"You need to get a job!"

Strengthen exclaims towards Explode. It has already been a full day since the fight against Fortify, and a full week since Explode got her powers. Since then she's been living with Strengthen due to all the trouble she has caused, in fear of the police, or even worse (for her) people from her old job coming to her house. Strengthen's mother has agreed to help Explode out for a month, but says that if she doesn't get a job during that time, she'll be kicked out.

Strengthen slaps a pamphlet on the table, on it you can see that the local circus is hiring new members to perform. Before Explode is able to say anything, Strengthen explains how the reason he's giving her this pamphlet specifically is because he already went to the circus and got her an interview, plus, she can hide her face while performing. Seeing no other option, Explode decides to take on the opportunity and go for the interview.

Upon reaching the circus she tells that she's here for an interview and she's taken to the ringmaster's office, who for some reason is the one who will be doing the interview today.The ringmaster begins to speak:

"You're Ms. Adora, aren't you?"

"Y-Yes!"

"Yesterday the son of a friend of mine came here to recommend you for the job. Tell me, Ms. Adora, do you think you'd be a good candidate for working with pyrotechnics?"

"Wait, H-Huh? But I don't know anything about pyrotechnics!"

"Interesting you'd say that, considering that your power is Explode.”

"W-What!? How?"

“The kid too had powers, so I was expecting you to do so as well. In fact, I was betting on it.”

The ringmaster proceeds to explain how his power is to Examine, allowing him to know any particular trait of someone or something he looks at. He acquired the power recently, but can now use it to 'interview' people just by looking at them, which he did when Explode entered the room.

Examine then explains how useful Explode's power would be to the team, allowing her to explode anything bright and leading people to think those were real pyrotechnics. Although Explode is hesitant to work in public using her powers after what happened last time she did, she doesn't want to disappoint Strengthen, ultimately deciding to take the job.

Before the training can be properly officialized, Examine asks for help with a particularly unruly employee. Naturally, Explode decides to help, thinking that saying no would impact her job, even though Examine clearly stated that it wouldn't.

Upon getting to the section where the worker's cabins are, Examine tells Explode to wait in front of the pyrotechnician's cabin while he goes inside. From outside the door, she hears:

"You're fired."

"Wazzat!? This again, old man!? Ya know you can't fire me, I'm the only pyrotechnic y'all got."

"I have found a replacement for you."

"Oh for real!? Let me have a word with him then!"

The pyrotechnician kicks the door open, hitting Explode on the nose, who was trying to look through the keyhole of the door. The man, large in stature and with a big scar under his right eye walks past Explode, expecting her to be part of the cleanup crew, but Examine explains that she's the one that was hired to replace him.

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"So yer telling me this kid's the one who's gonna replace me!? Hah, as if!"

"K-Kid? I'm 23 years old though..."

"You see, Ms. Adora has a power similar to yours, Mr. Queima."

"Power... Wait, ya know about Combust?"

"Of course, although I wasn't aware of the nature of your powers at first, it was always obvious to everyone performing that your pyrotechnics weren't natural. Upon obtaining my powers I was able to understand perfectly what it is that you have."

"Heh... Guess the jig is up, then."

"Now, Mr. Queima, due to your workplace misconduct, I have made the professional decision to-"

"Well, time to burn down the evidence and move onto the next job!"

Combust puts his hand on one of the walls next to him, and upon taking his hand off, the tent begins to burn. Explode and Examine jump back to get away from the fire, with Explode then asking what they're supposed to do now. Examine explains that he expected this to happen, and plans to have Explode defeat Combust to apprehend him.

"B-But how am I meant to defeat him?"

"You are more experienced in using your powers for combat, so with my help it will be easy to take him down.'"

"How do you know-"

"My power, Examine, told me everything that I needed to know about yours for the sake of this altercation, from how it works, down to how you used it previously, against the user of ‘Strengthen’. This time, you will not be missing every shot, just as you did against him."

"A-Ah... Well... You see..."

Combust attacks by throwing a spear from his room at Explode, with its tip igniting just as it leaves his hand. Examine is able to push her away before the spear hits her, telling her to pay attention.

Also from his room, Combust takes one of the swords he uses for his performances. Upon grasping the sword, its blade is lit ablaze, and he charges towards Explode. Explode reacts by taking the hairpin she was using and tossing it at Combust. The pin explodes, lifting up smoke and sending one of the pieces of metal from the pin flying towards Combust's shoulder, piercing it.

Combust lets go of the sword, now with his cabin fully engulfed in flames, disallowing him from picking up any other items from there. Due to that, Combust tries to reach for the pocket on his jacket, but as he is about to, Examine hands Explode a pen and tells her to toss it somewhat near Combust's face and explode it. Although Combust was able to pick the gloves he had on his jacket, the pen explodes and covers his face in paint, blinding him.

Barely able to see anymore, Combust tries to run towards the back exit, but is hit in the leg by a well placed explosion done by throwing a bouncy ball that Explode picked up from the Clown's cabin, as per Examine's instructions. Combust falls down and Examine approaches him, looming over.

"How!?"

"Even thoughts aren't safe from the range of Examine."

Combust tries to get off a cheap shot at Examine by putting on his fire proof gloves and combusting the air in front of him, but this too is examined, and promptly dodged. Combust yet again tries to use the opportunity to run away, but is surprised to see the back door locked.

"I expected you to try and run away when confronted even before I met Ms. Adora, and so, I closed all methods of escape, along with telling every worker to leave, except for you. Perhaps if you weren’t the nuisance to the staff that you always were, they wouldn't have simply gone away without talking to you first. But for that same reason is why I took it upon myself to prepare so much. Although, I did not expect you to go through with burning down the place out of pettiness for being fired."

Examine hands Explode the badge he always wears on his suit and tells her to toss at a specific spot on the ground behind Combust, so that it won't kill him when it explodes. She does so, and just as Examine predicted, it was able to knock down Combust without killing him.

Before the rest of the tent burns down, Examine and Explode grab Combust and run away from the circus grounds. Examine calls the police so that Combust can be apprehended, and tells Explode that her job here is done, handing her an envelope with a hefty amount of money he had prepared.

Explode asks if she still has the job. And is promptly shut down by Examine, who says that the circus won't be able to return for a few months at the minimum.

Deflated, Explode goes back to Strengthen's house, expecting to be scolded for botching the interview. Upon getting there and explaining the situation to Strengthen, he's extremely confused on how this all happened so quickly, but seeing how much money Explode suddenly had with her, he believed it.

Of course, in the end, Strengthen's mother still scolded Explode for not getting the job, but at least she is now able to pay for rent for this and... The next several months.