The Only Average, Collides

Contrary to popular belief, Hajime Hinata was not always labeled 'average'. In fact, back in the small countryside hometown he used to live in, he was among the slightly well-liked and adored crowd, very good in both his studies and in making friends. It was not until he stepped into Hope's Peak Academy did he get the 'average' label, being put into the regular class instead of the Ultimates class for the gifted and the talented.

He enrolled at the prestigious school on the second year for it was harder for a countryside student to get a chance to study there. It was a late admission and he couldn't even get a place in the gifted and talented course, but he thought that having the opportunity to learn at the same place as those Ultimates was enough. Hajime had always been a fan of people with talents after all.

But the more he spent his time there, the more he realized how normal he truly was. One would wonder how much average could one get, but Hajime noted how average is, in itself, a tragic reality. Even with this, he surprisingly adapted well, acting as though he was okay with the average label though it should be condescending; just like most average people does. By now, he thought that maybe he was born to the Villager A of the story, or the kid who had to settle to play as a tree for a play. And, yes, he was starting to accept it too. Average people should accept whatever was given to them, not to protest, because life was not a stage made for them.

Oh, how wrong he was. At the time, he never knew how his average character would be the sole reason of his life long drama. The stage for a star called Hajime Hinata was just on the making.

He always knew that The Hope's Peak Academy was acknowledged as one of the best school for the gifted and the talented for one reason; they created the first ever alternate reality cyber world that could heal gifted people who are depressed. Researches had stated that gifted people are more prone to psychological problems, making them very easily depressed. They have a set of unique traits that could contribute to this proneness, like hypersensitivity, perfectionism, or their overly advanced development. Because of its goal, the program was called The Hope Restoration Program, but was more often to be referred as The Neo World Program.

None of the reserve students knows all the details; not that they were involved in it's development in the first place. Yet, all of the talented program were very involved in its making. Rumor has it that each student from the ultimate course was made into an artificial intelligence (AI) in the program. Whatever kind of involvement it was, Hajime may not have the chance to really know.

It was on the second month of his enrollment though that the reserve course students were given a chance to try the program. It was promised to be a short yet amazing experience of a first hand try at one of the most advanced program in the world. They were given a quick 10 minutes try each; yet it was enough to make most of them very excited for the experience. "I've told all of my friends and family that I'm going to have a try at that program today!" said one student. "I've got many likes in my last status regarding my first try on the program!" another one of them said.

Hajime's only thought was, "What is this thing?" before he settled down inside the blue capsule for the participants. There were around 15-20 blue capsules surrounding a huge machine where the alternate reality was programmed into. They will be put into a short sleep while their mind wandered into the cyber world. Hajime was wondering if it's dangerous.

"Now, now, just relax," Miss Usami, one of the consultant in the academy, told him. Her short and sweet figure bent down to his capsule to watch his sleepy form, "You're too tense, uhmm," she hesitated to look at the name tag on his shirt, "Hinata-kun," a smile, "Remember to push the graduate button when you're told".

He felt like pushing away the grogginess and maybe answering "yes" to the woman. So he blinked once. But when he opened his eyes, he was not inside the blue capsule any longer. He was sitting on a very grand looking chair with a futuristic design inside a somewhat futuristic hall. The air he breathe, the rushing blood under his skin, and the sensation under his touch, felt so real. He tried pushing his neck up to look around, but his vision was suddenly attacked by a sudden black blur. A strange heat was rising from his shoulder to his neck, followed by a nausea. The futuristic hall seemed to spun for a second, before a hand grabbed him from the side. "Are you okay, sir?" a voice asked.

He turned his head to meet the person with that voice, only to find a weird looking white bunny with equally weird sounding voice. Whispers followed from around them, as he started to realize that there were more people in the vicinity aside from himself and the bunny.

"Is this him for real this time?"

"Hey, ask his name!"

"He seemed different. Shorter".

"Younger too".

"This one is probably it".

He tried to rub his forehead, trying to push away the sudden migraine, gripping strands of long dark hair. The whispers only added to his pain, and a weird hot wave started to tickle him from inside. He realized it was some sort of anger; annoyance. "Shut up," he snapped, in a way that surprised even himself. He thought the voice sounded wrong and strange. The whispers did stop however.

