ngl I was kinda worried that having Bakugou cry once no one else was around (that he knew of) was OOC. Then I remembered all the breakdowns he's had over the course of the series and decided it wasn't.
"You won!"
Suzume is barely in the door when her mother comes sweeping in and dragging her into a hug.
Suzume laughs and hugs her tightly.
"I won!" she agrees, she still can't believe it. It feels wrong.
Like some kind of silly dream that Kaname would come up with.
Not something that his sensible little sister would ever come up with.
I won.
"You did very well. I could barely stand watching you fight those other kids, especially Bakugou. But you beat them all. My god, you beat them all."
"Mom," Suzume's cheeks warm. She grabs Chiasa's hands and steps back, looking down at the thick gloves that her mother wears to keep her claws in place. Suzume will need new gloves of her own again now. "It wasn't that hard. They all relied on their quirks way too much. I just had to get a few good shots in. I'm actually lucky I never fought Ojiro, he's actually done some decent training and his tail would give him an advantage."
"Then I am very glad that you never had to fight him," she brushes Suzume's bangs back behind her ear. "We should do something to celebrate. What do you say?"
"Like what?" Suzume asks, bouncing at the idea.
Her mom considers it, touching her earlobe.
"Well… I don't know if you remember, but when you were little your father told you once that when you were in high school he would take you to get your ears pierced. You wanted an earring like his and Taka's. I know I'm not your dad, but…"
"Yes," she says quickly. "Yes, I want my ears pierced!"
She knows she was always closer to Sanjiro, but that doesn't matter. She loves her mother too. And she wants pierced ears!
She'd thought about asking Kaname when he was eighteen, but this is even better.
Chiasa smiles and shoos at her.
"Go clean up. You reek, Suzy."
"Ouch," she laughs, and goes to shower and change. She throws her uniform and her gym clothes into the wash and brushes her hair out before tying it up in a bandana that she knots in a bow at the side of her hair.
She tugs on a long sleeved shirt covered with ''Don't' ever say anything you don't want played back to you someday '' in English on the front, and loose green pants over boots.
Once she's done, she jogs back down stairs where her mom is waiting with the car keys.
Kaname is with Gang Orca, but he'll be home tonight. Won't he be surprised to see her new earrings?
She doesn't wear make up, or jewelry, so it feels strange to do either one. But she really does want earrings.
She slips her scrunchy over her wrist, checking the lock pics inside, and follows Chiasa out to the car.
"Where are we going?" she asks, trying not to bounce in her seat. She's too tired to act entirely dignified, and besides, this is her family. Things are different around her family.
Chiasa hums. "I thought we would go to the same man who did your father's."
"You were with dad when he got his ear pierced?"
"Among other things."
Suzume's brows furrow. "He had more than his ear pierced?"
Chiasa laughs. "It was before you were born. He used to have quite a few more piercings than just his ear. And some of them weren't always visible."
"Wha- actually, no. That's all the information I need."
Her mom laughs harder, and they pull out of the drive.
The trip is longer than she thought it would be, back to their old town. She recognizes the buildings they pass. Most of them are places Sanjiro did work. Either fixing things in it, or resolving disputes in them.
It makes her heartsick to see the place. The longing for her dad becomes sharper than it has been in over a year when they pull into the parking lot outside a tattoo parlor. It looks mostly unused, but most mob run places do.
Restaurants certainly do, but the food is always the best and with Kai as the heir apparent to the Shie Hassaikai she's never been less worried about germs.
They walk in to see an older man waiting at a little reception desk. The walls are covered with artwork in various styles and colors and sizes. An artists easel is displayed in another corner. The far wall is home to a couch, and a coffee table covered in binders of yet more art. A small dummy on the side table displays various piercings, with a label beneath it to tell what each of them are.
Through the door to the back she can hear the faint buzzing of a tattoo gun.
Suzume has always liked the look of the two dermal piercings under the eye, but she's never had the guts to get one.
She's still doesn't.
Just the ears.
Once before, she's gotten her ears pierced at Clairs, in full view of the whole mall. And another time she'd gotten second holes pierced in a walmart booth.
