As the day went on, this group of geniuses remained hard at work. Each of us thrived in different parts of support, so working together would be our best bet at finishing on time. During the planning, we would go around and individually tell what our partners' Quirks were and what their costumes had to look like.

    Snake's designated hero was the class A representative with a Quirk that put engines on the back of his legs. Obviously needing to go fast, Snake assumed something light and moveable would be best. However, the student wanted a version of a flashy knight's armor. Dani worked on sketching a design while Snake and I took care of the welding.

    Meanwhile, Double and Rose got started on a design for Class A's Denki Kaminari. His Quirk was one with electricity, which meant Double could work well on gadgets, but his costume would be tricky. Rose helped out with the design that consisted of a black jacket, white undershirt, and black pants. At first, Kaminari just wanted the jacket for looks, but Rose worked with the idea to use the interior leather as an electric insulator that would protect his skin from his own sparks.

    I'd be interested in her way of thinking if I wasn't too busy to focus on anything else but the scolding fire in front of me. The thick gloves that covered my hands up to my elbows didn't seem like enough as I pushed the two plates of Tenya Iida's costume together. I was shielded head to toe in fireproof guards, cautious when working with this kind of fabrication.

     Snake, on the other hand, didn't take nearly the same amount of precautions. She took care of welding the chest plate pieces together, and when doing so, she stayed in her short-sleeved shirt and fingerless gloves. I remembered her telling us about her scales being resistant to fire, but seeing her Quirk in action was far more impressive.

    With me and Snake tag-teaming this hero costume, it didn't take long for us to have the armor all welded together. Dani helped us out by designing and sewing the undershirts and pants for the costume that would give the wearer better mobility and reduce any insulated heat caused by the armor.

    I looked down to check my watch. 3 o'clock; that meant we've been at nonstop work for at least four hours. Considering big projects like this usually took me a few days, I was glad to see that both Snake and Double's costumes were near completion. I pulled off my welding mask and gloves. My eyes were strained, but it didn't affect my tics too much. Though, I still felt my eyes blinking at a quicker rate than normal.

    "How's it going over here?" From the corner of my eyes, I could see Rose approach our desk with Double following behind her. After working with electrical gadgets all day, her green eyes looked even brighter with the dark circles of smoke around her face. Around her waist was an assortment of tools connected by a belt, and even more, tools being held in the pockets of her green cargo pants.

    I let Snake answer for me as my whiteboard and marker were on the other side of the room. She responded, "Pretty much all done here."

    Rose nodded as she stretched her arm behind her head. "That's great. At the rate we're going, I think we can try to get Dani and Rocket's costumes started soon."

    To her right, I saw Dani silently disagree with a head shake. He pulled down his bandages for me to catch the last half of his sentence. "— man, I'm too hungry to think anymore."

    "Well, we've made— we've made good progress today. We could at least get lunch or–or something while brainstorming ideas," Double suggested. With the rest of the team also looking mentally and physically drained from the hours of work, it looked like we were all on board with Double's idea.

    "That sounds good," Snake said. "Plus, I know a decent place uptown." Even though the way her sharp fangs hung outside her mouth made it always seem like she held a mellow grin, the girl seemed to be in a better mood since the idea was suggested.

    The rest of us agreed to follow her lead and go out for lunch while taking a break from our big assignments. After shutting down the lab equipment and packing all we needed to take with us, we decamped from UA and headed out.

■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■

    Snake knew the way to this restaurant like the back of her hand. There wasn't any hesitation between directions at the train station, and she never looked to any of us for guidance. Something I began to notice was how headstrong she could be when putting her mind to a task. A lot of the Support Course kids were like that.

    My theory that most of my classmates were stubborn was easily proven during the train ride on our afternoon journey. Double and Dani continued a debate started a while ago about popular pro Heros' costumes.

    Dani leaned on the door of the train with his arms folded and his bandages barely hanging off his face. "I'm telling you there's no reason for anyone to let Kamui Woods dress like such a moron in public."

