"So I was thinking about this prosthetic upgrade…"

After dinner, Aki brought back fried fish with rice for Wolf, which he only finished half of it before leaving it at the side. The two talked more about the use of prosthetic tools along with Aki's sword skill, which involves a dash forward slice immediately after throwing a shuriken and a cross-slash after activating the loaded umbrella. While testing the moves, Aki came up with an idea.

"What if we upgrade the umbrella into a more stable one? One that could protect me from wide range attacks or any incoming projectiles. I could deflect close range attacks too!"

"Interesting. However, I don't think we have the required materials and tools to do it. We need something that are both strong and light enough for you to fit into the prosthetic hand and to move comfortably, all in one."

"Damn…Guess I'll have to submit the design to a support company after I got into UA, if I even make into UA."

"I don't want some strangers to mess with the hand. If we're going to ask someone for help, I need to trust that person. How about the Hatsume?"

"Nooooonononononono! Last time I went there, they experimented on me with a bunch of their gears for hours! I'm not doing that to myself again."

"They're the only way for you to upgrade the hand."

"I'll find another way! You taught me that there are different approaches to deal with something. It's time for me to do…..exactly that!"

-The morning after-

"Hatsume-san, I called you earlier! I need your help with something!"

Standing in front of the Hatsume's home, Aki shouted out with depression in his voice. He really didn't want to come here, but there was no other choices. Last night was the first time Aki ever inspected the hand and he swore, even after all those lessons that Wolf-sensei stuffed into his head, fixing the hand on his own was still something that he could never do.

Sighing in defeat, Aki waited patiently for someone to open the door (to his end. He was 90% sure he was going to die today).

"Aki-kun! It's been awhile since I last saw you. How was the entrance exam?" The door was opened by a middle-aged woman. She has pink, long hair that touch her hip. She was wearing a white shirt under a black apron with a pair of blue jean.

"It went well, I think. Is Hatsume-san home? I need his help."

"Dear, we are all Hatsume. You need to be more specific."

"Is Murakami-san home, Ayami-san?"

"Drop the honorifics, dear. Mura-chan went on a business trip 2 days ago. Do you need him to fix anything? He'll be back next week."

"That's weird. I called him earlier, and he told me to drop by."

"Ara, then he must have leave this matter to Mei. Come in dear, I'll call her for you."

"You know what, I'll wait until next week. Good day, Ay-"

"I heard my name and fixing! Who's my customer?"

Just as Aki was about to make his escape, a voice interrupted him along with loud stepping noise of a person who seems like she was running.

"Mei! How many time must I tell you to not run down the stairs!" Reprimanded Ayumi

"Later Mom! Aki-kun! Do you need my help fixing you babies, or making new babies?!"

'No escape now…' Mentally sighed Aki before speaking up again.

"Yes. I need help upgrading my weapon. I have some ideas but we don't have the necessary tools and materials to do it ourselves. I was told to come here…."

"You made the right choice! Let's stop wasting time! Workshop! Now!" Mei jumped excitedly before dragging Aki's hand towards the workshop.

"Wha- Wait, Mei, damn it! At least let me take off my shoes first!"

"Fufufufu! You two have fun. Call me if you need anything." Ayami giggled as she watched her daughter dragging the boy who looked like he was preparing for his end. Even though she should have told Mei to go easy on the boy, she couldn't help but feel amused at the sight.

'He's probably the only one who could deal with Mei's bizarre personality.' Thought Ayumi before she made her way towards the kitchen.

"So! How can I help you?!" Mei said with a wide smile on her face.

"Let me go would be job number one…" Replied Aki with a defeated face.

"Still as grumpy as ever I see. Did you not eat breakfast?"

"I had ramen. Did you sleep last night? Those bags under your eyes sure as hell aren't make-up. You look like a panda."

"Irrelevant! What do you need?"

Decided to not call out Mei on her bad sleeping habit, Aki took the prosthetic arm out of his bag and placed it on Mei's workbench.

"I need help upgrading a tool for my prosthetic arm. The Umbrella."

"How do you wanna upgrade it? OH, maybe I could make it transparent and shoot out bullets from the top, like those old spy movies!"

"As cool as that sound, I only need it to be able to block incoming attacks while still maintaining the mobility and light-weight."

"So to make it hard and keep it light at the same time, huh? I could do that! You sure you don't want anything else?"

"Just that for now please, thank you."

After showing Mei how the Loaded Umbrella works, which involves Aki crouched down as he opened the umbrella on his left hand, using it as a shield with the right hand supports the left. Mei took note of this and started to sketch out some ideas she had in mind.

After finishing her sketches and blueprints, Mei nodded with a wide smile on her face as she turned to Aki.

"I'll need some time to prepare the materials, but I think I would be able to finish this baby by tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? It's already 1p.- you're planning to stay up all night again, aren't you?"

"Of course! I want to finish this baby as soon as possible!"

"Mei, as much as I appreciate that, you need to get some sleep. You can't pull an all-night 2 days in a row. It's not healthy."

"I'm fine!"

"You won't if you keep this up. Either go to sleep now, or I..won't buy you your favorite chocolate!"

"….I hate you….."

"Whatever you say. Go to bed. I'll ask Ayumi-san to leave your dinner in the fridge in case you wake up later." Said Aki as he made his way out of the workshop, pulling the pink-hair panda out with him by her hand as she pouted.

"Ayumi-san! I'm going to take this panda to her room. Please make sure she stay in there after I leave." Shouted Aki as he pulled Mei towards the direction of her bedroom, ignoring the giggling sound came from the kitchen.

"She whined and complained a lot, but she's already sleeping."

"You would make a good mother one day, Aki-kun. Only you could make her go to bed that easily."

"Please, another day with that hyperactive girl would be my funeral." Exclaimed Aki

"You said that the last time you came here as well. Admit it. You enjoy taking care of her."

"Don't know where you get that from…."

"I sense tsundere~~"

"Aaaaanyway, about the payment…"

"No need to, dear."

"But the materials cost and-"

"You helped us a lot, especially Mei. This is the least we can do to repay the favor. But, you could always become our son-in-law if you feel ba-"

"I'll see you later, Ayumi-san!"

Before Ayumi could finish her sentence, Aki quickly greeted her before running out, leaving an amused Ayumi as she watched the boy ran out before calling out,

"The offer still stands!"

Author's note: Just a quick interaction between Aki and our residence crazy inventor, Mei Hatsume. I want to make this chapter a slice of life one, to show you the relationship between the two. I'll dive more into their past. But for now, I'll continue on UA acceptance letter.