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Chapter 36: Hero Names
🕑 Added 2024-08-30 16:48:31 +0000 UTCChapter 36: Hero Names
After a fun night of partying, Midoriya retired to his apartment, red in the face as the master had all but said that she thought he would spend the night warming Teitora's bed. He was bold, he liked to mess with people but that would be too fast…right? He wouldn't know, this was his first relationship and he wouldn't dare ask the older teens or God forbid, the adults as they'd tease him for it.
He got that enough from Hanen who loved making him flustered with his comments about how obvious his crush on Teitora had been.
But she did make it clear that he wasn't to train for his time off school, which seemed strange for her as she was someone who prioritized self-improvement over most other things. When she asked, she told him that one needed to take time to smell the flowers and indulge in the fruits of their labor, or else they'll forget why they're even working for.
With his 2 days free of training, he found that he had hours to spare, not all of it could be spent with his girlfriend for as much as they would have liked to just talk, take walks around the estate, or even spend some time at the pool, he was the only one with time off from classes so she was gone for the mornings and most of the afternoon. So he found that he spent his time looking after the younger kids, and like he promised, making all sorts of constructs and toys for them out of his wood.
During that entire time, Midoriya didn't step foot outside the sanctuary and didn't communicate much with his friends, as they all had their things going on, meaning that their group chat could remain dormant for hours at a time. Midoriya's phone was left untouched for most of the time, as he only kept up on some news stories, but the Sports Festival wasn't one of them. After all, he had been there, so what more could he learn from the news?
When classes resumed, Midoriya reluctantly returned to his apartment to sleep, waking up bright and early, going through his morning routine before getting dressed and heading out to the train station. There was no sun as when he had woken up, it had been drizzling with that only growing stronger as the morning went on, by the time he had boarded the train, there was a light downpour.
As one could expect from a busy morning commute, the train car was full, and Midoriya like most people aboard with decency, gave up his seat to someone who needed it more, in his case, an old man who nodded as he sat down, groaning as his old bones settled.
"Excuse me…excuse me!" Looking through his phone for any morning news of importance, he heard something calling out to him. His freshly washed and styled 'cat ears' flinched and turned to the source of the voice, which Midoriya was a smiling middle-aged salaryman. "You wouldn't happen to be Midoriya from the hero course, right?"
“That would be me, could you tell me who you are?” Midoriya replied, which served as the opening of the floodgates as others who were minding their business turned to him now, his senses going off all over as he felt eyes on him from all sides. He had to stop himself from doing more than tightening his grip on the overhead handrail.
“I’m just a fan is all, you were amazing at the festival!” The man’s sincere and jubilant words knocked him out of that mindset, wait…was a stranger happy to see him? That…didn’t happen, and he wasn’t the only one as others turned to him, nothing but smiles on their faces and compliments on their lips.
“Oh, it is you! Oh man, you were crazy out there, you nearly defeated Kendo!" Someone spoke up behind him.
“Oh, for sure, if anything, silver should have been yours with how insane that fight was!” An older woman with greying hair spoke up next, her age doing little to dull her excitement over his fight.
“He’s a bit smaller than I expected.” Another, a little older than him noted, though Midoriya found it weird that she would say that when he was taller than her.
Then there was the man who he had given up his seat for. Chucking in a way that only one in the twilight of their years could. “Oh to be young again, you remind me of what my youth was like, young man. I hope you don’t squander it.” Midoriya instinctively nodded at the elder's words, to which the old man's eyes twinkled as he raised his hand, matched by others who gave him a thumbs-up.
“Do your best, hero!”
“You can count on it!” Midoriya matched the energy, finishing with a ‘meow’ sound, but inside his head, he was still trying to figure out what the hell was happening. ‘In hindsight, I should have seen this coming.’
Line Break
“Morning.” Midoriya looked up as he entered their class, pleasantly surprised to see that Shiozaki was already present, reading through what looked to be a cooking magazine.
