"And you haven't needed help getting home since you were five," she noted, with an odd tone to her voice.
"Hideko," my father stated, just a little warningly. "We talked about this. He's going to be a hero. That means he might get hurt."
"There's being hurt, and there's that, Sugu," she argued, before shaking her head, and turning to me. "I'm sorry, it's, just, I worry."
I wanted to promise her that I wouldn't get hurt like that again, but even if I didn't know what was coming, my very job meant that would still be a lie. "I'll be careful," I said instead, seeing her doubts. "Fighting my classmates, I knew they wouldn't try to really hurt me. Even if things could get a bit crazy, they were prepared. Against others, I won't be so careless."
"And if that's not enough? If that's-" she asked, frowning, startled slightly as my father, lifting a hand, shot a single electrified finger forward, piercing through an apple cleanly with little more than a wet crack. Lifting it over his palm, the rest of his fingers flickering as they sliced into the fruit, dropping it into four roughly sliced quarters, which he caught with piercing tendrils of lightning, all but one dropped down onto the plate beside him.
The last he bit into, expression bland, but his message was clear:
What you could do to fruit, you could just as easily do to people.
"Dad and I... we talked about that too," I told my mother, who nodded, moving over to give me a hug.
Pulling back, she turned to Mina, "And that goes for you too, young lady! If it comes down to that, do what you need to!"
The girl, having sat silent, jumped a little, almost forgetting she was even here. "I, I will," she promised, getting a hug from my mother, before mom hurried back to the kitchen to keep cooking.
"How come you never said you could do that, Sparky?" my girlfriend asked warily, glancing at the half-cut, half-torn pieces of fruit.
I shrugged, "Because I'm not that good." I turned a finger to lightning, which she watched carefully, but when I tried to spear an apple of my own, it only bit in a little, not piercing through. Pulling back and shifting my arm fully, I could spear it, but when I retracted the limb the apple cracked in half on the larger impaling protrusion, and I had to quickly shoot forward another electrified hand to catch the pieces. "Spears, I've got, but not anything like he can," I revealed, nodding towards my father.
"At your age, neither could I," the man noted, turning to Mina. "Are you staying for dinner?"
She winced starting to get up, "No, I really should get going. I was just, you know, making sure he got home safe."
My father nodded, "Admirable."
Turning to her, I smiled, "What are you doing tomorrow?" She shrugged, so I asked, "Want to go to the festival together?"
The look she gave me was incredulous, then considering, then humorous. "Why not. It'll be nice to see everything from the other side."
Waiting for Mina by the entrance to the school's fairgrounds, the colosseum dead center of the area, I was still a little sore. Not tired, a solid twelve hours of sleep had fixed that, having dropped straight into bed after dinner, but every part of me was aware of what I'd done to it yesterday, though even that'd started to lessen on the train-ride over.
"Sparky!" I heard, turning just in time to get bowled over by Mina, shifting forms for a second to catch us both. "I thought you might not come!"
"I said I would," I frowned, unsure.
"Yeah, but you were totes out of it," she said, grabbing my hand and dragging me over to some of the stalls. "We've got an hour 'fore the first event, and I want to try all the food!"
While not quite achieving that goal, we were both stuffed when we headed to our seats, automatically getting tickets for the main event by being students, which was nice. Sitting down, we were surprised to not only see Midoriya there, but Shoji, Tokoyami, and Momo as well, the last of whom looked cheerily up at us.
"Oh hello!" she smiled, and Mina, giving me a considering look, took the seat listed on my ticket, making me take hers, sandwiching me between them. "Are you here to watch the festival as well?"
"Nah, we're just here for the food," Mina teased, leaning back in her seat.
The other girl blushed, "Ah, that was a silly question, wasn't it. I'm surprised to see you, Denki," she said, looking over me, before blushing again.
"Regeneration," I shrugged, unable to say more as Present Mic started to announce the start of the second-year tournament. The entire thing was going to start with a much larger, more involved version of the king-of-the-mountain event from the recreational games. Everyone was getting a meter that recorded how close they were to the top, giving them more points, faster, the nearer they got to the summit. However, the points for those up top would be reduced by a set rate if there were others up there with them for longer than a few seconds each. On top of that, there were additionally hidden objects on each of the five mountains that, if found, were also worth points.
Settling in to watch them, it was fascinating, the powers people had being used in interesting ways, but despite being a year more experienced, they were just. . . lacking. No, that wasn't fair, it was just that there was no one participating that was in the 'dear-freaking-god' levels of power that the top of our class possessed. To put it another way, I was watching a tournament made of people like Sato, and Sero, and Shoji, without any Bakugo's, Todoroki's, and certainly without any Midoriya's.
Interestingly, the holographic projectors in the stadium turned on after everyone left the stadium to go to the arena, showing enormous screens, split into five windows, one per mountain, so we didn't have to all squint at the smaller displays along the top of the arena, since no-one was there. "Did they do that with us?" I asked.
"Yeah," an older student in the row behind us replied. "Waited until you were all gone, then turned it off when you got close."
"Huh, thanks," I nodded, turning back to watch the show.
After several minutes of mass melee, with Midoriya muttering up a storm, Momo leaned over to me, murmuring, "It wasn't just our events."
Shooting her a questioning look at the seemingly nonsensical statement, she motioned towards one display, where five students were holding a mountaintop, three of whom were using what looked almost like a crew-serviced machinegun, only it was firing pellets that seemed to explode, but instead of damaging their targets, they just blasted back whomever they hit away. The other two students were working with them, one who was controlling an amorphous white substance she was using to block attacks, while the other, a guy with eye lasers, was using his Quirk to push people back, the beams having physical force. A guy wielding whips made of fire cut his way through the material, and dodged the beams, only for lasers to make a hard-right turn, bouncing off nothing at all, and slam the attacker in the side, making him stumble just long enough to get blasted off the mountain by the trio of Support students.
