"Making me wear a suit… Not even a good one like Kurogiri's… Red is Himi's color, not mine…" I grumble under my breath while fiddling with the cuffs on the red suit, vertical black lines running down the whole ensemble from the shoulders to the end of the pants legs. A yellow shirt and a black bowtie complete the look and I hate it. Honestly, the only thing that sets it apart from All Might's formal suits is the fact that it's not an eye-searing yellow that somehow manages to clash with his hair color. Seriously, whenever he wears one of those things he looks almost as much like a banana as Present Mic's hair!
Still, I can take solace in the fact that mine looks better on me than his does on him… at least according to Melissa and Himi. My cousin is in two-part dress, with a white skirt that widens a bit on its journey to its final destination around her knees, with a dark blue corset that leaves her back bare and a large stylized black belt. Her long blonde hair is pulled into a high ponytail that trails down in a wave just past her shoulders.
Himi is wearing a plain but flattering red dress that leaves her arms bare, with only a thin black strap circling her neck holding it up. It comes down to mid-thigh and has black ruffles circling the hem and the rounded portion that ends just above the curve of her breasts. A pair of leggings cover the distracting and subtly muscled legs, easily slipping into red platform heels. Her hair remains in its usual style of messy buns and long bangs framing her face. The knowing smirk on her face makes it obvious that I'm not subtle as I look her up and down, which I have no reason to be.
I mean, come on. That's my girlfriend! My girlfriend! "Damn I'm lucky." I say before my head jerks back from a thrown frying pan that I catch before it has a chance to fall. "Sorry, Unicorn," I say as I hand Eri back her tiny frying pan, ignoring the blood running down from where the impact broke skin. Himi is hopping over to lick it clean almost immediately, so it's fine.
"No cursing in nice clothes!" Eri says, pointing her reacquired disciplinary device at me. "Mama said so!" I puff out my cheeks before opening my mouth but quickly close it when she waves the frying pan again. "No means no!"
"And you should never forget that!" Denki's voice rings out from the entrance to the building, causing the four of us to turn our attention that way. The lightning quirked boy is wearing the same simple waiter's uniform he was wearing earlier. Which makes sense since he seemed surprised at the offer, though I'm not sure why since I do consider him and the girls friends.
"I can't decide whether I should laugh or facepalm at the fact it's you saying that…" Speaking of the girls, they're right behind Denki, with Kyoka sporting a thinking face alongside a dress with a blue top and a dark pink skirt. As is typical with the self-conscious girl, a cropped black jacket helps her feel more secure in her 'girly' choice of outfit, an idea added onto courtesy of the tropical flower in her hair, tastefully parting it to the side. No idea what the flower is actually called, but it looks tropical. Despite what she's undoubtedly thinking, it's very punk and fits her super well.
Momo, meanwhile, has chosen to go for simple but elegant, with a conservative dark yellow dress that drops down to her ankles, leaves her arms uncovered, and wraps back over her shoulders. She giggles at the other two's antics while Denki mimes a shot to the heart.
"You wound me, my fair lady! Casual flirting is far different from interested flirting, and both are firmly on the good side of things!" He pauses before letting his arms drop back down to his sides and shrugging. "Plus I always make sure to stop if it ever makes a girl uncomfortable or she asks me to. I get that some people aren't ok with it, and I respect that."
"…Fair enough, Pikachu."
With the show over, Momo turns back to us, giving Melissa and I a nod in greeting, and happily accepting Himi's hug when she skips over to her. "Hello to you too, Himiko," she says with a smile before taking a step back to properly take in her outfit only to pout. "That dress fits you remarkably well! Though I do wish you would have allowed me to style your hair, or at least let it down."
Himi's smile stiffens just a tad so I put a reassuring arm around her waist, causing her to relax as she eases into my side. "Thanks for the offer Momo, but this is how I like my hair best, and I'm just not comfortable letting my hair loose."
I nod in agreement. "It's true, she's never without her buns."
