Okay, so originally I only ever planned on covering the movies, and the most recent OVA two parter out of the anime-original content. But, when I saw this one for the first time recently, I got an idea I couldn't pass up. One of the anime-original characters in this will definitely be OOC. Because he's technically a non-canon character, I decided to take some liberties with him, as he's the reason I wrote this chapter, essentially. You'll see why.
(Btw, this chapter was almost named "A rival appears!" as a hint)
All of the anime-original content that I cover now and in the future, will be 100% canon in The Loyal Hero. Things will be referenced. Things will be hinted at. Things will develop and stay that way when re-entering canon. That's just how I'm handling things.
(Also, I'm an idiot and forgot Tia Ballard voices Ragdoll, but honestly idgaf, she's the perfect voice for Hitomi and I'll die on this hill… partially because I've already been compiling voice clips for Hitomi-edits.)
"Well, it's almost time for summer vacation."
Hitomi listened to Mr. Aizawa with one ear, and the lovely cicadas chirping with the other.
"Don't get too excited. You can't just relax an entire month."
Kaminari gasped. "Does that mean…?"
Mr. Aizawa carried on as if he hadn't spoken. "You'll be training while you're camping in the woods."
"I knew it! Alright!"
"A big sleepover!" Mina cheered.
"Baths!" Mineta jumped up.
"Fireworks." Tsuyu's eyes lit up.
"Hot springs!" Mineta clenched his fists.
"And s'mores." Iida lifted a stiff hand.
"Skinny dipping—" a strip of tape flew through the air, and landed its mark over Mineta's mouth.
Sero smirked, his elbows still pointed out, and basked in Jirou's impressed thumbs-up.
Hitomi cocked her head. "What's skinny dip—"
Kaminari leaned into her view, pointing at her sternly. "You are not allowed to finish that question!"
"We've been training in cities, so these will be very different conditions for most of us." Momo mused tensely.
"No matter what the environment, we must always remain vigilant. Yes, very wise." Tokoyami crossed his arm, giving a solemn nod.
Hitomi— having recovered from Kaminari's blunt shut-down —pumped her fists, quietly chanting, "Road trip. Road trip. Road trip."
"However…" Mr. Aizawa's eyes flashed, and he received an instant hush. "Those of you who don't pass the final exam before the semester is over… will have summer school."
Hitomi froze, smile numbly stuck on her face, the color seeming to leak from her body. "Eh?"
"Everyone, do your best!" Kirishima called to the room at large.
"This is so stupid." Bakugou grumbled under his breath.
"All you girls better pass this thing!" Mineta shook Midoriya's shoulders, much to the green haired boy's embarrassment for being involved in some way.
Hitomi stared blankly down at her desk, only brought out of it when their teacher spoke up again, his voice accompanied by the door opening.
"And lastly, it's a little sudden, but for our next Hero exercise four Hero-class students from Isami High School will be joining us as special guests." Aizawa drawled.
Stepping up to his side were three— wait, he said four students, two guys and two girls.
"She's a glasses girl!" Mineta shook Midoriya's shoulders (again) in glee, tears of joy coming to his eyes.
Well then, Hitomi staunchly decided she was never going to wear her glasses in Mineta's presence. Ever.
Kaminari saddled up next to the girl with shoulder length white hair, crystalline blue eyes, and wireframe glasses.
"Hey, pretty lady, can I get a number?"
While the Isami girl shuffled away awkwardly, an earphone jack stabbed into the side of the blonde's head.
"Damnit, stop showing off your stupidity." Jirou grumbled while Kirishima and Sero cackled behind her.
Mr. Aizawa's eyes flashed with impatience, and everyone was back in their seats and silent immediately. Twice in one day, dang.
"Introduce yourselves." Mr. Aizawa instructed dryly.
"Ah, right." The white haired girl cleared her throat. "We'll be running exercises with you today. Isami High School, Hero Class, I'm Kashiko Sekigai."
