Admiration has lead Hajime Hinata quite far to his destination. His first semester at Hope's Peak Academy was about to begin in a few weeks and all summer he has been waiting for the entrance ceremony. The more Hinata thought about Hope's Peak, the more it felt like a pyrrhic victory.

He made it to Hope's Peak Academy, well, that's a technicality. A letter in the mail confirmed that Hajime Hinata was a student in the Academy's Reserve Course, in other words, students with no talents can pay high student fees to be a part of the prestigious institute.

Dark comments from an anonymous audience echoed harsh doubts of Hinata's choices. Someone as talentless as him should just stay in normalcy and never desire more than what they're worth. A day walking around town seemed like a good way to clear his thoughts but he still felt chills biting the base of his skull. The bottle of orange juice he drank didn't help him feel better either.

Hinata swirled the juice around lazily not paying any mind to other people in the market area. That is until someone abruptly grabbed his bottle and chugged it down.

"Ugh!" The blonde girl gave the empty bottle a sour look. "I thought anything bad would taste decent after being chased but apparently I was wrong." She didn't give Hinata a second glance as she shoved the plastic bottle back to him and looked around the market. "I finally gave them the slip, about time."

"Um, excuse me, but what?" Hinata regretted his confused response once the girl's cold eyes and scowl freighted him so much that he backed into the building wall.

"Wow you're such a piece of garbage," she commented with a grin. "If taking your drink was that easy, I can easily imagine how quick it is to kill you." The chills Hinata had earlier dropped its temperature at the sight of how happy this short girl is at the thought of murder. This is not a good day.

She began laughing, "As hilarious your face is right now, it'll be no fun to kill you just because you're standing and being a waste of space."

For a lack of better words and stuck in a weird conversation, Hinata said with his best deadpan face, "Yes I cannot imagine why anyone would kill me for occupying a pocket of the cosmos."

"As long as you know your place," she was about to add probably another cynical comment when a loud commotion rang out down the block. Both teens saw at least three large men with snake tattoos coiling their arms yelling and pointing at them, shoving at the human traffic. "Oh great, they're back."

"Wait, those tattoos," Hinata thought out loud, looking at the scowling girl and the three thugs making their way towards them. Just as the girl was about to bolt down the north path, Hinata grabbed her arm and ran through the east path. "Come on, this way!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" was among the other curses spilling out of her mouth as they zig zagged pass buildings and crowds of people. Hinata was sure that half an hour has passed while he made sure the thugs struggled their way through the lunch rush hour and the old lady who often threw apples at anyone from her husband's fruit stand when she was in a bad mood. Considering that she was loudly complaining about her son not calling back earlier in the day, Hinata knew that she was on the edge of throwing a pineapple.

"One last turn and we're home free." Hinata reassured as they rounded the corner and went to the end of an ally.

"We're at a dead end, dumbass." True enough, they were surrounded by three sides of cement buildings where dumpsters, trash, and rats called home.

Hinata began to push a heavy dumpster against a wall, "If that's all you see then you're the dumb one. Also a little help would be great."

"I'm the dumb one? I'm not the one who willingly ran away with the target of the Nero gang." Together they got the dumpster to the wall and Hinata helped her climb on. Hinata was able to reach a dusty window and used a snapped broomstick handle to wedge it open.

"True but this isn't Nero's territory and I'm willing to bet that his henchmen don't know the area." Climbing through the window, Hinata checked the fortunately dark and empty antique shop and held out his hand to the blonde girl, "You need a little help?"

"Maybe you aren't a complete waste of space." Once inside, they shut the window and heard the gangsters outside, blaming each other on losing the girl. Soon they left the ally and the teens knew they were in the clear. "Ha, they're so stupid. Serves Nero right for sending his lowest rank thugs to get me." She then jumped onto a lumpy floral designed cough and kicked the pillows away to make room for her feet.

It didn't appear that she was in any rush to leave so Hinata sat down on the other end. "Why does a gang leader like Nero want to get you?"

She shrugged, "I was just being my pretty little self." From what Hinata recalled from their first conversation, her answer was enough for him to take. The girl picked up a kicked pillow and threw it at Hinata's head. "You know, you might be a target for helping me back there. A normal person would just fall into the background while I'll be chased by some scary looking people. Instead you took action and had a good escape plan. I almost respect you for that."

The words 'a normal person' flashed into the brunet's head. She was right, he involved himself in a crazy event and his own strategy saved them. He chucked the pillow at her face. "Almost you say?"

She coughed out some dust and fluff from the pillow and set it on her lap. "A sneaky escape is only one trick any person can up off. You're gonna have to do more to gain my full attention."

"It kind of sounds like we're going to meet again, so in that case," he raised a hand at her and smiled. "I'm Hajime Hinata."

Accepting the handshake, she smiled too, "Nope!"

"Um, what do you mean by 'no'?"

The girl got up and made her way to the door, "I don't care if I see you again so it probably won't matter if I give you my real name or a random name. But since I do know your name, I might as well pay you back by making sure that Nero won't find and kill you." She opened the door, letting the light blind Hinata for a moment. "It's the least I can do, Hinata, but I think you're covered. After all, you look so average that any description of you would lead Nero to another normal sucker."

With that, she left Hinata in the closed antique shop, fearing that he may have gotten himself in on a gang leader's hit list. As any person who feared gangs and being targeted, Hinata laid low and made sure to check the area for any thugs on his rare outings. His fear finally decreased when one day he found a bottle of orange juice with a note in front of his house. All the note had to say was 'To a Somewhat Waste of Space, you doubt me, I feel a little bit offended.'

Taking a deep breath, a weight of fear was lifted off him. Now all he had to worry about was the entrance ceremony the very next day and prepare for his school year at Hope's Peak Academy.

Yeah I like Natsumi Kuzuryuu enough to write this and make her a main character. Thanks for reading!