This chapter is a big one story-wise, so I took my time putting it together.

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Saturday Morning…

Today had the worst possible timing.

Hayate set her freshly-showered sights on her closet with a sigh. What should I wear?

Long sleeves, of course. Her eyes settled on the lightweight sportswear she had. Simple, practical, comfortable. The natural choice. She started to flick through them out of habit, but then she stopped, biting her lip. Aizawa's going to be there.

Her hand hovered uncertainly, eyes roaming the other choices as she tucked her bottom lip between her teeth. She thought back to sitting on the bench, going unnoticed in her drab grays. But do I even want to make an impression on him? The flame flickered nervously. She hadn't seen him in such a while, there was a bit of an excitement about it. But that still didn't mean it was going to go anywhere. And today's not a good day to try, either.

Her eyes caught and settled on the sleeve of a particular shirt, and she pulled the hangers aside for it. She studied the cut of the shoulders and sleeves. Not ideal for today. Her eyes trailed across the floral print for a moment, then removed it from the hanger, anyway. But I like this shirt. She went for a drawer, pulling out a matching item of headwear. I'll still have my hair covered. The sleeves aren't that bad. I'll just keep it suppressed.

All day long? The voice of reason chimed in the back of her head. She ignored it. Yes. All day. I'll make it work. She grabbed pants and shoes to go with them. I don't need to make a huge impression or anything, but…

She dressed and examined herself in the mirror, looking satisfied. Just a little something other than gray.

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Bzzzzzzz.

The vibration of his phone felt like it rattled right through his skull.

Aizawa's closed eyes scrunched as he shifted, waking up in an unpleasant, groggy fog. Damn. He cracked a scratchy eye open to squint at the device, then closed it again because his head ached. How much booze did I have? It was something like five, he recalled dimly. Or wait; six? It didn't matter really. His brain was just as uncomfortable either way.

He lay still for a while before forcing his eyes open again to squint at the phone. With a rousing breath, he sat up scowling and reached for his eye drops first, putting a drop in each then going for the phone.

10:27 am.

He stared at the time on the screen. Damn. He slept hard. His eyes shifted to the message which had awoken him, partially visible on the home screen. It was from Hayate with a picture attached.

Sorry you didn't get to see…

His drowsy eyes sharpened a little, and he unlocked his phone. A picture of the male and female kitten came up on his phone, the pair of them in the laps of two children.

Sorry you didn't get to see them go. Sesame and Mona are off to their new home together with a pair of great kids. Mic's still here.

His eyes stayed on the screen for a long time, body not moving as the fog was suddenly sucked out of his aching brain. He drew in a breath, then let it out and put the phone to the side. Okay. Get up. He rose with a bit of urgency in his movements.

He had to be at the event at noon for the afternoon shift he'd signed up for. It would take thirty-four minutes of travel time to get to the location, leaving him with fifty-nine minutes to get ready; easily more than enough time for his usual morning routine. He'd woken up early, if anything. He could easily get there before noon. The kittens being adopted before he got there hadn't crossed his mind before when choosing the evening shift, only sleeping in, but it felt like a weight in his gut as he made his usual breakfast on swift autopilot.

As he went into the bathroom and passed by the mirror on the cabinet above the sink, his eyes flicked over to skim his appearance. He did a double-take and stopped, looking his face straight on. Normally, he couldn't care less about his appearance. But today… well, he couldn't help but take notice.

"Do you want to grab some ice?" Thirteen asked him as they regrouped to leave.

"Ice?"

"For your cheek," Thirteen pointed roughly at where their own would be under the helmet. "It's bruising."

His hand lifted to touch his left cheek reflexively. … Should have taken them up on that. Might have spared him a little from the bruised cheekbone and black eye that pooled above it in rather terrible contrast to his pale skin. He watched himself give a resigned hum in the mirror out of reluctant acceptance. It was a good punch. No hiding that for the event.

He was going to pull away and keep moving, but looking at himself in the mirror properly for the first time essentially all summer made him suddenly take notice of a few other things. His eyes traveled downward from his cheek which he examined so closely to his jawline, taking notice of his stubble which was pressing onward into beard territory one stubborn millimeter at a time for he hadn't shaved at all this summer.

And noticing his facial hair made him take notice of his shaggy mane, which was now noticeably longer than shoulder length; too long for his liking, also uncut since before the start of summer break. He looked back at his eyes in the mirror, debating with his own ever-deeper eye bags hollowed out by the summer's toil and a night of heavy drinking if it was even worth the effort to get this whole unkempt look under control. All he needed was a beer in his hand right now to pull off the homeless drunk look effortlessly; well, more easily than he usually did on any given day.

But for that very reason, he concluded with a resigned hum that it probably was for the best if he tidied up a little for sake of the people he'd have to interact with at the event. Physical presentation didn't matter to him, but it did to other people. Grooming would set him back a few minutes, but in this case, it was a logical necessity.

Out came scissors, a hair tie, and a brush. He ran the brush through his hair with more care than his usual brisk treatment and tied it in a ponytail over his face so that he could cut a satisfactory amount off in a few swift slices. Sure, no barber would have ever tagged their name with such a half-assed job, but there was a practical limit to just how much Aizawa was going to care about this whole preening business. He undid the ponytail in order to comb the remainder of his shortened mane back through his fingers into a messy bun. Good enough.

The first shave of the summer followed, and cold water splashed on his face after to rinse did wonders for shocking his sore eyes. He gave himself a look-over in the mirror when he was done. That had helped. His eyes and the bruise against his pale skin didn't, but he turned away with a mental shrug. He was clean-shaven and his hair was out of his face, so no one could say he hadn't made an effort. Well, sure, they could, but not like he'd care.

For choice of garments, the only answer was of course 'something black', though he at least made a conscience effort to pick something without any frayed edges with a better fit than his typical baggy, 'practically pajamas' garb.

Eating his ready breakfast swiftly followed this, and with all preparations concluded, Aizawa headed for the train ahead of the scheduled time, just as logically expected.

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I shouldn't be doing this. The kitten squirmed in Hayate's arms as she walked. She grabbed him by the scruff to quiet and readjust him, holding him to her shoulder. But things didn't exactly go as planned.

Hayate pulled her phone out and checked the time anxiously. 11:35 am. Twenty-five more minutes until her lunch break began and Aizawa's afternoon shift began. Already two of the three kittens were gone. She put her phone away and stroked Mic in a self-soothing manner, continuing to walk about the area with him. It wasn't right to be holding him like this, taking away opportunities for potential adopters to interact with him, but she just couldn't stand the thought of Aizawa arriving only to find none of them left. Besides, kittens were going fast today, it would work out. She just needed to buy a little time.

She looked at her phone again. 11:38 am. Time was crawling. After thinking for a moment, she quickly texted with one hand.

To Aizawa: When you get here, go to the large tents. I'll be by the one marked 'kittens'.

She sent it and tucked her phone away again. It helped soothe her nerves a little. Alright, I'll just finish final rounds on everybody, should be good to go then…

She continued up the row with Mic still in her arms, checking in with each of the vendors and volunteer groups for any concerns. She finished one and started down the next.

"Hayate?"

A voice from behind her, male. She turned around in work mode, expecting a volunteer or vendor with a question or concern. It took half a second for her to process who she saw—thin male, wearing all-black, hands in pockets, droopy eyes—

Holy crap!

"A-Aizawa?" He caught her off-guard.

"Hey," he replied neutrally.

They both fell silent for a moment, looking each other over with Hayate too surprised at the sight of him there to reply at first. He hadn't been certain it was her at a distance; his brain was trained to look for someone wearing all-gray.

She wore a white blouse with three-quarter sleeves that exposed a modest amount of her chest along with all of her neck. Pink, purple, and magenta flower print up the sides of the fabric made for a splash of color. A bandana head wrap with a matching colorful pattern covered her dark purple hair, which was back in a bun save for the very front where a long strand framed her face to either side. There was a sticker name tag marking her as volunteer staff. She wore light blue jeans and white sneakers, too. No scarf or gloves, clothes fitted and colorful instead of drab scrubs, exposed skin of her neck, hair out; if it weren't for catching a glimpse of her familiar face and the mustached kitten, his eyes would have passed her over for someone else.

Simultaneously, Hayate looked him over in surprise. He shaved. Had he ever done that in the months she'd seen him? It made him look younger. And his hair was back in a loose bun. With no Capturing Weapon in sight, his neck and the notch of his collarbone were exposed by his V-neck shirt with three-quarter sleeves. It was black, of course, as were his pants and shoes, but compared to his usual wear, everything was fitted and looked newer than his usually baggy and worn-out garb. It all made him look… sleeker. More defined. He looked… better.

Save for the awful bruise on the left side of his face, and his hollow eyes! Had he not slept a single wink all summer? How is it possible for someone to look better and worse at the same time?!

She smiled at him, stuffing down a sudden surge of nervous energy with a swallow. "You're here early! It's good to see you, finally."

He looked back at her eyes. "Yeah, it's been a while… I got your text earlier. Figured I might as well."

Her smile died out. "Oh, right…" Of course, the reason he was here. Her expression softened; a bit bittersweet. "Sesame and Mona… well, I guess you never got their names before now. They were always cuddlier with each other than they were Mic, so it was kind of perfect they were homed together. The kids were really gentle with them, and the parents were responsible and planning for two cats… it was a great match."

"That's good." And it really was. Getting a permanent home was the best, most logical solution for their well-being; his personal desire to see them was inconsequential comparatively. Aizawa's eyes shifted to the kitten melted into her shoulder, held in place with one hand.

Hayate followed his eyes and immediately brightened up. "Oh! But Mic's still here. Uh, obviously." She shifted him quickly, and the kitten stirred and flailed his limbs in protest. She held him out to Aizawa with one hand supporting his rump and the under his chest.

"Meeeow," he voiced in opposition to being stripped from his comfortable shoulder pillow, but Hayate just grinned, watching over Mic's head as Aizawa's bland, tired features relaxed and opened up into a faint smile. His hands came out of his pockets to accept the feline offering, and Hayate tried not to hold her breath as his fingers brushed hers during the exchange. His skin was rough and warm from being in his pockets.

