The Ultimate Unknown

Two

Hajime's POV

It's been a couple weeks ever since Ena and I decided to be friends.

Honestly, I'm surprised myself at how easy I accepted her idea of becoming friends. I mean, she's an Ultimate student. Why would she ever want to be friends with someone who's in the reserve course. 

Most of the Ultimates at Hopes Peak tend to walk right past anyone who's affiliated with the reserve course. Some of the staff at the school are even jerks to people like me. God how I long to be accepted. To be one of them. This burning self hate I have inside me....I would almost do anything to be apart of their world.

It's after school and the sun seems to be setting already. Ena is waiting for me at the gate like she does everyday. It was her idea to walk home everyday after school. Mainly because we rarely get to see each other during the day since we're both in separate school buildings. We do continue to eat lunch with each other however but time always seems to fly by whenever I'm with her. A small smile appears on my face as I approach her.

"Hajime you're finally here" she says brightly. "Jeez you're such a slow poke"

I chuckle and look at her intently. "You say that every time"

We started walking and discussing our day with each other. Her experience is always way different from mines. My day is the usual class lectures with nothing exciting going on. Her days are filled with her usual lectures and also her weird encounters with some of the Ultimates and their talents. I listened intently to her then she started to trail off to a completely different topic. She does this a lot. I assume she talks a lot because maybe she doesn't have a lot of people to share her thoughts with.

"Hey Hajime, did you want to come over to my place to chill and study?" she asks.

"Um...yeah I don't see why not, I'm not that busy this afternoon."

This isn't my first time coming over to her place. She lives alone. Her parents tend to travel a lot because of their job and she's the only child.

We eventually made it to Ena place and we immediately sat our things down. We sat at the little futon table in the living room with our notebooks in front of us. Ena came out of the kitchen with cups of hot tea for us to drink while we talked.

My heart fluttered slightly as she sat the cup down in front of me. Then I started to think about the past couple of weeks and how close we've already become. I wanted to talk to her about this, I want her to know how much I appreciate her being my friend. After some time fidgeting with the pen in my hand and anxiously sipping on the tea she made, I mustered up the courage to ask her:

"What made you decide to be my friend?"

Her face turned a light shade of red then she said "To be honest Haji, I had a difficult time making friends with my Ultimate classmates. I figured maybe I should try out being friends with someone from the reserve course. And well, we always sat at the same bench near the fountain - so I thought you were the perfect candidate to play the role of my best friend."

"Why is it that none of the Ultimates want to be your friend?" I asked.

"Because they don't believe that I'm a true Ultimate."

"But you were accepted just like the rest of them, why would they reject another Ultimate?"

A troubled look appeared on her face then her face turned serious as she looked me in the eye.

"Because Hajime, it is unknown what my talent is."

My mind entered a state of confusion. I had so many questions running through my head at once. I decided to ask the most important ones for now.

"If your talent is unknown then how is it that you were still accepted to the academy anyways?"

Ena goes forward to explain to me how the administration knows for sure that she's an Ultimate. There's apparently this open investigation regarding her talent going on, and I'm guessing the staff members are watching her closely as well.

All these weeks went by and I never thought to ask her about her talent. I then started to feel this small feeling of...what is it....jealousy? The idea that she's not aware of her talent yet she was accepted into the school that I've longed to attend.

I pushed these negative thoughts away from mind and I smiled at her. "Well no matter what your talent is, it's not going to change our current friendship."  She looked way more relaxed and even a little determined now.

"I can't imagine how you must feel being just a reserve course student. I'd much rather be in the reserve course than attending the actual academy. I almost feel as if I somehow cheated my way into the school."

"Hopes Peak has always been my dream school. It's a little depressing watching all the Ultimate's attend while I'm just stuck watching from the outside. It makes me wonder what my purpose is suppose to be."

Ena suddenly came close to me, her face nearly touching against mine. She seemed determined to get her point across.

"I think you definitely have a purpose Hajime. Nobody is completely talentless, so in a way, I guess we're both trying to figure out what we're good at."

I pulled her in for a hug and I sighed softly into her hair.

"I really hope that's the case"