In a dark room, a green-eyed teenager was lying on the bed. His face was lit only by the screen of his phone, but even in this light, anyone could see his furrowed brows. Harry was reading the news, namely an article that described the attack on Ida's brother, Ingenium. He became another victim of Hero Killer and will never be able to return to the Hero's career again. The teenager sighed heavily, turned off the phone and rolled over onto his back.
"Fuck."
He stared unblinkingly at the ceiling for a couple of minutes.
'This is bad. Now Ida has two options, he will either leave the job to the Professional Heroes, or he will go after Stain himself... And for some reason I think that he won't wait for the Heroes to do their job.'
"Fuck." Harry said again and got out of bed.
He bent down to the floor and, using Pride, carefully lifted one of the floorboards. Under the floor lay all his money earned during his time with Giran and the burner phone with the Broker's number. Harry picked up the phone and began to type.
[Information about Stain. His hunting area, fighting skills, and Quirk. Price?]
Potter placed the board back and sat down on the bed, waiting for an answer. After a couple of minutes, the phone vibrated.
[Wow, bookworm, why'd you want to know about this bogeyman? No. Don't answer that. I'll get you everything I can and send the price tomorrow.]
Harry nodded in satisfaction and went to bed with peace of mind.
---
Two days later, Harry adjusted his dark green knitted scarf and frowned. It was raining today. Harry hated rain.
On days like this, he was especially cold, so the teenager put on a warm coat, thick leather gloves, a scarf and worker boots with a steel toe. He did not take an umbrella with him and used Pride as a protection from the rain. Harry put his hands in his pockets and tried to completely hide his face behind the warm scarf.
The use of Quirks in public was usually banned, but people still used them for day to day tasks. Azumi used her telekinesis to reach things that were too far away. Karin used her accelerated thinking to learn faster, to beat Harry at chess - not that she needed a quirk for that, but still - and just to clear her head of unnecessary thoughts. And Harry himself used his shadows to protect himself from the rain.
"Oh, good morning Potter!"
Momo's voice sounded from behind and Harry glanced over his shoulder. The girl was dressed only in a UA uniform and was holding a dark blue umbrella.
"Hi Yaoyorozu. I don't know about 'good' morning."
The girl quickly caught up with her classmate and was now walking with him.
"Why're you in such a bad mood? You don't like the rain?"
"I am constantly cold. And especially in the rain. I hate rain. Useless, shapeless watery lumps of liquid shit. If I could, I would stay at home today. Fucking rain." he muttered irritably.
Momo just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I'll take it for yes."
Harry shot her a glare and continued to mutter curses under his breath towards the idiot who invented rain.
---
"I had all these people talking with me on the way here!" Mina said excitedly with a huge smile on her face.
"Same here! So many stares... It was embarrassing!" Toru was holding her hands close to her chest.
'Stares... But you're invisible...'
"All these school graders told me I made a good effort." Sero's face was conflicted, but Tsuyu just smiled.
"Good effort!"
"What about you, Potter? People know you as the winner of the sports festival." Mina turned in her seat to look at Harry.
The green-eyed teenager flopped into his chair and smiled like a Cheshire cat.
"No! I have my own ways to hide from unnecessary attention. I usually come a couple of minutes before Aizawa, imagine what it would be like if everyone spoke to me on the street."
The bell rang and the next second the door to the classroom opened, the students immediately sat down at their seats and fell silent. Aizawa entered the classroom, this time without bandages all over his body, and walked to his desk.
"Morning."
"Good to see your bandages off, Aizawa sensei." Tsuyu said with a small smile.
"The old lady's treat was excessive. But never mind that. Today we've got Hero Informatics class. And a special one at that."
The class tensed and waited for another cruel test to be announced. Potter just looked at the teacher as a drama queen.
"You'll be coming up with your Hero Aliases."
The students jumped up from their seats and started screaming excitedly, Mina even accidently hit Harry with her leg during her jump.
"How awesome! Time to shine!"
Aizawa's hair flew menacingly into the air and the class immediately fell silent.
