A few short notes, but while designing Misaki, I kind of realized she's similar to Ochako in a few ways, (poor upbringing, short hair, brown eyes, etc.) so I thought it'd be good to have Uravity serve as a mentor/inspiration to Misaki, especially in deciding to be a hero. That whole deal will established more later on.
Also, I'm not a manga reader, I'm actually currently debating if I should start reading the manga, but through spoilers I've learned about Eri (who I already love, she seems adorable) and I thought I should establish that Misaki isn't related to any of the BNHA cast/characters. She has a similar quirk to Eri, purely by accident because I didn't know about Eri until after I'd designed Misaki, but they're in no way related. Misaki's parents will likely remain a mystery, as their identities wouldn't really serve any purposes.
Just by the way, the summaries of characters down at the bottom are only OCs that are going to be in the AU in the future. For example, in this there's lots of OC children, but they're only there because I needed more characters, not because they'll ever show up again in the story. So basically only the important and frequently reoccurring OCs will have summaries and descriptions.
"Misaki-kun! Misaki-kun!" Kioka shrieked. The young girl burst into the bedroom, her curly pigtails bouncing behind her.
Misaki peeked down from her bunk bed, pink framing her vision as she looked down. Kioka was only eight, so she was still excited about everything life had to offer. She was new, only having lived at the orphanage for a week and a half now. Her parents had died in a car accident only a month ago.
"What do you need, Kioka-chan?" The girl jumped up and down, trying to reach the taller bed, but she fell short each time.
"Aki has a tear!" She cried. "The other kids said you could fix it!"
Misaki climbed down the ladder and Kioka offered the doll to her. It was made of cloth, the tear on a seam underneath the doll's arm. The teenager knew that it was one of the things Kioka brought with her when she moved here.
"So? Can you fix her? Please?" The child peered up at her. The older girl smiled.
"Of course I can." Misaki took the doll in one hand and pressed two fingers to the middle of its stomach. She activated her quirk and watched as the strings restitched themselves, a few pieces of stuffing flying out of no where and returning to the inside of the doll. It was an easy fix, the doll even looking newer once her quirk fixed it.
Kioka's eyes were glowing as she accepted the toy again, clutching the doll to her chest. "Wow! Thank you, Misaki-kun!"
The teenager smiled. "No proble-" She couldn't even finish before Kioka had ran out again to rejoin the other children. Misaki sighed, she wasn't sure why she expected her to wait.
Kioka probably wouldn't be here much longer. She was happy and nice, if not a little hyperactive. Her quirk allowed her to change her eye color or make her eyes light up, nothing scary or questionable. She was exactly the kind of child people came looking for. If Misaki had any money to bet, she guarantee that the next couple that came here looking to adopt would pick her.
The old clock on the wall claimed it was 11:30ish. It was always magically a few minutes off somehow. Misaki guessed that it had been the victim of someone's quirk years ago.
The teenager started toward the kitchen. As the oldest child in the orphanage, she felt it part of her duty to help prepare some of meals. The workers tried to not make the children do too many chores, beside cleaning up their individual areas and beds. But Misaki was fifteen and could easily cut up a few sandwiches to help out. It was only fair, since she had lived here for so long.
They were better off here. Most of the other orphanages in Japan were not this kind. Misaki had heard plenty of horror stories, but this orphanage in particular wasn't government owned. Instead, it was run by an older lady with an excess of money, Abe Sada.
Sada has a particular love for children, despite never having married or having children of her own. After hearing about the condition of orphanages years ago, she decided to open her own and had been running it since.
Sure enough, Sada was setting out plates in the kitchen, mix-matched ceramics and plastics. It was a Saturday, so most of the other workers, only a few women who weren't much older than Misaki, had been sent home for the weekend.
"Misaki-chan, I keep telling you, you don't need to help me. I can handle this on my own." The woman huffed at the sight of her in the doorway.
Misaki smiled gently. "Then why do you have eighteen plates set out, Sada-san?"
"We have sixteen children with us right now, then me and you, of course."
"Actually, Sada-san, Kioka makes seventeen, so we need nineteen plates." The teenager grabbed a neon green plastic plate and set it down at an empty corner. The dining table consisted of a variety of mismatched things, foldable tables, boards set on books. They were always running out of space.
Sada sighed. "Fine, what would I do without you, Misaki-chan?" The girl just laughed. "I'm going to miss you very much when you leave for Yuuei."
The pink-haired girl positioned chopsticks beside the plate. One was green and one was purple. "I don't have to go, you know. Shiketsu Academy is just as good as Yuuei, and they don't have dorms."
