Before you read:

This story is a semi fan-fiction of the popular manga/anime Boku No Hero Academia. While it takes place in the same universe, this story is entirely separated from the manga's storyline, and takes place in America instead of Japan. For those who aren't familiar with the basis of the manga, roughly 80% of the human population is born with a genetic mutation that gives them supernatural capabilities, otherwise known as 'quirks'. General crime rates increased across the world, and the law eventually bent to allow for superhuman individuals to become 'heroes' and fight the rising crime. Almost every country has some sort of high school that also acts as a hero-training academy, and as such students who enroll are taught how to best utilize their quirks and become professional heroes.

Side-note, this story is loosely based off of a TTRPG that my friends and I made/played based off of the show. Most of the characters were made before the respective players even read the manga or watched the anime, so if (when) similarities arise either in quirk or personality, they were entirely coincidental and should not be taken as plagiarizations of Horikoshi's work. Although I cannot account for some aspects of the characters, the ideas of Travis, Zeke, Madilyn, Jack, Eileen, Hannah, and Axton were completely original, as they were the player characters of the TTRPG.

Thanks for your understanding, and I hope you enjoy!

For a hero school, even one that might be one of the lowest rated in America, I definitely appreciated the amount of effort put into the orientation. The massive complex's primary building stood tall, with streamers, banners, and balloons fastened to the outside for decoration. Various booths and tables were set up in the large field that acted as the welcome mat to the compound, acting as concession stands and help kiosks to guide the students in the right direction. Talk about Nebraskan hospitality.

Holding the black backpack emblazoned with the Norfolk Hero Academy, or NHA logo over my shoulder, I glanced behind me to the only other people in the field.

"I understand getting here early to make sure that we arrived in time, but two hours before the orientation? Come on, that guy is still setting up the balloons over there."

"Maddie has a point." Dad proclaimed. "We could grab some lunch from across the street while we wait for, well... anyone to arrive."

Dad, my younger brother and I all stared at Mom. As she adjusted her glasses to look around at the lack of a crowd, she sighed.

"I just wanted to make sure we didn't get stuck in any kind of traffic. There was bound to be a lot considering the orientation."

One of the long brown rabbit ears adorning my head drooped slightly. "Traffic? It was a ten minute walk from our house. The only traffic was the homeless guy you gave ten bucks to."

Mom glared at me, making me swallow my next words.

"Fine. Let's go have lunch, but we will make sure to be back here at least forty minutes before the orientation starts. Alright?"

My little brother Joseph, Dad, and I replied back in unison as I suddenly felt disconnected from own body.

"Alright."

As my eyes snapped back to reality, I saw both Joseph and Dad holding the sides of their head, shaking it lightly. Dad looked up towards Mom, who had a small smile creeping along her face.

"You realized that we would have agreed even without you forcing us to."

"I know, but better to be safe than sorry. How about barbecue?"

As we sat in the restaurant, it was almost amusing to watch the waitress do a double-take when we said that the four of us were a family. The only features any of us shared was that we were all vertically impaired. Technically, I reached six foot, but only if you counted the eight-inch ears. Mom looked the most 'normal' out of the four of us. Her chestnut-brown hair, glasses, and surprisingly youthful appearance made her look like a bank teller.

Dad was a different story, with pale blonde hair adorning his dark head. Because of his quirk, which he liked to call 'Natural Adaptation", the only thing that ever really stayed the same was his height and slender frame. While he may grow gills when underwater, or harden his skin under pressure, it also worked in smaller ways. On cold days he would grow a thin layer of fur, but on hot and sunny days like this his skin would darken while his hair paled and receded.

Ten-year-old Joseph never really stuck to any one appearance for long. The wonderful workings of his quirk were derived primarily from Dad, causing his appearance to change based on his emotions. Most of the time, he was slightly tanned like me, with short brown hair rustled in a pile on his head. When he is happy, his skin darkens, but the reverse is applied as well. When he is sad, his skin becomes a shade of grey, being tired makes his hair grow longer and darker, and being energetic or excited causes his hair to shorten and pale. Right now, he was relatively normal colored, although his hair was a bit on the long side.

