So a quick heads-up.
Hitomi's taking Hagakure's place in 1-A.
I know, I know, but I never really connected with Hagakure's character (that's not to say I connected with Mineta either. Ew.), And I didn't want to just drop Hitomi in, making everything a little off. But if you like Hagakure, have no fear, I'm thinking of putting her in the general department, so you might see her around here and there (no pun intended). Anyway, I didn't want to get rid of her entirely, because if it's a student, I 100% think she's the mole.
And not that anyone asked, but before Pixiebop was introduced I had envisioned Hitomi's voice actress being Cherami Leigh, known for voicing Lucy in Fairy Tail, and Asuna in SAO. But after that my second pick is Laura Bailey, the voice of Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket, and Maka Albarn from Soul Eater (all of that referring to the dubs of course)
(Also—last thing I swear— for the sake of having her sit in front of a certain someone, please disregard that Hitomi is in the wrong seating order alphabetically. By the time I realized, I was already too attached to the name, and a lot of their growth comes from sitting close, so, yeah.)
A soft chime rang in the silent room, a pink phone covered in pastel cake and candy decoden charms lit up, vibrating on a mahogany bedside table.
A head of messy pink locks peeked out of her nest of blankets. Her hand slowly inched out of her cocoon of warmth, reaching lazily for her cell phone. As she brought the screen to her face, she squinted at the brightness, trying to read the message.
Mo: Where are you? I've already gotten to class.
Hitomi blinked, then blinked some more, until the cloud of sleep fogging up her mind disappeared.
A choked sort of sound tore its way from her throat, as she ripped her blankets away, scrambling out of bed. The cold air that her bedding fought to keep out, washed over her, wracking her body in goosebumps.
For the next ten minutes, the pinkette fumbled around, brushing her hair and putting on her uniform. Almost tripping over a stray baton on the floor in her haste.
Her and Momo had intended to meet up together at the train station that Momo would arrive at, but Hitomi had clearly overslept, thus ruining that plan. While the raven-haired girl had to commute to school via train, Hitomi was lucky enough to be in walking distance.
In an effort to not look like every other female student in UA, Hitomi switched out her regular red tie, for a red bow-tie. As well as changing out her normal black thigh-high socks, for white leggings.
Grabbing her phone, and lilac backpack, she raced down the stairs and through the living-room to the door.
"Aren't you forgetting something important?"
Hopping on one foot as she wrestled on her mary-janes, she looked over her shoulder.
Even almost eight years after her bosses' deaths, Ayami was still taking care of the two remaining Saitos, now as their legal guardian. Her hair was put in two low hanging buns, and she had long ago forgone her maid outfit, instead wearing a normal blouse and jeans.
Hitomi pouted thoughtfully, doing a mental checklist before shaking her head.
"Nope!" She chirped obliviously.
Ayami raised a thin brow, nodding to the kitchen.
The pinkette looked over, and was met with the tired glare of her older brother, now the mature age of twenty-two, as he sat at the island counter, grouchily eating a bowl of cereal.
Hitomi blinked, before grinning sheepishly. "Oh, right. Have a nice day Nori!"
Ayami sighed, face-palming. "I meant breakfast..."
Nori waved his sister off, before seeming to realize something. "What are you even doing up this early? School doesn't start for another half hour." The red-head grumbled, lazily checking a clock on the wall.
"I wanna be extra early! Besides, Momo's already there."
"Typical." Nori snorted.
Hitomi turned, opening the door. Taking one more look over her shoulder, she gave her brother and guardian a slightly shaky smile.
"Here I go."
Ayami gave her a warm smile, her eyes watering slightly, while Nori looked down at the counter, refusing to meet her gaze.
"Have a good first day."
"I'll try! Hug Hana for me when she wakes up!"
After getting a nod in response, Hitomi took a deep breath, before forcing her shaky legs to start moving.
She didn't need a map or anything like that, she knew where to go, after all, she had walked to the building not that long ago.
...
There was a sort of tense look in her eyes as she stared up at the famous school.
Her feet slowly walked her through the gate, swarmed on all sides by fellow adolescents.
But she wasn't there for the same reason they were.
Today was the day for students from all around to try their hand at getting into UA, but Hitomi had no intention of taking the exam. She was only there to get a look at the place, and see if she could really go for it.
It was kind of funny, really. When she was a kid it was her life's mission to become a Pro Hero. But then, her parents lost their lives to that very profession.
After that, her spiels about how she would become a Hero, died off. Any mention of it would only bring up painful memories. Not to mention it always set Nori off.
