Now, I haven't read the light novels, nor do I have access to them at this time, but they have fairly detailed synopsises on the BNHA wikipedia. So while the scenes and dialogue won't be totally accurate to the light novels, I'm still going to borrow things from it, now and in the future.
Also, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
"A sleepover?" Hitomi cocked her head, hugging her pillow close.
Mina nodded, bouncing excitedly. "Yeah! The girls from 1-B are sneaking over from their room. It's gonna be so much fun!"
Hitomi's tail started to wag. "Oh, I still have some road trip snacks left! We could munch on those!"
"Perfect!"
"What exactly is the plan here?" Jirou questioned, twirling her ear.
Momo reached under her shirt, pulling out a newly made deck of cards. "We've got these, and Hitomi's snacks. What else?"
"We could play Truth or Dare?" Tsuyu suggested.
"I can make a paku-paku!" Mina dove for her bag, rifling around for some paper and a pen.
"What about MASH?" Hitomi piped, only to get confused stares back. "Uh— it's a game my cousins from the states taught me."
There was a knock on the door, and Ochako jumped up to answer it.
Kendou grinned in greeting, carrying her futon and pillow, the rest of the 1-B girls behind her.
"Hey! You guys sure there's enough room?"
"Yep! Come on in!" Mina beamed, working with Hitomi to move their futons to make space.
Hitomi didn't know the girls that well, only familiar with Kendou, and Shiozaki. Thankfully the ginger introduced everyone in true big sister fashion.
"This is Yui Kodai." She gestured to a girl with shoulder length black hair, lovely blue eyes, and a subdued expression. "Pony Tsunotori." Was a blonde foreign exchange student, with big horns and a round nose. "Kinoko Komori." Had light brown hair that fell over her eyes, and she stood as one of the shortest out of all of them. "Ibara Shiozaki." Of course had long vine-like hair, and serene eyes. "Reiko Yanagi." Looked like she wanted to disappear, half her shy expression hidden by her short silver hair. "And Setsuna Tokage." Had a sharp toothed grin, and wavy seaweed green hair.
"Alright!" Mina clapped her hands, standing above all of the lounging girls. "What're we doing first?"
"We brought some sweets." Kendou lifted a brightly colored bag. "As thanks for warning us about Mineta before we went to the hot spring."
"If only we had a laptop, we could watch a movie or something." Jirou propped her chin up on her hand.
"We don't need a movie to have a good time." Tsunotori chirped in endearingly messy Japanese.
Jirou nodded slightly, then perked up. "Oh, I have a karaoke app we can goof around with."
"Yes!" Hitomi leaned in eagerly. "That sounds awesome!"
"Do we need to download it too?" Kendou asked, already pulling out her phone.
"I think so."
Hitomi noticed Ochako's scent spike with embarrassment, and remembered that she had a flip-phone, from when they all traded contact information.
"Hey, we can both use mine." She saddled up next to her, speaking quietly.
Ochako visibly relaxed, smiling sheepishly. "Thanks, Hitomi."
"Well, while everyone does that," Mina started in a sly tone, "I have a question…"
The girls all peered up from their phones, giving her curious looks.
Mina smirked, and pointed dramatically at them. "Who's crushing on who?!"
"Eh?!"
Hitomi worriedly turned to Ochako, staring at her tomato-red friend.
"Why?" Jirou crossed her arms, cheeks dusted pink.
Mina put her hands on her hips. "Because we're teenage girls surrounded by a bunch of cute boys. Someone has to have caught feelings!"
Kendou and Momo shared a shrug, the ginger responding dully.
"Well, it's not like we've had much time. I mean, with prepping for the exams all the way back in middle school, then how busy UA has kept us, it's just not the right time."
"Come on," Mina whined, "love doesn't care about schedules or the "right time". It strikes outta nowhere!"
"W-who said anything about love?!" Jirou sputtered. "That's way too strong a word!"
"Hmm." Mina considered that, then spotted the way Ochako was practically glowing. "Ah-ha! You're blushing!" She dropped down, leaning in close.
Ochako frantically shook her head. "N-no I'm not! I-I just, uh, ate some of Hitomi's spicy snacks, that's all!"
Hitomi cocked her head, knowing she was lying. But this time, she kept her mouth shut, figuring she knew the reason why.
Most people shared a similar scent for the same emotion. Some things like anger, sadness, joy, fear, were all universal and easy to distinguish no matter the person. But some varied wildly between people, a few of those being jealousy, disgust, and attraction.
