Chapter 2: The Tragedy of Izuru Kamakura

Hajime Hinata sat there every day, on that bench by the fountain, thinking about his lot in life as an untalented person in a world of talent. Of course, this was not a normal day. The most apparent difference was the pale girl with blonde hair who ran face-first into him while playing her Game girl. Hajime recognized the game she was playing from the sound effects.

"Gala omega?" He said.

"You know it? I thought I was the only one who played it!" she said.

"I even went through new game plus once or twice."

"That one's tough, I barely got through my no-upgrade run on new game plus."

"No upgrade run? Geez, why do I even try?" Hajime stiffened up a bit as he realized he had let his inner thoughts slip out.

"Well, you enjoy it don't you? It's not like there's only room for one gamer in the world," the girl seemed nonplussed.

"There you are, Nanami! Class is almost over!" A woman with long red hair tied up in a ponytail approached, "Chisa Yukizome, your new homeroom teacher. We're implementing a new, attendance required policy for this class!"

"Okay," the girl said, "see you later… uh…"

Hajime realized he hadn't actually introduced himself, and said "Hajime Hinata."

"Cool, see you later Hajime, hope we can play some games together some time… Oh, and I'm Chiaki Nanami…" She looked back to her handheld and started walking off with Chisa.

A few days later, Hajime was there on that bench again, whiling away the hours when Chisa approached him.

"I thought I'd find you here, Hinata," she said.

"Aren't you supposed to be teaching your class?" he said.

"I thought it would be good to give them some free time without their teacher watching all day. Why are you here?" Chisa had a hint of concern in her voice.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Just about every way that can be taken… Why are you at Hope's peak? Why are you sitting out here on a bench alone? Why are you moping when you could be out making friends and improving yourself?"

"Well, I dreamed of going to Hope's Peak like most people, being one of the best of the best, getting a stable future and making my parents proud… But it feels like a sham… I work in classes, but never get anywhere. That's when we do have class, but most of the teachers just seem to give roll call then spend an hour talking about how useless we are since we don't have talent. The rest of my class isn't in much better straits, at least half the students never look up from their desks and it doesn't feel like there's anything we can do."

"Oh dear…"

"And to top it off, my parents are paying huge amounts of money for me to be here, and I know they can't afford it. I doubt I have more than a month before they have to start taking loans to keep me enrolled and if it comes to that I'd rather just leave."

"That is… Quite the pickle. I can't offer much for your financial problems, but you shouldn't be worried about being useless. It's, what, 1% of the population that has talent, if that? Do you really think 99% of people are useless wastes of space?"

"I don't want to be a peon, I want to be someone great…" Hajime's words echoed the ones he had grown up hearing.

"As do your fellow students, and they're also paying to be here. I'm sure if you can make friends with them you can all work together to be better, and even achieve greatness. They might even be the best people to befriend, especially in your situation, if they can afford the tuition... Crap, what time is it? I have to get going, my class is going to burn down the school if I don't get back." Chisa looked at her watch.

"Is that a joke?"

"I hope so…" Chisa dashed off toward the main course building.

An old man approached from the other direction, who Hajime recognized as Kazuo Tengan.

"I see she hasn't changed a bit… Room for an old man on that bench?" he said. Hajime moved over to make room for him, and Tengan sat down.

"So, have you decided? They will want your answer soon," Tengan said.

"No…" Hajime said.

"I see… Well, maybe it's for the best, the whole project is a gamble at best. It may even be better that they don't get a subject and the whole thing stays as pure speculation. I may be an advisor to the school, but I'll still tell you that they do not have your best interests at heart."

"I can't really afford to stay without taking the deal…"

"There's worse fates than having to attend a normal high school."

"I get it, but it feels like going back is just giving up on ever achieving greatness… Even if things here aren't like I assumed they would be…"

"You know what they say, when you assume you make an ass of you and me. Just give it consideration. Like Chisa said, there's no shame in normalcy, and most people live fulfilling lives just being normal." Tengan got up and left, heading for the offices.

Hajime just sat on the bench and stewed for a bit longer, before finally going back to class.

The next day, Hajime took a seat near the window. Before class started, a girl with blonde hair reaching past her shoulders got his attention. She must've transferred in recently, or at least in the month since he last came to class.

"Hey dumbass," she said.

"It's Hajime Hinata, actually," he said.

"You don't have many friends here, do you? Guess we're similar like that."

"A charming offer, I'll consider it later." Hajime made sure to layer on his best sarcastic tone.

"You'll want me as a friend rather than an enemy, I promise you that. You probably heard of my family, the Kuzuryus?"

"The Yakuza?"

"Yep, my brother's in line to be the next leader of the clan, so I've got a little clout." From her tone, it was easy to tell she was implying it was more than a little, "I'm basically the queen of the reserve course, even if these ingrates won't recognize it. I might even be able to pull some strings to offer help for a friend in need."

While the ploy was obvious, Hajime's position was dire enough that he would have genuinely considered accepting it, even knowing how the Yakuza tend to collect on their debts.

"Trying to buy friends, Natsumi?" The girl with curly black hair's voice sounded confident, but she was shaking nervously.

"Shut it, Sato. I'm the Ultimate Little Sister, I could easily make friends if I wanted to!"

"Then why are you in the reserve course?" the small smile Sato gave looked smug, like she had been searching for some way to pry as Natsumi.

