Chapter 100: Commotion
"Over the past two days, the school has compiled the internship offers you all received from Pro Hero agencies. These offers are not yet in effect. For now, they serve as a certificate, representing the amount of attention you've received—in other words, the number of Pro Heroes who are currently interested in you."
"Does that mean we can join those hero agencies as soon as we graduate!?" Kirishima asked, raising his hand excitedly.
"No," Aizawa said, pouring cold water on his excitement. "As I just said, these are just from heroes who are interested in you. If your performance over the next two years is not good enough, or if you fail to meet their expectations, this offer will be rescinded."
In other words, think of U.A. as a scouting combine. The book they're writing on you has attracted attention, so they've put you on their draft board. But if they feel you can't meet their standards, they'll just take you off the board, or they won't pick you in the final draft...
"So that means we have to be consistently outstanding..." Minoru Mineta suddenly buried his head in his arms and wailed, "Adults are so treacherous! How can they just go back on their word like that!?"
"It's just a reasonable risk assessment," Shoto Todoroki said calmly. "After all, no one wants their future partner to be useless."
Is he mocking me!? Mineta was about to retort, but he just slumped back down onto his desk. Forget it. Let him mock me. I'm used to it by now...
Todoroki opened his mouth, wanting to say something as he looked at Mineta, but he closed it again. That wasn't what he had meant...
Bakugo crossed his arms and grinned savagely. "Whatever. As long as you're strong enough, it doesn't matter, right?"
"As the winner of the Sports Festival, I expect you to live up to those words," Aizawa said, giving him a look. He turned and projected the specific data onto the blackboard. "These are this year's applications. In previous years, the offers were more dispersed, but this year, they are heavily concentrated on the top contestants."
Bakugo: 4,159 offers. Todoroki: 4,150 offers. Kira: 3,568 offers. Tokoyami: 360 offers...
"No way! The gap is huge! The offers for just one of the top three are more than everyone else's combined!"
"And aren't the numbers for second and third place swapped? Why does Kira-kun have so many fewer offers than Todoroki-kun!?"
Todoroki sighed. He knew exactly why he was so popular. "It's because of my father, Endeavor..."
"Oh, I forgot to mention," Aizawa said, glancing at Kira. "Kira, your count actually isn't finished. From last night until today, a large number of hero agencies have sent in new requests. I don't need to tell you the reason. A rough count is already over 1,000, and the number is still growing."
"That's amazing! At this rate, doesn't he have more offers than Bakugo!?" the class exclaimed.
They're all just trying to jump on the bandwagon. But I don't have any hype to give them... Kira, feeling a headache coming on, raised his hand. "Mr. Aizawa, is it possible to reject all the applications that came in starting from last night? I don't believe I would learn anything of value by joining those agencies."
"A very reasonable request," Aizawa nodded. Just as heroes could pick their interns, students could naturally reject agencies they didn't want to go to. Besides, Aizawa also felt a certain disdain for agencies that were only sending offers to ride a wave of popularity.
Aizawa scanned the room, seeing his students getting worked up over their offer counts. "Those of you with few offers need not worry. Regardless of whether you received an invitation or not, all of you will be participating in the work-study experience. And to do that, you must first choose a provisional hero name. Even though it's provisional, don't just pick something random..."
"Anyone who dares to pick a ridiculous name will learn the meaning of hell from me!" An overly sensual voice came from the doorway. "The name you choose today could very well be the one the world comes to know you by! It could naturally become your professional codename!"
"Midnight-sensei!"
Midnight was, as usual, wearing her skintight hero costume, which looked like it could be torn off with a single tug. Denki Kaminari and Minoru Mineta immediately blushed, breathing heavily as if they had suddenly fallen ill.
"No one knows what the future holds. But by choosing a name, you give people a fixed impression, and then you work hard to live up to that name. That is what a name is all about," Aizawa said, stepping down from the podium to give Midnight the floor. "We teachers can't just let you pick ridiculous names, so Midnight will be judging your naming sense."
"Like 'All Might,' for example," Aizawa said, seemingly glancing at Midoriya by accident. "You have 15 minutes. Write your name on the board."
Everyone held the whiteboards that had been passed out and began to ponder their future hero names.
Sitting behind Kira, Mineta and Kaminari began to whisper.
"Hey, Kaminari. You think her name, 'Midnight,' means that at night, she... you know... to the villains? Hehehe..."
Kaminari glanced at Midnight and also snickered. "Hehe, it's very possible. A name represents your future path, but it also reveals a lot of other things..."
They weren't speaking loudly, but it was more than loud enough for Midnight to hear. No one knew how she did it, but she pulled a whip from behind her back. Her eye twitched as she stalked toward the two, a terrifying smile on her face. "Kaminari. Mineta. You two are quite bold, aren't you? Would you like a demonstration of my... nighttime techniques?"
Kaminari and Mineta shook their heads frantically, simultaneously pointing at each other. "It was his idea!"
"You think I care who started it? Daring to slander your teacher..."
At that moment, Shota Aizawa muttered under his breath, "Well, they're not exactly wrong..."
Midnight shot Aizawa a death glare, then turned back to the two boys with a "gentle" smile. "By the way, you two had better call your mothers tonight. Tell them you'll be home very late. Very, very late..."
Cold sweat poured down Kaminari and Mineta's faces. They knew that Midnight making them stay late was not a reward. They might not make it out alive.
They both turned their pleading gazes to Yoshikage Kira. "Class Rep! Save us!!"
Even Iida, who was still depressed about his brother, broke into a cold sweat. During the USJ simulation, he had been somewhat disrespectful to Midnight while calling for help, and that night...
"Ahem. Midnight-sensei, you should stop teasing them," Kira said, clearing his throat and bracing himself. "We all know, of course, that your name 'Midnight' comes from the infiltration and recon missions you perform before a major assault. While you may use seduction as a tool, that's just a disguise... If anything, you're a heroine just like Mata Hari..."
We all know...? The rest of the class looked confused, then frantically shook their heads. I don't! I didn't! Don't drag me into this!
In truth, very little of Midnight's career was public. Like Aizawa, she was an underground-style hero who worked in the shadows. But her name always appeared on the final reports released by the police.
Kira was just guessing. He didn't really know what "Midnight" meant either...
"Kira-kun! You're my kindred spirit!" Midnight suddenly rushed in front of him, grabbing both his hands excitedly. "I knew it! You're the one who sang 'Killer Queen'! You must have been singing that song for me, right!?"
"..." At that moment, Kira really wanted to say, Are you out of your mind? Even on the surface, that song is a tribute to Marilyn Monroe. What does it have to do with you?
Although she was holding his hands, Kira looked at her palms—which, while pale, were clearly coated in a thick layer of makeup—and felt absolutely no desire. In fact, he just wanted her to let go. But since she was a teacher, he couldn't struggle. What if she made him stay late tonight?
Shota Aizawa cleared his throat. "Midnight. This is the time when they are pondering a critical question in their lives. Don't interfere."
Midnight reluctantly let go of his hands and returned to the podium. Seeing that she once again had everyone's attention, she adopted the righteous expression of a teacher and said, "What are you all staring at!? Hurry up and think of your hero names!"
Out of Midnight's line of sight, Kira took out a wet wipe and cleaned the sticky makeup residue from his hands, his expression calm as he whispered to the two boys, "Remember. You two owe me one."
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