Ragnas Bredvolts: Did you just reference Hellsing Abridged?
NeoNazo356: YES. I. DID.
Silversun XD: I LOVED it! I especially likes the Bakugo grocery run. That was hilarious. I liked the three stooges reference as well.
NeoNazo356: The intent was to reference Alucard from Hellsing Abridged (by TeamFourStar), but since Alucard was referencing the Three Stooges himself, yes in a way I referenced them.
guest (Guest): guest:Any chance you'd be willing to hook Genki and Mina up?
NeoNazo356: We'll have to wait and see.
KitsuneDragon: An alright cool down chapter so there's not much to comment on. Also just curious as to why you chose to name some of the places after Star Wars planets?
NeoNazo356: No, that's Kosei Horikoshi's thing. Several locations in MHA take reference from Star Wars, and in the manga there are Marvel/DC cues taken as well. Also, there's references to Mario, Alien, and I think Robo-Cop.
*MHA*
"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIIIS!" Genki cried as he ran through the rain to Yuuei, countless pedestrians that recognized him trying to pull him aside and give their congratulations, or even ask for autographs. "LATER! RIGHT NOW I'VE GOT TO GET TO CLASS!" he found himself justifying as he kicked up plumes of water in his wake. "YOU THERE!"
"H-Hai?"
"I'LL TRADE AN AUTOGRAPH FOR YOUR UMBRELLA! YOU GAME?"
"Hey, you're the guy from the-"
"I KNOW I'M FROM THE SPORTS FESTIVAL! YOU WANT THAT AUTOGRAPH OR NOT?!"
"S-sure, here you go," the pedestrian said passing his umbrella and a memo pad. After getting the name scribbled down and the memo pad shoved into his coat, the oily-haired teen was off once again.
"GLAD YUUEI HAS THIS LONG WINDING ROAD!" Genki said as he zig-zagged up the hill toward Yuuei, his umbrella held up like a shield, and bystanders in his wake almost having their umbrellas inverted as he passed them. "THERE! THE GATE!"
"THIS IS NO TIME FOR AN IDLE STROLL! WE'LL BE LATE! GOOD MORNING, MIDORIYA!" Iida said as he bolted past the greenette.
"Late? But we've got five minutes before the first bell," Izuku replied.
"IF YOU AREN'T EARLY, YOU'RE LATE!" Genki said as he overtook the two.
"YES! HE HAS THE RIGHT IDEA! THE STUDENTS OF YUUEI SHOULD MAKE IT A POINT TO ARRIVE TEN MINUTES EARLY!" Iida said voicing his heartfelt agreement.
Swapping out his wet shoes at the footlockers, Genki proceeded to zip through the halls with all the speed and agility his Quirk gave him.
Even though he still had five minutes until first bell, it was still too close for comfort, especially with what was now at stake.
Rumor had it, Aizawa had expelled students for lesser reasons than being late.
And that was when he wasn't expelling entire class-worths of students for arbitrary reasons like "having zero potential" or something to that effect.
*MHA*
"I had all these people talking to me on the way here!" Mina whooped excitedly.
"Same here! So many stares… it was embarrassing!" Toru added.
"Me too!" Kirishima whooped.
"All these grade schoolers told me I made a good effort," Sero sighed.
"Good effort," Tsuyu hummed consolingly.
"Glad you guys are having a good time. Ever since the Sports Festival, people have been pestering me for pictures and autographs. I had to bundle up with a hood and a surgical mask just to buy groceries without being molested," Genki grumbled, his antennae drooping significantly.
"Well, that's just the price you have to pay for the big splash you made," Tsuyu hummed. "All in all, though, you definitely earned it."
"Thanks, Tsu. I feel much better," Genki said as his expression brightening, antennae perking up like a plant given water.
"Still, one little event and suddenly the world's got its eye on us," Shoji hummed.
"That's Yuuei for you," Ojiro added.
"Morning," Aizawa cut in, everyone zipping to their desks without a skipped beat.
"Good to see your bandages off, Aizawa-sensei," Tsuyu chirped as everyone greeted him good morning.
"The old lady's treatment was excessive, but never mind that. Today we've got Hero Informatics class. And a special one at that," Aizawa said tiredly. "Today, you'll be coming up with your hero aliases."
"HOW AWESOME! TIME TO SHINE!" most-everyone whooped.
