After a week, Hajime was released from the hospital. His injuries recovered surprisingly fast and the doctors assured him there would be no long term damage from his encounter. He finally returned to his dorm room. It was late in the evening and the sun was beginning to creep beneath the buildings in the distance, casting long shadows over the courtyard. He flicked on the light to his small living room. Even compared to most colleges, the dorm rooms of the Hope's Peak Reserve Course were quite spacious. They were single bedroom, single bathroom, and they had a small kitchen. Hajime had done very little to spruce up his dorm. He had a few video game posters in his bedroom which Chiaki gave him, and a couch his parents let him take with him. Hajime had all the bare basics. He did not lead an extravagant lifestyle. He walked straight to his bedroom and took a seat on his queen sized bed. He checked his phone and saw that Natsumi had blown up his inbox with about a dozen texts.

( I knew I shouldn't have given her my number)

He swiped through them. The tone of the messages started off cheerful, but quickly became more and more "Natsumi" as they progressed. Natsumi's messages read as follows

"Heya. How r u doing? ." - 11:43 AM

"What did doctors say? Will u be back at school soon?" - 12:20PM

"Did ginger bitch come back? Whts her deal? Trying to get on ur nuts? LMFAO what a slut XD" - 1:37 PM

"I just got this cool keychain. Ill show u when you get back"- 3:50 PM

"Uhhh y arent u texting bck? (~_~;)" - 4:01 PM

"What's ur problem? :[" - 4:25 PM

"Seriously, ur the one that gave me ur number" - 4:55 PM

"Ok fine. Be that way u prick" - 5:11 PM

":[" - 5:51 PM

":[ :[ :[ :[ :[" - 5:55 PM

"Are you pissed at me or something?" - 6:03 PM

Hajime sighed and put his palm to his face.

(Crap. She's been texting me all day and I didn't even notice. I guess I better respond…)

He opened up the reply tab and quickly typed a message for Natsumi. It read

"The doctors released me. They said I should fully recover by the end of the month. I will be going back to school tomorrow"

He typed it out and then hit the send button. He glanced at his clock and decided it would probably be a good time to take a bath. But his thoughts were interrupted as his phone vibrated in his hand, making him jump. ( She texted back already?) he flipped it open.

"Geez. Ive been trying to text u all day! Do u know how frustrating that is?" She responded, angrily. Hajime texted his own response.

"Sorry. I had it on silent. I didn't know you were so worried about me"

Nothing. There was no response yet, as the minutes ticked by. ( That's odd). The other time, she responded almost immediately. Five minutes later, his phone vibrated.

"I wasn't worried. Just hve a little common decency and respond when some1 messages u!" She responded, scoldingly.

Hajime sighed and rolled his eyes a bit. "Fine, I'll work on that, if you stop using "u" and "ur" in your texts. Bad grammar isn't cute and it doesn't even save much typing time. Anyway, I'm going to take a bath. See you later," he set the phone down and started getting undressed, when it vibrated noisily again.

"Ew, you didn't need to tell me that detail. Dont try to put images in my head"

Hajime chuckled

The next day, Hajime got up a little extra early, since he needed more time to get ready. With his arm in a cast, even some basic tasks were slower and more cumbersome, such as getting dressed or making the bed. He slung his backpack over his right shoulder and headed out the door. When he got to the Reserve building, he saw Natsumi, waiting at the gate for him. That was not something she normally did. He approached her.

"Hey, Natsumi. What's going on?" He asked, as other students shuffled past them. Many of them turned their heads to look at Natsumi and Hajime before muttering to each other and scurrying away. Natsumi had her arms crossed and she looked a little unsettled.

"I just wanted to warn you about something, before we go in… The thing is, everyone's been talking about us, since the incident. They are probably gonna treat you differently. Hell, they've been treating me differently. There are all kinds of rumors flying around about us and about what happened," she explained, as it became more apparent that passersby were taking extra looks at the two of them.

"Oh, I see. That could be a problem," he grimaced, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. "But I wouldn't worry too much about it. I mean, at the end of the day, I really don't care what they think or say about us. Do you?" he asked.

