Alrighty! Chapter fourteen, here we go!
Right into it!
)=(
Izuka smirked as she watched old UA quirkball recordings.
'These uniforms could be so much better! I mean number one, fireproofing will need to happen.'
Izuka snickered as one player ran off clutching his rear, fire burning away at his pants.
'They really need to put a highlight reel in.'
Izuka's phone buzzed, and she picked it up quickly.
-Mustard: Have you watched the replays?"
Izuka smiled, quickly texting back.
-Izuka: Yeah, some of these are hysterical!
-Mustard: I know right? Anyways, I was wondering if I could pick your brain regarding our suit design, we're partnering up, right?
Izuka smirked.
-Izuka: Of course, what do you need to know?
-Mustard: Well, I think it would be easier to discuss in person.
-Izuka: Wanna talk during lunch tomorrow?
Izuka watched as Mustard's typing notifier popped up, before disappearing. After a few minutes, it popped up again.
-Mustard: Actually, I was thinking over dinner… Would you be willing to go tomorrow?
Izuka blinked a few times at the text, before grinning with a blush on her face.
-Izuka: Did you just ask me out?
-Mustard: No! I um, I'm sorry, we can talk over lunch tomorrow.
Izuka texted back rapidly.
-Izuka: Shame, I would have loved to say yes to a second date.
-Mustard: Oh, well I mean, um… Do you want to go out to dinner with me?
-Izuka: Yes, of course I would.
-Mustard: Great, tomorrow at six? I know a great Vietnamese place.
-Izuka: And I am already picking out an outfit seeing "Vietnamese".
-Mustard: Nice, glad to hear it. So meet after classes tomorrow?"
-Izuka: Of course!
The young woman tossed her phone on her desk before closing her computer and leaping into bed, eager to get the next day started.
)=(
Izuka walked out of the support lab the next day and met Mustard by 1-B's main classroom.
"Yours is like 1-A." Izuka nodded, eyeing the door.
"Well, we have eighty more students than them. Are you ready?"
Izuka smiled. "It's only four o'clock, we still have time."
Mustard nodded. "Then where would you like to go first?"
"Come on, I have everything to get ready. Why don't we go to the campus library and do soe rough sketches for our ideas?"
"Sounds like a good idea." Mustard nodded.
The two sat down together in the library. Mustard began doing a rough sketch of the uniforms while Izuka listed of things to work into the suits.
"I should be able to get my hands on quirk proof fabric… It just means that it won't be destroyed as easily though… I'd like to incorporate some way to deal with quirk drawbacks, like this one quirk in my spars this week, the girl using it started to overheat…"
"So maybe a cooling device?" Mustard shrugged. "We could ask the players about their quirks too."
"Guess so. Do we know who made the team anyways?"
Mustard nodded. "I know three. One is from second year. He has an ice quirk. There's a kid from third year, they have this quirk that enhances their leg strength. The main one that people are talking about is this kid from the black course. Rumor has it he's a Todoroki, has this crazy strong fire quirk too."
"Ah, an Endeavorling. Hope he isn't like that flaming trash bag." Izuka rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, hey, it's getting to be around five. You wanna get going?"
Izuka nodded. "Let me get changed. Then we'll go to the restaurant you were talking about. Where is it again?"
"It's just a block away from the bakery we went to on our first date." Mustard nodded.
"Alright, I think I've actually seen that place… let's get moving then!"
Izuka walked into one of the bathrooms on campus and changed, before walking out to greet mustard, who had also changed.
The young man was dressed in black jeans and a white button down shirt.
"Were we supposed to be that fancy?" Izuka chuckled, walking out in one of her uncles designs.
The dress she wore was black, and draped down to the floor. The shoulder straps were thick, and the back was left open.
"You mean that isn't fancy?" Mustard blinked.
"Well, not to me at least." Izuka smiled. "I have a looooot of clothing."
Mustard shrugged. "With who your aunt and uncle are, I guess I shouldn't expect any differently. Now, shall we go to dinner?"
"Why of course sir, lead the way." Izuka smiled.
The two walked to Izukas truck. The young woman handed her date the keys. "You can drive, just know that if you put a scratch on her, I'll have to kill you."
"Noted." Mustard chuckled.
The two hopped into the truck and Mustard drove them to a small, nice looking restaurant.
Mustard parked the truck on the curb and helped Izuka down from the passenger's seat. The two walked in and were stopped at the front by a thin man with no hair.
"Do you have a reservation?"
Mustard nodded and stated his phone number.
"Ah yes, right this way." The man smiled, before leading them to a table for two.
"Well, this is quite romantic." Izuka smirked.
"My mom is good friends with the owner. I got to pull some strings."
"Well look at you! Mr puppet master." The young woman chuckled.
"Don't say that! It makes me seem like this controlling villain!" Mustard pouted.
