Inside Your Mind

77 - Hizashi Yamada

Love's a risk

Hizashi Yamada was worried. Aizawa had been his best friend since high school (and that was a long time ago) and he had never, ever asked for his advice before. Sure, he had gotten it without asking many, many times. But he had never asked for advice. Not even when the issue of breaking up with Fukukado came up, after she had become obsessed with him and he just wasn't really into her.

And he hadn't even started talking yet, all he did was ask him to get a drink with him. He was halfway through his beer and hadn't said a word yet. Hizashi wasn't sure how exactly to approach the topic. He didn't even know what the topic was. And he felt like he didn't want to destroy that weird, gentle organic growth their friendship had just made. But he also couldn't stand the silence.

"So. What is this about, Shou?" he asked. The other man sighed and slowly turned his head towards him.

"I don't even know how to start this discussion..." he groaned. This piqued Yamada's interest. If Aizawa didn't even know how to broach the subject, it had to be one hell of a problem.

"Okay... Is this about Kamino? Or about the summer camp? Or about how you were shooketh about not getting fired?" Yamada tried guessing. Aizawa shook his head quickly, taking another gulp of beer.

"No, no, no, nothing like that. Wait, how do you know about the not getting fired thing?" he wanted to know. Yamada laughed quietly and rolled his eyes. Aizawa was so out of touch with reality sometimes.

"It's a school, Shouta. Rumours spread like wildfire."

"I thought this was a university and people were more mature than that." he muttered, grimacing.

"There really isn't that much of a difference. Especially when it comes to the staff room. I know you always zone out when you're there, but you really shouldn't. You're missing the spiciest rumours." Yamada explained with a big grin. Aizawa just raised an eyebrow and looked away.

"Maybe you're the wrong person to talk to about this..." he mumbled. Yamada's cheerful expression dropped for a second.

"No, wait, Shou, I swear. What is it? Something private? Something scandalous? Girl troubles? Tell me!" he quickly asked. Aizawa sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. This thing was really, really bothering him. Yamada really wondered what it could be. Aizawa was not the kind of person that was known for scandals or anything. If anyone had to be worried about that kind of stuff, it was him.

"Zashi, this absolutely has to stay between us. I'm serious. You can't tell a single soul. Not even people outside of work. No one. Not your family, not your family's dog. Okay? Can you promise me that?" Aizawa wanted to know. Yamada nodded while wrecking his brains for rumours he had heard about his best friend.

Of course there was the long standing rumour of him hooking up with one of his students, but that thing was so old, that no one even believed it anymore. And Aizawa had never been worried about that before, so why would he be worried now? It didn't make much sense, unless...

"Promise. So... making a wild guess here... is it a mix of work and girl troubles?" Yamada said. Aizawa looked like he had just choked on his beer. Jackpot. So maybe the rumours were true after all...

"I... How..."

"I mean, it was a wild guess, but the rumours had been there for a while, I just thought they weren't true, because you never seemed very worried about them, so why would that have changed now? Unless... well, unless this has to do with the new dorm situation." he replied. Aizawa sighed.