She became withdrawn from anyone who wasn't family or friends, almost never leaving the house, and when she did, it was always for something mandatory, like school.
But almost four years ago, something had thankfully changed.
Ayami got pregnant.
It was a total shock, considering the fact she didn't have a husband, boyfriend, or even a lover. It had come from a one-night-stand, and to top it off, she didn't even have the guy's number.
At first, the woman was mortified. Afraid of what her charges were going to think. But she found herself unable to go to a clinic and put an end to it.
It was two month into the pregnancy that Hitomi and Nori found out.
Hitomi had walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water, and as she was lifting it up to take a drink, she noticed something.
One of Hitomi's quirks (not the power kind) was being able to smell things like pregnancy with her heightened senses. And to her surprise, the kitchen smelled strongly of hormonal perspiration. The only reason she even knew the scent and could recognize it was because her math teacher had gone through the same thing not that long ago, still expected to be on maternity leave for another month or so.
"Ayami!"
When the woman and Nori both ran into the room in a panic to investigate what caused her sudden shout, Hitomi pointed accusingly at the white haired woman, practically shrieking—
"You're pregnant!?"
After that, the woman reluctantly sat the two down, telling them that, yes, she was pregnant. It was immediately followed by a stern talk about protection, and that the two would just be better off never having sex at all.
To say the two siblings were red-faced during and after the lecture, would be an understatement.
And just like that, it was like a switch had been flipped. Hitomi started getting up earlier, started talking more, started smiling again.
Because she had something important to look forward to for the first time in forever. Something that had nothing to do with the world of Pro Heroes.
Things only got better when, seven months later, Hana was born.
The tiny baby had to be born by C-section, as her mutation would have caused severe harm to Ayami if the woman had done it naturally.
Hana's mutation was, in Hitomi's opinion, the cutest and coolest thing in the world.
She had two huge and fluffy brown rabbit ears on her head, and her legs were that of a rabbit's as well, soft and furry with big pawed feet. She had light brown hair, something she must have gotten from whoever fathered her, and bright copper eyes. But Hitomi's favorite part about Hana's mutation was that she had small antelope antlers on her head between her ears, making the baby look like a jackalope.
The whole time during Ayami's recovery, Hitomi was right there beside her, ready and eager to help.
It really reminded the white haired woman of when Nori had taken such a huge interest in helping out with Hitomi when she was a baby.
Hana had managed to spark something back to life in the pinkette.
Until she got her letter.
The same one had been also sent out to Momo, telling them both that they had been recommended, and thus had full scholarships into UA. All they needed to do was come down to do a quick written and physical exam, and they would be all set.
Momo had been ecstatic. While Hitomi had been numb.
In the future, she would appreciate beyond words what her guardian did next.
Without discussing a single word about it, Ayami signed on the dotted line, scheduling the pinkette's exam. And as an extra measure, she also signed her up at their local gym. Ayami knew her charge well enough to know that if she was given the chance, she would over complicate things in her head, stressing herself out before even giving it a chance.
As soon as the initial shock and anger wore off, Hitomi was only left with feeling a combination of excitement and anxiety.
She and Momo took the written exam, with Momo acing it, while Hitomi just barely skated by. Afterwards they were put on a bus, and taken to the area where the practical was being held, thankfully it was just a race, so this time Hitomi crushed it, and Momo struggled. And so before she knew it, the teenager was back to training her body everyday. Building back up the muscle she had lost after going so long without pushing herself. It didn't help that she couldn't use her Quirk for almost all of middle school, due to something Hitomi was too embarrassed to talk about.
With not even a full year left to train before school started, she was truly down to the wire.
Every now and then, she would question why she was going through with it, spiralling down in a panic about how nothing was going to be worth it in the end. But just as quickly, she would feel a sudden rush of that same high she reached whenever fantasizing about Hero work when she was a kid. The result left her training for hours on end some days, only to have a mini crisis right after.
So, there she was, walking the halls of UA, getting a feel for her soon-to-be new environment. Trying to build up the courage to try and stand toe-to-toe with the world's future Heroes, all while trying to tramp down the guilt of her lapse in motivation.
What would Mama and Papa think of me? Hitomi cynically asked herself.
"Hey."
Hitomi stopped, slowly looking over her shoulder at the owner of the stern voice.
Before she could see any features of the person, the jacket hood she had over her head was jerked down.
She squeaked, spinning around to fully face the person.
Blinking up at him, she felt completely intimidated.
He had long black hair, and equally dark clothes. And he glared down at her from above a strange looking white scarf, his expression nearly shadowed.
