(Makoto's PoV: 1st person)

Many years later...

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I grabbed the alarm sleepily and threw it against the wall.

There, some peace and quiet, I thought as I turned away from the nightstand.

BEEP

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FOR THE LOVE OF! I sat up quickly and turned around face to face with my sister.

"Ah!" I jumped backwards and hit my head against the wall.

"You're going to be late Makoto. Go downstairs and eat. Mom prepared a special breakfast for you," Komaru said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Late? Late for what?" I asked.

"For your new school. Remember the letter from Hope's Peak?" Komaru reminded.

"The letter to-Oh!" Makoto threw off the covers of his bed and ran downstairs as quickly as he could.

Komaru just sighed. "He's always forgetful of these things," she said and followed after her brother.

The Naegi siblings' mom was setting up the table as Makoto and Komaru came walking down, well running in Makoto's case.

"There he is. Our Ultimate student is here," their mom cheered.

Makoto nervously chuckled at this. "Mom, my ultimate is no big deal. Nothing to be that excited about," he explained.

"Nonsense, Hope's Peak is a very hard school to get into. Never thought that you would be lucky enough to win the drawing and earn your Ultimate title," their mom said.

"Yep. We all feel proud of you," Komaru pointed out as she sat down to eat breakfast.

"Hopefully you'll enter in too Komaru. Fingers crossed," their mom said, turning to her daughter.

Komaru just shrugged at this.

"Maybe," was all she said.

"Now eat up you two. You wouldn't want to be late for school," their mom told them.

The Naegi siblings ate up their breakfast.

(Chihiro's PoV)

I changed into a new outfit that I bought the other day. It looked nice.

"Aww there's our little programmer," Momma said, proudly.

"I'm so proud, I'm think I'm going to *sniff*," sobbed Papa.

"D-don't cry Papa. It will be alright. Mondo and I are going to be in the same school. Remember him?" I asked.

"Ah yes Mondo. How can I forget your childhood best friend? He's going to pick you up right?" Papa asked.

I nodded.

"Oh I better get my bag now. He will be here any minute," I said and ran out of my room in search of my bag.

Once I found my bag, I slipped on my shoes just as I heard the sound of a motorcycle coming nearby.

Oh Mondo is here, I thought and opened the door to see my best friend waving at me.

"Ready to go little bro?" He asked.

"Just a second," I replied and went back inside to where my parents were.

They were waiting for me, wide smiles on their faces.

"Now remember to have fun, stay safe, don't fall behind in your studies and always always remember," Papa placed his hands on my shoulders. "That your momma and I will love, support and be proud of you."

I smiled at them.

"Alright. Bye Momma. Bye Papa. See you," I waved goodbye and headed outside.

Mondo tossed me a green helmet. "Here you go. Safety first or else Daiya will be on my ass about you falling off and getting a head injury," he said.

"Thanks Mondo," I said and secured the helmet on my head.

You see, Mondo and I are platonic soulmates. We met when we were kids and hit it off pretty well. His gang was also pretty nice and amazing guys. Mondo and his own brother Daiya think of me like a little brother and yes they know about my secret. But that's enough of me narrating.

We rode to Hope's Peak on his motorcycle. Once we arrived, the gates were opened and there were many kids out there. Different Ultimates, different backgrounds, different ethnicities.

"Wow. Everyone looks so...like how Ultimate students are supposed to be," I said, my leg starting to shake.

"Hey hey. Calm down there little bro. You'll be fine. You got the right stuff for an Ultimate," Mondo assured me.

Easy for him to say. He got in under the title of Ultimate Bike Gang Leader.

I let out a deep breath, in order to calm myself down.

"Let's go in," I said, confidently.

"That's the spirit!" Mondo patted my back.

We walked past the gates and into the school grounds.

(Makoto's PoV)

Please don't be late! Please don't be late! Please don't be late! Were my thoughts running through my head as I ran towards the school.

There were still many people hanging around the grounds so I felt relieved that I wasn't late.