"Uhmm, do you mind if I ask you your name, sir?"

His fingers were still rubbing his temple, and his eyes stayed scrunched closed, but his mind kicked into gear as he tried to answer the question. Wait, what was his name again. I... Iz-Izu..., Kawamura? Kawakura? No, it should be Izuru Kamukura, right?

He licked his lips, trying to say the name before his mind stopped him. Wait, why would it be Izuru Kamukura? An image of himself looking at the mirror before his first day to school; staring at a figure of a young boy with short spiky brown hair and a pair of green eyes greeted him. A name, Hajime Hinata, passed his mind.

"I'm Hajime Hinata," he found himself looking straight to the bunny, albeit with a furrowed brows, "Right?"

Hajime knew it was weird to ask another person if he said his own name correctly, but the question came out automatically. He was really unsure of it at the time; unknown why. The bunny jumped slightly, looking around to the people Hajime couldn't make out from his blurry vision. He could hear the whispers starting again, and his name repeated numerous times. "Where is the graduate button?" he asked, helpless, "I feel sick already, I want to go back".

"You don't need a graduate button," said the bunny, "Just tell yourself to go back".

"What?"

"Wait, wait, wait, Monomi," another voice said from the other side of his chair. He couldn't see the person, for he was too tired to turn around, but he could feel cold fingers rubbing the back of his neck, "This guy is new to this, of course he wouldn't know how to do that".

The last thing Hajime saw was the worried face of the white rabbit before he felt extreme pain from the back of his neck. Then everything went dark.

He decided that The Neo World Program is weird. Hajime remembered waking up inside the infirmary three hours after getting into the program. Miss Usami helped him; telling him to get a lot of rest. He was even allowed to excuse himself from school the next day, but he declined to do that.

What surprised Hajime was how excited his classmates were the day after. They were still raging about the program, a huge contrast to his own pessimistic attitude toward it. "What are you talking about? It was AWESOME!" Tachibana, one of his classmate in the reserve course, exclaimed, "Golden sand, sparkling waters - man! I'd spend all day in that program anytime".

"Yeah, too bad we all ended up with the same average faced avatar," another guy added with a silly laugh.

"Yeah, if they can allow us to customize our avatar, that'll be cool. I mean, its better than having the same face as people".

"Really?" Hajime perked from his seat, "You all had the same face?"

"Yeah, same hair, same everything beside the color of our pants," Tachibana gave out a piggish laugh, "I got the yellow ones."

Funny, Hajime thought, that means everybody met up in the same place inside the program. It's unfortunate how he seemed to be the only one straying away to a weird place. Nobody seemed to relate to his experience in the program. They all seemed to have had a great time. "... all the girls had the same boobs size, you know what I mean? And they all ended up with blonde hair. A bit stereotypical. Not that I complain, I like blonde girls with moderate-sized boobs".

Hajime smiled, trying to join in the fun, "Yeah, I mean it's weird to put long hair for the male avatar, right?"

"Long hair?"

"You know, our avatars were long haired," Hajime added with a look. Tachibana frowned, "Dude, I don't remember having any long hair. We all had this weird buzz cut instead".

"You did?" Hajime's eyes widened. He remembered gripping strands of long hair at one point in the program. He was sure it was quite long. It would probably reach his hip if only he stood up and measured it.

"You sure you didn't sleep it off in the middle of the program? Maybe you were dreaming," Tachibana raised an eyebrow.

"Idiot, we were all practically dreaming," another guy commented, "Its how the program works". They ended up hitting each other jokingly with Hajime watching in the background; weirded out on how different his story was.

The week passed with no reminder about the program. Hajime didn't really bother for he knew it was a mere opportunity; probably a bonus for being a small part of this academy. School went as usual. The only addition to his normal life was the fact that he signed up to be the library committee member. There was nothing special about being q committee member, except you can spend a lot of time in the library without being questioned too much and you have the right (obligation some preferred to call it) to organize the library. Hajime was fine with such tasks, especially if he could pass some time.

