The plot thickens and it’s time to pick a hero name!

From his dark room, watching with complete fury through his computer, he saw the same brat that messed up his plans receiving a golden medal from the number one hero.

Unable to contain his fury any longer, he decayed his own computer to dust.

"GRRRRR! THAT ANNOYING PIECE OF SH*T! I WILL KILL HIM AND DESTROY HIS PRECIOUS IMAGE!" He shouted and proceeded to destroy his entire desk in a fit of rage.

"I'm afraid that won't be the case, Shigaraki." Someone interrupted his rant.

The man-child turned his head with gritted teeth and narrowed his eyes while looking through his father's fingers. "How dar... What do you mean by that, Kurogiri?"

"I mean, that I don't think we stand a chance against this individual. Master himself stated that he would be the one to take care of him" His shadowy henchmen said respectfully to him.

"What? When di..." Shigaraki blurted with wide eyes. "He did?" While thinking about it, he turned to look at his decayed desk and computer. "Tch!"

"I wouldn't worry if I were you though." Kurogiri spoke while turning to leave and decided to change subjects. "Besides, I've also received a message from the doctor."

That caught the creepy man-child's attention.

"He informed me that thanks to master unexpected recovery, the next batch of Nomus are ready to be deployed, this time he is expecting a better performance from them." He stared back at the master's disciple. "And a better judgement from you to know when to use them properly."

"I get it." Shigaraki grunted angrily before remembering what he ordered for his henchmen to accomplish earlier. "Have you located the hero killer yet? I'm getting impatient, you know that?"

"Almost." The shadowy figure replied with narrowed eyes.

———————————————————

Somewhere else.

After a minor impact to the face, Chizome Akaguro woke up from his hypnotic trance.

He opened his eyes and immediately attempted to inspect his surroundings.

It was dark and cold. The floor and wall behind him were sturdy.

He shook his head again and narrowed his red eyes. "Wher... where am I?"

The place where he had awakened looked like a massive storehouse, but completely empty and the walls and roof were composed of a perfectly smooth surface of cement.

No windows or doors were seen from his point of view.

When he tried to get up, he finally noticed that some restrictions were keeping him from doing so.

"Ah, it's so nice to finally meet you Hero Killer Stain. Formerly known as Stendhal." A dark masked figure said while coming out of the shadows. "I've been wanting to speak with the judge, jury and executioner of heroes for quite some time now."

Before he had the time to reply, another figure joined them while giggling like a child, this one was shorter and had clear female features.

"What do you want?" He coldly demanded the mysterious duo.

The female held her giggle with both hands as the obvious leader began to speak. "Oh, of course, where are my manners? I mean, we both are very busy people." He approached and crouched down in front of him. "What I want Mr. Stain, is to become you."

That made him very confused. Was this man crazier than the fake heroes he had been purging? Or was he attempting to mock him?

It didn't matter to him, his patience was wearing thin. "Release me, and let me go now..." He stated. "Or suffer the consequences."

The man that had been mostly serious up until now began to laugh.

That really annoyed Stain.

Suddenly, the restrained killer broke free from his binds and moved to slice the laughing man's throat.

But before his hidden blade met the stranger's skin, he felt a hand grabbing his wrist and stopping his attack.

"Tee-hee! Someone is excited!" The female said. Her golden irises showing her malice towards him.

"Indeed!" The other stranger stated and Stain felt a needle piercing his shoulder.

By instinct, Stain freed the rest of his body with his other hand and evaded both strangers by a few meters.

Instead of feeling numb like he was expecting, he noticed that the male stranger had extracted a bit of his blood. "The only one allowed to kill me is All Might! Now... both of you... will die for not knowing that!"

"Oh, but Mr. Stain, we don't actually want to kill you..." The male removed the needle from his syringe and enlarged the barrel containing his blood. "As I previously said..." He drank a little of the blood before passing on the rest to his companion.

They both went through stark transformation.

Especially the female.

Their bodies turned more muscular and taller, while keeping a familiar hunched position.

Their blonde hair turned black, and in the boy's case, became longer. And both irises became red. "... my goal here, it's to become you."