'Glad Mineta wasn't here for that last outburst,' Genki hummed with a flushed face from the grape-headed teen's former seat.
When Mina had literally jumped for joy, Genki had gotten a brief flash of the tantalizing contrast between white panties against light-pink skin.
In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but notice the girl had strong, thick thighs.
'Damn you brain… Damn you hormones…' he growled as the carnal part of his consciousness pondered what it'd be like to put his head between those thighs.
"But first… Concerning the pro draft picks I mentioned the other day…" Aizawa spoke up, the more conscientious of the glass shushing their peers. "It's based on who the pros think will be ready to join the Hero workforce after another two or three years of experience, so you could say it's a way for them to show an interest in your futures," he explained. "However, there's ample time for their interest in you to wane before you graduate, and any and all offers can be arbitrarily revoked. It happens quite often."
'For some reason, I can't help but find myself wondering what Mineta would say at a time like this,' Genki hummed.
He still felt a bit guilt about metaphorically and literally stealing away his seat in Yuuei's 1-A, but hopefully helping him transfer to another school would help smooth things over in the future.
"So if we're picked now, that just means there'll be higher hurdles in the years to come?" Toru asked.
"Yes. Now, here are the complete draft pick numbers," Aizawa said tapping the remote in his pocket, the automatic blackboard at his back suddenly becoming alight with the CLASS A DRAFT PICK TOTALS.
Unsurprisingly, Gokiburi's total was the highest at a whopping 4,356 agencies. After that was Todoroki at an equally-impressive 4,123, Bakugou immediately after with a similarly impressive 2,987. However, after the first three, the numbers took a significant dip with Tokoyami only scoring 360 agencies in contrast to his peers in the quadruple-digits, 301 for Iida, 272 for Kaminari, a contextually-significant dip of 108 for Yaoyarozu, another significant dip for Kirishima at 68, and 20 for Uraraka as the lowest on-board.
"Typically, there's more of a spread in this sort of thing, but our top three stole most of the spotlight. Gokiburi more than anyone else because people love a good underbug story," Aizawa added.
"I'll just pretend I didn't hear that," Genki grumbled with a flat stare.
"Gah! They're in a whole other league!" Kaminari whined.
"Gokiburi," Todoroki hummed. "You made quite the first impression. Congratulations."
"Ah, thanks. Your numbers are pretty nice too," Genki replied, his antennae perking back up as he scratched te back of his head.
"It's mostly just my father's influence," the stoic teen hummed. "Your father's been retired for several years now, so this interest is a result of your hard work. Not his."
"Yes, well done," Momo added.
"Hey, don't sell yourself short, Yaoyarozu-senpai! Your Quirk's super-amazing, you just had a bad matchup is all," Genki said reassuringly, sending the girl his best winning smile and a confident thumbs-up.
"S-Senpai…?" Momo replied with a flushed face and sparkling eyes as she brought delicate hands up to her mouth.
'Huh. Guess that put more spring in her step than I thought,' Genki thought idly as the girl beamed.
"Whoa! I made it!" Uraraka whooped as she shook Iida's shoulder.
"Yes, yes," Iida nodded.
"With that settled, whether or not you were picked, you will all receive a chance to work alongside the pros," Aizawa cut in, everyone not on the board perking up. "It's true that barring one exception, you've all already experienced more than most, but seeing the pros in action and taking part yourselves will still be worthwhile training."
"That's where our Hero Names come in!" Sato whooped.
"This is really getting fun!" Uraraka cheered.
"They're only tentative, but I still want you all to pick something appropriate-"
"OR ELSE YOU'LL KNOW TRUE HELL!" Midnight cut in as she barged into the room. "The name you pick now may be what the world ends up calling you. That's happened to plenty of pros out there!"
"Midnight!" everyone gawked, the boys moreso as aforementioned R-Rated Hero strode into the room, strutting her stuff and popping her hips as she ran her fingers through an impressively-kept mane of ebony black hair.
From first-hand experience -of helping brush the hair of his Onee-samas both before and after practice and even shows-, Genki knew how high-maintenance hair like that could be.
"Is it weird that I'm already used to stuff like this?" Genki muttered aloud, his voice drowned out by his peers as Midnight soaked in the male adulation.
