Toji hadn't worried when he'd sent Megumi to kindergarten. He remembers when Tsumiki was little, she was sweet and prone to crying, but after the accident, Tsumiki was harder. Which Toji worries about, but the upshot was that it had meant she'd be fine at school. In fact, Tsumiki had practically flung herself out of the car to get away from Megumi, who had been crying desperately because Tsumiki got to go to school and he didn't.
Today is Megumi's first day of kindergarten and Toji is terrified. Megumi has always been equal parts space cadet and sensitive; Toji wants to go to school with him and throw any kid that looks at Megumi wrong out the window.
"Oh my god, Dad, he's going to be fine," Tsumiki says from the passenger seat. "You keep looking like you're going to kill someone."
"Does Dad need to kill someone?" Megumi asks, sounding a little worried from the back seat. "Did you have to kill someone when Tsumiki went to school, too? How come you never told me about it?"
Toji rolls his eyes. "No, Megumi, I don't have to kill anyone. I haven't killed anyone, either." Megumi looks a little mollified but still wary and concerned.
"What are you doing?" Tsumiki demands as Toji cruises the parking lot for a space.
"I'm coming in with you both," Toji says, confused.
Tsumiki stares at Toji, horrified. "Oh my god, he cannot have you drop him off, everyone will think he's a baby, I'll take him," Tsumiki tells Toji.
Toji raises an eyebrow at her, but Tsumiki holds her ground. "Megumi?" Toji asks, because really, it's Megumi's call.
Megumi frowns, but visibly pulls himself together. "Tsumiki can walk with me if she wants, but I bet I could find it on my own." Megumi says.
"Yeah, right," Tsumiki mutters, but quietly enough that Megumi doesn't hear her. Toji shoots her a look and Tsumiki unbuckles her seatbelt, grabbing his backpack.
"Okay, okay! C'mon, Megumi, get your bag, we're going!" Tsumiki says, opening the door. Megumi scrambles out after her, shooting Toji a wobbly smile.
"Bye, Dad!" Megumi yells in unison with Tsumiki's "Bye, Dad!"
"Hey," Toji pins them both with a look. "Be good. Tsumiki, watch out for your brother."
"Yeah, okay, we gotta go," Tsumiki says, dragging Megumi along.
Toji goes to work because going home would just be depressing without Megumi running all over the house, screaming at the top of his lungs that he wanted to play aliens and ninjas. Everyone simultaneously annoys him and keeps their distance, which annoys him all over again. Toji would be lying if he said he wasn't counting down the minutes until 2 pm.
Toji's first in line at Kiss and Ride, mostly because his boss had come over at 1:30 and said, "Go, you're making the interns cry."
Tsumiki's 1st grade teacher is running Kiss and Ride. She catches Toji's eye and scrambles to find Tsumiki, and by extension, Megumi. She'd been constantly talking about Tsumiki running the class and Toji had countered that Tsumiki was a leader, nothing wrong with that and it'd ended with the two of them at a vicious stalemate that somehow ended up with Toji having to chaperone every field trip. In return, in one of his rare attendances to the PTA, Toji suggested that Mrs. Porter, with her training as a reading specialist, would be a good choice to run the reading workshop the PTA had been talking about forever. On Friday nights.
Tsumiki is dragging Megumi by his backpack straps over to the car.
"Oh my god, you'll be back tomorrow, come on, we're going home," Tsumiki says.
"But Tsumiki, it was awesome," Megumi cries.
"If you want to stay at school, I can just order less pizza tonight," Toji calls out the window. "Or Tsumiki and I can eat yours."
"Dad!" Megumi howls as he gets in. "You wouldn't!"
"Well, you'd better come fight for it, huh?" Toji says, reaching over to ruffle Megumi's hair. "Your first day was good?"
"Oh my god, Dad it was amazing, Ms. L/N is the coolest!" Megumi says, practically writhing with excitement.
"And yours? How is Yuta Okkotsu in third grade? Still awful?" Toji ruffles Tsumiki's hair too, just to watch Tsumiki sputter and try to claw her hair back into place.
"Fine, ugh, Dad!" Tsumiki keeps finger combing her hair. "Yuta is whatever."
Toji fights the urge to smile.
They get an inordinate amount of pizza for two kids and one man, but the kids eat until they're lying on the couch moaning. The whole time, though, all Megumi can talk about is his "totally mega cool teacher", Ms. L/N.
