"980... 981... 982..." Mineta panted heavily as he continued doing push-ups on the sandy ground of Dagobah Municipal Beach, his arms trembling beneath the strain.
A large refrigerator was balanced on his back, adding an absurd amount of weight to every repetition, but that wasn't even the strangest part of his training session.
Sitting comfortably on top of the refrigerator was Mei Hatsume, who appeared completely unbothered by the fact that she was essentially being used as a living piece of gym equipment.
She was writing something rapidly into a notebook while occasionally glancing at a blueprint spread across her lap.
The blueprint appeared to depict some kind of motorcycle, complete with unusually shaped tires and several complicated mechanical components that Mineta could barely understand at a glance.
"Hmmm... The grape bike still needs something that can provide better energy when the suction function on the tires to stick on the walls will change automatically by AI," Mei muttered, tapping her pencil against the notebook as her eyes moved between the blueprint and the notes she had written.
Her expression was completely focused, her mind clearly racing through dozens of possibilities at once.
"If the AI keeps switching the suction mechanism between normal traction and wall adhesion, the energy consumption is going to become ridiculous. I need something more efficient."
"983... 984..." Mineta continued, his voice strained as he pushed himself upward again. Sweat dripped down his face and onto the sand beneath him while his arms shook even harder.
'Why is she discussing energy efficiency while sitting on a refrigerator that is sitting on my back? Is this really what my training has become?' he wondered, though he forced himself to continue.
He had learned from his Dad that strength wasn't built by stopping whenever his body became uncomfortable. He had to gradually push his limits without completely destroying himself.
"985... 986... 987..." His breathing became heavier as Mei continued scribbling away, occasionally mumbling something about batteries, power distribution, and the grape bike's wall-climbing system.
Mineta gritted his teeth and kept moving until finally, after several more repetitions, his arms nearly gave out beneath him.
"1000!" Mineta exclaimed triumphantly, collapsing onto his knees as he finally reached the number he had been aiming for.
Mei immediately jumped down from the refrigerator, landing lightly on the sand while Mineta slowly stood back up. The refrigerator slid from his back and dropped onto the ground with a heavy thud, partially sinking into the sand.
Mineta stood there breathing heavily, his entire body covered in sweat, while Mei walked over and handed him a towel with one hand. Her other hand never left the blueprint she was studying.
"Here," Mei said casually, her attention still fixed on the design.
"Thanks," Mineta replied as he took the towel and wiped the sweat from his face and body. He eventually draped it around his neck before looking toward Mei.
Unlike her usual excited expression, she appeared genuinely troubled, her eyebrows slightly furrowed as she stared at the blueprint and continued muttering about the energy problem.
Mineta watched her for a few moments before asking, "Mei, do you know anything about cold fusion?"
Mei immediately stopped moving. Her eyes slowly shifted away from the blueprint and toward Mineta, and for perhaps the first time during their conversation, she looked completely focused on what he had just said.
"Cold fusion? Of course I know about it. It's the idea of generating nuclear-sized energy at or near room temperature without producing the immense heat normally associated with nuclear fusion. Theoretically, something like that would be incredibly useful, but nobody has ever successfully created a practical cold-fusion system. Even if someone managed to produce something resembling it, there would still be plenty of serious problems and procedures involved in keeping such a system stable and safe."
Mei tilted her head curiously as her eyes narrowed with interest. "Why do you ask?"
Mineta didn't answer immediately. Instead, he reached toward her and gently took the notebook and pencil from her hands.
Mei blinked in surprise as Mineta walked over to the refrigerator and sat down on it. He placed the notebook against his thigh, thought for a moment, and then began drawing.
At first, Mei simply stared. Then her expression slowly changed. Mineta drew a circular, disk-like structure with a cylindrical core positioned at its center.
He added several surrounding rings and other components, carefully sketching the basic shape that existed within the memories of his previous life. At the top of the page, he wrote two words.
ARC REACTOR
Mei stepped closer. "What is that?" she asked, her curiosity immediately taking over.