A boy with gravity defying light brown hair, small black eyes, and a round nose nervously dabbed away the sweat beading his forehead. "S-same class, I'm Dadan Tadan. Pleasure to meet you." He gave a meek bow.
The second boy had disheveled dusty blue hair, with narrow eyes that lacked brows above. "I'm Fujimi."
He glanced over the room at large, and froze when he locked eyes with a pair of fuchsia ones.
Fujimi's face steadily grew red, his lips pursing the longer he stared.
Hitomi stared right back, head cocking slightly. She didn't understand why he seemed so taken aback, or why his scent was slowly changing into something sweeter. Completely different from the disdain coming off of him when they first entered the room.
Behind her, Bakugou sneered, the temperamental blonde noticing the Isami boy's prolonged gaze aimed near his direction, and interpreted it as some kind of challenge.
"We're supposed to have one more." Mr. Aizawa pointed out, prompting the last student to come out from behind Sekigai.
The girl looked physically normal, all but for the neck up, which was that of a snake's. The mane of bright red hair she had looked out of place on her scaly scalp.
After her reveal, Tsuyu perked up, and the two met in the middle of the classroom in a tight hug.
"Tsu!"
"Habuko!"
"That's Tsuyu's friend?" Ochako's voice was high with surprise and borderline concern.
"I'm getting a little nervous." Midoriya admitted, watching the two friends who couldn't possibly be more different. "This shouldn't happen in nature."
"Mongoose! Don't get all friendly with these UA guys!" Fujimi angrily warned, but glanced in Hitomi's direction, checking her reaction.
She was used to Monama, and was unfazed by it. But the boy behind her…
"What did you just say?!" Bakugou shot to his feet. "You think you're too good for us, Isamishit bastard!?"
"Stop, Kachan!" Midoriya anxiously whisper-shouted.
"Shut up, you shitty nerd!"
"Take your own advice and sit down, you're disrupting class." Mr. Aizawa glowered.
Bakugou growled, slumping back down into his seat. When he caught him staring again, Bakugou gave Fujimi the most menacing snarl he could.
Fujimi gave one right back.
"It's time to go." Mr. Aizawa announced once the bell rang. "Change into your costumes and make your way to Ground Omega. Iida, guide the Isami students."
"Understood!"
…
"I knew it! You two went to the same middle school." Ochako clarified while putting on her bracers.
"Yes, we were very good friends." Tsuyu happily confirmed, smiling merrily at the reptilian girl.
"I-is that so?" Mina and Ochako chorused as Habuko— which she insisted they called her —flicked her tongue out with soft hisses.
"I can't help but feel uneasy around her." Ochako admitted quietly.
"She seems sweet. A bit shy too." Hitomi slid on her arm warmers.
"So you're the class president?" Momo asked Sekigai as she fastened her belt.
"Yes, but it's a stressful job for sure. Mostly because of a... troublesome student."
The fact it was obviously Fujimi, went unmentioned.
"Well," a sheepish bead of sweat formed on Momo's forehead, "we've actually got the exact same problem, too."
"Momo's our deputy!"
"Hitomi, please…"
…
"Alright, is everyone here?" Mr. Aizawa's tired eyes roved over them all. "Today's Hero exercise will be observed by me and one other faculty member."
"I have—" a massive form hit the ground beside Mr. Aizawa, kicking up a cloud of dust. When it cleared, they were met with the grinning face of All Might. "—like a special guest— arrived!"
"A-All Might!" Fujimi stammered in awe.
"In the flesh!" Sekigai covered her mouth.
"Such power!" Tadan squeaked from within his bulky suit.
"I'm jealous of UA!" Habuko's tongue flicked out sporadically.
"So, about our little exercise. We're going to have you all go through some survival training!" All Might held up a remote, turning on a monitor bearing instructions. "Let me explain! With four students per team, and six teams overall, you will start at the predetermined positions that we have chosen! There is but one objective! To survive! To run or to fight, anything goes! Victory will go to the last surviving team!"
