When Nori barged into his sister's hospital room, he expected to find her lying there, looking worn out and still scared. But what greeted him instead made the concern choking him take the back burner behind sudden irritation.
"Hi Nori!" Hitomi merrily greeted, sitting upright in bed with thick bandages wrapped around her temple.
Momo sat next to her, quietly trying to get her to calm down.
Nori's eye twitched. "Tell. Me. What. Happened."
Hitomi spread her arms and flopped wordlessly on her back.
"They gave her something for the pain." Momo whispered to him after walking over.
Nori glowered. "What? Don't they have that one doctor Hero who can heal people?" He asked accusingly, remembering from when he looked up the staff and did his own background check on each of them.
Ayami had called him overprotective, but look who's laughing now.
...Hitomi, that's who. Staring at the ceiling with giggles spilling out of her mouth.
"Recovery Girl is busy at the moment, taking care of one of our classmates and two teachers. But she'll be here soon to heal Hitomi as well."
Nori felt like he could spit acid. "The doctor said she has a chipped skull. A chipped skull Mo— You sit back down!"
Hitomi froze from her spot crawling halfway off of her bed, blinking like a deer in headlights at her brother, then slumped sadly and returned with a pout.
Momo sighed. "I know, but she's fine for now and can wait. It could've been a lot worse." She grimaced, thinking about their homeroom teacher, and that the same Villain to do that to him, had been the one to hurt Hitomi.
Nori swallowed dryly, wondering how he was supposed to be expected to trust the school after everything that happened today.
"Nori, heh, hey Nori, guess what?"
Taking a measured breath to try to regain some patience, Nori turned to his sister. "What?"
Hitomi's face split into a wide grin. "I bit a nine foot tall Villain. What did you do today?"
Nori stared, blinked, then ran a hand down his face, keeping it over his mouth, muffling his voice.
"Hitomi, I will literally disown you."
He wouldn't, and they both knew it. But when you gave as many threats as Nori did, you'd inevitably run out of feasible ones.
"Where're Ayami and Hana?" Momo questioned, finding it odd only he showed up.
"Hana's at daycare, 'cause Ayami got called in to work. Told her only one of us needed to miss a shift, and that I'd come."
Momo nodded in approval. Hitomi would already feel guilty enough about Nori skipping work, no need to add Ayami to that as well. She let him take her seat, murmuring about getting Hitomi something to eat as he sat down beside the bed.
Hitomi turned her head, smiling at him with blurry half-lidded eyes. Her white pupils nearly eclipsed her irises.
Nori shook his head with a huff. "Oh, you are high out of your mind right now, huh?"
"Mm-hmm!"
Nori snorted, crossing one leg over the other and reclining back. It was futile though, the hospital chair still hard and uncomfortable no matter the position.
But he would stay exactly where he was. Watching over her until UA sent over the medical Hero to fix the damage they had caused.
…
Apparently a serious bump on the head wasn't something Recovery Girl felt safe in healing all in one go, especially with a high dose of painkillers in Hitomi's system. So much to Nori's obvious ire, she was sent home still in bandages and with a bottle of more of the medication. A slip of paper given to her instructed the time she should be in the senior Hero's office the first day back at school to finish the healing.
Midnight met her at the entrance of UA that morning, leading her to the infirmary before classes.
"How's Mr. Aizawa?" Hitomi clutched the straps of her backpack tightly, trying not to clench her teeth, as it made the pain in her skull worse.
Midnight smiled at her reassuringly. "Don't worry, he's already up and about."
"What!? He should be resting!"
"Try telling him that then." Midnight huffed under her breath, stopping at one of the towering doors, opening it and gesturing for Hitomi to go in.
Immediately upon stepping inside, Hitomi decided she liked the infirmary. While it smelled like antiseptic and soap predominantly, there was also the presence of sugary candies, and the scent of someone compassionate lingering under the usual hospital-like smells.
"Good morning Saito, take a seat and I'll get to work." Recovery Girl kindly told her, hopping down from her chair and coming out from behind her desk. "I should be able to finish today, but I warn you, you'll feel fatigued."
Hitomi perched herself on one of the cots, nodding along only to wince and remember to keep her head still.
When the Hero motioned for her to lean down, Hitomi complied, facing the floor while she started working on removing the wrappings, revealing the still shrinking bump and stitched gash. Making the customary hum through her puckered lips, Recovery Girl stood tall to plant a kiss on Hitomi's forehead.
Sure enough, along with the pain fading away, her energy went with it, leaving her eyes drooping and limbs heavy.
"Class doesn't begin for another twenty minutes, so you should lay down and take a nap to regain some of your strength." Recovery Girl said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small package of candy, putting it in Hitomi's hands. "These will help too, if you're still feeling sluggish later."
