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Chapter Text

Midoriya watched as the stacks of small square whiteboards made their way down the rows, along with the dry-erase markers that went with them. Midoriya stepped back to lean against the larger whiteboard at the front of the room.

"The names you pick now will be the names that the world comes to know you by! While you can change them, in most cases, what you choose now will stick with you after you become a pro!" Midoriya shook his head affably, despite his sheer exasperation.

"Well, she is correct. Where you end up may very well be driven by the image projected by the name that you choose. As Aizawa would put it, 'Names and natures often agree.' As such, take a few minutes to think amongst yourselves and your friend groups. Come up with something to represent not only yourself but what you want to do and where you want to be. That way, when you get there, you can fully embody your ideal."

As the class broke up into groups, Midoriya raised an eyebrow at the look Midnight was giving him. The silent question had Midnight shrugging. "I wouldn't have thought that you would put that much consideration into hero names. That's all."

Midoriya shook his head."I've just had a lot of time to consider the meaning behind names Midnight. That's all."

"Right, well. Stop by the teachers' lounge later. I have a case that I want to talk about. Could use some information."

Midoriya let a shallow grin onto his face as he thought about the irony of a limelight hero asking for his help. "Anything specific you can give me now?"

"Yeah, the group has squirrel tattoos on their arms." Midnight watched with narrowed eyes as Midoriya subtly stiffened before relaxing right back to his original state.

"I'm sorry, Midnight, but I don't think I'll be able to help you with this matter." Midnight wanted to push, but the look in his eyes was as cool as ice. Don't press this right now, the look told her. The professor gave a subtle nod before moving to stand next to the teacher's assistant.

Twenty minutes passed by in relative silence before Midoriya glanced at the clock. "Alright, everyone, anyone who is ready to present their name can come up and present it. If you don't have it right away, don't worry. You all have until the sports festival to submit your names."

Ashido bounced up to the front of the class first. Midoriya tilted his head to the side, narrowing his eyes at the epithet. "Right, hey, call me the Alien Queen!"

Midnight threw her arms up in a big X. "You're aiming for the image of that super-acidic horror monster? Big no. You'll face discrimination for it."

"I don't know. I think she's fine. She's going to face discrimination, regardless, for how she looks." Ashido shrugged. That wasn't any kind of news to her, of course. She'd lived with that her whole life, anyway. "I do think you need to either lose the epithet or change it. You don't need to announce that you are the 'Heroine of Ridley.' Those that get the reference will understand it. The rest can associate you with you. Do you have any alternatives planned?"

Ashido shrugged. "I guess I could go with Pinky." The withering look that Midoriya sent Midnight said nothing that she wasn't already thinking.

"Isn't it still copyrighted?" Midnight tried weakly for an excuse, only to have Midoriya snort beside her.

"Midnight, nothing from Disney had been copyrighted since the company imploded during the Third World War." The blank stares he received from half of 1-A had him wincing at the unintentionally archaic term. "Quirk Wars, guys." A chorus of aahhhs had Midoriya relaxing again. "But no, no copyright issues."

"Fine. Alien Queen it is!" Mina hopped in place before skipping back to her seat with a smile.

Asui came up next to the front of the room. "The Rainy Season Hero: Froppy."

"Oh wow, that's adorable! It's great, it's got a nice, friendly feel."

Surprisingly, Midoriya agreed with Midnight. Even still, he felt the need to confirm. "You plan on becoming a rescue hero, right, Tsu?" The affirmation from the woman had Midoriya giving a soft smile. "Then it'll work just fine. You'd want something different if you planned on being a mainline hero, but it'll work in your favor during rescue operations, especially with kids."

Midoriya glanced past Midnight to the windows and noticed Koda signing at him from outside the room. Could I speak with you? Midoriya inclined his head slightly, turning to Midnight and whispering that he'd be right back.

Midoriya stepped into the hallway, closing the door quietly and leaning back against it. "What did you need, Koda? Feeling any better? Would you like to come in?"

The shy young man winced at the idea and shook his head. He brought his hands up to sign but was shaking so badly that he had to clench his fists several times before he could make the hand gestures for words.

I was hoping to talk to Aizawa, but I- He wasn't in his hospital room, and when I found him in the teachers' lounge, he just growled at me from the floor.

