Chapter 8
"Welcome to Class 1-A," Iida, the class representative, offered as Jack entered his new classroom the next morning. "I hope you will strive to deserve the honor being bestowed upon you by the teachers and Principal. UA is the finest Hero academy, and we must all do our best to maintain that tradition of excellence!" The tall boy was chopping with his stiffened hand to emphasize his points.
"Don't let the class rep frighten you, brother," Yuga said from behind the golden teen. "He's very enthusiastic, but he means well. Everybody!" the French boy raised his voice to get the whole class' attention. "This is my brother, Kagayaku Jack. Isn't he sparkly!"
Jack groaned as he facepalmed.
"Don't be like that, Jack-kun," Yuga tugged at his arm. "They'll think you're shy."
"Great," Bakugo barked from his desk. "Another extra who thinks he can be a hero. Let's get this straight, Goldie. I'm the number one in this class. Try to get in my way and I'll crush you."
"Kacchan!" Midoriya protested.
"Congratulations, kero," Asui offered. "I'd heard you were to only applicant who passed the assessment."
"Yeah, good job," Sato echoed with a nod.
"Everyone should take your seats," The class deputy said from the back of the room. "It's almost time."
"Your seat is right in front of Momo-chan's," Yuga said, pointing to the girl who had just spoken. "Talk with you after class."
"Yeah," Jack said squeezing the other boy's arm in acknowledgement. "Thanks."
He made his way to the designated place, finding himself in front of Yaoyorozu and behind Midoriya. The bird-headed Tokoyami was to his right. He had been hoping to be seated next to a window, but the classroom had none.
Aizawa-sensei entered just as Jack took his seat.
"Sensei, your bandages are gone," Asui said. "I'm glad."
"The old lady went overboard with her treatment," the taciturn teacher replied. He glanced towards Jack. "I'm sure you've all noticed we have a new student in the class – Kagayaku Jack, formerly of Class 1-J. He has been selected to fill our vacancy. Make sure you introduce yourself on your own time. This should serve as a reminder that none of your places in the Hero course are guaranteed. There are many others working hard to take your place should you fail to progress."
The class stirred nervously, a few glancing in Jack's direction. He moaned inwardly at the teacher setting him up as an enemy.
"More importantly, we're having a special hero informatics class today." Aizawa-sensei paused dramatically. The tension in the room, already tweaked by the teacher's reminder of their precarious position in the school, ratcheted up significantly. "Code names. You'll be coming up with hero names."
The class erupted in cheers. That angered the stoic instructor as his eyes flashed red and his hair stood on end. The class instantly silenced.
"This is related to the Pro Hero draft picks I mentioned the other day," he continued. "The drafts begin in earnest in the second and third years – when the students are closer to becoming pros. For them to extend offers to first years shows they are interested in your future potential. These offers should not be taken as a certainty of a position after graduation. Much can change between now and then."
"So, we'll have to prove ourselves once we get picked, neh?" Hagakure suggested.
"That's right," Aizawa-sensei confirmed. He then displayed a chart with the total number of offers for those students who had done particularly well in the Sports Festival. Bakugo and Todoroki, the finalists, had offers in the thousands. Jack had not been aware there were that many Hero agencies in Japan. Several other students had offers in the hundreds. Only what Jack assumed were the top nine students were presented. His name was not on the list, but that was no surprise. While he had done well, he had not been a Hero student in the Festival so had not been eligible for the draft.
Yuga, who was not one of the nine either, said, "Those pros don't know a good thing when they see one."
Jack was wondering what happened to the students that did not get offers. He assumed the school had a list of agencies that would be wiling to take any UA students. While he was pondering the organizational logistics, he missed several student comments.
"… whether or not anyone asked for you, you will be participating in internships with pros." Aizawa-sensei continued. Jack had missed part of what he said and resolved to pay better attention.
"Internships?" Midoriya asked.
"Yes," the teacher replied. "At USJ, you already experienced combat with real villains. Nonetheless, it will be meaningful training for you to see pros at work firsthand."
