Inside Your Mind

57 - Aizawa

Secrets I have held in my heart

Are harder to hide than I thought

"You're early." Aizawa remarked as he saw his student/ soon-to-be TA standing in the door, looking as if she had sprinted all the way over here. He had seen her have a can of beer with Natsuo Todoroki earlier, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. They were on a class trip after all and her and Todoroki were both old enough to be drinking legally. As long as she didn't turn up here completely drunk...

"What? You told me to be here at this time." she replied as she pulled up a chair to sit down in the front of the improvised classroom.

"Classes don't start for another 30 minutes. Sorry, I thought you might be able to help with lesson prep, but I got it all done already. I should have told you, before you came here, actually." Aizawa told him. He felt a little bad about it, he had completely forgotten to tell her. Maybe it was for the better. It would give her half an hour to relax and she looked like she needed it.

"It's fine. I'll just... I dunno. I'll just wait here, I guess." she said and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes.

"I think there's some coffee left in the kitchen, if you want any. Maybe you should have a glass of water, too." he replied. Kaori looked tired and worn out from the long day of training. Maybe he should really give her a break. He didn't even need her to do much around here, but he just enjoyed being around her.

"I think I'll get some coffee just before class starts. I can't really be bothered to move right now. Please tell me we're not starting out with hand-to-hand again tomorrow." she answered, still rubbing her eyes.

"We can start with target practice, if you'd prefer that." he said, fishing for the small bottle of eyedrops that he kept on him at all times. Aizawa was constantly stressed and tired and the lack of sleep made him suffer from dry eyes. The eye drops only gave him limited relief, but it was better than nothing.

"That would be great. I think my muscles need some semblance of rest. Are all the training camps for basic training this brutal?" she wanted to know. Aizawa got up from his desk and put the eye drops in front of her.

"Here, you should use those. They'll help with your eyes." he told her. She looked at the eye drops in confusion and then took them and did her best to put them in her eyes, but she was flinching a lot. Aizawa had gotten used to them so much that he never flinched anymore, although that probably wasn't healthy.

"Thanks. That's much better. How did you know?" she asked.

"I get dry eyes all the time when I don't sleep enough." he answered and took them back from her.

"Maybe I should get myself some, too. They seem to come in handy when you actually need them." Kaori mumbled and yawned.

"Yeah, they're not very expensive and well worth it. Oh, and just so you know. The summer camp isn't always this brutal, but Principal Nezu tightened up the schedule for the first years this year, with all the attacks and whatnot. So they need way more training, if they want to make it through." he replied.

"Makes sense. I'm glad I only did the joint course, just basic training would probably kill me. I mean, these kids are insanely good. I'm almost a little worried about my little brother trying to join them." Kaori mused, resting her head on her crossed arms on the desk. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"He'll do fine. Hitoshi is doing well in training, he's making a lot of progress. And he definitely has the intellectual side of it down. I've heard he's been working through your old textbooks?" Aizawa inquired, a small smile forming on his lips, as he saw the expression on her face lighten up, even though she kept her eyes closed. It was a good idea for her to come in half an hour early.