Chapter 20

Ren Kimura

Even though she was only an inch shorter than him, she struggled to match his walking speed. After a few minutes he turned into the front doors of a high rise. The elevator ride up was silent. Ren watched Aizawa who stood so still it seemed unnatural. His hands were in his pockets and his binding cloth was wrapped snug around him obscuring half his face. He was completely unreadable. The elevator stopped at the 33rd floor. Ren followed him into the hallway and then into his apartment. Minimal furniture. No tv. A few bookcases filled with books was the only interesting thing to be seen in the cavernous apartment. It had a large open floorplan. It was very clean, almost looking as if no one lived there. A small black cat wearing a light pink collar with white feet and a white spot on her chest trotted over to greet them. The cat rubbed against Ren's leg. "I don't have any tea, but I can make coffee," Aizawa said indifferently.

"Um, okay sure. Coffee sounds great actually." She watched Aizawa leave down a hallway off the kitchen. A minute later he reemerged, his hair in a loose bun at the nape of his neck and his binding cloths no longer worn. He walked over to the large kitchen island and started the coffee.

"So, what's your cat's name?" Ren asked picking up the cat and petting it. She purred contentedly.

"Well, her name is Socks actually…"

Ren laughed. "We're so original."

Aizawa shot a sardonic expression her way. "She actually has socks though. Why you named your cat that makes no sense. Your cat is one uniform color except for 2 toes on one of his back legs."

"Well I grew up with a cat named Mr. Socks, so that's why."

Aizawa shook his head vigorously all of a sudden. "You okay?" Ren asked.

"Hmm. A little dizzy all of a sudden." Aizawa answered blinking his eyes now in quick succession.

Ren placed the cat on the floor and walked over to him. "Sit down, I'll finish the coffee."

Aizawa surprisingly walked over to a barstool at the island and sat. He rubbed his hands down his face and then propped his elbows on the counter top resting his face on both hands. Ren finished the coffee and after a lot of coaxing was able to talk Aizawa into letting her prepare dinner. He was not feeling quite himself and perhaps eating something would make him feel better. He had ingredients to make a basic udon soup. She got started. As she put a large pot on the stove top to boil she saw Aizawa stand up out of the corner of her eye. "Nope! Sit down."

Aizawa kept walking. "I'm fine, just grabbing my laptop. Might as well do some work at the bar if you're going to ground me from living my life in my own dwelling."

"I could have grabbed it for you, ya know," she bellowed at his retreating figure.

Ren removed her long red gloves and started cutting up some vegetables. Aizawa tapped away on his laptop at the bar a few feet away. Ren suddenly felt a twinge of familiarness and her mind went to Goro. She swallowed hard and tried to push the feeling away. As she quickly turned around to return to the stove, many things happened at once. Socks who had decided at that moment to rub against her leg caused her to trip, which caused her to knock an empty pot on the counter to its side, which knocked into a box of noodles that fell on the end of the large knife that lay on top of a cutting board. The knife flipped up in the air above her. She couldn't will her legs to move as she watched it flip in the air, but some force pulled her backwards as the knife continued to spin on its downward trajectory until the blade imbedded it's tip in the wood floor. She turned around halfway and saw Aizawa standing behind her, his face pale and his eyes wide with surprise. Ren laughed nervously. "That was crazy! Did I mention I'm a huge klutz around the house?" Aizawa's bewildered expression didn't change. Ren looked at him quizzically.

"No, keep looking at me. Be still," Aizawa said urgently under his breath. Ren's stomach lurched. Everything exuding from Aizawa terrified her. His tense posture, his wide-eyed stare, his deliberate words. She had no idea what was going on. Did a villain break in? Did some harmful weapon go off in the apartment? Then she felt it, it was the movement now that brought it to her attention. A hand sliding down her bare arm and now grasping her wrist. Aizawa's right hand and her right wrist. He had pulled her back earlier by her right bare arm with his right bare hand to pull her away from under the knife. His hair was down, still in its bun and his eyes were a dark brown. He had not activated Erasure. They were standing across from each other, their arms outstretched like they were shaking hands except Aizawa held Ren's wrist delicately in his hand. Ren gasped. "Keep looking at me, don't look down," Aizawa said his voice more steady and calm now.

