Deep Red

24

I had finished up my lasagna when Shouta finally put his papers aside with a sigh. He had been working through them since we got up on the roof, but his tiredness seemed to finally have caught up with him.

"Done with your work?" I asked him. He shook his head.

"I'm never done with work. It just never ends." he replied and sounded almost desperate. He took a big sip from his wine glass.

"Are those the papers for their internships?" I wanted to know.

"Yup. A lot have decided on agencies already, I just wonder if they'll be happy with their decisions." he said and quickly started eating the rest of his lasagna. He had only managed to finish it halfway until now.

"What places did they sign up for?" I wanted to know and took a sip of wine. I was curious where they'd be going during the next week. I mean, I taught those kids Science almost every day. Shouta had taken up the papers again and started leafing through them, quickly scanning what was written on them.

"Let's see... Atsui signed up to intern with Selkie, not a big surprise there... Mineta wants to intern with Mt. Lady... probably also not a surprise... Jirou chose Death Arms, Kirishima chose Fourth Kind..."

"Fourth Kind? I feel like Kirishima might not have a great time there." I interrupted. Shouta looked up at me.

"Yeah, he probably won't, but it'll be an important experience for him." he replied. I laughed and nodded.

"Yup, I agree." I said. Kirishima could be a bit of a troublemaker. He always meant well, but sometimes he just went a little over the top with things. Interning somewhere with a strict routine and Fourth Kind's No-Bullshit-Approach would be character building for him. I just hoped he'd be stubborn enough to finish it. Then again we were talking about Kirishima here.

"Tokoyami wants to intern with Hawks. What do you think of Hawks?" Shouta wanted to know. I just shrugged.

"Haven't really met him. He seems very... I dunno. Energetic? Controversial? Not sure. He's very young, I suppose, and he climbed up the rankings fast. That'd probably make anyone a bit eccentric, I guess. Why are you asking?" I wondered.

"I don't know. I honestly don't know what to think about him, so I figured I'd ask for your input." he answered and returned to his papers. I turned to look at him as he was going through the papers again. He had the lasagna sitting on his lap, the wine glass in one hand and the papers in the other. His hair was tied back into a low ponytail. In this moment, he just looked perfect to me.

I quickly forced myself to look away and think of something else. Where the hell did that come from? I knew Aiko would say I had a crush on Shouta, but I didn't. Most definitely not. Maybe it was just the fact we were living together now? I mean, the last month had been very turbulent for me. Maybe I just felt overwhelmed and kind of attached myself to the first person around. And that was Shouta.

"Yaoyorozu is going to intern with Uwabami, that's an interesting one." he suddenly said and looked up from his papers.

"Really? Does she still do hero work at all? I've only ever seen her in commercials lately." I replied.

"I honestly have no idea. It seems like she's mostly busy with interviews and ads, but she must be doing some hero work if she can offer an internship..." Shouta mused and shrugged it off.

"Did Ashido decide yet?" I wanted to know. I liked Ashido, she had something about her that made everyone like her. Shouta shook his head.

"She'll probably turn the form in at the last minute again."