The first semester of his class' second year has officially begun.
Hajime has probably thought about this about a million times now, but even until now, he still had a hard time believing he made it past his first year at Hope's Peak Academy. It isn't as vocal and intrusive as it was compared to back when he was starting out, he swears he's gotten better about it, but a tiny part of it still stuck around, often resurfacing whenever he least expected it.
Shaking his head, he manages to get himself back on track. From what he heard, a new batch of Ultimates would start attending today too. Aside from looking their names up in the forums, which isn't always the most reliable now that he thought about it, he hasn't actually seen them in person yet. He won't lie; it's kind of exciting to see who they are and what kind of talents they might have.
In preparation for today, he's going to their class a lot earlier than usual, which is saying a lot since he's already pretty early even back then. Ms. Yukizome wanted everyone to meet up again in the classroom before the opening ceremony starts, so that's probably one of the factors.
He yawns, a bit louder than he's used to, and rubs at the corner of his eye. He can guess that's a habit he slowly picked up over the past year, what with him having to take the class rep duties and all. Not that he minds at all; he's already gotten used to it and besides, it does feel nice to have something to keep him busy with.
A small smile tugs at the corner of his lips. Yeah, Ms. Yukizome really is something else, isn't she? Sure, the way she does things can be a little bit weird and he'll never truly understand what's going on in that head of hers, but, he's sure he wouldn't have it any other way. There's something about the way their teacher that made him feel nostalgic; it kind of reminded him of his old tutor in a way.
It didn't take that long for him to reach their classroom. He wonders if there was anyone else who got there before he did, since the door didn't look like it was locked. In that case, then maybe at least a handful of his classmates are already waiting inside.
His hand turns over the handle, opening the door—
And he's immediately greeted face-to-face by one of, if not his most hyperactive classmate, in the most literal way possible. The Ultimate Pianist's eyes are just a couple of inches away from colliding with his own as she enthusiastically shouts out, "Good nom-nom-nomming, Hajime!"
A normal person would've jumped back, screamed in a higher-than-normal pitch, and maybe almost get a heart attack; not necessarily in that order. If he was his old self from a year ago, he would've reacted the same way. He might've even snapped back at his classmate.
Not this time. He doesn't so much as flinch, not even a little bit in reflex, as he greets her back while gently pushing her face away with his index finger. "Good morning to you too, Ibuki."
Since he pretty much had to deal with this kind of thing for a whole school year, among other shenanigans his chaotic classmates get into, he's already gotten himself used to it. This isn't the first time he's been bombarded with that kind of greeting, and it won't be the last one.
Ibuki takes his nonchalant reaction in stride, stepping back to give him his space.
He gets inside and, after closing the door behind him, he sees that besides him, the pianist isn't the only one who waited in the classroom. Sitting at the furthest left corner is Ryota, scribbling something in that notebook he always carries. It's definitely another manga project, no doubt about that.
Oh yeah, Teruteru's there too, but for now, Hajime ignores him and goes over to the mangaka's seat. "Morning, Ryota." He lightly raises a hand up with a smile.
The mangaka doesn't turn to face him, but he still greets him all the same. "Morning."
Right before the counselor continues making his way over to his seat, he sneaks a little peek from his shoulder and remarks, "You're a lot busier than usual."
"Yeah. Schedule's a lot tighter this month. I'm trying to see if I can squeeze in two more chapters."
Nodding in return to that, he ends the brief conversation with a simple, "I'm sure you can do it."
Hajime makes his way over to the second last row of the class. Yeah, even in the new school building, he still kept sitting in the same spot. He puts his bag on top of his desk, zipping it open, and then brings out the blue GGA; the same one he's had for over a year now. He stares at it right before letting out a heavy sigh.
It's been what, months now since he last talked to Chiaki, and he hasn't heard anything about her since then. There's some part of him that thought maybe they'd at least keep in touch via their phones, but she hasn't been replying to his messages or calls.
His grip on the console tightens. Maybe it was something family-related, or some private matter he shouldn't interfere with. Maybe the reserve course was getting too much for her. Or maybe it could be literally something else he hasn't thought about, who knows?
