Hajime already knew that their everyday lives in Class 77-B is far from normal, but even then, there are some days that are weirder than most. He takes one good look at the scene in front of the class, and by now, he's figured that today is going to be one of those days.
Ms. Yukizome's usually relaxed stance has changed into a more straighter, maybe even authoritative one. The usual cheeriness on her face has also been replaced with a hardened, more serious look. Without any warning, she then smacks her hand against the board several times.
What makes everything even weirder is the stuff she wrote on that board a minute ago.
HOPE'S PEAK SCHOOL FESTIVAL!
"Alright, everyone! Within a month from now, Hope's Peak Academy is going to hold a school festival. They didn't mention much, other than it's going to be so much bigger than the other ones before. That's why…" Her eyes close as she grits her teeth. Ms. Yukizome shakes one of her clenched fists. "We must prepare ourselves until that day comes crashing down on us!" She suddenly shouts louder than usual while smacking her hand against the board several more times.
That weird little speech-like thing aside, Hajime wonders how Ms. Yukizome's hand hasn't gone red and swollen by now; he thinks it over, and so he supposes that's probably one of the perks of being the former Ultimate Boxer. Plus, if anything, he should've wondered how the board's still in one piece without even a single crack on it despite the blows his ridiculously strong teacher landed on it. That's probably something Hope's Peak took into account, he thinks to himself in slight amusement.
He then blinks, now fully understanding the reason why their teacher's acting even weirder than usual. 'Oh yeah, I've heard that the school festival's going to be pretty big, since it's not just the Ultimates who are going to participate in it. I think I've heard that even students from the reserve course are allowed to come in.' Upon thinking about the reserve course, he frowns.
It's been months now since Enoshima last spoke with him. Or contacted him, for that matter, and so far, there hasn't been any updates with Chiaki. Then again, he shouldn't have been surprised; she did tell him that the Ultimate Detective is a busy person. Though Hajime's curious on what might've happened since then, he also didn't want to bother her or the Ultimate Detective (whoever that might be), so he didn't try contacting Enoshima back, for now.
Besides, there's something else he's going to have to deal with for the moment.
Not wanting to linger on those thoughts for any longer, he gets himself back into the main topic at hand. That is, Class 77-B's plans regarding the insanely massive school festival that's going to happen by next month.
Mikan raises her hand. She gulps, slightly whimpers for a bit, and then asks, "U-um, i-isn't that a bit too e-early, M-Ms. Yukizome?"
Their teacher points a finger at the lucky student, and her eyes start flaming up with an intensity that's similar to the occasional lightning in Nekomaru's eyes. "There's no such thing as 'too early', Mikan Tsumiki!"
"Eeeek!" She squeaks at a higher pitch than usual and shrinks back into her seat.
Their teacher grits her teeth. Still enveloped by a really intense aura, she begins shaking her clenching fist once again, a lot harder this time around. "If anything, our class should get a leg up on the other classes!"
"I-I'm sorry!" Mikan clasps her hands in front of her, as tiny droplets of tears fall down her face. "I-I'm really sorry! I s-shouldn't have said a-anything!"
Hajime finds himself awkwardly chuckling after seeing that, all while a droplet of sweat runs down his forehead. 'I never saw Ms. Yukizome this passionate about something before since her first day as our teacher. I guess that school festivals must be a really big deal for her, then.' He thinks about it some more, and then muses, 'Then again, any of the last school festival I've been in have never been as big or as crazy as this one.'
"Alright!" Ms. Yukizome calls out, smacking the board once again for emphasis. "If you anyone has any suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know!"
As if on cue, everyone slowly turns to face him. Komaeda in particular has a really, really intense kind of look to him; not even his gentle-looking smile did anything to tone down the intensity of it. Actually, it's kind of eerie how literally everyone instantly thought about looking at him first for those suggestions.
"Hey now, guys. Please don't look at me like that." Hajime protests as he puts his hands in front of him.