Mineta looked at the sketch before pointing toward it. "Why don't you try making a fusion reactor of your own? But not one that has all the usual problems with maintaining it, cooling it, or shutting it down. Instead, what if you tried creating a miniature cold-fusion reactor that could generate an extremely powerful amount of energy in a compact system?"
Mei's eyes widened as she leaned over the notebook. Mineta continued explaining while drawing additional lines around the center of the diagram. "The basic fictional concept would involve removing electrons from hydrogen atoms and creating a highly energized ionized plasma loop. That plasma would then be contained within a doughnut-shaped electromagnetic ring like this."
He carefully circled the central portion of the diagram, emphasizing the electromagnetic ring surrounding the reactor's core.
"The idea would be to use that contained plasma to generate enormous amounts of clean electrical energy without relying on the conventional thermal cooling loops, steam turbines, or huge amounts of waste heat that traditional power-generation systems deal with. If something like this could actually be made stable, compact, and safe, it could provide an almost unbelievable amount of electrical power from a very small device."
Mei's pupils practically seemed to sparkle as she stared at the drawing. Her fingers twitched with excitement, but Mineta wasn't finished.
"Palladium could theoretically be considered as a core material for a miniature experimental concept like this, with high-energy particles interacting with it to sustain the reaction. But there would be a huge problem with that idea. Thermal neutron radiation could cause the palladium to degrade, and if hazardous material were released into the environment, it could become extremely dangerous to anyone exposed to it. So using palladium as the final answer wouldn't be good enough."
Mineta tapped the center of his drawing thoughtfully.
"We would need something cleaner and more stable for the core. In fact, we could eventually imagine searching for an entirely new material or even a previously unknown element that could serve that purpose. A particle accelerator could potentially become part of the fictional research path for creating or studying unusual elements, although that would be an enormous scientific challenge on its own."
Mei's mouth slowly opened as she stared at the diagram.
Mineta continued, "And unlike conventional nuclear reactors, which generate electricity indirectly by using heat to boil water into steam and then using that steam to spin a turbine, this Arc Reactor concept would use direct energy conversion. The rapidly moving, highly charged ion plasma would interact with surrounding electromagnetic coils, allowing the kinetic energy of the plasma to be converted directly into electrical energy through magnetohydrodynamic principles."
Mineta finished explaining the basic concept and lowered the pencil, only to realize that Mei had gone completely still beside him.
She wasn't blinking, wasn't moving, and wasn't even muttering to herself. She simply stood there like a statue, staring at the Arc Reactor blueprint with an expression that Mineta couldn't quite decipher.
"Mei?" Mineta called, tilting his head slightly.
There was no response.
He waved his hand in front of her face, but Mei remained completely motionless. "Mei? Hello? Anyone home?" he asked, but the normally hyperactive inventor continued standing there as though her brain had temporarily stopped functioning.
"Mei!?" Mineta finally grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently. That finally broke whatever trance she had fallen into.
Mei's eyes suddenly snapped open. "You are a genius!" she exclaimed as she immediately grabbed Mineta by the shoulders and started shaking him violently.
"You're an absolute genius! How did you think of something this crazy!? This isn't just some ordinary support item! This could completely revolutionize clean energy! How did you even come up with the idea for something like this!?"
"Mei, stop shaking me!" Mineta groaned as his head rocked back and forth. "I'm going to get dizzy!"
Mei ignored him for another moment, her eyes practically sparkling with excitement. "A compact energy source that doesn't rely on conventional steam turbines and could theoretically generate an enormous amount of electricity! Do you realize how revolutionary that is!? Where did you even learn about something like this!?"
Mineta finally managed to free himself from her grip and rubbed his shoulders. "I just thought about it yesterday while I was watching videos on HeroTube. I found a video talking about clean-energy theories, and the idea just popped into my head."
