Chapter 43: What's in a Name? III

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Breaking News!

Flame Hero: Endeavor plummets in national rankings! #2 hero now #14!

After yesterday's events at the Musutafu International Heroics Museum that saw the flame hero nearly kill a UA first year, the former #2 has faced a record-breaking amount of public backlash, leading to his 6-month suspension from hero work coming directly from the HPSC!

But guess what? That's not all! Not only has Endeavor been suspended from hero work, but his public approval has hit an all-time low! In an update for the national hero rankings, we can see how he has fallen from his prized spot as the #2 hero!

We at the daily bugle have tried to get a statement from him, but have only gotten this response:

"I swear to god, I will make sure that that criminal will not find work in any agency in this country with an ounce of self-respect!"

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Damn it!

Peter had believed that this whole thing would be over and done with by the time he left the hospital, with Endeavor facing consequences and everyone moving on with their lives.

But no! This whole mess was just gonna get bigger and bigger until it couldn't screw Peter over anymore, wouldn't it?

Peter cursed under his breath, dragging his hands down his face in exasperation as Togata placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, you alright man?"

The boy uncovered his face and groaned into the sky, simply accepting what just happened and what would come of it.

"I'm never getting an internship after the festival."

...

Taking a seat at his desk, Peter rested his head in his hand as he watched Aizawa get everything ready for their hero informatics class, whatever that would be.

Peter just didn't care.

Nejire sent him a sympathetic look from beside him, Peter just kept his head in his hands and thought about what he could do.

What could he do?

Even if Endeavor was totally in the wrong and abusing his status, even if Peter was getting royally screwed over, he couldn't even do anything!

No matter his ranking or public approval rate, Endeavor was still Endeavor and would always have a huge influence over the hero industry as a whole, meaning that nearly all heroes who valued their reputation and didn't want to get publicly slandered by him would just do what he says.

Which meant when this all inevitably blows over and Endeavor goes right back to where he was before the fight, Peter would still be screwed over and most likely blacklisted from any agency.

Now, Peter knew he wanted to go at it solo when he graduated, but he also knew he'd have to work with agencies and heroes while he was still at UA.

Oh, he was just so fucked.

Over at the front of the room, Aizawa cleared his throat and brought his students' attention to him.

"I have to ask you to not talk about Endeavor's newest statement, for you cannot afford to be distracted from today's class." Aizawa began, Peter couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in curiosity along with his classmates. "Today you will make a decision that will affect you to the end of your hero careers so I suggest you take this seriously."

Oh, talk about ominous!

Why can't this guy just hype them up regularly?

Eh, at least this can be a guy to distract himself from Endeavor.

Taking a moment for a dramatic pause, Aizawa suddenly pulled out a blank dry erase board and placed it onto the podium, presenting it to the class.

"Hero Names"

Oh, cool!

Well, he already had a hero name but it'd be nice to make it official and all.

His friends voice their excitement out loud, mostly being Nejire and Togata but Amajiki still seems excited for the coming exercise.

Now that Peter looked at him, he could see a pretty big amount of anxiety on his face.

But excited nonetheless!

Maybe, he wasn't really sure.

The guy was hard to read sometimes.

"Normally, you get to pick hero names after the sports festival, since by then you'd be about to go off on your internships but given how you four have already taken part in official hero work, even though it was unintentional, Nezu has decided on a change of plans," Aizawa said, passing out both boards and markers to each of them. "So, both 1-A and 1-B will get to pick them early. Make sure to really think about this, pick a name you'd like to be known by."

As Peter uncapped the marker, his Spider-Sense buzzed in the back of his skull, pointing him toward the door.

Wait, who did Aizawa say was gonna help out?

Suddenly, the door burst open to reveal Midnight striking a dramatic pose, making his Spider-Sense buzz at her presence.

"Or you'll have hell to pay later!" She announced, strutting her way to stand next to Aizawa as Peter hung his head low and let out a quiet groan.

Damn it.

Now he was in the same room as that lady?

Today sucked .

Even walking past her in the halls scared the hell out of him now.

"Shouta here can't be bothered with this kind of stuff, so I will help you guys out! Oh, I just love watching as creativity oozes out of young heroes!" She announced, Aizawa simply groaned and headed towards his sleeping back behind the podium.