However, those five were the only ones that worked together, everyone else very much on their own, and it showed.
Turning back to the student behind us, who had to be a third-year, given that all the second years were competing, I asked, "Tomorrow, are you going to be teaming up with someone?"
The boy, who looked normal, smiled down at me. "You'll find out tomorrow. Some of my classmates are, though."
"But, isn't it an individual event?" Momo asked, glancing back to him.
"How do Hero Agencies work?" he asked in return. "Now, stop botherin' me, I want to see if fire-girl makes it."
Looking at the screens, a girl with flame-red hair was charging up a mountain, tongues of incandescence flickering up from her arms and legs. From her side a guy lashed out at her with metallic tendrils, and she jumped, but it wasn't enough. However, instead of wrapping around her, her flesh turned to crimson flame at the point of impact, the cords passing through her as she charged up unimpeded.
A fire version of Electrobody? I wondered, not having nearly the fine control level of control needed to do as she did. Only, why is she running normally?
It turned out, that's because she couldn't use her flames to move like I did, not having the larger transformational ability my father possessed. She made it to the top, only to get caught by a stone hand, created by the girl on summit of that mountain. The king, or queen in this case, of that hill was forming canons from the earth itself, firing rocks at anyone who got close, but was only able to keep a few constructs up at a time, the others crumbling to dust as soon as her attention shifted to a new creation.
She knew it, though, and as the hand started to crumble, a canon formed and blasted the fire-girl off, who, while she turned her mid-section to flame, couldn't do anything about the blast of earth formed by the stone cannonball hitting the crumbling stone hand, a shotgun blast of earth shoving her off towards the padded floor far below.
However, that still left the question of what the guy meant about Hero Agencies.
From what I could tell, both from Denki's memories and my own reading, Hero Agencies varied pretty widely in composition, a number of them solo-affairs, but the vast majority possessing one well known Hero, like Endeavor, Hawks, or Best Jeanist, and then a number of 'sidekicks' who did a good deal of the work that was attributed to the main hero, when it was really done by the 'X' Hero Agency, which the public took to be synonymous with Hero 'X' themselves.
Now that I thought about it, there were certain parallels here.
Of the three heroes working the Support Course designed cannon, it wasn't the shooter who was standing directly on the metal plate that housed that mountain's transceiver, but the one who'd set up the gun, and who was making sure it stayed working, the third person on it serving as spotter, with a pistol of their own to take down anyone who'd made it past floating-crème girl and eye-laser boy.
That meant that, while all of them were gaining points, it was the one who'd actually made the gun that was going to come in first among them, like the main Hero in an agency. And even then, the points they were receiving were less than if they'd just taken it for themselves. However, if they took the mountain, and held it, that should be enough to get them to the next round.
That said, all it would take was one of them stabbing the others in the back to gain enough points to surpass the others, and it was interesting to watch, to see if they'd do the right thing to win, or the right thing to be a Hero.
More than the larger competition, as the minutes ticked by, that was what I was waiting for. It'd be easy to justify, as this was a competition, and no one was going to get actually hurt if they did so. Hell, It'd be the smart thing to do, right at the end, to gain that much of an edge, when, in the next match, they could progress without an issue, maybe even without having to worry about the others gunning for them, if things were that close.
But they didn't.
They held.
"And that's the end of the First Round!" Present Mic announced, as the buzzer sounded.
As everyone filed back into the stadium, the giant screens disappearing, Midnight announced the winners.
The team didn't come in first, or even in the top ten or twenty, but in the mid-thirties, less than a dozen spots between them and failure.
"Son of a bitch," I swore quietly, shaking my head, getting an inquiring look from Mina, and a slightly disapproving one from Momo. "They never said how much of a reduction you got for sharing the hill," I explained. "I wasn't sure the team was going to make it."
"If they hadn't set up quickly, or lost the hill, they would've," Midoriya added from several seats over, hands still bandaged, looking at us from over his notebook. "They never could've held it on their own, but maybe they could've held it with less people, meaning less of a divide, but then mutter mutter mutter mutter," he continued on, making notes.
The second game was a capture the flag affair with ten different teams and flags for each contestant. More than that, more flags were dropped in as things continued, and the entire thing was... different. The people who got in did the opposite of what we'd done in the cavalry battle, namely not moving around, as they had to defend designated 'safe' spots they were forced to drop the flags off at, where others could go after them, but were only able to grab a single flag at a time per person, starting with the last one put inside.
Of course every team immediately front-loaded their flags highest to lowest, but once things started utter chaos descended, teams having to try and split up into offense and defense. The smaller teams were, paradoxically, safer, as the others focused on the larger teams with more starting flags, unable to see the point totals, having to rely on listening to Present Mic's commentary to find out who was doing the best.
Unfortunately, the team from the first round didn't make it past this one, able to defend their own reserve, but not attack effectively enough to gather more flags, and laser-eyes was on a different team altogether.
Taking advantage of the break to swing by the food stalls we'd missed the first time, I was rather surprised when two Pros came up and talked to us.
"You did well yesterday," A guy in a blue costume with wooden accents said, his name escaping me. "I've made an internship offer, if you're interested."
His companion, Mt. Lady, grinned at Mina, "And I sent one in for you too! Hope to see you later!"
Mina froze for a moment, before smiling. "Really? That's super cool! I look forward to seeing it."
