It looked okay. Not as bad as the day before. Much better than Friday. Narrowing his eyes a little, he leaned in closer to the bathroom mirror and turned his head a bit. The bruises had faded to a dull purple and yellow rather than the intense dark shade from the day he got them.
Tilting his head, he stared for a long moment and tried to decide if it would be safe to leave. Jin's luck varied and usually leaned toward bad. Wouldn't be surprised if I ran into her outside the building. She doesn't live anywhere near here. He bowed his head and released a heavy sigh.
His stomach was growling. In an effort to avoid running into the red-costumed hero, he had not left the apartment since Friday. It was now Monday and he had run out of food as well as cigarettes. As he left the bathroom, his thoughts went to what he would most like to eat. Immediately, he thought of the noodle place where he had eaten with Akari.
No way. I can't get that close to her. She's probably asleep; she's a night owl! Jin lay back on the bed and rubbed at his face, wincing when he accidentally bumped his nose. The sensation brought tears to his eyes and he scowled. She probably hates me. I shouldn't have interfered. If I hadn't stepped in, that guy would've broken her face!
The turmoil made him anxious. His nails dug into his scalp, teeth gritting as he fought the sensation. That feeling like he was coming apart. The man reached to his mask, left perched on the pillow beside the one he was using. The fabric slid down over his head and he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.
I need to stay away! But I want to see her! I should go visit her! She's going to be upset if I go there! She's going to love seeing me again! Jin abruptly sat upright, staring at his door. The urge to leave was strong, but he knew that he had to fight it. He told himself that he should stay in the room, give himself time to heal more, avoid Akari at all costs.
He wanted to see her. He wanted to see her smile and hear her laugh. He wanted to hear about her weekend and what she planned to do that day. Such mundane things, but things that would make him happy. Though, as he thought about these desires, he started to feel that self-loathing again. As much as he wanted to be with her, she was still a hero. I don't deserve her. We're a good match! His fingers grasped at the sheets beneath him and he shook his head.
A trembling hand lifted to drag the mask off and he set it down beside him. She's a hero; she deserves someone better. She doesn't deserve me; I'm great! No! Akari shouldn't be with someone like me! We're soulmates! Running his fingers through his hair, he frowned. "…soulmates…"
The man looked toward the open window and let himself focus on the sounds of traffic and general activity outside. When he thought about Akari, it made his heart race, but it gave him a sense of happiness. She was kind to him. Despite his intimidating face, she looked past it and spoke to him so sweetly. She smiled at him and joked with him to try to get him to smile. It gave him more than just happiness; it gave him hope. If she was this kind to him, she might accept him the way he really was.
Shift P.O.V
"Any questions?" Akari looked around the classroom, expecting a question from at least one of them. She was not disappointed. "Yes, Iida-kun?"
"Akahana-sensei, why were you absent last week?"
She blinked in alarm and tilted her head. "Insomnia."
"Is that what Aizawa-sensei has?"
The woman looked to the yellow sleeping bag on her right, lying on the floor and currently occupied by her sleeping boyfriend. "Yes. Yes, it is."
When class ended, she walked back toward the teachers' room with Aizawa and tried her hardest not to yawn. She had slept a little the night before, but not much. He had slept at his own home so she was left alone. I seriously need to get a body pillow or something, she thought as she stretched her arms over her head.
The female hero pushed her hands into her pockets. "So? Anything you want to ask me?" she inquired, anticipation clear in her voice.
Aizawa shifted his gaze to her, eyes half-closed and his mind still a bit groggy from waking up. "Isn't it kind of early for that?"
Blood rushed to her face and she bowed her head. "I-I didn't mean proposing! I meant the USJ training!" she argued, flustered.
"I wasn't planning to ask you. I wanted to have different types of heroes for the training," he explained.
"Who else is going?"
"All Might and Thirteen. So we have a straightforward type and a rescue type. If you go with us, then we'll have two of our type."
She rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed. "Oh. Wait, so…what's our type? You said there would be two of our type?"
"We're stealth."
"I'm not really stealth though; I just happen to work mostly at night." Akari brightened and smiled. "I didn't hear you mention a nighttime hero. I could give them some good insight into low-light environments. Okay, so I'm in now, right?"
Aizawa wanted to protest, but he was tired and he knew it was a losing battle. In high school, she was always stubborn and as she aged, it refused to fade. Although that stubbornness was one of the things he both loved and hated about her. "Fine. You're in."
