My apologies for a one day delay. This weekend was a convention weekend and after leaving convention centre at about 00:05 twice it didn't seem like a good idea to stay up to Finish getting a chapter out earlier.

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comments:

The all powerful Machine: Actually it was and has been three weeks between each chapter, though if it felt several times longer for you I should probably take that as a compliment.

GgeorGge: yeah, kind of strange

Chronolocked: Out of everyone in Izuku's group Todoroki has been witness to most dark side behind shiny hero image besides Izuku himself and Todoroki is serious contender for that first place too.

S1XXT035: Izuku might not bee going for quite the bang as Tomura but that won't save the system as he starts opening people's eyes.

Anonymous4.O: Any reveal if any were to happen would be some of the most challenging and important writing to get right I have done. I do hope that if that comes I manage it right.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom

Chapter 56: Names, names, names

Izuku walked up from his home basement gym after his usual short school morning workout and shower. He felt unusually good and not in as much rush to head to school as usual. Then again, he usually had to do his Monday morning workouts alone, only meeting others as he headed out. Todoroki followed Izuku, adjusting the tie of his school uniform. Izuku glanced out of the window and picked up an umbrella just in case.

"The car already came. You got everything you need?"

"No," Todoroki responded quietly, "I didn't have any of my schoolbooks with me at the sports festival."

"You can borrow mine. I can share with Toshi or Tenya."

"Thank you," Todoroki responded, head down looking at the floor. Izuku moved to lightly elbow his side. He could have sworn that the air got a bit cooler as he did.

"Don't act like it's something you'd need to worry about, really. Your father already wants my head on a pike, borrowing books doesn't matter."

"Right," Todoroki said, managing to raise his chin at least. Izuku shook his head.

"Let's go."

Just as they stepped outside the car moved away from where it had been in front of the house, giving space to a large truck with a large crane to drive in front of Izuku's front gate. The driver got out as Izuku opened the gate.

"Good morning. We have a delivery to Midoriya-san, twenty-ton steel cube to be… installed on the ground."

"Yes, that's for me," Izuku responded and turned to point towards the yard. "Set it up over there where there are remains of a large rock. Make sure you anchor it well into the ground. At least one third should be underground and don't spare the concrete."

The man didn't respond. Izuku gave him a questioning glance. The man looked hesitant. His eyes jumped between Izuku and Todoroki as his expression turned gradually more concerned.

"Uhh, are your parents home?" The man eventually asked.

"No," Izuku said bluntly, "and that delivery isn't for them anyway. If I need to sign something, please give it to me now. We are in bit of a rush."

"Well, okay. At least it is the right address," the man muttered and gave Izuku a touch screen to sign on. Todoroki looked at the large piece of steel on the back of the truck.

"Kirishima is going to love that," he muttered.

"Assuming it lasts past the first day."

Izuku regretted saying that right away. Todoroki's lips had been twitching up, but now he frowned. Izuku pulled his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. The world won't run out of things to punch. If nothing else you can always make him ice pillars to smash," Izuku said. Todoroki's head perked up with new light in his eyes.

"Oh, right… I can."

Izuku mentally gave more points to Todoroki as the other boy walked to the car. His smile only disappeared for the moment when it changed into a surprised expression as he looked at the car.

"You got a different car?"

"It's larger," Izuku responded. "We could barely cram into the other when Tenya wasn't with us. This one works better."

It sure did. The larger black car had two rows of back seats facing each other so they could comfortably fit half a dozen people with room to spare, and that was with everyone sitting together in the back. The driver was separated by a soundproof glass, though Izuku would not have counted on the privacy of the car.

He checked his watch, concerned. "Usually Tenya is already waiting here before the car comes."

As Izuku raised his head he finally saw Tenya running towards them. At least he was still following the law and not using his quirk so the feeling in Izuku's heart eased, a little bit. It was only a little bit though. Tenya slid to a halt right in front of Izuku. His face was no brighter than the sky at the moment.

"Sorry I'm late, we should go quickly before… before we are late from school."