"Yes. True enough. And Midnight here will be assessing the sensibility of the names you pick. I'm no good at that," Aizawa hummed as an afterthought. "What future do you see for yourself?" the man questioned as he pulled his sleeping bag out from the podium. "The name you choose will bring you ever closer to cementing a certain image, because names are capable of reflecting one's true character. Like with 'All Might'."
'I… Imomushi?' Genki gawped with antennae perked up at odd angles as the man's yellow sleeping back was zipped up to his neck, and the man flopped over on his left side to take a nap.
Amidst his thoughts, Midnight passed dry-erase boards and markers along the front of each row, which were then passed back.
"So… My first assignment in Yuuei's Hero Informatics class…" Genki hummed as he received his placard. 'I can't afford to mess this up!'
*MHA*
15 minutes later…
"Let's finish up. We can start with whoever's ready!" Midnight announced.
'Well… Someone's got guts…' Genki thought to himself as the foreigner strode up to the podium, a confident swagger in his stride.
Come to think of it, since he hadn't even made it into the Cavalry Battle proper, this would actually be the most Genki saw of the blond gaijin.
"Here I go…" Aoyama said pinching the corners of his board. "Shining Hero: 'I Cannot Stop Twinkling'!" he proclaimed as he held it aloft.
"It's a whole sentence!" everyone gawked, Genki slapping his forehead in a typical facepalm.
"Here, it'll be easier to say if you take out the 'I' and contraction 'cannot' into 'can't'," Midnight said making the necessary corrections.
"A, merci, mademoiselle!"
"Okay, I'm next!" Mina whooped. "Call me The Ridley Hero: Alien Queen!" she said with a broad smile.
"From the sequel?! Is it because her blood was super acidic?! That's terrible!" Midnight cried as she rejected the name.
"Tch," Mina groaned, clicking her tongue as she trudged back to her desk.
"Can I go next, please, kero?" Tsuyu croaked. "I've had this thought out since elementary school. Call me the Rainy Season Hero: Froppy," she said with a frog-like smile.
"Kawaii! It makes you sound like you'd be easy to get to know!" everyone gawped, Genki settling for flushing at how-adorable his fellow Mutant was, his kokoro going *doki-doki* in his chest.
"The rest of you, take note. This is a perfectly lovable name!" Midnight announced gleefully.
*Bam* "This is me! The Sturdy Hero: Red Riot!" Kirishima said proudly.
"Red Riot! Could this be an homage to the Chivalrous Hero: Crimson Riot?" Midnight asked.
"Yeah! I know he's from back in the day, but Crimson's the kind of Hero I wanna be," the redhead admitted.
"Heh heh… Just know that bearing the name of your personal Hero comes with a lot of pressure," Midnight said with a kind smile.
"I'm ready for that!" Kirishima said pumping a fist.
"I'm next!" Kaminari said stepping up. "You may call me the Gold Striker: Stunvolt!"
"Hey wait, is that a reference to the Azure Striker: Gunvolt?" Genki asked, antennae perked straight up into twin ?-marks atop his head.
"Oh, you know him?" Kaminari asked with a raised brow.
Since Gunvolt was still an up-and-coming Hero, freshly-graduated from Yuuei, his name was only known among a very niche following. Mainly budding electric-users and those whose lives had been directly -or even indirectly- impacted by the blond hero's acts of heroism.
"Yeah. He's renting office space out of my dad's agency in Akihabara until he has the clout to start his own agency. He helps protect the idols on the side whenever any of the fans get too… villainous."
"Oh! Think you could get me his autograph?" he asked excitedly. "We actually went to the same middle school, and he was so cool when I saw him on TV at the Sports Festival!"
"Sure, I'll ask the next time I see him," Genki replied, the electric blond giving an appreciative nod. "Actually, if you like, I could give him a call after class, see if he'd be willing to take you on for the week as an Intern," he offered.
"Holy cow, you'd really do that?!" the blond asked excitedly with wide eyes.
"Sure. What's the point of networking if you don't help your friends?" Genki asked smoothly.
"Dude, you are my hero!" Kaminari said wrapping the oily-haired teen in a hug.
"Wow, you're a real fan of GV, aren't you?" Genki asked giving an awkward one-two pat.
"Are you kidding? Of course I am!" the [Electrification] wielder replied ecstatically. "Not only is he an electric-type like me, but he's also super-strong, and super-popular with the ladies~" he said waggling a brow. "Hey, I gotta ask, are he and Lumen, you know…~" he said holding up his pinkie and giving it a suggestive waggle.