"Along with the others," I added, smiling as well. "We're not allowed to see them for a few more days, and Eraserhead said he'll go over them with us."
The wood-guy nodded understandingly, while Mt. Lady pouted, giving us an over the shoulder wave as she walked away. Once they were out of earshot, Mina turned to me asking, "Do you think I should-"
"No," I cut her off. "I've actually heard of her, and what I heard wasn't exactly good. Not villainous," I added at my girlfriend's worried look. "Just... not taking things seriously. And I'll probably say no to Woody's, 'cause he's so new."
That and I was hoping to see if I could net myself another power during these internships. Even at a low level, like the one I'd picked up from Nomu. If I could foster and grow it, it'd give me tangible progress, and hopefully let me start to catch up to the ever-increasing gulf between me and the protagonists of this world, but that required the original user to be very skilled with it to absorb it fast enough.
Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about that now, and we got back to having fun at the festival.
Lastly came a tournament, with large arenas, different terrain constructed within for each fight by Cementoss, chosen randomly, and the winner, a guy who created a thirty-foot sphere around himself where he could mess with the direction of kinetic force, won only by the fact that, whenever he was about to moved out of the ring, he just threw himself back in, and the other fighters didn't take advantage of the fact that he had to move everything in the same direction.
I was pretty sure Midoriya could take him.
Soon enough, it was over, and both Mina and I, after saying goodbye to Momo, swung by our lockers to pick up our bags, my girlfriend having asked that I bring a full change of clothes.
As we boarded the train, but she had us get off well before our stop, the area being one we'd gone to several times before, my suspicions were confirmed.
"Is this going to be a thing with us?" I asked, as she led me to a familiar hotel.
She blushed, and shrugged, "Would it be a bad thing if it was?"
"Nope," I grinned, glad I both had a good allowance, and didn't spend it on anything except dates nowadays. Hotel rooms were not cheap.
Soon enough it was just the two of us, Mina grinning as she pushed me down on the bed, taking my shirt off herself as she carefully checked me for any traces of my injuries, and found none.
"So, doc, am I gonna live?" I questioned, getting a snort of laughter and a slap on my chest.
"Ass," she smiled. "So, you pick up any new Quirks?" she asked. "It's so weird that you can do that bee-tee-dubs."
Frowning, I tried to mentally feel myself out for anything new, before shaking my head. "It doesn't work that fast, Mina."
"But you picked up healing after just a little bit," she argued.
I had to shrug. "No idea why, this doesn't come with a manual. And, that guy had a ton of it. He regrew half his body in a few seconds. I heal bruises in minutes. Bit of a difference. Besides," I said, reaching over to her and starting to unbutton her shirt. "We can talk about this later. Now, it's been far too long since we've done this."
Mina laughed. "It's been a week, Sparky."
"I'm glad we agree," I smiled, leaning in to kiss her, which, smiling, she returned.
Neither of us were in any particular hurry, so we took our time, just enjoying being with each other. Unlike the first time, there wasn't the hurried passion of near death, or the coming together after a fight of the second, we were just... together. A great end to a great day.
Taking a break, and ordering room service, we lazily ate, her in my lap, having plopped down with a challenging look, spoiled when I pulled her in for a kiss as she pleasingly twisted against me. Finding myself rising to the situation, again, she laughed, pressing herself against me, before turning back to our food.
Resisting the urge to either toss her on the bed and go another round, or lift her up slightly to see if we could just do both, I held her to me with one hand, that wandered just enough to get her attention, while grabbing my own food with the other.
"So, about Momo," she commented, and I froze, and felt like I hardened a bit more, though that could've just been my imagination.
"Not the topic I thought you'd be thinking of, 'specially like this," I replied, reaching up and tweaking a nipple, and making her shiver as she laughed.
Leaning back against me, she looked up, smiling. "I don't know, she is kind of cute. Besides," she jerked her hips around me. "Somebody likes the topic."
"Somebody's not gonna finish dinner if she keeps it up," I shot back thrusting a little in return. "And I wonder why I'm like that?"
Mina giggled, grabbing another bite, holding the dumpling between her teeth as she looked at me. Rolling my eyes, I craned my head to bite it in half, enjoying it as she ate the rest. "So, Momo," she said again. "You and her up on that pedestal."
I shrugged, "Luck of the draw. If you and her had switched starting positions in the tournament, you would've been up there with me instead of her. Or you and her, if we'd swapped."
My girlfriend's eyebrows knit together cutely. "You don't think you could've beat him?"
"Todoroki's kind of in a category of his own, along with Midoriya. And maybe Bakugo," I added.
"Really? Angry McSplodeypants?" she questioned.
Again, I shrugged. "Not as sure about that one, but it's a possibility. He's a decent fighter, even if he's kind of a dick. If I got hands on him, I win. If I couldn't, he probably would."
She thought about it, and shrugged. "Well, you're his friend. You'd know."
"What?" I asked, surprised and confused, "No I'm not!"
"But you get along," Mina argued. "And you did the entire 'tough love' thing after he got whammied. Just keep it platonic, honey. He's not my type," she teased, reaching up to pat my cheek, laughing at my disbelieving expression.
Shaking my head, I firmly stated. "No. No, no, and hell no."
She grinned, laughing as she leaned against me, which once again distracted me, re-awakening my flagging self, which, thankfully, had been in full agreement with me about the way the conversation had gone. "Soooooooooo, Momo. Any plans?"
"Nope," I answered easily. "You have any?"
"Maaaaybe," she smiled.
I started to reach over for food, but stopped at that. "Mina," I warned. "What are you planning?"
