"That's… a lot of ice."
Hitomi nodded along to Kaminari's awed statement.
To say Todoroki went overboard for his and Sero's fight, would be a massive understatement. A glacier now sat on the field, arching skyward, and threatening to crush the audience nearest to it. And poor Sero stood half frozen, with frost covering what wasn't encased, taken out of commission before he could even do much. Todoroki didn't just beat him, he took a lot of prospective scouts' attention away from Sero completely.
"Sero has been immobilized. Todoroki advances to the second round." Midnight, seemingly unfazed by the frost covering half her body, announced.
As well meaning as it was, the crowd's chant of "Nice try!" Just sounded patronizing after such a merciless defeat.
"Man, Midoriya, you are screwed." Kaminari pointed out.
Right, now it was set in stone. Midoriya had to go up against Todoroki.
That… could end in a lot of bad ways.
…
Taking a deep breath, Hitomi held it, then released it stiltedly. She repeated this process a few times, until her hands stopped shaking.
"Welcome back to the finals, everyone! Sorry for that long wait! The insane amount of ice from the second match has finally been cleared, though! So it's time to welcome new competitors!"
The flames on the corners of the arena grew stronger again, signaling it was time to step out onto the field.
"While both these Hero course ladies look sweet and fluffy, they're both packin' a mighty punch! Class 1-A's acid-slingin' Mina Ashido! Versus, 1-A's resident guard dog, Hitomi Saito!"
Standing up on the platform, Hitomi shot Mina an unsure smile.
Her friend and classmate grinned back, giving a thumbs-up.
"No hard feelings after this?"
Hitomi stood straighter, the horrible nerves that were eating away at her gut receding. "Yeah!"
"Ready!? Begin!"
"Don't take this personally!" Mina was immediately on the offensive, globs of acid filling her hands.
Hitomi did the first thing she could think of, which was really all she could do. Charging at Mina, she transformed mid-stride, bounding forward in her Akita form. While it would turn her into a bigger target, and make it pretty much impossible to come up with any kind of strategy, it was the right move when faced off with a Quirk like Mina's.
"Huh!?" Mina stumbled back, staring at the several handfuls of acid she had thrown, now clinging to Hitomi's fur.
The smell of burnt hair stung her nose, but it was much better to have some singed and matted fur, than chemical burns on her bare skin.
Mina, now only a short distance away, panicked. Using her specialty gear shoes, she skated away on her acid. Retreat was all she could think of in the face of a gigantic dog with its sights set on her.
(Her brain unhelpfully reminded her that she had read somewhere once that Akita Inus were bred to fight bears.)
Hitomi changed courses clumsily in her lumbering body, but was back to closing in on Mina once she righted herself.
Then, in a move Hitomi couldn't have predicted in the form she was in, Mina spun to skate backwards, and flung another blob of acid right at Hitomi's face.
She reared back with a high pitched yelp, falling on her haunches while she tried to rub away the acid stinging her snout, where the fur was too short to offer protection. It could have been much worse, if it had gotten into her eyes. A ruthless move like that would have given Mina the match, but despite having Recovery Girl on standby, that still would have felt like taking it a step too far.
When Hitomi got off as much as she could, she lifted her head. Her eyes were watering from the sting and scent of the acid, but they found Mina easily enough.
The girl hadn't made a move, knowing very well that she was at a disadvantage, unable to physically force Hitomi anywhere when she was big like this.
Hitomi shook her head, standing. She just had to… what did she need to do? What were the rules?
Out— out of bounds? Past a big line?
Hitomi cocked her head to herself, and Mina took the motion as some sort of tell, widening her stance in preparation.
Hitomi zeroed in on the space between Mina's legs, something familiar tickling at the back of her mind.
Then a voice sounding suspiciously like Momo's whispered in head.
"Plan Horsey."
With an excited bark that startled Mina, Hitomi bounded toward her, tail wagging wildly.
Carry there! Carry there like Momo!
Mina stumbled back, not moving quick enough to get away in time.
Hitomi slipped her head between Mina's legs, craning it up to slide Mina down onto her neck. Mina sat facing backwards, and gripped fistfuls of fur to avoid falling off, too stunned to do anything else.
Hitomi dashed over to the nearest boundary line, sprinting hard enough to harshly jostle her unwilling rider. Just as she reached it— her front claws threatening to scratch into the white line, she came to a dead stop. With the momentum, she lowered her front half, and lifted up her back, effectively bucking Mina off and out of the arena.
The pink skinned girl grunted, landing painfully on her behind, and Hitomi cocked her head in concern.
Momo lands? Lands on her back-paws every time.
She couldn't understand why Mina didn't land on her feet, until she shrank back down and had the clarity to grasp that of course she wouldn't know how to catch herself, having never ridden Hitomi before, unlike Momo.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to throw you like that!" Hitomi anxiously fretted, offering Mina a hand up, which she thankfully took.
"Ashido is out of bounds. Saito advances to the second round!"
