Archive of Our Own

Chiaki waited. Hinata never came.

She slid down to the ground over the course of hours each day, her legs stiff and uncooperative. She'd recognise him if he came out, but he never did; she spent a few mornings lurking around the Reserve Course entrance to see if he went in, and he didn't. It could be something; he might have been avoiding her, or just too busy with his life, but she couldn't help but think he would have said something.

"What the hell're you doing here?" Kuzuryuu was standing in front of her, and Chiaki looked up from her game and to him, arms crossed in front of his chest, a scowl on his face. "You've been skipping class."

Chiaki glanced over at the school, and said, "It's... nothing." Kuzuryuu's face twitched, annoyed, and she put her game in her pocket to try and manage a smile. "I had a friend in there," she said, "but I haven't seen him in a while."

Normally, she'd think, he'd scoff and say something dismissive: "Maybe he's sick," or "he's probably too fucking jealous of you, anyway." But he didn't. Instead, his expression turned contemplative, and he looked over at the gates, frowning. "There's some weird shit goin' on in there," he said. "My baby sister..."

"What happened?" Chiaki asked carefully.

"Who even fuckin' knows," he said. "One day, she was fine - complaining about some of the other asshole kids, whatever. Then? Dead. They said it was some pervert who came in, strangled her and escaped."

"And then a girl committed suicide," Chiaki said, and Kuzuryuu smirked and looked away.

"Even so," he said, "the school didn't fucking bother to do anything about it. Shit, if even the teachers would've said something..." He shook his head. "What's the deal with this friend of yours?"

"I don't know," Chiaki admitted. "He'd meet me after school, but then one day... he just stopped coming. I... I'm worried something happened."

He raised his eyebrows at her and took a step back, gesturing expansively. "Nanami," he said, "you've got a whole class of Ultimates, and you know if it weren't for your weekend parties we'd all be dying of boredom already. Come on, what can it hurt?"

"I," Chiaki said, feeling slightly overwhelmed. "I didn't want to bother anyone with my problems."

Kuzuryuu just looked at her, and she ducked her head, hiding a smile. "Okay," she said, and rose to her feet, feeling buoyed. "Maybe, this is a problem we can all solve together."

"That's more like it," he said. "Now stop ditching class, you're giving everyone hives."

It's almost... fun. Chiaki was worried, she couldn't help but be worried, with Hinata gone and never showing up, with Yukizome-sensei teaching another class and her class-rep duty to keep everyone together, but Nidai was shouting enthusiastically about delegation, Koizumi flicking through her old photographs for evidence, and even Tanaka had suggested sending his Zodiac Generals on the search. It was Sonia who suggested checking the Reserve Course class listings, and when they finally finagled access, Chiaki was the one to read out the details.

"Withdrawn?" Owari said, squinting. "Really?"

"But," Chiaki said, frowning, "they're still paying fees, see? They have his address and his parent's phone number here, too. Should we call them?"

It was Tsumiki who hovered by her side as she dialed and held her breath. "U-um," Tsumiki started, "hello. I'm from Hope's Peak Academy - we just had some inconsistencies in Hinata-san's medical records?"

"Oh, yes," the voice on the phone said dismissively, "go ahead, permission granted. Hajime's probably due for a checkup soon, anyway."

Tsumiki squeaked a little as Chiaki's hand tightened on hers, but rallied and said, "So, um, just to confirm, we have permission for another routine checkup?"

"It'll be something good he gets from that school of yours. Yes, you have permission."

"But what does that mean?" Chiaki wondered, after they'd hung up. "His parents don't know he's gone, but Hope's Peak says he is?"

"There's something weird goin' on here," Souda said, and Sonia pursed her lips.

"We must figure out what is going on!" she exclaimed. "And save your friend, too, Nanami-san."

Chiaki thought of Hinata, the strange expression on his face the last day she had ever seen him. "I think," she said, slowly, "there's something going on with the Academy. Something big."

"Yukizome-sensei had those meetings with her friends," Koizumi said. "Do you think we should talk to her?"

"I don't know," Chiaki said, shaking her head. "She's in the Reserve Course, and... she's a teacher. Let's see if we can do this together, ourselves."

In the end, it was Teruteru who discovered something, chatting up the people in the kitchens. "There are usually food carts going to the trustee's offices, but it's increased lately. And even when they don't have meetings, they still have to send food. Suspicious, huh?"

"Oh!" Tsumiki exclaimed. "Um, let me check... there was a large order for medical supplies by the trustee's office, too. A CT machine, clamps and surgical gear, scalpels and gloves..." She shrunk back as everyone stared at her with varying degrees of astonishment. "I'm sorry!"

"Medical stuff, though?" Souda asked. "What's going on in there?"

"I think," Chiaki said, feeling a little shaky, "we need to break in."

"Leave it to me!" Owari announced, at the same time Pekoyama said, "I may be able to do that," and they exchanged a narrow glance as Kuzuryuu made a face.

"We'll probably need a distraction," he said. "Something that'll get people out, not poking around."

"A talent show!" Nidai shouted. "In the courtyard!"

"Ooh, Ibuki can make a distraction," Ibuki said, grinning widely. "A talent show sounds like fun!"

"Ugh, if we have to," Saionji said, mouth pursed, but Chiaki thought she didn't seem so annoyed.

"Then," Chiaki said, "it's decided." They all split up into groups, preparing for the day, at the start of the following week. And Chiaki, of course, was already pouring over school interior maps, marking out the trustee office corridor. She would treat it like a stealth game, she thought, ducking and peering around corners, and the game would be lost if they were caught.

