The Support Department had long since stopped asking questions.
At first, the explosions caused panic.
Then concern.
Then paperwork.
Now?
Now the students and staff merely paused for a moment whenever a blast echoed through the building before collectively deciding:
"Ah. Hatsume and Kuro again."
Some habits simply became environmental background noise.
—
"NO WAY."
Mei Hatsume's goggles nearly fell off her face as she stared at the latest readings.
Kuro floated beside her, upside down again because apparently, gravity was optional to him whenever he got excited.
"What happened?" he asked eagerly.
"The ki density lasted 3.7 seconds longer than before!"
Kuro gasped dramatically.
"THAT'S LIKE DOUBLE!"
"TRIPLE, technically!"
The two immediately high-fived.
A nearby prototype vibrated violently.
Neither reacted.
Smoke drifted through the room casually.
The Support Course students outside quietly closed the door again.
Whatever nightmare was occurring in there was beyond mortal comprehension.
Inside the workshop, however, Mei was already pacing at dangerous speeds.
"Kuro, your ki makes literally no scientific sense."
"Thanks."
"THAT WASN'T A COMPLIMENT."
She pointed aggressively toward the glowing purple energy trapped inside a reinforced containment sphere.
"Every form of energy we've documented follows fundamental conservation laws. Electricity transfers. Heat disperses. Nuclear energy decays. Even quirks have biological origins we can track."
Kuro nodded thoughtfully despite understanding maybe twelve percent of this conversation.
Mei slammed both hands onto the desk.
"BUT YOUR KI JUST DECIDES WHETHER OR NOT PHYSICS DESERVES RIGHTS."
"...Oh."
"DO YOU KNOW HOW TERRIFYING THAT IS?!"
Kuro paused.
"...A little?"
Mei groaned before grabbing another clipboard.
"Problem one: dissipation range."
She clicked a button.
The small wisp of ki inside the chamber drifted slightly farther from Kuro.
At exactly ten meters—
Fwoosh.
The energy vanished harmlessly into glittering purple particles.
Mei immediately scribbled notes.
"There! Every single time! The farther it gets from your body, the more unstable it becomes until it fully collapses."
Kuro rubbed his chin.
"What if I yell at it motivationally?"
Mei slowly looked at him.
"...What?"
"Like maybe it needs encouragement."
"Kuro."
"Yeah?"
"The energy isn't a puppy."
"...You don't know that."
A long silence followed.
Then Mei quietly wrote something down.
"Testing emotional reinforcement theory later."
Kuro pumped his fist victoriously.
"YES."
Mei moved on to the next issue.
"Problem two: mass inconsistency."
She reached into a storage box and pulled out several bent metal plates.
"When your ki exists passively, it has almost zero measurable mass. But when YOU shape it intentionally?"
She pointed accusingly at him.
"It suddenly gains force output capable of levelling buildings."
Kuro blinked.
"...Huh."
"HUH?!"
Mei shook the metal plate wildly.
"YOU PUNCHED A HYPER-REINFORCED TITANIUM WALL LAST WEEK."
"...It was in my way."
"YOU TURNED IT INTO VAPOR."
Kuro looked genuinely apologetic.
"...My bad."
"And don't even get me STARTED on containment."
Mei pointed toward the absurdly overengineered chamber in the center of the room.
It looked less like a scientific device and more like something designed to imprison an eldritch horror.
Layered alloy walls.
Electromagnetic stabilizers.
Pressure equalizers.
Cooling systems.
Three separate emergency shutoff switches.
All to contain what amounted to a floating purple candle flame.
"U.A. literally gave me priority clearance for this project because your ki keeps eating equipment."
Kuro stared at the machine proudly.
"So it's strong."
"IT ATE A LASER."
"...How."
"THAT'S WHAT I'M TRYING TO FIGURE OUT."
Another silence.
Then slowly—
Mei's grin returned.
The dangerous one.
The kind that usually preceded structural damage.
"But honestly?"
She adjusted her goggles dramatically.
"This just makes it MORE exciting."
Kuro immediately mirrored the grin.
"Right?!"
"INFINITE ENERGY, KURO."
Mei spread her arms wildly.
"Do you understand what that means?!"
Kuro nodded seriously.
"No more monthly electricity bill?"
"...Actually, yes, that too."
Mei spun toward a nearby whiteboard covered in equations, sketches, and what might've been coffee stains or minor combustion marks.
"If we stabilize ki output externally, we could theoretically create self-sustaining energy systems with near-zero resource consumption!"
Kuro stared blankly.
"...Bigger babies."
Mei pointed at him triumphantly.
"EXACTLY."
That was the true dream.
Not world peace.
Not a scientific advancement.
Not solving global crises.
No.
They wanted bigger, cooler support items.
Preferably, ones that violate common sense.
Power Loader had naturally noticed this problem almost immediately.
Hence, the energy restriction.
The issue was that Mei Hatsume treated restrictions less like rules and more like personal challenges from the universe itself.
Which was why half the workshop currently looked like a warzone.
"Kuro."
"Hm?"
"...I think I found the loophole."
Kuro's eyes sparkled.
Instantly.
Dangerously.
"Oh?"
Mei slowly pointed toward the ki chamber.
"What if we don't power machines with your ki directly?"
"...Go on."
"What if we use ki as a catalyst instead?"
Kuro tilted his head.
Mei grabbed a marker and rapidly scribbled formulas onto the whiteboard.
"Your ki destabilizes and amplifies surrounding energy reactions. Which means theoretically—THEORETICALLY—we could use microscopic amounts to trigger massive secondary outputs."
Kuro blinked twice.
Then—
"...Like cheating."
Mei slammed the desk.
"LIKE SCIENCE."
The two immediately shared the exact same unhinged expression.
From outside the lab, a nearby Support student slowly closed the door again.
"...Nope."
Inside, Mei continued rambling excitedly.
"The issue now is sustainability."
Kuro sat cross-legged in the air.
"Can I ask something?"
"Hm?"
"...Why are you THIS obsessed with my ki?"
Mei paused.
Then looked genuinely confused by the question.
"Because it's impossible."
That answer came instantly.
"No known energy source behaves like this. No support technology can replicate it. It breaks conventional laws, reacts to emotional intent, and naturally amplifies itself through biological feedback."
Her eyes gleamed brightly behind her goggles.
"It's the coolest thing I've ever seen."
Kuro stared at her for a moment.
Then laughed.
Not mockingly.
Just honestly amused.
"...You're really weird, Hatsume."
"Correct."
"And kinda terrifying."
"Also correct."
Another machine suddenly began beeping aggressively.
WARNING:
ENERGY OUTPUT DESTABILIZING
Both immediately lit up with excitement.
"Oh, this one's gonna be BIG."
"Kuro, put up the shield!"
Purple ki exploded outward just as another catastrophic detonation rocked the workshop.
Outside the building—
Power Loader slowly removed his helmet.
"...I give up."
________________________________________________________________________
[Auther:
Kuro and Mei are students in the Support Course. Kuro takes it as a secondary like in High School. He attends it regularly and often stays behind after school, he's capable of 'somehow' remembering everything taught and hasn't missed a beat.]