"Morning, Shiozaki, seems you beat me to class this time around," Midoriya replied, as his early mornings tended to get him to class before anyone else, a fact that some thought was insane since they had to drag themselves out of bed to make it on time.
“I woke up a little earlier than normal.” She replied, giving him a nod as Midoriya walked to his seat, placing his stuff before he went to the window to look out at the rain. It was the expected spring showers, so nothing crazy but it was quite pleasant. He could listen to the patter of the raindrops on the windows, and enjoy the slightly cooler temperature and pleasant fall of the rain.
He was so engaged with the rain and its calming effects that he almost didn't hear the rapid clops coming towards them as the door was pipped open. “I’m here!” He and Shiozaki turned to see an out of breath, and slightly wet Tsunotori at the door, but the American had a big smile on her face, so different from the tired frown she normally had at the start of the day.
“Tsunotori?” Shiozaki asked her, to which the girl nodded as she entered the class, closing the door gentler than when she opened it.
"You seem to be in a real energetic mood," Midoriya noted as the girl nodded, as if she had drank 4 cups of coffee for breakfast and had a couple of energy drinks on the train to school.
“I have been real happy since Sports Festival. So many people were giving me compliments, it was surreal but incredible." Tsunotori explained. “Did you watch the replays of it on TV?”
"A little, watching myself be so easily defeated in the finals was not something I enjoyed," Shiozaki replied, as her father had only found it quite humorous and told her not to sweat the result, but to be proud that she managed to get that far.
Midoriya shook his head. “I didn’t watch much of anything. I just spent my time messing around with my siblings. Though that just meant when people gave him words of praise on the train, I didn’t really know what to say.” He admitted, but he left out the part where a kid wanted to 'pet the cat boy'. No such petting happened as the boy's father furiously apologized for his son's weird request.
“Oh, so you can be caught off guard?” Shiozaki asked him, to which he turned back to the window and the rain so she didn’t see his face.
“Hey, I’m not superhuman, it can happen.” Dammit, if Shizune could see him now, they would have his head. Cats are never meant to be caught flat-footed, they’re the ones that make others jumpy and catch them off guard.
“As for compliments, I received some when I was out on some errands. It made the fact I was defeated easier to digest.” Shiozaki turned back to Tsunotori, right as the door opened again.
“We talking about people praising us?” Tokage asked, with her was Tetsutetsu who was still eating from a packed breakfast.
“Yo!” He said once he swallowed his meal.
“I didn’t make it far, but people sure remember me.” Tokage laughed a little as she felt a little dejected by it since she was a recommendation student after all, but just a few people telling her how well she performed in that first event helped her accept it and resolve to just train harder. She can't let the only green from class B that didn't make it to the next Sport Festival finals.
“The guys at my gym thought it was super badass that I fought against that Bakugo punk. I spent like half my time there just pumping iron so I won’t lose next time.” Tetsutetsu added that he had been sure to work out and eat as many iron-rich foods as he could so he would be ready for anything when classes started back up.
As they talked, more of their classmates filtered in, greeting one another before they too discussed their experiences with things after the Sports festival, though it was mainly those that made it to the finals that had many stories to tell.
"People wanted pictures," Kodai added, with Monoma turning to her.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing, Kodai.”
“People always want pictures, so it’s normal for me.” She added, with her friend group wondering just how they should take that, as they knew Kodai was pretty. Hell, she was probably one of the prettiest girls in their year, though her aloof nature could make it hard to get a read on her. But considering that people out there would snap pictures of Mt. Lady’s ass, even when she was normal sized…
"Maybe I should start walking with you to the station to make sure none of them are creeps," Monoma told her, Shiozaki’s expression stormy as no doubt, she would have words with any that tried that now.
