Takuya had not brought anything new this time, just the same box of leaves.
But the moment the children saw that wooden box, their expressions were already different from last time. Before, everyone had only found it novel. This time, they all knew that those light, fluttering leaves in the box could reveal, one by one, the least presentable habits of a person.
Kiyo covered the back of his hand first. "I'm feeling sorry for myself in advance today."
Morita Yu replied from beside him, "You've improved. At least you know to pity the right person first."
Yamashiro Takuma did not have them begin immediately. Instead, he wrote two words on the blackboard: left and right.
When Che saw those words, something stirred faintly within him. In the previous lesson, he had already sensed that he always wanted the result to look too proper, too even, but he had not yet sorted out whether that "neatness" was the same throughout his body or more pronounced on one side. Since the teacher had singled out "left and right" today, he was clearly going to make them look more closely.
After handing out the leaves, Takuya did not demonstrate how to stick them on first. Instead, he raised both hands. "Today, don't practice with both hands together. One round with the right hand, one with the left. Don't rush to compare who can keep it steady longer. First, see which side of you prefers to reveal itself first."
"Reveal what?" a child in the front row asked.
"Reveal how you usually exert force," Takuya said. "Some people's right hand likes to jump in first. Some people's left hand likes to shrink back. Some are impatient on one side while pretending to be steady on the other. Chakra won't suddenly become fair for