Close

much closer

Uzui had a book of haiku atop his table, but he wasn't paying much attention to it. Today was the sort of the day his focus wasn't one of the best, and that bothered him greatly. At least, aside from Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke, there was no student to look after. All of them had already finished their group art project, minus those three. His patience was also a bit low because of that – it was getting late, after all, and he wanted very much to go home and disappear for the weekend without seeing a single student's face—

"Hm? What?" Uzui asked, noticing only a moment after that Tanjiro had called him many, many times. "Spit it out."

"It's not related to the project, but we were curious," Tanjiro began, a little sheepish but proceeded anyway. Inosuke had his arms crossed, averting his gaze beneath the mask while Zenitsu looked at Tanjiro curiously. "We see you and Rengoku-sensei together often, and sometimes he speaks of you in class too, so we've been meaning to ask if the two of you are close? He seemed fond of you when he spoke, that's why..."

"This surely came out from nowhere," Uzui scoffed, shrugging whilst leaning back against the backrest of his chair. "Yeah, I guess you can say that. I didn't know he talked about me during his class, but we've been close since high school." There was a small pause, and noticing how the teens were intrigued by his story, Uzui sighed, continuing. "I used to be a former gang leader when I was about your age. I was in a dark place for reasons I have no desire to disclose, and I was pretty good at fighting, but what matters is that it was Kyojuro who pulled me out from it. I don't know how or why at the time, but he did. We have been close friends ever since."

"Oh!" Tanjiro grinned brightly in amazement. "Rengoku-sensei was reliable since then! That's somehow very like him." Both Zenitsu and Inosuke nodded vehemently in agreement.

"I suppose you have the right of it," he smiled a little bit to himself, distractedly so, with a muttered 'I'm lucky to have him' that was probably inaudible to the other three. It made him miss him, as Kyojuro wasn't working today for it was his day off, which meant he was probably waiting for him at home. And there he was, still stuck in a classroom with three slow teenagers. "Anyway, you little brats, you can finish that up next week because I'm tired and I wanna go home. It's past school time, so shoo."

"But, sensei, are you su–" Zenitsu began to ask, but Uzui was quick to cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine." He was already retrieving his hoodie and his book, adjusting the hood above his silver locks. "Till next week. And don't join gangs or I'll beat your ass."

Uzui went off first, as he had came to school by foot this time. He was so used to having Kyojuro driving them that for some reason he completely forgot about his own motorbike parked by the car's side. Well, it didn't matter now. It wasn't too far, anyway, merely three subway stations away, and the end of afternoon was pleasant as autumn was already working its magic. He even had a mind to drop by the grocery store to buy Kyojuro some rice balls, for as good as he was at taking care of others, he absolutely sucked at looking after himself. Uzui could bet the last cigarettes from his pack that Kyojuro hadn't eaten anything substantial but a toast in the morning and coffee throughout the day.

It came as no surprise to unlock the front door to find Kyojuro on the sofa, legs stretched across it with a pile of papers by his side and a laptop on his lap, eyes so focused on his task that he barely acknowledged Uzui's presence. Barely, because Uzui always made his presence very knowledgeable.

"Don't tell me you have been working your entire day off," Uzui let out a sound of disbelief as he removed his hoodie and shoes, crossing his arms afterwards with the plastic bag from the convenience store hanging on his hand. Rengoku was wearing a red sweater that looked kind of cute on him but Uzui said nothing about it, nor about the bun on his head that gave him a very cozy aura... Endearing idiot.