Attraction had the nasty habit of smelling like different feelings and emotions. Ranging vastly from anything, like joy to anger. It could even smell like determination or longing. Kind of like Shinsou's scent.
(Over in the boys' room, while spectating the arm wrestling matches between Class A and B, Izuku sneezed inexplicably.)
"Hm, okay." Mina relented suspiciously, leaning back. "Anyone else? Gimme something here, like, even just who you think is good boyfriend material."
Momo cleared her throat, side-eyeing Jirou. "Kyoka, I can't help but to have noticed you and Kaminari spending time together."
"What?!" Jirou made a face of disgust. "Whatever you're thinking, that's not it! I feel like he's the type of guy to cheat on a girl."
Hitomi frowned faintly. "I dunno, he's flirty but he's also a really good friend. He's a Border Collie. Border Collie's don't cheat."
While the girls from B looked painfully confused as to what she meant by that, Mina rounded on the pinkette.
"Oh, the Isami guy!"
Hitomi blinked, brows furrowed with confusion. "Fujimi? What about him?"
"He was crushing on you hard, it was obvious." Tsuyu said bluntly.
Hitomi squawked, waving her off. "What? No way! He looked like he hated our class!"
"Yeah, everyone but you."
Momo sighed. "It's no use, trust me. She hasn't even noticed the way Shinsou looks at her."
Hitomi cocked her head, clueless. "What about Shinsou?"
(In the boys' room, Iida offered Izuku a tissue, worriedly asking his friend if he was coming down with something.)
"Okay, well, she's a lost cause." Mina abandoned all hopes of wrangling something juicy out of the pinkette. "Let's see… I think we can all say that Todoroki is a major hottie. No pun intended."
The girls nodded and murmured in agreement, until Kendou pointed out a serious flaw.
"But… isn't he Endeavor's kid? That kinda makes him untouchable, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, his dad's a total jerk." Hitomi stated with a touch of annoyance. "He tried pressuring my parents into a Quirk marriage between Todoroki and me."
There was a long pause, before the girls erupted.
"What?!"
"You can't just drop something like that Hitomi!" Mina grabbed her shoulder and shook her.
"They didn't agree to it!" Hitomi clarified, voice wobbling from Mina's manhandling.
"What about Iida?" Tsuyu broke some of the tension, finger thoughtfully to her mouth. "He's handsome, but he's pretty up-tight."
"He's so stuffy he'd probably refuse to hold hands until marriage." Jirou commented, earning a few chuckles.
"Okay, what about Midoriya? I've seen them usually eating lunch together, him and Iida." Tokage added.
Ochako flared red again.
"What's up with him?" Kendou questioned, not unkindly. "He was so different at the sports festival than he is at school."
"He's a hard worker. He doesn't hurt himself as much using his Quirk anymore." Tsuyu praised.
Ochako jumped up. "Yeah! He inspires me to always try my best, you know!"
"But he's a total All Might fanboy." Mina pointed out. "I feel like the Hero'd outshine any girl he was in a relationship with."
Ochako deflated.
Hitomi chewed her bottom lip, a certain classmate standing out in her mind. "What about Bakugou?"
"Egh!" Mina made an 'X' with her arms, mimicking the sound of a game-show buzzer. "No way! He's way too hostile!"
Hitomi pursed her lips, hugging her pillow tighter. Mina was shutting him down too easily. Bakugou could be loud and mean, sure, but he wasn't just that.
He was passionate. Strong willed. A great cook. Surprisingly considerate when the time called for it. His voice was really nice. His hair always looked soft. And his scent—
Hitomi flushed. If she focused, she could smell burnt caramel coming from next door.
Something must be ticking him off.
"What about celebrity crushes?" Mina pushed the subject onward, refusing to let the love-life gossip die out. "Oh, what about Hawks!"
"Come on, everyone has a thing for Hawks." Tokage deadpanned.
Hitomi withheld a grimace. She certainly didn't have a "thing" for him. His fans all assumed him to be this laidback, suave, chill guy, but she knew better. He reminded her strongly of Nori, with his sarcasm, and constant teasing.
She didn't get to see him often, but when she did, he always took the opportunity to mess with her.
"Oh, are everyone's downloads done?" Kendou asked, noticing hers had finished.
Everyone got out their phones again, (minus Ochako, who scooted up next to Hitomi) and connected to Jirou's, who acted as the host.
