Watching the Crowd (Kumoko & Jin)

So many things to do today! Despite feeling tired, that was not going to be enough to keep Kumoko down! She was determined to do whatever she could to prepare for the festival. And not just physically. She had several ideas in mind for new gadgets to try and build for the future. She was proud of coming up with the idea to use a slingshot for the tournament. It was a simple tool, but played to her strengths. Keeping her distance from her opponent. Hitting accurately from afar. Fighting without having to make physical contact. She would have to practice a bit with her new slingshot later.

But right now, it was time to draw! And no, it was not just meaningless doodles. Kumoko wanted to come up with more ideas for gear to make. The slingshot was genius, but surely she could think up more ideas? After all, she wanted to create things, not just for herself, but for all her fellow heroes-in-training. She was certainly not selfish enough to think up ideas that would only benefit her. No, she wanted ideas that could work out for anyone and everyone!

That was when Kumoko got a brilliant idea. As she drew, she could observe other students, especially the foreign ones that were visiting the school. She could watch them train. Or for the fellow mutants like her, see just how their mutations worked. Then from there, come up with ideas for gadgets and other gear that would help them out and suit their specific needs. It was brilliant!

But now Kumoko needed to find a place to sit down and begin work on her sketches. And as she looked for an ideal area to sit down in and get to work (preferably under a tree or something), she noticed her fellow support student. Smiling, she walked over to him, being careful not to trip for what felt like the thousandth time today. And also not being a bother to the guy, of course.

"Hey ya, Jin." Kumoko noticed that he was busy with something, so she spoke quietly, not wanting to ruin his concentration. "Do you mind if I join you?"

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The spider-headed girl was happy with the fact that she was not immediately turned away. Kumoko was unfortunately far too used to that happening. Not that she ever blamed anyone when it happened. But still, Kumoko was shy enough to the point that she did not really interact much with her classmates unless it was a class exercise of some kind, or they approached her. A shame, as Kumoko really wanted to get along with and maybe even befriend as many of her fellow students as she could.

Kumoko smiled and nodded upon hearing Jin. She sat down and took out her pencil and sketch pad. Hmm, what to sketch first? There were many ideas flowing inside her head at the moment, but which to capitalize on first? Well seeing as Kumoko was a good seamstress, she figured that she could design a hero suit first. Maybe try to go for a sleek, practical, and stylish design.

That reminds me, I should finish up the modifications on my own suit. Gotta do that when I head back to my room.

As she began to sketch a basic hero suit design, Kumoko heard Jin's question. "Not too bad. I'm already done with the main thing I'll be using in the tournament. A slingshot! Just need to test it out later to make sure there's no issues with it." That would be terrible if the slingshot malfunctioned during the tournament. As if the poor girl was not already nervous enough about the whole thing without worrying about embarrassing herself in front of a whole crowd.

Speaking of the tournament, Kumoko was surprised that she had even decided to enter the thing at all. The only other class 1-S student entering the tourney was Kouta, and at least his quirk was fitting for combat if she remembered it correctly. She wondered what the rest of the class thought about her decision to enter. Well if anyone is going to go far in the tournament and make class 1-S proud, it's definitely not going to be me.

Kumoko wondered if Jin was going to sign up for anything in the festival if not the tourney. "So um, are you planning on joining in on any of the activities? Or are you going to sit this one out?" In hindsight, Kumoko would have probably decided not to join anything if she knew that she would be this nervous. But now that she had committed to this, there was no turning back. She wanted to not let her friends down. Even if she did not get very far, Kumoko wanted to at least show off some of the things she made. To show everyone that she did not just spend the whole school year doing nothing.

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Kumoko smiled. "Sure! I don't mind. I could use all the help I can get." When building pretty much anything, it was good to get a second, third, maybe fourth, and even a fifth opinion on something. While Kumoko took pride in the things she made herself, she was always open to constructive criticism. Plus, working by herself meant that she would have a bit of a bias. It was better to broaden one's perspective by having others come look and offer advice, concerns, or comments. Sure, the girl had six eyes, but the more the merrier!