The old woman scoffed. "Shiketsu is a hour train ride away, not to mention the walk to the station! Besides, something about that school has always been off to me. Those kids are always so mean. You're too nice for them, you belong at Yuuei."
"I haven't even taken the Entrance Exam yet. I doubt I'll even pass, then I'll have to go somewhere else anyway." The teenager said.
"Ueno Misaki, you look at me." Sada always got this tone when she talked about not getting into Yuuei. The old woman had plenty of stubborn determination to spare. "You are going to be an amazing hero! You are kind and smart and your quirk is excellent! You are going to Yuuei, or else I'll march right up to that school and tell them to let you in!"
She smiled shyly. "I appreciate the confidence, Sada-san."
"You'd be better off if you trusted yourself." She said with an eye roll, moving on to the food. Misaki lingered beside her, waiting patiently for a task.
"You have seen the other kids who are taking the exam, though. Nearly all of Japan is talking about it. Then there was that article someone on the train mentioned, listing all the children of pro heroes taking it. There's Deku and Frostfire's daughter, she's guaranteed a spot in the hero course. And then there's that boy Red Riot and Ground Zer-" She was cut off.
"Oh, you're better than half of those rich, prissy pro hero kids." Sada argued. "You're getting into that hero course, Misaki."
No arguing with Sada. She was a tough love sort of person when it came to these things. Misaki smiled to herself. "If you say so, Sada-san."
After lunch most of the children rushed away to play again. Misaki ducked into the girls' bedroom after she helped Sada clean up. There were blankets and pillows all over the floor. Several mismatched beds and bunks lined the walls, all of them tilting or sinking in the middle. Futons were spread across the floor in every direction.
Currently, there were twelve girls staying with them, ranging from three years old to Misaki, who was the oldest at fifteen. The next oldest child was a boy named Kei, who was thirteen. Misaki assumed he wouldn't last much longer.
Boys like him always disappeared in the middle of the night, never to be seen again. They'd put out a missing persons report, they always did, but the police didn't care about orphans like them. They would take one look at the report, maybe even call around, but that would be it. Every once in a while a pro hero would pick up a report and track them down for publicity, but that trend never lasted long either.
She climbed into her bunk and looked back at her notebook, abandoned when Kioka had presented her doll. There were various facts scribbled down on the crumpled papers. If she had any chance at passing the Yuuei Entrance Exam, she had to study, a lot. Misaki traced over an English sentence before she pulled out her books again.
The library had been generous enough to allow her to take a few textbooks home. She was at a disadvantage to most of the other kids taking the exam. They had all had years of school under their belt, both elementary and middle school. Some even had home tutors or extra, special classes, not to mention quirk training. Misaki didn't have any of that. She was already a step behind.
That afternoon, a week from the exam, she spent alone in the room. Every once in a while a child would run through, grabbing something and waving hello. She didn't imagine dorms to be very different than this, except more people her age she supposed. She didn't imagine Yuuei itself to be much different than now either. She would blend into the background like she always did.
Around dinner she folded her notebook's torn cover back and tucked it in the shelves built into the wall beside her bed. They had a system in the orphanage. Those who had been there the longest got to choose their beds first. Misaki had claimed a top bunk years ago and had plenty of random knickknacks on the shelves.
Her favorite, perhaps, was a little Uravity figurine she had bought with the spare yen she had found in odd places here and there. It was no larger than her hand, a cheap thing she had found in the back of a hero shop.
The pro hero was grinning, finger guns pointing out at the rest of the room. The paint was smudged, a few spots of her uniform painted pink instead of the black that they were supposed to be. Her hair was cut short at her shoulders, like Misaki's. The teenager smiled quietly at the figure. Uravity was what she wanted to be, an inspiration. She was always so nice and cheerful on TV and in her interviews.
She inspired girls to be heroes everywhere. They could change the world, they could help people too. She proved that it didn't matter what you came from, you could be a hero, too.
Even an orphan like her.
"Mi-Misaki-s-san?" She awoke to someone shaking her. Hisa's teary face was right next to hers, sniffing and shaking.
"What's wrong, Hisa-chan?" Misaki whispered, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
"N-Nightmare." She gasped, tears flooded down her cheeks. The child looked apprehensive to climb under the covers with her, even though they did this nearly every other night.
Misaki smiled and gestured for her to come closer. "Come on, Hisa-chan. It's okay." In an instant, the younger girl had latched herself against Misaki's side. She sobbed miserably while the pink-haired girl rubbed her back. "It's okay. You're safe here."
She glanced up at the clock across the room of sleeping girls. It said it was somewhere around two am.
Tomorrow, or maybe today, was the Yuuei Entrance Exam. Misaki knew she should be sleeping, or else she might perform poorly in the exam, but she couldn't bare to leave Hisa by herself. The kids saw her as someone to go to when they had troubles, and if she sent Hisa away before she was better, that might destroy that trust. Misaki only had so much longer here, she had to help them while she was still here.
