Putting my two sides into balance was trickier than I expected. The physical strain in particular was a bit overwhelming. In order to get the job done, to improve my quirk enough so as to pull off this ultimate move, I found myself crouching inside that pressure cooker of a territory I'd had Cementoss-sensei make for me for hours at a time, at once too hot, then too cold, and for occasional bursts both at once. Yes, I was able to eventually work them both at once, but never for sustained time.

At first it was just for a few seconds. Slowly it seemed to work up to more. But nothing that would work in the long term.

I eventually decided that my costume was the problem. I'd need to get that updated first.

So I headed over to the support department, whose door had been blown off its hinges recently. As I approached I could hear someone talking very loudly and very rapidly. "Oh yes, yes, that'll do! A great innovation, I admire that sort of planning - look at this super cute baby!"

Mei Hatsume was standing there, eagerly pouring over a long series of costume requests and jumping around making modifications to new inventions. Power Loader Sensei was monitoring her, but looked as though he was too exhausted to care what she was doing anymore.

Then he noticed me. "Oh, hello. You here for costume mods?"

At that word, hatsume turned to face me with a grin that I found a little bit alarming.

"Ooh, aaaaaare you?"

"Yeah. I want to add something onto my costume to accomodate my ultimate move."

"Of course! And that move is?"

"Half cold, half hot. Don't you remember?"

"Oh yes! That's right, you're the one who helped me with my missing babies a few weeks back! What's your name?"

Oh. She didn't even recognize me.

"Todoroki."

"Right. Well? Your costume mod?"

"I wanted...I'm using my quirk on both sides now, so I'm going to need some sort of coolant on my right hand side and a heater on m y left."

She actually looked disappointed. "Oh, that's easy. Wouldn't you rather use this?" She grabbed some new invention from the table that looked like a torture device and was starting to attach it to my arm before I could even stop her.

"What does it do?" I asked her.

"This baby is my super cute device #18893! It will help you jet up and move around in the air!"

"But that's not -"

The thing went off and blew me across the room - not upward, but backwards, like getting knocked back by one of Midoriya's punches.

I'd had the wind knocked out of me. Hatsume was still smiling and seemed oblivious to the fact that she'd hit me...like all she cared about was the device.

"Hmm, not quite working as needed..."

"Be more careful!" snapped Power Loader sensei. Then to me, he asked, "What seems to be the trouble?"

I stood up, ripping the device off. "I'm having trouble with my quirk. Isn't there anything you can do to help cool down my other side - I mean, reverse my sides..."

"Sure. It'll take a little while, but we should be able to come up with something to regulate your temperatures for this new move. And hopefully have it in time for the licensing exam."

So that was all I had to do? I didn't need to get knocked halfway across the room? Great. That's nice.

WEll, at least I'd have something. I'd been planning a few more ideas for ultimate moves...but with the limited time, all the work I had to do, and the headache that was going to the support department and putting in an order, I'd have to wait on them until later. Maybe if we ever get a break again, I'll think about it.

So I went on training the same move, getting some more progress, but not nearly as much as I'd wanted.

What made it frustrating was that my classmates were moving much faster than I was. Iida, of course, had already been told by the teachers that he had his Ultimate move down. Many of the others had already come up with something. Bakugou had developed some sort of gun-style move that allowed him to blast something out like a gun. Midoriya had changed up his entire fighting style, switching from throwing punches to kicks, and even changed his costume in the meantime. I was starting to fall behind. Or not go as fast as I wanted to.

I wasn't sure why. It felt like there was something bugging me, some sort of mental block holding me in. I told Fuyumi, but sometimes I didn't tell her. I hated to admit, ever, to not being able to take care of something. Normally things just came easily, naturally. But...there was something off, really.

I'm not sure what it is...it's like there's something I'm trying to avoid.