LULLABY ARC PART 4: Reunion
Temporary Xiao-Long Household (Afternoon)
"So, this is where you live?" Shinso asked, seeing how fancy the building looked.
"For now, yes." Dominic said, approaching the front door. "Please, come in."
After rebuilding the entire house from the ground up, Dominic decided to make the interior something more...him. The walls were adorned with torches, and there was a black carpet on the floor. Any trace of the former tenants was gone, replaced with various portraits that depicted strange scenes. In the back of the hallway, there was a massive spiral staircase leading to the upper floors.
After a bit more walking, Dominic and Shinso reached the living room. "I'll get the girls." the blonde said to his guest. "ERI! AMARA!" he yelled. Seconds later, the two children came running through the door, with Mimikyu and Scream Tail in tow.
As soon as their eyes met, Shinso and Amara ran to eachother before embracing eachother in a hug. "Thank goodness you're safe." the male sibling said, tears in his eyes.
"How are you here, big brother?" Amara asked. "Won't Father be angry?"
"I wouldn't worry about him." Dominic said. "I purposely installed traps and hazards everywhere. If your father does so much as stretch a toe into my home, he'll be dealt with." The blonde snapped his fingers, and dozens of spikes and sawblades came out of the walls. After a minute, they disappeared. "And don't worry. They won't go off unless someone enters without my express permission."
Feeling something tug on his shirt, Shinso looked down to see Eri, with Mimikyu in her arms. "Who are you?" she asked.
UA (Day)
"Uh, Xiao-Long? Are you doing okay?" Kaminari asked.
His fellow blonde just glared at him with his eye blazing. "No. No I am not." Dominic said, forcibly evaporating the water on his body before it did irreparable damage. "This is why I hate rain." he said under his breath as he took his seat.
"Did anything happen to you over the break?" Jiro asked. "We were all talking about people that recognized us from the festival."
"Eh, nothing much. I mean, I did get hassled in an Everymart on the way here, but other than that, nothing." Dominic explained. "This lady wanted me to give her an autograph, even though I repeatedly told her that I can't write Japanese characters."
"Wait, you can't write the language of the country you've been living in for over 3 months?" Jiro asked incredulously. "How have you gotten this far without flunking out?"
"Does that really matter?" the blonde asked, to which his classmate nodded. "Well, to each their own."
Aizawa entered the room, with most of his bandages removed. "Morning." he said as he walked to his desk. "We're having a special hero informatics class today. Code names. You'll be coming up with hero names." Everyone cheered at that, which prompted Aizawa to activate his Quirk and put a stop to it.
'In. The. Bag.' Dominic thought smugly. He already had a hero name since before he turned 10.
"This is related to the pro-hero draft picks I mentioned the other day." Aizawa explained, turning off his Quirk. "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 need to go above and beyond to prove ourselves, right?" Dominic asked, any semblance of joking gone. He was dead serious about this.
"Indeed. Here are the totals for those with offers." Aizawa said, turning to the blackboard. "In other years, it's been more spread out. But all eyes were on these three this year." Bakugo, Todoroki, and Dominic had more offers than everyone else in the room combined.
"Makes sense that Xiao-Long got the most. His Pokemon got a lot of attention." Midoriya said. "On the other hand, I only got two."
"Tough luck." Dominic said, patting the greenette's back.
"Keeping these results in mind, whether or not anyone asked for you, you will all be practicing in internships with pros." Aizawa explained.
"Internships? Already?" Mineta asked, confused.
"Remember the USJ? We already have combat experience with villains, most of which were dangerous." Dominic said, thinking back to the Nomu that he and Charizard failed to defeat.
"Regardless, it's still meaningful training for you to see pros work firsthand." Aizawa said.
"That explains the hero names!" Sato said, excited.
"Things are suddenly getting a lot more fun!" Uraraka said.
"Well, these hero names are still temporary." Aizawa said. "But if you're not serious about it..."
"You'll have hell to pay later!" Midnight said as she swung open the door.
'Was she waiting there the entire time?' Dominic wondered.
"Because a lot of hero names used by students become recognized by society, they end up becoming professional hero names." the female hero explained.
"Midnight's here to make sure your names are okay." Aizawa said. "I can't do that."
'That explains his terrible name.' Dominic realized.
