Lightning – My Hero Academia

Chapter 6: Self-Doubt

Mei came into the Development Studio humming to herself. She came inside to find Ako working once again. After a week of seeing him every day after school, she'd gotten used to his presence now. She simply gathered her things before coming around to greet him.

"Hey, Ako! How're the boots coming along?" She asked in a pleasant tone.

"Not so great," Ako sighed irritably. "I have to try another model."

"This is like the fifth one, isn't it? The last one broke too?!"

"Yeah, the soles came off the hinges." Ako answered in a grumble that Mei only half understood. She looked up and saw that he had a patch on his right cheek.

"What happened to your face?"

"I took a spill when the shoes broke." Ako answered quickly, impatiently setting his tools down.

"Jeez. You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm great," Ako answered sarcastically, taking a hammer from his work bench. He turned one of the metal boots on its side and started hammering the framework forcefully. "I'm just wasting my time on something that isn't working!" He answered between swings.

Mei wasn't able to hear everything he said; she caught bits and pieces between the loud echoing clang of the hammer against the metal. But it was pretty obvious that Ako was losing patience with this trial and error process.

"Whoa hey hey! Don't take it out on your baby like that!" She said, waving her hands for him to stop, "This is all part of the development process, don't you know? You gotta stick it out!" She said, trying to encourage him.

"I've only got a couple days left!" Ako said, hitting the boot one more time to get the frame back into place, "So that's not gonna help me." He added before scooping the boots up in one hand and storming towards the exit.

"Where are you going?" Mei asked.

"To break another one of these!" Ako answered, not turning back as he stepped out...

Another evening came, and Ako still wasn't home yet. His mother, Ino, was getting very worried. She knew about his project, and that this was to be expected since he would be exerting himself so much at school, but a mother never stops worrying.

Besides, he promised that he would come and visit tonight, and he wasn't one for not keeping his word.

"Hey, mom. I'm home." Ako called out quietly as he came in. He knocked on the door as he entered.

"Welcome home, honey. Were you busy? You know I don't like when you don't call me or anything." She said as she came to the door to greet him. Her eyes widened on seeing him.

Ako tried to manage a smile, but he looked tired and sad. He plopped his schoolbag by the door. His pants were dirty and ripped at the bottom, and he had bloody scrapes all down his right arm. His mother quickly walked up to him, laying her hands on him and checking his arm.

"Oh, honey! Did you fall again?"

"Yeah...it was my fault. I was being stupid because I was frustrated." Ako explained simply.

"Was it the project again?" She guessed, looking down at his shoes. He was wearing normal shoes again.

"Yeah...thought I might've had it this time. They lasted longer. But I pushed it." He commented with a sigh.

"Let me take care of those scratches, dear." His mother offered.

"I got it, mom, no worries. Thank you." He rejected her offer politely.

"Okay...well dinner's ready when you're done."

"...I'm not hungry." Ako responded quietly before going to the living room and sitting down quietly...

Feeling bad for her son, Ino let him have some space and ate by herself. After eating and cleaning the kitchen up, she fixed up a plate for him and took it to him along with his schoolbag. She entered the living room and gently called to him.

"Ako. I brought you your things, and some food." She said. She heard Ako's bed creak a little as he got up and quietly walked to the door. He cracked it open and peeked through with downcast eyes.

"Thanks, mom..." He said, opening the door up more. He took his schoolbag with one hand and the bowl of food in the other. Ino was able to sneak a peek at the bandaging that Ako had placed all up his arm.

"Oh, dear, I'm sorry things aren't going well. I wish I could help, but I'm just no good at that sort of thing." She apologized. Ako nodded in understanding.

"No, it's okay. It has to come from me anyways, so..." He trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

"I know you'll figure it out, Ako. You're smarter than you give yourself credit for." She said to encourage him. Ako sighed heavily.

"Yeah, I hope so... Mr. Maijima said something to me about a week ago. I forgot to tell you." He brought up.

"What did he say?"

"He said...that I have a lot of potential and-and that some of the teachers, the hero course teachers, are 'observing' me." He paraphrased what the teacher told him.

"Oh! Well that's good, isn't it?" She asked. Ako shrugged and looked away.

"I thought so at the time, but now I'm starting to wonder if it really is. Seems like they might just be tryna screw me over." He commented bitterly.

"Don't let yourself be discouraged, Ako. You're just in a rough patch right now, that's all." She said. Ako nodded and looked down.

"Thanks for the food, mom." He said, managing a sad smile...

I'm embarrassed to say it now, but I was feeling quite emotional and down on myself at the time. I wish I could say that was the extent of my behavior, but it was not. Ironically enough, I was one emotional outburst away from the answer to my problem...

Mei made her way to the Development Studio the next day. She knew at this point that Ako would already be in there working when she came in. However, she was caught off guard by the sounds of Ako growling followed by a loud slam and pieces of metal bouncing across the floor.

"Hey, is everything alright?!" She asked as she rushed in. As soon as she came in, she could tell what happened.

There Ako was standing over a half-completed pair of metal boots that had been smashed into the ground. As soon as she came in and cast her eyes on him, Ako turned his back to her and started pacing around the room, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What happened?!" Mei asked.

"Nothing!" Ako barked in response.

"Hey, Ako. Take a minute to calm down." She suggested, pulling up a chair for him, "Have a seat." She said.

Ako let out a frustrated sigh, shaking his head and pressing his lips together. Finally he gave in, coming around and plopping in the seat next to her.

"I'm almost out of time. I've got like two more days left and I've barely cracked this." Ako expressed his issue, smacking his palm down on the table.

"Why don't you walk me through it? There's gotta be an angle you haven't tried yet." Mei suggested.

"I'm not sure what it is, honestly. I make a model, it breaks, I redesign it, the whole process circles." Ako described his experience with this project since it started last week.

"Okay, what do you do when you redesign? You take what works, you build on it, you improve what didn't work." She listed.

"Obviously, but the metal keeps breaking when I hit high speeds! And I can't reinforce it and make it thicker because they're supposed to be shoes. If I reinforce them too much, they get too heavy to run." Ako explained.

"So your problem is keeping the boots together...you said you've been working with metal?" She asked.

"Yeah. Only metal can withstand that kind of speed...wait." Ako started to see where the conversation was going.

"What other materials have you tried? That's probably what you're missing." She pointed out. Ako immediately got to his feet and grabbed his bag.

"You're right, you're on the money actually! Mei, you're a genius!" He said as he collected his things.

"Haha, yeah, I am...hey are you leaving? Where are you going?!" She asked.

"I know what I need to do! But I need to get the materials before it's too late!" Ako said as he put his backpack on and tightened the straps.

"But what about this mess?!" Mei pointed out.

"I owe you big time for this, Hatsume! Thank you!" Ako waved at her and hurried out of the room. Mei shook her head. She couldn't help but smile a little.

"Yeah you do! And you're welcome!" She called back to him...