Aizawa held the kitten close, and Mic seemed enthused to be in familiar arms that had been absent for a few weeks now. His claws came out to scramble up and tuck under Aizawa's chin like he used to do when climbing into the coils of the Capturing Weapon. Aizawa's hands supported him in his climb to spare his own shirt and skin from the little toe daggers, and when the kitten settled, his hands remained around him. Aizawa tucked his chin slightly to look at the kitten's back, sizing him up.

"… Bigger than I remember."

"Heh, with the way he eats, one of these days he's not going to be a runt anymore." Hayate watched him pet Mic with a smile. A cute kitten with an unexpectedly nicer-than-usual looking man—her nerves weren't settling as she studied him. I didn't think I'd feel like this seeing him again… he really took me by surprise. She looked away and cleared her throat slightly, uncertain of what to do about it at the moment.

"I'm just doing a last check-in with everyone before lunch. You can come with me, and I'll show you around and where you'll be."

"Sure," he nodded but didn't look up from the kitten, his expression content.

Hayate turned and Aizawa followed falling into step beside her with her leading the way. The event was being held in a large park in Musutafu. It was a brilliant summer day in the eighties but with a breeze that made the scant clouds race overhead. There were rows of tarps for venders and covering the dogs, each divided by section. Two large and long tents housed the cats, one for kittens and the other for adults. Venders included pet supplies, pet fostering, independent rescue groups, dog training class info, and veterinary resources in addition to food. Hayate stopped by each for a quick update saving the cat tents for last.

Aizawa was mute during this process so as to not interfere, simply observing and listening while petting Mic and adjusting him as necessary when he tried to climb away to look around, which was certainly not a hard job and quite a welcomed relief after the summer he'd been having. Every time she finished with a vendor or volunteer check-in, she'd look over at him and the kitten to smile. She'd tell him something about the vendor, or point out the name and personality of a particular dog she liked. It seemed she knew a little about each of them as an event organizer. He didn't have much to say about a lot of it, but he listened. He could tell she wanted to talk with him from the eagerness in her eyes each time. He started to watch her without thinking. Anticipate her.

His interest picked up when they reached the adult cat tent. Some thought spurred her to quicken her step, shooting him an excited glance. He followed, not sure what to expect. Hayate led him to one of the cat cages.

"Look familiar?" She asked, watching him expectantly as she stood next to the cage and drew his attention to the cat inside.

Aizawa looked and thought. A big, gray, loafing cat with its eyes closed. Male, according to the sign. Named Mo. Hmm… Why would this cat be familiar?

Hayate could tell from the blank set of his eyes that he hadn't made the connection, and her enthusiasm turned teasing. "Oh, come on. You had him wrapped like a burrito just a few weeks ago."

"Oh. I caught this cat?" Must have been at the TNR. He wracked his brain a little more and shrugged his shoulders in defeat. "Guess I don't remember him."

Hayate laughed. "Aww, poor Mo." The cat's eyes opened, head swiveling to look at her. Aizawa saw his round dish face and pale green eyes, and finally it dawned on him.

"Oh. That gray tomcat. The noisy one."

"That's the one," Hayate confirmed, opening the cage. "You jumped off a roof to catch him." She extended a hand in for Mo to sniff, and then he rubbed against her fingers leaning into the chin scratch. "He's a big lover and a glutton for treats. I bet he was probably a stray who liked to come up to everyone in the neighborhood to get handouts."

She kept petting Mo, and Aizawa watched her in silence feeling oddly warm. She bothered to show him this. He watched more intently than he realized, studying the profile of her smiling face as she looked at the happy cat. Oddly warm. Well, it was hot out this summer.

Hayate glanced backed at him and caught his eyes. She was startled to see his eyes fixed on her and not the cat like she expected. She could feel her face starting to flush, so she looked quickly back at the cat and gave a chuckle to hide her nerves. "Heheh, he's just as noisy as you remember, too. Whenever he's hungry, he's gotta tell us all about his woes. Oh—and for the other cats you caught; most of them were too feral for adoption, like Grumps, so they were released. The kittens from that feral mother are being fostered though. They're young enough to be tamed pretty easily, so they can be adopted later."

"… That's good." His eyes didn't move away from her.

"Uh-huh, we'll get a few of them off the streets, thanks to you." She pulled her hand out of the kennel closed it and glanced up at him with a smile. Upon finding him still looking at her, the butterflies in her gut did a flip and she quickly looked away and started moving. "Heheh, come on! There are other cute cats around here, too."

He stood still and watched her go for a few moments, eyes on the backs of her bare shoulders and neck. Warm… I'm happy to see her. Huh. That was uncommon for anyone. He followed after her again, mulling over the feeling.

She led him through the rest of the tent checking in the volunteer teams and pointing out numerous cats, all of them cute as promised. Coming early was really turning out to be worth his while. Even more so as they exited the first tent and started heading to the second.

"Kitten season is in full swing right now, so there's a lot of them. They're also the most popular," Hayate supplied as they stepped inside, and Aizawa confirmed this assessment with the noticeably more crowded interior. The hundred-plus kittens at the event balanced out the noise and the people, at least. He followed her through a few more check-ins before Hayate approached an older woman volunteer sitting in a cloth folding chair.

"This is Fujino-san. She'll be the lead for the area you'll be in," Hayate introduced.

Fujino-san, a grandmotherly-looking woman in her seventies, gave a warm smile at Aizawa. "Hello there, you must be Aizawa-san."

"Yeah," he replied, "Hello."

Her eyes set upon the kitten snuggled into Aizawa's chest. "And I see you found Mic! Hayate-san's told me all about how he's such a special little kitten to you," her eyes shifted over to Hayate in confirmation, and Aizawa's followed.

Hayate looked embarrassed. "Uh, that you named him, and pet him at the train. You know, to explain why you were coming and needed to be placed with this particular kitten."

"I think it's simply wonderful. You're a kind young man," Fujino continued to gush warmly with her eyes shifting back to Aizawa.

"Uh… sure," Aizawa looked caught off-guard. The grandmother vibes coming from this lady were palatable.

"Heheh, yeah, so, you two will be working together. Just follow Fujino-san's lead around here and you'll be set. I arranged it so Mic's here in this section, so he can stay with you, too," Hayate continued smoothing over Aizawa's lack of tact. She shifted a little to face Aizawa directly. "I can't stay with you the whole time, but I'll be around fairly often. Towards the end, I'll be around more."

It made logical sense, of course. An overseer of the whole event couldn't spend their time babysitting one volunteer and a kitten. He nodded. "No worries. I'll be fine."

"Right," she smiled, nodding back. For a moment, she hesitated in silence. "I… uh, thanks for coming, Aizawa-san. I'm glad to see you."

"Yeah, it's been a while." For a moment, he thought to leave it at that, then another thought drove him to add, his eyes flicking away, "… Morning commute's been a little dull without you around."

"Oh! Well I'm glad I'm not boring, hahahah!" She cringed internally. Not boring? That was the best response I could think of? "Well, uh, I'll see you around." Hayate waved and quickly turned away to hid her grimace.

It made logical sense for her to leave, of course. The adoption event was a matter of business more than pleasure, after all… Aizawa still watched her go, though. That felt about as fleeting as their morning commutes, of which they were sorely behind on. And for some reason, she seemed a little out of sorts; a bit on-edge. He pondered about it until her back was obscured by the crowd, then he dismissed it without anything conclusive and shifted his eyes back towards Fujino-san. He blinked when he found her looking at him steadily with a smile fixed to her lips, having observed the exchanged.

He cleared his throat. "… So, what's first?"

Fujino gave a chuckle and got up out of her chair. "Well now, how about we get you introduced to all of the kittens." Aizawa followed her lead as she turned to the felines in their section…

As she moved away into the crowd, Hayate shook her arms as if to shrug off the antsy feeling in her gut. What the heck! First time I see him in weeks, he shaves and puts on a nice shirt and now I'm an anxious mess! She took in a deep collecting breath and let it out in a sigh. Come on, it's just the same scruffy ol'Aizawa you're used to… just a little groomed. That doesn't make him a better match or anything… That's why we're here. We're going to trying to figure that out. Just gotta make sure he's a good person. I mean, obviously he's a good person; a good fit of a person! And then we can decide if he's just a friend, or maybe more. So stay calm, and reasonable, and figure it out. Just chill out. Chill out.

She sucked in another breath to fill her chest and squared her shoulders, trying to look as confident as she hoped to feel. The motion made an uncomfortable prickle run down from her armpits through her skin; the warning sign of the first tingling ache to come. A shadow of annoyance crossed her face as she pinned her arms to her sides a little to fend against it. And of course, you aren't helping. Just have to be here to complicate things with him.

Hayate took out her phone, checking the time: 11:58 am. Five hours. She put her phone away, veering to a food stand. Have to give it a break. The bento she picked was chosen without enthusiasm, almost at random. Immediately, she moved away from all the bustle of the event and to the grass under a tree in isolation. Hayate sat down with her meal and settled back against the tree, letting go of the focus of the last five hours. The annoyance which had creased her brow smoothed out at the relief of her skin relaxing, like a pleasant shiver starting at her scalp and rushing down her spine cascading through all her pores. She leaned against the tree with her eyes closed for a few moments appreciating the feeling before she opened them again and turned to her bento.

She ate while watching the activities of the event from afar. Her mind was quiet in observation until she finished and put the box to the side. And then, sitting alone under the tree in silence, she began to fidget. Pulling out her phone, she checked the time. 12:12 pm. It felt like she ate too fast. Now it was just going to be sitting here for the next eighteen minutes. She put her phone away and let out a breath puffing her cheeks and looking around. I know I need to give it a rest, but… Her eyes settled on the kitten tent in the distance.

She looked at it for a bit, deliberating. The phone came out again. 12:13 pm. The phone was put away again, and Hayate occupied her hands by lightly massaging her skin, her eyes shifting to the tent again. Just a little more time… And in the meantime, she wondered? What was he doing? How was Mic? What was she missing out on? It was that last thought that stuck the most, and she stopped rubbing her skin, eyes pinned on the tent with her body still like a statue. Suddenly, she rose, gathered the remains of her bento box, and started walking back towards the tent.

