Fire's are Normal, Right?

Hitoshi struggled against Aizawa's weapon and fell face first to the ground for the nth time. They've been at this for hours and Hitoshi was no closer to repeating his miraculous win yesterday. Hitoshi didn't even remember how he did it, but he did, and he needed to do it again.

He may have gotten it right, but Aizawa was intent on avoiding his momentary slip that allowed Hitoshi his win last night. "Had enough yet?"

"No."

The corners of Aizawa's mouth twitched. Aizawa dropped him to the ground again, and Hitoshi readied himself. They exchanged blows, but Hitoshi could barely keep up with the hero's speed. Whenever he got too close to landing a hit, the hero would suddenly move faster than what Hitoshi had gotten used to, then be defeated.

It was like Aizawa was carefully teaching him to match his pace without saying that he was. He dangeled a fruit over his head and whenever Hitoshi got too close, Aizawa would raise it even higher. Hitoshi hated it, but he was determined to keep going.

Hitoshi threw a fist, and Aizawa shoved it away with an open palm. He swung right, then Eraser Head stepped back and countered with a high kick. Hitoshi blocked the leg with his arms and pushed right back at the hero. Aizawa dodged the combination of hits and kicks with ease, never once missing a beat until he caught one leg with his scarf.

Hitoshi braced himself to be thrown out of the ring as Aizawa twisted on his feet. His back hit the ground, and groaned, "Mind going easy on me?"

Aizawa broke into a smug grin, but didn't answer.

Ever since last night, Aizawa seemed pleased whenever Hitoshi talked out loud with the motive of using his quirk. Hitoshi was still aversive to using it as freely as Aizawa wanted, but using it sparingly all throughout their spars definitely eased that concern.

Hitoshi slid under the cloth and tried to clip Aizawa's legs. Aizawa jumped over him, then angled himself to wrap his scarf around Hitoshi's ankle. He got pulled up into the air and kicked twice on the stomach. Hitoshi dropped to the ground, beaten once again, but not yet defeated. He ran for Aizawa's weapon, and quickly wrapped the scarf around his better arm. He planted himself on the ground in a half kneel, then pulled against Aizawa's hold.

Aizawa fell along with the momentum but quickly caught himself. He threw out more cloth around them and the scarf Hitoshi bound around his arm grew limp. He starred, baffled at the cloth's inconsistent durability and was too slow to react to Aizawa striking him with a knee.

Winded out, Hitoshi stumbled back, but his hand still stubbornly clutched on the other end of the capture scarf. Aizawa frowned, noting his determination to repeat his win last night.

The hero jumped back to get distance between them, and Hitoshi ran after him. He folded more of the scarf around his body until Aizawa ran out of weapons to use. Hitoshi raised a fist to finally land one solid hit tonight, then Aizawa whipped the last thread wrapped in his hand.

The cloth around Hitoshi's body flared out, then with his other hand Aizawa pulled. Before Hitoshi could register what had happened, he was already covered up by the capture scarf from head to toe. Hitoshi huffed at his loss, again.

"That was ballsy," Aizawa miraculously said as a monotone compliment.

"Didn't work though."

Aizawa lightly kicked Hitoshi's head as he unwrapped his weapon from the latter with a precise whip of the cloth. "Your quirk isn't well-suited for combat, so to fix that –"

"I have to get better at fighting. I know."

"You have to work four times as hard," Aizawa countined, as though Hitoshi didn't just interrupt him. "Understand?"

That's what I've been doing all day.

"But learning and knowing how to fight can only get you so far. Knowing your limit helps too."

Hitoshi is perfectly aware of what his limits were. He's known it all his life and he hated it. Training everyday helped him reach those limits, but he won't be able to break through it if he slacked off and settled for less than the ceiling.

"It's good that you used your quirk a lot today," the hero said, "but you made it too obvious."