"Come on, class rep." Kaz says as he playfully elbows him, flashing him a dumb, toothy grin. "We're all counting on you, you know."
This is one of those moments where Hajime wants to question why he became friends and soul brothers with him in the first place. 'I guess I don't have much of a choice, then.' He then softly sighs, now accepting his fate and scrambling up for a way to think about what their class can do for the school festival.
He inwardly gulps, only realizing just how screwed he is right now. No matter how hard he tries to think of something, for some reason, his mind just keeps on blanking up on him. Even if he really tries to force himself, the resulting idea ends up sounding so lame, he feels ashamed for even thinking about it in the first place.
But then, right at that moment, Sonia suddenly interjects with a hand raised as she stands up from her seat, "I think a haunted house would make for a lovely attraction!"
'Oh, thank god, I'm saved!' If he could, he might actually fall down to his knees and thank her with the same kind of energy Kaz would've done in his place. 'You have no idea how much I owe you for that, Sonia—'
And then, the swordswoman just keeps going on and on about the kind of stuff she'd…er, love to add into that, with every last one becoming increasingly more graphic and disturbing than the last one. The whole suggestion doesn't even sound like a haunted house attraction anymore, and instead, it sounds more like something straight out of a horror movie. A…very adult and very, awfully disturbing kind of horror movie, that is. The kind that kills people inside and sucks their innocence along with it.
'Okay, that's way too much information right there.' Hajime grimaces, suddenly taking back the inner debt he just owed to Sonia a minute ago.
He may have been saved, but was the cost even worth it?
Even some of his classmates, including Natsumi, Hiyoko, and even Ryota, are starting to go completely pale at what they're hearing. Not even Kaz's friendship and undying adoration for Sonia is enough to shield him from those horrifying things his mind could never comprehend, and judging by the way his face looks right now, he looks like he just died inside.
"Alright, a haunted house as suggested by Sonia." Ms. Yukizome repeats as she writes it down on the board, mercifully ending it all just like that. Somehow, she didn't look disturbed by the things she heard from Sonia at all, not even a little bit, since she's still looking as chipper as always.
As for Sonia herself, she doesn't seem to be upset at all that their teacher cut her off. She just takes it in stride, sitting herself back down with a very giddy look on her face. She's probably happy that her suggestion was even considered at all.
'Huh,' Hajime slightly squints, glancing at their teacher, then to his blonde classmate. 'I wonder if those two actually think on the same wavelength.' He thinks about it some more, and inwardly shrugs. 'I guess it won't be surprising if they do, now that I think about it. They're a lot more similar than I thought.'
Ms. Yukizome then turns back to everyone with a smile. Although, it's clear her...hot-bloodedness regarding the school festival hasn't faded, not even by a tiny bit. "Is there anything else you guys wanna suggest?"
Teruteru raises a hand. He confidently smirks, and then proceeds to voice out his suggestion in some faux French accent, "I think our class should do a café."
And with the way he (tried to) smoothly deliver those lines, it's like he's expecting a bunch of sparkles to pop out from him and into the surroundings. Like he's something straight out of a girly romance manga.
"Okay then." Ms. Yukizome nonchalantly says as she goes to writing that suggestion down on the board too. "A café as suggested by Teruteru."
"So, so far, it looks our class could go either with a haunted house or a café." Mahiru comments out loud.
"Really? A haunted house or a café? That's really cliché, isn't it?" Hiyoko dryly comments. "Please don't tell me our class is this creatively bankrupt."
"What about a crossdressing horror-themed café?" Teruteru suddenly adds in.
Hajime tries to imagine how something like that would play out. A blank look comes over on his face as he mouths out an unimpressed, "…what?"
Right on cue, Hiyoko immediately balks at that. "Are you stupid? No one would ever get scared of something like that!"
Those two went on with it, with Teruteru trying to defend that idea while Hiyoko mercilessly taunted him for his questionable tastes. Hajime thinks that the whole argument is ridiculous in the first place, so he opts to tune out most of it.