"Hell no, I don't! I don't give two shits about what any of these no-name NPCs think about me. I just wanted to give you fair warning. That's all," she grumbled, turned away to walk inside. With all that in mind, the two of them entered the school together. As they walked through the halls, the pathway cleared for them. Students whispered things to each other.

"I heard he beat that Sato girl unconscious"

"No way, man. Just look at him. He totally got his ass kicked... by a girl"

"But that Sato girl was going to kill that other girl, right? The guy's kinda like a school hero"

"Uh, if you say so. Is it too late to get on team Sato?"

"I heard that those two are a thing now"

"Really? I almost feel sorry for the guy"

Natsumi grimaced angrily as all the rumor mongers conversed and whispered to each other. It was uncomfortable to say the least, but Hajime knew it would pass eventually. Right now, the only person who kind of mattered to Hajime in this entire building was walking alongside him. That was a strange thought to consider.

2 Weeks Later

Nearly a month had passed since his fight with Sato. His arm and ribs were fully healed now. He felt refreshed to finally be free of those troublesome bandages. The arm bandage was especially troublesome because he used chopsticks with his left hand, primarily. He could finally enjoy a good night's sleep without having to lay in awkward positions, to protect his injuries.

It was still early in the morning when Hajime awoke with a jolt. There was a loud thumping noise. He waited a few moments and it started again. Someone was knocking on his door and knocking hard. He almost fell out of bed, catching himself on the dresser. He pulled himself up and looked at the clock.

(5:00 AM? What the hell?)

He hastily slid into some shorts and walked up to answer the door. When he opened it, he was face to face with a tall girl with long grey pigtails. She wore glasses and had wild red eyes that pierced the soul. She had an athletic body and was well endowed in the chest area, to say the least. She had her arms crossed, impatiently.

"Hajime Hinata, I presume?" She asked. Hajime was admittedly a little unsettled by the idea of a girl knocking on his door at such an odd hour. What could she possibly want? At that moment, Hajime recognized her face. She was one of the ultimate students, from the main course. Evidently, Hajime was much better at remembering the female ultimates than the male ones.

"Uh… yes I am... You're Peko Pekoyama, aren't you? The ultimate swordswoman?"

Peko nodded. "Yes. That is correct. I am here to act as your personal trainer" She said flatly and bluntly, as if Hajime should have already been expecting that.

"Uh… come again?" Hajime asked, blankly. It was pretty early in the morning and his mind was fuzzy. Peko sighed in annoyance.

"The letter you received mentioned that you would be provided with personal training in order to make you a more capable confidant for Lady Natsumi. Now hurry and get dressed, so we may begin. We don't have all day," she said, crossing her arms, glaring at him.

"Letter?… Oh yeah! I remember now! The letter from the Oyabun!" He blurted out loudly. Immediately after he did that, Peko's hand pressed over his mouth.

"Are you some kind of imbecile or something? Don't speak so loudly and freely about our business… Please" She asked politely, before letting go of his mouth.

"Ok ok! Sorry about that. I'll be more careful… but wait a minute. I never actually agreed to anything. I never said that I would take him up on that offer," Hajime stammered out.

"Are you saying you would like to decline the Oyabun's request?" Peko asked with a raised eyebrow, once again giving him that icy cold stare. It wasn't even something she did intentionally. It was just how her face naturally was.

"No, I'm not saying that. I just..."

"Then hurry up and get dressed. You have already wasted 5 solid minutes of training time. Evidently, I will have to wake you up 5 minutes earlier from now on," she said, harshly.

"Ok ok, just give me a second" he blurted before closing the door and putting his hand on his mouth.

( How the hell did I end up in this situation?)

Hajime scrambled to throw on his gym shorts, a T-shirt, and a pair of gym shoes. He didn't want to keep the girl waiting. He took a few deep breaths and then opened the door. She was standing there, eyeing him impatiently.

"Well. Are you ready to go?" She asked, turning away from him.