Maybe, if he wasn't a coward and actually asked her about it back then, he could've done something about it by now—
His train of thought immediately gets cut off as soon as he heard several, familiar booming steps heading towards their class. He lets out a startled gasp, but as soon as he feels the console slip from his now-loosened grip, he quickly grabs back onto it, narrowly keeping himself from dropping it. He breathes out a sigh of relief before putting it back in his bag.
He sneaks a glance at the newcomers. As always, Akane and Nekomaru end up announcing their grand entrance, especially in the latter's case. A big part of him is glad that the cook didn't accidentally tear the door off its hinges when he and his companion got inside. Sure, Hope's Peak Academy didn't mind the constant destruction his class used to pull off last year, to the point they got any and all damages done to their properties covered, but still; it's not like they've got infinite resources or cash, even with Mikan occasionally stepping in to cover up the expenses.
Oh, speaking of her, Mikan comes rushing inside, clutching her bag and crying out, "Sorry I'm late!" as she runs over to her seat.
Hajime doesn't think she's late at all. Matter of fact, she's rather early this time around. But then, there's something else he can't help but notice about her.
'That's weird. She didn't come in this time by crashing into somewhere like she usually does. Either that means things are starting to get better,' He internally cringes at a couple of unfortunate implications that sprang up in his mind. 'Or that means something worse is about to happen. I really hope it's not the second one.'
It didn't take long for the rest of the class to come in, starting with Nagito. The volunteer looks as cheerful yet relaxed as always as he opens the door. He waves at everyone present right before goes to his seat as well.
Next ones to come in are Kazuichi, Sonia, and Gundham, AKA the most unexpected trio that formed from last year, are the next ones who arrived in the classroom. No one questioned or batted an eye at the fact that there's a sparrow that comfortably nested itself in Kazuichi's beanie.
Hajime was about to ask just that when the breeder got to his seat him, but isn't able to get anything out when the breeder raised a hand and said to him, "Don't ask." all while wearing a weary look on his face.
Since both Sonia and Gundham are also wearing similar expressions (but not the sparrow headgear), that only made him want to ask what the hell happened to them this morning.
Knowing them, he'll probably never know. Looks that's another item to his list of unsolved incidents.
Once it was Natsumi and Peko who came up next and took their respective seats, Hajime looks over his classmates and did a mental headcount. So, if he's counting them correctly, not including their teacher, then there are two more people to wait for. After taking everyone who's currently present into account, he has a good guess on exactly who they are.
The door opens again, and as expected, Mahiru walks inside the class with Hiyoko in tow—
Hajime does a double-take right from his seat. He blinks, and then frantically rubs his eyes. He's not seeing things, isn't he? Sure, he was kind of sleepy a while ago, but that should've been passed by now, right?
A few more blinks, and only now he realizes that no, he isn't half-asleep or daydreaming right now. Once that realization sank in hard, he somehow manages to keep himself from breaking his poker face, all while inwardly asking the question everyone's having right then and there.
'What the HELL happened to Hiyoko?!'
The last time he saw the nurse, which was about less than a month ago during the flower viewing, she was the shortest one in class bar Teruteru, which made her look like a literal kid compared to everyone else. This Hiyoko, on the other hand, is at least twice the height of her original self and…well…he can say she definitely doesn't look like an elementary student anymore. He has no idea what she's been up to during break, but still; the change is so sudden, it's like puberty had hit her like a damn truck overnight.
He isn't the only one who reacted that way. Some (like Kaz) are more or less screaming while their eyes looked as if they're about to burst out of their sockets from pure shock, while others are blinking and rubbing their eyes (not necessarily in that order); he can't blame them. No offense to Hiyoko, but this is really weird to take in, even for him.
But the main highlight of his classmates' gobsmacked reactions would go to Natsumi. The yakuza heiress starts aimlessly sputtering all sorts of underhanded curses; her voice is low enough to make it inaudible, so it's a bit hard to understand exactly what she's saying.
