Deep Red

25

I felt like I had the worst headache of my life the next day. I had no idea why, maybe I hadn't been drinking enough and was dehydrated all day, but I just felt like someone ran me over with a bulldozer.

Aizawa didn't seem like he was feeling much better, but he looked like that all the time. So I wasn't sure if he was being tired and unmotivated because we had been drinking and staying up late the night before or if that was just him being himself. I didn't ask, since I didn't want to admit I was feeling terrible.

Obviously Hizashi was the first to notice that I looked like death once I walked into the staff room in the morning. I had tried to be inconspicuous about it by putting extra effort into doing my hair and picking out a well coordinated outfit, but maybe that had just made the contrast between my tired face and my prim and proper apparel more obvious.

"Wow, what have YOU been up to last night, Akane?" he asked loudly the instant I stepped into the staff room.

"What... Hizashi, I'm just tired." I mumbled, hoping he'd tone it down. I saw Cementoss glancing at me and raising an eyebrow before getting back to what he was busying himself with.

"You don't look like you're 'just tired', young lady. You look like you're hungover. Not the throwing up kind of hungover, but definitely a slight headache." he replied. I did my best to give him a snarky grin.

"Sounds like you're an expert on that topic." I remarked as I dragged myself towards the table in the middle of the room. I needed to sit down. And then I needed a coffee. And some damn food. Maybe I could convince Lunch Rush to boil up some eggs. I was basically starving.

"I can't say I'm not an expert on it. Now, what did you get up to? You look like death." he wanted to know. Ugh. Why could he not just be quiet? He already said I had a headache, why couldn't he just shut up for once?

"Fine, fine, maybe I had one glass of wine too many. That's all." I answered, hoping he'd be content with that.

"Oh, wine? That's fancy. Was it a date?" he kept on asking. I shot him an annoyed glare, but he didn't even flinch. He was probably too used to annoyed glares from Shouta. Or he just didn't care.

"Hm, I'm not really sure whether you could already call it that... All I know is that it was none of your business."

"Oh, wow, I see, keeping private things private, huh? Alright, not like I'm not used to that, Shouta's the same and..." Hizashi said when the door opened. I had no idea why Shouta had this talent of always walking in when someone was talking about him. But there he was, looking tired as usual.

"What's that about me?" he asked. We had this thing where we would do our best to arrive at school at different times, so not so many people would catch on to us living together. This whole thing was only temporary and neither of us wanted to start a bunch of rumours that had no actual basis.

"Ah, Shouta, you... Hold on..." Hizashi mumbled as he squinted at his face. I could see Shouta taking a deep breath. He looked like he was trying not to murder Hizashi right where he was standing.

"Oh. My. God. You look just as tired as Akane. Did you two hang out last night? Without inviting me?" he asked with a big grin on his face. Shouta and I looked at each other. None of us said anything. I didn't because I had no idea whether Hizashi knew about our current living arrangements or not. I had no idea why Shouta didn't say anything, but he just usually didn't care what people said.

"Hey, guys, talk to me! Shouta, you look more hungover than that one time during the summer camp in second year... Remember, when..."

"Can you shut up already, Hizashi? I've got a headache and I'm tired, as you have so aptly observed, so please do all of us a favour and be quiet." Shouta interrupted him. Hizashi seemed a little taken aback, but just shrugged and went to get a coffee. Shouta sat down next to me and buried his head in his hands.

"Thanks for telling him to shut up. I thought my head was actually going to explode." I told him quietly.

"No problem. He's used to me telling him to shut up, you can just tell him, too. He won't be offended." Shouta said. I huffed under my breath, since laughing would have been too exhausting.

"I would kill for some boiled eggs right now." I replied.

"I would kill for a painkiller right now." Shouta mumbled. Without saying anything I pulled up my bag from beside the chair, got out a blister of painkillers that was half empty and slid it over to him.

"No need to kill anyone, I've got them right here." I told him. He looked at me and I raised an eyebrow. For some reason it made me burst out in laughter. And I could even see Shouta crack a little smile.

"Let's head to the canteen. I'll need something to drink, so I can swallow this and maybe we can get Lunch Rush to get you some boiled egg." he said. I nodded.

"That sounds like a good plan. I feel so tired, I don't even think I could keep down coffee right now, but I'm not functional without that." I replied. Shouta raised an eyebrow and got up from his chair, the painkillers in his hand.

"Then we better get you to be functional. You have classes to teach today. And so do I." he answered. I nodded and got up from my chair, taking my travel mug full of coffee with me. I had barely touched it and it was probably getting cold and disgusting. Maybe Lunch Rush could warm it up for me while he was doing his thing and I could have it later. I could see Nemuri and Hizashi giving us some weird looks as we left the staff room together. Who knew what they were thinking.

"I don't know when I got so old I couldn't handle my drink anymore." I said quietly once we had left the staff room. Unfortunately the hallways had begun to fill with students, so it was getting loud.

"Maybe it was some combination of not sleeping much, not drinking a lot of water and not eating much all day? Plus, red wine always hits harder." Shouta replied, as we made our way through the masses of students. Some of them were running to their classrooms. I'd have told them off, normally, but I just didn't have the energy right now, so all I did was give them a glare. Of course they didn't get the point.

"Yeah, red wine is always the worst. I don't know why I like it so much. Maybe because it feels classy or something."

"Doesn't feel classy the next morning."

"Yup. I'll be so glad when that painkiller finally kicks in." I agreed. I had taken one just before I had walked to school and they usually took around 30 minutes for me. So it should happen in about 15 minutes or so.

"You'll just be tired as fuck then." Shouta commented and held the door to the canteen open for me. I walked through and saw Lunch Rush looking up at us, an incredulous look on his face.

"Morning, Lunch Rush." Shouta said to him. I just followed him, a guilty smile on my face. I bet Lunch Rush was used to getting hangover snack requests from students at times. Especially from third years. But we were teachers and that was a whole different level of irresponsible.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I just need a glass of water. Bad headache." Shouta answered. Lunch Rush looked over at me.

"And you?"

"Uhm... say, you're not making something with boiled eggs today, by any chance? I've really got an appetite for boiled egg." I said to him. God, I felt like a dumb teenager again. Like that one day when I was really hungover after a long weekend of partying and I had to go and ask him for some nice, hearty food, because I was starving and probably would have collapsed without food.

"Again, Miss Takahashi? I still remember your special requests from your days in this school." he said, two of his arms on his hips and a dish towel over his shoulder. I just gave him an apologetic smile.

"Well, I guess I overestimated myself. I'll do my best not to do that again. At least not on school days." I replied. I knew Lunch Rush would make a bit of a fuss, but he'd relent in the end. He couldn't help it.

"Fine. Some boiled eggs and a glass of water coming up in a minute. Just sit down and give me some time." he answered with a big sigh. I grinned.

"Thanks, Lunch Rush, you're the best!"