[attr="class","likedo"]

Even with his hand on the ground it was hard for Kei to follow the fox' movements. Sure, blood stood out especially when the source was so close to him, but it didn't change the fact he was still sensing the rest of the elements. Sand, water, salt, that dropped ice cream if he really focused on it- all mixed together into the concoction of their place in the beach. It reminded him that he really wasn't a combatant. He was training one guy- imagine if he had a group to contend with.

Oh wait, he didn't need to imagine. He just had to think back to that gang Farrin and him were up against that one time.

Enough about that though, back to trying to catch Kupo.

He was doing a good job evading the geysers, not even letting them distract him as he kept track of the charging claws' locations too. That kind of skill was probably expected coming from a UAU hero student but Kei was still impressed all the same. It made the support major focus up as well- he had to give this guy a challenge. He didn't want to let him down in that regard.

Kei wasn't used to splitting his Quirk like he had been though; one hand sensing his surroundings while the other was outputting water. It was pushed to the point that the mound of sand around his palm began to grow in size. And well- that kinda went against his whole thing of his power totally only works on water haha!!

He only realized it when he glanced down at his hand, but that moment was all it took. His eyes grew in panic. "Nononono-" Kei pulled his hand from the sand to stop his Quirk, but in doing so the water stopped as well. God, that had to be worse right? Kupo's gonna wonder if something's wrong. Right when he was leaping over him too.

No, it had to be part of the strategy. It's gonna be a bad one but sure, let's pretend the water was holding the claws back somehow, so by shutting them off they could charge at the fox full speed while he didn't have much in terms of aerial mobility. At least Kei thought he didn't. But you never know, maybe there was some wind manipulation somewhere in there.

But yeah. Water was stopped, and now the claws that fired them charged at Kupo while he was midair as they were closer to the student than the chasing ones.

Kupo

"I passed out?!" Kei's just about ready to do that again with how mortified he was. Sure he wasn't the only one to be brought to the infirmary - that's what infirmaries were for, they were places where hurt people were cared for - but he passed out. How did he pass out? Did the class see him do that? Surely they did- god, he must've looked like such a wimp-

A disgruntled noise escaped him when a light was shone in his eyes, the surprise snapping him out of his spiral. He rubbed them to ease the discomfort once the light went away. "What move?" Blinking, Kei let out a breath. "I was tryin' to duplicate particles in the air. It needed more focus than the usual." He hoped she didn't need him to elaborate. Hebiru had seen his file surely, so she would know what he could do.

Better than his colleagues would at least.

He still needed to answer her other inquiry. Kei sighed again. "Okay, what do I remember... we were in class. Introduced ourselves to each other and said what our Quirks were. I lied and said I could duplicate only water." Untrue, he said he could duplicate water, not only water. Still a lie by omission though. "The instructor - Stellar-san - she demonstrated her moves before pairing us up. I was partnered with-" He couldn't help his grimace at the memory. "Gen."

"I... I kinda focused a lot on our group, I don't remember what everyone else did, sorry," he admitted, sheepish. Kei could only hope their actions weren't important to Hebiru's investigation. She hadn't said anything so far at least. Which was kinda unnerving but you know.

"Anyway-" he wheezed. "Me and Gen. Partners. I didn't know what my move would be at the time, so we brainstormed. Gen was bein'..." Kei gestured vaguely, assuming the doctor was at least aware of the Quirk stealer's reputation. "Gen. I didn't know what my move was gonna be so he gave- suggestions." A pause as his breath grew shaky. Why though? He wasn't done.

Kei furrowed his brow but eventually continued after swallowing some air. "Uh, suggestions. He mentioned the particles so I tried to do that. Duplicate them. I was for a bit, but I guess it wasn't fast enough because Gen was super impatient about it- but then he started encouragin' me? Told me to keep goin', that I was already touchin' the particles, things like that."

He smiled a bit then. "I pushed harder - Plus Ultra and all that - and the fog actually got thicker! The whole room was covered in it, it was hard to see anythin'. I think my arms got tingly which made sense since that happens when I use my Quirk too much."

The smile would shrink when he reached the next part of his story. "While the fog was up though, uh-" Kei looked down as his breath picked up again, one hand reaching up to grasp his hair. "Um-" He bit his lip, not even realizing he no longer had his toothpick. All he could think about was what happened, unable to even iterate it.

God, if that's how he went down, he must've been such a loser.