Hitoshi grimaced at the reminder. "Yeah, and you just ignored it. I can't use it properly in a fight so I have to get better at fighting with my hands first."

Aizawa sighed. "Yes, your quirk isn't made for combat, but to use it hand-and-hand with your fighting skills elevates it. It makes your technique uniquely your own and difficult to replicate."

"But once people know what my quirk is, it stops being useful," he argued. "It stopped being a weapon against you. What's to say villains won't figure it out too?"

"That does sound like a problem, doesn't it?"

Hitoshi frowned at his mentor, not quite following the thought in his open-ended, and rather sarcastic sounding question. Was he trying to make him realize something? He looked down on his hands and tried to think it over. If he couldn't use his quirk, Hitoshi had no choice but to rely on his combat skills. Even then, superior fighters would quickly get the best of him.

He needed a way to be formidable, and the only way he could think of was something like Eraser Head's scarf. It wasn't part of his quirk, nor his combat prowess, but it made him a far better fighter. Hitoshi's mouth gaped at the realization. He needed support equipment. "Do you think I should get one myself?"

Aizawa looked at his scaf which Hitoshi just pointed at. "Right now? No. You need to get your basics down first."

"I - Right..." he said quite downcast.

"But if you want to explore support equipment for the future, you can start with this." Aizawa passed his capture scarf to Hitoshi, who held it with utmost care. He ran his hands through the fabric to try and guess its composition. It felt like cloth, but he knew otherwise. Whenever Aizawa willed it, the cloth would solidify almost like a thin sheet of moldable metal. It didn't act like any metal he knew however.

"It's made of carbon fibers melded with a special metal alloy," the hero explained. "That's a trade secret, so don't tell anyone. This took me six years to master, so if you're serious about arming yourself with equipment, don't think it'll be easy."

Hitoshi held unto the scarf like it was a lifeline, "I'll do my best."

Early next morning, Aizawa messaged him that they wouldn't be meeting for no reason.

Hitoshi's mind jumped to extremes and thought something bad may have happened. He sent a message back, but Aizawa didn't respond. He tried to reason with himself that Aizawa was probably just busy with other things. He was still a pro-hero and Class 1-As teacher after all. Those priorities came first before him.

Still, Hitoshi was a little disappointed that his training with the infamous capture scarf would be postponed too. The capture scarf was unique to Eraser Head's technique, so for him to offer to lend and teach Hitoshi how to use it was beyond what he expected the hero to do for him.

They started throwing exercises last night, and despite Hitoshi's eagerness to make the weapon answer to him, the cloth never turned into that strong metallic band Aizawa could. Hitoshi wanted to redeem himself so if today was going to be a free day, he wanted to make good use of it.

He thought about asking Fumei about Eraser Head because of the latter's interest in the hero, but opted not to. Fumei was still ignoring him, so Hitoshi wasn't going to give him a reason to stop doing so. He considered Nagai next because of the latter's interest in support equipment and thought he may know a thing or two about the secret of maneuvering the weapon.

When Hitoshi entered the classroom that morning, he spotted Tatsumaki standing on top of his table with a gloved hand in the air. He stared incredulously at the green haired teen. "What are you doing?"

Tatsumaki beamed at his question and jumped off the table to show off the glove at arm's length. "Hey, Shinsou! Look what I got," he wriggled his fingers, then fired an experimental burst of wind past Shinsou's ear. Compressed air shot itself towards Shanti, who was busy stacking papers on her desk. The attack hit hit, and the papers flew all over the room

Nusumi leapt around trying to catch them as they fell. Tatsumaki lowered his head as Tenmei snapped at him. "NO QUIRK USE IN THE CLASSROOM!"

"Geez, it was an accident," Tatsumaki groaned then made one last effort to show off. He faced an open palm at Hitoshi and urged a gentle breeze towards the latter's face.

