"Haa, back to school," sighed Ochako.
Izuku, Ochako, and Momo were riding the train to get to U.A., their little vacation already over. Katsuki was sitting a bit further from them, shaking his leg as he sat down on a seat he had found. They had been unable to really do any morning training as it had been raining all morning.
"I for one, am excited to see what internships we are offered," smiled Momo.
"Yea, it'll be fun to see first-hand how a hero works in his/her workplace," cheered Izuku.
The trio had just started to talk when they heard a voice.
"Hey, miss! Hey!"
Ochako felt someone tap her shoulder and promptly turned around to see what was going on.
"You're Uraraka from Hero Course 1-A, right? Good job with your fight at the Sports Festival!" cheered a middle-aged man with a thumbs up.
That in turn, caused many to immediately turn towards them.
"Whoa, it's really her!"
"Isn't that Yaoyorozu from 1-A, too!"
"You two were in the best 8!"
"So cool!"
"They're so hot!"
Izuku found himself being shoved away from Momo and Ochako as people began to crowd the two girls. Chuckling at Ochako's flustered face as well as Momo's light blush, he turned to see people crowding around Katsuki. He almost laughed loudly as soon as he saw Katsuki's face, which was torn between pride and anger.
Though it did beg the question that if Ochako and Momo had been recognized... why wasn't he? Izuku shelved that thought away, thinking that it was because the two were girls, therefore they attracted a bit more of the fan base.
Soon enough, they were all walking through the rain with their umbrellas out, joined by Itsuka, Yui, and Setsuna.
"I hope Iida is alright," sighed Izuku as soon as they caught sight of the school.
"Good morning everyone!"
They all turned around to see Tenya wearing a poncho and rain boots, running past them all.
"Why are you all walking so slowly!? You're going to be late!" shouted Tenya.
"Late? We still got 5 minutes!" yelled Setsuna.
"Too early," yawned Yui, a bit tired due to the rain.
Still, at his words, all of them started to jog, if not only to catch up with Tenya.
"U.A. students should always arrive ten minutes early!" fired back Tenya.
"Well, he's not wrong," nodded Momo, "Especially after our two days off. Who knows what will happen in class. Especially us student class presidents might have to help out."
"Fair enough. C'mon Tokage, let's go!" said Itsuka.
Soon enough, they had made it into the school and were placing their umbrellas down and their shoes into the shoe lockers. It was at this time, Izuku decided to ask.
"Iida, are you-"
"If it's about my brother, there is no need to worry," interrupted Tenya as he took off his poncho, "I apologize for worrying you needlessly. I was unable to answer my phone for a while, thus unable to reply to the texts you sent. Instead, I should apologize for not congratulating you on your victory at the Sports Festival."
With that, Tenya walked off to class, leaving Izuku and the others to shake off the water from their umbrella. As Tenya walked away, Izuku couldn't help but gaze at Tenya's back with concern written on his face.
Shortly, they were all in their respective classes, each one of them eagerly discussing the aftermath of the U.A. Sports Festival and the attention they attracted. Izuku himself was talking with Momo and Kyoka when Shoto suddenly tapped his shoulders, grabbing his attention.
"Midoriya, it may not be much, but I apologize for what my shitty father said yesterday in front of live television," apologized Shoto, confusing Izuku and Momo.
"Say what?" blinked Izuku, "What did Endeavor say?"
"You mean you don't know?" piped in Kyoka, "It was some pretty mean stuff."
"Yea, how do you not know?" asked Mineta, as he sat behind Izuku.
"I was at Tokyo Disneyland with a few others," replied Izuku, jerking his head towards Momo and Katsuki, "After that, some... stuff came up the occupied most if not all of our time."
Before anyone could even tell Izuku about anything, the door slid open. Immediately, they all took their seats.
"Morning," grunted Shota as he walked in.
"Good morning!" greeted the students in unison.
"Gero? Aizawa-sensei, your bandages are gone," noted Tsuyu with a smile, "I'm glad." Having had a first-hand view of the damages the Nomu had inflicted upon him, it certainly was a relief to see him all healed up... except for the prominent scar under his right eye. Kyoko, Denki, and Mineta nodded in agreement, having also seen the damages.
"The old lady went overboard with her treatment," huffed Shota as he scratched his face, "More importantly, we're having a special hero informatics class today with 1-B, so we'll be meeting up in a larger classroom. Meet up at 1-S in 5 minutes. Grab your bags."
With that, Shota waltzed out of the classroom. It took about two seconds for the students to process this before quickly grabbing their backpacks and speed walking to 1-S, a special classroom meant to hold at least three classes at once.
Class 1-A soon met up with 1-B and Hitoshi at the entrance of the classroom, and hastily entered, grabbing seats wherever they could.
"Is it a quiz? I hope it's not," whispered Denki to Hanta.
"That'd be so cruel to do after our break," whimpered Mina to Eijiro.
"If its related to hero laws and stuff, I'm screwed," whimpered Eijiro back.
"Please don't let it be something serious," Kosei hissed to Neito.
"Maybe one of us will lose our position as a student in the Hero Course," suggested Yui bluntly.
"No way that could be it," hissed Setsuna, though not with much confidence.
Yuga could only sink down in his seat, hoping it wasn't him. He had gotten last place within all the Hero Course students.
It didn't take long for Vlad and Shota to enter.
"Code names," started Shota.
"Today is the day you'll be coming up with your hero names," announced Vlad.
That stirred most of the students up in a frenzy of excitement for one second before Shota's eyes flashed red, his hair rising as they flashed, activating his quirk while intimidating all the students to quickly calm down.
"This is related to the pro hero drafts that Sekijiro-sensei and I mentioned the other day," continued Shota as his hair came back down, "The drafts begin in earnest in the second and third years after students have gained experience and can become immediate assets to the pros."
"In other words," continued Vlad, "For them to extend offers to first years like you all reveals that they're interested in your future potential. But be careful, these offers are often canceled or are retracted if interests die down before graduation. So you can't stagnate."