“I carry a taser.” Kodai reached into her bag and pulled said taser out, the model being one suited for bears rather than people, which only made the situation all the more bizarre, as they pictured her being accosted, and with her patented aloofness, reaching into her bag, tasing the person and going about her day. Wait, has she had to use it before?
Such questions would need to wait until the morning bell rang and the door opened. “Morning, students.” The students standing quickly scurried to their seats as Vlad made his appearance, not late, not early but on the dot as normal.
“Good morning, Vlad-sensei!” The class replied as the Blood Hero walked up to the front, grasping at the podium.
"I hope that your time off was used wisely, but you're going to get too many of them, both as a student at this school or as a pro." Vlad started.
"I think we just realized that, as even out of uniform, people recognized us. Now I know why some pros were the mask." Kaibara stated as he couldn't help but wonder if that was why it was so hard to see people like All Might or Endeavour out and about.
Vlad wasn’t referring to that, but it wasn’t necessarily wrong either, so he went with it. “Speaking of masks, that’s related to today’s hero informatics class.”
“Masks, are we going to work on trying to see through them or something, like to pick out criminals from a crowd?” Komori asked, after raising her hand.
Vlad shook his head. “That’s stuff for your 2nd year. What I meant was that you’ll be coming up with your hero names.” Once he said that, the class seemed to erupt in cheers, as like so many other small things, it was stuff like this that could get their young hearts pumping. Vlad recalled that experience as well, and how exciting it was to finally select something that you've wanted to use since you were a kid.
At least, the idea as good God, did he thank the fact he had long abandoned the ideas he had for his hero name for his younger years.
Clapping his hands together, he reestablished order in his class as they had a schedule to keep. “Settle down, this is related to the draft picks I mentioned before the festival as you can’t very well be sent out on internships and be using your real names.”
With their attention on him, he continued to explain. “Keep in mind that the 2nd and 3rd years are the ones who get the lion's share of them because the pros sending them out want students with a bit more training under their belts that your first years typically have."
“So does that mean that if we get offers it's because we're a cut above the rest?" Monoma asked.
Vlad hummed, but that wasn’t quite right. “That is one way to look at it. I see it as pros seeing that you have potential and wishing to help you reach it, even if your current performance isn’t all that great.” It was true that there were always diamonds among the rough, even in the first year but in his experience as a teacher, most merely saw rocks they believed could be gems and wished to polish them themselves to ensure that they got the right shine.
"However, these aren't employment contracts, and they can be canceled as easily as they are sent. So it's your job as students to ensure that you keep up a satisfactory level of progress to keep their interest, but as you're all U.A. satisfactory is far below what I expect from you all, and many pros out there think the same way." He finished, as he had seen it happen plenty of times. Students get offers, then get lazy thinking they've made it, only for said offers to dry up. It was a harsh lesson but few people wanted pros that didn't work for their paycheque and worked hard at that.
Honenuki tapped his chin in thought. “When you think about it, you would expect that students from the best school would show greater potential and overall growth them someone from another.”
“So what? We’ll just have to prove why we’re here and everyone else isn’t.” Kamakiri waved at the difficulty.
“That’s the right kind of attitude, Kamakiri. I hope that you all feel the same way, as complacency has no place in U.A. and certainly not in my class.” Vlad reminded them.
“Yes, sir!”
“So, with that explained, here are the totals of those who got offers.” Vlad pointed the remote towards the board, pressing it to present the offers as they were counted that morning.
Class B No. of Offers
Midoriya: 3153
Tsunotori: 394
Monoma: 366
Shiozaki: 281
Kamakiri: 83
Tetsutetsu: 63
Honenuki: 25
Kaibara: 14
Tsuburaba: 11
"This year was an unusual one as they're typically more spread out than this," Vlad noted, though his students hardly heard him as their jaws fell open at the sheer difference between first and second. Midoriya very much one of them. he had known he gave a great performance, the best in class but…he was expecting numbers of maybe a couple hundred top!
