After round 2 of the sports festival, the entire event was put on a one hour break, to allow both the participants, announcers, and audience some time to rest, eat and drink before the whole thing started up again with the recreational activities that would the show before the finale.
It was in many ways a time for rest, for planning, and for talks.
For the pro's it was the point to discuss the development of this year's new young heroes. It was the usual discussion between the old guard and talks of who would be the likely one to win this year.
For this year, the clear favorites were Todoroki Shoto, Mina Ashido, Uraraka Ochako, Izuku Midoriya, and somewhat surprisingly a tech department student in Mei Hatsume.
For others, it was a discussion of possibly taking on a new hero as a sidekick, and which one showed the most potential.
For Black Cat, a hero who's professional hero rank had been anywhere from 3 to 27 over the last 17 years since she came to this country, it was the time to meet with her second oldest child and discuss the tournament, Izuku Midoriya, and how much the girl absolutely hated Mei Hatsume.
For the students, this was a time for a rather varied set of discussions and talks.
For Mineta Minoru and Kaminari Denki, this was a time to prank their female classmates with a humiliating prank involving cheerleader outfits.
For Mashirao Ojiro and Nirengeki Shoda, it was a time for contemplation of a hard decision based on personal pride.
For Uraraka Ochako and Todoroki Shoto, it was a time to discuss a very depressing family tale of forced marriage, domestic abuse, spousal rape, and the time-honored tradition of men in power sending inconvenient women to the mental asylum.
For Venom, the seventh child of Knull, and Setsuna Tokage, it was a time to detach part of themselves to go and listen in on said conversation. For Katsuki Bakugou it was a time to do the exact same thing by simply skulking in the shadows.
And for Izuku Midoriya, it was time to seek out a rival and to be approached by a crazy old woman.
---
Izuku finished his food for the moment, a rather incredibly well-made hamburger.
He bid goodbye to Iida and Tsuyu and prepared himself mentally for what to do.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
There were so, so many people around him. So many people, all doing their own thing.
So many, many emotions.
Anger, annoyance, joy, lust, jealousy, hate. Two people having sex in a bathroom. The wish to pull back was there, and it was strong, but for once he ignored it. He had to do this until he found the one he was looking for.
There.
The one who hated him.
Paradoxically this soul who had a hatred burning more bitter than any other here was also one of the ones that was full of more joy and enthusiasm than almost anyone else.
This girl absolutely loved her work. She loved her life more than almost any other here. It was a simple love too. Pure.
And yet, that purity also hid the brightest hate.
Nervousness began to set in, as he realized she wasn't alone.
He would have to approach this girl as people watched. He would have to ask for a word under four eyes, knowing fully well she would probably decline and humiliate him.
It didn't change that he had to do this. He had to know if he could learn it. Know why she hated him.
He opened his eyes and began his journey towards Mei.
As he reached the room where she was staying in, he saw the door was open.
He steeled himself right by the entrance, preparing himself to go in. Instead, he halted, as he began to actually listen to what was being said.
"So that was serious? Like… Your stuff is made for people with no quirks?" He thought the voice was familiar, but he just couldn't place it.
Mei's voice as she replied was warm, energetic, and full of enthusiasm.
"Well, that is one way to look at it, but actually, most of my stuff is meant for anyone, quirks, or otherwise. The big problem so many developers make is that they limit themselves to focus exclusively on quirk enhancement tech, even though realistically, we should focus on making general tech that could be used by anyone!"
"Alright… So… those arms of yours… You could make a set for anyone then?"
"Oh, the actual arms aren't a problem at all. Sure, it'd take me maybe half a year to make another set from scratch, but yeah, I could do it."
"The main problem isn't the arms themselves. It's the tempering to make them as durable as they are now, and more annoyingly, the power source."
"If you have the cash for the material I'm gonna need, I can do the first no problem. Hell, I could even customize it so the metal would be any color you want! The big problem though is the energy to power them."
He heard a clacking sound, which sounded like someone was tapping something hard with a piece of metal.
"The battery is the big secret to making them as powerful as they are. Like, if I had to settle for a smaller, regular battery, I'd get maybe only a lifting strength of one ton or so."
A small silence followed.
"That still sounds pretty awesome."
"Yeah, Mei-San, that sounds amazing, I'll bet you anyone in the general department would be interested in arms that could lift a ton! Like, holy shit, that's still more than most of the damned heroics students!".
So that was who these people were. General students, who wanted the power to jump into heroics.
"...So what's the story about that battery of yours? You can't remake it?"
"Oh no, I could remake it with ease! No problem at all, but I'd need a certain creature's power to Kickstart it, and I don't have access to it anymore!"
"Damn, that sucks."
"Yeah, imagine if you could just mass produce that kinda thing! Like, holy shit that must be a powerful battery, to power those arms with that small size!"
Agreeing grunts.
Izuku might have stood there for longer listening in, but at that moment, one of the students in the room decided to leave it for whatever reason.
The guy in question froze when he saw Izuku. Then, with a short pause, he turned his head and called out.
"Hey Mei, there's someone here to see you!"
Before heading on, past Izuku.
Izuku swallowed, but there wasn't anything to do now but go in, or run away. So he stepped inside.
Inside, Mei was sitting by a table, showcasing a whole bunch of equipment. Around her were about 8th students. It seemed like she was actually at the end of a presentation, not in the middle of one.
All eyes were on Izuku as he entered, and silence immediately fell over the room.
Some glanced at Mei.
As she sat looking at him, Mei's happy joyful grin soured into one of annoyance.
"What do you want Midori?"
He swallowed.
"Could we talk… Just the two of us?"
He expected her to go tell him to fuck off, but surprisingly Mei just nodded.
She then picked up a small circular device with the words "Eren" Written on it, and a weird tube with various tech stuff on it, along with a cable on the bottom that she hooked to her harness.
The rest she left on the table.
He also noticed she was wearing a set of steampunk looking gauntlets, and the glasses she'd donned for the cavalry battle was now resting on top of her head.
Once they were outside in the corridor, Mei took the lead and headed in the direction of outside.
"Aren't… Aren't you afraid your gear could get stolen?"
"Sure, but there are 5 different cameras in that room, so If it is, all I have to do is report it to Yuei, and they'll know the culpring right away."
"Wait, Yuei has cameras here?"
"Of course they do Midori. There are cameras everywhere people walk except the bathrooms. If you want a truly private conversation you have to head outside or by one of the side entrances."
Okay, so… That was disturbing.
"Why?"
"Why? Weren't you there when the League of Villains attacked? I thought you fought that Rhino guy, or is that just gossip the students made up?"
"No… I did fight him."
"That entire debacle is what's lead to this situation with massively heightened security. That includes way more cameras."
...
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