Deep Red

8

I felt much more well-rested coming into the staff room that morning. And all that even though I had been sleeping less than usual. Seeing Cho again and spending some time with her definitely helped me sleep better. Plus, Aizawa's cat? Mana? She was the cutest damn thing I had ever seen. I actually couldn't wait to hang out in his apartment for a few hours this evening.

Since I basically knew I only had about three weeks left in my old apartment, it didn't feel quite right to me anymore. I felt like an intruder being there. Aizawa's place was so nice and minimalistic, it was really comforting. I almost wanted to be his friend, just to be able to hang at his place.

It was still quite early when I made my way into the staff room. The only other person there was Hizashi who had headphones and was bobbing away to some music. I was in an unusually good mood, so I knocked on the table next to him, which made him look up at me with a big smile on his face.

"Morning, Hizashi." I said, as I put my bag on the chair next to him and was in my way to get a cup of coffee.

"Yo, Akane! What's up? You've been to Shouta's place yet?" he replied. I almost choked on the biscuit that I had stolen from Thirteen's stash.

"How the hell do you know?" I asked him, once I could breathe normally again. The better question was, what kind of story did he hear about that?

"He took the spare set of keys off me, before he gave them to you. He'll never admit it, but he's been feeling bad about you not being able to see the cat the whole week." he replied with a shrug.

"Why did you have his spare keys?" I wanted to know. I always found the friendship between the two of them a little odd, but then again there was no way you couldn't be friends with Hizashi. No matter how annoying he could be, he was just able to put people in a good mood somehow. He had the energy of some sort of walking and talking shrill 80s record or something.

"He'd be staying over at the school for the night at times, so he asked me to feed the cats sometimes. Dude's a workaholic." Hizashi said.

"Huh. Well, I guess, that's my job now. Sorry to take your privileges away, Hizashi." I replied with a grin.

"No problem at all. I mean it's not far from here, but it was really the opposite direction of my place and just added loads of extra time onto my way home. Plus, it's your cat that's there, too now."

"Yeah, I suppose. I honestly like his place, it just feels really homely. I like being there." I told him. He gave me a really weird look.

"Seriously? The place is almost empty."

"Yeah, but it's just kind of peaceful that way, you know? It's just unpersonal enough to make it feel like your own place. Know what I mean?" I said to him. He was still giving me the weirded out look.

"No. No, I really don't know. You're weird, man."

"Yeah, I know, I know." I replied and sighed. My coffee was done, so I took my cup and sat down next to Hizashi.

I honestly had no idea why my friends thought he and Aizawa were such weirdos back in school. I seriously could barely remember what the whole deal with that was.I knew Kayama from our year would hang out with them sometimes. Then again, a lot of people in our year thought that she was really weird. But I actually genuinely started to like them. They were nice people.

"So, did you find a new place to stay in yet?" Hizashi asked me, after I had taken my first sip of coffee. This day was just getting better and better. The coffee came out pretty awesome today.

"Nah. I dunno, it's pretty scary starting to look for a place. They're all either expensive or terrible. Seems pretty impossible to find something decent and then there's about twenty people trying to get that place already. I dunno, might have to sleep rough for a while. But as long as Cho has a good home, I'm happy." I answered. At the moment I wasn't even too pushed to find a new home. I felt pretty adventurous. Maybe I would sleep rough for a few weeks. Get into a new sleep schedule. Stay up during the nights, sleep after work, since I could get to Aizawa's apartment. Who knew. Maybe I could get my own sleeping bag and sleep at school.

"Man, that sounds pretty bad. Hey, if I hear of anything, I'll let you know, okay? You can't be sleeping rough, that would be terrible. We'll find you somewhere to stay." he said with a big encouraging smile on his face.

"Thanks, Hizashi. I really appreciate it. Honestly, I never thought I'd ever get along this well with my workmates." I replied. I was getting a little mushy there, but during this first week, I honestly felt so welcome here, I might or might not have cried at home about it. No one but me would ever know.

Before Hizashi could reply, however, the door opened and Aizawa made his appearance. He gave Hizashi and me a short nod and then proceeded towards the coffee machine. I was about to say something to him, when Hizashi stopped me and gestured for me to be quiet for now.

We both silently watched Aizawa make his coffee, pull out a chair and sit down on it. He stared into his coffee for a few seconds, before actually taking one big gulp from it. How he could drink it when it was still that hot was beyond me. He then slowly looked over at us and sighed.

"Morning, Hizashi. Takahashi." he greeted us.

"Hey, Shouta." Hizashi replied and then turned to me.

"Don't talk to him before he has had a sip of his morning coffee. You'll regret it otherwise." he whispered to me (or whatever you could call whispering in his case). I glanced over at Aizawa who was glaring at Hizashi. He looked just about ready to murder him right now and I had no doubt he actually could murder someone.

"Hey, Aizawa. I like your cat." I said. It sounded less weird in my head, but maybe he wasn't awake enough yet to notice.

"Thanks. She seems to be getting along well with Cho. And she seems to like you, too." he replied.

"Yeah, I noticed. The two seem to have become friends really quickly. I like your apartment, too. It looks nice."

"You two are just having the most surreal conversation." Hizashi commented and shook his head.

"Yeah, well, I'm gonna have to head out soon, anyway. Got classes to teach and all." I replied and grabbed my bag and my half-full cup of coffee. I didn't really have to teach a class just yet, but I realized the whole situation would soon get awkward enough, so I figured I'd bolt.

"Aw, see you later. What class do you have now?" Hizashi asked.

"1-C and then 1-A, then 2-B. Got 1-B, 2-A and 2-C in the afternoon." I replied.

"I love 1-C! They're a really nice class. Have fun then!"

"Sure, thanks, you too!" I said awkwardly and made my way out of the staff room. I'd probably spend the time until my class was supposed to start in the classroom.