Hitomi mumbled a quiet "thank you" and promptly laid down on the cot. It wasn't the most comfortable, but with how tired she suddenly was, it felt wonderful.
…
Hitoshi Shinsou was having a terrible day, and it hadn't even started yet.
First it kicked off when walking through the halls, he overheard some second years talking about a Villain attack that happened to 1-A during a training exercise. Apparently their homeroom teacher had been badly hurt, one student broke both his legs, and another nearly had her head caved in.
Hitoshi assumed there was some level of exaggerating going on, but that didn't take away from the fact that they had encountered real Villains, and it was only the first week.
He made the mistake of asking them about it, assuming it would be fine and that they likely didn't know about his Quirk. But before one could answer, his friend smacked his arm and hissed something nervously. The first guy's eyes went wide, and he allowed himself to be dragged away by his friend. Nether one dared to utter a single word in response.
It really set the mood for the morning, as he trudged his way to the general department, the more and more eyes he felt on him, each and every one pinning him with suspicion and fear. Likely attributed to the stressed suspicion already hanging in the air after the news about the attack leaked.
He bit the inside of his cheek, keeping his gaze focused straight ahead, doing his best to pay no mind to any of the whispers surrounding him.
He was used to this. This was fine. This was fine.
"What is your Quirk?"
"I can't tell you! You'll just think I'm a Villain too!"
"No I wouldn't! My big brother's got a scary Quirk and he's super nice, so I'm not scared of you neither!"
Hitoshi almost smiled at the memory. Almost. But that was over ten years ago, and still remained one of the only times someone hadn't recoiled at his power. A fact that, with time, had twisted the meeting into something bitter and fleeting.
I wonder where she is now—
A streak of bright pink appeared, fluttering by like fine ribbons in a dash right past him. Hitoshi's steps faltered, the color so strikingly familiar that it made something swoop in his abdomen.
Just when he decided to think nothing of it, knowing there was no possible way, a female voice called out.
"Hey, you! With the brown messenger bag!"
Hitoshi grumbled underneath his breath, scowling when several stragglers in the hallway paused to watch in obvious fear for the girl.
What's he gonna do to her? He could practically hear them whispering already. Damnit, he really didn't want to deal with this today.
Just keep walking. Don't turn around. Don't turn—
Hitoshi turned, settling his face into a look of disinterest. But it cracked when he finally looked at her.
A wide toothy grin assured him that she truly didn't fear him. The light giggle to follow stirring something in his chest, making his cheeks warm.
"That's a perfect Quirk for a Hero! You could use it to make bad guys give up! Or to talk people outta doing something bad before it even happens! It's so cool!"
Hitoshi's throat felt tight, those same fuchsia eyes boring into him like when he was a kid.
The girl was looking at him intensely, and immediately apprehension struck him. It was a long time ago that she had unwittingly made an impact on him by casually praising his Quirk, but who knew if she still felt the same about it?
She opened her mouth, and he prepared for the worst.
"You have beautiful hair!"
"I came over to say you have pretty hair, but then I saw you crying. What's wrong?"
Hitoshi blinked, completely unsure of how to respond to that. Just like the first time.
It didn't matter, however, the girl spinning on her heel and darting off down the hall before he could get his voice to work.
He stared, not daring to blink until she rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. A mirage of cherry blossoms seeming to follow in her wake.
Hitoshi swallowed, closed his tired eyes, turned, and kept walking to class.
She grew her hair out.
…
"I'm here I'm not late I have a note!" Launching herself through the classroom door, Hitomi waved a slip of paper while crowing her explanation, her words rushing together in her haste.
She panted, free hand resting on her knee. It had been a mad dash to class when she awoke from her nap ten whole minutes later than intended. Recovery Girl assured her that she had let her sleep on purpose, and scribbled down a note excusing her tardiness, but Hitomi still tried getting there as soon as possible. Probably a bad idea with how she was still feeling groggy.
On the bright side, on her way she had passed by a boy with lovely lilac hair, and decided the time lost was worth telling him as much. It was almost funny, how startled he looked.
"Take your seat, Saito."
Hitomi nodded, doing so without any ache coming from the back of her head, and moved to do as ordered. "Yes sir, Mr. Aiz—"
Hitomi twitched, slowly looking to her right. And standing behind their teacher's desk was—
"Why are you here?! You should be resting!" Hitomi choked out, pointing accusingly at Mr. Aizawa. "You can't use your arms! And can you even see through the bandages?!"
A very brief flash of red confirmed that he could, and that he didn't appreciate her skepticism of his abilities.
"Take your seat."
She scrambled to do so, practically throwing her backpack under her desk before sliding into her chair. Their teacher was intimidating before the USJ attack, no way were any of them going to challenge him now.
"As I was saying," Mr. Aizawa started again now that the whole class was present, "your fight isn't over."