Hitoshi closed his eyes, irked by Tatsumaki's insistence to boast, but did notice the difference in his usual wind output. They were weaker, and far more controlled than normal. He must've frownd thinking about it because Tatsumaki grinned, obviously proud of his success.

"Surprised?"

"No, not really. I know the glove helps you cheat your way into wind output training."

Tatsumaki clicked his tongue."Yeah well this isn't about that!"

"It is," Hitoshi said. "I doubt you even know how it works."

Tatsumaki flinched, and Kuchisake snickered. "He's right. Half the things you said were word for word what Nagai told you."

"No it wasn't! And I do know how it works! It stabilizes the rotation of my arm so I can control the intensity of my winds," he said.

"But how does it do that exactly?" Kuchisake pressed, teasing.

Tatsumaki turned red around his cheeks. "I - uh -Look! It doesn't matter. It looks cool and it helps me. End of discussion!"

"Right," Hitoshi said, finally understanding the nugget of wisdom Aizawa told him last night. Support equipment was meant to add on a quirk's current skill, not control it. If Tatsumaki still couldn't control winds on his own, and became dependent on his equipment, then he never truly improved. "You didn't get that in some thrift store did you?"

"What?" Tatsumaki sputtered. "Ew. Why would I dumpster dive for gloves like these? Nagai lent it to me. Told me to take it for a spin during practice, but I couldn't wait."

"Did he now?"

"Yeah, later after school. We're heading out to the bank," Tatsumaki said as he shoved his new gloves into his bag after Tenmei shouted at him again. "Fumei's been inviting him to our own secret training area since you ditched us."

Hitoshi glanced over to Fumei, who he didn't even realize was already in the room. He was playing some music game with earphones glued to his ear and for a brief moment, Hitoshi caught his eyes and the Fumei turned away.

As the lectures happened, Hitoshi found himself stealing a look at Fumei multiple times. He didn't know why he did, but he had the sudden inclination to just look. Like it was a subconscious yearning that urged him to talk to the annoyance again, even though Hitoshi decided it's best to leave him alone - forever if he had to. Still, he couldn't stop.

"If you don't stop staring, I'm going to assume you're starting to fall for me," Fumei said.

"As if."

"Did you want something?"

"No, just tired," he half-lied. He was tired, but he was also staring for no reason. The blond hummed before he returned his attention up front. Hitoshi swore Fumei hid an amused smile behind his hand as he leaned on it, bored.

After class, Hitoshi routinely made his way out of the room as soon as the bell rang. He half-expected Fumei to bother him, but was surprised he let him go. Fumei was too busy talking and even teasing Koharu the same way he did Hitoshi in the past to notice him leave.

A foreign itch, a faint ringing, urged him to fix this divide between them. He vehemently ignored it. There was no way he was going to take the bastard back.

"Shinsou! Hey!" Nagai yelled after him from down the hall. "Dude, didn't you hear me?"

"I didn't," he sighed while rubbing his temples. "Sorry, I'm just feeling a little out of it."

"Eraser Head's that tough, huh?"

"I guess," Hitoshi shrugged. "He really knows how to push me to my limits. It's really not that different with Awaseru-sensei's training, but I guess being alone with him just makes it more focused."

Nagai laughed. "Tell me about it. The first time I joined training I honestly thought Fumei was possessed."

"So Tatsumaki wasn't lying. He did ask you." Suddenly that feeling rose again along with the faint ringing. He didn't know what it was, but was starting to get annoying like Fumei.

"I was going to tell you, dude, but it didn't seem like it was important at the time."

"It's fine," he said, dismissively. "I'm just surprised you talked to Fumei. I didn't tell him about your underground interests."

"Ah, no, he still doesn't know. He should never," he added. "Anyway, you know how you started going to me instead of him to talk about your quirk?" Hitoshi nodded. "I felt bad not being of much help, so I asked him for you."

"You did what?"

"He's the best person to ask!" Nagai cried. "You guys haven't been talking since Eraser Head happened, so I thought if you didn't want his help, that I could do it for you."

