The familiar morning routine began with the brooms.
There were three brooms behind the door, two old and one new. The new one had a light-colored bamboo handle, its top not yet polished by hands. The two old ones leaned crookedly together; one had a splayed-out brush head, like it had gotten up in the morning without combing its hair. Naruto spotted them the moment he entered the classroom and immediately said, "I'm using the new one."
Kiyo stood beside him. "Why?"
"Because I swept more yesterday."
"You swept messier yesterday."
"Doing more and doing it messily can both be true."
Iruka set down the attendance book. "Today isn't about fighting over brooms. Today, we're learning how to take a broom out and put it back."
Half the excitement vanished from Naruto's face. "That's it?"
"That's it."
Kiyo relaxed, as if this finally meant he would not have to fight with a pencil. But when Iruka told him to go first, he grew nervous again. Taking out a broom sounded easy, but once he stood before the door, he found that the three brooms leaned against one another and would bump if any one of them moved. Kiyo touched the middle broom, and the old broom beside it immediately slipped a little.
"Don't fall," he whispered to the broom.
Naruto leaned closer. "You're talking to it?"
"You asked the desk something yesterday."
Naruto was silenced and could only watch him.
Kiyo pulled out the broom, moving as slowly as if he were drawing a very brittle blade. The broom finally came free from behind the door, and a hint of pride had just appeared on his face when another old broom behind it slipped down with a smack and hit the floor.
The classroom fell quiet for a moment.
Naruto