Dokusei walked to school with Mina and Ochako. It was raining hard, so they tried to get to school as fast as possible. "Hope this rain lets up soon," Ochako said as she tugged on her rain jacket.
"It's supposed to be raining for the next few hours." Dokusei held his umbrella forward.
"Oh fun..." Mina moaned.
"I see the gate!" Ochako pointed out. The three of them started running towards it.
When they made it inside, they took a moment to dry off and put away their rain gear. "At least the wind wasn't cold..." Dokusei muttered as he dried his umbrella before putting it in his, surprisingly spacious, locker.
"Why's that?" Ochako asked as she put away her jacket.
"Doku hates the cold with a passion!" Mina answered for him, shaking the water out of her hair.
"Me and the cold have a mutual agreement; it doesn't like me, and I don't like it." He closed the locker and began to walk to class. "Come on, we're going to be late."
When they made it to class, everyone was talking about how they were recognized from the festival. Mostly positive, unless you're Dokusei. "I got recognized... but no one really made their way to us." The whole train ride people gave them a wide berth. "I think a little kid wanted to come up to me, but their mother had other plans..."
"Huh... wonder why...?" Kaminari asked.
"It's fear of my quirk."
"Oh, dude, that's so unmanly!" Kirishima smashed his first to his palm. "Can't believe that school kid mentality is still there in adults!"
Dokusei just shrugged. "Can't change the stupid and ignorant." He didn't really care. It still hurt; it always would, but he'd show them with his actions not his words.
Iida and Midoriya showed up after some time, cutting it close. When homeroom started, the class was surprised that Aizawa was no longer a mummy. "Mister Aizawa, I'm happy you were able to remove your bandages!" Tsuyu said.
"Recovery Girl went a little overboard with her treatments." Aizawa rubbed under his eye. "But let's put that aside. Today's lesson is a little special."
Dokusei put his head in his hand. "Probably going to grade our Sport Festival performance..."
"You'll be choosing your Hero names." The moment he said those words, the whole class went ballistic. It quickly died down when a menacing aura from Aizawa fell over the room. "This is related to the draft nominations I mentioned the other day." Dokusei was still in the nurse's office when that happened, but Mina got him up to speed. "The nominations will truly start mattering only after you've gained some experience and your adaptable fighting Asbury is judged during your second and third years..." The menacing aura disappeared. "In other words, the nominations you're getting this year are more akin to expressions of "interest" in your future potential."
Dokusei leaned back and took a moment. "Wonder how many I got..."
His question was soon answered when a projection appeared on the board, showing everyone who got nominations. Dokusei got around 200, Ochako got 180, but the real monsters of the pile were Todoroki and Bakugo, getting over four thousand and three thousand respectively. "Normally the results are more evenly spread out, but with the performance of these two, they got a lot more than normal."
Dokusei looked at the board more, seeing that Iida got a little over 300, but he couldn't see Midoriya or Mina. He looked at Mina, seeing a defeated slump in her shoulders, then Midoriya. It looked like Mineta was talking to him, but Midoriya had a look of understanding.
"Regardless if you received nominations or not, I'll be having all of you take part in "Work-place experience."" That was a surprise for the once that didn't get any reactions. "You've already got a taste of the world of pros, unfortunately. But I think experiencing the activities of pros firsthand will prove to be a more fruitful training than beforehand."
The class began to get excited about their future. "I do recommend choosing your name carefully. Though a placeholder name will work, it's best to choose a name that's appropriate-"
"Because if not, it'll be hell from there!" A new voice interrupted Aizawa. "The names you choose now will be the names you'll be known for the rest of your life!" Midnight walked in fixing her hair. "In many cases, they stay that way after becoming pros!"
Aizawa looked to be reaching for something under his podium. "Well, she is correct. I'll be having Midnight evaluate your name suggestions. Since I definitely can't..." He muttered that last part loud enough for most to hear. He pulled out his sleeping bag, and began giving examples for names that matched the saying "names and nature often agree."
White boards and markers were passed out and they had fifteen minutes before presenting their names. Dokusei got his and immediately began writing down his name; he had this down pat.
The first one up was Aoyama; he held up his board with great pride. "I am the Sparkling Hero: I Cannot Stop Twinkling!"
"THAT'S A WHOLE SENTENCE!" the class yelled out, while Dokusei gave an audible facepalm.
Midnight came up to him and told him to drop the "I" and abbreviate "cannot" to "can't" so his name was "can't stop twinkling." Still stupid, but not as much of a mouthful.
Mina quickly went up. "I am "ALIEN QUEEN"!"
"Nope, that would cause a bad image for you and possible copyright problems." Midnight shot the idea down before it could even grow wings.
"Aw man..." Mina walked back to her desk, while Dokusei was sulking. He gave her that idea years ago.
Tsuyu went next. "I've known since elementary school what my name would be." And it was perfect for her. "The rainy season Hero: Froppy."
Dokusei chuckled, "I might actually just start calling you that!"
More people got their confidence up after Tsuyu's name. Kirishima showed off his name, Red Riot!
After him, Dokusei took the next spot. "I've been thinking of names off and on for years, but this one always stuck to me." He flipped his board around with a smile. "I am the Noxious Hero: Toxic Phantom."
