The extras were yapping away like crazy in class the next time we gathered, so damn excited about getting attention. Took Sensei's arrival for everyone to shut up.
"Mr. Aizawa, I'm happy you were able to remove your bandages!" said Frogface.
"The old lady went crazy with her treatment. But let's put that aside. Today's hero informatics period is a little special. It's time to formulate your codenames. Your hero names."
Everyone jumped up. "Oh my god, YES! Now this is making my chest swell!"
Mr Aizawa continued, "This is related to the draft nominations by pros I mentioned the other day. The nominations will truly start mattering only after you've gained some experience and your adaptable fighting ability os judged during your sophomore and senior years. In other words the nominations you're getting this year are more akin to expressions of 'interest' in your future potential."
"And it's not rare that that interest dries up by graduation, or is simply unilaterally dropped," said Ponytail.
"So I guess the nominations we received are like personal hurdles, then!" said Invisible Girl.
"Yes. Now the tally of nominations is as follows," said Aizawa, pointing at the board.
2nd place. After goddamn IcyHot.
"Look though, 1st and 2nd places are the reverse!" said dunce face.
"Seeing him all straight-jacketed on the winners stand must have scared em off," said SoySauce face.
"PROS AIN'T GONNA BE SCARED!"
"Based on this, regardless of whether or not you received any nominations, I'll be having you all go get some so-called work-place experience. Well, you've all dipped a toe in the world of the pros, unfortunately. But I think experiencing the activities of pros firsthand will prove to be more fruitful training than before," said Aizawa.
"And cuz of that we need Hero names, huh?" said Sugar dude.
"Things've got fun all of a sudden!" said Uraraka.
"Of course, placeholder names are fine too, but something appropriate…" said Aizawa.
"Because if not it'll be hell from here!" interrupted Midnight sensei. "The names you pick now! The names you come to be known by the world as now! In many cases they stay that way after becoming pros!"
"Well, she is correct," said Aizawa. "I'll be having Ms Midnight evaluate your naming sense. The way your futures end up will approach the image projected by the names you choose. It's all down to that old phrase, 'names and natures often agree.' For example, 'All Might.'"
15 minutes later, and after a ton of the extras had gone, I presented my pick;
"Lord Explosion Murder."
"I'm gonna say that one's al little too violent," said Sensei.
"HUH? WADDYA MEAN?" I snapped, annoyed.
She rejected my next pick too, and as I was trying to come up with a third, Deku went with his.
"Wha? Are you sure you're ok with that Midoriya?" said someone.
"Yeah. Up until now I didn't like it at all. But a certain someone changed the meaning for me, and blew my word open. I was so happy. This will be my hero name." I stared at the board in complete incomprehension. Deku. What the hell?
Later on after everyone had picked their names, Aizawa said
"Your workplace experience will last one week, and where you choose is essential. For those with nominations, I'll be handing out individualized lists, so choose from what's listed in yours. As for those who haven't received any nominations. These are 40 agencies that are offering places. I'll be having you choose from those among this list. I want them in by the weekend."
"We have two days!?" cried Soy sauce face.
Not that I had any doubt who I'd be going with. AS soon as I'd seen the list, I'd spotted a pick from the JP Hero Billboard chart's top 10.
Day of departing for workplace experience.
"You all brought your costumes right? Normally you're prohibited from wearing them in public areas, so don't drop them," said Sensei.
"GOT IT!" shouted Raccoon eyes.
"Don't stretch out your 'got its' Ashido. Make the effort to be respectful. Now move it."
I'd decided on an internship with the #4 hero Best Jeanist. The highest ranked agency on my list of total offers. The Fiber Hero, one of the all time greats. An office in downtown Tokyo, no less, a gleaming building that looked every bit the professional hero's agency. Inside, the elevator took me to a clean, tidy office space, chairs round a circular table, sidekicks all rushing, and towards the front of the room, the man himself at a desk space.
Best Jeanist, the #4 pro hero, who wore denim top to bottom. Not All Might level, but still #4.
"Ah, Bakugou from UA. You're here for your internship." He stood up, looking out the window, then turned to face me. "To be perfectly frank, I don't like you very much. I'd imagine you chose me and my office because I'm one of the top four most popular heroes. "
"Huh? But you're the one who made an offer for me," I asked, my brain turning over agin.
" Yes. Recently all my recruits have been nothing but good kids, so you're the first one in a long time who is a bit more ferocious." Ferocious? "It's my duty as a hero to reform people like you. Heroes and villains are two sides of the same coin. I can see it in those eyes of yours. Over the next few weeks, I will show you what makes someone a hero."
