Something's ringing.
Hajime lets out an audible grumble. He's supposed to be sleeping right now, but that thing managed to wake him up somehow. Though he's conscious right now, he doesn't bother to open his eyes, or even try to move from his current position. He figured that it's not worth getting up to deal with whatever that is, and so, he pretends he doesn't hear it.
Just as he figured, that annoying, ringing noise eventually goes stops. Satisfied, he rolls over to his side, chest slowly rising and falls as he feels himself slowly drift into sleep once again.
That relaxing feeling he just got back is quickly ruined when that damned noise starts ringing up again.
Out of instinct, he buries his face into his pillow while digging his fingers into the sheets, groaning in frustration. Whoever that is, it's way too damned late for them do try calling him right now.
The ringing abruptly stops once again. Hajime thought that'd be the last of it, but no, right when he's about to get comfortable, that thing starts ringing again.
He had enough of this. He grumpily yawns, lazily stretching himself up on his bed while he rubs his hand over his eyes. Although he's gotten himself into a sitting position, he's kind of slumped over. He reaches for his phone at his nightstand, but by the time he brings it forward, it seems like whoever was calling him hung up.
It takes everything within him to not chuck his phone off at that instant. He forces himself to calm down, now knowing to himself that it's definitely some prank call, and he shouldn't get too worked up over it.
Just as he's about to put his phone back down, he hears it beep. "Urgh, what is it this time?" He looks over his phone, and then he squints, confusion now overtaking his earlier irritation. "Huh, what's this?" He got a feeling he probably shouldn't open it, but curiosity got the better of him, and so, he did.
He almost jumps back, his eyes widening when he sees what the text contained.
heyyoooo hinataaaaaaa
remember me?
As soon as his shock has worn off, he reads the text once more His eyes narrow; he doesn't recognize this number at all.
Who are you?
The mystery person sends him two more messages. He can't help but be unnerved by how quick they were in that.
aww you forgot about me already
we just talked some time ago, dontcha remember?
'Talked some time ago?' He racks his brain up, trying to recall if there's anyone he recently talked with. Obviously, it couldn't have been any of his classmates, otherwise it'd be really easy for him to tell who it was. It couldn't have been Ms. Yukizome either; even if she's way out there as a teacher, he doubts that she'd be the kind of person to text him late at night for thrills and giggles.
Aside from them, he doesn't remember talking to that much people. Well, he does remember meeting up with some of his schoolmates sometimes, including a couple of freshmen—
He almost drops his phone when that realization struck him so hard.
Wait, Enoshima?
How the HELL did you find my number?!
LMAO i can't tell youuuuu
that's a little trade secret, hinata ╮(╯∀╰)╭
It's probably just him, but he swears he can pretty much hear her laughing at him right at this moment. Hajime grunts. He can already feel a migraine's coming up in his head after he read that.
What do you want with me this time?
omg you're so rude
after everything we've been through together,
this is how you repay me? (;﹏;)
'That's ironic coming from the same person who thought texting me really late at night was a good idea.' This girl is definitely testing what little is left of his patience. He's going to be honest; it feels so tempting for him to tell her to screw off right then and there.
Still, he knows that's not going to make things any better for the both of them. He's way better than this. He won't stoop so low as to do that
Sighing, he swallows his pride and decides to be the bigger person as he replies to her,
Please, just get to the point already.
fiiiiiiiiiiine, have it your way
i decided to track your number down because
well, how else am i gonna update you about your ex
The corners of his lips twitch. There's something about the way she worded those texts that bugged him; it's like her mood suddenly flipped for no rhyme or reason. He never thought that Enoshima, of all people, would be so difficult to talk with, and that's saying a lot, since he's met a lot of nasty people before.
In any case, the fact that she's tracked down his number (which is kind of a terrifying thought, but he's too tired to think of those implications at the moment) to keep him updated with Chiaki's case is kind of weird.
He thought that the most Enoshima would do is to pique the Ultimate Detective's interest with that. He didn't expect her involvement to get this far.
Speaking of the Ultimate Detective...
