Sunday marked the start of a new school week at U.A. High.

  "Look, it's Kaminari Denki!"

  "I heard his new song dropped today, it's called Blue Bird, right?"

  "He's not just handsome, he's smart, strong, and a great sioo. He's perfect! I wish he were my boyfriend!"

  "Kaminari is mine! I love him so much!"

  As Kaminari aetsu rode the Shinkao Shizuoka City for school, excited murmurs and fangirl squeals filled the train. The two couldn't even hold a proper versation amidst the otion.

  "Kaminari, you're way more famous now than you used to be," Tetsutetsu said, looking around at the excited girls. "Just look at them."

  Kaminari shrugged lightly, fshing his usual rexed smile. "You're ly invisible either, you know. People talk about you online all the time. Search your name if you don't believe me."

  He gestured casually. "It's just that you're with me right now, so it doesn't feel like it. Trust me, once we're ba the , our cssmates will probably be all over you, talking about how popur you were."

  Sure enough, as Kaminari aetsu approached the , they could already hear lively chatter from inside. Kyoka, Momo, Ashido, Midoriya, and others were all discussing the two of them animatedly.

  "Good m!" Kaminari called out, stepping into the room with a smile. His greeting was immediately echoed by the rest of the css.

  "It looks like everyone's fully recovered," Kaminari said, hanging his bag on the hook beside his desk and gng at his cssmates.

  "Yeah!" Ashido grinned, stretg her arms above her head. "Recirl patched us up right after the festival. And as for mental recovery, all we needed was a good night's sleep!"

  "Speaking of recovery…" Mia suddenly cut in, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "How many girls hit on you today?"

  The abrupt question drew amused chuckles from some of the others.

  "A lot of girls came up to me this m!" Mia added, puffing out his chest proudly.

  Kirishima tilted his head in fusion. "Wait, you got approached? But you didn't even make it to the one-oches, right?"

  "Yeah, so what?" Mia said, standing taller. "All I had to do was casually drop my identity while they were talking about the sports festival."

  "Identity?" Uraraka Ochako asked curiously. "What do you mean?"

  Mia grinned smugly. "I told them I'm a U.A. student and a partit in the sports festival! As soon as I said that, bam, instant popurity!"

  His grin widened as he tinued, clearly relishing the attention. "The girls were all over me, asking questions, super excited! It was the first time I've ever been surrounded by so many girls!"

  But then his expression faltered, turning sheepish. "…Though, uh, most of them just wao know about Kaminari and Todoroki."

  A silence fell over the room. Kirishima, Uraraka, and Midoriya all exged awkward gnces. Finally, Kyoka pulled out her phone, opehe css LINE group chat, and showed it to Mia.

  "Hey, 'Grape,' why don't you just quit the group?" she said ftly, holding up the s for him to see.

  Mia froze, speechless.

  ---

  Amidst the teasing, no oiced the unusually quiet presence of Iida Tenya. Sitting in the er, the usually uptight css rep was uncharacteristically subdued, his head bowed in silenormally, he'd be the first to call for order and insist everyoake their seats.

  But today, he didn't move or say a word.

  ---

  The sound of the door sliding open drew everyone's attention. Standing at the entrance was their homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta.

  "Good m," he said simply, stepping inside.

  "Good m, sir!" the css replied, their voices loud and synized.

  In an instant, the students scrambled back to their seats, sitting up straight with serious expressions. Kaminari watched the se with faint amusement.

  Asui Tsuyu was the first to notiething different about their teacher. "Hey, Mr. Aizawa, you've taken off your bahat's great!"

  "It's not a big deal," Aizalied, his tone indifferent. "Recirl just overdid it with the bandaging."

  Without wasting any more time, he pced a finger against the remote trol in his hand and tinued, "Let's move on to today's topic. It's part of your Hero Information Sce course, and it's… a bit special."

  The word "special" immediately grabbed everyone's attention.

  "Special?" Kirishima wondered nervously. "Is it going to be some kind of quiz? Or maybe ws aions about Hero work? Ugh, that stuff always gives me a headache…"

  But then, Aizawa's words set the room buzzing with excitement.

  "It's time to think about your Hero names."

  "WHAT?!"

  The room exploded with energy. For most of the students, this was a moment they had dreamed of since childhood, choosing their official Hero names.

  They'd spent years imagining this day, testing out names in their heads, and now it was finally happening.

  ---

  "Settle down," Aizawa said, his red eyes glowing ominously as his bangs floated with an eerie energy.

  The went dead silent. Even Kaminari, who'd seen Aizawa's "look" plenty of times, couldn't help but wonder if his teacher's Quirk had a subtle mental effect. Or was this just an intimidating side-effect of Erasure?

  "Now then," Aizawa tinued, "this ties directly into the Professional Hero Recruitment Applications I mentioned before."

  He pressed the remote, revealing a chart filled with text and numbers on the bckboard behind him.

  "These applications won't officially take effetil you've proven yourselves as bat-ready in your sed or third year. For now, it's more about Heroes showing i in your future potential."

  He paused briefly before adding, "That said, if that i fades before you graduate, it's not unon for those applications to be withdrawn."

  Toru Hagakure raised her hand. "So, basically, the applications are a form of pressure on us, right?"

  "Exactly," Aizalied matter-of-factly.

  Turning to the chart behind him, he gestured at the data dispyed on the board.

  "Now, these are the applicatios the school has piled so far."

  ---

  Hero Recruitment Applications – Css 1-A

  Kaminari Denki: 6,589

  Shoto Todoroki: 4,123

  Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu: 3,262

  Katsuki Bakugo: 1,562

  Fumikage Tokoyami: 1,025

  Izuku Midoriya: 356

  Tenya Iida: 342

  Others: 168 or below

  ---

  "Wow…"

  The students stared at the numbers in shock. Aizawa, unfazed, tinued, "pared to previous years, this year's applications are heavily trated at the top."

  "Wait," Kirishima said, puzzled. "Why are Kaminari and Todoroki so far ahead of Tetsutetsu, who pced first in the finals? Isn't the ranking supposed to determine applications?"