Hope's Peak Academy, probably the best High School in Japan if not the whole world.

In this academy, only the best of the best are chosen to attend, and every single student that graduates from this school has the guarantee of success in life in whatever job or position they decide to take. It never matters what it is, the prestige of the school is such that anyone will hire them or put them in the front without any shred of doubt, so long as the job relates to their talent.

In the elite of society, almost everyone was a student from Hope's Peak, including presidents, politicians, CEOs, inventors, etc. It could even be safe to say that it's thanks to the academy that everyone can have the type of life they have today, especially in Japan.

And the only way to get in is to be the best of the best, and only by being the very best in what you do will the school come to you and invite you to attend. No entrance exams or anything, only if the school seems interested in you or if someone important recommends you.

All it takes is a single ticket called... "Talent"

Talent... Talent... Talent, talent, talent, talenttalenttalenttaltentalenttalenttalenttalenttalenttalent...

.

.

.

"Without talent, you'll never be part of a school like that."

"You are a nobody!"

"Heh, did you really believe someone like you would ever make it?"

"Give it up... You'll only hurt yourself more."

"There is nothing special about you, know your place."

"Even I came to accept it, the fact that we are nothing but mere pawns... You should start accepting it too."

A void of negative comments, voices that wouldn't leave him alone no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he wanted to, it was impossible to ignore... but from all these voices, one was different from the others...

"Don't give up! You can do it! I'm with you!" One of the only voices of support.

And then, he finally woke up.

4/9
Monday

"Ah!..." He was panting, covered in sweat, and held the sheets of his bed with all his strength. "Ah.. it.. it was just a dream..." The boy whispered to himself after calming down a little.

After taking a deep breath he stood up from his bed and looked at the time on his phone, it was 5:55 AM... Just 5 minutes before his alarm clock would sound, so there is no need to go back to sleep. Leaving the phone on his desk he went to the bathroom and began to get ready for the day.

It took around 30 minutes to take a bath, brush his teeth, and finish getting dressed in his uniform.

A uniform that only made him feel... empty and bored, a simple black suit and white undershirt with a black tie, the reserve course standard uniform.

His entire life, ever since he could remember, entering hope's peak was his dream, his goal, something he always put his best effort to do, but as they say... not all dreams can come true.

"Hajime! Are you up already? I'm gonna cook your breakfast!" a feminine voice interrupted his thoughts, the voice of his mother.

She couldn't see him being all depressed like this, not now... Taking a deep breath he put his best attitude... or at least he tried, that grumpy expression of his was natural for him.

"Yeah, mom! I'm actually ready to go now!"

"Then come down and eat your breakfast! Toast and orange juice okay for you?"

"Yeah! I'll be there in a minute!"

His mother did not answer, she was probably making his breakfast already so he decided to prepare his backpack before breakfast was ready, and after packing he ran downstairs and went directly to the kitchen.

Once inside the kitchen, he looked what his breakfast was and it wasn't toast and orange juice as his mom said, but instead pancakes and orange juice 100% natural, but before he could say anything his mom hugged him from behind and gave him a small kiss in the cheek, being careful not to pinch with that ahoge in his hair of course.

"A new semester always has to start with a good breakfast!" Hajime could feel a warm and nice sensation the moment after hearing his mother's words.

But at the same time, that tired tone that she always tries to hide, that expression of fatigue even though she smiled as much as she could... Taking all the responsibility by herself, it wasn't fair.

"C'mon, what's the matter? eat your breakfast or you're going to be late" His mother insisted. Hajime just cracked a smile and decided to start eating while her mom returned to do the dishes.

Their kitchen wasn't very big, in fact, it was actually pretty average, but it still had enough space for them to place a small TV, so they could watch it together while they ate or when his mom just wanted to watch her TV shows while cooking, or in this case to watch the news during breakfast.

"It's been almost two weeks now, and students from all over Tokyo are still disappearing without leaving any type of trace. The police department informs that they haven't found any clues yet but have stated that they won't give up until they find them as well as capture the culprits of these events..."