She laughed again. "Nothin' right now, Sparky. Just... sounding her out, a little. Speaking of which, what about your side-chick?"
"... Who?" I asked, thoroughly confused. "I'm not with anyone but you. You know that, so... wait, do you mean Mei?" I questioned, getting a 'Yes!' as she laughed. "Mina, she doesn't like me that way. Hell, as far as I know she's asexual. The only 'babies' she's interested in making with me are her inventions."
At my girlfriend's skeptical look, I opened my hands in a 'I don't know' gesture. "Like, I might be wrong, but if she is, she's been really subtle about it. And, um, if you've met Mei, you know that she doesn't do subtle. Besides, she knows I'm with you, and I'm pretty sure she isn't the type that'd do anything to hurt that. Hell, if she was, I wouldn't be her friend."
"So," she grinned, backing her ass up into me. "You're saying your not," hump, "interested," hump, "at all?" hump hump.
Eye twitching, I stared down at her, trying to look unamused, but failing. "I'm saying I haven't considered it, nor would I ever push you aside for her."
Mina rolled her eyes, slowly lifting herself as she whined, "Spaaaarky," before dropping back down into my lap, flesh slick with the distinct feeling of her weakest acid, which she liked to use as lube. "I'm Teaaaaasing." And again, twice as slick.
"Oh?" Turning an arm to lightning, I moved the tray off the bed. "Well in that case you're being very naughty. And do you know what naughty girls get?"
"Spankings?" she questioned, batting her eyelashes.
With a twist, I dumped her out of my lap, causing her to land on her hands and knees on the bed. A swift slap to her perfect pink ass made her yelp, even as, moving behind her, she moaned in anticipation. Leaning over her, I murmured in her ear.
"And more."
Chapter Forty-One
Time passed, one of my 'recovery' days spent in the workshop with Mei, a full twelve hours spent repairing, tweaking, and enhancing the gear we'd used during the tournament, before I'd finally dragged my partner out from the lab to get dinner. Well, a working dinner, as we bounced ideas and designs back and forth, after which I sent her home, to make sure she got some sleep.
Wednesday rolled around, and school started once again. After helping Mei with the refinements she'd done to my electromagnetic gloves, I wondered down to homeroom where everyone was talking about their new pseudo-celebrity status.
"It's so weird getting recognized," Mina told Asui, who nodded appreciatively.
"Yeah," Kirishima agreed. "A ton of people told me they liked my Fighting Spirit!"
Jiro gave him a skeptical look. "Did they say that, exactly?"
The redhead shrugged, "Close enough. Not givin' up, and determination. Same thing."
I'd gone back to riding the rails to get around, well, power-lines really, so other than a few odd looks when I'd been out with Mei, I hadn't noticed anything, but nodded along regardless. Soon enough, the door slid open and Aizawa walked in with a dull call of, "Morning."
Taking his place behind the podium, he nodded, looking us over. "Good to see you've all recovered. Today you'll only have a Hero Course, but it will run long. We have a big class, on Hero Informatics."
The good mood of the class plummeted, as everyone tried to figure out what the heck that was, including me. Hero information studies? I tried to decipher, only vaguely remembering the term 'informatics' from a computer course I'd taken a while ago. Something about data retrieval?
Eraserhead took in the silent panic, before adding drolly, "You need codenames. Time to pick your hero identities."
As the mood, once again, did a complete 180, most of the class cheering, I had to shake my head. God Aizawa's a drama queen, I thought, as there was no way this was unintentional.
The man activated his Quirk, his long hair floating as his eyes glowed red, and the class quieted in an instant.
"This is related to the Pro Hero draft picks I mentioned last time we were in class together," he continued, as if nothing had happened. "Normally students don't have to worry about the draft yet," the teacher sighed, sounding mildly aggravated, "not until their second or third year actually, but your class is different."
The way he said the word, it sounded like an insult, but glancing around I could tell it didn't damper my classmates' enthusiasm in the slightest.
"In fact," he continued, "by extending offers to first years like you, Pros are essentially investing in your potential. Any offers can be rescinded if their interest dies down before graduation, though."
Given I was pretty sure that, by the time we got to graduation, we would've taken down ten separate criminal organizations, the school would be destroyed, or we'd have fought off aliens or something, that didn't mean a heck of a lot.
Regardless, Mineta pounded his desk, swearing, "Stupid selfish adults," which cause me to look at him in confusion, as that made zero sense. Did he expect these things to be binding contracts with no guarantee of competence from our end, only what they'd seen in a single event?
"So what you're saying is that we'll still have to prove ourselves, even after we've gotten recruited?" Toru asked.
Aizawa nodded. "Correct. Now, here are the totals for those of you who got offers."
The digital display in the 'blackboard' sprung to life, displaying names, and numbers.
Midoriya: 5381
Todoroki: 2612
Kaminari: 2374
Yaoyorozu: 1202
Ashido: 401
Bakugo: 180
Uraraka: 97
Kirishima: 76
Ida: 22
Sero: 13
Sato: 3
"In past years it's been more spread out, but there's some pretty big gaps this time," Eraserhead noted, waving at the sharp declines between Midoriya and Todoroki, Myself and Momo, and then to everyone else.
"Huh," I commented, looking them over, surprised I'd placed as close to Todoroki as I had. Then again, except for Mina's and Midoriya's fight, his response to everything had been 'throw a glacier at it', which, while undoubtedly effective, had been pretty tactically... lacking, for anything close to normal hero-ing.
Bakugo growled, "I don't need their fuckin' pity offers."
To my left, Jiro tapped her lips with a jack in thought, finally commenting, "They're probably for what you did in the first two rounds. Momo made it clear what happened to you in the finals."
