#ladycwrites

“Hey, isn’t that Chiro’s girl?”

Jinmay couldn’t help but smile, just a little as she overheard the phrase. Chiro’s girl. What a lovely phrase. They hadn’t been dating long—actually, you could barely call it dating, really. But she was fond of him. And she really, really liked the idea that people had begun to associate them together. Like they were a matched set.

She found herself humming, a light skip to her step.

She stopped outside of the holographic ice cream shop, and swung the door open. There was a soft chime as the bell swung—a small, old-fashioned touch, that only made Jinmay feel lighter.

Chiro waited at their usual table, already holding two ice cream cones.

Jinmay beamed as she approached.

“You’re in an awfully good mood,” Chiro said. His tone was teasing, but his eyes were questioning.

Jinmay took her cone. “Just happy to here.”

“Hey! You, uh—Chiro’s girl!”

Jinmay almost rolled her eyes. Almost. She’d been protecting Shuggazoom City, by herself, for how long now? And people still didn’t know her name?

It was irritating.

She responded to it all the same, descending from the sky and landing on the ground with a light thump. “What is it?” she asked, making sure to keep her irritation to herself. The woman had sounded frantic when she called—it was hardly her fault if she couldn’t remember Jinmay’s name.

(Of course, that was assuming she knew it in the first place…)

“It’s Nicole!” The woman gestured at her companion. “There was a mugger—he took her purse!”

“It has my communicator in it,” the other woman—Nicole—said. “And my credit chit, and—“

“It’s important,” Jinmay finished, not unkindly. “Did you see what he looked like?”

“Tall, skinny, blue hair,” the friend filled in.

“He was really stereotypical. Wore all black. Even had on a hat,” Nicole said.

Jinmay nodded. “Alright. I’ll get it back.” She launched off again, soaring higher, until she had a good view of the streets without being too high. It wasn’t hard to spot the mugger, darting through alleyways with the purse clutched in his hand.

Her jets made him no match for her. She whizzed by, snatching the purse from his hands. She stopped to hover over him.

“Don’t you know crime doesn’t pay?”

“Hey!” The guy stopped, dead in his tracks, looking down at his empty hands and then back at her with an affronted expression. “That was mine!”

Jinmay snorted. “No, it wasn’t.”

“You can’t prove that!”

“So the ID in here, it’ll match you, and not the girl you stole it from?”

The mugger opened and closed his mouth like a fish. “Well—I—“ He looked around nervously, then pointed behind her. “Look over there!”

Jinmay didn’t even turn her head. The guy didn’t stick around to see, though, instead darting off so fast he was tripping over himself to keep moving.

For a moment, she thought about pursuing him, dropping him off at the local police station.

But, she had a purse to return… and had hopefully scared him enough he wouldn’t try again. She sighed and shook her head, instead returning to the girls.

Nicole took her purse back with a hundred thank you’s on her tongue.

Jinmay smiled, genuinely this time. “It wasn’t any problem,” she said.

“Seriously, though—thanks.”

“It’s what I do,” Jinmay said. She activated her boots again. “And by the way?” She glanced down at them. “It’s Jinmay.” She winked, and shot off, ready to resume patrol.

Hero work felt good. No wonder Chiro loved it so much.

She glanced at the sky, turning orange in the fading light. Come home soon.

“Is it just me, or does Chiro’s girl look… different?”

Jinmay scowled. She stood from the table, setting her drink down with a thud. She stalked over to the two young men. “What did you just call me?”

Behind her, she could hear the rest of the gang hollering, cheering her on. It turned her scowl into a sharp grin.

“Uh—I—We—“ One of the boys began to stutter.

She braced her hands on the table. “Let me make one thing clear. I ain’t nobody’s ‘girl.’ My name is Jinmay. I suggest you use it.”

“Um—um—“

Stuttering boy’s friend cut in. “We will! We will, we promise,” he said, tripping over the words in his haste to speak them.

She almost walked away, but the booting behind her urged her on. She leaned forward some more. “Lemme hear you say it, then,” she said. “Just to make sure you got it.”

“Jinmay! Jinmay,” the boys said together.

She grinned. “Well done.” She leaned back. “Tell ya what,” she said. “Why don’t’cha lemme Pat for your meal, huh?” She waved the waitress over, told them to add it to her bill—then sauntered back over to the gang, slipping under the leader’s arm.

“What’d ya pay for their meal for, doll?” he asked.

She grinned, wickedly, and held up her credit chit. “I ain’t payin’. This is on the Hyper Force’s tab. What’d ya say I pay for ours too?”

More hooting and hollering from the others. “Why, I’d say that’s a mighty fine idea!” He raised his glass. “To Jinmay!”

She grinned, clinking her glass with the others before downing it in one go.

Tonight, they were gonna be living large.

###

“Chiro’s girl is back!”

Jinmay smiled wobbly at the words. Chiro glanced at her. His hand tightened around hers.

“You okay?”

Jinmay’s smile widened, even though she felt like she might cry. “Yeah,” she said, a little choked. “Just… really happy.”

After everything with the Hills Have Five, the person she had become, she just… it felt good, to be seen as ‘Chiro’s Girl’ again.

Maybe sometimes she wanted to be recognized as her own self, her own person… but right then? It was good to be seen alongside a hero. Someone who made Shuggazoom better. Someone who made her better. Who believed in her, even when she was her worst self.

It was another reminder that she wasn’t who they had made her. Not now, not ever.