"I'm not the shortest girl in class anymore!" The formerly petite nurse smugly points a finger towards the yakuza's direction, rubbing even more salt in that wound. "And that means that title's gone to you by default!"
"Hiyoko!" The artist sputters out. "You shouldn't say that!"
"Oh come on, Mahiru!" She whines. "She made fun of my height all year long, so it's only fair I get to do the same this time around."
"That doesn't make you any better than her in that case." Mahiru retorts, shaking her head while placing her hands over her hips.
Natsumi takes a deep breath. She slowly turns her head over to the duo, flashing a smile at the nurse. The sight made Hajime instinctively gulp from his seat. It wasn't a friendly one. In fact, this is the kind of threatening smile that suits a deadly reptile more than it does on a human.
"Please shut the fuck up."
As wonderfully eloquent her response is, her flat tone underestimated just how done she appeared to be with everything to that point.
Hajime glances back and forth between the two, just in case if he needs to intervene. Nothing has escalated too far with those two compared to how it used to be a year ago, but he can't stay too lax about it.
Thankfully, besides Hiyoko huffing and rolling her eyes before taking her seat, nothing happened.
Going over his present classmates once more, he double-checks on their headcount. He does it one more time just to be sure, and he breathes out in satisfaction. 'Looks like that's everyone.'
From what he can see, it looks like that some of his classmates are talking outside of their usual friend groups.
For one, there's Sonia who's standing right to the side of Ryota's seat, excitedly chattering and inquiring about some mangas that have been serialized lately. Ryota is pretty much just nodding off every few seconds, looking like he's slowly getting lost as the swordswoman starts getting into more obscure and weird titles.
The group of Teruteru, Akane, and Nekomaru isn't exactly the weirdest combination, but it's on the list. The conversation they're having is sort of one-sided, and by that, he meant Teruteru constantly spewing out innuendo after innuendo, but it ends up passing over the two's heads. At least, that's how it looks like to Hajime from here.
After a few more minutes of free time to themselves, Ms. Yukizome's the last one to show up, and so, the first day of their second school year officially starts.
In her usual cheery kind of way, she raises a fist in the air. "Alright everyone, let's go!"
If there was a similar situation to this a year ago, Hajime is sure that he wouldn't have looked or sounded as enthusiastic back then compared to how he is now. Along with everyone else in the class, he too raises a fist up and yells back,
"Yeah, let's go!"
Even for a prestigious school, the gym of Hope's Peak Academy is still unusually large compared to gyms from other high schools. Even though it's packed to the brim with Ultimate students, it didn't feel crowded at all and if anything, it felt like they could still squeeze several more classes while they're at it; maybe even a dozen classes, to be exact.
Since they were the latest batch up until that moment, Hajime, and by extension, everyone else in the class, are seated at the back. Once the opening ceremony starts in half an hour from now, Class 77-B won't be freshmen anymore.
Most of the students engaged in some small talk here and there while they all wait for the time to pass.
Soon, before they knew it, Mr. Kirigiri goes up the stage, causing most of the Ultimates present in the venue to quiet down. As for the others, either they quieted themselves too after noticing the headmaster himself at last, or they were quickly shut up by their respective teachers.
Mr. Kirigri stands behind the podium, clears his throat, and officially starts up the program.
It's a standard welcoming speech. Not too long but not too short, a brief recap about the history of the school, and then it goes straight to the point regarding the freshmen. It's like the kind of typical speech that's been rehearsed quite a lot. There's nothing special about it, really; at least, in Hajime's humble opinion.
He slightly tilts his head to the side to take a peek at some of his classmates' reactions. There's one particular (over)reaction that made him awkwardly smile. Of course, it's Nagito who's slightly tearing up, and of course, it's him who'd be moved by the headmaster's speech.
'Well, I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised. It was kind of expected, but come on, this isn't some dramatic play.' Hajime inwardly shakes his head.
At the end of his speech, the headmaster gestures an arm to his right. "Everyone, please welcome the new students of Class 78!"
Like it's been perfectly timed, the aforementioned students walk start walking from the stage's left in an organized line, or at least, as organized as Ultimates could be.
