Suri and Tooru make it back in time to watch the next few matches. Everything is going good, until it's not. Unexpected company is unexpected.
By the time Suri and Tooru had made it back to their seats, Suri's ice cream had completely melted and was more like a milkshake than ice cream. Not that she cared. It was still sweet and delicious and besides; the extra time that had made it melt was well spent. Very well spent. Even if it did end up making the two of them have to run back to the class box to see the end of the next match. When they got into their seats they got to watch a very frustrated and angry Mina Ashido in the ring facing off against Mei Hatsume.
Mei had apparently turned the match into a live infomercial for all of her 'babies' and was all but toying with Mina. The acid user was doing everything in her power to chase down the support course girl. She got to show off her vast athleticism and flexibility as she was caught by a net like contraption and promptly used her acid to melt her way out of it. As Suri watched she leaned forward towards Kirishima two rows in front of them and asked him about the match.
"So what did I miss?"
"Not a lot honestly," Kirishima grumbled. "It's been like this for over ten minutes. This Hatsume chick is just showing off a ton of stuff and Ashido has been chasing her around the entire time."
"Ouch," Suri sighed, giving her friend in the ring an apologetic look even if she couldn't see it.
"Thank you everyone! And to any support companies out there watching," came a half crazed voice from the ring.
"She has a microphone?" Tooru questioned.
"Yup," everyone in the class answered in unison with tired voices.
"If you're looking for a support prodigy, look no further than yours truly! Mei Hatsume!"
With that, the girl with the pink dreads began walking towards the edge of the ring with her opponent screaming in frustration and chasing after her. Mina was throwing small balls of acid that should have hit the other girl but didn't because of metal arms hooked to her backpack. Everytime an acid ball got close it would push the crazy girl out of the way. With a loud scream, Mina threw one last one that hit the metal arm that had been pushing Hatsume out of the way, melting it, but by then it was too late.
"Hatsume has stepped out of bounds! Ashido wins!"
Even though she had won, Mina didn't like it and sunk down to her knees and screamed her frustration into the arena. No one would blame her though. And the general consensus was that Hatsume had ultimately turned what could have been a great match into one that was utterly boring. Unless you were a support tech exec.
"So she turned the entire thing into one of those Billy Mays programs that come on at, like, three in the morning?" Suri sighed. "No wonder Mina's mad, hell, I'd be pissed too."
"Well, I better get down there," Kirishima breathed out and stood up. "I dunno how I feel about facing a girl though."
Suri watched as the display of the brackets were put up, showing Mina advancing and then bringing up a highlight of the next match. Kirishima vs Shiozaki. Suri turned to her friend and gave him a stern look.
"Don't hold back," Suri told him truthfully. "Don't think about going against a girl."
"I get it but… I dunno, it just doesn't feel very manly, ya know?" He gave a weak smile and scratched the back of his head. "Mom raised me to respect women and never to hit one, I just don't think I could call myself a man."
"Eijiro, dude," Suri laughed and shook her head. "Trust me, you'd be showing more disrespect if you go down there and don't take her seriously."
She pointed a thumb towards the ring and gave him a smirk.
"I've fought a bunch of guys who got their asses handed to them cause they were scared of hurting me. If you get in the ring and think you gotta hold back just cause of these," Suri nonchalantly cupped the undersides of her breasts and bounced them. "You will get your ass handed to you in the most unmanly fashion. Got it."
Kirishima went bright red and froze up as Suri made the gesture. He scratched the back of his head again, even more nervously than before and then nearly tripped over himself. He stumbled a step backwards and turned towards the entrance before he paused, gave Suri a quick glance and smiled.
"Thanks, Kuroyashi."
"Not a problem," she smirked and stuck her tongue out at him. "Now go win this one for us."
"Got it!"
She watched her friend rush out of the student section towards the tunnels that led to the arena and then turned back to face the stage. She let out a sigh, smiled and then dropped herself into her seat next to Tooru. Suri smiled even more as she put her arm around the back of her friend's chair and felt the weight of Tooru nestle in, laying the back of her head into the crook of Suri's shoulder. She enjoyed the soft silk of Tooru's hair against her jawline and rubbed that line against the top of the invisible girl's head. Needless to say, they were comfy.
"Man, how can you tell Kirishima to go all out on a girl. I couldn't do that," Kaminari said as he half turned in his seat to face Suri.
"Pfft, yeah, no shit," Jirou scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"And that's why you lost," Suri continued with a wide grin.
"Hey! Why are you ganging up on me," he whined.
"Because you're a perv," Jirou answered matter of factly.
"Are you still mad about the cheerleader outfits? You guys looked great in them!"
"Eh, he does have a point on that one," Suri shrugged.
"See! Kuroyashi agrees with me, you're just mad cause you couldn't fill-ow!"
Kaminari was smacked simultaneously by one of Jirou's earphones and Tsu's tongue as the two girls glared harshly at him. Of course Kaminari would bring that up. Suri knew Jirou had insecurities about her looks, every woman does, but he kept poking at it to make himself feel better. If he kept it up, he'd have to worry about more than just being whipped or poked by Jirou's earlobes.