"Pretty sure that's none of your business," Genki said with a flat expression, antennae drooped parallel to the floor. "Do you want me to call him or not?"
"Y-Yes please!" Kaminari said bowing his head, hands clasped, afraid Genki might retract his earlier offer.
After that, the subsequent unveiling of epithets and aliases went on largely uneventfully.
"The Hearing Hero: Earphone Jack!"
"The Tentacle Hero: Tentocole."
"The Taping Hero: Cellophane!"
"The Stealth Hero: Invisible Girl!" Toru squealed striking a pose… or maybe half a pose since… you know.
"The Martial Arts Hero: T-Tailman," Ojiro announced, sounding as though something weird had ghosted over his tongue.
"Copycat," Sato grumbled as he held up his placard, displaying Sweets Hero: Sugarman.
"You're all doing great! Let's keep 'em coming!" Midnight whooped.
"Pinky!" Mina cried angrily.
"Great!" Midnight whooped.
*BAM*
"MATTA!"
"When did this become a courtroom drama?" Sero asked as Genki suddenly rose from his seat, a finger pointed poignantly at the front of the room, his shout whipping Midnight's hair back.
"Mina, don't you dare compromise!" the oily-haired teen shouted as he slicked his hair straight-backwards like a certain male lead of his own game series and live-action TV drama.
"Gen-kun?" she asked with wide eyes at her former opponent's outburst.
"The first pick you had was an amazing hero name! Don't give it up just because one pervert gets creeped out by it!" the oily-haired teen said, nay, ordered harshly. "Do you really want to go around being called 'Pinky' for the rest of your life?!" he said slamming his palm into his desk twiceover, resounding into the nearby rooms and causing Aizawa to grimace in discomfort. "I refuse to acknowledge someone so-amazing using something so… so… juvenile!" he proclaimed passionately with vigor equal if not surpassing that shown by a certain [Engine]-calved peer.
" . . . You're right!" Mina realized, changing her Hero Name to what is was originally. "This is the name I want to choose for myself! I don't care what anyone else thinks!" she proclaimed as she held up her original choice.
"Well, if an adoring fan is so vocal about it, how can I refuse?" Midnight asked with a sigh. "However!" she said snapping her whip out at Genki. "I must rebuke you, for I am not just some pervert! I am… A SUUUPER PERVERT! OH~HOHOHOHOHO!" she proclaimed as she laughed heartily.
"Of course you'd say that," Genki grumbled as she laughed like an Ojou-sama from an anime.
"Okay, just for that, YOU'RE NEXT!" Midnight declared, putting him on the spot.
"Ha, sucks to be you, I already have my Hero Name!" Genki said with a grin.
"Curses, foiled again…!" Midnight growled under her breath, albeit jokingly, as Genki made his way to the front of the room.
"Classmates. Friends. Baka-gou."
"Up yours!"
"This…" Genki said as he propped his placard up on the podium with his marker and a touch of oil, "shall by Hero Name!" he declared as he then struck a pose that wouldn't be out-of-place in front of a color-coded smoke bomb and/or gasoline explosion. Maybe a catchy musical theme if it was within-budget.
The Devil Bug Hero: Genkiburi
"Oooh! Your father's old epithet with a new twist!" Midnight squealed in recognition of the old epithet given new life. "So cute!" she chirped happily at the added alias.
"Thanks," Genki replied with a nervous smile. "Since my Quirk has a bit of a negative connotation to it, I decided to go for the 'cute' angle to take the edge off, help widen the fanbase. Plus it helps that I take after my mother," he added with a tilt of the head, a wink, and a stuck-out tongue from one corner of his mouth.
Genki used Charm.
"Hm, yes, aesthetics are paramount for the popularity of a Hero," Midnight nodded with a blush on her face.
It was super-effective!
"That… and my Onee-samas wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I went with something too edgelord-y," he said with a resigned expression, antennae drooping slightly as he let out an exasperated sigh.
"All very valid reasons," Midnight said with another sagely nod as she recovered from his earlier attack.
"I'd be able to take you more seriously if you weren't dressed like Stripperella," he then replied curtly.
"I'll take that as a compliment, Gen-chan~" Midnight replied with a wink.