"How can this be?" Stain said. "It seems I've found someone more fake than the number two hero." His shocked expression morphed into a serious one, full of resolve.

Not only did they steal his appearance, and still had his missing nose, but had also mimicked his professional suit and gear.

"Mr. Stain, you preach specifically to not use power for your own selfish reasons, but you do the exact same thing, whether you realize it or not." One of his impersonators pointed it out to him. "You say that you're creating a just world, but all you are really doing is using your power to push your own agenda onto other people." He let out his large tongue a little before continuing, by now the original Stain knew that the one talking was the leader. "You might shame someone for being blinded by revenge, but you fail to realize that you have been blinded by your own hatred for those you perceive as "fake heroes", which has driven you to become a psychopath that kills and maims people on a regular basis."

Stain threw his knives at them and charged while drawing his sword.

Both copies of him either dodged or simply caught every projectile between their fingers.

"You hate heroes that strive only for fame, yet enjoy spreading rumors about yourself. I don't care how you word it or ties it into your goals, the point is that achieving notoriety is part of the grand scheme of your motivations, which makes you a hypocrite." The one with knives between his fingers stated while dodging a slash from the original Satin. "Or at the very least, delusional."

Before he could turn to his other imitator, he was stabbed from behind, but when he spun to the side and slashed towards his attacker, he didn't graze it.

Clearly the other was experienced with assassination tactics.

"But don't mistake my harsh comments for some kind of dislike towards you." The other said drawing his own sword. "Because I respect you, by copying and improving you, I will inherit your symbol and use it to change the world."

Noticing that both foes were beginning to copy his posture and behavior, Stain finally understood what they were really implying.

Instead of becoming irritated or desperate, he smirked. "Interesting, let's see how strong your resolve really is."

After that, the three of them clashed in a death battle.

Despite not being able to cut his attacker and lick their blood, Stain was more impressed than angry.

He was obviously outmatched, they were either faster and stronger than him or just as experienced as him, and with every time he managed to outsmart one of them, the other one intervened just in time.

Every trick he pulled out once wasn't as effective on the second time he used it.

They were learning his fighting style and tricks, the ones he spent years learning and honing, in mere hours.

Every time he was about to collapse of either exhaustion or damage, he felt himself being sprayed by something that immediately recovered him to his best condition.

Even his nose returned to normal.

The same happened to one of his attackers, though more frequently. While the one that seemed to be the leader didn't seem to get tired at all.

"Tell me... why are you doing this?" He asked again while storing some folding knives he had just caught from the ground and smiled maniacally.

Contrary to his restored body, his gear and suit were torn and shredded.

"Both this sham-filled society and the criminals who wield their power in the name of petty mischief are targets of your purge. All for the sake of the better society you envision." The strongest in the room began saying. "But I will change this world, through your philosophy... but not blinded by it. Altruism should never be forced onto society, it should be cultivated and encouraged. Unfortunately some cases will force my hands, and although I will do so with a heavy heart, I will complete my mission."

Both copycats looked at each other. "The society isn't kind to those with what it labels as unappealing quirks or even to those without one. Even though the symbol of peace is the pillar that holds everything together, I see some worrisome cracks, and through blood stains... I will make sure to punish and redeem."

The other imitator nodded and smiled, its body beginning to melt back to its original female form. "I want the world to become an easier place to live."

The original Stain chuckled, completely aware that there was no way out of this cement cage. "I see."

In an instant, after a strange feeling of paralyzation, his vision darkened and he stopped feeling anything.

His conscience fell into a deep slumber.

———————————————————

Back to the MC's POV.

In the couple of days after the Sports Festival ended, I've been keeping myself busy with working on my public image.

With my impressive performance trending throughout the TV and internet just like with the U.S.J event, I'm satisfied to say that I had accomplished one of my goals.

Although, most people were willingly connecting my image to All Might as the next symbol of peace. There were still some that were suspicious of my power.

Especially across the sea.

I've been called as just another bland white blond haired boy that is unjustly inheriting the legacy of the number one hero.

Man, hundred of years in the future and these petty problems still existed.

Who knows, I might be the one in the wrong.

