𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐙𝐀𝐖𝐀

5

Shouta had kind of calmed down over the course of the day. He hadn't hissed at any other students after the incident with All Might earlier and he wasn't as tired anymore after his second cup of coffee. Things seemed to be looking up. He was even feeling like he was much more focussed than usual today. Almost like his senses were sharper and he was on top of his game today.

By the time lunch rolled around, he had almost forgotten that anything ever happened. Almost. Because once he was thinking of lunch, he remembered that he had to see his colleagues in the teachers' lounge and that was just annoying him to no end. Plus, he was paranoid that All Might might have said something to the others. And that they would bring it up to him.

So once he got closer to the teachers' lounge he was getting very paranoid again. He actually stood in front of the door for a few seconds, hoping he might catch a few snippets of the conversation going on inside. There was definitely some conversation going on, but Shouta wasn't sure what about. Well, it was now or never. He was hungry as hell, so he had to go inside, just to use the microwave and get some damn food. There was no other way around this.

He opened the door and saw Nemuri and Hizashi sitting at the table. All Might was around as well, but he was reading a paper and seemed to be completely entranced in what he was reading. Shouta hadn't even been aware that they were still selling paper copies of the newspaper. Neat.

As soon as the door opened and he was standing in the door frame, Nemuri and Hizashi stopped talking and looked at him. Shouta narrowed his eyes at them. Had they been talking about him? It sure seemed that way with all the sudden secrecy and what not. However, it would be really weird to just straight up ask them about that. So Shouta just closed the door behind him.

"Hi everyone." he said, doing his best to sound as dull and unemotional as he could. It was kind of working. Nemuri and Hizashi both put on smiles that Shouta could immediately identify as fake.

"Hi Shou." Hizashi said.

"Hey Aizawa. How are things?" Nemuri wanted to know. Damn it. They had definitely heard of everything from All Might. Why did he have to tell people about that? Shouta wanted to turn around and hide away in some dark corner where he didn't have to talk to people, but the temptation to get food was stronger right now.

"Things are good. Everything as usual. Why are you asking?" he replied, trying to not make it obvious that things absolutely weren't as usual. He just didn't want to go through the hassle of having to explain everything to them. Firstly, they were curious as fuck and secondly, they were the biggest gossips ever.

"Just wondering, because you didn't turn up at the teachers' lounge this morning. You usually pop in to say hello and make it clear that no one should talk to you, you know?" Nemuri replied.

"I just didn't have time this morning. And please don't tell me that you guys missed me, because I do not care." Shouta told them. Nemuri chuckled a little to herself and turned back to whatever she was doing.

"Aw, Shou, but I did miss you." Hizashi teased him with a big grin. Shouta sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'm sure you did, Hizashi. But I'm here now and I'm going to be busy making myself some lunch, so please try not to interrupt me, okay?" he answered. Hizashi gave him a lazy thumbs up, pretending to be doing something. They were both obviously waiting for Shouta to disappear into the little kitchenette, so he'd be out of earshot. Well, there was no point in keeping them waiting.

Shouta made his way towards the kitchenette and went to heat up his food. He was straining his ears to see if he could hear snippets of the conversation they were having and he was surprised when he was actually able to hear the entire conversation word for word. It felt weird to eavesdrop on his friends, but if they were talking about him behind his back, he had every right to do this, didn't he?

"I don't know... he seems to be mostly normal."

"Yeah, that's true. It's still weird. I mean, he seems much more... odd than usual. And didn't he say something about a weird Quirk?"

"Yeah, he did say that. But I mean what exactly is that Quirk supposed to do? There haven't been any big changes and it's been a whole day..."

"There are Quirks out there that are very, very long-term, Hizashi, you know that. And I mean... doesn't he seem a little like a cat?"

"Sure, but he's always been like this. Shouta has always, always, always been behaving like a damn cat. That's not really much to go by."

"Okay, but like... maybe we're just not noticing it because he has always been like a cat. If it's some sort of slow transformation and it would start with the behaviour, we absolutely wouldn't realize it until he actually changed physically. And at that point who's to say that it won't be too late?"

"I think you're overthinking this. He's probably just lacking more sleep than usual and that's why he's acting a bit odd."

"He never hissed at people before."

"That was one time and we weren't there. Who knows what All Might heard there. I mean, it does all seem a little bit weird, but I wouldn't be too alarmed just yet. Surely there must be a way to turn him back if he gets turned into a cat."

"Yeah, of course, but do you know how long that might take? And we're going to have to put up with him in cat form for that time. It'll suck. It really will suck."

"And it probably won't happen."

"We don't know that."

"Right. And what are you going to do about it? Tell him that you think he might be turning into a cat? He'd never believe that and he'd just go and hide somewhere so you won't judge him or anything. You know how he gets."

"Okay, then what do you suggest?"

"Just wait and see. And stop talking about him when he's just a few meters away. If he's really turning into a cat, I'm sure he can hear us loud and clear. Aren't cats really good at hearing or something?"

Shouta quickly turned around back to the microwave, so it didn't look like he was actually eavesdropping. Not just because that would make him feel weird around his friends, but also because that would just confirm their suspicions. He could easily hear them, he didn't even need to try and it was really weird, because he was never able to hear that well before. Maybe Nemuri was right with her suspicions...

No, that would be really stupid. Why the hell would anyone use a Quirk on him that would turn him into a cat? No, that would be ridiculous. It would be so ironic, it wouldn't even be funny anymore. If that was true... God, Shouta didn't even want to imagine the comments he'd have to listen to from everyone else. No, no, no. This wasn't happening, because he really didn't want it to happen.

But unfortunately it would make a lot of sense. The way he was suddenly much more tired than usual, the way he was always cold, the way he was able to jump much better all of a sudden, the way he was much grumpier for no reason and how everything felt a little off... and now this sudden increase in his senses. Honestly, if anyone came to him with that, he'd probably think that they'd be turning into a cat, too. But that was stupid. Things like that didn't happen.

And maybe it would actually be kind of nice to be a cat. He wouldn't have to talk to people, he could sleep all day and nap and get all those cuddles he was too shy to ask for as a human. No work, nothing to do, someone to give him free food all the time... it did sound like a dream. Maybe it would be pretty nice if that Quirk was slowly turning him into a cat or something...

No. It wouldn't be nice. It would be embarrassing as hell and Shouta knew that no one would let him hear the end of it. And where the hell would he even live? No, this made no sense at all and it wouldn't be fun and as much as he wanted a little break from the responsibilities of being a functional adult, this was not the kind of break he was looking for. Maybe just a little, but it wasn't practical.

Either way, Shouta almost got a heart attack when he heard the ping from the microwave. Finally. Lunch was ready. Shouta thought he was going to starve any minute, if he didn't get his food now.