Deep Red

16

While fixing up the students who got slightly injured during the obstacle run, I missed most of the cavalry battle. So instead of heading back up to the commentator's booth, I made myself a cup of coffee and watched the whole thing unfold together with Recovery Girl. It was time for the lunch break soon anyway and since it seemed like none of the students had any terrible injuries, Recovery Girl would probably let me run off on my own for lunch. I had texted Aiko, so we could meet at the entrance to the staff area.

Right now, I was standing there and waiting for her, which was more difficult than it sounded. There were such huge crowds of people passing, all of them trying to get some food to go to the bathroom before the queues got too long. With all those people around it would be near impossible to find Aiko.

>> Hey, where you at? I'm gonna be right at the wall and right next to the door. The crowds are insane. <<

Hopefully she'd be able to find me with that. I probably wouldn't find myself, but Aiko was better with that than I was anyway. So she'd be fine. Hopefully. I closed my eyes for a moment and just tried shutting out all the noise. It was only then that I realized how hungry and tired I was.

I hadn't been spending a lot of energy on cooling down small wounds, but the sheer amount of students with minor injuries was incredible. I didn't notice at the time, but it basically robbed me of the last bit of energy I had. They better have some stand that would sell amazing coffee. I really needed one. And I desperately needed food. I almost felt like I would faint any second.

My mind wandered to Shouta. I still called him Aizawa in my head sometimes, just because I was so used to it. I wondered what he was doing now. Maybe he'd be getting some food. Then again, he'd probably be napping, as usual. I wondered if he ever ate. The dishes in his apartment suggested that he did, but that was usually a pack of noodles. And it only proved that he ate in the evenings.

I felt my phone vibrate and violently got taken out of my mind space. There were the people again. There was the noise again. I looked down at my phone. It was a message from Aiko. I sighed and opened it.

>> I see you. <<

What the fuck? Where did she see me? I quickly looked around me until I saw some night blue hair that framed a smiling face. Aiko was grinning and waving at me, probably amused by me being lost in thought.

"Who were you daydreaming about?" she asked jokingly.

Shouta.

"No one. I was just catching a breath. And I realized I'm starving. Let's grab some food. And coffee." I said.

"You still a coffee addict? Like in the old times?" Aiko asked me, shaking her head. I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, sure, we were both coffee addicts. And I haven't got much more sleep since high school. Or college." I replied. Aiko laughed.

"Sure. I've switched to tea, though. I don't why. I like to tell myself it's healthier, but maybe I just like being pretentious by talking about tea." she replied.

"I mean, tea is great and all. There is a time for tea and there is a time for coffee and it's mostly time for coffee. Plus, tea is for fancy ass people and I'm nowhere near that." I said with a shrug.

"True. So. How was the view from the commentator's booth? The cavalry battle must have been next level experience from up there."

"I actually missed that bit. I was up there for the obstacle race, but obviously a bunch of students came back with some minor in juries. Sprained ankle, torn muscle, scrapes and scratches, that kinda stuff. So I went down to Recovery Girl to help and bandage them up and treat their injuries a little. Especially since Recovery Girl has to save her energy for the BIG injuries later on. So yeah, I missed the good bits."

"Did you know any of the students? Like, which classes do you teach? Do you teach 1-A? They seem like a lot of trouble to be fair."

"I teach the two hero courses and the General Studies courses. So yeah, I know pretty much all the people that are still in. 1-A can be a handful, but they are actually a really nice class. Like, they seem to get along pretty well for the most part and there are a lot of hardworking students in the class." I said. I wasn't quite sure how to answer her question. I mean, yeah, of course 1-A was trouble. But they also had an amazing spirit of community in that class and a lot of them seemed genuinely interested in my subject. Teaching wasn't about kids being trouble or not, it was much more than that. But I wasn't really sure if Aiko could get behind that.

"Huh. I never would have thought you'd be a teacher someday, it feels kinda weird." Aiko just commented as we had finally made it outside.

"How's work going for you? Your ratings still climbing up?" I asked her. She just shrugged and gave me a very weary look.

"I suppose they are. It's gotten really tough getting ratings up lately with this whole overkill of heroes starting out. Pulling the whole publicity stunt really isn't easy." she replied. I nodded quickly.

"I get it, that's why I started teaching."

"Are you still doing hero work on the side? I know you used to, but I can imagine that it must be exhausting."

"I do, sometimes. Not a lot, though. Mostly when I have some free minutes and all. Which means I don't really have to worry about publicity whatsoever."

"Yeah, I remember when I had to come over every other week to dye your hair, that must have been really stressful." Aiko said and laughed. I nodded. When I was working as a hero full-time, I used to dye my hair a deep blue with the tips going into red. It looked really damn cool, but it was such a hassle to pull it off. I had to bleach my hair all the time, because the roots were really obvious and then the hair dye would wash out really quickly and I had to dye everything again.

"My hair is much healthier now, thank God." I answered and rolled my eyes. Aiko laughed and shook her head.

"People never ever recognize you either."

"Good. That's a good thing, Aiko. Now let's get some damn food, I'm fucking starving." I said to her and walked on ahead towards a stand that sold curry. I would kill for some curry. But before I managed to queue up for it, I ran into Hizashi.

"Hey, we've been missing you up in our booth! You getting some food?" he asked loudly and gave me his biggest smile.

"Yeah, I'm just really hungry. Healing all those tiny injuries really just drained me. I'm gonna need to feed myself and get some strong coffee. What about you? Where'd you leave Shouta?" I replied.

"Oh, he's just napping upstairs. I've come down to get myself some food, but the crowds are insane. Are you... are you gonna get some of that curry?" he wanted to know.

"Yeah, I figured it would be the most filling thing I could get. Why do you ask?"

"I was gonna get some curry for Shouta, because he just won't eat otherwise, but all the queues are way too long. Do you mind getting some for him?"

"Hm, I dunno, Hizashi, what's in it for me?" I asked him. Of course I would bring Shouta some lunch, he looked like he could use a bite to eat anyway. I just didn't want to make it too obvious.

"I'll buy you a coffee before school some day. A really good one. One of the expensive ones." he offered. I gave him a wide smile.

"Deal."

"Ah, great. You're the best, see you later!" he said quickly, before he went on his way and disappeared into the crowds again. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aiko standing beside me and giving me a knowing look.

"Don't do it, Aiko..." I warned her.

"Don't do what?"

"Don't give me the look."

"I'm not giving you a look!" she replied, sounding overly offended that I wouldn't even suggest something like that. I sighed.

"Are you getting curry, too?" I asked her to change the topic.

"Yeah, I was going to. It does smell really good. Why, you want me to go and get you a coffee?"

"That was my idea. You get three coffees and I get three curries and we'll be all set for lunch. Sound good?"

"Sure. Meet you back at the staff entrance?" she wanted to know. I nodded and gave her a thumbs up.