Chapter 2- The Normal Kid

It was well passed eight o'clock by now and the sixteenth student hasn't shown up. Perhaps they weren't coming at all. Even so, I expected the assembly to start, we were asked to come here in the first place, surely it was for a reason.

I talked with a few of my classmates. That being Asahina, Sakura, Sayaka, and Chihiro.

They seemed to be nice girls. Perhaps things were looking up for me as I continued to talk to them. We talked about normal things girls usually talk about, our childhood, our dreams, Sayaka and Asahina couldn't help but bring up the topic about boys. As expected of those two. But, I never had a boyfriend before. I guess I could understand why though, I usually kept to myself around other people. And I was rather famous in Japan for the films I was in, it wouldn't surprise me if nerdy boys who enjoy sci-fi gawk over me.

I was also pretty stubborn around boys. When I had a crush on a boy back in seventh grade, I confessed my love to him, but he didn't find an interest in me since I was too much of a softie. Since then, I wasn't really the same around boys. But girls, I could get comfortable with.

And these three girls, I was proud to say, were my first friends at Hope's Peak.

It was past ten minutes now and the opening ceremony hasn't started yet. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on as I looked at everyone around the room. They were all separated into their own groups. Me, Sayaka, Asahina, and Sakura being one. The other consist of Leon, Mondo, and Yasuhiro. Celestia seemed to be keeping herself busy as she walked aimlessly around the giant gym. Taka seemed to be eyeing everyone with his arms crossed at the foot of the bleachers, probably making sure everyone behaved themselves. Toko seemed to be fiddling with her fingers as she gazed nervously at her feet. The mysterious girl who was apparently named Kyoko Kirigiri. No one knew her Ultimate talent, perhaps she kept that a secret as she seemed deep in thought. And, then there was Byakuya, of course he was alone. A son from a rich corporation, you would expect no less from him.

Me and the girls continued talking aimlessly as another five minutes have passed.

Soon, my attention was caught as I heard the creak of the wooden door open slowly at the end of the gym.

Finally...

I looked curiously as the door opened widely and the sixteenth student entered and looked at everyone confused.

Everyone's attention was dragged to the student as well as they all observed the student as he looked at us all.

I looked confused as I observed him. I didn't see him on the Hope's Peak internet page... Did I overlook his name as well? Could I possibly make that mistake twice?

His appearance didn't seem to give me any other hints of his Ultimate talent either. His hair seemed to be a light brown that reached down to the top of his neck, along with a sweatshirt was on his chest as his shirt seemed to be a light gray color.

He looked confused as he looked at the students standing inside the gym as he stepped inside.

"Uh... Excuse me," He started talking in a soft voice as he looked nervous at all of us.

"Ah, cool! This'll make sixteen of us!" Yasuhiro said in a pumped up voice as he put on a friendly smile for the new student that just arrived.

"So, this is everyone? Maybe now we'll get some answers," Hifumi said next as he seemed to be in deep thought. Was the assembly still going to happen? Or was that idea thrown away, leaving us completely clueless of what to do now.

"A-ha!" Taka moves in front of the new student's vision and I watched as the boy stepped back a bit in surprise at Taka's sudden shouting words. Taka seemed pissed though at the dude's later arrival. "Instructions said eight o'clock sharp! You have no excuse for your tardiness!"

"Calm down! We don't know why we're even here. Maybe he got lost!" I said, trying to back up the new student. Perhaps he woke up alone in a classroom as well. None of us have ever been inside the school before, it was expected we didn't know where to find the gym.

"Yeah, none of us even know why we're here!" Junko said this with her snappy attitude towards Taka.

"Question..." Chihiro's small voice could barely be heard as she raised her hand into the air. "Did you happen to wake up in a classroom by yourself?"

"Yeah, I did. No idea how I got there," The new guy said a bit louder than before. He seemed pretty nervous though. We all were, but, it seemed to drive my attention towards him.

"That's what I thought. That's exactly what happened to us," Chihiro explained as she gave a small nervous look.

