Alright guys, onto the Internship/Stain Arc.
The class gets to pick hero names and find out which heroes want to take them on as interns. Wait, who is that wanting to take Suri on?
Suri's eyes fluttered open to the dark ceiling of her room. Judging by the amount of light, it was just before her alarm and for one of the few times in a long time there wasn't a lingering sense of urgency or stress. She felt… light. She closed her eyes and searched inside her inner sanctum and found Atiena, now back to being the large creature that she had been, happily lazing on her rock. Something felt different with her as well.
"Someone's a happy girl," Suri teased her alter ego.
"Speak for yourself, my dear," the beast curled its lips.
Back in reality, Suri smirked and pulled the stuffed animal in her arms closer, squeezing her plump plush penguin to her bare chest. She couldn't help but let out a squeal of excitement as she hugged him and thought of yesterday. Of last night. With a wide grin she held her favorite penguin in the world over her head and looked into his small eyes and happy face.
"What do you think, Squeak? I made the right choice right… I guess choices is more exact," she laughed and smiled at the plump ball of fluff. Of course, he didn't reply, but that didn't make her any less happier. Sure it was unofficially official but…
She had a girlfriend now. Two of them!
And they were amazing!
Plus they were amazing to kiss!
Had she really missed just the act of kissing and getting kissed? Yeah, she loved it but she didn't think she had craved it or needed it as much as she realized until now. Gods, kissing those two was going to send her to the heavens every time. Of course Suri wouldn't discount them even if they weren't really really good, that was just a bonus. She had two people that she could spend hours around just being together, talking, joking, and laughing with. They had done that many times already. They'd snuggled before during a movie night right after school started. Now there would be more snuggling! And kissing! Sheesh, she really wanted to kiss them again, didn't she? What about more?
Suri's eyes widened at the thought and she began grinning like a madwoman. She then held Mr. Squeak above her head again, looked into his eyes and frowned.
"Right! Right. It's too early for that," she replied to him. "Don't rush things, I know."
She smiled softly back at his smiling face and sighed as she hugged him close again. As she cuddled her favorite stuffie, she had a thought and grinned wide.
"Hey, Atiena, we're gonna pass on our morning run today. You cool with that?"
"I will miss running in the rain, but I am not opposed to a morning or two without exercise."
"It's going to rain?" Suri blinked and craned her head towards her window. There were faint signs of storm clouds in the distance. Her nose flared then and she took a deep breath of that amazingly lovely scent of rain. "Ahh, you're right."
Suri rolled herself to sit up and then sat Squeak onto her bed. She stood and let her feet pad against the cool flooring towards her dresser to grab some essentials and began to head for her bathroom. She quickly stopped, spun on her heel and quickly strode towards her nightstand to grab her phone off of it's charger. She blinked as she picked it up and found a notification from after she had passed out last night.
Tooru: Goodnight Suri :) 3
Mina: Night baby! 3 3 3
Suri: Goodnight loves! See you in the morning! :3 3 3
Unread Messages 01:45
Tooru: Tooru sent a new image
Suri's eyes widened and she stopped dead in her tracks in the doorway of her bathroom. She quickly shook her head because she had to be dreaming or hallucinating. Her eyes readjusted and she looked at the group text once again. A wave of heat rolled through her entire body and she involuntarily licked her lips as she took a long hard look at the picture in front of her. Mina and Tooru in Mina's bed, no clothing in sight, and a happy but provocative pose that all but showed all of them together. Wow, they had moved fast on sending that. Did she send one back? They'd want one, right? Also, was the fact that she could see the shape of Tooru in a pic due to Suri's eyes or something else entirely?
She looked ahead and turned on the bathroom light and looked at herself on full display in front of the mirror. Suri smirked wide and let a devious grin spread across her lips. The next few moments saw her posing in front of her mirror, sitting on the counter at an angle so the camera got a good view of all of her assets, and giving the camera a long practiced smolder.
Click!
"And send~"
Suri: Morning babies 3
Suri: Suri sent a new image
Once it was sent, she took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror again. She closed her eyes and tried to remember what she had pictured in her head, found the memory, and then opened her eyes with a smile.
"Time for a little glow up."
The time it took for her to glow up took a little longer than she had expected it to take but after a few long looks and poses in the mirror. A shower and then making sure nothing she had done before the shower had come undone came next, followed by a tiny bit of eyeshadow. Once she was satisfied and done with her routine in the bathroom, she quickly threw on her uniform, grabbed her umbrella from the front entry and began walking towards Mina's. She decided she'd surprise her girlfriends and laid her back against a dry portion of the Ashido family's garage. She'd be out of sight when they came out the door and then get a surprise as soon as they turned the corner from the porch to the driveway.
This wasn't the first time she'd waited for Mina to catch the train. This was more or less a routine with her best friends by this point. Now there was only one difference.
