Still covered in sweat and dirt, Hitomi reveled in the comfort clean clothes brought her, the gym uniform feeling blissful to wear after the embarrassment of hiding her modesty in a thin piece of cloth.

But it paled in comparison to the spread of food laid out for them in the mess hall.

"Are you gonna cry?" Ojirou laughed at the look of wonder on her face.

Her stomach made a noise, announcing her furious hunger to those sitting next to her.

"Let's dig in!"

She immediately snatched up the meat closest to her— which wound up being some kind of pork dish, piling it onto her plate, before shoveling it into her mouth. Kirishima and Kaminari were right alongside her, devouring bowls of white rice.

Kaminari froze, eyes intense. "I smell beef!"

Kirishima whipped his head around, zeroing in on Pixie-bob, who was delivering even more food to the tables. "Hey, wait, you got meat over there?!"

"Yeah?" Pixie-bob huffed in amusement. "Jeez, it's like you guys haven't eaten in a week or something. Anyway, today's the only time we'll be doing this for you. So make sure you kids enjoy it."

"Thank you!"

"Here." Hitomi mumbled around a fork that she was 80% sure was meant for serving food, and pushed the pork dish towards the boys.

It would be shocking if there were any leftovers by the time the class was finished.

…

"Come on, Hitomi! The water feels amazing!" Mina gushed, lowering herself down until it reached under her nose.

Hitomi hugged the towel tighter around herself, face flushed. "I-I don't know. I might just sit this out."

"Do you not like hot springs?" Ochako innocently asked.

"Uh, well…"

Jirou lifted her head, seeming to catch on. "What if we promise not to look until you're in the water?"

Hitomi relaxed slightly, nodding in agreement.

It wasn't that she thought they would say anything about her or her body, but the self consciousness still lingered nonetheless.

Shirking the towel off, she rushed to slide into the hot spring, sitting with the water just under her mouth, similar to Mina.

"There, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" Mina chirped once Hitomi gave them the green light to open their eyes.

Instead of admitting that she was right, Hitomi took a deep breath and dunked her head down, fully submerging herself in the water. After staying like that for a bit, she surged back up, faintly gasping. She shook her head in a motion akin to a dog drying itself, and pulled her hair from her face.

With her ears now free of water, she could hear Kouta's young voice come from the top of the wall separating the two hot springs.

"Before you become a "Hero", you should learn how to be a good human." With a slap, he knocked down the pervert climbing up the side.

"I'll get you for this!" Mineta cried as he fell.

Tsuyu shook her head in disapproval. "Mineta really is the worst, isn't he?"

"Thanks so much, Kouta babe!" Mina cheered, sitting unabashedly out of the spring. "We owe you one!"

Kouta looked down at them, and yelped at the sight. Face glowing red, he stumbled back and fell off the edge of the wall, down to the boys' side.

"Kouta!" Hitomi jumped out of the water, running for the door leading to the boys' side to try to catch him. But a long tongue around her midriff stopped her.

"You don't want to do that, ribbit." Tsuyu warned, pulling her back.

"B-but—"

"You're naked." Momo pointed out.

Ah, right.

She still hesitated, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Is he okay over there?!"

"Y-yeah, I caught him!" Midoriya called back.

Hitomi sagged in relief. "Thank goodness."

…

It was 5:30am, and Hitomi wanted to die.

"Good morning, class." Mr. Aizawa looked the same as usual, despite likely being up even earlier than them. "Today we begin a training camp that will increase your strength. Our goal is to increase your skills exponentially so that each of you arms a provisional license. This will allow you to face the dangers that continue to fester in the darkness. Proceed carefully." He pulled out a familiar ball. "Look alive, Bakugou. Try throwing that for me." He tossed it to the blonde.

"Yeah, sure. Like in the fitness test." He surmised, voice mellow.

"That's right. When you first started school, your record was 705.2 meters. Let's see if you've improved."

"Oh I get it! We're checking our progress!" Mina added.

"A lot's happened to us the past three months. Maybe he can throw it a whole mile now!" Sero suggested while the blonde winded his arm up.

"Come on, get it, Bakugou!" Kirishima cheered.

Hitomi smiled, some of her grogginess seeping away. "Send it flying!"

Bakugou grinned, taking the stance. "I've got this. No one blink." His arm pulled back— "Go to hell!"

Hitomi slapped her hands over her ears, wincing at the deafening boom.

"Go to hell?" She giggled, slowly lowering her hands.

"...That was 709.6 meters." Mr. Aizawa held up his phone to show the lackluster results.

"That's it? Kinda disappointing…" Sero mumbled.