So it seemed everyone was passing out suddenly, that's strange.

"Sudden unconsciousness. Only to converge in the gym upon awakening. Fabulously peculiar," Celestia said calmly. I didn't understand how she could be so calm in this situation when none of us knew why we were here. Perhaps she was just like that.

"Yeah, that's the word. Reminds me of the digs we had back in Juvie," Mondo said as he gazed around the gym. Well, that cleared some of my questions about Mondo's attitude. He was in prison before...

"Except this time... We got kidnapped. Hey, maybe they'll auction off our organs. Hah!" Leon said. I didn't understand how that was a funny joke to say, it just gave me chills to try and think of why we were out here.

"Don't say that so calmly! We're here for a reason, you know!" I snapped at Leon and he gave me a glare from the corner of his eyes. I sighed and turned back towards the new kid. I had to learn to stop being so stubborn to boys.

"Think positive! It's a motivational program! This is supposed to be a special school, right?" Aoi said with a bright smile. That smile sort of made me feel a little better about our current situation. It was sort of weird to me how she could stay so happy and cheerful while being clueless as of why we were sent here.

"It's difficult to say. I suggest that we first assess our situation..." Sakura answered to Aoi's motivational talk and gazed around the gym.

"Uh, okay..." The new student said while looking at Sakura surprised. I could tell why he would be surprised. Seeing a girl all tall and muscular must've been a sight for him, but I got used to it pretty quickly, he probably could too.

And with that, everyone seemed to go back to their groups to discussed their situation. Of course, the people who stayed alone, were still alone when everyone looked around, and that now including the new kid.

I couldn't help but raise my attention to the new kid. He seemed rather interesting. I couldn't tell what Ultimate he was... But perhaps I overlooked the name.

Well, unlike the other loners in our class, he didn't seem to be afraid of everything like Toko, or stay silent through every conversation like Kyoko, or think they're better than everyone else like Byakuya. He seemed rather nice...

I sighed to relax myself as I approached the new dude in our group. If I was going to make any friends, it's better for me to go to them than them come to me.

"H-hi," I said nervously to the new kid and he turned around to me with a look between nervousness and worry. He seemed to be gazing at me for quite a bit, so I decided to break the silent tension. "I'm Haiyū Henka... I don't think I've ever seen you before. What's your name?"

"O-oh! Uh, Makoto Naegi," He answered with a nervous look. He probably wasn't expecting me to say anything else while the silence lasted for a bit.

"It's nice to meet you, Naegi. This may come out a bit rude, but I don't think I know what your Ultimate talent is..." I start, trying to say this in the most nicest way possible, I didn't want to offend somebody that could be my friend while here.

"I got lucky. I'm not an Ultimate. I'm just an average teenage guy," Makoto answered, chuckling nervously while saying this.

"Average is a strong word. I prefer saying it as somebody who hasn't discovered their talent yet!" I said, trying to put on a bright smile to cheer him up. I had no idea Hope's Peak accepted non-Ultimates. Perhaps to raise the funding?

"You really see it that way?" He asked me with a small smile.

"Of course I do! Why wouldn't I?" I asked trying to keep on my brightest smile possible. This was the first guy I ever talked to and not say some sarcastic remark or stubborn wordplay. It was nice knowing some guys were different for me to act around.

"It's just... You're an actress, aren't you? I recognize you on tv. I don't understand how you could talk so easily to somebody like me-" Makoto explained, probably trying to make an attempt of hiding how nervous he was, but I saw passed it.

"All people are equal and deserve to be treated like that. You're no different than me or anyone else here. I just show my talent in a unique way through television screens," I interrupted him with the same bright smile. The reason I was on tv was because I wanted to show people an example of what they could become. I try not to brag about how famous I've become throughout Japan, but seeing someone talk about me like that wasn't exactly normal for me.

"Heh. You seem pretty nice," Makoto said with a smile. This was a different smile he given me. One of friendship, not some acquaintances. It was nice to see somebody smile this way to me, so I smiled back softly.