The biggest wrench in the family was probably me, however. Not only do the large pair of light-brown rabbit ears stick out quite prominently, but I decided to go the extra mile. If I already drew attention, why not give them something interesting to stare at? Because of this, I dyed my usually brown hair a bright shade of red, fading towards purple at the tips. That alone would have been enough, but just for the special occasion of being accepted at NHA, I cut my hair to shoulder-length in addition to shaving the right side for a nice undercut. I was just glad I wasn't an introvert.

As the four of us sat in our booth, I spent the time looking around at the other people and decorations in the restaurant. Aside from the motorcycle hanging upside-down from the ceiling like it was doing a wheelie, there wasn't much to stare at aside from the food that passed by. I watched a burger that looked like it weighed at least three pounds walk by along with a plate of fries before being set down in front of a boy that looked to be my age and wearing the same NHA uniform tee as myself. The shirt was bright yellow, with the letters NHA in big blue text on the back, just above the symbol of the USHF, or United States Hero Foundation. Their logo was extremely simple, being a wire-frame diagram of the planet with a large eye spanning across the equator.

Looking back to the boy, he actually looked fairly normal, unlike me. His hair was black and close-cropped, his frame was quite slender, and it looked like the massive burger would be the one eating him. It was easily the size of his head, and even my huge appetite couldn't feasibly understand how he could possibly fit that inside of him stomach. The second thing of note was that he was sitting alone.

I couldn't really dwell on that fact, mainly because the table was still being filled with various plates of food. Racks of ribs, several burgers, onion rings, and more fries than I could begin to count were laid out across the wooden platform. The boy didn't waste any time, and I watched the food slowly disappear almost as fast as it was being placed. By the time the last plate was set down, the massive burger, and what looked to be several pounds of fries and milkshakes had already vanished. I barely even noticed my own food being placed in front of me as I watched a second, slightly shorter figure sit down across from the boy vacuuming up the table. With long blonde hair in a ponytail that came to their shoulders, I initially thought that it might have been his girlfriend or something. Then I realized it was actually another boy that was somehow wearing a similar yellow shirt underneath a leather jacket.

A leather jacket.

In ninety-degree weather.

"Earth to Maddie, are you in there?"

My focus was torn back to my family as Mom rapped her knuckles against the side of my head. "When you are done admiring those cute boys over there, why don't you try eating your burger before it gets cold."

I could feel my cheeks flush as my ears curled. I looked away from the two boys just as the blonde one glanced at me with a devilish smile and mom let out another quip.

"I bet that they are enrolling as well and decided to show up early like responsible students."

I would have let out a sigh, if my mouth wasn't already full of a double cheeseburger. The rest of the meal went by in a rather uneventful haze, as well as the time frame leading up to the beginning of the orientation. I did notice that the field was significantly more packed than before, having at least a hundred families wandering around to the various booths. It was easy to pick out the students, as we all shared the common fashion of the yellow t-shirt with the NHA logo on the back. I also noticed the two boys from the restaurant moving from booth to booth, accepting pamphlets, water bottles and keychains alike. Soon enough, the field was quickly emptied as all the families were ushered into the giant building's front entrance. Once I got a chance to gaze around, I couldn't help but gasp.

The linoleum floors were spotless and polished to a similar shade of white to the walls. The ceilings were high, reaching almost thirty feet as the second floor circled around the foyer like a balcony with it's floor-to-ceiling glass windows. There was no time to admire, as the herd of people were funneled into a massive darkened auditorium with the stage curtained off. The auditorium alone proved how much funding these hero schools received, considering almost all of the schools had their own stadium, state-of-the-art technology throughout the building, an actual auditorium instead of a re-purposed gym, and still had enough money left over to get two-ply toilet paper. An older green-haired woman standing at the door had a large smile plastered across her face as she guided people through the doorway.

