Hajime was not ashamed to admit he cried when he found the Hope's Peak Academy acceptance letter in his mail one day, informing him their scouts had deduced him to be the Ultimate Gamer and that, if he chose, he could start attendance next year. It had paid off. All those years of bouncing from skill to skill, rebounding to his games when his depression at not being good enough resurged, honing those gaming skills when he finally realized he was good at them. Hoping and working for the slightest chance of being declared special. It had paid off.

Sure, the school wasn't exactly what he'd expected, but it was still a dream come true. Like, going to class wasn't mandatory, but he went anyway because how could he not. And his class was all...disconnected. There wasn't really unity. He usually stayed on the fringes of group activity, playing his games.

It did get a little lonely at times. But he had to cultivate his talent. It was all that mattered about him.

He settled into a schedule: classes, talent honing at a nearby arcade, homework, back to his dorm for more honing. The manager at the arcade knew him by name now, gave him discounts and even let him loiter. On a day as ordinary as any other, Hajime strolled into it and paused.

There was a girl at his machine.

Well, he supposed it wasn't his machine per se, but he was the only one who ever played Galaga, and its console port Gala Omega, anymore. Curious, he walked over and peered at her screen. Her score was respectable, but nothing he couldn't have beaten. The girl was focusing very intently on the game; she seemed oblivious to his presence. From her black skirt and white button-up uniform, she looked like she was in his academy's Reserve Course.

He should have just picked another game to play. But he was curious. He'd never met anyone else who liked that franchise. Hajime watched her until finally, she steered her ship in the wrong direction, colliding directly with enemy fire. As the game over music played, she sighed, released the controls, turned, and yelped when she saw him. His face warmed; she was really cute. "Oh! Were you waiting?"

Hajime closed his hanging mouth. "Uh, no. Just watching. You're pretty good." He hesitated, eyes training on the clip in her bangs, and ventured, "I didn't know there were still people who liked this franchise."

Her eyes lit up. "I know, right?! It's a classic, but I've hardly met anyone else who plays it! Normally I play it on my Game Girl Advance, but the screen broke, so I had to send it in to get fixed, and it's so hard to find places that still have the original arcade machine nowadays. What do you think of it? It's the best, isn't it?!"

He stumbled back as she infringed into his personal bubble, a bit at a loss for words. He liked his games just fine, but they were just a means to an end for him. She took passion to a whole new level. "Yeah, definitely. It's one of my favorites. I play it whenever I can."

"Really? Will you show me?!"

An excuse to show off to a cute girl? Hajime was sold. By the end of it she was bouncing on her heels, excitedly cheering him on as he blasted his way to high score. As he inputted his name, among the dozen other repetitions of his name, her eyes widened.

"Wait, you're the one on all the high scores?"

"Yeah," he said, preening a little. "Games are kind of my specialty. I'm Hinata Hajime, the Ultimate Gamer."

"I'm sorry," she said empathically, and he blinked. Out of all the reactions people had when he proudly announced himself as a Hope's Peak student, an apology was never one. "The environment there…it's kind of awful, isn't it? All that emphasis on talent is really stifling and stressful."

"They just want us to succeed," he said, a little defensively. "What would you know?"

Her smile faded. "You're right…I can't know what it's like to be talented. I just know that in the Reserve Course, they only care about the money my parents give them, not about me. And I guess I'd just prefer to be more than a check or a talent. But I wasn't trying to insult you. Sorry."

Hajime grimaced. He wasn't entirely sure he agreed with that mindset—after all, he had talent, not her, so it was natural she'd want to believe something other than talent mattered—and yet she'd been nothing but nice to him. Even when she learned he was an Ultimate, she hadn't held it against him, like some of the Reserve Course students were prone to. She was the first person he'd actually held a conversation longer than three sentences with in ages. And here he'd gone and hurt her feelings. "No, it's fine…I overreacted. My talent is just really important to me, that's all."

"I can understand that," the girl nodded. "If someone insulted a video game I loved, I'd be really angry at them too."

I don't think that's the same thing…

Hajime hesitated. It wasn't forbidden for the Main Course to mingle with the Reserve Course, but the Academy tried to discourage it. They weren't worth your time, the staff said. He should focus on his talent. But this girl… "Hey…will you be coming by this arcade again?"

The girl looked around. "I think so. It's got a good ambiance, it's close by, and there's such a wide variety of games… Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering if maybe you'd like to meet up after school? We could come back here and play against each other, or co-op, or something." Hajime hated the hopeful note in his voice, even as he braced for rejection. No one ever wanted to play games with him, it's no fun against someone who always wins—

"I'd like that." She smiled. His stomach flipped. The girl held her hand out. "I'm Nanami Chiaki, Reserve Course student…and regular gamer. I doubt I'm as high level as you, but I hope we can still have fun regardless."

He returned her smile and took her hand. It was small and warm. "I'm glad to meet you. Let's meet here again tomorrow, okay?"

A/N: In this AU, Chiaki's parents pay her way into the Academy, so she doesn't need to go through with the Kamukura Project. Instead, Natsumi volunteers for it.