Suri hung out below her umbrella and texted the two. She heard faint bustling from inside the house and patiently waited until she heard the front door open. She heard Tooru calling to Mina, telling her to hurry up, she heard an umbrella open and Tooru grumbling about how she forgot her own. Mina offered to share and she begrudgingly accepted. The two of them rounded the corner and froze as Suri gave them a confident and sultry look complete with a seductive smirk.
Mina and Tooru stared wide eyed and frozen, without saying a word for a long moment. A really long moment. A really really long moment. And suddenly Suri's confidence vanished as she looked into their eyes and her free hand quickly went to her hair.
"Fuck, it looks bad? I didn't screw up that bad did I?" Suri nervously asked.
"N-No."
"Not at all."
Tooru and then Mina replied in soft voices before they began walking slowly towards Suri. It was as they were walking closer that she watched Mina quickly lick her lips. The two of them came in close and started inspecting her and she felt Tooru begin to run her fingers along her hair and then up to the freshly shaven sides of her scalp. With her nerves sated she took a deep breath, leaning a little into the invisible girl's touch, and then looked down to the two girls.
Her girls.
And by the looks and touching, they were big fans.
"Okay good, never done this look before. We should get going so we're not late," she told the two of them and together they began walking. They put Tooru in the middle while Suri and Mina's umbrellas combined to form a larger canopy that covered the three of them as the rain patted against the fabric material above.
"So what took you guys so long anyway? I was outside Mina's house for close to fifteen minutes," Suri asked.
"Someone," Tooru exaggerated with a teasing tone, "took a little longer in the shower."
"Hey! No throwing me under the bus like that," Mina whined in response. She then narrowed her gaze at the invisible girl with an evil smile. "Some of us aren't as fast, getting o-ow!"
Mina laughed as Tooru smacked her in the arm and soon her two girlfriends joined her. The three of them, like usual when they had walked together, joked and gossiped about everything they could. Whether it was celebrity or political gossip, hero gossip and news, or the plentiful treasure troves of memes that Tooru apparently filled her phone with. It wasn't until they were on and off of the train and walking up the plaza in front of the school before Mina addressed the makeover Suri had given herself.
"So, I loved the puffy mohawk you were rocking before," she spoke in her sort of musical tone. "What made you go with the braids?"
"So at the festival, after my dad hit me with his power twice, I got stuck inside my inner sanctum for a bit."
"Inner sanctum?" the pinkette queried.
"Oh right. It's where Atiena resides when she's not in the driver's seat," Suri explained. "It's a giant forest clearing that our minds created together where I draw power and energy from, where I can go to talk to her and see her, and it's where I go when I go full furry mode."
"So are you and her like, ya know," Mina grinned wide as she wiggled her eyebrows.
Suri laughed and shook her head.
"Nah, she's, actually, you know Tokoyami and Dark Shadow and how they can speak and move independently? It's a lot like that except we're more interconnected I think. I'm her and she's me so that's why I started using we a lot more lately."
"Ahh, so like a dual personality kinda thing going on."
"Exactly."
"But," Tooru questioned, "I've seen her and I don't remember her having braids and a hardcore style like this. I think she would've looked silly with the sides of her head shaved super smooth like this."
Suri snickered and nodded. Yes, yes she would. To that, Atiena rolled her eyes and shook her large feline head in response.
"I'd never seen her in this form either. But I guess after dad zapped us of all of our power and energy it even forced her into human form."
"Whoa~"
"So what does she look like?"
Tooru and then Mina asked with dedicated awe and intrigue.
"Me," she answered and then followed it with a quick thought. "Like, think of a sci-fi time travel movie where the older character goes back and time and sees their younger self. Atiena is the old one."
"I am not old," Atiena's voice rose from Suri's depths to voice her disapproval. "I am mature!"
She left as quickly as she had come to the surface and the three girls began laughing hysterically. Atiena, the beast, a creature the size of a car, actually pouted!
Between the three putting their umbrellas away and then making their way to the classroom, the first bell rang, making them pick up their pace a little. Once inside, they gathered around Mina's desk, continuing their chatting which had become a guessing game as to what they were going to do in class. Most of the class joined in on the conversation, all of which guessed at either a pop quiz on hero ethics to search and rescue training. The latter sounded like fun. The conversation then floated to the aftermath of the Sports Festival and how many from the class had their first tastes of fame and celebrity. It was a fun conversation that Suri happily joined in on and commented about the few people that had stopped her and Tooru as they were on their way to their date. Though they didn't actually mention said date.
As they came in, she congratulated Todoroki and Bakugou on their performances. Icy Hot himself had actually said thank you and graciously, if not extremely hesitantly, accepted a fist bump. It would be rude to leave your class rep hanging, right? And that's exactly what Bakugou did by grumbling and turning his head from her and walking past without much more than grunts and angry murmurs. Izuku came in and Suri saw Tooru and Mina flinch ever so slightly, the pinkette betraying them further as her cheeks darkened a couple hues.
Did they have another dream last night?
Then again, Izuku froze as well and blushed when the three of them said their hellos and good mornings. That said, it wasn't abnormal for him given that aside from the minor blushing and stuttering he did around Suri or Uraraka, he was also overly bashful around girls. Nah, he couldn't be having the same dreams the three of them were. Right?