Izuku stared him straight in the eyes for a long moment.

"We will go, but don't try to hide what you are really worried about."

Tenya's shoulders slumped and he nodded in surrender. Izuku gently guided them to sit in the middle facing forward and sat opposite them. Neither said a thing and Izuku too was hesitant to break the silence. He could only watch as Tenya was squirming in front of him to avoid his stare. Todoroki sat quietly trying to put on his traditional emotionless mask but unable to hide his concern as he too turned towards Tenya. Eventually Izuku couldn't hold back.

"Tenya," he asked quietly, "do you still have a place for tonight?"

"What… oh, yes. They didn't… they didn't go that far, but they tried to stop me from coming. Dad was already starting the car when I left."

"Sneaked out," Izuku corrected. Tenya nodded rapidly.

"Now they aren't just worried about… what you are, but worried you are planning to kidnap me or thinking we exploited Tensei somehow. Mom even got so angry she suggested you could have had something to do with him getting hurt." Tenya glanced at his sleeve that had a slight bump from the new exhaust pipes from Tensei's quirk. "I shouldn't have…"

Izuku's face twitched but he held his emotions off his face and reached to put his hand on Tenya's shaking hand.

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"I know, but they are my parents. They…"

"Being your parents doesn't make them right," Todoroki muttered. "If they think it does, that is even worse."

Todoroki put his hand on top of Izuku's and Tenya's. He looked at it for a moment and blinked.

"Did I do it right? What should I do next?"

Izuku huffed with a smile and even Tenya didn't seem as sad. Izuku assured Todoroki he did well. A while later they stopped at a house they hadn't been to before. The car door next to Todoroki swung open before the driver could even get out to open it.

"Heyy! Good morning!" Eijiro greeted with energy that should have been illegal so early in the morning, especially since he was drenched from the rain that had started during the drive, but some of his energy seemed to radiate off him and stick with Todoroki, who responded to Eijiro's smile in kind.

"Wow, did you get a new car Midobro? It's really fancy. This seat feels as soft as my bed."

"And more space than the other one," Izuku added.

"For sure," Eijiro leaned against the seat and laid his arms on the backrest reaching behind Todoroki as he turned his smile assault on the two classmates next to him.

"So how are you doing?"

The trip continued much more cheerful than before, so much so that even Tokoyami and Dark Shadow could not cast a shadow over it when they stopped to pick them up. Finally they picked up Hitoshi. As he got on Izuku caught a glimpse of a secret security guard there in case Bakugo would try something stupid. Izuku would not have been convinced of the guard's ability to even slow down the walking arsenal on fire, but he was given the contact information of the little-known security company by his father so…

Hitoshi looked around the new car not showing even a slight surprise, but Izuku could imagine his brain already printing out some clever comments starting with something along the lines of 'of course Izuku would.'

"So are you going to buy a new car every time we find people you can let close enough to share one?"

Izuku didn't respond but gave up on the staring contest quickly.

"Tenya," Hitoshi said, "how about we'll go for a bus?"

Tenya nodded and seemed to hold back a chuckle. At least he seemed better than when he had gotten to the car.

"Hey Fumi," Dark Shadow said, popping out of Tokoyami's chest. There was actually enough space for him in the car, "what if we get him a bus instead of a house since he already has that?"

Tokoyami held his beak and sighed.

With everyone present the remaining short drive passed in much higher spirits, at least on the surface. Izuku kept a close eye on Tenya, only taking few glances at Todoroki. The two-faced classmate was doing much better than a few days ago and Eijiro was maintaining his soft smile without needing help from Izuku. Of course he was talking about training, but that seemed to be a topic Todoroki could keep up with.

As they approached the school Izuku checked messages from his phone and directed the driver to a small side gate where mister Aizawa was already waiting with some security robots as they got out of the car. The man looked like he had not slept since the sports festival, so a bit worse than usual. At least he didn't look like a mummy anymore.

"Hey, mister Aizawa," Eijiro nearly shouted. "Great to see you feeling better."