Yanai Hebiru,Kurokami Gen

[attr="class","likedo"]

[attr="class","likedo"]

Ah, looks like Jack honed in on his nerves immediately. Kei let out an awkward laugh. "Yeah, I know- I just can't help it is all. You're puttin' a lot of trust in me to get this thing workin'. This is gonna be different from those apples." Apples didn't talk after all. Sure there was no damage to them, but what if there was some underlying mental shift that took place? They wouldn't be able to tell. And there was no way he'd ever test the technology on animals.

He was getting in his own head again. Rubbing his face, he took a deep breath. He just had to trust that Jack would come out of this okay. The guy was depending on him too.

Kei let himself calm down by focusing his attention on Jawny, smiling at the affection the little shark was given. "Oh yeah, no regrets whatsoever. He's been a good boy, right Jawny?" The aquatic quadruped let out a bark that was likely of affirmation. And he'd be 100% right.

The gadgeteer reeled his metal arm back once Jack took his new equipment, nodding. "It's a good name! I'm glad you're able to come up with somethin', I'm actually horrible with them. These things I have?" Two metal arms waved before tucking themselves in again. "A colleague called them quarms and I kept it ever since. Short and to the point."

A sigh escaped him as the device latched on to the dragon, and he circled the hero student for his final checks before standing back, making sure Jawny kept his distance as well. "Yeah, we're good to go! So on three, you initiate your teleportation! One! Two! Three!"

And just like that, the guy was gone.

More deep breaths were taken. Relax, Kei, he wasn't really gone. He moved spots. That's how it was supposed to worked. He stepped forward and waved his hand around the space Jack used to be in to confirm that he actually disappeared and not just turned invisible. And it was when he was doing this motion that a familiar laugh echoed from a place much higher up.

Kei turned and a wide grin appeared on his face when he saw Jack standing unharmed, repeating his exclamation. "IT FREAKIN' WORKED- AHH!" God the crash of the dummy falling made him jump he was so antsy- but you know, that was such a small thing compared to the fact his creation actually worked. He tried to keep track of all the places the dragon moved too but it was hard. At times he lost him, only to find him again every time he heard a training dummy get forcefully dismantled.

When Jack returned to the ground he laughed with him, arms raised in the air. "Dude that was amazin'! You were so fast!" Then he laughed harder out of embarrassment at the man's admission. "Hey remember- you're taken too!"

Letting the adrenaline die down a bit, Kei encircled the dragon again for further checks on the CATS post-run, firing questions all the while. "How are ya feelin' though? Like everythin's together? Your mind still intact? Not havin' random questions about what's gonna happen to Antarctica when the aliens take over in 3297?" Jack looked fine, elated even, but only Jack could tell him if something was really off.

Jack Orion

Oh god, here came the negative thoughts. For all the work they've put into the robot, it would be the worst if they could no longer continue it on their own. All that time, wasted, because he wasn't what Iphi needed him to be. They'll have to call someone else in. It would extend the time they've allotted to the project since the new person would need to learn its inner workings.

Then what if said inner workings were built incorrectly so they have to strip the whole project to parts and start from scratch all over again? His own involvement would be for nothing, he was gonna be removed from the assignment, his extra credits would be forfeit, he'd fail his course now that he had nothing to make up for his absence, he'd get kicked out of UAU right when he was in his last year-

Wait, what was a fantastic point? "It is?" What did he even talk about? Sensory feedback? Kei's focus returned to the hero. "Oh, that makes sense. While pain's important to us so we know if somethin' happened to our bodies, AI.ph.ii can continuously scan her own vitals." Must be nice, knowing if you're hurt without the agony that came with it. He sat up to look over the files, making a noise of agreement at her plan.

Which she executed and finished pretty much immediately. Kei's eyes widened at their schedule as the essential piece was held in his hands. "Still? How much time did you reserve for trial and error?" It was a necessity but he didn't think they'd have a lot of it when they had only a week. Okay. Calm down Kei. You could still do this after all.

He stared down at the hardware and took a deep breath. You could still do this.

---

Oh god they were nearly done.

Or Kei hoped they would be at least. It was a long week, and seeing the completed robot stand before them was very convincing. But they wouldn't know if they were truly finished until they saw her working.

The support student retrieved the key from Iphi with a smile. "And it was an honour to work with you. Thank you for involvin' me in this." He took a deep breath. "Now for the moment of truth..."

Kei inserted the key and took a step back. "AI.ph.ii? Scan the vicinity and report the number of people and any potential hazards in the area."

Iphigenia Pavlina