Something about his tired looking eyes was familiar, achingly so.
As soon as he spotted the hue of her hair, and the fluffy orange ears sitting on top, something in his eyes softened. But he still kept his scowl in place.
"What are you doing wandering the hallways?" He demanded in a low voice.
Hitomi ducked her head, staring down at her sneakers. She internally kicked herself, she couldn't believably pretend to be an examinee, as the test had already started. A test she clearly wasn't taking as this man stared her down. Aunt Nemuri had let her in after making her promise not to snoop or cause trouble. Hitomi had no idea if this guy knew her surrogate aunt or not, and telling him Midnight herself had let her in wasn't very believable.
"Um... lost?"
The man gave her an unamused look.
She sighed in defeat, scratching the back of her neck. "I just... wanted to see this place, for real."
He was silent for a moment, and Hitomi didn't dare look up.
"...Let's go, Saito."
Her eyes widened, head snapping up to look at him.
"Eh?"
Later, once she got home, Hitomi told Ayami all about the tour some of the faculty staff gave her. The white haired woman making a face that Hitomi couldn't decipher at the description of the man who had caught her.
And she found herself feeling... Excited? Eager? No, it was something else...
...Oh.
She was feeling motivated.
...
Two big and fluffy ears bounced as Hitomi all but skipped down the sidewalk. She was absentmindedly humming a tune she couldn't remember the words to, as she turned down the last street.
Her feet stalled, as she was met with the overbearing sight of UA. And to her glee, she felt the sides of her mouth involuntarily curl up. She found herself jogging the rest of the way, wanting to get on school grounds as soon as possible. A warm feeling filled her chest as she ran through the gate, each step pulling her closer to the future she should have never taken for granted.
Her eyes were so focused on the top of the building, as she marveled at the height the school reached, that the body in front of her wasn't even a blip on the radar. Until she bumped into it, that is.
She squeaked, jerking back and looking down at the person she ran into.
He was just slightly taller than her, had blonde spiky hair, and as he turned around, she saw blazing carmine colored eyes.
Then, she belatedly realized, he was yelling at her.
"Watch it, extra!"
Hitomi blinked, brain momentarily short-circuiting.
Oh yeah, when was the last time I really talked to someone who wasn't Momo, Nori, Ayami, or Hana? She asked herself, as she couldn't seem to manage any words. Aunt Nemuri and Aunt Rumi didn't really count, as Hero work kept them busy most of the time, and she hadn't been able to have an in depth discussion with either in a while.
Her lack of people skills had her handling this with the first response her mind supplied her with.
"Sorry about that!" She chirped, sending him a blinding smile.
"When in doubt, be kind." Riku's voice whispered in her head.
So when he scowled and scoffed in response, she just kept smiling, and it surprisingly wasn't that hard to keep it on once she started. The blonde gave off the same sort of energy that Nori did when he was in middle school, and something about that was comforting.
The blonde turned, continuing on his way into the school. Hitomi followed behind, realizing she would have to basically walk with the guy until they parted ways for their own classes.
They were almost to the door of 1-A, when he snapped at her again.
"The hell are you following me for!?" He demanded.
Hitomi paused, trying to think of a response that wouldn't anger him further.
"I'm... not?"
When his hands sparked and crackled with mini explosions, she figured any response she could have given would have set him off anyway.
Maybe he's having a bad day.
Her ears twitched as she thought of something. "Oh, hey! What if we're just in the same class?"
At Hitomi's proposal, he scoffed. "Not a chance in hell."
Choosing to not take offence to that (like all his other comments), she merely shrugged good-naturedly, smiling at him as she walked past.
"Okay."
And she was honestly somewhat surprised as they both stopped to stand in front of the floor-to-ceiling door labelled '1-A'.
"Hm, so I guess I was right." Hitomi hummed.
She left the blonde seething as she ran into the classroom.
She was immediately able to spot Momo, who was seated on the far left row in the very back. The ravenette waved sheepishly, as Hitomi waved at her like she was trying to flag her down in an airport.
Normally, the pinkette would have sat down right next to her only friend, but there was a specific seat Hitomi felt she needed to sit in.
She walked over to it, smiling softly. While she knew it wasn't really the same exact one, the spot was more important in her opinion, right by the towering windows in the very front of the class, UA's own personal forest clear in view.
She already couldn't wait to see what it would look like when the leaves began to change.
Without waiting any longer, for fear of someone else taking the seat, she sat down. Claiming the desk that was four seats in front of Momo.
It was the same seat Naomi sat in during her first year. Not to mention, the seat directly behind her was the one Riku had sat.
