"You're next."

Everyone in the world thought that All Might was calling out more villains. He was sending a message that he was coming for them next. It sent a wave of hope through Japan that she could see, with how people talked to each other, how her parents reacted to the news.

But if that was what All Might was talking about, then why did he retire?

Hitomi sucked in her breath, her fingers screaming at her to stop what she was doing, her senses demanded that she return to the ground, and gravity was in full agreement. There was not a single muscle in her body that wasn't currently trying to bill her for damages. Her stomach twisted in knots whenever she looked down towards the ground, and it grew even worse when she looked up at how far she still had to go.

She flung her arm up over her head, using her entire body to reach for that glorious green rock that marked the furthest she had ever gotten on the rock wall. The rock wall had proved to be a challenge in more ways than one; when Itsuka had said it was a full-body workout, she meant it. Not only did she need the strength to pull herself up, but she also needed the balance to stay on the wall, the finger dexterity to hold her grip, and the most surprising, she needed to plan her movements.

It wasn't just enough to climb up, every movement she made needed to be thought out, did she take the quick, risky, and hard path and risk falling or did she take the slow steady path and hope that her strength wouldn't fail her before she got to the top?

The top huh?

That wasn't happening anytime soon.

Though now the top of the hero world was open.

The more she thought about it, the less it made sense. Why would All Might say that and then retire? He said he retired from the hero world to focus on being a teacher, and that it had been a long time coming. So why challenge the villains like that?

Unless.

Hitomi grabbed onto the blue rock on her way up, the rough texture beneath her palm was cold and made her very aware of just how sweaty her entire body was. She was going to take a long, long, shower after this and heavily debate on getting her haircut. A haircut without Itsuka, Setsuna, or Yui knowing about it. As much as she loved her friends, she would not let them near her head with a pair of scissors.

For so many reasons.

She glanced down, which was probably a mistake, to see the floor and Itsuka standing there looking like a proud mother. But that wasn't where she needed to be looking. She needed to find a foothold. Something difficult due to the shifting incline. There should be a rock somewhere around here. There maybe? She kicked her leg along the surface, trying to find that rock. And ahh, there it was. She maneuvered her leg, feeling her muscles strain from the odd angle and then planted her foot on the rock.

It felt solid.

More solid than what All Might said though.

But, maybe, that wasn't what All Might meant.

If the villains weren't next then who was?

Hitomi stretched her hand upwards, barely gripping the rock with her fingers before just barely pulling herself up.

And then she felt it. The muscles in her arms said 'nope' and stopped functioning.

The harness tightened and she was guided safely to the ground where she simply flopped down onto the matted floor at the bottom.

"Hey, you did good today Hitomi! Keep it up and you'll be at the top in a month. Or two." Itsuka grabbed Hitomi's arm and pulled her up despite Hitomi trying to be dead weight. The ground was cold. She wasn't done with it yet. "You want to try again or are-"

"We have class tomorrow." Hitomi ran a hand through her thick greasy hair and stuck her tongue out. She hadn't had a chance to shower for the last two days and she could really feel it. Between the start of the second semester and moving into the dorms things had been incredibly hectic for her, and from what Itsuka had been going on about it was like that for the hero course too.

Apparently Vlad-sensei was pushing class 1-B hard for the upcoming license exam.

"And I really need to shower." She felt sticky. And kind of itchy. It was very unpleasant.

"Yeah," Itsuka laughed. "Have they fixed the girls' shower since-"

"No, they're still broken." Hitomi sighed, that was another big part of it. The showers on the girls' side of the general dorms had been broken, mostly because of a support student with pink hair.

"Oh, well, do you want to come use our shower?" Itsuka offered, scratching the back of her head. "I mean, I won't be there with you or anything but it is available, and a bit more private than the ones here, and it's closer to your dorms so-"

"Itsuka, you had me at shower, let's go, I'm tired of feeling like I'm covered in sweat."

"But you are."

"I know and I'm tired of it."

"Oh. Fair."

"So what exactly has Kan-sensei been teaching you guys that has Yui looking ever so slightly less cool than normal?" Hitomi asked. During lunch she remembered seeing Yui give a light twitch.

Itsuka shrugged. "We're trying to develop some super moves. Yui's just being dramatic because she can't really figure out a good super move for her quirk, and Setsuna already has hers all set."

"What about you? With your quirk I can't imagine what a super move for you would be besides 'Hit extra hard'."

"Hey!"

"Or maybe you learned how to use your quirk on your tits?"

Itsuka gasped in fake excitement. "Why, do they look bigger?"

They both shared a laugh as they exited the gym, making the long walk back towards the dorms.

"No, but really," Itsuka waved her hand and then threw both of her fists out in front of her, both of them expanding along the way. "I'm working on timing the expansion with the hit for some extra 'oomph', Kan-sensei said that it's a good move for me and it was better than Neito's 'I'll just use several quirks at once and see if that does anything' super move."

"I can see how that'd be useful."

"You might want to start thinking about a super move yourself, I think Aizawa-sensei might be impressed if you already have one by the time he tests you."

Hitomi snorted and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I don't even think I can have a super move, unless you count pissing people off so that they call me a bitch. Is that a super move?"

"Totally, but hey, better idea, why not learn how to change your voice or like do the throwing voice thing, uhh, what's it called. Oh! Ventriloquism!" Itsuka jumped forward, hands behind her back as she bounced around to look at Hitomi. She was trying to be cute like an anime girl or something. Worse thing it was almost working. "You might even be able to get a support item to help you with it. I know a couple of my classmates are doing that."