    Double sat across from him and next to me on the train's benches, looking exhausted from the argument. "And I keep explaining that it's because—because of his Quirk that he has to. His Quirk lets him control the wood on his arms and legs, so he has to— has to have a suit that lets him move around without restraint."

     Dani scoffed, refusing to consider Double's point. "Please. So he's a human bonsai tree, that's no reason to have such a ludicrous hero costume. A boring Quirk like that can't be hurt with a better suit design."

    I was sure that the spat my friends had was easily called out to be childish. And yet, neither of them wanted to back down as determined as they were. I looked over in hopes of hearing Double's stammered rebuttal but only found him sitting back with mirrored crossed arms, looking ahead at Dani.

    "Fine," he said. "You—You left me no choice. Have at it, Rosemary." Double turned over to signal Rose into the conversation. From the other side of me, I could see her pull out one earbud and close her phone to stare over at Dani.

    "Okay, firstly, Woods' suit is made of a TPU fabric that's built to be durable and flexible in any climate. The mix of TPU and polyvinyl chloride also makes his costume waterproof, which will prevent his skin from swelling and any water from being trapped in. Secondly, don't dis on Arbor because it's thanks to a Quirk like that when we can see moves such as Lacquered chains that saved an entire office building in record time. And it's not like he could have done that with sleeves or bandages holding him back."

    Dani didn't respond right away, so I looked over to see Double as he nodded along and pointed to Rose. "What she said."

    I pulled my whiteboard over my lap and started to write as our train slowed down at the next stop. Thankfully, the debate between Dani and Double had stopped as Snake hurried us out of the train and onto the street. I barely finished my message as I exited the cart and followed behind my group. While walking, I tapped Rose on her shoulder and showed her my whiteboard.

    I had told her I wasn't aware that she knew so much about hero costumes, and I didn't think of her as a big fan of pro Heros. Rose's eyes scanned over my message before she pulled down a pair of dark sunglasses that kept me from being able to see where she was looking.

    I did however see her almost laugh at my writing, which made me think I chose the wrong words until she started to answer.

    "Well, I wouldn't go that far. I just know a lot about their costumes and gadgets from projects like this one. I was on the robotics team in middle school, and a lot of what we did was try to find ways to incorporate our gear into the hero game. So I've just done a lot of research on pros." For someone so confident when making her point, I didn't expect Rose to be modest about her knowledge of Heros. Then again, I guessed that not many in the background liked being called out for being fans of the main characters.

    Rose started to continue talking to me about some of the Heros she's studied before when she stopped behind our group and looked up at the buildings around us. "Hey, where are we at exactly?" She asked. I looked over with her to see the once towering skyscrapers of Musutafu long gone, and the once packed streets now much more opened up.

    It looked like an entirely different city. The business and apartment buildings had at most three floors, and the streets looked to be twice as wide. Even so, there didn't seem to be a car in sight. People of all different nationalities hung various flags upon their homes and across the streets via close lines and old traffic lights. Many of them stood at food trucks and vendors outside while the doors to ethnic restaurants remained open.

    Feeling the same loss of direction, I drew up a question mark on my board and showed Snake, asking for answers with Rose. She didn't say anything back while she walked us through the clear streets. However, Dani seemed to be already familiar with the small town.

    "We're in Tayōna-Toshi," he explained. "It's the closest cultural district to Musutafu." As he mentioned it, I started to notice how every inch of the tiny city looked to be from somewhere entirely different.

    A banner hung across an alleyway that pointed down a street reading "Little Mexico" where Hispanic and Latino restaurants and clubs resided. A lane named "Chinatown" carried gift shops and tourist attractions of traditional crafts and garments. Then there was "Plaza America" that had the same things all the other areas did, but slightly different.

    Dani looked around for a moment, then joined back up with the rest of us. "My parents used to take me here a lot. Being one of the only two Puerto Rican families in Japan, I guess they wanted me to get familiar with my roots."