Since you went through all the trouble of getting my number
You could've at least sent it to the Ultimate
Detective, since she's the one who'll be doing all of that work.
too bad
miss detective's got a lot of super important stuff to do
so she got me to be like a relay between you two
or something like that
so now you're stuck with me
deal with it
'Of friggin' course.' Hajime exhales, pinching the bridge of his nose. 'Why did I expect anything else?'
He guess he should've figured that someone who's known as the Ultimate Detective wouldn't have a lot of time to spare and the fact that she's even considering to investigate something like this is already asking for a lot.
He sets his phone down on his bed for a moment, letting himself breath a bit more, and then picks it back up so that he can reply.
Guess I don't have a choice then, huh...
noooopeeeeeeee (￣︶￣)
well then, i'll talk to ya again soon, hinataaa
peace (^^)v
Hajime stares at the last text she sent him a few more times. He turns his phone off, gently sets it down on his nightstand, and then he covers his face with both hands, letting out a long, dragged-out groan. It's not even midnight yet, and he's already having one bitch of a headache.
'What did I get myself into?'
Jin can't help but sneak a glance at the wall clock every few minutes or so. There's a part of him that wonders if it would've been better if this had been scheduled in the morning. Any other time but now would've been far better, but apparently, it's too 'urgent' for him to ignore, so he had to do it this late evening.
No matter, in about ten minutes from now, he's going to have an appointment with a certain someone, and based on his many experiences, a one-on-one meeting with any of the Steering Committee members can't mean anything good.
'I wonder what do they want this time.' A low grumble comes out of him. The slow ticking is slowly getting onto his nerves as each second passes by.
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to calm himself down. No matter what he personally feels about them and the way they run this school, he has to at least keep everything professional towards them. Especially so in regards to some...incidents that have happened a few times before.
'Ah, speaking of them.' He sighs. It feels rather tempting for him to palm his face right now. Depending on how this ends, this might end up souring his last waking hours for tonight.
As if it was perfectly timed, he then hears the impatient knocking over his office's door. He knows that the door isn't locked, and he's sure that the person behind it knows it too. It's a petty show of power, that's all there is to it.
Deciding he might as well get things over with, he lets them know in a loud and clear voice, "Come in."
The door clicks open, and from there, Mr. Akiyama steps inside the room. He proceeds to close the door, and for good measure, locks it as well. He then looks around the office for a bit, before going forward and taking a seat in front of him. "Headmaster, you're far more accomodating than I expected." He comments.
He raises a brow. If anyone who's talking to him tip-toes and dances around the topic they want to discuss with him by using small talk first, then he knows that it's something he's not looking forward to hearing about. Shaking his head, he tells him in an exasperated tone, "Please get to the point, Mr. Akiyama."
Mr. Akiyama nods. "As you wish, then. I'm sure you're aware of how much Izuru Kamukura has progressed these past months, haven't you?"
'What kind of question is that?' That raises another red flag for him, but for now, he puts it off. "Yes, I am well aware. I've heard she's passing all of the tests with remarkable results."
"Yes, indeed she has. It's good that you're well aware of that, then." Mr. Akiyama remarks before he slips a folder on top of the headmaster's desk.
Jin glances down on his desk for a moment, and then grabs the folder to take a closer look at it. From what he can see, there's no labels on it. No names, no titles, no dates; just the the folder's plain front.
"You should read it in its entirety when you have the time," Mr. Akiyama interjects, and then adds, "But because I want to keep this meeting as short as possible, I'll be clear with you right now."
He glances at him, and then back at the folder. Deciding to go with the older man's request for now, he sets the folder back on his desk and nods. "Go on."
Mr. Akiyama looks at him right in the eye, declaring in a firm tone, "We wish to create another Ultimate Hope."
He's always managed to maintain his composure, no matter how outrageous the kinds of demands he receives on a daily basis, but this one...there's something about it that set him off.
Several images of so many youngsters, either whimpering in pain or slumped over and unmoving, flash by in his mind. A subconscious part of him knew that most, if not alll of them were around the same age as his own daughter.
