"These hero names will likely be temporary. Odds are, you'll figure out something better. Or the media might run with a different name. Regardless, take them seriously or – "

"What you pick today could be your code name for life," strutting into the room, Midnight sensually sighed, "You better be careful or you'll be stuck with something utterly indecent."

Half the class was instantaneously infatuated with the adult-rated heroine.

The male half, Ryuko realized, her eyes immediately noticing a certain grape-haired pervert's idiotic expression.

"Yeah, she has a point," unfazed by the rampant display of restrained promiscuity before a class of hormonally influenced adolescents, including one Minoru Mineta, who he'd subtly warned to reign in his behavior, Aizawa ignored Midnight brushing against his forearm with fingers smoother than nature intended, "Names are important. They help reinforce your image and shows what sort of hero you want to be in the future. A code name tells people exactly what you represent," memories of his own name's origin surfaced much to his old shame, "Since this really isn't my forte, Midnight has final approval on your names. She'll walk you through the process."

In the middle of describing how important a hero name was, he ducked beneath the lectern.

"But before I hand things off to her, one small piece of advice – try thinking outside the box," damn, the old lady must've gone completely overboard to leave him this exhausted this early in the morning, "Take All Might, for example. On its own it doesn't mean much, but due to his actions, it's a name everybody in the world recognizes."

With a familiar sleeping bag tucked underneath his arm, he waved goodbye, then walked five feet to the right and slouched against the wall.

"Alright," now the only conscious pro hero in the classroom, Midnight slammed a stack of white boards on the lectern, "Let's get started!"

Ryuko panicked.

She kept up a façade of boredom. The expression everyone thought was her default mood. She grabbed the stack of white boards from Tsu, took one for herself and handed the last over her shoulder to Uraraka. But on the inside, her heart was pounding.

A name.

She had to come up with a hero name!?

The corner of her mouth twitched as she stared at the white board mocking her with its complete absence of anything. Ignoring the cold fingers of dread squeezing her heart, Ryuko gathered everything together and took a deep breath. She could do this. It wasn't any harder than pretending to give two shits about a hero's accomplishments whenever dad invited them over. She just needed to write something good enough to get Midnight's seal of approval. And then move on with her life. But that was easier said than done. Because she had literally no idea what she was going to call herself. It seemed so damn stupid. And yet, holding the marker above the board, its tip convulsing thanks to her twitching fingers, her foot rapidly bounced against the floor.

What kind of hero did she want to be?

My Bloody Academia

"Now then, if nobody else has any more hypothetical questions concerning merchandising rights…"

Aizawa directed his ire at Kirishima, who wisely refrained from any further comments on the subject, before clicking the remote, "…here are the totals for those of you who got offers."

Shoto Todoroki: 4123
Katsuki Bakugo: 3556
Ryuko Matoi: 1912
Ochako Uraraka: 513
Fumikage Tokoyomi: 360
Tenya Ida: 229
Denki Kaminari: 190
Mina Ashida: 101
Momo Yaoyorozu : 95
Eijiro Kirishima: 87
Tsuyu Asui : 61

"In past years, it's been more spread out," mildly inconvenienced by the projector shining directly into his eyes, Aizawa took a small step backwards, "But, as you can see, there's quite the gap this time."

"Gah!" Kaminari felt the exact moment his confidence and future as a pro hero shattered – right when he saw how many offers Bakugo and Todoroki received, "That's no fair!"

"There must have been some sort of clerical mistake," baffled by his own omission from the list of top contenders, Aoyama mumbled, "What about the real star, moi?"

Her grin matched only by how hard she was punching the air, Mina laughed as an enormous weight lifted from her shoulders, "Woo-hoo! Triple digits for me!"

"Wow, Todoroki got the most?" Jiro looked over her shoulder at Todoroki, who hadn't reacted to his accomplishment, then turned around to Bakugo, "Ahead of Bakugo?"

"Yeah, it's the opposite of how they placed in the festival," resisting the urge to ask another question, Kirishima leaned backwards in his seat, "Then again, their fight was pretty manly and epic. Could have really gone either way."

"I bet the heroes who watched the festival weren't thrilled about the guy who had to be chained up like a rabid dog," Sero chimed in, pointing at the short-tempered blonde explosion bomber only a few seats in front of him.

"IF I SCARED A PRO, THEY'RE JUST WEAK!"

"That's amazing," Momo tipped a curled finger against her bottom lip. She knew she should be grateful to have received any offers. Her performance against Bakugo in the first round had been utterly abysmal, "Guess I should count myself fortunate some heroes believe in me," forcing a shy and tired smile, she offered her gratitude to Todoroki, "You must be proud."

Said student's mismatched eyes conveyed little emotion.

He knew why he received so many offers.

It was the same reason Matoi received the third-most offers despite boycotting the sports festival, "These offers are probably because of my father."

"C-Can you believe it?" sputtering out tears of joy, Uraraka grabbed a somewhat surprised Ryuko's shoulders and began violently shaking her, "Look at how many people want me!"

