I shifted my hands uncomfortably, trying to ignore the tight restraints around my wrists and the pull keeping them close together. After spending the rest of the night at the police station for interrogations and testing, they finally allowed Nezu to sign some papers and let me leave.
It was still the early hours of the morning when I was escorted from the prison cell to the front area where Nezu was standing. The handcuffs were snapped off my wrists, although the quirk-cancelling bracelets remained on as always. I didn't like prison cells. They were dark and cold. They reminded me of home.
Not a word was shared between Nezu and me as we exited the building, and I quietly climbed into the passenger seat of his car. I didn't want to talk to anyone after they'd seen such a weak and vulnerable side of me. I broke down in front of them. Father said that only the weak cry. He hated it when I cried.
Nezu would be angry too. After all, he was the principal of UA. He had more authority over me than the other teachers, and they already weren't very nice. He was tiny, and only a mouse, but there were many things I didn't know about him. What was his quirk? How powerful as it? Did he have any other abilities I don't know of?
I misbehaved and ran away. Both mother and father told me that the most important rule was to never ever run away or else. The last time I tried to run away, my father almost snapped my neck. He tore around our home, smashing pictures and breaking furniture. Trying to avoid the punishment made it worse. I can't run away. I have to face all my problems head-on and never run away.
Nezu pulled into the parking lot of his apartment. After finding a spot, he put the car into park and unlocked the doors. I didn't get out at first, but after Nezu opened the door I quickly followed suit. He was seldom this silent. Something was definitely wrong. Could he be that angry with me?
My legs froze from beneath me and refused to take another step. I couldn't go back into that apartment building. Nezu would punish me as father did. Father almost killed me. Would Nezu do the same? He was angry with me and Nezu was a hero. I was a villain. Who would believe the villain over the hero? No one.
"Izumi," I flinched at Nezu's voice. My head snapped up to stare at my principal, and my mind was screaming at me to run away. Running makes it worse. I can't. He opens the door for me and I hesitantly took a step inside. Nezu shuffles in after me and skips to the elevator. Seeing he wasn't able to reach the button, the front desk woman came over to press it for him.
I leaned against the elevator wall as the doors closed and the machine began to lift. The closer we got to Nezu's floor, the stronger the tightness in my chest grew. I didn't want to go back. As shaken as I was due to the situation, I longed for the feeling my brief taste of freedom had given me. No one was telling me what to do. No one was forcing me to go to school. No one was trying to hurt me - until the police showed up, anyway.
When the door to Nezu's apartment closed behind us, I suddenly realized how far we'd walked. Shifting my gaze away from my guardian, I tightly clenched my teeth together. What if he had some sort of superstrength quirk? Or venom? Maybe he had some sort of weapon inside his body?
"You should go get something to eat. We're already late for school so we need to hurry," Nezu shuffled into the kitchen and out of my sight.
He didn't hit me. Why didn't he hit me? I don't understand. I did something bad so father would always hit me over and over. We were training my obedience and physical strength. The training was the most important thing for my father so we did it all the time.
"Here," he exited the kitchen holding up a fresh apple. "Eat this."
I glanced down at him in confusion, "W-what?"
"Eat it. It's good for you."
"Right," I wrapped my fingers around the apple and held it to my lips; It was fresh and juicy. My mother and I had never gotten many fresh foods like fruits and vegetables. We only had them every once in a while when I was super good - and my father was hard to place.
Nezu was very different. Yes, he was a damned rodent, but his personality was very different than what I was used to. He seemed quite relaxed, unlike the other teachers, and less pushy, like Midnight. He didn't even think we needed a training session after I broke the most important rule to ever exist. I tried to run away. Why didn't he hit me?"
"Izumi, why would you think I would hit you?" his voice made me flinch.
My eyes shot to stare at the rodent; Nezu was looking at me with a confused expression. He swallowed unsurely, "has someone hit you before when you've misbehaved?"
Yes.
"No," I choked out. Father would be angry if I told someone. It was a secret I could never share with another soul. We would do even more training. I don't like training. I never liked father's training. I had to be obedient. If I'm obedient then we don't have to train more.
"Izumi, if some ever hit you—"
"—No one hit me," I cut him off immediately. I was about to take another bite of my apple, but my appetite had suddenly faded away. I threw it in the compost bin and went to grab my UA uniform from my bag.
Nezu and I were back to our awkward silence when emerged from the bathroom after changing, and we went back down the lobby. We were already running late so the rodent was in a bit of a rush. I didn't particularly care about school all that much, but at least there was stuff to do there. I guess I had people I could talk to now too.