Hajime squints, trying to get a good look at the freshmen as best as he can from his seat. He recognizes at least a handful of them, having seen or heard of them from stuff like TV and magazines, to name a few. He's not as familiar with the rest, though he does remember some people in Hope's Peak's forums talking about them a few times.
One of them, a girl with long blue hair, starts smiling and waving rather cutely at the audience. Another girl with long twin-tails does the same thing, though in her case, she has a more smirky but playful vibe to it.
The sounds of so much cheering and clapping that came after feels almost deafening. If Hajime's being honest, he won't be surprised if it turned out that Nagito was one of the people who clapped the loudest. The volunteer might have a worryingly thin build, but his enthusiasm when it comes to these kinds of stuff is unmatched. Which also says a lot.
It didn't take long for the opening ceremony to end, all things considered; it feels like setting the whole thing was just an elaborate excuse to introduce the new batch of students to everyone else. It's probably not that surprising in that case, since something similar happened back when Class 77-B were freshmen themselves.
Since it's lunchtime at the moment, he's now heading out to go get some drinks, along with two 'assistants'. Yeah, he doesn't mind doing this duty as much as he used to, and it helps that Natsumi's not as brash as she used to be, but, it still feels a bit awkward at times.
They were supposed to get some drinks, but the next thing he knew, everything goes slow in his eyes. He watches someone bump into Natsumi. After that, he sees her face contort into that of a surprised yelp. The drinks go flying out of the plastic she's holding, before falling to the ground; some of them crack and end up spilling their contents.
Time goes back to normal in his eyes, and now, he sees Natsumi lying flat on her back, Peko kneeling by her side, and a guy he doesn't recognize. Said guy is currently down on the ground too, but unlike Natsumi, he looks a bit better off asides from that pained look on his face.
Hajime quickly but gently settles the pack of his drinks he's carrying on the ground. "Natsumi! Are you okay?" He calls out, immediately kneeling by her side to check on her.
It turns out Natsumi didn't really need their assistance, as she immediately shoots up, having recovered enough from her daze to sit herself straight. "Fucking watch where the hell you're going, you asshole!"
The guy doesn't reply to that; he might've not heard her at all, since he's probably too focused on a sore behind at the moment. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." His eyes are scrunching up tight while rubbing his hands over his rear.
Though Hajime doesn't leave his downed classmate's side, he slightly shifts himself in place to take a better look at the new guy.
It turns out that the person whom Natsumi bumped into was just some guy with ridiculously long hair, which also happened to be sticking up like a bunch of spines. Thick, curly spines, that is. In addition to that, that guy isn't wearing any recognizable uniform; instead, his attire consists of a plain white shirt, long baggy pants, and a jacket he tied around his waist.
Hajime squints as a sense of semi-familiarity comes over him. Come to think of it, it feels like he saw this guy from somewhere before. 'Oh yeah, isn't he one of the freshman from Class 78?' He wonders to himself as he studies the guy's facial features a bit more, only to feel his eyes squint. 'Wait a minute. Is it just me, or does this guy look a lot older than a normal high school student should be?'
While the counselor's busy with that at the moment, Peko lowers her head. Her body straightens. She only made a few steps forward, stopping once she sees Natsumi raising a hand in front of her. She exchanges looks with her, waiting for her liege's next order.
"No," Natsumi shakes her head with a scowl. "Let me handle it this time."
She gets up on her feet, immediately making her way over to the freshman. The freshman still hasn't gotten up, either because he's still that dazed from the fall, or maybe because his survival instincts haven't kicked in just yet.
Either way, watching the scene unfold feels like an eerie calm before the shitstorm that'd ensue.
"You bastard..." Natsumi growls. With the way she's approaching him, it looks like she saw this guy from somewhere before too.
Although he isn't the target, Hajime momentarily feels a shiver run down his spine.
The new student lets out a tiny, frightened, and squeaky gulp at that. He comically scoots back as far as he can without even thinking of getting up on his feet first. It's...kind of impressive with how he did that, really.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't know who you were back then! Please, forgive me!" The new student squeals, eyes closed and practically brimming with tears. All the while, his hands clasps together in a lame show of begging for mercy.