She had the feeling this was going to be a very different experience.
"Chi-Chi," the older man, whose face looks like a carved gargoyle, grins.
"Now there's a name I haven't heard in a couple of decades," she smiles lightly. "How have you been, Tai?"
"About the same as ever. I'm training that cloud headed son of mine. He's in the back with one our new artists, Sora, and Yuzu. You remember her?"
"Oh yes. A little spitfire that one. I thought she was going to take your head off. Did she finally give up her assassination attempts?"
"Mostly. I still won't drink tea I didn't make myself."
Suzume peers between them.
She has the same sensation she'd had when she first heard French on her mother's lips. The sense that she was missing a huge part of her life.
The gargoyles eyes, red, turn to her.
"This is your girl? She looks like Sanjiro."
"Suzume," Chiasa touches her between the shoulders and nudges her forwards. "This is Tai. He owns the shop."
"Hello," Suzume dips a brief bow.
"So polite!" Tai laughs at her. When he leans forwards she catches a glimpse of scales crawling up from under his collar. A dragon tattoo? "What'll it be today, ladies?"
"Just her ears pierced. No matter what else she says," Chiasa shoots her a look.
Suzume puffs her cheek out. "I have no idea what you mean."
"Don't think I didn't see you eying those dermal piercings!"
"It's not my fault they look cool!"
Tai waits for them to quiet before he pokes his door in the back room and calls for 'Koichi'.
A young man, who looks less like a gargoyle but definitely resembles Tai, pokes his head out.
Tai motions to Suzume.
"This little lady is getting her ears pierced today."
"I'm fifteen," she says irritably.
"Uh huh. So give her something uh. Cute? Do teenagers still like owls?"
Suzume does like owls, but she's not going to tell him that.
Koichi sighs dramatically. "Oh father dear. You've never understood women. That's why mother beats you."
"You mother is a witch and I love her," Tai retorts. He looks at Suzume. "Now listen. I know the boy hasn't got the sense god gave butterflies, but he can use a needle."
"I feel so safe in his hands," Suzume mutters, but she walks after him into the back of the parlor. There's a sectioned off area where she can just barely see the outline of someone laying on a table. Chances are good it's someone she knows.
A woman sits at a station, working a cramp out of her hands. Sitting in the chair nearest her is a young man, maybe twenty or so, with a wild mane of black hair. His black hoodie hides most of his skin, but she can see his face just fine.
Purple scarring carves beneath his eyes and up along his cheeks, leaving only a mask of unmarred skin behind. There are three loops of steel on his ears, and two glints of metal in his nose. More metal lines his face, where purple meets pale skin, but the thick medical staples stick out against the shine of the jewelry.
Suzume takes him in in a breath, then looks at the woman. Either Sora or Yuzu, her long lavender hair is tied back in a brutally tight braid at the back of her head. Her eye brows, nose, and lip are all pierced. Her fingers are long, and there's a smudge of ink on the back of her forearm.
It's a good thing Kai isn't around to see that, or he might lose all of his shit.
Koichi touches the back of the chair next to theirs.
"Here, take a seat. This folder is a menu of sorts. Pick out what kind of earring you want. You won't be able to change it for two months."
He hands her a little folder to look through. Inside are rows of tiny gemstones, plain metal balls, owls, butterflies, and other animals.
"Is this her first one?" the woman asks, sounding startled. "And since when do we let kids in here?"
Suzume glances up at her.
"I'm not a kid. I'm a teenager."
"Oh, yes, that makes all the difference," the woman drawls. She shoots a dirty look at Koichi, who shrugs.
"Hey man, I just do what my dad tells me."
"If it helps," Suzume cocks her head, peering at the purple haired woman intently. "I'm Kono Sanjiro's daughter."
The woman sucks in sharply.
"Kono's daughter? For real?"
"Why would I lie about that?" she replies evenly. "And I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of how old I am. This is a Family establishment, isn't it?"
Koichi clicked his tongue.
"It is, but the young master is… picky."
"Yeah," Suzume wrinkles her nose. "Kai's a pretty persnickety dude."
The woman looks pale. "I did not just hear someone call the young master a 'pernickety dude'."
