Inside Your Mind

44 - Aizawa

Sauve moi, je t'en prie

Shouta Aizawa wasn't exactly sure what it was about Tartarus that was so damn depressing. Maybe it was just the fact that it was a high security prison. But honestly, it wasn't the worst prison he had ever seen (both from the outside and the inside). But it was by far the most depressing one.

"God, I didn't miss that building." Kaori mumbled in the passenger seat. She was dressed in her new uniform (that already had a small coffee stain, but Aizawa wasn't going to mention that) and looked as tired as ever. It was like she didn't have time to sleep during the day without classes now. Aizawa knew she had trouble sleeping at night, but he wondered what she was doing throughout the day. Knowing her she was probably studying, even though she had gotten immaculate exam results.

"How long did you intern there?" Aizawa wanted to know. Kaori didn't look at him, but kept her gaze fixed on the building. It was as if that building was sucking out every small bit of energy and joy that she had left in her. And there wasn't that much energy and joy to begin with.

"One week in first year and all of second year. I almost quit university halfway through second year, because Tartarus was just depressing as hell. The job itself was good and interesting, I just couldn't find the energy to enjoy it." she explained and sighed and grabbed the clipboard that was lying in front of her on the dashboard. Aizawa knew exactly how she felt.

Few people knew this, but when he was still in university he actually did his first year internship in Tartarus. And that one week alone had lasted him for a lifetime. He could have gone back during his second year, especially when he had difficulties finding a place for his work studies, but he just knew he would never, ever go back there. And if he had to repeat a whole year of university because of it.

"Well, let's get it over with. We'll have to sign a whole bunch of scary documents, before they let us talk to Stain, so you better be prepared to sign your life away in a second." he replied. She nodded.

"I know, I used to make people sign those waivers. It was only really necessary one time, when some guy lost an eye, because the inmate he was talking to went haywire. Wasn't fun to scrub the blood off the floor." Kaori said, before she opened the passenger door and got out of the car.

"Fuck." Aizawa mumbled, before getting out of the car himself. That was much darker than expected and definitely not what he needed to hear. Tartarus inspired enough sense of dread as it was. Of course they had to make everyone who was speaking directly to the inmates sign the waiver that they wouldn't hold the prison responsible if anything happened to them and so on and so forth.

Aizawa had made the mistake of reading that thing the first time he had gone to see a prison inmate face to face. He knew that he was completely responsible if anything happened to him during an interrogation, but reading that paper made it crystal clear and it was scary thinking about just how much could go wrong.

They weren't talking as they approached the heavy gate. Without a word they showed their badges to the guard at the gate and they waved them through a small pedestrian door, so they could make their way through the barb-wired courtyard towards the main entrance of the prison. It would be a good while until they'd be checked again. The car had been checked when they crossed the long and narrow bridge that led to the island on which Tartarus was located.

Aizawa looked around himself. The thick, dark walls combined with the emptiness of the courtyard felt oppressive. The main entrance was a huge, towering, metallic looking door guarded by four people. There were security cameras and sensors everywhere. Aizawa quickly remembered why he hated high security prisons so much. Unfortunately, it was part of his job.