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live-digital-love · 2 years

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♡ Yuriroha / Kagajiue | Teaching

♡ Casual fluff

♡ In trying to explain to Iroha a misbelief she has, he discovers that they have something in common.

♡

The words poured over his tongue like a river, a steady flowing course that has been said over, and over, and over again. Memories flowed back as well, some pleasant, some bitter. Some were of the best he'd ever had. Some still tugged at his mind years later and rid him of sleep. No one else would ever know the more gruesome details that danced behind his eyes. And that's okay. That's how he wanted it to be.

Even the most horrifying tales can be turned into a bedtime story if you're creative enough.

He could never tire of telling stories like these, especially not when he has such an attentive and creative listener herself.

Iroha Nijiue. The only girl who was more than happy to sit down and listen to his stories. He noticed rather quickly that he has to make the boring parts a lot more exciting to keep her attention, but she made an effort to stay awake, and that's all he needed.

Just her name alone made the memories worth it.

⠀

Yuri started on another story, describing how far he had travelled this time, describing the culture and scenery of the new world he'd stepped into, describing---

Iroha's face suddenly lit up, her hand shooting in the air as it did.

"Oh! Wait, hold on! I got a question!"

Yuri chuckled at her excitement. "Yes, dear? Ask whatever it is, and I'll be sure to find an answer for you."

"Have you ever been to the edge of the world?"

He opened his mouth to reply, then felt his entire body freeze up. Yuri slowly sat back in his seat, carefully considering how to... answer that, licking his lips as he did. Surely, she must be talking about some sort of attraction that he's never heard of, right?

"Could you elaborate, dear?"

"You know! The end of it, where the water spills over and you can see out in space and stuff! It'd be so cool to go there!"

⠀

Dear god, not this.

Normally, Yuri would have been compelled to say something sweet to make her blush. The first thing to come to mind was: 'I could take you there on our wedding day!'

It was adorable, the last time he said something like that. She whined and got so embarrassed, hiding behind her sketchpad to shy from his gaze.

But he can't even bring himself to play along right now. He just can't.

Come, come, now. He's a man. He can and will be respectful about this.

"I don't mean to doubt you, baby, but... the world having an edge? That's certainly news, despite my travels. Could you explain it to me?"

She happily nodded, lifting that adorable little sketchpad out of her lap to flip through some pages of it. She readily tilted it away from Yuri's delightfully curious gaze. If some of the contents made her blush, it would easily be worth his time, no? Come to think of it, he never has seen a portfolio of her more personal work, has he...

"Here!"

She finally spun the book around and slid it across the table, its pages showing an astonishingly detailed map of the earth.

"When I was a kid, I had to learn how to make maps of areas off the top of my head. How come the Earth's a circle if there were so many flat maps?"

⠀

Because maps existed back before they had the technology to determine that the world had a curve...? Really? This will be a doozy.

He got up from his side of the table, humming as he moved. Then, froze to ask: "Oh, er. Do you mind if I come show you? I find it very difficult to explain without a sketch as a reference."

Iroha looked down at the space next to her and shrugged. "I don't care."

Which... made Yuri cock a brow. "I'm sorry, but I'm very particular about this sort of thing. I don't think that was an answer."

"Uhm... do you want me to say yes? Go ahead."

At the clear confirmation, Yuri easily moved around to her side of the table, and he cautiously sat close enough to see over the sketchpad but not so close as to make her feel anxious.

He then asked her to draw a sphere and tried to explain to her the things that he knew for certain: he knew how to find the trajectory of an object in the air, he knew how to measure the length of shadows to find the time of day, he knew how to find the window in which something could safely leave and enter earth's atmosphere, he knew how to read the stars in the sky and the horizon over the water. All things that proved his point one way or another.

But all the time he spent talking was futile, as his listener only grew bored and obviously stopped paying attention after his first two examples.

⠀

This is going nowhere.

Time for a different approach.

His fingers drummed gently against the table. "I have a question. How did you learn how to draw a map with that much accuracy, and no distortion? Usually, flat maps like that will have some countries looking bigger than others, and that's because they didn't know about the curvature of the earth."

"Oh! I noticed that, too. It really irritated me when I was still learning. But I figured it out because I looked at a globe instead! They were really the only things proportionally consistent."

"... So you used a globe to take into account the curvature of the earth? So everything would be proportioned correctly?"

"Uh... I think so!"

"And you understand that a globe is a sphere, correct? A rounded, circular object?"

"Yes, I get that! I'm not dumb!"

"I would end my life before I'd ever say that you are, baby. I'm just trying to repeat what you said back to you, but in a longer way, okay?"

"Eh...okay. But you don't have to get weird about it."

He could only chuckle. "You're right, I don't. What my point is: if the Earth is flat, then how come a spherical globe is more accurate than a dozen flat maps?"

