The Hatsume Infomercial
The Support Course Workshop: Before the Start of the School Semester
'This looks like the place,' thought Clay as he and Slade walked towards the entrance to the support course's personal classroom. They'd been on their way to turn in the forms for their costumes, but the one who was supposed to accept the forms wasn't in at the moment. Fortunately, Uncle Aizawa was willing to allow them into the support course's workshop where they could turn the forms in directly to the ones who'd be making their costumes. "So Power Loader's the one in charge if I recall," Asked Slade as he pulled open the door to the workshop.
"Yep," Replied Clay, "He's easy to spot. A skinny guy in a big, yellow robot suit that looks like it's meant for construction. Also wears a big yellow helmet."
"He really took the 'loader' part of his name serious-BOOOOM!" Slade was interrupted by a loud crash as something came flying towards them. Or rather, someone.
"Wooo," Exclaimed Clay as he formed a cushion out of his clouds while Slade upped his density, just in case. A head of pink hair with a pair of goggles on them popped through the cloud as Clay realized the projectile he'd caught in his quirk was actually a person.
"Wow! That had way more power behind it than I expected!" Exclaimed the pink-haired girl with a huge smile on her face. "And what's this, another fabulous invention I'm caught up in?"
"It's my quirk actually," Corrected Clay as he dissolved the cloud, gently setting the still smiling girl down.
"And an interesting one at that," Said the girl as she examined some of the dispersing quirk, "You must tell me what's it's made of sometime."
"Better question," Said Slade, "Actually two questions. One, why were you flying through the air in the first place and two, is Power Loader back here?"
"Oh, one of my latest little babies," Exclaimed the girl, invading both of their personal spaces as she spoke. "A jetpack which will allow one to fly short distances. I thought I was at a minimum safe distance behind it for testing, but as you can see, behind it was not an ideal place."
"You also managed to knock over SEVERAL of my tools," Said another voice from within the workshop. "I told you before, properly secure any invention before testing it!"
"Whoops," Said the girl, "That would be Power Loader, time to get back to my babies!" As quickly as she came out of the room, the girl rushed right back in to examine the jetpack she'd just been talking about." Clay and Slade glanced at each other with a shrug as they both entered the workshop.
"Apologies for the mess," Said Power Loader who was, as Clay described, a skinny, pale man with a yellow helmet, which looked like a welding helmet, who was currently operating a large, yellow machine that reminded them both of a robot loader from a science fiction movie. "Hatsume gets carried away with her inventions sometimes. I do love her enthusiasm for inventing, but sometimes she forgets proper safety procedures in the heat of the moment. Anyway, how can I help you two?"
"Well I'm Slade Mason," Said Slade, taking the lead in the conversation, "And this is Clay Cero. We just came here to turn in our costume forms."
"So you're Aizawa's nephew," Said Power Loader as he turned away from his work for a moment to look at the two, soon-to-be students. "The cloud boy, and that must mean you're the guy with the density-alteration quirk."
"That's us," Answered Slade as they both held up their forms, "And we're hoping your department can come up with something clever to complement our quirks."
"You came to the right place," Replied Power Loader as he accepted their forms. "We'll look into your quirks and then we'll-." But the pro hero was cut off by the surprisingly quick entrance of his student.
"Why wait, you're both here now!" Exclaimed Hatsume as she began examining the two friends, as if taking their measurements. "Since neither of you dissolve into gases or liquids, we can stick with sturdy, protective material. Tell me, is there a particular issue you two often run into with your quirks."
"Well my form says I'll require protective eyewear for flying," Answered Clay, surprised at how quickly the support student switched from one project to another. "I can speed through the air on my clouds."
"I just need something that doesn't rip easy," Said Slade, "I can make my body denser but my clothes, not so much."
"I might have something like that already," Said Hatsume as she rushed to the back of the workshop.
"Just a heads up," Said Power Loader, "Not all of her 'babies' as she likes to call them are necessarily out of prototype." Clay was about to ask what he meant by that when Hatsume returned with a couple pieces of equipment.
"Here we are!" Sang Hatsume as she handed Clay a pair of hi-tech looking goggles and what appeared to be some kind of armor plating to Slade. "These goggles will not only protect your eyes from high airflow but they'll also provide you with all kinds of data on environmental conditions. As for the armor plating, it'll conform to your body by adjusting the dial." A look of unsureness passed between the two friends as they reluctantly tried on the gear.
Several small displays lit up on the inside of the goggles including temperature, wind speed, elevation, etc. "Try walking around a bit," Said Hatsume as she directed Clay to walk in a straight line. The cloud quirk user did as instructed, looking around as he did so. All seemed well at first, until he glanced at one of the bright work lights. Without warning, the goggles went dark, blocking out all of Clay's vision as he flinched in surprise.
