Hiro couldn't remember the last time he smiled so much. Only when he played with the other orphan kids, but it wasn’t the same. There he felt like the older brother. Here, he could be younger, getting along with all the other kids. Even when he was with others his age before he would’ve been cast aside just because he had no ability. But he was taken in, before they knew… Oh… Hiro looked down for a moment. Would they treat him the same if they knew? He shook his head, best not to think of it. 

They ate in peace, and Hiro went off to his last classes of the day. The Academy was structured in a way that would optimize the student’s learning. In the hero track, students were given tailored schedules based on their abilities and what they wrote about in the written part of the test. In Hiro’s case, he was given chemistry and  biology. This was alongside basic literary and historical analysis all students were required to take. He was allowed to select one elective, which he chose to fill with ability studies. That class was the best so far. Master Jares was actually the instructor for that class as well. He desperately needed to learn about and understand his ability. Especially since he knew he was so far behind his peers. He could only get so far with stamina and sheer willpower. 

Rella and Vinnie were actually in this class with him, but it didn’t really matter. For one, they seemed to really hit it off and were already close. Bickering over unimportant things. He thought he even saw Rella blush a few times. Granted, Vinnie did seem to have no issue talking about embarrassing things. She even caught Hiro off guard a few times. And for two, Master Jares had pretty much split them up in the gym to work solo. Essentially she was there to observe and help when needed. It was the only class with an introduction that lasted less than a minute. She said a lot more at the beginning of Hero training. 

Master Jares had gone up to the other students, giving a brief explanation of their training and sent them on their way. When she got to Hiro though, she had just let out a brief, “Hmpf,” and walked off. So Hiro began training the only way he knew how. Pushups, burpees, situps, basically the usual training regiment. Minus the running since he was supposed to stay put. 

About half way through class Master Jares had gone up to each student individually and gave a bit of her time correcting their technique, or giving advice. Hiro had done about 10 sets of 100 of each exercise by the time she had made her way over to him. 

She sighed, “There’s always one, isn’t there?” 

Hiro stood after completing another set of pushups, “Master,” he bowed. 

“You are the difficult one…” Her voice trailed off as she seemed to go deep into thought. “How have you been training so far? Just physical?”

Hiro nodded, “Yeah,” he scratched the back of his head nervously, “I only recently got my ability so… I’m not really sure where to begin.”

“You’re registered with an enhancement of adaptation. From my understanding, your body adapts to new environments quickly. Essentially making you immune to changes in atmospheric and external circumstances.” Master Jares looked up from her holo screen. “I want you to use this time to find the limit of this ability, in a controlled environment of course.”

“Yes Master–”

She held up a hand cutting him off. “First, I want to know, does this apply to your eyes as well?”

Hiro blinked, as if feeling for his eyes trying to remember if he tested that. “I think so,” He nodded slowly. “I did notice I can see really well in the dark after a short adjustment.”

Master Jares smiled. “Then let’s start there.”

A small orb appeared out of the floor. “This is a state of the art gym, mostly safe. In your case we can’t be sure though. I already warned the medical unit just in case. I want you to stare at this ball for as long as you can.”

The ball opened to reveal a small circle where a bright light appeared. It wasn’t very bright at first, but then he was blasted with the brightest light he had ever seen. His vision was completely white. He wanted to look away, a reasonable response, but he held his ground. He kept looking at the ball until he could see it clearly again. He could see all the way into the eye of the ball, behind where the light was coming from. “Woah,” he breathed. This was even better than his normal vision. It was as if his body was adjusting, and then improving upon his original vision. 

“I assume you can see,” Master Jares turned off the light. 

“I could see even better than before,” Hiro confessed.

Jares’ eyes went wide for a moment. Then she smirked, “Now let’s see the opposite.” She pressed a button on her holo watch and then he was encased in darkness. The ground must have formed a box around him according to Master Jares’ instructions. But in just about the same amount of time as the previous adjustment, Hiro could see. And again, it was better than before. Not by that much this time, but enough that he could even see bits of dust that had come up with the walls surrounding him. 

The walls came down about a minute later. “It was the same as before, I could really see.”

Jares nodded and closed her holo screen. “Then, for now I would like you to push yourself. Train your eyes first. I would like to know if you can control the amount of time it takes for you to adjust. Then we will begin much more…intense training. In regards to your physical abilities, I think you could push yourself further than most. You may not ever have super strength, but you could have less physical limitations and recover quicker than most. Add flexibility training in. As much as you work out, stretch. Let’s see how far this ability goes. 

Hiro bowed as she left, then he broke into a bright smile. He was finally doing it. He had an ability, and now he could train it. 

Hiro couldn’t remember how he made it back to the dorm. Honestly, he trained so hard that his eyes burned and body ached more than ever in his life. He tried to increase his protein intake but even eating seemed unbearable. Once inside he flopped on the floor, barely missing the couch. Probably for the best, considering he hadn’t cleaned up yet. 

“And here we have an overzealous hero student. The hero who trained too hard on the first day and will pay for it tomorrow,” Ryu hovered over him, recording Hiro’s misery. 

“Are you okay?” Rivas asked, “You didn’t say a word the whole walk home. You barely even ate. Reiki had to practically force it down your throat. 

Hiro groaned, louder than he expected. 

“He lives!” Ryu shouted. 

“Ryu,” Lino pulled him back, “Leave him alone.” 

Rivas crouched down beside him. “Do you need anything?”

Hiro shook his head. “Just a power nap… and then I’ll…” He didn’t even finish his sentence before he found himself asleep.