Compulsion

Chapter 11: Testing, Testing

"Woah, didn't think you'd be an S, Midori..."

Midoriya Izuku blinked, leaning back from the mannequin, "S?" The mannequin was wrapped in a harness. The torso was wrapped in a common design similar to harness utilized in climbing and parachutes. However, this design continued to wrap around all limbs. A strapless black belt was integrated into the waist section with a familiar grappling system. The barrels of the grapple launchers were attached to the sides of the belt while their wires led into the inner workings of the belt. Lastly, on the back of the belt, there were a set of two pressurized gas canisters laid horizontally across the mannequin's lower back.

Kaminari coughed, "Y-Ya know... S..."

"Repeating it doesn't clarify," said Izuku.

"Uh..." Kaminari looked away, scratching the back of his head, "Man, where's Camie-Senpai?"

Utsushimi jogged up to Izuku's station, waving her hand, "Hi~! Sorry, I'm late!" She sighed as she set her bag on the ground, "I had to stay behind to talk to my homeroom teacher about my grades."

Kaminari blinked, "Ah... Midterms, huh?" He smiled, "I'm just happy I didn't rank last..." He then said, "15 is pretty good in my book."

"Oh! Ha, I got the same rank!" said Utsushimi.

A light seemed to engulf and surround the two, "Ah, kindred spirits." They turned to their inventor, "What about you, Midori?"

"Ah... So bright..." he thought. "I don't remember..." said the one who ranked 5.

"Aw..." said Senpai.

Kaminari chimed, "Anyway, what're we testing today?"

Izuku clapped his hands together, "I'm glad you asked, Mr. Kaminari!" He began to stand up, "Let's set it up... Ah... Someone's using the testing range." He paused half-way, moving to sit down, "Sorry, Kaminari, looks like you're gonna have to wait."

"Aw..."

Izuku dusted off his pants – jumpsuit thing, "Looks like we're starting with you, Senpai."

"Cool." She gestured to the mannequin, "What's this you've been working on?"

Izuku scratched his nose, "Uh, the grappling system collapsed with the wrist-based design. I can't think of a way to fix it without risking the same problem or turning the system into a hulking deadweight." He shrugged, "So, I adjusted because I don't really need it to fire from my wrists or two swing from them and logistically, it's a bit too complicated and the maintenance would be costly."

"Huh, I never really thought about the maintenance," admitted Kaminari.

"It's one of the most important aspects of Items. You don't want to make something so complicated that only you know who to fix or clean. It has to be at least learnable."

"But wouldn't that mean you get a lot more business?"

Izuku shrugged, "Commission-wise, I guess. Though, you're not always going to be available, or the Hero may be unreasonable or reckless, needing repairs every day instead every month. In the end, we're creating commercial products and the more complicated the product the less shelf life."

"You sounded like a Business Course student," said Utsushimi.

"We actually share a class – business is very important when it comes to acting as a manufacturer." He added, "They helped us write up contracts." He blinked before coughing, "Uh, anyway, the waist design is closer to a body's natural center of gravity should make balancing through the air a lot more manageable." He scratched his cheek, "Always a few more ideas, but that can wait."