"Oh crap, crap, crap," Exclaimed Clay as he stumbled backward into one of the work benches before recoiling and running into one of the support columns in the room. Slade and Power Loader cringed each time Clay ran into something while Hatsume watched in fascination, seeming to take note of adjustments that needed to be made. Finally, Clay hit his head on one of the low hanging work lights and fell to the floor. "OOOOwww," Groaned the cloud user as he finally thought to pull the goggles off of his head, "Was there some kind of reason that these things decided to suddenly blind me?"
"Ah yes, I installed a polarizing feature into them," Said Hatsume, "It's designed to get darker when it detects bright light. Although I've had a bit of trouble getting the sensitivity right."
"No kidding," Groaned Clay as he got up, rubbing his now throbbing head, "I'm a bit sensitive to light right now myself."
"Well as they say, trial and error," Said Hatsume as she turned to Slade, "Let's see if we can get one out of two at least." Slade looked to Clay for confirmation. His friend shook his head, indicating that he didn't really think it was a good idea. But Slade decided to take a chance anyway as he upped his density a bit and turned the dial on the armor plating he was wearing. As it turned out, the dial was a bit overly sensitive too as the armor plate squeezed itself around him.
"Okay, that kind of hurts," Said Slade as he tried to readjust the dial, "Uh, does this thing have a locking mechanism or something?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot," Said Hatsume as she put her fist in her open hand, "I haven't solved the problem with the dial. After it passes a certain tightness it gets stuck."
"Great," Said Slade, his voice a little strained from the armor pressing against his frame. "Any other little hiccups involved with this thing?"
"Well now that you mention it," Said Hatsume with a hand on her cheek, "I do seem to recall a little issue with overheating."
"Overhea-Oh, hot, hot, hot, HOT!" Exclaimed Slade as the temperature of the armor kept increasing.
"Hold on, I got it," Said Power Loader as he opened a small pouch on the armor and hit what must've been the emergency release. A sharp hissing noise could be heard as the armor went back to its original snugness before falling off of Slade. The device was still steaming a bit as its unfortunate wearer took a few deep breaths.
"Why does your armor plating have a grilling feature?" Questioned a now somewhat cooked Slade as he patted a few smoking parts of his clothing.
"It takes a lot of energy to run the circuitry in the armor," Explained Hatsume, "The power has to flow constantly to keep it from returning to its regular size, but once it's complete, the wearer can move around in even the tightest of spaces."
"I don't think one would be able to move as well if the armor is the tight space," Said Power Loader before turning back to the two friends. "Apologies, she loves to test out all her ideas, sometimes before she even runs them by me."
"And I've learned quite a bit just from these tests," Said Hatsume as she began tinkering with the two pieces of equipment. "When it comes to inventing, failure is just another lesson on how to do something better." Clay and Slade could only shake their heads at that statement. Power Loader took that moment to lead them out of the workshop.
"Don't worry about your costumes," Said Power Loader, "The support course takes great care when creating them."
"Just try to get a good look at them before they get sent out to us," Said Clay, "And don't worry too much about including electronic features." Slade couldn't agree more with that statement.
U.A. Sports Festival Stadium: Now
"Well, you're right about the eccentric part," Said Mina as Clay and Slade finished telling their little story.
"Yeah, but those were prototypes," Said Jirou, "A few of us have seen her finished inventions first hand, and they're something else."
"Uh, would that be one of them," Said Sato as he pointed towards the arena. But oddly enough, he wasn't pointing at Hatsume. "Did Iida get all of that gear from her?" Everyone else turned their attention back to the ring to see what their classmate was talking about. For some reason, Iida had donned a strange-looking pack with two poles sticking out of each side with what looked like some kind of exhaust tubes on them. Not only that, Iida also had a pair of hi-tech looking braces on his legs.
"Students of the hero course are not allowed to use gear unless it is absolutely required," Stated Midnight. "You also need to fill out all the proper forms."
"What, I was unaware of such a rule," Said a surprised Iida, "My classmate Aoyama was allowed to wear his belt, so I assumed donning this gear would be fine."
"Your classmate filled out all the proper forms," Replied Midnight sternly. Back in the stands, Aoyama couldn't help but point at his own belt with a smug expression on his face.
"It seems kinda sad that the class president didn't know about that rule," Clay whispered to Midoriya.
"My apologies mam," Said Iida with a bow, "My heart was simply moved by the sportsmanship of my opponent. Despite the two of us being from different class courses, she wished for this match to be as even as possible. So to insure a fair fight, she gave me the chance to use this equipment. Out of respect for her integrity, I'd like to wear this gear!"
Midnight hesitated for a second before replying, well, quite happily. "Oh I just love youthful vigor!" She exclaimed with an erotic look on her face before becoming serious again. "Very well, I shall allow it." 'Really,' seemed to be the question on everyone's mind as the crowd cheered for the match to start.
"I'm getting a lot of mixed messages from our teacher down there," Said Slade, "What was the selection process they used for judges again?" Everyone else shrugged as Midoriya looked through his notebook to the page where he'd started taking notes on Hatsume.
"This is weird," Midoriya thought aloud, "Hatsume wouldn't normally just give out her inventions to someone she was about to fight, would she."
