Shipping the SDRA2 Cast With Each Other

Hajiroha/Iroha Nijiue x Hajime Makunouchi

Most of the time, fitness was Hajime's number-one everyday focus. But even for someone like him, a constant pressure kept growing on his mind when he dedicated himself to his health too much, though he wasn't sure why. Mikado told him that it's because of the stress of growing up too fast, and since he trusted Mikado with his life, he tried to take breaks whenever he thought the feeling was too much.

Today, he reluctantly cancelled his plans to train in favour of taking a day to relax himself and get rid of some of the stress from his mind, as much as he wanted to just continue training again. Hajime knew that the best way to calm down was to spend time with his fellow Children of Utsuro, now renamed Void, but there were a few things in the way of that.

Mikado was being given swimming lessons by Setsuka, Nikei was all over the damn place since someone had told him that Monocrow might be hosting the ball really soon, and Emma would bombard him with every damn pun is existence, and he didn't want more stress on his mind. But Iroha had barely left her room for a while, other than getting meals and helping scavenge for materials to build the weekly projects Monocrow set up.

That being said, he decided to check on Iroha to make sure that she was alright and maybe find the reason why she wasn't coming out of her room. He walked up to her dorm and rang the doorbell, hoping she was inside. To his relief, the door opened.

Iroha looked up at him with a happy smile, but had changed into her pyjamas despite the time being just after lunch. "Oh, Hajime! You're here!" The painter chirped happily. "Do you need anything? Nikei stole all my energy drinks, so I can't give you any, but I'll always accept a model for my paintings!"

"Nah, you don't need to paint today. I just came since I was a little worried about you." The boxer noticed how Iroha seemed a little embarrassed as he said that. "Can we talk inside? I just want to know, but you don't need to say it in the doorway."

"Y-Yeah, come in." Iroha agreed, standing aside and letting the blonde in. Once he was inside, she closed the door behind him and her expression turned depressed. "I-It's all because of my stupid legs. Don't pretend you don't know why I'm 'speaking out of the blue,' you said you were concerned, right? I know why you're concerned."

"I'm not pretending anything. You mean when a statue fell on your legs?" Hajime questioned. "I thought your legs were healed by now. Syobai gave you the all-clear."

"B-But if I move more than necessary, then the wounds will open up again, right? Syobai told me to only do light work or else the stitches will tear!" Iroha began whimpering, holding her sketchbook close to her chest. "A-And if they do, it's gonna hurt so much again...what am I gonna do...?"

Hajime quickly understood what kind of pain she was going through and sighed. "Oh, I see. You're going through the fear one normally gets after a scary injury. Right, I get you." After a few moments, Hajime got an idea. "How about the two of us just go for a walk later to get your legs some exercise? I'll carry you back if something seems wrong."

Iroha looked like she wanted to refuse the idea, but she didn't have the will to tell him so. "O-Okay..." She meekly answered instead.

Hajime nodded, satisfied that she agreed. "In the meantime, I also came her to take some stress off. You got any co-op games on those consoles of yours?" He asked. Iroha's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

A few minutes later, the two of them were sitting on the ground, playing a video game together and helping each other beat the levels.

"Okay, we both have one life left each. This level is really hard, we need to time the jumps." Iroha remarked, unusually focused on the game. "If you die, I'm going to kill you."

"What, you and your fear of walking? I don't think so." The boxer chuckled, also focused on the game. "But I won't screw this up. After this level, the game will let us save our progress."

The boxer and the painter worked together under the heavy pressure, working off each other and helping each other when needed. Finally, whether through skill, luck, or a mixture of both, the two of them finally reached the end of the level.

"Yes! We did it!" The brunette suddenly launched herself onto Hajime's lap and hugged him tightly. He was taken by surprise, but managed to save the game in time.

"Yep, we sure beat that level." The boxer held her in turn and rubbed her back a little. "Now, how about that walk?"