Pushing chairs back before roll call gave the East Corridor a lot of muffled thumps early that morning.
Usually, when the children entered the classroom, they dropped their bags, sat down, and no one immediately cared if a chair was crooked or a desk was slightly out of place. But today, Teacher Iruka stood by the door with the roll book in hand. Before calling any names, he only watched to see whether each child gently pushed their chair back under the desk after entering.
"Put things back first, then roll call."
Kiyo froze on the spot when he heard that. "Do names have to line up too?"
"Get your chair in line first," Teacher Mizuno said.
And so the first round of muffled thumps began quickly. Rina pushed lightly, and her chair legs slid back across the floor with only a single sound. Saori brushed the desk edge with her sleeve, so her bell chimed before the chair moved, and she blushed before either of them. Kiyo had it worst. He tried to push his chair while still carrying his schoolbag, but the chair leg caught in a crack in the floor, and he nearly sat back down with it.
Morita Yu steadied him, then immediately let go, as if afraid Kiyo would drag him crooked too.
When Naruto entered, he instinctively wanted to fling his schoolbag onto the desk first. Halfway through, as if remembering something, his hand forcibly slowed. The bag landed on the desktop without making the same crash it had yesterday. But his chair was still crookedly sticking out. He glanced down at it, clear impatience showing on his face.
"Why do I have to stop for everything first?" he muttered.
Sasuke passed by him, pushed his own chair back in, then sat down. The