Inside Your Mind

80 - Shinsou

The friends I've had to bury

Kaori Shinsou arrived at the gym panting and breathing heavily. She knew she was running incredibly late, but for some reason with the summer break turning into an actual break for her during the last three days, time and reality both had somehow shifted. The numbers on the clock didn't mean anything anymore. Her sleep pattern had become so irregular, she had no idea what fucking day it was.

Plus, what really kind of bugged her was how Shouta hadn't really texted her much. Or checked in on her. Of course, he couldn't just hang out at the students' dorms, that would be weird. Kaori knew that. And he had been texting her, but it was mainly about assignments and work and training the first years.

And that was the only reason she had actually remembered, she was supposed to show up at Gym Gamma today. Shouta had texted her super early in the morning to remind her of that and she almost had a heart attack when she realized that she would have completely forgotten.

"Mr. Aizawa! Sorry, I'm super late. I kinda took longer than I expected and..." she started saying.

"Don't worry about it. Technically you're still on break. We'll see how it goes and whether I actually need the extra help. I'd feel bad for asking you to help out, when things have been going less than optimal lately." he replied, a barely noticeable smile on his face. Kaori felt her heart flutter.

"Less than optimal is kind of an understatement." she said and laughed. Shouta glanced over his students.

"At least they seem to be taking it well. On the surface, that is." he answered, sounding seriously concerned.

"What about Bakugou? How is he doing?" Kaori wanted to know, eyeing up the blond student who was angrily punching and kicking a sand sack. It seemed like he was fairly normal, but Kaori doubted that he actually was okay. No one was okay after being kidnapped the way he was.

"He seems to be his normal self, but he also seems a little more... reckless. And careless. Like he's trying to prove something. I'm a little worried about him, but there is nothing I can do, unless I see any actual signs." Shouta replied and looked back at Kaori. He looked even more tired than her. Kaori was getting really annoyed at him, always one upping her in that department.

"Whatever's bothering him, he's really taking it out on that punching bag." Kaori commented, as she watched how Bakugou beat the living daylights out of it. If that was a real person, they'd easily be dead. It was pretty plain to see that Bakugou was troubled, but Shouta was right. He wasn't the type to talk.

"Yeah. Tried talking to him when they all were here yesterday, but there was no point. I hope he goes to counselling in his own time. He's talented, would be a shame to lose him because of something like this." Shouta said and pinched the bridge of his nose. He seemed at somewhat of a loss as to what to do here.

"Maybe I could go train with him in a bit? I do have my kickboxing experience. Might do him some good." Kaori suggested. There was a chance she wouldn't survive that bit of training, but that was a risk she was willing to take.

After all, Bakugou hadn't ratted them out for smoking some weed during the training camp and even though he was grumpy as hell and had the worst temper, he seemed to be a solid friend. And if she didn't do it for Bakugou, she could at least do it for Kirishima, since he clearly liked him.

"Maybe. If you're up for it. It is Friday after all and you might... have plans for the weekend." Shouta told her and glanced at her.

"Nah, I don't have any weekend plans. I was thinking... maybe we could do something? I'm not sure what the plan is for the whole dorm situation, to be honest." Kaori admitted, biting her lip. She had wanted to bring it up for ages, but she also didn't want to look too desperate. Even though she was.