500 PS IS THE GOAL
***
Finally Kirishima whispered: "Holy shit."
Midnight looked at the board.
"Ashborn," she repeated.
"Born from ashes," Akira said.
"I've burned. I've died. I've come back. Twice. Every time I fall, I rise from what's left. That's what this name means."
He looked at the class.
"Heroes inspire hope. I'm not that kind of hero. I'm the kind that makes sure villains never forget what happens when they cross the line. Ashborn. Because the ashes remember. And so do I."
The room was still.
Midnight stared at him. Her theatrical energy had faded entirely, replaced by something genuine — the recognition of a name that wasn't just a brand or a title, but a declaration.
"Approved," she said quietly.
Akira set the board down. Walked back to his seat.
As he sat, Momo leaned over.
"The ashes remember?" she whispered.
He looked at her. "Too much?"
"No," she said, smiling. "Perfect."
Ashborn...
The name settled into the room like embers into soil.
Something the world would remember.
Midnight gathered the whiteboards. She gave the class a final nod — theatrical energy restored, pose struck, exit made — and left the room with the satisfaction of a woman who had just witnessed twenty hero names be born.
Aizawa, who had been leaning against the wall throughout the entire process with the energy of a man counting down the seconds until he could leave, straightened up.
"You have two days to finalise your internship choices," he said. "Review the offers. Do your research. Pick the agency that aligns with what you want to learn, not the one that sounds the flashiest. This is a week of professional development, not a vacation."
He looked at the class. His gaze lingered on certain students — Iida, whose choice he already suspected. Bakugo, whose temperament required careful placement. Akira, whose situation was unlike anything the internship system had ever dealt with.
"Submit your choices by end of day tomorrow. Dismissed."
He picked up his sleeping bag from behind the podium — because of course it had been there the entire time — tucked it under his arm, and walked out.
The moment the door closed, the classroom exploded into conversation.
"SO!" Kirishima slammed both hands on his desk and turned to the room at large. "WHO'S GOING WHERE?!"
The internship discussion began immediately. Students turned in their chairs, crossed the room, formed clusters. The energy was different from the hero name session — less nervous, more strategic. This was about the future. About which pro hero would shape the next phase of their development.
Uraraka spoke first. She was sitting on the edge of her desk, her legs swinging, her expression carrying the particular determination of someone who had made a decision that would surprise people.
"I'm going with Gunhead's agency," she said.
The class paused. Gunhead. The Battle Hero. A combat specialist known for his martial arts expertise and close-quarters fighting style. Not exactly the first name you would associate with the gravity girl who floated things and smiled a lot.
"Gunhead?" Kaminari repeated, his confusion visible. "But your quirk is... you make things float. Why would you go to a combat specialist?"
Uraraka's expression hardened. Just slightly. Just enough to remind the class that this was the girl who had fought with everything during the Battle Royale and refused to go down.
"Because floating things isn't enough," she said. "After the festival, I realised I need to be able to fight up close. I can't always rely on my quirk. If I can combine zero gravity with hand-to-hand combat..." She trailed off, but the implication was clear. She was building something.
"That's actually really smart," Jiro said from her seat.
Kirishima announced his choice next — Fourth Kind's agency, a hero known for strict discipline and chivalrous combat. "He's old-school," Kirishima said with a grin. "Like Crimson Riot. Manly as hell."
Kaminari was going with a smaller agency. "They said they'd help me work on my discharge control," he explained, though the class suspected his real motivation was that the agency was in a trendy district with good food.
Tsuyu had chosen Selkie's agency — a hero who operated primarily in aquatic environments. "It makes sense, ribbit. Water is where I'm strongest."
Todoroki, predictably, was not going to his father's agency. He had chosen a smaller operation — a hero whose quirk dealt with environmental manipulation. "I want to learn from someone who isn't him," was all he said.
Bakugo's choice was predictable... go for the best he had... AKA: Best Jeanist's agency. The Number Four Hero. A man known for his elegance, his restraint, and his ability to discipline even the most unruly heroes. Half the class suspected the agency had specifically requested Bakugo not because of his potential but because Best Jeanist enjoyed a challenge. The other half suspected Bakugo had chosen it because the name sounded powerful and he hadn't read the fine print.
"Best Jeanist is going to eat you alive," Kaminari said.
"SHUT UP, SPARKY."
"Don't call me tha-"
"I'LL CALL YOU WHATEVER I WANT."
Tokoyami had selected Hawks' agency. The Number Three Hero. The winged wonder. "His control over flight-based combat is unmatched," Tokoyami explained, Dark Shadow nodding in agreement. "I can learn much from observing how he manages a quirk that has a will of its own."
"You mean like how you manage Dark Shadow?" Shoji asked.
"Precisely. We are kindred spirits — men bound to entities beyond their full control, navigating the balance between mastery and surrender."
"...Or you both just have quirks that move on their own," Jiro said.
"That is a deeply reductive interpretation," Tokoyami replied, offended.
Sero, Ojiro, Sato, Shoji — they each announced their choices. Smaller agencies, practical mentors, heroes whose fighting styles complemented their own. The conversation was lively, supportive, punctuated by the occasional joke and the constant undercurrent of excitement.
Then someone turned to Iida.
"What about you, Iida?" Uraraka asked. "Where are you interning?"
Iida sat at his desk with his back straight and his hands flat on the surface.
"I've chosen Manual's agency," he said. "In Hosu City."
The class didn't react. To most of them, it was just another choice — a lesser-known hero, a mid-sized city, nothing remarkable.
But Izuku noticed... something was wrong.
