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When Hajime Hinata walks through the school gates on the first day of his senior year at Hope’s Peak Academy, it's as a nobody.
The hallways are bustling with people - his classmates, some of them - and yet he can't recognise more than a couple faces in the crowd. Nobody knows him and he knows nobody, and for the most part, that works out just fine. He has a friend in the Main Course whom he'll visit on a whim, and he doesn't feel as though he needs much else.
After all, the Reserve Course is like a tank of piranhas all swarming for the same prey. Everyone's an adversary, each as unremarkable as the last.
As Hinata pushes against a trio of students who seem to think a crowded hallway of all places is the best to do some roughhousing, he's thrown to the floor in a jumble of backpacks and limbs. Some kid yells at him to get off his ass and kicks him in the arm, and by the time Hinata goes to tell them that he would already be off his ass if they would stop kicking him in the arm, they've slithered back into the swarm.
Sighing huffily, he struggles to his feet and storms outside, his shoulders digging into chests and arms and bags as he forces himself through the crowd.
When he finally makes it outside the doors of the Reserve Course building, he's exhausted, and it's only, as Hinata finds when he checks his watch with intent that borders on sarcasm, 8:04am.
Hoping to burn off some steam, the boy starts walking aimlessly across the campus of Hope's Peak. Not too long after, he realises that he's made his way to the gates of the Main Course building.
Of course, he realises this because the same pretentious, tight-faced security guard as always is shouting at him in his annoying 'edgy rich superhero with a tragic backstory' voice that only belongs in B grade revamps, telling him to piss off to the building for societal rejects again.
He glares at the man, clenches a fist, gets ready to scream at him and, in a single epithetical moment of I-don't-want-to-be-expelled, leaves. Instead of trying to fight a guy who he's pretty sure got into Hope's Peak specifically for his ability to punch people, he plunks himself down on a bench a few dozen feet away and flips him off.
The security guard seems to share the sentiment. One thing they can agree on, he figures.
Looking for an escape, Hinata begrudgingly pulls out his 3DS and starts trying to navigate its menu, moodily tabbing through demos he didn't ask to download and useless applications that anyone could get for free at a much better quality on literally any mobile phone.
Someone taps him on the shoulder from behind, and he jolts into the air with a start.
"Hey, Hinata-kun," Chiaki Nanami murmurs in her usual half-awake droll, her voice as gentle and breezy as Hinata remembers. "Are you still..." -she yawns, a single hand gravitating to her face as she rubs at dry eyes- "still okay to play some video games after school...?"
Hinata flicks idly at a splinter in the bench's armrest, looking over his shoulder to regard the girl. She’s dressed in her Main Course uniform as always, her usual hoodie traded in for a small backpack that better suits the weather. Somewhere inside him, Hinata feels a dull flare of envy alight. He ignores it, and turns his attention back to the question at hand.
"Yeah, sure. What've you got with you today?"
Nanami glances at him for a moment, then slumps her bag off of her back and begins to halfheartedly rummage through it.
"I have Animal Crossing, maybe some Pokémon games too... I think."
Hinata stares at the Nintendogs icon on his 3DS's screen.
"Yeah, Pokémon sounds good."
Nanami nods, and, after walking around the bench to stand in front of Hinata, yawns again.
"Alright... I'll try to see which games I've got with me during class. I'll see you after."
"Cool. Have a good first day back."
The gamer hums, a small smile fluttering on her lips, and slips her bag back over her shoulders, giving a noncommittal wave as she makes her way over to the Main Course gates Hinata was so ceremoniously banished from moments ago.
God, he wishes that were him.
After coming to the conclusion that moping on a bench will only keep him upset about his crappy luck (crappy life, honestly), Hinata gets up and goes to trudge back to the Reserve Course.
Outside the drab building, however, is a group of three girls, all of whom seem to be... Main Course students?
His days of being intimidated by Main Course kids long over, Hinata approaches the trio, and suddenly a memory smashes through his mind like an axe.
