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You live with an acute awareness that you will die.
Of course, that's only to be expected! Everyone dies. Which means everyone’s a misstep away from a fatal slip, or a wrong swim stroke away from getting washed out to sea, or a coconut falling from the sky and cracking their head. A minuscule chance is the opposite of impossible, it’s often certainty. Hinata Hajime walks beside you, oblivious to this fact of life. Earlier he had passed out on the beach, alone and liable to be drowned by a large tide, only to be found by the lowly nobody that is you. Now, a day of introducing him to his classmates and your fear of finding yourself in a mutual killing game realized, he’s decided to return to a nothing like you for what meagre company a being barely comparable to a grain of sand could provide. It makes you shiver in happiness.
His footprints slip and drag in the shore next to yours, your steps parallel to his. A student of hope who can’t remember his talent, is there anything as wonderous as that? The possibilities are too bright to think of! You can’t overstate how grateful you are to be in the presence of such a person, doing such a thing would be impossible. Hinata doesn’t seem to get it, but doubtless because someone as brilliant as him has much more important matters on his mind. Sweat beads on Hinata's forehead, sparkling against his washed out skin, as he walks briskly under the island sun.
“Hajime, are you feeling sick?”
He looks at you in confusion. “Huh? Not at all.”
“I see...then it’s okay. I thought you looked pale or something.” Nothing but a trick of your mind, what else! “I thought something was worrying you... Ah, but it'd be weird if you weren't worrying in a situation like this.” You laugh. Of course nothing is wrong with Hinata; after the bad luck of being caught in this situation, he’s only responding as he should. To be stranded on an island with no escape — even if surrounded by hope, and hope is exactly what’s needed in a place like this; but that's even worse, because the stranded are the beacons of Hope of Hope’s Peak Academy, students who will change the world upon graduating! Truly, this is the worst luck possible, which means someone — not you of course nothing could come from that! — must make it off the island by any means necessary to restore hope for the world. The plan to make that happen, that could be the hope that comes after despair. To look towards that, that beautiful hope, instead of this all too crushing precursor to the hope that is to follow; this suffocating, inescapable, inevitable...
Then why is Hinata smiling? “Wh-What? Is something wrong?”
“No...how should I put it?” Even in these circumstances, he looks bashful. It’s adorable in his intense hazel eyes. Unlike your own, but with a touch of golden light. “I was just thinking about all the ways you've been helping me so far. Th-Thank you...”
It’s phenomenal of Hinata to say such a thing. Yesterday he passed out on the beach and you could do nothing but wait until he woke up. Despite that, you remain so possessively careless as to walk next to him on this same beach. Tomorrow, he will move on from you, in one form or another, as an Ultimate creates the hope they were destined to perform. “No...I haven't done anything to receive your thanks. But...for someone like me to be useful to you, and to even receive your words of gratitude...makes me happy.”
Hinata stops and stares at you. “You're being too hard on yourself.”
That conviction to him, the same one which all of the talented students of Hope's Peak Academy have, is an indescribable gift to witness. What a pity it's being wasted on someone as miserable as you. “I mean...my talent is just having good luck. It's not like it comes from hard work, and it's not like I can use it to do anything amazing. Regardless of how lucky I am, or if that luck even exists, I'm just too unimpressive to truly matter.” As a piece of debris like you deserves, overwhelmed as you are to even experience these talents up close. “Haha, unlike you guys.”
But you must have said something wrong, seeing that Hinata now grows uncertain. He starts walking again, brows furled as his steps kick the sand. It’s a good thing his shoes are sturdy with laces tied tight — if you’re lucky (and after being caught in this situation, you really should be!) he won’t trip and fall over an unfortunate crab hidden in the sand, knocking his head on a buried chest of treasure leading to his quick demise to no one’s benefit. No, his outfit is safe and simple, befitting of someone as grounded as he is. Hinata looks like someone you could be: a normal high school student taking his life day by day, as he walks the path he’s been set on since birth.
“It's possible that my talent might be more meaningless than yours, you know?” Hinata says from a world away, “I mean...I can't even remember what it is.”
“That's not true!” You all but shout, “I'm sure you have an amazing talent! I mean...if you didn't, you wouldn't have been accepted into Hope's Peak Academy.” It’s unthinkable that someone like him could even entertain the possibility of not having a meaningful talent, an Ultimate so thoughtful as to tolerate the presence of someone as insignificant as you.
“I know. If you'd like, let me help you remember. Let's see...a talent that suits Hajime...”
Really, he lacks the air of anything remarkable that can be seen from a mile away. But Hinata carries it so wonderfully as to make himself even more exceptional — he’s comforting to be around, despite being an Ultimate above you.
“What about the Ultimate Serenity?”
Hinata’s face scrunches up in response. “Which part of me did you look at to come up with a title like that...? Is that even a useful ability?”
You suppose he has a point, but so do you. “Hmm, I'm pretty sure the ability to bring serenity to others just by being there is really amazing...” But, if it’s not to his liking, “Let's see...What about the Ultimate Clumsy Student?”
“Well, considering that I suddenly forgot what my talent was, that might be fairly accurate...”
Your spirits lighten with his banter.
“Then...what about the Ultimate Scatterbrain?”
“Don't go that far... I don't want an Ultimate talent like that...” His voice gets high when distressed. Cute.
“Hey, don't take it seriously. It was just a little joke! Hmmm, then... How about the Ultimate Spiky Hair?”
“That's not an ability at all!” There it is again!
“I know, right? Hahaha!”
Ah, you should stop before you selfishly indulge any further. You can’t recall the last time you enjoyed yourself this much with someone else, which means you’ve already taken far more than you deserve. As long as Hinata’s worries have lessened, that's all that matters.
“But it's going to be fine... I'm positive you have a talent that's brimming with hope.”
Hinata seems to consider it and his features relax. The wind tosses his hair and his silly ahoge, which dances as if even it has a will of its own. When he smiles at you, it all but washes you away like an errant tsunami, save for a pang in your feeble chest.
Anything could happen to him at any moment, but from the bottom of your heart you also know: he himself can be anything and go anywhere, all because he does. For that, Hinata Hajime could be everything, and once again you think, you want nothing more than to see how great his hope is.
But you won’t.
You’re the Ultimate Lucky Student, and tomorrow, someone else’s hope will shine.