"Alright, who's up first?" She prompted, looking around for volunteers.
"Hey," Kendou nudged Momo, "you wanna go head-to-head?"
Momo agreed, and they searched for a good duet to do.
"Man, we barely talked about boys at all." Mina slumped, pouting.
"You can't really help when you fall in love, or who it's with. It's something that happens naturally. And when it finally does, we can talk about boys and romance again." Tsuyu rationally proposed.
Hitomi stared at her, then looked down at her lap.
Her parents met at the end of middle school, and thought it was fate when they both wound up in the same class at UA. They dated all throughout high school, and married shortly after graduation.
She couldn't help but wonder, what it must feel like to be so deeply in love with someone.
Hitomi was broken out of her musings by a small explosion coming from the next room.
…
"The old man of seventy walked into his stable—"
In Akita-form, Hitomi ducked to avoid Ojirou's flying kick.
"Inside were three white stallions. He approached the second and mounted it—"
Hitomi yelped, growling at Tsuyu, who had slipped by and lashed her with her tongue.
"The old man rode the white stallion from Wednesday evening, to Friday morning—"
Hackles rising in ire, Hitomi angrily barked at Sato when he charged at her.
"Friday afternoon, he went to the bank and withdrew three-hundred-thousand yen—"
While she was distracted growling at Sato, Ojirou swooped in and whipped his tail at her throat.
"With his money, the old man bought five-hundred-and-sixty bags of green apples—"
She coughed, stumbling back, struggling to regain control of her breathing.
"Which amounted to approximately one-thousand-eight-hundred-and-fifty apples—"
Tsuyu jumped onto her back, wrapping her tongue around her throat before she could catch her breath.
"The old man then sold the apples for a third of the price more—"
Sato leapt onto her too, knocking her down to her side.
"Approximately how much did the old man make in profit?"
Hitomi shrunk back down, panting and hacking weakly. She stared up at the sky, exhausted, physically and mentally.
"Sorry about that." Ojirou gave her a hand up, wincing guiltily. "Mr. Aizawa told us to go all out, and not bother trying to play fair. Said something about justice for Iida."
Hitomi whined, head ducked in shame.
"Do you think you got all that?" Mandalay asked her, walking over with papers in hand. "'Cause I need a detailed relay of the story I told you, along with the answer to the math equation." She held out the paper.
Hitomi took it with great reluctance.
"That's just cold." Sato whispered in horror.
"Once you're done, Eraser wants you running drills with Tiger."
"Merciless." Ojirou tacked on, Tsuyu nodding in agreement.
"Tonight's gonna be fun!" Pixie-bob chirped gleefully. "We're pitting classes against each other in a test of courage! I know you've been training hard today. And later, you'll get to play hard too! How's that for a reward?!"
Hitomi sat on the ground, gnawing on the end of her pencil, wracking her brain for all the minute details Mandalay dropped throughout the story. She knew that this was what she needed to sharpen her mind when using her Quirk, but god, was it overwhelming.
"Don't slack now! Be sure you keep on pushing yourself as you work!"
"Yes ma'am!"
…
"Not even the final exam was this hard." Hitomi whimpered, her face pressed into the grain of the picnic table.
All while Hitomi trained under Tiger's fierce tutelage, Mandalay continued pumping stories and questions into her mind that she had to memorize and answer to the best of her abilities, otherwise Mr. Aizawa said she couldn't have dinner.
Fortunately, she managed to scrape by.
A hand grabbed her collar, hoisting her up.
"Stop slacking and chop your damn vegetables."
Hitomi whined, but did as Bakugou instructed, following the technique Nori had long ago drilled into her to avoid cutting herself on accident.
"Whoa, Bakugou, you're really good with that knife!" Ochako noticed how he was dicing the carrots swiftly and evenly. "It's weird."
"What do you mean it's weird?! How can you people be so damn bad at everything?!"
"Look at that, he's not blowing stuff up." Kaminari sarcastically marveled as he passed by, carrying a tray of meat.
"I'm too tired for this." Kirishima groaned, exhausted from his group's late-night extra lessons.
Hitomi faltered, caught in the horrifying idea of if she would even still be alive if she had to do those too.
After the classes finished up with dinner, the sky was dark and speckled in stars.
Pixie-bob grinned. "Purfect! We've filled our bellies and cleaned the dishes! So it's time for…!"
"A totally awesome test of courage!" Mina ecstatically cheered.
"We're gonna win!" Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, and Sato chorused.
