Standing on the train I fought the urge to close my eyes and give into the exhaustion my body felt. I was wearing large, over the ear headphones, and as an attempt to stay conscious I was blasting music to avoid drifting to sleep from the hum of the ride.
The moment my parents and brother left to return to their responsibilities in America, Baba pounced at the opportunity to kick start my new training regime. During the two day break we were given by U.A., my grandmother took the initiative to whip my mind into shape. Training with her consisted of utilizing my quirk without any physical efforts, and relying solely on my mental will. Seemed simple enough, but spending a couple of hours attempting to move random objects around the house before school was exhausting. It also didn't help that the nose bleeding had yet to be solved, a small drip happening on immediate usage of power. If I'm moving something particularly heavy it also triggers migraines, which cut off training for the rest of the day.
My quirk still worked the same; I was placing vectors to push and pull whatever I targeted just with my mind. Moments where my overwhelmed and unrestrained power mirrored that of Baba's telekinesis power were still just vectors at work. Those vectors were similar to the ones I could project from my body whenever I was in a high stress situation. If anything the ones my subconscious created were even more dangerous because I had yet to tackle where exactly I was casting them during my outbreaks.
She completely changed my diet and cut out all junk, sweets, sodas, and other foods of the likes to replace it with a new, nutritious, completely balanced meal plan. My new bedtime was eight o'clock sharp, and my alarm went off at promptly at three thirty the following morning. Initially I was beyond upset as I watched her toss all of my favorite snacks into a food donation box, and when she had told me I couldn't even stay up late on weekends I almost threw a tantrum in response. After a clear explanation from her that it was vital that my brain was properly fed and rested or else it could explode from the uncontrollable vectors, I was compliant with the new changes.
Nonetheless, I was fucking exhausted. Despite the hopeful seven and a half hour sleep we planned for me to have, because of how new this schedule was I had yet to actually fall asleep at my bedtime. Even though the music blaring in my ears was possibly making me go deaf, it was not doing its job of keeping me awake enough. The weather also wasn't helping my case; whenever the weather was dark and rainy I couldn't help but feel drowsy no matter how rested I would be. So with all odds against me being awake, whenever I wasn't putting all of my effort into focusing on being awake my head would dip and my eyelids would constantly flutter closed. This pattern was only broken by a hand waving in my face, being just want I needed to break my sleepy spell.
Moving the headphones off my ears, I turned to see many of the passengers staring at me. I fumbled into my blazer pocket to pull out my phone to completely pause my music, thinking that they were annoyed by how loud it had been.
"Sorry-", I attempted to apologize until they jumped on my neck at once to talk to me.
"You're the fox from the sports festival!"
"Wow! You look just like you did on tv! Even your hair!"
"Keep up the good work! You're gonna be a wonderful hero someday!"
There was nothing I could do to wrestle off the blush on my face. It was like I completely forgot the type of society I lived in; one that not only idolized super heroes, but also rallied behind heroes in training. Of course regular, everyday people would watch the U.A. Sports Festival and not only pro heroes, agents, and other parties involved in the occupation. It shouldn't have been as much as a surprise to me as it was to be recognized, especially after the "publicity" my class was specifically given in the media after the USJ attack. The uneasiness I felt after realizing I was a familiar face to strangers was enough to wake me up for at least the rest of the morning.
I scrambled to respond, "Thank you so much! I will do my best!"
After much polite smiles and catching random eye gazes, my stop finally came. Bolting from the station out into the rainy weather I pulled my umbrella over my head and sped onto the final trek to school. There were only a few other straggler students walking around me, us cutting it close to arriving only a few minutes before the bell. After shaking off the wetness from my umbrella,and shoving my rain boots into my locker I did a soft jog to the classroom. When I opened the door to enter, I was met with the tail end of my class's conversation as I moved across the room to my seat.
"It was so cool! It's like we're celebrities!", Kaminari almost cheered at the idea of it.
"This school really is amazing!", Mineta agreed.
