Flayn (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seems_fishy) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
synergetic2024-01-17 07:07 pm
seems_fishy) wrote in synergetic2024-01-17 07:07 pm
Entry tags:
Watercolors
Flayn received a shock in art class that day.
Kudou-sensei was a bit unconventional (she thought; she hadn't spent much time in classrooms, including his), but he spent most of the two weeks she'd been there giving vague assignments and letting them do what they would, only commenting on technique or seemingly random details that caught his attention.
Today, he looked around and said thoughtfully, "It's been a while since we had a class period set aside for your end-of-trimester group projects. Work on that today. I spilled coffee on my lesson plan."
Someone behind Flayn contemplated that it wasn't coffee, necessarily, and while Flayn was rather impressed by their clairvoyance, her hand shot up because she was more concerned by end-of-trimesters and not knowing what the project was, necessarily.
Kudou-sensei's eyebrows raised, and he didn't even bother calling on her.
"That's right, Von Aegir-san, you weren't here when I assigned projects... though you should've been, I assigned projects in pairs because my class list was an even number, and it only has been since you arrived..."
He glanced around the room; nobody had moved yet and he stuck the paintbrush he'd been gesturing with earlier into his mouth while he flipped through a notebook.
"Luckily we had that one group of three..." He scanned down the list. "Noguchi-san, Yukimura-kun, aaaand Konishi-san."
He stuck the paintbrush behind his ear, and smiled. "Yukimura-kun, besides being one of the best high school tennis players in the country, you count among your talents both painting and passing your classes despite being prevented from coming to class. What do you think we should do?"
Kudou-sensei was a bit unconventional (she thought; she hadn't spent much time in classrooms, including his), but he spent most of the two weeks she'd been there giving vague assignments and letting them do what they would, only commenting on technique or seemingly random details that caught his attention.
Today, he looked around and said thoughtfully, "It's been a while since we had a class period set aside for your end-of-trimester group projects. Work on that today. I spilled coffee on my lesson plan."
Someone behind Flayn contemplated that it wasn't coffee, necessarily, and while Flayn was rather impressed by their clairvoyance, her hand shot up because she was more concerned by end-of-trimesters and not knowing what the project was, necessarily.
Kudou-sensei's eyebrows raised, and he didn't even bother calling on her.
"That's right, Von Aegir-san, you weren't here when I assigned projects... though you should've been, I assigned projects in pairs because my class list was an even number, and it only has been since you arrived..."
He glanced around the room; nobody had moved yet and he stuck the paintbrush he'd been gesturing with earlier into his mouth while he flipped through a notebook.
"Luckily we had that one group of three..." He scanned down the list. "Noguchi-san, Yukimura-kun, aaaand Konishi-san."
He stuck the paintbrush behind his ear, and smiled. "Yukimura-kun, besides being one of the best high school tennis players in the country, you count among your talents both painting and passing your classes despite being prevented from coming to class. What do you think we should do?"
no subject
That was it, then, huh? It was over depressingly fast. Just when he was thinking maybe...
He turns his own sketchbook to a new page, abandoning the portrait he'd started in favor of a still life of the cabinet by the window. Light filters in from outside, reminding everyone of the warm, sunny day they're missing while trapped inside doing schoolwork.
The minutes pass by. And as he sits there, having withdrawn back into his own artwork and solitude, he glances at Flayn out of the corner of his eye, and it occurs to him that he's being disgustingly self-absorbed again. Here he is, so tangled up in being sad over her withdrawal because of what it meant for him that he's given barely any consideration to what she must be experiencing right now as the new person. She hadn't been at all prepared for that gesture to draw the attention that it did, had she? Is she afraid for her prospects at other friendships now?
For a moment, he's reminded of Jackal, and of the experiences he's shared of being a foreigner trying to live and integrate into such an insular society. Rikkaidai was thankfully more inclusive than most places, but that didn't necessarily make it easy, only easier. And he's reminded of Nami's assessment of Flayn as reported to her father that day he told them about the mixed doubles opportunity.
"She's a pure-hearted fighter that wants friends and common interests to share with them... Most likely, Marui-kun was only kind enough to see her loneliness..."
What is he doing...?
His anger turns towards himself, and he tears a blank page from his pad, scribbling a note down at the bottom and spending the remainder of the class drawing on it.
When the bell rings, he folds the paper in half twice, creases it against the table, and discreetly slides it halfway under Flayn's sketch pad as he stands. He smiles politely.
"I'll see you later, Von Aegir-san."
On unfolding the note, Flayn will find an intricate drawing of a rose that he's added some yellow coloring to in the shaded areas. The note at the bottom reads:
Come to the rooftop of the south wing for lunch tomorrow. There's something I want to show you.
no subject
And she doesn't have the patience to wait. It must be from Yukimura, and he was so sneaky! The surprise and anticipation neatly obliterates her earlier melancholy, and she almost rips the note unfolding it as quickly as she does.
The picture of the rose makes her gasp, and Konishi looks up, giving Noguchi a nudge.
"Someone sure is full of herself," she said, as they walked past a confused Flayn.
No matter. She re-folded the picture with a smile, already looking forward to tomorrow.