"If you two are quite done flirting," I heard a sudden voice say this and I looked forward to see Byakuya Togami looking at both me and Makoto with a stern look as his arms were crossed. Was he eaves-dropping?! "We can move onto weightier matters now."

"And those are?" I asked Byakuya as I stood up straight. This was the first time he ever spoke to me or probably anyone in this room. His voice was proper and professional. Again, I shouldn't expect less from a Togami.

"Our current quandary. Someone has collected us here for a reason," Byakuya answered and looked away from me to look around the gym while his arms were still crossed.

"Ugh! We're all essentially prisoners!" Toko screamed this out as she seemed to be going through a sudden panic attack.

"Nobody established that yet," I said calmly to Toko as I gazed at the stage at the end of the gym where a large rectangular podium stood. "I'm sure there's a reason behind it all."

"Well, the least they could do is give me my cell phone: It's like, totally barbaric," Junko said a little bit dramatically.

Almost everyone seemed to notice it suddenly as they went digging through their pockets for their cell phones. I too looked inside my tiny bag around my shoulder and peered inside. My phone was completely gone... All I could see was a small scratch pad and a pen for writing with the crumbled paper to meet in this gym. I sighed and closed my bag to look back up. It was weird for a school to take away cell phones. I wonder why they did that.

"Do you guys know why they would take our cellphones?" I asked with a bit of worry escaping in my tone as I gazed at everyone, hoping one person would take out a cell phone to know it was ok. But all I got was a small shrug from Sayaka.

"My phone is missing as well. Does this mean they've been confiscated?" Sakura asked as she seemed calm in this panic-like situation.

I didn't understand why they would take our phones away. It's the only communication we have with our family and friends outside of Hope's Peak since we had dormitories here. Was this part of the school system here?

"Yeah, no, there's no way. They'll give us our stuff back to us after orientation, I'm sure of it..." Yasuhiro said this calmly as I suddenly watch him take out a crystal ball that was stowed underneath his jacket that was hanging lazily onto his shoulders and held it in front of him. "In fact it's already been foretold!"

"Dude, please. A crystal ball?" Leon said looking unimpressed by Yasuhiro's attempt for a dramatic scene.

"Do you even know for certain they'll give us our stuff back?" I asked Yasuhiro calmly as I crossed my arms at his lame attempts to impress us. But, he was the Ultimate Clairvoyant, I should have expected this...

"I'm dead-on thirty percent of the time!" Yasuhiro answered confidently as he stowed away his crystal ball into his jacket again.

"Heh, isn't that impressive," Toko said sarcastically with a small smirk. Yasuhiro looked agitated by this as he glared at Toko and moaned softly.

I exhaled as I looked around the gym for any source of an announcement or meeting. But, as expected, nothing seemed to draw my attention.

But then, I heard a microphone make a sudden screeching sound as it's high pitches sounds seemed to ring in my ears as mostly everyone else seemed annoyed by this as well as some others covered their ears to attempt blocking the noise out.

I looked towards the stage in confusion as a high-pitched voice rang through a giant speaker on top of the stage. "Testing. Mic test. Mic test. One-two. Everybody hear me okay on this thing? Ahem... Hiya kiddos! Time to roll out the welcome wagon!"

I looked confused as I tried to look for the person saying these words as I couldn't spot any sort of person on the stage or anywhere else inside the gym. I looked at Makoto and saw that he seemed confused as well.

"See? We're not prisoners. This is just how they do things here at Hope's Peak," Yasuhiro said with a smile. It didn't seem to fit quite right in our situation... What kind of school did this stuff.

"Well, you're half right," I looked over to see Kyoko say this. It was one of the first times I ever heard her speak. It just surprised me a bit to see it.

I turned my attention back to the stage to see what was going to be said next and I watched in utter shock and surprise as some sort of teddy bear jumped from behind the podium and on top of it. It's fur was half white and half black with a normal circular black eye and the other was a red intimidating eye.

What the hell was this?!