Kanao Can't Communicate

•~chapter twenty-five: afterparty~•

Finally, after a long day of hard work during the culture festival, all of the tired, hardworking students were ready for a well deserved night of relaxing and partying.

All the high schoolers were gathered in the school auditorium, anxiously waiting for some kind of host to appear and make some announcements.

And, as if their thoughts were answered, the school's MC slowly came onto the stage. His entrance was noticed by all, and all whispering and muttering ceased as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Hello, high schoolers of Kimetsu Private Academy!" he said, immediately rousing cheers among the students. "You all seem ready for a long break from your efforts put into the culture festival, but before you enjoy a night of rest and relaxation, we have to announce the class that had the most buisness!"

At this announcement, the students stopped cheering, and they looked at the MC, their eyes gleaming with excitement and hope.

"Ahem," the MC said, as he pulled a sealed envelope out of his pants pocket. "The class that had the most buisness today...was Kimetsu Maid Cafe, in class 2-B!"

The students of said class began to cheer. Their cheers would have raised the rooftop, but their cheers were interrupted when the MC said, "However, due to one student's inappropriate methods of money-making, the prize is withdrawn."

Everyone stared at Inosuke. He had not been paying attention, but then he called out, "Thank you! I am indeed the best money-maker!" His words triggered some people to facepalm.

Another throat clearing from the MC came again. Everyone immediately settled down from the previous bad news.

"Now that those announcements are out of the way, we can get out evening of relaxation started!" he exclaimed. At his hand signal, a band on stage struck up some soft and relaxing jazz music, and the normally tense students began to relax.

Some students went over to the buffet, where there were little hors d'oeuvres being served to some hungry people. Others grabbed their friends at once and they led each other onto the dance floor.

Tanjiro and Kanao were sitting on chairs that were on the side of the dance floor (Tanjiro had changed out of that maid dress already). At some moments, Kanao's foot wiggled in time to the music, causing Tanjiro to look up.

He saw her wide eyes and he immediately knew that Kanao wanted to join in on the dancing. People were elbowing each other out of the way to try and get a dance with Kanao, but she showed no interest in them at all.

Slowly, people stopped asking Kanao to dance. Tanjiro looked at her face and he saw that it was full of longing to join the dance. He looked around and he saw nobody in their immediate vicinity, so he stood up.

Kanao noticed Tanjiro standing up. She watched him as he walked to a place in front of her. His face was steaming with embarrassment, and it was practically the color of his hair.

"K-kanao..." he muttered. "Doyouwannadancewithme?"

Kanao couldn't catch what he said. She tilted her head in confusion.

"A..ano...I said, do you...want to dance with me?" he said, his voice now becoming slower and clearer.

Kanao's eyes widened at once. She had never been asked a question like this in her whole entire life...partially because people are too busy fighting over her.

Kanao looked down at her lap bashfully. She clenched and clenched her fists, as she felt conflicted about what to do.

Kanao did not respond for about a minute. Just as Tanjiro was about to leave, Kanao suddenly got up from her chair and nodded.