Infectious

ch. 40

Chapter Forty;;- An Old Familiar Face

[name] unlocked her phone, tapping her password in and scrolling through the notifications that had popped up since the last time she had checked them. It hadn't been that long and she usually went out of her way to turn off notifications for most apps she had, but a new message notification caught her eye.

It was from the group chat that Yamada had put [name] in. It consisted of her, Kayama, and Yamada. Occasionally Yamada would add Aizawa back in, but he almost always left as soon as he figured out that his presence there wasn't necessary.

Yamada has added Aizawa to the group.

Yamada: I heard 18 of your kids passed the provisionals!! Congratzz

[name]: thanks :)

Kayama: You know what that means! We should go out and celebrate together!
Yamada: Yeah!!! It'll be fun!!

[name]: sure, I'm down.

Aizawa: why was i added to this group again
Kayama: Did you even read what we said?
Aizawa: oh. pass
Yamada: C'mon, Shoutaaa you should comeee

[name]: it'll be so much less fun without the life of the party :(
[name]: you should come Aizawa

Aizawa: ugh. when and where
Yamada: Yayy!!! The usual place in an hour?
Kayama: Sounds good to me

[name]: sure

Aizawa: fine

Aizawa has left the group.

When the time came around, [name] changed and headed out to the place that they always met at whenever they decided to go out as a group. It was previously a half-way point between all of their houses, but since they all lived in the teacher's dorms now, they really only went to it out of habit rather than the convenience.

[name] slowed down to a stop in front of the building, waving to the three that had somehow gotten there before her. "Hey, guys," She greeted.

"Hey!" Yamada clapped her on the back, grinning widely. "Congrats on the 18 passes!"

Kayama gave her own congratulations and Aizawa stayed silent, looking vaguely like he might have been awoken for this meeting, as they entered the establishment and found a place to sit. As soon as the server left with drink orders, conversation bloomed naturally.

[name] couldn't help but be so thankful for her friends and their never-ending amount of things to talk about, even though she spent a lot of the time merely listening to them talk with a smile on her face. Still, she was glad that the lulls in the conversation were few and far between.

"And the man says 'that's not how you're supposed to do that!'" Yamada continued the story he was telling with a flourish of hand gestures and laughter. "So I said 'of course i--'"

Yamada words were cut off with an exclamation of "oh shit!" from a masculine voice.

Recognizing the English swear, [name] instinctively turned to see the owner. The owner of the voice sped to the table they were at, grinning excitedly as he met eyes with [name]. His green eyes twinkled in the warm lighting of the establishment and he ran a hand through his blond hair, which was shorter than [name] remembered it being.

"[name], it's you!" The man blurted, unable to control the excitement that seeped into his tone.

[name] looked over his face once, twice, and on the third glance over his broad shoulders and pale complexion, she gasped. She was quick to jump out of her seat, standing on her toes to wrap her arms around the man's neck. His arms slid naturally around her waist and held her body in a tight hug. "Elijah," She murmured, barely audible to those sitting at the table. When they finally split apart, [name] was beaming. Her smile was bigger than any of the ones that the Yuuei teachers sitting at the table had ever seen and-- were those tears that touched her eyes? "You-- You speak Japanese?"