"Sorry I missed your match with Todoroki," she said as the two bumped fists together. "I heard it was absolutely kick ass though."
"I-I guess you could say that. Sorry I missed your match too," he offered an apologetic smile.
"Dude, at least you got to see the finals and the award ceremony," she smirked back at him.
"I'm just glad you're doing all right," he smiled. This one was a true smile that highlighted those wonderful freckled cheeks of his.
"Same to you, Green Bean," Suri smiled back.
"Oh! And Hagakure," he cleared his throat and turned to her, his eyes shifting, trying to figure out where to focus so he didn't come off as rude. "I hope our conversation helped you out. I know my ideas weren't much but-"
"No, you were amaz- I mean great! It's given me a lot to think about," Tooru quickly answered, clearly a mix between happiness, gratitude, and maybe a little bit of something else. "Thank you, cutie!"
Both Izuku and Tooru froze before the greenette quickly excused himself to his seat and Tooru began internally screaming bloody murder. It terrified her that she let it slip out so easily, so carelessly, and most of all, she did not want to talk about it. Not with that sly grin on both Mina and Suri's faces right now. Then something hit all three of the girls, sending a shiver down their spines collectively, something that had Suri's eyes flicking back towards Izuku who was mid panic, now sitting at his seat.
When Suri turned back to her girlfriends they looked absolutely embarrassed, which was saying something when they were both flirty balls of energy. She looked at them carefully and narrowed her eyes. She then leaned in close to where only the two of them would hear.
"Did you two have another dream?"
Before she could get an answer, the bell rang. She stood up, gave them a worried glance, and then looked up at the room. The timing of the bell absolutely sucked! Guess the questions would have to wait.
"All right, y'all, butts and seats and quiet down," she called out as she made her way to her seat.
No sooner had she sat down than the door opened and Mr. Aizawa walked into the classroom at little more than a snail's pace. His hands were buried into his pockets and he looked tired as ever as he walked in, took his place at the front of the class and adjusted his capture scarf so that he could talk.
"Morning."
"Good morning, Mr. Aizawa," the entire class parroted back in unison.
"Ribbit. Mr. Aizawa, you don't have bandages anymore. That's good news."
"The old lady went a little overboard on her treatment," he replied back to Tsu. "Anyway, we have a big class today on Hero Informatics."
The entire class grumbled and whined in unison.
Great! A pop quiz on hero laws, yippee!
"You need codenames," Mr. Aizawa replied to the reaction. "It's time to pick your hero identities."
Oh.
Even better!
"This is going to be totally awesome," the class once again cheered in unison. The cheerfulness however was cut down rather short as Aizawa growled and glared death into their eyes. He didn't look like much but really, Aizawa could be one of the scariest bastards around.
"This is related to the pro hero draft picks I mentioned the last time we were in class together. Normally you wouldn't have to worry about this sort of thing until next year or during your third year but this year is different. In fact, by extending offers to first-years like you, pros are essentially investing in your potential."
Makes sense, pro sports teams start their scouting on future players younger and younger each year. It's how a middle school kid could have the hype of being the next generational superstar before even finishing puberty. Lots of pressure and near impossible expectations, no big deal.
"That said, any offers can be rescinded if any interest in you dies down before graduation."
Ouch.
"So what you're saying is we still have to prove ourselves even after we've got recruited," Tooru asked quizzically.
Suri smiled and nodded from the back of the classroom, proud of her see-through girlfriend and her quick wits. Her smile faded though as she thought about how said girlfriend felt about her Quirk. Suri couldn't fault Tooru for her feelings about her abilities. Aside from her bubbly and infectious personality and aura, what could Tooru do with her Quirk?
"That's correct. Now here are the totals for those of you that got offers," Aizawa turned and pressed a button on the remote for their chalkboard. Instantly it filled with a graph listing a number of students and how many offers they'd received.
Suri's name popped up near the bottom of the list and her face twisted before she slouched in her seat. She couldn't not be happy that she got offers but how many more would she have gotten? How much farther would she have gone in the tournament if it hadn't been for him? So for now all she could do was look at the list and grumble.
KUROYASHI: 96 OFFERS
But that was nothing compared to Todoroki and Bakugou.
"In past years it's been more spread out but there's a pretty big gap this time."
"Wow, Todoroki got the most votes ahead of Bakugou?"
"Yeah, it's the opposite of how they placed in the tournament."
"They probably weren't excited about working with the guy that had to be chained up at the end."
Suri couldn't help but snicker at the comment, and even more when Bakugou turned around and started going off on Sero. He was proving the dude's point.
"It's amazing," Yaoyorozu said to Todoroki. She was hiding her own disappointment hard. "You must be proud."
"These offers are probably because of my father," he lamented coldly.
"Yeah, now that I think about it, I wonder how many of mine are for the same reason," Suri added and laid her chin across the back of her hand. Her eyes then trailed to Izuku who was being shaken by Mineta and she overheard him mention zero offers.
