Takara pokes her head into Chemex's lab, finding the teacher at her desk with a laptop open in front of her. The woman's eyes flick over momentarily before roaming the screen once more. "Juba!" she exclaims. "Come in! Sit, sit." The girl drags a stool from one of the lab benches and perches on it right next to the pro's desk. Chemex adjusts her screen so they can both see Takara's quirk registry form. "Let's dive right into your quirk."

Today, the students have been separated at the end of the school day to meet with different teachers about their quirks and fighting styles. Each pro has their own insight to give, and Chemex had requested Takara specifically.

"So it says here that yours is Nephrite Jade, is that correct?" Takara nods, pushing out a few crystals from her hand to demonstrate. Her teacher's eyes rove them as she continues, "And you're sure of this fact? That they aren't Jadeite?"

Takara nods more vigorously. "My parents are jewelers," she explains. "They're confident it's Nephrite. Same as my dad's actually. But, of course, they looked at both of them to check."

Chemex hums thoughtfully. "And does your father's jade look like this as well? What is this coating it?"

"Oh." The girl scratches at a facet with her nail. "That's a calcium deposit. It just happens when I push the jade out. Calcium and magnesium mixing together, you know? Anyway, no, my dad's is usually kept polished. He doesn't grow his out like I do, so he's chipped away all the calcium. It's better for business, you know, to have it taken care of. All sharp edges and polished clean."

Chemex's honey-brown eyes search the exposed jade on Takara. "Wouldn't you think that would be better for you too? Sharp edges and all? Not to mention the gleaming persona of a hero."

"That would take a long time," Takara sighs. "And then, I'd always have to go back and buff out any new pieces that I grow."

"Would you?"

The girl pauses. "I mean...yeah?"

"I have a theory," Chemex ponders aloud, "that you could train your body and your quirk to be more precise with the concentrations of the elements you're using. You say that the calcium and magnesium 'mix' to create the jade. So where does the calcium come from?"

"Bones," Takara chirps, excited that she knows the answer to the question and that Chemex didn't ask her a more complicated one. "And the magnesium is from the muscles, right?"

"Precisely," Chemex exclaims, giving her student her classic slashing grin. "However, there is also calcium in the blood already. When you ask your body to create jade, my assumption is that your bones provide more calcium. Your blood moves into your muscles where the calcium finally bonds with the magnesium to create the crystals. Since the magnesium is already there, your quirk can take from it as needed.

"But the calcium is what travels," she continues. "Your bones will lend the calcium in, what I'm assuming, is a constant flow. I think there's too much calcium being sent to your muscles, so it precipitates on the outsides of the jade."

Takara merely blinks as Chemex goes on, pouring a small vial of powder into a flask of clear liquid. She begins swirling the flask. "Watch what happens when we add too much of one thing to a reaction." The liquid sloshes around and around, the powder trapped in the whirlpool. However, the clear liquid begins turning cloudy and pink. "The reaction can only be taken so far, due to whichever reactant is limiting it. When molecules make bonds, that has chemically changed within them. They can't just do it again, unless they break those bonds."

The liquid stabilizes into an opaque bubblegum pink. Chemex lifts the glass so Takara can see the powder still on the bottom. "This is leftover. It won't ever bond until there's something for it to bond with. This is your calcium. You're putting in too much. If you have 5 magnesium in your muscles, and your blood is putting in 10 calcium, you have 5 too much calcium that will precipitate on the outside."

The girl's brow furrows. "And you think I'll be able to stop?"

"It's worth a try." The teacher puts down the flask and stands to stretch her back. "So what do you feel when you grow your jade?"

Takara shucks off her jacket and rolls up the sleeve of her shirt. She lets a chunk of jade grow, focusing on the dull throbbing of her muscles. "It's like pinching something. And it makes my muscles ache. Like I'm sore from working out. But only right there."

"And is there any indication in your bones?"

What an odd question, the girl can't help but think. "There's..." her lips twitch down. "This is gonna sound weird, but there's always been this sort of bloated feeling in my core. I've always assumed it's me straining a muscle when I focus."

Chemex's eyes hurriedly take her in. "Where?"

"Well, it's kinda many places in my torso," Takara explains, rubbing at her shoulder. "If I'm growing jade on my arms, it's in my shoulders and chest. If I'm making it on my legs, it's like in my hips."

The teacher nods sagely, as if this makes perfect sense to her. "Does the feeling last until you stop?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Alright," Chemex states, clapping her hands. "Conclusion: your body is taking the calcium from your sternum, shoulder blades, and pelvis, which are also the biggest producers of red blood cells, if you'll remember. Your body is used to drawing from there. Your blood vessels take this to your muscles in a constant stream, but there's too much with nowhere to go, so it precipitates on the outside of the jade."