"But first... Considering the Pro draft picks I mentioned another day, it's based on who the Pros think will be ready to join the Hero workspace after another two or three years of experience... So you could say it's a way for them to show their interest in your futures. But there's ample time for their interest to wane before you graduate. And any and all offers can be arbitrarily revoked. It happens quite often."
"Stupid adults and their whims!" Minoru slammed his hands on the table in frustration.
"This is life, small fry." chuckled Harry.
'Although such a strange swing will not be pleasant.'
"So, if we're picked now, that just means there'll be higher hurdlers in years to come!" guessed Toru.
Aizawa nodded and raised his hand with the remote to the board behind him.
"Yes. Now here're complete draft pick numbers. There's typically more of a spread. But our top three stole most of the spotlight."
A list with the names of the students appeared on the blackboard.
Todoroki - 3976
Bakugo - 3093
Potter - 2769
Ida - 370
Kaminari - 283
Yaoyorozu - 108
Kirishima - 68
Uraraka - 20
Sero - 14
"Gah! They've in a whole another league!" Kaminari slumped helplessly in his chair.
"Huh? They messed up all the first places. Why is Potter only in third?" Kaminari was confused.
"Pros pay attention to bright and flashy Quirks, and Potter is literally standing in the shadows."
Aizawa allowed the students to speak for a couple of minutes, but eventually continued his speech.
"With that settled... Whether you were picked or not... You all have a chance to work alongside the pros."
This caught the attention of the class and everyone listened carefully to what their sensei had to say next.
"It's true that you all have experienced more than most, but... Seeing the Pros in action and taking part yourselves will still be worthwhile training."
"And that's where our Hero Names come in!" Sato clenched his fists and lifted them into the air.
"This is really getting fun!" Ochako repeated his actions like a reflection.
"They're only tentative, but you'll still have to pick something appropriate-"
"Or else you'll know true hell!"
The door to the classroom flew open and hit the wall, which cracked again. Harry and Ojiro looked at the wall with compassion. Midnight entered through the doorway, fully... Undressed? in her hero costume.
"The name you pick now may be what the world ends up calling you. That's happened to plenty of Pros out there!"
The heroine went to Aizawa's table and stood next to him.
"Yes, true enough. And Midnight here will be assessing the sensibility of the names you pick. I'm no good at that." the eternally tired hero got up from his chair and pulled out a yellow sleeping bag from nowhere "What future do you see for yourself? The name you choose will bring you ever closer to cementing a certain image... Because names are capable of reflecting one's true character. Little with All Might."
Harry picked up one of the whiteboards that had been given to the entire class and pondered.
'A name, huh?'
---
Fifteen minutes later, Midnight examined each student and began to speak.
"Let's finish up. We can start with whoever's ready!"
Yuga Aoyama immediately got up from his seat and walked over to the teacher's desk.
'It's like a professional presentation!'
'Sheesh, that Yuga's got guts!'
"Here I go..." he raised the whiteboard over his head.
"Shining Hero: I cannot stop twinkling." there was a confident grin on his face.
"It's a whole sentence!!"
Midnight hummed thoughtfully, but nodded in satisfaction.
"It'll be easier to say if you take out the "I" and contract "cannot" into "can't.""
'What the hell, kid?' flashed through her head.
"Okay, I'll be next!" Mina went to the table and showed everyone her whiteboard.
{Ridely Hero, Alien Queen.}
"From the sequel?! Is it because her blood was super acidic?! That's terrible!!" 'Idiot! Copyright is still in the hands of the big shots!'
"Tsh!" Mina returned to her seat with a frown and erased her name.
The atmosphere in the classroom became heavier and everyone thought their name was not good enough. Seeing this, Tsuyu raised her hand.
"Can I go next, please? Ribbit."
The frog girl also showed her whiteboard.
{Rainy season hero: Froppy.}
"I've had this thought out since elementary school. Call me Froppy." she said with a smile.
"Rainy season..." Harry shuddered.
"So cute! It makes you sound like you'd be easy to get to know! The rest of you, take note. This is a perfectly lovable name!"
'Well, she turned the mood around.' Harry watched his classmates chant Froppy's name, he shrugged and joined in.