Izuka chuckled. "I kid, I kid. When do you want to pitch our suit idea?"
Mustard nodded. "Quirk Ball Begins at the end of the week. If you worked on it in your lab blocks, do you think you could get one uniform done for the goalie?"
Izuka nodded. "And if I spent a bit of extra time on it, I could definitely get it done to the parameters we had established."
Mustard nodded. "That's good. Hopefully having a design on hand will earn us brownie points.
Izuka smiled. "Besides quirkball, what are your plans for the rest of the week?"
Mustard sighed. "We have quirk training for one block, every day. Other than that it's mainly basic classes and combat. It's sort of fun I guess."
Izuka nodded. "It's cool that you get all this time to experiment with your quirk."
Mustard shrugged. "It's okay. I wish we'd have more freedom to help each other with ideas sometimes."
Izuka nodded. "That seems like it would be more beneficial. Then you can all know each others skill sets in the field."
"That's what I said! But Vlad king said something about school policy. Anyways, enough of that, I have another question for you."
"Shoot." Izuka nodded as she took a sip of water.
"Well, I've met your family, do you want to meet mine?"
Izuka coughed on her water. "You mean, me come over?"
Mustad blinked. "Uh, yeah?"
Izuka began to mutter up a storm.
"What do I do? I've never been over to anyone's house before, what do I wear? Should I bring a gift? How should I present myself? Mustards Girlfriend or just his friend… do they know about me or-"
"Izuka. Breathe please." Mustard chuckled. "And you're coming over as my girlfriend. I'm telling you this so that you can expect my mother to be… well, you know how moms are, like your aunt."
Izuka nodded. "Yeah… I understand. Don't want to expect not to be smothered."
Mustard nodded. "Yeah, although the one I'm really excited for you to meet is my little brother."
"You have a brother?" Izuka's jaw dropped.
"Yeah, significantly younger than me. He's about eight right now. He's quirkless."
Izuka blinked. "Woah…"
"Well, not exactly quirkless I guess…" Mustard shrugged. "The thing is, he has quirk factor in his blood. But, it's so insignificant it almost isn't there. Nobody can even tell what purpose it serves."
Izuka nodded, pacing her hand on Mustards with a smile. "I would love to."
Mustard blinked, before returning a smile of his own. "Great! How about next Monday, after school?"
Izuka nodded. "Sounds like a date. So, ready to get swept up in my crazy engineering schemes?"
Mustard shuddered as Izuka's grin sent chills down his back.
)=(
Izuka stood inside the support lab. She was currently going over an analysis of the UA team goalie that was provided by their coach.
"Her quirk is Light Absorption… it's a stockpiling quirk that takes in light and allows her to use it as a body reinforcement…"
The door opened and Mustard walked in.
"So what do we have to look forward to so far?"
"Take a look." Izuka nodded. "The goalkeeper's quirk allows her to absorb light and use it to reinforce herself. Strength and durability, as well as speed can increase depending on how she uses it."
Mustard whistled. "Heck of a quirk. So what have you thought about the uniform?"
Izuka nodded. "It says that she mainly absorbs light through her hair and her chest. What if we incorporated a way to have her suit absorb light that she could save for later?"
"That's a good idea. So, how do you propose we do that?"
Izuka smiled. "The jersey will have two fabric layers, made from strengthened quirk resistant material. Inbetween, we add a third layer of fibers that are luminescent by soaking them in glow fluid. They'll take in light that diffuses through the first layer, and increase its concentration enough for her quirk to use it."
Mustard nodded. "How do we increase the concentration of light?"
Izuka smirked. "You know how I have combat classes with 1-A? Well, I managed to snag a sample of a certain light manipulating student."
Mustard grinned. "You already deciphered her quirk?"
Izuka nodded. "At least, the specific variation of her DNA that increases the power of the light she wields. By synthesizing it, I created this!" Izuka held up a large jar of a sloshing purple fluid that gave off a pretty decent glow.
"How much did you make?" Mustard gawked.
"This is two gallons. I hope it'll be enough to make the uniform."
Mustard nodded. "You've already thought this through… is there anything for me to even do?"
Izuka smiled. "Actually, yes! I think with this progress, we can make an extra uniform. I need a suggestion for a team member."
Mustard nodded. "There's another player on the list that I've met. He's got this agility quirk. He tends to play striker."
Izuka nodded, rooting through a folder she had been given by the coach. "Let's see… Tensei Iida?"
"YEAH! That's him." Mustard grinned.
"His quirk is the engines on his arms… They give him a drastic speed increase… he's a third year, right?"
Mustard nodded. "Yeah, he's pretty good too."
Izuka nodded. "The biology of his quirk is pretty interesting. He drinks orange juice to fuel his engines? His arms may be built differently to account for the recoil of his engines… What if we focused on his legs?"
"How so?" Mustard blinked.