Hitoshi rolled his eyes. Of all the things he tried to avoid… "Whatever," he sighed, defeated. "What did he say?"

"Didn't really answer. He asked why you're suddenly going to me though. I told him we got along and found out we had the same interests after Akisuta, then he invited me to have a look at everyone. I probably impressed him or something," he said. "Now he lets me handle Tatsumaki and Okami's training."

Hitoshi heard Nagai's explanation, but all his mind focused on was the unsaid thought that Fumei didn't care about his progress anymore. Wasn't it Fumei that wanted to be right behind him when he finally became a hero? "I got what I wanted, and now he won't help me, is that it?"

"Whaaaaat?" Nagai said. "No, dude, he's just playing hard to get. He's like seriously very concerned about what you and Eraser Head are doing alone. Since you haven't told me, I couldn't tell him anything either." He then slapped Hitoshi's shoulder to change the topic. "Anyway! That's not what I chased you down for. Want to go to the support building with me?"

"The support building?"

"Yeah. Did you think I wouldn't do anything to get the equipment you want to be made actually be made?" Nagai asked smugly. "Nope! I'm the man with a plan now!"

Without anything better to do, Hitoshi followed Nagai across the annex connecting the general and support buildings. A large glass door with an access pad to their right blocked them from going any further. Nagai swiped his card over it, but was denied.

The pad, and the door lit up red while large, bold letters that read "TRY AGAIN" flashed on the glass.

Nagai ignored the warning, and tried it again with similar results. His long tongue slipped through his mouth, frustrated. "Shit, I didn't expect there'd be a door here."

"Why does the support department even have an access door?"

"How the hell should I know?" Nagai shrugged. "I thought we could just walk in like everyone can with the general-hero annex. Then look around for willing people to make us equipment for free."

"No one would do anything for free."

"They would for experience," he swiped Hitoshi's card next, and the pad robotically repeated its instruction. "I'm going to break this fucking shit."

"Nagai?" Fumei's voice suddenly came from behind them. Hitoshi stilled, his breath stuck on his throat as he fought the urge to turn around. Nagai started to sweat beads, and when their eyes met, Hitoshi had a very irritating thought – Nagai set them up.

"What's he doing here?"

Nagai waved a hand to greet the other and shakenly said, "H - Hey Fumei! Funny seeing you here. Ha ha."

The crossed his arms. "Yeah, funny. Seeing as you're the one who texted me to go here."

"I did?" Nagai said with a dry laugh. "Oh yeah, I did! Thought you might be of help looking for a mechanic since you already knew one."

"He doesn't like sudden visitors you know," Fumei sighed as he stepped in line with Hitoshi, and finally looked at him. Hitoshi still avoided his eye. "No Eraser today?"

Hitoshi shook his head, and Fumei hummed. "Well whatever, I'm sure your training's going well anyway. Are we going in or what?"

"Can't," Nagai growled. "It won't let us in. This clearance thing is bullshit. We're all students here!"

"It's the development building, of course it'll ask for a pass. Anyone who didn't know any better could blow up the whole school if they just went in without knowing."

"A, what now?"

Fumei shook his head and swiped a card on the pad, and the door finally flashed green. "After you."

"Dude, what the fuck?" the raven asked.

They walked in silence while on the lookout for 1-Fs studio. Curious eyes watched them from afar as they treaded the halls, seemingly interested in helping them find their way around. Nagai approached a couple of girls for direction, but they ran away before he could open his mouth. The raven pouted and patted down his wild delinquent like hair to appear less intimidating.

An older students pointed them to 1-F not long after and they made their merry way.

SIZZLE

Hitoshi paused at the loud, rather electric sounding discharge. That didn't sound right. He looked around, warry of anything that might possibly explode any minute. CRACKLE – Okay, seconds.

"You guys hear that too right?" Nagai said.

