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At the start of his 1st year, Hajime honestly thought his life would turn for the better if he got accepted at Hope’s Peak, at his 2nd year, he was starting to be fine with being wherever and whoever he was, but during his 3rd year, he started to doubt both those fleeting memories as he stared at the Lost & Found box. Being a class rep had its downsides, but right now he felt like he was the student council’s errand boy, especially when they wouldn’t bother going through the box themselves.
“Can’t believe this is a prestigious academy… is what I would say, if I wasn’t a student of this place,” he said to no one in particular. “Still, I can’t believe they would just leave things like these around in a school.”
He started going through the box and found various objects. A black belt, a commemorative medal set, a nail brush, and…
“A pure-white katana?” Hajime wondered as he held it in the air. “Who even leaves a katana around in a school? I really hope it’s not Peko’s…”
He also found other objects, like food, drinks, and many other questionable things, but the contents in the box didn’t seem to lessen what-so-ever. He wouldn’t have to do all this by himself, but Chiaki would first come by later, and Hajime, being the trustworthy boyfriend he was, said he was fine with her being a little late. He felt like a hero in his head, saving Chiaki the trouble, but he started to have hero’s remorse the moment he saw how much was in that box.
“So, Makoto wasn’t kidding when he said this box was like Pandora’s box. I can now better see why the student council didn’t want to- Hm?”
Hajime paid attention to a peculiar headband with black cat ears. He didn’t know why, but cat ears had always been a weakness of his. It’s not that his favorite animal was a feline type of animal, and he wasn’t a cat person either, but he couldn’t stop wondering how fluffy those ears could be. He even had few occasions where he imagined Chiaki having cat-
“Wait, no! What am I thinking?!” he exclaimed as he shook his head from side-to-side before he looked at the cat ears one last time as he put them on his head. “Wearing them once shouldn’t hurt.”
He stood up from his chair and walked towards a window to see his reflection, and instantly he thought one thing: he looked ridiculous.
“As expected, cat ears don’t look good on me,” he said as he took of his head band… or at least he wanted to, but it seemed to not be so easy.
“Hey, what the hell’s with this thing!” he exclaimed as he tried to pull it off with all his might, but it didn’t move an inch. He realized that not only was it near impossible, but if he did succeed, he would probably lose his hair in the process.
“Great, so now I’m stuck with these… What’s up with these anyway?” he asked himself, feeling annoyed to all hell, until a realization hit him. “No way, they couldn’t be…”
--Some time ago--
Over at Kazuichi’s workplace, Hajime accompanied him as the mechanic was holding a giant box.
“Thanks for coming over to help me, man,” Kazuichi thanked Hajime as he tried to find a place to put down the box.
“No problem,” Hajime said. “But what did you need my help with?”
Kazuichi answered as he put down the box on a nearby table, “Well, since I got rejected by Mi- I mean, by Sonia, I thought it was about time I got rid off all these things I made to win over her heart, y’know?”
Hajime looked at the box that read Operation Sonia and didn’t know if he should feel impressed over Kazuichi’s improvement or feel worried that his obsessiveness would resurface over a new girl one day.
“And I need an extra hand, so I thought of asking you.”
“So, what kinda inventions did you make?” Hajime asked because of his curiosity, but also didn’t want to, mostly because he was worried that he would discover how deep Kazuichi’s obsessiveness over Sonia really was. It’s like they say, curiosity killed the cat.
Kazuichi grinned while showing his jagged teeth and said while trying to act all nonchalantly, “Well, since you’re twisting my arm, I guess why not. Hehe.”
Hajime sweat dropped while thinking, He’s like a child during show-and-tell.
Kazuichi showed many of his inventions, from simple toy looking mechanics to more advanced gadgets.
There were many gadgets to talk about in this chapter, but the most important one was…
“What’s with the cat ears?” Hajime asked, trying his best to hold back his urge to touch the fluffiness of the ears. A thought came to him that made him feel a little disgusted at Kazuichi, which could be told on his facial expression.
“Don’t look at me like that! These ears have the ability to invoke Miraculous Compatible,” Kazuichi explained.
Hajime put his hand to his chin as he asked, “Are you talking about when a person sees another person with cat ears they can’t stop thinking how cute they look with them, especially when the first party already has feelings for the other person?”