"Hold on!"

Kaminari's voice nearly cracked at the third name on the list, "Matoi got third!? She didn't even place in the first event!"

"Yeah, but she fought that third-year student," Jiro pointed out, "Remember when we returned to the stadium? The second event had to be delayed because UA wasn't finished fixing the damage from their fight."

Adding his own comment, Tokoyomi's voice pierced through the silent darkness, "That was one intense confrontation."

"Heck yeah, it was!" swiveling in her chair, Mina mimicked several of the moves she'd seen on television, "Mom and I watched the whole thing that night!"

"Man, you took some seriously hardcore blows from that guy," Kirishima's smirk bordered on a grimace as Uraraka stopped shaking Ryuko, allowing her head to finally stop rattling.

"No kidding," Sero whistled, "I can't be the only one thinking Matoi could have probably won the festival if she actually wanted, right?"

"SHUT UP, DAMN IT! NOBODY CARES ABOUT A COWARD LIKE HER!"

Alright.

She'd had just about enough of this.

"Hey, question," raising her hand into the air, Ryuko prepared herself for the shitstorm she was about to unleash, "Can I just, you know, ignore these offers?"

"Say what!?"

The collective astonishment left her ears momentarily ringing.

Mineta, for everything that he was, was shocked, "But you, like got so many offers!"

"Yeah, Ryu," Tsuyu added, "Why do you want to give them away?"

Two days of thinking. Two days of forgetting about that freaky pervert luring her to the park with his glowing nipples and handing her an old book. She'd spend most of her time just walking around Musutafu. Or reading. Or doing anything not involving heroics. And she'd come to a basic conclusion. Pretty much the only possible conclusion. She hated it. She felt stupid. But it was the damn truth.

She'd been acting like an antisocial bitch.

"Isn't it obvious? I don't deserve them."

Oh, great, now even Aizawa was glaring at her.

"And it ain't because of my dad or some stupid excuse," she felt Todoroki looking at her, but for the brief moment her eyes snapped towards him, he was preoccupied with something on his desk, "I fought Togata because I wanted to kick his ass. Not to help anyone beat the obstacle course. Which was selfish, literally the opposite of being a hero," blowing a strand of hair off her forehead, Ryuko jabbed her thumb towards Midoriya, "That's why I want to give my offers to people who deserves them. Like Izuku or Kirishima. Or heck, even Bakugo."

"You've really put some thought into this, haven't you?"

Aizawa's hair calmed down as he clicked the remote, ending the presentation, "Unfortunately, scouting offers aren't like trading cards. You can't pick and choose the ones you receive or give away those you don't want. Even if you feel you honestly don't deserve a reward, there's no going back. Sorry. I'm afraid you'll just have to choose one."

My Bloody Academia

"Hmm…let's see now…"

As Uraraka walked back to her desk with a noticeable spring in her step, Midnight looked at the clock, "To be honest, choosing names is going a lot faster than I thought it would," to think it would be nearly done so quickly. There were usually at least five or six kids like Bakugo coming up with frightening or indecent hero names. But so far, only Bakugo and Ashido required modest adjustments, "The only ones who still need to present are Bakugo – "

"GIVE ME A MINUTE!"

" – Ida and Matoi," ignoring said student's outburst as he scribbled, erased and re-scribbled something on his white board, Midnight cupped her chin, "Oh, yes, and Midoriya. Are any of you ready to show us your hero identities? I promise not to be too harsh."

Ryuko stared at her hand-written scribbles.

Really stared at it.

This was the best she'd managed to come up with.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

She really wasn't ready. Not by a long shot. But slouching out of her seat and walking to the front of the room, she decided to cut her losses and pull the bandage off quickly.

"Alright, so I ain't too good with picking names," propped the white board on top of the lectern, her voice was utterly flat as she realized it was backwards, spun it around and began from scratch, "But here goes – just call me the Bloody Hero – Senketsu."

鮮血
(SENKETSU)

"Senketsu?" Momo's head tilted several degrees rightward, "Doesn't that mean 'fresh blood?'"

"Well, Ryuko's Quirk is all about blood," Jiro countered, "So, it makes sense."

"I like it!" beamish about the name, Midnight gave an ecstatic thumbs up, "Direct and to the point! But change Bloody to something less, well, bloody. Oh, how about Sanguine?"

Only slightly relieved by the positive reactions and compliments, plus Bakugo's irritation at being able to use blood in her name while he couldn't, Ryuko nevertheless pretended she couldn't care less, "Isn't that literally the same thing?"

"Yes, but to the public, it's much fancier and mysterious," Midnight helpfully pointed out, "Plus, Vlad King kind of already called dibs on your original epithet."

She would have argued.

If she cared.

Which she didn't.

Mercifully.

So, she just shrugged, accepted the change and walked back to her desk.

God, being a hero was a shit ton of work.

The first class wasn't even over and already she couldn't wait for the day to end.