(really brought the drama with this one LOLL enjoy)

After a long, tedious session of quiet and dedicated studying, literature class is dismissed and you can finally celebrate your temporary freedom from the shackles of your second most boring class of the day with a good, back-cracking stretch. All the other students file out of the room with their bookbags and supplies in hand, some running to catch up with their friends in the hall, others groaning about lunch time being so close yet so far. but you are in no hurry to get to lunch--quite the contrary, actually. You can't wait for the next distraction.

A satisfied sigh leaves your lips at the end of the stretch, and you roll your shoulders a few times to get a feel for how tense they are. You don't want people seeing things get to you anymore.

"Riveting lecture, wasn't it?" Sabito jokes as he comes to stand at your side; he knows you find textbook learning absolutely unbearable at times.

"Yeah, totally," you roll your eyes "I was on the edge of my seat the entire time."

You catch him snort at your comment, and a soft smile spreads across your face. It's always been a pleasure to make him laugh

"Well, at least science is up next. Obanai'll probably make things interesting. Or not. Can never quite tell how that man works." He shrugs

You nod quietly in agreement, and the two of you are halfway to the science room when Sabito stops, prompting you to pause as well and turn to look at him in confusion. Catching your eye, he answers the unspoken question of what was bothering him.

"Y'know, I was just thinking about it..." He narrows his eyes, taking a step toward you "you never did tell me about that weird little chain I keep seeing on you."

Your face grows warm at the mention of it, feigning innocence "Ah, chain, like the one in my pocket now?"

"Yeah." Sabito's eyes become transfixed on your breast pocket, as if he can see right through the fabric "I didn't think too much of it at first, but...well you're always carrying the damned thing."

"I didn't even know you knew about it"

"I notice things about you all the time," he states off-handedly "but this, I couldn't put my finger on it. I knew it had to be a gift from someone. And that thing Tanjiro said earlier just confirms it."

Sabito's hand goes straight for the pocket before you can react, and he raises the silver charm to the light with a look of displeasure

"Hey...!" you sigh and let your shoulders drop dramatically in exasperation "Sabito, c'mon. Can we not do this right now?"

"Do what? I'm just curious."

you fold your arms over your chest in frustration at his clearly jealous attitude. You thought he would stop acting like this after all the two of you have been through this year. His overly critical nature was perhaps Sabito's biggest character flaw in your eyes, because every time the two of you had a moment, it had to be ruined by some picky comment he would make. 

"Give it back." you glower at him

He raises an eyebrow at your tone "Why?"

"Because...!" You swallow hard. Thinking of how he might react has you choosing your next words carefully "it wasn't his. His mom gave that to me."

"Did he tell you that?" 

"Yes!" You try to snatch it back from him, but he just swings his arm away and squints further at you

Sabito scoffs "And you believed it? You don't even know this guy."

You purse your lips in embarrassment. Sabito was obviously right, but, Tanjiro wouldn't lie to you about something so small. You're not even sure you've ever caught the boy in a lie before.

"No guy is ever gonna want to admit how much he likes you right out of the gate." Sabito continues, stepping away from you "You KNOW that. And I also know you know that he likes you. Do you understand why I want to keep this from you, now?"

Because you're an asshole!

You bite down on your bottom lip, stopping yourself from wanting to cry and yell at him to give it back. You need it. You don't even know why you're crazy over that thing, but the moment it leaves you, you can't stand to be without it. Even the tiniest reminder that Tanjiro is still with you in some small way makes you feel safe beyond the words to describe. And without that, you would have to face reality, and face the fact that you've done wrong by him. How could you, when you knew how deeply you really cared about the new boy?

Sabito twirls the chain a few times around his index finger absent-mindedly, then, to your surprise, he tosses it back to you

"At least, that's what I would say if I thought he was any competition. God, you should've seen your face," Sabito shoves his hands into his pockets and walks past you with the ghost of a smirk on his face "Sorry about the scare. See you in class, (Y/n)."

You blink a few times, still stunned by your now frayed nerves, and how casually he seems to be able to play off whatever just happened between you. The nerve of him, to think he could say something like that and pretend like he doesn't envy the other guy, for whatever reason. But you know better than to listen to his denial.

