Michie woke up the next morning and sat up on her bed as she stretched her wings. She rubbed her face and eyes while she was groaning. Well, that was a bad night, she thought to herself as she got up from the bed and started to get ready for work.
The small test made by Hawks had ended up with a heart to heart between her and the second of Top Pro Heroes of Japan. He had ended up giving her great advice and she didn't even remember when had been the last time she had had that kind of a conversation. Maybe with Hoshi before they had graduated?
I need tea. I'm not functioning properly, she huffed to herself as she headed to her kitchen after she had dressed up into her clothes. When she got to the kitchen, she took out her tea bags and chose one of them after she had put some water into her kettle.
She decided to check her phone as she waited for the water to boil. Wouldn't take long so she would have enough time to check the news from yesterday evening. Or even from this morning; depended on how quickly the media had started to work on new articles from the morning. Probably not that quickly though.
She then paused as she noticed a message in her contacts. Had Hoshi messaged her about something urgent? She opened her contacts and almost breathed the wrong way in as she recognized who the message had come from. Hawks. How the hell is he in my contacts? She thought to herself with confusion.
Was he a mind reader? Or a psychic? No, wait – their heart to heart had ended up with the two exchanging numbers. She rubbed her eyebrows from embarrassment as she remembered that she had been the one agreeing to it; the idea had come from him. I must have been too tired to not feel shy or flustered about the whole thing, she thought to herself as she opened the message.
"Did you sleep well after last night?" Read the message that had been sent to her from Hawks. It had been sent at 5.00 am. Michie checked the time. It was currently 6.30 am. How early does he wake up? Does he have more work because he leads an agency or what? She thought to herself as she noticed that the water in the kettle was boiling already.
She quickly poured the water into her cup and dunk the tea bag in there. Then she thought for a while before she sent an answer to him. "Yeah. Didn't sleep like a baby though." She stared at the message before she shrugged with a slight huff. Could've been worse.
She then dipped the tea bag down to the cup a few times before she was done and put it away. She took a sip from her tea and looked back to her phone. Another question from her boss. "I wonder what was keeping you awake?" He had written to her. She looked at the message and didn't even think twice before she had answered:
"Wouldn't you like to know." F*ck. Sh*t. Oh no, Michie cursed as she read over and over her text message that she had just sent. That message could be understood in two different kinds of ways; either as an extremely rude and sarcastic answer or as a flirty answer. Anxiety started to settle in. I'll get fired and sued- I won't see the light of day again after I've mentally dug myself under the ground, she exaggerated in her mind as she was practically pacing around her kitchen. She didn't want to see the answer.
But still she immediately grabbed the phone when it had let out the sound that came when the phone announced a new text message. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she read Hawks' answer. "Am I supposed to guess?" If my text had sounded like a flirt, that definitely did, she thought to herself as she read the message again and felt slight warmness on her cheeks. Then again, Hawks was a curious kind of a person so that may have been the reason for this question. Or that's how she had thought of him.
Is he always this worried about his sidekicks and workers or is this just for me? Michie thought to herself as she was thinking about an answer for this text. She could be honest and tell him about her insecurities, which she wasn't very willing to do, so the other idea was to tell him that her quirk's drawback had been pestering during the night.
She took a sip from her tea and just texted that her wings had been aching during the night before she turned off her phone and continued to get ready for the day.
<??𖢨??>
"Is it unusually hot today or is my uniform just unexceptionally suffocating?" Hoshi said with a heavy huff as she fanned herself with her hand. Michie walked beside her and didn't feel any hotter than yesterday. Then again, her uniform didn't have as many layers as Hoshi's did. Also, in Hoshi's account, it was fall and usually it would have been a bit cooler than this.
Which reminded Michie about the fact that she would have to switch up to using her winter season's hero uniform before her quirk's drawback would start to act up. That could cost very dearly, she hummed to herself and continued to listen to Hoshi rant about the weather. She was now ranting about her younger selves decision to design that kind of a suit.
"Well, at least you didn't have to design two hero uniforms because of your quirk," Michie exclaimed as an answer to Hoshi's ranting, trying to give her some sort of a different view about the whole thing. That seemed to work as she then huffed and stopped whining and scanned their surroundings with her eyesight.
"Well, sometimes I would've wanted to because your winter uniform looks way cooler than your normal one," Hoshi said in a way that made her sound and look defensive. Michie just rolled her eyes nonchalantly even though she had an amused grin. Hoshi wasn't usually this grumpy so she must have been angry about something else right now. Or worried; that would explain her attitude too.
Michie had had to design the winter uniform because sometimes, her quirk could cause her to act like a bird. As an example, if it'd get too cold and she wasn't wearing warm clothes enough, she'd try to migrate to Africa for the duration of the winter. That would be a hindrance on a mission or during a chase.