Meanwhile, Aizawa had quickly discerned why Hayate had arranged things for him to be under Fujino's lead. The old lady more than made up for his lack of social presence and warmth even at first glance. And on the other end, he'd soon realized that the senior woman was sitting as much out of necessity as for comfort when she stood.

"You should pull your shoulders back, Aizawa-san. Your back looks worse than mine," Fujino pointed out with a chuckle as he followed her over to the kitten cages, comparing his characteristic slouch to her own weak-backed stoop.

"Hm." A fair point in this side-by-side comparison he conceded with a roll of his shoulders, pulling his spine up and back though his hands remained in his pockets. Worse posture than an old lady with back issues wouldn't help his homeless drunk case at all.

"We'll be taking care of all the kittens in this area," Fujino gestured with a sweep of her hand to the cages behind her chair.

The kitten tent had been divided up in such a way that facilitated meeting the kittens directly without disrupting the main flow of traffic through the tent. Cages were arranged in units surrounding on three sides a circular metal fold-up pen. Traffic flowed around the circular pen to see all the kittens and rejoined the main flow of traffic on the open side, then on into the next unit. When someone wanted to interact with a kitten, the volunteer would take the chosen little feline out and join them and the interested person in the pen for play-time and hands-on interaction. With two volunteers ideally assigned to each unit, one could focus on talking to interested adopters while the other was overseeing hands-on time in the pen. And with three to five kittens per cage, and the cages stacked for efficiency… oh boy. That was a lot of kittens to keep tabs of.

He followed her slow lead around the loop. "Every kitten has their info on the cage," She lifted the sheets pinned to a cage for one of the kittens, "You'll get familiar with them by reading them over. And each of them has their own name tag." She paused to slip her fingers through the bars of the cages to the kittens crowding up and squealing for attention, drawing his focus to the paper name tags they all had on. He took notice of the slight tremble of Fujino's hand, as well.

The division of labor Hayate had set up for him was obvious and straightforward; the sweet, grandmotherly Fujino took the lead on handling the people, and he took care of everything else she needed of him in a physical capacity while passing social interactions with bare minimum grace at best. Nice and logical. They quickly started to figure out a rhythm of their own accordingly with Fujino's grandmotherly charisma and Aizawa's quiet usefulness. This seemed a pleasing arrangement to all save for one.

"Meeeow!" Mic dashed to the side of the cage, yelling at Aizawa as he passed him by. Aizawa shot him a glance but had to keep moving. Mic waited for him to pass by again, sticking his arm out to try and grab his shirt sleeve. "Meeeoow!" Aizawa paused this time, teasing his paw with his fingers, then carried on. "Meeeooow!" Mic dashed to the other side of the cage to follow him, undeterred. Aizawa made a face but didn't look back, hearing him loud and clear but proceeding on with his tasks. Fujino laughed behind him from her chair.

"Oh, give him some love, Aizawa-san! You can take a minute."

He sighed and looked back this time, eyes shifting between the kitten and Fujino. "If I give him a minute, he'll want an hour." He still moved over to the cage though and opened the door, letting the loud kitten scramble up into his arms. Aizawa gathered him up while Fujino smiled, recognizing the care he felt for the cat.

"It seems to me like he's picked where he wants to be." Aizawa looked up at that comment. "Sometimes volunteers end up going home with animals, too."

He held Fujino's kind gaze for a moment then grunted indifferently and looked back at Mic. "Not the first time I've heard that lately," he mumbled, rubbing the kitten's cheeks.

Fujino's smile retracted a bit. "… You don't want to adopt him, though?"

"Eh, it's not that so much as he's not really the cat for my lifestyle. He needs more than that." Aizawa held the kitten up around the armpits, looking him in the eyes. "He's very needy."

"Meow," Mic seemed to agree, squirming until Aizawa returned him to his shoulder.

Fujino gave an understanding nod. "That's a good thing to recognize, too. I used to take in kittens all the time for fostering. These days, it's just not my speed, anymore. I still like to feed the neighborhood cats though, and let them inside when they want to come in. It keeps me from getting lonely."

Aizawa looked back over to her. "… You live alone, I take it?"

"Yes, last three years now, since my husband passed. My son lives in Okayama, so I don't see him or my grandson very much. It's just me and the cats, and getting to meet people at events like this."

"… I see." It was unfortunate but not too uncommon for isolating circumstanced like that to arise for the older generation of Japan. At least in her case, it sounded to him like she found what she needed in taking care of the animals in her life.

Aizawa and Fujino's attention was drawn to a new family that shifted into their area: a man and a woman with a little boy. The boy looked to be about five or six and clung to his mother's hand and hip like a burr.

"Look, Taro. This one's white. Do you like her?" His mother pointed at a kitten. "Can you see her name tag?" He didn't seem responsive to her attempt to garner his interest. His eyes looked over the cages, but he neither focused on anything in particular nor moved closer with his expression remaining unchanged. His free hand stayed up by his head continuously rubbing at and covering his ear.

The father leaned forward too, putting two fingers through the bars of the cage to scratch the kitten's chin and hook her name tag and tilt it towards his son. "Can you read that, Taro? Mo—chi? Her name is Mochi. You like mochi, right?"

The look on his parents' faces shifted to one of weary defeat when he was unresponsive, both of them pulling away from the cage and leaning close to speak to each other in hushed tones.

"He's not interested in any of them… too soon… too much…"

The scene didn't escape Aizawa or Fujino's notice. "Hellooo!" The parents looked away from each other as Fujino greeted them.

"Oh, hello," they returned, hiding the looks of mild distress from moments ago with smiles of their own.

Fujino's eyes lowered to the little one at their side, her expression warm and motherly. "Hello, dear. Are you liking the kittens?"

His gaze shied away from hers and dropped to the grass, his body pulling behind his mother a little. She looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, he doesn't mean to offend, Taro doesn't speak much…"

"Oh don't worry yourself! That's quite alright to be a little shy…"

Aizawa stayed where he was, holding Mic against his chest while watching on and listening as Fujino drew in and warmly engaged the family. He glossed over the formalities and small talk and picked out the most important information.

"Last month, we had to put down our family cat, Saki. Taro loved Saki. She slept next to his crib when he was little and was always so patient with him. I'm not sure he gets that she's gone yet. He's so upset about not seeing her. We hoped getting another cat would help so we came here. We read an adult cat or an older kitten might be better, but he wasn't interested in anything… so we figured we might as well try the younger ones, too."

That was a tough one. Aizawa shifted his eyes to the kid, who had started to dig his toe in circles in the dirt along with the rubbing of his ear upon having to stand still for the adults. He didn't really have a great solution in mind for an emotional situation like that. An attempt of some sort was within his capabilities, though.

He stepped forward quietly passing by Fujino as she continued chatting with the parents and stopped beside the mother on the side Taro stood at. If the boy didn't want to go up the cats, perhaps bring the cats up to him. Aizawa crouched slowly, pulling Mic away from his shoulder and holding him in his hands facing the boy. Aizawa watched his eyes fix on the kitten placed at eye-level right in front of him. Mic wiggled a little, looking around.

"Meeeeow!" Mic's loud, distinctive yell seemed to cut through all the background noise of the event around them. The free hand Taro cuffed around his ear paused its constant shifting, and his toe stopped circling.

He stared at the kitten and was still, and Aizawa, observing this over the top of Mic's head, offered quietly. "This is Mic. You can pet him."

Aizawa's voice seemed to disrupt whatever focus the boy had gained for he gave a little jolt. He looked up, caught Aizawa's eyes for half a second, and then dropped his eyes away with the rubbing of his ear and circling of his toe resuming. Aizawa waited for some kind of further response, but the boy wouldn't look up again. His parents at least noticed the effort, looking thankful and sympathetic.

"Thank you. It's just so busy around here, I think it's too much stimulation for him."

"Another day might be better. It's quieter at the shelter on a weekday, perhaps you could try to bring him then…"

Aizawa remained knelt by the boy, thinking and observing him. "Meeeow!" Mic squirmed and called out again. Aizawa watched Taro's eyes lift back to the kitten, his hand and foot slowing. Aizawa held the kitten there a bit longer to gauge the boy's reaction, who kept his eyes on the kitten without looking away, though not trying to reach for him, either. Hm. He stood up slowly and stepped back but kept watching the kid. Aizawa didn't shift Mic back to his shoulder on purpose, leaving him suspended in the air to yell in protest and squirm some more. Taro's eyes followed the kitten as Aizawa stood and moved away, back around Fujino and to the other side of the family opposite the boy, and this didn't go unnoticed.

Hmm… So, the kid didn't want to interact, but he was still focused on the cat. It wasn't disinterest that was the problem. That was some sort of progress. Maybe. Aizawa had to think for a minute to figure out what to do with that information, but his eyes flicked over to the hands-on pen. There were various cat toys inside.

He stepped into the pen and put Mic down then took a seat cross-legged on the grass on the far side of the pen facing the family. Picking up a cat wand tipped with a mouse-and-feather toy, he proceeded to flick it this way and that keeping watch over the boy from the corner of his eye. Taro was still watching Mic, the ear rubbing and toe circling slowing down a lot with his focus on the kitten. Mic, of course, put on quite a dramatic show of leaping and pouncing after the toy immediately, bouncing around the pen. Aizawa kept playing quietly keeping an eye on the boy while entertaining the kitten. Taro's attention was holding steady, which he took to be a positive sign.

"Oh look, Taro's watching…" Aizawa's eyes flicked up briefly as the parents noticed their son's attention then returned to the boy and the kitten. Fujino and the parents went quiet for a turn of pace, watching the boy's interest, which seemed to instill a mixture of hope and relief in the parents for him to be focused on something at last.

Aizawa played with the kitten for a bit longer then his eyes flicked up to the parents again, offering quietly, "Do you want to bring him in?"

They looked at each other for a moment of unspoken deliberation, then the mother nodded. "He's watching… yes, let's go ahead and try."

The father undid the latches on the door and the three of them stepped inside while Fujino watched from the outside with a smile. The parents knelt down. The mother tried to coax Taro to do so as well, but he went stiff and refused with a shake of the arm he still held her hand with, so she relented and let him stand between the two of them. They stayed quiet, their eyes flicking between their son and the kitten to gauge his reaction as a minute, then two passed by. Taro's expression didn't reveal much, but his eyes didn't leave the kitten. Though his hand still rubbed his ear slowly, his foot had stopped moving altogether.

