Bright Flames, Dark Shadows: My Hero Academia

You stood, walking over to your first target: Nise Hiro. He looked up at you with a nervous smile.

"I know you," he said. You could see Inasa behind him, frowning. Shaking your head slightly, you smiled at Hiro.

"You do? I can't say the same."

"You're kind of a celebrity on hero forums. Lots of rumors about your family."

You frowned. You know there were some people who took their interest in heroes a bit too far, but details of your family online? That wasn't something you were comfortable with. Considering nobody else has brought it up before, though, maybe those forums were obscure enough to not worry about them.

"I'd prefer if you don't let my family name bother you," you said. "I'm not here as Endeavor's daughter."

He nodded, standing up and stretching out his hand. You took it, smiling. "I'm Nise Hiro, please call me Hiro, Todoroki-san."

"Rin," you insisted. "I'm here as Rin."

He nodded, understanding flaring up in his eyes. "You said you could make the air sparkle, right? Can you show me?"

A soft laugh escaped your lips, your face growing slightly red. Nervous ramblings, of course. "Can we use our quirks here?"

"I heard that on the school grounds, there are no limitations to using your quirk as long as you avoid fighting with them. I'm afraid my quirk isn't quite as flashy as yours, so I was curious."

You nodded, taking a deep breath. The air around you turned cold. Water droplets gathered from thin air, freezing at such a small size that the reflected light caused everything around you to sparkle. Hiro clapped his hands together.

"You weren't kidding, it looks pretty cool. No pun intended."

People were watching you two, so you dropped the ice quickly. The floor got a bit wet.

"What about you?" you asked. "I wasn't really listening to the quirk explanation… sorry."

"I look competent," he said. "And reliable."

You blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"It's a rather subtle quirk, something about it makes people want to trust me, and people with bad intentions would rather avoid having a fight with me. It's not a very good quirk, but my parents encouraged me to apply anyway."

"If you got the spot, you're clearly cut out for it, right?" you asked.

"Ah," he said, sitting back down in his chair. "I'm not so sure. It's hard for me to tell if something I received was by merit or by my quirk. You came here with a recommendation, right?"

"Yes," you said, nodding. "I know the normal application involves an interview and a special test, but the details of the tests were nowhere."

"It's kind of a secret, because the tests seem to be different for everyone," he said. "My test was to convince a criminal to let go of a hostage. My quirk helped, obviously, but outside of such situations I'm rather useless."

"I disagree," you said. "Aren't you useful because there aren't many heroes who can handle such situations easily?"

You remembered the words of your father well. 'A quirk that useless could never achieve my ambition'. His ambition could go die in a pit somewhere, because she knew that he thought the same about his own power.

He wouldn't have had a quirk marriage if he didn't, after all.

"Rather than focus on where you're weak, shouldn't you work on what makes you strong?"

He didn't look very convinced by her words. The people who were listening in, however, nodded along. Feeling a bit singled out, you coughed. Giving Hiro another nod, you stepped away.

"Just don't quit before you've even started, alright?"

"Yes," Hiro said. "Thank you, Todoroki-san."

"R-I-N," you said.

"Thank you, Rin."

Making friends was easier than you thought. The people with the same goals as you were more approachable than the ones back in middle school. Inasa's from from earlier had softened considerably. He still didn't look approachable, but that mattered little to you. If he wanted to raise a stink, he could. Walking towards the back of the room, away from the people who've decided to use your talk as a springboard to launch their own questions towards their classmates, you've reached the wide-eyed Mikata.

"You're so cool," she said. "That uniform looks so amazing on you, you're like a model! You've got to tell me who does your hair."

Oh, she's one of those. You weren't really that good with chatty people. You could get like that yourself, when there's a topic you're really into, but fashion wasn't exactly something you were focusing on a lot.

What was comfortable often beat what looked stylish. Which wasn't very heroic. Heroes didn't just sell themselves on being heroic, they also sold themselves on looking the part. Mikata's eyes turned pale yellow.

