There are several knocks at her door.
Natsumi loudly grumbles. She pretends to ignore them.
Those knocks repeat, this time sounding even more persistent than it was before. It didn't get better when she hears a certain classmate is calling out to her.
"Kuzuryu. Is it fine if we talk for a bit?"
She growls, not even bothering to turn her head in the door's direction. "Buzz off, Hinata."
She doesn't know or care whether he heard what she said or not. He probably did, since his knocking has slowed down in its speed. Then a minute passes, and it looks like he's not going go to stop any time soon.
That pissed her off.
"Didn't you just hear I said?!" She yells.
Those knocks go quiet. Natsumi exhales, thinking that the worst is finally over.
If only it was that easy.
Before she knew it, those knocks come over again, just as persistent as it'd been earlier. She decides she's too fed up to keep entertaining him. If she keeps lying still right here and keep on ignoring him, he'll get tired and leave. It's not like he can stay there all day long, right?
She isn't sure how long they've been at it. She didn't check the clock, and to be honest, she didn't want to.
At this point, it'd be fair to say both of them are wasting their time with this charade.
Upon hearing one more knock, it didn't take long for the point where she reached her limits at last. She gets up, stomping her way to the door. Her right hand roughly grabs the doorknob, turning it over and making the door click. She practically yanks it harder than she should.
The door swings open, and Natsumi is almost face-to-face with Hinata.
In less than a second, her other hand is clenched into a fist that's aiming straight for Hinata's stupid and average face. Just to be clear, she isn't actually going to punch him; she may be the Kuzuryu clan's next in line, but she's not that unreasonably petty. She's hoping that a threatening gesture, like the punch that's heading towards him right now, should scare him away.
Her eyes widen, having realized something while her arm is in mid-air. She sees that even though he has a surprised look, he's not even bothering to move or try to dodge it.
With that in mind, Natsumi is forced to manually stop her fist from actually colliding with Hinata's cheekbone.
She swerves her hand away from him and instead of hitting skin and bone, her hand hits the side of the door. She doesn't outwardly flinch much from that, but she can see her classmate start wincing once she pulls her arm back to her side and acts as if nothing happened.
It doesn't change the fact it still hurt like hell; she feels her knuckle is throbbing and numbing, but she won't let herself wince. She can't do it, especially not in front of someone like Hinata. She shouldn't show any signs of weaknesses.
She shoots a nasty glare at him, but this time, the counselor doesn't flinch at her. He didn't look intimidated in the slightest and if anything, he had a look that can be described as 'completely done with her shit'.
Hinata sighs. His voice sounds so weary while he tells her, "I'm not going to fall for that this time, Kuzuryu."
The girl mutters while completely avoiding eye contact with me, "What the hell do you want with me?"
He pauses for a good split second or so before he replies with, "Well, as I've mentioned earlier, I just wanted to talk with you for a bit, about…something important, you could say."
She scoffs.
Hinata notices that and tries to amend it somehow by saying, "But, if you don't want me to come in there, I'm honestly fine with just standing in here—Hey!"
The yakuza grabs him by his tie, ignoring his protests, and drags him back inside with her.
She shuts her door soon after once they're both inside her room. She doesn't give him any room to take it all in, letting herself plop down onto her bed while he stays right in front of her, still standing up. She stares at him with heavy intensity. "Spill it. The sooner we can get this over with, the better."
Before he can get a word in, she immediately cuts him off with, "If it's about those exams, then don't even bother. I can take care of myself in there. I'm not some emotional wreck like everyone else in our class." Her hand clenches into a fist and she turns away from him. "I…I don't need your help."
Hinata nods in understanding. "That's alright. Pekoyama let me know about it a few days ago after I asked her."
Her face instinctively softens when she hears her bodyguard's name. Her usual scowl returns shortly after that, however. "Why the hell do you want to talk to me, then?"
The counselor's face scrunches up. He takes a deep breath, glancing at her with a damnably earnest look, and tells her, "I'll be honest with you. It's none of my business to say anything about this, but I can tell you're still upset about your brother."