"Thank you, the old lady went a little overboard with her treatment."

"How bad is it?" Izuku asked as soon as he got out of the car. He could feel Tenya's critique about politeness, but if someone in this school understood going straight to the point it was mister Aizawa.

"There aren't significantly more reporters than after USJ, but now there are also protesters among them and a couple of counter protesters." Aizawa rubbed his forehead. "…and then there are several girls who really should be in school at this time, their own school."

Izuku tilted his head, the question in his eyes.

"You, a group of hero students got live streamed to thousands of people… at a beach. Some people care more about what they saw than what was said."

"Oh," Izuku said after a few seconds.

"What do you mean?" Todoroki asked, seeming confused. That was until Hitoshi leaned in closer to whisper something to him. Todoroki blushed visibly making both sides of his face seem a bit more even and Izuku could have sworn the air got warmer.

"I guess Ashido wasn't the only one enjoying the view," Izuku said.

"Eh, what do you mean?" Eijiro asked this time. Izuku realized his mistake while Aizawa had a question in his glare, but in the end only sighed.

"Get in the class. You are going to be late."

Izuku started leading their group towards the building, only remembering Eijiro a moment too late. Hitoshi was already whispering to the boy whose cheeks were starting to look like his hair. Well, even if he didn't figure it out on his own, he could have gotten it in a worse way than being told by Hitoshi. If anything, Hitoshi thinking it was okay to tell meant it probably was the best option.

Eijiro continued blushing and glancing towards Ashido throughout the morning lessons and during lunch ended up sharing a small table with the girl. Izuku couldn't help but feel something was missing despite still being surrounded by a large group for lunch. Todoroki was sitting securely against the wall opposite to him between Tokoyami and Hitoshi. Tenya sat next to Izuku a with sadly empty seat on Izuku's other side, at least empty for a moment.

"Hey," Shoji Hitoshi called to their large classmate who was passing by. He sat down next to Izuku. A tentacle mouth rose, facing Tenya.

"My condolences, how is your brother doing?"

Tenya's face turned darker, and he rubbed the back of his arm and the exhaust hidden in his sleeves.

"He is going to live," Tenya paused, "but not walk."

"I am sorry to hear that."

Shoji followed Tenya's movements to his arm.

"Have you too been hurt? I heard Kirishima talking about something he called hardcore training."

"It is not that," Tenya said and swallowed. "I… well… Izuku could you?"

Izuku nodded slowly.

"Tenya's brother had me pass his quirk to Tenya."

Shoji made more eyes to stare at the both of them at the same time, but remained silent.

"It is a bit of a sensitive subject," Izuku added. Shoji nodded in understanding, and no one talked for a while. Eventually Izuku sensed the tension in the air.

"Uhm, you don't need to be worried about talking," he added. "Actually, can I ask something?"

"Of course."

"Did you see what was happening at the main gate? What were people saying?"

Shoji thought about his response for a moment.

"Many people claimed they were here for Todoroki in one way or another, but I heard more anger and hate than worry in their voices," Shoji waved three ears in front of Izuku. "Seems many of them are more angry that you made accusations against Endeavour than what you accused him off."

"Not surprising."

"A few appeared to even hide knives and other weapons under their clothes. I reported them to the security."

"I wish I could say that is surprising."

"Some tried to argue with them though, but not many. There was almost an altercation when some of them got mocked for mutant type quirks, but Midnight handled it…"

Izuku nodded. Shoji paused for a moment.

"There were also a few girls that talked about some 'hot bad boy', one with white hair. Some of the things they talked about aren't necessarily appropriate to say here out loud."

Izuku rubbed his forehead and prepared mentally at seeing Hitoshi's expression change.

"See, not everyone hates you," Hitoshi said. "Didn't you want people to pay attention to you, not just your quirk, positive attention that is?"

Izuku frowned. "I'd prefer people who pay attention even when I have shirt on."

"You should take it as a compliment," Hitoshi said. "Lot of guys can only dream about getting attention like that."

Izuku sighed.

