Our Beginnings IV – Hinata Hajime

Makoto was walking towards the courtyard. When he hears someone calling for him.

"HEEEEY YOU!"

Turning around, the brunette sees a group of three boys walking up to him. He obviously didn't recognize them, so they are probably from another class.

"Yes? Can I help you with anything?" Makoto says in a polite tone.

"You're Naegi Makoto-kun correct?" Asks a blue-haired boy and Makoto nods positively. "Good, we already knew that but it was better to confirm it." With a fake cough, the boy does a little bow. "My name is Shingetsu Nagisa, Ultimate Secretary and a proud member of the student council of Hope's Peak Academy." He smiles and points to his two companions. "Those are Daimon Masaru-kun and Soda Kazuichi-kun."

"Yo!" Greets the redhead boy named Masaru.

"Sup!" So does Kazuichi, the pink-haired one.

"A student council member? Am I in trouble?" Makoto asks worried, making Nagisa chuckle.

"No, you're not Naegi-kun." The Ultimate Secretary smirks. "At least not yet."

'Well, that sounded weirdly ominous…' Thought the brunette to himself.

Before Nagisa could explain what he meant, Masaru stepped up to Makoto and looked straight into the brunette's eyes. Being taller than the luckster, he had to bend down a bit to keep their eyes locked.

"I'm gonna give to ya straight-" The redhead had a bit of roar to his face that made Makoto step a bit back. "-What's your deal with Nanami?"

Blinking, the luckster's mind went to the last time someone came to him out of nowhere and asked about his relationship with Chiaki. Safe to say, he was expecting to get slapped again.

Makoto could try and lie about it, but that wouldn't help his situation. So the brunette decided to just be honest and hope to not get decked in the face. "Uh, me and Chiaki-chan are childhood friends… why?"

The pink-haired boy blinked, then made a surprised expression revealing his surprisingly sharp teeth. "So it is true! And you two are on a first name basis already?"

Masaru was about to say something, but once Nagisa puts a hand on his shoulder, the redhead boy sighs and walks back giving Makoto some space to breathe.

"Excuse Daimon-kun's rudeness, Nanami-san is a very dear friend and classmate of ours so we worry a lot about her." He then says in a lower tone. "And after what happened last year with that reserve course girl, she just hasn't been the same since."

While he did whisper that last part, Makoto caught it and his ears perked up. "What happened last year?" The brunette asks and Nagisa coughs.

"It's… complicated, I'd ask Nanami-san herself if I was you." The Ultimate Secretary then shakes his head and smiles. "Anyways, we are done here. You seem like a good lad, so no point in holding you here against your will." He does another polite bow. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Naegi-kun."

Not really knowing what to do, Makoto bows too. "Same here." Once he lifts up his head, the three boys had already turned around.

"On, and one last piece of advice." Nagisa says in a serious tone. "Take care when you're around Komaeda-san… we don't want a repeat of what happened with the last two Lucky Students." With that said, the trio walks away.

"What happened to the last lucky students?" Makoto asks himself, before making a mental note. "I should look into that later." The boy turns around and heads for the courtyard.

Getting onto the courtyard, Makoto walks up to the bench at the center of it and sure enough, there was Chiaki playing on her portable console.

"Hey, Chiaki-chan!" Makoto calls while approaching.

She doesn't respond and just keeps on playing.

The brunette sighs, then smiles softly. Going past the distracted girl, he sits down by her side on the bench and crosses his legs. He then watches as the girl's spaceship gets destroyed in the game, he coughs falsely before she can press the restart button.

"Huh?" Chiaki looks at his direction and blinks, before shouting startled. "M-Makoto-kun?! When did you get here?" She puts a hand over her chest and worriedly looks around.

That was… a peculiar reaction to say the least. "Well, I came here to see if you wanted to hangout this lunch break." He explains and she finally looks at him, seemingly calming down. "I called you when I got here, you didn't seem to listen, so I just sat down and waited. Sorry if I scared you." Makoto apologizes while scratching the back of his head.

Chiaki sighs, then chuckles with a small smile on her lips. "No, no, I'm sorry I was just distracted… I think." She adjusts herself on the bench and offers him the console. "Wanna play?"

The luckster stares at the game console for a couple seconds, then shakes his head negatively. "What's on your mind Chiaki-chan?" He asks and she looks at him confused.

"Huh?"

"You always do this when you're upset or something is bothering you." Makoto looks forward towards the bed on flowers in front of the duo. "You'll sit down and focus 100% on the game, then you'll lose at a pretty easy part, which is very rare for you to do, and then restart the whole console instead of just the game." He chuckles, feeling her staring at him incredulously. "So, wanna tell me what's bothering you? I might not be a therapist but I am a good listener." Makoto jokes.

"Sometimes I forget just how much you know me." The mauve-haired gamer says with a giggle. "Uh, I don't really know how to say it-" She looks towards the bed of flowers and sighs. "-I've been having some trouble with a friend and-" Leaning back, Chiaki stops talking, seemingly thinking of how the say the next part.

'A friend?' Makoto asked himself.

The Ultimate Gamer seemed to be in good terms with pretty much all of her class, judging by how everyone seemed so concerned with her. 'Maybe it's trouble with the girl from the Reserve Course that Shingetsu-san mentioned?' The boy opens his mouth to ask, but it's interrupted by a feminine voice.

"Chiaki?"

Widening her eyes, the mauve-haired teen turns her head and looks towards the owner of the voice. "Hajime-chan…" She whispers softly.

Makoto also turns his head and inevitably, his eyes crosses paths with the tall girl's.

Hazel meets green as the two teens blankly stare at each other. Unbeknownst to each other, they both had similar reactions inside their heads.

'She's wearing a Reserve Course uniform, so is that…?' Thinks Makoto back on what Nagisa said earlier.

'He's wearing a Main Course uniform, so is him…?' Hajime thinks back to what Chiaki said earlier.

A tense, almost palpable tension fills the courtyard.

Makoto couldn't explain why, but he just froze while looking at Hajime.

I remember it vividly, when I met Hajime-chan for the first time.

Our eyes locked and I couldn't move, at the time I wasn't able to explain why that happened, but now with a complete picture of the person I saw that day, I understand.

It was like looking into a mirror, but the mirror didn't look back at you, instead it looked away trying to find it's own reflection.

My relationship with her went through a lot, it's actually funny seeing how much it changed over the course of just a year.

Still, that meeting is one of the many that would shape my way of looking at life, in a way, Hajime changed my life just as much as I changed hers.

And it all began with a very awkward introduction.

Our Beginnings IV – Hinata Hajime

As you probably could have guessed, this first half of Makoto's first year in Hope's Peak is gonna be a mixture of his misadventures with his classmates (some other characters too, ohohoho!), but the main plot is gonna lie with the Reserve course girls, Hajime, Natsumi and Sato.

By that collection of girls, you can probably guess what's gonna happen.

Anyways, hope y'all like this chapter and see you around!