"Wait, Aizawa, do you feel any pain?" She instinctually pulled her arm away slightly, but Aizawa held firm to keep her from breaking away. "No, just a… warming sensation, like I'm holding a really hot coffee. It's fine."

"So, what next? I'm assuming there is protocol for this?" asked Ren still staring at Aizawa.

"Yes," he answered, his face not as intense as before but still serious. After a dozen seconds, she had lost her patience.

"And?!" Ren asked exasperated.

"Calm down, Kimura. Yes. There is a protocol. But first things first. How do you feel? Does anything feel different?" Ren understood what he was doing. He was going through the procedures they implemented in the classroom. Ren closed her eyes and focused on her own body. She went from body part to body part focusing especially on her core. After about 30 seconds she opened her eyes. She looked at Aizawa who was standing still and patient.

"I don't feel any difference. Sorry…." Ren answered. They stood in silence for several seconds.

Aizawa nodded at her. With his left hand he reached behind him and seemed to be opening a container on his utility belt that was out of view of Ren. His hand now appeared and he was holding a pocket knife. He deftly opened the blade with one hand and looked at Ren.

"Well, now's the perfect time to see if you can use Restoration on me." He had a slight smile on his face. "I'll cut my arm and you can see if you can activate Restoration."

"Wait! I don't know if I can."

"Well, it should work if our hypothesis is correct about the robber in Kushimoto."

"I suppose."

"If not, well I won't go too deep, I'll just have to bandage my arm for a few days, no big deal. Okay, I'll cut myself and then we'll see if you can heal my wound. Let me know when you're ready."

Ren was extremely uncomfortable. Again, Aizawa was injuring himself for the sake of the study. It made her feel ill. She looked at him weakly and nodded her head. Aizawa, still holding Ren's hand, brought the blade to his right forearm and ran the blade into his pale skin. He drew it across his flesh and a 2 inch red line appeared and immediately began to seep blood. He cut deep enough so after a second it began to drip down his arm. "Aizawa! You went too deep! You'll need stitches!" She looked at his face. He was looking at his arm.

"Kimura, you need to concentrate." She closed her eyes and activated her quirk like she did when she used it for herself. It was this feeling in her stomach. It was hard to describe how she did it, it was subtle and as natural as blinking an eyelid. After a few seconds, "Kimura, look." Ren opened her eyes and looked at his arm. It was no longer bleeding. It was now just a light pink line. Ren let out a deep sigh. Aizawa had a slight smile on his face.

"Progress," Aizawa said. He flipped his pocket knife closed and tossed in on the countertop. After about 10 more seconds, the line was gone. There was no evidence he had been bleeding there less than a minute before. Ren grabbed a hand towel that was luckily in reach and handed it to Aizawa and he wiped the blood off his arm.

"I can't believe it. It really happened." She was so excited that things were finally happening. Maybe she really could separate her quirks with more work and research. Maybe she could somehow turn off Pain at will. "So what do we do next?" Ren asked. She was brimming with excitement.

"There is a protocol we should follow. But I never read that far and I'm assuming you didn't either. Honestly, I thought when this happened it would be months from now," Aizawa said steadily.

"I thought you were Mr. Responsible and would have read it front to back as soon as you got it and a second and third time for good measure," Ren teased him.

Aizawa shot her a smug look. "Well some of us have several plates spinning in the air at the moment. I do a lot of administrative work at the school and I'm in charge of organizing the Sports Festival next month along with teaching. Not to mention working on a case with the police privately." Ren felt guilty suddenly. Aizawa had devoted a lot of time to the Pain/Erasure study probably to the detriment of everything else he was working on. "I did skim through the whole study though. We now know you can use Restoration on someone without implementing Pain, which is a big discovery. I know at some point once it was deemed safe we were to try other areas of the body to see any marked difference with the idea that perhaps Pain is given less intensively through different points of contact." Ren's face went scarlet. She looked away.

"Kimura, look at me."

She looked at Aizawa feeling the blush reach her ears.

