This is it guys! The last update before the summer training arc begins, its just a short sweet one.
Kindly keep any homophobic comments to yourselves, please and thank you.
The expo wasn't canceled.
David Shield wasn't going to prison, although his job was on the line. Which seemed pretty mild to Suzume, but really its not her business. The man just almost got a bunch of people killed in a not-so-fate hostage take over. No big deal, right?
But, Davids involvement in the matter is mostly swept under the rug. All most people know is that villains took over the island and a few hero trainees set everyone free. Wolfram took the biggest fall.
And apparently David is one of the biggest producers of support gear there is. He's the islands cash cow, and the island isn't subject to the whims (or laws, as the case may be) of any nation in the world.
Just the board of directors.
Who see fit to sweep it all away like dust, while David gets a pay cut and a suspension.
Suzume is maybe a little irritated by the fact.
She's not a huge proponent of justice, or the rule of law, but this is stretching things a little too far even for her.
If David wasn't worth so much money, he wouldn't be getting off so lightly.
But money rules the world, now doesn't it?
At least Melissa's father isn't going to go to jail.
Although…
Suzume eyes the other girl.
The pair of them have taken a walk up on the high walls of I island, the ones that overlook the sea and protect the island from any outside force. They're thick steel, made solidly and thick enough for four Boeing 747's to be lined wing to wing across them. The metal makes soft thumps beneath their shoes, and every now and again a security drone circles past them like clockwork.
By 'every now and again' I mean every 4.3 minutes exactly. More than enough time for someone to run across the surface of the wall and get to the other side. Is this really the best security they have?
Melissa is oblivious to Suzume's train of thought, or the way her dark eyes follow the American girl.
She's taller than Suzume, which isn't a hard thing to be, and she had a habit of clasping her hands behind her back. She also has a strange affinity for flannel that Suzume doesn't really understand. Socks, bow, under shirt…
But whatever. This girl can wear whatever she wants.
"How are your feet?" Suzume finally asks, for once the one uncomfortable with the growing silence.
Melissa looks surprised at her, then cracks a half a smile. Where is Midoriya when Suzume needs him? He's good at this comforting people crap isn't he?
She's no good with kids…
Nevermind that Melissa is older than her. And still staring at her, for some reason?
"They'll be okay. They'll just be sore for a while, and I got bandages for them. Next time, I think I'll wear flats instead of heels."
Suzume cracks half a grin back at her.
"You could always do what I did and wear boots. Or keep flats in your clutch, my sister-in-law did that at her wedding."
"Why did she have a clutch at her own wedding?" Melissa wrinkles her nose.
Suzume shrugs.
"Her dress didn't have pockets and she didn't want to keep shoes stuffed in her bra with her phone I guess."
That makes Melissa laugh at least, as small as it is.
"I'll try to remember that next time I'm at a party with your cursed class."
Next time.
That was an interesting was to say it.
Did that mean that Melissa was planning on seeing them again? Was she going to come to Japan and visit All Might or something?
"That's probably smart. I'm thinking about bringing a gun to summer camp with me. Mark my words, something is bound to go horribly, horribly wrong while we're there."
Melissa laughs again, a bigger sound this time. More like herself.
After the relief of not being dead had worn off she'd become more subdued, especially while they were deciding her fathers fate.
Suzume can't really blame her.
She literally knows exactly how Melissa feels.
Only Melissa's father is useful to the government and his crimes mild enough to walk free.
Suzume isn't bitter, or if she is it has nothing to do with the blonde girl.
Kono Sanjiro made his choice. And David Shield made his.
It still stings a bit, but that's not Melissa's fault.
"Maybe I should make you some support gear to take with you. Just in case. Is there anything you've dreamed up that UA can't provide?"
Suzume hums.
"Nothing that would be practical, no. I wanted an upgrade from my grappling gun that would attach to my hips and let me fly around basically, but it wouldn't work with the way I fight and it would have ended up too bulky. That's how I ended up with my vambraces."
"Oh?' Melissa's eyes light up. "That still sounds interesting. Tell me about it?"
So, Suzume does. She details her ideas for the harness and the possible fuel sources and propulsion for the grappling points. The materials she's though of, weight points, and the hooks for the grappling itself.
And how the position of them would get in her way when she was fighting, so the idea was scrapped for her vambraces.
"That still would have been incredible!" Melissa's eyes are bright and excited behind her glassed by the time Suzume finishes. "You could have flown."
Suzume nods, a wry smile on her face.
"I could have. And it would have been awesome. But it wasn't practical, and I can get pretty close as is."
Melissa still looked like she was running numbers somewhere in that head of hers.
She was like Hatsume, just less likely to blow Suzume up in the process of experimentation. A less insane Hatsume, but no less brilliant or determined.
Melissa's path, the one she had chosen for herself, was something that Suzume couldn't do. Not because she couldn't think of insane, helpful ideas or even work out how those things might work out in terms of making them,but because she doesn't have the patience for getting back up from failure after failure and trying small adjustments to get it right next time.
She just doesn't.
She is, at best, a forensic scientist. Not an engineer or architect of marvels.
She has to leave that for other girls.
There's a very big difference from improvising a bomb and making something as delicate and reliable as her vambraces.
By the time Suzume finishes telling Melissa about all of the support gear that she uses, and her silly longing for a cape, they've actually circled the city in its entirety.
"I should be getting back to the hotel," she says reluctantly. The air out here may be humid and smell of salt, but the wind is warm this high up, and the dying sun casts burning pink across the waters that alights in the reflection of Melissa's glasses.
"Your plane leaves in a couple of hours, doesn't it?"
Melissa smiles again, but it looks forlorn. How can smiles be both happy and sad? How can the same movement of muscles portray so many different emotions?
Sometimes, humans are really, weirdly amazing.
Suzume turns her dark eyes towards the sea again. It's a glory of pink, red, and violet and the sky burns. A few faint stars are already starting to show. She'll get to see the constellations watching them on their flight home.
"Yeah. Our time here is about up."
Melissa's finger tips barely brush Suzume's arm, drawing the girls attention away from the sea and sky.
"Will you come back?" Melissa asks, and Suzume tries to figure out when she got this close. She's close enough that Suzume can feel the warmth of her body.
"Maybe, if I win the Sport Festival next year."
Melissa hums, so soft it's almost lost on the breeze.
"But you're going to come to Japan to visit All Might," Suzume points out. "So it's not like you'll never see me again."
"No, but I don't think I'll be as brave there as I am here."
Suzume's brows furrow. "Brave? What are you-?"
The breeze sweeps away her words.
So do the soft, warm lips that cover her own.
In other news I've also decided that I want to do a halloween special this fall, I'm thinking Hello From the Hallowoods themed!