to bid you adieu | t. muichiro

07

CHAPTER 7:
reluctance and resignation.

—

"How'd you do on the test?"

"Shitty. Mr. Shinazugawa is going to beat my ass."

Two students engaged in a casual conversation. One, saddened by his mediocre test score, traced his finger down the score sheet that'd been stuck onto the door. His finger stopped once he noticed the one-hundred that resided next to Tokito Muichiro's name. "That smartass."

"Hey, isn't he the one who's always picking fights with L/N?" His friend questioned, peering over the dismayed student's shoulder to see the characters of Tokito's name. "No wonder he scored full marks—his only competition is L/N."

"Nuh uh," he huffed. "Really, he's nothing in comparison to his twin. Weaker, dumber..."

"They aren't even on speaking terms. Why do you think that is?"

"Tokito probably got mad at his brother for being so much better than him."

The abrupt, slamming of a locker door had the two boys jumping off their feet, horrified at the interruption. There stood Kamado Tanjiro, a thin smile on his face accompanying his pointed gaze.

"Oh, Kamado!"

"Hello."

"We didn't even notice you were there..."

"Too immersed in your acts of back-biting?" Kamado hummed, "I get it. Tokito is quite impressive. It is no wonder why lowly, irrelevant nobodies like the two of you have nothing better to do!" His smile widened; his smile normally brought comfort into those who bore witness to it, yet this one—a seemingly innpcent one at first glance—nearly scared the socks off of both of them.

The two boys exchanged panicked glances before rushing to defend themselves. "We weren't talking about him—!" They both yelled out in unison.

Kamado laughed, shooing them with his hands so that he could see his test score as well. "Instead of wasting your time being spiteful, you should work on your studies so that you can actually be on the higher end of the curve." His test score proved to be rather average, something that he was willing to accept due to his lack of skill in mathematics. "If anything, I found this assessment to be on the easier side."

Kamado could feel the boys' anxiousness eminating from behind him, imagining their flushed faces of embarrassment with steam coming out of their heads seeming to please him. Moving to walk in between the two of them to leave, he set a falsely-comforting hand on the spiteful boy's shoulder.

"Better luck next time."

With that, Kamado stormed off.

—

You were undeniably stronger, beating down every opponent with ease. Even Kamado was grossly outmatched by your skill.

Tokito hated that. Especially the fact that most of the time, once he'd actually brought a mist upon the field, the fight would already be over. That meant all the praise went to you, and all the judging glances to him.