Trying to find a good hero work study is a far more difficult task than it sounds. It's not a skill you can memorize out of a textbook or learn in a classroom. For most of my classmates, who hadn't been scouted after the Sports Festival, the chances were pretty low. Poor Jirou seemed particularly depressed about her prospects. I suppose I shouldn't be complaining, since I at least have Miss Uwabami. But on the other hand, all I have is Miss Uwabami. There were a few more pros who reached out to me after the Sports Festival, but not nearly as many as I wanted…
I told myself not to look back. But it was easy to feel that lost chance again now, that failed debut…and difficult not to once again envy Todoroki his success. Even his encounter with the Hero Killer, terrible as it must have been, had still garnered him reclaim and renown. Everyone knows who Shoto Todoroki is, after all.
Remember, he's the one who helped you move past it.
Well, best to avoid making the same mistakes again. My second mistake, I had to admit to myself, had been my choice of internship. Not that Miss Uwabami hadn't been kind, but she had given me no training sessions like Uraraka's, or experience in the field like Jirou's or Todoroki's. I had the feeling that if I tried to reach out to her again, I would find myself spending my work study doing fashion modeling shoots and get stuck forever with the label of "model heroine" instead of "competent pro hero in the works." I certainly didn't want that. No, I've done that before. I won't just grab at the first opportunity that comes to me because it would be easy. I must hold out for something better; that's why, after all, I came to UA and worked so hard and passed my licensing exam.
What that meant was taking time to go back to the list of pro hero agencies that had reached out to me after the Sports Festival and taking an extensive review of them. Doing so, it appeared, would take an extensive amount of time, so there was nothing for it but to set myself a strict schedule after classes each day for examining my options and narrowing them down. That would mean cutting into what little spare time I already had, but there was nothing else for it.
Mr. Aizawa ended up throwing a wrench into my plans the very next morning in class.
"Regarding the first years' hero internships, the results of yesterday's conference made it abundantly clear. Plenty of teachers, including the principal, said: Don't even think about it."
Oh dear, really?
"Huh? Even after that whole demonstration we got?" Kirishima protested.
"It makes sense, though, given how we ended up in dorms in the first place," said Kaminari.
"S WHATCHA GET!" cried Bakugou, jumping to his feet.
"Just because you wouldn't be able to," Hagakure pointed out.
"However," Sensei interrupted him. "There were also those of the opinion that the current policy keeping you all constantly under our protection wouldn't raise you into strong heroes. So, we decided that 'if limited to offices that had a good track record when it comes to taking in interns, first years should be allowed to do work studies'. That's the new policy."
I felt a sigh of relief, as I heard Uraraka said aloud "I wonder if Gunhead's place'll be all right."
In front, Asui leaned towards Ashido. "I suppose I should try to reach out to Selkie."
I tapped my foot and started running through my options again. I had gotten through the first twenty last night, but now it appeared I had a criterion that would let me narrow them down even further…
"I suppose you're going to be doing one, Yaoyorozu?"
I came out of my head, remembering that Todoroki was there, and blushed a little. "Oh - yes, I hope so."
"Well, good luck," he mumbled. And for a second, I wondered, Why does he seem so dejected? He'll have an easier time finding one than -
Oh. Right.
"I-I'm sorry, Todoroki," I stumbled out. "I forgot."
"It's fine. You don't need to walk on eggshells around me. I'll be getting my license soon enough."
"Right."
Poor Todoroki…it really wasn't fair, considering how skilled and experienced he was. But he had failed, after all…there was nothing I could do about that.
Still, I needed some help with the question that was weighing on my shoulders.
"Todoroki…how did you choose your internship?"
"Excuse me?"
"I don't mean to pry, but I wanted to know if you…have any advice for how to choose one."
He looked very thoughtful for a long moment, then actually looked rather embarrassed.
"Honestly, I ended up choosing my father's agency because…it was the highest ranked agency on the list. Even if he is a - well, regardless of my personal relationship with him, he is the number two hero for a reason. I had to learn first hand exactly what makes him so highly ranked. That's the only reason."
"I see. Indeed, the hero ranking system is hardly arbitrary. It measures the success rates, popularity, and hard work of pro heroes all over the country to calculate mathematically which heroes are truly the best at what they do…that's a perfectly sound reasoning. Just what I'd expect from you."
He tilted his head a little as I started running through the candidates in my mind. Beforehand, I'd tried to select my internship based mainly on practicality and suitability - agencies that seemed like a wise choice. But with UA behind me - and knowing that I really am quite skilled and could do well at any internship - there's no reason I shouldn't shoot for the stars, if that's what I want. I can be whatever kind of hero I want to be.