Who knows, maybe my future life-partner will sit down behind me. Hitomi thought to herself whimsically.
Then the explode-y blonde plopped down right behind her.
Nevermind.
...
It didn't take long at all for the blonde to start a fight with someone.
"Remove your foot from that desk! Such an action is insulting to those who came to UA before us! As well as the craftsman who made the desk!"
"Like I care. What middle school are you from, you extra?" The blonde hostilely replied.
Hitomi sighed, watching the back and forth argument between the blonde, and a vaguely familiar tall guy with glasses. It was really starting to hurt her sensitive ears.
"I'm from Somei private academy. My name is Tenya Iida."
Oh, that's why I know him.
The blonde scoffed. "Somei? A stuck-up elitist then. I should blow you to bits."
Hitomi blinked owlishly at that, feeling like it was a little extreme.
The tall guy, Iida, seemed thrown as well. "You're awful! Do you really wish to become a Hero!?"
Hitomi winced at the volume, deciding she was done putting up with the yelling.
"Excuse me."
Iida spun around, doing some weird, stiff hand gesture. "Yes?!"
Her ears flattened against her head. "I really don't think yelling will solve anything. Plus, it's making my ears hurt."
Iida paused, glancing up at her large canine ears, before seeming to realize she probably had heightened hearing because of them.
He didn't seem to take it well.
"Ah! I hadn't noticed! I sincerely apologize for any discomfort I've caused!" He said, finishing it off with a deep bow.
Hitomi's flushed violently at his over the top reaction. Having not expected anything more than an "Oh, sorry".
"N-no it's fine! R-really!" She tried waving him off, severely regretting her decision to say anything.
But someone at the door seemed to have caught his attention, and the bespectacled teen ran over to the newest arrival, after offering her a quick "Excuse me!"
Hitomi sat back, ears relaxing from their flattened position.
"Well, he was kinda intense, huh?" She mused, looking over to the blonde as she sat sideways in her chair.
A chill went down her spine when she looked at him.
He didn't seem to have heard what she said, as he was too busy glaring daggers at the poor nervous looking kid who had just walked in.
If looks could kill... Wait, what if someone had a Quirk like that...?
She shook herself out of her thoughts, taking a cursory look around the class, counting heads.
...17, 18, 19–
Her eyes widened, jaw going slightly slack.
Snow white, laying right beside maroon. Accompanied by grey, and icy blue irises.
For a split-second she doubted it, but that same dull look in his eyes gave away which Todoroki she was looking at. The pinkish scar covering his left eye was cause for great concern to well up inside the pinkette.
I wonder if he ever ate that cupcake...
"I'm your homeroom teacher, Shouta Aizawa. Pleased to meet you."
She was yanked out of her thoughts this time, as she snapped her head back to the front of the class. Even if he hadn't said his name, she would have known who it was, just by going off of his baritone voice, and scent.
When she saw him, she couldn't help but break out into a smile. Because of all the people to teach her how to be a Hero, she would want it to be him.
"Eh?"
"I know what you're thinking Saito, and I'm not about to let you squander this opportunity."
"W-wha— How— Do I know you!?"
"I'll go get some of the staff to give you a tour. Don't move."
Yeah, she had a good feeling about him.
Out of nowhere, he pulled out a navy blue tracksuit with the UA logo on it in red and white.
"Change into your gym clothes and head out to the grounds."
As everyone who was seated slowly stood, Hitomi remained in her seat, brows furrowed.
But before she could raise her hand, Aizawa was already looking at her.
"Saito."
She sat up, conscious of all the eyes on her. For some reason, the blonde's, Todoroki's, and the nervous looking kid's stares felt the most heavy.
"Y-yes sir?"
He held up the tracksuit. "This one's yours. It's been modified with your Quirk in mind. Don't lose it."
"Got it."
As she took the tracksuit from him, she tried to ignore the questioning murmurs coming from her classmates.
...
"Hi, I'm Mina Ashido!"
Hitomi jumped, looking over at the girl who reminded her of, oddly enough, a wingless moth. But in her opinion, the girl's mutation was amazing to look at.
And of course, her lack of social skills decided to rear its head again that very moment.
"Wow," Hitomi breathed. "You're beautiful."
Every girl in the locker-room paused, turning to stare at the two pinkettes.
Ashido's pink complexion turned a shade darker.
Hitomi wished the floor would swallow her up. "I-I mean— Well it's just, your mutation, it uh, looks really cool!"
Ashido seemed to recover from her shock, as she grinned at the Akita-girl.
"You're pretty blunt, aren't you?"