It was both something and nothing much at all that was happening was Aizawa's assessment, with no clear advancement of the boy's interest. He looked at him and thought for a while, not sure what to do with no clear best course of action. He watched the boy a little too much, for Mic outwitted him and snagged the toy. It gained tension on his claw before getting loose, springing away. The toy hit lightly against Taro's pant leg then fell to his feet with the string draped across his shoe. Aizawa nearly pulled the toy back reflexively for the action had been unintentional, but he stopped himself just as quickly when he saw Taro react, the hand by his ear pulling away quickly.

He left the toy where it was as Taro's hand hovered in the air, his eyes staring down at his feet at the kitten who came bounding over to pounce on the toy. Mic proceeded to 'kill' it, pawing all around and on top of Taro's shoes. His parents held their breath and Aizawa held the cat wand slackened, observing expectantly. Mic rolled up in a ball around the toy to chew at the feather, his back against the toes of Taro's shoes. The boy's hand remained in the air by his head, his fingers flexing and un-flexing like he was thinking.

Then, slowly and a bit awkwardly, he extended his arm straight out and bent at the hip to bring his hand down to the kitten. He patted Mic on the shoulder with a flat hand then started a slow pet down his back. His hand lifted up and hovered in the air for a moment then he repeated in the same slow manner down Mic's back. The kitten didn't pay attention to this at first with his full intent on attacking the toy, and the parents shared an ecstatic look between themselves as their son kept petting the kitten.

When Mic did finally pause to spit out a bit of mangled feather, his head craned around to look at the hand stroking down his back. "Meow." Taro finished the pet and his hand hovered up in the air. Mic looked at it and suddenly scampered up. He came up to the boy's hand to sniff it, then yelled. "Meow!" Taro moved his hand slowly again in the same manner, and Mic spun to follow under it. "Meow!"

The mother chuckled quietly. "He's so noisy!"

Aizawa nodded a little, a relaxed look on his face as he watched Taro start to gradually settle down into a crouch as he pet Mic. "He likes the attention."

Taro tugged the hand that his mother held and she looked over quickly then let go. He pulled his second hand down to Mic and pet him with both, squishing up his fur in different directions.

"Remember to pet nicely, Taro. Kitties don't like rough pets."

"He's used to all kinds of teasing," Aizawa supplied, looking unbothered. "By me, and he's the runt from a litter of three."

Mic looked quite unperturbed by the two-handed pets which ruffled his fur up all over. One of Taro's hands left the fur and moved down to the toy still draped over his shoes, plucking it up by the string and dangling it in front of the kitten's nose. Mic swatted at it and the game was on again. He quickly captured it and Taro dropped it, toy pulled from his fingers. He picked it up by the string again to tug on it with Mic holding on.

Silently, Aizawa turned the cat wand around in his hand and reached out slowly holding the handle out to Taro. When it passed in front of his eyes, he paused a little, but his eyes never looked up to acknowledge Aizawa. He grabbed the handle and Aizawa let go, returning his freed hand to his lap alongside his other one. He sat still and watched silently as the boy played with the kitten. Taro hadn't spoken a word and his expression hadn't changed much, but there was a focused set to his eyes as he swung the cat wand that Aizawa was satisfied to see.

"What's his name, again?"

Aizawa's eyes flicked down to the kitten at her question. He was on his back rabbit-kicking the toy while he chewed on the string, his mustached lips curled up to one side. Aizawa's own lips shifted back in a faint smile.

"… Mic."

She looked over at her husband with a smile. "Well… I think I know what our new cat's name is." He smiled and nodded, their eyes going down together to their son.

"No need to get up," Fujino spoke up for the first time in a while having snuck off to preemptively prepare some adoption documents and attach them to a clipboard, which she extended to the husband from the other side of the fence. "Let them play a little longer."

Grateful, the parents did just that while Taro and Mic played and Aizawa stayed seated where he was watching them. It was when they finished that Aizawa finally got up to go get one of the cardboard adoption boxes and Fujino handled the rest of the documentation. The very last thing they saved was perhaps the hardest part.

Aizawa scooped up Mic from off the ground, ending the playtime. He paused to hold the kitten up face-to-face for one final time. "Behave yourself." Then he gave him a teasing pet on the nose with a finger before putting him in the box. Taro's eyes didn't leave Mic, and when the kitten was tucked away in the box out of sight, for the first time he made a noise, an indistinct sound of distress that his mother was quick to address.

"It's okay, Taro, we're taking Mic home! He's coming home in the box. Look, you can see him through the holes." She pointed out the air holes in the box and he scooted closer to peer into them and she looked a little relieved that he seemed calm again with that. When she picked up the box by the handle, he put a hand on top of hers and stood up with the box as she lifted it, and his other hand he put around the side of the box to keep it close with his fingers still clenched around—oh. The toy.

The mother realized it was there still. "Oh! Taro, um, the toy—"

"Keep it." Fujino and Aizawa turned their heads at the return of a familiar voice. Hayate smiled, stepping forward into the area. "Adoption gift from us."

Relief filled the mother's face again. "Thank you!" Her eyes went back to Fujino and Aizawa, settling on him as she gave a quick bow. "Thank you so much!"

He didn't say anything in reply, though a subtle smile held on his lips as he nodded at them and brought his hands into his pockets with his eyes flicking back to Hayate. Hayate came up beside him as the family left and his eyes settled on her after watching their backs go.

"When did you get here?" He asked quietly.

"Since you were over there," she gestured over at the area he'd been standing near Taro outside the pen. "I was just watching from the edge of the kennels; not surprised you didn't notice me, you looked pretty focused. I finished eating kind of early, so I figured I'd come back here for the rest of my lunch break."

'To talk with you' she didn't say, but he filled in the blank. "Oh. We didn't get to chat like you expected, then."

She shook her head. "No, no, it's completely fine. That was… worth a lot more." Hayate looked over at him smiling. "… Kind of bittersweet seeing Mic go, huh?"

"Have to see them off, sometime." Aizawa brushed it off, but Hayate had been watching the subtle, honest smile on his face inside the hands-on pen for much too long to buy his indifference.

"That was the first time you played with cat toys with Mic, too."

"Huh, yeah, I guess it was."

"… Last time, too."

"Eh, the kid's got it from here. Mic'll get plenty of attention."

"… I know you're just going to say something like 'it was just the logical thing to do for them' but... That was very kind." He looked over at her, finding an earnest smile aimed at him. The look in her eyes as they met his, conveying quiet admiration, made a warm spot spring up in his chest.

He looked away feigning indifference, mumbling, "Well… it was the logical thing to do."

Her smile broadened to one side, shifting into a smirk. "You act tough, but you really are a big softie, aren't you?"

He frowned. "I am not."

"Uuuh-huh."

He flicked a disgruntled glance her way. "I'm not soft."

She leaned closer, lifting a hand to his arm with a suddenly playful and light press on his bicep. "Not on the outside, obviously, hahah!"

He blinked at her, his eyes flicking to her hand and then to her face a few times blankly. Hayate seemed to freeze up a little, her laugh going quiet. Oh shit. His arm was really hard. Just a bundle of compact muscle. She lifted it away from him awkwardly. "Eheh, that's a good thing, I mean, it's what makes you good a hero, I think, being strong and kind, that's what I mean…"

He kept staring at her without comment, and Hayate cleared her throat and tucked her hands halfway into her pockets.

"Well, uh, my lunch break's over so I'm gonna go, again, eheheh…! I'll see you around, again."

She turned away suddenly and started walking, hiding her grimace and mouthing a silent cry on her lips. That was so bad!

Aizawa watched her go with a flicker of confusion crossing his face. "Uh, right…" That had been sudden. Again. His eyes flicked down to his arm where she had touched him and then up to her back receding into the crowd. That was the first time she had ever made a move to touch him… There was just something off about her today, but he couldn't quite put a label on it. Clumsy? Stiff? No… awkward? He rubbed his arm and thought about it as he turned his attention back to the adoption event, a new string of families circling into the loop…

Hayate exited the tent and took in a breath, looking up at the sky and walking slowly as she thought.

"… What are you going to do?"

"Expel the ones not making the cut."

"It isn't worth my time."

"I won't be the one responsible for giving them the false confidence that gets them killed."

"You want my job or something, Hayate? You seem to have a lot of ideas better than mine."

It felt like that conversation had taken place longer ago than just three weeks. He had meant for his final words to hurt. And they did. His harshness, cold realism, and reactionary remarks weren't a pleasant angle to see him from. It had made her interest in him waiver.

And then entered a little boy in need. She saw the concentrated set of his brow as he worked out how to help him. She took notice of the faint smile he gained when he saw that he had succeeded. And she watched him say goodbye to the kitten that had a special to him without hesitation. He had been visibly kind, his approach was patient, and he hadn't given up for the sake of a struggling child.

This was the same Aizawa who had told her he was expelling his students for their own good and intentionally cut her with words when she disagreed with his approach. That side of him had been unpleasant to see. It made me wary of my feelings. But this side reminded her of the better qualities he had showed her at the TNR and in their everyday conversations. I was too quick to judge him… again. Nobody was perfect. One look of his negative side shouldn't outweigh all the good qualities she'd seen in him. The flame that had cooled by a degree and flickered with nervousness and uncertainty grew, strengthening and brightening. Hayate picked up the pace, looking forward with a renewed eagerness in her eyes. It was just in time for a pinching ache to creep down her sides from under her arms.

Her lips pursed a little at the feeling. I shouldn't have skipped that break. But if I hadn't… I would have missed out on seeing something much more important. She smiled and squared her shoulders. I'll definitely make it work...!

=^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^=

The rest of the event passed as Hayate had said it would with the two of them being apart most of the time. Her visits were brief, just a few minutes, and then she was gone again to attend to her responsibilities. But every time that she did check-in, Aizawa found her eyes bright and lips eager for conversation as she sought him out. It barely mattered what they talked about to him—this or that about a cat or some other element of the adoption event—but the enthusiasm she brought with her every appearance stuck with him. By the end of the day, he was almost checking over his shoulder for her. In a good way.