With a soft sigh, Misaki resigned herself to another sleepless night and settled for brushing her fingers through Hisa's hair.
"Misa-chan! Misa-chan!" Misaki winced at the screaming in her ear, feeling several sets of hands shaking her. "You're gonna be late, Misa-chan!"
She blinked awake while a pair of red eyes peered at her. Misaki wiped her face. "Morning, Rai." She mumbled. Hisa and Kioka were on the other side of her.
"You're gonna be late, Misa-chan." Rai scolded in that way only a seven year old could manage.
"For what?" Misaki hummed, trying to regain just a little more sleep. With about twenty younger children around all the time, it was hard to sleep in late. Besides, she had spent most of the night up comforting Hisa.
"Your big test is today, right?" Kioka bounced her doll on the shelf beside Uravity and her poorly painted uniform.
Misaki jumped up, nearly falling out of bed. "The Entrance Exam!" She shrieked. The teenager brushed the curls from her face to glance at the clock. Her eyes widened. "My train leaves in fifteen minutes!"
The girls laughed as she tripped down the ladder of the bunk bed and bolted around the room. She grabbed a change of clothes and her books to study on the way. Misaki stuffed them an old bag that belonged to a girl who had since left the orphanage. There were safety pins and ribbons tied to the straps. She slipped on her sneakers and ran out of the room, almost falling again with the untied laces. "Good luck, Misaki-kun!" The girls cheered as she left. Misaki gave them a wave as she jogged toward the kitchen.
Sada was serving breakfast to a few boys when Misaki slid in. The older woman began to grab a plate, but she rushed past her and grabbed a granola bar and an old apple. "No time for breakfast, I've got to go or I'll miss the train to Yuuei."
"You were up late again, weren't you?" Sada frowned.
Misaki kicked up on the table and tied her shoe hurriedly, shrugging awkwardly. "Hisa-chan couldn't sleep, then Shinju and Luka woke up too and-"
Sada huffed. "Whatever am I going to do with you? Too nice to all those girls, you should've told them you needed the sleep."
The pink-haired girl blushed, shouldering her bag. "Sorry, Sada-san, I couldn't just leave them alone. I have to go."
"Show all those pro-hero kids who's boss." The elderly woman smirked and patted her shoulder, then pushed her toward the door.
"Thank you, Sada-san."
On the train, she managed to brush through her hair and make herself seem a little less like she had just woke up. She flipped through the pages of a few books, but their words didn't make much sense this early in the morning. Hopefully the test itself wouldn't be this wordy. The teenager got off at the Yuuei stop, half-walking, half-running toward the school.
Panting, Misaki finally found herself standing in front of the tall glass towers. The gates of the school were open, a few of the pro hero teachers stood by to help give directions. Misaki recognized Froppy among them, talking to a boy with shiny silver hair. Lots of teenagers her age were walking around as well, most of them dressed in middle school uniforms.
Misaki sighed, gripping the book sack's straps. She tried to force herself to walk towards the gates, but she stayed put. The nature of the exam never really set in until now. This single exam was going to decide the rest of her life.
If she didn't get into Yuuei's hero course, then she'd have to go to some other hero academy. She kidded herself in saying they were all the same. Yuuei had been the source of the last three number one heroes, although Endevour didn't really count, not to mention that the top five heroes right now were all Yuuei alumni. If she didn't go to Yuuei, then she had no chance as a hero.
"Hotaru!" Misaki jolted at a girl's voice beside her.
A flash of white ran past her. She watched as a girl with long, messy white hair and glasses rushed by, wearing a school uniform for a nearby private school. She stopped beside another taller redheaded girl standing a good distance from Ground Zero. The girls talked for a moment before they walked inside together, the white-haired girl waving her hands around excitedly.
The white-haired girl seemed familiar, but Misaki couldn't place her, so she pushed her out of her mind. She glanced back at the school, chatter of the other students and teachers all around her.
With a final mental push, she began to walk toward the towers of Yuuei. This was it, just one step forward at a time. All she hoped for was a chance.
Name: Misaki Ueno
Quirk: Revert
Birthday: February 12
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Hair Color: Pastel Pink
Eye Color: Brown
Other Features: None
Summary: Growing up in an orphanage, Misaki is very good with children. She is a nice, shy girl with a dream to help others. As well as being hero, she also hopes to inspire other children like her who are from bad situations to pursue their dreams.
Man, I wonder who Hotaru is...
(If you liked this, you should go read Midoriya Yuki: Origin and Kirishima Kaito: Origin!)