She listened as Jin explained why he was choosing to sit out on this year's festival activities. It made sense. He was still relatively new, so his skills, while certainly not lacking, would not feel enough for him. "That's understandable. If you do decide to jump in next year, I'm sure you'll be great!" In the meantime, Kumoko began wondering if she should have followed the same route as Jin and sit out of this. On one hand, she wanted to prove that she had grown much since enrolling here, plus she did not want to let down those who had faith in her. On the other hand, however, she was nowhere near as experienced at combat as the others in her year. So the tournament would very likely be very short for her.

Can I win even one battle? Will my gear be enough to get me through the match? Or am I biting off way more than I can chew with this? I suppose it really doesn't matter. There's no turning back, so I just need to hope for the best.

Kumoko was snapped out of her thoughts by Jin. She listened to his question and began to think. "Hmm, I mean for most of my suits, I just use my own silk. It's both light and durable, and a lot cheaper to make than other materials." But of course, there was no way that was a satisfactory answer by itself. "Perhaps using small bits of metals or hard plastics as the material would help? It's hardly practical for the purpose of durability, but being lightweight means that the user wouldn't be slowed down too much by it. Though if weight isn't an issue, or if durability for the gear is too vital, then heavier materials could be used."

Kumoko then smiled. "I'd be happy to give some pointers on making hero suits. It's honestly one of the few things I'm good at." She was not afraid to admit it. But as long as she was able to be helpful and useful, it was fine.

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Kumoko saw just how intensely Jin was taking notes. She was curious, but felt it was rude to try and peek. "Well, my strings' durability depends on several things, mostly on whether or not I apply my special silk on the strings. At their worst, they're slightly tougher than regular cloth, but with my silk, it's about the level of stone or concrete. Something like that." Kumoko wondered if there was a way to make her silk even tougher. Maybe her strings could be hard as iron if she were on a more iron-rich diet? It was interesting thing to think about. Maybe one day the spider-headed girl would get a definitive answer on that.

"Oh, samples? Sure thing. Just let me know when you want them." If he asked for them right now, then Kumoko would take out a plastic container from her bag, hold that container close to the spinneret on the back of her head (her arm could barely reach that far back), produce some silk that would then fall inside the container, then quickly cover it with a lid before handing it to Jin. The reason Kumoko would produce the silk from the difficult to reach spinneret rather than from the much easier to reach mouth was because she did not want him to worry about the silk that came out of her mouth being unsanitary or anything like that. Well the silk would be clean either way, but still. Better safe than sorry.

"Oh, but quick note: My super tough silk dissolves very quickly in water, so keep that in mind. Well, it also dissolves over time as well, but for the purpose of clothing, I weave my silk with extra materials if I need to preserve the silk's toughness. Just don't keep it out in the air for too long, and avoid water unless you want the strings to be soft." Kumoko hoped that she was not being too talkative and annoying, but it was best to give a thorough explanation on the limitations of her silk.

Kumoko smiled, happy that she was being useful. It was good to be able to help others. It made the girl feel better about herself. "Always happy to help!" But then she heard Jin's next words. "Oh, I mean I don't mind giving you the help for free. But if you insist, I won't stop you. Thanks!" She smiled as she carefully took the pocket book and took a read. She did not mind Jin sitting next to her, as she was usually used to having people sit as far away from her as possible. It was a nice change of pace.

"Ooh, there's so many awesome things here!" As Kumoko skimmed the book, her eyes widened from all the ideas that suddenly sprung to mind. Where to even begin? Kumoko had no idea, but she would figure it out eventually. In the meantime, she had an earlier idea that she wanted to run by Jin to see his insight. "Hey, I had an earlier idea. It involved making a portable net but infused with elemental properties. Like a fire net that would burn whatever is captured without the net itself burning, or an electric net that would stun as it captured. The net part is easy, as I know how to do that already. But it's adding in an element that's got me stumped. How would you tackle that problem?"

She was inspired by seeing Mizuki's quirk in action, and Kumoko wanted to try and see if it was possible to replicate that kind of effect in one simple support gear. She did not know whether such a thing would be easy to make or not (assuming it was even possible), but she looked forward to seeing how Jin would answer that.

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