"Please don't…"
"So, Onee-samas, huh?" Sero asked with a waggling brow as he leaned forward on one elbow, inserting himself into the line of dialogue taking place.
"Are they hot?" Kaminari asked hopefully, following suit.
"They work at an Idol Girl agency. What do you think?" Genki asked bluntly, trickles of blood running down the two's noses much to the consternation of their female peers. "Keep it together, you perverts. You'd never make it past the bouncers in anything short of a body bag. Full-body cast if you're lucky."
"Yeah, are you trying to make up for the fact that Mineta's gone?" Mina asked with a pout.
"Can we please move on from this discussion? I immediately regret bringing this up," Genki said hanging his head in abject shame.
"Ahem," Momo spoke up. "I hope to do justice by this name," as she took her place at the podium.
"How creative!" Midnight squealed in response to the Everything Hero: Creati placard.
"Shoto."
"Just your name?! Really?!"
"Yes."
"The Jet-Black Hero: Tsukuyomi."
"God of the night!"
Petting Hero: Anima
"So cute!"
"King Explosion Murder."
"No good. Try again."
"What the hell?!"
"Okay, my turn…" Uraraka said nervously. "This is what I came up with," she said raising her placard, a more-prominent blush than usual blossoming across her cheeks.
Uravity
"How punny!" Midnight squealed. "Well, this went smoother than expected! All that's left is Bakugou's revision, Iida, and then Midoriya."
" . . . "
'That guy looks like he's dealing with something really heavy,' Genki thought, catching the teen's strained visage sidelong. 'His hand… it's trembling…'
"Tenya."
"You too, huh? Just your name…" Midnight sighed less-than-enthused as the glasses-wearing teen held up his placard.
" . . . "
"?!"
"Huh? You sure about that, Midoriya?" Midnight asked as the greenette raised his placard, a confused look on her face.
"Yeah. I always hated it, but then someone helped me see it in a new light. It took me by surprise, but… it made me really happy," Izuku said with a gentle look in his eyes. "This will be my Hero Name."
"Oohhh…" Genki hummed aloud. "So you're the 'Deku' that got voted for the other day."
"Huh?" Bakugou growled, a WTF expression on his face while Uraraka's brightened.
" . . . I don't get it," the oily-haired teen hummed after a few moments of deep contemplation.
A moment later, Bakugou stepped forward with his revision.
"LORD EXPLOSION MURDER!"
"No. Still no good."
"Boo! Get off the stage!"
"You think you can do better?!" Bakugou raged at the oily-haired teen who heckled him.
"You could call yourself 'Kacchan'," Genki answered with a smarmy grin, his victory over the explosive teen in particular doing wonderful things for his confidence and self-worth. "Help you revitalize that dying fanbase of yours."
"Ooh! So cute!" Midnight cooed. "I like it!"
"You dead motherfucker!"
"Calm your non-tits, testosterone breath, I was only joking," Genki said with a flippant wave of his hand. " . . . The Explosion Hero: Ground Zero."
" . . . Holy crap that's awesome!" Kirishima gawped with wide eyes.
"Hardcore…" Jiro nodded.
"A powerful name indeed," Tokoyami hummed with crossed arms.
"So cool!" various other students exclaimed.
" . . . Damn, that is good," Bakugou admitted, albeit begrudgingly as he changed his placard.
"Ooh! I like it!" Midnight whooped in agreement. "Very catchy."
"Shut up! Don't rub it in!" Bakugou growled as he returned to his seat. "Don't think this means I owe you anything," he muttered over his shoulder as he sat down, deigning not to look back.
"Hey, do you hear that?" Genki asked raising his hand to his ear.
"Hear what?" Bakugou growled looking over aforementioned shoulder.
"That sound. The sound of all the fucks I don't give," Genki said looking off into the distance. "So majestic," he hummed as though watching migratory birds.
"Rrrgh…!" Bakugou growled as he stomped back to his seat.
*MHA*
Once everyone's Hero Names had been recorded, Aizawa handed out the lists of drafts for everyone's internships. Apart from Gokiburi, Todoroki, and Bakugou who received entire sheaves of paper filled top to bottom with names of agencies, everyone else received single-sheet lists for whatever agencies were taking "anyone with a pulse" that season.
"You got pretty far in the tourney, Ashido. It's weird you didn't get drafted," Ojiro hummed.