"That is quite the sizable difference in offers between Midoriya and Tsunotori," Yanagi noted, though her typically collected gaze was alarmed.
“Sizable difference, he got almost ten times when she got, and I’m not even on the board.” Fukidashi pointed out. Midoriya's offers alone were greater than the rest combined.
“I…I wasn’t expecting that many.” The boy in question uttered, a part of him wondering how pleased his master would be to see that, but most of him was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that he had been far more popular than he thought.
Coughing, Shishida tried to collect himself. “Well, when your performance was otherwise exceptional all around, but your clash with Kendo must have really swayed opinions about you.”
“You’re definitely stronger than 2nd place," Monoma uttered.
"Yeah, but if strength was the only factor, wouldn't Tetsutetsu be higher than Kamakiri," Tokage asked.
“Maybe they’re thinking about brand safety or something? Can’t hire just anyone to your agency.” Komori suggested as Kamakiri merely scoffed, but this time out of annoyance and anger.
“What a load.” He muttered, looking at his offers in disgust, but he had to remind himself to focus on the fact that even if small, it just meant that these pros had their heads screwed on straight.
"I wouldn't worry too much about it. I didn't even make it to the finals and I got over 2 dozen offers. Probably people heard I was a recommendation and based their choice on that." Honenuki pointed out, as he figured that he wouldn’t be going on whatever these internships were when he got knocked out before the finals.
"Still, it's shameful that they'll judge us for anything less than our capacity as future heroes." Shiozaki shook her head at the notion that pros would use such factors.
“Sir, what about those of us that didn’t get offers?” Shouda asked, as Vlad had much such a big deal of this before the festival, to see that his name wasn’t up there felt like they had failed him.
“These were those that pros sent offers to, but keep in mind that everyone will be going on the week-long internships. Those whose names didn't appear would just need to pick a pro or agency from a school-provided list." Vlad explained, which calmed most of them down, but there was something that they didn’t quite understand.
"Vlad-sensei, could you explain what an internship is? I thought that we would be scouted as sidekicks." Midoriya asked, as he had been trying to figure it out, but was missing some pieces.
“Oh, sorry about that, got ahead of myself.” Vlad apologized; he was getting ahead of himself. "I've told you that you'll be scouted for work with pros, but you won't be treated like sidekicks. As students, you would not have the skills or the credibility for such work. Instead, as the name implies, think of this like one would any other internship, you're there to shadow the pros, learn on the job, and assist in small ways."
"Which is why we're working on hero names today," Yanagi asked, to which their teacher nodded.
“Correct, but remember 2 things about hero names. Hero names aren’t official titles or anything like that, so you can change them should you feel the need. But,” Vlad’s gaze got stronger. “Hero names are what the public first think of when they think of you as a pro, so if you pick out a bad one, you might be able to change it but-”
“Good luck getting people to stop calling you the old name!” He was interrupted when someone slammed the door open, a familiar someone as the Rated-R hero: Midnight walked in, her hands on her head and her mask raised.
"The names you pick now can easily end up being the names that you'll be using for your entire careers, so let's make sure that we put on our thinking caps and come up with great ones, boys and girls!" She told them as she strutted into the room, and Midoriya and the rest of the boys and a couple of the girls couldn’t keep their eyes off her as she did so.
Even if he didn't lust after her as some of his classmates did, he couldn't help but recognize and marvel at her poise and confidence, clearly if she hadn't gone into heroics, she could have become a world-class supermodel off skill alone, though her being one of the most attractive heroines in Japan certainly helped.
“Midnight?” Several of his classmates asked, for as much as they appreciated the chance to gaze at her, it wasn’t time for their class with her.
"She's the one in charge of aiding first years like you, I would but my tastes for names tend to be rather bland," Vlad explained the situation to them, stepping back so that Midnight could take the spot at the podium, though not before sending a wink his way.