"It's probably nothing," Fumei naively said until the lights flickered overhead. Nagai pressed himself closer to Hitoshi, who aggressively shoved him away.

Jagged yellow and white lines flared from a room at the end of the hallway, and Hitoshi backed away. The lights fluttered even more as the ground shook. Nagai bit his lip. "Maybe we should –" a flash of white interrupted him and showered the hallway in light, immediately followed by a loud – BOOM!

The entire floor was plunged in darkness as the power cut off. Terrified cries and frustrated yells echoed all around, then about twenty or so students trickled out from the other studios in disheveled work clothes, or uniforms riddled with soot and grease stains, unanimously demanding an explanation.

Two students with singed clothes, scurried out of the room where the commotion started and flopped down on the floor in a loud coughing fit.

"BLOODY WARN US NEXT TIME!" A girl with chestnut hair tied up in a messy ponytail cursed loudly. Another student that lay beside her, who wore huge circular goggles reached for a red colored brick riddled with wires and a small clock attached to it, and carefully tucked it inside their oversized jacket.

The lights then quivered back to life, and like clockwork, people returned to their business as usual like this was a common occurrence in the building. Hitoshi found it odd that most, if not all, just stopped caring once the generators kicked in.

"YOU COULD HAVE LEVELLED THE ENTIRE BUILDING," the chestnut girl screamed as she flung a hammer into the room. "IF THAT PULSE TOUCHED ONE OF DEVONNEY'S BOMB'S WE'D BE DEAD, YOU FUCKING DUMBASS!"

The hammer hit someone inside the room, and a petit boy with white fluffy white hair and glasses crashed out the door. He twitched, his body covered by the same streaks of yellow and white energy that preceded the explosion. The boy mumbled something like an apology as he struggled to stand.

Hitoshi thought he'd seen him before.

"As cool as that was," Nagai said while he tried to regain his composure. "What the fuck just happened?"

Someone from behind them echoed out the same sentiment and the chestnut hair girl turned to address them. "Nothing to see here folks!" she said with a forced smile. "Faulty wiring and a really irresponsible engineer –" she glared at someone in the room, and the sparks from the white haired boy's body grew larger, making everyone jump for shelter.

"IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN!" someone cried in the hall, but Fumei waved it off.

"He probably just got hit by whatever it was inside. Nagai, bring him to the infirmary," Fumei said calmly and he walked ahead. "I'm going to see if the one responsible is our guy."

"Ah – wait! Fumei –!"

Fumei bent down to the goggles wearing student and asked, "We're looking for a Kira Yasogami. Is he in there?"

They stared at Fumei through their fogged up lenses before nodding. "The workshop's still a hazard zone though, I wouldn't recommend going inside."

Fumei shrugged, obviously unbothered by the warning and mumbled a quick thanks before he bravely walked inside. He stepped over the unconscious white haired boy, and chestnut called out to him. In a fit of anger, she threw another tool into the room, and this time, it finally hit something metal and something crashed inside.

The chestnut haired girl then snapped her attention towards Hitoshi and Nagai with a murderous glint in her eyes.

Hitoshi shuddered. Running suddenly felt like a good thing to do right now. "Oh shit," Nagai stiffened. "She's heading this way. Shit, what do we do Shinsou?"

"You two," the chestnut growled. "That guy is a friend of yours?!"

"I wouldn't say we -" Her brow quirked up, and Hitoshi bit his tongue. "We know him."

"Then for the love of all that is powerful, get him out of there," she begged. "Yasogami's too volatile for anyone to be near him right now."

Hitoshi recognized the name. That's the guy they were looking for. "We'll get him."

The white haired kid stirred awake in a low groan before they could excuse themselves inside, and Hitoshi stopped to help him up. The boy looked at him with a hint of recognition on his face. "Oh – Th – thank you…" he meekly said. "Do I…? Have we met before?"

