Work Text:
Kunikida Doppo has seen his fair share of weirdness in his life during the Agency.
He has seen Ranpo Edogawa chewing an entire vending machine worth of snacks as if it was a light snack to him, Yosano Akiko basically torturing the injured with her Ability, has seen Dazai come to the Agency with a broken arm every week, seen Kenji Miyazawa flip a car because he saw a lollipop underneath and Kyouka Izumi eating to one half of a Ranpo.
And yet this, while not out of the ordinary, was to him the strangest.
It was regarding Atsushi Nakajima’s level of Math and with his age, was worse than some children in middle school despite being 18 years of age.
Kunikida, the previous Math Professor, knew almost every mistake that Atsushi made in one piece of paper which made him narrow his eyes.
Atsushi looked at him with a confused look on his face, “Uhm… Mister Kunikida is everything alright?”
Kunikida turned to him as he fixed his glasses, “Well, to be frank, Atsushi, I have noticed several errors that you have made.” He answered as Atsushi rubbed his neck.
“Oh, I see. Math hasn’t been my strong suit.” Atsushi replied with a hint of nervousness.
“That is understandable. For some people, Math is either their speciality or their weakness. That is the essence of most things in life, some will succeed in one area and some will fail at the other.” Kunikida said as he then kept his gaze on the paper, “However, what you wrote is less than sub par.”
“Really?”
“Yes, you don’t understand fractions, you failed to understand what pi or what squared are, nor did you grasp how the root of some numbers are which leads me to ask you something.” Kunikida turned to him, “Have you ever learned Math at the orphanage or did you go to a school to learn about Math?”
A beat.
A second of silence.
As then Atsushi sighed, “No. The orphanage that I lived in never really taught me about some subjects, nor did they teach me about anything really.” Atsushi never had any positive memories about the orphanage he lived in.
“I see. Give me a moment.” said Kunikida as he pulled out his notebook that he uses for his Ability and began to flip several pages. He then began to scribble down some notes while he was writing down, “Tell me about some things that you know about for Math, even the basics will be enough.”
Atsushi then glanced at the roof as he tried to recall something about Math, “Not much.”
“Even the smallest bits can help.” answered Kunikida, not letting his eyes go away from his notebook.
“Okay, um… I know how to add, how to subtract and I know my multiplication table.” answered Atsushi, “Oh and how to count. That is important, right?”
“It is, don’t worry,” answered Kunikida as he then shut his notebook, “Remember when Dazai mentioned that I worked as a Math Teacher before joining the Agency?” Atsushi nodded, “Well,” Kunikida stood up, “you can rest assured that I will teach you the basics of Math so that it can be easier for you. I am not going to teach you college level Math, but the basics you would see in high school.”
“You would do that for me?” asked Atsushi as Kunikida nodded.
“Of course. You are my coworker, and I want to help you in case of certain emergencies that might fall in your hands,” Kunikida then fixed his glasses, “not to mention, my pride as a teacher.”
“Thanks a lot Mister Kunikida!” Atsushi smiled at him which then turned into a confused look, “Wait, wouldn’t this be difficult for you since I don’t know some of the basics.”
“Nonsense, I taught Kenji Math up to High School Level. If I am being frank, this will be easier than that due to him not even knowing how to add before joining the Agency.” said Kunikida.
Atsushi nodded, and yet a slight turn of guilt floated around his stomach, wondering if what he was doing was bothering Kunikida and his work. Thankfully, he noticed.
“Before you ask, no, this won’t affect my schedule in the slightest. We will start at 8 AM in the conference room every day and I come here at 7 AM, sharp.” explained Kunikida, much to Atsushi’s ease.
“I see. I am assuming we are going to the conference room because of Dazai?” Atsushi guessed which Kunikida groaned at.
“You would be correct.” said Kunikida.
“That is fair. Still, thank you so much Mister Kunikida, you have no idea how much this means to me.” said Atsushi with a big smile as Kunikida smiled at.
“Don’t mention it. If you are wondering about tests, fret not. I will give them out to you once you decide if you are ready to progress a grade. Do you understand?” asked Kunikida as Atsushi nodded, “Good. Follow me.”
The two exited the main office where most of the members of the Agency worked at, passing through Yosano who was carrying supplies for her next procedures.
Kunikida opened the door of the conference room and placed a piece of paper, an erasure and a pen as Atsushi sat on a chair. Kunikida then took a red pen with a white board. He stood next to it as he turned to his now only student, “Are you ready, Atsushi?”
“I am. I won’t disappoint you, Mister Kunikida!” said Atsushi as his focus was drilled into his coworker/teacher.
Kunikida smiled.
It was the same feeling he had when he taught Kenji the basics of Math and when he was a teacher before he joined the Agency.
It was a mix of 2 emotions.
Anticipation.
And happiness.
“Good.” Kunikida turned to the white board and began to write on it, “Lesson 1. Fractions.”
The green haired man began to teach Math to his only student. Feeling pride in himself.