A few days later, Ryo was visiting the hospital where injured heroes from the Deep Sea King's battle were healing. She knocked gently on a door, cradling two bouquets of pink flowers. she heard Stinger's voice ring from the other side of the door, "Come in."
Slowly she opened the door and peeked inside, she immediately saw both Stinger and Lightning Max who had been sharing a room.
"Ryo!" he grinned broadly. "I'm so glad you came to visit!"
Ryo beamed back at him, "I'm so glad to see your feeling well! You too Lightning Max!"
"Thank you," he nodded a greeting, "And you can just call me Max."
"This is the chick that pulled us off the battlefield!" Stinger grinned. "She also is my personal costume designer."
"I'm freelance Stinger," Ryo giggled.
"Well it's a pleasure to meet you, now that I'm, you know, conscious," Max laughed.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too," Ryo smiled. She then gestured to the flowers. "I wanted to get a gift to thank you guys, but I could only think of flowers."
"I love flowers!" Stinger quickly insisted, earning a suspicious glance from Max.
"You do?" his friend asked skeptically.
"Yeah..." Stinger drawled, realizing his hasty declaration did sound a bit strange.
"What kind of flowers are those?" Lightning Max probed with a condescending smirk.
"Uh... Orchids?" Stinger tried.
Ryo giggled, and Max answered his own question. "Clearly that is a bouquet of Gladiolus and Heather."
The girl turned to Lightning Max with a shocked smile, "So you know a thing or two about flowers?"
"Worst wingman ever," Stinger grumbled to Max.
"My grandmother owns her own flower shop, I help her out when I'm not doing hero work," Lightning Max explained as Ryo set the flowers beside their beds.
"That's awesome," Ryo cheered, "But do you know what the flowers mean?"
"flowers have meaning?" Lightning Max asked.
Stinger staked. "You work in a flower shop, but you don't know flower meanings?"
"You couldn't even name the flowers!" Max quickly defended.
"If I had to guess," Stinger started, giving his best heartthrob smirk. "It means 'My love is pure' meaning your love for me is clear."
Ryo laughed out loud, "Not quite!" she beamed. "Those are white lilies. Gladiolus represents strength of character, and Heather represents admiration." Ryo trailed off, feeling pretty embarrassed. "I just wanted to say thank you for everything you did for us civilians."
Lightning Max and Stinger dropped their jaws. They looked at each other then back at her, both thinking the same thing. "She's so cute!"
"As I said, I love flowers!" Stinger passionately tried to affirm her.
"Yeah, it's a perfect gift!" Lightning Max agreed.
Ryo scratched the back of her head with a bit of a blush. "Thank you guys, and that's not all. I'm offering free costume repair to all the heroes who fought the Deep Sea King. So if you guys ever need me you know where to find me."
Stinger and Lightning Max thanked her again for her visit. Once she left the two boys sighed.
"She's so into me," they spoke together.
Ryo had visited every hero that had fought the Sea King. She brought the same bouquet to each hero and offered the same costume restoration. The only heroes still on her list were her favorite boys.
Mumen Rider had checked out of the hospital before she had gotten there, so she'd have to track him down. Genos and Saitama were likely together at Saitama's apartment, so that's where she was going. She had a special surprise for Saitama.
"You guys home?" She asked as she opened Saitama's door.
"What's the point of asking if you're just going to barge in?" Saitama asked from the floor.
"Ryo, it is good to see you," Genos grinned.
"Hell yeah, it is!" She threw her arms around the boy. The last time she saw him a bunch of robots were carrying his fragmented body into the sky.
Genos was stiff at first but he returned her hug with a smile. "You must have been pretty scared."
"I watched your body boil away by acidic monster spit. Yeah, I was scared!" Ryo stepped back and pointed at him. "You have to get stronger so I don't have to worry, got it?!"
Genos stiffly responded with a genuine smile. "Right!"
"Are you two done?" Saitama asked.
"Oh, what?" Ryo snicked, "Is the great Class B hero Saitama wanting his biggest fan's attention?"
"Ah, so you've heard?" Saitama smiled. "I'm moving up in the hero world. Maybe I'll catch up to Genos."
Ryo turned her attention to the table piled high with mail, "What's this?" She asked picking up an open letter and reading part of it.
Dear Genos,
You are so amazing! I saw you fight the Deep Sea King and cried every second! Especially when he destroyed your perfect body.
I was worried that you were going to die and I realized that I'm in love with you!
I really am in love and I swear that it doesn't matter if you have a robot pe-
"OKAY!" Ryo dropped the letter. "That was really gross."
"Yeah, Genos's fans sent him a whole lot of letters," Saitama explained.
"Did you get any?" Ryo asked hopefully.
"Some undesirable individuals sent him hateful letters," Genos glared down at the letter she had just read. "I disposed of them permanently." He held up his hand showing off the fire burning in his metal hand.
"I did get one nice letter," Saitama held up a single sheet of paper.
Ryo took it, beaming from ear to ear. She read the letter that simply said: "Thank you" in big letters "That's amazing! Do you know who wrote it? There's no name..."
"Mumen Rider did," Saitama said. "He bought me oden stew as a thank you."
Ryo felt her heart flutter. "No way! Mumen wrote to you! This is so awesome Saitama."
"Why do I feel like you're patronizing me?" Saitama asked sitting up and taking the letter from Ryo.
"I am not!" Ryo grinned. "In fact, I have a surprise for you."
"Oh?"
Ryo pulled off her overshirt and revealed a white t-shirt that read "Saitama Fan Club President." Ryo placed her hands on her hips and smirked at her friend's shock faces.
"That's the stupidest shirt I've ever seen," Saitama deadpanned.
"Ryo," Genos spoke severely. Ryo turned her attention to him and watched in awe as he ripped his shirt off to reveal a matching t-shirt reading "Saitama Fan Club Founder."
"Oh my god!" Ryo began to laugh and wrapped her arm around Genos's waist and he snaked his arm around her shoulders, presenting themselves to Saitama.
"You're looking at your number one fans Saitama!"
"Master I hope that you let me wear this shirt into battle next time I face a monster!" Genos continued.
Saitama glared at the two. "I am going to burn those shirts."
Eyeyeyeyey wasssssup???
How are y'all? The Deep Sea King is one of my favorite arches... Like it's one of the few that I genuinely felt fear while watching. Also if you don't get the reference its from mystic messenger fan art.
THat is exactly how Ryo and Genos support Saitama, like it is perfect. Im already working on the next chapter so I will see you all soon!!!