SUMI GOES TO JAIL: SUMI GOES TO JAIL

It was worth a shot.

Meihua didn’t know Hira too well – and Sumi didn’t speak much of her, despite the two being sisters.

 

But… Sumi missing one appointment turned into Sumi not returning calls, or even being home. Meihua was worried about her, having jumped to the worst case scenario that Sumi had finally gone off the deep end of her conspiracies.

 

So… Hira was sort of a last ditch effort.

Dial the rotary, wait for the connection, and…

 

“Hello? Who is this?”

 

Oh, thank god.

 

“Uhm… hi, my name is Meihua, I’m one of… Sumi’s friends? Is this Hira?”

Meihua never had impressive phone confidence – the invention was still new, and it just felt like just an extension of public speaking to her.

 

“Oh, right. Yes, you’re speaking to Hira.” the voice on the other side of the line responded, her affect flat.

“You’re wondering where she is, aren’t you?”

 

“Yes! I’ve been really worried after she didn’t show up suddenly, she’s usually always on time and…” Meihua started to trail on, but was promptly cut off by Hira.

 

“She got arrested for trespassing. I was called for testimony, but her lawyer seems completely incompetent.”

 

Meihua stared blankly at the phone receiver in silence.

Arrested?!

 

“So… you’re just not going to do anything about it?!”

 

“I’m a busy woman, and Sumi’s not a little kid anymore. If she causes big girl problems, she has to deal with them.”

 

“But… she’s your sister! If her lawyer sucks… that’s just more reason to step up to help!”

 

“You attitude is… admirable, but it’s a lost cause.” Hira sighed.

“The man was so obsessed with bragging over his fancy law degree and attorney’s badge that it fell right off of his tie and under some heavy centerpiece. I can only imagine how someone like that would preform in court… though I doubt they’d even let him in, now that he lost his proof of certification under a crevasse.”

 

“You’re… an espeon, right? Can’t you use telekenesis to-”

 

The line on the other side was abruptly cut with a slam.

 

Meihua must’ve figured that Sumi’s strange nature had to run in the family… but, she was at least able to get a lead as to what happened to Sumi.

 

The following day, Meihua was free after classes and decided that thanks to how close everything was in downtown Lively, it wouldn’t be too much trouble to visit the law offices.

She was worried it’d be difficult to pin down Sumi’s lawyer in such a large complex, especially given that Hira didn’t tell her what kind of pokemon he was at all… but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

 

It wasn’t a moment after Meihua was directed to the defense wing that she found… the slightly disheveled luxray, pawing at the tight gap underneath a statue. He looked exhausted, and didn’t look like he was getting anywhere.

 

“...Er, excuse me?” Meihua spoke up, clearing her throat.

 

The call-out caused the luxray to jump up, and his frantic gaze fell on Meihua.

 

“Yes! Hi! Defense lawyer, that’s me!” he said, voice sounding slightly disjointed.

“I am very much a real, licensed attorney! It’s just… my badge! It fell under here, and I have a case in an hour, and they won’t let me in if I can’t grab it, and…”

 

“Ok…! I get it!” Meihua interrupted, having the gut instinct that if she didn’t stop the luxray, he’d ramble on forever.

“Can… I help?”

 

The luxray looked at Meihua blankly.

 

“Er… I don’t intend to be… rude, per say, but… you’re kind of, well…” he started, but his words trailed off into nothing.

 

Meihua knew exactly what he wanted to say, unfortunately. She’d heard it far, far too many times before.

 

“It… it’s no big issue, really! I’m… stronger than I look, I promise!”

 

There was doubt in the luxray lawyer’s eyes, a sense of doubt that didn’t make Meihua feel any better.

Regardless, this was about Sumi. It was the least she could do to try.

 

With a big stretch and flexing of her paws, Meihua went and grabbed the base of one of the sides of the statue, and gave it her best lift.

The statue was a solid, marble-like material… which was to say, it was heavy. She tried, and wasn’t getting anywhere, and she could feel the lawyer’s judgmental glare, and…

 

“Here, let me help with that!”

The chipper woman’s voice came out of nowhere, but suddenly, Meihua could feel the weight easing a bit, as someone now seemed to be lifting the other side of the statue.

 

With the teamwork between Meihua and the owner of the mystery voice, the statue was able to be lifted up just enough for the luxray lawyer to swipe his badge back up.

Upon his verbal cheers of confirmation that he’d retrieved it, Meihua let go, and the statue thudded back down.

 

Her arms were sore, and her brow was sweaty, but the luxray did seem genuinely overjoyed.

 

“Thank you, oh thank you! I’ll do my best at this court case, I promise!” he cheered.

“I mean, it should be a one and done deal, considering how obviously rigged the arrest was.”

 

Meihua was still catching her breath, but gave a weak nod.

Suddenly, the chipper voice piped up again.

 

“Go, go! You don’t have any more time to dawdle, then!!”

 

The voice seemed to match its owner quite well – she was a small lillipup, and chased the lawyer a bit until he got moving.

Once he did, she turned to Meihua with a huff.

 

“Twas kind of you to help deal with that! I was already getting annoyed of his whining, but I knew I wasn’t strong enough to lift that thing on my own…” she sighed.

“But I guess that’s what teamwork is all about!”

 

“I guess, yeah…!” Meihua said between breaths.

“Thank you for that, as well. I didn’t want to make a total fool out of myself just now.”

 

“Yeah, no worries!” the woman smiled.

“My name’s Maya, by the way! I’m a student intern here! What brings you around, are you studying too?”

 

Meihua shook her head.

“No, no, I’m… still figuring out subjects right now. I was just told that the luxray was handling the case of a good friend of mine, but…”

 

Meihua paused.

 

“The things he said about it… how it was ‘obviously rigged’… what could that even mean…?”