Welcome to my cage, little lover
It was killing Shouta Aizawa to act so cold towards Shinsou. And it was even worse that she seemed to take it all to heart way too much. The girl had been a mess for the last week. The circles under her eyes got deeper, she was constantly spilling her coffee which left coffee stains all over her clothes. The corners of her eyes looked red, irritated and swollen. Aizawa had no clue what to do about this.
Of course today was the day that Tsukauchi had finished all his paperwork and decided to talk to Shinsou. Aizawa didn't even have the heart to tell her in person, so he just shot her an email, telling her that Tsukauchi wanted to meet with her and to come to the classroom at 5 in the afternoon, during office hours. Hopefully she would actually come. He'd understand if she'd just ignore his emails at the moment.
Suddenly there was a soft, but urgent knock on the door. That had to be her. She was around five minutes late and Aizawa really hoped that she had made up a good excuse for that. Tsukauchi wasn't harsh in any way, but he did not like people being late, even though he'd never actually say it to someone.
"Come in." he called out. The door quickly opened and Shinsou rushed in, a nervous smile on her face. She was wearing a pair of loose fitting black slacks and a blouse that only had a minimal amount of coffee stains on it. Her hair was open and looked quite messy and her eyes seemed sleepy. Had she been napping in the library again?
"I'm sorry, Mr. Tsukauchi, Sir. I was studying and lost track of time, so I had to rush up here. I swear, any normal week I'd never be late." she said, giving him a weak smile. She glanced at Aizawa nervously.
"No worries, Miss Shinsou. Please, sit down." Tsukauchi answered with a smile. Aizawa watched Shinsou slowly pull out one of the chairs and sit down carefully, almost as if she was trying not to make any noise. He had another look at her face and it looked like there was the imprint of a book on her cheek. So she had been sleeping in the library again after all.
"I'm not sure how much Mr. Aizawa has already told you about this little meeting..." Tsukauchi started. Kaori looked up at him and their eyes met. Aizawa had no idea how to react so he just kept eye contact. It was Shinsou who looked away after a few seconds and back at Tsukauchi.
"He hasn't told me anything, Sir. Just that you wanted to meet me." she replied. Tsukauchi nodded.
"Alright. The purpose of this meeting is that I have a proposition for you. I've seen your work in the arson case and the Stain incidents in Hosu City and I have to say I was impressed. I asked your superior... Tensei Iida... about you and he only had good things to say about you. The same goes for Mr. Aizawa as your professor. We could really use someone like you on our team." Tsukauchi started explaining. Shinsou gave him a confused look, as if she didn't quite understand.
"But you have Mr. Aizawa, don't you?" she asked and looked at him, surprise in her eyes. A tiny smile was tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"We do, but there is a lot of work and Mr. Aizawa also has his teaching job at the university to look after. You're a really bright student and are doing good work in your specific area. I thought it would be a shame to have you stuck at the Hosu City Department for the foreseeable future, especially since your reports are already in a lot of our files anyway. So I wanted to ask you if you would like to transfer from Hosu to the National Police Department to continue your work studies there." Tsukauchi replied. Shinsou looked at him with an open mouth.
"But... I don't understand..." she muttered. Aizawa leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. He had a hard time not to smile at her being so perplexed.
"We want you to do your work studies as a Criminal Psychologist at the National Police Department. You'll be working closely with Mr. Aizawa, which shouldn't be a problem, since you seem to be getting on perfectly fine in this setting already..." Tsukauchi started, not noticing the sudden tension that filled the room. Shinsou gave him a look he couldn't even interpret, while biting her lip, and he was shifting in his chair uncomfortably. Maybe they should have a talk after this.
"... which means he will have a lighter workload and you get to work on more interesting and complex cases. Of course you'll get enough time to finish up any work in Hosu and to prepare for your exams right now. Mr. Aizawa has been very insistent on you getting some time off to relax. I think the first thing we would like you to do is to talk to Stain in Tartarus, once he is well enough for that. We'll see how things go from there. What do you think?" Tsukauchi finished his proposal.
