P U R A C H I N A
- p l a t i n u m -
This is a collection of one-shots focusing on Ryou Shirogane. Most of the stories take place before the accident. These have mostly been cross-posted from a roleplaying game which I originally wrote them for. All references to fan characters have been removed and edited out with the exceptions of family members. Credit is due to both Satouberri and Saica, as well as everyone else who participated in the game with me. If you have any ideas for future one-shots, just holler at me. I love writing Ryou and his parents. Absolute love.
Notes:
- From here on out, Professor Shirogane will be referred to as Jishou Shirogane. The character "ji" means "self" and the character "shou" means "victory".
- From here on out, Mrs. Shirogane will be referred to as Elizabeth Shirogane. It's shortened often to Liz.
- The honorifics -hakase and -kyoju mean "doctor" (one who has earned a doctorate in some field) and "professor".
These are not official names. They never had official names. These are simply the names we used in the game and I don't have the heart to change them. If you wish to adopt these same names, feel free to do so, just credit us.
memory 02.
New York City is a noisy place. The noise never stops, even at night. But when you drive into the outskirts of the city, the noise becomes muffled and dies away, and the smog fades and makes breathing much easier.
A young blond boy of no more than six years sat silently against the wall in the main hallway of the elementary school. His skinny arms were wrapped tightly around his legs as he awaited whatever fate was coming his way. The last few minutes continued to replay in his head - when his teacher and the principal told him to wait here while they called his father. Ryou Shirogane knew that if his father was going to get dragged into this, it must be something really horrible.
But the harder Ryou thought about what he could have done to deserve punishment, the less he understood the situation. So, he just continued to sit there and wait.
It wasn't long before Jishou Shirogane, Ryou's father, stepped onto the schoolgrounds. Like his son, he really couldn't understand what was going on, but was beginning to prepare himself for the worst. Ryou had never gotten in trouble at school before. He knew his son well enough to be sure he wouldn't cheat or steal. Ryou's grades were - in his opinion - excellent. Not that it mattered to him. So what could the problem be?
The adult's eyes soon fell on his child as he paused in front of the door to the principal's office. Jishou reached down to ruffle the blond's hair softly and sent him a smile of encouragement - for both of them, really - before disappearing into the room.
"Is there something wrong with Ryou...?" Jishou asked cautiously. The question itself stung a little in his mouth as he said it, but he waited patiently for the reply.
Ryou's teacher was tugging at the edges of her dress, looking either guilty or nervous - or perhaps both.
The principal adjusted his glasses, but quickly shook his head, "No, please sit down Mr. Shirogane."
Jishou did so.
"Mrs. Sands recently had her students take an I.Q. test as part of a study one of the local colleges is doing. And, actually, Ryou scored exceptionally well, so we had asked him if he'd take an additional test, and one more after that... ofcourse, the students' scores aren't shared with anyone outside of the schools..."
Shou nodded slowly, "I see... however, Ryou never mentioned anything about this... and I'm not sure I see the problem..."
The principal turned in his chair, "To put it bluntly, Mr. Shirogane, according to the test results, Ryou belongs in high school. His I.Q. is well above the genius mark. I wouldn't have believed it myself, had I not seen the test results. He's the best reader in his class... one of the few who can read. I don't think that anything I could say about it would do that boy justice."
Jishou sat there without saying anything.
"You should be proud..." Mrs. Sands added in meekly.
"I... was that already," came the father's reply.
"We wanted to ask for your permission to release Ryou's grades, or to at least move him up a few grades... put him in a special class...? That kid needs special attention, that's for sure. It'd be a shame for it all to go to waste."
"...I'll discuss this matter with my son, thank you..." Shou replied quietly as he stood.
"But..."
"This is something Ryou needs to decide for himself, don't you agree?"
"Well, yes... but-!"
"Have a good evening," Jishou gave a slight bow before finding himself once again standing in the hallway.
"Ryou...?"
The blond head turned up slowly, revealing somewhat fearful aquamarine eyes, "Am I in trouble?"
