BNHA: I am Reiji Toga Chapter 32: Explosive Creativity (2)

A few days had passed since his conversation with Hawks, and since then nothing new had happened in Musutafu, aside from Reiji's own ideas on how to expose AFO's operation without getting himself involved and without relying so heavily on the Commission.

That was precisely why he accepted i Hatsu's invitation, which ca with her business card. Partly because the Commission wanted to gather information on her and evaluate her technical potential more closely, but also because Reiji had his own interests behind that decision.

i was a genius, one who could offer him more options regarding the matter and, of course, help them beco more independent.

That was how he ended up back inside the U.A. support facilities, passing through one of the academy's lesser-known sectors. Unlike the main areas filled with hero students, training sessions, and famous instructors, the support departnt seed like a completely different world.

There were chanical parts hanging from the ceiling, incomplete drones lying disassembled on tal tables, cables crisscrossing the floor, and small explosions constantly sounding in the distance as if they were a normal part of the environnt.

The most concerning part was that they probably were.

Thanks to i's direct recomndation and Himiko's prior registration with the academy, the administration posed virtually no trouble in letting him in. Technically, he was still an outside visitor, but clearly Hatsu had already convinced enough people that "her favorite test subject" posed no risk.

Reiji didn't know exactly what to expect from the encounter.

Until an explosion greeted him from the sky.

Literally.

"GET OUT OF THE WAYYYYY!!!"

The shrill voice echoed from sowhere above his head just a second before a small tallic drone appeared, spinning out of control and heading straight for him. Electrical sparks flew from one side of the device while a trail of white smoke followed it like a faulty tail.

Reiji barely had ti to react.

A thin layer of dried blood quickly spread under the sleeve of his uniform and covered part of his torso just before impact. The blow wasn't particularly hard thanks to that, but it was enough to violently push him backward and send him crashing onto a padded mat apparently used for drop tests.

And then sothing else fell on top of him.

"Ugh! Perfect bounce!"

The voice was imdiately accompanied by a mass of pink hair, dangling tal tools, and an absurd energy impossible to mistake.

Reiji slowly opened his eyes, his view completely blocked.

His face had beco uncomfortably trapped between i Hatsu's shoulder and chest; she seed completely oblivious to the situation as she tried to catch her breath after having launched herself from a tal structure several ters above. The girl shifted slightly on top of him, causing the white T-shirt, slightly damp with sweat, to tighten even more against her body and revealing part of her bare waist next to the dark edge of a pair of tight shorts beneath her work clothes.

"…Hatsu?" Reiji murmured in a strangely tense voice.

"Reiji!" she exclaid imdiately upon recognizing him, smiling with imnse genuine excitent. She slowly stood up, relieving Reiji a little. "I knew you were going to co! Look at that, you're basically a human good-luck charm. If you hadn't shown up right now, I probably would've ended up in the hospital because of that defective baby."

However, as she spoke, she sat down on Reiji's abdon as if that were perfectly normal. She moved her hands exaggeratedly while explaining sothing about the drone, completely unaware that she was leaning even further onto him with every gesture.

The problem was that Reiji was very much aware of it.

Too aware.

i's thighs squeezed both sides of his waist, while the girl's constant movent made the contact between their bodies increasingly uncomfortably obvious. And even though he knew perfectly well there was no ill intent behind it…

she was still a pretty attractive girl sitting practically on top of him.

And he, just as Hawks constantly reminded him, was in the midst of puberty, and like any teenager, he wasn't made of wood.

'Does she really not realize...?'

His expression barely changed on the outside, but inside every instinct was telling him to do sothing. Push her away. Get up. Or just stay still until she noticed the situation on her own.

That last thought was precisely the problem.

"i," he finally said in a much more neutral tone than usual. "You're still up there."

"Hmm?"

The girl blinked in confusion for a second before finally looking down.

And then she froze.

Her eyes slowly scanned the entire scene: her sitting on Reiji's abdon, one hand resting directly on the boy's partially exposed chest where the blood shield had already dissolved, her legs spread around his waist, and the ridiculously intimate closeness they'd ended up in after the accident.

The silence lasted barely two seconds.

"...Oh," she finally murmured. "Wow."

She didn't move imdiately.

She just kept staring at him with a strangely focused expression, as if her brain were only now finishing processing what that whole position ant.

"This looks uncomfortable," she added after a mont.

"Whenever you're ready," Reiji replied with a fairly clear mix of sarcasm and resignation.

That finally snapped sothing inside i.

Not because she panicked or anything like that. Rather, she looked like soone slowly coming back down to earth after completely forgetting about gravity for several seconds. A faint blush appeared on her cheeks as she looked away for just a mont before finally jumping up nimbly.

