I think itâs so cute and sweet and important that Sakura and Suo are both canonically really good with kidsâŠWhich is why I think it would be immensely funny if Nirei turns out to be absolutely terrible with kids by comparison.
He cannot, for the life of him figure out toddler speak. Suo, unsurprisingly, seems pretty fluent by comparison. A kid pulls at his arm and says âDummy.â Nirei thinks the kid is calling him dumb and tries not to take it personally. Suo tells him that itâs the kid's way of saying âFollow meâ. Which. What? How do you get "follow me" from dummy? How does that work, Suo-san??? And then another kid points to the fridge and says âMilk.â So naturally, Nirei thinks the kid wants to drink milk. Apparently no, because the kid starts crying like Nirei just ripped his favorite stuffed toy in front of him. Suo later tells him that the kid wants water, but calls all liquids âmilkâ, which also doesnât make any sense to Nirei, but heâs quickly starting to realize that toddlers in general just do not make sense to him.
A little girl starts full on wailing and Nirei is at a complete loss as to what to do. Heâs set a plate in front of her, but she keeps shaking her head and crying harder every time he tries to coax her into eating the food. MaybeâŠmaybe he accidentally said or did something to upset her? But what could he have possibly done?! And she keeps yelling âFrozen! Frozen!â But the foodâs not frozen? Itâs nice and hot? And then Sakura comes up next to him and is like âYou got the wrong plate. She doesnât like Tangled, she likes Frozen. Thatâs why she keeps yelling âFrozenâ.â Then he goes into the kitchen and gets the Frozen themed plate and the little girl lights up all bright and giggly and starts eating like she wasnât on the verge of a total breakdown mere seconds ago. The little girl says "Copy", and before Nirei can ask what it means, Sakura says "You're welcome." Which??? Okay??? How???
So. Yeah. Okay. Suoâs one thing, that guyâs multilingual so of course heâd be well-versed in toddler language, but when did Sakura learn how to speak toddler? Nirei knows he didnât take any classes on that because he knows the guyâs usual schedule by heart (donât ask how he knows this, he just does). So did he just pick it up somehow? (Note to self: Note this down later).
Anyway, the dayâs not over yet. Nirei can still redeem himself. Theyâre set to play some board games with some of the older kids, so at least Nirei doesnât have to deal with that insurmountable language barrier anymore and he actually recognizes all of the games! He can do this!
And then he quickly realizes that he cannot actually do this. He tries not to win too much, but the kids quickly see through him and call him out on this. He plays the game as normal and keeps winning, and now the kids are upset because they never get to win and itâs not fair that Nirei keeps winning. But like? What is he supposed to do? If he loses on purpose, the kids get upset. If he plays like normal and wins, the kids get upset. He turns to ask for advice from Sakura and Suo, who seem to be doing a bang up job entertaining the kids assigned to them.
âJust play the game like normal,â Sakura says. <- Guy who doesnât know any of the rules because heâs never played these games before, so the kids know that he isnât losing on purpose and are absolutely charmed by his funny reactions and expressions. And Nirei gets why it works for Sakura. He also gets why it wouldnât work for him at this stage. So he turns beseeching eyes on Suo. Now Suo has been entertaining younger kids for long enough that heâs cultivated the perfect balance of winning and losing without it ever seeming like heâs doing it on purpose. But thatâs not something that can be taught over night. And also, he thinks it would be more fun if he kept watching Nirei flail around, so instead of being helpful he just echoes Sakuraâs advice. Nirei gives him a Look because he knows Suo is holding out on him, somehow. But he also knows that he'd just end up wasting time if he keeps trying to press Suo, so he drops it and just endures until board game time is over.
So when the dayâs about to end and theyâre all set to go home, Nirei thinks heâs flubbed it. All the kids are excitedly hanging around Sakura and Suo and begging them to come back as soon as possible. But then, a little girl comes up to him and pulls at his sleeve and she looks at him the same way a kid looks at their old, worn down plush thatâs falling apart at the literal seams, but by God is that plush still doing its best to spark joy. âYou can come back, too.â The little girl says, as if Nirei needs her express permission to come back and hang out. Which. Okay. Maybe hearing the little girl say that is making Nirei want to cry a little and all the other kids are looking at him like âYeah, heâs kind of pathetic and he canât really speak toddler well but heâs doing his best. Thatâs our sad, wet chihuahua of a big brother and we want to keep playing with him.â And now Nirei is full on sobbing and Sakura is reminding him to get a grip (but he's smiling, so it's obvious there's no bite to the comment) and Suoâs laughing so hard heâs crying and it was a hard day but it was all worth it in the end. Because the Frozen plate little girl gave him permission to come back.