Hitomi nodded sheepishly. "I don't mean to be..."
"She hasn't really engaged in much small talk recently, I think she's gotten a bit rusty." Momo chimed in, pulling up her track pants.
"You two know each other?" The brunette girl who came in with the nervous kid, asked.
Hitomi nodded, steadily this time. "Yep, I've known Mo since before I got my Quirk."
"Well, it was the same day, actually..."
A punk looking girl with ears that resembled cords on a pair of headphones turned to Hitomi.
"That reminds me, what did the teacher mean by "it's modified with your Quirk in mind"?"
"Oh, well my Quirk..." Hitomi paused, hoping to find the right words without making herself sound like a beast. "...I've lost a lot of clothes in the process of learning to use it."
"Oooh, mysterious~" Ashido hummed.
After that, all the girls exchanged names with each other, before they filed out of the locker-room, meeting up with the rest of the class as they all made their way outside.
"Today, we'll be doing a Quirk apprehension test." Aizawa announced to them once they were all lined up in front of him.
Hitomi set her jaw, tense smirk stretching her cheeks. I knew it. Why else would we need our gym clothes?
Uraraka raised her hand. "But what about orientation?"
"No time to waste on that stuff if you want to become Heroes." Aizawa stated bluntly. "UA is known for its "freestyle" educational system. That applies to us teachers as well."
Hitomi swallowed harshly, once again beating herself up for the years of no training.
"Softball throwing, the standing long jump, the fifty meter dash, endurance running, grip strength, side-to-side stepping, upper body training, seated toe-touch. You did all these in middle school, yes? Your standard no-Quirks-allowed tests."
Hitomi had a feeling she knew where this was going. The no-Quirks-allowed tests were about to have a revision, if she was right.
"This country still insists on prohibiting Quirks when calculating the averages of those records. It's not rational. The department of education is just procrastinating." Aizawa finished, pulling a softball out of his pocket.
"Bakugou," Their teacher called. "How far could you throw in middle school?"
"Sixty-seven meters." Bakugou, as Hitomi now knew his name to be, shrugged casually.
"Great, now try it with your Quirk." Aizawa told him, tossing the softball to the blonde, as he walked up into a chalk circle lined in the dirt. "Do whatever you need to, just don't leave the circle."
"Give it all you've got." Aizawa instructed, as Bakugou stretched his arms.
"Awesome." Bakugou growled, a sort of feral smirk on his face
Hitomi frowned. He looks rabid.
He reared his arm back, opening his mouth, shouting—
"Die!"
Hitomi cocked her head. "Die?"
As he threw the ball, an earsplitting 'Boom' sounded out. A huge explosion erupted from his hand, launching the softball out of eyesight. The force was even enough to kick up dust as far back as where the rest of the class stood.
Aizawa pulled a device out of his pocket, looking it over approvingly.
Hitomi winced, her and a few others coughing at the smoke. Her hands were clamped over her ears, and to her embarrassment, her large tail was tucked between her legs.
"It's important for us to know our limits." Aizawa got their attention, holding up the device.
705.2
"That's the first rational step to figuring out what kind of Heroes you'll be."
"Whoa! This is awesome!" A guy with electric yellow hair cheered.
"Seven-hundred and five meters? Seriously?" Jirou mumbled.
"So we can use our Quirks for real! Man, the Hero Course is great!" A guy with spiky red hair said.
Hitomi was one of the only ones to notice the shift in Aizawa's expression.
"...Awesome, you say?"
A shiver raced down her spine.
"You're hoping to become Heroes after three years here... And you think it'll be all fun and games?"
"Right," Aizawa straightened up, staring them all down with an unwavering resolve in his— Are they glowing!? —eyes. "The one with the lowest score across all eight events will be judged hopeless... and will be expelled."
"Your fates are in our hands." Aizawa raked his hand through his hair, moving aside his bangs so he could stare them down properly. And if Hitomi thought his eyes were glowing before, she was sure about it now.
"Welcome, this is... The Hero Course of UA high."
Biting her lip, Hitomi looked back up at the ginormous school behind them. The school her parents went to. The school she would be damned before leaving.
I'm not giving this up. Not again.
"Atta girl."
Hitomi grinned.
...
First up was the fifty meter dash. Something that her Quirk would definitely come in handy for.
To her surprise, she was up against the nervous kid during her turn, who now looked even shakier than before.
As she stretched, she gave him a disarming smile.
"Good luck!"
The kid jumped, and Hitomi started wondering why she was referring to him as a kid in her head. For all she knew, he could be older than her.
Maybe it's his scent. He smells super innocent.