"That's not too bad of an idea." Hitomi tapped her chin and let out a wicked grin. And she had an idea of how to get one made despite not being a hero student. "Can I be an absolute evil bitch and blackmail my way to getting one?"

"Uhh, I kind of assumed, but what exactly do you have in mind?"

Her friends knew her so well.

"You know that Hatsume girl from the sports festival?"

"The one that turned it into a commercial?"

"Yeah."

"Oh god what do you have planned for her Hitomi?"

Hitomi just smiled. "Well, you see, she's been staying up real late and keeping up some of the other students, she also has a habit of not showering, so I'm going to threaten her with forcing her to get nine hours of sleep every day and spending an hour washing."

Itsuka gasped. "You're evil."

"I know."

XXXX

After a long, hard-earned, and much-needed shower at the class 1-B dorms, Hitomi felt wonderful. The shampoo that Setsuna had let her use—forced, more accurately—had done wonders for her hair. It was still a bit wild, but it wasn't the greasy comb-destroying mess she was used to. Now, her hair felt smooth, fluffy, and could actually be combed! Despite the fact that she was wearing a very plain white shirt and even plainer black shorts she felt cute with her hair in a ponytail.

With one final wave goodbye, Hitomi went out into the brisk summer night air and headed towards her own dorms. The path would take her directly past the 1-A dorms as she did so.

It was there that she saw him.

That boy.

Izuku Midoriya. She hadn't seen him since that day at the hospital. That time she had caught him right before he was going to do something stupid. This time, again, she caught him as he was doing something stupid by watching him fall flat on his face and then lie down on the grass not moving for a couple of seconds. Was it wrong that she kind of enjoyed watching him hurt himself?

She walked right up to him, close enough that she could kick his head if she wanted too. Which she didn't. It was one thing to have him hurt himself and another to do it herself. "What are you doing?"

Izuku shot up and glanced at her with wide eyes. "Hitomi?" He half squeaked and scrambled up to stand next to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Walking. But I'm not the one doing something weird."

"Oh. Umm, well, I'm training my super move, or at least I'm trying to, I'm not really sure what I'm doing, I mean, I get what I'm trying to do and what I'm trying not to do. I think. So I'm uhh."

Hitomi let out a chuckle that made her feel like she should be saying 'Ara Ara' or some shit. "You know, you're kind of cute when you're mumbling like that."

And that was how she broke Izuku Midoriya.

He stood there stuttering and mumbling and pointing and blushing so bright she could see it in the dim light.

"Yo, Izuku, calm down, if I had known a compliment would shut you down I would have done that during our match." She rolled her eyes and stepped to the side of him. "But, what's your super move? I've been hearing a lot about class 1-B's super moves, and they're uhh, a work in progress."

"Oh, umm," He calmed down just a bit, and scratched the back of his head, looking away from her and towards the small grove that separated the dorms from U.A.'s main wall. "Well, it's not really a super move, it's more changing up how I fight so I stop-"

He paused, holding up his scar covered arm. She didn't remember him having so many scars during their match. Where did they all come from? His fight with Shoto that caused an explosion? His encounter with Stain? The insanity that was the training camp? Why did it seem that no matter what terrible event happened Izuku was somehow in the middle of it all? and those scars were proof of it.

She would bet that he was in the middle of the All Might battle as well given all that happened. "So you stop hurting yourself?"

"Yeah." Izuku nodded. "So I'm figuring out how to use my legs better."

"By falling on the ground?"

"I'm trying to learn some kicking moves." Izuku nodded towards his open notebook. "And the grass is actually rather soft."

"I bet it is." She gave a half shrug. "Hey, you're pretty close to All Might right?"

"What?" He took a step back waving his hands around. "I mean, yeah, I guess, he's just mostly the hero course teacher and he helps me out because we have similar quirks and stuff but that's it honest."

Things that were totally not suspicious: Izuku and All Might's relationship.

"Uh-huh, that's great, but I just wanted to ask you, what do you think he meant by 'You're Next' after that fight? I mean I get that he just pointed at the camera, but what do you think he meant by that?"

"Oh." Izuku turned to look her in the eyes for a moment before he looked towards the ground again. "I know what you mean, he didn't really say anything but everyone thought that he was talking about going after the other villains, but, I think that he was pointing to us."

"Us?"

"Yeah. Like. Like, he's done. That's why he's retiring, so, now it's our turn to become pillars of peace and justice." Izuku scratched the back of his head and laughed. It didn't have any humor behind it. "I haven't asked him about it though, but I really think that's what he was saying back then. Silly, I know."

"Nah, I think you nailed it." Hitomi smiled and looked up towards the sky. "We just entered a world without All Might. Of course he wouldn't leave until he thought we were ready. You're pretty smart Izuku."

"Uhh, thanks."

"By the way, you know that U.A. has a gym right?"

"Yeah, there's a lot of them, but they're closed at night and-"

"No, not those gyms, a regular gym, like with workout equipment, a padded floor, weights, a rock wall, the works. All that stuff."

"What?"

"Yeah, come on, I'll show you."

Watching Izuku's mouth hit the floor when she showed him the gym was well worth the extra walk.

AN: Hey look! She actually talked to Izuku for more than a single line.