    Rose walked next to him while looking up at all the colorful signs strung around. "I get how you feel," she empathized. "I grew up Cuban, but I had no idea this place was just a few miles away. My parents didn't go out much when I was growing up." I found it interesting to hear this. Even though we all attended the same school in Musutafu, we all came from different parts and backgrounds; Snake being Indian in Tayōna-Toshi, Dani and Rose both being Hispanics, myself being from the rural area of Shiniboru, Double growing up in the bigger parts of the city.

    "We're almost there," Snake cut in. She walked a few steps ahead of us as my friends and I took a second or two to admire the culture around us. Rose and Dani seemed to like the parts of Little Mexico we walked past while Double and I enjoyed looking in the Chinese and Korean shop windows.

    Snake finally turned around to make sure we were still all together. She flagged us down one by one and stopped ahead of a small restaurant directly underneath an apartment floor. She walked us in and held the door open.

    The place was dimly lit and fairly unoccupied, both of which came as a relief to me. From the signs and the flags up in decoration, I could tell this was an Indian restaurant located between Mini Greece and Canadian Avenue (not geographically accurate at all).

    Hanging up in the store's windows, walls, and ceiling were varieties of all kinds of metal art. Pictures, sculptures, and even inventions made with recycled scrap metal seemed to be the main theme of this place, so I could understand why Snake liked it.

    "This is— This is cool, Snake," Double complemented. It was a challenge to try and read all of my friends at the same time, so it helped that only a couple would talk at once.

    Double looked at more of the art and pictures covering the wall as he asked, "How did you know about–about this place?"

    I looked over to Snake to catch her answer, unaware if Double said anything else. Snake walked around the clear floor of the restaurant with her arms resting on the inside of her black overalls. She looked back at Double and me, and shrugged, her rattles bobbing with the motion. "I guess I know the owners a little bit."

    Skeptical of this answer, I turned back to the area on the wall with framed photos the owners had put up. Most of them were of customers and pro Heros dining in, but a few were personal. There was one photo held in a handmade frame of a dark-skin couple with four young children. They seemed like just an average, big family until I looked closer at the faces of the children. The older ones all seemed to have traits of the same string of Mutant Quirks, but the youngest had the most noticeable features: gold skin, sharp fangs, and snake rattles at the ends of her hair. 

    I held my whiteboard against my arm and got to writing, pulling it up to show Snake when I finished. "Is this your family?" I simply asked.

    Snake nodded and smiled. Her silent answer explained why she was so glad to take us to Tayōna-Toshi, and it made sense of the collection of metal art in the restaurant. It wasn't so much a strange decoration choice, but the work of proud parents with a creative daughter.

    Double held up another framed photograph to show Snake. He asked, "So if this one is you, then–then who are all these kids— all these kids?" I glanced at the larger picture of what appeared to be Snake in middle school with three other kids older than her standing around.

    "Those are my siblings," Snake answered.

    "All of them‽" Double's head flipped up from looking down at the picture to face Snake.

    Though I couldn't hear her, and only knew what I could read from her mouth, the way Snake smiled and her rattles shook made me guess she was laughing at Double.

    "Yes-s-s," she said, and I guessed that the way she drew out her S's meant she did in fact hiss when she laughed. "I only have the three, and we all have the same Quirk, kind of. My dad's Quirk is called Medusa, and my mom's Quirkless. My oldest brother has Stone Gaze, then the next brother has Living Hair, and that left my sister with Poison Fangs. Of course, I'm the youngest and got stuck with a combination of them all."

    I took another look at the photo where everything Snake mentioned became clear. The tallest of the kids wore tinted sunglasses much like Rose, but my guess was it was because of his Quirk. The second guy's hair seemed to be flowing in a bizarre amount of directions. The girl I didn't recognize looked a lot like Snake in the face and eyes, and she matched my friend's long, pointed fangs. Then there was a younger version of Snake with short, rattly hair, scaly skin, and gold eyes. She looked like the odd one out in the strangest family photo, but in all of them, she was smiling happily.

    I set the photos back down as Snake led the way to a table big enough to fit all of us in her family's small restaurant. It was still a tight fit to push us all into one table, but we made it work. Snake handed Double two menus that he replicated and passed out. We all looked through the list of traditional dishes and platters while a man I guessed to be Snake's father took our orders.

