Chapter Text
The massive university towers over all the other buildings in this bustling urban area. It's like the university stands at the centre of the entire world.
Hope's Peak University.
It brings in top students from every field imaginable. A government-funded university of privilege... They say that if you come here and manage to graduate, you'll be set for life. With hundreds of years of tradition, it sends the cream of the crop into the work force every year. It was built to raise hope in the nation's future, which makes Hope's Peak a pretty fitting name.
There are two things you need to attend this university... One, you have to already be graduated in high school, obviously. Two, you have to pass their entrance exam, that’s the most competitive of the country.
No ordinary student could enroll here. The only way is if you study hard and become the best.
And standing there at the gate of the ultimate school filled with the ultimate students... was me.
My name's Makoto Naegi. I'm nothing but a hopelessly average student. Average on the outside, average on the inside. I really don't have much going for me when it comes to grades, special abilities, even personality. I mean yeah, I have hobbies and stuff I like to do, but it's not like I'm a nerd nor have any above the average intelligence.
Like, if you asked me what my favorite song was, or my favorite movie or TV show... They'd all just be whatever's most popular at that particular moment. Even among the average, I'm completely average.
That's just who I am.
You might be wondering, how did such an unbelievably average student like me get picked to come to this "ultimate" university? Well, there is a reason…
While still in high school, my family forced me to start focusing on universities already. I went to cram school for two years while still attending normal classes, and had little to no social life. It was stressing, to be honest.
And all that effort went down the drain when I didn’t get in on the first roll call. I felt like my world was completely collapsing below my feet… Then, a while later, the second roll call was published and my name was still not there. I was about to give up and enroll at cram school again, until, on the last roll call, my name appeared.
It was like a dream coming true. So this is how I’m here.
And my university life starts now.
~*~
I moved into the dorms two days ago and took the free time before classes actually started to organize my stuff and get to know the campus. I walked around and discovered where the places I’d mostly like need were, like the library, the restaurant, the bank and the building where my classes for the semester would be.
So, when Monday arrived, I was completely prepared for my first day. I grab my bag and head straight to my classes’ building, not much far from the dorms. Once I step in, I feel the energy from the students fill me with an exciting feeling. Seniors talked to freshmen, explaining how they could find the classes, and new friendships were being made in every corner.
I follow to my class, on the first floor, and find a seat on the back row to wait patiently for it to start along with my new classmates. Some of them were very stylish, making me feel even more average than I already felt. I notice that a blue-haired girl glances at me a few times, which makes me curious, but she soon continues her conversation with an orange-haired punk guy. Now that I thought about it, she seemed quite familiar, even though I couldn’t really point from where.
Before I could continue thinking, a professor walks in the class and everyone quiets down. I tense up a little, anxious, while he welcomes us to the university and explains some general rules.
That’s when we all hear knocks on the door, and once the professor says that they could come in, a lavender-haired girl quietly excuses herself and comes to the back of the class to sit down next to me. Seems like everyone in this university dyes their hairs… I felt so boring.
Class goes by with only the professor explaining us this mandatory stuff about the university itself, turning very boring after a while. I watch my classmates, seeing that most of them seemed bored as well, and even start feeling sleepy… But no, I wouldn’t sleep in my first class, so I open my notebook and start drawing anything to keep me awake.
When finally the class ends, everyone leaves their seats in a hurry and, while chatting, start exiting the room. I notice that the lavender-haired girl completely disappears before I could even see her again, and, much to my surprise, the blue-haired girl comes in my direction just before I left.
“Hey!” She greets me excitingly. “You’re Makoto Naegi, right?”
“Y-Yeah…” I agree, kind of embarrassed. She had this sort of mesmerizing aura, like I would be hypnotized if I looked to her too much.
“Did you happen to go to Blackroot Junior High? Were you maybe... in class 2?” She asks me, curiosity filling her eyes.
“Y-Yeah, actually... I was.” Now that she mentions it, some memories start appearing in my brain.
“I knew it! I went there, too! I was in class 4, though. Do you remember me?”
Then it finally clicks inside me. Sayaka Maizono, the most popular girl in Junior High. She was always surrounded by people and being complimented by everyone… The only difference in her now was her blue hair, but her face was really the same.
“Yes, I do remember!” I say excitingly. “Sayaka, right?”
“Yeah!” She smiles.
The weirdest part is that we’d never even talked to each other, but somehow she remembered me better than I remembered her.
“I’m surprised that you actually remember me.” I mumble nervously, passing a hand through my hair.