"I'll say it to his face if you want."
"Nope!" She waves her hands in front of her face. "Nope, that's fine. Totally fine. I don't need to see your guts, thanks. Jesus, who knew Kono's girl was suicidal."
Suzume catches Dabi's eyes (And tries not to fangirl, or loudly swear vengeance on Endeavor) and gestures towards the two artist in a 'can you believe them?' manner.
The corner of his mouth twitches.
"A-anyways," Koichi clears his throat nervously. "Did you pick one out?"
Suzume sighs. "I'm going to be fighting a lot, so just the plain circles would probably be for the best."
"Is that the one you want, though?" Koichi plucks the book from her hands.
Hesitantly, Suzume admits, "I like the blue ones. But they're bigger."
"As long as they aren't dangling, they don't do you any danger. And even if they do get pulled out in a fight, your ears will hear faster than most other parts of your body."
"Koichi!" The woman snaps. "You're going to scare her. Don't talk about ripping out piercings."
"You heard her, Sora. She's Kono's girl. Which mean she's Ryuhei's student. Which means she's hurt worse than just a little cut on the ear. Right, kiddo?"
"I'm gonna hurt you if you don't stop talking to me like I'm a kid."
"See?"
Suzume twists the scrunchy around her wrist. Without her gloves, the scars on her knuckles and the stitches on the back of her hand, now more decoration than anything else thanks to Recovery Girl, are visible.
"Does it hurt worse than getting molten plastic picked out of your skin?"
Dabi says, helpfully, "not even close."
"Oh good, I did that this morning," she says cheerfully, "then, please stick me with the blue ones."
"… definitely Kono's girl."
"Okay, the next person to call me 'girl' is getting a black eye."
Koichi clicks his tongue at her. "So testy. What are they teaching you in schools these days?"
"How to take a punch, mostly."
"You're going to feel a pinch, okay? Try to hold still. Do you want to hold someone's hand?"
Fucks sakes man!
The glare she shoots at him is enough of an answer.
"Close your eyes and hold still."
She obeys. She expects the same sensation as a piercing gun, but instead warm, glove covered hands guide her earlobes into a metal clamp. A second later there's a pinch. Koichi repeats it on the other side, and it's over.
All that fuss they made and its over in a second.
She knew girls who had their ears pierced when they were just little kids, but here these two were, in a Yakuza owned establishment, making a big deal out of a teenager getting piercings.
She pauses.
"Were you trying to get me irritated so I would be less focused on the pain of the needle?"
The pair exchanges a look.
"You were!"
"Well it did work."
She crosses her arms over her chest and scowls. "That wasn't necessary."
"Hey, I was an assistant when your dad got his ear pierced, and he fainted."
Suzume pauses.
Stares at Koichi.
"That… can't be true."
"But it is," he says with a nod. "A full grown Yakuza, not as tame back then as he is today, and he passed right the fuck out in this very chair."
"He did not!" Suzume can't believe it.
"My hand to god," Koichi touches his chest and raises his hand. "He fainted like he was wearing lead make up."
"My dad was Yakuza," she argues, leaning towards him.
"I know! So is mine. But he fainted."
"What. The fuck?"
"Woah, woah. Language."
Dabi watches them go back and forth like he's watching a ping pong match, his blue eyes glinting in amusement. His expression doesn't change much, but it doesn't need to. He clearly thinks they're at least a little funny.
"Does my mom know he fainted?" she leans closer to Koichi. "Do my brothers?"
"Shit, girl, I don't know. Why don't you go ask her? Isn't she still waiting for you out there?"
"Ah!" Suzume stands quickly. "Yes, she is. Thank you for the earrings and the conversation," she waves at the two employees, shoots a smile at Dabi, and jogs out the room.
When she returns to the waiting room, leaving Sora and Koichi bickering while Dabi eggs them on discreetly. Even past a burst of fangirlishness that she thinks she should be over by now (Shigaraki had almost killed her, and she'd seen how banged up Aizawa was after the USJ) she does like the rasp of his voice.
Chiasa is still talking to Tai when she comes out, and as soon as Suzume is close enough her mother turns and cups her face in her gloved hands. She turns her head this way and that, checking her earrings.