"That means we'll have to prove ourselves once we get picked," chimed in Toru.
"That's right, and here are the totals for those with offers," nodded Shota as he pushed a remote he had been hiding. Vlad did the same thing, pointing to another projector.
Side by side, the offers for each class and its students were projected onto the blackboard. However, there was a stark difference in the amount offered to 1-A. The first one and the highest amount of offer alone was 5123 for 1-A while 1-B's highest was only 234. Curiously, the names were not listed on who had what offers.
"It's usually more spread out among all the students, but as you can see, 1-A took more than usual this year, especially the top two," pointed out Shota.
Murmuring immediately broke out between the students at such a skewed scaling.
"Clearly they are blind to see the majesty of 1-B, taking into all that flashiness," pouted Monoma.
"Hey wait, where are their names?" asked Pony.
The other students blinked as they noticed that there were indeed no names on the offers.
"Usually, we would have just done this in your homeroom class without mixing the classes, but this is a special case," explained Vlad "Not only will you be doing your hero names and looking at offers, but it was decided that we cover a bit more about the topic of media. We usually don't go over this subject until later in the year, but a certain interview forced our hand."
"Please raise your hand if you saw the live interview with Endeavor last night," groaned Shota with a bored tone. One of the reasons why he became an underground hero was so he didn't have to deal with the media.
Roughly half the students raised their hands in response. The other half that hadn't seen were those that went to Tokyo Disneyland with Izuku, Tenya as he was more preoccupied with his brother's conditions, and a few others with other business.
"I'm guessing the other half did not watch it due to extenuating circumstances?" asked Vlad, "Well we'll reveal the names and then explain more about the results."
Staff room
Meanwhile, Toshinori was whistling as he sat down, opening up the computer on his desk. His mind couldn't help but wander off back to Inko and that kiss. His face gave off a goofy expression once more as his computer finished booting up before quickly navigating through it, pulling up the internship list.
"I wonder how many offers young Midoriya has," mused Toshinori, "I bet he has a thousand, no more than that, two thousand, no probably over five thousand! I don't need to worry about him not getting any offers! Now let's see... young Midoriya, young Midoriya... there it is!"
Toshinori blinked as his eyes traced across Izuku's name to the number of internships offered. He rubbed his eyes again to make sure he was looking at it right before using his finger to make sure his eyes were correctly tracking Izuku's name to the number of offers.
"All Might, are you alright?" asked Cementoss as he noticed Toshinori's blank expression.
"Ah, Cementoss, perhaps you can help me with this," smiled Toshinori as he leaned back, "Tell me, is this perhaps a shortened abbreviation for the amount of offers given to this student so as to save ink and space?"
"Ah no, that's the actual amount," sweatdropped Cementoss.
"What? But... How?" asked Toshinori, flabbergasted.
"You didn't see yesterday's interview with Endeavor?" asked Cementoss as he quickly navigated through Toshinori's computer, pulling up a browser and quickly typing in the video's name, "Here, watch this and you'll understand the results... however idiotic it is."
Back to class
When the names popped up, most students began scanning the list for their own names.
"Those pros don't know a good thing when they see one," huffed Yuga when he saw his own name absent from the list.
"Midoriya, Midoriya," muttered Izuku as he trailed down the list before finding his name. His jaws dropped at what he had been offered. Quite a few others also looked shocked at the results.
"As you can see, the results are rather surprising considering the aftermath of the Sports Festival, but as you can see, the media plays a heavy role within the hero society," explained Shota, pointing to the results for 1-A.
Katsuki Bakugo- 5,123
Shoto Todoroki- 4,824
Momo Yaoyorozu- 637
Ochako Uraraka- 601
Tenya Iida- 354
Mina Ashido- 150
Eijiro Kirishima- 95
Denki Kaminari- 55
Midoriya Izuku- 10
Hanta Sero- 1
"Sensei! Although I am glad to see I have offers, I must ask how is it that Midoriya, who won the Sports Festival, received so little offers? Was there a mistake in the system? A crash perhaps at the volume of offers that he should've received?" asked Tenya.
"No, Midoriya only received ten offers despite his victory," replied Vlad, "This is why we're tying in the media topic with the results."
"I hope you haven't started explaining without me!~" chimed in Midnight, suddenly opening the door.
Hanta, Denki, Mineta, and Kosei couldn't help but grin at just who was walking in, flaunting her hips and chest as she seductively walked in the class.
"I'm here not only to help choose your hero names but to also explain you the effects of media onto your hero lives," smirked Midnight, "As I, being the one with the most experience with the media in U.A. as well as being the head of communications, can help explain all this. Now if you see here..."
Midnight pointed her remote at the wall, changing the screen so only Izuku's name was shown, "This is after Endeavor's interview. And this is before that."
Izuku's offer went from 5 to 7,324 in one go.
"Gah, what the hell is that difference? Are there really that many hero agencies in all of Japan?" asked Minoru.
"Some of those offers actually came from out of the country," supplied Vlad, "Not many, but a few."
"And so, how did this offer get reduced so fast? Well, let's watch the video. For those who already watched it, just remain silent for the others," instructed Midnight as she pulled up the relevant video.
Shota himself had already gone to sleep.
Interview video
"Hello, and welcome to Hero Live Time. Today's topic is all about the U.A Sports Festival! We're going to start off with the first-year students. I'm your host, Shinobu Kumiko! The fights, especially the tournament, was really hot! And speaking of hot, we invited a hero into the studio to discuss more about this! Please welcome the number two hero in Japan, Endeavor!"
A rain of applause poured out as the camera panned over to Endeavor walking into the studio, taking a seat near Shinobu.
"Thank you for coming. We were really surprised when you accepted our guest invitation to our show," said Shinobu.
"It's a pleasure to be here," replied Endeavor.
The truth was, the studio hadn't actually sent an invitation to Endeavor, but rather he had more or less forced himself into the time slot. Of course, the studio wasn't going to refuse the request of the number 2 hero, as it would increase their ratings.