"Cool. So…what day is it?" She listened as he explained when the training would be and what time they were leaving.
Akari made a few notes of the training plans into her phone, along with a timer for when it would be. Half-smiling in satisfaction, she sat at her desk. I'm glad he didn't put up more of a fight.
"Did you get enough sleep?" a voice asked from the desk across from hers.
The woman tensed and lifted her sharp blue eyes to meet a pair of even more intensely blue eyes. She quickly dropped her gaze, her mouth twisting into a mix of smirk and frown. "Oh…hey, Yagi-san." Her voice was cracking as she tried with all of her might to not laugh nervously. All she could think about was the fan fiction that she had read.
"Are you okay?" He leaned toward her a little.
"Yeah…I'm fine. How are you?"
It was a struggle to keep a straight face as she spoke to him, but she managed to do it. Of course, it was not his fault. The man was quite confused as to why she was making such a weird face and refusing to make eye contact.
After work, Akari was sure that she would sleep well. It had been an exhausting first day back at the school. She had offered an apology to the student that she had threatened and he seemed to accept the apology. She helped with various classes. Logically, the female hero should be sufficiently tired enough to sleep that night. However, logic does not apply to something as fickle as sleep.
When she got the call about some criminals in a shopping district, she was more than happy to go and deal with them. Maybe this time I can burn enough energy to let me fall sleep, she thought to herself.
As the criminals came into sight, Akari prepared her capture weapon. Two criminals. Their quirks appeared to be kind of mundane; one of them had long claws that protruded from their fingertips and the other had spikes sprouting from their elbows and hard bumps over their knees. If she could incapacitate them quickly, it would be over with before they could land a hit.
Really, I should just get a body pillow. Keeping herself out of their line of sight, she sent the red ribbon of her weapon ahead of her. It coiled around the clawed man's wrist and she swung him into the other man's side. The spiked criminal tumbled over onto the concrete with a loud smack and she swung the other man against the side of a building.
"Hold still." Akari kept her voice level and authoritative. Her lips were in a straight line, eyes narrowed on the two men. "Why don't you make this easier on yourselves? If you stay down, I won't have to use my quirk on you. Trust me; it's the last thing you want me to do."
The spiked man smirked at her as he pushed himself to stand. "I can think of a few things I'd want you to do!" His eyes stared past her at an approaching, previously hidden, third criminal. "Why don't you hold still and we won't have to rough you up?" As he said this, the tall, lumbering criminal prepared to grab her.
"Hey! No touching! I want a hug first!" This voice came from behind the third criminal. It was a vaguely familiar voice and gave Akari an opening by distracting the largest of the group.
She had felt goose bumps raise on her skin when she sensed the third man behind her, but now she shook it off and faced the other two. "This could've been easy." Tightening her hold on her capture weapon, Akari used all of her strength to throw the clawed criminal into a light post. She let her weapon drop and charged forward to fight the spiky criminal.
He lifted his elbows to block a punch aimed at his head and thrust a knee forward, making the hard bumpy protrusion connect solidly with her stomach. Akari stumbled back a few steps, gritting her teeth against the pain. The man took this opportunity to sprint forward, swiping one elbow spike at her face and forcing her to back up more and more. Her back soon met the solid outer wall of a building and her hand went to her knife to defend herself.
She could not unsheathe it fast enough. An elbow spike sliced across her left cheekbone, spilling blood, and he drew back his arm as if to stab it through her head next. The knife was now halfway out of its sheathe. She was prepared to do whatever it took to defend herself, even if she had to kill him. Thankfully, Akari was spared this potentially career-ruining act.
The criminal's wrist was grabbed and the man was thrown onto the ground. "Quit making trouble for Akari! She's a strong, independent woman! She can take you down without breaking a sweat!" The masked figure looked to Akari and tilted his head. He noticed the blood and crossed the last few steps to her, taking her face in his hands before she could react. "You're bleeding! Look what he did to your face! It doesn't look that bad!"
Shaking off her surprise, she kept her grip on her knife. Her gaze dropped from his mask to his clothes. A blue button-up shirt and black pants. There was blood on his clothes from the fight, but it seemed to be the other man's. Looking to the man he had fought, she saw that the criminal's face was beaten and bloody.
"I'm sorry that I didn't help faster; I didn't want you to be mad at me! Say something or I'll leave!"
"How…do you know my name?"