I stared at the window at the unfamiliar streets as Nezu drove out of his area and began navigating towards assumingly UA High. It had only taken about 5 minutes before I started to get more familiar with the streets and recognized where we were.
I reached up to adjust my sunglasses after the sun peeked out from behind a building. It didn't bug my eyes as much as it used to. With any luck, I'd be able to see properly again soon. The sunglasses helped hide my freckles, at least, because of the way they sat on my face. I hate freckles.
"You should hurry to homeroom," the rodent tells me as parks the car.
I opened the car door without replying and climbed out. He didn't try to continue the conversation further and I entered through the school gates. There was a beep from my bracelets right as I came in, notifying the teachers that I'd arrived on campus.
Classes had already started by the time I arrived at Class 1A, and many glances turned in my direction when I entered the classroom. Midnight was standing at the front, and Aizawa was just climbing into his sleeping bag.
We made eye contact and for a moment I zoned the rest of the class out. Last night he'd been the one to save me. Stuble, Aizawa, he'd helped me out of my panic attack and made me feel safe. My teacher looked away from me with a roll of his eyes and I could feel a strong pang in my chest. After all, then he left me.
"Izumi, why don't you take your seat? Here," she handed me a piece of paper and a marker, "everyone is picking their hero names."
A hero name, huh? Tch. Rolling my eyes, I headed towards the back corner of the class and plopped down in my seat. How could I even pick my hero name? After all, I wasn't a hero. That phrase had started to haunt me. It was a constant excuse as to why the Pros often picked on me.
"Now students, who among you is ready to share?"
It was Narcciist that immediately jumped to his feet and moved behind Aizawa's desk. He slowly held up his page, although it was facing him so we couldn't see the name. He glanced down slightly, "Hold your breath. The shining hero... My name is I cannot stop twinkling! Mon ami, you can't deny my sparkle."
What the actual fuck? I, like the rest of the class, was dumbfounded as Midnight decided she liked the hero name and edited it to make it more practical. What kind of bullshit name was that? Hero names were fucking dumb.
"Okay me next! My code name is Alien Queen!"
"Hold on. Like that horrible monster with the acidic blood? I don't think so!"
What... the fuck, Midnight? So she allows the bullshit twinkly garbage shit, but then rejects Alien Queen? What kind of bullshit was that? What the fuck? Alien Queen actually sounded badass. Shit. I will even admit that I liked it. Not to her face, obviously, but mentally I did.
"Ribbit, I think I got one. Is it okay if I go next?" Froggy raised her hand, to which Mightnight called her up. "Rainy Season Hero: Froppy."
Midnight instantly appeared at her side, "That's delightful!"
The class began to chant 'Froppy' allowed whilst Froggy awkwardly stood at the front of the room. Some of the class even looked relieved, although I didn't really give a shit as to why. As Froggy took her seat, it was Rocky then jumped up to the front of the room.
"I've got mine too! The Sturdy Hero — my name is Red Riot!"
"Red Riot?" Midnight echoed. "You're paying homage to the Chivalrous Hero: Crimson Riot, yes?"
Crimson Riot... I'd heard of the hero before, but that was about all I knew about him. I wasn't allowed to have internet access so I wasn't really caught up on Pro Heroes. Even if I did, I couldn't really imagine myself researching them. Heroes are fake. They all are.
"That's right," Rocky scratched the back of his head. "He may be kind of old school but someday I wanna be just like was. Crimson is my idol!"
"If you're bearing the name of someone you admire, you have that much more to live up to."
He nodded his head at Midnight's words and held his clenched fist in front of his chest. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked at the R-rated hero with a bout of confidence around him, "I accept the challenge."
The class became a lot more open with the hero names they'd come up with, and soon almost everyone was asking to go next. Students raced to the front of the room to announce their hero names with pride. I'm gonna be sick from all this bullshit.
"The Hearing Hero: I'm Earphone Jack!"
"The Tentacle Hero: Tentacole."
"The Taping Hero: Cellophane."
"Martial Arts Hero: Tailman."
"I'm the Sweets Hero: Sugarman!"
"Pinky!" the pink-skinned girl screamed out the nickname I'd given her. "By the way, thanks for the idea, Izumi!"
What the fuck?
"Stun Gun Hero: I am Chargebolt!"
"The Stealth Hero: Invisible Girl!"
"I hope that I can live up to this name. The Everything Hero: I'm Creati."
"Shoto."
"Just your name?" Midnight leaned in.
"Uh-huh."