"Students go to the left, sitting at the front. Family heads on to the right. Students go to the-"

Several other teacher-like figures stood along the path, escorting the sea of yellow shirts to the rows of available seats. After selecting my spot, I let out a breath and peeked over my shoulder to try and find the faces of my family among the crowd. As I did, I felt one of my large ears brush roughly against the person to my left.

"Do you min- oh! It's you!"

Turning my head back around, I froze for a moment as I saw the familiar long blonde hair and leather jacket sitting next to me.

"Huh?"

He smiled, and for a moment I swore that a spark of electricity shot through his ponytail.

"You are that girl from the restaurant. I'm surprised I didn't notice you sit down next to me, I mean, you kind of stand out. You know, with the ears and-"

"I know. You don't exactly fit in yourself, considering the leather jacket and all. One question, why are you wearing a leather jacket when I'm sweating in a t-shirt?"

"Simple. It looks cool."

From the other side of the boy, I watched as the other kid from the restaurant leaned forward to talk. This time though, it looked like he was an entirely different person. His shirt was now much tighter as his body rippled with a surprising amount of muscle that wasn't there before. Before, he was almost a skin-and-bones toothpick, but now he looked like the youngest Olympic athlete in history.

"He lost his NHA shirt. He just has on a regular yellow shirt underneath the jacket so nobody can see the logo, or lack of it in this case."

Both boys let out a smile while I thought for a second.

"Let me guess. You looked like an anorexic stick bug earlier, so I would assume that the food you eat 'inflates' you and makes you stronger? It would explain the mountain of food you inhaled."

"That is pretty much spot on. Name's Zeke."

"Madilyn, but most people just call me Maddie. As for you..."

I turned to Blondie and thought for a moment, but came up short.

"The only thing I get from you is immunity to the sun, because that jacket should be cooking you alive."

He let out a pained laugh as I grinned.

"Oh it is. I should have taken it off earlier and came clean, but at this point I'm pretty sure it has melted to my skin. My name's Travis, by the way."

"Well, your quirk obviously reduces your IQ to single digits since you decided to keep the jacket on."

Travis rolled his eyes as he laughed.

"My IQ may be in the negatives, but I don't need a quirk for that, fair maiden."

We sat silently for several moments before Zeke let out a sigh and sharply poked Travis on the shoulder.

"Dumbass, she wants to know what your quirk is."

"Oh? Well why didn't you just say so? Mine is kind of a two-parter. I can turn into an electrical current, as well as emit and control electricity."

"Question, does that mean you can charge my phone? 'Cause I forgot to plug it in last night-"

I was cut short by Zeke laughing as Travis's eyes rolled once more. Without a word, he reached into his pocket and produced his own phone. He closed his eyes for a moment, and I watched as the device blinked to life with the battery symbol flashing as it charged in his very hand.

"That was one of the first tricks I taught myself. Figured it was better to start with the small manipulations like charging stuff. Blew up a few phones, computers, and even a coffee machine one time, but I got the hang of it."

"Great. So if a villain shows up, you are going to negotiate with them by offering to power their house?"

"Nah, I'll just end up microwaving the guy. With the ears and tail, I would assume that your quirk makes you kind of like a rabbit?"

"Yeah, it doe- wait. How did you know I have a tail? I'm sitting down."

"Zeke and I were staring at your ass as you left the restaurant and noticed it. Custom shorts huh? I imagine that must be a pain."

Zeke looked away as both his cheeks as well as my own flushed with a shade of red. Meanwhile, Travis continued.

"Yeah, when he finally looked up from his food, he couldn't take his eyes off of you. Well, that isn't saying much, considering it is kind of hard not to look at you. It almost seemed like you were intentionally trying not to look at us the entire time. I smiled at you once, and then you never looked over again. I'm not that ugly, am I?"

"Hold on." I muttered as one of my ears twitched. "It's starting."

Zeke and Travis looked towards the still-closed curtain, then back at me with confused glances. I rolled my eyes.