They're bright blue, tear dropped shaped gemstones and the new weight feels weirder than the faint ache that's starting.
"They look good. I was expecting you to pick something red, or orange if I'm honest."
Suzume shrugs. She did like red and orange. She liked warm colors.
"I thought they were… pretty."
It might be the first time she's ever voiced wanting to be pretty to her mother's face.
The smile on Chiasa's lips is soft.
"They are pretty. Just as pretty as you."
Suzume squirms, her face growing warm. "Mom, c'mon." She knows it's not true. She doesn't need to be pretty. She needs to be functional. The earrings are just- just a vanity, like her long hair and the eye shadow.
Chiasa pats her cheek and lets go.
"I know I taught you better than to back talk me."
"Yeah, about doing the dishes and my own laundry!"
Chiasa hums. She's gotten much more easy going since the days of strapped wallets and worry, even with her husband in prison. Gone are the days of rice for every meal, with honey'd toast for variety.
"Tai, what do we owe you?"
He charges them, and hands over a small bag filled with cleaner, cotton ball swabs, his business card.
Suzume eyes one of the pictures on the wall. An elegant serpent twisting through a patch of flowers.
"Maybe next time I should get a tattoo."
Chiasa takes her by the elbow and drags her out of the parlor.
Suzume, snickering, follows after with the bag clutched in her hands.
She peers around them, taking in the street. She's definitely been down here before, although she didn't take a lot of notice of it.
There's two bars, one on either side of the street at the corner. An elegant one that looks like it would host demon prodigies and quiet plots of murder, one that's loud even at only five in the afternoon. Leading past them is a vape shop, a convenience store that advertises DRUGS in bold neon letters, a vintage movie theater that is absolutely money laundering, and a new age shop selling crystals.
She recognizes some of the ones in the display as being Hojo's.
She smiles to herself. She hasn't seen him, Tabe, or Toya in nearly a year now. She hopes they're doing well and keeping out of trouble.
Her mom wraps an arm around her shoulders, and guides her to the car.
"We should get dinner on the way home, don't you think?"
"Hmm? Yeah, sounds good," she leans into the embrace for a moment before climbing into the car again. She keeps touching the new weight on her ears. The slight pain from it doesn't bother her, she's had much worse after all.
Kaname's going to be so jealous when he gets home.
The room is a disaster.
Piles of ashes lie all over the place, the remnants of anything that he'd grabbed during a fit of rage that overtaken him not five minutes ago. The blankets off his bed, a cup he'd had on his desk, his trash bin and its entire contents and a whole lamp. All smeared across the carpet or piled pathetically in hills of decay.
In his rage he'd probably fucked up his rib again. It aches in his side, but it's not the same sharp pain as when it had been broken in the first place by a vicious little bitch pretending to be a hero.
Frozen on one of the three screens still standing on his desk is that same dark eyed girl who had done it in the first place.
She isn't smiling like she had been when he'd been trying to kill her. Then it was a vicious curl of her mouth, baring her teeth with the word 'handsome' still hunger between them.
No. The girl on the screen stares out at the world like she's daring someone to walk out of the stands and take the gold medal from around her chest.
Cheater, someone earlier had called her. Quirkless, weak. A whole group of them had started objecting when she'd won her place in the finals..
Tomura, as someone who had been thrown into a tree so hard the bark broke and wood left deep gouges in his back that are still healing, knows that even without a quirk she's stronger than most pros. At least physically.
And she's fast, too.
His arm, now in a brace as opposed to the cast he'd started with, aches with the phantom pain of her fingers on his skin and his bone moved beneath it.
The left side of his neck is bloody where he'd scratched at it, spitting and destroying anything he could in rage and humiliation.
This stupid, quirkless, girl had broken his bones, had stopped him from hurting All Might, and for what?
So a crowd of idiots could insult her?
And that other kid, the brainwashing one. Did he really think they would let him leave the General Education department? With a quirk like that, everyone would be terrified of him. He didn't belong with heroes.
None of the three on the podiums did. The explosion kid, the one who had attacked Kurogiri, even looked like a villain, muzzled and fighting restraints.