Kazuichi grinned, “As expected of my soulmate! That’s right, only that this headband has the ability to invoke it in a person with a 100% guarantee. Of course, the stronger their feelings towards the person wearing this headband, the stronger the effect. I could go into more details on how it works, but I bet it would be too much for you to understand. Though, I couldn’t use them in the end…”
Hajime said as he smiled, “Because it would be wrong in manipulating someone’s emotions?”
Kazuichi had a blank expression as he stated, “Actually, the electricity in the headband is so strong that it’s impossible to remove before it loses all its power.”
And just like that, Hajime lost all respect for Kazuichi, but he still decided to help him remove all his stuff. But, because of the many gadgets and inventions the mechanic showed off, some of the things were left behind in the workplace and was found by a teacher, who put them in the Lost & Found box, and one of the things was that very headband.
--Present--
“I’ll kill you, Kazuichi Soda…” he wanted to scream out loud, but tried to keep calm and only said it quietly. “I knew we forgot a couple of the gadgets that day, but why did it had to be one of these?”
Despite the obvious problem, Hajime was calm about one thing: the cat ears will get loose when it runs out of power. So, he only had to wait, the only problem was, there was no way of knowing when that will be, and that means…
“If these don’t get off before Chiaki gets here, then there might be a problem!” Hajime panicked by the thought of that time when Chiaki acted weird after eating those cookies, so he had no way of knowing how she would react this time. But at that moment, Hajime got an idea. “I’ll just ask Kazuichi for help!”
The dorms were not that far from academy, so if he ran there and asked Kazuichi to get those cat ears off, and if he’s lucky that Chiaki still hasn’t or just has shown up when he comes back, then everything will be solved without any trouble. That idea gave Hajime hope…
“Okay, I have to hurry before-”
“Hey hey, I’m here.”
…before it got shattered like a fragile vase, realizing it was too late now that Chiaki came way earlier than predicted.
Hajime quickly covered the cat ears as he was slightly blushing and asked, “W-W-Why are you already here?”
Chiaki tilted her head to the side as she answered back with an innocent question, “Shouldn’t I be here?”
“N-No, that’s not what I meant,” Hajime answered as he felt some guilt. “I was just surprised, you know?”
Chiaki didn’t hear much of that as her concentration was mostly on the top of Hajime’s head, and also due to tiredness from gaming all night, again.
“Did you hit your head?” Chiaki asked innocently.
“Um, no, it’s nothing like that,” Hajime answered as Chiaki looked relieved.
“I’m relieved that you aren’t hurt,” Chiaki said with a smile, shooting Hajime right through the heart, which in turn made him lose strength in his arms so that he’s cat ears were shown.
Crap! Hajime thought as he realized what he did and quickly looked at Chiaki to view her reaction. She had an empty look in her eyes, which wasn’t anything new, but he quickly covered them again.
Chiaki tilted with her head as she asked, “Were those… cat ears?”
Hajime thought confused, Could it be they don’t work on her, or that they just don’t work in general? Maybe the only thing they can do is getting stuck on your head? Hajime put his hands down as he revealed them yet again, and explained, “It’s just something Kazuichi one time made. They use a lot of electricity, so they won’t budge from my head.”
Chiaki nodded in understanding, “I understand, I think.”
Hajime was honestly glad nothing happened to Chiaki, but also in a way disappointed. A lie detector would run amok if he said he didn’t want to see his girlfriend get all lovey dovey over him, but he knew that was just his hormones speaking and it would be wrong using an invention for that.
Hajime walked over to the Lost & Found box as he said, “Well, let’s get to work, or else this box will never get empty.”
Chiaki simply answered back, “Sure.”
Hajime already started going through the box, but wanted to start a conversation with his girlfriend, so he said, “Actually, I found these in this very box. I don’t know what went through my head when I put these-”
*Squeeze*
“Huh?”
He stopped talking when he felt someone was embracing him from behind and felt two soft things pressing behind him.
He looked over his shoulder and saw the top of Chiaki’s head, pressing her head against his back.
“Um, Chiaki?” Hajime tried calling for her, but the only response he got from her was incoherent mumbling. “Chiaki, what has gotten into you?!”
Chiaki stopped pressing her head against his back and looked up at Hajime as she answered, “Sorry, but I just couldn’t resist, I think.”