Kirishima got up from his seat and walked over to the impromptu stage.
"This is me!" he put the whiteboard down on the table with a thud.
{Sturdy Hero: Red Riot.}
"Red Riot!"
"Red Riot! Could this be an homage to the Chivalrous Hero: Crimson Riot?"
Kirishima scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Right! I know he's from back in the day, but Crimson's the kind of Hero I wanna be."
Midnight lifted his whiteboard and looked again at his hero name.
"Heh heh. Just know that bearing the name of your personal Hero comes with a lot of pressure."
"I'm ready for that!"
Harry looked at his classmates and when he saw that no one wanted to go next, he got up from his seat.
"Well, I guess it's my turn." Potter also stood at the teacher's table and lifted his whiteboard.
{The Shadow Hero: Salazar Slytherin.}
"I think it suits me."
"What does it mean?" Tsuyu asked with interest.
"This is the name of one great man who existed long before the Quirk era. But so many years have passed and no one remembers his history. I myself only learned about him from an old book. And I mean a thousand years old one."
A couple of weeks ago - after he learned that he could still speak with snakes - he was able to find one of Salazar Slytherin's journals, written in Parseltongue. The book spoke of his life and faith, but his words were very different from what the purebred racists attributed to him.
The very words "pure blood" meant a creature with only magical blood flowing in their veins. Centaurs, Veela, Goblins, Gnomes, even House Elves were considered purebloods. Salazar was an ardent defender of all living things, but history has distorted his words and he became only an old, bald and dark wizard.
"Huh. Well, it does sounds nice." Midnight nodded and Harry returned to his seat.
The next choice of names went by pretty quickly.
Kyoka Jiro - {Hearing hero: Earphone Jack.}
Mezo Shoji - {Tentacle Hero: Tentaclole.}
Hanta Sero - {Taping Hero: Cellophane.}
Mashirao Ojiro - {Martial Arts Hero: Tailman.}
Rikido Sato - {Sweets Hero: Sugarman.}
Mina Ashido - {PINKY}
"Pinky!"
Denki Kaminari - {Charge + Lightning Bolt = Stun Gun Hero: Chargebolt.}
- {Stealth Hero: Invisible Girl.} (You can't see her name. It's invisible.)
Momo Yaoyorozu - {Everything Hero: Creati.}
Shoto - {Shoto.} "Shoto."
Minoru Mineta - {Fresh-picked Hero: Grape Juice.}
Koji Kota - {Petting Hero: Anima.}
Katsuki Bakugo - {K̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶E̶x̶p̶l̶o̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶M̶u̶r̶d̶e̶r̶.̶}
"No good. Try again."
Ochako Uraraka - {Uravity}
'Her name feels fluffy somehow.' flashed through Harry's mind.
"This went smoother than expected. All that's left is Bakugo's revision... And Ida.. And than Midoriya." said Midnight, covering her eyes from the light with her hand.
'What light? It's still raining outside.' Harry rubbed his eyes with a gloved hand in frustration.
Ida went out and showed everyone his whiteboard.
{Tenya.}
"You too, huh? Just your name..."
Potter frowned at the look on Ida's face.
'I need to talk to him...'
Midoriya was the last to come to the table and unrolled a white board with his name on it.
"Huh? You sure about that, Midoriya?!" Midnight asked in surprise.
"Yeah. I always hated it. But than someone helped me to see it in a new light... It took me by surprise, but... It made me happy. This will be my hero name!"
Harry stared blankly at the white board with the word {Deku} and mentally ran through all the curses in different languages he knew. Japanese, English, Russian, French, German, Chinese, if there was a swear word, he remembered it.
'Just how deep is his self-doubt?! Has someone been beating him since childhood?! Why the fuck didn't this bastard think of anything else for himself?! Even the name 'Thunder Hero: Raiden' would sound better! He has lightning! It fits!'
Harry took a couple of deep breaths and calmed down.
'Okay... Okay, okay, okay. I'll beat that idiot back into shape. You can't have such an unbalanced character.'
"Lord Explosion Murder!"
"Still no."