“We went to the same school for three years, of course I remember!”
“Well, that's true. But there were lots of students in our grade, right? Plus, I've never been the type of person to ever really stand out.”
“What are you talking about?” She starts giggling. “You're so strange!”
Her smile was so nice that it makes my heart grow calmer and I almost forget how out of place I was feeling. The happy moment would have lasted more if someone didn’t call her.
“Hey Sayaka, let’s go to our next class!” It was the orange-haired guy.
“Coming!” She waves to him, before turning back to me. “Well, let’s catch up later, alright?”
“S-Sure!” I smile and wave as she walks away.
I head to my next class still thinking about Sayaka and wondering which sort of fate brought us to meet again in university. Therefore, she was nowhere in sight in this one, so I’m left to think alone in the back row as I wait for the teacher to appear.
I recognize some other classmates that were with me on my first class and start imagining which ones of them I would mostly get along with. After the professor steps in and closes the door, someone knocks on the door again and, being allowed in, they’re revealed to be the lavender-haired girl again. She quietly excuses herself and comes to the back of the room, sitting two seats from me this time. Would she always be late to classes? Doing such thing on her first day wouldn’t look good for her…
Well, class goes on, this one being really about a subject. I try to pay attention the best I can, making notes in my notebook as I've learnt in cram school, but somehow the professor’s teaching was so different that I lose myself in the middle of explanation… I look to the side and notice that the lavender girl doesn’t even has her notebook open, she just listens to the professor’s words and keeps nodding, like she was taking everything in. I guess that’s what it means to have a high IQ…
This class ends much quicker than the previous, and so I finally have a time to catch my breath from the hard explanations. As I put my stuff back in my bag and wonder what I’d have to lunch, I notice that lavender girl had already made her way out, but left her still untouched notebook behind. I grab it quickly and storm out of the room, trying to find her, and spot her going down the main stairways.
She seemed in a complete hurry, jumping down steps of the stairs, making it impossible to me to reach her. I don’t give up and continue following her outside, until she suddenly takes a glance around her, as if searching if anyone was following her. It was so suspicious that I quickly freeze and pretend to be fidgeting with my pockets, until she decided that it was okay to continue walking. Where the hell was she going?
I continue following her, though more discreetly this time, until she reaches the staff building. She walks in, taking a look around her again – and I need to pretend to be heading the other way as she does – and passes her student ID card on the gate to be allowed in. As soon as she disappears inside I quickly do the same, passing my ID card and searching for where she was going. She heads up to the third floor, where a secretary’s table stood in front of a very fancy door that read “Headmaster’s” above. I hide behind a wall as she exchanges a few words with the secretary, and I can’t really figure what they’re saying, but soon I hear the fancy door being opened and lavender girl disappears inside. What the hell? How could she walk into the headmaster’s office like that?
I wait for her to come back, still hiding, and not much later I hear the door reopening and she walks out. She continues walking in the direction of the stairways, until the voice of the secretary stops her on her tracks.
“Kyouko! Aren't you going to wait for your father?” I gasp as I hear this.
“I’ll come back some other time.” Lavender girl replies, continuing towards the stairways.
I needed to find another place to hide before she saw me, but it’s all too late and soon she crosses past me and sees me there, against the wall, looking as guilty as I can be.
“You’re my classmate. What are you doing here?” She asks me, with her low and serious voice. It gives me the chills.
“I-uh—“ I look to her notebook in my hand and wave it up in the air. “You left your notebook at the classroom, so—“
She quickly grabs it from my hand and continues down the stairs. I follow behind her, confused and alarmed, until we reach the first floor.
“H-Hey!” I call her attention, making her turn around.
“What is it?” She asks, crossing her arms, and not looking slightly welcoming.
I could have kept quiet or could ask what was bugging me, and since I’m stupid, I chose the second option.
“You’re the headmaster’s daughter?”
Her stoic expression turns slightly furious as her eyebrows furrow.
“So you heard that?” She asks me with a calm voice, like it didn’t really worry her.
“Y-Yeah…” I nervously pass a hand through my hair.
She, then, steps closer to me, and her imposing posture makes her few centimeters taller than me seem like kilometers.
“If you tell anyone about this, I’ll make sure I find something to destroy you.” She threatens, still with a calm voice, before turning around. “Don’t follow me anymore.”
Like that, she walks away and leaves the building. Only when she disappears from my sight that I’m able to unfreeze, feeling my knees weak.
This was certainly a nice way of starting university.