Inside Your Mind

74 - Aizawa

Nothing ever ends the way you thought it would when you started

Waking up next to someone had been something Aizawa was not really used to anymore. Not like this anyway. It was nice, though. He had expected it to be somehow weird or awkward, but it seemed surprisingly normal. Maybe it was because Kaori was only half-awake when he had gotten up.

"I'll head out to university now, but stay as long as you like. Have some breakfast. If you want to leave, just close the door behind you, no one can get in without a key. Okay?" he had said, just before he left. She had opened her eyes partially and blinked against the light coming in through the window.

"Shouta?" she had asked, wrapping herself up in the blanket. He smiled down at her, remembering all the gorgeous little noises she had made last night. He leaned down to her and kissed her forehead.

"Go back to sleep. It's early." he told her. She nodded, yawned and settled back in bed, closing her eyes and soon dozing off again.

He had gotten ready and headed out but not without catching one last glimpse of Kaori sleeping. Maybe getting fired really wouldn't be so bad. He could maybe take her out to one of these fancy new coffee shops that had started popping up all over Naruhata lately. Or a cat cafe. She liked cats, didn't she?

Well, that was if she still wanted to go on one. Maybe the whole excitement of this thing - whatever they had - had worn off with last night. Or with him not being her professor anymore. It did take the whole taboo element out of it. And who was he kidding? He was 30, grumpy, the male equivalent of an old cat lady. Kaori was 22, a brilliant student, and had her whole life ahead of her. And frankly, she could be doing much better than him. He tried not getting his hopes up.

Right now, he had other things to worry about, anyway. He was sitting in Nezu's office, together with Kan and Yagi. He had thrown on the only dress shirt he could find that was somewhat clean (but it was wrinkled as hell) and had headed out, since he was already running late. It wasn't like it would bother him much any other day, but right now he felt a little out of place, especially seeing as both Kan and Yagi (who had only just come out of hospital in the morning) looked fresh and crisp and clean-shaven. Well, he was getting fired anyway.

"Your sacrifice saved countless lives. The people, the police force and I, the principal, cannot possibly thank you enough." Nezu had just finished his little motivational speech. Aizawa had no idea why he did that every time. It would make things much easier for everyone involved, if he just right out told them to go and pack their things and all the necessary documents would be emailed to them.

"However, concerning your current tenure as professors here at U.A.... There's been a fair amount of criticism coming from the public." he continued. Ah, here it comes. Maybe he wouldn't fire us, but ask us to resign instead. Whichever way this would go, he would be without a job.

He still had his work within the police force, so all this hopefully wouldn't be too bad for him. A few months of saving money, no splurging on things for a while, but as soon as he found another job, everything would be fine again. Right? Right. It was a temporary setback, nothing more.

"They're thinking you shouldn't be teaching at U.A. anymore, especially Yagi with his injuries now. They're wondering whether their children will be caught up in another horrible incident." Nezu added, a smile forming on his face.

Nezu was a strange, little man, but this seemed out of place, even for him. Why would he smile at that? That wasn't the right time to smile, even someone as socially inept as Aizawa knew that.