Heroes of Today

Part 12~Latin

Akiko yawned as she arrived at U.A. She sat down in her usual seat and pulled out her notebook, writing her latest story. Her notes surrounded her, telling her everything she needed to know.

"How do you get here earlier than us? You spend half your morning training," Naka asked as Akiko chuckled.

"That's what happens when you get up early."

"I don't sleep at all," Uzu shot back as Akiko glared at him.

"You need to sleep, Uzu."

"No, I don't."

Akiko sighed as she put away her notes and notebooks. She leaned against her hand while watching Uzu shout about how little sleep he needed. One day Akiko will drug Uzu and get him to sleep.

Naka jumped up to sit on his desk, looking at Akiko. "What do you think we're doing today?"

"Judging from past years, we should be heading to interns next but we should have at least a couple of weeks to make an informed decision and recover from the Sports Festival." Akiko twisted her fingers nervously as Naka scoffed.

"Yeah, after all, not everyone was kind enough to simply push their opponents out of bounds." Naka glared at Uzu who shot up in confusion.

"What did I do?!"

Naka turned away with a sour expression. "Like you don't know."

"I don't!"

Akiko rubbed her eyes, trying to ignore the duo. This was going to take a while. Why did her friends have to be idiots?

Eventually, Aizawa walked in giving the basic overview of what was happening. Despite Bakugo getting first place, he didn't get the most offers. Todoroki claimed that was because of his father but Akiko thought it was more likely from his overwhelming power.

Akiko was pleased with the decent amount of offers she received. It was less than Uzu and Naka but it was still good.

Midnight took over the lesson, lecturing the class on good and bad names. Honestly, Akiko didn't get her problem with most of the names. She got Midnight's issue with Bakugo's name. That one made sense. Midnight shooting down Naka was funny too. Did Naka really think he would get away with 'the detonation hero, Kamikaze?' That was never going to be allowed.

Standing up, she showed off her name idea. 'The Vine Hero; Mother Nature.' Truthfully, Naka had given her the name a year ago as a joke but she wasn't good at names and over time, it just stuck.

Midnight praised the name while Naka cheered. "At least you like one of my names!"

Akiko chuckled, congratulating him as Uzu took centre stage.

"Well, this is what I thought up; the adaptation hero: Morph!" Uzu showed the whiteboard as Midnight thought it over.

"That's cute! I'll let you keep that one!"

"Wha- it's not cute!"

"Oh come on, Uzu, it's adorable! And it's too late to change it now."

"Really?! Well, irrumator praetor matris uilis!" Uzu stormed back to his seat as Naka and Akiko gasped in horror.

"Uzu! Don't say that!" Akiko glared at Uzu, the two arguing in the same language that no one else understood.

Kirishima leaned over with a confused expression. "What are they saying?"

"You probably don't want to know." Everyone turned to Todoroki who shrugged. "My old man made me learn Latin as a kid."

"Why do those two know Latin? It's a dead language," Kaminari asked as Akiko spun around.

"Noli esse iustus dessim!"

Naka shook his head. "You still saying that?" Akiko nodded proudly, shouting it again.

Mina poked Naka's shoulder. "What did she just say?"

"'Just don't be the worst.' Akiko used to say it to force us to learn Latin."

"That's..." Kirishima struggled to find the right words to describe his thoughts. "Sad."

"It's not," Akiko shouted in offence.

Uzu nodded as he stood by Akiko's side. "Carpe Diem!"

"Carpe Noctem!" Naka joined in with a smirk, turning to Uzu.

"Carpe Natem!" They threw their hands up excitedly as Akiko rolled up her sleeves.

"Carpe collum."

Uzu and Naka gulped as they backed away from the vines coming out of Akiko's fingertips. "Time to run."

"Agreed." Uzu pushed past Naka as they ran out the door.

Mina turned to look at Todoroki hopefully. "What did they say?"

"In order of announcement, seize the day. ‘Seize the night. Seize the ass and seize the neck.'"

Mina nodded before her eyes widened. "Wait! What did you just say?!"

Todoroki shrugged. "Seize the day?"

Mina looked like she was about to say something when Akiko burst into the room, chucking a bruised and scratched up Uzu and Naka into their seats. "Now, where were we? Oh yeah, Naka, you still need a name."

Naka sighed, nodded his head. "What about the 'Incendiary hero: Arsen?'"

"That isn't any better than the last one!"

~~~

"Hey, Naka, how come you want to be a hero?" Kirishima jumped up to Naka as the lesson finished. "It's just, with your Quirk, won't it be hard?"

Naka tilted his head slightly. "Yeah but we've always wanted to be heroes. Even when we were little. Back then, I came up with our costumes while Akiko wrote about us as heroes."

"Woah, what did Uzu do?"

Chuckling, Akiko leaned back. "He was the cannon fodder."

"I was not!" Uzu looked offended as Akiko laughed harder.

"True, Uzu got his Quirk first. He was the muscle of the group." Uzu looked proud as Akiko shook her head. "That's why he beat up the people who hurt Naka." Akiko quickly froze, cursing under her breath as she realised what she said.

Kirishima looked over Naka with a confused expression. "Who hurt you?" Akiko winced, mouthing a sorry to Naka.

"It's okay. Some guys when I was little. They gave me my scar but Uzu beat them up and I might have exploded their base." Naka laughed a little while scratching his chin.

"And I had to get you two out of the lawsuit. That police officer was a real dick, trying to convict four-year-olds. Even if we were guilty." Akiko folded her arms over her chest while shaking her head in annoyance.

"You guys are weird," Jiro announced, making Akiko shrug.

"Seems about right." Standing up, Akiko stretched out her arms. "Alright, I'm off. You guys coming or you ditching me again?"

Uzu hummed. "Depends. Are we going out for food or to run 10 miles?"

"We both know the answer to that."

"Bye-bye Aki!"

Sighing, Akiko shook her head.

"I'll join you," Midoriya offered as Akiko smiled.

"Great! See this Uzu, this is a proper hero student!"

Uzu thought over Akiko's words. "You know what? I'm still good. Right, Naka? Naka! Are you climbing out the window?!"

Naka screamed, jumping off the ledge. "Abort! Run away! Flee!" Naka dashed away as Akiko sighed yet again.

"Why am I still friends with you two?"

"Because you can't live without us!"

"Shut up Uzu!"

"Never!"