"Now then, tell us, what do you think of the quality of U.A's hero students today?"
The conversation went back and forth a bit, with Endeavor giving more neutral answers and so forth. Soon, the topic had reached towards what Endeavor had specifically wanted to address upon.
"So, tell us, what do you think about the ending of the tournament? Your son was given a chance to compete again even after losing by a ring out, but he refused. How do you feel about that?"
"My son was merely showing humility and honor, something a hero should have," stated Endeavor, "If given the chance though, he would have defeated this Izuku Midoriya."
"So you feel like the current winner of the Sports Festival for the first year doesn't deserve the spot?"
"I am refusing to acknowledge him as the winner as he won by lucky circumstances. If he had fought in the west block where all the real fighters were, where my son was, he wouldn't have made it to the finals. If he fought any of those competitors there, he might not even have a chance to fight my son."
"Interesting theory, but what about when he destroyed the giant robot in the first round, and the speed he showed in the second round?"
"Just because he has brute strength and speed does not make him the strongest automatically. I have dealt with villains who were 'stronger' than me in muscles or faster than me, but I easily dealt with them. Midoriya is the same. My son would have instantly frozen him. With his body encased in ice, there would be no contest."
"And the other fighters? Like the second-place winner, Katsuki Bakugo, who had to be chained up during the award ceremony."
"Most likely merely upset that he could not further prove his strength, which is understandable. I wouldn't acknowledge losing to the first place winner just because I had fought someone stronger than him. And he won only by mere technicality, but that unyielding spirit is certainly admirable."
"And what about the East side? There were certainly some talented fights. Like Midoriya's first opponent, Nieto Monoma, who copied a rather powerful fire quirk. In fact... it almost seemed like it was yours."
"Whether he did so or not isn't the question. It's rather if he could use it correctly. Despite all his attacks, if the copycat did copy mine, he only used a very small fraction of my true power. Any higher, and Midoriya would have been knocked out of the tournament by ring out, surrender, or being burned to unconsciousness. And then his later matches were disgraceful and full of trickery. He 'won' his next match by forcing his opponent to step out of the ring earlier than he landed. His opponent after that forfeited due to not wanting to be hurt. Then his final match was also won by default."
"I see... if you put it that way I suppose it does make sense."
The rest of the conversation began to drift off into the other years.
Midnight stopped the video, snapping her whip into the ground to grab everyone's attention once more.
"And there you have it. One of the top ten heroes made it sound like Midoriya didn't rightfully earn his spot, and not only that, made it a point to show everyone that he wasn't sending an offer to him. A few more agencies pulled back their offers from that interview *cough forced by Endeavor cough*, and soon, everyone was pulling their offers back. Though I hope nobody here thinks the same as Endeavor does."
Most of the students shook their heads in agreement with Midnight. They had seen Izuku deal with the Nomu, and knew Endeavor was literally blowing a lot of hot air. Monoma did try to raise his hands to disagree with Midnight, only to get his seat kicked by Hitoshi.
"And so, as a result of his opinion, a lot more students who fought on the West side of the tournament bracket received more offers than anyone from the East side. But this topic is a perfect example of how your words can be construed by the public and other heroes when you're being interviewed."
"And Monoma, before you think of any of your insults, need I remind you just how many offers you got?" added Vlad.
Monoma could only sink into his chair and sulk at that. Peeking back at the board, he had received 0 offers. The one who had received the most offers in their class was Itsuka, who despite being on the East side of the tournament bracket, got past 200 offers.
"Keeping these results in mind, whether you were requested or not, you will all be participating in internships with Pros," revealed Midnight, "Thus is why we will be working on your Hero names! And Midoriya, don't worry about the offers. It just means that those who sent it see your true potential and aren't easily swayed by some big shot's words. I'm hoping you'll take my offer."
Midnight gave Izuku a seductive look while licking her lips, causing many rebellions to arise in most of the teenager's pants.
"Hero names used by students tend to be recognized by society, and most end up becoming their Professional Hero names," explained Midnight, cutting back to the topic.
"Though there are chances to change the name after this," added Vlad, "For instance, I originally went with Blood man, but changed it to Vlad King later on. Nonetheless, do take this lesson seriously."
Portable whiteboards and erasable markers were passed out amongst the class. A few minutes in, Midnight went ahead and announced that they would be presenting their hero names to each other. Quite a few of them became nervous at the thought of presenting to the whole class. Before anyone could even be called, Yuga confidently stood up, walking up to the front to present his name.
"Here I go," breathed in Yuga, "Shining Hero: I can not stop twinkling! Which means, you can't stop my sparkles!"
'It's a sentence!?' thought the majority of the class.
"It'll be easier if you take out the 'I' and use the contraction form of can not just can't," advised Midnight as she edited the hero name.
"You're right, mademoiselle," smiled Yuga.
'Wait, that's okay?' thought the majority once more.
"Then allow me to present mine next," volunteered Ibara, taking Yuga's spot, "The Gentle Heroine: Maria."
"Oooh, sounds like a nice name to inspire hope!" smiled Midnight, "Let's keep going!"
Names flashed by as students began presenting their own names. A few names, like Alien Queen from Mina, King Explosion Murder from Katsuki, and Rip and Tear from Togaru were promptly rejected due to copyright infringement or from sounding too violent. Others like Uraravity from Ochako, Creati from Momo, and Battle Fist from Kendo were promptly accepted. A few needed adjustments, like Yui's original hero name as she had gone with Size Hero: Size Matters. Midnight had to explain that while the name wasn't too offensive, it could be easily misconstrued by everyone, thus changing the name from Size Matters to Rule.
"All right, choosing hero names is going more smoothly than I thought it would! All that's left is Bakugo and Togaru, who need to rethink theirs, Iida, Tsunotori, and Midoriya," announced Midnight as she looked around the room. Even Shinso had the chance to present his name, Catechize, though he wasn't sure why he needed to present.
