"Commence the indoor combat training! Team I, Team B your time starts now!"
"This is gonna be great!"
Ojirou didn't share her sentiment, instead choosing to watch the door in muted dread.
Hitomi bounced excitedly, until she realized that probably wasn't something a Villain would be seen doing in the middle of a high stakes job. So settling her expression into an evil smirk (or what she assumed one to be) she crossed her arms, throwing her head back and giving a maniacal laugh.
"Those Heroes won't know what hit them!" She deepened her voice, baring her canines. "Just wait 'til we get through with—"
"Shouldn't we be making a plan?" Ojirou sighed, staring at her as if she was insane. "We're up against Todoroki, he's one of the students in on recommendation."
Hitomi dropped her arms, losing the faux mask of Villainy. "So? I am too. What do you think we should—"
Her eyes widened, ears shooting back as the fur on her tail stood on end. Abandoning the floor, Hitomi launched herself into the air, bending her legs and keeping them close to her chest as, in a flash, the room was enveloped in ice. The ceiling, the walls, and most importantly, the floor.
Ojirou made a startled sound, as he experimentally tried moving his legs, but was disheartened to see his bare feet stuck in the ice.
"Why didn't you jump out of the way?" Hitomi asked, calmly clinging to the weapon as a safe ground.
"I didn't know it was coming!" The tailed student snapped, a vein popping from his forehead.
Hitomi blinked. "Oh."
Ojirou scowled at the crystalline ice caging in his feet. "This Quirk is insane!"
Hitomi hopped down, nearly slipping, and ran over to her teammate. She looked up to the doorway, however, when she heard ice crunching underneath someone's feet.
"Pry yourself up if you want. But it might be hard to fight me with no skin on the bottom of your feet." His voice was mellow and cool, but the look in his visible eye was downright predatory.
Hitomi frowned, moving to stand in front of Ojirou. "That doesn't look very practical, you know."
A puff of air left Todoroki's mouth, made visible by the chill in the building. He seemed unbothered by the surely hindering costume, which consisted of his left side being completely covered in ice.
"Step aside." He ordered calmly, walking toward them.
"No way!" Hitomi barked, crouching down with her fingertips grazing the icy floor. In a flash she was charging at her classmate, covered in orange and white fur, standing at seven and a half feet.
There was an exceptionally large downside to her Quirk, one that hadn't come up yet. But when Todoroki made a thin frisbee out of ice, flicking it out the window, her weakness was made known.
"Saito!" Ojirou chastised, staring at her in disbelief.
While using her Quirk, her common sense was thrown out, similarly to the frisbee she was now chasing. The ice cracked beneath her paws, as she dashed to the window, whining when she could only fit her head through.
"The Hero team wins!"
Like a bucket of freezing water dousing her, Hitomi jerked in surprise, regaining some of her dulled mind. Shrinking back down, she whirled around, mouth hanging open in shock and anger.
Todoroki stood by the bomb, hand held against it. His cool grey eye stared back at her, unfazed. The ice began melting, steam raising in the air.
"Huh? Heat too?" Ojirou gawked.
"That was a dirty trick." Hitomi pouted, crossing her arms. "How'd you even know it would work!?"
Todoroki only offered her a passing glance as he calmly strided to the door. "A hunch. It's not your fault, we're just playing on different levels."
Her ears and tail fluffed up in offense. Ojirou quickly intercepted her from going after the two toned boy.
"Come on, we already lost. It's best we don't get ourselves detention on top of that." Her teammate eased her, gently patting her back.
"I wasn't gonna fight him or anything." Hitomi mumbled, cheeks puffed out petulantly.
"Sure." Ojirou sighed wearily, trudging out of the now damp and humid room.
His pink haired classmate followed close behind, still pouting over the quick defeat.
After them went Sero and Kirishima vs Tokoyami and Asui. Then finally Momo went, with the small grape head guy, against Jirou and Kaminari. Hitomi paid no mind to any strategy used in her friend's fight, simply cheering and booing whenever Momo would do something cool or was challenged. It wasn't until she came back out and asked Hitomi what she thought, that the pinkette realized she hadn't come up with a single constructive thing to say, other than an energetic "that was awesome!"
"That's a wrap! Super work, you really stepped up to the plate. And we didn't have any major injuries, except for Midoriya. You should be proud. Excellent first day of training, all around!" All Might congratulated them all after the final match was completed.
"I lost so quickly." Hitomi whined, slumping dramatically against Momo. "It was over before I could do anything cool."
"You'll get another chance soon enough." Momo gently pushed her upright.
Hitomi perked up, tail swinging. "Yeah?"