Iroha opened her mouth to respond, then suddenly froze. Her gaze broke from his, trailing off into space. He could practically watch the gears turning in her brain, which was very hard not to chuckle at. He did allow himself to smirk as her face dropped in realization, though. She slumped over with a very familiar whine, setting her face on the table with a gentle plop.

⠀

"Oh... ohhhhhhh. I take it back, I am dumb."

His mind flew to thoughts of him leaning over and rubbing her back, or brushing her hair out of her face, or cupping her cheeks in his hands to lift up her head, or softly cooing that she doesn't have to say those things. His body itself, however, stayed deathly still. Maybe he can... let himself attempt the last one.

"Come, no, you're not. You just needed it to be explained differently, see?"

She only rolled her pretty teal eyes. "Yeah, right. Compared to you, I'm dumb. And annoying. And a sad excuse for... everything."

"Don't say these things, dear, you'll break my heart!" There they are, again: those thoughts he had to ignore. That he can't quite spin into a story just yet.

"Then let it break. It's true."

"See: I don't know the things I do because I just know it. I had to learn it. For example: I like to think of myself as a visual learner. That's why I asked you to draw examples for me. I learned that you think very differently compared to me, even though I think you're a visual learner, too. And I learned that you need a better person to be around than yourself, if you really think those things about someone as kind and sweet as you."

⠀

His attentive, creative listener groaned at his last few words, a hand seemingly trying to swat them all away. "You say that to every girl."

"I really, truly don't. That was just for you." Unsure of how else to get her attention, Yuri rested his head on the table beside her own, trying to look into her very being.

"I can prove it. I learned that you use your left hand to write, but your right to draw and paint. I learned that your hands are much more fluid depending on what I asked you to make. I even learned that you go out of your way to spend time with me just because I said I was a little lonely so long ago I can't remember. I may be nice to every woman I meet, but you are not every woman, Iroha."

⠀

Soft color spread its way across her more and more the longer he spoke. Quiet pinks and reds brushed her cheeks, and ears, and nose. A beautiful contrast to her wavering eyes and deep brown hair.

"But I can't do that. You saw that stuff and you know it now. I can't. I don't know anything unless it has to do with... stupid technical art stuff. I'm only good for that. What good is painting something with perfect contrast and a stunning composition if I can't even..." She trailed off, pouting as she thought. "Muti-... Mulpl-... Mul-i-ply...?"

"Multiply?"

"See!? I can't even say it right! Little baby kids can do it! I'm useless if I'm not painting."

⠀

She doesn't know something as simple as multiplication, but is extremely gifted in anything regarding a physical medium...

... He did learn something else about her before this, didn't he? That she shies away whenever someone says her family name.

Only trained in one specific thing, and being practically shielded from knowing about anything else...

He knows that all too well.

It wasn't long before memories of his own, similar to those, bubbled in his mind. Long hours he was forced to study, and starve, and sacrifice, all to be the heir to something he now resents. And all in vain, as it was all useless to him the moment he stepped outside those blackened walls, or were dragged out of them kicking and screaming. Again, and again, and again.

But this isn't about him anymore.

⠀

"Please don't get sad, dear. You do know how to count and measure amounts, don't you?"

She puffed out her cheeks. "... I think so."

"Then you're doing fantastic already. I know math and science and literature because those are concepts. You need to be taught them by someone else who knows them. I don't think you were taught any of these things."

"... No. Anyone that tried to just said I didn't need it or that I'm too stupid to remember it all."

"Well, I want to make that different. May I try to teach you the things you want to learn?"

The creative, attentive student, now, sprung up from the table. Her smile beamed as bright as the sun. He could've sworn she'd gotten so worked up she was vibrating with excitement as he lazily sat up.

⠀

"Will you!? You really think I learn? I mean- please? I don't know what I can do to make it worth it for you, but, uhm---"

"You don't have to. Seeing you so happy makes it worthwhile as it is, baby."

"Yeah, but I want to do something for you, too! I want this to feel like it's fair."

"In that case... what about this: I teach you whatever you want to know, and you teach me how to do whatever makes you the happiest. That is the only thing I want."

"I can do that easy! I'm gonna be smart! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Iroha squealed right after she spoke, practically lunging for Yuri to wrap him in a tight hug.

⠀

He took the playful pounce with so much ease. His hands shot out to the sides, however, so they wouldn't touch her by accident. He made sure of that. But, he...

God, he melted at the slightest warm touch, let alone this.

The warmth of her, the smell of her hair, the brilliant smile still burning in his mind, the fact that she's even here with him...

It was like heaven on earth had her arms wrapped around his chest. And he'd give anything to die right there, enveloped in so much peace.

But he made a promise that he has to keep. He can't until she knows every little thing that will make her happy.

#sdra2 #super danganronpa another 2 #super danganronpa another 2: the moon of hope and sun of despair #yuri kagarin #kagarin yuri #iroha nijiue #nijiue iroha #yuriroha #kagajiue #♡ ~ writing

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