"Yeah. Lead the way" Hajime replied, tightening his fists, steeling himself. For some reason, he was feeling just a little bit excited about this. He wasn't quite sure why. It was a horrible inconvenience after all. He followed the silver haired girl to the school's track. Like most schools, the track was rubbery and ideal for avoiding cartilage damage and unnecessary shin splints. It was still dark outside, which meant the track was empty.

"Today, I will be testing your physical fitness, to make an assessment of where you are at, in terms of strength and endurance. This will inform how your training regimen will be constructed. The first thing we will be doing is pushups. I want you to do as many as you can, without resting. If you attempt to cheat by not bringing your body low enough, the reps will not be counted. Your arms must come to a 90 degree angle," she instructed as Hajime began to sweat, nervously.

(Crap), he thought to himself. (I always cheated with these in middle school)

That wasn't going to be an option if he had Peko looming over him the whole time. He got down on the ground, flat on his stomach. He looked up at the silver haired beauty standing over him, just before remembering the fact that she was wearing a skirt. From this angle, he had a full view of what was underneath. Peko just now realized that as well and she blushed furiously, taking a few steps away from him and reaching down to pull her skirt into the way to shield her panties.

"W-what are you looking at?" she asked, with a flustered, stammering voice.

"Sorry, I-I just happened to look up! I didn't see anything! I promise" Hajime pleaded with her. He was lying through his teeth, of course. He had seen something quite interesting. He surmised that thongs must just make it easier to maneuver in combat. That had to be the reason she was wearing one, right? Peko pulled herself together and regained her bearing, making sure to stay a solid 10 feet away from Hajime as he did his exercise.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just get on with this, shall we?" She suggested.

"R-right..." Hajime got into the upright pushup position and began his reps. He brought himself down so that his face was mere inches from the ground and pushed back up. This was a lot harder than he remembered. He knew he was in trouble, early on. He struggled to keep his back straight as he lowered his body down and then pushed it back up. By the time he got to 19, it was all he had. He gave up, collapsing on the ground. Peko sighed and wrote the number down in a small book.

"I see. 19 pushup max. Upper body strength...mediocre at best" she muttered to herself as she wrote it down.

"Oh, come on. Did you really need to add that last part?" Hajime whined.

"The next part of the test is sit-ups. You will be given 60 seconds to do as many as you can. You can have a partner hold your feet down while you perform the exercise… oh, right. I suppose I am the only one here. Very well," she said, kneeling down. Hajime had already flipped over onto his back, getting into position. Peko rested her knees on his shoes and held onto his ankles. She hovered over him looking down. A sudden rush of blood swam to Hajime's face. This was a rather awkward position to be in. All alone with a girl, at night, in the middle of a field, with her body pressed against him. Couldn't think of many times he had been this close to a girl before. Peko's face was also a bit flushed.

"Well, what are you waiting for? You may begin any time that you like" she said, softly.

Hajime snapped back to reality and he promptly began his sit-ups. He knew these would be a lot easier for him than push-ups. He should be able to get a decent score here. He curled his torso upward, but as he did, it brought his face disturbingly close to Peko's. She backed away and turned her head to the side, blushing. It was her fault for leaning forward and having her face in such a careless spot. Hajime did his best to continue. All this excitement actually helped him to push a lot harder than he normally would have. He ended up doing 30 sit-ups by the end.

"Hm. Better than your pushup score, but it still needs work," she said as she scribbled notes into her little black booklet.

"Uh… Peko" Hajime asked meekly. Peko realized she was still on top of him, even though he was long finished.

"Oh, of course. My apologies," Peko muttered as she jumped up and brushed her legs off. She then pulled out a stopwatch and walked over to the edge of the track.

"Do any stretches or warm-ups that you feel are necessary. You will be doing a three kilometer run. Be sure to pace yourself accordingly," she advised, holding the stopwatch in her hand. Hajime did a few stretches and already was feeling a bit apprehensive about this. He was not proficient in any sports and his body was not at all accustomed to running long distances. A two kilometer run, he could probably handle, but three was a little much. Hajime finished stretching and walked up to the starting line.

"I will count your laps for you and let you know your current time, as you pass by. Remember to pace yourself. If you need to vomit, do so, off to the side of the track".

