'zephyr'

━━━━━

"Oh my God, I have offers!" Yuko screeched as she began kicking the chair in front of her and looking at Uraraka with sparkling eyes. She had offers last year, two measly offers made out of desperation, but this time, this time.

"Twelve?" Uraraka tells her. "Great job!"

"I know!" Yuko chimes, the exhaustion momentarily pushed away. "I'm so happy. This particular happenstance is just so overwhelming that I think I'm going to burst and forever beam-"

"Shut up, idiot!" Bakugou, unfortunate enough to sit next to her, yells furiously (he always did everything furiously), but it was evident he was clearly vexed because of the results posted on the blackboard.

Yuko just smiles at him. "You know Katsuki, if you were a lot more charismatic you could have gotten more offers," she informed and looked at the statistics on the board with Todoroki as the one who received the most numbers of offers. She supposed she had no right to tell him since the number of offers she was given wouldn't even be half of his, but it was fun to poke Bakagou.

"No, no," Denki Kaminari, she remembered said shaking his pointer finger as if to say no. Kind of repetitive, but Yuko had no right to preach since the same dramatic, flamboyant soul rested inside of her. "There's no way that ticking time bomb can be charismatic. The pros were probably freaked out by him."

"What are the pros scared of?!"

Sero interjected, "Well who wouldn't be freaked out by someone who had to be chained during the awarding ceremony?"

"Apparently, a lot of people," Kouda said, fumbling with his fingers.

Yuko could only laugh at them, enjoying the view of a riled up Katsuki Bakugou who was probably going to mutilate Denki Kaminari in five seconds or so. Shame, Yuko thought, they could have been friends.

On the other hand, Izuku didn't seem to have received any and she wanted to walk towards him and cheer him up but it seemed as if Tsuyu Asui and the grape kid were already on the job. (With the grape kid getting a tongue slap (?) from Tsuyu, but Yuko just shrugged it off.)

She turned to Shouto next, to congratulate him, but Aizawa had shushed the class and presented the thought of creating hero names so she held her tongue. Last year, Yuko had chosen 'Magical Girl' for a hero name- thinking that it was adorable and having the catchphrase: 'I'll make your life magical!' prepared. She really wanted to start a new this time so she was grateful when Midnight also handed her a board.

A hero image she wanted, not just for the sake of being dramatic like last year or something memorable, something that would strike hope. Various hero names were presented and although the first ones started with odd choices, the tide turned back to decent when Tsuyu presented hers.

"Rainy Season Hero: Froppy."

Yuko was one of the people who cheered. It was enlightening to finally have a decent hero name so when others followed, she decided that she had to come up with something closer to herself. Magical Girl- why had she chosen such a stupid name with no relations to her?

Creatie was chosen by Momo, Shouto decided to go with his first name, Satou went for Sugarman, Bakugou went for a more... unique hero name.

King Explosion Murder.

Even thinking about it made Yuko laugh and when it was inevitably rejected, Yuko told Katsuki, "You know that's not really helping your chances of being"- she made air quotes with her fingers- "charismatic."

He told her to shut up.

People were snickering back and forth and when it was time for her to present her hero name, she walked- skipped really, because Yuko had to bask in attention. She was born extra.

"Hurry up please," Midnight said and she jumped to the front of the wooden table, grinning like an idiot (Yuko was an idiot so technically, she was just grinning).

"Last year," she began as if an overture to an hour long opera. "I chose something vapid to denote my hero status but now, now is different. Now is the time for change. The perfect beginning, the inevitable creation of an amazing hero name. Breeze Hero... drum roll please"- someone in the back was nice enough to oblige, probably Sero, she always found a way to make the tape hero do her bidding - "Zephyr!"

"Zephyr?" Kaminari asked.

Yuko replied with a nod. "Although it sounds like some highfalutin word I used just to sound smart, zephyr, is the closest to my heart. It means a light, airy and pleasant breeze! I want to give happiness and hope to others. To be pleasant thus, Zephyr!"

"That's clever," Midnight surmised, a thumb on her chin. "Much better than Magical Girl-"

"Sensei!"

The woman could only laugh at her. "Approved!"

"See Katsuki," she told her seat mate when she went back to her seat, sashaying this time, to give Iida his turn. "Talk about charismatic!"

"Shut up, Magical Girl," he said, in neutral mode but it hit a nerve in her.

"Being criticized by someone who thinks King Explosion Murder is cool is really offensive," she huffed, taking her seat and an irk mark appeared at the boy's forehead as he continued writing and erasing his chosen hero name.

"Nothing's wrong with it, you little shit!" he screamed.

"Something is wrong with it," she said and leaned back on her seat. "You know since it was clearly, absolutely, unhesitantly rejected by a professional hero."

That was the third time he told her to shut up so when she craned her neck to see what he wrote in his board, her cheeks puffed to hold in the laughter.

Shaking her head, Yuko leaned back on her seat again. "You know a certain someone didn't learn when he just changed the first word to lord."

"Shut up, Magical Girl," he seethed but his hands went back to the eraser and began removing the letters. "Don't tell me shit. That woman just doesn't know quality."

"Then use Lord Explosion Murder," Yuko challenged, lips curved into a smirk that was both obnoxious and challenging, "and if it it's inevitably, flatly rejected, well..."

He seemed to be interested by the challenge or the name so he looked at her with those ferocious crimson eyes and eyebrows meeting at the middle. "What? Tell me so I can fucking prove you wrong."

Yuko smirked, all taunts, afraid of the repercussions this would be causing but she was on a roll so she pushed forward. "If that name gets rejected, you'll treat me to dinner tonight and if I lose, what do you want?"

A brief pause and he turned his attention back to the board, dropping the eraser back on the table.

"Ramen," he said.

"What?" Yuko asked.

"Treat me to a bowl of spicy ramen, dumbass," he said and began rewriting the letters that comprised the ludicrous hero name.

He only looked up from his seat when he heard Izuku's choice of hero names. Deku. Good for nothing. Yuko wondered why he would choose such a demeaning nickname. Maybe he was trying to make it cool, a hipster vibe or something and then it would be followed by Kuso, then Baka. Or maybe a ways to reject the brand Katsuki had ingrained upon him and start a new lead or maybe, the least possible option, he was meaning to taunt the blond.

Yuko shook her head. That was impossible. Midoriya Izuku was one of the most honest, trustworthy people she knew. He could never do something out of malice.

"That shit..." she heard Katsuki curse from his seat so Yuko kicked him in the leg and gave him a pointed glare. Izuku was her friend and no matter how much she liked Katsuki as a human being, she didn't give him the license to step on other human beings.

Yuko was okay with such treatment towards her but her friends, the ones who had the guts to accept her and her infinite stupidity and weirdness, that was waging war.

He sighed, unclenched his fists and stood up to present his hero name, the grin on Yuko's face present all the while as he earned a deadpan from the class and made Midnight facepalm.

"Lord Explosion Murder!"

"No."

Yuko winked at him, that brilliant grin on her face as she toyed with a lock of her hair.

"It's a date."

--

E N D O F C H A P T E R
- s h e d d i n g

□ this chap. and chap. 28 were supposed to only be one chapter but the amount of happenings felt too much to be included in just one chapter hence the 28.5. i feel freaking good with what i did too since one of my biggest issues in writing is pacing. so i hope you tell me your thoughts ^^