The Boy with Red Hair

Well, That Went Better Than Expected

The rest of the school day went about as normal as it could, with Mr. Shinazugawa chasing me through the halls because I was wearing my boar mask. It's always fun to see him struggle to keep up with someone younger than him. I had this nagging feeling like I was forgetting something after lunch, though. I had been staring at Tanjiro through my peripheral vision so much that I barely ate any of my tempura until I shoved it into my mouth in the last 5 minutes of lunch.

Then, when I was packing up to go to late bus I  remembered that I had planned to tell Mrs. Kanae about... something. I forgot what exactly, but I knew it might change some things. Then, Tanjiro passed me on the way to carline with his horde of siblings following close behind, like a duck with her ducklings. Oh yeah, I had planned to tell Ms. Kanae about what I was feeling, to test what she meant by saying her classroom was a safe space.

Well, I have about 20 minutes until my bus comes, so let's get on with this.  I took some deep breaths as I walked to Ms. Kanae's classroom, preparing myself for the life-changing encounter I was about to have. I took a step into the room and immediately was greeted with smell that could only be described as pungent. It seemed that Ms. Kanaes siblings were experimenting on their own and had made the fatal mistake of pouring baking soda and vinegar down the drain.

"Oh, hey Inosuke." Kanao called, "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to talk to Ms. Kanae." I stated. I didn't want to elaborate any further because Ms. Kanae was who I wanted to talk to about this.

Luckily, Kanao just nodded and pointed to the supply closet door, which was slightly open, and I could see Ms. Kanae inside. I thanked Kanao, took some deep breaths, and stepped inside.

I was greeted with the most nostalgic smell, one that brought me back to my childhood, when my mom was cleaning the house and put hand sanitizer on. The smell was lemony and made my nose feel good. I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Ms. Kanae. She was in goggles, and it was kinda funny cause they enlarged her eyes to look like bug eyes. I held in my laughter as this was supposed to be a serious moment.

"Mrs. Kanae, I have something to tell you."

"What is it, Inosuke?" She asked with a quizzical look.

I took a deep breath. Now or never I suppose.

"I have to tell you something very important, and you can't tell anyone else, not even my parents. It's not something life-threatening btw, so it's not something that would need to be reported to my parents, but still."

Ms. Kanae just sat there nodding along as I walked over to the door and closed as to make sure that her sisters couldn't hear.

I took a deep breath, leaned into Ms. Kanae's ear and whispered, "I have super secret gay feelings for Tanjiro."

...

Ok, I didn't say that exactly, but that's just a summary of the paragraph long explanation I gave Ms. Kanae.

I leaned back against the door as Ms. Kanae just sat there in silence, with a feeling in my stomach like something bad was about to happen. She didn't seem mad, but hey, sometimes we misinterpret things. I just sat there, rubbing my thumb furiously, trying to hold back the tears that were forming in the corner of my eye. The nervousness was just building up inside me, and a single tear dropped down my cheek, soon leading to an onset that just wouldn't stop.

My brain was going at what felt like a mile a minute trying to process what I could do, and I slumped to the floor just letting the tears flow, not caring that Ms. Kanae was right there to see me as I silently cried. I felt a hand touch my shoulder, and then pull me up into a hug. I was a bit shocked at first, but then I felt hands rubbing my back, and I just stood there crying into Ms. Kanae's shoulder.

After what felt like an eternity, I stopped crying and just stood there relishing in the comforting feeling the hug gave me. I pulled away, and looked at Ms. Kanae's face to see a small smile.

"Oh Inosuke," she started, "I'm glad you trust me enough to tell me. I hope you know that I accept you no matter what, and will always see you as my favorite student, after my sisters of course."

I was shocked that she just stated that I was one of her favorite students. I mean, I knew I had the highest grades out of my class, but I didn't expect her to actually not mind all the crazy stuff I do.

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CLIFFHANGER BECUZ I CANNOT HANDLE THE EMOTIONS WRITING THE END OF THIS CHAPTER GAVE ME.

I also want to state to anyone who may be reading this, that many of inosuke's inner thoughts are based on my thoughts and feelings. Like, this is how I felt on Saturday at drama club. Luckily, my friend was there to comfort me as I was just overstimulated as f-ck. Yes, I censor my typing.

Woo, my heart is pounding after writing that out. Hope you enjoyed, I will try my best to not leave you on a cliffhanger for too long.

P.S. feel free to vent about anything in the comments, I will try my best to listen, comfort, and/or give you advice. You can call me your brother if you wish.