Danganronpa Agere Oneshots!

💜🏁Inventions and Regression🎀🔧

Caregiver: Miu Iruma
Little: Kokichi Ouma
hello! this was requested by SomeAthenaKid :) i hope you like it! sorry for disappearing for two months oops,, i hope this is good enough to make up for it!! there is some light swearing because of miu, so if you don't want to see that, maybe skip this one! i love irouma so they're always the sillies to write for <3 take care everyone and have a nice day!
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Kokichi knew that it was probably a mistake to even leave his room when he felt the fuzziness of regression creeping up on him the moment he woke up.

He wasn't dense— he knew it was stupid for him to shove his stuffed animal in the back of his closet and he knew it was probably not a good idea for him to take a freezing cold shower and refuse to give in to singing the ABC's while he brushed his teeth.

Some of those minor things may seem silly, but as a whole, it meant he hadn't regressed all morning. Hadn't even allowed himself the slightest bit of feeling small.

So it shouldn't have come as a surprise to him when he swung his feet in the dining hall, unable to focus on the conversations from the others. He nearly spilled the syrup everywhere, and dripped a bit of soup onto his sleeve.

It didn't exactly help his situation when Miu Iruma walked up to him, plopping right next to him.

"Hey, Cockitchy!" She exclaimed, "I'll have you know that invention I mentioned to you yesterday is all done. Worked all night on it."

Kokichi blinked at her. Invention...?

Oh, right! She'd mentioned something about an invention. He was pretty sure it was for design purposes... or making a room look pretty?

Either way, he unfortunately had a lack of witty comebacks.

"Sooo..." He lingered on his words, his mind feeling disorganized, "What does that have to do with me?"

Miu scoffed as if that was the rudest thing anyone had ever said to her. Kokichi awkwardly adjusted his scarf.

"So— I'm saying you better come check it out!" She snapped, "I didn't work my ass off all night for nothing."

Kokichi wanted to say that there was nothing he would rather do less— but that would be a lie. Maybe it was just the regression clouding his thoughts, but he found himself almost interested in what Miu had made.

"Fine," He huffed, his voice nearly reaching a childlike whine as he pushed himself away from the dining table, allowing Miu to lead him to her research lab.

They made their way to the lab, Miu pushing the door open and taking him inside.

When Kokichi walked inside, he expected to see some random machine, one made of metal and technical equipment. However, what met his eyes instead was a bunch of lights, shining all over the room.

Her machine casted stars onto the ceiling, and they glittered as if they were real! The lighting painted flowers onto the walls, and the usual metal flooring was replaced with a softer pink, fitting wonderfully with everything else.

"Might not be too original... But that's not all!" Miu said, walking over to the machine casting a particular light and turning a knob, "Can change the pictures on the ceiling and the wall, and the color on the floors."

The flowers that previously decorated the walls suddenly turned into smiley faces, then the stars turned into hearts.

And throughout it all, Kokichi hadn't said a word. He was amazed, and he thought it looked so cool.

But apparently, Miu took his silence for him being unimpressed, because she quickly got defensive.

"What? You don't like it?" She stammered, "N-Now I bet you think it's dumb and boring, but listen here, I—!"

"No!" Kokichi interrupted her, trying to express how excited the invention made him feel and also trying not to slur his speech, "'S super cool! I like the pretty colors... an' the fun shapes..."

Her expression melted into one of confusion, but he persisted.

"'S really nice. Keep it on, p-please? Wanna play with it..." He mumbled, and as soon as the words left his lips, he cringed at himself.

He should not be regressing. He should not be getting small— in front of one of his classmates— because he saw some lights.

Miu blinked, as if she was startled by his different demeanor, but she quickly recovered. A smile formed on her face.

"Hell yeah, I can keep it on!" She said, but her voice was softer, and slightly higher pitched, sort of like one you would use to speak to a child, "I'll show you the others, if ya want."

Kokichi flinched at her change of tone, embarrassment creeping up on him due to the different way she regarded him.

And suddenly, he no longer cared about how fun the invention was, how good of a time he was having. The thought of staying here a minute longer, regressing further and acting like more of a fool in front of Miu was something he refused to do.

He was not supposed to get small today. He was not supposed to get small in front of anyone.

"No," He said abruptly, "'M leavin'."

A look of shock appeared on Miu's face as he turned to go.

"Hey, wait!" She stammered, "Look, uh... I know you've been acting strange since you got here. I just want you to know I don't mind, and I won't tell our classmates if that's what you're worried about."

Kokichi's lower lip quivered, and he hated the tears that pooled in his eyes, the childish way he had begun to fidget with his hands.

"S-So you know?" He barely whimpered.

Miu softened at the tears in his eyes, before shrugging.

"Truthfully, I don't," She murmured, "But, um... I know you're acting a bit like a kid. If you'd like, we can keep playing with my invention?"

When he sniffled in hesitation, she continued.

"There's lots of different shapes and colors you haven't seen yet," She offered, dragging out the t on 'yet' until Kokichi sighed, turning away from the door to face her.

"Show me, p-please?" He pouted, and Miu laughed.

"Sure, bud! I'll show you my favorite next," Miu told him, leading him over to the invention table.

In Kokichi's mind, he knew that it was going to be humiliating when Miu no doubt confronted him once he was big again.

He also knew that there was a chance she would tell his classmates and never let him live this down.

But as she led him over to the machine, softly mumbling the intricacies of it to him and smiling when he gasped at some scenery he liked...

Kokichi thought that maybe, for the first time in ever, regressing in front of someone wasn't so bad. Maybe this would turn out okay.