When a person has extreme social anxiety, they struggle to communicate with others.
Bear in mind, they only struggle in forming connections.
It doesn't mean that they don't want to.
╭────»»❀❀❀««────╮
Tanjiro Kamado is a new student at Kimetsu Gakuen...
"We have everything, right Kanao? Should we go around the house again to see if we forgot something?"
Kanae and Kanao were standing in the doorway of their house, preparing to leave for the field trip to Kyoto. Kanao nodded, signifying that she had packed everything, from her clothes and spare socks to her toothbrush. She also shook her head, as a signal to Kanae that they didn't have to go around the house to look again.
Shinobu stood behind them, bidding them her farewells. She was going to be the only Butterfly Sister in the house for a few days, after all.
"Have fun in Kyoto, Kanao and Kanae-neesan!" Shinobu said happily. She walked a little closer to Kanao, and stood on tiptoe to whisper, "If that Kamado boy does something naughty to you, give me a call."
"Shinobu!" Kanae scolded, as Kanao trembled. "I heard that! I don't know what you have agaianst that nice Kamado boy, but we'll have a nice trip with very clean fun, thanks."
And with that, the oldest and youngest sisters of the family headed off to the train station.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Once the sisters arrived at the train station, Kanae left to go to the train, leaving Kanao alone to go look for her friends.
Kanao hadn't taken one step into the station, when she heard a familiar voice call out her name.
"Yoo-hoo, Kanao! Over here!"
Kanao turned around to see Zenitsu waving her over and jumping around for joy, with Tanjiro in tow. Inosuke was also by the group, eating from a box of candy.
"Hi Kanao!" called Tanjiro. Kanao raised her hand in a weak wave, and she was about to head towards her friends when suddenly, an announcement came over the loudspeaker for all the students to head onto the train.
Tanjiro ended up losing both Zenitsu and Inosuke in the swarm of students that had been stampeding onto the train, and he found himself alone near the front.
He saw Aoi looking around at the groups to make sure that everyone was on board, so he decided to be true to his duty as vice president and do the same.
He headed down the corridor of the train, looking at all the odd groups that had come together due to Kanae's strategy of pulling names out of a clear glass fishbowl.
Firs of all, there was the group that consisted of Zenitsu, Genya, and Monterio (if you don't remember him, see chapter 18!). Zenitsu sat between Genya and Monterio shivering in fear, as Genya and Monterio were having a stare-down across his head.
Second, there was Tanjiro's own group that consisted of him, Inosuke, and Chiyo (Chapter 34). Chiyo was looking at Inosuke awkwardly as the wild boy bragged about his 'amazing feats' and all of his 'talented disciples that could be found all over the world'.
Next, there was Aoi's group which consisted of her, Chimatsu (Chapter 9), and Misaki (Chapter 29). Misaki was gleefully telling Chimatsu and Aoi about the cat cafe that she had visited and how they should try to go find one in Kyoto.
Another group that Tanjiro passed consisted of Izumi, Etsuko, and Chiasa. Izumi was drumming on the side of the train wall with two pencils while Etsuko and Chiasa hummed to the beat.
Rin and Mio were sitting together, and Tanjiro only assumed that their last group member was somewhere else. There was a scary tension between the two girls, and he was glad to get away from them for a bit.
Finally, he came to a stop at Kanao's group, which consisted of her, and two girls that he recognized as Miyamoto Chō and Takahashi Himari. The three girls were sitting awkwardly and all in a row, and they didn't make eye contact.
Tanjiro sweatdropped and he really wanted to help Kanao at that moment, but he had to go back to his seat, so he just thought, Good luck, Kanao!
If the group had just consisted of Cho and Himari, they wouldn't be feeling this awkward at all, since Cho's boyfriend was Himari's brother. However, although these girls were friends already and they had completely different personalities, they both wanted to make this trip a memorable one, especially for Kanao.
After looking at Cho and Kanao, Himari awkwardly shifted her messenger bag to one side and she opened it. She pulled out a small box of chocolate candies from her open bag.
"D-do you two want some candy?" Himari asked, trying to break the silence. She had always been good at socializing, but this time, she froze up, probably because she had never been around someone so popular before.
Cho tilted her head up and down in a miniscule nod, and she took a small handful of the chocolate candies from the box and she immediately looked out the window. Kanao also took some candy, her hand trembling as she placed them daintily into her mouth. Himari jolted, as they barely took any and not even half the box was empty.
You two could've taken more, the box isn't even halfway empty! she thought incredulously. And Cho, why are you acting so cold to me? I know you want to hang out with my brother because you can't stop thinking about him, but COME ON!
However, this was not the thing that Cho was thinking about at all.
I don't really tend to stand out in class, and the only people I really hang out with are Himari and her brother...obviously. she thought, as she chewed slowly on her candy. And even though Himari is very social, a person like her might not stand out that much from Kanao's point of view...so we have to work together and make this trip a good one!
Cho and Himari looked at each other, a plan forming in each girl's brain. Meanwhile, Kanao sat there, trembling in her seat and feeling alienated.
What's going to happen to these three?!
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
That's all for this chapter! Sorry for the long wait (again).
Chō Miyamoto and Himari Takahashi belong to AmazonZoo!
The new book is coming out soon! If you like Genshin Impact OR The Story of Evil that stars Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len, you should check it out when it's posted!
Bye guys!
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
