A Messy Conundrum ~ h. shinso

-•- Chapter 5 -•-

I groan with the ringing of my alarm. Can't I ever just sleep in? I roll over and hastily slam my hand down on my bedside table, trying to get my phone to shut up. I lift it up, the brightness blinding me. How can it be time to get up already? Ugh.

After I forcefully remove myself from my sweet, sweet bed, I get dressed. I put on a pair of light jeans and a pink cardigan that my dads had bought me at some Christmas shoppe last winter. I put my hair into a braid and pull it to the side, pulling out a few hairs to frame my face. I tie it with a small white bow. I look in the mirror and take a deep breath.

I make my way down the stairs and when I get to the kitchen, I see my favorite pastry sitting on the kitchen counter. My eyes light up.

"What's the special occasion?" I ask. Usually, I only get this for special days. My birthday, Christmas, something of the likes.

"Just cause," my dad says. His black hair hangs around his shoulders. His eyes are tired, but he's smiling at me. 

I quirk my brow at him. "Just cause? You went all that way to get me my pastry just cause?" 

My father sighs at me. "I know I've been gone a lot lately, training Shinso. I've just missed you is all."

And suddenly my heart is breaking. I rush over to him and hug him tightly. "I've missed you too Dad." He ruffles my hair.

"C'mon kiddo, we've gotta get going."

~~~

So we're all sitting in the car again. But this time, it seems my dad is right back to his yapping ways. I think both me and Shinso were kinda tuning him out, so it caught us both off guard when he asked Shinso a question.

"So Shinso, your dad say anything about your arm? How's it feeling?"

"Oh- uh." He sputters. "I haven't really had a chance to ask him. It's feeling better, though."

My dad nods his head as if that had sufficiently answered his question. His long stiff hair moves up and down against the roof. I watch as Shinso's eyes follow his hair up and down. I stifle a laugh.

We pull up to the parking lot, but before we get out my father speaks.

"Shinso."

"Yes Aizawa-sensei?"

My father glances at me through the mirror.

"You can have the afternoon off today," He says.

"What? Are you sure? I know I have another day 'til I can use my arm, but I promise it doesn't bother me." Shinso almost seems frantic to train. Like he desperately wants to. Which I, for the life of me, cannot understand. A day off? You wouldn't have to ask me twice.

My father shakes his head. "There is a surprise project in the General Department today. You will need the afternoon to complete it."

Now hold on. I'm sorry. A surprise project?? This is the worst news I have ever heard.

"Whaaa-" I start. "What kind of project?" I ask.

"Get to class Reverie." Is all he says.

"Balls," I whisper. I see my father smile, slightly and roll his eyes. I get out of the car and go around the back to get out my bookbag. I look up, to find that Shinso had been standing, waiting for me. And he looks rather awkward at that. But it's a kind gesture. So I hurry to gather my stuff and make my way over to him.

"What do you think this project is about?" I ask him.

"I dunno," he says. "It's the first I've heard anything about it."

"Ugh," I say. "Can it ever just be a normal day."

"Maybe it will be fun," He says.

"Yeah right. Unless the project is who can eat the most ice cream and watch the most movies in one go, I don't think I'll have much fun."

"Yeah, okay. Probably won't be that."

We continue chatting all the way up to the large doors to the building. I see a kid with spiky blond hair looking at us. At first I don't think anything of it. But then he keeps staring.

"Uh," I nudge Shinso. "Do you know him or something?" I ask. I point my head towards the boy. Shinso rolls his eyes. 

"Unfortunately," he says.

I shrug, and I'm about to move on until this kid starts yelling.

"Shinso! Shinsooooo!"

Shinso rolls his eyes and begrudgingly raises a hand to say hello. He tries to keep on walking, but the spiky hair boy stops in front of us.

"Soooo Shinso, who's your lady friend? Care to introduce us?" He asks.

"Leave us alone Kaminari," Shinso says. Ah, I've heard that name before. My father seems to complain about him a lot.

"Uh, I gotta get to class," I say, feeling awkward. "See ya Shinso."

He doesn't respond, but he waves his hand meekly. I'll take that as a win.

Shinso's POV

"Dude," Kaminari says. "How in the world are you pulling a girl like her."

I roll my eyes. "It's not like that Kaminari."

"Now, I know a lot about the ladies," He puts an arm around my shoulder and forces me to walk with him. I try to move his arm, but he just squeezes tighter. "And I think, that as your friend, you should put in a good word for me."

"Put in- a good word for you?" I say.

"Yeah, for the absolute smokeshow you walked in with."

I stop walking and pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Okay, first of all, I will not be doing that. Second of all, Aizawa-sensei would kill you."

"What?" He looks at me confused. "What does Aizawa have to do with this?"

I look up at the ceiling and laugh. "That's her dad, dumbass." I leave him standing there, mouth agape, and walk to class.

~~~

I walk through the tall door to 1-C homeroom. I see Reverie look up at me from her seat. She gives me a small smile. I can't muster up one myself, so I just nod and take my seat.

"Alright class," my teacher begins. "The rest of this week is going to be a little different."

I hear a variety of groans from my class mates.

"We will be starting a project!" The groans multiply in volume. "I'm going to pair you up, and you and your partner will go around Musutafu and write a report on the hero work you see. Think of it as a journalism assignment. The project will be due by the end of the week. So you have four days to complete it, including today."

I slump in my seat. A group project, just peachy.

"The rest of the week we will not be meeting for class, use this time to work with your partner to really dig in to this project. It's going to be worth 10% of your final grade. Grab an instruction sheet on your way out."

We all sit in our seats, waiting for her to continue. The teacher looks at us quizzically.

"Oh, right." She lifts the projector to reveal the partner pairs written on the blackboard. I search for my name until I find it:

Shinso - Aizawa

This should be interesting.