Hitomi tensed, looking back over her shoulder to see a matching expression of apprehension on Momo's face. She knew that if she had to get right back to a training exercise on the same day that she was made fully better, Nori was going to have an aneurism.
"Our fight?" Bakugou parroted lowly behind her.
"Don't tell me—" Midoriya breathed anxiously.
"Not more bad guys!" Mineta quaked, holding his head in fear.
Mr. Aizawa stared them all down through his bandages. "The UA Sports Festival is about to start."
Hitomi clenched her fists atop her desk, lips parting.
The sports festival… it was a huge deal. But at the same time, she knew personally how overblown it was. Neither of her parents ever ranked that high during their time at UA, but they still wound up making big names for themselves.
Did that mean Hitomi wasn't going to give it her all and more?
Take a wild guess.
Kirishima pumped a fist in the air. "Let's go kick some ass!"
Kaminari put a hand in the redhead's face, pushing him down slightly with an apprehensive look. "Wait a second."
Jirou carried on for him. "Is it really such a good idea to hold the sports festival so soon after the Villains snuck inside?"
"They could attack once we're all in the same place." Ojirou pointed out.
Mr. Aizawa sighed. "Apparently, the administration thinks this is a good way to show that the threat has been handled, and our school is safer than ever. Plus they're beefing up security compared to past years. This event is a huge opportunity for all students at UA. It's not something we can cancel because of a few Villains."
"Uh, I'm sorry, but why not? It's just a sports festival!" Mineta rebutted.
Midoriya turned in his seat. "Huh? Mineta, don't you know how important this competition is?"
"Of course I do, I just don't wanna get murdered."
While Mr. Aizawa went on to explain how important the festival was, Hitomi studied her desk with a frown. Nori was going to have a fit once he heard about this. And she wasn't looking forward to it. Then there were the extra steps she didn't even know how to take to be allowed special clothes to wear, so she wouldn't flash the audience after use of her Quirk.
This sports festival was already proving to be work.
By the time she refocused on what their teacher was saying, he had moved onto a topic she actually knew a lot about.
"It's true that joining a famous Hero agency can garner you greater experience and popularity. That's why the festival matters."
Hitomi felt another bout of that guilt brought by her privileges. The only other person in the room likely to inherit an agency of their own was Todoroki. And even then, it wasn't the same as Hitomi. On her eighteenth birthday the rights and ownership of Excel-lency would be fully transferred over to her solely. A gift left behind by her parents in their will.
What teenager could say they owned their own agency?
"If you wanna go pro one day, then this event could open the path for you. One chance a year. Three chances in a lifetime. No aspiring Hero can afford to miss this festival." Mr. Aizawa narrowed his eyes, and for a split second, Hitomi was sure they landed on her. "That means you better not slack off on your training."
She gulped, ducking her head in shame.
"Yes sir!"
As soon as the bell rang, dismissing class, Hitomi whipped out her phone and opened one of her top contacts.
(Aunt Rumi! ❤️)
(HS) Hey, I need to your help with something but only if you're not busy (^_^;)
(AR) I've always got time for you babycakes, whatcha need?
(HS) You remember the time you told me about how you trained for your first sports festival?
(AR) Oh ho ho, I'm picking up on what you're putting down. I'll be over tonight to drop them off for you. But I warn ya, you're gonna hurt like a bitch for weeks.
(HS) You don't have to stop by! I know how tight your schedule has been!
(AR) Nah, it's an excuse to see my adorable baby niece.
(HS) What about Ayami? Lol.
(AR) Her too ヽ(´ー｀)┌
(HS) Thanks Aunt Rumi! ＼(^o^)／
—
And just like that, Hitomi felt a little better about the sports festival.
After an intense declaration from Uraraka about her doing her best at the festival, the class split into groups and made their way down to the cafeteria. Momo had to lead Hitomi along as the pinkette kept her eyes on her phone, texting Ayami a list of high protein groceries to pick up. She was going to have to butter up Nori to get him to make her hearty meals in the days leading up to the sports festival, already imagining the look of deadpan refusal on his face as soon as he caught wind of the event.
Hitomi figured he wouldn't support her training plan so easily, the young man familiar with the extreme lengths Aunt Rumi would go, which she was now mimicking.
"I wonder what he wanted with Deku."
Standing in the line of Lunch Rush's cafeteria, Hitomi turned her head slightly, her ears pointing back in the direction of Uraraka's voice behind her.
"I heard that when All Might was attacked by Villains during the USJ incident, Midoriya tried to stop them himself. Perhaps that's what this is about." Iida theorized with her.
Hitomi kept looking ahead, brows furrowing in curiosity, her head tipping to the side subconsciously.
"Oh yeah!"