And yes, Hitomi was aware of how creepy that thought sounded.
"Y-you too!" The nervous guy stuttered back.
As Aizawa got ready to start the timer, Hitomi leaned down, touching the dirt with her fingertips.
She grinned as the familiar tingling took over her body. I missed this.
She was absently aware of all the surprised noises coming from her classmates behind her. But she was most conscious of the surprised and almost awed sounding gasp coming from the guy beside her.
At this point, she was now a towering seven and a half feet tall while in Akita-form.
She shifted around slightly, not liking the restricting feeling coming from the gym clothes. But like Aizawa said, they did stretch to accommodate her size.
"Ready. Go." Aizawa said as their only warning, clicking the timer.
Without wasting any time, she launched herself forward, tongue hanging out as she barreled on as fast as she could.
'3.4 seconds!' The robot at the end of the track chimed.
Hitomi's tail wagged as she grinned, which looked more like she was just panting while she was in her Akita-form.
'7.2 seconds!' The robot announced as the nervous guy finished. It was a good time, but clearly run normally.
Hitomi shrank back down, wanting to save as much energy as possible.
"Quirk's not suited for this type of thing, huh?" Hitomi guessed as soon as she could talk again.
He jumped again, as if he hadn't expected her to talk to him.
"W-what— Oh! Well, n-no, not exactly..."
Hitomi hummed, an easygoing smile still on her face. She was honestly kind of happy to meet someone who seemed more socially awkward than her. As mean as that may be.
She reached out her hand, deciding to ignore the tiny flinch it caused. "I'm Hitomi Saito. It's nice to meet you!"
He blinked as he seemed to need to process her introduction, before hastily taking her hand, face flushing a deep red.
"I-I'm Izuku Midoriya. L-likewise."
Hitomi smiled, glad to stop calling him "nervous guy" in her head.
"Your Quirk is amazing by the way! I've never seen a transformation one quite like it! Usually the size is comparable to the real life animal the Quirk takes after. But you were giant!"
It was Hitomi's turn to blush, and she realized Midoriya stopped stuttering as soon as he started talking about Quirks.
She sheepishly tussled the hair behind her ears. "I get it from my mom for the most part. But she could only ever change certain parts of her body. And there's also Ryukyu. So it's not that unique."
Midoriya's eyes widened, as something seemed to click in his brain. "Your mom... Saito... Are you—"
"Next up, Sero and Shoji."
At Aizawa's call, the two hastily moved out of the way. Hitomi missed the way Midoriya watched her calculatingly.
After everyone went up (Bakugou was a handful of mili-seconds slower than Hitomi, something that spurred a hateful glare from the blonde) the next test started. That being grip strength.
"So far I haven't been able to do much..." Momo murmured as she clenched her dynamometer.
Hitomi gave her friend a reassuring smile, though it was wobbly due to her exertion as she gripped her own dynamometer as tight as she could. "This is only the second one, and there's a ton of these, you'll be fine Mo."
The ravenette hummed, as her score came up on the tiny screen.
26 kg.
Momo frowned, brows furrowing. "I thought it would be higher..."
Hitomi's score came up right after, and she immediately tried to hide the score from Momo. But Asui poked her head around, glancing at the pinkette's score.
"Wow Saito, you got fifty-three? Ribbit."
Hitomi winced as Momo gave her a half amused, half exasperated look.
"You don't have to hide your score from me." She chastised. "I know how strong you are."
"I know, I just feel... guilty, I guess."
Hitomi had long-ago learned that her Quirk came with, well, unpaid DLC she would classify it as. Due to her mass while transformed, her muscle and bone density levelled up, in a sense. As a result, Hitomi had never broken a single bone, thanks to their inhuman strength. And her muscles were naturally heftier.
If she was being honest, she kind of hated it. As it felt sort of like cheating to be so strong after not training for as long as she did.
Momo stared in contemplation at her dynamometer, an idea sparking. This was all about using their Quirks to their fullest, testing the boundaries in which they could go. So, with that in mind, she produced a large monkey wrench out from under her shirt.
"Hitomi, could you hold this up for me?" She asked, handing the small device over, situating the metal tool around the handle while Hitomi held it aloft.
The pinkette's eyes sparkled. "Mo, you are the smartest and prettiest girl in the whole world." She said in a deadpan, but was completely sincere.
Momo smiled, used to the casual overinflated compliments. She tightened the wrench until the device threatened to break. After a couple of seconds, it beeped.
193 kg
Perfect.
The third test was the standing long jump.
