HER HERO ACADEMIA
CHAPTER 1: Acceptance
Humanity has seemed to forget what it was like to be quirkless. Quirkless people, or as they called themselves back in the day, "normal" people are nearly extinct now that fire breathers and telepaths roam the streets, living their quiet, tranquil everyday lives. Villains and chaos became commonplace, and our forefathers' fantasies became our reality. It was abrupt, sudden and above everything else, unexpected. Governments across the world found it difficult to combat the rising crime rates while thinking of the correct way to restore peace without marginalizing this newfound species of superhuman. There was only one way to do it.
Heroes.
April 2nd, 12:44pm
Akane's eyes opened slowly, drowsily. Only the barely noticeable weight of the sheet over her leg, she kicked off the day with a kick and stripped herself of the cover before sitting up, legs crossed as she rubbed her knuckles against her eyelids, massaging them awake. A yawn left her throat as she turned to her left, morphing it a groan as she stretched. Touch the sky, then your feet, repeat, repeat, and done.
Hearing some noise from her room, Aiko peered in through the door, noticing her daughter as she did her morning stretches. "Good morning, sweetheart."
Alerted by her voice, Akane briskly looked towards the door, but quickly let her guard down as she noticed who was there. "Morning, mom."
AKANE HANANARI
QUIRK: MIRROR
Akane is able to absorb with her left palm, and reflect with her right palm, with the same kinetic energy. This only affects non-solids and small solids.
AIKO HANANARI
QUIRK: SPONGE
Aiko can absorb small objects into her own body and convert them into energy.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah, I guess." she replied, still a bit groggy. "I might need to remove something though... spring's rolling around, after all."
Aiko chuckled. "I, for one, am surprised you still had your winter covers with the weather we've been having."
"Heh," Akane smiled, "I just didn't feel hot until now. What time is it?"
"You're just in time for lunch. I made your favorite."
"Chicken wings?"
There was a slight pause as Aiko smiled, a bit sheepish. "Second favorite."
Akane's laugh came out as little more than a snort. "Curry rice?"
"Curry rice."
"I'll be right there." Akane smiled as she stretched a bit more, while Aiko excused herself with a nod, and left to do her household chores.
"You better start getting up earlier if you want to survive your first week in school, dear." she heard her mother say as she distanced herself. Akane sighed in defeat, realizing that was the truth. Straightening her posture, she looked at the cork board on her wall, a few memoirs of her on display. In the mood to reminisce, she paced over to it.
A photograph of her and her mother at last year's Sports Festival hung in the top right corner, a signed cover of her favourite idol's first album pinned down right to its left. Her to-do list occupied the leftmost side of the board, and a few cut-outs of her favorite manga characters peppered the top and bottom. They all framed it so perfectly. Proudly occupying the center position, there it was - her acceptance letter.
The acceptance letter that proves that she, Akane Hananari, was accepted into the Hero Course.
As the first day of class approached, she felt obligated to look at the damned sheet more and more. Was it all a dream? Had it been some mistake? It seemed impossible to her, for her to be accepted into the school she'd been dreaming about for so long. But alas, it was always there. No matter how many times she looked at it, no matter how many times she read the thing, top to bottom, nothing ever seemed off. It was real. It was a dream, but a reality. And with that, she read it once more - maybe now she'd find something to trash her childhood dreams.
Akane Hananari,
Your name has come to the attention of this institution as a promising young lady with equally promising abilities. To that effect, it is our enormous pleasure to inform you that you have received an honorary position as student of the prestiged U.A. High School, enrolling in the Hero Course. Should you accept our offer, you are to appear at the entrance exams held at 9am on April 3rd of the current civil year and complete said exams. Upon completion, your student status will be permanent as long as our school regulations are not at stake or outright violated. We wholeheartedly expect your acceptance of our offer, and await you eagerly.
