The first chapter of Hopes Peak!
WHOOOOOO!
Y'all don't know how LONG I was waiting to make this!
Isaac woke up with the sound of an alarm and the light of the morning sun irritating his eyes. He got up from his bed and dragged himself into the bathroom. He began washing his face and brushing his teeth. After that, he decided a shower would be a good idea and went to grab a towel and began to strip in the bathroom. After tying the towel around his waist he looked into the mirror. There he saw the numerous scars all over his chest, abdomen, and waist. Some were large enough that would never be hidden by the discoloration, and some were small but were in concerning parts of his body. Isaac's eyes lingered a bit too long on the permanent marks before trudging to the shower and turning on the water. He let the hot water cascade his body, ridding him of any morning tiredness, and remembered that today they were going to orientation with Fuyuhiko and Peko.
With that in mind, he ended his shower, feeling refreshed, and began changing into his clothes. After a few minutes of deciding what to wear, Isaac ended up wearing his favorite purple t-shirt, black jeans with a blue splatter design, and black running shoes. He then grabs his grey coat and swings it on before putting on black fingerless gloves that matched his pants. He grabbed the quiver full of arrows that were resting beside his bed and put on his armguard on his left forearm.
"Now what to bring on me?" Isaac spoke aloud as he pulled his suitcase and decided on a few knives, his lucky kunai, and 1 Canary Bomb would be enough. everything else would come to him in his suitcase, but he wanted some weapons on hand. After getting everything ready, he heads downstairs for breakfast and was greeted with a surprising sight.
There at the table was Fuyuhiko, Natsumi, Kuzuryu, and a tablet that had holy shit his Mom on it!?
When entering the room all heads turned to him. Fuyuhiko's expression was a cry for help, Natsumi looked like she was having the time of her life, and Kuzuryu stayed stoic, if not a bit flustered. His mom waved to him from the electronic screen. She seemed to be in her base back in America and looked a bit tired, judging by the slight bags under her eyes.
"Isaac! How are ya kiddo?" Her voice was carried through the tablet's speaker, "You know how late I had to get up to see you off?"
"Umm, hey Mom?" Isaac walked to the table and grabbed some food before sitting next to Fuyuhiko. When he did Fuyuhiko leaned to him and whispered, "Please get her to stop talking."
'Oh no.' Isaac thought, "What is she saying this time?" he whispered back
"The last time she and my old man had 'fun'," Fuyuhiko whispered, horror in his voice.
Isaac chose the wrong time to get a sip of orange juice because before he knew it, he spat it out. Isaac then got up walked over to where Kuzuryu and the tablet was and grabbed it.
"Oi Isaac! I was in the middle of a convers-" he muted the tablet and turned to Kuzuryu, "Sorry, but I need to borrow this." The mob boss looked at Isaac with an almost pleading look, "Be my guest." he replied nonchalantly, still retaining the small blush on his face. Isaac then exited the room and once he did he sprinted back to his room and closed the door behind him. He looked at the tablet and saw that his Mom was giving him a crossed-arm look as she pointed to the part of the screen that said she was muted. Isaac rolled his eyes before unmuting his mother.
"Okay, your unmuted, now what do you want?" Isaac said sternly
"I'm going to ignore the fact that you just muted your mother." Her serious face then melted into one of concern, "How are you? Have they been treating you right? Are you eating your veggies? And what have I been hearing about his mysterious masked man?"
"I'm good. They're very nice, wait, what?"
His mother gave him a pointed look and said, "Kuzuryu and I had this very nice conversation about how a masked man in a black suit saved his son. That sounds so familiar don't you think?" Her words didn't match her eyes as she seemed to be glaring into his soul through the tablet.
'Fuck, she knows about it. If I lie she's gonna know, if I tell the truth she's going to be royally pissed. The only thing I can do is bullshit'
"Well, did they say what he used or what he looked like, plus they said it was a man, and I'm still a teen, right?" Isaac said confidently.
Dinah looked like she didn't buy it at all. "Okay fine, you win. I called today because I wanted to see you off today."
Isaac raised one of his eyebrows, "Why didn't you come here then."
"Well I had a job here and I couldn't leave."
Isaac looked at her with a deadpan expression. "You're still banned from Japan aren't you?"
"It's not my fault that their Prime Minister hates me!"
"You dropped kicked him on live television"
"He grabbed my ass!"
"I'm not saying you were unjust, just not do it IN FRONT OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE!"
Before she could retort the lights in her base began flashing red. That was a warning that someone was trying to break in.
"Crap I gotta go before I do you still have your bow?"
"Yes"
"Your laptop Felicity gave you?"
"Yup"
"You remember the summoning circle to call John."
"I don't think I could forget that if I wanted to."