Suddenly, Ibuki raises her hands, yes, both of her hands, and then giddily says out loud in a really enthusiastic voice, "Ooh, ooh! How about if our class did a ferris wheel for the festival?"
Hajime blinks once, and then he blinks again as he thinks about that suggestion. 'Wait, seriously, a ferris wheel? How the hell are we going to fit a whole-ass ferris wheel in this classroom? Not to mention, can we even build something like that on such a short notice? There's no way we'll get something on that scale down within a month, even if we have the Ultimate Mechanic in our class.'
The more he thinks about it, the more holes he ends up finding in that kind of suggestion.
"Alright, a ferris wheel from Ibuki!" Their teacher adds in, noticeably sounding a lot more chipper with that suggestion compared to the previous ones.
'Don't tell me you're going to just write down every suggestion you're going to hear…' He deadpans on the inside, all while giving off a slightly pained smile on the outside. 'And please don't tell me you're actually considering that too.'
He may love his class, and he mostly got himself used to their sheer insanity by now, but there are still some days when he wants to question what's going on in their minds. This is definitely one of those days.
A few more suggestions came and went by, and by then, Hajime is sure that almost everyone has pitched in their own ideas at some point.
By the near end of it, the class isn't able to decide on which theme they should go for, so that's adjourned until further notice. It didn't help that each suggestion was progressively getting worse than the last one.
To say that their…class meeting didn't end with a satisfying conclusion is a huge understatement, to say the least.
'And to think that I was worried over my ideas sounding so lame too.' Hajime mentally bemoans, briefly recalling some of the truly awful suggestions that came from Kaz and Akane and then internally shudders. 'I think I understand now on why Ms. Yukizome wanted us to plan this as early as she can.'
It's probably just him, but somehow, he gets the sinking feeling that this is only the start of other similar days. The only thing he can hope for now is that the next suggestions don't turn up way worse than all the ones he heard of today.
Then again, these are his classmates he's talking about, so he supposes it's only a matter of time, either way.
A week has already passed by then, and unfortunately, their class still can't truly agree with what they want to do for the school festival.
It wouldn't have been so bad, if not for the fact that he's going to have to attending a whole different meeting about it today too. This time, this meeting would include not just the representatives from the other classes, but the entirety of Hope's Peak Academy Student Council as well.
And considering that the main topic would be all about each class's respective preparations for the school festival…yeah. It's not like there's a penalty about it, it's just that, well, it's kind of slightly embarrassing in a way.
The only thing that softens this is that, at least this isn't really the first time he's attended this kind of meeting, and until graduation comes, it won't be the last time either. At the very least, it's not as nerve-wracking in that kind of way, had it been his first time attending a meeting like this, that is.
It's around afternoon by now, so he briefly but politely tells everyone a quick heads up right before he heads off to their designated meeting place.
Said meeting place happens to be that special classroom that's been completely reserved for the Student Council, which is located somewhere at the top of the new building. It's rather far from his classroom, so it might take him a while to get there.
The whole walk to get there ended up taking him at least less than an hour, though that's just his rough estimation.
He knocks on the door, waits for a second, and then calls out, "Hello?" He waits for a few more moments, and before he knows it, he hears something behind the door. From the sounds of it, someone's undoing a lot of locks from there.
The door finally opens, revealing a boy with short hair that slightly curls up a bit behind it. He's wearing the standard brown uniform for Ultimate students. "Hey there, Hinata. You're a lot earlier today." The boy, Murasame, remarks with a friendly smile.
Hajime awkwardly chuckles back. "Yeah, it was kinda needed. Since, you know, my classroom really far from here."
"Well, come on in, then." Murasame gestures his arm towards the door. "Everyone else in the Student Council is already here, but you're the first of the class representatives to show up."