She would've also said something else but a large shadow flew over them and before she was able to look up, Hawks had landed in front of them and taken a jump out of the poor Hoshi. She would have probably lunged at him if he hadn't said 'hello' as he had landed. Michie was wondering where his sidekicks were, since she and Hoshi weren't assigned to him today.
"Fancy running into you two! How has your morning patrol been so far?" Hawks said with his usual, enthusiastic tone. He didn't yet say anything about his and Michie's morning texting which was a good thing for Michie; although she had to tell about it before Hawks would hint something about it which would make Hoshi confused; then she'd have a hard time trying to explain it to her because even though she was the much calmer one of the two, she was able to overreact to some things.
"Our morning patrol has gone well for now. We haven't ran into any problems yet," Hoshi explained to Hawks who was rubbing his chin in thought. He nodded after a while and then looked at her with a thoughtful expression. He obviously wanted to know more about the areas where they have already been and if the criminal activity would rise there during the day.
During this, Michie wondered how she would explain the things that happened to her during the morning. But to explain that, she would also have to explain what had happened yesterday when Hoshi had already left the agency. She would have to also tell that she had been right about him wanting to see them prove their worth to him.
After a while of thinking, Michie stirred to Hawks' this day's sidekicks arrival. There were also two of them, just like her and Hoshi. They both looked a bit tired from running around and after their boss around the town. Something that she could relate to in some sort of way, except that she had wings and the two men didn't.
The first of the two sidekicks looked up as he was breathing heavily and then stammered for words through his breath loss. Hawks waited patiently with a calm and cocky smile as Michie and Hoshi on the other hand looked confused about the whole thing. How much has he put these two to run around the town? Michie thought to herself as she was also wondering how she had managed to fly past the Top 2# Pro Hero of Japan the day before. Had he let her win?
I have it easy apparently, she thought before the sidekick talked. "Hawks! Have you come across any criminals yet?" He asked from the red winged Pro Hero. Hawks just hummed and looked up towards the tops of the tall buildings around them. Hoshi and Michie were just bystanders for now; the sidekicks hadn't paid any attention to them yet.
"Well. I have come across two criminals and stopped some small-time criminals and also some smaller accidents before they have even happened," he explained as he also flicked his wings, settling them more comfortably. That's a lot! No wonder so many people like him, Michie thought.
Hawks was known to be extremely fast; in speed and also in reaction time. He was usually praised in news for stopping small time crimes or accidents even before they had occured or taken place. Which amazed Michie when she had still been a Hero student; it had inspired her to try and become quick, fast and agile too.
And before she would have reacted in any other way, Hawks had smacked his arm around her shoulder and pulled her against his side like they were old pals. Michie felt her cheeks flush slightly because of the closure but it was also because of confusion. What had just happened and why?
"You know, this new fella here showed skill and quick thinking yesterday. You two could learn from her," Hawks explained to his sidekicks, making Michie even more nervous. What had they been just talking about?! She screeched to herself in her mind and regretted being such an airhead in these kinds of situations; maybe she wouldn't be so awkward if she would pay attention to the people around her.
She felt even more nervous as she noticed Hoshi's confused expression. "Yesterday? What do you mean?" she asked with a raised eyebrow as she was staring at Michie and Hawks. He then hummed in realization, which Michie interpreted as him understanding that she hadn't told Hoshi yet about yesterday and then glanced at Michie with his usual smirk.
Am I supposed to be relieved, scared or intimidated; I don't know, she thought to herself as she leaned a bit more away from Hawks as he took his arm off from around her shoulders. "Nothing much. We just had a small race. But like I said, it's not that important or surprising. Just two wing quirk related persons testing their speed," he explained nonchalantly, like it wasn't anything that important and surprising to him himself.
Michie felt Hoshi's burning gaze sinking into her back and her brown wings quivered a bit from nervousness. I'm going to have a fun time trying to explain this to her, she thought in her mind as she tried to play it cool since Hawks and his other sidekicks were still present.
Hawks then apparently heard something from his work headphones since he flew up in the air. "Welp. Seems like my aid is needed. Bye!" He said and flew off, causing his sidekicks to huff from shock and then run after him while trying to keep up. I really do have it easy, Michie repeated her thoughts from before.
"What was all that about?" Hoshi asked, hinting on what Hawks had said. Michie turned to look at her friend and was thinking about a good way of explaining what had happened. We really need to work and pay attention, she felt conflicted since she wanted to tell her now but then again, they were working at the moment.
"Could we talk about this after we've been done with our patrol? I promise I'll explain everything from yesterday," she said, trying to bargain with Hoshi. She then seemed to be thinking about it since she tapped her foot against the ground and hummed thoughtfully to herself. I hope she'll comply, Michie thought as she looked at her friend patiently.
"Well, alright then. But I get to ask you questions if I want to," Hoshi finally said after a long while, which Michie answered by just nodding quietly with a friendly and thoughtful expression before they continued on with the day.
- 12209 characters, 2252 words