"If you run into another team and manage to bind your opponents with this capture tape," Mr. Aizawa held up one such roll, "you can take them out of combat. This should be a familiar item."
"Now, let's announce the teams!" All Might eagerly crowed.
Team A was composed of Midoriya, Mina, Tsuyu, and Ochako.
Team B was Momo, Shoji, Kirishima, and Bakugou.
Team C was Todoroki, Hitomi, Koda, and Ojirou.
Team D was Iida, Tokoyami, Sato, and Sero.
Team E was Jirou, Mineta, Kaminari, and Aoyama.
And Team F was made up of the Isami students.
"All teams, move to your start areas. The exercise will begin without warning in five minutes."
"Make sure you survive!" All Might's enthusiasm clashed blatantly with Mr. Aizawa's nearly bored attitude.
"Yes, sir!"
"Let's do our best, Deku!" Ochako cheered, running next to the green haired teen.
"Right!"
"I won't lose, Tsu!" Habuko warned her friend goodnaturedly.
"I'll give it my all too!"
"I might let you smell my victory!" Fujimi taunted behind Bakugou.
"Go ahead if you think you can!"
"This'll be so much fun!" Hitomi skipped along.
...
Only five minutes passed into the exercise before two explosions were let off somewhere in Ground Omega. They were followed by a lot more soon after, and Hitomi thought she could hear Jirou scream. It was pretty obvious who was attacking other teams instead of hiding out. And it still would be, even if the explosions themselves didn't give it away.
Team Todoroki was hiding out deep within the forest, a cave of ice shielding them from any unexpected visitors. It wasn't impenetrable, but it would give them enough protection to prepare if they were challenged.
"It seems like Bakugou is on the offensive." Todoroki observed, watching through the ice how the sky lit up with blasts.
Hitomi giggled. "Of course, what else would you expe—"
A different kind of explosion shook the ground, their detonation leaving a deafening ringing to be heard.
The shrill sound pierced Hitomi's ears painfully, leaving her to cover them and curl into a ball, grimacing as she rode it out.
"What was that?" Ojirou anxiously questioned, despite knowing none of them could answer.
A bittersweet, almost sour smell grew from someplace nearby. Hitomi sat up, sniffing the air with a frown, all of her fur standing on end.
Koda shot up, hands waving while he opened and closed his mouth in a panic.
"Koda?" Ojirou frowned. "What's wrong?"
His distress worsened, and with a dry swallow, he shut his eyes and spit it out.
"T-the animals are fleeing from a strange gas! W-we have to g-go!"
The shock of hearing Koda speak was overridden by the heavy fear hanging over them now. Whatever could drive the silent boy to actually say something— loudly, at that —had to be serious.
"Come on." Todoroki melted away an opening in the ice-cave. Once they all slipped out of the hole, they sprinted in the direction Koda pointed out to them, rushing to escape the danger.
Fortunately, it was while they were running that they stumbled upon the same path as Midoriya's team, in the mountain-zone.
"Todoroki!" The green haired boy gaped at them with their sudden appearance beside his team.
"Midoriya, now is not the time to fight." Todoroki said in a clipped tone, preemptively shutting down any idea of a challenge.
"R-right!"
"Do you know what that gas was?"
"It's probably the Quirk of one of the Isami students." Midoriya logically surmised. "I don't know what it does, but—" He trailed off, coming to a stop.
"Huh, what's wrong Deku?" Ochako worriedly asked.
"Someone's coming." He warned lowly, looking toward the tree line.
The silhouettes walked in the border of the shade, just barely out of clear sight.
Hitomi took a deep inhale, and smiled. "Don't worry, it's Momo and Bakugou's team!"
"That's not too reassuring…" Mina mumbled.
"Ribbit. Did they run from the gas too?"
"Hey!" Ochako waved. "Over here! Over— h-here…?"
Shambling out into view, Momo's team became visible. To their shock and horror, they all had pasty grey skin, sunken black eyes, and gaping mouths that groaned and rasped at them.
"Z-zombies!?"