“Well, you’re not as bad as Eraser, he let Mic pick his name as a joke and just went with it.” She laughed at the memory as while she had been a year above them, she heard all about how sourpuss Aizawa got that iconic hero name. Vlad let out a snort, his lips curling into a smile at the reminder but that was all he did.
“As for you all, as funny as it would be to see that repeat,” Turning to the class, Midnight still had her typical seductive and playful smile, but her eyes were anything but, as she took her job quite seriously, both as a heroine and as a teacher, something that any student could attest to. "You need to pick something that isn't just cool, or bad-ass, or sexy. A hero name needs to embody the image of the kind of hero you want to be, the goals that you seek." She explained.
“Think names like ‘All Might’ or ‘Endeavour’,” With a tap of her finger on the remote, the board changed from their offers to the two pros in question, pictures taken from news sites about recent incidents both had resolved.
"The first is a name that embodies power, and All Might's nothing if not consistent with that, being the strongest hero. The latter speaks to someone who is incredibly hard-working and persistent, and since Endeavour has the most resolved cases, you can say he's living up to that name." She explained as in the one with All Might, he was holding up a bridge that had nearly collapsed, allowing people to safely get off, while with Endeavour, he was facing off against a gang of villains, several of which had strength quirks yet in the next, he stood victorious with all the villains defeated at his feet.
Midoriya observed both images, seeing that Midnight was talking about how the two pros handled themselves. His thoughts were only momentarily disrupted when Bondo handed him some whiteboards, realizing what they were for, he quickly took them from the person in front of him, picked one of them, and passed the remaining 3 back towards Monoma. With no interruptions, he went back to thinking.
‘A hero name…when was the last time I thought about something like that?’ He asked himself, as he’s been training to be a hero for years, having wished to be one even longer. Sure, his admiration for All Might wasn’t as big as it had been, but he had come to accept that his reaction to All Might's answer hadn't been solely born from him, but just how frustrated he had been that day. But despite his wishing to apologize to the man for it, he also knew that he couldn't imitate him, he had to be his own man, which was the issue as he had no idea what to call that.
Midnight said that a name should embody the person he wishes to be, but…how does one go about naming that? ‘All this time, I’ve been focused so much on proving that I could be here, that I could stand in the same ring and win that, I never thought what I would even call myself…among other things.’ He smiled at the slight against his lack of foresight, having planned for the trip but not for the many stops he’ll need to take.
Looking around, he saw some seemingly in a similar predicament to him, as they merely gazed at their whiteboard, but didn't write anything. Others seemed to be eager to write something down if only a few later wiped the board clean to write something new.
‘Well, I’m here, and I’ve proven all that, but I still need to achieve other goals….so what name embodies that?’ Looking at his hand, he saw the scared flesh, and he tightened his fist, then relaxed it, he looked at his sharpened nails. Nails that came as a result of his determination to be strong, to protect the weak, to fight against the injustices of the world and make it better, to force it to be better.
His determination yielded fruit, but like any fruit, it wasn't just one thing that got him to this point, there were many things he had to do, many things he had to learn and master before his seed could bear him anything of worth.
'Hard work and multiple tasks…all in service and challenging this world and forcing it to recognize my strength, to change for the better.' Midoriya mused before he smiled and uncorked his marker.
Line Break
After some time had passed, with the only sounds in the room being the squeak of markers on whiteboards, Midnight clapped her hands together. "Okay, let's start presenting names, we're starting with volunteers, any taker?"
‘Wait, we have to present them?’ Tetsutetsu thought to himself.
'To the entire class?' Kaibara pictured as that would take someone with some confidence to show off work-shop names you just came up with. The person happened to be Kodai who walked up to the podium, her whiteboard held to her chest before she calmly presented it to the class.
Size Hero: Ultra-Girl
"Ultra-Girl? Why did you pick that?" Komori asked.