Izuku's frown and Hitoshi's smirk lasted for a while as Hitoshi continued his verbal jabs, but listening to them made the others relax from the previous discussions so in the end it was a net positive well worth the frowns. Izuku let Hitoshi run the show until they finished lunch and Hitoshi provoked Tenya into talking about their studies as a new distraction.

After lunch it was time for the hero training. Izuku was already expecting them to go through their performance at the school festival or something like that. It would be logical to take advantage of those contests when the events were still relatively fresh in their memory. Aizawa arrived exactly on time as Izuku went through the motions expected of class president at the beginning of the class.

"We are having a special hero informatics class today," the man started. The mood in the room collapsed instantly as people expected a quiz or lecture or things like that, as if they were in a school or something.

"Code names," Aizawa said. "You'll be coming up with hero names."

"We're gonna do something exciting!" Several people shouted basically the same thing, raising their arms like an excited audience at a sports competition. A single red glowing stare silenced them and suddenly everyone was sitting quietly, their backs straight like nothing had happened. Aizawa continued speaking as the red glow of Erasure disappeared.

"This is related to the pro hero draft picks. The drafts begin in earnest in the second and third years, after students have gained experience and can become immediate assets to the pros. In other words, for them to extend offers to first years like you shows that they are interested in your future potential. These offers are often cancelled if that interest dies down by graduation."

"So we'll have to prove ourselves once we get picked, huh?" Hagakure, the invisible girl, asked.

"That's right," Aizawa nodded and raised a hand with a remote control, "and here are the totals for those with offers."

A big bar chart appeared on the screen that covered most of the wall behind Aizawa. There was one bar way ahead of everyone else representing thousands of offers for Todoroki, followed by far smaller but respectable numbers near one thousand for Tenya, Tokoyami, and Eijiro. Izuku started getting concerned reading down the list, but Hitoshi too was also solidly in the three digits. A sliver of regret Izuku felt for the beatdown he had given Hitoshi slipped away. At least some had seen his ability and potential, or at least that of his quirk.

As the list continued to lower numbers Izuku realized he had yet to see his own name until at the very end of the chart there were ten. Those were probably some unknown heroes who were desperate to tell people they had a UA student as an intern, though it wasn't impossible for someone to have actually listened to Izuku's words. He could always hope. In recent months the world had given him some good things he hadn't bothered to even hope for before.

"In other years it has been more spread out, but all eyes were on Todoroki this year, though we are being careful about possible ulterior motives behind the offers," Aizawa muttered the last part barely audibly.

"Gah, there's such a big difference," Kaminari complained, slumping against the backrest of his chair.

"Those pros don't know a good thing when they see one," Aoyama complained.

"Todoroki first and Ida second," Jiro said.

"But they completely ignored Izuku even though he won the festival," Eijiro said with an uncharacteristically unhappy expression. The lack of a smile was disturbing. Sero leaned towards them to talk.

"Some people are too scared for a guy that criticized them all and got in trouble with the number two. People are still talking as if Todoroki got kidnapped."

Izuku had to brush his eyes as he thought he saw a frown on Eijiro's face. Meanwhile Yaorozu looked at Todoroki who unfortunately had his cool emotionless face on.

"You're amazing, Todoroki."

"They're probably all because of Endeavour. Might be fakes."

Others were similarly thoughtful or just excited for actually getting any offers, like Uraraka. She was probably just happy to have chances at earning money in the future though. Izuku leaned back to check on Tenya who was unable to feel as excited.

"Congratulations," Izuku said, getting a simple nod in response.

"Keeping these results in mind," Aizawa interrupted the class, "whether or not anyone asked for you, you will be participating in internships with pros. At USJ you already got to experience combat with real villains, but it will still be meaningful training for you to see pros at work firsthand."

"So that explains the hero names," Sato said.

"Things are suddenly getting a lot more fun," Uraraka added, visibly excited.

"Well, those hero names are still temporary," Aizawa told them, "but if you are not serious about it…"

The door opened and a new voice joined the conversation.