"I'm… thank you?" You tried. Mikata's smile widened. "I'm not really good with all that stuff, I wouldn't mind some help picking out clothes?"

"Of course!" Mikata said. "Let's be friends, Rin! Call me Mika!"

Truly, making friends was the easiest thing ever. You don't even know why you've had such a problem with that in the past. Though you had the feeling rather than befriending someone, you were befriended a bit abruptly.

"You wanna know what my quirk is?" Mika asked. You nodded. "I listened in earlier, you really need to pay more attention when your classmates are talking, Rin!"

Was… was she scolding you? You pressed your lips together. You guessed that's what friends did, huh? "Sorry, Mika."

Mika's smile returned twofold. "I got pretty eyes."

"I can see that," you said. "But what do they do?"

"All kinds of stuff, look!" Mika said. They turned red. "I can read lips now."

You mouthed the words 'what the'.

"What the 'what the'?" Mika asked. They turned blue, then purple. "Now I can see what you had for breakfast."

"Really?" You shielded your stomach with your arms. Mika laughed.

"No. But you look so tired, you probably skipped breakfast today. That's not healthy."

You grumbled. Your stomach had told you the same a few times, but ignoring hunger pangs was easy. Mika reached into her bag, pulling out some plastic wrapped bread. You accepted it. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said. Her eyes turned pale yellow again. Grabbing her phone from the bag, she held it up. "If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always available."

When her eyes were yellow, her talking was notably softer. You wanted to ask what she could see with them, but you had the feeling if someone this chatty wanted to tell you, you'd know by now. People deserved to keep their secrets after all.

You grabbed your own phone from your bag at your desk and exchanged numbers. A girl stepped up next to you, her phone in hand. You turned towards her. Jagashi Yuri, followed by Hibari Otome behind her.

"I was thinking staying in contact would be beneficial," Yuri said. She wasn't smiling, her face schooled into a calm facade that betrayed no emotion. You nodded. Once all the girls had your number, you stole a glance at Nido, who was still sitting in her seat, too twitchy to approach.

"We've met before," Yuri said. Your gaze returned to her as Otome returned to her seat. "The mayor was holding a party."

You were trying to think back to that time. It wasn't easy. Back when you were younger, just before Shoto and you manifested your quirks, your family was often at social gatherings for one reason or another. The places and faces blurred together.

"There's no need to remember," Yuri said. "We've not talked. But I remember because you look so similar to your mother. She had that beautiful dress on-"

You gritted your teeth.

"Ahhh!" Mika shouted, her eyes flickering from yellow to blue. "I know you too! Your last name, the Jagashi Fashion company!"

Yuri nodded, nonplussed by the sudden shout. "My sister is taking the company over next year, I've decided to make a name for myself that has nothing to do with my parents."

You sighed, your breath visible in the warm classroom. "I can understand that."

"I hope we get along well," Yuri said, bowing to them. "Thank you, Mikayama-san."

You frowned. Thank you for what? Interrupting the too uncomfortable line of questioning? It wasn't like Mika did that on purpose."

"It's Mika," Mika said. "We should do something after school, Rin wanted me to help her pick out clothes. Do you want to come along?"

"I'd love to," Yuri said. For the first time today, she smiled. "I'll tell my driver to go ahead without me, then."

Rich girls. You weren't poor, not by a long shot, but people like that just lived in an entirely different world. The door opened with a loud thud as it hit the wall and bounced back. A young man stepped in. His eyes were narrow, his back straightened as if there was a massive stick up his ass.

"Jagashi Yuri, with me."

Yuri followed him out of the room. A hairy dude stepped in. "Nise Hiro." And there he went. One by one, everyone but you and Inasa left the room. A girl stepped into the room, long hair flowing behind her. "Todoroki Rin-chan."

You followed her, leaving Inasa behind. Someone walked into the room as you left, but you couldn't get a good look at their face. The girl in front of you stopped suddenly, turning around.

"Riiight, I forgot to greet ya," she said. "I'm Camie. I'm gonna be your mentor-thingy for the rest of the semester. If you got anything to ask, I'm your gal. That alright with you?"