"You can totally use your Quirk for this too!" Hitomi cheered excitedly to Momo. "Like, you could make a pole and vault over, or..." She trailed off lamely, quickly running out of ideas.
The taller girl nodded, smiling eagerly, yet still managing to look poised.
Once again, like with the fifty meter dash, Bakugou used his explosive palms to shoot clear over the course. Same with another blonde in the class, who used his technique of shooting his... navel laser?
Hitomi frowned dimly when she saw Midoriya only make it about five feet, before landing harshly on his rear. At the pace things were going, and if he continued to get these types of scores, Hitomi was concerned that he was going to be the one who got expelled.
"I wonder what his Quirk is." Hitomi mused.
Momo hummed, brushing the dirt off of her pants, having just gone and gotten an impressive score herself. "It could be anything, really. Technokinesis, invisibility, mind-reading—"
"Mind-reading?!" Hitomi squeaked, flushing at the thought that he might have heard her thinking about how he smelled innocent.
No wonder he was so awkward! It's because I made it awkward! She thought to herself hysterically
"We don't know anything for sure. I doubt he can actually hear what you've been thinking, calm down." Momo reassured her, seemingly able to decipher why she was panicking.
The fourth test, side-stepping, was in the same vein as the previous ones. In that pretty much everyone but Midoriya nailed it.
With every test coming and going, the green haired teen got visibly more and more anxious. To the point where Hitomi could easily smell the nerves on him. Putting her on edge too.
All too quickly, the next test was upon them. Throwing.
One-by-one, everyone took a softball and threw it with all of their strength. When Uraraka went up, she tossed the ball at a normal speed, instead of trying to chuck it as far away as possible. Her Quirk, anti-gravity, took care of most of it, as the ball flew up into orbit.
Everyone, minus Bakugou and a few stoic classmates gaped as Aizawa showed off Uraraka's score.
"Infinity!?"
"Wow the infinity symbol actually popped up!"
"Dang..." Hitomi breathed, feeling intimidated by the brunette girl now.
Next up was Midoriya.
"With his scores... It doesn't matter how he does, he's still way behind." Hitomi murmured.
"Well it's not like he'll actually get expelled." Momo pointed out.
Hitomi nodded. "Yeah, you're righ—" Eyes widening, Hitomi rounded on Momo. "What do you mean he won't!?" She whispered harshly.
Before Momo had the chance to reply, a dull 'thud' hitting dirt brought the two girls' attention back to Midoriya.
...Who's ball was only a measly distance away, still clearly in sight.
His eyes were blown wide in horror, as he stared at the ball slack-jawed. He shakily looked down at his hands, brows scrunched in shocked confusion.
"I erased your Quirk."
Everyone, including Midoriya, looked over at Aizawa, who's hair and scarf were floating around his head. His tired eyes were sharp and narrowed at Midoriya, his irises now glowing red.
"That ridiculous entrance exam." He growled, glare firmly placed on the green haired teen. "...Completely irrational when you consider someone like you got in."
Hitomi winced at the venom in their teacher's words. And she wondered what Midoriya could have possibly done to anger the raven haired man so deeply.
Green eyes flickered over Aizawa at a break-neck speed, until a dawning look of realization spread over Midoriya's face.
"Wait, I know you! You're the Erasure Hero! Eraser Head!"
Lips parting, Hitomi could have sworn she had heard that name somewhere before, but couldn't place anything concrete.
"I saw it, how you can't control your Quirk. You'd just be incapacitated again."
Hitomi's keen ears picked up Aizawa's voice as he chewed Midoriya out, seeming to be the only one who could hear from the distance the rest of the class was stationed.
"Were you hoping someone would step-in to help afterwards?" Aizawa asked, tone accusatory.
"N-no, it's not like that!" Midoriya stuttered, as Aizawa wrapped him up menacingly in his strange scarf.
"Whatever you were planning, it would have inconvenienced those around you." He tightened the scarf. "Way back when, a certain hot-blooded Hero saved over a thousand people during a disaster. He made himself a legend."
Wringing her tracksuit top in her hands, Hitomi's rounded brows furrowed.
Is he... Is he going to compare Midoriya to—
"You've got the same reckless streak, but you're totally useless after saving just a single person. Izuku Midoriya, you cannot become a Hero with that Quirk of yours."
Biting her lip, the pinkette refrained from moving toward the two, knowing that intervening wouldn't help anyone in the end. The only thing that would, was if Midoriya could prove himself, right here and now.
After glaring down at Midoriya a little longer, just for good measure, Aizawa blinked, and released the green haired teen from his scarf.