Mercy that Natsumi isn't obviously willing to grant.
A line of sweat trails down Hajime's neck. With the way his yakuza classmate is steadily approaching the new guy, he's immediately reminded of a predator approaching its prey.
The way it went down is pretty expected. A raging scream erupts from Natsumi, who's now chasing the screaming-at-a-high-pitch guy off to…somewhere in the hallways. As for Peko, she's following the two from behind by several meters away, keeping an eye on her liege without getting involved as she was ordered to.
And that leaves Hajime as the last man standing in there, plus the pack of drinks he put down. There's a part of him that wonders what was the history behind Natsumi and that guy, but the more sensible part of him tells him that it's probably better if he never knows.
Since he can still hear the other guy's high-pitched screaming even from here, yeah, it's definitely for the best.
With a heavy breath, Hajime cleans up the mess as best as he can, picks up his share as well as some of the drinks that can still be salvaged with him, and then walks off into the direction to where those three are heading off to. He probably shouldn't butt in this kind of business, and if he's going to be honest, that's exactly what his old self would've done. Still, both as the class rep and as a friend, he's got to make sure Natsumi doesn't end up beating that guy too much.
He closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand as he exhales a long, drawn-out sigh. Yeah, he can already tell this is going to be yet another long year for him.
Oh well, he can survive this.
Somehow.
Aside from a few shenanigans he refuses to name or think back on, the rest of their day went off without any trouble to say the least (and by trouble, he meant wanton property damage). There's the incident with Natsumi and the new student from a while back, but it didn't go as bad as he thought it would, so even that case is pretty mild.
Compared to how things used to be from a year go, this is a big improvement. He may have gotten used to the Ultimates' insanity by now, but he appreciates peaceful days like these every now and down.
Or at least, relatively peaceful days compared to the usual chaos his classmates get into, that is.
Right now, everyone's heading off to somewhere before they go back to their respective dorms. They started out as one big group when they got out of their classroom, though overtime his classmates started splintering off, some in smaller groups, and others by themselves.
And now, that just leaves Hajime by himself. Don't get him wrong, his classmates didn't single him out or anything like that. A few minutes before classes officially ended, most of his classmates tried to invite him in their own ways. Kazuichi wanted him to come and hang out with him, Sonia, and Gundham, Ibuki wanted him to join in a jamming session, Teruteru...was being Teruteru, Nekomaru wanted him to try out some new recipes he learned (and then Akane butted in), and so on and so forth.
In another day, he'd be glad to oblige with them, but after everything that happened today (plus some lingering vacation hangover), he politely turned them all down. He figured he wanted some time-off to himself for now. His classmates didn't push him anymore after that, and he's really grateful for that.
He should probably go back to his dorm as soon as possible, but since it's still a bit early, he figured he could look around a bit. Even though it's been months since it was finally unveiled, Hope's Peak Academy's new building for the main course feels so ridiculously bigger compared to the old one, it's still so damned easy to get lost in it.
Hajime has no idea how long he's been walking around for. It might've been a few minutes or so, but in any case, he's sure that he's probably out of the school grounds by now. Stopping in his tracks for a second, he turns around to check where he is now—
His heart stops for a moment. He can't believe he got himself here again without even noticing.
The reserve course building. It's been long months since he last went inside its gates, but it's impossible to mistake it for anything else. It still looks exactly the same as it was from a year ago. It won't be surprising to anyone if Hope's Peak Academy neglected to give it some renovations.
He steps closer to the gates. His hand reaches out to it, only for him to hesitate right before he can lay a finger on it. He swallows the heavy feeling in his throat, before turning around to leave as soon as he can.
'Not today.' is what he resigns to himself in his mind. It's not because the place brought up some bittersweet feelings within him, he rationalizes to himself. He just didn't want to disturb the students in there.
That's what he kept telling himself as he sprints off, trying to steady his shaky breath, as well as trying to ignore the ache in his chest.