Midoriya sighed at that. Rather than deal with it himself, though, he did the next best thing. He sent a text message to Shuzenji, telling her that her patient had escaped and exactly where to find him. Well, with my daily morally neutral deed complete… "Koda, please forgive Aizawa. He isn't… in the best condition right now. Now, if it's something for Aizawa, I won't pressure you, but I'm sure that I can help, as well, if you're willing?"

Midoriya let the offer hang in the air as he watched his classmate clench his fists. Long enough had passed that Midoriya was wondering if Koda was simply too socially awkward to walk off when he finally unclenched his fists and nodded.

I want out of the hero course. Midoriya frowned at the statement. It wasn't unexpected with what had occurred, just disappointing.

"Have you spoken with Hound Dog?" More hesitation before a small nod, and for the first time since he started the conversation, Koda's hands weren't shaking.

"Well, I would advise you not to make any big decisions right now. We are all coming off of a horrible situation. But if you have spoken with Hound Dog, and you are certain about this, I won't try to stop you. For what it's worth, I think you would have made an excellent rescue hero with the right training."

Koda smiled wistfully at that before shaking his head. He disagreed. "Do you know what course you want to transfer to?" Hesitation this time before a slow no. "Then wait for me to finish with training today and we'll head somewhere that I think will help you decide that."

Koda's reaction was immediate, a shaking of his head and panicked hand movements. Midoriya just gave a low chuckle before clapping a hand on Koda's shoulder. "It's not an impediment for me, Koda. I need to go check on the facility, anyway. I'm just moving it up in my schedule a little bit. Besides," Midoriya smirked at him, "what course are we in? You weren't going to get away without help, no matter which of us found out about this."

Koda bowed, and Midoriya continued patting him on the shoulder as he politely rejected his thanks. Midoriya sent him on his way, and when Koda turned the corner, he let the smile drop. He really did think that Koda would have been a useful tool. Oh well, onto plan B.

Midoriya slid back into the room, moving beside Midnight once again to ask what he had missed. She rattled names off to him, and he offered his brief input. "Kirishima chose Red Riot."

Midoriya quirked an eyebrow at the man, grinning. "That's a big legacy to live up to. You'll do just fine." A fist and a cheer came from the man, his spirit not so easily broken.

"Uraraka went with Uravity."

"Again, fine for a rescue hero." The dangerous glint in Uraraka's eyes, accompanied by a determined hand in fist motion, caught him off guard. Perhaps the name was going to catch a few villains off guard, as well.

"And Tsunotori went with Rocketti." Midnight gave a double thumbs up to the American in the group.

"Personal meaning?" A nod from Tsunotori had Midoriya giving it a thumbs up, as well.

"Alright, does anyone else have their hero names right now?" Sero jumped up before coming to the front of the room to proudly display his name. Midnight gave it a tentative thumbs up while Midoriya gave a big NO.

"Why not?" Sero recoiled as if he'd been personally attacked. Midoriya took in a deep breath and rubbed a hand over his face.

"Sero, I say this in the nicest way that I possibly can, but do you, for the rest of your life, want to be associated with cellophane wrap?" Sero seemed to think about it for a long moment before it registered precisely what that would entail.

"Ah, uh, yeah, that could be a problem." Sero returned to his seat. Iida took long, quick strides to the front of the room to replace him. In the same robotic fashion that Iida seemed to do everything, he slammed his board down on the podium, proudly announcing his own name.

"The Recipro Hero: Overdrive." Midnight smiled at the name, giving it her approval.

"I'm sure that your family is very proud of you, Tenya." Iida gave a strangled sound that Midoriya could only assume was his way of emoting embarrassment before chopping down.

"Please, Midnight. Keep matters professional within the class!" The accompanying chopping of Iida's hands and the repeated scene had the class laughing and relaxing after the conversation that had started the class. Midnight had struggled to keep her blatant adoration for her close friend's brother out of classes for all of a week before she had begun teasing and embarrassing him. Even if Iida didn't acknowledge it, the return to normalcy was comforting.

Jiro grinned, pushing Kaminari with her shoulder. "Go on, we both know you're sticking with that." The nervous jittering and occasional sparking from Kaminari had him grabbing onto Jiro's shoulder like a lifeline.

"Fine, but you're coming with me." Jiro's eyes widened minutely, but quickly, she shrugged off her surprise and rolled her eyes.

"Come on, then." Midoriya watched, amused, as Kaminari's shock morphed into horror as she actually stood up and started herding him toward the front with her jacks. When he finally reached the podium, he sighed dramatically, flipping his board around for the class to see. Both Midnight and Midoriya's eyebrows raised at what was written.