"We won't do anything you're uncomfortable with. Or anything I'm uncomfortable with. I did read in the report where you said you didn't see any difference in your power as far as where your skin is touched in the past?"

"No." Other than what she had learned from Aizawa's revelation from almost a decade before. "Well other than Cliffside apparently," Ren answered.

"Ok. So I don't want to break the contact. You looked away a few times but let's try to focus on one another." Ren nodded. "I'm going to loosen my grip and we will hold hands like we're shaking hands due to how were standing and that it's both our right hands. Don't break contact completely though so we'll have to slide our hands. Ready?" Ren nodded. Aizawa ran his hand over hers and they were in a handshake position. Aizawa nodded. "Okay. Now I'm going to run my hand up your arm again, going above where I initially grabbed you. Your blouse looks loose around the shoulders. Is it okay if I go up to your shoulder?" Ren nodded. The blush had left her face and she felt less awkward. Aizawa stating everything clearly helped make it seem less of an intrusion on her privacy and more like a scientific query. He ran his hand up her arm stepping closer towards her. When he reached her shoulder he ran his hand behind her right shoulder blade, splaying his fingers and keeping his hand flat against the back of her shoulder. Now being in such close proximity, she dropped her gaze from his and was looking at his left shoulder. "You okay?" Ren asked. "Same warming feeling? No noticeable pain?"

"No pain and the burning is less intense on your upper arm. I barely feel any warmth on your back. Just what I assume is your normal body temperature. Interesting," he answered. "Are you right handed?" Aizawa asked.

"No, I'm left-handed." Ren answered. Aizawa nodded and continued speaking. "I'm going to hold your arm where I initially grabbed you. We will call that…. First position I guess." He stepped back a little and he ran his hand down to just above her elbow. Considering what Aizawa did for a living she expected his hands would be rough and scratchy but they felt smooth against her skin. She was still in a state of shock and she had not really thought about the sensation she was feeling of skin on skin contact. She tried to push that idea out of her head and keep things clinical. Quit thinking about smooth hands, Ren, she chided herself.

"So we're going to test the other side then? Our left sides?" Ren asked. Aizawa nodded then added. "Let's keep this first position though, I don't want to break it, maybe it's the key somehow. How about I grab your other arm with my left hand and then I think you should grab my arm with your hand, to see if there is a difference in who initiates the contact." They both noticed the sound of the water boiling on the stove top. Ren laughed nervously. They walked over keeping first position intact to turn it off.

"Wait, I think we should be in an open space in case you pass out." Ren said. They walked over together to the living area. Aizawa had a grey rug in front of the couch and they agreed that was the best place. Ren felt a little silly, like a small child that Aizawa was leading around by her arm. They stood across from each other. "I will touch your left arm first. First position." Aizawa said.

"Wait," Ren interrupted. "Be careful. You had such a serious reaction earlier today, we don't need to repeat it."

"I'll be careful. I'll engage Erasure if I need to," Aizawa replied reassuringly.

Ren thought he was acting so different from earlier. He was surly then and really didn't want her there. He kept to himself and seemed so indifferent to everything. Yet now he was attentive, being the very thoughtful professor. She wondered what kind of teacher he was to his students. Did he do this Jekyll and Hyde with them? Yet that wasn't even a fair metaphor. Even his Hyde was pretty rational and reasonable. He reached his left arm out and softly grabbed her arm. They were like a tangle of arms due to having to cross from the opposite sides. She watched his face for any changes that could mean signs of pain. "How do you feel?" She asked.

"It's strange. I have the same feeling of warming, but there's now a current, like an electrical current running from your arm to my hand. And I can almost hear it somehow."

"That's how I feel back at the school when we're in the classroom and you have Erasure activated. In the stark silence of the classroom it's like I can hear it humming." Aizawa's expression became pensive. He was being quite talkative in the wake of their discovery but at times he would become thoughtful and would cease speaking obviously deep in thought. Ren wanted to know what he was thinking at these times but she kept silent. "What about you Kimura? Anything feel different?" Aizawa asked.

"No…." Ren said dejectedly. They had made so much progress, yet she couldn't feel any difference. She felt it was her that was hampering their success. Now this fluke situation had occurred and they were trying their best to make the most of it.