Well, that was boring. Great fucking job, Frosty. I'm just astonished by how wonderful the bullshit that just came out of your mouth is. With a sigh, I rested my cheek on my hand. Was this stupid class almost over? I was sick of this.
"Jet-Black Hero: Tsukuyomi."
"I'm the Fresh-Picked Hero: Grape Juice!"
"Shut the fuck up, Grapefruit, no one gives a shit!" I snapped at him.
"Grape Juice!" he corrected me.
"Oh no," I snarled. "I meant what I said."
"Izumi," Midnight shook her head at me, "that's enough."
Oh please. It wasn't my fault that that disgusting excuse for a human was still alive. Maybe everyone wouldn't hate him so much if he wasn't such a pervert, but I don't think that's possible at this point. If he wants people to like him, then he should just stop being such a shitty person.
"King Explosion Murder..."
"I'm gonna say that one's a little too violent."
"Huh!? What do you mean!?"
"Why don't you be Explosion Boy?" Rocky called out with a grin.
He was immediately shot down, "You shut up, Shitty Hair!"
Asshole began making various threats towards Rocky, and Midnight had to step in to get 'King Explosion Murder' back to his seat. Well, all that bullshit was happening, Bubbles slowly approached the front of the room and held up her sheet for everyone to see.
"This is the name I thought of — Uravity."
Everyone clapped for her, and Midnight glanced over at the clock. Apparently, this was going faster than she thought it would have. Good, I don't want to deal with this bullshit any longer. Fuck this. Of course, she had to point out those of us that hadn't gone yet. The asshole had to rethink his, Nerd Armor hadn't come up with one yet, and apparently, neither had Freckles.
"You're using your real name too? Midnight questioned as Nerd Armor held his sheet that read 'Tenya'. Saying nothing, he went to sit back down. What the fuck was wrong with him?
Freckles took his place at the front of the room to reveal his hero name. What the— What's with everyone and these bullshit fucking names? Why the actual fuck would you name yourself something that was used to insult you for your entire fucking childhood? God. Is he some sort of fucking masochist?
"I used to hate it," Freckles glanced down at his sheet, "but then something changed. I guess somewhat taught me that it could have a different meaning and that had a huge impact on how I felt. So now I really like it. Deku — that has to be my code name!"
Asshole jumped from his seat and sprinted to the front of the room, shoving Freckles out of the way. With a yelp, the smaller rushed back to his seat after having said his name. Asshole slammed his sheet down on the desk, "Lord Explosion Murder!"
He was once again rejected and he stormed back to his seat in anger. He refused to pick another name, and in the end, it was decided that he'd just go by his name until he picked a less violent name. That left me. I'd hoped that Midnight would forget, but of course, she did the opposite of what I wanted.
I held my sheet out to her and our temporary teacher approached my desk in confusion. She took the sheet back and looked down at it before flipped it to look on the other side. The rest of the class was watching in silence.
"It's blank," she pointed out the obvious.
"I'm not a hero," I looked away from her and muttered the last part under my breath. "I don't deserve a hero name..."
"Pardon?" she moved closer as she prompted me to repeat the last part.
"Nothing," I grumbled in response. "I'm not a hero, so I don't need a hero name. It's that simple."
"What do you mean you're not a hero?" Rocky titled his head in confusion and the rest of the class voiced their lack of understanding as well. They were all idiots. Did they think I would tell them?
"Is it because you hate heroes, Izumi?" Uraraka had gotten out of her chair to walk over to me. She looked concerned, whilst the rest of the class was muttering amongst themselves. Midnight was biting her lip as she glanced back and forth between the students and me.
Shit. Guess I said something I shouldn't have. Surely one of the teachers would be angry with me. Maybe if I get them angry enough they'll give up on me. They will eventually, so what's the point in trying to stick around? I was starting to warm up to some of my classmates, and I'd shown one of them the most vulnerable side of me. I didn't want anyone to see that.
"Yes," I lied through my teeth. "People can call me whatever the fuck they want. I don't give a shit."
Aizawa was woken up and he moved behind his desk, although his sleeping bag was still half on. He began to talk about internships, which were apparently mentioned before although I didn't really get that. Different students had offers of agencies that wanted to work with them, while other students had none.
Lists were handed out to each student, whether it was full of offers or the generic list. When I'd gotten my page, I stared down at the pathetic excuse for a list with a raised eyebrow. I'd gotten one offer, so apparently, I didn't get much of a choice. Even if I did well, most agencies probably heard something about 'complications' and backed the fuck off.
The League of Heroes...
One thing was for sure, their name was definitely shit,