"…you'll have hell to pay later!" Midnight declared. Several of the boys looked towards her, seeming even more excited than when hero names were declared. Izuku followed the female hero's entrance, seeing an example of the superficiality and bias of the current hero system more than anything else, though she hadn't done badly during the sports festival award ceremony.

"Because a lot of hero names used by students become recognized by society and they end up becoming professional hero names," she continued.

"Well, that is how it is," Aizawa agreed. "So Midnight will be making sure your names are okay. I can't do stuff like that."

Izuku found himself wondering how Aizawa had gotten his hero name Eraserhead. That sounded like something Present Mic would have come up with. As Aizawa continued speaking he was already pulling out his sleeping back.

"When you give yourself a name, you get a more concrete image of what you want to be like in the future, and you can get closer to it. This is what it means when they say 'names and natures do often agree.' Like 'All Might' for example."

During Aizawa's talk Midnight handed out small whiteboards and markers and Hitoshi passed some to Izuku. Izuku froze for a moment before remembering to pass the rest to Tenya.

A hero name?

He was supposed to have a hero name.

He was plotting, planning, training and preparing constantly but that was one thing he had not considered. He'd never really be a pro hero so it wasn't that important, but he had to at least seem like he was taking it seriously.

And yet he could not focus on the hero name… Well, not his hero name at least. Izuku glanced back at Tenya who was staring at his whiteboard, holding it so tightly it was a miracle he only shook it rather than snap it in two.

"Tenya," Izuku whispered. "You don't have to choose anything permanent today. The name you pick won't change what you can or will do. Those are what really matters. The name only matters for manipulating publicity, your real name isn't even a secret."

"Right, of course," Tenya responded, and after staring at the whiteboard for a moment longer started writing something. Relieved, Izuku could finally return to his own dilemma. He hadn't come to UA to become a pro hero, so he had never thought about a hero name. There were countless names he had thought out as a child, but even thinking about those made him want to vomit. All of them included either the word "all" or "might" in some form.

Personally, he didn't care so much what people called him so long as it wasn't Deku, but he had to keep up appearances and the name might impact how people saw him and listened to his words. Maybe that was an optimistic way to put it, but it wouldn't cost him anything to choose well. If he could just come up with a name that had some meaning…

Hitoshi in front of him seemed tense and didn't write anything on his whiteboard.

"Having difficulties coming up with a name?" Izuku whispered.

"Yeah. Everything I thought that refers to brainwashing sound a bit villainy, like Mindjack. I want it to tell people I can help them and stop villains even without necessarily using violence, but have no idea how to do that."

"I have the same problem. People always talk about me stealing quirks. I'd like people to see it as disarming villains, but don't know how yet."

"That's a tricky question. I wish that would work."

Hitoshi fell quiet for a long moment.

"You don't think it will?" Izuku asked.

"It might, assuming you figure out a good name, but honestly, a lot of people seem to have irrational hate with the idea of losing their quirk, or anyone's quirk, for any reason. They'd rather get kicked in the face by Tenya, or have the villains kicked, than have the ability to take their quirks exist."

"I know it won't be easy. That's basically my life, but what else can I do?"

Hitoshi tilted his head back and forth, looking at the ceiling.

"Well, have you considered the other side of your quirk?"

"The other side?"

"Boo," Hitoshi whispered, but the deafening sound rang painfully in his ears like it was a ship's horn on his shoulder. Izuku jumped back and barely caught his balance to avoid falling on his back.

"Toshi!" He yelped. Everyone else in the room fell quiet.

"Midoriya," Midnight called, "is everything okay?"

"Yes," Izuku said, scowling at Hitoshi's grin, "just let my guard down. I think I just had a point made at me."

"Well okay then. Do you have a name to present?"

"No, not yet."

Midnight nodded and finally moved on from Izuku who kept staring at the Brainwashing mastermind in front of him.

"Explain."

Hitoshi sighed and rotated his eyes.