"The Electric Hero: Chargezuma." Dead silence met the announcement, which proved worse for Kaminari's jittering and sparks.

"Oi, don't just stand there silently, say something." Jiro's overall tone, incisive as it was, startled the class and the professors from their surprise.

Midnight hummed, tilting her head to the side. "A portmanteau of the English word 'charge' and the Japanese word for 'lightning,' Inazuma. Good job."

"More than that." The softness in Midoriya's voice caught much of the class off guard. "Your mother's the lightning hero Inazuma, isn't she?" Midnight blinked before coming to the same conclusion that Midoriya had.

Kaminari blushed delicately. Turning his head, he nodded all the same. "Then, it's a damn good name." The sudden clack of a second board startled most of the class, whose attention had been focused solely on Kaminari and Midoriya. Jiro's board read simply, The Sound Hero: Hi-Fi.

"There we go, both our names. Can we sit down?" Jiro's question was aimed at Midnight, as the professor in the room, but her eyes were on Midoriya's. It was his subtle nod, rather than Midnight's consent, that had Jiro herding Kaminari across the room again, the dodging jabs of her jacks effectively keeping his mind off of his name reveal and his sparking anxiety focused back on her.

Yaoyorozu stood next, striding to the front of the room. Her board clacked against the top of the podium as she set it down, drawing a neutral sounding hmm from the room. "Is- is something wrong with it?"

Midnight offered another noncommittal noise. "It's not that there's anything wrong with it, per se. It's creative…"

Midoriya shook his head with a hint of a smirk. "But there is a better word for that epithet. 'The Heroine of All Creation.' Come on, Momo. I saw what you had written down before Creati. It fit much better." Yaoyorozu's face flushed pink as she shook her head.

"I don't know… it's just that, it was a bit… arrogant? Improper?" Midoriya laughed, surprising several of the students closest. A lot of his mannerisms were bringing about that kind of reaction today, it seemed.

"Proper? Of all the things that you could be thinking of…" Midoriya trailed off, shaking his head as the laughter dispelled.

"Do not mix up arrogance and pride, Yaoyorozu Momo. Too much pride creates arrogance. Too little and it causes insecurities. A healthy amount creates confidence. By the end of this program, I want you all to be able to do three things. Have pride in your training. Have pride in the effort you put into a noble cause. Have pride in yourselves for walking a path so many others wouldn't dare to even think of taking. Take on a name that will inspire you to be better, that you can have pride in once you live up to it."

Yaoyorozu dipped her head. Sucking in a breath, she quietly wiped the name off with her sleeve and wrote down the original in its place. She smiled, small and fierce. "I'm the Heroine of All Creation: Genesis."

Midnight smirked, reaching over to give her a firm thump on the back. "Damn right, you are." Yaoyorozu's confidence lasted only until she reached her seat, where she immediately turned pink and put her head in her hands. Oh well, it's progress, Midoriya supposed.

Himiko bounced to the front of the room after Yaoyorozu, dragging what appeared to be a very exasperated and unwilling Shinso behind her.

"Bakeneko." Himiko poked Shinso in the cheek with a toothy smile and he sighed, putting his board up, as well.

"And Maestro." Where Himiko had been upbeat and excited, Shinso was the complete opposite, deadpan in every word and action. The chuckles from the rest of the class had Himiko beaming harder where Shinso simply scrunched his nose and sighed.

"Good names, but you two should work on epithets. It helps the name pop." Midnight emphasized the word with a pop of her own lips, even as Himiko shook her head.

"Nah, Toshi and I are going underground. Doesn't need to pop, needs to send a message."

Midnight blinked in surprise. Instead of voicing her question to the two students, Midnight turned to Midoriya. "Your class already has two students that know they want to go underground?"

Midoriya shook his head. "Three, actually. Hagakure is still in the hospital. She wanted to come today, but since the only offer was for her to come in a wheelchair, she declined until she could walk."

"Um, maybe four." Midoriya turned towards Ojiro as he raised his hand. "I want to get a bit more experience before I decide where I would be most useful." Midoriya nodded, acknowledging the man's plan.

"Maybe four." If that surprised Midnight any more than it already had, she didn't show it. Instead, she just hummed again.

"Anyway, let's see." Midoriya ran through the class roster under his breath as he looked out at the class. "Shoji isn't with us today. Neither are Hagakure or Koda. That leaves… Ojiro, have anything for us today?" Hesitation, clear in the man's stiff, halting movements, had him shaking his head.