Nah.

Regardless, my popularity level is really uncanny in the history of the world for a first year.

Not even All Might.

I bet governments from all around the globe are beginning to observe me more attentively.

Future foes are probably already aware of my capabilities.

Especially the final boss.

But that seems like a problem for future me. For now, I'm just enjoying my fan clubs and fangirls.

I regularly visited Danjuro and Manami's elegant Coffee Shop, making sure to copy their quirks with the opportunity.

It was more frequented than I expected though.

Gentle's public image had come a long way since we first met. I had convinced my parents to aid him through any legal issues regarding his "not so heroic past as a YouTuber" and managed to find him a way to resume his hero training.

With his current intellect, taking an equivalency test through a well enough regarded school organization wasn't hard.

Seeing that he was passing with flying colors, it wouldn't take much before he could receive a proper provisional license.

He wouldn't graduate from an institution at the same level as U.A, but from what he told me, it didn't matter that much to him.

Also, La Brava enrolled in a Support course in another minor school, her hacking skills were something in need to be cultivated.

Perhaps I should introduce her to Mei. The two of them might come up with something impressive.

All in all, their life had drastically changed.

And they believed it was thanks to me.

The duo stated that they were eternally thankful and open to whatever I might need from them.

I made sure to endorse their business whenever I could through my social media and painted them in a good light.

Danjuro even began sending some money he received from work back to his parents, as payment for his past mistakes.

He told me they were repentant from how they last saw each other, and proud of how he was finally turning his life around.

Hearing it almost made me cry.

What can I say? I really sympathized with them.

Especially after he told me they gave their blessing to his relation with La Brava.

But I managed to hold my tears.

I didn't even know they were actually in a romantic relationship though, but I was happy for both of them.

Curiously, their Coffee Shop became one of Toga's favorite places to visit.

She adored the coffee, the friendly environment and talking with Manami about their quirks nature while bonding by sharing some of their past experiences with one another.

Besides them, I had kept my offer to Shinso and began putting him through a workout schedule that I've built specifically for him.

I assigned two clones to assist him to test the limits of his quirk, and had Mei already working on his "artificial vocal chords". Perhaps Aizawa will agree to share with me the secret composition of his binding cloth if I ask nicely.

Soon enough, the two days passed and the day of my classes returning arrived.

I was on my way to school and had been stopped once or twice by reporters, which was a small annoyance, but nothing that leaving some clones behind to indulge the media didn't solve.

By taking the subway and accepting praises from regular people, I made sure to reinforce my image of an approachable and down to earth hero.

With Reiko's quirk, I managed to intervene whenever an incident occurred close to me without drawing any undesired attention to me.

Nothing major, some small rescues from traffic or fall from high places while making some thieves trip just so that the cops on their tails managed to capture them.

Didn't want to get myself in trouble without really needing to. Nor make the agents of law's life any more harder than they already were.

I managed to reach school with a few minutes to spare before class and talked with Momo as the rain still went on, though it was mostly about our daily duties as class representative and deputy.

But she did stutter from time to time while attempting to ask me something.

Before she could do so, the other girls also joined us. With Ochako clearly jealous of the gesture of hugging my arm, which made Momo hug my other one.

No complaints from me.

Bakugou was still mulling over his loss, but noticeably cursed less than he used to. "Enjoy your last victory against me, thief! You won't get another! I'm just getting started!"

Todoroki took a different path and decided to be my friend. "You are a worthy opponent." Though still less talkative than my regular classmates, but not as quiet as Shouji, Reiko or Yui.

Don't know why, but he decided to share with me his attempts to bond again with his mother.

In contrast, Inasa was so loud that even Kirishima had to calm him down from time to time. But even he had to gush over the fact that they were becoming quite the popular heroes in training.

Iida and Tokoyami were still analyzing ways of improving their performance, while Awase and Shihai were clearly disappointed with themselves.

I heard Ibara and Kinoko enthusiastically discussing plants and fungus... makes sense.

The classroom continued to fill up, as my classmates talked about the events of the Sports Festival and how everyone started recognizing them in the street.

Jiro approached me and began praising my performance, not only in the tournament, but regarding my show.