Natsumi's breath hitches. It takes everything in her to not break down in hysterical tears.
Her fists clench and unclench. She grits her teeth. "Damn right, it's none of your business! Who the hell do you think you are, thinking you can stick your nose in MY personal life!?"
Hinata still doesn't flinch. Of course, he doesn't. He palms over the back of his head while admitting, "I know that's uncalled for, and I'm sorry for that—"
"Shut up!" She screams, rising to her feet and getting dangerously close to his face. "Just how much of a selfish bastard are you? I bet you think I'm just some pathetic, emotional wreck you can easily practice your talent with! Admit it. That's the real reason why you wanted to 'talk' to me today, isn't that right?!"
Natsumi is out of her breath by the end of her rant, rapidly breathing in and out. Her eyes still had some anger in them, but for the rest of her face? It looks like she's just plain exhausted from releasing those pent-up feelings out.
Hinata still doesn't look as shaken as she is, even after those harsh words have been shot against him. That stupid bastard still kept his composure and is far a lot calmer than she is. "It has nothing to do with my talent." He places a hand over his chest and earnestly looks at her in the eye. "I'm worried about you, not just because I'm the class rep, but because you're my friend too."
'Friend?' That word has always made her laugh. She doesn't have friends. Peko is not her friend, but her bodyguard and companion, but there's Hinata, who, for some reason, is calling himself her friend?
"You're joking." She shakes her head, stepping and letting herself sit back on her bed.
Hinata stays right there, right where he's been standing since he got here. After a moment of quiet, he asks her with clear hesitation in his voice, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Her back stiffens after hearing that. She turns away from him once more, but then, she also mumbles out loud enough for him to hear, "Will you listen?"
He wordlessly nods.
Natsumi isn't sure about what the hell has gotten into her, but somehow, it felt like that's all the answer she needed. The yakuza raises a brow at him. Although she didn't say a word to him, her hand pats down a spot right next to her.
Hinata glances at that spot, and then back at her. "Is it really okay with you?"
"Tch." She impatiently clicks her tongue. "Your legs are worn out from standing for who knows how long, aren't they? Just get your ass here and sit it down."
Her classmate does just that, taking a seat exactly where she patted her hand down. It's at least a couple of centimeters away from her.
Natsumi closes her eyes and lets herself breathe. Once she lets herself settle in, she opens them and starts with, "Fuyuhiko was a coward."
She pauses, fully expecting her classmate to say something about that, maybe even try to defend the boy she used to call her brother. When she doesn't hear him say anything, she clicks her tongue again with a scowl. "Believe it or not, I wasn't always the clan's next in line. It was always supposed to be him."
Hinata doesn't say anything, but he is nodding to let her know he's still listening.
Since there are no interruptions, she continues her story. "Before I knew it, he went up and ditched us all. He probably thought he wasn't good enough for the clan, but I don't care about that! I just wanted him to be by my side," She growls to hide away the choking noise in her throat. "And now, if everything goes wrong for him, he's going to leave me and Peko again. This time, it'd be for good."
For the first time since she started talking, Hinata speaks up. "Kuzuryu…"
A bitter laugh comes out of her throat. "Heh, this is the part where you're going to try and butter me up with that sappy bullshit you love to spew out, isn't it?"
Hinata shakes his head. "Even if Fuyuhiko had his reasons for doing what he did, I won't deny the fact leaving your family did end up hurting you and Pekoyama so much."
"Tch," She scoffs. "You're just saying the shit you think I want to hear."
"That's not it at all," Hinata says, adjusting his position. "Well then, how are you feeling now, Kuzuryu?"
"Not good," She admits right before amending that with a shrug. "But then, I don't exactly feel as shitty as I was before either."
He nods. "That's good to hear." He turns to her and with a kind smile, tells her, "If there's anything that's bothering you, feel free to let me know. I meant it when I said you're my friend too."