“I like Ultra-man.” While the rest looked at her in confusion at that little titbit of trivia about the generally reserved and quiet girl, her friends couldn't help but snort, barely holding in their laughter as of course she would, she's mentioned Ultra-man more than once with them, it was the thing she talked about the most and could always be trusted to uplift her mood, even if she rarely showed it.
However, Midnight had to shut that down. “Well, it’s not a bad name, but hate to break it to you, but you can’t use that. A few pros already have names with ‘Ultra’ in it, and seeing what your costume looks like, you could face legal issues for using the likeness.” Pros had a lot of leeway, but when it came to IP protections, companies didn’t care if you were a sidekick or a top hero.
“Boo.” Kodai erased the Ultra-Girl part of her name and returned to her seat to workshop another.
"Well, if it's all the same, I'll go next," Rin stated as he got up and walked to the front of the class, presenting the name he had chosen.
The Dragon’s Shroud
Midnight nodded at the choice. "Not a bad choice, I assume that you're referencing Eastern Dragons?"
“That is correct, they’re the ones that people associate with protection and good fortunes, which is what I want to bring to people as a hero.” Rin smiled, though another reason was that he had always liked dragons.
“That is a wonderful goal, but you should drop ‘the’ from the name.” Midnight recommended.
“Understood.” He bowed to her before returning to his seat, erasing the part as she recommended.
‘Okay, those first two weren’t bad but that last one kinda left a high bar, are we supposed to match it?’ Some of the class thought to themselves, including Monoma but Shishida raised his hand.
“Excuse me, but could I present my choice?” He asked to, which Midnight happily turned to him.
“Of course, Shishida, the floor is yours.” She stated as the fur-covered teen walked up to the front.
"It might be a little crude, but it seems like the name that fits me," Shishida stated before he presented his choice.
Apocalypse Beast
Midnight hummed when she saw it, with others also thinking that it wasn't a bad choice in of itself, but there was something…off about it. "Not a bad name, but it doesn't feel like it would fit you and your personality." She noted as Shishida was one of the most level-headed and polite people in his class, the idea that he could be associated with something as extreme as the apocalypse felt more like an insult.
"Well, I do tend to be a little...wilder when I use my quirk," Shishida explained as he wasn't as bad as when he was younger, but he did tend to have far fewer inhibitions when fully transformed. Which could make him reckless and much more aggressive.
“True, then you can use it.” Midnight told him as he nodded and returned to his seat.
‘Oh man, that name sounds so damn bad-ass, how the heck am we gonna match it?’ People thought to themselves as Yanagi was the next to take to the podium.
"My choice was based on similar logic to Kodai's but I figure I don't need to worry too much about legal issues from it." She explained before she showed what she wrote.
Emily
"Might I ask why Emily? I'm drawing a blank with it." Midnight asked though she wasn't the only one lost on why Yanagi picked a seemingly random English name. Did she like the language, or was it after a character none of them knew?
Yanagi was more than happy to explain. “There’s an American horror movie called ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose.' I liked it and since it's about the paranormal, it suits what my quirk can do.” She had to stop herself from giving a full synopsis and analysis of the movie, as she refused to 'dumb it down' and they didn't have half an hour to give it justice.
But what little she did give was enough for Midnight to give her stamp of approval. “Smart choice, Yanagi! But please don’t go around haunting people.”
"I make no promises," Yanagi replied, a ghost of a smile on her face as she returned to her desk, the mood among the students getting more relaxed.
“It’s a little on the nose, but it fits me pretty darn well, wouldn’t you say?” Fukidashi went up next as he confidently presented his choice.
Comicman
“I agree, there’s nothing wrong with taking simpler names for heroes.” Midnight told him as the guy let out a woo-hoo and fist pump before letting the next person come up.
"Well, he can have the simple names, but I'll be taking something with some weight to it.”
Jack Mantis
"Oh, that does pack some weight, sounds like the name for a veteran vigilante that villains always look over their shoulder for." Midnight complimented, as his name was in the same style as her own.