'What should I do for my hero name?' mused Izuku as he spun his marker.
While he had been partly paying attention to his fellow students presenting their hero names, he had been thinking about his own. Izuku closed his eyes, his mind flashing back to an old memory when he was presenting his hero name to his mom. It had been rather embarrassing as each and every single one of them had been some sort of homage to All Might, even straight out using the name and tacking something on the end.
'While I'd like to do some sort of homage to All Might for training me as Kirishima did, I also owe Rekai a lot for teaching me,' mumbled Izuku as he began to write something, only to erase it while Pony went up to present her name, using her first name as her Hero name.
'So what to use?' hummed Izuku, thinking also about One for All and the devil fruit inside him.
Will of D
Izuku snapped his head around, trying to find out who had just said that. It was at this time Monoma had been ready to fire a spitball at the back of Izuku's head when Izuku turned his around. Being made of rubber, Izuku didn't bother turning his body, just his head and neck, resulting in him looking backward with his torso still forward, like an owl.
The sight of that freaked Monoma out as he quickly put down his spitball, sitting up straight and looking away from Izuku.
'What was that!?' thought Izuku as he rotated his head back again, looking down at his whiteboard, 'For some reason, those words resounded heavily within me. But I've never heard of this Will of D before. And yet... they sound familiar. But how? D... D... that gives me an idea.'
Izuku's gaze flashed over to Ochako for a second, giving a small smile to himself as he began writing something down.
Meanwhile, Tenya was looking down at his own board, hesitating on the name that came in mind. Back at the hospital, his brother confessed that he would most likely no longer be able to carry the name of Ingenium as a hero. It had been heartbreaking for Tenya to see his own brother like this. His brother was supposed to have a bright future, leading and teaching sidekicks to grow, to inspire everyone! Only for that future to be ruthlessly cut down by the damn villain named Stain.
"That's why... If you're up for it... will you carry this name for me?" whispered the former Ingenium, now just merely Tensei Iida.
'I... I... I am still... I'm unworthy of such a name as of now,' growled Tenya in his mind as he erased his first words, opting to use his name instead. Shaking his head, he went up to present it, trying to put on a smile to disguise his face.
Soon enough it was down to two students, Izuku and Katsuki. Katsuki went up once more with a new name change.
"Lord Explosion Murder!" shouted Katsuki in anger.
"What part of the word 'Don't put murder' in your hero name did you not understand?" asked Vlad, mystified at the boy's stubborn attempt to put in murder in the hero name.
"Midoriya, are you ready?" asked Midnight as Katsuki sat back down once more in a huff.
"Yea, I think I got one," nodded Izuku as he walked up to the front. Taking a deep breath, he turned his whiteboard around.
Izuku "D.eku" Midoriya
"Eh, you're really going with that name?" asked Eijiro in surprise
"Are you really okay with that?" asked Denki, "I mean, I can think of something cool for you?"
"Ha! Fitting for-," started Monoma, only for his seat to be kicked by Itsuka.
"Yea, I used to dislike the middle part... but someone changed the meaning of it for me. It gave me a new perspective on it. To inspire hope, to say 'you can do it'! So I've decided to take it as my hero name," explained Izuku.
Ochako couldn't help but smile at that explanation while Momo, Itsuka, and Tsuyu glanced at Ochako. She had just unintentionally gained a huge lead on them, but they weren't going to give up.
"Hmm, interesting," nodded Midnight, "But can you explain to me why the emphasis on the D part?"
"I'm... err... not entirely sure," admitted Izuku, "But it felt right to put that. I think it's something that I read, something about... the Will of D."
"Will of D?" echoed the entire class.
"I'm not sure how to explain it, but it really stuck in me," chuckled Izuku, "I can't remember where I got it from, but the name brings big changes in an era or something like that."
"Well if you like it... then go for it!" cheered Midnight, "It certainly has a unique flair on itself. Not to mention D can stand for anything later on. I half-expected you to go with some sort of name with stretching or being made of rubber. Or even the straw hat you wear."
"Alright, that's enough," yawned Shota as he woke up, "Now everyone's chosen a hero name (I fucking haven't yet!-Katsuki) Let's get back onto the topic of internships. They'll last for a week, and as to where you'll have them, those with offers from pros will be given your own lists so you can choose for yourselves. Those without offers will choose from among forty agencies around the country that will be accepting our interns."
"Keep in mind that each place offers different specialties, so choose carefully," nodded Vlad.
"For instance, Thirteen focuses more on rescues from accidents and disasters than fighting villains," explained Midnight.
"Think carefully before you choose," warned Shota, "We'll be passing out the lists back in class. That's all."
"Yes sir!" replied the whole class.
"Vlad, take my class to their room. I'll take Shinso to his," grunted Shota.
"Already ditching your class to me," mumbled Vlad as he called the class presidents to get their class in line.
"So what happens to me?" asked Hitoshi as he walked with Shota, "Do I get to choose from the forty agencies?"
"No," replied Shota, "As you're still a reserve student, you don't get that."
Hitoshi clenched his fist and was ready to say something until Shota flicked a piece of paper in front of him, "Instead, you get these few choices. I had to pull some strings and favors for this."
Hitoshi looked down as Shota continued, "Personally, the first one would probably suit you the best."
Hitoshi blinked as he looked at the list with a few names on it.
Ms. Joke's Agency
Gang Orca Agency
HellHound Agency
etc.
"Why can't I just intern with you?" asked Hitoshi, looking up at Shota, "I mean, you're the one who taught me how to fight and all that, You're the one who gave me my chance."
"Our quirks are too different," explained Shota, "You can't just look to me to grow. I can teach you how to fight, but you also have to learn more about your quirk. Ms. Joke's quirk, Outburst, forces her opponents to laugh hysterically, thus hindering their own abilities. However, in order for it to work, she has to make them laugh, or even chuckle. So quite a few villains tried to fight her, knowing well how to counter her quirk. However, Ms. Joke has defeated them easily. The reason why is because she can easily read facial and body expressions. She tests out a variety of jokes to see which ones are the most effective. Once she gets a lock, she expands on that until she breaks that mask of indifference to her jokes. Not only that, but she is just as qualified to teach you close-quarters combat, as she usually knocks her opponents out with a well-placed blow."