"Now would be a perfect time to be writing all of this down. We will just have to remember it. I'm sure Shuzenji and Watabe will be very keen on hearing the details. Okay, I'm going to let go of your left arm. When you're ready, grab my arm."

Ren nodded. She reached her hand out and placed it on his arm. She heard a faint groan come from Aizawa. She quickly let go. "You okay?"

"Yes, but that definitely was uncomfortable. Like a lesser version of what we know your quirk to be."

"I'm sorry." Ren felt awful.

"Don't be sorry. Unlike your pure pain quirk this was localized to just where you touched me on my arm. Normally your quirk causes such immense pain it radiates to the whole body. I'm still standing and conscious. It felt like a hot iron being placed on my skin. But since I knew that burn wasn't going to linger once you let go, I could stand it. This is all very interesting. And makes very little sense." Aizawa stood there looking past Ren to the blank wall, eyes unfocused in deep thought.

Shota Aizawa

His mind raced with many possibilities of how the two quirks worked together. The science behind quirks could be so complicated due to how every person's quirk was uniquely theirs. There was no perfect template to easily understand the core of most quirks, how it was expressed through the body and where its energy came from. Guess work and process of elimination were standard protocol. Like Erasure. When he was young his Aunt, who raised him, thought his quirk was telepathic in nature. It made sense considering how it was perceived. You couldn't see the quirk, you couldn't see "proof" the quirk had been implemented. No signal or markings like flashes of light or a sensation from the target. It was only discovered when the subject could no longer use their abilities. But over time his Erasure was seen to be more like an electrical current. His floating hair and the aspect of the target needing to be in his line of sight seemed to point more to his quirk being more tangible and energy based than previously thought. A truly telepathic quirk wouldn't have those markers, like the pro heroes Sir Night Eye, Pixie-Bob, and Mandalay. Ren's quirk also had gone through changes of understanding over time. This was all documented in the Pain/Erasure/Restoration study information as was his quirk history.

Her quirk manifested itself when she was two which is quite young. The first thought was it was secretion based because the first year it wasn't always consistent. But after the age of three it was always active. Then it was believed to be telepathic in nature due to lack of markers (lack of secretions) when further research was done. Testing as she aged showed energy coming from her skin so then it was thought the skin itself had mutated to cause the quirk making it heteromorphic in nature. Aizawa knew that wasn't the case because he couldn't cancel out heteromorphic quirks. Then her regeneration quirk was discovered. It didn't manifest until puberty which can sometimes happen when people have multiple quirks, some will be delayed. It was thought to be either heteromorphic based or energy based since most regeneration quirks are either of those two. Right after Cliffside Aizawa thought maybe his ability to withstand Pain was because he and Ren both had energy based quirks, but she had had many interactions with using Pain on others who also had Energy based quirks and the outcomes were not the same as his. But now he realized that perhaps they both did have energy quirks that were more similar than previously thought. How quirks were activated also was important, but both of their's activated differently. Erasure could only be activated consciously by Aizawa, like speaking or moving his body. Ren's quirk was always active without conscious thought. Even when she slept she still could not be touched. So that made their quirks very different on the other hand.

"Aizawa?" He had been gazing off into space deep in thought and Ren brought him back to the present.

"Just running the numbers," Aizawa said as he pulled himself away from his calculations. "Well I think we are at an impasse. But we have more information now. So are you still in 'Quitting for good' status? Or has this changed your mind at all?" He smirked.

Ren sighed. "I guess I am back on board. But I doubt Shuzenji will relent on making us wait a week. She's going to probably be livid about this right here even though it was an accident."

Aizawa nodded.

He looked down at his hand on Ren's arm. First position. Would they be able to hold this position ever again? Why did this work today and hadn't on so many other occasions? Except for Cliffside years ago. How were these two events related? He didn't want to let go. Over the last half-hour it was for purely scientific reasons, but now he realized it was for selfish ones. She was looking at him, eyes doe-like, face serious. It was time to let go and he was disappointed.

"Can we try something before we stop?" she asked.

"What were you thinking?" he replied.

She dropped her eyes down to where they were holding first position. "Grab my wrist, but loosely."