"You've had a single semester at UA, and due to your various experiences, all of you have definitely improved." Mr. Aizawa put his phone away, coming to stand in front of them. "But those improvements have mostly been limited to mental prowess and technical skill. With a slight increase in stamina thrown in along the way. Your Quirks really haven't grown that much stronger. Not on a fundamental level. That's why we're now going to focus on improving your powers." He smirked, putting them all on edge. "This'll be so hard, you'll feel like you're dying. Let's hope you all survive."

Hitomi had no idea what was in store for her, but she thought it was safe to assume that whatever it was, was going to majorly suck.

(Hint: it was.)

…

"We'll start off with something simple." Mr. Aizawa told her, while people like Jirou, Mina, Tsuyu, Iida, and Midoriya were already getting started. "There's a dummy hidden somewhere in the forest, and you have to find it, using this." He held up a t-shirt.

She could smell it had a liberal coating of perfume on it, and cocked her head. It all sounded stupidly easy. "That's it, sir?"

Mr. Aizawa smirked again.

Crap.

"There have been certain things set up between here and the dummy, meant to hinder and distract you. Your focus needs to be on saving the civilian, and not getting sidetracked."

Yeah, that sounded much harder.

In her Akita form she took a deep sniff of the shirt, memorizing the scent. Lifting her head and pointing her nose to the sky, she tried blocking out all the warring smells in the camp to pinpoint the direction of the dummy.

Got it.

Hitomi took off, charging headfirst into the woods, having already forgotten about Mr. Aizawa's warning.

She kept her nose close to the ground, noticing another scent mingling with the perfume. And it took her an embarrassingly long time to realize it was the "kidnapper's". Casually trotting along, she didn't run into any problems at first, lulling her into a false sense of safety. But then—

"Hitomi!"

She stopped, whipping around to face where Momo's call came from. Something about it was off, sounding tinny, almost, but Hitomi didn't dwell on it. Tail wagging, she started to veer off from the path and follow it, but a faint whisper in the back of her mind halted her.

Momo's training.

She stopped, a low whine coming from her throat.

Civilian.

Hitomi would've hit herself if she could. Getting distracted was specifically what Mr. Aizawa didn't want her to do. And the idea of disappointing him made something bitter sit on the back of her tongue.

"Hitomi, come on! I need your help!"

Ignore it. Ignore. Not Momo—

In an effort to get away from the tempting trap, Hitomi barreled forward, trying her best to focus on her task. Which was… right! The civilian!

Too busy trying to escape the first distraction, she missed entering the next.

Her paw stepped down, something giving away beneath the dirt, and suddenly—

Coming from someplace nearby, shrill, ear-piercing alarms rang.

Hitomi cried out in pain, lowering her head and clumsily trying to put her paws over her ears. It wasn't as bad as the criminal in the jewelry store, but the high frequency ringing rattled her brain.

She could turn back, right? Shift and lessen the horrible sharp ringing. She could do that, right?

But something in her gut told her that was exactly what she wasn't supposed to do.

Growling thickly, Hitomi reluctantly stood on trembling legs, teeth bared and grinding together as she rode out the pain. She had to find the source, she was sure of it.

Frantically looking around, she searched for anything that was out of place or didn't belong in the forest. But the speaker must've been hidden well, because she couldn't find it.

Impatient and sporting a massive headache, Hitomi barked in frustration, and childishly stomped with her front paws.

One of them touched the button that turned the speakers on in the first place.

She stopped, mind whirring slowly. Then it hit her.

Hitomi quickly dug up the button, finding a cord attached to it.

Yes!

Holding it in her mouth, she pulled, steadily revealing more and more of the cord, until something heavy fell from a nearby tree, the shrill ringing finally cutting off.

But Hitomi continued to pull, eventually dragging the speaker into view. It was camouflaged as a bird's nest, with the cord painted to match the weeds that snaked up some of the tree trunks.

With vindictive satisfaction, Hitomi crushed the speaker under her paw, leaving it in the middle of the path in pieces.

As she trudged on, she slowly began to notice more scents. Each one a strong perfume that was much like the civilian's. They were all floral, with subtle enough differences that it threw her off.

She was after the one wearing rose perfume. Right? Or… or was it gardenia? She could smell lavender, jasmine, honeysuckle, magnolia—

Nausea swirled in her stomach unpleasantly, working with her headache to make her feel sick.

Huffing at herself, Hitomi shook her head— bad idea —and kept progressing, going with her first guess and followed the rose perfume.

She doubted her decision, until she came upon the next trap.

Mr. Aizawa said that there would be things set up between the camp, and the dummy. So… that meant she was going the right way!

Knowing that, it was a bit easier to bypass the table laid out with delicious smelling meats. As much as she wanted to eat some, she still had enough smarts to deduce it was probably tampered with in some way. So with a heavy heart she ran past it.

The dummy was close, she could tell. And when she turned down the path, she spotted it, dangling from a random tree.