Really, he didn't get any offers?
"Despite these results, you'll all be interning with pros. Got it? Even if you didn't get any offers."
'Oh, so we're all interning?' Suri mentally parroted the exact same thing Izuku said at the exact same time.
"Yes, because you all got to experience combat with real villains during the attack on the USJ facility. But it'll still be helpful to see pros at work. Up close and personal, in the field. Firsthand."
Now that sounded exciting.
"And for that, we need hero names! Hell yeah," Suri voiced her excitement and pumped her fist.
"Things are suddenly getting a lot more fun," Uraraka chimed in beside her.
"These hero names will likely be temporary but take them seriously o-"
"Or you'll have hell to pay later!" called Midnight as she slid the door open.
Predictably, Mineta, Sero, and Kaminari started drooling as she strolled through the door. It was funny because they saw her practically every day during art history. She was one of their teachers after all. Then again, Suri couldn't say she didn't enjoy the view as well. You could never go wrong with cougars, especially if they looked like that.
"What you pick today could be your codename for life. You better be careful or you'll be stuck with something utterly indecent."
"Yeah, she's got a good point," Aizawa said with a long, tired sigh. "Midnight is going to have final approval over your names. It's not my forte but the name you give yourself is important. It helps you reinforce your image and what kind of hero you want to be in the future. A codename tells people exactly what you represent. Take All Might for example."
Suri was listening intently and starting to think when her attention got broken by Koda in front of her. He turned to her and handed her a whiteboard with a dry erase marker which she took happily and gave him a full fang bearing smile back. He quietly turned more and Suri watched his hands move.
"I like the hair. It looks cool," he signed.
"Thank you, big guy," she grinned happily and signed back in return. "Do you have any ideas for your hero name?"
"I've been thinking of one for a while. What about you?"
Suri sighed and shook her head in response and gave him a big shrug. Koda simply gave her a big, confidence boosting thumbs up. He hardly said anything, if ever, but honestly, Koda was a good dude in Suri's book. She had a thought that begged a question. Would someone like Koda know a lot about wereanimals? Did he know they existed? Could he be trusted with knowing what she was and not freak out? Okay, so four questions.
Suri sat back into her seat and took long breathes and she mulled over various names and ideas that came to mind. Most of which she brushed off or cringed at with how bad they were and sounded. The ones that weren't completely awful she jotted down onto the board and thought them over with them written out in front of her.
Then she had a thought.
"Atiena," she closed her eyes and put herself into the forest clearing with her beast. "The other night after the festival, do you know what dad meant? He said he hadn't heard your name in a long time. Why would he know your name or of your name?"
"Hmm, truthfully I am not sure."
Suri sighed and stopped in place.
"I wanna know what he meant or what the name means. I was hoping there might be something cool that we could use. Guess we'll just have to ask him later and maybe we can come up with an official name later."
Suri turned back to Atiena and they locked eyes. She knew what her eyes looked like when she started going beast mode and she always loved the way they looked. Honestly, that was one thing she loved about herself. Her eyes. She smiled remembering how Tooru and Mina would talk about her eyes and how much they loved them. Then she remembered Mina's reaction last night seeing her eyes in the darkness, the fear in them. And then she heard an echo of Mathias' voice ring through her head.
"Just promise me, Wild Eyes, you won't do anything I would do"
Wait.
"Thanks Atiena," she dove from her inner sanctum back into reality, leaving her beast blinking in confusion. Once back in the present she jotted down the words that came to mind. The second she wrote the words she jumped as she heard Midnight's voice break the silence of the room.
"All right, when you're ready come up and present your names to the rest of the class. Who is brave enough to go first?"
"Wait, we're presenting these to the class?" her and a few others whisper screamed.
There was silence.
A long moment of silence before Aoyoma got up and walked to the front. He stared at everyone with a sparkle in his eye as he lifted the board and grinned.
"The Sparkle Hero: I Can Not Stop Twinkling"
Suri facepalmed and simply mouthed wow.
"I like it, but let's make a couple changes. Take out the I and shorten Can Not to Can't," Midnight replied, taking the board and making some changes. Aoyoma was dead serious about being named Can't Stop Twinkling.
"It's stunning mademoiselle."
Was Aoyoma actually French, or was that just a sort of schtick that he made up?
After Aoyoma left the front of the class, Suri watched a familiar bounce of pink energy jump upwards and happily skip to the front of the class. The beast girl couldn't help but smile as she watched her adorable girlfriend take center stage.
"Okie dokie, lemme go next."
She held her board in front of her with a grin.
"My codename is Alien Queen!"
And of course she would reference her favorite movie series. It took a lot for Suri not to laugh but at the same time she looked her girlfriend up and down, thought of her Quirk, eyed the horns that sprouted from her head and made an agreeing shrug. Yeah, it fit.
"Hold on. You mean like the horrible monster with the acidic blood? Nope! Now way!"
Wait, Aoyoma's was okay but Mina's wasn't?
Was it all based off of Midnight's personal preference?