The event ended at 3 pm with an additional hour afterwards assigned to volunteers for teardown and transporting the remaining animals away. She found him again at this time and stayed much closer just as promised to take Fujino's place in working together tearing down that section. During this process, the pair took notice of a few things about each other.

Hayate shamelessly watched him with a furtive, sidelong stare as he lifted multiple cages without obvious effort. It's ridiculous how thin he looks for his actual strength. Her eyes traced the outline of his muscles in action. Wiry. Compact. Her eyes shifted up past his sturdy shoulders to the muscles flexing beneath the bare skin of his neck and carried onward to his sharp jawline. … More attractive than I used to give him credit for. The baggy clothes, his shaggy mane, and the Capturing Weapon just always covered it up. He glanced her way and she quickly looked away before he could catch her.

He looked her up and down from time to time, studying her form with a slight frown. Hayate looked… tense. She shifted with restraint between physical positions, grabbed things carefully as if shying from applying pressure to them, and kept her arms close and shoulders tight. He hadn't noticed such a thing at the TNR where she carried cages easily, yet here held them gingerly, nor at any other occasion. But if he were to suppose a label for the cause of what he saw, his first guess would be—

Pain. Hayate kept her jaw clenched and lips thinned at the tenderness of her skin where the metal bars of cages pressed their weight into her fingers. The repetitive shifting of her underarms and pressure on the soles of her feet when she walked had become a background source of irritation.

At least I've got a distraction, she thought wryly, sending another look Aizawa's way. Her heart gave a little leap when she met his eyes looking at her already. A smile sprung to her lips on nervous reflex more than anything. He was looking at me?

He acknowledged the look with a faint nod then looked away, and Hayate let out her breath with a puff. Can't wait for this to be over. Maybe we can talk alone, then. All this popping in for a minute just to leave him again alongside her growing uncomfortableness was wearing on her nerves.

Her desire was granted at the very end of the day when the opportunity to get into the same vehicle presented itself, and she swooped in on it. Hayate took the driver's seat of a loaded Musutafu Animal Shelter van as an authorized event driver and Aizawa the passenger's. She settled her tender hands gingerly around the wheel. Unbeknownst to her for her eyes were on the road, Aizawa observed this from where he slouched lazily against the door. She shot a glance his way with a smile as she drove.

"It's been a pretty busy day, huh?"

"Mm… yeah."

"You and Fujino-san seemed to work well together."

"Hard not to get along with someone like that." His eyes shifted away. "… Thanks, for that."

Hayate sent a brief glance his way. "That?"

"You could have paired me anyone today." He was resting his head against the window. "It was a logical decision. That was nice." His hangover headache, still lingering on in the weeks of overwork, certainly thanked her for the streamlined process.

Her, logical? Coming from the physical embodiment of rationality itself that was high enough praise to make her cheeks tint. She adjusted her nervous hands on the steering wheel and smiled with a chuckle. "Heheh, it was no problem at all! I'm glad it worked out for you both."

There was that nervous chuckle again. His eyes settled back on her shifting hands with a studious squint. "… You've seemed tense today. Is something wrong?"

"Huh?" The question caught her off-guard, and she stiffened. He didn't say anything, just observing her impassively.

… Yes. Something is wrong. She made herself relax, though her hands stayed firm on the wheel. But I'm not going to let it get in the way.

"… Oh, it's just something personal. Don't worry about it."

Aizawa kept looking at her but he didn't offer with further comment. I'd like to keep it private he heard clearly, and that was enough of an answer on the issue to satisfy him into respectful silence, closing his eyes and resting further against the window.

Hayate's eyes flicked his way anxiously a few times in the ensuing silence. "… Hey, uh, it's kind of late for a coffee, so, I was thinking… when we're done here, want to get something to eat instead?"

"Hm, sure." It was going to be late enough for dinner by then.

She smiled eagerly. "Where do you want to eat?"

He didn't even open his eyes. "So long as it isn't a karaoke bar, I don't care."

"Uh—what?"

"Nothing. What do you want to eat?"

"Hmm, I'm not that picky, either… how about teriyaki?"

"Fine."

"I know a place that's close to the shelter, we can walk there."

Arriving at the shelter, they began the unloading process of their van and then the loads from other vehicles that had arrived. Hayate's duties as a lead were more extensive than Aizawa's, so the pair split up again. When the animals were unloaded and secure back in their shelter kennels and all the cages and other equipment was stored, some final congratulatory and thanking words were spoken to the assembled volunteers by Hayate and the other leads and then it was the official end of the event. She made it back to his side immediately.

"Come on, let's head this way," she took the lead heading to the teriyaki place she knew, and Aizawa fell into step beside her. Her nerves were such that she didn't speak at all on the walk there, her mind whirring with things to say and putting them together into a conversation with brimming anticipation. When they arrived at the restaurant, they were seated in a private room space at a low table on tatami floors. They sat facing each other and arranged their legs casually with Aizawa sitting cross-legged hunched over the menu flat on the table and Hayate side-legged with her back straight and the menu tilted up. As soon as their orders were placed and the menus departed, she settled her hands in her lap and her sights on him with equal parts nervous and eager energy.

Finally! I can just focus on him. She looked him over as he lifted the beer he'd ordered; hard-pressed to pick tea over a beer any day even after last night, it was something light to take it easy for the coming camp week. Hayate's eyes settled on his bruised cheek and lingered there.

"You know, I never did ask how you got that bruise."

"I got punched in the face," he replied without looking up, the cup not pausing.

She made a face. "I figured that much out."

The corner of his lip twitched back in amusement at her tone, and the cup paused. "… Student training. Sparring." He looked down at his drink for a few moments at the memory. "It was a good punch."

"Student? I thought your summer training camp started tomorrow."

"It does." He started to move the cup again.

"So what was this training for?"

The cup paused again, his eyes slipping to the side in thought. That was going to be a lot to explain. "… Just a little extra teaching this summer." He looked back at his drink and finally took a first sip.

Hayate gave him some time in silence as she thought that over. Summer teaching? Was it his hero class? Wasn't he going to expel them? Did he change his mind? Questions danced on the tip of her tongue but she clamped down on them with her teeth. The last time they'd talked about this, the result hadn't been so positive.

"... I, um, last time I asked, it seemed like your students were struggling a bit. I don't want to pry… but how are things?"

His eyes lifted to her over the top of his cup, then settled on the table as he lowered the glass. 'Last time' of course referring to when he'd met her fair criticism with irritable snark he lamented in silent deliberation staring at the wood grain. "… I did some things differently. It's too early to say with finality if they've worked. But… there have been some promising signs."

She perked up a little at that in relief. "That's good news. You, uh, look tired. More than usual, heh."

"… Yeah. It's been a busy summer."

"I'll bet. Have you had any free time for yourself?"

"Not really."

"Nothing but a workaholic, huh? What about your coworkers?"

"What about them?"

"If you've been working all the time, have you done anything with them?"

Aizawa suppressed a karaoke-induced shudder and started to raise his glass again. "… Nothing of note."

Huh. Not gonna give me any conversation for free, I see. Not that the brevity and vagueness of his answers surprised her.

"Well, I've been pretty efficient with my summer. Managed to have a good time and do a teambuilding exercise at the same time."

"That's nice. Efficiency is logical." Well, sometimes. When it didn't involve karaoke. He started to lift the glass.

"Have you ever done escape the room?"

He blinked and pulled the cup back slightly, looking at her. "Have I… 'done' escape the room? I've escaped rooms if that's what you're asking."

She laughed. "No! 'Escape the room' as in, an activity. Escape rooms."

He stared at her blankly. "… This is for fun?"

"Yes. You've never heard of them before?"

"If it's a room I'm trying to get out of, I don't see the appeal of wanting in it in the first place. That sounds like a waste of time." He lifted the cup again.

"I bet I could convince you otherwise."

He glanced over the top of his glass to find her fixing him with a sly smile. He didn't move for a few moments, giving the challenge pause. The look on her face promised some witty rhetoric. Tempting. "… Seriously?"

"Seriously," she returned with a, well, serious nod.

The glass lowered. "… Fine." Can't be more ridiculous than wet coffee. Or that animal Quirk book … or karaoke. "What sort of room is this?"

She leaned forward eagerly and took a breath to begin. Aizawa listened to her explanation of the room and all its puzzles and benefits; working under pressure, coordination, communication, time crunch, mental connections, cognitive function, mood elevation. It didn't actually sound so terrible, though he made a show of reluctantly relenting to her position just to draw out her wit with devil's advocate. He underestimated her though as she countered his sarcastic and clipped commentary by asking for his views on education in relative relation to such benefits, and oh boy was that a deep rabbit hole.

He tried to get out of it with a brush over statement of deterrence and lifted his drink, but she deflected this attempt with a question. And when he gave a short response to that, another question. And then another, followed by another probing his thoughts and making it rather clear that he wasn't getting out of it with a display of indifference as he lowered the glass back to the table, and there was no train-imposed limitation on their chat, either.

It occurred to him that Hayate didn't talk to him like Yamada did. Yamada flitted between topics like a sparrow through the branches of a bush, brisk and constantly chirping, but fleeting and quick so he didn't wear out his friend's nerves with a rapid fire in-depth interrogation. It was an overview check-in on the state of Aizawa's affairs which he could mostly tune out as background chattering noise.

Hayate's questions were not so superficial. She dug a deeper burrow with each question. And when his interest waned or patience grew thin, she abandoned the one and dug in a new direction, connecting tunnels in reference between them and dragging him further down with her. Brushing her off did nothing to shift her focus. She just stubbornly dug around the rock that was his indifference and kept going. Even their food arriving didn't distract her for long. If such a thing had come from Yamada and his twittering in twenty different directions, he would have shut down in irritability and slammed back another drink to tolerate it. But the level of liquid in his glass declined slowly. She didn't let him get away with any short answers, but she was tactful about picking directions that he had an opinion about. All in pursuit of one thing.

I want to know you.

He could see it in her eyes that never left him and hear it through the enthusiasm of her voice. She was so focused on him. Did she really miss their morning chats that much? Why?

