Deep Red

14

I had really been looking forward to the Sports Festival. Mostly because it was a day off for me. Sure, there were a good few things to do around the place, places to be and people to see, but mostly I could just see some of the people I used to go to school with, hang out with Hizashi and Shouta and eat lots of nice food.

Speaking of the two of them, I had started to spend my lunch breaks hanging out with either one or both of them. I'd say that Hizashi and I had definitely become good friends over the course of the last two weeks. I wasn't quite sure when it came to Shouta, because it was still incredibly difficult to read him.

We were definitely friends in some way. Especially since his bandaged arms had been giving him trouble when it came to drinking coffee, it seemed like we were friends. I was usually in the staff room waiting for him with two cups of coffee, one for me and one for him. He seemed quite thankful for that, and also for me doing some small tasks around his apartment.

The only thing that was looming over my head was my eviction. I had been talking to my landlord, I had shown him that Cho was not in the apartment anymore, but he was still set on evicting me. And the date for that would be tomorrow. At this point there was no use in worrying about it anymore. Over the course of last week I had started taking a good part of my belongings to U.A. and depositing them in my locker. I only had the essentials in my apartment now, so tomorrow I'd probably end up on the streets with all that. But for now I could enjoy the festival.

"Hey, Aka-chan!" I heard someone calling me. Hold on. That voice... I knew that voice. I turned around and saw her standing there, arms held up as if I should have been expecting her.

"Aiko! What are you doing here?" I wanted to know. She grinned, as she walked over to me and gave me a hug.

"Watching the Sports Festival, duh." she answered.

"I had no idea you'd be here! Why didn't you say anything?"

"I dunno, I just figured you'd probably be busy and all and I didn't want to dump the responsibility of humoring me on you. Are you busy?" Aiko asked with a big grin on her face. I laughed.

"Not really at the moment. I'm more or less first aid together with Recovery Girl, so my real work only starts once the first people get injured. Hizashi invited me to hang out in the commentator booth whenever I feel like it or have time, so I might actually do that." I told her. Aiko raised an eyebrow at me.

"Does he still do the... hair thing?" Aiko asked, gesturing to something above her head. I grinned and nodded.

"He's gone above and beyond with it." I replied. Aiko huffed.

"Plus Ultra, huh?"

"Yeah, I suppose. But I adore him, he's so much fun to hang out with." I said to her. She was laughing and shaking her head.

"I dunno. You still hanging out with Aizawa?" she wanted to know. I just shrugged. I was hanging out with him more than ever, but I honestly wasn't sure if we were friends or if he was just tolerating me.

"Yeah, I mean my cat lives with him. He's actually really chill to be around. Like, we don't talk a lot, but in a nice way. He got really badly injured in the USJ attack, so I've been helping him out with a few things." I said to her.

"You're totally crushing on him." Aiko replied with a big grin on her face. I shook my head vigorously.

"Don't be silly. We're friends. We work together. And he literally broke both his arms, so obviously he needs some help. And since he's taken in my cat, I figured it would be only fair to help out."

"Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that, sweetie."

"Nakamura! Didn't know you'd be here for the Sports Festival." I heard someone call out behind us, as I was just about to protest. We turned around and saw Midnight walking towards us, Aizawa dragging himself through the crowds just behind her. I could barely see his eyes, but I was sure he looked especially tired today.

"Oh hey, Kayama. How are things?" Aiko asked.

"Good! I think I'll be pretty busy today, though. How did you recover from that injury last year? It seemed really bad." Midnight wanted to know. Last year, Aiko had gotten a pretty bad injury from a fight with a villain. She had been out sick for three months as far as I knew and even then she could only start working again slowly. She was lucky her agency let her do administrative work while she couldn't do any hero work.

"I'm alright again. I could finally start doing patrols again at the beginning of the year, pretty glad about that. The office work was killing me." she answered laughing. Her and Midnight started chatting about work. I looked around the place, seeing all the students and heroes wander around before the festival started.

"Akane." I heard a deep voice say in a low tone. I turned around and looked directly at Aizawa who seemed to have tried to get my attention for a while now.

"Oh, sorry, what's up?" I replied.

"Would you mind heading to the shop after the festival? I've still got loads of paperwork to fill out, but we're almost out of cat food." he asked me.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure. I can't stay for long, though, I have to pack up some of my stuff." I said.

"Pack up your stuff? You moving?" he wanted to know with a raised eyebrow. Oh dear God. This was too embarrassing to admit.

"Uhm. Yeah. I am moving. Sort of." I said. I mean, it wasn't a lie. I was moving. Out. But he didn't have to know that. He would find out soon enough. To be precise, he would find out when I showed up in the staff room with my futon. I had time to be embarrassed then, not now in front of a bunch of other people.

"Really?"

"Okay, Aizawa, we really have to go now! You can talk to Takahashi every single day, let's go!" Midnight suddenly interrupted him. I was pretty grateful for that, if I was being honest. At least it avoided some uncomfortable questions.

"I'll probably see you later, so!" Aiko said with a big smile on her face. Didn't know the two of them were getting along so well.

"Bye, guys. I'll be heading over to the commentator booth, later, so I'll see you then, Shouta." I told them, as they were heading off.

"You and Aizawa are getting pretty close, huh?" Aiko commented. I gave her a bewildered look.

"Why do you think that?" I asked.

"Oh, can you get some cat food from the store, we're short on that. I mean, come on. All you need to sound like an old couple is some pet names. And heading over to the commentator booth later? What's up with that?" she replied grinning. I shook my head and quickly looked away when I realized I was blushing.

"Come on. My cat lives in his house, how often do I have to tell you? There's nothing going on, we just have to organize some stuff together. And it was actually Present Mic who asked me to hang in the commentator's booth. Apparently you get the best view from up there." I answered her.

"Sure. I'm gonna give it two or three months until you are all over each other. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, Aizawa has gotten pretty hot. If he cleaned up a little, he'd be a daddy." Aiko mumbled.

"You did not just say that." I said, rolling my eyes. Aiko could be really, really weird sometimes.

"Oh, I did. But he's all yours."

"You're a terrible person, Aiko."

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, I think the festival is starting soon, so I better go and find my seat. If I remember correctly the stadium was really confusing."

"It actually is. I'll go and hang with Aizawa and Yamada then. See you later."

"Hey, you wanna meet up for lunch?"

"Sure, unless I have like a ton of injured students to take care of. Which hopefully won't happen. Text me when you're ready to get food and I can come and meet you or let you know if I can't make it."

"Okay, cool. See you later then!" Aiko said and quickly disappeared in the crowds. I sighed and looked around me. I had no idea where I was and where I was supposed to go to get to Aizawa and Hizashi.