"Not without an ulterior motive," Clay answered Midoriya's thoughts on the matter, "at least not the Hatsume that Slade and I know."
"Well now that we're all on the same page, let the match begin!" Declared Present Mike over the loud speaker. Iida immediately broke into a run as Hatsume adjusted what looked like a mike on her goggles.
"Are you enjoying how fast that gear's making you?!" Exclaimed Hatsume. 'Of course,' thought Clay as the pink-haired girl began explaining how the braces on Iida's legs worked. 'She's got speakers with her gear.' Hatsume then used a type of hydraulic stilt which moved her to the side while tripping Iida, who was then righted by the back pack he was wearing. Turned out it was an auto balance system which keeps the wearer from falling on accident, something that the inventing girl explained as well. Either way, it was getting embarrassing for Iida really fast.
"I'm out," Said Clay as he stood up, drawing a few inquisitive looks from his classmates.
"Aren't you gonna watch Iida's match," Questioned Mina as Clay moved out to the stairs.
"Hatsume's turned this whole thing into a #$ $%ing commercial," Clay pointed out, "So I think I'm gonna grab something at the stands. Anyone wanna come along?" Some of his classmates thought it over as Iida was tripped yet again by the hydraulic stilts.
"I'm up next anyway," Said Mina, "So I may as well start heading for the locker rooms."
"And I'll be going shortly after that," Stated Momo, "I'll need time to prepare mentally."
"If Momo's going, I may as well go too," Said Jirou as she also stood up to follow Clay.
"And you Slade?" Questioned Clay, kinda surprised that it was a number of the girls that were following after him.
"Well," Slade said until Iida got caught in a net gun that Hatsume had pulled out. "Yeah, this is getting painful to watch."
"That settles it then," Said Clay with a wave to the rest of his friends, "We'll all be back in a bit." The five of them quickly descended the stairs and entered the stadium after that, happy that the sound of obvious advertising was blocked out inside. Fortunately, the line at the concession stand was short due to the ongoing match and they were able to get some food and drinks fairly quickly.
"So, you two looking forward to your matches?" Questioned Slade as he ate some of the nachos he'd grabbed.
"I'm not too worried about mine," Said Mina as she popped a little ball of candy in her mouth, "I'm against Aoyama, and that guy's laser can only last a second at best. So all I've got to do is close the distance."
"Feel free to give him a couple of acid burns while you're at," Said Jirou before taking a sip of her drink, "I think all of us could do with a little less of his, frenchiness, today."
"I'll give him a good knockout for you Jirou," Smiled Mina as she held up a peace sign.
"What about you Momo," Asked Clay in between sips of his own especially large beverage? "You're up against Tokoyami. His dark shadow quirk is no joke given its range of capabilities."
"Well," Momo tried to explain as she scarfed down a rather large amount of food, "I can make defensive equipment relatively easily. Using that, I can buy myself some time to make a few offensive tools as well."
"So naturally you're eating at a faster rate isn't because you're nervous," Asked Slade, who'd noticed her shaking slightly as well.
"It's just one problem I can't figure out," Said Momo, "Tokoyami can call on dark shadow in an instant. So I've been racking my brain for something simple that'll help me, but you helped me train with my quirk so you know it's not as simple as 'make a staff.' I have to think about the composition of what I'm making and if the material's too weak, it'll snap easily and then it'll take even more time for me to make something." Momo continued nervously going over one scenario after another, leaving everyone else to sigh a bit.
"Guess she really is nervous," Observed Clay as he finished up his beverage.
"Looking back on it, there is one reason I'm glad to not be in the finals," Said Jirou, "I can skip out on being a nervous wreck. Come to think of it, how are you holding up?" Clay let out a long sigh before answering as he tried to think how best to phrase his response.
"Honestly Jirou," Clay started, "There are only a few people here that I'm worried about going up against. But I'm not gonna know who they are until right before my match. 'Til that happens, I'm just trying not to think about it."
"How's that working out for you?" Questioned Jirou as they turned to head back towards the stands.
"Not near as well as I'd like," Clay answered. As they returned to the stands, Hatsume had finally finished showing off her inventions, and surprisingly leapt out of the ring, making Iida the flustered winner of the match. Clay checked the bracket one more time as the next match started. 'Not much longer now,' he thought, 'Until it's finally time for my next match.'
And so ends another chapter in this tournament arc. For those who are waiting patiently, don't worry, I'll be picking things up a bit in the next chapter. On another important note, we have the results for the Re:Zero poll: The Crusader shall be replacing Subaru with the power of Return From Death. Once again, thank you all for your votes and know that I'll be getting to work on chapter one very soon. With any luck, and with the help of you, my fellow readers, it'll turn into an entertaining story. So get ready for the next chapter of Hailstorm as Clay and Slade prepare to face their next opponents. And be ready as a valiant knight finds himself enthralled in the world of magic, witches, and monsters known as Re:Zero. 'Til next time.