Hitomi flinched, almost having forgotten that this was a fight until Midnight declared it over.
"Don't sweat it." Mina waved her off, but grimaced slightly with a meek point to Hitomi's face. "Ah, sorry about that." Glancing down, the grimace worsened. "And that."
Hitomi's ears flattened, the crowds cheering suddenly sounding like jeering. "Ah, w-what?"
"You've got a little… burn, on your face. And, uh, your shirt."
Hitomi slowly looked down, met with the tattered singed remains of her gym shirt, which didn't do a thing to hide her light blue sports bra, or the naked expanse of her stomach. She blinked, face slack.
Is this shock? Is this what shock feels like?
"Come on, let's get you fixed up." Mina put an arm around her, leading her away into the stadium.
As soon as she was out of sight from the audience, and the cameras, Hitomi's shoulder fell from their raised position, and it grew a little easier to breathe.
"Recovery Girl first, or new shirt?"
"Um." Hitomi looked down, weighing her options. After having it pointed out, the burn on the bridge of her nose was throbbing incessantly, while at least she still had her sports bra intact. Besides, Recovery Girl was a sweet old lady. Mind made up, she nodded down the hall to their left. "Recovery Girl."
After having to treat Sero for mild frostbite, Recovery Girl shook her head at essentially the opposite problem, sighing about the reckless endangerment that happened every year.
Instead of taking away some precious stamina— considering Hitomi still had at least one more match, Recovery Girl just slathered on some antibacterial cream meant for chemical burns, and laid a white bandage over it. The cooling effect of the cream made Hitomi sigh in relief.
"Sorry again, I just panicked and threw it." Mina apologized once more while the girls went to slip into the waiting room for Hitomi's gym bag.
Hitomi shook her head with an easy-going smile. "Don't worry about it, it was a smart move."
"So was yours! The way you swooped me up and knocked me off." Mina mimed with her hands the way Hitomi got underneath her.
Hitomi's ear twitched skeptically. "Not really. I kinda just did what I always do when I need to move Momo."
"But you applied it to our fight! So, smart." She tapped the side of her head, opening the door with her other hand.
Hitomi huffed a laugh, deciding it wasn't worth the debate. If Mina wanted to think she was smart, then might as well let her. Sitting right where she left it, Hitomi went over to her bag, digging around and pulling out her father's old UA hoodie.
Mina stared at it curiously as Hitomi slipped it on over her head.
"That looks old."
"It is." Hitomi chirped, flipping her hair out from between it and her back. She pulled the oversized sleeves down over her hands, finding immediate comfort in the action. "It was my dad's"
"What? No way!" Mina gasped. "Your dad was a UA student?"
Hitomi hesitated, shuffling her feet. "Uh, yeah, he was."
"Is he a Hero?"
Hitomi bit the inside of her cheek, passing Mina and walking to the door.
"Yeah."
Mina paused, and it seemed like she could sense the change in atmosphere, because with a wry grin, she dropped it.
"Cool. Now c'mon, we're gonna miss Kaminari get his butt whooped." She ran past Hitomi, stopping at the door like it was some kind of finish line.
Hitomi let the topic shift with appreciation. "How d'you know he'll lose?"
"A gut feeling. I'll bet ya a thousand yen?" Mina wiggled her brows.
Hitomi giggled, following her out of the room. "Nah, something tells me you're right."
…
"I can't tell if this is good, or bad for me." Hitomi mused with a thoughtful pout.
In a display akin to what happened to Sero, but on a much smaller scale, Shiozaki beat Kaminari in a flash. She shielded herself from his electricity, then wrapped him up in her vines. In his now dumbed-down state, he couldn't put up much of a fight, cementing Shiozaki as the winner.
And now Hitomi had to fight her in the second round. That was going to be a hurdle.
"You better beat her, or you'll make me look bad." Mina slapped her on the back, carelessly putting on more pressure.
"Man, she's good." Jirou appraised.
"Guess he was right." A head of blonde hair popped over the wall between spectator boxes, and a boy with cold blue eyes leered at them. "That match really was over in just two seconds. I wonder if his real Quirk is the ability to tell the future. Hey, wasn't Class 1-A supposed to be so much better than us?" He spouted off without taking a pause, and cackled. Though, it was cut off with a grunt when the orange haired girl, Kendou, chopped him on the neck.
"Sorry 'bout him."
Hitomi hummed peacefully. "He seemed nice."
The classmates sitting around her turned to give looks of disbelief and confusion.
"I think we have different definitions of nice, Saito." Jirou sighed.
Hitomi waved her hands. "No, no, I mean. Sure he came off as super rude, but he smelled defensive. Like, in a protective way, you know? He must really care about his class."
This didn't seem to sway any of them, and their attention was grabbed by a certain green haired boy, scribbling away in his battered notebook.
