Sound of Silence (Aizawa X OC)

Ch. 9: Strength Like Silence

-----Shinobu's POV----

It had been over a month since I had started working both of my jobs, and I was running on fumes. It worked out that I was a bit of an insomniac, but with my sleeping schedule being inconsistent between working nights at least 4 times a week as well as working during the day at UA.

Despite all of this, I still made sure to make time to cook dinner and prepare lunches for Hizashi-nii because it was one of the only ways I could really thank him for allowing me to stay with him on such short notice, especially since he wouldn't allow me to help with rent at all. Even though I made sure Hizashi had his meals taken care of, I rarely found time to eat. Seikijirou had also given up on asking me about coffee after about two weeks and just asked me to let him know when I had time.

That was when I noticed Shouta increasing the time of our patrols, which looking back, I realized he had done every time Seikijirou mentioned meeting up outside of work. To be honest, it confused me, and I couldn't figure out why that was happening. Something told me it would have been obvious to any other person, but I frankly was not functioning well on my one meal and maybe 4 hours of sleep a day.

At my frustration, I released a loud yell at the boulders in the training building that I was currently in. By myself. At 2AM. Now, with all of my complaining, you may be wondering why I was here and not sleeping or eating. Two things: 1. I literally cannot sleep right now due to my anxiety that's been building up over the past month and 2. I'm just not hungry. I had gotten into these two bad habits during my work, and I was starting to understand Shouta's consistently scruffy appearance.

Thinking of the underground hero had me even more frustrated. He had started to be in my thoughts more and more often, even when we weren't together which frankly wasn't often. We may not spend tons of time talking about anything other than work, but he did regularly check on me to make sure I wasn't cutting again and was always quick to make sure any injuries I got during patrols or combat training were immediately seen to. After his stunt during our initial combat training, I found myself getting more and more flustered any time he got too close.

Despite his outward appearance and persona of being constantly tired and strict with students, Shouta clearly cared about the wellbeing of others. That's why he became an underground hero. He had admitted to me during one of our few conversations that had gotten a bit more personal, that he had never wanted to be a hero for fame. Instead, he merely wanted to help those in need, to make sure that there was one less victim of the atrocious acts often committed by villains. It was admirable on its own, and his usually apathetic tone had changed to one of conviction as he had expressed all of this while staring down at the city below us.

I had caught myself staring in awe at the man beside me and taking in his features unintentionally. His inky black hair had been blown out of his face by the gentle breeze that had graced us that night, revealing a strong jawline littered with scraggly black facial hair, piercing onyx eyes, and a muscular neck that led to broad shoulders. Shit... I've got it bad... He's your boss, Shinobu! And Nii-san's best friend!!!! What the hell!!!

Luckily, I had managed to look away before he caught me staring that night, but still... I couldn't get the man out of my head. It was messing with my already anxiety-ridden mind, and I found myself growing more and more frustrated with myself with no way to get it out. There were no friends for me to talk to. Well, I had one, but he was always busy or at least that was my excuse for not contacting him about this. Kamihara Shinya, more commonly known as the Ninja Hero: Edgeshot, the no. 5 hero in Japan. He had been one of the sidekicks at Nightshade's agency before me, and since he and I had similar fighting styles and personalities, Nightshade had convinced him to train me.