The angry boy grunted, folding his arms, but didn't disagree.
"You got quite a few offers, you must be proud," Momo told Shoto, who just looked annoyed.
"They're probably because of my father," the two-tone boy dismissed coldly.
Ochaco, meanwhile, was ecstatic. "People want us! They really, really want us!"
Leaning over to my girlfriend, I commented, "You deserved more."
Mina just laughed, shoving me back, "Oh, come on, you're just being nice." From her smile though, and the look she gave me, I could tell it was embarrassment talking.
"Damn, Midoriya," Sero smiled, nudging the shocked boy. "You really cleaned house."
Izuku blinked, a slow grin spreading, "I... I guess I did. Oh, but who to pick? Oh, there's so many! Should I go with specialization, or maybe experience, or ranking -no, that's not a good metric-, or maybe-"
"You tellin' me you didn't already plan this, ya shitty nerd?" Bakugo nearly snarled at him.
The green haired boy blinked. "Well, um, no, not really," he replied sheepishly.
Before the explosion teen could go off, again, Aizawa's voice cut over the classroom noise. "As I said, normally first years aren't picked, and definitely not in these numbers. Despite these results, you'll all be interning with Pros, got it? Even those of you who didn't get any offers."
"Oh, we're all interning?" Midoriya asked. "Good."
"Yes," Eraserhead replied, those who hadn't placed perking up at the news. "You already got to experience combat with real villains during the attack on the USJ facility, but it'll still be helpful to see Pros at work, up close and personal, in the field, first hand."
"If it's not people that made offers, then who?" I asked, interested, as I didn't remember them explaining this part.
The Pro nodded in my direction, acknowledging the question, "UA has a large number of heroes we work with to provide practical experience. Just by being in the program you've shown a base level of ability, but that doesn't mean you should slack off when you're out on your internships."
"And for that we need hero names!" Sato smiled, Uraraka adding, "Things are suddenly getting a lot more fun!"
Looking over us, Aizawa explained, "These hero names will likely be temporary, but take them seriously, or-"
"You'll have hell to pay later!" Ms. Midnight announced, opening up the door and striding in. "What you pick today could be your codename for life," she told us, sashaying, hands up and behind her head for maximum 'appeal', "You better be careful, or you could be stuck with something utterly indecent."
"Yeah, she's got a good point," Eraserhead agreed, reversing his earlier statement. "Midnight is going to have final approval over your names. It's... not my forte," he admitted, eye twitching slightly. "The name you give yourself is important. It helps reinforce your image and show what kind of hero you want to be in the future. A codename tells people what you represent. Take All Might, for example."
Whiteboards and markers were handed back, and I looked at mine, before coming to a horrifying conclusion.
I had no fucking clue what I wanted to be called.
What the hell had Kaminari called himself? Taser-something? Charge-volt? Even searching the memories I'd picked up, he'd never really thought about it before.
We were, thankfully, given a few minutes to figure it out, and I grabbed my phone from my bag, along with a few others. The teachers didn't complain, likely because as part of the process we needed to look up names, if only to see if any idea we had was already taken. Midnight's Branding, sorry, 'Modern Hero Art History' class had been clear that taking a name of a minor, forgotten hero was fine, but taking one of anyone still active, or who'd achieved a certain level of fame, was a no-go.
As such, I was able to jump into chat.
Sparky: Guys, I have no idea what to call myself.
Pinky: Why not Sparky?
Sparky: Using my friendly nickname as my codename seems... wrong.
Creati: Really Denki? I was going to do just that.
N3c3ss1ty: Hero?
Sparky: Yeah, code-names for hero work.
N3c3ss1ty: Zeus?
I tried it out, but it just felt... pretentious?
Sparky: Not really my thing. I like the mythological reference, but it just seems too much.
Creati: It's also already used.
Sparky: Something based on what I could do, but maybe not that direct.
N3c3ss1ty: Babymaker?
Beside me Mina broke out into giggles, while Momo's quiet, shocked "What?" could easily be heard.
"What's got you so happy?" Miss Midnight, asked, Aizawa already sacked out in his sleeping bag, but my girlfriend just looked up at the lewd heroine, then to me, then broke out into peals of laughter.
Sparky: Mei, no one that doesn't know you will understand you're calling me an inventor. And besides, you're the one who does most of it, I just help.
Mina started to get herself under control, glanced at her phone, then lost it again.
Creati: Phrasing, Denki!
I re-read what I'd written, and sighed.
Sparky: You perverts know what I mean. I'm looking for something electrical, maybe a reference or something. Strong, but not aggressive.
N3c3ss1ty: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Sparky: Thanks anyways
N3c3ss1ty: c u 2mrw
My girlfriend finally got herself under control, glancing at me and giggling, not meeting our teacher's gaze, saying, "Just a terrible name."
"Can't be too bad, if it got you laughing that hard," Midnight countered, interested.
"It's an inside joke," I explained, "I'll explain it after class if you want me to.
Creati: Fulgur?
Sparky: ... better. Maybe. Not sure. Sounds a bit too close to Vulgar in English, but a definite possibility. Better than Sparky.
Creati: I'm still thinking of Creati.
I frowned. Yes, it was her canon name, but it had seemed... off. No, not off, just not a hero name. It wasn't as bad if you were a Japanese speaker, I knew that now, but it was still not the best. I took a moment, trying to put the problem it into words.
Sparky: Names that end in an 'e' sound, are... cute.
Pinky: What's wrong with cute?
Sparky: In a person, nothing. In a Heroine? It makes you seem... young. Inexperienced. Not to be taken seriously.