They weren't, at least not up to the office door. The lock there was mechanical, futuristic: "A card scanner, I think," Souda said, pulling out a precision kit, tiny screwdrivers and pliers. "Don't worry, I've got it."

Owari paced at one end of the corridor, while Pekoyama stood entirely still. Chiaki wondered what they thought they would find. "Aha!" Souda exclaimed, and the door slid open.

Pekoyama strode in without a thought. Chiaki followed, looking around. Everything seemed normal, an office if a strange one, dark and quiet, and she worried her lower lip between her teeth as she plucked a tissue from the box on the desk and used it to move the computer mouse. Her eyes scanned over the messages quickly, but there was one email that stood out: the Kamukura Izuru project. "What..." she murmured, clinking on the attachment, as Owari's voice came from down the corridor:

"Hey, come check this out!"

Chiaki only scanned the document before she clicked out, returning the computer to its former state as she hurried down the hall. It was still enough to give her shivers, a creeping sense of dread like a horror game lurking in her mind. She thought she might know what Owari and the rest had found, and she stepped past another scanner, the door propped open, into a viewing room above a large, open operating theatre.

Souda was pale. "Shit," he said, "what the hell?" as Pekoyama headed for the door leading down to the room. Chiaki followed her, thinking of operations and talents, of the pink-and-red pictures of a brain exposed, and swallowed hard as she headed toward the pod in the center of the room, surrounded by beeping equipment.

"I don't think - " Pekoyama started, as Chiaki reached out, but Chiaki shook her head.

"No," she said, "I have to do this. I have to - I have to see."

The hatch was pneumatic, and opened with a hiss of air. Perhaps Chiaki had seen too little, or too much, but the boy laid sleeping still looked like Hinata though his head was shaved, though there were bandages tightly wrapped around the top of his skull. Souda made a strangled noise in the back of his throat that Chiaki ignored as she reached out, touching the back of Hinata's hand. "Hinata-kun?" she said, hesitant, as he stirred.

When he opened his eyes, they were red and blank. Chiaki's fingers tightened just a bit as he looked up at her, staring into the light, and when he shook his head, recognition starting to light his gaze, she felt a sense of profound relief. "I... I know you," he said, and she nodded.

"We played games together," she said, "after school. Do you remember, Hinata-kun?"

"I," he started, and studied her carefully, slowly. "Nanami-san? What - what happened?"

"We're here to rescue you," Owari said with her usual bluntness, from where she was poking around in the equipment by the far wall. "Seriously, this place is creepy."

Hinata looked back at Chiaki, and she nodded, holding out her hand. "She's right," she said. "Come on."

But Hinata didn't take her hands, gaze sliding away. "I - I chose this," he said. "They're going to make me better. I..."

"But - you don't need to be better," Chiaki said, uncomprehending. "You're already - "

"I wanted," Hinata repeated, "to be better. Nanami-san, you're so talented, you could do anything. You've got friends, a great talent... And I'm - I'm nobody. Just to be a little bit better... just to have something I'm good at..."

"But," Chiaki said. Her chest hurt, like she'd missed a breath, and she blinked quickly and swallowed. "But I like you."

He looked at her, expression dark, and she could feel her face scrunch, her throat ache, as she ducked her head to stare at her hands. "Please," she said, "Hinata-kun. I - I didn't like my talent much, before this year. I mean, games were fun, but I only ever played them by myself, and I didn't have anyone to play with. Then... Yukizome-sensei taught me I could make friends with games, and I have." She paused, taking a breath, and tried not to look. "You don't need talent to be a good person, to have friends - you just need something you can share. We - we played Gala Omega together, and that was fun, wasn't it?"

"It couldn't have been fun for you," Hinata said, and she shook her head, emphatically.

"Please," she whispered. "You have friends - me, and my class - everyone worked together and helped to rescue you. So..." She meet his eyes, the glint of them so unfamiliar but the expression entirely the same. "I like you, Hinata-kun, not whatever they'll turn you into. You don't need to have a talent, you just need to be yourself."

He said, slowly, "I don't like myself very much."

"I do," Chiaki said. "Come on. Let's go."

She held out her hand, and Hinata looked at it, at her, and took it. "I guess," he said, "I couldn't let all your effort go to waste."

He stepped out of the pod with Chiaki's help, and they walked over to the exit, where Pekoyama was standing by the hallway door. "Good," she said. "The alarm's starting."

"Oh," Chiaki said, startled, "did you - "

"Yes, I informed Kuzuryuu-san to stall," she said. "We'll have at least ten minutes before they come to check here."

"And..."

"What'll we do?" Hinata asked, looking conflicted. "I mean, I did agree to this, but I don't think it's quite legal."

Mind whirring, Chiaki said, "We can use that, I think. You can come with us from now on, Hinata-kun - maybe they wouldn't believe it if it were just you, but with our whole class agreeing that they kept you here..."

"There's no way the school'll have the guts to object," Souda said, rising from his feet outside the door. "The scanner's fixed, let's get out of here."

Owari was pacing by the external door, that led back into the school, and grinned and waved as they neared. "Got your boyfriend? Let's go!"

Chiaki felt her face flush, warm, and realised she was still holding Hinata's hand. He looked at her, and she ducked her head, but she didn't let go. "Come on," she said to him, "you're part of our class, now."

"I'm not sure that'll work out," he said, wryly, and she smiled.

"Hm," she said. "I think so. You'll see."