Hope's Peak Academy, the hardest school to get into in the country, probably even the hardest school to get into in the world. The only way you can get in is to have two qualities: Be in high school, and be the very best at what you do.
The school has to personally scout you out and they gift you the title of "Super High School Level" or "SHSL" for short.
Every student here has their own talent and personality. Except for me.
My name is Hajime Hinata, and the only reason I was accepted into Hope's Peak is because I'm a reserve course student. Reserve course students can get in pretty easily compared to normal students.
All you'd have to do is pay money to take a simple entrance exam and if you passed, you got into the school.
I got accepted in, and was placed in the reserve course department, but I was still in the class with all the other SHSL students. Even then, I never felt confident in myself or my ability.
Thankfully, the SHSL students still treated me the same as any other, and I even made some friends, something I wasn't really able to do before entering Hope's Peak.
There was Sonia Nevermind, The SHSL Princess. She's the Princess of the kingdom of 'Novoselic' and from what I've heard from Sonia, her country is extremely odd.
There was also Kazuichi Souda, the SHSL Mechanic, who had an INSANE obsession with Sonia. I'm not even talking about love-struck teenager, either. This dude will do literally do ANYTHING for this girl.
And my one of my best friends, Chiaki Nanami, the SHSL gamer. She's the sleepy and quiet gamer of the group. She always has a pause before she talks, and she yawns almost every 5 minutes.
So even though I'm completely talentless, they still accepted me like I was one of them.
…Except for one.
The Infamous Nagito Komaeda, the SHSL Lucky Student. He's the oddball of the class, usually quiet and people, Reserve Course or SHSL student, distanced themselves from him.
We got off on the wrong foot when we first met. I noticed on one of the first days I was in class, he wouldn't stop staring at me. It honestly freaked me out, since I couldn't tell if he was glaring at me or just staring at me. I'm not sure which one I would've preferred more.
But at the end of class he narrowed his eyes at me and told me that a talentless and plain bystander should get tossed out of the school.
I didn't exactly know what to say, what should I have said? I confronted Chiaki about it, but she said not to worry about it. She explained that Komaeda was a very complex person, and not to take many of the things he says seriously.
The school hadn't assigned dorm rooms yet, and just my luck, we got placed together as roommates. I was honestly ready to get into my first fight, because I thought this kid was going to punch me as soon as I walked in the room.
But surprisingly, when I walked in he stayed quiet and wasn't looking at me. I asked him why he wasn't trying to kick me out of the dorm room, and he replied without looking at me.
"…Truthfully, I'm just as talentless as you." That was a weird way of putting it, but he looked extremely guilty.
I raised my eyebrows in a questioning manner to let him know I didn't understand, but he was still looking away from me, so I had to question him.
"What do you mean 'just as talentless'? You're the SHSL Student, aren't you?" After saying that he exhaled in a sort of laughing noise.
"That's such a boring and useless talent, don't you think?" I was taken aback by his sudden shift in attitude. His murky green eyes trailed away from me again and he spoke again
"Honestly, I think I should be the one tossed out of this school. I doubt Hope's Peak Academy would want a disgusting person like me here." I couldn't follow this dude at all, but it still slightly disturbed me to hear him say this stuff.
"Hey… Knock that off, no matter what your talent is, you shouldn't belittle yourself like that." After I finished talking, he gave a soft and gentle smile.
"Thank you…um… What is your name?" His placed his hand through his white and fluffy hair, engulfing it slightly. I was actually getting curious about how his hair felt.
"It's Hajime Hinata" Even though I said it plainly, he smiled like it was the most interesting thing ever.
"Then may I call you 'Hinata-kun'?" I laughed slightly at his request.
"Yeah, I don't mind." I don't understand why everything I said made him so happy.
"I'm glad you don't mind sharing a room with trash like me. I'm surprised you aren't kicking me out right now." I never understood why he constantly put himself down like that, but thankfully sharing a room with him for the past few months has led me to understand him more.
We actually got along pretty well, or at least as Komaeda put it, he was "In love with the hope that slept inside me". I think I've hardly even scratched the surface of what he's like, but I'm glad we get along.
He always made the simplest thing interesting, and I never really got bored of having him around, something I usually don't do.
