"Idiot..." || Inosuke Hashibira x Demon Oc

Love & Hate - Sixth Chapter

~Three Weeks Earlier~

Inosuke walked into Kaylee's room, looking for attention as per-usual. Kaylee was reading a book to herself. He was curious about what his best friend was doing.

Kaylee noticed him and smiled.

"Hey Inosuke!"

Inosuke sat down beside her.

"Whatcha doin?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I found a book from a book series I used to love when I was a kid. So I decided to read it for a nostalgia trip y'know?" Kaylee replied.

Inosuke did really care for things such as reading, but he was curious nonetheless only because his best friend seemed interested.

"Oh, what's it called?" He asked, leaning in and getting close to her.

"August A. It's a kids chapter book that I loved when I was little. I basically read every single book with that name when I was 8." Kaylee laughed.

"How many books are in the series?" Inosuke replied curiously.

He always loved to hear about what Kaylee liked. Kaylee was silent in thought for a moment.

"Around 26 I believe." She answered him.

Inosuke was amazed. 26 books about the same character?

"You really read ALL of them?" Inosuke exclaimed, he really couldn't imagine reading THAT many books.

Kaylee laughed,

"Yeah!" She smiled.

"I absolutely loved it when I was little"

"I couldn't imagine reading that much.." Inosuke said in a tone full of shock.

Kaylee sighed.

"It really saddened me when I heard that schools banned the books because the main character is rowdy, has bad spelling and is mouthy. She's basically a really good representation of Autistic or ADHD kids, so I guess it's not all that surprising. Neurodivergent kids in schools are always mistreated. So anything that tries to normalize it is undoubtedly banned." Kaylee sighed.

She knew all too well about how schools treated special needs kids.

Inosuke had a confused look on his face before it quickly turned to anger.

"Huh? Seriously? Just for being different?!" He knew all too well the pain of being seen as 'different' and was mostly pissed at the thought of it happening to Kaylee.

Kaylee smiled.

"Yeah, that's why I loved her so much when I was little. I felt understood while reading the books, y'know? Considering I'm autistic and have ADHD myself, it was relieving to read a book about a girl who had the same mindset as I did."

Inosuke understood perfectly well how she felt.

"I kinda get it. I don't know why, but people have a serious issue with people that are just a little different.." He huffed.

"Oh believe me, I know that all too well. In the book the main character has lots of friends, which I kinda envied when I was younger. But comforted me as well, and gave me hope that maybe someday I'd find friends too. Which I of course eventually did once I got a little older." Kaylee explained.

Inosuke had always noticed how much Kaylee adored books. He didn't exactly get it, he has never read a book in his entire life. But he wanted to understand why she liked them so much. Plus he was extremely protective of her and it pained him to see how much others have hurt her.