None of them looked like heroes.
The rage that had consumed him starts to ebb.
He cocks his head, letting dusty hair fall across his eyes.
None of them look like heroes.
So why not make them villains?
Kurogiri said they needed to recruit more people. All those stupid NPC's from the USJ were in jail. Useless, they'd lost to children.
(Nevermind that he and Kurogiri had been arrested in the same attack. They had hung on until real heroes showed up.
He still thinks Eraserhead was pretty cool when he fought.)
He needs a quality party this time. Quantity had just been a waste of time and effort.
And those three… they looked pretty qualified, didn't they?
Sure, the girl didn't have a quirk, but that could be fixed easy enough. And it was a good recruitment tactic right? Offering someone what they must want?
It will probably help if he knows what kind of quirk she would want in particular, and has it ready for her when she comes. The other two would be easy as well.
It might be hard to convince them to kill All Might with him though. The brainwasher had looked kind of starstruck. Blasty looked like he was going to bite him though. That had potential.
Tomura sits down on his bed. His desk chair lay, just a pile of dust and leather scraps, beneath the desk itself. Another monitor reads 'Audio Only'. The third one shows the loading screen for a new game he was helping beta test under a fake name. 'Portrait of Hell', it said in white letters or a twisting smoke background.
"Sensei," he calls.
It takes a second for the voice to come though the second screens speakers. "Yes?"
Tomura scratches more idly at his throat, his broken nails tugging at already rended skin.
"I want to ask our spy what kind of quirk that girl would want. You'd give her one, wouldn't you?"
He can hear the smile in Sensei's voice.
"If you've decided that that's the course you want, then of course I will," he says smoothly. "Are you thinking of a new plan to kill All Might?"
"Yeah," he mumbles, staring at the screen as it flips between the girl and the two boys in order. "I've got an idea."
Yusada Suzume.
Shinsou Hitoshi.
Bakugou Katsuki.
"Too bad none of them are healers. We need one of those in our party."
"Perhaps the girl will want a healing quirk."
"Nah," Tomura's sure of that much. "She's a vicious bitch. She won't want one of those."
When it rings Suzume stares at the caller ID on her phone, startled.
Shisui never calls her. He calls Kaname and the house once in a blue moon, and she knows that he's spent weekends with Taka and Rio from their MyFace pictures, but he doesn't call her.
The sad fact of the matter is that between isolating himself as a teenager and by merit of being ten years her senior, he's never been close with her. By the time she was old enough to really go out and do anything he was already out of the house, spending most of his time studying to go to university and then moving halfway across the country.
She has his number, in case of emergencies, and she loves him dearly, but out of all of her brothers he's the one she's the least close with.
So it's weird that he's calling her.
She answers the phone.
"Hello?"
"Suzume?"
"Who else would it be?"
Shisui grunted. "I didn't know if you'd changed your number or something."
She hadn't, but she did have a second one. Her burner phone was still in her dresser drawer, turned off so it couldn't be tracked. She had a weird feeling she was going to need it again.
Since Bakugou hadn't made first, would they still attack the summer camp? Was Kamino Ward still on the table?
"Nope. It's still me."
They were both silent for a minute.
"So," Suzume finally drawls, "Why did you call?"
It's blunt, but she doesn't have time to sit here on a silent phone call while Shisui beats around the bush.
"Huh? Oh. I uh. I wanted to call. To congratulate you. We saw the sports festival. I can't believe you got first place."
Suzume makes note of 'we'. So he does have a boyfriend now.
"Honestly, I can't either. I was sure they were going to give the win to Bakugou, and I don't think I could have taken Todoroki head to head. I would have been in fourth place."
Not on the podiums. Not proud and defiant of the entire world watching.
"You would have figured something out."
Suzume pauses. She didn't know that Shisui had that much faith in her abilities.
"Thanks. And, thanks for calling? I haven't heard from you in a while."
"Yeah. Sorry. I've been busy."
"You've always been busy," she points out.
There's a click on the other side, and someone hissing at Shisui. He grumbles back, too muffled for her to understand.
