The envelope tucked between his fingers felt unreal.

Hajime will have to admit it; when the envelope first arrived to his residence with a rather familiar insignia stamped on the front, he might have rubbed his eyes a bit too much. There is no way that Hope's Peak Academy, the best school in the country, would actually send a letter to him, right? Logically speaking, there was nothing remotely special or noteworthy about him that will convince the school to bother taking a look at him. He was plain in appearance, his grades were average, and as far as he knew, he didn't have any talents.

It's only after holding the envelope while simultaneously pinching the crook of his arm a couple of times he then realized he wasn't dreaming. This was reality.

His hands shakily opened the envelope, like it might suddenly disintegrate at the wrong touch. Reaching his hand inside, he managed to pull out two items: a booklet with the picture of Hope's Peak and a piece of paper. He tucked the booklet away into his pocket, reminding himself to check it out later, and then he unfolded the piece of paper. As he thought, it turned out to be a letter addressed to him. Unsure whether that was a good thing or not, he began to read it.

Mr. Hajime Hinata

We would like to inform you that you are one of the students observed by our scout. As a result, you have been selected, and we would like to invite you to join us as the Ultimate Counselor.

Included is an orientation guide for Hope's Peak Academy.

He read the whole thing, word for word a few more times, all while wondering if this is some sort of sick joke, and if it weren't for the orientation guide, he'll be convinced that it was just an elaborate prank. Since when was he the 'Ultimate Counselor'?

Now that he thought about it, he did remember attending a class or two in giving advice, and as his former middle school classmates attested, he supposed that he is good at speaking with others, but that's about it. The best he did was making his schoolmates feel better by listening to them, and even then it's not very impressive; anyone can do that.

'The school didn't make a mistake, right?' Hajime thought to himself, turning the letter over. 'I mean, mix-ups don't happen very often, but it's not impossible. This has to be a fluke-'

'No, that's not it.' He sighed as he cut any similar thoughts off, allowing his arm, still clutching the invitation letter, to fall limp. "I'm just making excuses up, aren't I?"

It's really funny, isn't it? He spent years of admiring Hope's Peak Academy, wishing that he can walk its halls as one of their proud students one day; this is the very moment he's always been dreaming of. He should be happy and grateful for the fact that the school scouted him of all people, and really, he is.

But, if that's the case, then why isn't he feeling as excited as he should have been? He'd always imagine that when this day came, he'll be jumping around in joy and not care if he woke his parents and neighbors up from all his yelling, but now that it actually happened?

Here he is, standing still and remaining unsure of what to make out of this.

"Hajime, is something the matter?"

As though to help him with his dilemma, the voice of his mother snapped the boy back to reality; turning around, he saw that his parents, his father especially, were now staring at him.

'Just how long have I been standing here like an idiot?' He berated himself as he turned to face his parents. He can't exactly tell how his mother is feeling right now by her expression, but he can feel the stern gaze coming from his father.

"I...Well...it's just that..." The glare from his father grew.

'Great, I can't even say anything without blubbering like one too.' Against his better judgement, Hajime held the letter out; he didn't even flinch when he felt his father snatch it out of his hand.

The man's eyes scanned over its contents, the features around his face growing dim as he finished. Without any warning, the older man placed a hand on his shoulder, and Hajime swore that he saw him crack a smile for a split second. "Don't let this opportunity be wasted."

Hajime readjusted his tie as he got off to his destination. As soon as he accepted the invitation, for the first time in years his mother fussed over him; she wanted him to look his best when he got in Hope's Peak, and downright refused to let him wear only his plain white shirt and pants, not when she wanted him to make a good first impression. Which is why alongside his casual clothes, he had a brown button-up vest over his shirt. It wasn't that much different compared to what he's accustomed to.

At least his parents let him wear his favorite tie, especially now that he's actually attending as an Ultimate.

If he's going to be honest here, this isn't the first time he's seen the school building; he's seen plenty of pictures about the prestigious school before (who hasn't?), and even the orientation guide given to him alongside his letter has shown a good picture of Hope's Peak.

