The following Monday, Kai finished the final adjustments of the order placed by UA, then sent it off for review, allowing him to stretch and relax. He now had the rest of the month to take care of his own business. After a quick shower, Kai put on his uniform again and waited for the girls to arrive while tweaking the document for his next project.
After a while, Sage informed Kai that the girls were approaching, so he put everything away and closed his laptop. But at that moment, he noticed something strange with his Observation Haki: there was a 'voice' he didn't much like among the approaching group, one that seemed a strange amalgam of other 'voices', and it seemed to worsen over time.
"We're here!!" Mina exclaimed excitedly upon arriving, then confidently jumped onto one of the comfy sofas, while Momo stayed near an annoyed bundle of nerves with green hair.
"Kai, let me introduce you to Midoriya Izuku, a classmate of ours." Momo presented with a slightly awkward smile on her face, to which the human-shaped bundle of nerves quickly bowed respectfully and spoke.
"N-nice to meet you, Saito-kun."
"Well, I suppose you know I don't like you very much, so if you came, it must be for something. What do you want?"
Kai asked, not being particularly friendly, which brought an ironic smile to Mina's face. Generally, the blue-eyed boy was quite amiable in his workshop, and Midoriya wasn't a bad guy, so she couldn't understand why Kai disliked him so much.
"I-it's about the sports festival, I want you to give me some advice since our quirks are so similar!" Without rising from his bowed position, Midoriya exclaimed loudly and nervously, to which Kai remained silent while staring fixedly at the green-haired youth.
"…I suppose All Might didn't tell you anything useful."
After a while, Kai commented with a slightly annoyed tone, which made the green-haired youth visibly tremble. He stood up with a panicked expression, which only caused the blue-eyed boy to let out an exasperated sigh; he really couldn't understand what All Might saw in him.
"… Seriously, I don't know which of you is worse." Kai remarked somewhat exasperated, feeling that Midoriya's true quirk was to irritate him; his mere presence got under his skin. But at that moment, Momo spoke up in a somewhat complicated tone.
"Kai… couldn't you give Midoriya-san a little advice? The sports festival is a very important opportunity to catch the recruiters' attention."
"…"
With a serious look, Kai gazed directly into Momo's eyes, who, although she looked a bit embarrassed, held his gaze. So the blue-eyed boy could only let out an exasperated sigh before getting up from his sofa, all under the surprised and confused gaze of Mina, who didn't understand what All Might had to do with the whole matter.
"Well, this is only because Momo asks me, so pay close attention and don't make it a habit, understood?!" Kai spoke in an annoyed and authoritative tone, to which Midoriya instinctively straightened his posture and responded like a soldier.
"Yes, sir!"
"Alright then, first of all, you're right—our quirks are somewhat similar, and that's why I can say that the way you use yours is very stupid. You think of your strength as if it were some kind of 'final blow' or something, and it's not like that. Your strength is part of you, so the most logical thing is to distribute it evenly throughout your body."
After explaining in a serious tone, Kai moved at great speed around the room, appearing and disappearing from the girls' sight, then ended up in front of Midoriya and asked with a serious tone.
"You should be able to move like that; why don't you?"
"B-because my body can't handle it." Midoriya responded quickly, both surprised and nervous, to which Kai could only shake his head before explaining, somewhat irritated.
"No, idiot, it's because you don't know how to use your quirk. Your body isn't damaged by using your quirk per se; it gets damaged because you lack the training to withstand the consequences of using it. Pure action and reaction; for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. Look."
Casually, Kai threw a punch toward Midoriya's face, stopping just before making contact, causing a large amount of air to slam into the freckled boy's face, distorting it, while Mina exclaimed in surprise.
"A SMASH!!!"
"Something like that, but the point I want to highlight is that All Might's punches aren't exclusive to him, nor to you, Midoriya; it's something that anyone with a certain level of strength, speed and good technique should be able to do. And as you can see, my arm is in perfect condition." Kai explained while clenching and unclenching his fist, then continued as he walked to his laptop.
"So you need to condition your body to withstand the reaction of using your power, so the solution is simple: don't use all of it. Or do you think All Might and I are using all our power 24 hours a day? If that were the case, we'd be walking calamities. Therefore, you could copy a bit of how I use my 'Force Control', which, by the way, was developed by my father."
After finishing typing on his computer while explaining, a holographic screen appeared in the center of the room, displaying a representation of a human surrounded by an aura. Kai began to move his arms, which the hologram emulated in real time.
"Well, look carefully at the screen; it's a graphical representation of how it works."
After saying that, Kai walked to the center of the room, then took a basic karate stance, movement followed by the figure on the holographic screen while the aura around him intensified greatly.
