It was days like today that you missed Bisky most. It was strange to not have anybody coach you about your nen, and while you wanted Kurapika to help you develop a new ability, he was busy tracing down leads to Chrollo. The rest of your classmates were off studying and doing their own training, so you didn't necessarily want to bother them . . .
Currently, you were sitting on the grass, leaning back with your hands propping yourself up. You had specifically looked for a field where nobody else would come upon you so you could train with your 'quirk' at will, but so far you had only been doing basic strength exercises like push-ups and sit-ups.
"Damn it," you groaned, throwing yourself back on the soft grass. There weren't many clouds in the sky to protect your eyes from the sun, and so you threw your arm over your face. This was so much harder than it needed to be - you just wanted to get stronger! Was that too hard to ask? It wasn't even for yourself. By appearing in this world, you had brought a whole mess with you, and you wanted to be strong enough to protect your friends and kick the invaders back to your own world.
To be strong didn't automatically translate to 'special ability'. That one spider - Uvogin - had apparently only raw strength, no hatsu. Of course, he wasn't a stellar example, but still. You could technically just focus on core and physical strength, but how long would that take? How long did it take Uvogin of the Phantom Troupe to get to where he was before Kurapika had felled him?
Time was ticking. Building up your physical strength to be that level would likely take years upon years of intense training; you only had two weeks left before your practical exam, and you didn't want to just half-ass a hatsu, either.
Rolling over so you were on your stomach, you stretched your arm out to grab the backpack you had brought with you, just barely able to reach in and pull out your notebook without getting up. Recently, you had decided to take a page out of Izuku's book, taking notes on everybody's abilities and all that you knew of nen, as well as a badly drawn diagram. You figured that looking at how everybody utilizes their quirks, and the hatsu abilities that people used in your world, would give you inspiration.
Besides, it never hurt to go over the basics.
Ten, you started first. That was keeping your aura to your body, not allowing it to leak away from you.
Zetsu. That was stopping the flow of your aura to make you harder to detect.
Ren. With ren, you made your aura explode outwards, giving you better durability, protection, and strength.
And the last of the four basic principals, not to mention your current bane of existence.... Hatsu. The personal expression of nen that came differently to each nen user. You remember Bisky telling you that a good nen ability reflects somebody's character. Killua's lightning was only possible due to the torture he received as a child, and Gon's Jajanken reflected his preference towards both simplicity and always wanting to enjoy himself.
What even was your character? Great, now you were on the verge of having an existential crisis.
Huffing and realizing you were getting distracted with your own musings again, you went back to reading, now reminding yourself of the more advanced techniques of nen.
First down, you had In. A much stronger form of zetsu, although instead of hiding your aura flow, it concealed it, making it imperceptible. Your usage of In wasn't the best, but you at least had a solid grasp on it.
Gyo - that was ren, but focusing it on a certain body part, and leaving the rest of your body weakened. It was best used in your eyes to see other auras, and just have sharper vision in general, but you also liked using it in your ears. It wasn't as common, and your hearing was already sharp from growing up in the wild with Gon, but gyo took your enhanced hearing to a whole new level.
En, which you were fairly good at. That was expanding your ren, and using ten to maintain that shape. With your en, you could sense the movements of everything in your little aura bubble.
Shu, which you didn't use often, was using ten but extending your aura to go around an object as well to strengthen it.
Ko, which was a combination of ten, ren, zetsu, gyo, and hatsu. It was like gyo on steroids - you focused your ren in one body part, used ten to keep it there, zetsu to stop your aura from leaking everywhere else to further amplify that one body part, and hatsu to add conditions to it when necessary. You've used it for mostly offensive attacks, although you have used that on your legs and other parts of your body to prevent damage.
Ken, which was a mixture of ten and ren. Basically, you just would push your ren out in a stronger state to protect against ko.
Last, but not least on your messily scrawled list, was ryu. It wasn't something you had been able to even touch yet, so you weren't too certain about your hasty description, but ryu was being able to expertly switch to and from gyo, ko, and ken to combine the perfect offense and defense. You couldn't think that fast during a nen fight, and Bisky had told all three of you that you weren't ready. As much as you knew learning it would benefit you, if you dove into that right now, there was no way you'd be ready for your practical exam.
Going back up to hatsu, you frowned. A personal expression of nen. . . .
. . .
"ARGH!!"
Rolling back onto your back, you grabbed your hair in frustration, nearly kicking your legs out. "I'm never going to figure this out!"
What traits did you have going for you? You were reckless, and stubborn, and forgetful.
That's not true!