"It's a good start," Midnight spoke up. "Though I recommend a name that doesn't tell everyone what you do."
"I have many toxins that I haven't shown you yet. I'm not all just about paralyzing my enemies." Dokusei gave her a smirk.
She shrugged and wrote down his name. "Alright, if you're really ok with it."
The rest of the names came flooding in; some were creative, most were mediocre. "Tail man... Sugar Man... really?"
Todoroki just used his first name, not really being able to come up with anything. "Pinky!" Mina made a new one, but Alien Queen was so much better.
"King Explosion Murder!" was Bakugo's, which was quickly shot down for being too violent.
Ochako walked up after Bakugo. "Here's mine. Uravity."
"Nice, Care Bear." Dokusei nodded in approval with the rest of the class.
Iida went after Ochako, and seemed to be having a lot on his mind. "Tenya will be my placeholder for now."
Dokusei looked at Ochako, who shrugged.
Midoriya was next, showing his name, getting a lot of questing looks and some concerned ones in there too. "You sure about that, Mordy?" Dokusei asked.
"Yeah you could be stuck with this for the rest of your life," Kirishima added
"I know," he started. "I used to hate this name, but someone changed the meaning of it for me and blew my whole world wide open." The board read Deku. "This will be my hero name."
Ochako had a smile a mile long, and Dokusei nodded.
"Lord Explosion Kill!" Bakugo really wanted a violent name, didn't he...?
Once the class was done choosing their hero names, Dokusei was going through the small stack of names; the papers held about fifty names each. "I'm going with Mt. Lady!" Mineta proclaimed without hesitation.
"You're just going there so you can look at her ass." Dokusei didn't even look away from his papers.
"What! N-No, I'm not!"
He ignored the class chatter as he focused on his list of nominations. "Well hello...!" he looked at a name he recognized. "Wow, I'm surprised you gave me one..." Dokusei looked up and saw his friends crowding around Midoriya. He got up and joined the little group. "How's the name picking going?"
Midoriya looked at Dokusei. "Oh uh, fine, I guess; did you guys pick one?"
"I'm going with Gunhead," both Dokusei and Ochako said at the same time.
Dokusei and Midoriya looked at her. "Ok, I got a pretty good reason for why I'm going, but why you, Care Bear?"
"Yeah, I thought you wanted to be a rescue hero like Thirteen?" Midoriya asked.
"Well that's the end goal!" she started. "But it hit me during my match with Bakugo the other day" –she began to do mock punches– "that if all I do is stay in my comfort zone, all of my options will be extremely limited." She had that fire in her eyes again. "So how many more possibilities would open up for me if I was stronger in a fight!?"
"I see that answers that..." Midoriya turned to Dokusei. "What about you?"
"My master and Gunhead trained together, I've seen him in passing a couple of times at the dojo." Dokusei gave them a big smile. "He and Master Howl used to have a big rivalry, but became good friends after knocking the shit out of each other." He shook his head at the thought. "If Gunhead could teach me some new techniques or help me polish my current move set, I'll be golden for my appointed fieldwork!"
"That's awesome!" Ochako put her fist up in the air. "We'll be going together and going to be able to kick butt!"
Dokusei chuckled at her and patted her head. "Oh you poor sweet summer child." She's in for a world of hurt.
"But my birthday is in December...?" She tilted her head a bit, not getting the meaning.
Dokusei removed his hand and looked around; their little group was missing someone. Iida just sat at his desk looking at his papers. Dokusei decided to walk up to him. "Hey, Mr. Roboto, I heard what happened to your brother. You have my condolences."
"Oh! Sumiteru, thank you." Dokusei clearly caught Iida deep in thought. "My brother should be out of the hospital in a couple days, but unfortunately his hero career is at an end... he's... he's paralyzed from the waist down..."
"I'm sorry your family has to go through this. I hope things become brighter in the future." Dokusei put a hand on his shoulder.
Iida didn't say anything for a moment, before nodding. "... Thank you..."
"So! Any hero agency catch your eye?" Dokusei tried steering the conversation to a light tone. "Me and Ochako are going to Gunhead's agency!"
"Yes I'm-" He suddenly stopped as if he was choosing his words carefully. "I'm going to a lesser known hero agency after what happened to my brother. I want something that can help keep my mind off things but not overwhelm me with too much, as I go through everything that's happened."
Dokusei looked at him with a cocked head. "Ok... what's the name of this hero? I'm pretty sure Mordy will know it."
Iida seemed hesitant for a moment. "The normal hero agency... It's in Hosu City."
Dokusei took a step back. "Manual? You sure about that man?" He readjusted himself. "Wasn't Ingenium attacked in..."
"Yes I am-" He was about to say more before Dokusei put his hand on his shoulder.
"Please tell me I'm wrong" –his grip on his shoulder tightened up– "You're not going after the Hero Killer, are you?" He kept his voice low, so as to not cause a panic.
Iida went stiff as a board. "I-I see why you would think that..." He slowly relaxed. "But I can assure you, I won't be doing that." He gave him a smile. But it never reached his eyes.
Dokusei knew something was up, "Alright..." He let go of him and walked back to Midoriya and Ochako. "I hope I'm wrong..."