It's a pretty typical pattern for them after that- the kids go to school and Toji goes to work, he drops them off in the morning, they take the bus home- Toji comes home and hears all about how amazing Ms. L/N is. Toji has to admit, based off of Megumi's description, Ms. L/N is like sunshine, candy, the Mythbusters and the holy trinity rolled into one- Toji is morbidly curious.
Tsumiki rolls her eyes and says Ms. L/N is perfect for Megumi, because they're both dweebs. Tsumiki does math in her notebook which doesn't faze her, but has to apologize to her brother, which offends her mortally.
"You could be apologizing to Ms. L/N, too?" Toji offers.
Tsumiki shuts her mouth and sulkily eats her vegetables.
The whole thing only serves to increase his curiosity, and in the meantime, Megumi continues to come home with increasingly crazy stories.
"Oh my god, Dad, Ms. L/N ate bacteria today and she said we all eat it, it was gross, is cheese really mold?"
"DAD, Ms. L/N made crystals today, but they're candy, can I eat mine?"
"Dad, I own a GREENHOUSE!"
"Just- Dad, Ms. L/N had us paint in a cave! It was so awesome!"
Who is this woman?
***
Toji's neighbor is a young man, the same age as him who looks like he could beat him on the tennis court, with a seemingly inexhaustible amount of patience for the kids- Jin watches them after school for the hours before Toji gets home. Toji actually thinks they're more scared of him than they are of him, which is good, someone has to terrify them into doing their homework. A couple of nights before the open house he makes sure to ask Jin if he wouldn't mind watching the kids for the evening, too.
"So, you'll get to meet Ms. L/N, huh?" Jin asks him, an amused glint in his eye.
"Megumi talks about her endlessly to you, too?" Toji asks, shaking Megumi from where he's tucked up under Toji's arm like a log.
Megumi giggles. "That's 'cause Ms. L/N is the best, Dad." Megumi explains.
"We're all disciples of Ms. L/N in this house," Jin agrees solemnly.
"It's like a cult," Tsumiki groans from under the other arm. Toji gives her a shake too, for good measure.
"Thanks, as always, Jin," Toji calls, hefting the kids along. "Better take these home."
He laughs them out of his house.
***
There's only one of Toji, which could make the open house difficult, but luckily the school has it scheduled so each grade is at a different time. Toji hadn't imagined at 23, before the accident, that four years later, his first night out in two and a half months would be at an elementary school, meeting with his kids' teachers.
So he's wearing a button down shirt, trying to look like a respectable member of society who can totally raise two kids by himself, and well, he hasn't accidentally killed either of them yet, so he's feeling pretty good about it. His first meeting with Tsumiki's kindergarten teacher had left him with sweaty palms, worried that he'd been ruining Tsumiki for two years and no one had said anything and he remembers the moment Mrs. Reeves had told him Tsumiki was a very nicely behaved girl and doing very well in class- it had felt like someone pulling him out of a fire.
He'd called Jin to check in on the kids between work and the open house and had been firmly admonished by Megumi to "be nice to Ms. L/N."
"Oh, be nice to Ms. L/N," Toji says. "What if she's mean to me?"
Megumi snorts, loud enough to be heard over the phone. "As if, Dad," and hangs up on him. Toji laughs to himself in the car, before heading into the school.
Toji has never been able to imagine what "Ms. L/N" might look like- between the strange science experiments and teaching gig, all that comes to mind is Ms. Frizzle. He knows that's crazy, but that's still sort of what he expects to see when he's greeted at the classroom door.
What he's not expecting is a woman who looks even younger than him, an evaluating stare, matched with an inviting grin.
"No, no, let me guess," Ms. L/N says as Toji extends his hand to shake and introduce himself. "I like to see if I can guess who belongs to whom." Ms. L/N's stare goes from evaluating to invasive.
"That's really not-" Toji starts, but Ms. L/N holds up a hand.
"Ah-ah-ah!" She takes another second, but her grin turns a little sly. "You're Megumi Fushiguro's dad."
"Yeah, right," Toji says, the familiar pang as he says it.
"Well, come on in, have a seat," Ms. L/N offers and Toji takes his first step into the classroom.
Jesus Christ, there actually is a cave.