"I've seen Kaminari in action— he's super strong. But Shiozaki placed fourth in the entrance exam. And those vines, I wonder if she's studied Kamui Woods' moves. Binding attacks can be really powerful. I hardly ever see anyone break out when they're used. It would be impossible to get close to her while avoiding all those thorns and vines. You'd have to find some way to tear them off or just hack your way through using brute force. Oh, but in order to keep you from doing that, she'd probably go after your hands first, so then what do you do?"
Hitomi was surprised when Bakugou didn't lash out at him, smelling the uptick in burnt caramel that she was learning to be a signal of his ire.
"Uh, maybe you should take a sec to relax before planning too many matches ahead." Uraraka lightly suggested, breaking him from his mumbling.
"Ah! O-oh, sorry! Sometimes I don't realize I'm talking out loud when I'm taking notes. I-it's not every day I get to see incredible Quirks from people outside our class."
Hitomi leaned forward, making Midoriya jump when she positioned her head right over his shoulder on his other side. "Well I think it's super endearing!"
Uraraka giggled on his left, nodding in agreement.
Midoriya flushed, hiding his face behind his notebook. He was brought out of his flustered state once he got back to talking about Quirks again.
"Uh, actually… I've been taking notes on everybody in our class, too!"
"Really? That's so cool!" Hitomi leaned closer, watching him flip through until he got to a part dedicated to Uraraka.
"Here's what I've got on your Zero Gravity, Uraraka."
The girl didn't seem to know how to handle the attention, stammering for a second. "Ya know, Deku, I've always known that you're amazing. You've got so much drive and focus in you. And the sports festival's reminding me of that." She finished quietly.
Hitomi itched to ask to see the page about herself, but Present Mic interrupted her chance.
"Let's keep pumpin' out these hits and move on! Time for the fifth match! Get ready to watch two new players duke it out! He's the kid with engines in his legs, Tenya Iida from the Hero course! Versus, a fully-equipped gadget dynamo. The Support course's Mei Hatsume!"
"So it's Hero class versus Support." Jirou summed up.
Tsuyu put a finger to her mouth. "I have no idea what this fight will look like."
"Uh, what's up with Iida?" Sato pointed out, curious over the things Iida was strapping to his body. "Where the heck did he get all that gear from?!"
Their class president was outfitted with some heavy-duty looking machinery, going down his legs, up his back, and even protruding over his shoulders like a pair of metal wings. It was strange for someone to give their opponent such an extra advantage, especially when you looked at the power imbalance between Iida and Hatsume in particular.
Hitomi mused that she must have had her reasons for giving the handicap.
After Midnight gave her approval of the gear, Present Mic called the start of the match.
Off like a shot, Iida ran toward Hatsume without delay.
The Support course girl didn't move, but instead—
"Bet you love how fast that gear makes you! Huh, Iida?"
The girl's voice was amplified, reaching the audience as if she was in the same commentators' box as President Mic and Mr. Aizawa.
"Don't your legs feel lighter than usual? That's to be expected. I designed those leg parts specifically to increase the wearer's speed and mobility. But of course—" when Iida reached her, she didn't have to move out of the way herself, her bulky backpack shooting a piston out into the ground, simultaneously shifting her to dodge, and tripping up Iida. "I can still easily evade you with my hydraulic attachments!"
For a little over ten minutes, poor Iida was subjected to being the unwilling participant of an impromptu commercial for Hatsume's gadgets, paraded around using her gear, and also foiled by her gear. Thoroughly showing off all of the innovative devices she created, before she willfully exited the stage.
"Uh, Hatsume stepped out of bounds, so Iida advances to the next round."
While the crowd cheered commiseratingly, Hitomi looked past Midoriya— who was mumbling to himself again, and at Uraraka. The brunette rose from her seat, slipping away without anyone's notice.
Except for Hitomi.
The pinkette weighed her options. She could go check on Uraraka, and maybe give some words of encouragement, as she was probably worrying about her own fight coming up soon. But…
"We're gonna charge right along to the sixth match! Offense and defense in one! The dark samurai and his darker shadow! From the Hero course, Fumikage Tokoyami! Versus, the great creator! She was admitted because of recommendations and I think we can all see why. Also from Class 1-A, Momo Yaoyorozu!"
Hitomi had to stay. She had to see this match.
"Man, why're everyone else's intros cooler than ours were?" Mina whined, leaning her head onto the back of her seat.
Hitomi didn't respond, eyes pinned on the arena.
"How do you think this one will end?" Ojirou inquired to Midoriya, sitting a seat behind and to the left of the boy, close enough to hear all the ramblings he had been going on. "Any clue?"
"Timing is going to be the key here." Midoriya turned his head, but didn't look away from the stage.
"Oh? How so?"
Because Momo wasn't physically strong enough to fight Tokoyami head-on. She had to think of a strategy quick, and act it out even faster.
Come on, Momo. Do what you do best.
"Let the sixth match, begin!"
Btw, I have an instagram (redvelvetpanpan) where I've been posting artwork of Hitomi, so, yeah, go check that out if you're interested.