It was a simple stuffed dummy, with a shirt shoved over it that was covered with the perfume, like the one Mr. Aizawa showed her.

Coming up to it, Hitomi finally turned off her Quirk, hurrying to climb up to where the rope holding it was tied around a sturdy branch.

"Don't worry, you're safe now." She smiled reassuringly at it, treating it like an actual civilian. "My name's Ōkami. Are you hurt at all?"

Hitomi waited, giving the dummy sufficient time to "reply", and finally got the knot undone. After carefully lowering it down, she hopped out of the tree, and got the rope off of it.

"Can you tell me who did this to you?"

She paused again, nodding and humming. It helped that it felt a lot like when she attended one of Hana's tea parties.

"Okay, there's a camp nearby, I'll take you there and we can treat you for any injuries. Don't worry, there's more Heroes there too." Hitomi gently hoisted the dummy onto her back, pulling the arms over her shoulders, and hooking her hands under its knees.

She considered using her Quirk again, knowing that was what they were all supposed to be training, but Hitomi weighed the importance of that, while thinking of how she would go about the same situation if the dummy was a real person. And in the event that she was responsible for keeping a civilian safe, it was better to err on the side of caution.

Sprinting back down the path toward camp, Hitomi kept her ears moving on her head, pointing them at any sound of leaves rustling or twigs breaking. Her nose was keen as well, ready to pick up on any foreign scent. All the while, she reassured the dummy with comforting words, and praised it for being so strong.

"We're almost there." Hitomi told it, before skidding to a halt, eyes narrowing up ahead.

Someone was coming, and fast. It was—

"Mwa ha ha!" Iida came to a stop in front of her, his engines smoking faintly. "I see you've found my captive! But I won't let you get away with them!" He spoke in a high and villainous tone.

Hitomi paused, lowering her voice slightly. "Iida, is this part of my training?"

Iida broke character, nodding with a sincere smile, and matched her volume. "Yes, Mr. Aizawa pulled me aside and asked if I would fill the role."

"Ah, okay." She cleared her throat, raising her voice back to normal. "That's too bad, because I won't let you harm this civilian!"

She jumped back, quickly depositing the dummy on the ground to lean against a tree, then charged at Iida.

"You puny Hero!" Iida cackled, taking on a fighting stance. "To think you can—"

Hitomi reared her right fist back, closing in on him.

He raised his arms to shield his face from it, widening his stance.

A smirk tugged on her lips. Sorry Iida.

While following through with her fist, she also brought her left foot up, sending it squarely to his—

Iida grunted, face paling, as he dropped to the ground, cradling his crotch.

"Sorry, Iida." Hitomi said with a grimace. "My Aunt Rumi says when lives are at stake, there's no such thing as a fair fight."

"W-wise words." He croaked into the dirt.

Hitomi hurried over to the dummy, picking it back up and running past Iida with another apology sent back at him.

"—And you might wanna make that codpiece bigger!"

When she broke through the tree line, she saw Mr. Aizawa waiting for her, a stopwatch in hand.

"Twenty-six minutes and sixteen seconds. Not bad."

Hitomi beamed at the praise, and bounced the dummy slightly. "Where do I put the civilian?"

Mr. Aizawa reached out his hands, taking it from her and casually holding it under his arm. "Where's Iida?"

Hitomi winced. "Ah, well…" she came up to the teacher, whispering what happened.

There was a flash of a sympathetic frown on his face, before he sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"You know he still has training to do?"

Hitomi nodded meekly.

He sighed again. "He gets twenty minutes to recover. And you, try to refrain from kicking anyone else… there."

"Yes sir!"

"Now go join Midoriya while we set up your next course."

Hitomi looked to where the green haired boy, and several others from Class 1-B were being put through the wringer by Tiger.

She grinned eagerly.

…

"Now, remember what I said?" Pixie-bob chirped. "We're not serving your food anymore!"

"If you guys wanna eat, you'll have to make your own meals! Starting with curry!" Ragdoll finished.

"Yes, ma'am…" Most of Classes 1-A and 1-B drawled wearily.

Ragdoll giggled hysterically. "Oh man, do you guys look exhausted! But that doesn't mean you can coast by making sloppy cat food!"

Iida was the first to pick his head up, seeming fully recuperated from Hitomi's ruthless attack earlier in the day. "Oh, I see! An important part of saving someone recovering from a disaster is providing for their physical needs, as well as spiritual. Ah! This is a great opportunity! Let's make the most delicious curry in the world, everyone!" He encouraged the two classes.

Hitomi pumped a fist weakly, her muscles screaming in protest. "Yeah!"

"Yeah, okay…"

Tasks were divided up between them, some to prep the vegetables, some to prep the meat, and some to get the fires going.