She told me her parents were very impressed as well.

Even Kendo and Tsu were more friendly than usual.

The last one to arrive was Toru, but before I could talk to her about her absence after the cavalry battle, Aizawa came in. "Morning everyone."

Everyone quickly sat down on their seats and said. "Good morning mister Aizawa."

"Anyway, we have a big class today. A hero informatics." Aizawa said, drawing anticipation from the class. "You need codenames. Time to pick your hero identities."

Before he lost control of the class, the teacher shot a look at them.

"Nice work during the sports festival by the way. Logically, you've had the past two days off to recuperate. I'm sure the pros that watched the festival would want to recruit some of you. We've been looking over for the drafts and forms for your interns since the event." Aizawa said with his usual tired tone. "Normally, the drafts begin in earnest during the second and third year after you have gained enough experience and can become immediate assets to the pros."

As everyone began to get excited, a look from Aizawa was enough to make them quiet down, again. "In other words, for them to extend their offers to first years like you, shows that they are interested in your future potential." Wanting to make it clear, the teacher was blunt. "These offers will undoubtedly be cancelled if the interest dies down by graduation. So you better prove yourselves once you get picked."

The teacher then activated the class data show and displayed the number of offers each one of us had received.

Wait...

Where's my name?

———————————————————

Yoarashi: 4389

Todoroki: 4123

Bakugou: 3810

Yaoyorozu: 1205

Iida: 1145

Kirishima: 1076

Yanagi: 956

Koda: 789

Uraraka: 670

Tokoyami: 607

Shiuzaka: 360

Komori: 50

Shoji: 49

Hagakure: 36

Kendo: 24

Awase: 13

Asui: 12

Kuroiro: 11

Jiro: 2

———————————————————

From most of my classmates confused expressions, I saw that I wasn't the only one that noticed it.

Aizawa interrupted our line of thought and remarked. "Monoma, the principal requested that you go to his office to discuss your situation after class." He said looking at me before turning to the others. "To everyone else, keep these results in mind. Probably due to your brief exposure during the U.S.J, I gotta say that I've never seen results like these. It's the first time that everyone in a class received at least one request."

Interesting, I guess my petition to principal Nezu was accepted in the end. Or at least, considered.

My classmates began discussing among themselves as Aizawa sighed, tired of being interrupted. "These hero names are likely to be temporary, but take them seriously or you—"

Suddenly, not only the students were the ones interrupting him, now even his workmates seemed to enjoy doing so. "You will have hell to pay later!"

Midnight walked in while moving provokingly. "What you pick today could be your hero name for life. You better be careful or you will be stuck with something utterly indecent."

She noticed me and blushed, trying her best to not look at me.

"Yeah, she got a good point." Aizawa concluded. "Midnight will have final approval over your names." He began making himself comfortable in his sleeping bag. "It's not actually my forte."

I just recalled how simple his name really was, it almost made me chuckle.

"The name you give yourself is important. It helps reinforce your image and shows what kind of hero you will be in the future. A code name tells people exactly what you represent. Take All Might for example." Aizawa concluded before taking a nap on the floor.

My hero name?... hum...

...

After some time had passed, Midnight finally asked who would be the first to present which names we have picked.

From my seat I noticed Kirishima's shock at the fact that we were expected to show to everyone our choice.

Before I raised myself to present my choice, Inasa got up quicker and walked to the front of the class.

"I really extremely loved the name Blackbird!" He all but shouted to everyone. "The supersonic wind hero!"

"Yoarashi, why have you chosen this particular name?" Midnight asked, a little distracted by the fact there was a student that was basically a black bird.

Or how I liked to nickname him, the chicken of darkness.

"It's because I really love planes and the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is notorious for its immense speed!" He quickly replied.

"That's an excellent idea but..." She began speaking before he interrupted her.

"Alright, if that's not cool enough, how about Fujin?" He said loudly but not angry at all.

"God of the wind! Much better!" She accepted with a thumbs up. "And fitting!"

What happened to "gale force"? Did Shiketsu's military background have that much influence over him?

Curious.

