Practice Makes Perfect | Rin

A voice snapped Haruto’s concentration in two, inevitably resulting in another failure. The blackness receded from his eyes as the impurities swiftly died off- Though with it, the pain began to recede. Enough that he could speak normally, at the very least. ”Kurama-san? Ah, this is-“ Haruto knew he must look strange, pouring a bottle of rubbing alcohol over his head. Especially to Rin, who knew about his quirk, as well as how dangerous it could be if he went overboard. To her, he must seem to be a masochist for doing this!

But fortunately, Rin was smart, and no comical misunderstandings would arise as she quickly and astutely noted that he was training his quirk. Well, that much was probably obvious, given as that was one of the purposes of the military camp. ”Ah, well, this is a military camp, after all. There are cameras anywhere- It’s not like I’m doing this completely unsupervised. Besides which, ,” He held up the now empty bottle. Since this isn’t very strong, It’s not hard to keep myself from going too far, so, I’m not really in any danger.” He knew that in theory he would die if he took in too much at a time... But he didn’t have to push himself that close to his absolute limit! From his experience, the impurities would become restless at about three-quarters of his absolute capacity- Though, he wasn’t about to test the exact amounts! He wasn’t suicidal!

Though, he supposed his word probably didn’t hold much weight. While he was fairly confident in his own analysis of his limits, humans were notoriously bad at gauging those. ”For what it’s worth, Elise knows I’m here.” Even if he himself could not be trusted, surely Elise could! The girl who, like Rin, was acting as an assistant to the school nurse. Plus, with her quirk’s healing abilities, she would surely be able to save Haruto if something went wrong.

Then Rin interjected, asking him if he was trying to cleanse impurities from himself faster. ”Ah, no, it’s a little bit more awkward and complicated than that. See, it turns out that my quirk works completely differently than we’d thought- You know, I really want to find the guy who made that mistake and give him a piece of my mind!” Though, in all honesty, it was probably just that his parents had tried to explain it to him in simpler terms because he was so young. ”It turns out that I was wrong- The ‘impurities’ my body produces aren’t a byproduct of my quirk, they actually are my quirk. They’re actually a mutation in my white blood cells, and- Well, I’ll spare you the boring details.” He was certain that precisely no one cared about exactly how his quirk worked- Except maybe Elise. In any case, that wasn’t important here, and the more time he wasted on exposition, the more impurities would die off in his body, meaning he would need even more to push himself back up to the brink.

”But the interesting thing that came up- Apparently, when the impurities in my body reach a certain level, they actually start responding to my brainwaves. I don’t claim to understand how that works, but... Well, it seemed worth a shot to see if it was at all possible that they be controlled? It’s probably a fools errand, but, if it really was possible, maybe I could make them harm my body a little less, or something.” He shrugged. ”In any case, as you can see, it’s going about as well as could be expected. Though, there has actually been some progress! Normally at the levels I was just at, I would be coughing up impurities, but I’m actually able to keep them in for now! Not that that really does anything except look less disgusting, I suppose...”

He uncapped another bottle of alcohol, dripping a bit on his skin- Not enough to push him to overload, but plenty to feed his impurities, and keep the, from falling completely to baseline levels. ”That aside, what brings you here?

Haruto could only admit that he had never even considered asking Rin for help. In his defense, it was not as though the two had interacted very much at all! But if she was offering, Haruto would be a fool to refuse! “I would hate to impose, but if you are willing to help, I would be immensely grateful! Let me see,” Haruto began to sort out his thoughts- Having only recently had the rundown given to him, it was still fresh in the boy’s head. While some people might have qualms about telling each other about their quirk, Haruto had never felt that way- After all, what good would it do anyone for him to be secretive about it?

”Well, your speculation is about half right-“ Haruto explained. But the full story is a little bit more awkward than that. Yes, they replace everything- My body is basically lacking any of a normal human’s immune response, so, trying to rationalize it based on prior knowledge will probably lead to a dead end. So, to start from the beginning- My quirk is that my body produces, instead of normal white blood cells, these black cells which we call impurities. It’s really a misnomer based on a flawed understanding of what they were, but, I’ve called it that for so long, it would be weird to change now.” After all, originally he had thought that impurities were a toxic byproduct of his Purification, not the mechanism behind it. It had made sense to call them ‘impurities’ at the time!