He complied. Ren asked smiling, "Did you ever play thumb war as a kid?"

Aizawa shook his head. "No."

"Why am I not surprised?" she answered. "Do you know how to play it?" she asked.

"Yes, I have seen it played. So you want us to assume 'thumb war position.'" Aizawa tried his best to not simper. Ren nodded. They moved their hands to take the position being sure not to break contact. He looked at her expectantly. "Best 3 out of 5?" he said in his usual deadpan jokingly.

Ren's hand trembled.

"You okay?" Aizawa asked. Ren nodded. Now more in control of their movements, Ren held on to Aizawa's hand and pulled it towards her. She stepped closer towards him and took a deep breath. She then closed her eyes. They both stood completely still in the quiet cavernous room for several seconds. Aizawa was clueless of what was going on and what Ren was doing. But the still and the silence was a nice respite. She then pulled his hand towards her face. Aizawa's heartbeat quickened. She brought his hand to her right cheek, the base of his fingers and his knuckles gently touched her skin right under her right cheekbone. Ren's eyes were still closed. Aizawa instinctively ran the back of his fingers down Ren's cheek letting go of her hand. He then ran his fingers across and under her chin being sure not to break skin contact. He moved his hand carefully and rested his palm on the right side of her face gently cupping her jawline, his thumb resting on the edge of her mouth. Ren took another deep breath while Aizawa held his. The movements Ren had taken previously caused them to be standing very close to one another. He felt the heat radiating from her body. Aizawa took his left hand and placed it on the other side of Ren's face and she lightly gasped. Both of his hands felt enflamed, a bit more painful than before in first position, but bearable. Or maybe it was much more painful than before but he didn't care. Twenty seconds previously there wasn't anything Aizawa desperately wanted in his life. He had been running on autopilot for a long time. But the last twenty seconds had changed everything. He knew exactly what he wanted.

Ren's breathing quickened as he ran his right thumb slowly across her bottom lip. Her lips slightly parted and she opened her eyes. Her irises, edged with light blue, a sunburst of brown enveloping her pupil. Her expression an intense mixture of uncertainty, anticipation, and longing. With his hands still cradling her face, all reason and logic forgotten, he hastily closed the gap between them, his lips meeting hers. Through the haze of lip and breath and discovery, Aizawa made sure one of his hands was touching Ren's skin, making sure her quirk was being bypassed. His hands moving to the back of her neck, or his hand pressed against the bare skin of the small of her back under her blouse. He lost all sense of time. Lip to lip or Aizawa kissing her cheek, her earlobe, her neck then back to her lips. Ren would pull him towards her at times by the front of his shirt when her hands weren't resting on his chest. After a time, Ren leaned back slowly to disengage. He moved his left hand away from the back of her neck only after he clasped her right hand that had been laying on his chest. He thought strangely that perhaps his combat training fighting multiple foes was helpful in multi-tasking in this bizarre situation. Ren gazed up at him, her face serious and flushed light pink. The bottom part of her face around her mouth was colored a dark pink, her lips slightly swollen. Aizawa wished now he had shaven. He touched her face and she closed her eyes for a moment and smiled. She led him by his hand and pulled him towards the couch. She backed up into the corner of the sectional and pulled him towards her. He lowered himself gently over her while she placed a hand on the back of his head and eagerly pulled him down towards her. They kissed, but now the distance between their bodies was more intimate. Aizawa suddenly sat up sucking air in between clenched teeth. He was wincing, eyes shut tightly, and tears were forming at the corner of one of his eyes. Ren sat up suddenly. "You okay?!" Ren asked breathlessly, eyes wide open in surprise. He nodded and opened his eyes, tears streaming down his face.

"Your hand touched the back of my neck…. The pain was pretty powerful." Aizawa still had his right hand on Ren's left arm.

"I'm sorry." Her face was pained, a deep line showing between her brows.

"Don't be. Let's try something." Aizawa gave himself a minute to compose himself and then activated Erasure. Ren smiled at him. Her eyes glanced over his hair floating above him.

"You're beautiful," she whispered. She reached out her left hand and touched his face.

