Part 1

Hey. My name is Hajime Hinata. I go to Hope's Peak Academy! What's that you ask, my ultimate talent? Uh, that's difficult to answer. You see, I don't exactly have one... but I definitely will! At some point. Probably. I mean, the Ultimates are so cool. They're so important, and I want to be important. I'm just a regular, boring person. I'm not good at anything except blending in with the crowd. So, I applied to the Hope's Peak reserve course. So just maybe; maybe, one day I'll become something more. There must be something more I can do.

My parents agreed to pay the extortionately expensive entrance fee, providing I payed my own rent and supported myself as I had to move closer to the school, so I work in a crappy supermarket job. A lot of people seem to wonder what they do with all the money from the reserve course. There are rumours going around that the school are keeping secrets since they won't disclose any of their funding information to the public. Personally, I just assume it costs that much to hold up the facilities for the Ultimates.

It's only been a month since this year started, and Hope's Peak is a lot different to what I thought it would be. I thought the teachers would be more inspirational and we would be treated with respect. Instead, it's dull. Boring, even. The other students here are, ironically, hopeless. There's bullies everywhere, however they tend to leave you alone as long as you don't interfere. However, I learnt that the hard way a couple of weeks ago – after school that day I ended up greeting people on supermarket checkouts with a black eye and returning to school with a detention scheduled for 'fighting'.

That isn't what I need to think of right now, however. I need to focus on the future! When applying for the school, they told me I meet certain requirements to get my school tuition fees for free which is keeping me hopeful. They mentioned something about a contract, and maybe being able to switch to the main course. Who would be stupid enough to decline that?

"Huh?" I said aloud as I felt someone noticeably shorter than me nudge into my shoulder. I was standing by the fountain close to the main course building as I often came to when I felt hopeless. The noises of my classmates in my old school throwing around thoughtless comments about me were ringing in my ears as I stared at the main course building, thinking about one day becoming something more.

As my thought process was disrupted I looked down to see a short girl with medium length hair engrossed in a GameGirl console.

"A-are you okay?" I stuttered, as we exchanged glares.

"Mm," the girl lazily nodded at me and continued on her way passed.

'I wonder if she's the ultimate gamer or something' I wondered to myself as I quickly recognised the sound coming from her console. I called back out to her, "is that Gala Omega?"

"You know it?" the girl blurted out. She turned around and yelled in my face, "it's so old! It's a total classic, right? Right!?"

My personal space felt intruded so I swiftly agreed with her. We exchanged stories about gaming and I found out her name – Nanami Chiaki.

"I've never met someone who has played as much as you! Show me sometime. Promise?" the Nanami excitedly beamed.

I closed myself off a little and stared at my hands. "Uh, I guess. But you all have amazing talents. If only I had a talent..."

"Having a talent isn't the main goal. Gaming is all I have. You can go anywhere and do anything you want."

The girl went on to talk about little meaning talent really had. The way she spoke really moved me, actually.

"But... Without talent means without hope?" I suspiciously questioned.

"That depends on how you look at it." She replied while continuing to mash buttons on her GameGirl. In the silence, I stared at the main course building once again, thinking about the words she had spoke and seeing some sense in it. "You remind me of someone in my class, talking about hope and talent all the time. Maybe you could meet someday."

I glared down at my hands again. "Yeah, maybe..."