Soshun Murasame, another Ultimate Lucky Student from the same school year as Hajime's class is in. When he first heard about it last year, he thought that it was kinda weird that before Clas 78 had enrolled, there were two Ultimate Lucky Students that got picked in one year. All he heard is that two names had come out at the same time in that lottery, which is why that happened.
As he enters inside, he can't help but slightly shudder a bit. The size about…well, everything about it makes it feel less like a classroom, and more like a private theater of some sort. It still feels so unbelievable to him, even now. He can't even imagine the kind of expenses Hope's Peak Academy would throw into this.
True to what Murasame has said, the rest of the Student Council are inside the room already. Hajime didn't talk a lot to them, even during the previous meetings, but he can still recognize most of them, even from here.
There's a short girl sitting right by one of the desks, fidgeting around with on some notebook with a pen in hand. The most noticeable thing about her is the yellow hoodie she has on, and that same hoodie has two long ears on top of it.
It's then he realizes that girl is Aiko Umesawa. Despite her cutesy appearance, she's actually the Ultimate Student Council Secretary, and from what he's heard, she can be competent with her job, as long as it isn't her free time at the moment.
There are also a few more faces he's familiar with, including Asukasei Hino, the Ultimate Student Council President, Karen Kisaragi, the Ultimate Student Council Vice President, and even Kotomi Ikuta, the Ultimate Disciplinary Committee Member.
Murasame then pulls a chair out, steps back, and then gestures his hand towards it. "Go on and take a seat, Hinata."
Hajime lightly bows his head in gratitude, telling him a relaxed "Thanks." as he lets himself sit down on the offered chair. After the long walk he took to get here, it feels so nice to let his somewhat tired legs rest for now.
Shortly after that, they both hear something. Both boys turn their heads to the source of that sound, and it goes on, it turns out, there's another set of knocking coming of from the door.
"Excuse me? Is there anyone here?" Someone calls out from outside. Their voice sounds quite feminine.
"I'll go get it." Murasame says, quickly excusing himself before running back to the front door.
Since there isn't much he can do for now, he decides to look around from his seat while he waits.
Though, the more he looks around, the more he notices that there's a whole lot of seats around here. As in, there's more than enough seats to accommodate at least dozens of classes in this one room. It definitely helps with the private theater impression he's been getting in here.
A couple of short moments pass by, and Murasame comes back, this time with a blue-haired girl in tow.
'Huh, she looks kinda familiar.' Hajime wonders if he remembers seeing her before, maybe somewhere during the the start of this school year, before it clicks into his head. 'Oh, right. She's one of the freshmen from Class 78. I haven't met most of them, but I think that might be Sayaka Maizono, the Ultimate Photographer.'
Murasame leads Maizono to the spot where other class representatives are supposed to sit by.
Or at least, he's about to, but then a boy with red hair that sticks up like flames suddenly stands up from his seat. "Wait, where the hell is Naegi?"
Hajime quickly recognizes that boy as Sosuke Ichino. Despite his fiery appearance, he's actually the Ultimate Swimming Pro, which is kinda funny, in some way.
He then notices there's a pink-haired girl sitting by Ichino's side too. From what little he's heard of the recent news, she's his girlfriend. Kiriko Nishizawa, the Ultimate Housekeeper. He has no idea how long they've been dating, and honestly, he doesn't want to pry into it anymore than he already heard about.
"Oh, he got sick today," Maizono explains. "So, I'm here to fill in for him, if you guys don't mind."
"Is that so?" Hino raises a brow. He glances over at his fellow Student Council members, quietly gesturing at them.
The rest of the Student Council follows through with that, turning to each other. They give off the feeling of huddling into one group, as they begin whispering to each other. Some time passes by, and then they break off the group.
"Well," Hino clears his throat, before turning his attention back to Maizono. "I think that should be okay, as long as you let him know about what he missed out on."
"Sure, that's fine with me. I'll be keeping that in mind." Maizono reaffirms with a nod and a smile. She then takes a seat, sitting right by Hajime's left side.