'Technically, that isn't even a lie,' Mineta thought as he looked at the blueprint. 'The memories from that world are ridiculously useful. It was a good thing the soul that fused with mine belonged to an absolute nerd who practically had the knowledge of fictional technologies and fantasy elements memorized because he was such an otaku. Without those memories, I wouldn't even know half of the ridiculous things I'm capable of remembering.'
A small grin appeared on his face. 'Thank you, Tony Stark, for letting me borrow your idea.'
Mineta then looked back at Mei, who was still staring at the Arc Reactor with barely contained excitement. "Anyway, you should try making it."
Mei suddenly stopped smiling. She bit her lower lip and looked down at the blueprint before slowly shaking her head. "No. I can't."
Mineta frowned. "Why not?"
"Because this is your invention," Mei replied, her voice considerably quieter than before. "You came up with the idea. You drew the blueprint. You explained how the system would work. I shouldn't just take it and use it as though it belongs to me."
Mineta stared at her for a moment before sighing. "Mei, you're overthinking this."
"I'm not," Mei argued, holding the blueprint carefully. "This could be something revolutionary. I can't just claim something you created."
"Then don't claim it," Mineta replied with a smile. "Make it."
Mei blinked as Mineta continued before she could interrupt. "I've already decided that you're going to be my personal inventor in the future, assuming we both successfully become what we're aiming for. You want to become an inventor, and I want to become a hero. I'm going to need someone who can create support equipment for me, and I trust you to be that person. So I want you to have this idea."
Mei stared at him silently. "You can keep the blueprint," Mineta added as he handed it toward her. "I don't need it. I'm terrible at actually making things. I'm much better at coming up with theories and concepts. You're the one who can take those theories and turn them into actual inventions."
Mei hesitated before reaching toward the blueprint. "But..."
"No buts," Mineta interrupted.
"But Mineta..."
"Nope."
"This is..."
"Mei."
She stopped as Mineta gave her a completely serious expression. "If you deny it one more time, I'm going to burn the blueprint."
Mei's eyes widened in horror. "You wouldn't dare!"
"Try me."
Mei immediately snatched the blueprint from his hands and hugged it against her chest. "Fine! I'll take it!"
Mineta smiled triumphantly. "Good."
Mei stared down at the blueprint, still looking somewhat troubled. "How can you casually talk about burning something this revolutionary? And how can you casually give it to me like this? We haven't even known each other for that long."
Mineta shrugged before giving her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Because I trust you."
Those four words completely silenced Mei. She slowly looked up at Mineta. He was smiling sincerely, without any ulterior motive or hesitation. There wasn't even a hint of doubt in his expression.
"I trust you, Mei," Mineta repeated. "So take the idea and make something amazing with it."
A faint blush appeared across Mei's cheeks. For once, she didn't have a clever response.
She simply stared at him with a strange warmth spreading through her chest.
'He really trusts me.' The thought lingered in her mind as she looked down at the blueprint she was holding.
Then Mineta's eyes widened slightly when he felt a familiar sensation against his cheek. Mei had leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
His entire face instantly turned bright red. Steam seemed to explode from the top of his head as he stood completely frozen, one hand slowly rising toward the spot where Mei had kissed him.
"W-W-Wait... Mei!?" he stammered.
Mei immediately stepped backward, her own face bright red. "I-I need to talk to Dad about where I can get palladium!"
"What!?"
But Mei had already turned around. "I'll see you later!" she shouted as she ran away from the beach, clutching the Arc Reactor blueprint tightly against her chest.
Mineta remained standing there in complete confusion, his fingers still touching his cheek. 'Why does this feel like déjà vu?'
His face became even redder as another thought entered his mind. 'Nejire kissed my cheek yesterday... and now Mei kissed my cheek today.'
He stared blankly in the direction Mei had disappeared. 'What is happening to my life?'
Meanwhile, Mei continued running toward her father's garage, a bright blush still covering her face.
She eventually slowed down and touched her lips with her fingers, a small smile appearing despite her embarrassment.
'He looks really cute when he's flustered.'