She smiles brilliantly and continues, Takara's brain spinning. "I'm no doctor, but here's my proposed solution: you practice cutting yourself off from drawing too much calcium. Quirks are superhuman abilities. It may seem like an unchangeable part of you, like your heartbeat, but think about it more like breathing. Force yourself to stop providing that calcium."

"But then won't there be too much magnesium?"

"Like I said, the magnesium doesn't move. It's already in its home in the muscle. It doesn't need to travel, doesn't need to even break down. I predict it will fill however much the calcium needs and not an ounce more."

The student looks down at her bare arms, wondering if something like this would even be possible. She's gotten mild hypocalcemia plenty of times from her quirk, but it never occurred to her that she could perhaps control it.

"Just focus on stopping the flow like you would slow your breathing," Chemex explains. "It may sound difficult, but focus on the area and calm it. Force it to stop."

Takara settles herself on the stool and closes her eyes. She tries to take inventory of her body and comes to the conclusion that it's relatively calm. There's a little soreness in her arm from already growing jade, but she casts her mind past that. She grows a chunk of the crystal from her other arm.

Immediately, she feels that ever so slight ache in her chest she's been misinterpreting as a muscle. Stop, she thinks to herself. When it doesn't change anything, she breathes deeper and tries again. Stop. Still, nothing.

The girl places her free hand on her chest, focusing on the feel of her palm against her sternum. I'm calm, like a breath, she lets the thought flow through her head. Hold your breath and go underwater.

She gathers her breath and holds it, willing the ache to subside. It does, and Takara opens her eyes to see the crystal poking from her skin. The top of it is coated in the pale deposit, but the very base has faded to a deep green.

The stone stops growing, creating an odd pulling sensation, so the girl deactivates her quirk and exhales the breath. "I did it!" she exclaims.

Chemex whoops, pumping a fist in the air. "I knew you could!" she cheers. "Now is the hard part. You gotta get used to doing that all the time. And ideally, you should learn to do that without holding your breath. The calcium is still acting like a roaring river up at the beginning. But you can make it be a controlled stream the whole time."

Takara nods, gazing proudly at the little band of green at the base of the crystal.

•°•☆•°•

"Gila is so cool!" Kaede exclaims, skipping into the common room with Aiya on her heels.

"You work with him every day," Hirose points out, sipping on his tea from the corner of the room. He closes his book as if he's about to leave. "How is this any different?"

"Because..." the pixie draws out the word, rolling her eyes. "He's helping us account for our mutation when doing hand-to-hand combat! With the extra balance our wings can give, there are more things we can do!" She lowers herself into her fighting stance and exclaims, "Come at me!"

Hirose gives her an unimpressed look, but puts his novel and teacup aside and sprints for his classmate. He reaches for her, but Kaede grabs his wrist, dropping one wing while flaring the other one wide. She curls back with more agility than she's shown before, forcing him to fall forward.

What he wasn't expecting was for the other twin to be ready to intercept him mid-fall. Kaede's extended wing was not only to help her balance, but to get his attention off the other sister. Aiya grabs Hirose from behind and flares both her wings, gathering her strength before twisting and snapping them closed, suplexing the boy onto the hard ground.

The sound of shattering glass echoes through the dorms, but at this point, it's only met with quiet interest. The class seems to know what Hirose's fracturing sounds like.

His myriad of pieces shudder on the ground and fly up to resume their places, hovering just millimeters apart. "Well, if I'm all done being your practice dummy," he says blandly, plucking a piece of lint from his jacket. "I'd say that would probably hurt; however, you've only given me the upper hand." He gives the sisters a smile that contrasts the glint in his eyes, then grabs his book and heads to the elevators.

Aiya smooths a strand of her golden hair back into her bun. "I wonder if it does actually hurt him at all," she muses after the boy is out of earshot.

Takara just shrugs and stands from her place at the dining table where she's been doing an assignment for history. "Who knows? But more importantly, I'm gonna need your help. I learned a lot from Chemex, and now I have a project!"

The twins share a glance, wary of her conspiratorial smile, but nod anyway.

They head to the elevators and, while waiting for it to descend, the front door of the Heights Alliance bangs open, shuddering on its hinges.

Ozaki stomps in, red-faced and seething. He makes a b-line for the elevator as it dings to alert them it has made it back to the ground floor. The girls file in, keeping their distance from the angry blond.

They can hear him cursing Rosebud under his breath. "Worthless...can't even...Class B..." Takara's wandering eyes catch a glimpse of his phone screen as he texts Araya and Sugita.

"Gym in 10 mins."

"Tough meeting?" Takara asks warily.

