"Well, well! So you need something to help keep you going after ten minutes of continuous speed! I've got just the-"

"Not if you paid me, you madwoman!"

"Ingenium! Hatsume!" Said Manual, interrupting us and standing with his hands on his hips. "That's enough! Now, you two obviously have something of a history together, but you're both here to do a job - and an important one for our agency. So I need you both to be able to work together, all right?"

"Yes, sir!" I snapped to attention, a little ashamed of my immaturity; Hatsume barely seemed to be listening.

"Hmmmm…so you're a water based hero, is that right? Perfect! Let me show you my baby number 4569!"

She was rummaging around in a bin and pulled out some sort of strange invention that looked a bit like a test tube.

"This ought to be able to better direct any kind of water based attack!"

"Erm, thank you - but at the moment, that's not actually what we need to focus on," said Manual. "We're working on a case right now, and we need you to develop some kind of support item to help us with it."

"Excellent! What are you looking for?"

Manual waved us both over into the main office for debriefing. The office had a large projection screen, and Arrow was booting up a computer to show the latest case to us. The screen turned on and began showing a series of photographs.

"We're looking into a recent heist. This navigation device was stolen from a government facility. Unfortunately, the thieves tried escaping on a boat, and the pursuing heroes in the fight ended up sinking it. Satellites saw it hit the ocean floor. The vault is secure, but some of the particles involved in making the device are potentially radioactive. I was requested via HN to retrieve the device, being a water based hero with two speed-type sidekicks." He nodded at me and Arrow, and I felt honored to have been considered.

"What we'll need are radioactive-proof water suits and scuba gear, which can accommodate Ingenium and Arrow's speed quirks without exposing them to the radiation. Can you manage that?"

"In a heartbeat!" Said Hatsume, already scrounging inside her crate of materials. "Gimme the specs on - uh- " She looked at Arrow for a minute, then shook her head. "Forgot your name! Her quirk! I'll get right on it."

"Thanks, Miss Hatsume," said Arrow, very politely to someone who had not been able to remember her name.

We left Hatsume to her task, and I accompanied Manual out on patrol.

"She's certainly…something extra, isn't she?" Said Manual.

"Yes," I grumbled. But with a sigh, I added, "But she is a great inventor. Midoriya - you remember him - tells me she's invented a device that makes it wonderfully easy for him to use his quirk without hurting his own body. And she made a recent modification at Uraraka's request in record speed. She's good at what she does - but she certainly knows how to make a pain of herself while doing it," I added.

"Well, that's a good recommendation, coming from someone she doesn't get along with."

We were diverted for a moment to take care of a stray set of villains robbing a nearby store, a small-time group without particularly impressive quirks but who were nonetheless well-equipped as a team.

After turning them over to the police, Manual said, "There sure seem to be a lot of villains teaming up lately."

"Indeed. Our recent training exercises have been having us capitalize on that fact," I informed him. "Practicing fighting teams of opponents instead of singles."

"I suppose it's part of the new world we live in."

"Yes," I said, chopping a hand in the air. "Everything is changing, and we must make accommodations!"

He chuckled. "Not everyone is changing, Ingenium. You're almost the same kid I met before."

I was a little startled by that. "I am?"

"You're a little less serious then you were then. But personality wise, you're the same as ever."

I thought about that. With all the changes my friends had gone through - Midoriya's massive advance in power, Todoroki using his right side, Uraraka's newfound seriousness, Bakugou's increasing team player status - was I truly still the same Tenya Iida I'd been before? Had I not progressed at all?

Come to think of it, my dedication to learning Recipro Turbo had certainly taken the lion's share of my time, and in that time I'd in many ways been falling behind the others.

"Sensei," I told Manual, "I would like to learn how far I still have to go! If you would honor me with your teachings, I hope in this work study to come to understand what changes I need to make - to become a truly accomplished hero!"

He smiled.

"One thing you might want to learn is - how to be flexible."