"My hope is that you will learn from her how to read expressions. While you may not have the same quirk, the activation is quite similar. You can use that sharp tongue of yours to force villains to reply to you without thinking, thus capturing them."
"And the other few?" asked Hitoshi in curiosity.
"I know you still have that 'villainous' outlook on yourself still. So I figured working with a few heroes that have been voted 'looks like a villain' would help curb that outlook," shrugged Shota, "But I still think the first one on the list is the best for you. Take your time to think about it, though."
'Not to mention the favor I owe her for sending an offer,' shivered Shota.
Flashback
"Hey Eraser, it's a surprise that you're calling me!" laughed Ms. Joke, aka Emi Fukukado, "Did you call to marry me!?"
"No," shot down Shota.
"Hahaha, you're funny," laughed Ms. Joke, "What's up?"
"I need a favor," confessed Shota, "I want you to send an offer to Hitoshi Shinsho."
"Hoo, a favor? And for the reserve Hero Course student no less. Tell me, is he your apprentice?" teased Ms. Joke.
"I'm hanging up now," Shota curtly stated.
"Alright, alright, I was planning on sending him one anyways. I might try to lure him to Ketsubetsu Academy High School," snorted Ms. Joke.
"Please don't," sighed Shota.
"Fine. However, I expect something from this!" stated Ms. Joke with a serious tone.
"I'll send you a box of your favorite chocolates," said Shota.
"Oh no, not this time," scoffed Ms. Joke, "I want something else. Something more than food. I promise it's not marriage."
"What?" asked Shota, trying to push down the feeling of dread rising within him.
"I want a real date, a romantic date, not one where we just eat at some fast food or when we team up to take out villains. I want a date where our job doesn't interfere with us. Like maybe go to a place together sometime, and eat some actual food," Ms. Joke stated her condition.
"... Fine," sighed Shota, "We'll find a date to do this... 'date'."
"Oh, and clean up before you come. No wearing your hero costume," shouted Ms. Joke, "Now if you excuse me, I have stuff to do."
Flashback ends
Soon, lunchtime arrived, allowing the Hero Course students to browse through the choices they had. After all, they still had regular classes they needed to pay attention to before having more time to look at their choices.
"Ne, ne, did you guys already decide what Pro agency you're going to?" asked Mina. She was happy she got quite a few offers, but looking at it now, it was probably thanks to Endeavor endorsing the West side of the tournament bracket over the East side. She barely did anything to prove herself, to be honest.
"I'm going with Mt. Lady," declared Mineta confidently.
"You're thinking of something perverted, aren't you?" called out Tsuyu, to which Mineta vehemently denied.
"Ah, that's right, Mt. Lady! Midoriya, explain your note about that!" shouted Toru, surprising Izuku for a bit.
"What note?" blinked Izuku, trying to connect what Toru was talking about.
"Your analysis of me in your notebook," reiterated Toru, "You had something about my costume related to Mt. Lady. Or rather the lack of my hero costume. And about hair."
"Oh... OOHH!" nodded Izuku, "I remember now. It's like this. Haven't you ever wondered why Mt. Lady's costume doesn't seem to rip when she grows into her titan form? Or how it never sags when she turns back to her normal height?"
"That... hadn't crossed my mind, but that's a good point," nodded Toru.
"I wish her costume would rip," muttered Mineta, only to be slapped in the face by Tsuyu's tongue.
"So I theorized that perhaps her costume is made out of special threads, maybe made with her hair as the base, since her hair grows and shrinks along with her," explained Izuku, "I considered something like that for my own hero uniform, but decided against it as I prefer the vest and shorts."
"Hmm, that sounds expensive... but if I can get a whole batch of undergarments that are invisible, then I won't be so exposed anymore! I can run without my chest moving around all the time and without the back pain! And I can actually not expose myself down there, giving it at least some protection! Thanks, Midoriya!" exclaimed Toru, suddenly leaning down and giving him a peck to his cheek, "To the teacher to ask about my uniform!"
"You merely need to head to the Support Department to request any costume changes needed," advised Momo, though giving Toru a small glare, as was Ochako and Tsuyu.
"To the Support Department then!" shouted Toru as she opened the door, running out of the classroom.
"I wonder if she knows where the Support Department is," mused Kyoka with a smile.
"So, let's talk about our choices during lunch?" suggested Izuku, trying to get rid of the blush that had suddenly formed on his face.
"That sounds like fun!" grinned Mina, hanging off of Eijiro, "Let's go!"
Izuku tried to invite Tenya, only to find him already gone from the classroom. Sighing at that sight, Izuku stood up to head over to the cafeteria for some food.
"So, you guys already know who you're going to go for?" asked Mina once more.
They were all sitting at another classroom they had managed to commandeer for themselves. Inside the classroom was Izuku, Momo, Ochako, Tsuyu, Mina, Eijiro, Kyoka, and much to their surprise, Katsuki from 1-A, while Itsuka, Yui, Setsuna, Kinoko, Reiko Tetsutetsu, and Pony from 1-B joined them.
"Fourth Kind," replied both Tetsutetsu and Eijiro before turning to each other, "You're going there too? Sweet!"
"I'm going with Battle Hero: Gunhead's agency!" cheered Ochako.
"Eh, really? Gunhead specializes in fighting villains, does he not?" asked Momo.
"Yep, I got an offer from them," smiled Ochako.
"I thought you wanted to be more like Thirteen?" asked Izuku.
"Yea, but fighting Bakugo at the Sports Festival made me think- the stronger I get, the more possibilities I'll have! If I do only what I want to do, I'll have a narrow perspective," explained Ochako.