Izuka rolled out a large diagram of their current base uniform design. "We didn't include the cleats. How about we add those in for his uniform? Make them a bit wider, with a more flexible toe. Shorten the spikes by just the tiniest fraction. If his cleats stick, he could slam himself into the ground. In his shorts, we toughen the material with a third layer of shock absorbent material, to better deal with the shock his legs would feel keeping up with his arms."
"Anything else?" Mustard asked.
Izuka nodded. "We stabilize the cleat's ankle. Build the athletic socks into the shoe, with ankle support. We can include shin guards, or just pockets for him to provide his own."
Mustard nodded. "I can handle this one then. You want to focus on the goalie?"
"Already halfway through her shirt. Let's go!"
Izuka spent the next two hours creating the lighting layer of the goalie uniform. With an hour to spare, she helped Mustard with the shock absorbent layer for Tensei's uniform.
The next day, Izuka and Mustard stood alongside a line of students out on the quirkball field, each ready to present their uniform design to the quirkball team.
Izuka was impressed at some of the designs, especially a third year trio that worked to design a pressure point system into the cleats for some team members to kick harder.
Izuka and Mustard were finally up.
"Oh ho! You two are our first first years!" The team captain grinned. "What do you have to show us?"
Izuka nodded. "Could Tensei Iida and Aika Tarata come over please?"
The two students blinked and made their way down to Izuka and Mustard.
"To preface this, I am an independent slash specialized study here at UA. My main strength lies in quirk engineering."
A few support students nodded acknowledgement, watching Izuka's presentation.
"I hate bragging, but I am very very good at it. I have managed so far to assess roughly twelve quirks and recreate their effects with a sample of DNA. These uniforms are a culmination of the ideas Mustard and I created based on my own skill set."
Izuka held up a pair of cleats, along with the custom uniform for Iida.
"When I watched a recording of your quirkball games from last year, I noticed that you tended to work your legs pretty hard. The cleats we designed are specially made to keep you from injuring your legs when you use your quirk, and the shorts are made to help the rest of your lower body deal with the shock of being propelled that fast."
Tensei's eyes sparkled as he left and came back with the uniform on. "It's so comfy! And these shoes feel great for my balance!"
"Would you like trying to take a lap?"
Tensei nodded and did a lap of the field. When he stopped he gave a wide grin.
"Guys… I don't feel any strain on my legs." The young man turned to Izuka. "How did you make this?"
Izuka shook her head. "Before I answer that, can I present our other uniform?"
Tensei gestured for them to go on.
"Aika, your quirk allows you to absorb light through your hair and chest and convert it into energy to strengthen yourself, right?"
The young woman nodded. "That's correct."
Izuka continued. "But when you're playing, your energy depletes pretty quickly. With your uniform covering half of your opportunity to store energy, you can't recover as quickly. This uniform is built to help with that in mind."
Mustard handed the young woman the uniform. "Izuka designed the uniform with a quirk function that she took from class 1-A. The center layer of the shirt absorbs light and focuses it onto your body, allowing you to draw in more energy."
The young woman walked away and changed, before coming back. "Anyone have a flashlight?"
Izuka took out a large flashlight. "This'll give off six thousand lumens. You ready?"
The girl nodded and Izuka turned the flashlight on. The girl's eyes widened. "Woah… hey, could you put something like this into my hero costume too?"
"IT'S THAT GOOD?" The rest of the team shouted.
Tensei nodded. "Yeah, mine too. These shoes really help."
Izuka and Mustard nodded. "Of course we can!"
The team captain nodded. "I guess that means we have our winner…"
Izuka and Mustard looked at each other. "Really?"
The captain nodded. "Not only did you create two uniforms, but you made them so good that our players are going to add them to their main hero suits. The improvements are no doubt incredible, and I really want to see what you guys can make for the rest of us."
Izuka nodded. "I have a couple more notes to add. But I also want something done."
"Sure."
"I want to have those two third years with the pressure point cleats help us. That design is a great addition to your uniforms and I would love to see how we can build it into your designs."
The captain smiled. "Of course. Now, what are the last notes?"
"Well, it's mainly about the material used. These jerseys are made of quirk resistant athletic fabric. They require a very specific wash routine, otherwise their resistance will end up wearing out faster."
"I assume no bleach, that's why you made them a darker color, to hide sweat?"
Izuka nodded. "Yes. I can make a wash guide for them. If you'd like, that is."
"Of course. Thank you so much for coming in and sharing these designs."
Izuka nodded. "Of course. Now, My apologies, but Mustard and I have to go. It's getting late."
"Of course! Have a good evening you two. TEAM! Let's get to practicing!"
)=(
Chapter fourteen, Done and dusted. This type of thing is really exciting, because I can use it to introduce characters. I already mentioned Dabi, if you didn't catch that. But bringing Tensei in is really showing how well I can adapt this pseudo sport.
Anyways, until next time.
Sushui Out!