He was also fine with the fact that he had to spend the whole break time in the library alone as the committee member. Most of the members had other stuff to do, so he was given the task. The only good thing was, he got free lunch for the effort.

Hajime was sitting behind the front table, reading a random science fiction, before he heard the library entrance door open. It was rare to have some visitor at that particular time of the day, so Hajime stood up to take a better look of who it was. He found Miss Usami skipping inside the room with a mischievous smile. She was dragging someone else behind her; someone who was way taller than she was. He had ghastly alabaster skin with the weirdest white wavy hair. For someone with such strange features, he was very handsome in that almost feminine way. There was only one person known for his pale white features. It was one of the Ultimates; Nagito Komaeda.

"Hello, Hinata-kun!" Miss Usami greeted. Hajime smiled slightly, a bit confused as to why the consultant of the talented course along with the talented course student came to visit the reserve course's library. The school divided the facilities quite fairly, possibly to avoid any possibilities on bullying between the Ultimates and the reserves. Yet, it was not made into a rule that each was prohibited to visit another's territory. It's probably more of a mutual understanding. "Komaeda-kun, this is that Hinata-kun!" The counselor said excitedly while pulling Komaeda closer to the front desk where Hajime stood.

Okay. Hajime wondered what that Hinata-kun means. It's not like a student from the talented course would care about his existence, right?

"Oh," the taller teen glanced at him before giving a small yet meaningful smile, "He's very average".

Hajime frowned a bit. That wasn't nice, but he felt like he had no right to complain as he was as average as mentioned. At least compared to the Ultimates.

"Hajime, this is Nagito Komaeda. He is one of our talented course student," the woman smiled sweetly, "I'm sure you've heard of him, everybody in the school have! He is quite famous".

Of course he had. Komaeda was one of the most unique among the Ultimates. A lot of people questioned his talent as the Ultimate Lucky Student. But luck could be a talent when it comes to Komaeda. He heard that Komaeda's life was like a roller coaster ride; starting from being born in an extremely rich family with dangerous diseases in his blood, being kidnapped by terrorist, even being the sole survivor to a high profile air plane hijacking, to ended up being one of the richest youth alive in Asia. He was neither good news nor bad news; he was both.

It was quite known that Nagito Komaeda was both liked and feared by students and teachers. It was said that he made a number of unusual achievements, starting from bringing great trouble to school to being the only hero everyone could depend on. His name would often mentioned just for being the star of the news; in both bad ones or good ones. For people, it was this very quality that made him interesting, even mysterious and almost mythical. People yearned to know him for his secrets or the many interesting stories surrounding his very luck. Not only that, he was also known for his somewhat eccentric and trickster-like personality. On other side, he was also feared. Relating oneself to a person like him would bring nothing but trouble. Risky.

Hajime, of course, would prefer his peace over anything. Plain old Hinata would have nothing to do with such a ticking bomb like Komaeda. That didn't mean he couldn't play the polite student. He shook the taller's hand, ignoring how familiar the cold fingers felt like, before greeting the other, "Nice to meet you," Hajime murmured.

Komaeda sent him a long look before he turned to Miss Usami to remind her of a certain book they were looking for and Hajime went back to his reading. It was around ten minutes later the two visitors made their way out of the room. Hajime didn't look up, but he knew Komaeda stopped for a moment near the desk to watch him before leaving.

Days later, he was stuck with the same lonely task of cleaning up and closing the library. Hajime was on his way to return a bunch of books to its shelf when somebody covered his head with a bag and his hands were pulled to the back by a very strong person. While receiving the rough treatments, he could hear hushed voices reminding someone to not hurt him, or at least, "leave his face intact". Hajime couldn't really understand a thing as he tried to struggle. This strong person dragged him away somewhere, possibly to the deeper part of the library. The bad thing is, it was the least busy hour for the library, so Hajime didn't even try to be hopeful of ever being saved from whatever it was. In the end, he could hear them planing to lock the library, before they pushed him to sit down and took off the cover of his head.

The first thing he saw was a pair of brown eyes on a very tan face then his eyes went down to a pair of very big breasts. This girl..., isn't she one of the Ultimates?