He studied her as he wondered, his eyes gazing at the blue rings of her own with such intent that he didn't notice it made her look away shyly. This caused her hair to shift, and his eyes flicked to the motion of the strands, a shine to them that made their dark purple color more interesting. They ended past her chin, to her neck… She always had it covered so it was pale, and soft-looking. His eyes followed the trail of her jugular down to the notch of her collarbone, the top of her chest. Her shirt showed a lot of her shoulders and chest, but not too much. He couldn't see any cleavage of her breasts, though he didn't dislike that, the shirt fit her well; and he did look, which, had he been thinking, he would not have, but his mind was blank in an odd way, in that moment focused on her details that he hadn't taken notice of before and never usually would. Like how the flowers of her blouse and hair cover were a good match for the scent of her perfume, a faint presence of it drifting across the table and creeping into his awareness, the same brand that he'd never smelled before meeting her and that distinctively singled her out. A dull ache started in his chest, an unsettled feeling which made him question himself while his eyes stayed pinned on her body without him realizing, his mind's silence disturbed by a quiet thought.

… Did I miss her?

"—did you?" Her head turned back his way as she questioned him. Hayate found him looking at her but he made no acknowledgement of her words. She recognized that he was looking at her but that his eyes weren't meeting hers. They were aimed lower. At her chest. Her cheeks flushed. How long has he been staring?! Not that she was unhappy, exactly; more like flustered and surprised that her choice of shirt had paid off. She'd been so focused on directing the conversation that she hadn't noticed… Wait. She stared at his eyes. He wasn't moving at all. Focus. He was so focused. Her breath hitched with a jolt of realization and she checked on the thought held in place at the back of her mind, confirming her fear. Dammit! I lost focus!

Aizawa finally stirred as she suddenly shifted up. "I'm going to go the restroom." She scurried up and away quickly, exiting the room without looking back.

She was gone so suddenly. He stared at the empty doorway, his mind snapping back into action. … What? His brow furrowed in a frown, eyes dropping to the table. Why the hell was I staring at her? She was physically attractive, sure, but he'd long since acknowledged that and glossed over it ever since. It was just wasn't a big deal to him. His eyes flicked up to her empty seat. It felt like she had left behind a void at the table, both physically and by the heavy feeling in his chest. Why…

He looked down to his drink. It wasn't quite empty yet. His first drink of the night. She kept him talking, so he hadn't finished it, yet. That was so unusual for him. By this point in the night, he'd be on his third if he were with Yamada. It made his chest feel heavier, and he didn't like that. This confusion, like he was pining over her absence… he didn't bother putting a name to it as he shunned it, sliding the glass away with a tight exhale and closing his eyes and rubbing them, but he could put a more practical label on it. How irrational.

Hayate entered the restroom and turned to the sink, taking note of her own irritated reflection. I was focused so hard on him I lost my concentration. She brought her hands up in front of her into loose fists and focused. A sharp spasm of objection ran through her skin, and she hissed at the feeling. She relented to it, closing her palms.

"… Hit my limit, huh."

She paced across the bathroom with a fretful expression, rubbing her tender hands together. I didn't even notice that I relaxed it… I was just having a good time. What am I going to do…? I can't keep it going. I have to tell him. Dammit, why did I wait so long?!

She stopped, paused, and then sighed and approached the bathroom counter, putting her hands out flat on the cool surface to relieve the ache and looked disheartened at her reflection. … No, I know why. Who wants to be the one who might ruin a good time?

She scoffed and closed her eyes, head dropping a little. Thinking about a relationship without even telling him about it first. No, I've got to clear this up... Not going to start this off with a misunderstanding or a lie. And if he doesn't take it well…

Her eyes opened and lifted back to the mirror, hope reflecting in her eyes. It's Aizawa. He's going to be logical about it, of course… I've got to be logical about it, too. It's not logical to keep him in the dark anymore.

She pushed away from the counter with a huff and squared her shoulders. I'm doing this! She exited the restroom and made her way back to their table.

Hayate entered and found him hunched over his meal eating with his glass pushed to the side. He glanced up at her return and she smiled back at him nervously, taking a seat and folding her legs straight under her. "Pretty good food, right?"

"Yeah…" His eyes lingered on her, his feelings almost wary of her from moments ago.

She fidgeted for a few moments, balling her hands onto her thighs and darting her eyes around the room before she pulled her gaze back to him. "Hey, Aizawa-san, there's something I want to tell you."

He perked up a little at that, lowering his chopsticks. "Okay."

Her eyes shifted away from him. "Can you, uh… close your eyes for a second?"

Huh? He stared at her blankly, then his eyes narrowed a tad in suspicion. "… This isn't a prank, is it?"

She looked back at him sharply in confusion. "What? No." He didn't look immediately convinced. "Are you used to that kind of thing, or something?"

He gave a small shrug. "Some people I know would." It was a rather odd request, and completely out of the blue.

Hayate resisted rolling her eyes, settling for a huff instead. "It's not a prank! Please, just close your eyes."

He studied her for a moment more then decided that the serious look in her eyes was worth granting her odd request. He set his chopsticks down and closed his eyes then waited for further instruction.

Hayate watched him then slowly leaned forward raising her right hand. She extended it out across the table and in front of his face beneath his nose. She focused her eyes on the back of her hand.

"What do you smell?"

He sniffed and was immediately struck by punch of scent that made his heart quicken with a jolt. "… Your perfume?"

"You can open your eyes now."

Aizawa opened his eyes to find her hand in front of his nose. Looking at it, he immediately observed purple, mist-like particles emanating out of the skin on the back of her hand.

"This is my Quirk."

Her words made his brow knit in confusion and he flicked his eyes up to her. "Your Quir—?" His breath hitched and he stopped short when he saw her, his mind seizing up.

Aizawa could comfortably count on one hand the number of times he had experienced a moment of being awestruck by a woman, and virtually all of those cases from yesteryears which he could attribute to newly abounding teenage hormones being the culprit. Getting flustered around women just wasn't his deal. He could recognize beauty, he'd look, sure, and appreciate the view, but the thought of actually acting on that instinctive inclination was banished in short order with a logical assessment of the hassle and effort involved. He just didn't get what the big deal was. Typically this progression was processed so quickly that outwardly his appearance gave no indication of it whatsoever.

But no logical order came to his mind in this moment. As he stared at her, lungs frozen, waiting for his mind to start turning again, as if suddenly dunked in iced water… that moment didn't come, overwhelmed by that instinct. She was intensely attractive in such a jarring manner that he could offer nothing but stunned silence. He swallowed hard, finding his mouth suddenly uncomfortably dry. He was very thankful that he hadn't finished the last of his beer. He tried to break whatever the hell this, this spell was with a purposeful raise of his beer for a sip, but his eyes didn't leave her for an instant and the feeling didn't pass. Something was wrong here. His logical mind wasn't working. His wetted mouth did finally open, though, and he managed a few quiet words, the only logical thing that he could manage to grasp.

"I… thought you were Quirkless."

His visible struggling hadn't escaped Hayate's notice in the slightest, and she sighed as the particles stopped coming out of her skin and she retracted her hand. She tucked her arms around herself in a hug, looking down at the table in an apologetic way. "I'm sorry… I haven't been forthcoming with you. It wasn't to be malicious, I just… it was for my own comfort, I guess you could say.

My Quirk is 'Pheromones'. It's a mutant type Quirk that makes glands throughout my body secrete a… well, a sex pheromone. Men are affected primarily. The effects on those who smell it are two-fold; triggering my sexual attractiveness to them, and lowering their inhibitions to act on that attraction."

Aizawa slowly absorbed that information, still recovering from her Quirk. He realized his jaw was hanging open, so he clicked it shut. The exposure to it had been brief, thankfully, and with her hand retracted his mind was already clearing just in time to puzzle all that over. A Quick she hadn't told him about? An aphrodisiac Quirk at that? His eyes suddenly snapped wide. Holy shit. That explained so much. The sense of longing in his chest; looking at her body; a peppering of memories where her scent had caught his attention pouring into his mind. His own inexplicable actions found a single source of logical validation, and with it came a wave of relief. It was just her Quirk. This personal revelation was accompanied by a pregnant pause in which he was staring at Hayate, completely unreadable, making her fidget further before clearing her throat and look down at the table, drawing his attention back to the matter at hand.

"Anyway… I'm sorry for not telling you about this sooner, and sort of lying about it when you asked if I had a Quirk… or at the very least, not correcting you back then."

He considered that for a few moments, still feeling perplexed. Apologizing for and lying about such a basic detail about oneself didn't make much sense. "Alright… but why not tell me in the first place? And why did you choose now to bring this up?"

She sighed and looked off to the side. "… I try not to bring attention to it. But the thing about my Quirk is that I can't turn it off. Pheromones are secreted gradually and continually as a natural part of my physiology. It is a mutant Quirk. And for that reason, sometimes my Quirk can cause problems with people.

I've had some occasions where my Quirk affected someone's significant other, and when I tried to explain my Quirk they didn't believe me and accused me of doing it on purpose to seduce them. Other times, it's been trying to explain it to guys who are affected and then they think I'm just being coy and flirting with them, which I'm not. If I have to take a train when it's busy and it has a Quirk-accommodation car, I'll get in that one to avoid as much people as I can. But then I look 'normal' for whatever that's worth, and that means the people with obvious mutant Quirks on the car all give me the stink eye for 'taking up a spot'. My Quirk isn't easily seen, so it seems like an emitter type. And if it's 'emitting', then I must be doing it on purpose to get that sort of attention so the thinking goes.

I'd like to just go about my day like it doesn't exist, but it has a way of making itself known without me meaning to. It's impossible to completely eliminate your natural scent. I do what I can to manage it with lifestyle choices and actively suppress it when I have to, and I just try to avoid causing any conflict with people around me. Bringing it up on purpose is something I'd rather not do unless I feel like it's necessary as it tends to make social situations quite awkward. Which, with you… I felt that it was. The longer we know each other, the more likely it'll happen to affect you… I think it already has, a few times, if you've noticed."