Ren Kimura

Even though Aizawa had sparse stubble on his face, she was surprised how rough it was against her skin. Her mouth almost felt numb and she figured it was due to the stubble when they were kissing. She had nothing to compare it to so she wasn't sure. This was truly her first experience with kissing without any kind of protective barrier. She ran her hand across his chin, then ran her fingertips over his forehead. She then ran her hand up to his temple and ran her fingers through his hair. It was still floating above him. It felt strange to her how the strands hovered straight up as she touched them. It was like the strands had a life of their own. She then ran her hand down his face, over the outer edge of his right eye and then across his high cheekbones and then down his nose. He gently grabbed her hand and pulled it away. His hair dropped over his shoulders. She looked in his eyes that were now dark brown in color.

"Had to blink," he said with a soft chuckle.

Ren grinned. "That's the first time I've ever heard you laugh."

There was a sudden knock at the front door that made Ren jump.

"Aizawa, you in there?" came a voice from the other side of the front door.

It was Yamada. Ren looked down. Aizawa was holding her left hand with his right hand and loosely gripped her right arm over her elbow with his left hand. He grimaced.

"Wait," Ren said, but it was too late. He let go of her hand and arm.

"He texted me earlier when I was working in the kitchen to see how I was doing. I think Shuzenji was worried I would chase you off and she wanted him to check on me. I texted him I was fine and not to worry, but…. Yamada's persistent. I better answer it before he disturbs the whole building." He walked over to the front door and opened it.

Ren adjusted her clothing and walked into the kitchen to compose herself. She felt like she had been on another exciting new planet and just got jettisoned back to mundane planet Earth. She decided to resume the meal she had been working on. She looked at the clock in the kitchen and saw it read 6:00. She had been there since around 2. She could not believe how much time had passed.

Yamada walked in, Aizawa shuffling behind him, explaining how Ren had insisted on staying through dinner to make sure he was fully recovered. Ren quickly pulled the knife out of the floor and was washing it in the sink before resuming cutting the vegetables.

Yamada sat at the bar, "Hey Kimura, sorry you were stuck with Mr. Sullen today." As Ren turned away from the sink to face Yamada, she saw Aizawa standing behind Yamada looking at her and making a circling motion around his mouth.

"Hey Yamada," she said while watching Aizawa out of the corner of her eye.

"What's with the bottom part of your face Kimura? Looks red and kinda swollen," Yamada exclaimed.

"Oh…. Um…. I had an allergic reaction to this new lipstick I bought." Ren was a terrible liar.

Yamada, raising both eyebrows for emphasis, said, "Riiiiiight."

Aizawa cleared his throat and walked over and stood at the end of the bar near Yamada.

"So, you gonna stay for dinner? Kimura's making soup," he said trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"Sure, I got nothing else to do this evening."

As Ren continued cooking, with Aizawa helping her here and there, the three talked about school, lesson plans, and their students. Aizawa was being more talkative than usual. They sat at a 4 person table adjacent to the island to have dinner. As they conversed, Ren noticed Yamada would glance at Aizawa every now and then shake his head with a mischievous smile on his face. Ren felt he knew something was off. The two were good friends, had been friends since they attended UA. He would be the first to notice if Aizawa wasn't acting normal.

"Hey Kimura, you had any guests over last Saturday night?" Yamada asked grinning, not looking up from his bowl.

Ren couldn't help but choke on her soup a bit and then grabbed her napkin and coughed heavily into it several times. How did he know?! she thought.

"Don't be so nosy, Yamada. It isn't appropriate to ask a female co-worker that. Unless you want to be hit with a sexual harassment complaint," Aizawa chided, looking like he was trying his best not to smile. He struck her as being someone very capable of being an excellent liar. Yet he was being a bit playful now. Had he talked to Yamada about their "sleepover?" That seemed very out of character for Aizawa, too. To be boastful especially about things that didn't happen.

Yamada grinned. "Welp, I'm gonna get some more soup. It's very good Kimura, thanks. You're a much better cook than sulky socks here."

