, life goes on, and I got into Kimetsu Academy, met new friends," her eyes went from one person to another, "got into trouble, had fun, went nuts."

You inhaled sharply, not getting her point.

"You're nervous about not getting in, aren't you?" Kanae questioned, earning everyone's attention almost immediately.

"I guess."

"I'm not saying you won't get in, but what I'm saying is that even if something doesn't go your way, you have to create a new path." She explained, "Life's unfair, and not everything will go your way, but I guess that's the thrill of it?"

Kaigaku clicked his tongue, "She's right, stop thinking about shit that makes you nervous. Focus on the goal. You can get accepted."

This kind of felt like a motivational speech session that your mother used to bring you to during your younger days. It made you smile a bit, "This is stupid, I'm hungry."

"Why would you say that?"

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note. i'm actually feeling off the weather rn, but i said that i'd update tonight 🤧 sorry if it's not up to par, i will try to update more! college has been very hectic.