    She wasn't kidding when she explained that his Quirk was nothing short of a Medusa-like one. He had the same dark and scaly skin as my friend, and his hair hung down to his shoulders as hers did. The big difference was that his hair had the heads of pitch-black snakes attached to the ends. Double seemed to keep still in his chair when the serpents looked up from the man's head, but they were entirely passive for as long as we saw them.

   Snake's dad seemed to be just as passive as the faces on his hair. His eyes looked exhausted behind his thick glasses, but he was kind when talking to us. I didn't catch a lot of what he said as his fangs were a lot bigger than Snake's, and I couldn't read his lips very well. When Snake talked to him I had zero clue what was being said. The syllables they both used didn't match any of the words I was familiar with. I was lost when watching them talk, and I put my attention on the others who either seemed just as confused or didn't pay attention.

    Double sat to my right, still keeping his hands away from the Medusa snakeheads. I faced him and tilted my head to Snake and her father as subtly as I could.

    Double glanced up at them before mouthing to me, "Hindi."

    That explained why I couldn't understand what was going on. Snake and her dad finished their conversation in Hindi and he soon left our table.

    "That's a pretty language," I watched Rose compliment from across the table. "Did you grow up speaking it?"

    Snake nodded, her rattles going back and forth as always. "Yep. I was homeschooled, so I spoke Hindi before Japanese."

    Reading this, I picked up my whiteboard and started drawing up my sentences. I turned it over soon after to show Snake, simply telling her I was homeschooled too.

    "Nic-c-c-e," she hissed with a smile and held her closed fist out to me. I stared at the odd gesture for a moment before getting the hint and pushing my palm over it for a second. Snake looked at her hand afterward, but I thought I nailed it.

    "Well, you guys weren't missing much in public school," Dani said from the other side of Snake. "I'm willing to bet homeschooling doesn't include insane competitions like this."

    I removed the cap off my erasable marker and started to respond. I was getting the hang of writing what I wanted to say, so things like this didn't take me long at all.

    "Yeah, I'm starting to worry about this contest. I've never been great with costume designs, and my partner hates everything I show him. It doesn't help that Remata has it out for me to lose either," I wrote.

    Dani leaned over Snake to see my message. He pulled his wraps down for a second while he pep-talked me. "I wouldn't worry about Tech Support. She's always been just naturally horrible. I had to put up with her crap the last three years of middle school, and I've learned it's best not to let her get to you."

    Dani had a point. I was already committed to this competition, and there was no way I could back out then. I gave him my thanks for the advice as my other friends came to help.

    "What kind of Quirk does your partner have?" Rose asked. After, I wrote down my explanation on his Quirk called Explosion.

    Rose grabbed a pen out of one of her pockets and slid a napkin over towards herself. She talked to me while sketching her ideas simultaneously.

    "Something protective would be the obvious answer, but I'm guessing you already showed him that and he rejected it. If his power has him create high levels of explosive fire, then the smartest approach would be something to let him control that fire, right?" I silently agreed with her as she showed me her drawing of a thermodynamic invention.

    Rose explained, "It's something I thought of a while back. I call it the Pyro-Kinetic Glove, and it lets the user manipulate the heat around them through intakes and outtakes of oxygen filtered through the stimulus motion sensors."

    As Rose explained, the glove she vaguely drew out had the power to control existing flames. When put on someone like my partner, the user could make his explosions bigger or kill off the out-of-hand ones. I was amazed at how much thought went into this invention that made an ability out of a comic book seem possible.

    I looked up to Rose as she told me, "I don't have any use for it right now, so if you want to borrow the idea for the project, go for it." I couldn't thank her fast enough for the help. My partner didn't like the safe approach I took to his costume, so maybe going in the opposite direction would get me better results.

    By the time Rose and I figured out how to design something like her Pyro-Kinetic Glove, our food was brought out and we all got the much-needed break we deserved. We spent most of the meal talking through our ideas for hero gadgets and how we planned to wow the others with our costumes.

    We were all in this for the win.