Dinah looked at her only some with loving eyes, "You know I love you, right?"
Isaac's expression softened as he smiled back to her, "I know Mom, I love you too, now go kick some ass!"
The video call ended and Isaac realized that he was starving for some breakfast. He got up and walked out of his room and walked back to the dining hall where only Fuyuhiko was left. He looked over to Isaac before getting up and walking past Isaac. "Your food is under the dish. You're welcome.", was all he said before leaving the room to get ready to leave. Isaac walked over to the table and lifted the dish to see it was the food that Isaac wanted and was still warm.
'You act tough, but your still a softie Fuyuhiko' Isaac silently thanked him before digging into the food.
After finishing the food, Isaac was called outside to get ready to leave. When getting outside he was greeted with a limousine. Fuyuhiko was leaning against it, wearing his favorite pinstripe suit. He even got a buzzcut that made him look a bit tougher. He looked over to Isaac and got off the limo before one clan member opened it for them to get in. "Come on in," Fuyuhiko said before climbing inside. Isaac looked at the luxury car before shrugging and getting inside as well. The inside was well furnished and was lined up with different drinks and snacks. There was something that Isaac noticed about the drinks.
"None of these are alcoholic are they, ya freaking boy scout?" Isaac teased.
"Hey, we're still minors!" Fuyuhiko snapped back.
"So where's Peko?" Isaac asked, looking for the red-eyes swordswoman.
"She's going to the school separate from us, they still don't want there to be any connections between her and the clan."
"You really care about her don't you?" Isaac stated before cracking open a bottle of soda.
"I just want her to know what's it's like to live a normal life, away from the clan." Fuyuhiko told Isaac the plan of having Peko learn to be a 'normal' girl and having her make her own decisions. Isaac wanted to help because A: It is hella cute what Fuyuhiko is doing and B: It makes him feel like he's watching a love story unfold.
After an hour or so, they arrived at the school's front entrance. The building of Hope's Peak was a large one, made of bricks, and looking grander than a church. The insignia of the school was plastered in the center of the tallest point of the building. After marveling at the building, Isaac looked back and saw that Fuyuhiko was already past the gate and walking inside the building.
"Jeez man, at least give me a heads up." Isaac shrugged it off before he began walking past the gate and into the building.
"Hold it punk!" a voice behind Isaac yelled to him as he passed the gate.
Isaac turned around and was greeted by the one and only Juzo Sakakura. Anyone who practices boxing would know about the man who won the World Championship while still being in high school. Isaac was a bit of a fan of him, solely for his skill, from his research about him, he has a tendency to violence and a short temper.
"Yes, can I help you Sakakura-san?" Isaac asked a bit confused
Juzo faltered for a second before donning a smug smile. "So you heard of me? Well, this makes this easier, who the hell are you? I don't see you on the official roster."
'When they tell you to never meet your heroes.' "Well, I was told to meet with the principal because I'm a recommendation sir. I have a letter that explains it." Isaac pulled the letter from his pocket about the recommendation. The letter itself had the official Hopes Peak insignia on it.
Juzo snatched the letter out of Isaac's hand. 'Rude' Isaac thought as Juzo read through the letter his smug smile slowly turning into a small scowl.
"Bounty Hunter, huh? First time seeing something like that around here. Fine, you're free to go." Juzo hands back the letter. "You seem like a good kid, I don't want you making trouble around here, got that?"
Isaac bows down and replies "Yes sir." Juzo makes a confident 'Hmph' before getting back to the front gate. As Isaac walks into the building, only one word is in his head.
'Jackass'
After getting directions from some of the nicer staff, Isaac found himself in front of the principal's door. He knocked on it 3 times and waited patiently until the doors to the office opened. Isaac stepped inside the room and saw three men in the room. The first man wore a black suit and was sitting at the desk in the room, so Isaac had to guess he was the principal. He appeared to be in his late 30s and has dark purple hair and light lilac eyes. The next man who stood next to the desk seemed to be complete opposites. He wore a white tuxedo with a white hat and had ragged blond hair and blue eyes. He also appeared in his late 30s. The last man seemed to be the oldest out of all of them. He was an elderly man who sat on one of the couches in the room. He of course had silver hair, but his amber eyes told him that he was far from senile. His outfit comprised of a purple vest and a large green coat over it. When they all noticed him the man in the white tuxedo gave an impressed whistle.
"Damn Jin, where did you find this one?" He asked.
"He's the son of a close associate of mine Koichi" 'Jin' answered.
Isaac walked to the middle of the room and bowed. "Hello, I assume you know who I am?"