But, now that he's here at the school gates, all those pictures of the school simply don't...they just can't do it justice. Hajime lifted his head up; the academy felt quite intimidating now that he's seeing it in person. With the way it towered over its surroundings, its size made him feel like an ant in comparison. Who knows, that might have been the intention.

'So this is it.'

Hope's Peak Academy.

Can he really live up to the school's high standards?

This is his last chance to back out if he wished to, he now realized; the boy paused in his tracks, thinking for a moment. To go back to living in normalcy with only the simplest problems to worry about, or to go forward and spend the rest of his school years among the best of the best?

Hajime shook his head with a smile passing over his face. "Well, what do I have to lose?" With his eyes closed, he took a deep breath, before stepping onto the grounds of the academy.

He can only hope his time at Hope's Peak will be different from how his time was like in his last high school.

..

…

….

Hajime trudged his steps along the way to his classroom.

Looking back on it, it didn't take too long before he got used to walking along the pristine halls of the academy. The school gave him a few surprises which defied his expectations (for one, classes were only optional, and for two, their homeroom teacher isn't in the best shape for teaching), no doubt about that. With that said, it only meant that Hope's Peak wasn't as completely flawless as much as he believed in the past.

Speaking of that…

Before he can even reach the door, a few voices managed to reach within his hearing; he managed to recognize one voice with a particularly harsh tone as Mahiru.

"I swear, if it's what I think it is…" He gave the door a light push, confirming his suspicions as he placed a palm over his face.

Koichi Kizakura, the man responsible for scouting potential ultimate students as well as serving as their homeroom teacher, was there in all his glory. By glory, he actually meant heavily drunk and slumped over the teacher's table, with Hiyoko deciding to literally poke fun at him while Mahiru continued to grumble at her teacher's conduct. It was only resolved after Peko was ordered to haul the drunk scout out of the classroom to…somewhere, he can guess.

At this point, Hajime isn't even surprised anymore, not after the fourth time it happened this week. In a row.

"About time you showed up." He turned towards the direction of that voice, and he was greeted with Natsumi casually leaning on the wall a few feet away from him. "I was honestly thinking you're about to bail on us."

"Well, I can't exactly leave you alone with Saionji, not after what happened during the first day." Hajime replied as he closed the door behind him.

From what he can recall, Hiyoko Saionji, the Ultimate Nurse, found out that Natsumi Kuzuryu once bullied Mahiru Koizumi, the Ultimate Artist and her best friend in class. Even though Hiyoko's hopelessly outclassed because of the fact that Natsumi is the Ultimate Yakuza, somehow she found it in her life's goal to be as unpleasant to the heiress as possible, whether it be through annoying her to death to making not-so-subtle threats to putting her through her infamous treatments. Since then, they've been at each other's throats, forcing him and Mahiru to alternate as mediators between the two.

She grumbled, crossing her arms in response. "Don't remind me."

Hajime lightly chuckled at that. Now with that out of the way, he made a quick investigation inside the classroom. So far, there weren't any signs of struggle or damage; thankfully, nothing was out of place. As for his classmates, it's usually just the five of them not counting him.

'Let's see if everyone's here. Pekoyama left for a while to get our drunk teacher out.' He looked back at a certain blonde. 'Kuzuryu got here before I did.' His attention turned to the two girls now conversing with each other. 'And Koizumi and Saionji are right there.'

'Pekoyama, Kuzuryu, Koizumi, and Saionji.'

Taking another look at their classmates made him realize something. "Hm, now that I think about it, where's Tsumiki?" His eyes darted around to find any sort of clue to the whereabouts of the currently absent classmate. Knowing her talent, the fact that she isn't here yet made him a little concerned; hers is dangerously unpredictable compared to the rest.

His reaction wasn't mutual with Natsumi's, however, as her eyes widened in panic.

"Hinata, don't jinx-"

Natsumi found herself interrupted by a frightened scream which, she now realized with dread, slowly made its way towards her. She tried pushing herself out of the way, but by then it was already too late.

*CRASH*

Since the crashing noises came from their class, it ended up catching the attention of the other two. Mahiru cautiously made her way towards the mess their classmates made, her friend tagging alongside her.