"Everyone already knows and focuses on the fact that you can take quirks. The whole mess Bakugo started is about 'stealing' them. Maybe you should remind people there are two sides to things. Quirks can be used for good or bad and your quirk can both take and give quirks. Your name could remind people of that."

Izuku stared at Hitoshi for a while as his eyes widened.

"Toshi, I could hug you."

"Oh that's so sweet Izu. And here I thought bathing and sleeping together was all I could hope for."

Izuku returned to his frown, but the huffing behind him exposed Tenya's attempts to not laugh.

"Maybe you should call yourself Sharptongue."

Hitoshi held a finger on his chin with fake thoughtful look.

"Hmm, not the worst but that sounds like it could be a name of a dragon in the movies we watched a while back. I'll think about it for a little longer."

"You do that." Izuku leaned back. "Could also use the name the Therapist."

"That's just for you and your bootcamp survivors. I'm not planning to make a career out of it."

"I'd hire you."

"You already did, but instead of money you are paying me with your fists."

Izuku was left confused, mouth hanging open.

"I… I could," he stuttered.

"No," Hitoshi interrupted then smirked, relieving tension that had creeped into Izuku, then gestured around them with one hand, "the lessons from those fists got me something no amount of money could. Now, did you actually think of something I could use as a name?"

"Maybe, at least I am closer," Izuku responded and scribbled ideas on his notebook. "You needed something that people would consider less villainy. How about… Brainwave?"

Even Izuku's own voice didn't sound confident as he said it.

"I don't know. What else would describe what I do...? Izuku, I have brainwashed you more often than anyone else."

"Yes, their loss."

"So how would you describe it?"

Izuku tilted his head looking at the ceiling as he thought about it.

"Relaxing, calm, free. Usually I am always worrying about something, you know… Tokoyami isn't the only one carrying a dark shadow in him."

Hitoshi nodded.

"None of that gets through the haze when you brainwash me. It is the most peaceful I can ever feel while awake, better than most of the time sleeping too. It is the most peace of mind I can have, even more if you order me to fall asleep. It's a pretty big difference compared to how most heroes defeat their opponents."

"Peace of mind…" Hitoshi muttered. Izuku could almost see gears turning in his head and shut up to not disrupt them. They both wrote something on their whiteboards.

Midnight then had everyone present their names in front of the class. Eijiro went with "Sturdy Hero: Red Riot." Izuku was happy to see him so enthusiastic and motivated by the hero he named himself after, but Izuku still thought "Unyielding Hero" might have been better. Tokoyami's "Tsukuyomi" also fit him.

It was Tenya and Todoroki who caused Izuku some concern as neither came up with a hero name, only using their own first names. Tenya didn't feel ready for Ingenium and Todoroki was too confused about his path.

Then it was Hitoshi's turn. He stepped in front of the class and turned his whiteboard towards them.

"CalmingHero: Peace of Mind."

"Oh that's wonderful," Midnight said. "You are trying to highlight how nonviolent your quirk is."

Hitoshi held the back of his neck, looking down at the whiteboard.

"One of the biggest reasons I started to want to become a hero was to show that my quirk isn't 'villainous' just because people are creeped out by it. I want to remind people quirks have more than the surface people see or think about first. That what really matters is what you use them for, and I think one of the things heroes need to do is to give people peace of mind not having to live in fear."

"How insightful!" Midnight cheered and pulled Hitoshi into a hug so suddenly Izuku's arm jolted before he stopped himself from jumping at her. She might have pressed Hitoshi's face to her chest that was thick enough to choke a man, but somehow that wasn't enough to press Izuku's big red "friend-is-in-danger" button. Several of their classmates cheered before moving to laughing.

Somewhere not at UA a short, perverted teenager with balls for hair felt like he was stabbed in the heart and was missing something his life was supposed to have, if only things had gone differently somehow.

Lastly it was Izuku's turn. He stood in front of the classroom.

"I'm really not sure about this. I might have thought about the meanings too deeply, but the basic point is the same as with Toshi." He turned the whiteboard. "Kureru, and maybe 'Giving Hero' or something. I'm not sure yet since I wouldn't be giving quirks to the villains I fought. If nothing else, it should remind people my quirk doesn't only take."