Best regards,
Principal Yaoyorozu
Word by word, it was all the same. No period or comma was moved, no word replaced, no nothing. By this point, it almost felt like Akane could quote the entire letter from memory, but she felt weighing herself with the task was far too troublesome - only one thing mattered at this point, passing the entrance exam.
"Akane?" she heard someone call.
"Coming!"
Zip in her step once more, she dashed out of her room and turned right to run down the hallway, the smell of curry rice wafting in the air, dense, rich, spicy. She looked down at the dining room table to find her younger brother, legs swinging back and forth as he impatiently waited for Akane.
"Took you long enough!" he whined, cheeks puffed out in innocent annoyance.
With a small chuckle, she ruffled his short red bowlcut, earning a childish groan from him. "Good morning to you too, Kaito." she greeted as she sat down next to him, a smile plastered on her face. She could only think of tomorrow.
"Why are you smiling, big sis?" Kaito's eyes - usually a dark red color - were sparkling, curious, inquisitive, like most children his age tended to be sometimes. "Did you do something naughty to papa?"
"Hm?" she replied out of habit, though an instant later she had already processed her brother's question. "No, no." she shook the question off. "Big sis is excited for school."
Kaito's hair drooped as he tilted his head to the side with a pouty confusion. School? In his mind, school was the last thing anyone could be happy about. After all, the people in cartoons always found school so boring! "Oh!" he faked understanding, his head bolting to its previous upright position. To him, he'd seem more intelligent in his sister's eyes. "I see! Okay!" he smiled, eyes squinty and legs wobbling back and forth beneath the tablecloth once again.
Relieved that her brother seemed to understand her situation, she rested her elbows to the right and left of her empty plate and nested her chin in her palms. As so she daydreamed - it was all that mattered today. Except it wasn't. There were bags to pack, last minute training to get done and most of all, curry rice to eat. There was no time to daydream, but even then, she wouldn't stop. She'd been in the school so many times - school trips, take your child to work day, regular visits - but it was such a momentous occasion this time. It wasn't a visit, it was a test that might as well decide whether she is or isn't a hero.
And as far as she was concerned... she was.
April 3rd, 9:00am
The doors opened. The opening of the main gate to the grand hall of U.A. High School swiftly drowned out any passive chatter as the potential soon-to-be students stared in awe. The silence was tense and anxious, but at the same time filled with excitement and vigor - expected from the vast amount of feelings among all the students around Akane at the moment.
It was then that a tall, beautiful woman with jet-black hair came out. To say she was well-known was a grave understatement. The beautiful but deadly hero, the principal of U.A. High School, the number 6 hero in Japan and a student of U.A. herself... the Everything Hero: Creati, also known as Momo Yaoyorozu!
MOMO YAOYOROZU "CREATI"
QUIRK: CREATION
Using her quirk, Creati can make any non-living material by manipulating her body fat at a molecular level. This requires exposing skin and knowledge of the material's atomic structure.
"Welcome, one and all, to the Hero Course's entrance exams!" she announced with fervent enthusiasm. Looking around the crowd, she spied the potential of every last one of the teens present, sending a collective chill down the most nervous of them. "We are gathered here today to see fervent displays of power, care and knowledge! To witness the births of our country's greatest heroes, who will one day carry the world in their hands! And you, all of you, are our hope. So, to start things off, I must ask every one of you for a round of applause! Applause for all of you, the hope of our country and our planet!" she started, before a thunderous round of applause broke out, almost unanimously.
As the noise died down, Principal Yaoyorozu went through all the necessary segments of the entrance exam. The greeting, the filing into the auditorium, presenting a few members of the staff who would aid the students in understanding the exam, amongst other things, and at last, the moment Akane'd been waiting for arrived.
"And now, a brief explanation of what your entrance exam will entail!" Creati began. As she explained, illustrations showed up on the screen behind her in order to ease the students into the process. "You have been divided into ten different groups! Each group will go into a different battle facility to carry out their mission. Worry not, they are all exactly the same size and have the exact same layout, which means no group will be favored or put at a disadvantage! Your mission is to collect points by defeating your targets... these!"
