The Influence

Chapter Thirteen

"I promised your brother I'd see you get home safely" Aizawa said again.

Hanae gave me a questioning look.

"Alright, alright" Aizawa replied, "You know how you told me earlier your train was attacked by villains?"

"Yes?" Hanae replied.

"Well, we've been getting tons of reports recently from the city and surrounding areas of carjacking and grand theft auto, other forms of transportation are also being messed with as well"

"So you think their main base is somewhere is Musutafu?" Hanae asked.

"We are trying to figure it out. UA has teamed up with local agencies to investigate the city and surrounding suburbs"

"Oh" Hanae said meekly.

Hanae immediately became quiet and hugged her sweater tightly.

'I thought he was just being kind when he offered to walk me home, I didn't realize he was also working' She thought to herself.

"I technically wasn't assigned to this area" Aizawa said, noticing her shift in body language. "Ectoplasm is supposed to inspect this area in a few days"

Hanae looked towards Aizawa confused.

"I um... didn't really plan on coming all the way out here, but I uh.. enjoyed your company tonight" He stammered, "So I'll send Ectoplasm to the area I was supposed to inspect, it's closer to UA anyways."

Hanae slowly loosened her grip of her sweater. She smiled as they kept walking towards her home.

"Will he mind? Are you going to get in trouble?" Hanae asked concerned.

"Ha! Like I said, he'll be happy he gets to inspect somewhere closer to the school" Aizawa laughed.

They finally made it to the road Hanae lived on. As Aizawa began walking ahead, Hanae slowed down her pace.

'I don't really want to go home yet, but I know he's probably busy and he went all this way to get me home safely' Hanae thought to herself.

"Is everything okay Hanae?"

Hanae snapped out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine! I thought I saw the neighborhood stray cat!" She lied.

"Oh really where?! I love cats" Aizawa said excited.

"Um, I actually think it might have just been the wind" She replied as she ran to catch up with Aizawa.

"So which house is yours?" He asked.

"It's that brown one" Hanae pointed ahead, "And the white one next to it is where Shinji- I mean Kamui Woods lived when we were kids"

"Wow" Aizawa whistled, "That landscaping is impressive"

The slowly walked up the road towards where Hanae's house sat. It's second floor balcony jutting out into the night over her front door. Hanae kicked some rocks back into her mother's zen garden. She was almost at the front door when she realized Aizawa was still back at the street. Hanae blushed when she realized he wasn't going to walk her all the way up to her house. She imagined him escorting her all the way to her door. She walked back down to where he was.

"Sorry, I thought you were behind me" Hanae admitted.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow for Hitoshi's training?" Aizawa asked.

"Yeah! I really want to see what all he can do" Hanae replied.

"The pass Present Mic gave you will still work tomorrow whenever you come to campus"

"Yeah, yeah okay?" Hanae replied confused about the workings of her guest pass.

"I would offer to give you a ride, but I have meetings I have to go to before I pick up Eri-chan" Aizawa said, almost reading Hanae's thoughts.

"That's okay!" Hanae smiled, "What time does Hitoshi start training?"

"If he's good, he'll start by seven." Aizawa replied bluntly.

'Ouch, that's rough lil bro' Hanae thought, the idea of waking up early sounded terrible to her.

"Well I'll try to get there around ten, I have to help my Mom and Dad out with some stuff at home tomorrow" Hanae replied.

'I am a terrible liar. I just don't want to wake up that early' Hanae thought.

"I won't be there with Eri-chan until noon, but feel free to do whatever you like" Aizawa responded.

'I CAN SLEEP IN A LITTLE LATER!' Hanae thought excitedly.

"Well I guess I will see you tomorrow then Shota" Hanae smiled.

"Yeah, I'll be seeing you" He smiled back.

They stood awkwardly in silence until Aizawa slowly turned back to the direction they had come from.

"See you" Aizawa waved, walking away.

Hanae waved back as she walked towards her front door.

'Fuck me, why did I just stand there?' They both thought as they walked away from the other.