a few times defeated isn't much

has always felt sorry? guilty? that his parents had to raise a quirkless son, which is a major part of what drove him to work hard and start his own tech company

the other part was the enormous bitterness that he was bullied for being quirkless, and without some special ability, he was made to feel unimportant in comparison to his classmates

has a very idealistic view of what a hero should be and resents the fact that anyone who’s strong enough can be a hero -- even if they’re a jerk

this is why!! his tech company is very exclusive and all clients are picked by akio himself. current clients and higher-up employees can recommend heroes to him, but he has the final say

so his client base is likely much smaller in comparison to other companies, especially since it’s a small business that focuses heavily on quality and the client’s satisfaction

fun fact: it was thought for a minute in high school that maybe akio’s quirk was super intelligence, but nope!! my guy’s just a smarty pants!!

going back to his parents, they were both relatively successful heroes. they did well for themselves and were really excited to bring akio into the family business, but you know what happened : ( 

even though they’ve assured akio time and time again that they are proud of him and wouldn’t want him any other way, he can’t help but think of how disappointed they must have been to find out he was quirkless

has a major issue with his self worth and confidence. he has a ton of pride in his company and his tech, but he often feels inferior or questions if he’s really doing all he can, if others really like being around him, etc.

very good!! at acting!!! a professional two-face, if you will. so naturally likable and seemingly harmless that no one would ever expect him of aiding maemi in multiple murders

will plot the demise of people he hates but struggle to so much as say no to the people he cares about

i feel like going into ua, hekima had something of an INFLATED EGO. her whole thing is being confident and positive but also cool and unbeatable, but 2nd year hekima is okay with not winning. she recognizes that failure is part of learning and getting better -- perfection is unattainable. 1st year hekima?? nah, man!! 1st year hekima is fresh out of a middle school where she was at the top of her class, challenged academically only by norio who would often claim first place. but that was okay bc physically, hekima was still on top. quirk-wise, she was the strongest among her classmates.

then she makes it into ua, and everything is more of a challenge. that’s fine by hekima who LOVES challenges, and the sports festival?? oh man she’s excited!! she can’t wait to show everyone her abilities, and it’s also a way to affirm that yes, even in this school where everyone is amazing, she’s still the best. which is partially why norio’s actions upset her so much to begin with. she wanted to complete the festival all on her own to prove a point to herself, and he took part of that away.

but hekima makes it through most of the festival with relative ease. she isn’t the least bit daunted, even during the team challenge during the second round. it isn’t until the final round that hekima is truly challenged by another classmate.

she enters the battle portion of the festival pretty cocky tbh. her quirk is force field manipulation, after all; she could easily contain any threat that comes at her, and quite possibly just push people off the field. she purposely holds back with some opponents bc she believes ending the fight too early would be boring and not garner much attention from pro-heroes. it’s honestly..... yucky that she was thinking that way, and she now hates that she was in such a mindset.

but hekima goes up against lisa/yasuhiro who has viewed her as a rival the entire year, whereas hekima hasn’t considered her as such. not until then, at least. lisa puts up a really good fight, things get heated between the two girls who have very different motivations for being there, and hekima realizes she’s kinda been?? self-centered. she’d been so preoccupied with her own path and her own goals and desires that she hasn’t really been thinking about her friends and what they are striving for, what this festival means for them beyond the competition itself. 

even with norio, she’d encouraged him so much to compete not just because she knew he was capable of more, but because of her childhood fantasy of the two of them as a partners. 

after a very close battle, hekima defeats lisa, but she leaves that match with a new outlook. and with a new rival. AND a throbbing headache. her motivation to win the sports festival has taken a hit at this point, but after she makes up with norio, he knocks some sense into her. no one’s perfect -- not even hekima. she can’t give up now bc she’s just realizing her own faults. backing down now bc of a headache and a typical teenage character flaw would be an injustice to everyone who’s been giving their all to win this thing. if she gave up, it’d be disrespectful to everyone’s efforts. plus norio would never let her live it down, nor would lisa.