"Tch," grumbled Katsuki from the side, but slightly smirking as he dug into his food.
"Still deciding," voiced Yui, with Kinoko and Reiko stating the same thing.
"Bleh, we still got time to think about this!" grinned Setsuna, "I'm going to do some more research with Pony here since she's having a hard time reading what choices she has."
"Thank you for helping me," thanked Pony.
"If you need some help with what hero does what, I can always help out. I have notes on a lot of them," offered Izuku.
"We might take you up on that offer," waved Setsuna.
"I think I will go with Uwabami. She's fairly popular," mused Momo.
"I was thinking of going with her too!" cheered Itsuka.
"Feh, if you wanna be stuck in modeling and advertisement and doing useless shit, go for it," scoffed Katsuki, surprising everyone except Izuku.
"Excuse me?" asked Momo, her eyes bulging in surprise.
"While Bakugo's explanation could be gentler, he's not exactly wrong, per se," winced Izuku, "Uwabami is a popular search and rescue hero, but she's a bit more into charity, modeling, and sponsorship. If you do intern with her, you'll more likely be stuck helping her with a commercial, and when it's time for patrol, you might end up helping organizing lines while people clamor for her signature."
Momo and Itsuka looked down at their list before promptly crossing off Uwabami's offer, looking for another choice.
"Gero, while it's not too surprising that Izuku-chan knows about different heroes, how does Bakugo know?" asked Tsuyu curiously.
"Yea, how do you know?" nodded Mina.
"Our moms," started Katsuki, pointing to himself and Izuku, "Are models themselves sometimes. The old hag bitches about Uwabami sometimes, trying to steal her modeling partner, which is Deku's mom."
"No way, you have models as moms!?" shouted Mineta, suddenly slamming the door open, "I demand photos! Who are they? What do they look like!? Do you have explicit photos of th-"
Mineta didn't get to finish as Izuku's arm suddenly stretched out, grabbing Mineta by the head.
"Finish that sentence, and I feed you to Bakugo," growled Izuku as Katsuki's hands began to crackle with small explosions, "Now, is there anything else you need?"
"No," squeaked Mineta.
"Good, then bye," stated Izuku as he 'lightly' threw Mineta down the hall.
"Well, can't say he didn't deserve that, it wasn't manly to ask such a thing," frowned Eijiro.
"I know, right!?" nodded Tetsutetsu.
"So, have you chosen?" asked Itsuka, switching topics swiftly.
Izuku looked down at his list once more before looking up, "I'm planning to go with Kamui Woods. I could learn some new capture techniques."
'Also glad that he came through with his promise,' thought Izuku, remembering when Kamui Woods said he would send him an internship, back when he rescued Katsuki. It seemed so long ago already. Not only that, but he also noticed Death Arms had also sent him an offer.
Momo leaned over to take a peak at Izuku's list before noting something in surprise, "Uwabami also sent you a request, too. How surprising."
"Probably because she knows that Inko is Deku's mom," retorted Katsuki, "Probably wants to get to her via the son."
"As much as I hate to admit it, that's probably likely," sighed Izuku, "Where are you going?"
"Best Jeanist," growled Katsuki, "He's the top hero in my offer list. Learn from the best so I can be the best."
Before long, lunch was over, sending them all back to class to discuss more about their choices later on.
As the setting sun gave the school an orange glow, so too were the students preparing to leave. Izuku had finished packing his backpack, prepared to go home with his friends when suddenly...
"I am here in a bizarre position!" shouted All Might as he slid in front of the door in a bowing position, "Would young Bakugo and Midoriya please come with me? I need to speak to the two of you, separately of course, but in private."
A bit mystified, both Izuku and Katsuki obeyed, with Izuku telling Ochako and Momo to just head home without him. Both girls pouted but nodded in agreement as they left.
All Might brought them to the staff room, where he asked Izuku to first stay outside for a bit.
"So young Bakugo, you must be curious why I asked you here?" asked All Might.
"Not really," scoffed Katsuki, "If this is about the shit back at the Sports Festival, I ain't apologizing."
"No, no, of course not," placated All Might with a frown before pulling out a piece of paper, "I have noticed that you have received quite a bit of offers for your internship."
"Yea, so?"
"I called in a favor as a bit of recognition for your will to fight to prove to everyone, despite the damages you sustained. Here is another offer for you. The hero's name is Gran Torino," said All Might as he handed the paper to Katsuki with the address on it.
"Who the fuck is that?" asked Katsuki as he took it, looking at the address, "If it's some no-named hero, I'll pass. I got Best Jeanist lined up already."
"Well he is a retired hero, and even back in the days, he never really cared for rankings," shrugged All Might.
"All the more that I should toss this out," scowled Katsuki as he threw the paper to the side, only for All Might to raise his arm to catch it.
"Now, now, I'm not forcing you to take it, it was merely an offer. He was a teacher at U.A. High for one year, but more specifically, he was my personal mentor during that year, and I learned a lot from him. But if you don't want it, then I'll-"
All Might didn't get to finish as he felt something, or rather someone, crawling up his arms. He looked to the side to see Katsuki crawling up, trying to grab the piece of paper he had tried to throw it away.
"Give me! Mine, mine, mine, mine!" growled Katsuki, trying to grab the paper without using his quirk to boost himself up. A personal mentor of All Might? That was a hell of a lot better than a 4th ranked hero!
"Haha, don't be so eager young Bakugo! Now just let go of my arm and I'll give you the paper," laughed All Might.
Katsuki quickly obeyed, and as soon as the paper was within reach once more, he snatched it away, as if afraid that All Might would retract the offer.
"Anyways, Gran Torino is a rather strict teacher," started All Might, "So you might want to show some respect when you meet him. In fact, when I trained with him..."
All Might trailed off, causing Katsuki to wonder what was wrong with him until he saw All Might's legs quiver.
"He did this... and that... and oh god that... so scary... too scary! Stop trembling legs!" hissed All Might to himself.
