No, it's you and you alone.

Chapter Seven

Hitoshi jolts awake to the sound of his alarm. He rolls over and turns it off before it can disturb anyone else in the room. He's barely managed to force his eyes open before a weight settles heavily on his chest.

His eyes snap open but he relaxes when he realises it's just Aiko. She pulls back enough so that Hitoshi can see her hands and begins to rapidly communicate, "Hito-chan! I've missed you so much. You've been so busy being a hero, I'm proud."

The meaning hits Hitoshi and his face crumples a bit. "I'm doing my best Aiko, I'm sorry I haven't been around as much. I still feel awful about it."

Hitoshi sighs and sits up a bit, shifting Aiko's weight so that she is sitting on his lap, fingers combing through her hair. "It's just, I've been falling behind a lot and I don't want to disappoint Eraserhead. I need to work harder."

Aiko looks up at him with big eyes, "Hitoshi. You already spent so much time out of the house. I don't think it's possible for you to work any harder! If Eraserhead is making you sad then I'll fight him for you!"

Hitoshi chokes on his words, "Aiko, what?"

Despite the surprisingly blunt words, Hitoshi feels warm. He knows how much of a fan Aiko is of Aizawa and for her to immediately renounce it for Hitoshi fills his heart.

Aiko pouts slightly, "I'm just saying! I love you Hitoshi. I can protect you!" She declares this proudly and shifts into his lap more, arms tight around him.

Hitoshi smiles softly behind the muzzle, "I love you too, Aiko. Aizawa is fine, you don't need to beat him up. Now get off, I need to get to work." he ruffles Aiko's hair in good nature as both of them stand up. After giving him a big hug and a goodbye, Aiko heads off to her bed, pulling out the crayons and drawing she must have been working on before Hitoshi woke up.

Hitoshi stretches out his tired limbs and marvels at how much better he feels. He had napped for a solid five hours, his work shift only starting at nine that evening. He counted his blessings that his shift was only five hours today as well.

Changing into his work uniform, Hitoshi heads out. He wasn't especially hungry but he hoped he could find something to eat in the breakroom at work. Better than braving the kitchen: Hitoshi wasn't sure if Ikeda was home but he didn't really want to find out.

He shrugs on his jacket as he leaves the house and slips off the muzzle, shoving it into the box and then into depths of his bag as usual. The walk to the convenience store is refreshing, the cold air helping to wake Hitoshi up a bit more out of the drowsy state he has been in for the past couple of days.

As much as he hates to admit it, it did him good to skip training. Hitoshi's limbs didn't feel like they were about to fall off and, despite still being tired, the heavy exhaustion that had been weighing him down had managed to dissipate a bit.

Hitoshi breezes into the store and makes a beeline for the back room. Since he had changed into his uniform already, he just dumped his bag down and got to work. He had a lot to unpack from the storeroom and today he only had one other employee with him, a girl who looked about the age of a college student.

They didn't speak to each other, it was almost a custom here. Everyone kept to themselves and it was peaceful; a quiet calm blanketing the store. Hitoshi used the time to order his thoughts. When he gets home he can work on the rest of his homework, before getting some rest.

He can resume his normal schedule once this shift is over and hopefully it will go better this time, after the rest he has gotten. Hitoshi's first paycheck should be coming in the next few days as well, and Hitoshi can begin to follow the meal plan as well.