She was not alone. There were a bunch of other girls behind her and Hinata was sure none of them was a part of the reserve course.

"Wow!" One of them, the short one with pigtailed blonde hair, said, "He is surprisingly very average!"

Hajime frowned. That was not the first time he heard that in this short period. One of them was very busy taking photos of him, the rest were whispering to each other while stealing glances at him. Hajime's brows met in confusion as he watched them one by one.

One of the girls, the one with colorful hair extensions, exclaimed excitedly, "Hey, can we touch him!?" and it was welcomed by other excited exclaim of agreements.

"W-wait!" Hajime said nervously, watching the approaching breasts, all of various sizes, "W-whats happening? I-I -"

"I want to touch his hair!" one of them shouted, covering his own protest.

"Don't you think it looks like Naegi's? We can have our own Naegi now!"

"What do you call them? Ahoge?"

And Hajime could only wait patiently, even a bit in horror, as hands touched him everywhere, especially on his head. He was never this close to girls, especially the girls from the Ultimates. He didn't know if he should take it like a dream came true or a pure nightmare. He could feel himself getting more nervous as seconds went by. Who wouldn't? Especially when you didn't know what was going on.

It was then a cough caught the girls off-guard. All of them stopped what they were doing and turned around almost hurriedly. There, right on the other end of the space between the bookcases, stood two other girls. The first one stood slightly behind with a worried face. She has reddish brown layered hair and a timid yet doll-like appearance. The second one has short light pink hair and the blankest gaze Hajime had ever seen.

This second girl stepped closer. "What are you doing?" Her tone was serious, almost stern.

"W-we uh," the girl with the colorful hair extension scratched the side of her face, eyes casted aside.

"Nanami-san!" another girl answered. She has long pale blonde hair and a beautiful stature, "We are approaching the rumored Hinata-kun!"

Again with the 'Hinata-kun', Hajime thought. He didnt know how these girls know his name.

"You know that is against the rules, right?" the pink haired girl, now known to be Nanami, said, "Imagine how disappointed Ishimaru would be".

The girls gasped instantly. They looked at each other with clear anxiety. Whoever this Ishimaru was, he seemed to be the girls' worst nightmare. "Oh, no! He is going to punish us!" one of the girls mentioned. "And he would have Oowada to assist him!" another exclaimed.

"Now that you've understood, you should leave Hinata-kun alone," Nanami reminded them, "And I wont tell anyone".

The girls looked relieved, "Oh, thank you, Nanami!"

Each of them started leaving the library, not before stealing one last glance at Hajime. Hajime was still sporting a confused look, especially when one of the girls who kind-of-kidnapped-him told Nanami, "He has Naegi's ahoge!"

In the end, Hajime took it that they left with a happy mood, almost as if they had a good memory after visiting the reserve course's library.

"I-I dont understand," Hajime muttered to Namami who approached to check on him, "Whats going on?"

The girl gave him a little smile before saying, "Its nothing to worry about, Hinata-kun. I'm Chiaki Nanami by the way," then she glanced at the other girl with her, "And this is Chihiro Fujisaki".

Fujisaki gave him a shy smile, which Hajime couldn't really respond to as he was still confused by the prior incident. "U-uh yeah, I'm uh -"

"Yes, we know your name," Nanami cut him.

Hajime tilted his head to the side, "How do you guys know my name? I don't understand."

"Save that for later, Hinata-kun. For now you should calm down and try to forget what just happened," Nanami said in a comforting manner. Her hand reached out to his head, looking as though she was going to pat him. Hinata almost thought he could forget what happened if the girls insisted that he should let it go, until the outreached hand touched his ahoge, "This really does look like Naegi-kun's".

The other girls reached out to touch it too, "Hey, its true! But I'm sure this one is sharper, firmer".

"You've touched Naegi-kun's, Chihiro-kun?"

"Yes. Its as soft as it looks".

"Lucky. I was so sure Togami-san and Kirigiri-san would throw a fit if anyone touched him".

Fujisaki giggled, "I was lucky they were not around that time". By then, Hajime realized he was stuck with another group of weirdoes. The two were still touching his ahoge when Fujisaki mentioned, "Hey, dont you think he feels as average as Naegi does?"

