The next day had been almost as busy as the last, only this time, she had only had interviews in the morning. After lunch, Noriko had gone home and her and Ryu talked to Mai about starting to work on performance routines for the summer. That had ended up being a mix of boring talk and Noriko and Mai testing out a few dance moves and stuff. They had finished up with everything earlier than Ryu had thought and Noriko and Mai talked about the rumor about her identity that had been flying around. Mai had shown Noriko a post that she had actually found a little funny. It had been titled something like, 'Nora is definitely this girl. Tell me I'm wrong.' It had a ton of random crap that person had pulled that wasn't even close to true and the awful spelling and poor grammar had just added to it.
"You know, it's nice to see some people are actually going against this rumor," Noriko had said as she scrolled through the comments of the post. She was sure it was just because of how stupid the person had been in the post, but a lot of people were going off about the post and the whole rumor. "It's nice to know some people want me to only share things about me I feel comfortable sharing."
Noriko had ended up going to sleep earlier than the day before, which had been nice. When she woke up the next day she got ready for school and had been told to have a good day at school by Ryu, who was sitting in the living room watching tv. It was rare to see him not working, so it had been a pleasant surprise to see he was taking at least a short break from working all day for once.
On her way to school, she had been stopped a few times by people on the street and told how good she did in the sports festival and how she'll make a great hero. It had really lifted her mood, especially after she encountered a major Nora fan only five minutes after walking out of her house. The teenage boy who seemed to be only a year or two older than Noriko had questioned her about her quirk and relations to Nora. She had quickly been creeped out by the fanboy and had no problem telling him off after he repeatedly asked her if she was Nora. She could easily be mean to fans if she wanted to as Noriko. Her thought was that it would help them realize that the rumor was fake and that they were harassing a random hero course student.
"So many people talked to me on the way here!" Mina exclaimed as Noriko sat down at her desk.
"Yeah, me too!" Kirishima said.
"You won't believe what a bunch of elementary school kids yelled at me," Sero said.
"Nice try?" Tsuyu suggested, causing Sero to groan.
"I got stopped a ton of times on my way here too. It was really weird." Noriko said as she instantly thought of the Nora fanboy.
"Oh yeah, people must've been really interested in you because of the rumor that's been going around. Have you seen it?" Hagakure asked.
Noriko nodded, "Yeah, how could I not? My brother brought it up to me. And on the way here, I got stopped by this crazy Nora fanatic. He was really weird."
"Someone asked you about it?" Uraraka questioned, earning a nod from Noriko.
"I can't believe people are saying that you're Nora. It's crazy!" Mina exclaimed, waving her arms around. "Imagine if it was true. How crazy would it be if we were all in a class with a super famous singer."
"Well, I think if I was a famous singer, I would know," Noriko replied with a laugh that was a little too close to sounding forced. She wanted to play it all off as a joke. But talking about it made her uncomfortable. Though, she guessed that wasn't unbelievable. People would probably be uncomfortable if they were accused of being someone famous even if they weren't.
"Morning," Aizawa said suddenly, walking into the room and to the front of the classroom.
"Good morning Mr. Aizawa."
"Mr. Aizawa, you don't have your bandages anymore, that's good," Tsuyu said.
"The old lady went overboard in her treatment," Aizawa replied. "Anyways, we have a big class today on hero informatics."
Noriko tensed as silence seemed to stretch on. Please not a pop quiz, I'm too tired for that.
"You need to pick out hero names."
The class erupted in cheers and Noriko let out a sigh of relief. Choosing hero names; something that was supposed to be fun. It was way better than a test.
Aizawa activated his quirk and the class went silent. "This is related to the pro hero draft picks we talked about the last time we were in class. Normally, students don't have to worry about the draft yet, not until their second or third year, but your class is different. In fact, by allowing first years to get offers, pros are investing in your potential. Any offers can be canceled if their interest in you dies down before graduation."
"So you're saying we'll still have to prove ourselves even after we've gotten recruited?" Hagakure questioned.
"Exactly. Now, here are the totals for those of you who got offers." Aizawa pressed a button and the number of offers everyone got appeared on the board. "In the past, it's been more spread out, but there's a pretty big gap this time."
Noriko scanned the board for her name and was pleased to find it near the top with just a little more than 300 offers.
"Despite these results, everyone will be interning with pros. Even those who didn't get any offers." Aizawa said. "You've already experienced combat with real villains during the attack on the USJ, but it'll still be useful to see pros at work, up close, in the field."
"And we need hero names for that," Noriko concluded, a small smile forming on her face.
"Things are getting a lot more fun," Uraraka added.
"Your hero name will most likely be temporary," Aizawa said, "but take them seriously, or-"
"You'll have hell to pay later!" Midnight interrupted, walking into the room. "What you pick today could be your coded name for the rest of your life. You better be careful, or you'll be stuck with something utterly indecent."
"She's got a good point. Midnight is gonna have final approval over your names. It's not my forte." Aizawa said as he grabbed his sleeping bag from under the podium. "The name you give yourself is important, it helps reinforce your image of the hero you want to be in the future."
Noriko stared at the white broad she was given. My hero name. I haven't even thought about this. I was just gonna use my stage name when I become an official hero. But I can't do that now, then everyone would know my secret. So what should my hero name be for now?