"So that explains the hero names," Sato exclaimed.
"Things are suddenly getting more fun," Uraraka added.
"The hero names may be temporary," Aizawa-sensei continued. "But if you don't take the process seriously …"
"There'll be hell to pay!" interrupted Midnight-sensei as she entered the room. "Because a lot of hero names used by heroes as students become recognized by society. In short they end up stuck with those names as professional heroes!"
Jack was amused at the reaction the enchanting teacher drew from the male students. He recognized her voluptuous beauty and sex appeal, but only from an aesthetic perspective. His energy form lacked the raging hormones driving most of his counterparts' behavior. He made sure to pause his breathing, something his suit was programed to undertake for social reasons rather than respiratory need. He did not want to risk inhaling any of her potent pheromones. He was uncertain of the effect they might have on his system.
"Midnight will be making sure your names are ok," Aizawa-sensei concluded before zipping himself into a sleeping bag and resting against the wall. Jack smirked. Yuga had told him of his teacher's ridiculous habit, but Jack was amused to see it firsthand.
As small placards and pens were passed around, Jack began to contemplate what name he might choose. The obvious one was Radiant, but he knew the Old Man's head would explode if either he or Yuga tried claiming that name. Then he would bring in the lawyers. Jack started searching the Network using his HUD. The school had not cut access because he was not taking a test.
He started with synonyms for Radiant – which was one English translation of his family name. The one he found that seemed to fit best was Lucent. It had a heroic sound to it. He jotted it down and kept looking. He threw in the term energy. The word that stuck out to him was Juice. It sounded like 'cool' name. Another he put on the list. He threw in E=MC2 as a search term. The best that came out of that was Relativity. Nuclear lead to Fusion, which he noted. Then he went astronomical – his quirk made him like a star. Stellar seemed promising. That lead to Celestial, which just seemed pretentious. And that lead to an almost ancient source, the 1913 Webster's dictionary, and an old Greek word, Empyreal. It was defined as 'formed of pure fire or light'. Jack though that was accurate enough and the name was unique, while sounding a little like Imperial. He wrote it down and started paying attention to class again.
Yuga was in front of room with a card held high. Jack winced, on it was a full sentence in English. "I can not stop twinkling."
Jack raised his hand. Midnight pointed to him while rubbing her forehead.
"Yuga, I really like the basic idea. It suits you and refers to our family." Twinkle could be written Kagayaku in kanji. "But in the Business course we talk a lot about branding. One of the basic rules is that it is easier to build a brand with a short name rather than a long or complex one. Try to imagine the name on a t-shirt or bento box. Yours may be too long. Both for branding and for tactical use. I bet that in combat people would shorten that to Twinkle. That isn't a bad name – Twinkle. Especially if you spell it Pikupiku or Kirameki. You could also use the same basic spelling for Sparkle or Luster. I think that last one – Luster – suits you best because it can also be read as brilliance or splendor.
"Ohhh, splendor. I like that." Yuga looked at Midnight who wrote on his card. She turned it to him, and he smiled. He then showed it to the class. The Shining Hero: Luster!
The class clapped and the teacher gave Jack a wink. "Who wants to be next?" she asked.
Several students glanced Jack's way when offering their choices. He sighed, realizing he had just set himself up as the arbiter of marketability. He did not always agree with the teacher's response but kept quiet out of respect for her. After Bakugo's near explosion, Jack decided to give his first choice a try.
"Energy Hero: Empyreal" with the name written in English and katakana.
The class looked confused until Midnight-sensei cooed, "How classical!" Jack sighed with relief and took his seat. Then he remembered she also taught Art History, so might have a familiarity with classical languages. He realized he had not taken his own branding advice and that there might be a lot of correcting people on his name in his future. Should have gone with Stellar, he thought.
Aizawa-sensei finished the class by returning to the topic of internships. "Those of you that don't have offers will choose from among forty agencies around the country that will be accepting our interns. They all work in different places and have different specialties – combat, rescue, investigation, security, and others. Think carefully before you choose. Turn your choices in before the weekend."
