Kanao Can't Communicate

•~chapter fourty-two: second night~•

Kanao, Himari, and Cho were sitting in their beds, chatting the night away. Well, technically, Himari was doing most of the talking while Cho and Kanao just sat and listened.

"...and then, the exact guy I was teasing her about was the guy that tapped me on the shoulder." Himari was saying, chuckling. "I was horrified but I still felt embarrassed and guilty at the same time, I thought he would know she liked him, like how long had he been standing there? But he was so oblivious, thankfully, and he didn't understand a word—wait, is that Kocho-sensei?"

The girls inclined their ears toward their bedroom door, and sure enough, Kanae's voice was calling out, "Students, it's time for lights out and bedtime!"

Cho obediently crept over to the hotel room door and shut off the lights. However, upon going back to the beds, Cho's voice lowered to a whisper, and she muttered, "It's time for the love talk."

Kanao and Himari were surprised that Cho was the one to bring the topic up, yet they gave no complaint as she started to speak in a mutter.

"So, Himari, I haven't seen you in quite a while." Cho whispered, smirking. "Have you gotten a boyfriend, or has someone caught your eye?"

Himari giggled slyly. "Getting to the point, are we now, Cho? Never thought you would be the one that was so into the love talk," she added, as Cho mockingly rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately, I'm just the same as before— a single pringle with no love stories of my own to tell."

"Well then." Cho said, disappointment hidden behind her mischievous smile. "How about you, Kanao? Any love stories? There's no way you don't have any, you're our class goddess, for heaven's sake!"

The question caught Kanao off guard. She tilted her head in pretend confusion.

Well, I asked her, but she's not saying anything, like usual. Cho thought. It has to be Tanjiro. There's no way she doesn't like him, she's around him every single school day!

It would be quite weird if Kanao didn't like Tanjiro. Himari thought. They look so cute together.

However, Himari and Cho were both thrown into disappointment when Kanao wrote, "what does it mean to like someone?"

"Seriously?" Himari and Cho said at the same time.

Oh Tanjiro~ Himari thought. Wakey wakey. Kanao's going the 'i don't know what love is route'. Answer us now and spare yourself some mental strength.

Please Tanjiro. Cho pleaded mentally. Kanao's being hella cute right now, you wouldn't want that to stop, now do you?

However, Tanjiro did not hear their mental pleadings, for he was sound asleep (Zenitsu heard them though, and he planned to ask Tanjiro about it later on).

All the while, Kanao was looking at them in confusion. But then, to steer the topic away from herself, she wrote, I noticed you haven't been grilled yet, Cho. Why don't you tell us about your love life?

"Ha ha, Kanao." Cho said triumphantly. "Nice try on getting the topic off yourself. To answer this question of my love life, I already have a boyfriend."

Kanao jolted.

Himari rolled her eyes and said, "I toooootally did not know that, Cho. It's not like your boyfriend is my twin brother, Akio."

"Oh, shut up, Himari." Cho deadpanned. "Kanao asked."

"But anyways!" Himari laughed. "If we're answering your question from way earlier Kanao—yeah, the one about not knowing what love is—its kind of along lines that only Cho can explain."

Cho scoffed. "Shoving the explanation role onto me, I see? Well, there are times when you'd suddenly start thinking about this person you like. When you're around him, you feel at ease, but you feel your heart pounding. You wonder why you feel embarrassed around him for no reason, and you like being around him."

Kanao's eyes widened. Of course she knew what a crush and what love was, but just the bringing up of the topic made her think of the certain someone that set her heart racing all the time.

She began to blush madly, and she tried to cover up her face with her notebook. Cho and Himari did not fail to notice this, and they caused a silent uproar as it was supposed to be lights out.

"A-ha! We knew it!" Himari exclaimed quietly. "Tell us who it is!"

Kanao retaliated by covering her face with the blanket and trembling. Cho yanked the blanket off her head and took it away.

"Kanaoooooo." Cho deadpanned. "We know that you have a crush, so spit it out, please. You don't even have to tell us his whole name, you can write down the first character in English, even."

Kanao turned bright red and brought her pen to the paper.

After about a minute, she was covering her face with her notebook, revealing the paper that bore a single English letter.

The letter was T, and Himari and Cho were not surprised.