Noriko sighed as she lightly tapped her marker against her desk. No ideas were coming to her mind as she stared at the board. Part of her hoped that a name would just suddenly appear on the board for her, but that didn't happen.
"Now, student, who among you is ready to share?" Midnight asked after a few minutes.
Wait, we're presenting these? But I can't think of anything right now. Noriko huffed and glanced around at everyone else. About half the class already had a name down and the other half seemed to be having just as much trouble as she was.
Noriko's attention was pulled from her whiteboard to the front of the classroom as Aoyama walked up to the podium. "Hold your breath. The shining hero. My hero name is I can not Stop Twinkling!"
What the hell? Noriko silently questioned as Midnight told Aoyama to slightly change the name before approving it. Then Mina walked up to the podium. Her hero name was Alien Queen, but that got denied. She lets Aoyama have his weird name, but doesn't let Mina have hers. Alien Queen is a much better hero name than, 'Can't Stop Twinkling'. What kind of name is that anyway?
After a minute of tense silence, Tsuyu walked to the front of the room and showed everyone her hero name. "I've had this name in mind ever since elementary school. The Rainy Season Hero: Froppy."
"That's so cute! It makes you seem approachable. I like it!" Midnight said. "It's a great example of a name that everyone will love!"
The tension dissolved and once everyone had stopped cheering 'Froppy', more and more students started to present their hero names. But, by the time about half of the class had presented, Noriko still hadn't come up with something.
Noriko tapped the marker against her chin and hummed. She needed something that had to do with her quirk and she wanted it to have a certain sound to it. But she didn't really know how she wanted it to sound or really had any ideas at all. It was a little strange. Noriko had never had problems coming up with creative song titles or lyrics, yet when it came to coming up with her hero name, she was having a ton of trouble.
She ignored a few of her classmates who presented their hero names before she finally picked one of the few ideas she had in her mind. She wrote it down on the whiteboard before standing up after Hagakure shared her hero name. "I'll go."
Noriko walked to the front of the room and turned her whiteboard so her classmates could see. "The Frozen Hero: Glacia."
"Oh, that's nice. It's elegant and lets people know exactly who you are." Midnight complimented. "I love it!"
Noriko smiled before she walked back to her seat and watched the rest of the class present their hero names.
"Now that everyone's decision on their hero names we can go back to talking about your upcoming internships," Aizawa started once everyone had finished sharing their hero names and he had woken up from his nap. "They'll last one week. As for who you'll be working with, those of you who had their names up on the board will be choosing from your offers and everyone else will have a different list. You have a lot to think about. There are around 40 agencies across the country that have agreed to take interns from your class. Each agency had a different specialty that its heroes focus on.
"For example, Thirteen would be focused on rescues from accidents and disasters more than fighting villains," Midnight added.
"Think carefully when choosing who you'll intern with," Aizawa finished before papers were passed to everyone in the room. "Turn in your choices before the weekend."
"Only two days," Noriko muttered to herself as Aizawa and Midnight walked out of the room. She let out a sigh as she stared at the paper in front of her. She had no idea what sort of hero she wanted to intern with and she only had two days to decide.
* * *
"I'm home," Noriko called through the house when she stepped inside. She took off her shoes before walking through the house and to her room. She dropped her bag on the floor and sat down at her desk.
"Hey," Ryu greeted, appearing in Noriko's doorway. "I heard that you'll be doing internships soon."
"Yeah," Noriko replied, looking up from the internship paper she had set on her desk to him. She wasn't really sure how he had heard that her class was doing internships, but it didn't surprise her that he did know.
"Can I see your list?" Ryu asked, stepping into the room.
"Sure."
Noriko handed Ryu her list of offers and he skimmed through it. "You got offers from some pretty popular heroes. Let me know which one you pick. Make sure whoever you pick is worth your time."
"Yeah, I know," Noriko said as Ryu handed the paper back to her.
"And don't sign up for an internship that will put you at risk. I can't have anything happening to you." Ryu said.
Noriko sighed, "I'm not going to purposely get into trouble."
"I know, I know," Ryu replied with a small laugh. "I just don't want you to get hurt again. I know the sports festival wasn't actually dangerous, but still..."
Noriko rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah. I got it. You can go now, I have a list of 300 agencies to look through."
"Have fun."
Noriko scoffed and Ryu walked out of the room. She lightly shook her head before turning back to the internship paper. Noriko let out a long sigh before there was a knock at her door and she looked up to see Shiro coming into her room.
"So, internships, huh?" Shiro questioned, as he sat down on Noriko's bed.
Noriko sighed again, "Yeah, I'm just having trouble picking one. I mean, I don't even know half of these heroes. I don't wanna have to search every single one."
"Let me see," Shiro said. Noriko handed him her offers list and he skimmed through it. "Well, what sort of hero do you wanna intern with? A rescue hero or someone who does a lot of combat or what?"
"That's the problem, I don't know," Noriko replied. "Maybe I should just pick the top-ranked heroes that I got offers from. I'm sure Ryu would want me to pick someone like that for my popularity or something."
"Why don't you pick someone with an ice quirk?" Shiro suggested. "Or maybe a hero with another job while still being a hero."
"Oh, that's... not a bad idea," Noriko said.
"I'm gonna guess you want help?" Shiro questioned.
Noriko perked up, "You'll help me find someone?"
"Yeah, I have nothing better to do," Shiro replied with a sigh.
"Awesome."