”Well, anyways, these impurities are quite different from your normal white blood cells, and I’m not just talking about the color. For one thing, they can reproduce on their own- And do so rapidly, when in the presence of harmful substances. That’s why they build up as my body takes in stuff, but... Well, you got it exactly right. Without lymphocytes, the impurities attack everything- Including each other, and my own body, though... That isn’t entirely true. It’s more like, the more of them there are, the less specific they get? Otherwise I’d be long dead of malnutrition. Well, fortunately for me, they seem to struggle with engulfing cells that are part of complex structures, so I only have to be worried about being eaten alive by my own body in the absolute worst case scenario... Usually.” It was a morbid thought as to what could happen if his quirk didn’t have these oddly specific edge cases. ”I guess they also avoid my red blood cells? It’s like, there are all these weird edge cases, so, to find them all would really need a lot more time and technology than I’ve been studied with. I mean, this is all fine and good, but it doesn’t explain the way my body draws everything in from the air around me, or from other people, or whatnot. It’s all very strange, though, I suppose that’s not unusual when it comes to quirks.”

His face turned sheepish- Although he had been asked for more details, half of the details ended up being, “I’m not sure, it just works that way.” But to be fair, there had only been a little bit of research done so far, and half of it was done in the school infirmary by Elise! Knowing this much was already a huge amount.

”Oh, and the other big thing about them- Their lifespan is extremely short, as in, they die off within seconds of forming. Well, technically, anyways- But as I said, they tend to see each other as a threat, and so they attack and reproduce, so they actually fall out of my system at a slower rate than you would expect. Which also helps keep the. From attacking the rest of me, so, I suppose it all evens out? As for what I was talking about earlier- Well, I already said most of it. As I said, the impurities get less specific as they grow in quantity, but after a certain point, well, I’ve been referring to it as an ‘overload.’ At that point, the impurities in my blood start becoming extremely active, feeling like they’re roiling about in my veins- And, until recently, as I mentioned, forcing their way out. But according to the doctor here, apparently the reason for them becoming turbulent isn’t just what they do- Apparently, it’s somehow tied to my brainwaves. As for why that is, well, your guess is as good as mine!”

Haruto finished his explanation with a shrug, pretty sure he’d covered everything. Even if half of the coverage was just, it works that way and we don’t have a clue why that is. He certainly didn’t expect Rin to be able to fill in those blanks- Though, perhaps a fresh set of eyes could offer some clues. In any case, she was definitely right about being the authority on blood-related quirks, and hearing her opinion would never hurt!

Rin listened attentively to Haruto’s explanation, even going so far as to be taking notes on it. It was a far cry from his last audience- Albeit, to be fair, back then he had been using the older explanation of his quirk, which had even more cases of, “I don’t know.” As ridiculous as that may seem. Still, it felt a lot better than being ignored, which in turn added a bit of pep to Haruto’s voice as he explained. And she asked questions! Last time, the first question he’d gotten, was if he could offer a blood sample for testing! “Well, yes, I suppose they do- But, without my quirk drawing all the toxins in to my body for them, they quickly run out of things to consume after leaving my body. The lifespan of individual ‘impurities’ is so short, and there would only be so many in a drop of blood, so, it’s not like just dropping some blood in a lake would make them multiply out of control.” Which was fortunate, as that would be extremely dangerous for all involved. Of course, it would be convenient if he could use his quirk without needing to have the impurities multiply in his body... But, asking for too much would just be greedy!

”As for reacting, not exactly. It’s only when the impurities are connected to my body, either touching it directly, or touching other impurities that are touching it. Perhaps once they reach saturation, the connections between them are able to transmit signals like nerves? That would be my best guess, at any rate. He was only just beginning to test out his newfound abilities, and lacked the confidence to say for sure what he could and could not do. However, once separated from his body, it was clear that the impurities instantly returning to a stable state- Giving him the confidence to answer at least this question.

An awkward expression crossed his face as Rin brought up the safety concerns once again. It was true that Haruto felt that this was the safest place to be doing this kind of practice, with an entire medical staff able to help if something went wrong- But he knew as well as anyone what could happen if he pushed himself too close to the brink in an attempt to improve his control. Well, the specific concern Rin had, fortunately wasn’t a serious one. ”Well, I won’t say that it isn’t dangerous... But at least, that won’t be a problem. The replication of impurities is closer to an immune response than anything- They replicate based on the toxicity of what they consume, rather than the amount they eat- Though there is a correlation. The dose makes the poison, and all that. So, they’ll still try to eat my organs, but, they won’t increase in number based on it... And, as I explained, they struggle with organic tissues, so I have that going for me. I wish I could tell you it isn’t dangerous at all, but, it really is. My body isn’t all that strong to begin with, so, I think I’ll only be able to try to control it a few more times before I’ll have to give up, or it could cause serious injury to me. I understand if you’d rather not help me because of that, but... If there’s even the slightest chance I can reduce the harm my quirk does to myself, I think it would be worth the pain.”