"They can look all they like, they'll never see me coming," Kamakiri smirked as he returned to his seat
Kuroiro was up next, walking up with something to prove as he eyed Kamakiri. "Maybe your speed makes you hard to notice, but I'll be the only one who could blend into the darkness evil-doers retreat into." The black-skinned boy flashed a pearly white smile as he presented his name.
Scheming Hero: Vantablack
“A crafty name for a crafty person, I approve!” Midnight gave him a thumbs-up as well, which Kamakiri said his name was a mouthful and Kuroiro called his too obvious.
“Well, if you’re going with names that speak to the more mysterious side of hero work,” Monoma stood and walked to the front, his smugness ever present as he showed what he could come up with, after some dropped options.
Phantom Thief
"Similar to Vantablack, but much more dramatic, it suits you." Midnight approved, and with 5 students in a row passing Midnight's judgment of their names, more took to the podium. Shoda being the first.
Mines
“Smart choice considering that anything you touch is explosive waiting to blow.” Midnight gave her approval as Shoda left and Tetsutetsu boldly marched up, slamming his whiteboard down for them to see.
Real Steel
“Tough, unbreaking and reliable. These qualities of steel fit you perfectly, Tetsutetsu.” Midnight nodded as Tetsutetsu gave a ‘yeah’ and high-fived some people as he returned to his seat, one of which happened to be Honenuki as he walked up to the front.
Mudman
“A simple name, but also having a little deception in it, smart.” Midnight smiled as she could see people thinking his quirk was merely manipulating mud, instead of being able to essentially turn near anything he touched to mud.
Welder
“Reminds people that even a simple blue-collar worker can build skyscrapers. You’ll be a hit with construction crews.” Midnight complimented Awase’s name as he blushed and thanked her.
Maria
“I wouldn’t have expected much different from you.” Midnight wondered if there would be an issue with that, but if Shiozaki was sure of it, then she wouldn’t say no.
Tsuburaba
“Are you sure?” Midnight asked, which the class was surprised that there was a break in the line of good picks, and Tsuburaba felt it.
“I couldn’t really come up with something that would fit, but maybe I will later?” He suggested, though it was more a question directed towards Midnight but she shook her head.
“That is something only you can answer, but it’s acceptable for the moment.” He nodded before he returned to his seat, and while he seemed to be having issues with a name, the next person up had no such issues.
Shemage
Midnight clapped, smiling at such a cute name. “Oh, a hero name with 2 different meanings, great choice, dear.” Komori blushed, and while her hair hid her eyes, they lit up at her teacher’s praise for her name as she skipped back to her seat, her friends complimented her on her wordplay.
Spiral
“Like a spiral staircase, all the way to the top.” Midnight noted that Kaibara was more of a straight man than the more eccentric personalities in class, but he was very much a member of it and worked hard to achieve his goals. Like a drill, he'll keep at it till he pierced through whatever was before him.
Rocketti
“Oh, what an adorable name!” Tsunotori blushed at her teacher's praise but smiled all the same as she gave a v-for-victory as she walked back to her desk, Tokage replacing her at the podium.
Lizardy
“Simple and cute.” Tokage was quite smug with it as she walked back to her seat.
Plamo
“I see what you’re going for, and I approve.” Midnight couldn’t see what kind of expression that Bondo was making, what with his heteromorph traits making his face so unusual, but she picked up on how happy he was with her words.
Looking at the clock, Midnight was pleased with how much time they still had, as they had a couple of hick-ups, and one person using their names, but it was much better than what she had dealt with when it came to class A where 2 people chose their given names as hero names.
“All right, things went much smoother than I thought they would with you all. All we’re left with is Kodai, who needs to rethink her name, and Midoriya, who hasn’t come up yet.” She noted Kodai's face as inexpressive as ever, at least on the surface as Midnight could tell the girl was still a little irritated that she couldn't wear her Ultraman fanness on her sleeve.
