"Woah! You mean you're earning money from your inventions already?" Mei asked Sukuna who nodded silently.
"Yes." Sukuna replied. A while back, he'd licensed one of his inventions that became a best seller quickly. His invention was called the Quirk Stabilization System, wearable tech that reads biofeedback such as heart rate, muscle tension, energy output and dynamically adjusts compression, cooling, or micro-shock absorption.
The tech doesn't care if one punches like All Might or heats up like Endeavor, it still reduces physical backlash. That kind of tech sells to everyone, even if the inventor was unknown, since it reduces medical costs for hero agencies and improves career longevity. Heck, even insurance companies would probably demand it.
So far, after pricing it at ¥500,000 yen per unit and already having 5000 professionals nationwide, Sukuna's expected to make approximately ¥2.5 billion in revenue(16.3 million USD), sadly it's only revenue, not profit.
And that still doesn't include royalties. After patenting the core tech and licensing it at 10%, he'd earn up to ¥250 million per year, roughly 1.6 million US dollars. And that's still in Japan by the way.
If insurance companies require it for agencies to lower premiums, adoption shoots toward 80–90%. And if civilian versions are released? The number jumps from thousands to hundreds of thousands. That's the real monster scenario.
'So many possibilities.' He thought to himself. At that scale, they're no longer talking about him being just a 'wealthy engineer'. They're talking 'Support Industry Mogul Who Funds Their Own Research Institute' type of stuff.
But in the process of doing that, he'd realistically needed a company partner or investor, legal protection of the patent, and mass adoption by agencies. But that's where UA came in. With Nezu on board with his invention, everything else was smooth sailing, for a price of course, but Sukuna didn't mind paying for it.
He never was one that liked riches, he was just doing it for the love of the game, similar to Mei. The money is just an insurance for his own future.
"What items are you going to pull out this time?" Sukuna asked offhandedly. Mei raised an eyebrow at him.
"Haha. Very funny. That's like explaining how your ability works to the enemy. Just find out what babies I'm gonna use on that day." Mei stuck her tongue out at him.
"Hmm..." He grunted. Well at least he tried, though he has a good idea what kind of invention she would use. As he left the Development Studio, he glanced back at Mei one more time.
"Fair warning, Mei. One of my classmates is quite a good inventor herself. I'd say she's better than me in some ways. So don't think you're alone on the top." Mei smirked at him.
"Oh, you're talking about Momo right? That black haired girl in our elective? Help me send a message to her then, Sukuna. Tell her to bring it on!!!"
...
"Whew! Finally it's settled!" Kirishima cheered as he and all of Class 1-A were gathered in the stadium concourse, standing in front of their stall. Momo nodded, impressed with their work.
"I'd say we're good to go. Now all that's left is our performance tomorrow. Let's hope nothing unfortunate happens." She whispered. Todoroki shook his head.
"Have faith, Yaoyorozu. We've already triple checked everything and tested the course to make sure it's kid friendly. I'd say the only thing that we'd struggle with a little is the kids." He assured her. Momo smiled, nodding at him.
" You're right. I need to be a little more confident in our project." She muttered.
"C'mon! Let's go party!" Mina cheered.
"Shouldn't that actually be done after the festival?" Tokoyami reasoned, not understanding her. Mina raised an eyebrow.
"When you've accomplished something big, shouldn't you celebrate it? Yes, I know the big day's tomorrow, but everyone needs to cool down a little, tone down the tension we're feeling about tomorrow, you know? She countered. Tokoyami went silent, before nodding.
"Where the hell are we going then? I need to tell the old woman." Bakugo grumbled in annoyance, already imagining how much his mother would nag about coming back home late.
"Well momma's boy, we're going to the Family Mart near the school. So our parents won't need to worry about us wandering off somewhere far."
"I'm not a momma's boy pink alien!" Bakugo yelled at Mina while texting his mother at the same time.
"Really dude? Pink alien? That's like a compliment ya know?" As Bakugo yelled in anger in the background, Izuku noticed Todoroki walking away.
"Todoroki, where are you going?" Izuku asked, slowly catching up with him. "Do you not want to eat with us?" Todoroki stopped, turning back to look at him.
"I'm not joining this pointless activity." He replied before walking away as Izuku watched in disbelief.
"Oi ya shitty emo! You think saying that makes you look cool or something!" Bakugo kept throwing insults at Todoroki, as Kirishima, Denki and Ida held him back from charging towards the man.
"K-kacchan, just leave him be. Maybe he's stressed out..." Izuku tried calming him down. Bakugo glared at him.
"Who the hell are you to order me around, shitty nerd?! That's the whole point of pink alien inviting us wasn't ut?! Can't you see that bastard's insulting us?!"
"I'm kinda touched that you care so much about class camaraderie, Bakubro." Mina whistled in amusement, as Bakugo quickly redirected his attention on her. Jiro groaned, palming her face.
"Come on let's go already. We're wasting time here..."
...
Today was the big day. Sukuna could hear the crowd even though he and his classmates were in the waiting room. He stared at his phone, specifically at the selfie they took while eating at Family Mart. Yet again, the class can't seem to act properly during the selfie. Though it was missing one person, Todoroki to be exact, so the hangout did feel like it was missing a part of the intended vibe.
" Midoriya." Everyone looked at Todoroki approaching Izuku who stiffened at the teen's serious expression.
"Looking at things objectively, I think I'm stronger than you. But All Might has his eyes on you for some reason. I'm not trying to pry about that. But I am going to beat you." He declared, as Izuku's expression turned serious.
"Todoroki! This is improper even from you! We're almost about to start! Why are you picking a fight?!" Ida scolded. Todoroki glanced at him.
"We're not here to play at being friends, Ida. It's every man for himself in this tournament. So why does it matter?"
"Oh ho! Icy hot! I don't know about you! But it sounds like you wanna make the whole class your enemy huh?! Count me in! I can't wait to blow your face off!" Bakugo grinned, punching his palm, causing a small explosion from it as bloodlust oozed of him.
Izuku clenched his fist. "I have no idea what you want telling me all of this... But I'm not going to falter just because I'm going to potentially face you! I want to become the greatest hero! I can't afford to fall behind, and I can't afford to lose!"
Izuku looked into Todoroki's eyes, a serious and confident aura engulfing him as he made his declaration.
"I don't care if we're classmates! I'll beat you if I have to,Todoroki! And after that I'll tell everyone... that I, am here!"
To be continued...