When they returned to the East Corridor that afternoon, Kiyo was visibly more drained than he had been in the morning.
He was not injured, nor was he sick. After teaching Naruto the character "neat" that morning, he had started treating himself like a temporary teacher and had been putting on airs all the way back. By the time he reached the East Corridor entrance, his shoulders finally slumped, and he looked like someone had pulled a wooden support out of him.
"Teaching people is more tiring than writing," he said.
Morita Yu flipped through his notebook beside him. "You only taught one character."
"There are a lot of enemies in one character."
Zhen Shu coldly added, "Then you won very slowly."
Kiyo wanted to argue, but he was too tired to move his mouth. In the end, he just touched the shoelace forehead protector. The gesture was like making sure he still had teammates.
Teacher Mizuno did not start class right away. She had them take out the notebooks from Class One that morning and finish half a page.
"Finish what?" Kiyo asked weakly.
"Anything you did not finish writing this morning, did not understand, or did not have time to ask about. Half a page. You are not allowed to fill an entire page."
That rule—"not allowed to fill an entire page"—made Che lift his head.
Teacher Mizuno noticed him. "Especially you."
Che pressed down the notebook he had just been about to open. "I haven't even started."
"That is why I'm telling you in advance."
Her tone was very similar to the way Iruka-sensei had spoken to Naruto that morning. Che suddenly realized that the two teachers were alike in some ways: they both liked to stop children from making mistakes before they did, rather than waiting