Doing a quick search, reading the names, as Mina frowned next to me, I nodded.
Sparky: Only one in the top 100 with a name like that is Uwabami, and she banks on her appearance, not her combat prowess.
Creati: Fine. Then what do you suggest?
I leaned back, thinking of that. A creation power, leading to her... somewhat uninspired name, though, again, not as bad if your main language was Japanese. Actually, thinking about it, most hero names were in English. Benefits of it being the international trade language? I guessed.
But she was more than creation, she was capability, adaptable in a way that most weren't. Wait, wasn't there a word for that? I thought. In a few seconds, I had it, and the name followed naturally.
Sparky: Factoria. Feminine name version of the Latin Factotum, meaning 'do everything', given your varied skillsets and capacity to have the right tool for any job.
Pinky: I like it! And you make things! Like a factory!
I facepalmed, not having made that connection.
Sparky: That too.
Creati: I'll think about it. But, Denki, you're the one that needs a name. How about Volt?
"Volt," I said, liking it, but it needed something... more.
Sparky: Thanks!
Half an hour later, when most of my classmates had written something down, Miss Midnight asked, "Now students, who among you is ready to share?"
The satisfied atmosphere tensed, and I had to look around, wondering why they thought they wouldn't have to share their hero names in a hero school. Aoyama stood confidently, and our teacher nodded, stepping aside so the half-French boy could take the podium.
"Hold your breath," he said, in the exaggerated way he always spoke. "My name is: The Shining Hero: I Can Not Stop Twinkling! Mon Ami, you cannot deny my sparkle."
While the class looked at him in disbelief, Midnight nodded, not judging, and took the whiteboard from him. "It'll be better this way. Take out the I and shorten the 'cannot' to 'can't'."
"It's stunning, Mademoiselle," Aoyama agreed, the rest of us incredulous, but, if the Pro okay'd it, then apparently it was fine.
From beside me, Mina stood, "Okie dokie, let me go next. My name? Alien Queen."
"Hold on!" Midnight sputtered, aghast. "You mean like that horrible monster with acidic blood? I don't think so!"
Sent back to her seat, muttering, "Dang it," I couldn't help feel bad for her.
As she sat, and Asui went up, I leaned over. "I liked it, but the Alien Queen was the villain of the movies," I reminded my girlfriend.
"Yeah, but she was still cool," Mina replied. "Wait, that gives me an idea!" She started to lean forward, and almost kissed my cheek, catching herself and whispering, "Thanks Sparky! I'll reward you later."
Fortunately, Midnight's attention was on our resident frog-girl, who announced her name of 'The Rainy Season Hero: Froppy!" to great acclaim. Jiro was next, as "The Hearing Hero: Earphone Jack," and the others started coming up, one after another.
Mina tried again with "The Alien Hero: Ripley!" which Midnight accepted. My girlfriend pranced back to her seat, a smile on her face.
"Um," I whispered to her, "But, didn't we just talk about names that end in those sounds."
The pinkette smiled at me, laughing. "I heard ya, Sparky, but I want to be cute. And if they think that makes me sound weak, all the better to melt their butts off!"
Toru was up, as "The Stealth Hero: Invisible Girl!" which was, surprisingly, not taken, and Momo got up as well.
Presenting her card, I was relieved when I read it. "I hope to do this name justice. I'm The Everything Hero: Factoria."
"Oooh, layered," Midnight cooed, and I wondered what she meant by that. I knew it because I was an English major in college, and Momo had received a classical education that covered Latin, but did Midnight get it too? That was intriguing, and once again I had to force my rising interest in the woman down.
You. Are. Sixteen, I reminded myself, starting to stand, but Todoroki was already walking up, and I waited until he presented his hero name as "Shoto", his first name, to Midnight's confusion. However, the boy wouldn't be swayed.
Coming up after him, I smiled, turning over the card in jagged English lettering. "I am the Lightning Hero: Volt-aire!"
"Tres Magnifique!" Aoyama gushed, grinning broadly.
Miss Midnight nodded in appreciation, smirking as she remarked, "An Enlightened name."
Taking my seat, I saw Momo giving me a pleased smile, glad I worked in her suggestion, Mina happy with it as well. The others went up, nothing different from what I remembered, Bakugo still going with his "King Explosion Murder" moniker.
"I'm gonna say that one's a little too violent," Midnight informed him, making it only the second name she'd shot down so far.
"Huh? What do you mean!?" the teen demanded.
Kirishima called from behind me, "Why don't you be 'Explosion Boy'?"
"Shut up Weird Hair!" Bakugo shot back, turning to our teacher. "What the hell's wrong with my name?"
"Maybe don't have the name of a crime in your Hero Name?" I suggested, only a little sarcastically, and he glared at me, before looking back to Miss Midnight who shrugged.
"That is the problem," she nodded in agreement.
The teen with the explosive temper started to reply, biting it back, as Uraraka walked up. "Fine," he bit out, stomping back to his seat.
Down to the last three, we'd already burned through not only homeroom, but all of 1st period, as Midnight sighed. "To be honest, choosing names is going much faster than I thought it would. All we have left is Midoriya, Bakugo, who needs to rethink his, and... Ida.
As I remembered, our resident speedster just went with his name as well, Izuku taking his 'Deku' nickname as his Hero name. The word, the first word in a phrase that meant useless, was also a shortened version of the phrase 'you can do it', though from my classmates' reaction, and Denki's own memories, everyone's first interpretation would be to assume it was the former and not the latter.
Bakugo kept scribbling and erasing, snapping, "Gimme a minute, Cougar," at Midnight when she reminded him he was the only one left, the heroine's smile freezing on her face as he did so. Finally, he walked up, looking sour. Slamming the whiteboard down, he yelled, "The Explosion Hero: Bombing King!"