"The first thing would be to use your power throughout your body; in your case, it would be to use an amount of power you can handle without placing any strain on your body, then, just at the moment you strike, increase the power only in that area to a level that's a small load but not enough to cause damage, like this."
With impressive skill, born from years of training and monstrous natural talent, Kai sent a classic karate punch forward, releasing a powerful gust of wind that tousled everyone's hair. The aura of the figure on the holographic screen showed how the aura around the fist intensified greatly, standing out from that surrounding the whole body.
"Additionally, you should start a training routine that allows you to improve the way you control your power and at the same time adapts your body so you can gradually increase the amount of power you can use."
While explaining, Kai dropped the stance, then casually walked to a printer in the room, from which he took a stack of sheets containing a training routine for both the body and the quirk, developed by his father—although it was only a basic version, something he used when he was in high school.
"This is a routine my father created; use it as a reference or ask All Might for advice. In any case, that's all the advice I have for you. Thanks for coming."
Quickly, Kai handed the stack of sheets to the stupefied Midoriya, then walked to the door and pointed at it, so the green-haired boy could only nod almost robotically. Then leave the room with a blank expression, his mind trying to process what he had seen.
After closing the door, Kai dropped onto his sofa, evidently annoyed, then looked at Momo and asked with an unfriendly expression.
"Happy now?"
"Kai, don't be like that. Midoriya is a good person, and his quirk is really powerful, so it would be a shame if agencies weren't interested in him because of the self-destructive way he fights. Your advice is really valuable to him, and as class representative, I must look out for the well-being of my classmates. Besides, you like to compete with talented people; you even help Togata-san from time to time—this isn't very different…"
With a guilty expression, Momo sat next to Kai and hugged one of his arms, speaking in a warm tone, to which Mina could only watch the scene with an uncomfortable expression on her face. After all, she didn't want to be a third wheel, but the workshop was so cool that she always ended up coming; besides, she really considered Momo a good friend and liked spending time with her.
"Alright, let's leave it at that. Let's eat; the food is already arriving."
After a sigh, Kai commented, still looking somewhat irritated, since, to some extent, Momo was right. Although the green-haired boy was incredibly annoying, he had All Might's quirk, and that quirk was a valuable source of information—to the point that, thanks to Midoriya's body still adapting to his quirk, he had been able to obtain much data on the transfer and evolution capabilities of One for All.
For her part, Momo smiled cheerfully, then looked at Mina, who seemed quite uncomfortable. She quickly got up and sat next to her, feeling somewhat guilty for unintentionally making her a third wheel. They began to have lunch, and after a while, the beautiful pink-skinned girl asked somewhat curiously.
"By the way, why didn't Nejire-chan and Midnight come?"
"Because Onee-chan is at a teachers' meeting during lunch, and Nejire-nee-chan is in her internships." Momo replied while elegantly wiping her mouth with a white napkin, to which Mina could only comment with a dreamy tone.
"The internships… the first step to becoming a hero. I hope a good agency takes an interest in me."
"Well, for that, you need to give a good performance at the sports festival; most internship offers come from there and from apprenticeships." Momo replied with a smile. Mina seemed to realize something, then looked at the silent Kai and asked in a somewhat embarrassed tone.
"Saito… could you give me some advice to stand out?"
"Melt someone's face off; that'll definitely get you in the news."
As if it were nothing important, Kai commented casually while the lazy Salem, who had been sleeping in the office, stretched lazily at the door. Salem then ran off to his bowl in a corner, which was filled with piles of meat and kibble.
For her part, Momo couldn't help but laugh softly at Kai's joke. Meanwhile, Mina could only make a blank face; Kai really liked to make not-so-nice jokes, but the fact that he was joking only meant he was now in a better mood, so it was time to throw a 'tantrum' to get what she wanted.
"Yao Momo… Saito is intimidating me!" With a tearful expression, Mina clung to Momo while speaking in a sorrowful tone, which made the beautiful black-haired girl smile. She quickly looked at Kai and commented in a teasing tone.
"Kai, you made poor Ashido-san cry; now you should help her so she can stand out at the sports festival."
After looking at Momo for a moment, Kai could only sigh, somewhat regretting having voted for her. After all, he had brought problems upon himself without knowing it. Although, well, she got five votes, so she would have won anyway—it was an inevitable fate.
"… Alright, after classes we'll meet in the gym, and I'll write a training routine along with some ideas so you can give a good performance at the cultural festival."
"Yay!!"
Upon hearing Kai, Mina quickly exclaimed excitedly while stretching her arms, which at the same time made Momo smile contentedly. Momo felt a comforting warmth in her heart upon seeing how Kai was always by her side and supported her, even when he didn't like it much. This genuinely made her feel his love and how important she was to him. There really was no better man in the world than her Kai.