"Anyways," Shisui says finally, when he comes back on the phone. "That's it. Just. good job?"
Suzume's brows arch.
This is easily the most awkward conversation she's ever been a part of with anyone in her Efamily.
"Well. Thanks. I did my best."
"Keep doing your best."
Suzume stares at the walls in her bedroom. Besides the wall where her practice weapons and a few old medals and stuff are displayed, they're pretty blank, but a couple of black and white posters of old movies are tacked to the walls, along with a cork board where she's got old movie tickets posted and pictures of herself and her family.
"I will. Love you. Bye."
Shisui hangs up, while someone in the background talks angrily at him.
That was weird.
Her family was weird.
The twins had texted her last night, and Seiji offered to come home to celebrate with them.
Satomi, still in Kyushu, wouldn't be able to make it back until summer break, and Suzume admitted that she'd heard there was a training camp that happened then that she would be at.
They were both incredibly proud of her. Seiji had ever won money off of her victory.
She didn't know how that made her feel. One on hand, her brothers believed in her. On the other, there were a lot of people who were willing to bet big money against her.
Oh well.
It wasn't like she hadn't known that was going to happen.
Her fight has only just begun. She still had three years before she can be a hero.
And she will.
She will get her license, she will make it.
Kaname knocks her door before opening it and poking his head in.
"Yo, I'm going for breakfast. Wanna come with? You're off school for the next couple of days aren't you?"
"They gave us an extra day off to recover, yeah," she nods, and stretches her arm across her chest. "I'll race you to the cafe?"
Kaname bolted for the door.
Suzume yelped and sprinted after him. She stumbled at the door, scrambling to cram her jeans into her boots before she raced out the door after him.
Kaname had a couple of inches on her, bringing him to a whopping 5 feet, three inches. It was all in his legs.
Suzume went after him, running as fast as she could. They shot out of their neighborhood like bats out of hell.
Their neighbors, who had seen this little looney toons routine plenty, didn't so much as stop watering their lawns to watch the Yusada kids run by.
They tipped around the corner, dodging parked cars on the sides of the streets as they left their neighborhood and went into the small shopping center. A restaurant, a nail salon, a gas station, and a rotating store front that was currently advertising bicycles, blocked them from the next one over where the cafe was.
Kaname peeled sideways so he could circle the nail salon, while Suzume ran straight forwards. She scrambled up the bricks of the bicycle store, vaulted onto the ceiling, and jumped nimbly off the other side.
She rolled on the ground, into grass, and launched herself back to her feet.
A duck pond flickered with blue in the morning light and Suzume passed it as fast as she could. Kaname squeaked when he realized she had passed him, and dove to tackle her into the water.
Suzume dodged like a soccer player and sped across the lawn to slap the side of the building.
"Safe!"
Kaname, who had narrowly avoided a face full of fowl, joined her a few seconds later, swearing colorfully.
"God I hate you. How are you so damn fast?"
Suzume shrugs, smiling crookedly. "Who's to say?"
Kaname swings an arm around her shoulder and guides her towards the entrance. The staff, who had seen them do this at least once a week for the last two years, barely bat an eye when they take one of the seats outdoors. The sun is warm across her back, soaking into her gray hoodie. A minimalist Mirko decal dances across the chest above the words 'Knock out'. It's one of her favorites.
"So I've been thinking," Kaname starts.
"Uh oh," Suzume propers her chin in her hand. "That's dangerous."
"Bitch. Anyways, after your sports festival its going to be time for you to pick an internship right? You got first, so I'm sure you'll get plenty of offer's- hey, don't give me that look. Powers or otherwise, you still won, and pro's will want to at least see what you can do- And boss man, Gang Orca I mean, he offered to send you an invite to do it with him. With us, really. I'm practically his side kick already. What do you say?"
Suzume stares at him, startled.
Gang Orca wanted her to intern with his agency?
Her brother wanted her to come work with him, even if it was just for a week?
She accepted the soda the waitress brought over and sipped it thoughtfully.
