When the paper corner first paused at the edge of the desk gap, Kiyo felt this exercise did not seem like an exercise at all.
"Isn't this just passing paper?" He held the practice sheet up before his eyes, suspecting the teacher was slacking off today.
Iruka-sensei did not explain much. He merely placed a stack of cut paper beside the Shared Box, then pointed to a spot between the two rows of desks that everyone remembered.
"The paper goes first, the person goes after. Your hand stops first, then the paper moves."
Naruto frowned as soon as he heard that. "Paper doesn't grow legs."
"That's why you're the one growing legs," Teacher Mizuno said.
The East Corridor fell quiet for half a breath. Kiyo laughed first, only to have Morita Yu glare him into silence midway through. Naruto's mouth twitched. He wanted to argue, but remembered that talking back these past few days easily got him used as an example for the exercise, so he forcibly swallowed his words.
Today's items were neither short pencils nor old erasers, but impossibly light practice sheets. The paper was so thin that if their hands moved even a little too quickly, its corners trembled; if their hands were even a little too heavy, the desk gap caught it. The children had to stand on this side of the line, stop their feet first, then smoothly send the paper across. They could not fling it, slap it, or let a paper corner fold into the desk gap.
Rina went first. She pushed the paper steadily, its edge nearly skimming across the desktop. Saori's bell gave a soft chime, and her wrist trembled with it. The paper corner hit the desk edge and curled slightly. She hurriedly reached out to press it down, but