Aizawa didn't think he had ever seen Shinsou this awe-struck. She seemed to still be processing what Tsukauchi had just told her. It was a quite spectacular offer for someone who was still in university. It wasn't unheard of, it had happened before, but not very often. It was an honour.
"I... you want me to transfer my work studies? From the Hosu department to the... the national department?" she wanted to know. She almost made it sound as if it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.
"That is right. You don't have to give me an answer right away, but I have been talking to Mr. Iida and I have been looking into all the paperwork and if you just say the word, we can get everything in motion." Tsukauchi replied and got up, gathering up his things. Shinsou still seemed like she wasn't completely aware of what was going on.
"Well, anyway, Mr. Aizawa has my contact details, so you can let me know when you have made a decision. I have another appointment soon, so I'll have to get going..."
"I accept." Shinsou suddenly said, just as Tsukauchi was about to open the door to the classroom. He turned around and gave her a surprised look.
"What?"
"I accept. This offer is such an honour and it took me a while to realize what was actually happening, but... Mr. Tsukauchi, there is nothing I have ever wanted more than to work for the National Police Department." she told him in a strangely neutral and professional tone of voice. Aizawa smiled a little. She didn't seem too enthusiastic at this moment, but he knew exactly that she was.
"Well, that was a faster decision than I thought it would be. I'm glad. I'll make sure to get everything ready and be in contact with you about the details of the work study and when you can start. I'll talk to you. Goodbye, Miss Shinsou." Tsukauchi replied with a friendly smile on his face.
"Goodbye, Sir." she answered, her voice sounding dazed and a small smile slowly growing on her face, as he was on his way out. For a few seconds she was just staring at the void in front of her and then let out a gleeful laugh. She looked up at Aizawa with the biggest grin he had ever seen on her.
"Well done, Shinsou." he said to her and nodded. Her smile started to fade again. She started picking up her bag and got up from her chair.
"I'm sorry, Sir, I should get going as well." she mumbled and made her way towards the door. Aizawa didn't want her to go. He got up from his chair. Maybe now was a good time to bring it up.
"Don't leave, Shinsou." he replied. She stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around to him. She looked like she was feeling miserable. Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose. How did this all happen?
"Sir?" she asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper. Well, Aizawa, here goes nothing. Good luck.
"I know, I might have been a little... difficult during the last week. And I'm sorry about that. There have been a few rumours that have come to my attention and I realized that I might need to try harder to avoid... giving off the wrong impression. The way I did that was probably not the right way. But I hope you understand, Shinsou." he did his best to explain. Why was this such an awkward thing to talk about?
"I see. So what are you gonna do about those rumours then?" she wanted to know with a raised eyebrow. Aizawa sighed. Honestly, he had no idea. But she couldn't write her exams in that state, that much was clear.
"I don't know yet. I'll figure something out. Just focus on your exams and don't worry about it." he answered. She nodded and a small smile crept on her face again. God, it was good to see her smile at him again.
"Alright then, Mr. Aizawa. Was there... anything else?" she asked.
"Yes, actually. The summer camp." Aizawa replied. He should have really brought this up way earlier than he did, but there were some obvious reasons he hadn't done that. Shinsou seemed confused.
"But the summer camp is only for the first three years, I'm not going..." she protested. She knew exactly what the summer camp could be like and it was harsh. The third years usually got off easy, since it was their last year before they went on to work or before they went into active service.
"Every TA is accompanying their professor for the summer camp, if they are the coordinator for a course. Now, I know you're not my TA yet, but... to be honest, I really need some help with these kids, because they're doing my head in. Plus, you could use the time to get some training done. I'm talking about weapon training specifically and maybe some more hand-to-hand self-defense training." he explained. He knew he would probably die if he had to handle that course of first years on his own.
"They're that bad?" Shinsou wanted to know.
"You have no idea." Aizawa said. With all that awkwardness suddenly gone, he really wanted a cigarette now. He'd need one before he'd be able to get back to preparing the exams for his first year course and the Criminal Psychology course. At least he was still further ahead than Yamada.
"Well, I don't think I have any plans for the summer, so I should be good to go. If it's okay with the administration, that is." Shinsou replied with a smile. Aizawa huffed. As if the administration was going to say anything.
"Administration doesn't give a shit."