It didn't take long before the other class representatives start coming in this meeting room. It felt...kind of surreal the whole time, to see so many Ultimate students come in at around the same time. Despite that, though, somehow the room's overall capacity still only filled at least halfway through, even with having so many Ultimate students at once in this area.
Once every class representative and Ultimate Student Council member has been accounted for, Hino comes right to the middle of the table. He stares them all down, and then officially starts it off with, "I won't stave things off with an unnecessary speech, so I think we should all get to the main point of this meeting."
"The school's cultural festival, right?" One of the class representatives asks, raising his hand up.
"Exactly." Hino replies in a deadpan tone. "It's only less than a month away now, but that doesn't we should slack off until it comes. That's why, at this meeting, we're going to discuss what each class is going to do for the festival."
At Hino's prompting, the others start to pitch in their class' ideas, with some of them being confident about it, and others, not nearly as much, with Kisaragi taking note of each one of it. All of them sounds rather interesting, and also rather overwhelming in some way. Hajime supposes that's as expected from really talented people like them.
Speaking of that…
Kisaragi then turns her attention to him. "So, um, Hinata," Her fingers twiddle on each other, most likely out of habit. "Has your class already decided about their part in the festival?"
Hajime grimaces, suddenly remembering snippets of those class meetings, and then he shakes his head. "It's already been days, and we still can't agree about that for some reason."
Ikuta looks at him with sympathy. "That must be really tough."
"Knowing your classmates, I think that's not surprising at all." Hino deadpans, pushing the brim of his glasses back up with an audible sigh.
"I'm sure we'll think of something." He awkwardly replies, to sorta defend his class in some way. He thinks back on some of the more recent class meetings they've had, and then hopefully adds, "So far, though, I think some of them are leaning heavily into the haunted house idea."
Hino still looks rather unimpressed by that. "Hmm, that's nice, then." He says with a slight shrug.
Kisaragi continues, now turning her attention to the blue-haired girl. "How about you, Maizono?"
Maizono replies with, "Oh, our class is planning to do a school play." She puts a finger over her chin, and then adds, "Though, we still haven't decided which source material to go with, or if we'll create an original one."
"Ah, okay, then. That sounds really nice." Kisaragi nods in acknowledgment.
As they're nearing the middle of the meeting, Suzuko Kashiki suddenly comments out loud, "Oh, yeah, speaking of the school festival, the Lil' Ultimates are going to participate in this too, right?"
Daiki Kubo hums like he's thinking about that, and then blurts out, "Yeah, I think so. I've also heard that the reserve course would be able to come in the main course too. I think this is the first time they're allowed to do that, actually."
A pang of sharp pain comes through Hajime's chest when he heard that.
"Hinata, are you okay?" Murasame asks in a concerned tone.
Hajime forces himself to smile, pushing all those thoughts of Chiaki away from him as much as possible. "It's nothing at all, really. I just…" He suddenly pauses, trying not to wince as he tries to think of a good excuse, before finally answering him back with, "Just…an upset stomach, but I swear I'll be fine." He insists.
Murasame slightly frowns. "Oh, if you say so, then." From the way he replied, he didn't look fully convinced by what he said, but at least he didn't try to pry any further than that.
Other than that, nothing much happened during the rest of the meeting. The only things that really happened are things like re-reviewing some of the other class's shops and attractions and giving them some tweaks when necessary, discussing the opening and closing ceremonies, and how the best class attraction contest would work. Just to name a few.
And so, that concludes their meeting for Hope's Peak Academy's school festival. Aside from his class still being unable to decide on what they should do for that and Naegi being unable to show up for the meeting, it went off well without a hitch.
A/N: I liiiiiiiiiiiiivvvvveeeeeeeeee!
Yeah, I apologize for disappearing for so long. A lot of real life things happened, and let's just say, a couple of real life issues happened too, but I'd rather not think about them for too much. But yeah, apologies again for taking this long to update.