"Tokoyami?" Anger and indecision had him shaking his head no, as well. "Hmm. Todoroki?" Another no. Midoriya sighed. He hadn't expected anything on that front, but it was still disappointing. "That's alright, everyone, just make sure you come up with something before the Sports Festival. That leaves you and me, Tokage. Have anything?"

Tokage sat in enough frustration to have the feathers sprouting from the sides of her neck ruffling. She tapped on the board unevenly. "Sorry… No, I don-"

Her eyes widened, and suddenly she was writing at full speed. Quickly, she capped off the dry-erase marker and pushed her chair back, running up to the front of the room to slam her board down.

"It just came to me. I don't know why." Midnight and Class 1-A stared at the strange word on the board with simple confusion. Troth.

"I'm afraid I don't know the word, Tokage. I can't really judge…" Midnight couldn't help but trail off as she caught the look on Midoriya's face from the corner of her eye. He looked like a corpse, ghastly pale with his face twisted in a mixture of shock and abject horror. "Midoriya?"

Midoriya blinked and a bit of pallor returned to his face, though he still appeared far too white. "Wh- how? Setsuna?"

Setsuna looked over to Midoriya, pausing.

"Svaklar tepoha wux nymuera mishun vi lex osri moxt ir?" Setsuna tilted her head for a moment, then shook it slowly.

"I don't know where, Midoriya. It just came to me." Midoriya's response was to blink in confusion, as if he hadn't consciously meant to say what he had out loud. Whatever color that had been regained was lost again. Slowly, almost robotically, Midoriya walked up to Setsuna, pulled the dry-erase marker from her grasp and, after erasing the word Troth, wrote another word in its place.

Setsuna stared at it for a long moment before smiling and nodding. "I don't know why, but I like that better. Let's go with that." Midoriya took a deep breath before taking Setsuna by the arm and leading her toward the door.

"Midoriya? What is-" Midoriya shook his head quickly in response to Midnight.

"I need to get a blood sample from Miss Tokage. We are going to head to the infirmary now."

"Midoriya, that isn't what-"

"Ah yes, right. It's not a hero name, but Elysium. Elysium is my field name. Now, if you'll excuse us, please." Midoriya strowed quickly out the door with Tokage, the door falling shut behind them.

What little composure the class had was gone. They had never seen Midoriya make a face like that. Even when he had fought for their lives, he had never seemed so utterly blindsided. The class, instead, stared in utter confusion at the whiteboard left at the front of the room and the single word scrawled across it in fancy script. Arytiss.

…

Nedzu drummed his fingertips quietly against the fine china that he kept in his office. Not one sound was made as he sipped from the teacup, nor as he placed it down. Never once did the full-faced smile leave his expression. Never once did he take his eyes off the eyes of the hero sitting across from him.

Feathers fluffed and twitched as Nedzu continued to smile coldly, allowing his nails to click on the teacup as he once again took a sip and set the drink back down. Hawks breathed deeply, even as he crushed down the instinctual urge to get the hell away from the thing in front of him.

"I've come-"

"You've come-"

Hawks' eyes went wide as he silenced himself to allow the school president to speak, only to be met once again with that horrible silence, filled only by the ticking of the clock and the clicking of nails on china. Hawks attempted to speak once again as his nerves continued to fray.

"I've come to give you-"

"You've come to give me-"

Hawks' pulse pounded in his neck. As he breathed, his feathers shuddered. Finally, after a long moment, as if he had grown bored with the game, Nedzu placed his teacup down one last time.

"You have come to give me the Hero Commission's most recent demands. Do tell. Just what do they want?"

Hawks slowly reached down into his bag, pulling out and handing the school president a list, never once letting his eyes leave Nedzu's. "It is a list of hero students that are to be removed from the hero course on the grounds tha-''

The laughter that bubbled up out of the diminutive creature had Hawks' heart jumping in his chest. An awful shrieking cackle that tickled that avian part of his brain telling him to run, run, RUN.

As quickly as it began, in the span of a heartbeat, the laughter stopped, and once again, Nedzu locked eyes with the pro hero. No trace of laughter remained in his eyes, and his too-large, too-sharp smile held none of the humor that such laughter should have betrayed. Nothing was different from what it had been in the last half hour. But when Nedzu opened his mouth, he uttered two words.

"Get out."

Hawks had never run so quickly in his life.

Notes:

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