"You've got your Quirk back. Give it another go, let's get this over with."
As their teacher stepped away from him, Midoriya started muttering to himself. Too fast and quiet for Hitomi to hear.
"Seems like he received some special instruction." Iida mused, hand to his chin.
I wouldn't call it that. Hitomi frowned.
"Yeah, the instruction to leave this school." Bakugou added snidely.
Hitomi locked her hands behind her back, rocking on her heels in what appeared to be a carefree manner, though the action was more of a way to calm herself down. "I wouldn't rule him out just yet."
The explosive blonde scowled at her, brows twitching in irritation.
This time, when Midoriya stretched his arm back in preparation to throw, he looked much more confident, as if he had finally figured out the answer to some tough question.
It happened in a blink, as Midoriya threw his arm forward. At first it looked the same as the first throw, but right as the ball left his hand, there was a similar 'boom' to that of Bakugou's toss. This one less of an explosion, and more of a brutal impact.
Shielding her face from the shock-wave, Hitomi peeked through her arms, and gaped as Aizawa already held up his score.
705.3
Just a hair farther than Bakugou's throw.
Midoriya's right index finger looked broken, but he still curled his hand into a fist, and smiled triumphantly at their teacher.
"I... can still move." He panted through his wobbly grin, tears in his eyes from the undoubtedly awful pain.
Hitomi would have been relieved that it wasn't telepathy, if she wasn't so busy being floored by what a powerful Quirk Midoriya possessed.
"Woo! Now that's a Hero-like record if I ever saw one!" Uraraka cheered, arms waving in the air as she shouted out her excitement.
"His finger appears to be swollen." Iida mused. "Thinking back on the entrance exam... what a strange Quirk."
Hitomi cocked her head. "What happened at the entrance exam?"
Right after she spoke, her hair blew up into her face, as Bakugou let off an explosion behind her, launching himself furiously at Midoriya.
"Deku you bastard! Tell me how you did that or you're dead!"
Hitomi, spitting out what hair got into her mouth, jumped in concern for her freckled classmate.
But Aizawa thankfully intervened, whipping his scarf at the blonde, and halting him in his tracks as it wrapped around him like it had to Midoriya.
While the teacher chewed Bakugou out, Hitomi watched him, and frowned heavily.
Who just calls someone "Deku"?
...
After that, the only other eventful thing that happened was Aizawa making it seem like Midoriya was going to be expelled for having the lowest score. Then he ended up telling them that it was all just a ruse anyway, so there was nothing to worry about.
Hitomi let out a sigh, happy no one would go home in tears. Plus, she had a good feeling about Midoriya. There was just an aura around the nervous teen that reminded the pinkette of something warm and good, but she couldn't place a finger on exactly what that something was.
Once home, Hitomi groaned tiredly and flopped down onto the couch, burying her face into a cushion. Her backpack full of books was digging painfully into the small of her back, but she was too tired to move.
The only thing that would make that girl get up, was a tiny hand slapping her face.
Hitomi wrinkled her nose, but forced herself up, looking down to her right, she was met with two wide copper eyes.
"Hito! Hito! Hito okay?"
A tired smile showed two sharp canines, as Hitomi sat up all the way, lifting the newly minted three-year-old and setting her on her lap.
"Hito's okay, I promise. Just sleepy."
"Maybe Hito wouldn't be so tired if she didn't jump the shark and go to Hero school." Nori said snidely as he walked by behind the couch, flicking Hitomi in the ear as he passed.
Hitomi yipped, rubbing her stinging ear as she glared after Nori.
"And maybe Nori would have a girlfriend if he wasn't such a jerk!"
"Hah, nice one." He replied sarcastically, not even deigning to glance her way.
Hitomi stuck her tongue out at his back, an action Hana clumsily copied.
Looking back down, Hitomi started playing with Hana's fluffy rabbit feet. "Where's Mommy-bunny?"
Mommy-bunny was a name Nori had once jokingly called Ayami, that winded up sticking. It was a bit funny that after years of likening Ayami to that of a skittish rabbit, the woman ended up having a daughter with a rabbit oriented Quirk.
But Hitomi supposed that it must be a family trait. Ayami's daughter possessing almost the exact same Quirk as her sister.
Hana pointed off to her left. "Kitchen!"
Hitomi hummed questioningly. "You sure?"
Hana nodded, and continued to point.
The kitchen was to the right.
Hitomi shrugged and picked her up, walking to the kitchen.
She had plenty to tell her guardian about her first day. Especially about how Momo had beaten the entire class, her Quirk out matching them all in versatility.
Her friend really was the coolest.