The Ultimate Unknown

Eleven

Hajime's POV

"Have a seat" Jin said calmly, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk.

"You didn't make an appointment to come see me, so I assume that whatever you're here for must be important. Luckily I have a little time on my hands so, I'm open to listening to whatever you have to say - considering it's worth hearing I hope."

A nervous sweat dripped down my face. I stared directly into the headmasters eyes - calmly asserting my seriousness into the matter at hand.

"Y-Yes sir. I'm here to discuss my position in my current course."

"Ah I see, you're here to convince me into letting you into the main course right?"

My throat tightened and I gulped, my guard clearly becoming lowered by his words.

"W-Well I ask that you here me out on this please I-"

"It's not easy. You are one of the many reverse students who want to enter the main course. You're no different from the others."

I felt a sharp pain in my chest. His words were flying at me but they were only the harsh truth. Despite his serious face and tone of voice, I knew that he was only being honest and straightforward with me. He's definitely a guy who means business.

"I know that I have talent. Please, if you'll only give me the chance to prove myself then you won't be disappointed."

"Hm." Jin sighed and looked at his watch. "Well looks like you've taken enough of my time. If you'll excuse me then-"

Suddenly my hand slammed down on the headmasters desk. My sudden action caused Jin to look at me, his eye slightly wider than they were before.

"That's completely unfair, do you not realize how corrupt the current system you have here is?"

"Excuse me?"

"Ena is unaware of her talent yet she's considered an Ultimate. And from the rumors going around, the people in this building are currently studying her to figure out her talent. Why have her accepted as an Ultimate anyways when nobody really knows her specialty?"

"The situation surrounding Ena is disclosed information. I'm sorry but I can't share any of that with you."

I leaned back in my seat and narrowed my eyes.

"So, are you suggesting that you guys already know her talent? And if so, why are you not releasing this information?"

"It has nothing to do with you." Suddenly Jin pulled out a folder which appeared to be a student file.

"Hajime Hinata. Class 77-B. You're the boy that's been seen hanging around Ena are you not?"

"H-How do you know that?"

"......Yes it is true that some staff watches over her. Specifically, the Steering Committee and myself of course. Why? I can not answer that. However, your relationship to her is quite close yes?"

I nodded my head. "Yes we've known each other for a while now."

"I see." Jin said calmly. He closed the folder and rested his chin on the back of his folded hands. He seemed to be deep in thought. The silence was uncomfortable yet I was nervous to know whether Jin would give me a chance.

"All things considered, I'm willing to share a proposition with you. Your agreement will grant you access to the main course as a student."

"What is this proposal?"

"The Steering Committee needs a candidate for an experiment we call the Kamakura project. This project is focused on creating a artificial hope in normal students such as yourself. By the end of the project, it's expected that you will be very gifted. So you will not be going into the main course with completely no talent at all."

I thought for a moment. Artificial hope? Artificial talent? Is something like this really even possible?

"It's simply a project to research on talent and have a better understanding on the idea of talent and hope."

Jin suddenly took out a piece of paper and pen and pushed them on the desk towards me.

"This paper is just detailing the project in depth and it's making sure that you consent to everything that will happen."

"U-Um" I took the pen in my hand and stared at the paper. Once I sign this contract, my whole life will change - for the better I think. It's really the only option I have at this point.

I took a deep breath and wrote my signature on the paper and handed it back to Jin.

"When does this project start?" I asked Jin curiously.

"We can start today actually. The sooner the better. We've been wanting to execute this plan out for a while now."

Jin stood up from his desk and told me to follow him.

"I'll take you to the place where the experiment will be held. I'll be handing you over to a group of our most skilled scientists at this school. Are you really okay with this?"

I stood up and started following Jin out the door. "Yes...I want this. More than anything actually."

As I followed Jin, I pulled out my phone and decided to text Ena:

'Hey, I might be a little late coming out after school today so wait for me okay?"

'Also I have something important to tell you, and I want to hear about the Natsumi case as well! Don't worry I haven't forgotten about that'

'Promise I'll make everything up to you later ❤︎'

Before I knew it, I was led up an elevator to a floor I've never been across before. Actually, we were in a completely different building - the main course building. I'm assuming the floor I was taken to is off limits for the Ultimate students. There was no sign of any other student on this floor and it was very quite and everything was white. The setting reminded me of a hospital floor, it was even freezing cold up here.

Most of the room lights were off, some were on with at least one scientist inside.

Finally, we approached a heavy white door with a small window framed in the center. Using a key, Jin opened the door and gestured for me to go inside first.

The room was huge and dark.

Jin simply nodded his head to the group of scientists that stood in the room. And with that, they took me to a room behind a large window I speculated they would use to watch me from.

I was then forced down into a pod with many different cords connected to it.

My heart was racing and I had so many questions.

I was fearful, yet I knew that I wanted this.

'Stay calm' I thought to myself.

'This will be over soon'

'By the end of the day you'll be able to leave and walk home with Ena.'

'You'll finally be talented'

'You'll even be able to tell Ena that you lov-'

And then everything went black.

No movement. No thinking.

Just unconsciousness.