"Maybe," Hitoshi vaguely answered. "I think you lent me boots during the obstacle course."

"Obstacle course?"

"Don't mind him," the goggled one said as they picked up a circle disk by the boy's feet. "Ducky forgets stuff when he introduces himself to people so we try to avoid that."

"Who are they, Devonney?"

"Not support that's for sure."

"Just a couple of general kids looking for the right inventor," Nagai said.

Devonney turned to him. "Your friend did say you were looking for Yasogami."

"O – Oh, Kira-kun?" Ducky mumbled. "I think he's a bit busy though. He did kind of…" he gestured around them.

"You don't say," Hitoshi sighed. "Mind taking us to him?"

Ducky shook his head. "He likes to hide at the back of the room; and well… the workshop's a bit messy right now." He then turned to Nagai, who stared down at the smaller boy. Ducky grew pale under his gaze. "P – Please d – don't touch anything."

Nagai huffed, but nonetheless tried to put a friendly front and smiled in understanding.

Hitoshi abided by his request and tried not to step on anything that looks important. The workshop looked heavily lived in despite classes having only started a few months ago. He spared a passing glance on a couple of unfinished equipment left on the workbenches, and, or, scattered on the floor, trying not to step on anything as they walked. Further down the room, piles of broken, burnt, or equipment that were no longer usable, was chucked in the corner.

Curious as he may be, Hitoshi chose not to ask. He probably wouldn't understand them anyway.

Nagai gaped at the mountain of forgotten inventions and asked Ducky if any of them still worked. Ducky grabbed his arm before he could touch one. "Please," he insisted again. "Some of them can explode."

Hitoshi pushed Nagai forward when the latter ignored Ducky's plea and tried to swipe a box anyway. Hitoshi knew Nagai had a troublesome reputation because of his appearance, but sometimes his actions made it hard to seem otherwise.

They found Fumei behind a large double cabinet with another boy with short, spiky black hair. He had heavy circles under his eyes, and a mole under the left. His palms were seared in a burning white glow on top of Fumei's lap. Every so often, lightning crackled out from his fingertips and connected itself from the nearest metallic surface in the room.

One sparked near Hitoshi's feet, and Nagai and Ducky both jumped. Hitoshi just kicked the wrench away when the discharge faded. Fumei stared at the wrench as it disappeared under the table, then briefly looked at Hitoshi. "Interesting," he hummed. "You say this happened during the Cavalry with the volt attack too?"

Yasogami nodded. "My quirk is charged by absorbing heat, not electricity. It's a new development that I wish to explore."

"So you decide to harness 1.3 million volts of energy in this small thing?" Fumei asked while he pointed towards a piece of smoldering hot metal.

"It was worth a shot."

"You almost blew up the building."

"A small price to pay for advancement."

Fumei laughed. "No wonder I like you, Yasogami."

Hitoshi frowned. He and Nagai exchanged a knowing look. Fumei just nonchalantly brushed off the lives of about fifty people inside the building, which may or may not also include theirs. Hitoshi knew first-hand how fast Fumei could jump from being sympathetic to completely apathetic in a second depending on his current priorities.

While he continued to avoid and ignore Hitoshi, it was clear that Fumei's current priority was to help him find the perfect engineer to create his support item rather than the safety of others. Hitoshi felt a surge of warmth in his pocket, and he instinctively pulled out his phone where a black cat strap innocently hung from the side.

"Kira-kun?"

Yasogami turned to the petite boy, then towards the new faces, then back at Fumei. "That's Shinsou and Nagai," Fumei said without a passing glance. "I've told you about them."

"Yes, other general students," Yasogami nodded while he dumped his hands into a bucket of sand to extinguish the burning glow on his hands, then put on a new set of gloves that smoked as though cooling his palms even more. "What do you need hero gear for?"

"We're breaking the norm," Nagai grinned. "Plus, Shinsou's got this special training going on right now. The gear might help."