You then look down at the chain, the final link between you and Tanjiro, and hope to yourself that it will work it's magic when you step into class today and have to be his science partner.

"Alright class. Open your textbooks to page 135, please." Mr. Iguro strides across the room to where the now hatched clutch of baby chickens reside in a straw-filled bin, a cluster of warm fuzzy bodies clamoring over one another 

Just as you had hoped, it is utter chaos in Obanai's room today. Some students follow instructions, while others are absolutely enamored with the sight of live animals in class. The smell makes you wonder if Obanai secretly regrets his decision to incorporate such a hands on experiment to his lecture. But, right now, he is too preoccupied with keeping his pet snake (which he insists on keeping with him at all times) under control around the small and vulnerable prey animals

"As you can see," Obanai grumbles "The chickens are all of varying sizes and breeds. This is intentional. I wanted to challenge you all to make estimates on the future of your chosen subject. Your task was to predict what environmental conditions would cause them to hatch and grow faster based on the information provided by the textbook..."

You quickly lose interest in what the teacher is saying in favor of planting both hands on your desk and leaning over to get a better look at the chickens. There're a whopping 10 of them in there, exactly proportional to the class of 20 students, which had been divided into groups of twos for the sake of the project. Your eyes frantically scour the bin in search of your and Tanjiro's, what you assumed would be the smallest.

"...I had anticipated many things to happen. But, one of the things that I did not anticipate whatsoever..." Obanai says, setting his pet snake aside in its' terrarium "Was for the largest chick to hatch from the smallest egg I'd selected!"

Your eyes widen at that, and your head whips around to look at Tanjiro, who sits a few seats behind you. He returns your look of shock, and for a split second, it feels like nothing has happened between the two of you but that feeling of excitement that you share

"Not to sound cliche, but that's not what I want. I've dealt with people like that before I came to this school...it's like you said, human connections are fleeting, fragile"

"But that's why I'd rather have one with someone who takes it seriously. So yeah, I'll stick with you. Only if you want that too."

Those were the exact words he'd said to you in this very room. Your gut twists with guilt at the memory.

Sabito, who sits at the desk directly to your left, follows your gaze to see Tanjiro looking at you, and rolls his eyes thinking you can't see him. The thought of causing a distraction passes through his mind, but he decides against taking the attention away from you for now. After all, it is your big moment right now, not his.

"Tanjiro Kamado and (Y/n) (L/n)," Obanai regards the both of you while raising the fat, fluffy brown chick in his hand for the class to see "Congrats on the growth of 'Benny' the chick."

You gape at the announcement, soaking in the applause that erupts from the other students around. You're not sure what you find more embarrassing: the last minute name you'd scribbled on your assignment when you realized you hadn't previously named it, or the fact that it was being treated like such a big acheivement.

"Alright, alright, that's quite enough," Mr. Iguro grumbles at the rowdy class "Enough, I said!"

Finally, everyone falls silent

"Now, return to your group seating arrangements and discuss the next portion of your project with your groupmates." 

Class ends on a bittersweet note,  a sentiment that causes you to walk with a hop in your step on your way out of the door. 

After Mr. Iguro had everybody sit with their partners, Sabito was a reasonable enough distance away for you to try and gain some trust between you and Tanjiro without being questioned later, and you took full advantage of that.

Although you and Tanjiro had exchanged nothing other than civil and professional words for the sake of the assignment, you still held eye contact with him as much as you could. You were practically sitting at the edge of your seat, brushing your knee with his every now and again and giving him an easy smile every time the motion caused him to look up from his paper. You were acting like a grade school boy bothering some girl he found cute, and although it was hard to gauge what kind of reaction Tanjiro was having to the attention, you certainly weren't receiving any indication of irritation, which was as good a sign to you as any to keep trying.

All through class you had watched as his expression tightened with focus, his soft features lightly flushed with a subtle pink hue, and his dark hair fell perfectly around him. 