Even despite being used to Hitomi and her occasionally slow attention span, Momo still couldn't help the urge to give her an unimpressed stare. "Hitomi, it's only our second day. You will have more than enough time to prove yourself."
Tail wagging at a fast pace, Hitomi pumped a fist with a determined grin. "You're right!"
The ravenette sighed through her nose, too spent to humor her friend's energy. Sometimes it felt like Hitomi was doing her best impersonation of an upbeat shoujo manga character. And it was occasionally, frankly, exhausting.
Asui raised a gloved hand. "It's nice to hear some encouraging words after our home room class. Mr. Aizawa was kind of a buzzkill."
All Might took the praise well, throwing his arms up excitedly. "I'm happy to bring such staggering positivity to my Alma Mater! That's all for now folks, I should go and check on Young Midoriya's progress. Now, watch how a Pro exits! Like he's got somewhere to be!" Turning on his heel, he charged away, leaving behind a cloud of dust and chunks of debris in his wake.
The class gaped at the display of speed, no trace of him being left behind once the dust floating in the air settled.
"Okay you guys, that is a Hero!" Kaminari gushed.
Ojirou sighed. "Aw, I'll never be able to run that fast."
"So awesome!"
Hitomi smirked, knowing another Hero that was almost able to match All Might's speed. Someone she had had the honor of learning under back in middle school, all do to lucky connections.
Her smirk waned. Yes, Hitomi was very much aware of the privileges she had been gifted throughout her life. Even Momo didn't have quite the amount of help as she did. So any pride in her abilities she took, was dimmed by the acceptance that she would never be where she was now if her parents weren't who they were.
...
"Can't wait to tell Hana all about today!"
Sitting at her desk in the front, Hitomi idly spun a pencil in her hand, her other fidgeting with the ends of her long hair. She was relieved to be back in her normal UA uniform, still feeling the effects of wearing such a skintight suit even after finally getting it off.
Momo raised a brow at Hitomi's inability to sit still. "Have you been remembering to take your medication recently?"
The pencil fell onto her desk, fumbled from her hand. "Uh…"
She was saved by the door to class being opened. A distinctly green haired figure stepping through.
"Hey, it's Midoriya!" Kirishima said with a grin, running over along with a few others to welcome their classmate back. "Good to see you back, Super! Ha, man I don't know what you were saying during that match, but you were all fired up, huh?"
"I can't believe you held your own against Bakugou. He's super strong!" Sero said.
"You did a great job dodging!" Ashido pumped her arms.
"You guys really turned it up in the first match. So none of us held back in our rounds either!" The biggest one in their class, Sato, tacked on gladly.
"You were far from elegant, but I suppose—" The blonde with the belly laser started to speak, but Ashido bounced in front of him, too wound up to notice.
"And the dodging was like whoa!"
Midoriya looked from each of them frantically, face flushing from the attention. He seemed like he wasn't used to being gushed over, which didn't make much sense considering how incredible his Quirk was.
Kirishima pointed a thumb to his face with a wide grin. "Hey, I'm Eijirou Kirishima. We've been goin' over training results while you were in recovery."
"Hi, I'm Hanta Sero."
"More importantly, I'm Yug—"
"I'm Mina Ashido! And I just gotta say, your dodging was awesome!" Ashido spoke over the flashy blonde again.
Asui peeked over the pink girl, having been behind but unseen due to her size. "Tsuyu Asui, but please call me Tsu."
"Hey, Sato." Sato was brief and to the point.
Midoriya waved his uninjured hand awkwardly. "Um, hey, guys."
"And my name's Mineta!" The grape-head jumped up into the air in order to be seen.
"Where the heck did you pop out of?" Kirishima stared at the small student.
"UA's shiniest star here—"
This time he was interrupted by an eager Hitomi.
"Hey! How you feeling? All healed up?" She leaned in between Kirishima and Sero, smiling cluelessly as Midoriya inched back away from her uncomfortably close position.
"Uh, kinda." He awkwardly tried and failed to wave his right arm, which was braced to his front in a sling.
"Tokoyami! Stop using that desk as a chair! Get off of it this instant!" Iida irately ordered, arms moving stiffly to accentuate his point.
"Dude, you need to chill." Jirou casually commented, making Iida twitch.
"You're carrying a lot of tension." Ojirou calmly pointed out.
Iida sagged. "No one understands… I cannot condone actions that disrespect these desks. Not when brave men and women, our upperclassmen, once used them!"
The passion in his voice made Hitomi feel for him, and with her own sentimentality for her mother's old desk (in spirit), she chose to give the blue haired teen a hand, parting from Midoriya, much to the boy's relief.
"Yeah! What he said!" Hitomi bounced over, pumping a fist in the air. "We're soon-to-be Heroes, not delinquents!"