"I'm happy to see you have understood the meaning a name can have and were inspired by something meaningful in coming up with your own," Midnight declared.

There was a polite knock on the door.

The door opened to a seemingly empty corridor, until everyone looked down to see their tiny principal.

"My apologies for interrupting your lesson, but I'm afraid I have to borrow young Todoroki for rest of the afternoon."

Aizawa nodded, having somehow woken up, gotten out of his sleeping back, and stood up straight despite having been seemingly asleep last time Izuku looked in his direction. The teacher looked at Todoroki with a softer gaze. For once his voice wasn't tired or commanding but soft, his words a request more than an order.

"Go with the principal. He will help you sort out your… current situation."

Todoroki had tensed from the moment Nezu first mentioned his name and now did his best to avoid his or Aizawa's gaze as his eyes went through five other people in the room. A few seconds later he finally got up, though hesitantly. Izuku flinched forward from his spot in front of the class.

"Stay where you are Midoriya," Aizawa said behind him, tiredness creeping back into his voice. The attention of the whole class was now on Izuku.

"You need not worry," Nezu said, cheerier than seemed appropriate. "For security reasons Endeavour has not been allowed within school premises and is only represented by proxy in discussions that are going to happen."

Izuku eased a little, but reached into his pocket and lifted a hand outstretched towards Todoroki as he walked past, handing him a business card.

"You shouldn't let anyone else speak for you, but if you need to, don't trust anyone they push on you," Izuku said as Todoroki took the card. Both Aizawa and Nezu seemed suddenly tense like they were facing danger.

Aizawa waited a moment in silence after Todoroki and Nezu left.

"We'll have a break before the second half of afternoon hero classes. You can look through your internship offers which have been emailed to you in the meantime. I doubt you can focus on studying before having a chance to look at them. After the break we are going to be analysing your performance at the sports festival and what can be learned from it. This will cover all the contests and you should learn from your classmates' performance as well as your own, so don't think you can slack off even if you didn't make it to the final tournament."

Everyone rushed to check their offers. For Izuku that didn't take long with as short as his list was, but in that shortness it still managed to surprise him. One of the names on the list was the Best Jeanist, one of the top ten heroes. For any other student that would have been the opportunity of a lifetime, but for Izuku it only rang alarm bells. Why would this top hero be interested in him? Sure. he won the tournament and Best Jeanist might just be ignoring the other things that scared people away, but someone in Jeanist's position could have had anyone.

In terms of risks especially to his reputation, picking Izuku might be riskier to the pro than picking Bakugo if the walking ammo dump had not been kicked out of UA, unless he thought he could change and manipulate Izuku. If that was the case, he'd be dearly disappointed. Izuku already had two masterminds pulling his strings daily that didn't even need their quirks to do so. He did not intend to add a third.

"How does it look like?" Hitoshi asked Izuku. Izuku was still cheered up by how many offers the brainwasher had gotten despite people's biases. Izuku turned his phone to show the offer.

"Oh, that's surprising." Hitoshi paused. "Do you think it's genuine?"

"Don't know. Should probably check how close he is to a certain garbage fire, but it doesn't seem like I have any better options."

"Good idea. Not like a better opportunity is going to just fall on your lap."

"Probably not, though if a Nostradamus like you says so…"

"Are you still going on that?"

Izuku smiled.

"What do your offers look like?"

"Didn't read through all of them yet, but I don't really know most of those I did. Most seem to be less known heroes."

"That… could be a good thing. People with flashy quirks often get to the top. Those people don't know about might understand your situation better."

"You mean like Eraserhead?"

"Aizawa?" Izuku asked to be sure.

"Yes. We've had time to talk while he has taught me to use the capture weapon, thanks for that by the way," he glanced at Izuku's hand that thankfully had suffered no permanent scarring. "Never do it again."

"You know I will if there is an opportunity," Izuku said with no hesitation or joke in his voice.