Oh, gross! He could already feel his skin crawl!

Looking to the side, he was surprised to see that Amajiki was the only one that seemed to share his feeling of disgust while Togata and Nejire not seeming to mind as much, simply excited to be picking names.

With that, the class began to write on the board, some erasing names before writing them again while others simply left what they first wrote on the board.

Peter, though? He was starting to feel… reluctant, he guessed.

The name Spider-Man had been with him since he started in the fight ring, but now? Was it really worth it to keep it?

The name Spider-Man had screwed him over again and again and again for the past year, and it was now widely known as the guy Endeavor almost killed along with being some teen vigilante.

Shouldn't he pick something else?

Something that didn't have such bad history behind it?

But still, even after all of the times that name had hurt him in some way, shape, or form, that name had helped people, even if it wasn't him.

He did good with that name, it'd lose all of that if Peter just threw it away like it was nothing.

With a sigh, Peter brought the marker down and wrote the only thing he could write.

A few minutes passed, Midnight walked around and gave pointers but it eventually got to the point of sharing their chosen names.

Going first, Nejire turned her board around and showed everyone her chosen name.

"The Pixie Hero: Surge!" She announced, Peter could see that she wrote the name in bubbly letters. "I heard some people say that I look like a pixie when I fly so I thought it'd be nice! Every time I use my quirk, it feels like a surge of energy so it fits!"

"Surge? That sounds really cool!" Peter said, watching as the girl smiled brightly.

"Yeah, super heroic! Really screams power!" Togata added, pumping his fist in the air as Amajiki nodded in agreement.

Midnight took a moment to think it over before smiling and giving Nejire a thumbs up.

"I like it! Short, simple, and with meaning!" She said, making Nejire smile big in pure accomplishment. "Now, who wants to go next?"

Immediately, Togata raised his hand and got ready to present his board.

At least he was enthusiastic!

Maybe a bit too much.

"The Phantom Hero: Lemillion!" He said, a giant grin on his face "The phantom part is cause of my quirk and all, but the Lemillion part? It's because that when I become a hero, I wanna help a million people!"

"A million? That's a bunch! But I feel like you can do it if you try hard enough!" Nejire said, earning a big smile from the boy.

Over on his other end, Amajiki simply smiled softly and muttered something that Peter didn't quite catch.

Letting out a hum, Midnight smiled and clapped her hands together in approval.

"Oh, that's great! It really shows your want to be a hero, along with being catchy! I like it!"

Man, Peter was pretty sure that Togata was probably the most enthusiastic and genuine person he knew when it came to being a hero.

He respected the hell out of that

With that, Amajiki was decided to be the next one to present their name, much to his reluctance.

When showing the board, Peter saw a bit of the boy's nervousness fade away as a small smile spread across his face.

"The Chimera Hero: Suneater." He said quietly, his announcement being nearly drowned out by Nejire and Togata giving him as much positive feedback as they could in as short of a time.

Which was surprisingly a lot!

Still, that name sounded super cool!

Like, Suneater? Peter wished he had a name like that.

But either way, his was already decided.

All the way back he first put on a mask.

"I get the chimera part, but why Suneater?

Hearing this, Amajiki smiled and looked at Togata for a moment.

"Back when I was bad at u-using my quirk, someone told me that if I t-trained enough, I would outshine the sun… I want to live up to that…"

...

Oh! It was cause of Togata!

That made a lot of sense!

Yeah, they would one hundred percent get together one day.

After Togata and Amajiki hugged for a bit too long, it was now Peter's turn to showcase his chosen name.

Midnight raised an eyebrow for a moment, visibly showing her concern for how the name would affect him in the future.

"I… I know I've been screwed over countless times cause of this name, and I know that this name will probably screw me over a lot more in the future, but honestly? I don't really care, I helped people with this name, and that's what I wanna keep doing." Peter began, a soft look in his eyes for a moment.

Now that he thought about it, he could probably change it later on or even be forced to change it.

But he didn't care.

He picked this name back when he first put on a mask, and he'd gladly pick it again no matter what happens.

"The Friendly Neighborhood Hero: Spider-Man, that's who I wanna be!"

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