A Life Worth Living (Aizawa x OC)

58 - Arrival

As Aizawa and Himari finally reached their destination, they halted in front of the disproportionally large gateway that framed the entrance to the overcrowded site whose centre consisted of an enormous stadium, where the U.A. Sports Festival was about to take place.

Pausing for a moment, Himari took in everything that was going on around them, allowing her eyes to explore the knot of people that threatened to clog the entrance, fascinated by the overload of impressions she gathered in such a short time. Her eyes almost visibly flashed up in admiration. It was one thing to see this event on TV. It definitely was another to witness it in person. She'd always preferred to stay as far away as possible from well-attended events. But today was an exception. After all, it was the infamous U.A. Sports Festival.

Admittedly, she hadn't expected to directly stumble into a stampede as soon as they got there, especially not at that time of the day. Despite their morning shenanigans, they'd arrived surprisingly early. It would still take a while for the competition's opening ceremony to begin.

"What? First time seeing humans in the wild?", Aizawa mocked amusedly as he noticed Himari's radiant, almost hypnotised, gaze.

The way she was standing there with her mouth slightly ajar and eyes sparkling with joy cost him some effort to suppress a looming smile, reminding him of her reaction as she'd first entered the USJ before the day had taken an unexpected turn for the worse. Actually, the worst.

A pout replaced the beaming expression on her face as she shifted her attention back to the man at her side, "Ha. Ha. Ha. So funny. Look at you, being all witty and stuff. I prefer it when you're all wrapped up and asleep in that yellow body bag."

Looking left and right in feint confusion, he pointed at himself in disbelief, which only earned him the deadliest of glares in return.

While Aizawa was busy trying to hide his amusement, Himari eventually took a breather and realised how much she'd needed this short pause before they'd battle their way through the crowd. Surprisingly, he'd chased her longer than expected – much to her dismay. She'd underestimated him and his willingness to hunt and wrap her up for nothing more than a few side blows.

That's when she remembered their original plans.

"Wait."

"I'm not planning to go anywhere."

"No, I mean wait as in – Wait. We wanted to get a taxi, didn't we?"

"A bit too late for that, don't you think?"

"You don't say!"

"Well, I just want to point out that this one goes on you. You provoked it."

Himari raised her eyebrows at him, a smile tugging on her lips. Deciding that he had earned himself a break from her continuous teasing, she bit back a mischievous comment that was burning at the tip of her tongue about him and the well-marked maternal instinct he was so desperately and unsuccessfully trying to hide.

Instead, the brunette let out a low hum to agree with his obviously wrong and totally unjustified accusation before she returned her focus on the people filling the area, "Am I just hallucinating because of the unholy number of calories I've already burnt today or is there a suspiciously large number of heroes on the site? Like – really suspicious? Are all of them here to scout the future material for their agencies or is there anything going on I don't know about?"

Aizawa followed her line of sight until his eyes landed on Mount Lady and Kamui Woods, who were talking to Edgeshot not too far away from them, several fans gathering at their side, probably waiting for the perfect opportunity to ask for an autograph, "Didn't...No. Right. You were at the hospital...Nezu decided to increase the security measures for today after...the USJ incident. We had a meeting on this issue, a meeting you...well...you were indisposed."