Day One, Meeting: The first time your OTP met. Introduced through a mutual friend? An accident?

Okay, so I've been wanting to do one of those OTP challenges for a while and decided to finally go for it. This won't necessarily be updated every day (since there are other things I'm working on as well), but I do plan to get through each and every one of these in due time.

As for the pairing chosen, I went with Ishikawa because I absolutely love this ship and there isn't enough fanart/fanfics having to do with it.

Most of the chapters will take place in a non-despair AU unless stated other wise. I hope you all enjoy!

Also, here is the challenge of anyone else who is interested in trying it! post/133309701572/30daychallenge1

~Start~

He loved school.

An entire building dedicated to making sure that generations to come would be blessed with the power of education? It was truly wonderful. It was a place where he could finally learn and study in peace without people thinking it was out of place and abnormal. Perhaps this time he could finally meet someone that had similar interest as him; someone who didn't outcast him for following the rules and constantly studying.

Now, as he stood before the doors of the prestigious Hope's Peak Academy, he felt confident and fearless. You can bet your life that he was more than ready to take this opportunity by the horns and bravely face any challenge that comes his way.

~•.•~

She loathed school.

An entire building where horrible people could all conjugate in a single place, hiding amongst the rare few that could actually be considered "decent" people? It was absolutely despicable.

She didn't understand why she had to continue to put up with these people—why couldn't she just be homeschooled, instead? It didn't matter what name the buildings went by. They were all the same to her, and none of them were good. Being here just meant she had to endure seemingly endless hours of people taking every chance they got to poke fun at her.

As she stood in front of the large, intimidating building, she let out a small growl of irritation. She steeled herself as best as she could, reinforcing the metaphorical walls that she kept around her as she finally gave in and entered through the doors.

~•.•~

He liked to sit in the front—a place that was easier to see the board and hear the lesson that the teacher was giving today—while she preferred to stay in the back—a complete opposite area; one where she could easily drift off into her own little world and ignore the reality around her without getting called out easily.

As the students all stood up one-by-one to introduce themselves, the opposing nature of the two became even more apparent.

He was loud and confident, making sure to let everyone know who he was without coming off as rude. "My name is Kiyotaka Ishimaru and I am the Ultimate Moral Compass! I look forward to spending my days at Hope's Peak Academy with the rest of you!"

She, on the other hand, was quiet and doubtful, unable to form a single verbal sentence without it being broken apart by a stutter. "I-it's not like y-you'll even remember my name but... I-I'm Toko Fukawa... the U-Ultimate Writing P-Prodigy... not that any of you c-care."

As class droned on, he was seen taking notes over even the smallest of things, constantly alert to every word the teacher spoke.

As for her, she spent the rest of the day peering out the window with a blank gaze. Physically, she was at school, but mentally there was no telling where she was.

~•.•~

Time went by quicker than usual for both of them and it was not long before the students of the prestigious academy were being released from school.

Toko waited patiently for the others to leave; it had become a habit of hers in order to deal with less of a crowd. She let out a small sigh as she continued gazing out the window, waiting for the last of the footsteps to fade into the distance. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder which caused her to let out a shrill screech of surprise. "W-what is it?!" she growled, rearing around to face the culprit.

Pale, violet eyes met bright ruby ones as Kiyotaka offered a friendly smile. "My apologies!" he began. "I didn't mean to startle you! I just happened to notice that you hadn't moved from your spot; you do know that the dismissal bell has rung, do you not?"

Toko muttered a string of incoherent curses as she began gnawing on her thumbnail—another habit she had picked up over the years—before she gathered her things and stood up. "O-of course I knew! C-contrary to the belief, I-I'm not that stupid!" she huffed as she shoved past him, finally deciding to take her leave.

"Ah, wait!" the hall monitor called out, quickly following after her. "I-I didn't mean to offend you! I just wanted to make sure that you had heard it is all," he tried to explain as he was finally able to catch up to and match her quick pace.

She continued to ignore him, uninterested in any sort of excuse he had to offer her. Kiyotaka felt absolutely horrible now. He hadn't expected to make any friends on his first day at a new school, but he hadn't been expecting to make any enemies either. Wanting to change the atmosphere between the two of them, he quickly tried to bring up a different subject. "You said your name was Toko, right? Toko Fukawa?"

She gasped, stopping dead in her tracks as she eyed him in shock with a hint of some other emotion that he couldn't place.

"Y-you... you remembered my name?" she asked meekly, shoulders hunched as she continued to stare him down.

"Of... course...?" he responded unsurely. Why wouldn't he? He had written down the names of all his fellow classmates—along with a unique trait they possessed in order to remember who was who—and had studied the list throughout most of the class period since today was mostly dedicated to the outline of the school year rather than actual lessons.

She quickly averted her gaze, refusing to make eye contact with him after that. "O-oh... well, I s-seem to have forgotten y-yours... what w-was it again?"

In all honesty, she hadn't given a single care to the names of the other students. Normally she wouldn't be bothered to even ask a person's name, but since he had been considerate (was that the word she was looking for?) enough to remember hers, it was the least she could do in return. Even if she would forget later that evening.

He extended a hand to her to shake. "Kiyotaka Ishimaru," he informed, waiting patiently for her to shake his hand like polite people usually would. "But you can call me Taka."

Unwilling to betray her anti-social behavior even for a moment, Toko kept her hands close to her chest defensively, silently willing him to retract his own hand. Taka's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he caught on and hesitantly returned his arm to his side. He had met a few people in the past who, much like her, had not been fond of any sort of physical interaction with another person, including handshaking.

Nonetheless, he refused to simply walk off and leave her on her own. "Would you like me to walk you to the front entrance?" he offered.

"W-well, now that you've i-invited me... I c-can't say no," she sighed. It was true; that had been a policy of hers for as long as she could remember, after all. She wouldn't tag along with anyone unless she asked to, and she wouldn't turn down an invitation to at least walk around with someone as long as they had been the one to offer it. Besides, the school was large and she knew she would end up getting lost. At least if someone else got lost as well, she wouldn't look as stupid as she would getting lost by herself.

The two of them proceeded to make their way out of the building together. The whole way there, Taka tried making small conversation with the introvert who only responded with limited words before letting the topic die off, causing the Ultimate Moral Compass to make a new one. As they finally approached the front gate, Kiyotaka turned to her. "It's been a pleasure meeting you, Toko. Perhaps we can talk some more tomorrow?"

"I-I guess," she replied, not particularly fond of the idea.

He beamed at her before turning to walk in the direction opposite of the way she was planning to go. Before he was too far out sight, he turned to wave at her and called out, "I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, then!"

Toko raised her hand in a disinterested wave. "Y-yeah... whatever," she muttered. Surely he couldn't be serious about wanting to talk to someone like herself again. With a disheartened sigh, she began her long and lonely journey hope, trying to ignore the small sense of longing building up in her at the mere thought of having routinely conversations with someone.

~End~

Thank you all for taking the time to read about this under appreciated couple! Until next time, have a nice day!