It didn't take long before he finds himself heading back to the main grounds. He feels like he's calmed down enough to go back into his composure. He thinks back on what happened moments ago and sighs. He knows he can't run from this forever; he has to find out exactly what happened to Chiaki and maybe, get some closure somehow, even if the answer is not something that he'll like.
His fist clenches. He'll get to the bottom of it somehow.
He swears it.
Underneath the school's grounds, Yasuke watches the latest test unfold from the monitors. And by test, he actually means a ridiculously elaborate death trap. It's only been finished building a day ago, but to think that the old men had this idea for months says something. He's sure that if the reserve course students were to find out this is where their tuition's gone to...well, he can already picture it.
The Steering Committee's stupidity truly knows no bounds, in Yasuke's opinion. As much as the old farts say that they want to look after Kamukura's wellbeing, they sure do a shitty job of showing that. If he'd word it in the nicest way possible, the old men have a lot in common with irresponsible pet owners.
After seeing the artificial Ultimate narrowly dodge another harpoon, he mutters loud enough for to hear, "You do realize that if anything happens to them because of this, you stupid fucks would've blown everything up."
Mr. Sasaki snorts. "The labyrinth we designed is the best way to test most, if not all of Kamukura's talents in one go. So what if she ends up with a few injuries? Having a doctor on-board wouldn't even be necessary in this case." As expected, he didn't even bother to address the neurologist's main issue.
"Perhaps we may even add a trap at the end of the labyrinth. I've been thinking that a pit of long spikes that extends upwards might do the trick." Mr. Minami, that fat bastard he is, unhelpfully adds.
Mr. Akiyama shakes his head. "Let's not be too hasty, Mr. Minami. You shouldn't rush through this these kinds of projects, especially regarding our more...delicate ones."
'That's rich coming from the same guy who threw a fit when the other batches turned out to be colossal failures.' Yasuke would've clicked his tongue at that, but he manages to hold it off.
"But isn't the point of this test is to see how far we can push Kamukura? What good would she be for if she can't even meet up our expecations?" Mr. Minami retorts.
Mr. Akiyama snaps back with a slightly raised voice, "Again, that shouldn't be rushed, unless if you want to end up terminating our first and so far, the only successful Ultimate Hope that we made!"
Before their petty argument can escalate any further, Mr. Mizushima yells at them, "Be quiet, you two!"
If it were anyone else, the two old men would've ignored that. But since Mr. Mizushima is not only a member of their group, but also the oldest among them, the two don't have much of a choice but to oblige to him.
They still grumble a bit more under their breaths, though. But hey, at least they're not about to start yelling some more and disrupt their observation even more than they already have.
Now hopefully, without any more interruptions, everyone went back to observing their test subject. At the moment, they watch on how Kamukura narrowly dodged another arrow that would've hit them in the forehead. Someone whistles, probably one of the scientists tasked with taking down notes.
"Amazing…" is all what he says about that. The rest of his colleagues are of the same opinion, excitedly chatting among themselves about that little achievement.
Yasuke supposes he can see where that scientist is coming from. If a normal person, or hell, even if an average Ultimate (hah, that's quite the oxymoron, isn't it?) were to be put in that thing, he doubts that they'd last even the first few minutes in there.
In fact, he can already imagine how that'd end for the poor sucker. It's not a pleasant image at all.
A/N: AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH IT'S HERE
First of all, I want to apologize for being gone for so long. I ended up becoming really busy with real life stuff, plus writer's block hit me pretty hard this time. But now, I've got my spark back, and here's to hoping I maintain a semi-regular schedule once again.
Also another thing, I think I'm going to end this fic with the second year, for now, at least. After thinking about it, some of the plot points I've got for the third year may or may not end up spoiling a few key things in some future installments. It's nothing too big, but yeah. In hindsight, starting out with the prequel has bitten me in the rear hard, haha.
But don't worry, just because I'm going to end this on the second year (again, for now), it doesn't mean that this talentswap AU is done as a whole. Right now, I'm planning and polishing up the SDR2 fic for this talentswap AU. Hopefully, once I finish that, we can get back here with the third year.