Midoriya stood and bowed towards her. “Sorry about that, I wanted this to be perfect.” He looked at his choice and smiled before he walked up to the front, turning to the class, he presented his choice and he got some confusion about it, that much he expected.
“Can you explain the logic behind your choice, Midoriya?” Midnight asked.
“I’m…I’m not the strongest, my match with Kendo made that clear for everyone to see, but I’ve had to train my entire life to get here, to be able to stand with all of you and train to be heroes. I don’t regret it, but it’s a fact, it’s a part of who I am.” Midoriya started, though some thought he was being cheeky by claiming he wasn’t strong, but his teachers kept their piece as they could appreciate that he wasn’t arrogant because of his strength.
As he continued, Midoriya smiled. "But I didn't just train in one thing, because just one thing wouldn't be enough. There are people, not just Kendo but in this class that have skills and abilities that I'll never be able to match, so I went the other way and tried to learn and master many things, with each skill learned helping me to get to the next."
“But also, I’m someone who challenges things, not just opponents, but ideals and concepts. I challenge because to achieve my dream, to make this world a better place.” He finished, a fire in his eyes as he tapped his whiteboard. “That’s why I picked this name.”
Senju Hero: Challenger
Midnight smiled, looking at the kanji Midoriya used to spell his hero name and breaking it down, finding that there was some meaning behind it. "The thousand skilled hero: Challenger. It's a perfect name, Midoriya." She noted as Midoriya once more bowed to her, the class clapping at his impromptu speech.
“Damn bro, you went all out, didn’t you?” Tetsutetsu asked, to which Midoriya flashed him a cheeky smile which they had seen on his face many times by this point.
“Of course I did, would you expect anything else?” He replied, Tetsutetsu laughed as Midoriya got back to his desk.
“And that just leaves us with Kodai, have you come up with a second name?” Midnight asked the lone student. Kodai nodded and again approached the front, showing off what she wrote once she got there.
Rule
“Might I ask the reasoning behind this choice?” Midnight didn't consider Kodai to be especially rule-abiding, or much of an enforcer of order. Her quirk also didn't fit as sure, it had rules but just about every quirk had some kind of rule on what it could and couldn't do.
Looking Midnight dead in the eye, Kodai revealed what her reason was. “Ultraman rules.”
There was silence as the class and teachers heard that and tried to digest it. And in unison, they concluded. ‘Does this girl think of nothing else?!’ That Kodai despite appearances and mannerisms, was just as if not more eccentric than her classmates.
Line Break
Saw a real funny piece of artwork, which I'll link at the bottom of the chapter about Shoto meeting Kyojura Rengoku, and his first thought upon seeing him is that he looks like a fusion of his dad and Hawks, which terrifies and horrifies him. Really reminds me of those images that have Izuku meeting Tanjiro and their bonding, while Inosuke and Katsuki are busy murdering each other for looking at each other funny.
Line Break
And that’s that! Took a little longer than I expected to finish, but I didn’t want to cut things off without getting everyone’s hero names, though the case with Tsunotori and Tsuburaba was a unique one as while people like Shishida and Shiozaki had one name, then changed it by the time we get to joint training, Tsuburaba and Tsunotori’s hero names are never revealed in the manga or anime. Pony’s comes from the MHA website, not even a Databook but the website. Tsuburaba doesn’t even have that as his alias is his last name(talk about boring).
As for Izuku's name, I went back and forth about it for a while, one option was that his hero name would just be 'Senju' but that didn't feel right either sure, he has plenty of skills but what does he do with them? What was the reason he even acquired them? What is his purpose now that he has these skills? A big part of his character is similar to Rock Lee, and proving that one's inherent gifts don't matter as much as hard-earned skill. He wants to be a hero for the parts of society that people have ignored and force them to recognize that fact so that things can be improved.
Check out the link here: https://x.com/ijessbest/status/1168228785352630272