At lunch most of the class was still talking about the decisions they were facing. Jack pulled Yuga aside. "I know it's my first day in the class, but everyone is too busy talking about the internships to really socialize. I think I'm going to sit with my old class, so they don't think I've gotten snobbish on them."
"Very well," the French boy replied with an exaggerated sigh. "How about I arrange a little get together after class so you can get to know some of your new comrades better. There's a new place near the beach I've been simply dying to try."
"Sounds great," Jack agreed.
He made his way to where Class 1-J was gathered. They noticed him as he approached. He couldn't quite read their faces, but it was obvious not everyone was happy to see him.
"Kagayaku, did you forget where your new class sits?" Sano, the moose-antlered boy asked with his customary too-loud voice. This drew the attention of the rest of the class, and other students in the area as well.
"There's no rule requiring us to sit with our classes," Jack said as he looked obviously at the place next to Ando. The small boy stared at him flatly for a moment, then shrugged. The golden teen took the reluctantly offered seat.
Takaki, her ears twitching, leaned forward and asked, "How did it go this morning? Were there any troubles."
"I don't see any blood, so they must not have done the traditional induction," Nakashima joked, looking Jack over with exaggerated care.
"It was a little odd. Apparently, we are all going our separate ways next week doing internships," Jack informed them. "So, I joined the class only for it to split up."
"We don't get internships until next year," Miura pointed out sharply, her violet eyes flashing. "How come the Hero students get one in their first term? Surely they haven't learned enough to be useful for an agency."
"Because they're Heroes!" Sano bellowed. "They get everything." He glared at Jack.
"It sounds like you are jealous of them," Motin said. "Just think of what would happen to the heroes without us to run their agencies and keep them profitable. They would be begging on the streets. But remember we need them too, or we'd have to go into a different business. I wouldn't drive Jack away now. Who knows, he might be an important contact someday. My father says to never burn bridges, unless your enemies are on them at the time."
Jack wondered if Mr. Maxim would get along with Kagayaku-san.
"I got to offer advice on branding this morning when we were coming up with our hero names." Jack thought he might be able to drum up some interest by mentioning his use of Business course knowledge. "There were some selections that'll be a challenging sell."
"What is yours?" Motin asked.
"One of the worst, from a branding perspective. I should've taken my own advice." Jack launched into the morning's events, noting who of his old class were participating, who were sitting on the sideline, and who were actively ignoring him. He was sad to see the three groups were almost even.
That afternoon Jack gathered with Yuga, Hagakure, Sero, Shoji, and Ashido to walk to the Takoba Beach House, a tea house and desert bar that was advertising its grand opening.
"The park over there," Ashido pointed across the street to a nice, white sand beach. "It used to be a real dump. Literally. I mean people would come here to drop off trash and broken appliances and stuff. It was an eyesore. Something happened and a few months ago it got cleaned up and became really nice."
"That's when Watanabe-san decided to open this café." Sero pointed to the older gentleman who was tending the counter. He had bright pink hair that stood in three spirals on his scalp.
"Ah, Sero-kun, you're back, and you've brought friends. Welcome, welcome!" The man said. His voice had an odd whistling sound behind it. Jack realized it was coming from the spirals. "I suggest a table upstairs. The view of the beach is easier to see over the traffic." He pointed to a set of stairs going up.
Sero nodded and lead the way. Shoji seemed to collapse in on himself to fit in the stairwell.
"Oooh!" Hagakure said as she looked out the large bay windows. "Pretty."
Jack had to agree "That's a very nice view. It was all trash before?"
"It was just awful," Ashido confirmed.
"Oh, du gâteau!" Yuga exclaimed, looking at the menu. "Tre bon!"
"Yeah, the deserts here are great," Sero said. "I prefer the parfaits myself. Don't really like cake too much. The mochi is good too."
"That does sound good," Shoji added.
After the students had ordered Ashido started in on the new guy. "Are you two really brothers?"