"I'll take it!" The teacher announced, nudging the resting Aizawa with her foot. The man's eyes flew open, and he looked us over, nodding. Getting up, only pulling the sleeping bag down to his waist, he reiterated about how those not receiving offers would still be able to pick from a list of forty, and that Sero and Sato didn't have to take the draft offers, though it was strongly suggested.
The packets listing those forty was passed out, each with information about the main hero of the agency, location, specialty, and so on. Those of us who were drafted got increasingly thicker packets, pulled out from behind Aizawa's podium. Mine was the size of a small book, spiral bound, Eraserhead dropping Midoriya's tome with a heavy thud on the wide-eyed boy's desk.
"You have until the of the week," Aizawa noted, heading for the door as the bell rang for second period.
"But that's two days!" Sero objected, and I had to give the boy a singularly unimpressed look as he sorted through all thirteen of his choices, as opposed to my several thousand.
Miss Midnight waved goodbye as she left, and Eraserhead, sleeping bag over his shoulder, paused to tell us, "Yeah, so you should start now. You're dismissed for the day."
Leaving us to our own devices, the students started looking over their lists, debating the pros and cons of various Agencies. Some, like Kirishima, knew exactly what he wanted to do, being a patrol-type who walked a big-city beat. Some, like Jiro, had no clue.
For me, though, it wasn't about the hero, it was about their power.
The 'hero experience' I'd be getting was negligible, no, it was a compatible Quirk that I was looking for. As part of that, I was ignoring things like rankings entirely, as someone like Uwabami, who was known for her looks and charisma, would be a hard no even if I wanted her power. The Pro Hero's Quirk seemed to be a pure mutation-type, which was a non-starter for me, as I hadn't even gotten the faintest glimmer of my mother's Quirk.
I was starting to believe that I couldn't even get mutation powers, though, if I could, it was very likely they'd be togglable, my own Body Defense letting me manifest or suppress them at will. However, even if I could get them, the only metric I knew that affected how quickly I picked them up was the user's skill with it.
My Father used his Quirk daily, as an integral part of his job, and liked to mess with it when he was younger. All Might, along that vein, was a damn artist when it came to the application of force to a problem, like Hercules crossed with Jet Li. Nomu... had been the outlier, and was what had convinced me there were other, hidden metrics to it. How did you get skillful at healing after all?
However, while I had, if I had to guess, maybe twenty percent of my Father's power, and three percent of All Might's, tops, I had a thousandths of that Nomu's. I had about one percent of Mina's, but the power I got developed the more I practiced them, and I hadn't touched hers at all except messing around a bit in the shower, and maybe to help... lubricate some areas to prevent excessive friction. Other than that, rather enjoyable, practice, I'd barely developed it, but it'd been several weeks before it'd manifested, though that might've been due to her own lack of skill with it at the time.
What all that came down to was the fact that I needed someone with a useful power, someone with a good deal of skill with their power, and someone who's power wasn't terribly obvious. For instance, as much as I'd've liked to throw flames like Endeavor, there'd be no way to play that off, nor would I be able to gain any kind of benefit from that power without throwing flames everywhere, just like Endeavor.
One-for-All, ironically, meshed well with my abilities, the lightning effects it created seemingly just a manifestation of my own priorly established Quirk. More than that, though, the sheer power I gained from it gave me boosted every capability I had, from offense, to defense, to mobility. Number one for a reason, I couldn't help but think, phone in hand, as I started to sort through the list, which didn't seem to be in any particular order.
Wait, this guy's quirk is literally Magic? I thought, seeing someone named Majestic had sent me an invite, his Quirk listed as Magic. No, he just makes levitating rings. Super distinctive. Next.
This guy can turn into Sand? I thought, looking into another. I vaguely remembered seeing something similar from One Piece, but I'd never been able to keep up with that series, and, again, if I suddenly turned dusty, everyone would notice. Besides, it was coarse, and rough, and irritating, and just got everywhere. Nah, screw sand-powers. Next.
Kamui Woods? Oh, the timber hero from the festival, I thought, feeling a little bad as I put a small x by his entry. If I couldn't copy powers, he'd probably be a great person to learn from in order better utilize electro-body, but this was an opportunity I likely wasn't going to get again soon. Sorry dude, Next.
This guy has laser eyes? Damn, ignore my inner six-year-old. I don't care how cool it would be. Next.
Slidin' Go? Oh, he slides. How creative. No. Next.
His Quirk is Chest Hair? Next.
Even an hour later, I'd only made a small dent, each possible power that might work for me, like Kesagiri Man's Dash Quirk, taking a few minutes to track down the specifics of. As the bell rang for Lunch, I groaned as I hadn't even finished my first pass of the giant list.
My inarticulate complaint was echoed by Mina to my right, who'd taken off her jacket and rolled up her sleeves, and who was giving each entry a lot more time and effort than I was. "Sparky, you know where you're going?" she asked, shooting a look my way.
I held the pages I'd got through. "What I've gotten through so far," I replied, commiseratingly, and she nodded.
"Ugh," the pink-skinned girl sighed, leaning backwards. "Tsu?"
The frog girl frowned, "I'm thinking of Selkie as my first choice."
"I'm going with Mt. Lady!" Mineta... bragged?
Asui turned a gimlet eye the midget's way. "Are you thinking something perverted again?" she asked warningly.
The boy paled, "P-possibly."
I glanced at the ball-headed teen, "Dude, trust me, thinking with your dick is going to get you into trouble." I turned to face him fully. "Stop trying to get a shortcut to the finishline. Girls don't like a guy who jumps to the end."