"Special training?" Both support student's echoed.

"Very top secret," the raven said. "So keep let's keep it that way alright? Or else I'll bite you." He snapped his jagged teeth at Ducky, who squealed and instantly ran behind Yasogami.

Yasogami patted Ducky's head, then looked at Hitoshi. "The equipment's for you?"

"Something like that. Can you do it?"

"Depends on what you have," Yasogami shrugged. "Aki told me you have a sketch?"

Hitoshi frowned, the chain on his phone emitted an even warmer feeling. First name basis already.

Nagai grumbled. "Well… less of a sketch. More of an idea."

"That's enough. Give." Yasogami beckoned with his hands.

Nagai passed him a folded piece of paper, and the latter quickly ran his eyes through the amateurish design. If Yasogami had any thoughts about it, he kept it to himself. Ducky tried to sneak a peek, then whispered something to his friend.

Yasogami nodded and quickly cleared the table in the middle of the room. Fumei jumped out of the way, when Ducky spread out a large blank blueprint on the table. The smaller student also tossed in a ruler and a white pen on top of it, which Yasogami picked up and twirled on his hand as he taped the piece of wrinkled paper on the wall.

Ducky sat beside Yasogami on the table while they tilted their heads in perfect unison, studying the sketch.

"So… we take it you'll be doing it?" Nagai asked.

Yasogami and Ducky snapped their heads at him with a blank look in their eyes. Nagai shuddered at the equal intensity at them, like they just interrupted them in their zone or something. Still, Yasogami sighed, lightly apologizing for snapping in silence like that.

"If I'm being honest, I'm not the best at making new tech. I mostly remodel," the support said. "Ducky picks apart broken things and salvages for spares. Devonney blows stuff up, and Yachi repairs them. If you want an inventor…" Ducky pulled at Yasogami's sleeve, almost begging, and the latter sighed. "Fine. Come back tomorrow, I'll see if we can work around it by then."

When they returned to the studio the following day, the workshop was on fire again.

Devonney frantically ran around with a fire extinguisher which Yachi insisted that they use. The googled student panicked even more and chucked the extinguisher straight into the flame instead of actually using it. It burst open, and rather than calm the down the flames somehow made it burn even brighter. Nagai laughed as Devonney and Yachi scrambled to fix their mess until the sprinkles broke and doused everyone in cold water, including whatever technology this disruptive group of support mechanics were working on.

Hitoshi silently fumed as his hair sagged over his eyes, and he had to push them back to see clearly. Fumei barely gave him a passing glance as the former squeezed water off his clothes. Nagai shook his hair like a wet dog beside Devonney who wiped their googles clean.

"You're early," Yachi greeted. "Yasogami's still got two hours."

"He said a day. It's been that." Fumei said.

"He also said we aren't the inventing bunch," Yachi argued with a hand on her hips. "Just because we're support, doesn't mean we all know how to create from scratch okay? That shit's a dime in a dozen. When I say he's got two hours left. He's got two hours left."

She shut a metallic cover over her face and resumed working on her desk while Devonney set up another box of explosives. Nagai watched them go on, creating or… destroying more stuff, but stayed as close as he could from the door.

Fumei tried to spark a conversation with Yachi who chose not to indulge him, while Hitoshi prodded a firearm to his left. He heard something click inside and immediately left it alone. He was not going to start another fire.

Roughly thirty minutes later, Yasogami walked out of his corner with a hand completed mask. Ducky followed right behind him as he wiped away dust off his glasses. "Were you waiting long?" the raven asked

Fumei hopped off the table with a grin. "Not at all! Did you finish it?"

"I did my best," Yasogami said as he walked towards Hitoshi and presented to him his request.

The design was very different to Nagai's initial idea. Hitoshi understood the liberties they had to take and just accepted it as it. It was a black and white half face respirator mask with large square speakers attached on either side. A small dynamic microphone fit perfectly through the mouthpiece, and was covered by a removable cap in front which doubled as the volume dial.