The old man then spoke, "In all of the history of Hopes Peak, there has never been a student admitted through recommendation, only through our scouts but learning about your feats in America, we decided it would be a missed opportunity to not admit you." He got up, his posture showing his hunched back, and raised a hand for a handshake. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Kazuo Tengan and I am the advisor to the school." Isaac accepts the hand and when shaking his hand Isaac could sense the strength the old man had in him.
'Damn, he's not someone I should underestimate.' Isaac thought. After shaking Tengan's hand he walked up to the desk where Jin stood and bowed. Koichi then said, "Kid, you really are something, huh?" He walked over to Isaac and put his hand on his shoulder. "The name's Koichi Kizakura and I'm gonna be your homeroom teacher so you're gonna see me a lot kid."
Isaac looked at him and said the first thing that came to his head. "You smell like whiskey."
A tense moment filled the room as none of the men in the room made any movements. Kizakura looked like his soul left his body as he stood frozen, an aghast look on his face. Isaac then carefully moved the hand on his shoulder (Kizakura made no reaction to that), and looked to the principal. A small smile adorned his face as he looked at Kizakura and looked back to Isaac and broke the silence. "I have a feeling that having you at this school will be troublesome or beneficial. So far, you haven't let down my expectations." He then reaches into the desk and pulls out a small phone-like device and a letter. "This is your official form that shows you will be a part of the 77th class of Hopes Peak. This, " He gestures to the device, "Is your E-Handbook, it is your ID and will allow you to access the different facilities within the school. It will only open to you so you won't have to worry about it getting stolen." He handed the form and handbook to Isaac. When Isaac turned it on, he saw the school's logo flash before his name was shown, besides it is his picture and his talent. It also had his measurements and blood type (He had to send the information to the school last week) and even had a 3D map of the entire school. When he taped his talent, a notification popped up saying "Location: Crime Lab/Combat Lab".
"What's the Crime Lab?" Isaac asked. Jin opened his mouth to answer, but Tengan beat him to it. "Each student is assigned to a lab or labs based on their talent. Since yours involves both catching criminals and a personal note on your abilities, we have decided you can have access to the combat lab as well. Many student's talents allow them to go to multiple labs so don't worry about going into more than one."
Jin then looks at his watch and looks at Isaac again. "Your orientation to meet your other classmates will begin in 15 min, I would encourage you to use the E-Handbook to navigate to the gym."
Isaac gives a brief "Thank you" before walking out of the room, turning back he could see that both Tengan and Jin were both glancing at the still frozen Koichi with smiles on their faces.
When walking down the halls, heading to the gym, Isaac heard something that he would never expect in a school hallway, the barking of a dog.
Around the corner of the next turn, Isaac saw a small furry dot race around the corner and before he could react, it darted to him and climbed up his pant leg, and crawls its way into his shirt pocket. When looking into his pocket he saw the shivering form of a small hamster, one with tan fur and a peach-colored underbelly. As soon as it nestled itself into his pocket, a leashed Doberman, which had no one on the other end, skitted around the corner and stopped in front of Isaac, its teeth bared. When it barked, the small hamster started trembling in fear.
'Poor thing' The dog barked again, this time more aggressive as it growled at Isaac. Isaac then looked at the dog and released a small amount of bloodlust at it. "Beat it," he said in a cold voice that caused the dog to whimper and back away from Isaac.
"Anko, where are you?" A feminine voice came from around the corner and from there a girl wearing a Hopes Peak uniform emerged. She had a kind face with hazelnut eyes and matching hair that was put into twin ponytails. He was a bit shorter than Isaac and wore small doggy bone earrings. At the arrival of the girl, the Doberman then raced to her and tried to hide behind her legs as she looked at it with surprise.
"Anko, there you are! Huh, what's wrong?" She bends down to the dog and looks down the hallway and sees Isaac approaching her. "Hey, what did you do to my Anko!?" She demanded.
Isaac then put his hands up in innocence, "That dog was chasing this hamster", and on cue, the hamster pokes its little head out of his pocket, "And it was scaring it so I told it to back off."
She looks at Isaac as narrows her eyes at him as if trying to see any lies. When she couldn't she then sighed and gripped onto the leash. "Sorry about that, Anko is very aggressive and she started chasing one of the freshman's pets and I lost my grip." she then bows "Sorry for causing you trouble!"
"Don't worry about it. Are you a student here?" Isaac asks.
The girl then smiles and strikes a little pose, "You betcha, I'm Hatsume Rikado, the Ultimate Dog Trainer." She then looks like she just remembered something and a horrified look dawns on her face. "Oh no! I have to get to the meet and greet for the orientation!" She turns and races down the hall past Isaac, Anko trailing behind her, "Sorry, gotta go, see you around!" and with that, she was gone.
Isaac then tilts his head in confusion as he says out loud "Man, this place is sure filled with interesting people." The hamster in his pocket then squeaks as if it's in agreement.