Hajime's stomach turned a bit, at the thought. He took a few deep breaths in and out, to calm himself and get his heart rate down. He knew that he would need to limit his pace to a brisk jog, for this kind of distance.

"Begin!" Peko yelled, swinging her arm down in a straight motion. Hajime took off running at a quick pace for the first 50 meters, fueled by the initial excitement of starting a race, but he caught himself quickly and corrected his pace to something much more sustainable. This wasn't a race. He had to take his time, otherwise he would burn out quickly. Thankfully there were no other participants in this test, that would pressure him into a more exhaustive pace. He kept his cool and chugged along. This would be easier if he brought music or if he owned an MP3 player, to begin with. His mind wandered as he jogged. It was refreshing to feel the crisp morning air on his sweat-glistening skin, as he ran. Of course, that liberating feeling wore off quickly.

(This kinda sucks), he thought to himself. His body was rejecting this strenuous activity and his heart was pounding in his chest. He managed to finish his second kilometer, but after that he had to start walking, to catch his breath.

Peko scolded him for it. "What are you doing? You can't start walking now. You have another Kilometer to run. It's only two more laps. You are going to ruin your score if you keep this up," Hajime could barely hear her. His ears were ringing and all he could hear was the sound of his own heavy breathing. He was not prepared for this test, at all. He panted and clutched his side, as he began to cramp up. He had to finish this, even if it meant 5 more minutes of hell. He began to resume his jog, albeit at a slower pace. He was able to finish a lap at this speed. He slowed, once again, due to the fact that he could taste blood in his mouth, his throat was dry, and he was light headed. In the last lap, he increased his pace, just trying to end it as quickly as possible and maybe salvage his time. He used the last of his energy as he stumbled over the finish line. He leaned over and placed his hands on his knees, gasping for air.

Peko clicked the stop watch and shook her head. "17 minutes and 38 seconds… This is unfortunate. I see we have a lot of work ahead of us," she said looking down at him, with pity. Hajime dropped to his knees, as he gasped and panted, trying to catch his breath and ease the sharp pain in his chest. He felt nauseous and he clasped his hand over his mouth, trying to focus on not vomiting. He leaned over the grass and dry heaved a few times.

"It appears you need to hydrate more. The training you will be enduring is far more strenuous. If you aren't properly hydrated, you could seriously injure yourself," she castigated, as she handed Hajime a bottle of water. He snatched it and greedily chugged it down. "Hey! Don't just gulp it down all at once. You're going to make yourself sick and your body won't properly absorb it all! Drink slowly. It is more beneficial that way,"

Hajime learned this the hard way, as his stomach turned and he once again felt nauseous. He covered his mouth and waited for the sickness to pass. He turned to look up at Peko with a weak smile.

"Thanks for the advice, Peko… You really know your stuff, don't you?" he managed to get out, in between his ragged panting. Peko blushed slightly at the compliment and then closed her eyes, adjusting her glasses with her finger.

"This is all simply physical fitness 101. You really should start taking the health of your body more seriously. Other people are going to be counting on you, especially Lady Natsumi. You can't afford to become weak, lazy or slovenly. Understand?" she said in a serious tone, crossing her arms. But then she smiled warmly. "However, I could tell that you put 100% into today's exercises. So, good work. You will need to maintain that focus, because training will be far more strenuous in the future. Is that understood?"

Hajime gulped and looked up at her as she beamed down at him, giving off an aura of professionalism and wisdom.

"Y-yes mam" he replied as sweat dripped down his forehead. Peko was so much different from the other girls that Hajime had known. She was an ultimate after all. He couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of life she had lived and how it differed from his own. He had no clue how she became the strong, fearless, reliable person that she was now. He wondered if he could even hope to approach that.

Peko put the stop watch away and pulled out her small booklet, which she began writing in.

"I will save the results of your tests today and we will compare them to when we test again in two months. Now, you may return to your dorm to shower and proceed with your day. You are dismissed" she said as she turned to walk away. The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon. Hajime couldn't help but feel that something in him was different than before. He couldn't pinpoint it. He closed his eyes for a moment and savored the gentle warmth of the morning sun.

(Hmh… How odd.)