It wasn't just Momo's team though, coming out after them was Jirou's, Iida's, and most of the Isami team. They were all like that, lumbering around and setting off their Quirks randomly.
"Habuko…" Tsuyu croaked, watching her friend sadly.
"Everyone… what's happening?" Ochako's voice trembled.
"It's because of that gas!" Midoriya guessed. "They've been zombified completely!"
Hitomi covered her mouth, brows furrowed as she watched Momo pop out her wooden dolls one after another. If she didn't stop soon, she would pass out.
Iida was almost worse off, repeatedly running into a tree, headfirst.
A cackle from behind drew their attention, Fujimi meeting their stares with a confident grin.
"What do you think of my Quirk?!" Much to her confusion, Fujimi turned his gaze onto Hitomi. "Bet you wished you had enrolled in Isami instead, huh, Beauti—"
Too busy caught up in his posturing, Fujimi didn't notice the zombified Bakugou shuffling up behind him. He was only clued in when the blonde sunk his teeth into Fujimi's shoulder.
"Oh fu—" Fujimi's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he dropped to the ground limply. After a beat, he twitched and lifted himself, groaning and zombified like the rest.
"It's just like the movies!" Midoriya gawked fearfully. "You turn into a zombie if you get bitten!"
"If the Quirk user is down, there's no way to reverse all of this." Todoroki irritably growled, watching the rest of the infected teams climb up the cliff side toward them.
Once they reached the top and stood level with Todoroki and Midoriya's teams, Todoroki encased the ground in ice, caging in their feet so they couldn't approach further.
But Bakugou simply crushed the ice trapping him, one-handed, and Momo showed abnormal strength as well by breaking out with her legs alone.
"It really is like the movies! They're stronger now!"
"Damnit!"
Both Ojirou and Koda were snuck up on by the zombified Kirishima and Tokoyami, bitten and turned before anyone could help.
"Koda!" Hitomi fretted, having to be pulled back by Mina when she instinctively stepped forward.
"He's even silent as a zombie!" Midoriya pointed out, unnerved.
The zombified Mineta was latched stubbornly to Zombie-Sekigai's bust. She groaned angrily, hitting him to no avail.
Hitomi watched on with disdain.
"What're we supposed to do?!" Mina flailed her arms.
"We should leave, right now!"
Hitomi felt wrong leaving behind her teammates, and Momo. And abandoning Bakugou caused an unexpected sting in her chest as well. Nonetheless, no one had to be told twice, following Midoriya's lead to the edge of the cliff. They each carefully started to slide down, the decline not too steep for them to fall. Toward the bottom, Tsuyu tripped on a protruding rock, sending her face down on the ground.
Everyone stopped, having heard the thud, and looked back with panic.
"Tsuyu!" "Asui!"
Habuko launched herself down to follow, landing right behind Tsuyu, leering over her.
"Habuko…" Tsuyu croaked, not moving despite the threat her friend posed.
Miraculously, Habuko stopped, her groaning cutting off abruptly.
"Habuko?" Tsuyu repeated, hopefully this time. She stood, cautiously taking her friend's hands. "You remember me, even as a zombie? Thank you, Habuko! We'll always be frien—"
Aoyama popped out from behind a tree, charging at Tsuyu without her notice.
"Tsu!" Hitomi dashed toward her, putting herself between the amphibian-like girl and the zombified Aoyama. She put her hands on his shoulders, trying to push him back, but her shout had snapped Habuko out of her docile trance, and she pulled away from Tsuyu to attack Hitomi's defenseless back.
"Saito!"
Hitomi felt teeth sink painfully into her bare shoulder, and collapsed onto Aoyama with a whimper.
Midoriya's team, and Todoroki (the last remaining member of his) watched helplessly as the pinkette sat up stiffly, her head lolling to the side, her sunken eyes hungrily zeroing in on them.
…
The fog in her mind cleared, slowly at first, but then evaporated completely when she could feel the wind whipping in her face. When Hitomi opened her eyes, she screamed upon finding herself fifty feet in the air, freefalling along with all those who had been turned into zombies.
