Chapter Text
Hajime didn’t expect this day to be any more eventful than the last.
Every day was pretty much the same after all; wake up, go to class, hang out with Nanami during lunch, go back to class, then when the day was over, return to his dorm room. On weekends, he might go out and spend more time with Nanami at an arcade, grab a bite to eat with her at a restaurant, or even play videogames with her online. Those were the most exciting days for Hajime. Other than that, his days were uneventful.
That’s just how life was for a Reserve Course student like him. But could he complain? He should be grateful just to be able to attend a school like Hope’s Peak, the school of his dreams. His parents had been hesitant about allowing him to attend the school, but at some point, they agreed to it and paid the pricey tuition to appease their son’s wishes.
Now here he was on a Monday morning, nearing the middle of the first school term. He stared at himself in the mirror, adjusting the green tie on his uniform. After making sure his appearance was acceptable, he grabbed his school bag and made his way out of his dorm room. He exited the dormitory building and looked up, the morning sunrise spilling bright orangish colors onto a blue sky. The summer season was approaching soon as spring neared its end.
Reserve students quietly walked past him, minding their own businesses. Having woken up early as he usually does, he had some time before his classes started. He could go grab breakfast from the school cafeteria or wander around campus for a bit. He chose the latter, not really in the mood to deal with busy lines and loud cafeteria chatter.
He wandered down his usual path, gazing out at all the various buildings on campus. Inevitably, his eyes landed on the Main Course building not too far from where he was standing. That building was where all the talented students were, students with tons of potential and futures destined for greatness. Those students were known as Ultimates.
Other reserve students often found them to be snobby and stuck up, thinking they were better than their less talented peers. He wasn’t sure how true that was, but he did know they weren’t all like that; one Ultimate student happened to be his best friend, after all, and she never treated him as less significant than her.
He found himself walking around the Main Course campus, passing by Ultimate students who seemed a lot cheerier and livelier than the reserve students did. Normally, seeing a reserve student wandering around the main campus would earn him some disapproving looks and glares from some of the adults, but he ignored them; he’d been here enough times already while hanging out with Nanami, and he wasn’t planning on stopping, so they’d just have to deal with it. Though, it did still bother him a little when he felt their scrutinizing, judgmental gazes on his back…
He continued to walk aimlessly, lost in thought until he spotted a lone wisteria tree off in the distance. Huh, he never noticed that tree there before. It was standing in a more deserted part of campus, with no other students seemingly near the area. A perfect place for him to contemplate his own self-worth and meaning to his existence. He sighed and closed his eyes, walking the straight path on the walkway towards the tree as he slipped into deep thought. He wondered how different his world would be like if he had an Ultimate talent like the Main Course students. What talent would he even want to have?
His best friend was the Ultimate Gamer. That would’ve been a cool talent to have, though it was hard to imagine Hajime beating his friend’s dedication to her games. Ultimate Debater? He wasn’t particularly great at many things, but he was pretty decent at debating on certain topics and discussions. He had gotten into many debates with his friend before, whether it was about current world events, conspiracy theories, or plotlines in videogames that made absolutely no sense and were a disgrace to their former name. Or what if his talent was—
“Oof—!” Hajime’s thoughts were interrupted as he suddenly hit something very solid, causing him to fall back and land hard on the pavement. Ouch. Maybe walking with his eyes closed hadn’t been the brightest of ideas. He groaned and rubbed his head, sitting up. He opened his eyes, ready to apologize to whoever he had run into, only to fall silent upon seeing who the other person was.
There standing before him was a boy who looked to be around his age. He wore a suit and tie, a uniform that looked almost similar to his, except the material seemed a lot higher quality, somehow. The boy had incredibly long, luxurious black hair that spilled around him like a waterfall of ink. He wouldn’t have drawn his eyes away from it had it not been for the one other striking feature this boy possessed. Two blood red, piercing eyes stared down at Hajime, trapping him in its gaze. They were striking, intense, and if he looked close enough, he swore he could see very faint—crosshairs? Everything about the person before him radiated power and superiority, even the stone-cold, stoic expression on his face. It left him speechless.
“I— uh—“ Hajime stumbled over his words, struggling to get his thoughts out. Even just speaking to this person felt unruly, like he was breaking some unspoken rule of sorts. The other didn’t say a word, only stared at him silently, analyzing. After getting over his initial shock, he finally worked up enough nerve to stand up, getting a better look at the person across from him. They were about the same height, it would seem. He also appeared to have a similar body type as his from what he could tell. Actually, now that he was looking at him closer, he looked… eerily similar to Hajime.
