Before third period, Naruto's pencil broke again.
This time, it had not broken from writing. It had broken while being sharpened. He had carved too hastily with his little knife; halfway through peeling a curl of wood, the lead snapped with a crack, landed on the desk, rolled twice, then fell off the edge.
Naruto bent down to look for it and smacked his head against the underside of the desk.
"Ow!"
Someone in the front row laughed. Iruka-sensei had not returned yet, and noise immediately spread through the classroom. Naruto crouched beside his desk with one hand over his head, still feeling around on the floor with the other. He did not find the piece of lead, but the pencil barrel rolled out first, down the aisle, all the way to Che's feet.
Kiyo looked down, and his entire body tensed warily.
"Here we go again."
Che bent down and picked up the pencil. Its barrel had been shaved into bumps and gouges, the wood thick on one side and thin on the other, as if it had just survived a rather unfair battle. He did not hand it back immediately, instead examining the broken tip.
Naruto crawled out from beneath the desk, a faint red spot on his forehead. "That's mine!"
"I could tell," Che said.
"How could you tell?"
"It looks busy."
Naruto froze for a moment, then grinned. "Right? It's been super busy today."
Kiyo murmured from the side, "Super miserable."
Naruto did not hear him. He hurried over to take the pencil, nearly kicking Saori's schoolbag. Saori pulled her bag closer without saying anything. When Che handed Naruto the pencil, he also picked up the broken lead from the floor.
"You want the lead too?"
Naruto looked at the tiny black piece and hesitated. "Can