"What the heck's going on?!" Mineta shrieked, too busy freaking out to see if any of the girls' were falling in any compromising positions.
"What's happening?!" Aoyama parroted shrilly.
"Wheeeey…" Kaminari drawled, thumbs up in his usual brain-fried pose.
"They turned back to normal?!" Midoriya shouted from somewhere down below. "I-I'm so sorry!"
"Hey, Shit-nerd!" Bakugou roared, triumphantly holding the collar of Fujimi's costume, who was beaten pretty badly. "You wanna fight me?! Sounds fun!"
It was clear he had taken whatever just happened as some kind of challenge. There was no telling why.
"Y-you've got the wrong idea!" Midoriya waved his hands frantically.
"No! You've got it wrong! I'll crush you—" he released Fujimi, propelling himself at Midoriya with well aimed blasts in a fiery blur. "—with everything I've got!"
"Wait!"
Hitomi sighed, defeatedly covering her ears, still falling. Poor Midoriya.
Ka-boom!
…
Standing out in front of the school in the orange evening light, the Isami students and a few of 1-A were lined up across from each other.
"Everyone… we're so sorry this happened!" Sekigai, her arm in a sling, bowed remorsefully.
"Don't worry about it." Momo sighed, a few bandages on her face.
"We too ask for your forgiveness!" Iida bowed deeply. "Bakugou, you apologize as well!"
"Tch…" Bakugou snarled off to the side.
"Fujimi, you too!"
"Tsk…" Fujimi mirrored the blonde almost perfectly.
Neither boy said anything, and Sekigai and Iida snapped at them with a simultaneous "Apologize!"
"Come on, guys. We don't want to leave on bad terms." Hitomi pouted, unintentionally batting her eyes.
Fujimi twitched, his face shifting back and forth with reluctance and disgust. Lifting his arm haltingly, he held out a stiff hand.
Hitomi looked to Bakugou, eyes widening pleadingly.
Bakugou scoffed, a vein popping at his head as he took the hand with crushing force.
"Damnit, Cherry! Fine! Only to get you to stop bitching!"
Fujimi tightened his hand so hard it was a wonder Bakugou's didn't break.
Oh no, his bruise only just healed…
"Don't talk to her like that, Bakagou!" He snarled furiously.
Bakugou's free hand ignited. "The fuck did you just call me, Isamishit!?"
With speed that made it so neither boy could stop it, Hitomi fisted a hand in both heads of hair, gripping the strands tight, before bringing them together hard.
Bakugou and Fujimi grunted as their foreheads met with a harsh thwack, pulling away as soon as Hitomi released them.
Her hands settled on her hips, her pout having turned into a stern frown. "That's enough! Both of you!" Her eyes blazed, and for a fleeting second they almost looked red. "Say you're sorry! Now!"
"Sorry!"
Both Bakugou and Fujimi froze, looking at each other in a cross between disbelief and hatred. The word had just slipped out, totally unintended and insincere, but spoken nonetheless.
(It felt like how you would immediately do exactly what a teacher or parent said when they were clearly angered and impatient.)
The intense show of authority… and her glare that had promised punishment if they refused… A trickle of blood dripped from Fujimi's nose, his face flushing. Bakugou noticed and shook with rage, jaw clenched shut to keep from starting anything up again.
Hitomi beamed, cocking her head with her eyes closed blissfully. "See! That wasn't so hard!"
"Alright, it's time to go." Sekigai grabbed Fujimi's sleeve, tugging him along.
He stammered, dragging his feet while staring after Hitomi. "A-ah, wait! Kashiko—"
"No! I'm not letting you pick another fight!"
All he wanted was one minute to talk with her alone, but Sekigai was giving him no choice. Fujimi growled, cheeks burning from what he was about to resort to.
"I never caught your name!" He shouted loud and clear, drawing not only Hitomi's attention, but everyone else's, and watched the surprised pinkette intently.