This… could be tricky. Would Midnight like what Suri had written down? She grumbled and furrowed her brow at her board and stared at the words intently. The back of her mind listened to her classmates go up one by one and made notes. Tsu had chosen Froppy. Good name. Kirishima went next with Red Riot. That was dope as hell. Jirou with Earphone Jack. Not bad. Sero came up with Cellophane. Okay that one was clever.
Suri grumbled as she stared down at her board and then a large finger tapped the top of the board to quietly get her attention. She raised her eyes from her board to meet Koda's. He smiled and raised his board for her to see. She looked at him and then his board and couldn't help but smile.
Petting Hero: Anima.
Gods that fit him so well.
She couldn't help but grin, look him in the eyes and nod in approval then she watched as he leaned hesitantly to look at her board and then back up to her. He looked her dead in the eyes like she had with Atiena and nodded happily a moment later. She had his stamp of approval and then he did something that surprised her, he got up and went next. Nervous and shy as he was, he strode up with confidence, put his board on display and then couldn't help but look away a little with a blush on his cheeks.
Midnight cheered and gave him a sturdy thumbs up and a smile.
"Yes! I'm all about it!"
With that he gave her a meek smile and walked back towards his seat. That was it, she had to do it. Suri stood up with a fierce smirk and began walking forward, meeting Koda halfway from opposite sides of the aisle and she held out a fist. They fist bumped as she passed him and strode to the podium and smacked the edge of her board down.
"I didn't really know what to put as the, ya know, this or that hero so for now, this is all I got," Suri shrugged with a confident smirk. "They've always been my favorite feature that I have and I know that they can either look at someone with love and care. I want people to see my eyes and know they're safe." She made subtle movements in her eyes towards Tooru and Mina. "But I know that they can also stroke fear into people. And fear is what I hope to put into people's souls when they think about hurting others."
Wild Eyes was written on the board in big scratchy strokes that resembled the claw marks she had made up on her hero costume. She liked it, so now came the test to see if others like it.
"Wild Eyes," Midnight peered over the board in active thought. "It's not bad and it's a little more unique like you. I like it!"
Phew!
Suri let out a sigh of relief and looked at her girls with a smile before returning to her seat. She sat back down in time for her to see Tooru go up next and plop her board up on the podium. The name was curious and it had Suri tilting her head a little in thought as she read the words again and again.
"I had an idea in mind but after talking to a friend," Tooru paused slightly, though it went unnoticed by everyone other than Suri, Izuku, and Mina. "I've been rethinking and trying to come up with something new. So this is what I've got. The Invisible Hero: Ultraviolet."
There was a long pause from Midnight but ultimately she ended up squealing like a school girl with her approval. The little claps didn't help her case either. She went from being their teacher to just another one of the girls in those few seconds of her being happy, giddy, and praising Tooru for her idea. The nervous shuffle from Tooru made Suri grin as she watched her girlfriend and then trained her eyes on the greenette not too far away from her. He was absolutely shining with approval and that look on his face was doing Tooru in.
"Careful, Green Bean, you're gonna make her fall for you," Suri and Atiena playfully sang together inside the mid forest, before sharing a giggle to themselves.
Once Tooru had taken her seat again, it was Mina's turn, pushing her way back up to the front and slapping her board down once again. She gave a fierce look at Midnight and humphed, showing that she wasn't going to be denied what she wanted to be named. Again the board still had Alien Queen written on the board but it was scribbled out with a new variation of the name underneath it.
"The Alien Hero: Queen!" Mina shouted triumphantly, sticking her nose up and trying to have a proud expression. Though it just came off as silly.
"I see. You're hoping to compromise," Midnight held her chin as she looked back and forth between the board and Mina. "I'll accept!"
"Yay!" Mina exclaimed happily and was about to return to her seat when she paused and narrowed her gaze at the teacher. "Actually, no disrespect Miss Midnight but, can I ask why you didn't like Alien Queen? It's been bugging me a lot."
"Ah, well you see, those movies scared me a lot when I was younger. I'm more of a romance movie kind of girl, horror movies aren't my thing," the R-Rated hero shrugged and then turned on a more focused expression. "I was able to get the movie reference and it instantly reminded me of nightmares I had. Imagine if someone else were to get the reference as well and had a similar experience, would they trust you to save them?"
"Actually," Mina paused and then started nodding slowly. "That makes a lot of sense."
"Now, any more questions or do you have to be punished for holding up the rest of the class?" Midnight grinned wickedly, a sadistic purr in her voice as she ran a hand over her flogger.
"Nope! We're good," Mina eeped and quickly bounced back to her seat, slipping in as fast as she could. Much to the delight of their teacher.
For the rest of the class Suri watched her classmates one by one and continued her list. Kaminari ended up having a cool name. Ojiro's name… could have been better. Yaoyorozu's was clever and had a nice ring to it. Tokoyami's was dope. Mineta's was.. Eh. Bakugou was Bakugou and his King Explosion Murder was denied outright. For someone that was as clever as he was and booksmart as he was, you'd think he'd be better at names. Uraraka came up with the perfect name for herself. Todoroki… just wrote down his own name and so did Iida and both of them just looked so… downtrodden. Maybe she'd ask about them after class. And then Izuku came up and shocked almost everyone as he put up his board with Deku written across it.