Jin didn't even realize it, but at that moment, he couldn't control himself anymore. He stands from his seat, slamming his hands down on his desk as hard as he can, and for the first time in years, raises his voice. "Are you out of your mind? Far too many reserve course students have already died to create the current Izuru Kamukura we have, and now you want to create another one?!"
"Oh?" Mr. Akiyama raises a brow, but other than that, he doesn't budge even an inch on his seat. "But I thought you were interested to see how far we can tap into talent's potential, especially one at this scale."
"Not if it ends up costing so many innocent lives!" He furiously fires back.
Mr. Akiyama only smirks in response to that. "Ah, but didn't you fetch the escaped test subject back to us, despite knowing exactly what'd be in store for her?"
Jin finds himself tensing up upon hearing that; it's as if those words have frozen every bit of muscle in his body. A bead of sweat drops down from his neck. He grimaces.
No matter what his reasons were for doing that, he knows to himself that Mr. Akiyama was right. He knows that nothing can ever excuse or justify that. Even now, he can still remember the cries and screams of that student, futilely banging and slamming against the door as he walked away, playing deaf to her pleas for help.
"Hmph. I thought so," Mr. Akiyama puts his hand over his forehead while dismissively shaking his head. "You shouldn't pretend you have the moral high ground over us, oh dear Headmaster."
Jin grits his teeth. "Why you..." His fists are clenching so hard, it might've made his knuckles go white.
The other man huffs. "Go on, then. Explain to me then why you thought it was necessary to return that test subject to us. Go on, I will not judge you, no matter what you decide to answer me with." He shrugs his arms at the end of that.
Knowing that he has nothing to defend himself with, Jin goes back on his seat, quietly resigning himself to defeat. He pretends not to hear the quiet, satisfied chuckle from the gray-haired man.
"Anyways," Mr. Akiyama clears his throat as he clasps his hands together. "I believe we're getting off-topic. Now, back on discussing the next phase for the Kamukura Project, we do believe that creating another Ultimate Hope is the only logical next step we should take."
"I'm assuming you want to do this as soon as possible?" The slightest bit of discreet anger slips out of Jin's voice as he said that.
Mr. Akiyama shakes his head. "No. For now, we'll continue monitoring Kamukura, in case if there are any anomalies that slipped past us. Depending on how much we can squeeze from this year, we may begin with the process of creating a new Ultimate Hope later this year, but that's if we're looking at it on a more optimistic note," He strokes his beard in thought. "It's more realistic and feasible to re-attempt the project next year."
"I see." Jin replies in a disinterested tone.
Shortly after, Mr. Akiyama turns to the wall clock and hums to himself. "I believe I must've overstayed my welcome long enough as it is. It was nice talking to you, Headmaster." He slightly bows his head, and then he gets up from his seat immediately after that. Without even bothering to fix the chair back, he starts walking away from there.
His eyes follow over the gray-haired man, watching him in case if he does something.
Mr. Akiyama pauses in his steps. "Don't forget," He turns his head to face him one more time. "You're as complicit in this project just as much as we are, Mr. Kirigiri."
Jin quietly swallows the lump in his throat, but he maintains eye contact with him. He bites the inside of his cheek, to keep himself from breaking his stoic facade once again.
A few more moments pass by, and Mr. Akiyama breaks eye contact with him. The sound of his footsteps clatter off before coming to a quick stop. It's then followed up by the click of his office's door, letting him know that the gray-haired man has already left.
Jin exhales, slumping himself back onto his chair. Glancing at the folder Mr. Akiyama left behind for him, he opens it, skimming and scanning through each word in every page. Just like what he expected, the folder is all about the same proposal he heard from the same appointment ago, but with even more notes and details here and there.
His blood went cold when he sees a note that mentions having even more participants for this next phase. Despite the discomfort he felt, he continues to read on, and as he nears the last paragraphs of it, he subconsciously runs his fingers through his hair.
He shuts the folder down and sets it back on the table. A grimace comes over his face as he wipes his forehead with the back of his hand.
Once the Steering Committee has made their minds up, nothing can hope to stop them. Not even his authority as the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy can put a a bit of a dent to it.