The boy grinds his teeth. "What the hell is Rosebud supposed to mean that I'm 'brave to go into the hero field with a plant quirk'? Just stokes her own damn ego. And she goes on about expanding my range outside my quirk?" Ozaki clenches his fists, rambling angrily to primarily himself. "Does she know how long I've been boxing?"

The doors to the elevator ding open on the third floor, and Takara and the twins leave Ozaki to continue stewing. The girls head to Takara's room where she grabs all her jewel-cutting tools.

"What's this?" Kaede calls out behind her, and Takara turns to see both twins staring at the large half-finished canvas by the foot of her bed.

Heat floods to Takara's face. "Well...umm..." She clears her throat, and the pixies share a surprised look. "I was fighting Morita in the festival, and this was just a cool moment, so I thought I would paint it."

"Did you have her here to model for it?"

Her fingers itch at her skirt, feeling as though nothing they can do will ease the energy to just move. Kaede smiles sympathetically, a knowing glint in her eyes. "Well, it already looks great. I can't wait to see the finished product."

"You're an awesome artist," Aiya adds, tracing the line of Morita's flames with her finger hovering over the paint.

Takara's shoulders untense, and her smile shines brightly. "Thank you! And I really can't wait to finish it."

The blonde clears her throat and moves on. "So, what do you need our help with?"

Takara looks down to the tools in her hand and snaps into motion. She hands each sister a buffing tool, and grabs herself a towel. "We're gonna polish off my jade, but some of it I can't reach. Can I teach you guys about it?"

Both sisters light up. "Yeah!" they cheer simultaneously.

•°•☆•°•

The process takes a long while, even with three sets of hands working on it, but eventually, Takara's jade is cut all sharp with the green color on full display. They exit the bathroom, the twins rubbing at their hands. They aren't used to using the tools for as long as Takara, so their hands have cramped up.

From down the hall, they see Araya leaving the boy's bathroom with a towel thrown over his neck. His brown hair drips onto his shirt, completely missing the towel.

"Whoa," he exclaims upon seeing them. He gives a toothy smile. "Looking shiny and new there, Takara. Was this part of your training?"

She reciprocates his smile with one of her own. "Kinda. Chemex helped me figure out how to be less wasteful of my body's nutrients, so I could make my jade look more...well, jade." The group shares a laugh as Takara watches the crystals glimmer in the hallway lights.

"What about you?" Aiya asks, gesturing to his soaking hair. "Was your training with Ozaki intense?"

Araya lets out a chuffing laugh. "How'd you know about that?"

"He was pretty upset in the elevator before. We saw he was texting you."

"Well, yeah," the boy sighs. "Rosebud was trying to tell him to do stuff with his quirk he was already doing. Nobody likes condescension like hers. He just needed to blow off some steam, so I went with him."

Kaede's lips fall into a lopsided frown. "Man, it really sucks he got paired with her."

"I don't envy him at all, there," Takara adds. "But it kinda makes sense with his nature quirk. She's the best one to teach him."

Araya pats his fuzzy ear dry with his towel. "Maybe, but I don't think he got much out of it." The girls nod their agreement.

Takara shrugs and gestures to her friend. "What about you? What did you get out of yours?"

"Actually, quite a bit," he answers, smiling wide. "Although Mulatta's monkey mutation isn't quite the same principle as my quirk, she had some really good ideas. She's having me practice making quick transformations, so I can do them between hits. It'll hopefully make me more unpredictable in hand-to-hand. I'm excited to get better at it. Who knows how fast I'll be able to change?"

Aiya's wings perk up at his upbeat tone. "That sounds really cool," she chirps, for a moment sounding like Kaede. "Like if you could jump in your lion form and land the hit in your human one, I'm sure the force would be crazy."

"That's the plan," Araya assures her, his gold eyes glittering. He bites at his scabbed bottom lip and winces. "I can't believe this hasn't healed," he groans, revealing the blood-smeared canine that pierced the skin.

"Ito hit you pretty hard, huh?" Kaede asks, tilting her head.

"Is it bad I barely remember the fight?" Araya huffs out a humorless laugh. "Recovery Girl had to focus on all my other injuries, so she left this. She keeps telling me to leave it alone or it'll scar, but sometimes I can't help it."

"Maybe it'll look cool," Aiya suggests, pale eyes stuck on the bead of red on his lip.

Her comment causes a broad smile to split Araya's face. His eyes shine as hers rise to meet them. "Maybe it will."

Just call this the chapter of new character designs! But new year, new designs, am I right?

I wanted to share with you Takara and Araya's updated looks. Araya has an awesome new scar because Aiya is totally right: it does look cool! And Takara has some newly polished jade! I know it may not seem like a big change, especially cause the crystals are small, but they are a much richer green than before.

Featured Character: Chemex
Quirk: Coffee Divination
Likes: Science