"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." Aizawa explained. "That's what it means when they say 'names and nature do often agree'."
Everyone was given whiteboards to write down their hero names on. Since Dominic already had one, he finished before anyone else.
"That was fast." Jiro said.
"Yeah, well. I've had this name in mind for a while." Dominic said, thinking back to the day he first got the moniker.
"Okay, let's start presenting names starting with those who are ready." Midnight said as her coworker took a nap on the floor. Dominic was about to raise his hand, but Aoyama was somehow faster than a being that once outran light.
"Here I go." the boy said as he stood behind Aizawa's desk. "Shining Hero: I Cannot Stop Twinkling!"
'It's a sentence!?' Dominic thought, taken by surprise.
"It'll be easier to use if you take out the 'I' and shorten the 'Cannot' to 'Can't'." Midnight said, rewriting the name with a marker.
"I'm next!" Ashido said as she practically jumped to Aizawa's desk. "Hero name: Alien Queen!"
Midnight was about to object, but was cut off. "I love it!" Dominic exclaimed, keeping his eye on the hero.
'Why do I feel like I just dodged a bullet?' Midnight asked herself, deeply unsettled by both Ashido's hero name and the blood red eye that was staring at her.
"Can I go next?" Asui asked, raising her hand. Midnight, unable to speak from sheer terror, simply nodded. "I've had this in mind ever since I was in elementary school. Rainy Season Hero: Froppy."
"I like it! It sounds friendly!" the R-Rated Hero complimented, the pressure on her spine having lifted. Soon after, everyone began cheering 'Froppy' over and over.
"Then I'll go too!" Kirishima said loudly, displaying his whiteboard. "Sturdy Hero: Red Riot!"
"Red Riot?" Midnight asked. "You're paying homage to the Chivalrous Hero: Crimson Riot, right?"
"Yeah. It's pretty old-fashioned, but the hero image I'm going for is Crimson himself." Kirishima explained.
"If you're bearing a name you admire, it'll come with that much more pressure." Midnight warned.
"I'm prepared for that." Kirishima stated.
Soon after, Jiro gave her name. "Hearing Hero: Earphone Jack." she proudly said.
"Taking inspiration from your Quirk? That's a new one." Dominic said, having never met someone who used the name of their power as their hero or villain name. "I like it."
Shoji went up next. "Tentacle Hero: Tentacole." he said, using a mouth on one of his Dupli-Arms. It got the a-ok from Midnight.
Sero went next. "Taping Hero: Cellophane." he said meekly, clearly unsure of this name. Midnight liked it because it was simple.
Ojiro was next. "Martial Arts Hero: Tailman." he said, flexing his tail.
Sato was next in line. "Sweets Hero: Sugarman!" he declared.
After a while, Kaminari finally thought of something. "Stun Gun Hero: Chargebolt."
"I hope I will not bring shame to this name." Yaoyorozu said as she displayed her name. "Everything Hero: Creati."
Todoroki walked over to Aizawa's desk, and gave his name to the rest of the class. "Steam Hero: Newcomen." It was slight, but Dominic could see hints of a smile on his classmate's face.
Tokoyami went next. "Jet-Black Hero: Tsukuyomi."
After that was Mineta. Everyone prayed that it wasn't something perverted. "Fresh-Picked Hero: Grape Juice!"
Koda went next, though he didn't verbally give his name. 'Petting Hero: Anima.'
Bakugo was next, and his name was... something else. "King Explosion Murder." he said with an angry face.
"I LOVE IT!" Dominic said, giving his own royal seal of approval. Unfortunately, everyone else thought otherwise.
"You should be called Explosion Boy!" Kirishima suggested, but that only made Bakugo madder.
Uraraka went next, and gave her name. "This is what I thought of: Uravity." she said.
Dominic took initiative and went next. "Ever since I was little, I always wanted to get into this line of work." he said, reminiscing. "It's because of that that I had this name since starting UA. "Revolutionary Hero: The Mountain King!" he said with pride.
"It has a nice ring to it." Midnight said.
Iida went next. His whiteboard showed only his first name.
Midoriya went after that. He decided on a name that everyone else thought was crazy. A name that was used to ridicule him in the past. A name that was shared by a certain nut.
"Deku."