"That wasn't the plan," she said as she spun around quickly to pick up a tablet lying near the floor. "Well… technically, it was the plan to land on sothing cushioned, but not specifically on you."

Reiji finished sitting up more calmly, watching as, for the first ti since he'd known her, i avoided looking directly at him for more than three seconds at a ti.

"Relax," he said as he smoothed out his clothes again. "Nothing happened."

"Maybe not for you," she grumbled, slowly regaining so of her usual attitude. "I just crashed into my favorite test subject in front of three security caras and probably two sophomores. If that ends up circulating, Present Mic is never going to let live in peace."

The last sentence ca out exaggeratedly dramatic, but even so, her voice retained a slight, strange irregularity that hadn't been there before. A small crack in her usual spontaneity.

Besides, for a girl her age to be so closely associated with U.A. was clearly sothing totally unprecedented.

Reiji decided to ignore it completely for now.

Luckily, i seed incapable of staying uncomfortable for too long.

"ANYWAY!" she exclaid suddenly, clenching both fists in front of her and regaining all her usual energy in an instant. "I didn't call you just to cushion my work accidents! I have a ridiculous number of new babies I need to test out on you."

Reiji could already feel the headache coming on.

"Babies?"

"Inventions!" she corrected imdiately as she began walking into the gigantic workshop. "I've got so that explode, others that improve mobility, so neural thermal sensors that probably violate several ethical laws, and one that detects involuntary muscle spasms—though I still don't understand why it works."

i's smile grew wider and wider as she spoke.

"But I need real data! Good data. And you're tough, smart, and survive almost everything I blow up, so you're perfect. If I test version one fast enough, I can move on to versions two, three, and four before the next exhibition—that will definitely be good for my brand… Of course, I'll pay you too."

i paused briefly.

"As soon as I have the funds for it…"

Reiji let out a slow sigh as he began to follow her through the enormous workshop filled with chanical parts, smoke, and students running back and forth.

i kept talking practically without taking a breath about compact engines, adaptive materials, and support systems absurdly complex for soone her age.

The speed at which she connected ideas, corrected errors, and reconstructed entire concepts was absurd. i didn't think like a normal student; her mind seed to be several steps ahead of even her own hands. Many of the things she was teaching were barely half-finished, yet they were already functional.

Reiji began to notice sothing beyond technical genius.

She didn't create with limits in mind.

She didn't stop to question whether sothing was too complex, too risky, or even too useful. If an idea could exist, i simply tried to build it.

If he really intended to continue investigating the matter of the drug, All For One, and everything related to that organization, then sooner or later he would need more than physical training or stolen information.

He would need tools.

Her own thods.

Advantages that didn't depend entirely on the Commission.

And i could give him exactly that.

Though the thought caused him a slight unease the mont it crossed his mind.

Because turning people into "useful resources" was exactly the kind of mindset he detested. The Commission did that constantly. All For One had probably built his entire organization on that logic.

And he himself used that sa logic.

"Here!" i's voice snapped him out of his thoughts as he stopped in front of a huge tal table filled with incomplete devices. "First serious test of the day."

Reiji looked at the contraption she had just picked up.

It looked like a mix between tactical gloves and recycled motorcycle parts.

"…That looks dangerous."

"Thanks."

"That wasn't a complint."

"Then thanks again."

Reiji ended up letting out a small, nasal laugh while i smiled triumphantly as if she'd just won an important argunt.

The atmosphere beca strangely light after that.

The next few hours turned into a chaotic mix of dangerous tests, minor explosions, and i taking notes at absurd speeds while dragging Reiji from one station to another. So of her creations worked surprisingly well. Others seed designed specifically to send him to the hospital.

A small mobility device nearly dislocated his shoulder.

Another prototype zapped him with enough electricity to leave his arm numb for several minutes.

And one particularly horrible one ended up slamming him into a padded wall after activating six thrusters at the sa ti.

Nothing his regeneration couldn't quickly fix.

"Perfect!" i cheered as she frantically jotted notes on her tablet. "That ans the core did withstand maximum pressure!"

"You almost broke my back."

"But you didn't explode! That's progress, and with your regeneration, you won't have any major problems."

"..."

Reiji watched her for a few seconds before slowly shaking his head.

She was definitely crazy.

i held up another one of her inventions with a proud smile and asked if he was ready for the "upgraded version." Reiji simply let out another resigned sigh before reaching out his hand.

"Just promise it won't explode near my face this ti."

i smiled too quickly.

"I can't promise sothing that's technically uncertain!"

"...That doesn't reassure ."

"Then it worked perfectly!"