All Tangled Up

Chapter 3

Before she knew it, Saturday morning had come and it was time for Aiko and Oberon to move into the new UA apartment. She finished turning the rest of her toiletries into small cubes, adding them to the bag, and popping it into her pocket. She had cleaned everything and did her final walkthrough with her landlord yesterday so all that was left was getting Oberon into his carrying kennel. He tried to escape through the cat door that Aiko had created in the window but he wasn't fast enough. He meowed indignantly from behind the metal door as Aiko walked back over to return the window to its original state. Oberon had a cat door like this in every place they lived in. His collar had a tracking device that Aiko made just in case but he always stayed close to home. 

"Alright, buddy. That's it for this apartment. I promise that you will like the next one, even if you don't believe me now." Aiko locked the door, returning her keys to the receptionist in the lobby, before starting her short walk to the train. She wondered what her students would be like. Aiko wanted them to like her and she wanted to do right by them. She wasn't expecting them to know who she was because even though she had been working as a pro hero for five years, she stayed away from the press as much as possible. The UA student intern that she worked with didn't know who she was. Part of her liked that air of mystery; it meant that she wouldn't stand out among the other teachers either. After her interaction with Eraserhead, she was fine with keeping to herself and just getting her work done. Just thinking about it made a familiar tingle of anger course through her body but she shut it down. Aiko wasn't going to walk into this new job with any resentment and so she willed herself to let it go. She would just avoid him- it's not like she would be working closely with him anyway. Nezu said that he wanted her to focus on teaching quirkless hand-to-hand combat, so she doubted she would be stationed anywhere near Eraserhead. She shook the thought from her mind, after all, she only really wanted to think about All Might. When would she get to meet him? He had been her celebrity crush for so long and now she would be working at the same place as him. Her cheeks got red and she giggled lightly to herself. She would have to stop fangirling so much. Aiko got off the train at her stop, turning the corner to see UA come into view. The school was huge and impressive with tall buildings towering over everything else in the city. She wore the visitor's pass that Principal Nezu gave her the other day because her teacher's pass wasn't ready until today. Aiko stopped by the office, where a nice receptionist with green skin and a slime quirk gave her the keys to her apartment and her new teacher's pass. They traded passes and Aiko looked down to see her teacher ID photo covered with slime. The receptionist gave her an apologetic smile, handing her a tissue to wipe off the goo.

"I'm sorry about that. I'm still a little nervous-" the receptionist leaned forward slightly, cupping the right side of her mouth to whisper "-It's only my second day working here!" Aiko returned the smile, waving off her apology. 

"No need to apologize, really. I am nervous too; I start teaching on Monday!" Both girls giggled and waved each other goodbye as Aiko exited the office to make her way to the teachers' apartments. After reaching the building, she stopped by the mailboxes to make sure the key worked for her box. She reached for the one labeled Apartment 31 before noticing the way the mailboxes were arranged. It was actually cool to see because it matched the layout of the building perfectly. There was a distinct line separating the left and right side apartment numbers, the same way the stairwell separated each hallway. Apartments 1 through 4 were on the bottom left corner, 5 through 8 on the bottom right, above them, were apartments 9 through 12 on the left, 13 through 16 on the right, the pattern continuing until the final hallway. Nezu had already told her that two units in her hallway were empty; one needed a remodel and the other one was waiting for a teacher to claim it. Aiko's eyes followed the apartment numbers, seeing that the nameplates for apartments 29 and 30 were empty. Then 31 was obviously hers, with a small "Atoma" written in black letters. The only other apartment in her hallway was the one on the end, apartment 32. Nezu didn't tell her who lived there and she couldn't even read the nameplate to find out; it was ripped off. Someone doesn't want to be bothered, she thought. As long as they were quiet, she would let whoever it was have their wish. Maybe it was a friend of Eraserhead's and that's why he was in the hallway the other day. She shrugged and after making sure the mailbox key worked, she headed for the stairs.