'If a mentor can make All Might shake like that, then sign me the hell up!' grinned Katsuki as he stared at the offer.
"A-a-anyways, c-c-could you call young Midoriya in f-f-for me? You're free to go now," said All Might, his whole body still shaking from the traumatic experience.
"Yea sure," nodded Katsuki as he opened the door, "Oy, Deku! Your turn."
Katsuki brashly bumped shoulders with Izuku as they crossed paths before violently slamming the door shut.
"So, what did you want... are you alright?" asked Izuku with a worried tone as he noticed All Might shaking.
"I'm fine. Just... trying to not think about my training with Gran Torino," muttered All Might.
At the mention of his name, Izuku couldn't help but feel a shiver up his spine. How could he not, having trained with the retired hero for a month!? It was back when he was preparing for the U.A. entrance exams, a month after inheriting One for All. Gran Torino had been helping supervise his training to make sure he didn't strain himself, as per Recovery Girl's orders.
Flashback begins
"Alright, you've trained with Toshinori with his useless instruction, now it's time for you to learn from me!" declared Gran Torino after Izuku had finished a heavy workout, "Get ready brat!"
"Let's do this, I'm ready!" yelled Izuku.
Izuku was so not ready. He had his ass handed to him, unable to cope with the speed Gran Torino charged at him with. It wasn't just his speed, but also the fact that he could turn at a whim with his quirk, bouncing off the trash piles like a super bouncy ball in a room. Even with his Ghost Perplexing Steps, Gran Torino and his vast experience easily caught him. Not only that, but when Gran Torino saw that blunt damage wasn't working, he ended up grabbing Izuku's arm and dragging it all around the trash pile before tying it up in a knot. Of course, Izuku was confident that that embarrassing moment wouldn't happen to him anymore, but it had been an eye-opener.
Flashback ends
"Anyways, how are you feeling?" asked Toshinori as he popped out of his All Might transformation, "That interview was completely biased and unfair! Why I should appear on the next open interview to counter that. In fact, I will!"
Before Toshinori could pick up his phone to call the nearest news station, Izuku quickly stretched his arms around Toshinori's hand to stop him from actually going through with that.
"It's alright, I'm not too mad," explained Izuku, trying to calm Toshinori down, "I just look at this another way. All those heroes who sent me offers merely wanted to use my fame to boost their own status. Thanks to Endeavor, he drove away all those away, leaving me with heroes that truly want to help me grow."
"Well when you put it like that way...," grumbled Toshinori, "I guess I can't complain about it too much. If you want, you can always go to Gran Torino for some more training."
"And get my ass whupped? No thanks," snorted Izuku, "Plus, I need some more advice on grappling and capturing enemies, and Kamui Woods is perfect for that."
"Hmm, he is a young hero that's shooting up the ranks," nodded Toshinori, "I'm glad to see you're already prepared for this. In that case I have no worries! I'll be unavailable during the week anyways."
"For what?" asked Izuku curiously.
"Since I passed One for All to you a lot earlier than planned, I have been going through a few medical research groups on regrowing organs, in my civilian disguise, of course. One group has had success in replicating organs due to the combination of quirks from the scientists as well as science itself. We'll be seeing if they can replicate my lungs and stomach for me so I don't have any risk of rejection."
"That's awesome! That means you'll be able to breathe and eat easily soon?" asked Izuku, quite excited at that prospect.
Toshinori shook his head, "Not quite. They have to grow the organs in the lab still. Of course, I'm not letting anyone cut me up except for those that I trust. Recovery Girl will be operating on me, where they'll get a sample of my lung tissues and if they can, some sample of my stomach. There might be some remains in my body that they could use to culture and grow a new stomach, though I don't have much hope for that. But enough about me! I heard about your hero name. Interesting choice, I have to admit. But what's this about the Will of D?"
"Like I said in class, it just... echoed within me," explained Izuku, "What I didn't say is that I think within that it's like... inherited will. Wills that past down from one generation to the next. And with One for All being wills past down to help defeat All for One, I thought it fit."
"Hahaha, that's a fascinating thing. I like it! It's getting late, so you should head home," laughed Toshinori.
Izuku nodded as he quickly left for home, hoping to catch the bus and train in time.
Shota was going through some of the internship papers that some of his students had already submitted. It was no surprise to him that Shoto would be heading to Endeavor to practice the flame part of his quirk. Even if he was an asshole with what he just did, Endeavor was still the number 2 hero in Japan for a reason despite his attitude.
As Shota shuffled through the list, he stared at Tenya's request in surprise.
Hosu City, Tokyo-Normal Hero: Manual Agency
That was the only choice that Tenya had only filled, leaving the two alternatives blank. It wasn't as if Manual's agency would be impossible to get in, but given the amount of offers, Shota was sure that there were better offers than the one chosen.
'Hosu City... don't tell me,' thought Shota.
He himself had been tracking the villain, the one who called himself Hero Killer: Stain. And from what he knew, Hosu City was the most likely place where Stain was right now.
"I'm home," declared Tenya as he arrived at his house.
"Tenya! Did you want anything to eat? I've made a fresh pot of tea on the table as well as some snacks. I'm going to head to the hospital to check on your brother! Do you want to come?" shouted a female voice.
"I'll be fine mom! I have homework I need to catch up on," replied Tenya as he marched up to his room. As soon as he shut his door, he looked at a wall. More specifically, a map plastered on the wall with pictures all over it, with red yarn and various pushpins connecting everything. The photos on the wall were all of Stain's victims, both dead and alive. The red yarns connected from the photo to where they were last discovered. To top it all off, they all formed a trail and a circle right at Hosu City.
"Soon brother, I will find the Hero Killer and bring him down for taking your legs and career away!" swore Tenya.
And done! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I've changed the intern offers for quite a few of them muhahaha. I figure it makes sense since I already had Izuku trained with Gran Tornino back in ch 2. Will Izuku be a part of the Honsu arc? Of course! Just watch how I shove it in!