When the debris cleared, the end result was that somehow, the walls managed to leave a hole in the shape of a person with their limbs as they collided. Poor Natsumi had the wind knocked out of her, eyes comically dazed with swirls, with the now-present Mikan Tsumiki lying on top of her, a bit dazed herself and her face buried in the other girl's chest.

Hajime inwardly grimaced. 'That answers my question a little too well.'

He immediately helped his nurse classmate pull the lucky student off the unconscious yakuza and had her sit down, leaning against the wall. After that, Hiyoko did a quick examination on Mikan, checking her classmate's arms and legs for any signs of injuries. "Only a few bruises here and there, so you'll probably live." She scowled, turning to look at her classmate in the eye. "Do you enjoy being my patient that much, you masochist?!"

"I'm s-sorry! I-I didn't mean to-" Mikan cried. "I-I got hit by a t-truck along the way, h-honest!"

"How the hell can someone as skinny as you get hit by a truck, then get flung all the way here, made a goddamn hole in the wall, which I need to remind you, is made of concrete, and only got a few bruises?!"

Sighing, Hajime focused his attention towards his downed yakuza classmate, helping her in a more comfortable position. It'll take a while before she can completely recover.

'Oh boy, this is going to be a long, long year ahead for me.'

A week had passed. Throughout that time, the school's headmaster finally decided to look at the current problem in a certain class.

Inside his office, Jin Kirigiri skimmed over the many, many reports on his desk, signs of weariness and unamusement slowly coming over his features. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he shot a not-so subtle look towards the subject of the papers' ire. "Koichi, this is exactly why I've told you to not bring your alcohol to class."

Said scout, who is currently (somewhat) comfortably seated on a chair next to his desk still recovering from the influence of alcohol he had the previous day, grimaced. "What can I say, I've told you before, Jin; the life of a teacher just isn't suited for me." Koichi replied with a slightly slurred chuckle.

"Either way, at this rate we'll be forced to find a replacement for you. At best, it will only take a few days before we can find someone suitable and have you moved afterwards." Jin said with a stern tone in his voice.

His friend only shrugged at that. "That's fine by me. As long as it gets me off teaching duty, I'm good."

'He's never going to learn, is he?' The headmaster opted to turn his attention back to his paperwork, until he heard his friend hum in thought.

"Now that you've mentioned it," The scout straightened himself in his seat, grabbing the stack of reports. "Jin, you won't mind if I take a look at these reports, right? I'm curious on what kind of stuff they said about me-oh." He squinted.

As expected, most of them consisted of, to put in more pleasant terms, 'criticisms' towards the scout's conduct. One particular report about him wasn't in any way flattering, to say the least.

"Huh, guess that Koizumi girl doesn't really like me, then." Koichi commented.

Just as he set the papers down, another one caught his attention. With a thoughtful "Hmm?" he glanced at the student's file, picking it up in his fingers to give it a closer look. He gave careful attention towards the student's photo, studying their features, but what drew his attention the most was their name. "Oh, so this is who they are."

This, too, caught the headmaster's attention, causing him to set the rest of his paperwork aside. "I take it that you've spoken with them before?" He asked, a brow raised.

Koichi shook his head. "I've seen her name a couple of times while scouting, but no, I never talked to her; never really had the chance to after I scouted Hajime Hinata." The scout set the student's file back on the desk, deep in thought.

"I guess that in a way, it's ironic she ended up attending Hope's Peak after all. Even if it is at the reserve course department."

A/N: I've learned a few of my mistakes from the original version (i.e. writing stuff on the spot without outlining, drafting, or proofreading first, forcing myself to write weekly and causing myself to burn out, etc.) so now I'll do my best to rectify them. I'll admit that I don't have an exact posting schedule for this one as of yet, but I'll try monthly updates if I can.

Hopefully, this time, I can finish this story for real.

EDIT: Retconned Hajime's talent into Ultimate Counselor, as I found out that guidance counselors are a bit different. Also slightly edited/added a few more content in this chapter.