"True…" Mina sighed. "Ne, Gokiburi-san-"
"Please, call me Genki. 'Gokiburi-san' is my father," Genki replied. "Also my mother, but that's neither here nor there."
"Hai, Genki," Mina reiterated with a smile, still on cloud nine to have someone like her long-sought-after Hero Name as much as she did. "Do you happen to have any cool Heroes on speed-dial I could intern with?" she asked looking at her list a little disdainfully.
"No-one you would benefit from, I'm afraid," Genki replied. "My personal acquaintanceship with Heroes is kinda… niche, I'm afraid."
"Oh… Okay…" Mina sighed dejectedly, her horns wilting slightly to match her expression.
" . . . Don't look at me like that."
"Look at you like what?" Mina asked cutely.
"That! The thing you're doing with your eyes!"
"What thing?" Mina asked as eyes of black and gold watered, her bottom lip quivering.
" . . . Alright, I give. I give," the Mutant teen sighed. "I'll give my mom a call, see if she knows anyone from the old days," Genki sighed. "But don't hold your breath."
"Arigatou!" the pinkette squealed happily as she wrapped him up in a hug.
"Why even ask me, anyway?" Genki asked as he gave the girl a one-two pat, blushing awkwardly as his hormones went into overdrive.
Let's just say it wasn't only her thighs that were "thick".
"Well, Kaminari looked so happy when you said you'd hook him up with this 'GV' guy, so I kinda hoped you could do the same for me," she admitted with a cheeky grin.
"Well, like I said, don't hold your breath too long. You only have two days until the submission deadline, so you should probably pick an agency or two from the list just-in-case," Genki said pulling out his phone. "What about you? Who're you going to intern with?" he asked turning to his neighbor.
"I'm signing on with the Battle Hero: Gunhead!"
"Gunhead? Seems a little… rough-and-tumble, I guess… Wait, is this because you lost to Bakugou the way you did?"
"Well, kinda," she admitted. "My fight in the Sports Festival got me thinking, getting stronger opens up all sorts of possibilities, and doing the same old thing is kind of limiting… Or something," she admitted nervously as though she didn't fully know herself.
"Well, it does help your marketability if you have a wider skillbase," Genki hummed thinking back on all the talk of merchandising he had with his mother after he showed an interest in being a Hero. "Hey, Izuku, how about you-"
"First I have to research these forty potential Heroes and divide them up based on thir specialties. Then, I'll look at the number of resolved incidents for each since his or her debut up until the present and determine which has the attributes that would be most informative for me as I am now… Such an important decision must be made carefully and without haste, so I'll also have to observe how each spends their time when not engaged in heroic operations…"
" . . . Is he always like this?" the oily-haired teen asked as Midoriya continued to murmur to himself.
"Yeah. It's like a performance at this point," Ochako said with a smile.
"Well, to each their own I guess," he shrugged.
"Ne, Izuku, this might be a little off-topic, but a while ago I noticed, you've been trembling," Ochako said the greenette's way.
"Yeah… I'm practicing air chair."
"Air chair!" the others yelped.
"Well wadya know, he really is doing air chair," Genki hummed as he stooped over.
"During class too?! That's crazy!" Sero yelped.
"Air chair? That's pretty old-school," Mina hummed.
"What're you saying?! Air chairing is a great way to train without moving cuz it works your muscles when they're contracted," Ojiro put in.
"W-What about you? Who're you going to intern with?" Izuku asked hurriedly, hoping to pass the ball from being the center of attention.
"Me? Well…" Genki asked looking through his own sheaf of papers. "I guess I'll internship with… him," he said pointing to a name.
"Oh! The No.5 pro, the Ninja Hero: Edgeshot!" Izuku yelped. "Operating somewhere out of the Mie Prefecture, Edgeshot's signature Thousand Sheet Pierce lets him completely bypass a villain's defense to cut off blood flow and-"
*Thwack*
"Itai!" Izuku yelped as his excited exposition was eradicated by a swift chop to the cranium.
"You're doing that thing again. Stop it."
"H… Hai…" Izuku whimpered as he nursed the spot atop his head. "But really, though, the No. 5 Hero. You really do have the top picks of agencies, don't you?"
"Yeah. It's really flattering, actually," Genki admitted with a grin. "The only other Hero higher in the rankings who requested me was the No.3 Hero, Best Jeanist, but my Quirk doesn't really blend well with his, so I wrote him off right away," he admitted, scratching his cheek idly.