"Yes," you said. "Sure. Sorry, we're going to the entrance ceremony, right, senpai?"

"Yes," Camie took one step then stopped. "Say that again."

"Senpai?" you tried. Camie smiled.

"I like the sound of that, lemme be your ol' reliable Senpai, alright?"

Was every person at this school such a character? You sighed, resigning yourself. Better than being under the thumb of the school that raised your father to be such a piece of shit after all.

"And after the entrance ceremony, we'll have some hands on training," Camie said, continuing her walk. "Something about seeing how everyone measures against each other. Can you fight?"

"Some," you said. You've never had formal training, but you knew what hurt when you punched it. Your father has taught you that well, using your brother as punching bag.

The big auditorium where the speech would be held was… not that big actually. The amount of students was larger than you had expected. If you had to guess, the number was close a hundred and fifty. That'd be five classes per year. More than U.A., but due to the mentorship program, the responsibility of teachers was lowered, and the reliance on upperclassmen increased.

Inasa finally arrived, his mentor nowhere to be seen. He stepped up behind you and kept his gaze towards the front.

"Ahem," the principal said. You recognized him from your research into the school. Titanium, an ancient hero, looking surprisingly spry for his age. He must be ninety by now, perhaps even older. "Welcome to another year at Shiketsu High. For many of you, this is going to be the last year of your education. As you already know, the world that will expect you outside these walls is competitive. Those of you who will be successful might be few, but I have no doubt that the lessons you have learned will stay with you for your life."

If he wanted to be encouraging, he needed to work on that. Despite that, all the third year students shouted 'Thank you, sir!' in unison.

"For many of you, this is a large step towards your life as a hero," Titanium continued. "Many of you will undergo the provisional license exam if your teachers are confident in your success. Some will fail, but a hero has to know how to fail right. To give you perspective on how far you have grown, you all have become mentors to a new student. Please, treat them with the dignity and integrity that you were treated with last year."

"Yes, sir!" the second years shouted.

"And now, to the rest of you, my dear new students. I welcome you to Shiketsu, a school built on the foundations of integrity and dignity. Whatever your reasons for becoming a hero, be it money, be it a thrill for action or be it out of the goodness of your heart, I accept them all. Simply by making the decision to be a hero, you've proven that the light in your heart is greater than the darkness. In these years at our school, I don't want you to just become strong as heroes, I want you to become good people."

The first year students were mumbling among themselves. Only Inasa stood tall, raising his voice above one-hundred and fourty-nine others.

"YES, SIR!" Inasa said. The rest of the students followed. You got swept up in it as well.




##############

Your ambition sets itself apart from your peers in a clear way:

You're spiteful.

Caught between your father's neglect, an overall rough family life, a front row seat to your mother's breakdown, and the envy towards your brother you'd never admit to out loud, the reason you've decided to become a hero rather than follow your older siblings' academic records is spite. From the day your mother has been hospitalized, kicking Endeavor's pride down his throat has been the only thing on your mind.

Working hard is easy if it is for that goal. You're Spiteful and Obsessive. Pick your goals wisely.

Choose 3 Minor Goals:

[] Make another friend
[] Win a fight
[] Have a breakthrough with your quirk
[] Join a club
[] Have dinner with the family
[] Make a neat costume
[] Spend time with your mentor

Choose 1 Major Goal:

[] Become Class Rep
Shiketsu chooses their class reps not just among those with the best grades, but those who uphold the values of the school the best. Establishing yourself as Class Rep is just one more step into the direction of being a top ranked pro hero.
[] Visit Mom regularly
You're… torn. Her face is in front of you every time you close your eyes. Your father hasn't explicitly forbidden anyone from visiting her, you know you older siblings sometimes go to the hospital and check up on her. You, however, feel nauseous just thinking about it. You feel guilty about never visiting, what would you say? What would she say?
[] Find a a part-time job and make some money
You don't want to owe your father anything. You'd feel more comfortable spending money you've earned yourself. The school offers a stipend for gear made by their support department, but for anything besides the necessities, you're on your own.