She snorts. "What makes you think this is going to happen again? That shit a moment ago is a one-time thing," Although she said that, her face softens afterward and she mumbles, "But thanks, I guess."
Today is the moment of truth.
Hajime peeks from behind the stage's thin curtain. There are plenty of people around, he absently notes. He shakes his head, reminding himself that those same people aren't just an ordinary audience to keep this glorified talent show from feeling too lifeless; they're famous people from the press who might as well be the biggest names in the country.
His eyes go over one of the camera crews, watching them set up the high-quality video cameras.
He inwardly winces. Once the opening ceremony is done with, the reporters who crowd themselves all over the gym will start broadcasting the Ultimates' exams on live television.
He shies himself away, retreating to behind the curtains. He turns his head around, looking over his classmates. There are some, including Mioda, Owari, and Nidai, who look excited, but the others, like Kazuichi and Tsumiki, look just as nervous as he is.
Yeah, he already knows that they're all going to perform live on stage one-by-one, going in order from seniors to freshmen, girls before boys, and finally, by alphabetical order of their last names. These yearly exams do feel like a glorified talent show, complete with the overly glamorized atmosphere that's been set up.
It doesn't help that if the big-named press persons weren't enough to put pressure on them, then maybe the judges will. Three people serve as the judges if he's remembering correctly, and though he doesn't know the other two are, he knows that one of the judges is Mr. Shingetsu.
Hajime swallows a deep gulp.
Everyone knows how terrifying and ruthless Mr. Shingetsu is, especially if certain rumors about him are true. They're all probably just hearsay, of course, but that only enhanced his fearsome reputation in the school.
It helps that Mr. Shingetsu also happens to be the school's academic head. Yeah, that definitely makes things slide out better in their favor, he thinks sarcastically.
He doesn't realize how much his hands are shaking until he looks down. Hajime closes his eyes, clenching his hands together, and takes a deep breath. He slowly exhales. He repeats the process, steadily breathing in and out. Fidgeting over this won't do any good. He should know better.
He knows that everyone in the class has gone all out of their way to prepare for this exact day; he and Kazuichi were there. But at the same time, there's something in him that constantly wondering: what if it wasn't enough? What if the judges' standards were too high, even for Ultimates like them?
He opens his eyes and glances over his classmates once more. He sees some of them are chatting with each other in pairs, or in a small group, to ease some of the tension they're feeling.
His eyes dart over his classmates, counting them by head in his mind. He breathes out; silently cursing himself for not noticing there's still one classmate who's missing until now.
A part of him hopes it's just him being too worrisome and paranoid, but, knowing that didn't help much in easing a few things he's thinking of.
Someone puts a hand on his shoulder. He almost feels himself jump at that surprise contact. He manages to keep himself still somehow and he turns his head to face that person.
He's greeted with soft, grayish-green eyes and fluffy locks of brown hair.
"Are you feeling nervous, Hinata?" Komaeda asks him with concern dropped in his tone.
Hajime pauses. He briefly considers telling the other boy about what's on his mind, but he decides not to. He shakes his head and gives him an awfully vague answer. "Not exactly."
Koizumi is the first name in their class, but she isn't here with them yet.
Mahiru knows she's late. It's so shameful of her to do, especially when she knows exactly what this day is supposed to be.
She'll admit one thing to herself; she might've hesitated to get herself out there. She knows it's been weeks since…well, since she learned of what Sato had done, and yet, she can't bring herself to do anything productive. She knows it's stupid of her to feel this way even until now.
None of her classmates have seen her coming her way into the gym. At least, she hopes none of them actually did see her on the way. She didn't want them to see her, not right now.
From what she can see around here, the press has crowded all over the school's gym. She recognizes more than a handful of them.
Thankfully, none of them have hounded her so far. It wouldn't have ended well if they did.
While she stays right behind the relative safety of the curtains, she hears them start the opening ceremony. It's the typical kind of ceremony; acknowledgments made by the headmaster himself, and then the press persons make their introductions in, as well as the sponsors backing this event up.