Many were worried that he chose the name that Bakugou used to make fun of him. They knew the slight connotations of it. Uraraka was one of those that was worried but it had been her that changed the name for him.
"Hey, he made it known the first day of class," Suri shrugged and put her hands behind her head, her eyes drifting towards Uraraka. "You turned him into that, you know?"
Uraraka blushed like a madwoman and hid herself.
"W-what makes you say that?"
"Come on, Raka. You helped Green Bean out a lot that day, you're his best friend. Sheesh, you gotta read the signals you're putting out there, girl."
Suri snickered as she teased the gravity girl. Honestly, Uraraka was adorable. Wait! No Suri, don't go adding more people to your collection, you just locked up two hotties last night. She sighed and mentally scolded herself as she sat back and watched the rest of the class as Bakugou tried again and again to get some name with the combination of Explosion and Murder into his hero name. Seriously, why couldn't he come up with something cool like… shit, why not Ground Zero or something?
Actually that would be dope.
"Nah, not enough murder, explosion, and die or somethin," Suri joked to herself.
Eventually Midnight gave up and Bakugou ended up just going with his name as well, citing that he, Todoroki, and Iida would choose new names at a later date. It was the only logical choice to go for because of Bakugou refusing to not pick a name that didn't suck.
"All right," Aizawa crawled out of his sleeping bag and stared at the class with his tired eyes. They never seemed to be not tired. "Now that everyone's picked out their hero names, we can go back to talking about your upcoming internships."
Suri's attention was drawn to a giant stack of papers that their teacher pulled out of his podium and sifted so they were straightened. Were those all of the offers?
"They'll last for one week. As for who you'll be working with, those of you who were on the board will have the choice among your offers. Everyone else will have a different list. You all will have a lot to think about."
He held up one of the papers from the stack for the class to see then.
"There are around 40 agencies around the country who've agreed to take on interns from your class. Each agency has a different specialty that its heroes focus on. Keep that in mind."
"Imagine that you were Thirteen," Midnight explained. "You'd want to focus on an agency that focuses on rescuing people and not fighting villains. Makes sense, right?"
"Think it over carefully before you decide, got it?"
"Yes, sir," the class chimed in unison before Midnight began handing out the papers.
As Suri watched the others, she found that those who hadn't been on the list on the board got two papers. One paper was the aforementioned agencies Aizawa had said were interested in their class, their locations, and specialties. The second paper was a signup sheet where each student would write their names and then fill in a top three of their choosing. It was a sort of job application where the agencies would get a list of students who picked them and the agencies would give the final yes or no. For Suri and the others that were on the board, they received the same signup sheet but then got a stack of papers varying in height depending on the amount of offers. For Todoroki and Bakugou their stacks looked like they were near entire packages of printer paper.
Suri got a stack of about twelve pages plus the sign up sheet. Each page listed four offers on front, another four on back, and listed more detailed information aside from location and specialty. They listed which hero or heroes worked at the agency or ran it and even more specifically, if it were a conglomerate group, which hero wanted you.
"Turn in your choices before this weekend," Aizawa stated as the lunch bell rang and they were dismissed from class.
Suri looked up from her stack to see Mina and Tooru already heading her way and the three of them gave each other a smile. The beast girl stood to join her girlfriends for lunch, quickly getting something to eat before they headed back to the classroom like most of their class. Everyone was eating quickly and then returning to class to spend the rest of their lunch period looking through their lists and making their intern choices.
Both Mina and Tooru had some of the wind taken out of their sails with the lack of offers and being made to pick from a general list. For the pinkette, it had been worse, especially since she had not only made it to the third stage but had also been one of the top eight competitors. She whined as she mulled over the list again and again and felt the weight of indecision begin to pile on top of her. Tooru, though, wasn't in any better condition as she looked over the list and let out a long, deep sigh, filled with anxiety.
"More than half of these agencies are super small. Like, I dunno who some of these heroes even are, how am I supposed to know who to go with?"
"Okay, so let's think about it this way," Suri set her papers down and looked towards both girls that surrounded her desk. "Most agencies specialize in one or two of four categories; Battle and Combat, Rescue, Evacuation, or Tactical and Support. Like Midnight said, you want to go with something that you'd specialize in. Like, for me, as much as I enjoy fighting and getting into a good ol' fashion brawl, my Quirk lends itself more towards search and rescue so an agency that specializes in that would be my priority."
"But how do we know what we should focus on?" Mina whined. Then her face changed as a lightbulb went off in her head and she instantly grew a giant grin. "Oi, hey Midori! Who are you gonna pick?"
The small group of Suri, Mina, Tooru, Uraraka, Tsu, and Ojiro all sweatdropped at the same time as they turned their attention towards the greenette. He was deep in one of his muttering thought rants that went on forever if no one stopped him. All of them shook their heads and sighed.