"Ah, is this because your saliva contains cellulae, and thus would clash with his [Fiber Master] Quirk?"
"Got it in one," Genki replied. "That and him talking out of his fly would weird me out in-person."
"Yeah, I guess it would be kinda weird," Izuku admitted. " . . . Genki-san."
"Hai?"
"There's something else I've been meaning to ask you…"
"Well, what is it?"
"Your father…" the greenette began nervously, thinking back to the larger-than-life figure he'd witnessed sitting beside the oily-haired teen's mother back at the Sports Festival. "Five years ago for a month-long period he was the No.2 Hero, right…?" he trailed off, everyone's eyes going wide in shock; Bakugou's very audible sputtering echoed through the room in place of a dropped pin. "Yet out of nowhere he retired suddenly… Can I ask why?"
"That's… a difficult subject for me," Genki answered as antennae drooped. "I'd rather not talk about it…" he said grabbing at his bicep, antennae drooping even further if that was possible.
"Wait a minute, you mean it's true?" Kirishima gawped with wide eyes.
"Your dad really was the No.2 Hero?" Mina gawped, eyes equally wide.
"Once upon a time… yes," Genki admitted with a tiny nod of his head. "Like I said, I'd rather not talk about it," he said looking away, a pained expression ghosting across eyes that refused to meet any other.
"Five years ago…" Todoroki hummed thoughtfully. "So that's why he almost burned the house down back then…" he hummed idly, thinking back to the first time in decades his father's rank had been usurped from him.
Suffice it to say, the man did not take being bumped down well. Not in the slightest.
"Wait a minute, if your dad was the former No.2 Hero, how come you didn't get into Yuuei on recommendation?" Kirishima asked.
"More-importantly, how come no-one remembers this?" Mina questioned.
"It happened five years ago, which is plenty of time for a Hero to fall out of public memory. Most of you would've been ten when that happened," Genki answered. "Hell, half the time people can't even remember a cat video after a week has passed, let alone Heroes that retired years ago," he tacked on. "Also, like I told Recovery Girl… I wanted to get into Yuuei on my merits, not my father's. That… and I didn't want to put him through finding out he'd been a has-been long-enough his good word alone couldn't get me in…" he added morosely, a tired sigh leaving his lips causing Tsuyu to walk over and consolingly pat his back.
"Man, that's some heavy stuff," Kirishima said scratching his head.
"Sorry if we were inconsiderate," Mina added.
"It's fine, it's fine," Genki sighed.
"So… You said your parents run an idol agency?" Sero asked with a grin, lightening the mood; or at least attempting to do so.
"Goooood… Why did I open my big mouth…?" Genki whined as he banged his head on the desk.
*MHA*
AN:
Personally, I think "The Ridley Hero: Alien Queen" was an AMAZING Hero Name, and getting bumped down (read: shafted) to Pinky of all things… That just seems insulting to her potential, hence Genki (and by extension myself) spoke up on the matter.
As for "The Explosion Hero: Ground Zero", I saw it on an AU FanComic on Pinterest where Izuku was a 119 (Japanese "911") responder and hung up to leave Bakugou hanging (for all the mental and physical abuse he'd been put through in middle school), so that's also what I went with. Or at least that's how I remember it; I couldn't find it again to verify that.
Also, from an aesthetic and symbolic standpoint, it seemed pretty cool.
When it comes to Denki's name being changed from the canon "Stun Gun Hero: Chargebolt" to "Gold Striker: Stunvolt", the Hero he admires, "Azure Striker: Gunvolt", is a reference to the eponymous character of the Azure Striker Gunvolt franchise, the spiritual successor to the discontinued Mega Man franchise that was created by Keiji Inafune. The reason I chose this Cameo is because the Septimal powers of this franchise aren't all that different than Quirks when you apply them to the Emitter/Transformation archetypes.
I mean, I suppose the Glaives could be considered Support Equipment similar to the [Quirk Amplification Device] from My Hero Academia: Two Heroes since most of the legit transformations are equipment-based, but I don't want to go off on a tangent. So I won't.
Also, for those of you not familiar with the Phoenix Wright/Turnabout Justice franchise, the declaration "Matta!" literally meaning "Back up!" is the Japanese version of "Hold it!"