She paused with a look, leaving that statement open-ended for him to pick up. Aizawa ran all that through his head for a time in silence. It made logical sense. And it was unfortunate. It was a Quirk ill-suited for a crowded society, both embarrassing by nature and unpredictable to control. He gave a slow nod, his tone soft as he spoke. "That makes sense… It doesn't sound like an easy thing to deal with. Although, you have masked it well. There have been a few times I've noticed, but they were rare and I wrote it off as perfume. On a daily basis, at the train every morning… I wouldn't have guessed anything unusual." Logically, the thought had never crossed his mind upon smelling something nice to suspect it was a woman giving off Quirk-induced sex pheromones in a train station around strangers at 5 am in the morning over more plausible answers; like perfume.

Hayate nodded, relaxing a little. "I'm glad it hasn't been much of a bother. Although, on that note…" Her eyes flicked away, a guilty look settling into her eyes. "I… kind of have to own up to something. Do you remember when I asked you to come to the adoption event?"

He looked at her blankly. That was a while back. "Yeah…?"

"Remember anything odd?"

He thought about it, and then the connection clicked. "You moved closer on the bench and opened your jacket… I smelled your Quirk then." His brow creased in a frown. "You used your Quirk on me, then?"

She gave a wishy-washy tilt of her head. "Well, I didn't activate it… but I did rely on that continual factor I mentioned." She set her eyes on him with a sudden pout. "I wanted you to come to the adoption event, but you were being so stubborn about it with all your excuses. So I just gave you a little nudge so you'd shut up and say yes."

His eyebrow twitched up a little. Snarky. "… So I brought it on myself, huh?" The crease in his brow deepened at the implications of that. "… Wait. Your Quirk—persuaded me to come?"

Hayate was quick to shake to her head. "Not quite. I wouldn't call it that. My Quirk is a lot more basic than that in a biological sense. It's more like it put a desire in you to give your… 'potential mate' what she wanted." Hayate's expression settled into something more serious. "And I wouldn't have tried that with just anyone. It doesn't change your personality or make you behave contrary to your moral character. It just makes you bolder to act on that attraction. For you, that was pretty harmless. For someone else, though, it might be different… like getting aggressive if pursuing that affection wasn't reciprocated.

At any rate, I shouldn't have relied on it like that. You didn't know about it, and I didn't say anything about it, either." She smiled a little. "Even if it was to get you to come play with a kitten. It wasn't very honest, regardless."

Aggressive, huh? She tried to gloss over it with kittens, but to Aizawa, a Quirk that put her into compromising positions beyond her control was a far more serious detail which stood out to him quite a bit more than her apology. Regardless of how much it seemed to concern her, it didn't particularly bother him what she'd done with her rather innocent intent, not to mention it had been worth it to come today. Controlling a threat to her safety, on the other hand…

"… Would you mind activating your Quirk again?"

"Huh?" She looked at him sharply in confusion.

He realized how odd the request must have seemed in response to what she'd just said. "It's not a prank," he deadpanned.

Her lips twitched at his reassurance. Had she been less tense, she would have chuckled. She lifted her arm hesitantly. "Uh, okay…"

He watched her hand reach out across the table to him, though she hesitated in bringing it too close to his face. He waited until he saw the purple mist start to trickle out of her skin, and then he blinked, eyes flashing red.

A shiver ran up Hayate's right arm from her hand; the feeling of her activated pheromone glands being forced to relax against her will. It was a very strange sensation, but she recognized it for what it was with Aizawa's glowing eyes and the loose strands of his bun lifting against gravity. Her expression immediately brightened, eyes fixed on her hand. "You stopped it! I didn't notice that with Erasure before—oh, it must have been because I wasn't trying to use it back then, when you looked at me with your Quirk for the first time, remember?" She looked up at his face for confirmation, but her excitement quickly fell at the sight of him. "… Oh."

Aizawa was looking at her intensely, all the more so with his eyes blazing. He had a hand clamped around his nose and mouth to block the particles out and pinch his nose shut. Holy shit. It was extremely disconcerting how arousing that pheromone was, and he knew she wasn't even going all out with that timid wisp of it. He thought back over the time he'd known Hayate, picking out all the times he'd recalled noticing her perfume—well, her Quirk, he now knew logically. All those times it had certainly caught his attention for a moment, but she wasn't trying with her Quirk in those instances like she was here. The effect was like getting punched by a rampaging surge of teenage hormones from completely out of nowhere, and their focus was entirely dedicated to drawing that certain brand of attention to Hayate.

He closed his eyes, forcing himself to stop looking at her and take a few moments to compose himself. That test had confirmed his suspicion, at least. As a mutant type Quirk, he could temporarily block the physical component of her Quirk which produced the pheromone, but he could not erase the scent particles that she had already released.

Hayate looked a bit guilty and fidgeted, observing his posture indecisively for a few moments before speaking up. "… It's alright, you don't have to worry about trying to control it for me. I've got that covered better than Erasure. I can either make my Quirk produce more pheromones, or suppress it to make less… the latter is of more use, obviously." Her eyes flicked away with a grimace. "Well, usually, anyway. Forcing it to make more or less is an active state. I can only do that for so long before it starts to get physically painful. Plus, it takes a conscious effort to sustain it. If I get distracted by something and forget about it, then my Quirk will relax again. Both of those things happened tonight, with you… I hit my limit, and I lost focus on it when we were talking. So… I kind of had to tell you."

Aizawa eventually cleared his throat and opened his eyes to squint at her, relaxing the pinch on his nose. "… How long can you suppress it for?"

Hayate shrugged a little. "Around nine hours… ten is pushing it past its limit, but I did that today."

His eyes widened. "… You were using it all day?"

"Uh-huh."

He continued to stare at her.

She fidgeted, feeling pressed for explanation. "Riding the train in the morning, then the whole event—although I did give it a fifteen-minute break at lunchtime—and then after the event, too, with you, until I couldn't anymore…" Her voice trailed off.

Ten hours. That's insane. There were plenty of Pro Heroes who couldn't use their Quirk for ten hours straight. Hell, he was one of them. Just the thought made his eyes want to bleed. No one developed that level of Quirk endurance overnight. Was she really that concerned about suppressing it so strongly? He reflected on his own reactions to it, his hand still over his nose and mouth warily. If anybody walking by would take notice of her Quirk like he did just sitting across from her…

"Is the...effect always that strong?"

Hayate hesitated and looked embarrassed. "No… that's the other 'great' part." She gave a bit of a huff, looking about awkwardly. "You know how animals use scent to communicate their, uh, mating receptiveness? Well… the exact same deal. My Quirk's potency fluctuates with my menstrual cycle. When I ovulate, it's highest, and at the opposite time of the month, it's lowest. And obviously, that's completely involuntary." She paused for a moment, eyes pinned on anything but him, then added, "And I'm not going to make you ask that. I'm ovulating about now. So… that's why."

Oh jeez. Aizawa closed his eyes again. Sex pheromones and menstrual cycles. It didn't take more than a fraction of a second of logical thought to put together how awkward as hell to bring that up casually in conversation would be, all the more so with someone you didn't know very well, yet. And if someone started asking for more details or a demonstration of her Quirk, it would get even more embarrassing. Her reluctance in telling him about it made all the more sense, especially based on how even someone as stoic as him had reacted to it. Which meant that, logically, the best thing to do moving forward would be…

He took a stabilizing breath through his mouth then pulled his hand away from his face and into a loose fist on the table to match his other hand. He opened his eyes with his expression returning to neutrality. Her scent still did linger on, creeping across the table to tease his senses like it had before when he'd caught himself staring at her body, but this time he staunchly refused to make any further indication of her Quirk's effect on him by keeping his eyes pinned on her eyes. Logically, his conclusion was: making this uncomfortable subject progress as smoothly as possible was what Hayate would want.

"Got it. Anything else I should know?" He asked levelly.

She looked back at him in slight surprise. He sounds… a lot calmer than I expected. Bringing up menstrual cycles to a guy usually got more of a reaction than that. She studied his blank expression for a few moments. He was unreadable, and she hesitated, wondering if he really was as calm as he seemed. Was he just reassuring her? Because that's what Pro Heroes did? She wasn't certain, and so she answered him uncertainly in turn. "…Those are the most important things to know… There are other details I could go into; like what I do to manage it, or certain situations."

"Nah. That's fine."

She blinked in surprise and looked at him.

He looked back at her, saying nothing.

"… Really?" She didn't sound convinced.

"Yes." Her incredulous stare demanded more of an explanation than that, and after a few moments he elaborated with a shrug. "If you don't think it's necessary, there's no need to talk about it. It's fine."

Hayate's brow creased in worry. "… Are you really sure, though? I mean… I lied to you about it. If you want to know, I'm okay telling you."

Aizawa's neutral expression softened at that. "… I get it. It's not an easy Quirk to get on with. And sure, I could sit here and grill you over every little detail until I know your Quirk as well as you do, but I just don't care."

Hayate froze up a little at that. "W-What?" You don't… care?

He shifted forward on the table, looking her in the eye. "It didn't matter to me when I thought that you were Quirkless. A Quirk doesn't change anything for me. I'll adjust accordingly to what I know about it, and that's it. I'm not angry at you. There's nothing else you have to feel obligated to tell me. Your Quirk doesn't change anything."

A rush of emotions spread through Hayate's mind, and her lips tightened for a moment with her eyes starting to water. He kept his eyes on hers steadily, then she blinked and looked down with the corners of her lips pulling back a little. Your Quirk doesn't change anything. That was how he felt. It was a great relief and confirmation at once. He didn't hold her dishonesty against her, and he proved again why this flame in her heart kept growing. She looked back at him with a smile.

"… That's such a logical answer. Heh, exactly what I'd expect from you… thank you."

He nodded. "Don't worry about it."

It was always the same with him, she thought. Always trying to brush off any acknowledgment. Being the thankless hero seemed to be his preferred roll. She couldn't tell by his reaction: did he really get it? How much it did mean to her? I want you get how I feel about you.

Her heart sped up and her stomach rolled with nervousness. She looked away him, though about it, and mustered her courage. Tell him. She pulled in a breath and looked at him with a mind to act before her self-doubt could catch up. She met his eyes and started to open her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He was looking at her so intently. The fear flickered through her mind. He hadn't stopped looking at her at all, had he? Was it just him being attentive? Was it inconsequential? Or was it her Quirk? Her eyes dropped from his to the table again where his meal and hers sat and had sat ignored for the length of their conversation.