"I… I don't know, Kan," she says after a minute of thought. "I'd love to spend some time with you, but it would feel to much like nepotism. To me, and I'm sure to other people too. I've been avoiding the news since school started-"
"I knew you were the smart one-"
"But I know they've been saying nasty stuff. I know it. And it would feel like that to me, too. I'll think about it, but I want to see all of my offers first, so I can make an informed decision."
" 'Informed decision' is lame. Come spend the week beating people up with your brother."
Well when he put it that way…
"One of us has to have her feet on the ground."
"Bitch you spend more time on rooftops than anyone I've ever met!"
She shrugs, careless.
"Sue me."
They go on like that for over an hour. Kaname tells her about the small time villains he helped knock around last night, just a couple of kids who got in over their heads with a bigger villain group that Gang Orca was planning on asking for help taking down. He had a good two dozen side kicks, but an extra hero or two wouldn't hurt anything.
Then he mentions Ingenium.
Tensei Iida had been the latest in the ever growing list of hero killer victims.
She grimaces.
She'd almost forgotten about Stain.
Hell, should she drop a hint with her burner? Or just take an internship in Hosu? Even if she did, its not like she can do anything Midoriya, Iida and Todoroki can't on their own. They'd all be fine in the end hadn't they?
For all she knows, Stain has already left Hosu.
(He hasn't. Suzanna Hemmings knows he hasn't, and if she looked, just looked she would know exactly where he is, where he'll strike next, and how to trap him-
But she's not Suzanna Hemmings. She's Yusada Suzume, and she doesn't have the resources or the reputation to mobilize people who can act.)
In any case, she might mention something to Iida.
"Hey," Kaname stands, "I've gotta pee, do me a favor and order me an omelet?"
"Yeah, totally," she agrees.
Kaname leaves her at the table. Suzume props her chin on her hand and waits. With her free hand she flips through her phone, skimming down her contacts until she gets to Shinsou.
She scrolls through her camera roll, looking for a meme she'd saved a few days ago.
A shadow falls across the table.
She looks up, expecting the waitress.
Instead, it's a tall man in a hoodie. His lank brown hair looks like it could stand to be washed, and his brows are pinched.
Something about this smells like trouble.
"Can I help you?" she asks, arching an eye brow.
The man licks his lips and Suzume cinges.
"You're uh. That girl from UA. From the festival. The quirkless one? Yusada."
Her mouth thins.
"I am."
She waits. Waits for something nasty, or something condescending.
She doesn't expect a small smile to touch his mouth.
"I'm quirkless too. It was pretty cool, seeing someone like us out there on the big screen."
Suzume sucks in a startled breath.
She knows, of course, that there are other quirkless people around. But most of those people are older. With each generation the amount of quirkless people born grows less and less. If twenty percent of the population is quirkless, nearly eighty percent of that is people over forty. By her age, only about four percent of people are quirkless.
So when she does meet other quirkless people, its rare. Even more rare that someone other than her will openly admit to it.
She knew one girl in middle school who dyed her hair religiously to avoid being outed.
Suzume just threw hands with anyone who wanted to start shit.
"Oh. Well thank you. I did my best."
"It showed," he smiled at her. He lay a small piece of paper on the table in front of her.
"Here. I know its gotta be kinda weird getting something like this from a random person, but there's groups out there. For quirkless people and stuff. This one is for people who want to bring changes to society."
Suzume looks down at the URL printed on the paper.
"Is that so?"
"It's just something to think about," he smiles again, but there's something strange in his eyes. Too much whites around the iris, she thinks. Like a frightened horse.
"Thanks?"
He leaves her there, and walks right out the door.
Suzume hesitates. Kaname will be back from the bathroom in a minute. Her brother is strong. She's strong.
So what's the worst thing that happens? She sees a dick? Gets a virus? She's got protection on her phone that's Yakuza grade, so that's not a big concern.
Suzume copies the URL into her phone.
The website that pops up is titled, plainly, Humans Rise. But the way the 'n' and 's' are merged in the middle gives it a different look.
HumaRise.
… Did I just get recruited by a cult?
Me, shaking spell checker by its neck : Grammar doesn't matter in dialogue, grammar doesn't matter in dialogue, grammar does. Not. Matter. In. Dialogue. Real people don't talk like that!