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Fictober Day 21: "Change is annoyingly difficult."

"This is all your fault," Suguro muttered.

"Excuse me?" Izumo's voice was sharp. "If I'm recalling correctly, this is your fault. You're the one who yelled first."

"There they go again," Konekomaru said quietly.

"Yeah," Shima added with a sigh. "Some things never change."

They were all in the classroom with the desks pushed aside so they could sit a circle, each exwire with a Bariyon in their lap. Izumo and Suguro had got into another argument, and this was their punishment.

"This is stupid," Izumo grumbled under her breath.

"How do you think I feel?" Suguro snapped.

Rin expelled a slow breath. He wasn't really enjoying this, either. Especially because pain-in-the-ass Yukio had stepped out almost fifteen minutes ago and still hadn't returned. Still... "I think we need to change our tactic. Something that involves less fighting."

"Don't go all teacher-mode on us just 'cause your brother's not here," Suguro said gruffly. "I'm not in the mood."

"Bon," Konekomaru said hesitantly, "I think he means that... you both need to stop bickering. It's not getting us anywhere, and I'd rather not get another lecture from Okumura-sensei."

Suguro still looked decidedly unhappy, but finally muttered, "Yeah. Yeah, I see your point. Things need to change."

"Yeah? How?" Izumo asked flatly. "Change is annoyingly difficult."

Rin hummed. He could agree with that. In the span of a few days, his whole life had been flipped upside down. Everything he knew had been stripped from him within a few seconds, with just a few words. His humanity, gone. His father, gone. His old life, gone. Just like that.

"A little change is good sometimes," Shiemi said timidly, looking just as uncomfortable as the rest of them. "It can be scary sometimes, but it can lead to great things."

"That's also true," Rin murmured.

Shiemi craned her neck toward him, blinking in confusion. "You agree with Kamiki-san?"

"Well..." He started to shift his weight but stopped with a wince when that caused a great deal of discomfort. These rocks were really fucking annoying, that was for sure. "It's difficult when you're not prepared. When I first found out what I was... it was pretty jarring. I didn't even get a moment to myself to stop and think, 'Is this really happening?' Everything just... kept changing, and fast. But... I guess if it didn't, I wouldn't have gotten to meet all of you. I probably wouldn't even be in school."

Silence followed his confession, stretched out so long that he thought that maybe he shouldn't have said anything. But then, despite the fact that she had a rock demon in her lap, Shiemi smiled at him. Her eyes were sad. "Who, Rin."

Now it was Rin's turn to blink. "What?"

"You're a who, not a what," she said, with such certainty that it startled him.

"Oh," he said faintly, grinning nervously. "Sorry."

"And I'm glad I got to meet you, too," she finished warmly.

"Me, too," Konekomaru echoed with a shy smile of his own.

"I don't think class would be the same without you, honestly," Shima added.

"A lot quieter, probably," Suguro said, with a gruff nod.

"I don't even think I'd be at school, either, if not for you," Shiemi murmured suddenly.

"Ugh," Izumo muttered, rolling her eyes. "This is getting sickeningly sweet."

"Admit it," Shima said slyly, grinning. "You'd miss Okumura-kun, too, if he weren't here."

Izumo's cheeks flushed, and she stubbornly made a point of looking in the opposite direction. "Yeah, yeah, it'd be different without him here. So what?"

Suddenly, the weight in his lap seemed non-existent. His tail uncoiled from around his abdomen, swishing back and forth in timid excitement. He could tell by the looks on their faces that they were all being genuine, in their own way. Despite himself, he felt deeply touched.

Didn't pay attention to the way the door was cracked. Nor did he notice Yukio lurking right outside the classroom door, silently listening to their conversation.