The father shook his head and held out a hand, "Let's go to the park, alright?"
The boy grabbed his father's outstretched hand and pulled himself to his feet, trailing along beside the adult like an extra arm - or maybe a leg.
"Aren't you going to tell me what all of that was about? I did something bad, didn't I...?" Ryou's questions could not stop. What was going on anyway? If he had done something bad, wasn't he going to be punished for it?
When silence continued, Ryou simply picked up his pace and focused his attention on the ground. Yes, he told himself, you're going to get it bad...
The sky above them changed into her autumn attire - flashy shades of burgandy, orange, and gold - as father and son made their way into a local park. Ryou could hear voices off in the distance, but he saw no one, and the only noises that he could trace were the leaves crunching under their feet, and a small friendly stream off to the right.
Ryou was glancing into the face of the water at his own reflection when Jishou suddenly stopped, causing the kindergartener to fall into the back of him.
Managing to catch his balance, the child muttered a weak "sorry" to Shou's inquiry of "are you alright?" as the prodigy rubbed his nose, insisting that he was okay.
A sigh passed from the adult's mouth. He wasn't sure how he should go about explaining this. He was sure that Ryou would indeed understand, but it might put weird thoughts in his head.
"Your teacher and the principal seem to think you did exceptionally well on the tests you took recently."
The blond blinked up at his father, "You mean, that's why they called you?"
Shou nodded, looking down into his son's eyes, "Yes, that's why."
The child's gaze shifted from his dad to the scenery, to the ground, to more scenery, "That can't be the only reason. Why would they need to call you for that? Couldn't they just send home a letter or something?"
Shaking his head, Shou ran his hand over the youngster's head, "To tell you the truth, Ryou, they think you belong in a higher grade."
Ryou made a face, "Why?"
The adult let out a long breath, glancing up at the sky for a moment, "According to the tests, you're what people call a genius. You're learning things faster than your classmates."
Ryou opened his mouth to say something, but the words didn't come out.
"I-- I wasn't trying to do anything! I just like reading a lot... and... I didn't know that I was too far ahead, honest!"
The adult shook his head urgently, placing his hands gently on the boy's shoulders, "No, no, Ryou. There's nothing wrong with it. It's actually a good thing. Or it can be... I just don't want to see you working too hard at it and forgetting who you are."
"Forgetting who I am...?"
Shou ruffled his son's hair, "Forgetting that you're only six years old."
Ryou tilted his head to the side, then laughed, "Don't be silly, Papa! How could I forget that? My birthday was just a few weeks ago, afterall."
The adult smiled, "Right. Sorry about that, Ryou."
Around them the sky was fading to dramatic shades of blue, and stars began to light themselves one by one across the sky.
"They're really pretty," Ryou commented, holding on to his father's hand as they continued through the park - a shortcut (or a long-cut) home.
"They are pretty. There's just something magical about the night sky, isn't there?"
The genius nodded his agreement, swinging his arms a bit. The night air felt good, and he was glad that he hadn't done anything wrong.
"Ya know, I always wondered what happened when too many stars got caught up in the sky..."
"Hmm?"
Ryou continued before Jishou could think up one of his famous stories, "Maybe it's when the sky gets so full of stars that it turns white. And when it turns all milky white... the stars start falling down to Earth as snowflakes. They do look a lot alike, don't they?"
Jishou simply smiled and nodded his head, "They do..."
"So they must be made out of the same thing," Ryou concluded, "And when New York's streets are all lined with them, the sky turns blue again and new stars can grow."
Before the father could speak, Jishou's thoughts were interrupted by the barkings of a dog who came dashing out of nowhere, eager to greet them.
"Daisuke!" Ryou called as the mutt leapt up at him to try to clean his face, "Silly, when did you get here?"
The adult just smiled and shook his head, letting it go. It didn't matter to him if Ryou was a prodigy or not - he would have been equally proud of him either way. After all, he was happy as long as Ryou was. He just didn't want to see his son grow up too fast and miss out on what it is to be a child.