The moment I planted myself the door shifted open and Aizawa stepped inside the classroom, "Morning."
"Good morning Mister Aizawa!", the class spoke in unison.
"Rippit... Mister Aizawa, "Asui began, "You don't have bandages anymore, that's good news."
As he spoke he rubbed at his previously wrapped face, "The old lady went a little overboard on the treatment, is all. Anyway, we have a big class today; on hero informatics." Naturally, the class atmosphere shifted from its lazy morning feel to one of stressful nerves. What could this possibly be? "You need code names. Time to pick your hero identities.", he seemed to answer our unspoken question. The class exploded into excitement, and he promptly flashed his red eyes and floating hair to show he meant business, "This is related to the pro hero draft picks I mentioned the last time we were in class together. Normally students don't have to worry about the draft yet, not until their second or third year actually, but your class is different. In fact, extending offers to first years like you pro heroes are investing in your potential. Any offers can be retracted if their interest in you dies down before graduation, though. Here are the totals for those of you who got offers."
My anxiety jumped at the thought of the reveal. I knew I was a risky bet for pro heroes to invest in, and it was easy to just pass over me than to actually recruit me. Aizawa pressed a button on a remote and a chart with our names and offer totals began transcribing on the board. Next to my name was a excruciating tiny length bar and the number '8' at the end of it. Eight! Eight fucking heroes wanted me! Me!
"In past years it's been more spread out, but there's a pretty big gap this time.", Aizawa explained while gesturing to Todoroki's and Katsuki's whooping amount of offers compared to the rest of us. The rest of the class was obviously pretty put off by the totals, but I was trying to fight off the laugh in my throat at the fact that Todoroki had more offers over the overall winner of the festival; Katsuki. That's what he gets for throwing his tantrums constantly.
Aizawa continued, "Despite these results, you'll all be interning with pros, got it? Even those of you who didn't get any offers."
Izuku, being one of the students who had zero offers, perked up, "Oh, so we're all interning?"
"Yes, you all got to experience first hand combat with villains at the attack on the USJ facility. But it will still be helpful to see pros at work; up close and personal, in the field, first hand.", Aizawa further explained.
"For that we'll need hero names!", Rikido cheered.
Ochaco jumped form her seat, "This is suddenly getting a lot more fun!"
"These hero names will likely be temporary, but take them seriously or-"
"You'll have hell to pay later!", Midnight burst into the room and made her way next to Aizawa, "What you picked today could be your code name for life! You better be careful, or you'll be stuck with something utterly indecent."
He agreed, "She's got a point, Midnight is going to have final approval over your names.", he pent down and dug through one of his desk drawers, "It's not my forte." As he stood bag up he revealed his classic, yellow sleeping bag. "The name you give yourself is important. It helps reinforce your image, and shows what kind of hero you want to be in the future. A code name tells people exactly what you represent. Take All Might, for example."
Eraser boards and markers were passed around the classroom until we were all equipped with one. As I took the cap off of the marker and held it to my board, I wondered what kind of hero I wanted to be.
I had never asked myself that type of question, the only thing I knew was that I had at least wanted to be one for Kosuke. When I was younger my pretend hero name was "The Beautiful, Princess Red", which I rarely was able to actively use as I was always the civilian when I played with Izuku.
At the time I was ten years old, feeling a little too grown to be playing 'hero' at the younger kids' playground. Sitting at the top of the slide , I waited for 'Mighty Man' to come rescue me from 'Mister Grizzly', who was just an old, stuffed teddy bear of mine that we had drew what we thought a menacing face looked like on its cheery features. Might Man- which was just Izuku wearing one of his many All Might's merchandised face masks, was currently in battle with some of his own 'villains' he brought from home.
I would have much rather been at home watching tv right now, but Izuku begged and begged for me to play his favorite game with him. He knew if he bat his eyes and pleaded enough I would, except on my usual condition; he had to call refer to me as 'Princess Red'. Despite the blush that came from calling me that, and my added title of 'The Beautiful, Princess Red', he had no issue with it as long as that meant we would play.