The opening ceremony took only a few minutes at most, and so, it didn't take long for the exams to officially start.
It's a bit surprising to see that the upperclassmen are the ones who are going to perform first, but then, that also made some sense at the same time. They are graduating soon, after all.
From what little snippets she manages to overhear, one of the senior Ultimates even showed off some kind of medicine that could revolutionize the world's pharmaceutics as they knew it. Mahiru supposes it does sound very impressive.
She has no idea how much time has passed, but the other classes came and went with their parts.
"Thank you so much, everyone!" The announcer says as they dismiss the last of the Ultimates who were performing just minutes ago. After a split second of pause, they let the audience, the ones who are watching either in the crowd or by the comforts of their home, know what comes next. "Now it's time for the Ultimates of Class 77-B to shine!"
The crowds go wild.
Mahiru winces. Now it's her class's turn to perform. She has a feeling it's only about to get worse.
And it did.
The announcer drives the crowd to an even wilder frenzy. "Now give it all to Mahiru Koizumi, the Ultimate Artist!"
Her heart sinks to an even lower pit once she hears her name and title have been called out. She breathes in, shutting her eyes tight and she gulps. "Of course. I just had to be the first name on the list." If she could, she would've bitterly laughed at her situation.
Without making herself appear too obvious, she peeks through the curtain's thin cloth. Her chest tightens upon seeing what's awaiting her outside. There are cameras everywhere, far too many of them, to be exact.
They're all so bright and blinding.
With how much the area is surrounded by those cameras, it feels like the world's eyes are staring deep into her. Maybe that's exactly what's happening. Who knows…?
Mahiru finds herself instinctively stepping back. She puts a hand over her chest and takes a deep breath, to force herself to relax even a little bit. It's not that she doesn't want to come out of the curtains, or that she's feeling something as silly as simple stage fright. It's nothing like that at all.
She knows she should get out right now, but she can't bring herself to get out of there. It's like her legs have been forcefully rooted on the spot. She repetitively clenches and unclenches her hands. Her fingers are twitching far too much for her liking.
A soft sigh escapes her.
'I'm just making excuses up, aren't I?' That's what she concludes in her mind. 'I can probably do this without much trouble. I'm just creating so many reasons to try and convince myself not to do it.' She deliberates about it once more, only to shake her head. 'But, does it even matter? Even if I do try, I'm going to disappoint them all either way.'
The girl turns away, intending to leave right then and there. She wasted everyone's time. However, she's not even an inch away from where she is when she sees several familiar faces. Among those faces, the one that got her attention the most was his.
Hinata is right there with everyone else, right at the corner of her eye. Despite the distance, she can see the worry in his eyes. The others are sharing the same feeling with him too.
That's all it took for the knife in her gut to twist even further. It should've made her want to leave as soon as possible even more, and yet, she can't feel her legs. They've stiffened once more.
Knowing she's still hesitating, she takes a deep breath, reflecting on everything in her life up to this point.
She already ran away and ignored her problems before. Is she really going to run away from her problems once again? Pretend that it isn't right in front of her like she usually does? She thinks back on Sato. What would her late friend think of her, if she could see her right now?
Is she seriously going to let herself go down like this, disappointing everyone without even doing anything yet?
The Ultimate Artist closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. She exhales slowly. She opens her eyes once more. Something has sparked within her. It wasn't a full-on flame like she'd hope it to be, but then, even a small spark is enough to light it all up.
'I can do this.' Her fists clench.
Mahiru forces her stiffening legs to move and she steps out into the center of the stage.
The crowd's cheers have never been as overwhelming as it is now. It took everything in her to not break down.
Hajime hears Koizumi's full name, as well as her title, is being called out by the exams' announcer. He can't help but get repeatedly worried when he didn't see her come out, even after the announcer calls for her one more time.
'Koizumi,' His eyes dart around, futilely trying to search and scan the area. 'Where are you now?' His logical side tells him he won't find her in here.
