28 Training Mina

"Ha!"

Rolling out of the way of a high speed tennis ball, Mina barley had a chance to breathe before another one came flying at her face.

Standing on a balcony overlooking the field, Momo turned towards Aiden with a weird look in her eyes.

"Is this really necessary?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Before I start throwing punches at her, her senses need to be in a constant state of vigilance."

"You make it sound like you're trying to make her paranoid."

"Heh, I guess I am in a sense." He smiled and watched Mina get hit in the face.

*Bam!*

"This is kinda cruel." Momo said after seeing the bruise on Mina's face.

"The process in which someone gets strong in a short amount of time is never nice." Aiden replied and kept staring at Mina.

"*Sigh* I can't watch anymore, I'm going inside."

---

For the next 3 days, Mina constantly endured the pain of getting hit by high speed projectiles. By the end of each day, she was so tired that Aiden had no choice but carry her back home and treat her wounds. But even though she was in a constant state of pain, she never gave up and kept coming back for more.

For someone like Momo, her actions were crazy and borderline masochistic. Watching her tire herself out each and everyday was a type of torture as she wanted to help her but Aiden kept rejecting her. When she tried to talk Mina out of it, she was told that Aiden wouldn't do anything to hurt her and that she should trust in his methods.

Unable to believe that this method was truly effective, she went and learned some basic first aid in hopes of contributing in some meaningful way.

By the end of the first week, Mina was able to avoid getting hit by some of the balls. Unfortunately that didn't mean she was able to dodge everything. Even though her senses were a lot sharper compared to a week ago, her reaction time just wasn't there yet.

"Use your quirk." Aiden's voice sounded out from the balcony.

Focusing on dodging, she merely nodded her head and kept a serious expression on her face. Dodging another ball, she wave her hand behind her and splashed acid towards a ball flying at her. For the balls she couldn't dodge she splashed acid in there direction and erased them. She kept up this routine up for the next 10 minutes. By the time it was over she was breathing hard and her body was covered in sweat.

"*Huff* *Huff* I did it." She gave Aiden a massive thumbs up followed by an enchanting smile.

"S-She really did it." Momo said in surprise.

"..." Aiden stood in silence staring at the distant Mina. In reality Mina actually failed as she wasn't able to rely solely on her instincts and reaction time to dodge everything. She had to resort to using her quirk in order to handle just ten minutes before her mind and body couldn't endure anymore.

There was only one week left until the start of the sports festival and Mina had yet to gain any real combat experience. That being said, her senses were probably good enough for them to start their combat training.

---

"Are you really going through with this?"

"You think its a bad idea?" He asked Momo while putting on the acid proof suit.

"I think you're being reckless. No matter how good the suit is, it can only take so much."

"I'll be fine." He reassured her. "Its within my calculations."

"*Sigh* Just be careful okay."

"Sure."

---

Standing opposite Mina, Aiden was inside a green acid proof suit staring down at his opponent.

"Don't hold back."

"Wouldn't dream of it." She grinned.

Pushing off the ground, Mina activated the acid at her soles and started sliding around the field before drawing in close.

"Take this! Acid Shot!!" Firing a countless number of acid bullets into the air, Mina charged at Aiden while the acid fell towards him like rain drops.

Although he knew he'd be safe inside the suit, Aiden preferred not to get hit by something that could eat through his skin.

But since he has a good grasp on Mina's abilities, he held back on using his quirk and only resorted to using his fists.

---

*BAM!*

"Ow ow ow!!" Covering the area of her face that had just been hit, Mina was rolling around in pain and was trying her hardest to hold back her tears. "Aiden you jerk! Why do you keep hitting my face!"

"It looked punchable." He shrugged.

"I *hic* I HATE YOU! WAHH!!" Picking herself up off the ground, she wiped her tears away and ran home crying.

'Well that was dramatic.'

"Don't you think you were a bit cruel?" Momo asked after seeing Mina's figure disappear into the distance.

"Nah." He shook his head "Mina's a lot of things... but a quitter isn't one of them."

Seeing the gentle expression on his face, she couldn't help but say. "You really care about her don't you."

"It'd be weird if I didn't care about my best friend." He smiled while thinking about that pink skinned girl.

"I didn't take you for the sentimental type."

"You're overthinking it. Mina's my friend so I care for her, simple as that." Shrugging at her words, he took the suit off. "Damn! That thing is hot."

Turning to Momo, he looked at her up and down and gave her an occular pat down.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She said after seeing the way he was looking at her.

"Your quirk allows you to create anything right?" He suddenly asked disregarding her question.

"You know how it works so why ask?"

"I was just thinking... Have you ever tried to combine your creations?" He asked after giving it some thought.

"What do you mean?"

"Since you're able to create electrical devices, you should understand their structures right? If that's the case then why don't you create something you understand but have it overlap with something else?"

"It doesn't work like that." She shook her head.

"Why not? You're essentially creating objects from nothing right? It shouldn't be to hard to do the same thing but adding in some of your own modifications."

Seeing that she was starting to think about it, Aiden continued trying to get her to be more open to the idea of experimenting with her quirk.

"Plus its not like you'd be making something unimaginable, you'd just be fusing two pre-existing items into one. As long as you're able to clearly imagine it then it should definitely be possible."