Iida looked as if he could cry, smiling wobbly at the show of support.
"Exactly! Thank you Saito!"
"Do you ever calm down?" Ojirou asked.
Hitomi cocked her head. "What do you mean? I am calm."
The sound that came from Ojirou's throat was akin to wet choking.
"So, anyway, wanna grab a bite sometime?" Kaminari asked Uraraka as he and she returned to the classroom carrying stacks of books. "What kinda stuff do you like?"
"Anything sweet— Hey, Deku!" She noticed Midoriya standing by the door near the front of the classroom. She ran over, scanning his body with a concerned frown. "Why didn't she heal all your injuries?"
"Oh, uh… well it has to do with how much stamina I'm using."
"Stamina?"
Midoriya glanced around the room, noticing the empty desk behind Hitomi's. "Um, Uraraka. Where's Kachan?"
Uraraka scratched the back of her head, eyes falling to the floor. "We tried to stop him from leaving, but he wouldn't listen."
Hitomi stood to the side, listening with one ear aimed in their direction. She had missed the aforementioned interaction, as she had been the last to struggle out of her costume. The humidity Todoroki had made when using his Quirk made her skin damp and sticky, making the tight rubbery suit nearly impossible to get out of. By the time she returned and plopped down at her desk, Bakugou was already gone.
"You just missed him." Uraraka finished, and not a moment later, Midoriya was racing back out the door.
"Why's he going after that hothead?" Kaminari asked, not the only one to wonder why Midoriya seemed so concerned about the guy who could've killed him just earlier.
"I don't know, but that guy looked seriously torn up after he lost. Maybe Midoriya feels bad?" Sero suggested, crossing his arms behind his head.
"So not manly." Kirishima shook his head.
"Do you think he'll catch up to him?" Asui asked, index finger raised to the corner of her mouth.
"Let's go spy on 'em and see!" Ashido jumped up, running out the door much like Midoriya had.
Already knowing what was about to happen, Momo tried to grab Hitomi's sleeve, but the pinkette was quicker and slipped by, chasing after Ashido while cheering in agreement. Uraraka followed out of concern for her new friend, and Asui did as well, if only to know whether or not Midoriya was able to make it in time.
"There they are!" Ashido spotted them through one of UA's insanely huge windows, stopping to watch as Bakugou seemed to be yelling at Midoriya, big surprise.
"Ah, Saito, can you listen in from here?" Uraraka asked, staring as Bakugou threw his whole body into whatever he was saying.
Hitomi shook her head. "No, even I can't hear that well."
The four girls all flinched in surprise when a gust of wind trailed behind All Might, who suddenly appeared just in time to grab Bakugou and keep him from exiting the archway at the front of the campus.
"Whoa, what's All Might doing?"
"Giving a pep talk maybe?"
"Doubt it'll work." Hitomi commented, not with the hostile body language coming off of the blonde student.
Sure enough, Bakugou shrugged him off and stomped away, leaving All Might and Midoriya to stand there.
"Huh, I wonder what that was all about." Ashido mused.
"The fated battle between rivals." Uraraka stated, like it was common knowledge.
"Whatever Midoriya was saying, it looked like Bakugou really wanted to punch him."
Uraraka pressed her forehead against the glass, fists clenched. "Childhood friends turned enemies!"
All Might turned to Midoriya, saying something that made the teen flail and talk animatedly with his free hand.
Hitomi watched the interaction, fuchsia eyes pinned on them, unblinking.
…
"Hito home!"
Stepping into the living-room Hitomi threw her backpack onto the couch and raised her arms, echoing Hana's cheer.
Nori sat on the floor, the toddler sitting across from him at a miniature table, lined with pink plastic tea cups. He offered Hitomi a grunt in greeting, scooping Hana another imaginary helping of sugar to sweeten her "tea". His dreadlocks were pulled back with a pastel pink scrunchy, and his face was covered in stickers. It was obvious Hana had pretty-fied him, not an uncommon occurrence.
"Guess what!" Hitomi flopped down on the floor beside Hana, looking to her brother while laying on her stomach and kicking her legs.
Nori rolled his eyes, knowing she wouldn't continue until he participated. "What?"
"We trained with All Might today!" She sat up, tail wagging. When Hana clumsily handed her a plastic cup she took it gracefully. "It was so cool! Even though I got beat pretty fast."
"Yeah, who whooped your ass?" Nori absently asked as he pretended to take a sip of tea.
"Oh yeah, you'll never believe it. It was Shouto Todoroki!"
A wet raspberry sounded behind the lip of the cup, and the three sat in silence for a beat.
"...Nori, did you just do an imaginary spit-take?"
"I'm a method actor, shut up."