The moment she announced the targets, four silhouettes appeared on the giant screen. One by one, left to right, they lit up. They were giant, humanoid mechs with different numbers on their metallic husks - 0 to 3. The grey zero point one seemed mildly inoffensive, almost like a decoy. The blue one point was apparently equipped with close-combat abilities. The green two pointer seemed to be able to fire some kind of projectiles from launchers on both sides of its body. Finally, the red one - value: 3 points - was significantly bigger and more menacing with launchers and claws.
"These robots are your method of gaining points! The numbers on their heads are the points you get by destroying our mechs, and they all increase along with their difficulty level, maximizing the risk vs. reward of this test. Your points will be tallied up at the end of this fifteen-minute long examination and our top contenders will be accepted into our Hero Course, as per school regulations! Now, if you look below your seats, you shall find two items! Please, procure these."
Following instructions, most of the students bowed down to reach the items the Everything Hero mentioned, and Akane luckily found them both with no trouble. The first one was a small watch. As Akane inspected it, the Principal explained its functions- the watch was the students' means of checking their own point total. As expected, everyone in the room had their totals as 0 points. The second item was a sort of identification - her photograph, name, quirk description, age, height and weight were all there. Turning the card around revealed a new, vital piece of information.
"If you would please turn your identification cards around, you shall see which group you will be placed in! Everyone in Group A will meet at the main gate of Battle Facility A, and so forth until all ten groups are accounted for. Attendance is, of course, mandatory!" she joked, though it wasn't as well-received as Creati had secretly hoped. With a clear of the throat, Yaoyorozu shook the awkwardness away and concluded. "This marks the end of our initial briefing! Everyone, please leave in an orderly fashion and meet at the gate to your group's Battle Facility! Don't be afraid to ask staff for any information, should you have any questions. That is all, thank you." she added, before stepping aside from behind the wooden stand where she stood and bowing to the public. With a quick movement, she returned to the stand, gripping the microphone in her left hand. "And best of luck!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, the room was drowned in loud voices as everyone felt the need to push and pull their way out of the auditorium and towards their destination. Akane looked at the backside of her card one last time and read it attentively. 'Battle Facility D'.
"Sounds like we're in the same group." A male voice called to Akane from her right side. Startled, she looked at the boy and studied his features, although a bit rushed. He was a short fellow, maybe even shorter than Hananari herself, with spiky, dirty blond hair and hazel eyes that although soft, were somehow distinctly masculine. Clad in a tanktop and shorts, he didn't have the look of a hero, though Akane knows better than to judge people by their first impressions. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to startle you." he apologized, genuinely yet with a slight lack of interest.
"N-No problem. You're in group D, then?"
"Yep. That's what my card says anyway. Wanna go together?"
"Sure, I guess." Akane accepted reluctantly. Call her paranoid, but making friends in the entrance exam could go wrong exceedingly quickly.
"Cool." he nodded with a slight smile. "I'm Makoto."
MAKOTO TANAKA
QUIRK: POLARIZE
Anything Makoto touches when using his quirk is given magnetic properties. His left hand polarizes south, and his right hand polarizes north.
"Akane, nice to meet you. Should we get going?"
A/N: That is all for today, folks! For those who are expecting updates from my DR and Pokémon SYOCs I have, uh, well mostly cancelled them? I still really like the plans I have for both so I might go and keep writing them someday, but they are (and have been for a long while) on a hiatus! In the meantime, I need to get my writing groove back so have some BNHA next-gen stuff to keep you up a few extra minutes before going to sleep I guess? Updates will be WILDLY sporadic throughout this one as per usual, as this isn't something I'm 100% commited to quite yet. Just a hobby~
Anyways, that's it for now! Tell me your opinions of the characters' quirks so far in the comments, it can help me flesh them out!