Upon first glance, you wouldn’t think they looked anything alike, but if you take away the magnificent hair and scarlet red eyes, they did, in fact, seem to share the same face: sharp, focused eyes, pulled into a neutral expression, similar to Hajime’s neutral expression except far more intimidating. His nose, lips, jawline, and even the bit of ears he could see peeking from his curtain of hair all looked like Hajime’s. It was like he was staring at a corrupted reflection of himself. It was surreal.
Finally, after what felt like ages of staring and neither one of them saying a word, Hajime broke the silence.
“Uh, sorry… I didn’t mean to run into you like that,” he said apologetically, facing the red-eyed boy in front of him. “I wasn’t paying attention, so… my bad.”
The other boy said nothing, only stared. Hajime felt confused. Did he not hear him? Should he repeat himself? He opened his mouth to do so, only to stop short as the other boy finally spoke.
“Name,” the other boy said in a flat tone. It took Hajime a moment to process what the other had said until he realized that the other was asking for his name. Except it was more of a command than it was a question.
“Oh, uh, my name,” Hajime cleared his throat, nearly forgetting his own name before he replied. “My name is Hinata Hajime. Nice to meet you.”
The other boy closed his eyes. “Hinata Hajime,” he repeated as if searching for confirmation that that was, in fact, the correct way to pronounce it. Hajime felt a chill run through him upon hearing his name being said in such a monotone voice. And yet even though his voice lacked emotion, it still sounded eerily similar to Hajime’s own voice. The boy then reopened his eyes, glancing at Hajime one last time, before he proceeded to walk past him, leaving him stunned.
“H-hey, wait, aren’t you gonna tell me your—” Hajime whirled around only to discover that the other boy was no longer there. What the hell?? Hadn’t he just been there a second ago, how did he disappear so fast? He looked out at the empty walkway before him, the flowers on the wisteria tree gently swaying in the breeze above him.
He had to tell Nanami about this.
Hajime approached the fountain located somewhere within the campus of the school, holding onto his lunch tray. Every school day during lunch hours he came to this spot where his best friend was waiting for him, and every school day there she was, sitting on the bench near the fountain with her eyes glued to her Nantendo Game Girl Advance, mashing buttons and strategizing. She wore her usual brown school uniform along with the signature white hair clip she always wore, located on the left side of her bangs, in the shape of the spaceship from Galaga, one of her favorite videogames. Her lunch tray sat right by her, only partially eaten. He sat down beside her, setting the tray down on his lap.
“Good afternoon, Hinata-kun.” Nanami greeted, her eyes never leaving the screen.
“Hey, Nanami. I hope you’re not forgetting to eat your lunch again.”
“Ah, I know. Let me just finish this round.” She continued playing her game for about a minute longer, Hajime patiently waiting as he took a bite of his sandwich. Eventually, she set the device down and turned to face him, beaming at him with those pale rose eyes. “So, what’s up?”
“Well, something interesting happened to me today.”
“Oh?” She took a bite out of her own sandwich, her next words coming out muffled as she chewed. “What happened?”
“I ran into this student today, and he was, well, kinda creepy.”
“Creepy?” The lilac-haired girl tilted her head slightly. “What do you mean?”
“When I ran into him, he hardly seemed affected at all. He just stood there staring at me without saying a word. Plus, he had this insanely long black hair that I’m pretty sure was real, and these red, intense-looking eyes. He hardly spoke to me, just asked for my name then walked off...”
“Whoa…” She looked intrigued, eyes widening a slight bit.
“That’s not even the craziest part,” he continued. “The craziest part is that I think he sorta… looked like me. I swear his face looked like mine and when he spoke his voice sounded like mine too, except more… cold.”
“Hmm,” Nanami put a finger to her chin in thought. “Maybe someone stole your DNA, created an evil clone version of you, and programmed that clone to destroy the original.”
“Haha, very funny,” he wryly replied, a lazy smile stretching on his face. “Besides, if he was an evil clone, wouldn’t he have already destroyed me when I first ran into him?”
“Maybe he doesn’t want any witnesses to expose him. Then the original guy’s best friend would have to track him down and exact revenge on him in the sequel.” She looked up at the sky, finger still on her chin as she appeared to be daydreaming this storyline she suddenly created. Hajime couldn’t help but chuckle. He always found her somewhat quirky behavior to be cute.
“Well, either way, I’m still curious about that guy. Like, what’s his name? What kind of talent does he have? What grade is he in?”
“He sounds mysterious,” The lilac-haired girl took a sip of strawberry milk, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Actually, now that I think about it, he sounds like the guy from that rumor.”
“Rumor?” He looked at her curiously.
