MEIKO TANAKA, better known as the number 14, Stellar Hero, Astra, is one of those overworked heroes, working days and nights in her small agency in Kyushu, while also dealing with the annoying and slightly overbearing pro-hero that is HAWKS....
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Flying to Fukuoka Tower felt like going in for an interrogation. There was no way Meiko could hide from Hawks. As much as she said she disliked him (or pretended to), his intelligence was no joke. It would have been easy for him to figure out why she had to run after their meeting with that man (not dad, never dad). The similarities she shared with him were far too obvious to be ignored.
Meiko had intended for this secret to remain buried forever, but life did not work out that way.
Arriving at the tower early would have meant taking in the view of the beautiful sunset. It cast the sky in beautiful glows of orange, red and yellow, all colours she adored. However, today was not a day to admire the sun and the sky. Meiko sat down on the circular, metallic net on the top of the tower, lost in the vicious maze of her buried feelings. It also didn't help that she felt a lot.
She watched the sun go down, down and down till it sank beneath the horizon. Now the sky was covered in inky darkness, barely any stars visible except for the pole star. But even that was a small, blurry dot in the sky, hidden by the pollution from the city.
Hawks would arrive soon, Meiko remembered. Today was another planned day of patrolling. Before anything else, he would have questions. And there was no way she could run away from answering. She was prepared to tackle questions...wasn't she?
She slapped herself hard, and that too with her gloved hands, not even caring how badly it would hurt. This was not her. She didn't care about unimportant things such as the non-existent relationships between her and the man who had once been someone who mattered. She was Astra, the Stellar Hero. She was fine. Meiko did not let petty things affect her at all. She was okay.
Probably.
A loud flap of wings caught her attention. She felt him land right next to her on the platform. Meiko didn't say anything, waiting for Hawks to start this conversation. But there was quiet. Things were so quiet that Meiko couldn't help but start fidgeting with her hands, wondering why the hell was Hawks, a man known to be talkative, so quiet.
She stared at her hands, absentmindedly tracing the tiny scar on her right knuckle. Suddenly, a hand landed on her head, and she jolted. She turned around and looked at Hawks, who of all the strange things to do, had started patting her head.
"Uh exactly why are you doing that?" Meiko just stared at him, unable to understand the meaning of his actions.
"You looked like you needed it," Hawks simply answered.
Huh? Why was it so hard to read him today?
There was no easy way to respond. She looked away, staring out at the stunning cityscape at night. After a few moments, Hawks stopped patting her head. "I kind of figured that the guy we.."
"It was my dad," Meiko blurted out, unable to stop herself. Maybe it would be nice to admit this to someone she didn't know enough. "We don't really have a good relationship. Frankly, we don't have a relationship. I haven't seen either of my parents in four years, so seeing him like this was not good for me. He didn't acknowledge that I was his daughter, which is fine, he and my mother were the ones who disowned me in the first place. I hate him so much...it was just heartbreaking, you know? He's...he was my dad after all. It's just hard to deal with him...I just..."