Then their hope was shattered.
"Not so fast." Mr. Aizawa drawled. "It pains me to say it, but the remedial class will be having lessons with me tonight instead."
The color drained from Mina's face. "You gotta be kidding me!"
"Sorry." He wrapped them up in his capture weapon before they could escape. "Your training during the day didn't impress me, so I'll be using this time, too."
"Oh, give me a break!" Kaminari and Sero cried out in unison.
"I just wanna prove my courage!" Kirishima and Sato lamented.
Hitomi saluted them mournfully.
Pixie-bob clapped her gloves. "Okay, so, Class B is going to start out as our scarers. When they're in place, Class A will leave in pairs every three minutes. There are tags with your names on them at the far end of the route. Your goal is to collect those!"
"Revelry in the dark." Tokoyami said lowly.
"Now, those who are scarers aren't allowed to make physical contact. Use your Quirks to terrify the others. Got it?"
"The winners are the creative students who make the most people piss their pants!" Tiger declared.
"Did we need that visual?" Jirou whispered.
"I see." Iida perked up. "They're encouraging us to stoke our imaginations as we compete with each other, all while showing us more uses for our Quirks in the process! As expected of UA!"
Hitomi wagged her tail. "Wow Iida, you're a genius!"
"Alright!" Pixie-bob held up a bunch of strips of numbered paper. "Everyone draw to see who your partner will be!"
The first pair matched was Tokoyami and Mezou. Then Bakugou and Todoroki.
"Hm, I got number three." Hitomi announced, and was immediately latched onto by her partner.
"How are you so calm right now?" Jirou hissed.
Hitomi smirked, shrugging casually. "It's mainly 'cause I know my biggest fear can't be in these woods."
Jirou's brows furrowed. "How can you be sure? What if Class B does whatever it is?"
Hitomi continued to smirk, not noticing her best friend approach from behind.
"Trust me, there's no possible way—"
"Boo." A shark shot out, getting in her face.
Hitomi screamed, scrambling back and landing on her behind.
Momo giggled, her right hand gloved in a rubber shark, which she snapped the jaw of playfully.
"What the heck Momo?!"
The ravenette reeled herself in, clearing her throat. "Consider that payback for laughing at Sero's comment last night."
"You're scared of sharks?" Mineta scoffed.
Hitomi growled, watching in satisfaction as the short boy shot behind Ojirou— his partner.
Pushing herself to her feet, she saw Bakugou grab Jirou's shoulder.
"Listen up, Ears. Trade with me." He pointed furiously at Todoroki.
Much to Hitomi's surprise, Jirou scowled, and wrapped an arm around her once more.
"No way. You got her during internships, then the I-Expo situation. It's my turn with Hitomi."
The pinkette flushed, ducking her head to hide her smile.
The first team, Mezou and Tokoyami, went out fearlessly. Then three minutes later, the fuming Bakugou stomped along with Todoroki into the woods.
Then it was their turn, and Kyoka hastily took the hand Hitomi offered, huddling close. The pinkette sent a wave over her shoulder to Koda, in a silent wish of luck for his turn.
(It just so happened that they were both wearing the matching yellow hoodies they bought together.)
"It's so eerie out here." Kyoka whispered, tensing at every noise.
Hitomi smiled, giving her hand a squeeze. "Don't worry, I'll warn you if anything actually dangerous is coming."
Kyoka relaxed slightly, but only for a few minutes, before the first scare got her.
Kodai's head popped out from the ground, staring silently at them.
While Kyoka screamed, Hitomi looked toward where she could smell Kendou hiding out.
"Neat trick. Did you guys get Bakugou and Todoroki with it?"
Honenuki popped his head out from the bushes, giving a toothy grin.
"We totally did! You should've seen their faces!"
"Well, keep up the good work!" Hitomi gave them a thumbs-up, pulling Kyoka along.
"Hard to imagine those two getting shaken by any of this." Kyoka mumbled, looking around vigilantly, now on high alert.
Hitomi shrugged. "I dunno, everyone gets scared sometimes." She slowly came to a stop, frowning faintly.
"What's wrong?" Kyoka tensely asked.
Hitomi closed her eyes, sniffing the air. "It's… weird. I smell smoke."
"What? Is there a forest fire or something?"
"It's not just that." She murmured, opening her eyes and narrowing them ahead. "There's another scent. The smoke almost masked it."
"W-what is it?"
The pinkette's fur stood on end.
"Something bad."