"I heard someone approach the curtain, probably walking to some stand. It sounds like they are practicing the beginning of their speech."

"You can hear that? What are they saying?"

I smiled, poked at my ears, and closed my eyes as I concentrated.

"What's up all my young peeps? Let's get this party crack-a-lackin!"

Travis shook his head. "Screw off, there is no way that anyone would start their speech with-"

"What's up all my young peeps? Let's get this party crack-a-lackin!"

The entire auditorium spun their heads forward to glance at the opening curtain with several emotions, primarily confusion. A lone figure stood at the stand, arms outstretched with a massive smile on her face. I recognized her as the woman who was standing at the entrance and escorting people in, with her bright green hair tied in a Dutch-style braid down her back. Her features were aged, reminiscing of forty, but her body language and expressions were half that. With a bright yellow sundress, she pranced back and forth along the stage as she spoke to the confused auditorium.

"My name is Mrs. Quiet, but don't let the name fool you. I want to hear some noise, so when I say 'Norfolk', you say 'heroes'! Everyone got that? Alright! Norfolk!"

An uneasy silence fell over the entire front side of the room as the only people who reciprocated were the parents towards the back. Instead, the entire student body looked awkwardly at each other, and I started to wonder if I had made the right choice by choosing this school. Mrs. Quiet looked around at the mostly silent crowd and gave a nod.

"Nice! That's the kind of energy I like to see. However we can try that again, but I want everyone to-"

Her sentence was cut by a cough from offstage, causing her to look over and give a sad nod.

"You know what, I think I will just introduce the principal. Everyone, give it up for Mrs. Brone!"

I slowly gave an awkward clap as a much more formally-dressed woman walked onstage. Her hair was a solid black, and fell loosely over the shoulders of her white-and-black dress. Mrs. Quiet solemnly walked offstage as Mrs. Brone approached the microphone and cleared her throat.

"My apologies for Mrs. Quiet. Although she may have a rather energetic personality, I can assure you that she is a fine teacher and nurse for the school. Before we begin, I must say that it is a beautiful day outside, even if it is a few degrees too hot."

A few chuckles emerged from the audience, causing Mrs. Brone to smile.

"To start off this orientation, I see a room full of potential before me. That doesn't just apply to the hopeful students sitting at the front either, and it also doesn't apply to their quirks, either. Every single person has untapped potential to become something incredible, regardless of their quirk or lack thereof. This is what this academy aims to achieve. We want to unlock that potential of every student that walks these halls, so even if they don't manage to become a hero they can still be an incredible asset to society."

A few murmurs spread through the crowd, but Mrs. Brone adjusted her dress and smiled confidently.

"Now I know that preparing for students not becoming heroes may be considered counter-productive for a hero academy like this one, but I can assure you that it is the most important factor of our curriculum. It is no secret that not every student will succeed in a hero school, especially the highest rated ones. Those high rated schools focus every bit of their attention to the hero courses, and much less on the others like support classes and general studies. Unfortunately the official rankings of the schools only apply to the hero courses, which is quite unfair if you ask me."

Mrs. Brone took a long sip of her coffee and seemed to stare through the entire crowd in front of her.

"I will not lie to anyone here. Norfolk Hero Academy is rated forty-fifth out of the fifty states in regards to the quality of heroes that emerge from this school, but those rankings mean absolutely nothing for the other applications of success for this academy. If a student is not fit for the hero course, then they will be transferred to the other courses which have an equal amount of support, not less like many other schools. In general terms, not every student will succeed as a hero from this school, but every student will succeed, regardless of their skill levels. Although heroes may be fancy and popular, it is the other courses that help society to progress through these strange times."

Even with my incredible hearing, there was nothing but absolute silence in the auditorium. Mrs. Brone looked over the crowd, gave a small nod, and then moved to be in front of the podium with a smile.

"Now that the boring opening statements are completed, let's get started on something much more interesting, shall we? Time to explain this year's entrance exam."