Hitomi blinked, before smiling brightly. "Oh, it's Hitomi Saito! It was nice meeting you, Fujimi!"
His eyes widened, whole face glowing red. "Y-yeah, you too… Hitomi Saito." He breathed, expression dazed.
Sekigai successfully dragged him away, trailed after by Habuko and Tadan.
Hitomi rocked on her heels, clasping her hands behind her back. "See, he was nice! Just had to give him a chance."
Bakugou gritted his teeth, turning sharply and stomping back to the school entrance.
…
"I'm gonna marry that girl."
"You didn't even know her name two minutes ago! And I thought you hated UA "elitists"."
"I did. I do. But she has to be the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Just wait, Kashiko, we'll meet again and I'll win her over."
"Oh lord…"
(Omake: Recruitment)
Denki blinked at the sudden influx of light, squinting to try to make out the room he was brought into. All he knew was one second, he was walking home, the next, there was a bag over his head and tape restricting his arms.
Tape… Wait a second—
"Sero?! Jirou?! What the hell?!" Denki's eyes finally adjusted after the bag was ripped off, and he stared fearfully at the two before him.
"Kaminari, after your contribution today, we think you might like to join our cause." Sero spoke seriously, his usual grin gone.
Jirou nodded. "While you've done things in the past…" her brow twitched, and Denki figured she was thinking back on the cheerleader incident, "you've shown a desire to preserve the same thing we've dedicated ourselves to."
"W-what thing?" Denki swallowed dryly, assuming this was some kind of cult, and wondered what he could have possibly done to gain their approval. "What are you talking about?!"
"This." Sero and Jirou stepped aside, the former holding up a remote and pressing play.
A projector lit up the wall in front of him, displaying footage of Class 1-A that morning. Denki had no earthly idea as to how they got ahold of the recording, and watched with fearful curiosity.
Hitomi cocked her head. "What's skinny dip—"
Kaminari leaned into her view, pointing at her sternly. "You are not allowed to finish that question!"
The projector was shut off, and Sero and Jirou took their places in front of him again. They shared a look, before nodding in agreement. Then, they dropped the bomb.
"We're the Saito Purity Protection Squad. Our sole goal is to shield Saito's innocence for as long as possible. And with you on our side, I think that this ambitious dream might just become a reality."
Denki blinked blankly, taking a second to digest everything laid out before him. "Uh… I dunno, guys. How do you even go about protecting something like that—"
"We have t-shirts." Jirou opened her jacket, revealing a shirt with a graphic of an adorable chibi Akita Inu.
"I'm in."
(In actuality, Sero and Jirou calmly pulled Kaminari aside during lunch— as they didn't want to risk a kidnapping charge. But the above story is what they like to say happened.
And yes, Sero had his mom make t-shirts. Jirou choked when he showed her.)
Okay, so to explain why I bothered to write this one, it was because Fujimi is a blatant mirror image of Bakugou. Like, they're the same person, really. And it occurred to me that having a character identical in personality to Bakugou, fall in love at first sight with Hitomi, and not even be subtle about it, would just be too good to pass up. Like, here he is, being Great-Value-brand-Bakugou, until Hitomi throws him off his rhythm.
Now we've got a "Bakugou" who's actually gonna be blatant with his affections for her. A juxtaposition to the actual Bakugou's future handling of his feelings.
Anyway, while currently Bakugou sees Hitomi as a tolerable acquaintance (who's really on a similar— though distinctly different—standing as Kirishima, but he won't admit to it) he was more annoyed that Fujimi's pathetic crush was getting in the way of him being taken seriously. (read: Hitomi was taking attention off of him, and he was angry because Fujimi had the same competitive spirit as him, but now the knockoff wasn't bringing as much heat as Bakugou was)
However, in the future, when we see Fujimi again— and we will —Bakugou's irritation with the Isami student will have shifted into a different kind that he can't pinpoint the source of, which just makes him angrier.
*cough* green-eyed monster *cough*