You had grown complacent with the absence of the mysterious voice that you jolted, sitting up with wide eyes. The voice continued.
Yes, you're those three things, but you're also kind, [Y/n]! You would do anything to keep your friends safe, and you're tenacious and always make sure you get done what needs to be done! You're intelligent, and an excellent fighter . . . I admire you greatly!
The perky voice rendered you speechless for a bit, reeling at the onslaught of compliments you had just received. "You - you really think that?"
I know that! After all, I've been with you your entire life!
"Wait, what??"
At that, the voice disappeared, and you buried your face in your hands, a muffled moan of exasperation escaping you.
"Shit. Maybe I am going crazy."
Deciding to call it a day since there was no way you could focus now, you packed up your belongings to leave, bitter at your lack of progress.
I guess my best choice would probably be to analyze different hero and villain fights to practice reading opponents and moves better...
Trudging along, you kept your eyes to the ground, lost in thought and only stopping when you came across a patch of wildflowers. It was gorgeous, yellows and pinks and purples all blending in together. The sun peeking through the trees and shining down on the flower patch only made the small area seem ethereal, and a soft smile graced your face.
It was peaceful.
Amongst the flowers, though, was one wilted one, on the verge of dying. It was smaller, and could be easily missed - in fact, you almost did miss it. The one wilted flower, among a patch of fully bloomed ones, made you purse your lips as you crouched down, your finger grazing a brown petal.
I can heal people... Could I heal this? Would that even work???
It didn't hurt to try. Cupping your hands around the flower, you focused on just trying to revive the plant, engulfing it in your aura.
Honestly, you hadn't expected anything to happen - you weren't sure the flower would revive. The flower did that, and much more, though - as you channeled your aura into the plant, it started to sprout up. And then up, and up.
"Oh shit!"
Releasing your aura, you fell backwards onto your butt as the flower continued to grow, only stopping when it was at about the level of the trees around the area.
For a moment, you could only gawk in combined horror and shock, your jaw dropping open.
"What. The. Fuck."
The fact that there was a gargantuan flower of your own creation wasn't lost on you. Slowly, wheels started to turn in your brain as you realized what just happened.
Looking around, you spotted a button mushroom by a nearby tree and scrambled towards it, ignoring that you were getting dirt all over you. Putting your hands around the small mushroom, you once again channeled your aura into it, only to receive the same result. Thankfully, you stopped once the mushroom reached the height of your waist, and it didn't go out of control like the flower.
You had been able to heal yourself and others before by channeling your aura to the wounds. It was almost an extension of your own ten, but not for one second did you realize you could extend that to plants and, most likely, animals. Really, anything that was living. If only you could get the plants to do what you wanted....
You weren't a manipulator, and had never trained in the manipulator category, but...
Two weeks, huh?
Two weeks to figure this out.
Without dallying around anymore, you stood up, brushed the dirt off, and ran back home, wanting to write down a training schedule and all of your ideas.
—·—·—
Your first stop, the next day, was surprisingly the support room, eyes falling on a familiar, pink-haired teen.
"Mei!"
She had been soldering something, and made sure to turn the iron off and set it down before turning to you. Her face lit up in excitement. "[Y/n]! You here to help out today?"
"Mm, actually, no," you admitted bashfully. "I wanted to get adjustments to my hero costume and was told to come down here to fill out a form."
Mei brightened up, immediately retrieving a piece of paper and all but shoving it into your face. "Did you bring your costume?! I'll do it!"
Handing over your briefcase, you quickly filled the form out - in proper Japanese - with all of the upgrades you wanted. It wasn't too complicated, and Mei nodded firmly to show that it was possible. "You make it too easy! I'll have it done for sure, I'll get to work on it right now!"
"Wait, doesn't it need teacher approval?"
The teen was already too excited, though, and instead started ushering you out of the classroom, telling you that she would text you when your costume was done.
Shut out of the support workshop, you shook your head once in confusion before heading to your classroom, deciding to get some extra studying in.
—·—·—
On the morning of your first exam, you came in looking ragged, causing Izuku and Ochaco to exclaim out in shock.
"W-what happened to you?!" Izuku asked frantically while you tried to stifle a yawn.
"Studying," was your tired response. "And training. I have a pretty strict schedule for myself so I can improve myself. Go Beyond, Plus Ultra, yeah?"
"Still . . . Will you be okay?"
Shrugging at Ochaco, you sat down in your seat, head nearly hitting the desk. Exhaustion screamed at your entire body, but for once, you didn't care. The last two weeks felt fruitful as you had practiced your new hatsu and studied like crazy.
You could only hope that it would all pay off.