The sizable classroom is cluttered in a kid-friendly way- clear bottles aligned in the window, tanks of god knows what on the counter and the aforementioned cave, constructed out of papier mache, chicken wire and sheer balls. The only space really open is the enormous rug in the center of the room, where a few of the other parents are awkwardly standing.
The other parents keep filing in, but Toji is distracted, looking for Megumi's artwork in the drawings under the big banner reading "Everyone Has a Different Family" tacked to the wall. He finally sees Megumi's blobby handiwork with the careful labeling "Dad," "Tsumiki," and "Me." Toji can't help but smile, looking at the black strips of Tsumiki's hair and the messy splash of spikes on Megumi's.
"Hi, good evening everyone! Can I get you all here on the rug?" Ms. L/N calls. The parents come into an uncomfortable group, but Ms. L/N just motions them to sit down, to universal hesitation. "No, c'mon, get a taste of what your kids do every day." Most of the parents chuckle and sit down easily enough. Toji folds himself down, curious to see where this is going. Ms. L/N gets right down on the floor with them.
Ms. L/N. tells the parents to call her "Y/N," before talking a mile a minute about how much she adores all of their kids, how much they're all so excited to learn and how much she thinks that says about them as parents. Ms. L/N., no, Y/N, never shuts her mouth, hypnotizing the parents into some kind of entranced self-congratulation. Toji stares at Y/N as she just keeps talking.
He doesn't think that Y/N stops talking for the entire 30 minute block, perfectly wrapping up as the bell rings. Toji doesn't know whether to be impressed or horrified.
"Oh, man, our time is up!" Y/N claps her hands together, cheerfully. "Any questions, please don't hesitate to call or email!" All of the other parents leave with dazed, vague smiles on their faces, shaking Y/N's hand. Toji snorts.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Fushiguro," Y/N prompts, which is when Toji realizes he's the only parent left in the room.
"So, do the kids get a word in edgewise?" Toji finds himself asking.
Y/N stares at him for a second, then barks out a surprised laugh. "The kids do all the talking. But that's because they're a lot better conversationalists than their parents," Y/N says, like she's trusting Toji with a secret. "This is just how I get through open house."
"Steam rolling?" Toji offers.
Y/N grins. "Absolutely. But apparently I didn't steam roll you," she purses her mouth thoughtfully. "So, if you want I can actually tell you about my teaching philosophy, or whatever else you want to grill me on to make sure Megumi's in good hands."
Toji can't stop staring at her. "I know Megumi's in good hands," he finally says. "He can't stop talking about you either."
Y/N blinks before she breaks into a huge smile. "I have to say, he doesn't stop talking about you." Toji opens his mouth to say something, but Y/N keeps going. "Although, I gotta know, are you actually a cowboy?"
"What?" Toji asks blankly.
Y/N laughs. "When I asked about his dad on family day, Megumi said you were a cowboy who played with wolves."
Toji rolls his eyes and almost laughs. "I work at a wildlife ranch with the wolves we're rehabilitating."
Y/N pauses, digesting this. "Well, I guess that explains why you don't look like Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner, or something," Y/N offers. "I was sort of expecting you to have cowboy boots."
Toji reflexively glances down at his unobtrusive boots. "Not today."
"But you can ride a horse, right?" Y/N asks innocently.
"Yes?" Toji says, not sure where Y/N is going with this.
"Just trying to get the full picture, here," Y/N explains, perching on a low bookcase. "But seriously, I know I babble on, but Megumi is one of my favorite students. He loves coming to class and I love having him in here."
"He's done nothing but talk about you since school started," Toji watches a pleased, little smile- more honest looking- curve on Y/N' mouth.
"Well, I'm glad to hear that, thanks," Y/N says. "I wanted to say-" The bell rings loudly.
Toji glances down at his watch. He's kind of baffled as to how 30 minutes have already passed, but the watch confirms it. "Sorry, I have to run, I have to-"
"No, yeah, you gotta head to Tsumiki's classroom," Y/N agrees. "It was good to meet you, Mr. Fushiguro."
Toji is halfway out the door when he stops. "Toji."
"What?" Y/N asks, brows wrinkled.
"You don't have to call me 'Mr. Fushiguro,' Y/N," Toji explains, and the last thing he sees before the classroom door swings shut is that small, pleased smile spreading across Y/N' face again.
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I've changed mrs to ms. I have already told myself I will change this as soon as possible but now 2 months have passed ahahah. 💀
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