After the third time they call out her name, it looks like they're going to forfeit her for not showing up and then move on with the next name on the list. He dejectedly looks down, focusing his gaze on the stage's floor. The crowd's silence is far more deafening than he thought he would be.
All of a sudden, the crowd goes wild again. Hajime is confused; they didn't announce the next name yet, so what got them excited so much? He peeks out of the curtain to check what they're fussing about.
One gasp hitches in his throat.
He isn't able to contain his shocked, wide-eyed expression when he watches Koizumi herself has stepped out onto the stage, right in front of the dozens of blinding cameras and loud press persons.
The rest of the remaining time blurs in his mind.
Hajime watches her perform on the same level as the senior Ultimates have. His previously worried face shifts to that of awe. It was at that moment, he's reminded of exactly why Koizumi is known as the Ultimate Artist, and it's for a good reason.
Mahiru sighs, releasing the breath she didn't know she was holding in until that point. Two of her fingers take hold of her stray strands of hair and tuck it behind her earlobe.
She's well aware she wasn't at her best back there. There were far too many times where she stumbled upon her performance; she was sure that those slip-ups deducted a fair amount of points. Hinata might've been able to motivate her and got out of her funk right before the last minute, but it doesn't change the fact she lagged behind everyone else in the class.
Still, even though she isn't sure if she even did it that well, or if she even had a passable score for that matter, she's glad she got that over with. It's only a matter of time whether she'd stay in Hope's Peak or not after this.
While she's on her way to leave the area, a voice starts ringing in her ears. The worst part is, that's the voice she knew all too well since her middle school days.
"Yo."
She stops in her tracks right there and jerks back, turning around with wide eyes. "K-Kuzuryu?!"
The other girl raises a hand in front of her. "Relax for a second there, will you?"
Mahru has so many questions running in her head right now. It doesn't help that the way the other girl said that sounded far too casual for her liking. "Did Hinata put you up to this?" She questions, not noticing or caring that her tone came across as far harsher than she intended it to be.
"He probably did, or he probably didn't." The other girl shrugs her shoulders. "I mean, it's not like that'd matter anyway." She leans herself back on the wall in a semi-slouched over position. She crosses her arms. "So, about Sato…"
Mahiru's chest constricts. She told herself multiple times she already came to terms with her friend's passing. So, why did it feel like she's about to burst open right then and there? Even worse, she heard her late friend's name out of the girl who used to torment them both.
She stares at the other girl with narrowed eyes, fists clenched at her side. "Why are you trying to bring her name up now of all times?"
Kuzuryu defensively raises her hands up. "Hey, sure I hate her guts more than anyone else and I still do until now, mind you," She sighs, palming her forehead. "Okay, but look, I'm not going to sink so low and make fun of the dead. You and I both know I'm a godawful person, sure, but even someone like me can still have some standards."
She mutters her next question. "What do you want, then? Don't tell me you're here just to talk."
The other girl shrugs again. "You could say that. I know that you have plenty of more important shit to worry about, so let me make this quick for you."
Mahiru still has no idea whatever Kuzuryu was planning, but after seeing that she isn't as aggressive or hostile as she usually is, maybe it wouldn't hurt to give her the benefit of the doubt for now. "Fine, then."
After being given the okay, Kuzuryu starts it off with, "I just want to say, I'll never know exactly how it feels like for you, but if there's one thing I do know, it's that it's hard. It's not the same for me, but I get that. Still, I won't butter you up and say everything will get better. We both know it doesn't work like that."
"I…I guess so…" Mahiru admits, her eyes softening. She remembers Kuzuryu's brother is still in the hospital; upon remembering her Sato's confession, her chest tightens from guilt again. Even until now, she never told anyone about it.
Kuzuryu, completely unaware of what's going on within the artist's mind, continues. "So about the exams…I don't know about what you think, but for me, I feel like you're going to stick around for one more year, at least."
The artist's lips have slightly parted from each other after hearing that. She doesn't know what to say to that. She opts to turn her gaze onto the ground.
"Oh, and one last thing."
Mahiru hesitantly turns her attention back at Kuzuryu.