Hitoshi put it on, and checked himself on the nearest reflective surface. He chuckled rather darkly. It looked rather cool on him, but it also amplified his already intimidating aura.

"It looks like shit," Yachi bluntly said, and Yasogami lowered his head.

"There's… certainly more to improve on," Devonney added. "Maybe more compact speakers?"

"Tried it. Couldn't do it. It kept short circuiting."

Devonney hummed for a moment, then shrugged, apparently already out of ideas themselves.

"Maybe we should make speakers feel less… uh..." Nagai started.

"Less like it came from the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse and three-fourth of the world's population died of poisoning," Fumei dryly said to which Nagai nodded and quickly caught himself.

"No! Fumei, what the fuck?" The blond snickered and apologized for the joke. "We want a friendly design, not one that'd scare people away."

"I'm an engineer," Yasogami hissed, "Not a fashion designer."

"We can fix the design later," Fumei said. "Let's see if it works first."

Yasogami led them towards a small viewing room with reinforced blast and sound proof windows that overlooked a testing field. Hitoshi walked out as instructed with Fumei in tow as their willing testing subject, even though the latter hadn't said anything to him.

"Running quality check on voice module," Yasogami spoke through a microphone. "Turn on the mask please."

Hitoshi pressed the button hidden beneath his left earlobe and he heard the inner mechanisms whir to life. "One minute diagnostics, aaaaaand we're ready," Yasogami said. "Test number one on voice amplifier at normal intensity. Say anything."

"Anything," Hitoshi grumbled, and Nagai snickered in the background calling him a smart-ass. Fumei fought off a laugh.

"Increase intensity to double decibels aimed at three feet," Yasogami continued. "Aki, get ready."

The blond saluted the people behind the glass, and walked farther away. Three feet apart to be exact. Hitoshi turned up the volume and said whatever came to mind, "Nagai stole – PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Hitoshi fell to his knees, and Fumei's hands flew up to cover his own ears. A high pitched sound echoed all throughout the site, and fired an ear-shattering feedback loop inside the observation booth.

Fumei mouthed something to him, but Hitoshi couldn't hear it over the ringing. Hitoshi made the mistake of talking through the malfunctioning microphone again, and another wave of high pitched noise rang in the room. Fumei collapsed to his knees and glared.

Hitoshi turned the volume down, thinking that the feedback would also stop, but the knob was broken. Moving it didn't do anything to the ear-piercing sound.

Fumei fought through the pain and gestured for Hitoshi to throw his mask in the air. Hitoshi fumbled with the clasp behind his neck and chucked it into the air. Fumei raised his hand and sliced through the mask with a large blade of light.

The noise instantly cut off.

Ducky hurried out of the viewing room to catch the broken equipment with his hands. Devonney had to pry the thing off his hands before the live wires caused the equipment to burst into flames. Hitoshi stumbled on his feet as the ringing in his ear persisted.

Nagai helped him up with a reassuring pat. Yachi checked on Fumei, while Yasogami stood at the entrance of the viewing booth. He had this frustrated look on his face, and before anyone could say something to him, Yasogami stormed out of the room.

A/N: I've been thinking about adding this piece of story arc in this fic. I finally introduced DUCKY! He briefly appeared during Yuu(s)ei Run as the support student Hitoshi borrowed his bouncing boots from in the chasm obstacle. I love how fidgety he is, and just imagining him makes me think he's an adorable smol bean. He's owned by mandoswag (sorry for the wait haha). Our supporting cast ever grows (please make me stop) and this time they're volatile mechanics. Much like the general kids, I wanted to give the supports more areas to thrive rather than just building.

Next up, we meet a quirky pink haired mechanic and Stain hits the news. Don't be shy to leave a review or follow/favorite. I'd like to hear what everyone thinks of what's going on at the moment. Sushiiiiiii OUT!