"… Guess our food's getting cold."

His eyes did leave hers then, following them down to his plate. "Yeah. Guess so."

And just like that, the page turned. Hayate didn't speak of her Quirk again, and Aizawa didn't ask. She picked up their conversation right where they had left it with a teasing remark, and then he was back again with a deadpan rebuttal. They ate, they talked, and she even roused a few chuckles from him. Aizawa didn't order another drink. Hayate didn't stop asking him questions, even starting to turn to the most ridiculous of things; his favorite color ("Is it black? It must be black."), music ("Silence, probably. Or maybe that sleep delta wave music."), and even more trivia.

Okay, he was starting to get tempted for a second drink. And yet… he didn't stop her. Perhaps it was because of her Quirk brushing his senses, but he refused to acknowledge it openly. No, he genuinely did appreciate her company; her wit, persistence, and conversational tact. He'd be the last reason for her discomfort. He'd make sure of it.

"Your Quirk doesn't change anything."

Hayate smiled, she laughed, and prodded him to sarcasm with her teasing. It was real, but somewhere in her smile there was a mask. Behind it hid the fear and doubt, the longing and the denial to herself of words unspoken to him. She wished he was right. But he was wrong.

"Your Quirk doesn't change anything."

It does matter. I can't do it… I can't say how I feel about you right now. Not when my Quirk's at its peak and I can't trust a thing. Not when you've put me first tonight. I can't put you on the spot like that. That's not fair. People can be cruel, but… you're not.

It was safe to hide in her burrow of familiar conversation, digging up answers down tunnels assured that he'd follow in his predictable, blasé yet humorously snarky way. To venture above ground into the unknown, taking a leap into uncharted territory not knowing if he'd follow, or if he did, if he was truthfully going to venture out at her side, or if it was a lie… that was a journey she was too afraid to start tonight.

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"Is the train going to be a problem?" Aizawa eyed the numerous people gathered waiting at the station. It was after 5 pm on a Saturday. It was also the first time he'd made suggestion to her Quirk since dinner.

Hayate shook her head. "Nah. This line's not too bad right now." Hands at her sides, she rubbed her fingers along her palms as she constricted the glands. Better. "Also, I was able to rest it during dinner, so I'll be fine getting home." Thanks to you, she thought privately, glancing Aizawa's way. He hadn't given any indication of her Quirk after those two intentional displays. She was certain it had been acting on him, however, he was holding true to his word. Maybe for him, it truly did change nothing…

To Aizawa's ears, that was a relief. If had been necessary to spend the better part of another hour struggling against his roaming eyes, he would have kept them closed tight the whole ride to avoid the problem. It wasn't even a conscious decision; sitting across from her as they talked, whenever his focus had wavered from keeping his eyes up, sucked into conversation, they had found a habit of drifting back down her neck before he caught them again. He refused to acknowledge it, though. At the very least, if this was her Quirk's normal state at its worst, then he had the confidence of tolerating it at any other point in her cycle.

Hayate picked the front car of the train, and Aizawa didn't question her choice; the first and last cars were the last to be crowded with cars closer to the entryway preferred by boarders. They took a seat beside each other. Like the rides of their morning commute, they fell into a comfortable, familiar silence despite the reversed hour of day and direction of travel.

When they arrived, they paused outside the station. Hayate glanced down the road one way then back at Aizawa with a smile. "Well… I'm headed that way."

He nodded, eyes flicking away to gesture down another path. "Yeah, guess we'll split here." His eyes stayed pinned on the distance as he thought for a few moments on what to add to that, a hand coming to rub the back of his neck. "… Overall, that was actually enjoyable." Or maybe karaoke the night before had set the bar low.

Hayate chuckled. Was that supposed to be complimentary? "You sound like you're surprised you had a good time."

He shrugged, hand falling away and back to his pocket. "Eh, well… me and social events don't usually go together."

Yeah… like my Quirk. She looked him over for a moment, wondering when she'd get to see him next; at all, or looking a little bit nicer like this. "How busy are you the rest of the summer?"

"Pretty much every day of mine is booked. Probably not going to be slipping any coffee breaks in there… I'll let you know, though, if the chance comes up."

"Sounds good," she nodded, then with a bit of a smirk and slight tilt of her head, she add, "You know, we could text now, too. I've got a backlog of cute pictures from the kittens I could send your way."

He cracked a smile. "Hmph, yeah, that sounds good. The most practical way we'll talk, probably."

"Yeah…" For a moment, neither of them moved, both looking each other in the eye for a pause. Waiting, perhaps, for a reason to linger there longer. Hayate was the first to move, stepping back to turn away with a farewell smile. "Have a good night, Aizawa-san. And the rest of your summer, too."

"You too, Hayate-san." He followed her lead, turning away slowly with his eye on her until the turn was complete.

Both of them started to walk away, and when a fair distance was between them, Hayate's feet slowed with the weight of one more thing on her tongue and she looked back over her shoulder. "Hey, one more thing…"

He stopped and cast a questioning look over his shoulder.

She looked a bit sheepish, but proceeded earnestly, anyway. "It's probably a tall order for you, but… try to take care of yourself along with all your hard work, okay?" Her expression and voice turned teasing. "You clean up pretty nice with a shave and a bit of effort, but you still look ready to drop dead into your sleeping bag."

His lip twitched back wryly. He made an exasperated noise and nearly rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'll see what I can do." He turned back around and started walking again, muttering far too loudly for it to be just to himself. "I would have brought it, too, if you hadn't told me not to."

She turned away with a laugh at his grumbling. Sounds like a cranky old cat! She started walking again with a smile of amusement still tugging at her lips.

"You watch out for yourself, too."

She stopped and made a half turn to look back at him, surprised that he'd spoken again. He hadn't made a full turn, just a glance aimed her way over his shoulder.

"If you have a problem with your Quirk, or someone else does… don't hesitate to contact me. You don't have to hold that back."

Her eyes widened a little, then her expression shifted to one of gratitude as she held his eye.

"… Right. Thank you."

He didn't reply, turning his head forward again and continuing on his way. Hayate watched him go for a few seconds, then she turned away as well. Her chin was tilted down as she walked, eyes on the ground. You don't have to hold that back… She pulled her head back, straightening her spine and her gaze. You're right. I don't… I won't. Next time we see each other… Yeah. I'll tell you then.

Aizawa didn't look back again, but the farther he went, the more it felt he was some unfortunate fish on the end of a line pulling against his urge to look back. My chest feels heavy… why am I so unsettled leaving her…? He bowed his gaze to the ground, slouching forward against the tug. That final teasing look on her face lingered in his mind's eye and the wit of her comment in his ears. It had even sounded complimentary.

He closed his eyes tightly, squeezing the image out. No. It's just her Quirk. That feeling is completely irrational. He opened them again and continued on with his mind quiet in silent dismissal of that feeling, because it was the same as what he felt back at dinner. At that point in time, he had found a logical conclusion for this sense of longing in him. But what he did not consider was that her scent had long since left his nostrils, and also that he had misunderstood the nature of both her Quirk and his own feelings. It was just as Hayate had said; Pheromones was a Quirk of a very basic nature. It triggered her sexual attractiveness and lowered the inhibitions to act on that attraction—no more. By his own thoughts, he had already confirmed his feeling for her not to be of a sexual nature. What feeling remained in her Quirk's absence was genuine connection, disregarded with one kind of attraction mistaken for the other in their moment of overlap. For her comfort, and for his rationality, he would not think to acknowledge this error tonight.

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-Next couple chapters will require particular care because I have to set up some things coming down the road. I feel like the tone of this chapter was a bit off from what I expected, but I had a hard time putting my finger on it. I think it's because it wasn't as lighthearted or amusing as previous chapters, which I'm going to attribute to the transition of progressing into the next stage of this story. I have to admit, the 'middle game' of this story is the weakest area of my outline, mainly because I have the gist of things but not many of the details, yet. I know where we're going, but it might take me extra time to figure out how we're getting there! Also, I'm starting college classes at the end of this month so I'll be busier. Stay tuned, dear listeners.

-And with the passing of the torch (ahem, cat toy), Mic is in new hands now. I know a lot of people predicted that Mic the kitten would end up being Aizawa's cat, but it was my intention from the beginning that this wouldn't be the case. Like the man said himself, the two of them weren't a logical match with their energy levels, lack of living space, and ability to satisfy attention. Mic had an important role to play in this arc of the story in drawing Hayate and Aizawa together, but now he's off to have his own story with someone who needed him that he fit with perfectly, and that's just the way Aizawa would like it. But fear not, he's not the last kitten this story will see ;)

-At long last, Hayate's Quirk is revealed! Though it's been there from the very beginning in chapter 1. For those of you have been putting together the hints I scattered about, how close do you feel you figured out her Quirk? I wish I had been able to better hint at the monthly cycle element of her Quirk, but there just never was a way that jumped out to me other than how sporadically Aizawa happened to notice her scent.

Pheromones have been found in almost every kind of animal, spanning hundreds of thousands of species ranging from tiny ants to massive elephants. However, the impact of pheromones on humans is still in contention among scientists today with the complexity of human behavior and subtlety of chemical influencers on our relatively weak olfactory systems being major obstacles in settling the debate. This scientific uncertainty hasn't stopped the media, love gurus, and perfume companies from proclaiming sex pheromones as being the answer to landing that hot date. Taking this real-world background and applying it to MHA's universe, a human developing a Quirk that produces potent sex pheromones would be very well-founded in natural evolution. And as for how such a Quirk would impact an individual's romantic relationships… well, it's complicated! And I will leave it at that for this chapter, along with a little bit of naming trivia for you (in honor of Horikoshi's naming gimmick):

Hayate Aika 疾風 愛香

Hayate (疾風) is a Japanese word and name which can mean "fresh breeze" and is also the name of a train service in Japan; both meanings are fitting as her Quirk is detected by scent and her story with Aizawa begins at a train station. Ironically, she hates trains because of how crowded they can be despite their necessity in her daily life. "Aika" consists of the kanji for "love" (愛) and "fragrance" (香). Bonus points if you know the canon character who also has (香) in their name ;) P.S. I had way too much fun being silly with kanji while making her name. Totally see why Horikoshi does it!