"Hey, Todoroki!" Mina called, playfully snapping her tongs. "Can we get some fire over here, too?"

Standing with Tokoyami at their station, Sero grinned over at their temperamental blonde. "Bakugou, use an explosion to light ours."

Hitomi's ear went straight. "I don't think that—"

"This is so beneath me!" Bakugou blasted the firewood, destroying the brick stove.

"Too much!" Tokoyami warned too late.

"Rely on others and you'll never learn to start a fire yourself." Momo materialized a lighter in her hand. "We should focus on acquiring new skills."

"Here, let me." Todoroki still came over, cupping a small flame in his left palm, and transferring it to the wood.

"Thank you so much!" Ochako beamed.

"Burn, baby, burn!" Mina chanted excitedly.

"Um, Saito?"

Hitomi looked away from her bucket of skinned potatoes, peering up at Midoriya while sitting casually on the ground. "What's up?"

Midoriya swallowed visibly, his eyes flittering around, only managing to lock with hers for a few seconds, before fleeing again.

"Can we talk?"

Hitomi nodded, setting down her half-way peeled potato. "Sure! What's on your mind?"

Midoriya hesitated, scratching his neck. "Uh, well, I was actually thinking we could talk a-alone?"

That threw her off. But nonetheless she stood, brushing the dirt from her legs, and followed him until they reached the tree line, well out of earshot.

"Have you ever heard of the Hero duo Water Hose?"

Hitomi frowned, her ears drooping. "Yeah, I have. They were compared to my parents a lot, and… were murdered on the job too."

Midoriya nodded, looking mightily guilty for bringing it up, but he pushed on. "Apparently, Kouta is their son."

Hitomi's heart ached.

"Really?"

"Mm." He confirmed sadly. "And… well, I know it's not my place— and you can totally tell me to beat it and never bring it up again! B-but I was wondering… after what happened, did you ever hate Heroes, like Kouta does?"

Hitomi pursed her lips, lowering her head. "No, not Heroes in general." Just one. "But Nori did. Though, he kinda always hated them. I think it was because he saw all the scrapes and bruises Mama and Papa would come home with. He hated the idea of them being hurt, and being a Hero was what caused it, so…"

"I kinda got that feeling from him during the I-Expo incident." Midoriya admitted. "You could just tell he didn't want to work with us, and thought we were just a bunch of stupid kids. But your safety outweighed his reluctance to be a part of the situation.

Hitomi cracked a smile, chest warm.

"I can't speak for Kouta, and his dislike of Heroes. But maybe if I had been younger when I lost my parents, I would've felt the same way."

"I don't think so."

Hitomi lifted her head, cocking it questioningly.

Midoriya hastily elaborated. "W-well, I mean— You care about people so fiercely, even when you don't really know them! It's hard to imagine you being anything but a Hero."

Hitomi sucked in a breath, face burning. That was… one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to her.

"Midoriya! Saito! The curry's done!"

There were picnic tables set up outside for them to use, providing enough seating for all forty students, who were already digging in.

"If I got this at a restaurant, I'd send this crap back. But after today, I'll eat every bite!" Kirishima cried through mouthfuls of rice and curry.

Hitomi claimed a free spot, wasting no time and started devouring the food. Kirishima was right, it definitely wasn't the best, but like Nori always said, there's no better seasoning than hunger.

"Is everything okay?" Mezou asked through his mask next to her, one of his hands turning into a mouth and eating.

Hitomi swallowed, answering once it was down. "Yep! Everything's fine!"

"What did shitty Deku want?" Bakugou grumbled suspiciously.

Hitomi turned, finding him sitting at the table behind her, glowering over his bowl of curry. She gave him a smile in return.

"He was just wondering if I'd ever heard of Water Hose."

A flicker of recognition sparked in his eyes, and Hitomi went back to her dinner.

"Whoa, you're scarfing, Momo!" Mina chimed, impressed.

The ravenette paused her eating to explain. "Yes. My Quirk transforms lipids into brand new atoms to create inorganic materials. That means the more I eat, the more I can make."

Sero chewed thoughtfully. "Like how poop works."

Hitomi choked, coughing and cackling at the same time. She felt Mezou worriedly pat her back to help, but she was too caught up in her hysteria.

"Apologize!" Jirou punched Sero in the face, while Momo sulked.

"Okay, I'm sorry!"

"Shouldn't you be, like, defending her honor or something?" Kaminari asked from the seat in front of her.

Hitomi hacked one last time, shoulders shaking with mirth. "S-she's my best friend, I'm allowed to laugh at her expense sometimes. It goes both ways."

"That's pretty feral of you."

"Shut the fuck up, Dunce Face!"

Hitomi smiled into her food, the curry suddenly tasting better.