Mina snorted, and I gave her look to remind her we where in school, so comments about how I might know that wouldn't be appreciated. "Sparky's right. Why are ya goin' with her? Your Quirks are, like, totes diff."
The small boy grimaced, unable to answer, which was its own answer.
Sighing, I waved him closer, and he hesitantly walked over. Quietly, I whispered to him, "Dude, you want to get with hot chicks, right?" The boy looked at me skeptically, before nodding. "Then you need to be more discerning. If you go for every skirt in sight, you'll show them you have no standards, which means that you going after them doesn't mean they're desirable, just that they check off the 'is female and not ugly' boxes, and maybe not even the second one. They don't like that. More than that, though, you've got power dynamics to consider."
"Power dynamics?" Mineta echoed, confused. "You mean like, girl on top?"
From the way Jiro twitched, talking to Sero, I could tell this could go downhill fast. "No," I told him. "I mean... during the festival, I bantered a bit with Midnight."
"Yeah, you lucky bastard," the midget scowled, freezing as I sent him a thoroughly unamused look.
"We bantered, because nothing was ever going to happen between us," I stressed. "Ignoring the age difference, which given I'm sixteen and she's thirty is a big deal, she's my Teacher. That position of authority would color and taint anything that might happen, rendering it a non-starter. And if she was the kind of person who wouldn't care, I wouldn't want anything to do with her, and neither should you."
Mineta frowned, "So, what's that got to do with my internship?"
"I'm getting there," I stressed. "If I flirt with Midnight, we both know it means nothing, but if I were to flirt with, say," I paused, unable to resist, "Jiro, that's entirely different, as now we're into the 'might lead to something' territory."
Jiro stiffened, glancing our way, as the boy scoffed, "C'mon, are you putting Jiro up with Midnight? There's, like, no comparison!"
... and there was now murder in her eyes, this was a bad plan, I decided, doing my best to salvage it. "Yes, I am. We're all fifteen, dude, you're comparing apples to oranges, and Kyoka's got this cute punk-rock aesthetic going." The girl froze, glancing at me. I met her gaze, evenly, and she looked away, blushing. "My point though, is that if you're interested in finding love in this, don't look at the heroines, look at their sidekicks. The ones you're more likely to be working with, and who won't be under a microscope to make sure they aren't screwing their student heroes. But even then, don't go hard. Be appreciative, but just for a moment, to let them know you are interested, and then focus on the task."
The boy started to reply, but frowned, looking at me as if he wasn't sure if I was trying to fool him into doing work. "And that'll impress them?"
"If you do a good job? Yes. Be nice, compliment their looks without naming hips, boobs, or butt, and then show you're strong enough to keep on working," I insisted, and, for some reason, the boy flinched. I wanted to ask, but pressed on, "Show you're strong, and that'll lead them to consider you."
"Easy for you to say," he muttered. "You're all buff and stuff."
I looked at him skeptically. "Does your Quirk mean you can't build muscle?" I asked, honestly interested.
He blinked, "Well, no. It's just.,. what's the point?"
I stared at the boy for a moment, before sighing, and running a hand through my hair. "Dude, everyone is someone's fetish. Some girls like tall guys, yeah, but some girls like shorter guys, and most like fit guys. The more of someone's likes you cross off, the more likely you are to at least get a shot, and waiting until you find someone who likes you without putting any effort in, and who you like in return, means you're gonna be waiting for a while. You don't need to be someone you're not, just a better version of who you already are. And... dude, if you haven't figured out at least three different sex-based uses for your binding Quirk, you aren't half the pervert you proudly claim to be. And trust me, most girls like that kind of thing just as much as most guys do, they just don't say so for a whole freaking host of reasons. So, if you want to get either rejected, or used, abused, and then rejected, then go after Mt. Lady. If you want to get better, and maybe end up with someone a year or three your senior, look at someone who's gonna help you get better, and might have some cute sidekicks."
Mineta stared at me disbelieving, before his eyes narrowed. "That's what you're doing, isn't it?"
My response was to look at him blankly, making a zipper motion across my lips.
Suddenly, a wide grin spread across his features. "Hah, I knew you were like me. Why didn't you say so!" he announced loudly, getting looks from half the class.
I returned with a disdainful glare, Mineta's smug victory fading under my stare, until the others looked away, but I could tell Jiro was still listening. "Dude. No," I told him firmly but quietly. "You're 'I'm gonna shit where I eat by hitting on all the girls in class to a degree that disgusts them' shtick is why we stopped talking. I'm trying to help, but do not drag me into the mistakes that you made, and I tried to warn you about during our first day. Consider what I said, and make your choice. Don't worry, we won't be competing, as I've got an entirely different pool of potential employers to pick from."
Bolstered by this, he winced. "Yeah. I did go a bit hard, didn't I. I tried, but all of the girls in our class are so hot!"
"Agreed," I answered easily. "Probably. Toru's kind of invisible, and Asui's not my type, but I can tell they're still good looking. But you're a hero. You've got power, and you're supposed to be able to control yourself. So do, or do not, there is no try."
The boy gave me a flat look. "Okay Yoda. And... thanks man. I thought you were... yeah, thanks," he nodded, walking away.
Less than a minute later, Jiro returned to her seat beside me, giving me a measuring once over, before leaning over and asking, "You're not really picking your internship because of the girls there, are you?"
I snorted, "Fuck no, I'm looking for someone I can better use my powers from. But to convince people you need to meet people at their level. Their low, low, low level."
The rocker-girl tried to hold back her giggles, and failed, completely.