The plastic slide began to shake as someone bounded up the ladder to the top. A mop of messy, green curls popped up and flashed me a wide grin, "I am here!", he yelled as he took the final step into the platform I was on.
In the game's story line, my hands were bound together and I was being held captive by Mister Grizzy, who had kidnapped me for his evil scheme (that I had no idea what it was). In reality, I was clasping my hands together to make it look like they were bound, and I could freely move away from my teddy bear.
Mighty Man gave Mister Grizzly the ole' one two punch, and then a good kick into the mulch on the ground below. Now having defeated his enemy, he turned to me for the next and final phase of the game.
Striking his hero pose with his chest puffed out and hands on his hips, he stood tall and proclaimed, "Do not fear, Miss! For I am-"
"I am The Beautiful, Princess Red to you, Might Man! Don't you forget it!"
He fumbled, but retook his hero stance to state his line again, "Do not fear, Princess Red! For I am here!"
Satisfied with his compliance, I bounced right into the damsel character he wanted me to be, "Oh thank GOODNESS you're here, Mighty Man! I almost peed my pants I was so scared!"
Izuku reached down to my level to 'untie' me, and then once freed we rode down the slide into safety and out of the villainous lair.
That was one of the last times we actually played 'hero' together. Was I still 'Princess Red'? The name was more so just used as a character name for the story line than for any kind of hero usage. Besides that, it didn't really seem very appropriate for who I was, let alone the hero look I was going for. What was I even going for?
"Alright! Who is ready to present their hero name!", Midnight called, interrupting my thought process. Frantic, I reflexively wrote my childhood name onto the board as she seemed to catch my eyes. She marched right to my desk with intent, "Miyake, what do you have?"
As I looked down at my board, fully realizing what I had written down, I covered the board with my arms just as she made it to my desk. "I-I'm not ready!"
Placing a head on my shoulder and giving me a slight push to reveal my board to her. When my board was free enough, she took it in her hands and read it aloud, "The Beautiful, Princess Red".
Silence. The class was silent. How the fuck were they supposed to react to that?! Just when I thought I was going to die of embarrassment, Izuku did it for me. He fell out of his chair and onto the floor with the face of someone who had just seen a ghost. Fuck! I hope he didn't think I was seriously considering that for my actual hero name. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse than this, I noticed the smoke emitting in the seat in front of Izuku. Katsuki. He violently shook, trying not to react to hearing the name aloud. Suddenly I recalled the few times he played with me during pre-school, and that he was actually the one who started calling me "Princess Red" in the fucking first place. As my embarrassment broke into an entirely new level, I heard a loud snapping snap from him. We all watched as Katsuki stood from his desk, threw up the broken marker board, and retrieved another one off of Aizawa's desk.
"It's... pretty.", Midnight broke the pause, "But I'm not-"
"Wait, no! I panicked, that's not what I want it to be!", I snatched the board back from her and rubbed the markings off with my sleeve, "Please just let me think of something else!"
Aoyama brought all attention off of me, and towards him standing at the podium at the front of the room as he cleared his throat. Thank god. He lifted his board, revealing to the entire class of his decision, "The Shining Hero: I can not stop twinkling!"
As the class now fully reacted to his awful name, Midnight moved from next to me and towards him. "It would be better this way. Take out the 'I' and shorten the 'can not' to 'can't'."
How the fuck was that an acceptable name? Why was it that easy to alter it to be appropriate? I was a fucking idiot.
After that, Mina attempted to pass off "Alien Queen", but was shot down by its resemblance to some horror movie monster. Then Asui stepped up to bat, finally having something presentable with "Rainy Season Hero: Froppy", which Midnight praised openly as a wonderful example.
Now I felt like a bigger idiot than before for dropping the ball so badly. Froppy was such a fitting name for Asui, and I wrote down 'The Beautiful, Princess Red'. What was wrong with me?! Taking a deep breath, I tried to ignore the still lingering embarrassment. I needed to get my hero name over and done with so I never have to remember this moment again. What was my equivalent to 'Froppy'? Ausi looked like a frog, as that was apart of her quirk and that's why 'Froppy' worked for her.