"They ran out of slots! Maybe if a certain redhead had a little incident then they would have room for me." Now Natsumi looked smug, while Sato's expression quickly shifted to horror.

"You wouldn't, not at school…"

"Who knows? Security is bare bones at best. Or maybe on the way home, a little tap on the head and suddenly she wakes up at the bottom of the harbor. Suddenly they need a new talent to fill the roster and they've got one right there already on campus. I mean, if someone had the opportunity to take that kind of upgrade, they'd have to be a fool not to!"

Sato went pale, and took a few steps back. A girl with short red hair entered the room.

"Sato? Are you ready for lunch?"

"Mahiru…" Sato ran over to her friend and the two left the room.

"Gee, thanks for the assist there, Hajimeat," Natsumi said, looking annoyed.

"I'm not much of a mediator," Hajime responded.

"I don't want a mediator, I want someone who's got my back!"

"Well then maybe you should try acting like someone people would want to support."

Natsumi shrugged, but was looking toward the floor. She was obviously struggling to find some response to that.

"Maybe it's something we can work on together," Hajime said.

"Yeah… My offer still stands, if you want it," Natsumi looked a bit relieved as she spoke.

Hajime couldn't help feeling a bit relieved himself, there might be a solution to his problem after all.

Hajime was back at his bench by the fountain. Natsumi was dead. Hajime discovered it the next morning, when one of the school buildings was cordoned off by school security. He overheard some girls talking nearby, and recognized the voices.

"Do you know what happened, Sato?" Mahiru asked.

"No… She must've had a bad run-in with some pervert," Sato responded.

"A pervert? Inside the walled-in school? Who murdered her?"

"Yes…"

"Dammit Sato, I want you to be honest with me!"

"I am…"

Mahiru pulled a few photographs out of her bag, nearly jamming them toward Sato.

"Then what are these?" She demanded.

"These are… Oh god…" Sato's skin went pale.

"Yeah, I know, and I wanted you to be honest with me. Dammit, you're supposed to be my best friend and now I don't know if I can trust you…"

"I would never do anything to hurt you, I just wanted to make sure you were safe."

"By murdering one of your classmates?"

"She's Nail-driver Natsumi! She doesn't make idle threats! Remember middle school?" Sato pulled up her sleeve, showing a jagged scar.

"She's Yakuza! Why do you always have to push her?"

"You know I don't back down to bullies! Why are you defending her?" Sato got more flustered by the word. Mahiru sighed before speaking again.

"Okay, calm down. I'm not turning you in, just tell me why…" Mahiru kept her composure while she spoke.

"She said she would get into the main course for sure if she got you out of the way..." Sato's voice was breaking as she spoke.

"You know that's bullshit. We were so close on who would get the title of Ultimate Photographer that the scout had to flip a coin," Mahiru's voice was stern. "Besides, her brother would have stopped it if she had made the attempt."

"She would've killed me too! And I don't know shit about her brother! I-I… I don't know… I'm sorry…"

Hajime could hear Sato crying.

Sato was dead. Hajime didn't know how, but he was fairly sure he knew why. While he lay on that bench by the fountain, he wasn't concerned with the act itself, but with the response. No police investigation into either death. Little more than a token statement by the school. Was this the worth of a normal person's life?

He wanted to shout, hit something, or just cry, but all he could do is sit and stew. Going back to class was the last thing he wanted. Here, in his thinking space, his thoughts wandered to everyone he had talked to.

"You enjoy it don't you? It's not like there's only room for one gamer in the world." When Chiaki had said it, she presumably meant that he could play games, or do anything really, even if he wasn't the best. What Hajime thought now was of the project, how it could mimic talents. Maybe there could be two ultimate gamers, and maybe he could play with Chiaki on more equal ground. Isn't a game more fun when it's a tug-of-war instead of a one-sided beatdown regardless of which side you're on?

"You can all work together to be better, and even achieve greatness." Did it mean working as a group, or could it mean taking the memories of them and using them to make greater decisions? A few days prior, the former would've been the answer he went with every time, but Hajime couldn't help feeling the latter might be true as well.

"There's worse fates than having to attend a normal high school." Easy for Tengan to say, he's not a teenager anymore. Being the guy who got into Hope's peak reserve course isn't exactly glamorous, and being the guy who dropped out of the reserve course would be humiliating. Not to mention telling his parents that all the money they spent to send him here was basically wasted would probably be the most painful conversation he'd ever had.

"If someone had the opportunity to take that kind of upgrade, they'd have to be a fool not to!" Natsumi wasn't talking about him, she likely didn't even know about the project, but now her words came back. He didn't even have to kill anyone to get his place, just sign an agreement to be their test subject. Hajime certainly wouldn't want to make the foolish choice.

A week ago, it had seemed like a deal with the devil. Sign your soul away, and all your dreams will come true. Now Hajime found himself driven toward the offices with conviction. He would take up their offer. If it worked, if artificial talent could make everyone great, then he was the first and would be remembered as such. If it didn't, then either he would get out fine and the school would waive his fees so he could graduate as a Hope's peak student, or it would at least let progress be made at whatever cost the procedure had to his person. If the contract he was given was to be believed, that cost wouldn't be much.

In the end, he thought, he would get closer to his dreams regardless of the result, and so he took it.