"Kinda, sorta, and at the same time no," Jack replied, waggling his hand. "It's complicated. But basically, I was adopted by Yuga's father's wife."
"My mother's not my father's current wife. My mother lives in France now and is married to a man named Aoyama who adopted me, so I'm not called Kagayaku."
"As I said, complicated." Jack put his hand on Yuga's shoulder. "But I'm glad to have Yuga living with us now."
"Wow!" exclaimed Hagakure. "I see what you mean. Is that why your quirks are related?"
"Probably," Jack answered without getting into the complexities of the Old Man's Quirk breeding efforts.
"Hey, listen to this!" Sero insisted as a song came on the café's music system. It was fast paced, with a driving beat and a high energy vocals. The girls started dancing in their seats. Even Shoji tapped a tentacle on the back of his chair.
"I'm not familiar with the artist," Jack said. That was often the case. He had been in a different time or world for the first ten years of his life. Then he had spent most of the last five in and out of Oba's labs perfecting the containment suits and mapping his powers, with the rest of his time spent with tutors or practicing controlling his quirk.
"That's the FeatherHATS," Hagakure said. "I saw them once in Osaka."
"I always think of it as Pop*Step and her band," Sero objected.
"She's just one of the singers," the invisible girl argued.
"I don't think I've heard them either," Shoji replied. "But I've always been more of a classical music listener."
"You mean like BTS or the Spice Girls?" Ashido asked. "My parents are fans of that old stuff, but I like more current music."
"In France, Le Jazz Nouveau is very popular," Yuga offered. "I' m excited to hear more Japanese pop music." He pulled out his phone and started looking for music. "Did you say Pop*Step? How do you spell *?"
Jack enjoyed the afternoon. Part of it was getting to know some of his new classmates. Part of it was experiencing new food and new music. But most of it was watching Yuga interacting in a social setting where he was not constantly facing the disapproval of the Old Man. Sero, Ashido, Hagakure were all open, friendly, and highly social people. They easily carried the quieter Shoji and Jack along, bringing them into the conversation as much as the boys were comfortable with. They also managed to temper the ostentatious persona that Yuga seemed to adopt in social situations by showing him it was safe to calm down and be himself a little more.
"We should start a chat group to keep up with each other during the internships next week," Sero suggested.
"That's a great idea. We could invite the whole class," Hagakure said.
"Even Bakugo?" Sero joked, mirroring Jack's more serious reservation.
"I'll set it up," Ashido volunteered. "Then, as group owner, I can ban him if he gets out of hand."
"Or anyone else, and only after talking privately about the problem, of course," Shoji suggested.
"Of course," Ashido agreed easily.
They all got out their phones and the pinkette used her hidden social media quirk and quickly had them organized. A quick message showed they were all connected. "I'll invite the rest of the class tonight."
"This was fun," Jack said. "Thanks for inviting the new guy."
"Anytime," Hagakure replied. Jack idly wondered if he could ask Oba to expand the frequency input range on his visual receptors to see if she was visible under different bands of the spectrum. His current 'eyes' were limited to visual light, the near IR, and near UV bands. She was invisible to them all.
The group split once they exited the café.
When Jack and Yuga returned to the estate they found Hinata in an excited mood.
"What's got you so happy?" Jack asked as she jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his hips.
"We're going to a secret hideaway tomorrow!" the ten-year-old genius squealed. "All of us. The whole family. Except Haruna, because he's stuck at stupid school."
"But we've got school too," Jack pointed out.
"Don't be dumb. We're leaving after school." Her voice showed her contempt for his lack of comprehension.
"And where are we going again?" Yuga asked.
"Mom says it's a secret." Hinata replied. "I think she doesn't want Dad telling anyone from work. She says it's going to be a no-work weekend."
"That's right," Oba said from the family room. "No work, no school, no outside world. Nothing but relaxing and reconnecting. It's going to be three days of family time. And we are all going to have fun."
Jack wondered why that last sentence sounded so grim.