Most of that didn't make a ton of sense to me. And it's not like I could say shit back to the new boss, the #4 hero. What the hell does that shit mean?! Ferocious? Heroes and villains, same coin? How the hell is that possible? What in my eyes, what's he on about?
I stepped forward, ready to protest, and found my movements blocked, just like with Sensei's scarf. All of a sudden Jeanist's fiber quirk had bound my clothes, stopping me from moving.
"Let's start with your appearance and manners," he said, stepping towards me as a sidekick pulled out a chair and I was forced down into it.
"Have you chosen a hero name for yourself yet?"
"I tried, but all the ones I picked got rejected," I snapped.
"What were they?"
"King Explosion Murder! Lord Explosion Murder."
"Are you a middle-schooler?" he replied, shaking his head. "Your hero name reflects your dream. The embodiment of how you wish to be, your ideal self. You are still naive to the ways of the world, but I hope to show it to you. Once you've earned your provisional license in your second year, return to me, and tell me your chosen name."
That left me a little thrown - I was so busy listening to him that I hadn't quite realized what he was doing to my hair. Which was combing it and laying it so flat it looked like a swimming cap. I started shaking with humiliation. I have to go out like this? God no. I didn't want to imagine what would happen if I ran into Deku with this stupid haircut.
And over the next few days, things only got worse.
The stupid hairstyle would only stick for about an hour, but Jeanist kept forcing my hair back down every time it snapped back to the natural place. I was forced into the same pair of uncomfortable skintight jeans the sidekicks wore and forced to stand in line, like an extra among a bunch of extras, and say nothing while Jeanist lectured.
No combat experience - and the only patrols we took were all about lecturing me on presentation. Jeanist had the sidekicks babysit me whenever any villains cropped up, and Iwasn't even given any basic combat training. All the lectures he gave me were more things about coming off certain ways, more shit about 'villains' I didn't understand.
On the fourth day, all the sidekicks were buzzing about some big name incident in the news. Some villain called the "Hero Killer" who'd been going around killing and crippling pros had been captured in Hosu City by IcyHot's old man, the #2 Endeavor. For some reason, everyone was freaking out about this, like it wasn't just some normal villain capture.
"The incident in Hosu City last night, it certainly worries me," said Jeanist, combing my hair flat for the billionth time. "People are so easily distracted by big incidents like these. But it's now, more than ever, that heroes need to remain calm and composed, because Chaos is so often good at drawing on the slumbering brutality in people's hearts. As such, we will continue our usual operations today, just as always."
"Sure, Best Jeanist!" the sidekicks chorused back as my hair popped back in place.
I came to the wrong place, I thought, trying to fight off despair.
I didn't think much about the dumb Hero Killer incident at first, until I remembered that Glasses' brother had apparently been attacked by him. I was curious enough to pick up a paper, and one particular line made me choke.
"Among those at the scene of the Hero Killer's arrest were three students from UA High School, doing their Internships with Pro Heroes: the younger brother of the Hero Killer's most recent victim, the Turbo Hero Ingenium, Tenya Iida; Endeavor's son and runner-up of the UA Sports Festival, Shoto Todoroki, and their classmate Izuku Midoriya."
Everything else kinda blacked out. There was a small photograph of all the pros at the scene, and though nobody reading the article would've noticed them, I could see those three. Glasses, Icy Hot, and Deku. What was more, Deku and IcyHot looked different. They were both wearing completely different hero costumes, for one thing. IcyHot's was blue, without the stupid Ice shit covering his face. Which means he's actually using his fire side now. Even though he held back on me.
Deku's outfit looked completely different. No hood over his face. A grill around his neck, darker colors, cleaner lines, better gear. In this photograph, he didn't look like a damn nerd at all. He didn't look perennially twelve years old; his expression was deadly serious, turned slightly away from the camera as if he was looking around for more villains. The costume, and the posture he held, showed off his newly broad shoulders and a more confident stance than I'd ever seen him hold before. The costume made him look like a pro. In the grainy photograph, the freckles and soft curves of his face that usually made him look so young weren't obvious. It was almost like looking at a different person.
He looks like a pro, I thought, and he's been tangled up, somehow, with a top villain for his debut.
I'd spent the last week doing nothing but getting lectured and getting haircuts. And there was Deku, taking on real villains and making his debut.
What the hell is this?! Once again, the world seemed all wrong, and completely upside down.