After fist bumping him I decided to observe everyone else's names before announcing my own, Kinoko was the next one to show her hero name to the class.

"The mushroom heroine: Shemage!" She announced with more confidence than I was expecting from her.

Good to know.

Next was...

"Ribbit! I think I got one. It's okay if I go next?" Asui asked casually.

After Midnight approval she went on and announced. "... Rainy Season Hero: Froppy!"

Ah, an homage to her siblings, how adorable. And like Midnight said, approachable.

"I've got mine too! The sturdy hero: Red Riot!" Kirishima announced, openly admitting to idolizing Crimson Riot and ready to take the expectations that the name carries.

I heard Shihai and Jirou bantering about something before she went on and announced. "The hearing heroine: I'm Earphone Jack!"

After her...

"The octopus Hero: Tentacole." Shouji said through one of his mouths.

It does indeed make more sense in Japanese.

"The atomic hero: Fusion King!" Said Awase with his serious expression.

A little on the nose, but I think it will have to do for now.

"Martial arts Heroine: Battle Fist!" Said Kendo with confidence while clenching her raised fist.

"I am the faithful heroine: Lady Vine." Ibara said dead serious.

Okay.

"Scheming Hero: I am Nightcrawler!" Shihai said with his usual grin.

That's plain out plagiarism!

Wait, there are no X-men here... so I guess it's free real estate then.

The next one was a surprise to me. "The stealth heroine: Ghost."

Wait a minute...

...

Nice.

"The heroine of eight million situations: I am Athena!" Momo announced with a bold expression.

"Greek goddess of wisdom, poetry, art, and war strategy? How bold, how eccentric! It definitely suits you my dear!" Remarked Midnight.

Before we had time to speak about it when she returned to her seat, Shoto surprised me by actually coming up with a name for him that wasn't his own. "The hellfrost Hero: call me Redeemer."

I see the nod to Endeavor... but why?

Honestly, I was expecting something similar to "The punisher".

Is it his mother's influence? Or is he just being sarcastic?

For now, I don't really know what to think about.

Next...

"Jet-Black Hero: Tsukuyomi." Fumikage said while oozing an Edgar Allan Poe-ish aura.

"Oh, god of the night!" Midnight pointed with a moan.

Actually, if I'm not mistaken, Tsukuyomi is the god of the moon and lord of the night. At least, that's what I learned in school and Wikipedia.

Seeing that no one else pointed it out, I thought it was better to just keep it to myself.

Next.

"The ordinary size heroine: Rule!" Said Yui with her calm tone.

You know what, I kinda like it.

"The silver spirit Heroine: Banshee." Reiko announced.

If you ask me, it's way better than Emily.

When it came the time to laugh myself to tears by hearing "explosion murder" being demoted from royalty to nobility, Bakugou puffed his chest and shouted. "Ground Zero."

I don't really understood, but it seems alluding to atomic bombs was less of a taboo than using "murder".

This taking place in Japan just confused me even more, but I decided to give up for now.

Thankfully, Ochako kept her hero name from canon. "This is the name I came up with, and it's already very special to me... The infinity Heroine: Uravity!"

How cute.

"To be honest, choosing names is going faster than I thought it would take." Midnight remarked. "The only ones remaining are Iida and Monoma."

Tenya turned to look at me, looking if I wanted to go first. But after nodding to him, he stood up and walked to the front of the class. "I am the rapid hero: Ingenium Mark II!"

Quite reinvigorating seeing him so confident, it almost makes the blood stains in my hands to disappear.

Almost.

"Well... uh... Monoma, are you ready to... start?" Midnight said, immediately blushing after remembering that I was here.

I charismatically nodded and stood up and felt the entire class gaze on me.

Sorry to disappoint, but I'm terrible with improvisation. Though to be honest, I ended up liking my choice in the end.

Hopefully, that's what matters in the end.

"I am... The Musketeer Hero: Aramis!" I announced.

———————————————————

(10/11/2020)

*Hope this chapter is of your liking. Anything you wish to ask, feel free to do so.

Thanks as always for your attention and please be safe.

Any problems with my writing, just point them out and I will correct them as soon as possible.