"There he goes again," they muttered in unison and it seemingly had been the trick to get him to come back to reality.
"Huh! O-Oh, sorry, did you guys say something?"
"You're really thinking hard about this huh," Tsu asked him with a croak.
"Yeah, a little," he replied shyly.
"It'll all work out," Uraraka cheered. "I've already settled on my pick!"
"Already?" Mina asked with a shocked tone.
"Wait, really?" Suri blinked and stared at the girl. "What agency?"
"The one that Battle Hero: Gun Head runs! He sent me an offer!"
"But Gunhead's a big brawler? Are you sure you wanna intern there, Uraraka?" Izuku asked, full of confusion as he stared up at his best friend.
"Yeah, I thought you wanted to be a rescue sort of hero like Thirteen instead of fighting," Suri asked, trying to imagine Uraraka as a brawler type.
"Ultimately, that's the plan," she replied excitedly. "But since the festival, I've been thinking- well ever since I went up against Bakugou, anyway. The stronger I am, the more possibilities I have. Plus learning from a battle hero will give me a different perspective, right?"
She did have a point.
"So instead of an agency that benefits from you, you're going to an agency that you'll benefit from instead. Not a bad idea," Suri thought out loud in response and looked at her list again.
"Hey Midori," Mina said with a cautious tone. "Why, umm, have you been shaking all day?"
The rest of the group turned their attention from Mina to Midoriya who was shaking like a leaf throughout his entire body. He gave them a nervous smile and half laughed.
"Oh! This is exercise."
All of them took another look, this time noticing the gap between his butt and his seat. He had been holding himself up that way the entire day so far.
"Seriously?" Mina looked at him with shocked eyes.
"That's kind of an old-fashioned way to train, right?" Tooru asked curiously.
"A smart one though," Ojiro answered. "The isometric muscle contraction that's needed to hold your body above your seat makes it way easy to work out without having to move."
And even with the meek face he had on now, there was that determination. That drive. That thing that, even though he didn't look like much, when it peeked out it turned him into a completely different man. Suri liked the meek and shy front he put up, Atiena really liked this determined and domineering side. That thought made her involuntarily lick her lips and then she felt Tooru and Mina lean in towards her.
"Oh Suri~" Tooru sang softly.
"Whatcha thinkin about?" Mina added in with a tease.
Suri looked back to her girls and grinned a wicked grin.
"You two already know. How he'd look ab-"
Tooru eeped and lunged forward, smashing her hand against Suri's mouth to keep her from blurting out that thought. The response from the invisible girl made Suri and Mina laugh and snicker as Tooru sank back into her seat embarrassed.
"So, Uraraka, you choose a battle type agency. Do you think there's a possibility you could develop into a battle type hero instead of rescue?" Suri turned back to her and Izuku.
"I don't think I will," Uraraka pondered. "I just thought that, ya know, if I open myself up to it, maybe I could learn how to really fight. I wouldn't be limited to one big move and being a punching bag the rest of the time."
"Makes sense. What about you, Deku, what do you think you'd specialize in?"
"Hmm, part of me says battle type but when you compare me to someone I consider a battle type like Bakugou, Kirishima, Tokoyami, or even Ojiro, I don't have the control yet that they do. I'm still kind of a liability in battle like Mr. Aizawa's stated before. I've got a long way to go but, more than that, I think I'm more of a rescue type. My goal has always been to be a hero that saves people with a smile."
Fuck, that conviction was hot.
Dammit, Suri, down!
"So," Tooru asked nervously, trying hard to fight off the shyness in her voice. "What about someone like me? Is there anywhere I can go where I won't be so usel-"
Izuku stared at her with careful eyes, not noticing that Suri had squeezed the girl's hand to comfort her, but instead did his best to meet her eyes. He was so polite about making sure he gave eye contact to someone when he heard them in distress. He cared so much and he had no idea how much just making an effort into looking into her eyes would mean to Tooru.
"If it were me," he cupped his chin and thought for a moment. "An amazing Quirk like yours would be perfect for heroes that specialize in infiltration. So the natural choice would be looking into a tactical and support kind of agency but I could also see uses for invisibility during rescue missions. Rescuing people in hostage situations could really use a Quirk like yours, like, you could probably sneak in and begin sneaking hostages out without villains noticing or doing reconnaissance. Then again, with what we discussed last night…"
He began going on a long mumble rant about Tooru, her Quirk, its applications, and where it could succeed the best. And then continued to deep dive into their discussion earlier, apparently mentioning the possibility of her Quirk not just being invisibility but warping light and energy in a way that made her invisible. Again, he had no idea that the amount he had noticed Tooru, acknowledged and analyzed her and her Quirk had meant so much to the girl. He had noticed her and been attentive to her like only two other people had. The two people that she…
Uh oh.