At one point, you'd passed him a hastily scribbled note, saying 'are we cool?', and he actually took it. He looked at it for some time while you stared expectantly at him, and all that was said in response was "Come talk to me after school."

You step out into the hallway and watch as your classmates rush past you to get to lunch. You're in no hurry; you'll get to wherever you want to go on your own time, as long as things stay as calm as they have been

But whenever you hope for peace, it seems to summon even more chaos. This fact is proven by Sabito trailing behind you with an expectant look in his eyes. You know what lunch time means now--following through with what you said you'd do.

"You sure perked up," Sabito comments with a pleased smile "feeling better now?"

"Mhmm" you hum "just needed some good ol Iguro-style science therapy."

"Fourth period works it's charm yet again." Sabito reaches over you to ruffle your hair, and you squeal and push his hand away with a laugh

The sight of Tanjiro passing by steals your attention for a split second. He isn't going to the courtyard, like most of the students do when they're on their way to eat lunch; he's going to Kanae's office, and Nezuko appears to have materialized out of some place in the hallway to walk with him there. 

"...we don't have to go there if you don't want to." Sabito admits. You're not sure what caused your apricot-haired friend to change his mind so suddenly, but you could guess it has something to do with him feeling wounded over your earlier conversation before fourth period

"No, I do!" you raise your voice, and he tilts his head

"I've got unfinished business, even now. The more things that get uncovered, the more bare I feel...emotionally." you frown "And although I know in my heart of hearts that others blame me for the hardships I've faced, I can't betray that feeling inside that wants to be heard. You were right, I'm tired of feeling guilty. I want to put it behind me."

Sabito's hand rests on your shoulder

"Wow. You with the theatrics today."

"Whatever!" You stick your tongue out at him

A flash of thickly layered honey-yellow hair passes by, yellow hair that could only belong to Zenitsu Agatsuma. You gasp at the sight of him, and memories of him promising to tell you something arise to the forefront of your mind, subconsciously pulling you away from Sabito at the present moment. Whatever it was, it had to be related to what Genya was talking about--why hadn't you thought about that before? Right now, you must follow Zenitsu.

"Wait!" Sabito calls after you while you rush to reach the blonde

"What was it that you heard about me..?!"

You speed up to catch up with Zenitsu. He turns his head to face you, slowing down so you could walk side by side with him

"Pardon?" He says, leaning to get a good look at your face

You huff to catch your breath and use one hand to smooth down your slightly roughed up uniform 

"Remember, at the beginning of the school year?" you swallow "the very first day we met. You said you'd heard a lot about me. Something related to Sabito."

Zenitsu puckers his lips thoughtfully, and his eyes shift to the ceiling while he racks his brain for the memory. When it hits him, he laughs

"Ooohh! Oh, (Y/n), I can't believe you remember that!"

When you aren't laughing along with him, Zenitsu seems concerned. The two of you pause at the door to Kanae's office, which is already being held open by Kaigaku, probably because Kanae asked him to. 

"Hey, wait a minute...are you still hung up on those rumors?" Zenitsu wonders aloud "No offense, but, it shouldn't really matter anymore. No one believes any of that stuff anymore, you know."

"I know, but--"

"We aren't meant to talk about it anymore," he adds "especially not in front of the counselor since she doesn't take kindly to the spread of rumors. But, for the record, you got it all wrong. People weren't angry with you because they thought you busted the party, or even that they thought you were hovering over Sabito like a moth to a flame."

"They were angry because they couldn't understand why you shut everyone away."

You're left standing dumbfounded in the doorway to watch Zenitsu waltz into the room without a care at the stupid and confusing thing he'd just said. You, shut everyone else out? Did they think you were a bully or something?

You get spotted by Nezuko from across the room, who perks up at the sight of you. She is sitting on the edge of a table covered with food, which is being crowded by hungry students at the moment. She has her own meal in her lap that she's digging into, but she hasn't taken her eyes off of you since you got close enough to be seen. You twirl a lock of your own hair with one finger anxiously at the prolonged stare

It took longer than expected for Sabito to catch up with you, but when he does, he nudges you gently at your side to let you know he's there before speaking

"C'mon. We're already here. Might as well give em' a show."