"Please," Suri groaned and rolled her eyes. "She filled it out just fine and looked just as hot as the rest of us. If guys would stop focusing on size, you'd figure out what you're missing."
Kaminari looked like he was going to say something else but stopped and turned back around in his seat as Midnight came out onto the stage. And Present Mic began announcing their classmate and his opponent. The latter took an interesting turn after Shiozaki complained to Mic about how he had addressed her. She humbly and calmly berated him for calling her an assassin when she was, in her own words, there to do the lord's work and show people the good and light of being a hero.
Who was playing gospel music in the distance?
When the match started Kirishima apparently took Suri's words to heart and rushed her. Shiozaki in response let her hair grow and formed it into a wall that she stood behind as Kirishima's first punch came down on it. He laid a barrage of punches into the solid weaving of the vines as she just calmly stood her ground.
It went on that way for a while where Kirishima would pound at Shiozaki's vine walls while she waited for the opportunity to take him off balance and snare him in a vine trap. He did good to dodge most of them until he miscalculated her fourth attempt and got caught in her trap. She wrapped his left leg and pulled hard, dragging him along the floor of the ring. Shiozaki was attempting the same move that Sero had attempted with Suri and luckily for Kirishima he quickly used his head and tried to come up with a way to counter. He curled himself at the waist like a sit up, grabbed his left thigh with his left arm and hardened his right arm into a blade. He managed to cut the vine as he was closing in on the edge then hardened both arms and dug into the concrete floor to bring himself to a stop.
The class let out a collective sigh and then resumed cheering for him as he got to his feet and gestured slamming one fist against his palm. He rushed Shiozaki's wall again, running full speed and dodging the vine whips she sought after him. With a loud, gritty scream he jumped into the air, hardened his entire body, and came down on the vine wall with his full speed, weight, and power. Shiozaki let out a scream as Kirishima came crashing through her barrier and landed directly behind her.
Then he did something no one expected.
He swept the vine girl off of her feet, cradling her in his arms bridal style and then began running. She was so flustered that her cheeks turned the same red as Kirishima's hair and she froze absolutely still. She was so taken aback by his actions that she had no time to fight off the blush and react before he crossed the line. Before she could say a word, the red head was setting her down, leaving her standing frozen and wide eyed over the line. For his efforts, Kirishima was almost as flustered as she was and bowed nearly completely over, obviously apologizing to her.
"Kirishima wins!"
"Well that was… unexpected, ribbit," Tsu croaked with a hint of amusement.
"It was a very unorthodox move, that's for sure," Yaoyorozu added.
"Right? I'd freeze up too if I got carried like a princess too," Tooru said with a bubbly laugh.
"Lucky bastard! I wanna carry a hot chick like that!"
Nearly the entire class, especially the girls, rolled their eyes at Mineta's comment. Suri resisted the urge to say anything and joke with the smallest member of their class. She also resisted the urge to rub it in his face that Kirishima wasn't the only one to have a hot chick in their arms. That would be a low blow, even if it was Mineta.
"Should we place bets on if they go on a date after this," Mina chimed in with a grin. She had come in just in time to witness Kirishima's finishing move.
"They'd make a cute couple," Suri admitted and laughed. "But could you imagine trying to get those two in the same room again?"
"Oh! Oh! We could set them up on a blind date with each other," Tooru added with a giggle.
"Hmm, think we should get some of Shiozaki's classmates on board to help?" Mina asked.
"I may have a chance to ask soon," Suri said as she looked up to the brackets. "I-"
Suri froze mid sentence, wide eyed and staring off into the distance as her nose flared. She felt a shiver run through her entire body as even Atiena shuddered from the familiar scent and sense of power. There was a massively powerful lycanthrope nearby.
One she knew.
One she hadn't seen in nearly five months.
"Suri?" Tooru spoke softly as her and Mina stared at Suri with confusion and worry.
"Girl, you okay?" Mina asked, crouching on the other side of Suri in the stairwell.
"Y-yeah I umm… I'm gonna go get me a drink," she spoke nervously and began to get up out of her seat. "I'll be.. I'll be right back."
Her two best friends stared at her, utterly confused as she started moving towards the exit at nearly a run. She bumped into Izuku as he came through the door, offered a miniscule apology and then took off running. The three of them called after Suri but she was already running and too focused to hear them, let alone respond.
Out of all people, why was he here?
Suri made her way towards the stairwells that led to the seats at the top of the arena, specifically the private skyboxes. She had been made briefly aware that hero agency execs had seats up here thanks to Hatsume. Of course he'd have a private box. She should have sensed him earlier, felt his power, recognized his scent. He purposely hid himself until just now. And that fact only helped to make her angrier as she walked the hallway along the top of the arena, came to the door of the box the power was radiating from and took the knob in her hand. With a deep breath and a rumbling growl filling her throat, she opened the door, walked in and let her eyes roll to black and green gold fire.
"Hello, Pupkit."
That warm, rich tone that she fought to ignore the happy times it tried to remind her of. It was nearly impossible and it made her clench her fists tight, digging nails into her palms.
"Hi… Daddy…"