"This again...? " Hajime thought as he was eating. Of course, this was already being mentioned for a while now. Some students would disappear here and there, sadly it's not something new that sometimes people would go missing... Most of the time they are just teenagers running from home, or in other unfortunate events... they disappear and are never seen again.

But what started to worry not only many parents but the police department as well as how many cases of disappearances are coming in every day, and no one knew a thing. Not even a single suspect or clue about what was happening.

"Be safe on your way to school, alright?" His mom called as she was washing some dishes. Something normal, of course no one would want something to happen to their son or daughter.

Especially now of all times, he knew very well if something happened to him, her mother wouldn't be able to recover from it... ever.

"I'll be okay, don't worry mom. I promise I'll be safe" In response, she just nodded... of course that wouldn't make her feel less worried but the least she could do was trust him... Trust that he will come back home safe and sound.

"In other news! Today the Future Foundation finally will open its doors! The most ambitious company created by Kyosuke Munakata, one of the most prestigious graduates from Hope's Peak Academy! We will cover every detail of the- " The news continued with their reports, it was impressive seeing how far people from Hope's Peak go, it wasn't new seeing one of them on TV.

"Maybe one day I'll see you on TV like this too." She said. Hajime for his part just smiled... At least she had faith in him, but would that be okay? Would he really be able to do something like that? No point in getting more depressed thinking about it.

After finally finishing his breakfast, he was ready to go.

"I'm leaving now," Hajime said while standing in front of the entrance of his house ready to leave, his mother standing before him and nodding in approval before giving him another hug.

"Do your best, and make sure to show everyone what you're capable of!" A mother will always be on your side, no matter what. He knew this very well, how even knowing he was nothing special, she continued to give him all her support so he could accomplish his dreams, so he could be one day someone he could be proud of.

Hajime hugged back, tightly.

Why was her mother like this? He knew the answer but still couldn't understand it. It was much simpler to just let all that go, but she didn't, even with all the weight of being just the two of them.

"I'll do my best" For his mother, it was reassuring to hear him say that, but for him, on the other hand...

He didn't dare to say more, so he both let go of her and waved one last goodbye before finally heading out.

On his way to school, he couldn't stop thinking about the issue with him being a reserve student. All his life his dream was to be part of Hope's Peak, but not like this, like a simple backup student with nothing special. Thinking back at it, asking to be in the reserve course was truly a mistake.

His grades weren't exactly the best, he didn't have any real friends in there either, and worst of all, it was expensive, VERY expensive...

His Mother always worked extra hard so she could pay the usual quota every month. It's been like this for a year with her believing that he'll soon enough be joining the main course, but that was so far for him to reach.

Everyone in his class didn't even seem to care about being in the main course at this point. Of course they wouldn't, they all made friends in the reserve course, and they continued their lives and the world seemed to move on as usual, but with him not being a part of it... like he was some kind of weird bug apart from everything else, and he couldn't blame anyone but himself for that.

For being so bored, so plain, so... useless.

Before he could continue with his inner thoughts about how much he hated himself, he noticed something; people began to run, run away as fast as they could, and a weird but worrisome noise was coming from his left side.

It was a giant truck sweeping everything in its path, cars, light posts, even people and it was coming right to his direction.

He froze, his mind screamed that he had to run, he knew he had to run, to move out of the way, but his legs didn't respond. All he could do was wait for his inevitable death... only thinking how his mother would react to this.

He couldn't do that to her! And all of sudden his phone began to buzz and a weird sound came from it "Beginning navigation" and then the truck crashed right into where he was.

OST: The Poem of Everyone Souls - Persona

It was very difficult to open his eyes, since he felt... so tired, which was weird. Is this how death felt when people... well die?

But once Hajime finally opened his eyes there was one thing that caught his attention.

Blue everywhere.

Is this how heaven looks like? or hell? Hell sure was supposed to be red though...

"Ah! I see you are finally here!" A sudden voice made him turn around and see a very weird looking man with a long nose dressed as a butler. "My my, where are my manners... My name is Igor! and I welcome you to the Velvet room, it is a pleasure to make your acquittance."