“I’ve heard a rumor going around about a mysterious, long-haired guy who lurks around campus, though is rarely seen, like a ghost. I can’t say for sure, but if I recall, I think I’ve heard someone call him… Kamukura Izuru.”
“Kamukura Izuru?” Hajime felt like he heard that name before. Wait, wasn’t that the founder of Hope’s Peak Academy? There’s no way the person he ran into earlier was the founder; he looked way too young—around Hajime’s age—and definitely seemed like a student attending HPA. Maybe he was related to the founder, like his grandson or something. Or he could just coincidentally share the same name, though that seemed unlikely. That might not even be his real name at all. Although something about that name still tugged at him.
Kamukura Izuru… just who are you anyway?
Boring. That is how this day had begun.
Much like the previous days prior, nothing seemed to hold much interest to Izuru. He had awoken from his sleeping state upon sunrise, as always. Next, he underwent his typical hygiene routine, as always. Then he flawlessly prepared himself a small, well-balanced breakfast in which he quietly ate in his room, as always. These daily tasks that he has undergone countless times had once again proven to be tedious and boring.
After he completed his morning routine, his teachers had given him an assignment to remodel a faulty rocket ship design in which Izuru completed in less than half an hour. That, too, had been boring. Afterward, he had been given free time to do as he pleased which led him to wander the school campus, an act he had done many times already, but the only other alternative was remaining in the underground tunnels surrounded by pestering teachers and scientists all day.
In summary, his morning had begun exactly as he predicted it would; boring and uneventful.
Until something not-so-boring happened.
It happened as he was wandering the school campus. A student from the Reserve Course Department had been walking across the main course campus and unintentionally crashed into him on the walkway.
[Note: Zero effect on himself, though the same could not be said for the other student who crashed onto the ground. Upon analyzation, no external injuries were sustained]
He didn’t think much of it at first. After all, there was nothing particularly interesting about the boy. The student seemed as bland and boring as one could get with little to no striking physical features or personality traits to be seen. However, there was something about the student that caught his attention; the other male appeared to share similar physical characteristics as he did.
Not just similar, in fact, upon further examination he looked near identical to Izuru if you disregard the eye color, hair color, and hair length. There were smaller, less significant details the other boy possessed that differed from the two of them such as the other boy’s uneven fingernails, his slightly tanner skin tone, a small, faded scratch above the other’s left eyebrow—but these details were small and hardly mattered.
His voice was identical as well. The frequencies were the same as Izuru’s, the major difference being that the other student’s voice sounded far more expressive than his. This left Izuru with questions: Who is Hinata Hajime and why are his physical attributes so similar to his own? There was a possibility that the look-alike was merely a doppelganger—there were only so many different combinations to physical appearances that human beings could possess, after all—whom Izuru could’ve just found by chance, though that probability was low.
After some calculating, Izuru made a decision: he will find out more about this Hinata Hajime.
With that objective in mind, he made his way through the quiet, empty corridors of the Hope’s Peak Academy school hallways towards the headmaster’s office. It was well past midnight which meant no students or staff members were there to interfere with his plans. This also meant that he was violating not only school rules but one of the rules his teachers had given him about going out of his room after hours. Not that he particularly cared for the rules his teachers enforced, it was simply more convenient for him if he followed them to avoid dealing with their lectures.
He approached the door to the headmaster’s office and—using one of his many ultimate talents—lockpicked the door open with ease. The door opened with a slight creak, allowing him inside. As expected, the room was uninhabited. He walked over to a cabinet full of files and proceeded to open each drawer one by one, searching for one file in particular. Then he saw it.
He pulled out a manila folder, opening it and scanning over its contents.
Name: Hinata Hajime
Sex: Male
DOB: 01/01
Height: 179 cm (5'8")
Weight: 67 kg (147 lbs)
Reserve Course Department
Class 11-B
GPA: 3.0
As expected, the file contained very basic information, some of which he’d already deduced upon meeting the look-alike. He stored any additional information away in his memory and continued to search. There were a few other files, things such as medical record copies, a birth certificate copy, and his registration form. He did a quick scan of those, storing that information into his memory as well.
Then something else caught his attention. Stored at the very back of the manilla folder was another folder, thin and black. He took out that folder and carefully opened it, doing a quick scan of its contents.
…
Ah, so his theory was correct… This is an intriguing discovery. Does the look-alike know about this? The probability is low, considering the look-alike’s initial reaction upon meeting him.
…
Izuru hasn’t been this interested in something for a long time, he realized. Many questions began to flood his mind: why was this information kept secret from him? Does the look-alike truly not know of his existence? If so, why? What other secrets have been kept from him?
Is there more to this Hinata Hajime than what meets the eye?
…
[New Objective: Observe Hinata Hajime until further details]