The conversation continued, cycling through the remaining students, until it inevitably arrived at the two people the entire class had been waiting to hear from.
"So!" Kaminari leaned back in his chair and pointed at Akira and Momo with both hands. "What about you two? Three thousand offers, Boss. Where's the great Ashborn doing his internship?"
The class turned. All eyes were on Akira and Momo, who were sitting at adjacent desks, close enough that their arms were almost touching.
Akira looked at Momo. Momo looked at Akira. A silent exchange — the kind that couples develop when they've been through enough together that words become optional.
Momo spoke first.
"We'll most likely be interning with Shanghai Corporation," she said. "Jian Li's company."
The room processed this for about half a second before Kaminari's brain caught up with what he already knew but had somehow forgotten.
"Wait," he said, sitting upright. "Shanghai Corp? As in... the Li family? As in... the Chinese billionaire who was at the trial? As in... the guy whose wife has that insane claymore?"
"That would be correct," Momo said.
"I totally forgot," Kaminari said, his voice carrying the particular disbelief of someone who had just been reminded that two of his classmates existed in a financial stratum so far above his own that the numbers stopped making sense. "You both come from like... actual rich families. Like, realllllyyyyy rich."
"Kaminari, the Yaoyorozu family owns half the manufacturing sector in Japan," Jiro said flatly. "Where have you been?"
"I KNOW that! I just... forget sometimes! Because she's so normal!"
"Thank you?" Momo said, unsure if that was a compliment.
"And Akira's family runs the largest healing clinic network in the country," Sero added. "Plus, you know, the whole being connected to an international hero organisation thing."
"And the Chinese billionaire thing," Kirishima added.
"And the India's Number One hero thing," Tokoyami added from the back.
"And the Supreme Court judge's daughter thing," Ojiro added.
"Okay, OKAY, I get it!" Kaminari threw his hands up. "Boss is connected! Message received!"
Mina, who had been vibrating with barely contained energy throughout this entire exchange, finally detonated.
"I AM SOOOOO JEALOUS!!!!!!!"
She launched herself across the room and latched onto Momo — arms around her neck, legs wrapped around her waist, the full-body koala cling of a girl who had decided that physical contact was the only way to express the magnitude of her envy.
"GIVE ME YOUR LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mina screamed into Momo's shoulder. "YOUR BOYFRIEND IS A FUCKING PHOENIX!! YOUR FAMILY IS RICH!! YOU'RE SMART!! YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL!! YOUR HERO NAME IS COOL!! IT'S NOT FAIR!! GIVE!! ME!! YOUR!! LIFE!!"
Momo, to her credit, handled the assault with the composure of someone who had survived a Nomu attack, a jungle firefight, and a Supreme Court trial. She patted Mina's back gently. "Mina, please, you're going to wrinkle my unifor-"
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR UNIFORM!! I CARE ABOUT YOUR PERFECT EXISTENCE!!"
Then Akira sighed and moved.
He crossed the space between his desk and Momo's in two steps, reached down, and peeled Mina off his girlfriend, then set her down on her feet, gently but firmly, and then stepped beside Momo.
He took Momo's hand. Intertwined their fingers. Looked at Mina.
"Mina," he said, "Sorry. But only I get to cling to her like that."
The classroom went silent for exactly one second.
Momo's face went red.
"A-Akira, you can't jus- in front of everyon- that's--"
She didn't finish. Because she also didn't let go of his hand.
Mina's eyes went wide. Her mouth opened. Her lungs filled.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! SO ROMANTIC!!!!!!!!"
"HE SAID 'ONLY I GET TO CLING TO HER'!! DID YOU ALL HEAR THAT?! HE CLAIMED HER!! IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CLASS!! THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!"
The class erupted.
Kirishima was on his feet, fist-pumping. "THAT'S SO MANLY, BOSS!!"
Kaminari had his phone out. "This is going on every social media platform I own."
"Do it and I'll burn your phone," Akira said calmly, still holding Momo's hand.
"...Putting the phone away."
Sero was grinning. Tsuyu was smiling her subtle frog-smile. Uraraka was clutching her cheeks and making sounds that were suspiciously similar to Mina's. Jiro was pretending to be unaffected but her earphone jacks were curled upward, which was her version of a standing ovation
.
Even Todoroki looked up from his desk. "Congratulations," he said, with the emotional range of a weather report, but the sincerity was there.
Bakugo said nothing. He was staring at his whiteboard, on which he had now written and erased forty-seven hero name candidates. The romantic subplot of the classroom was not his concern. His concern was finding a name that contained the word "explosion" and did not contain the word "murder," and he was running out of combinations.
Tokoyami raised his hand from the back of the room. "May the darkness shelter your love, and may the light of your bon-"
"Thank you, Tokoyami," Akira said.
"I wasn't finished."
"I know."
The laughter that followed was warm.
Momo, still red, still holding Akira's hand, still trying and failing to compose herself, leaned toward him.
"You did that on purpose," she whispered.
"Did what?" Akira asked innocently.
"You know exactly what."
He smirked.
"Maybe."
She squeezed his hand.
And the classroom settled into the comfortable chaos of twenty heroes-in-training preparing for whatever came next — internships, pro heroes, new challenges, new enemies, new chapters in a story that was only just beginning.
Ashborn and Creati.
Fear and creation.
The ashes and the everything.
Together, and happy...
For now, at least.... BECAUSE THE AUTHOR IS A BITCH XD
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A little slice life... and showing the budding friendship between the class.....
Plus if you want to support me, you can join my P@teron and read up to +15 advanced chapters and support me you can alway join my P@treaon. (Just search up Joe_Mama p@treon on google.)