These aren't just any students. Those three are what Reserve Coursers (maybe even Main Course kids, Hinata wouldn’t know) refer to as 'The Despairs', almost exclusively in hushed tones whenever they're within sight but not earshot. Hinata guesses the name's from how much despair they bring their school-wide fanbase by generally just being rude to everyone, but he wouldn't know. He doesn't tend to talk to Reserve Coursers. He doesn’t tend to talk to anyone.
The first one of the three Hinata notices is, interestingly enough, Mukuro Ikusaba. She's certainly not the most standout of the group - she gives the dull greyness of the Reserve Course facilities a run for their money - but he remembers her piercing indigo eyes, pale and frigid and unfeeling, and he can't help but feel as though she's a threat in the most subtle of ways. Of course, she's the SHSL Soldier, so that subtlety becomes kind of moot.
The other less interesting member of the Despairs is Tsumugi Shirogane, a freshman who'd been hanging out on campus the year prior. Her blue hair is striking, and from the back there's no way he could miss it, but something about her has always felt hollow. Whether she has a personality is probably a topic of hot debate, but as far as appearances go, she's both unique and forgettable in a way Hinata had, prior to seeing her, thought was impossible.
The real queen of the Despairs, though, is Junko Enoshima. Supposedly she's the SHSL Gyaru, but just like with Ikusaba, Hinata's pretty sure making eye contact with her can curse a person for life. She's the almighty - the other Despairs would bend reality at her request - and if she's known for anything, it's for garnering respect through treating as many people like crap as she can, in the most two-faced way possible.
Hinata's not even sure how that works, but the Reserve Course kids were never that bright, so he guesses it's not too hard to believe.
He's just about to speak up to the group when Ikusaba spins around on a heel, and the next thing he knows a dagger's being brandished at his neck.
A sweet, cooing voice rings out from within the triangle of girls. "Hm? And who might you be, Reserve kid?"
Enoshima's eyes seem to stare right through his, bright and sharp, and he feels a drop of sweat crawl down his temple.
"Hajime Hinata,” he replies, searching the other girl’s gaze for a sense of humanity, for any sort of warmth behind her generously applied blush and dark, striking mascara. He finds none.
“Well, Hinata-kun,” Enoshima elaborates, and Hinata gets the feeling that he’ll be here for more than the thirty seconds of mild conversation he’d been anticipating, “my sis Mukuro and Shirogane-san here were hoping to talk to this Natsumi chick with me, but she hasn’t shown up.”
Slightly unnerved, Hinata pushes forward. “And uh. Why did you want to talk to Kuzuryuu? She’s in the year above you.”
Enoshima grins, and her lips seem to stretch just a bit too far.
“Ah, Kuzuryuu-san, that’s it! She said she would model a new outfit for Shirogane-san today!”
That… can’t be right.
Hinata thinks the situation over. On one hand, what Enoshima had said was probably a lie. When one of your closest friends is the SHSL Gyaru, there’s no need to seek out anyone else, and if there was, the adored-by-all Despairs surely have connections to people more respectable than some rude Reserve Course student. On the other hand, something about the way the girl had held herself then and always told Hinata two things.
The first, he thinks, is that Enoshima isn’t dumb. Despite her cutesy tone and overdone expressions, there’s a constant control to her voice that makes everything she says sound subtly calculated, as though she’s exactly aware of what everyone around her thinks at any and every given moment in time. By extension, this would mean that she knows that he knows she’s lying, and she doesn’t care.
The second is that Enoshima has power, and she knows it. If he makes a wrong move here, she could ruin him on a whim. And based on the way Ikusaba had sprung to him with a literal weapon at the ready as soon as he’d been in their vicinity - not even their actual personal space - none of the Despairs are the forgiving type. Enoshima may not be vapid, but she’s selfish, and Hinata has no doubt in his mind that if she wants something, she’ll stop at nothing to obtain it.