Fox. I was constantly being compared to a fox by absolutely everyone. Present Mic even going as far to making it apart of my introduction during the sports festival, prompting one of the people on the subway to also refer to me as a fox. Foxy? I didn't really like the possible sexual connotations of it though, and I wasn't prepared to be an r-rated hero like Midnight. The Red Fox? That doesn't really work, my hero costume is green- but that could be easily changed if I wanted to play up the whole red hair and supposedly 'fox' features. I wasn't even sure if I liked the whole 'fox' thing. Sure, they were cute and sly with their movements- but it wasn't like my actual quirk had anything to do with having attributes of the animal like Asui's does. But I couldn't just ignore the hero image I was already placed in, the hero offers know me as this fox hero, and I needed to play that up to my favor.
Heroes, fellow students, and the public weren't the only ones to comment on my fox features. If I remembered correctly, during the USJ attack when I battled head on with Shigarki, he himself said something along those lines... but what was it? I don't think he outright called me a fox, that just didn't really seem likely. So what was it?
Closing my eyes, I tried to concentrate really hard to remember the details of the fight. After being interviewed by the police for my official statement on what happened, and my next day visit with Izuku, I chose to not dwell and remember much from that day. So many things happened, and it felt like a long time ago from where I was now. I remember deciding to throw myself against Shigaraki, being the one with the best suited quirk to keep him from touching me at both close range and distance combat. He was having trouble touching me, and went into a fit about it right before he made a big attempt to grab me with Kurogiri's aid, just before the pro heroes swooped in to save the day. What had he called me during his rage session? The little...
Vixen.
The way Shigaraki used this word tapped into both of its meanings. Vixen not only referred to a female fox, but also to a spiteful woman. Knowing that I was that much trouble for such a big and bad villain made me feel powerful, but rightfully so. Suddenly, I relived the moment he spoke those words and the same surge of pride I felt then pulsed through me now. I wanted villains to hear my hero name and know they were in for a fucking fight.
I was a fucking vixen and I loved it.
Apart from our shared red hair and other physical features, were there any other similarities between us? Foxes were known to be cunning, and agile creatures who played mischievous games to seek out their wants. Overall, their need of survival outweighed everything else, and they would do anything to sustain themselves. Was this the type of hero I already was? Could this really be my hero image?
The thought of being a mix of an underground and a flashy hero was appealing. Finding a happy medium between Eraserhead and All Might was exactly what I wanted, and it also seemed like that same role was what the fox took in the wild. I would do anything it took to be successful and something others can look up to, all the while also maintaining some sort of privacy about my personal life.
Finally feeling like I made my decision, I picked up the marker and wrote 'The Fox Hero: Vixen' just as Momo was taking her seat and Todoroki was presenting his. With my board in hand, I was about to walk to the front of the classroom and present it to everyone until I read it again. The Fox Hero: Vixen. I liked what I had, but something was... missing.
Then it hit me; my quirk! My name has absolutely nothing to do with my quirk! Thinking back to everyone else's, almost all of their had to do with their quirk. Even Katsuki's 'King Explosion Murder', mentioned his fucking quirk! I needed something catchy and unique like Momo's 'Creati' and Ochaco's 'Uravity' that played with vixen and vectoring, but what could that be?
I erased 'vixen' and continued to stare at the board, hoping it would spell itself out. At this point everyone in the class except Katsuki, Izuku, Iida, and I had chosen their hero names. After all of this and thinking it out, I felt like the answer was right there in front of me. Maybe it really was and I was just too fatigued to actually see the answer. Vixen and vectoring... The Vectoring Hero: Vixen. Maybe? Still seemed a bit off... The Vectoring Vixen. Close, still wasn't the fit
It was as if the rain stopped, and the sun shined directly into my brain and illuminated the answer that was at the forefront of my mind but I had been to blind to see it until now. My hero name would be:
Vector Vixen.
