Lovely Lady Nagant (IzukuxLadyNagant)

23: Drive

"TchgrrrrRRR!" Kaminari growled through tightly grit teeth as he bore down into a stance, his fists balled tight with knuckles searing white. Electricity crackled around his body as the student's sweat dropped like bullets off his track uniform and onto the floor of the indoor training ground, intense training and focus pushing his body to limits he's never pushed to before. Sitting a ways away from the student on a set of bleachers was Jiro with a towel and water bottle nearby at the ready, an expression of concern and worry never leaving her face for the slightest moment.

Electricity sizzled and popped around the boy as he concentrated on focusing his Quirk through a different manner, one that he's been attempting to do for the past few weeks now. But unfortunately no matter how hard he's tried up to now Kaminari has never been able to breach through the ceiling of a limit that's mocked home both through the day and the night. Defeat was constantly laughing in his ears, inferiority reminding him that it will never work despite the sweat and tears he's given. But this has to work, this just had to.

'Come onnn...' He thought as his body shivered from the strain of his Quirk. His nails were practically on the verge of tearing through the skin of his palms as more and more electrical energy gathered around him, arcs beginning to gather around his feet and slash in a small radius around him. His beating heart was slamming into his chest, but he could feel it, the feeling that he's been trying to gain for so long to no avail. It's right there. "C-Come onnnn..."

"Hey, take it easy will ya?" Jiro asked from the bleachers. "You've been pushing yourself a lot over the weeks now you don't have to-"

"Quiet!" The boy shouted, his attention returning to his training immediately after. "Let me concentrate!"

'That's what I'm worried about.'

"TchgrrrRRRRRR, COME ONNNN!"

Higher and higher the energy surged in Kaminari's body to the point where anybody who stood close was at immediate threat of being hit by an arc containing a high number of volts. The arcs spewed from his legs and connected with his braced forearms as he growled to keep his focus, but his body could push no longer. Just before he could reach the breaking point his body short-circuited and he grunted from the shock that backfired on him, falling to his knees then down onto his palms. Heavy pants and heaves puffed and deflated his chest, the underside of a fist slamming against the ground in frustration.

"Dammit!" He cursed, falling back onto his knees and shaking his head side to side. Strolling from the bleachers with water and towel in hand was Jiro, the girl holding out the bottle for him to take but was denied by a rough backhand that nearly swatted the bottle away. "Don't need it."

"You haven't been needing anything lately, sleep included." Jiro said. "Sooner or later you're gonna have to take a rest Kaminari you can't keep doing this."

"I have to keep doing this, huff, I have to. The licensing exam is coming up shortly and if I ain't ready for it then this will all be for nothing. I gotta keep going."

"Yeah and you GOTTA know when to take breaks too man, you're killing yourself out here. Look, I'm not saying you have to drop this whole thing that you're trying to do, I'm not saying any of that. I'm just saying that maybe, a day of kicking back wouldn't be so bad for you. You haven't taken it easy since we came back."

"Yeah and I got reasons for that."

"What happened at the camp-"

"WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CAMP IS MY FAULT!" Kaminari exclaimed angrily, catching Jiro off guard by the sudden outburst. "IT IS! If I was stronger than what I was back then things would have turned out differently than what they are now! If Midoriya could start out at the beginning of this school year with a Quirk that broke him at first but he managed to change that into something better, then I can too! I just have to find it, I can change it! My Quirk is fucking Electricity Jiro it's energy! I should be able to turn energy into something useful! Something that's not useless like me."