Kyosuke's eyes dart all over the screen, fully taking in each word from the most recent emails he's received from Mr. Tengan. So far, so good.' He slightly nods to himself after he's done reading them all. He closes them, allowing himself to sit back and relax for now.
To summarize, the artificial island for Hope's Peak Overseas, is almost finished. In about a month from now, they should be able to start mapping out and constructing the campus on it.
For a moment, he flashes back to a time before all of this have become possible. He, along with Mr. Tengan, have been supervising this expansion project since about a year ago. He's been diligently working on this for quite a while, he doesn't remember the last time he's been able to just sit and let his thoughts take over.
If Chisa was here right now, she'd berate him for working too much and kindly request him to take a break. And by that, he meant dragging him away from whatever he's doing and if that doesn't work, then she'd rope Juzo in too just to get him to stay down.
Kyosuke can't help but a crack a smile at those fond memories. No offense to her, but he doesn't have to worry that much about his current workload; this kind of work isn't too hard for the former Ultimate Affluent Progeny, after all.
Speaking of them, he knows he sent them off to work at Hope's Peak Academy back in Japan. From what they told him, Chisa was accepted as a main course teacher while Juzo became the head of the school security. He figured that he could trust them to report anything happening in there back to him, just in case.
He'll admit that what he's asking to do is basically spying and yes, he's also aware of its implications. However, it's still possibly the most efficient way for him to keep track and remain updated on whatever might be happening in the school.
He heard that a lot of changes have been made in the new administration. There aren't much information at the moment, but a lot of their decisions have been...very questionable at best.
To bring one case in mind, in one of monthly reports Chisa and Juzo had given him, there was an incident that involved the reserve course department a year ago. They don't know the full details because the school covered it up as much as they can, but what they know is that a student or two have been assaulted.
Aside from that incident though, neither of them have found anything incriminating about the school so far. The main course still functions the same as it was when they were students themselves, and there have been no major incidents, besides the occasional, rampant property destruction, courtesy of Chisa's students.
She sounded really sheepish when she told him that. He might've chuckled a few times after hearing that.
That said, both of them mentioned that they heard of some rumors floating around. Something about a special program, or something like that. Again, the exact details are unknown aside from the 'program' supposedly involving reserve course students. These rumors were from gossip, so as far the 'sources' go, it'd be hard to find any of it reputable, or even find any leads about it.
He's not going to completely dismiss it in case if there's some truth to it, but for the time being, it's very low on his priority list.
'Speaking of which…' Kyosuke lets out a sigh. When he found out that Hope's Peak Academy launched the reserve course department, to say that he wasn't pleased would be a huge understatement.
'The reserve course of Hope's Peak Academy must be horribly inefficient if most of its applicants drop out before the end of their first semester, let alone their first year.' He snorts, shaking his head.
In any case, whatever his opinion may be on them, it doesn't change the fact there's got to be a reason why Hope's Peak Academy opened that department up rather recently. The school has never allowed ordinary students in the entirety of its history, until a year ago, that is.
Randomly selecting a normal person from the entire population of the country in a lottery and deeming them as an 'Ultimate Lucky Student' is already pushing it. But, allowing anyone to enroll so long as they pay the high tuition and pass an entrance exam?
Even if they weren't going to be part of the main course upon enrollment, there's still a chance for them to be transferred if their exceptional talent has been discovered. So far, no student has actually managed to achieve that.
Kyosuke frowns. 'What exactly are their true motives?' He peers out at the window, now noticing it's already gone dark outside. 'And what are they hoping to achieve with this?'
None of it adds up in the end.
A/N: Exposition time, baby! I know that today's chapter is a little bit shorter than usual, so please forgive me for that.
As you might've noticed, I tweaked out a few things in this fic; I adjusted the months a bit, but since it's just the chapter titles, the chapters themselves are still the same overall, though there are probably a couple of line changes.
About Jin, I don't wanna demonize him since he's a bit more layered than that, but at the same time, I don't want to make it feel like his actions are justified here. Sure, he may be a bit sympathetic, but he's obviously not the good guy in this situation, just to make things clear.