"Yes, that's what I am worried about," Hitoshi said and waited a moment, but Izuku gave no reaction besides a look that said Hitoshi couldn't change his mind in this. Finally Hitoshi gave up.

"He keeps reminding me of all of the situations where I cannot take someone head on because of their power and pushes me to think around possible opponents' strengths. It's hard since I can't erase their quirks like him to make it a fair fight."

"If the fight is fair, you have already done something wrong, especially with your quirks."

"Yes, he said that too."

"You should see if any of the heroes making offers to you have nonphysical quirk and made it work. If not then you might consider picking whoever is best at hand to hand combat without having a quirk for that."

"Sounds smart… hold on," Hitoshi raised his phone in front of Izuku's face. "Am I reading this right?"

"Best Jeanist?" Izuku wondered. "You too?"

"Yeah, seems he is making two offers."

"Suspicious," Izuku said, "but…"

"I can't think of a better option," Hitoshi finished the sentence. "If he thinks he can convince you to change your mind on Endeavour, or anything, I want to be in the audience."

"Oh, gee, thanks so much."

"And be there afterwards when you stop pretending to be okay," Hitoshi whispered.

"… Thank you," Izuku whispered back without the previous sarcasm.

For those of you wondering about Izuku's and Hitoshi's names, as I would. Coming up with both of them was greatly helped (largely done) by my proofreader going by 3DPhantom. Below are her explanations/justification in terms of the names that were chosen.

Izuku / Kureru

Kureru: I see your Hazusu and raise you a Kureru. This name has a lot going on:

- First, it means Give (plain verb form). So, just as he can take, if he wants people to consider things in a different light, such as how "bad quirks" can be used for good, this name would serve as a statement to the world/public about how his power not only takes, but can also give. It's subversive. The kanji for this would be 呉れる.

- The next thing it has going for it: The same pronunciation with different kanji (暮れる) means to grow dark or get lost. It has a dark alternative side/undertone to it, so it's a double-sided name much like the internal conflict he has going on inside with his beliefs of good and evil.

- Finally, they also like to make plays on English sounding words coming from the names, and Kureru sounds like Cruel. So there would be the actual correct name as written being a reminder of his positive ability to Give, and yet would have the mid-dark ground meaning of being lost or in the dark, and the English sound of Cruel.

- - His official name would basically be "The Giving Hero" but people would nick-name him the Cruel or the Dark hero to negate/slander him. There are a lot of potential metaphors that can go with these concepts as well, such as the more you give your light/happiness to others, the more your own outlook may become dark, or the more you give to others the more you lose yourself. Another metaphor possible with this one is that people referring to him in the context of getting dark or lost could be not he himself getting dark/lost, but rather describing what they perceive to be his effect on people, such as if you listen to his speeches and fall for his trickery you become lost or fall into darkness/become bad. There's a lot that can play into this one I think.

Hitoshi / Peace of Mind:

眉を開く (MayuWoHiraku) is a Japanese phrase/proverb most commonly translated to "Peace of Mind" or "To Be at Peace". In English the best name-type translation would probably be Peace of Mind, or even just Peace. It's a phrase associated with reminding others to take a deep breath, relax their eyebrows, and feel peace. In his case it would mean not only can he help people who are panicking find peace temporarily through his brainwashing (such as helping people trying to commit suicide), but also can bring peace to a tense situation through a mental instead of physically violent way. Similarly, if you wanted to use a Japanese pronunciation but shorter because MayuWoHiraku is a bit long for a story in English to use, 平和 (Hiiwa) means simply peace, 冷静 (Waisen) means calm, composed, serenity, or presence of mind. Or you could use Zen, the Bhuddist term for meditation. Peace of Mind is perhaps the best option, seeing as a lot of them use "cool American/English names" as their hero names, and I personally like the fact it draws inspiration from a Japanese proverb. It also juxtaposes All Might being called the Symbol of Peace because, in opposition to All Might's physical approach to peace, it highlights a mental approach.