Kuzuryu breathes in, biting her lip. "If it helps, maybe we can bury our history together someday. I mean, we're going to be stuck together in the same room for at least two more years."
'That's true.' Mahiru thinks to herself.
Shortly after that short talk, the yakuza heiress flippantly waves a hand towards her direction, turning away from her. "Well then, see ya."
The artist watches her leave this area with a dumbfounded expression; she didn't even wait for a reply from her. She has no idea exactly what to make of it, aside from the fact that if Kuzuryu was trying to apologize to her, which she highly doubts, it wasn't a proper apology in any way. If she's being honest about it, she doesn't know if those simple words could even be considered even as an informal one.
But, at the same time, there's a small part of her that can't help but hope for it. It's too early for her to say for sure, but maybe those words might become the start of one.
The morning meeting in today's class is a lot tenser than Hajime thought it'd be. He and his classmates found themselves glued to their seats, watching over their teacher with two words that best describe their situation right there: anticipation and anxiety.
Ms. Yukizome is standing right in front of them. In her hands is an envelope; if it wasn't for the seal that bears the insignia of Hope's Peak Academy, it wouldn't have been that much of a concern.
All fifteen pairs of eyes trace over the way Ms. Yukizome opens the seal up. Those students keep holding their breaths together. Their heartbeats steadily slow down only to sharply rise back up again in each second.
Their teacher pulls the letter out of the envelope. They watch their teacher's eyes intently scan every word on the paper, no doubt taking it all in. They don't know exactly what's written in there, so the best clue they got is watching their teacher's reaction.
At the moment, Ms. Yukizome's facial expression remains unusually calm. There are no changes whatsoever, not even something subtle like an eye twitch or a curling lip. At least then, that'd give them some idea of what's written in the letter.
For now, it's hard to know exactly what she's thinking, not when she's putting up a pretty impressive poker face so far.
Soon, their teacher gently sets the paper down. Her face is staring down at her desk. One of her fingers twitch, and her chest slowly rises and falls.
That concerned Hajime so much. He can't help but wonder on the inside, 'Is it bad news?'
It's only been a minute at most in reality, yet to them, it felt more like an eternity.
Ms. Yukizome lifts her head to look at them.
To say that her reaction threw everyone off-guard is a big understatement.
When she faced them, tears are leaking out of her eyes, of course, but not in the way Hajime thought it'd be. Instead, she flashes with possibly the biggest, most beaming smile on her face she's ever shown to them. The chipper voice they're all familiar with returns. "Congratulations! You all passed, everyone!" She pumps a fist, not even bothering to wipe her happy tears away.
As soon as she announced that, there came the loud cheers from three of his most vocal classmates, Nidai, Owari, and Mioda. At another time, he might've found it annoying, but now, he didn't mind at all.
It didn't take long for everyone else to join in the cheering too. Before he knew it, everyone is standing up and they're either congratulating each other, crying their eyes out, or hugging each other like they never did before. Some even had all of the above and more.
In Hajime's case, he gets the third option, and yet, he doesn't complain at all when he feels Kazuichi starts squeezing his ribs too tight with his hug, not even on the inside. He keeps his smile on even when the guy starts bawling his eyes out and keeps getting his tears and snot all over his blazer.
Hajime never thought he'd ever say this to himself, but here he is. He looks over to his classmates one more time. He closes his eyes and lets his lips curl up wider than he usually does.
'I'm glad we're all still here.'
A/N: Sorry for the delay. I had some tough time with a few things here. Just in case, I'll probably go back and edit some of these later.
Wit that out of the way, wooh, it's hard to believe the first year is over. Now there's two more school years to go through. That should sound fun. Fun fact: The real Ryota didn't show up at the exams because he turned his work in advance.
Speaking of, remember when I mentioned there's a reason why I changed Fuyuhiko's fate to being in a coma in here. Well, the reason why I changed it is because I thought Natsumi's slow attitude adjustment would make more sense in that case, compared to if he was actually killed off right then and there.