"Also, remember what Asui said on the bus?"
"That power of yours. Isn't it a lot like All Might's?"
Yeah, and the smell of panic on Midoriya as soon as she pointed it out. That part was still tripping her up.
"Since their Quirks are so similar to each other, it's possible that All Might's taken a liking to him. How lucky!"
Chewing on her bottom lip, Hitomi wondered how someone with such a powerful Quirk, that even gained the attention of the number one Hero, could be so nervous all the time with so little self confidence.
There were so many questions regarding him and All Might, some of which overlapped. But Hitomi put them out of mind, heading over to the table Momo already claimed.
It wasn't like it was any of her business. Especially considering she wouldn't appreciate someone prying into her own affairs the same way.
(But that didn't stop her from later noticing how Midoriya now also smelled of green tea and hospital soap. With the faintest undercurrent of bile mixed with blood. Something entirely different from his own scent.)
At 3:20pm the class packed up to head home, making idle conversation as they did. It all came to a hushed standstill, though, when Uraraka opened the classroom door.
"U-um… why the heck are you all here?!" She floundered in front of the packed hallway, staring at the large crowd blocking them off.
"Do you students have some sort of business with our class?" Iida gestured stiffly at them.
Hitomi leaned sideways, peeking past the class rep and blinking at the throng of teens.
"Why are you blocking our doorway? I won't let you hold us hostage!" Mineta said angrily, pumping his fist.
Unexpectedly, their resident hothead was one of the only ones to remain totally calm, sauntering over to the door with a look of disinterest
"They're scouting out the competition, idiots. We're the class that survived a real Villain attack. They wanna see us with their own eyes." He stopped in front of them, glaring them down. "At least now you know what a future Pro looks like. Now move it, extras."
Hitomi stifled a giggle. Ah, so she wasn't the only one he called that.
Iida chopped his arm through the air repeatedly. "You can't walk around calling people "extras" just because you don't know who they are!"
"So this is class 1-A."
Hitomi looked toward the new voice, straightening when she saw a certain head of hair making its way through the crowd.
"I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound like an ass. Is everyone in the Hero course delusional, or just you? How sad to come here and find a bunch of egomaniacs."
The accusation went in one ear and out the other for Hitomi, who bounded over while Bakugou growled in fury.
"Hey, it's you again! With the pretty hair!" Hitomi stood next to the enraged blonde, her hands clasped behind her back and a gleeful smile on her face, an absolutely opposite image to the boy standing next to her.
The purple haired boy blinked lazily at her, then focused back on the rest of the class, pointedly ignoring her.
"I wanted to be in the Hero course, but like many others here, I was forced to choose a different track. Such is life."
Bakugou scoffed, while Hitomi frowned in sympathy.
"I didn't cut it the first time around, but I have another chance. If any of us do well in the sports festival, the teachers can decide to transfer us to the Hero course. And they'll have to transfer people out to make room." The purple haired boy narrowed his tired eyes at each of them, sans one particular pinkette. "Scouting the competition? Maybe some of my peers are, but I'm here to let you know that if you don't bring your very best, I'll steal your spot right out from under you. Consider this a declaration of war."
The boy and Bakugou stared each other down wordlessly, neither one's gaze being exactly friendly.
It was easy to miss with him standing by so many people, but the scent of desperation clung heavily to the purple haired teen.
Hitomi blinked at him, and for a second a flicker of something familiar flared in her mind, before petering out.
"Hey you!" Jumping out from the packed hallway, a silver haired boy with thick pale eyelashes raised a fist to the air. "I'm from class 1-B next door to you! We heard you fought some Villains, and I came to see if that was true. But you're just a bunch of brats who think you're better than us! Talk all you want, it'll just be more embarrassing when you're KO'd!"
Bakugou turned away from the loud 1-B student to walk through the crowd like they weren't there.
"Don't you ignore me!"
Kirishima ran over to the blonde. "Dude, where are you going?! You gotta say something. It's your fault they're all hating on us, Bakugou!"
Bakugou glanced back at him over his shoulder. "These people don't matter."
"Huh?"
Bakugou's voice now was even and calm compared to his usual. "The only thing that's important is that I beat them." Then he left, the students who were blocking the way parted to let him, a lot looking stunned by his gall.
"Hey! I'm coming for you!" The silvered haired boy declared.
Hitomi watched Bakugou until he disappeared in the sea of teens, then turned back to the one with beautiful hair. She gave a start when she saw he was already staring at her. Mind blanking for some reason, she awkwardly waved with a sheepish smile.
The purple hair boy's throat bobbed with a swallow, and he turned on his heel, hands shoved in his pockets as he walked away without another word.
Her hand lowered, and her lips parted.
Behind him, mingling with the desperation, the smell of something akin to longing drifted by.
I wonder why.