Suri watched the exchange, however one-sided it was, and smiled as Tooru, for her part, tried to follow along with Izuku's ramblings. When she was ready, Tooru tried waving a hand in front of his face, realized he couldn't see her, and then tapped his shoulder. She giggled and spoke happily as she talked to him, thanking him for his help and then turned back to her list and began scrolling.
She watched as Tooru and Mina scrolled through their lists with a renewed vigor and something to help keep in mind in their decisions. It made Suri happy to see them both so focused and ready for the next step. If only she could say the same for herself. She scanned her list and had a couple choices that piqued her interest. The fact that The Endeavor Hero Agency popped up on her list struck her as odd. Why would Endeavor have any interest in her? Maybe her dad? And that's what made her stop and stare at her list for a long moment.
A very long moment.
"You're shitting me," she scoffed finally after a long silence.
"What?" Mina, Tooru, and Uraraka asked in unison.
Uraraka had come around the back to go back to her desk when she stopped and was now looking over Suri's shoulder. The gravity user focused on the list until something caught her eye hoping it was what Suri was talking about.
"What's the… Outsiders Agency?" Uraraka questioned and then read which hero from the agency had sent the request. "Wait, isn't that?"
"My old man? Yeah," Suri scoffed and shook her head.
"Wow, he's got some balls after what you told us happened at the festival," Tooru replied.
"Wait, what happened?" Uraraka asked with concern.
"He attacked me between matches," Suri shrugged. "He used this ability he has that he uses to subdue criminals. He hit me with it twice so I would leave UA and go back to the States."
Something came to Uraraka's mind and her eyes widened.
"Wait, so before you went out in the second round he… he hurt you?"
"Yeah. And he's dumber than I give him credit for," Suri grumbled and rolled her eyes. "No wonder he let me stay. He thinks I'm going to play ball and waltz into his old stomping grounds and follow daddy's footsteps. Nah, not happening. In fact, Uwabami gave me an offer, maybe I'll hit her up."
Suri instantly wrote Uwabami into her third choice slot with a smirk.
"Let's see, who else is on here. Hmm, Shishida could be cool to intern with," and with a grin she wrote down his name into her second slot. She was scrolling through her list, just to find a hero that would spite her dad just because. Was she being petty? Yes, yes she was. If someone rubbed her the wrong way, they got to deal with the biggest brat she could be. If he thought she'd go and train with him after pulling this stunt, he had another thing coming. In fact, she should go intern with Endeavor, fuck it, why not Mount Lady, or even…
"No… fucking… way…"
Suri froze and stared at the last offer available. Her eyes read the name and address over and over again and yet, her brain couldn't register. It wouldn't because what she was looking at was baffling. The why of it all was escaping her. She didn't even notice the three girls crowding in and drawing their eyes to where Suri was staring. Two of them went just as wide eyed and also muttered their disbelief. Uraraka knew she had heard the name somewhere, and recently, but it escaped her and she was more confused by the reactions. The four of them didn't realize their reactions grew the interest of a few others and soon Deku and Kirishima were looming over them and looking down at the offers.
"I feel like I've heard of that hero before," Kirishima said with a puzzled tone and scratched his head. "What about you, Midoriya?"
"You got an offer from... Whiplash? I don't think I've- wait, isn't that your grandma?"
The leopard queen herself put in an offer for an intern.
"Wait, really?" Mina exclaimed and took a closer look at the list.
"Yeah! I've seen her old costume too," Tooru added with excitement. "I didn't know she was still an active hero though."
"Yeah," Suri said, still full of confusion. "I didn't either."
"You sure it's her? Why would the location be in Shinjuku?" Mina asked, pointing to the requests list in the box that listed the agency or hero address.
"That's a good question," she answered cautiously.
The main wereanimal group in the Tokyo metropolitan were wolves, but Grandma Kuroyashi was the only one with the hero name Whiplash. She knew some of the Tokyo wolves and knew that none of them moonlighted as a pro hero. That said, she knew this was Grandma Kuroyashi.
It had to be.
Grandma Kuroyashi knew she'd see her name on the list and knew she'd have to take the internship. What was the old lady up to? The fact that she'd go this far and be this coy about it scared Suri. Not knowing what her grandmother's intention or plan was terrifying because out of everyone she knew, no one had a better poker face. She was the type of person that would keep up the sweet old lady routine, rob you blind, beat the shit out of you, and you'd still think she was harmless.
With a shaky hand, Suri wrote her into the top spot. This was her grandmother. Her grandmother who was the queen of one of the largest groups of wereanimals in Japan, her Hyo-Ra, her leopard queen. Family was one thing by itself but she was essentially looking at the request of nobility. There was no denying that request. Really. But it also served as something else. Interning with grandma Kuroyashi instead of her dad would be the biggest fuck you to her old man. He may be her dad and her Ulfric but after the way he fucked her over in the Sports Festival and the antics he had pulled and was still pulling? Fuck that. There was no way she couldn't do it now. Yeah, she was being an absolute brat and a little shit. She was being super powered levels of petty. But you know what, he brought it on himself. And with that thought a giant fanged grin curled across her lips.
Fuck you, old man, indeed.