Dang it.

The most he got after that were the feeling of being watched and the whispers coming from any students from the talented course that passed by him. Not that he had the chance to see them every time or even everyday at school. The two courses the school offers differ greatly that none of them in each courses ever interacted. Still, Hajime felt bothered by the constant glances and whispers. He also felt like some of the Ultimates passed by their course's territory just to see him.

The only time he felt relaxed enough was inside his class, which he was doing currently to review his math. The teachers were having some meeting and all classes were given the task to self study. Not that any of them ever bothered, unlike the diligent and honest Hajime. All of the students were chatting and fooling around in class. Some of them were brave enough to walk out of the classroom to skip somewhere.

He was on the second last page of his notes when Tachibana called him from the door, "Hajime! Somebody from another class is looking for you!"

Hajime lifted an eyebrow at the call. He wasn't popular enough to be sought by random students, except maybe the other library committee members. So he stepped outside and looked for his fellow librarians. Hajime was quite surprised to see how crowded the hallway in front of his class were. The students were walking around in the hallway, chatting with fellow students from other classes and even visiting the cafeteria. He could even note some of the Ultimates around, possibly on their way to the cafeteria too. Hajime's class was the closest to the cafeteria after all.

He couldn't find any of the library committee around so he walked back inside his class, thinking that they will come back to find him later. Unfortunately, Tachibana came to his desk with an annoyed look, "Dude, have I told you somebody is looking for you? Don't keep them waiting, they're from the talented course. Don't wanna ruin our name here".

"What?" Hajime threw a confused look, but Tachibana didn't listen to him as he started dragging Hajime out of the class to an area with rows of sea slightly away from their classroom. There, Komaeda stood with folded hands.

"What took you so long?" the Ultimate Luckster asked in annoyance. His gaze was a bit belittling.

"A-ah, s-sorry, he was -" Tachibana tried to explain, but Komaeda grabbed Hajime's arms and pulled the spiky haired teen away with him without further words. They walked to the furthest seating area where another talented course student was sitting. Nanami was playing her PSP Vita seriously when they came, only paying attention after Komaeda told her of his presence. "Look, this is Hinata-kun!" Komaeda said cheerfully. His prior disdain for being made to wait had gone.

"Oh," Nanami glanced at Hinata, and gave him that small smile of hers, "I know. I've met him".

"You did!?" Komaeda looked disappointed, "Aww, really? How is that possible? I really thought I'm the only who had found him!"

And Hinata didn't understand how meeting him could mean anything.

"Well, I did," Nanami went back to playing her PSP Vita without further say. Komaeda smiled at Hajime, "Well, too bad you're not my little secret anymore". He then sat not far beside Nanami on the long seat before patting the space between him and the girl, "Come seat here with us, Hinata-kun!"

Hajime hesitated a little, seeing that the space between the two was not big enough. But the way Komaeda said it sounded very final and Hajime didn't want to offend the Ultimates nor make a move that would seem unfriendly. Nanami didn't seem to bother as she kept on focusing her gaze on her console. So Hajime sat down between them. His legs were practically touching one of Komaeda's and Nanami's own. Strangely enough, those two didn't seem bothered by it.

"Look, Hinata-kun, that's Makoto and his obsessed sex slaves," Komaeda said jokingly while pointing at a short brunette walking into the cafeteria. He was closely followed by two proud looking students; a girl with a long lavender hair and a handsome bespectacled guy. Somehow, among anything, Hinata couldn't help but notice the ahoge on the brunette. Could this be that 'Naegi' person?

"I thought Naegi-kun is the slave," Nanami muttered without looking up from her console, confirming Hajime's thought.

"Well, that's debatable for now," Komaeda responded, "But I still place my bet that those three are in a threesome. Makoto just doesn't notice yet".

"Knowing you, you'd win anyway," Nanami pouted. Komaeda laughed, "I know, right?"

Hajime frowned, thinking; how could a person be involved in something as messed up as a threesome without realizing it?

He didn't know he would experience the answer himself one day.

And the result of the teacher and board members meeting that day was to have Hajime Hinata be the first non-ultimate student in the talented course.

Tbc.