As he walked over to the stove Ren shot an exasperated look over at Aizawa. She was hoping to communicate, "What the hell did you tell him?" but without words. It must have worked because Aizawa gave her a, "let me explain," look. Ren shook her head. After their meal, and more chit-chat, Yamada slapped Aizawa on the shoulder with much force. "You seem to be feeling well Aizawa. No lasting effects from the brain zap earlier it seems. He looks good, doesn't he Kimura?"

Ren stumbled on her words, "Why, yes, um, he looks much better than earlier today."

"Yeah, back to normal. Whatever that means," Aizawa stated in a low monotone. The little bit of revelry he was feeling earlier seemed to have been depleted now.

Yamada declared he was going to leave before it got too late. He lived several blocks further downtown. "You need me to walk you to the bus stop, Kimura? It's getting late, the last bus is probably leaving soon, Don't you live by the school?" He grinned mischievously.

"Um… yes, I probably should go," she said. Ren's heart sank. She didn't want to leave, but it was late, almost 8:00, and she knew the last buses were making their final trips. She gathered her bag and put on her shoes by the door. She didn't dare look at Aizawa with Yamada hovering. She knew her expression would give something away. As Yamada walked through the door, his back to them, Ren shot a glance behind her at Aizawa. He looked like typical Aizawa. A passive expression, his eyes were not showing any discernable emotion. Was he disappointed or was he just being his usual self?

"See you tomorrow, Aizawa," she said weakly. She walked away down the hall towards the elevators. Aizawa didn't say anything back.

Ren worried Yamada would have a dozen pestering questions for her about the nature of Aizawa and her relationship, but he surprisingly didn't ask anything. Instead they talked about 2 mutual students they had and the issues they were having with them. They waited at the bus stop for a few minutes continuing their conversation. Ren asked him about the upcoming Sports Festival. He was involved with its planning along with Aizawa and it sounded like it was going to be an exciting event this year. Her bus arrived and as she boarded it, Yamada called out to her as he walked away, "Be safe Kimura. Aizawa's a lucky man to have you." He gave her a wink. Ren faced him suddenly mid step, her mouth agape. He cackled and trotted down the street.

She got home 15 minutes later. Mr. Socks greeted her at the door. "Hey buddy! I bet you're so hummy! It's past your dinner time!" She fed the cat and decided to take a long shower. She hadn't had time to process the things that had happened that afternoon. She didn't want to think about them just yet. Why did she bring Aizawa's hand to her face? He was ready to end the experiment then. She had "made the first move" so to speak. Was she so greedy to prolong that human contact? And Aizawa. Years ago, a fledgling hero being shown the ropes when he showed up in their city. Moving to the present, Eraserhead was a highly respected former solo hero, teacher, and administrator at UA whose professional career and experiences surely eclipsed her own now. Since meeting him weeks ago he intimidated her even though she tried not to show it. But ever since Saturday things had started to change. No. Not thinking about this right now. She wouldn't see him until tomorrow at school and they really had no scheduled meetings together until the faculty meeting Friday morning, 2 days away. That would give her time to think. Unless he approached her and wanted to talk about the experiment and reporting to Shuzenji and Watabe. She didn't want to think about it. So she decided to keep herself busy. Shower and maybe read a book? Maybe watch TV? After a long shower, she changed into her pajamas and piled her curly hair on top of her head in a messy bun pinning it with 2 oversized bobby pins. She walked into the living room and let out a blood-curdling scream. She saw a figure sitting on her couch. It was Aizawa. "What the hell!? You scared me half to death! What are you doing here?" Who would have thought you could go from extreme fear, to joy, to anger in less than a second she thought.

Aizawa seemed non-plussed by her over-the-top reaction. He had not even flinched at her scream. He isn't human she thought. "Sorry I scared you. Mr. Socks let me in." The cat was already in his lap asleep. Aizawa was wearing a black long sleeve shirt, although this one was made of a different material than the one he wore previously in the day. He wore his usual athletic black pants and his hair was in a low ponytail. It looked slightly damp, like he had showered. She saw his binding cloths hanging on her coat rack by the front door, but he wore his usual utility belt. His face was clean shaven.

"Oh, your face. You look very different." Ren said. He looked much younger she thought. Aizawa shrugged. Ren suddenly remembered her embarrassment from earlier. "What in the world did you tell Yamada?!"