"Hey Naegi-kun!" A cheerful voice called out to me. I turned around to see my platonic soulmate.

One of my best friends, Aoi Asahina, was waving to me. Right next to her was Kyoko Kirigiri, who was a best friend of mine.

I ran up to them.

"Glad you aren't late," Asahina teased me while Kirigiri gave me a faint smile.

"Yeah. Actually woke up on time. Might have been late if it wasn't for Komaru," I explained.

"You're lucky to have her as a sister," Asahina said.

"Well that is his talent. Luck," Kirigiri explained.

"Yeah...but seriously though. Can you believe it? We're actually at Hope's Peak, I'm super excited to start the year and make friends. Maybe even run into my soulmate," Asahina cheered.

"Again with the soulmate thing? You and Naegi seem to be head over heels, trying to find who your soulmate is. They will come eventually. Just like we did," Kirigiri explained.

That was true but in the search for my romantic soulmate, I bumped into Asahina at a doughnut shop and found out that she was my female platonic soulmate.

Turns out she was also looking for her romantic soulmate and we bonded with that.

After a while, she met Kirigiri who is her female platonic soulmate.

Three strings for the both of us. I still need to find my male platonic soulmate and my romantic soulmate. Hopefully, they are at Hope's Peak.

It says right there in the name. Hope's Peak.

"We should head to the gym. My father is going to make the announcement to the freshmen and we wouldn't want to be late," Kirigiri explained, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Oh right, her father is the principal here.

"Alrighty!" Asahina said and we went to the gym together.

When we arrived, there was already a group of people.

There were others too but they appeared to be older and were setting things up.

The banner hanging from the stage read Welcome Freshmen and Welcome back Old Students!

"Ooh. Looks like people outdone themselves here. I wonder if they have doughnuts?" Asahina asked.

"I actually requested to have some doughnuts for the snack table. Try not to eat too many though," Kirigiri said and gestured towards the snack table.

"Ooh! Really? Let's go you two!" Asahina cheered. (I just love Aoi, she's my favorite female character from THH)

Kirigiri and I followed her to the snack table where there were people gathered already. Specifically a girl with a shirt that seems to reveal a bit more than I'd like to and a...well I don't want to use the word fat but I can't think of a better word for the guy in front of us.

Asahina took a box of doughnuts and handed one to each of us before taking one for herself.

"Why don't you two walk around the gym and meet other people? It would be best if you make friends with others not just your classmates," Kirigiri suggested.

"Ok! We might meet our soulmates," Asahina said.

I looked up from my doughnut when she said this but both girls already left to do their own thing.

Well, I'm hoping that we're classmates, I thought as I also wandered away.

There were many taller people around me, all shapes and sizes.

Hmm, I wonder who will be in the same class as me? I thought as I ate away from my doughnut.

I glanced at my pinkie. The red string was there, causing me to stop in my tracks.

The red string only ever appears if my soulmate was around the area and was close by.

This got me excited.

My soulmate is here? Like actually here? I thought.

I stuffed the rest of my doughnut in my mouth and went looking for them.

I tripped over something however and bumped into someone.

"Oh I'm sorry!" I apologized.

"Move it you pleb," the person snapped. I flinched at the tone.

I looked up at the person I bumped into. It was a really tall boy with blond hair and glasses. He looked important.

He took one look at me and scoffed. Then he walked away.

How mean! I just hope he isn't my soulmate, I thought and walked further away from him.

More and more people started to walk in. I couldn't see due to how many people were there so I stood on one of the bleachers so I could see better.

At long last, the principal came up to the stage and tapped on the microphone.

"Excuse me but may I have your attention?"

This was it! My journey at Hope's Peak is finally beginning.

A/N: did I mention that this was set in a non despair Au? No? Well I'm telling you now.

Did you enjoy it? Hope (nAgItO nO!) you did ^^

What ships other than Naehiro should I do? (For better context, none of the V3 people are here. It's just THH and SDR2 although I could add DRA and SDRA2 if you like.) Leave your ship ideas and I'll consider them.

Cya in the next one -Flare