As for the hero name, in the end, someone mentioned the Deku was too iconic for Izuku, which is true. The other name offers people put in were good, but they didn't pull me. I was tempted with something with rubber or the straw hat, but it didn't work. Then I thought about the D in Deku. It suddenly flashed on me, the will of D. Inherited Will. With One for All being the culmination of past hero wills.
Now, for the omake!
Omake: During the Sports Festival
Inko and Mitsuki were using the lunch break to explore a bit more of all the stands, looking at some souvenirs to take home. Inko had been debating on buying the All Might mask when she heard a loud commotion behind her. Curious she looked towards the source of it, wondering why all these people had gathered around.
"Uwabami, over here please!"
"Please sign this!"
"I love you!"
Uwabami was smiling and waving at the crowd that had gathered around her as usual. With her beauty, grace, and popularity, she always drew in crowds without much effort.
"Damn her," growled Mt. Lady at the side, being forced to patrol with Death Arms and Kamui Woods, "I should be getting all that attention."
"Work harder and you might," shrugged Death Arms, "Uwabami been at that for years already, so she's got loads of experience. Just posturing and jutting your hips and butt won't win against her."
"I'll show her who's the real beauty, just give some time to get into some commercials," barked Mt. Lady.
"I appreciate all the love, but I must be getting back to patrol," smiled Uwabami, yet doing nothing to disperse the crowd. As she scanned the crowd, her eyes caught a familiar tint of green hair. Quickly pushing forward, she soon came face to face with Inko.
"Inko, darling, it's been far too long," grinned Uwabami as she quickly clasped her hands over Inko's own.
"Uwabami, it's nice to see you," replied Inko with a smile. Being a model, she had met with Uwabami on some photoshoots when their modeling agencies worked together. For the life of Inko, she didn't understand why Uwabami would be so nice to her, and yet when it came to Mitsuki, they argued like arch-rivals.
"How are you doing? What brings you here? Did you come alone?" asked Uwabami.
"Fine, here to watch my son Izuku compete in the U.A. Sports Festival, and I came in with Toshinori and-" started Inko, only to be interrupted by Uwabami.
"Wait Izuku? Do you mean Izuku Midoriya? He's your son?" questioned Uwabami.
"Uhh, yes? Why?" blinked Inko.
"Oh, umm, nothing. Just surprised that's all," stammered Uwabami for just a second before smoothly transitioning to her usual self.
'I may need to reconsider Izuku Midoriya, especially since Inko is his mom. He still has a few years to go. He might transform into a hot hunk in his high school years. Maybe I'll send him an internship so I can carefully mold his image, too. Not to mention it'll give me a connection to Inko,' thought Uwabami to herself. She saw a huge talent in Inko's looks and attitude. Perhaps now was the time to snatch her!
"So, I haven't seen you in any works lately," stated Uwabami, switching to another topic, "How about you come with me, and we can work something out. I've got a great new hairspray commercial and another photoshoot preparing for summer clothes and swimwear. I could use another talented model like-"
Uwabami didn't get to finish as her snakes, which was a part of her quirk, warned her of something approaching her face at a high velocity. She quickly moved her head, watching a soda can zoom past her head.
"Hands off shitty Medusa!" snarled Mitsuki as she managed to appear next to Inko, snagging her hand away from Uwabami, "How many times I gotta tell you, Inko is part of my group and my husband's company!?"
"Skin freak!" hissed Uwabami, "And don't call me that! I'm not some hideous snake who petrifies people with a stare! And Inko is free to work with whomever she wants! You can't hide her under your wing forever!"
Mitsuki was well aware of Uwabami's attempts to snag Inko away into her modeling agency, and like hell she was going to allow that. The two of them were partners! They came in a group! She knew Inko herself wasn't too interested in modeling, merely doing it for the money to support herself and Izuku. Not to mention there were quite a few seedier agencies that weren't afraid to get... 'rough and/or sample' with their merchandise, mainly the models. Mitsuki knew Inko was hot, anyone could see that, except for the dumbass ex-husband of Inko, Hisashi.
That was why Inko would work exclusively with Masaru's company and with Mitsuki. Mitsuki was tough enough to beat the shit out of anyone who tried to use their power to force them to do something they didn't want. Masaru was quite high on the corporate ladder, giving him enough power to prevent that from happening. It was to make sure Inko worked in a safe environment. Inko was just too nice and kind, perhaps slightly naive, to work in a cut-throat environment.
Sure, Uwabami could offer the same protection as Mitsuki and Masaru did, but she would try to force Inko to model full time. Not only that, but there was also the matter of pride. Mitsuki would not let anyone poach Inko away from her!
"Now, now, let's not argue," placated Inko as sparks began flying between Uwabami and Mitsuki, their glares clashing like tidal waves, "We're here to enjoy ourselves, right?"
"I'll enjoy myself when Medusa here stops doing what she always tries to do!" shouted Mitsuki.
"Stop calling me that you damn skin hacker!" screeched Medusa, trying to calm herself. Anger and stress would lead to early wrinkles, something she tried damn hard to make sure that didn't happen. She hated that Mitsuki could be angry any time she wanted and not worry about that because her damn quirk, Glycerin, gave her flawless skin quality. She hated Mitsuki specifically for that reason. Well, perhaps 60% of it was that. The other 40% was the attitude.
As crowds of people watching, some were hoping it would escalate to a catfight. Seeing two hot women with clothes that could easily tear off would certainly be something photo-worthy. Some of the patrols were already heading towards them to make sure there wasn't a fight. Fortunately, or unfortunately for a few, the fight was easily de-escalated by...
"I am here to help out with patrol!" declared All Might, suddenly appearing and separating Uwabami and Mitsuki, "Now, now ladies, let's not get too hasty! We're all here to enjoy watching the future generation of heroes prove themselves, not fight among ourselves!"
All thoughts of Mitsuki, Uwabami, or anyone else, in general, was wiped away from the audience and replaced with trying to mob All Might for signatures, etc.