Momo looks like she wants to say something, but something in our tones must warn her that this isn't a subject we're ok with her pushing on, so she simply dips her head in acknowledgment. "I see. Well then, I suppose there's nothing for it in that case." She gives my girlfriend a smile, one of her canine's flashing in what has to be a deliberate way given the lack of any light source that could give such an effect. It's honestly adorable how much the rich girl has imprinted on her after getting blood consumption lessons. Though, for some reason, she doesn't get blood flavors depending on personalities like Himi, but just blood type. Himi was disappointed about that since it means that Momo's palate is much more limited than hers, but apparently my blood type tastes best to both girls so she wasn't too put out about it.
Though at the rate the two drain me dry… of blood, I'm going to develop some sort of condition.
"So!" I clap my hands together, drawing the gathered teens' attention. "We're just waiting on Shoko and Mei, then? Anyone know what's keeping them?"
Kyoka snorts out a laugh. "Mei dropped a smoke bomb made out of the shower supplies and tried to jump out the window so she could find a place to focus on inventing. Princess said she would focus on getting her ready and bring her when she's done."
"… Isn't your room on the tenth floor?"
"Izu," Himi says, deadpan, "this is Mei we're talking about. Do you really think she wouldn't have something planned for that sort of situation?"
"Himi," I say, deadpan, "this is Mei we're talking about. I give it a fifty-fifty chance that whatever she made for the situation wasn't tested and would have exploded in her face."
"I froze it before she could try to activate it, so we don't know if it would have or not." Shoko's voice suddenly rings out from the entrance, drawing our attention, and a smile instinctively stretches my lips. Then I catch sight of her.
A translucent cover tinted a pale red hanging from her neck to her chest that transitions to the actual fully red dress before continuing to trail down to mid-thigh before flaring out slightly. A large black belt is wrapped just under her chest, both providing support to it as well as keeping the second layer of light blue skirt that shimmers around to mid-calf, obscuring her legs but giving a tantalizing look with every motion that shows off the stockings that leave a few inches of bare thigh visible. The disconnected sleeves match the main dress' red, the overall color scheme seeming to be the inverse of her hero costume. Her hair is done up in an elaborate crown braid, the mix of red and white creating a mesmerizing pattern that draws the eye.
I blink, realizing that I've been staring for a full minute while her face gets steadily redder. I immediately turn to Himi. "Mind helping me keep guys off of her tonight? With how incredibly pretty she is, she's definitely going to get harassed, and if she freezes someone influential she could get in trouble."
Himi lets out a breathy giggle before smirking at the girl behind me, prompting me to turn around and see that her face has gone even redder and she's turned away slightly. "Told you so~!"
…I should be worried about that, shouldn't I?
Melissa clears her throat, glancing between the three of us with an amused look. "Well, now that we're all here we should head inside, shouldn't we."
I'll admit, I completely missed the half-frozen inventor that Shoko dragged behind her, but now that I'm paying attention I can hear her muttering under her breath about how she could be making babies right now instead of making nice with a bunch of people who wouldn't know a… I'm not an inventor, so I have no idea what those things are, but they have complicated names that I won't even bother trying to repeat.
"You can probably convince some of the eccentric rich people at the banquet to sponsor your inven- where'd she go?" She's broken free of the ice and vanished from sight before I can even finish my sentence. I blink for a moment before I realize that Melissa is staring in the direction of the banquet… and the sound of rapid-fire speech is echoing back to us. A grin slowly spreads across her face.
"You know, I think I like her."
A shiver goes down my spine at the way she says it, something in the tone of her voice warning me of things that will happen because of this night. What those things are, I don't know.
What I do know is that things are going to get dangerous.
`~`
"Well, that escalated quickly." I say, watching as a bunch of villains walk into the banquet and activate I-Island's own security system to tie up all of the assembled heroes. The party-goers have the role of hostages in order to prevent anyone who might be able to break free of their restraints (*cough* All Might *cough*) while the villain leader monologues about how it's not just the people here, but the whole island that's being held hostage. It's a bold move, I have to admit, though unless the red-haired man has one or multiple people with technological manipulation quirks he's basically announced that he had inside help to gain control of the island's security.
Oh, and all of the villains are armed with guns. Because this isn't Japan anymore, which means that it's much easier to get a gun here. Kind of want to kick myself for forgetting something like that since I would have been able to get myself a new gun!
As punishment for making me feel like that, I shall now endeavor to throw a chihuahua on cocaine into the plans of whoever this dude is.