Still, if he couldn’t make it today, he would definitely need to take quite some time to recover before he tried again, if he even would. Repeatedly pushing himself to the brink like this, maybe if he had a healthier body he could do something, but... With his body so ravaged by the impurities during his youth, there was only so much it could take.

"I'll be honest, right now... I just want to know if it's possible. Just because they react to my brain waves, doesn't automatically mean I can exert any control on them. And given that the outlook hasn't been too good so far... I'm not going to work too far ahead of myself. It doesn't matter what I want to do with it, if I can't even do anything with it at all. Once I know that, I can try to actually train it into a usable technique... Or, accept that it was meaningless, and focus my efforts elsewhere." As he had said, it would be nice if the ability to control impurities helped limit the effect on his body. But while they reacted to his brainwaves, would he be able to use that to control them? Or was that just an unimportant detail?

"As I've said, I have had some success so far... But I'm far from certain. I can keep the impurities from going out, but... Other than that, nothing. It's a promising start, but... It's like I suddenly grew a third arm, and my brain doesn't know how to use it. Not to mention that the arm is flowing through my veins in a thousand pieces. Being able to control their replication... Well, that would be convenient, but it feels like a pipe dream." Haruto sighed. Maybe he should just give up before he hurt himself any further.

"Well, I can say that, but... I'll admit that I had some pretty big dreams when I first heard that they were responding to my brain. Obviously, as I mentioned- If I could control them, I might be able to steer them away from myself, lessen the damage my quirk does to myself. And, well... Okay, maybe I did imagine myself as a hero for a second, but that's besides the point! Honestly, even if I could, I'm not suited for that... And besides, with how quickly the Impurities degrade, I'd need to be constantly chugging poison while I fought. But, I can't help but feel that if I just knew more about what I could do, I could come up with a way to actually use it."

It wasn't that easy to keep Haruto down, and he had, after all, had a promising start. He just lacked... Everything else he needed. Time. Body strength. And impurities to feed his Impurities. But Rin suggested that perhaps her quirk would be able to boost his own, possibly being helpful. "Well, it can't hurt to try. Not any more than what I've already tried, anyways. Just tell me what you need me to do!"

Perhaps this was the fresh start he needed to breakthrough this slump and find out if he could actually control his own quirk! Or it would just be another failure, but, how could he give up without giving it a shot?

Haruto gave a dry laugh. "Not very much, I'm afraid." he replied. The impurities were responding to his brainwaves, sure- But, that was about the end of it. As he'd said, the most he could do at the moment was limiting their rampage to a small degree- Not nearly enough to even be called control. But it was better than nothing, and if Rin thought she could help better if she saw a sample, Haruto was more than happy to provide one. He doused himself in the rubbing alcohol once more, letting his body absorb it- The impurities rousing as his body recognized the toxicity. As he had been holding himself near his limit, it didn't take much.

The pain hit as the overload began, but Haruto forced himself to relax. His practice had helped with this, and he was certain that it was less ferocious than it had been in the past. But still, he wanted to work quivkly. Taking a knife, he nicked his finger- It seemed less disgusting than having the impurities follow their usual exit path. The impurities were more than happy to follow the path of least resistance, pouring out of the cut, and into the petri dish- Which Haruto would promptly turn back over to Rin.

Once cut off from Haruto, the impurities underwent a drastic change. Specifically, they stopped- Not entirely, as they continued to shift eerily, and their numbers visibly decreased in the absence of toxins. However, they were notably less rampageous than they had been upon exiting the cut, not thrashing about as violently- Obviously, this was because they had been cut off from the brainwaves that had induced them to become active. "You'll want to look fast, or else add something toxic to the dish for them- They die off very quickly, which makes them hard to study in controlled conditions." Haruto warned- He spoke from experience. The rapid speed at which the impurities degraded had been the bane of all who had tried to investigate the cells.

"Okay," Haruto would respond to Rin's explanation of what she would do. "But, be careful. As I said, I don't always know how the impurities identify a toxin, so- Well, from what I understand of your quirk, I doubt it will be a problem, but..." As Rin's quirk made her a universal donator, Haruto doubted his quirk would identify it as a threat. As trumped up as it was, it was originally an immune system, after all. But it never hoped to be careful. Still- He hoped for the best. Hoped that Rin would prove that the impurities could be controlled in a meaningful way. Even if he had no reason to think it was true.

Fortunately, it seemed Rin was well ahead of Haruto on certain points- Before he even returned the dish, the microscope had been adjusted. There would be no time wasted, impurities decaying, while attempting to get them in the field of view. "Yes, of course! I would be happy to help anytime!" Helping Rin in her experiments was the least Haruto could do in return for her help, even if it turned out to be pointless. As for now, the rest... Was up to Rin.