Kanao Can't Communicate

•~chapter fifty: eraser drop~•

"Hey, Kanao, should we wipe off the desks with cloth?" Tanjiro called. After a bout of silence (which was perfectly normal) Tanjiro looked behind him to see Kanao with her back to him, frozen in place.

"Eh? What's the matter, Kanao?" Tanjiro asked as he walked towards the silent girl, placing down the broom he held. However, just as he was about to tap her shoulder, Inosuke rammed into him, nearly knocking him to the ground.

"Ow!" Tanjiro said, rubbing the shoulder that Inosuke had hit. "What was that for, Inosuke... and why do you have that big box of erasers?"

"No time for questions, Nonkoro!" Inosuke shouted, sending Tanjiro into confusion. "It's time to have our last class competition of the year... a gigantic tournament of Eraser Drop!"

Kanao finally moved, tilting her head in confusion. Tanjiro shared her feelings, as he had never heard of the "Eraser Drop" game ever in his life.

When he said so, Inosuke made a motion as if he was going to face palm, but he seemed to hold back.

"You did not have a childhood if you don't know what Eraser Drop is, Tontoro." Inosuke groaned. Behind him, Kanao's shoulders gave a visible jolt; this signified that she didn't know what Eraser Drop was, either.

As Inosuke dragged a singular desk to the center of the empty classroom, he began explaining his game. A crowd of interested classmates gathered around the boy.

"So Eraser Drop is basically an elementary school game we all played when the teacher would leave the room." Inosuke said nonchalantly, placing four erasers at the corners of the desk. He suddenly sounded full of a smart and proud sort of air as he explained, "Eraser Drop is a type of battle game where the players have to flick their erasers at their opponents' erasers, without knocking their own off onto the floor."

"I can't believe you didn't know that, Tontoro." Inosuke added, rolling his eyes in a condescending manner.

Tanjiro opened his mouth to say that the rules seemed pretty clear, as he bit back a comeback. But then, an ominous aura froze his words as they were about to leave his mouth. He turned around to see who it was, a foreboding feeling rising in his chest.

But then, he relaxed. At least, just for a moment.

Zenitsu stood behind Tanjiro, as still as a statue with a serious look plastered across his face. He didn't respond, even when Tanjiro waved his hand back and forth in front of Zenitsu's golden eyes.

Tanjiro concluded that he must be sleeping.

In a monotone voice, Zenitsu murmured, "Inosuke... I challenge you to a game of Erasers Drop!"

Inosuke was stunned, but still up for the challenge. Their class roared with excitement as they gathered around the lone desk.

"Wait, don't you guys need four players?" a girl in the back pointed out.

"Eh. Then we'll just use Monjiro and his girlfriend." Inosuke shrugged, much to Tanjiro's discontent and embarrassed protests.

Before they knew it, Kanao and Tanjiro found themselves standing at the corners of the desk, erasers in hand. Tanjiro had a plain white eraser with a green and black checkered cover, while Kanao's was in the shape of a butterfly.

Their competitors... well, Inosuke and Zenitsu had more interesting erasers. Zenitsu's seemed to have been a normal, rectangular eraser before, but it was now haphazardly cut into the shape of a lightning bolt. Inosuke, on the other hand, had a rectangular eraser, on which he drew a quite angry looking boar.

The war began with Inosuke banging his fist into his eraser, a technique known as "Iron Wall". This technique supposedly made his eraser harder to move, and he had a rather smug look on his face.