Today he came in a little later than usual, but I've come to learn that his luck can impede his arrival in many ways.
After he set down his school bag, I heard him set down another bag that sounded like it was plastic. I turned to him, and he took a jar out of the plastic bag and showed me the contents.
"Look, Hinata-kun!" He put the jar in front of me and, revealing a jar of cherries.
I looked at him with eyes that said, "Yeah, so?" and Komaeda gave another small giggle.
"Hinata-kun, are you familiar with the theory that if you can tie a cherry stem, you're a good kisser?" I have never been so confused in my entire life.
"Um… What is the correlation between that, exactly? I'm pretty sure if you can tie your shoe laces you can…" before I could finish, Komaeda laughed again.
"No, no, Hinata-kun, you're supposed to tie it with your tongue!"
"Okay, but that still sounds like a theory a teenage girl would come up with."
Komaeda popped off the stem of the cherry and put it in his mouth, and a few seconds later, he took it out and unsurprisingly, it came out tied. I guess that's why they call him the SHSL lucky student, huh?
"H…How the hell did you do that so quickly…" I asked in amazement more than anything. Komaeda just gave his trademark smile.
"I guess I'm just lucky." After he said that, he pulled out another cherry and popped off the stem, this time, handing it to me.
"Would you like to try, Hinata-kun?" he said, still holding out the cherry stem. I don't need to be the SHSL Detective Kyoko Kirigiri to figure out I was going to fail.
But before I could refuse, I wound up having the cherry stem in my hands. After popping the stem into my mouth, it actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but it was still pretty damn infuriating. I must have looked like such an idiot, because I was genuinely trying my best.
After a few more seconds I spit out the stem into my hand and threw it away.
"Well there you have it, Komaeda, I'm a horrible kisser." I never thought I would say that in my life ever. I'm glad Komaeda laughed at something other than the fact that I sucked at that cherry thing.
"Hinata-kun, it's just a theory." He gave a slight smirk after he said that. As much as I really liked Komaeda and how nice he was, he can still manage to be a huge asshole sometimes.
"I didn't think you would take it so seriously, Hinata-kun. Like I said, it's just a theory, don't worry about it." He actually looked sincere in his apology that time, but it still irritates me that he was able to do it so fast.
There was a brief moment of silence before Komaeda started staring at me. It wasn't the glare that he gave me the first day we met, but it looked more like he was enthralled in something.
"Um… Komaeda?" I waved my hand in his face, and he blinked at me.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Hinata-kun, I was just thinking." Smiling once again, he went back into focus. I raised my eyebrow at him, and he looked like he was in serious thought.
He snapped out of his trance and then looked straight at me.
"Hinata-kun." He said, sounding actually pretty serious. I haven't really heard him sound so serious in a very long time. The only other time I've seen him this serious before is when Junko Enoshima was staying the night with Tsumiki who is right next door to us.
But he stared at me and he opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but he quickly shut it like he was unsure about what he was going to say.
But he finally worked up the courage to try again, because he got a little farther the next time talking.
"Hinata-kun, may I kiss you?" He said quietly. What? Komaeda wants to kiss me? Even if he wants to prove this theory, isn't this going a little too far?
"Um… Sure… I guess." Why the hell did I say that?! I mean, I wouldn't exactly mind, but that's exactly the problem. Why don't I mind? I'm pretty sure I'm not gay… Am I?
But Komaeda started to move a little closer to me and I closed my eyes. This is actually happening. I am going to be kissed by someone that I've known for 5 months.
I felt something warm against my cheek, which I'm guessing is what Komaeda kissed.
I opened my eyes a little quicker than I should have, because I think I might've scared Komaeda.
"I'm sorry, Hinata-kun, was it that bad?" he said with remorse.
"No, it's just… That wasn't what I was expecting." Komaeda continued to look down, and anywhere but me.
"Was… Was it bad…?" He asked again, quieter than before.
"Are you concerned about it?" I can't really read his emotions regularly, so I can't tell what he's thinking at all.
"Well, no, but…" He trailed off, and stopped talking. Could this conversation get anymore awkward?
"Hey, Komaeda, don't worry." He raised his eyebrow at my statement. "Cause after all… it's just a theory, right?"
Komaeda's smile returned, and he let out a small laugh.
"Yeah… just a theory."