Hajime had no idea what was going on, he was now in front of and a weird old man sitting in front of him with a large desk full of... Tarot cards? He tried to say something but for some reason, he couldn't.

It was a weird feeling, almost like being in a dream but at the same time not...

"This please exists between dreams and reality, mind and matter, you'll get used to the feeling eventually." That man who named himself Igor answered like he knew what he was thinking already, that's... kinda creepy.

"This is Kirumi, my assistant" "Igor" said as he presented the girl next to him. He didn't even notice her presence until he was introduced to her. "We will be in charge of assisting you in the best possible way in your journey" After saying this, that girl stepped forward and made a brief appearance.

Assist? Journey? What the hell were they talking about?

"A pleasure, young master, I will do my best to assist you as far as I am allowed" And then she returned to her place next to "Igor"

Young master? He still had a hard time understanding the situation he was in right now, everything was so sudden, and he still couldn't find his voice so he could ask what was happening here

"It seems that we have met a very interesting guest this time ... I am intrigued to see what the conclusion of your destiny will be, so please do not worry, all your questions will be answered over time, for now, all you have to do is sign this contract." Igor pushed the contract on his desk to Hajime. Signing something suspicious like that without even knowing what was going on? Yeah, no way he would do that.

There was no way he would accept that ... Or that was what he believed, without realizing how or why he was already signing the contract until he had already finished his name.

Hajime Hinata

That butler began to laugh.

To his surprise that laugh did not make him feel threatened ... On the contrary, it was somewhat comforting, something that normally no one with common sense would think if he were in his situation. Right? But then again, not many people would have much common sense in this situation right now.

"That will be all for now ... Until we meet again, see you soon, Young Master Hinata."

A cordial farewell and suddenly the sound of what seemed to be a sailing cruise ship reached his ears.

From there everything went white.

And suddenly Hajime woke up, screaming and panting, he looked around very confused but he couldn't see anything out of normal.

He was at the bus stop in front of... Hope's Peak!? Why was he so close to Hope's Peak!? The Reserve course was far from the main course for how the teachers would phrase it for "obvious reasons" like not wanting "commoners" with the special ones.

His mind was racing so fast, trying to understand what just happened. One moment he thought he was about to die, that a truck was about to run over him but then suddenly he woke up in some weird blue room with two strangers who asked him to sign a contract which he did...

" What is going on? what was all that about?... I- I don't... " Hajime was sweating, but after taking a deep breath he decided to think rationally about this. The obvious answer was that he fell asleep, that's all.

Although, it's still weird why at the bus stop, especially in front of Hope's Peak... But maybe he just arrived a little too early, he did wake up too early this morning after all, and as usual, he just went like the freak he is to see the main course, probably walked a little bit, took a seat and fell asleep! that's all!

There was no need to panic, he's fine. He's in one piece just like he promised and in front of the Academy... So there's nothing to worry about!

Hajime decided to take another deep breath and began to walk to the Reserve Course after a few steps curiosity invaded him, so he decided to turn around and see if there was anything abnormal at the bus stop... But there was nothing like that, just his reflection in the glass.

Maybe he just reads too many mangas these days...

Leaving that aside, it was better to head to his class now, and so he did just that.

Not knowing that a small and pink and white figure was following him.

To be Continued.

Phew, hi everyone! this is an update note to say, I didn't abandon this history, I just made a small hiatus so I could re-work it.

You see, I wasn't feeling very proud of the first chapters, even so, I did had everything planned for this story and I have my script ready and all, I wasn't doing a good job doing it.

So I decided to re-work it, made some changes in my script, and try again this time for sure!

It's obvious, this is a Danganronpa/Persona crossover, and AU version where all the previous Persona events happened, so expect a lot of reference and cameos from other characters.

Even so, it follows his own plotline with the Danganronpa characters as the protagonists here, honestly, I hope it's enjoyable for everybody! I really did my best for this work! even with my grammar errors in English but I'm practicing more!

So with nothing more to say, please enjoy it!