...Whatever she actually wants from Natsumi can’t be that bad, right?
“...So?”
Enoshima’s whiny tone cuts through Hinata’s thoughts, and he scrambles to compose himself as he realises he’s been staring into space for far longer than what’s probably acceptable.
“Uh, yeah. She’s in my class, so I have her number. I can give you that?”
“Aww, really? Thanks, Hinata-k-”
“However.”
Enoshima stops dead in her tracks, and all three Despairs turn to stare him straight in the eye, all with various amounts of murderous intent in their gaze.
“However,” Hinata repeats, “You’re going to have to do something for me in return.”
When Shirogane, Ikusaba and Enoshima fail to reply, he elaborates, “I crave a boon.”
Enoshima snaps back to life, tone cheerful and curious. “Hmm? What boon?”
Hinata takes another moment to think. The Despairs have the school in a power monopoly. Every student who cares about their social status and then some look up to them - hell, he’s pretty sure Enoshima’s got half the teaching board under her spell after only a year at Hope’s Peak. He doesn’t exactly fall into the category of social butterfly, but…
He thinks back to getting pushed over in the corridors. To getting demeaned by the security guards. To every day for the past two years, suffering inside the Reserve Course amongst a ton of people who are all too willing to give up on themselves, all too willing to give up on him, all too damn willing to just play along. He doesn’t belong there, but none of them seem to know that.
He looks back at Enoshima. Behind a glint of mischievous fervor, intelligence burns in the back of her skull, piercing and bright.
Maybe she can understand. Maybe she can make everyone else understand, too.
“Let me sit with you guys at lunch, just once. No talking necessary.”
Shirogane glares at him with something akin to disgust that crinkles up her nose and furrows her brow ever so slightly. Ikusaba’s expression is the equivalent of a shrug, eyes half open and lips expressionless as always. Enoshima looks at him for just a second, and he can practically see the gears whirring beneath her strawberry blonde mass of hair as the rest of her stays suspended in time.
Ikusaba steps forward.
“Why?”
Shirogane sneers, tilting her head away from Hinata. “He probably just wants to get together with Enoshima-san or something. Or all of us. Some people are just messed up like that.”
“It’s nothing like that,” Hinata interjects, a corner of his mouth lifting up in mild discomfort. He sighs. “...Nobody sees anything in me because they don’t care enough to give me a chance. I thought that if they saw that you all tolerate me, that might change.”
Enoshima looks him up and down slowly. In a sudden movement, she lurches forward and takes his chin in one manicured hand, long red nails grazing against his jaw.
Her skin looks eerily perfect. Hinata suppresses a gulp.
“Hmm. Well, for a nobody such as your pitiful little self, you do have pretty good bone structure.”
“And his eyelashes are a nice dark shade too,” Shirogane pipes up from behind the ringleader, all too eager to agree. “Though of course, he’s pretty out of shape.”
Enoshima pulls back and turns to the cosplayer. “Mm, well, Sis would know about that, wouldn’t she? She’s been eating wayyy too much lately!”
Ikusaba blushes, obviously discomforted, but says nothing.
Finally seeming to have decided on her verdict, Enoshima smiles at Hinata and rests an arm on his shoulder. “Alright then, Hinata-kun! You can totally sit with us today!”
Shirogane crosses her arms and nods as though she’s been on board with this idea for more than twenty seconds. Ikusaba slips a second knife that Hinata hadn’t noticed her holding into her pocket.
Hinata simply pulls out his phone and searches for Kuzuryuu’s number.
_____________
When Hajime Hinata walks through the school gates on the second day of his senior year at Hope’s Peak Academy, it's as someone he can be proud of.
He looks around at the campus, and thinks that sometimes, life really can be beautiful.
From the way Enoshima grins at him as he walks towards their spot in the middle of the courtyard, the attention of countless students following him as they share whispered sentiments, he can tell that she agrees.