Hajime asked, feeling a little worried, “W-What do you mean?”
Chiaki answered, this time with heart-shaped irises, “It’s just… you look even cuter than before.”
Huh?! Hajime thought in panic before wondering, Wait, I looked cute before? Wait, that’s not the important issue right now! These ears are working! And Chiaki is clearly affected!
In Chiaki’s eyes, Hajime looks like a cute, small bishounen from an otome dating sim, and he was only starting to look even cuter the longer she looked at him. When she first saw him with those cat ears, he already started to look a little cuter than usual, but she thought at first it was just her mind playing tricks with her since she didn’t get so much sleep last night. Hajime’s fatal move was when he carelessly put his hands down the second time so Chiaki could get a better look at him.
Hajime realized his carelessness and knew he had to fix the situation at once, and he knew Kazuichi was the only one who could help him now. He tried to release himself from Chiaki and said, “Sorry, but could you let go off me? I just need to go down and ask-”
“No!” but Chiaki shot his chances down as easy as her shooting zombies in a video game, and just strengthened her grip around him. “I want to stay longer with you! We are dating, right?”
Hajime just remembered how strong his girlfriend was and instantly knew there was no escape! Yet, he felt also relieved when he felt something soft behind him-
No, bad Hajime! Hajime mentally slapped himself before a thought came to him, But maybe this isn’t so bad? I mean, she is my girlfriend, so there’s nothing wrong- No, remember that using technology like this isn’t right… even though he invented it for this kind of purpose.
Hajime knew it would be awkward and embarrassing, but the only chose he had now was taking her with him down to the dorms.
Not many are left at school at this hour, and the dorms isn’t far away, so this might work! Hajime thought as he looked behind him and asked Chiaki, “Is it okay if we walk a little?”
Chiaki was silent for a while, probably thinking it over, before answering, “Sure, as long as we can stay like this.”
With that, Hajime, along with Chiaki, started his journey down to the dorms to fix this mess!
When he imagined having to walk with Chiaki so closely, he was more or less expecting to bride-carry her, or even give her a piggy bag, but dragging her while she was hugging him was not ideal for Hajime. He was glad that not many students were around at noon, it would be really embarrassing if anyone saw him at this point-
“H…Hinata?”
…of course, it wouldn’t be so simple.
Hajime worriedly looked to the side to see Mahiru, who looked like she was lost for words. Hajime could instantly tell that she was having the wrong idea, and it was his duty to fix it.
“Wai- It’s not what it-” but he was too late as Mahiru ran away in a hurry, leaving dust behind her. “…seems. Although, I wouldn’t blame her for misunderstanding this.”
Meanwhile, while Mahiru was running and running, she was thinking to herself, while holding her hands to her beet-red face, How come Hinata looks more handsome than usual! He looks like a photo model! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
It took some time, but Hajime made it to the dorms, and he was pretty lucky that it was only Mahiru who saw him with those cat ears and having Chiaki hugging him. It was about time too, since he almost didn’t have much strength left.
“Finally… we can get Kazuichi to take these damn things… off,” Hajime said, in-between breathes. Though, unfortunately, he tripped by accident and exhaustion, landing on his front. “Ouch!”
The fall didn’t hit his face, luckily enough, but he was more concerned for Chiaki’s health. “Chiaki, are you okay?” he asked as he slowly looked back at her.
“Hm? Yeah, I’m fine, I think.” Despite looking a little tired and exhausted herself, she didn’t seem to be hurt, which relieved Hajime.
“That’s good to hear… Hm?” Hajime noticed Chiaki losing her grip her little, which gave him room to turn around so his back was facing the ground instead of his stomach. Could it be… the ears have lost their effect-
But before he could put a lid on this whole ordeal, Chiaki tightened her grip once again, and also pulled Hajime down to the ground.
Guess not… Hajime thought reluctantly as he stared up at Chiaki, who had pink heart-shaped irises and looked as if she was an animal in heat.
“I can’t… resist… any more…” the gamer said in-between breathes as she slowly got closer to his face.
Hajime had no way of getting out of this situation, he was like a gazelle who had been hunted down by a lion.
“Wait- This isn’t right!” Hajime objected. “We can’t! Not like this!”
Chiaki stopped advancing as she asked confused, “Why? Isn’t it normal for couples?”
Hajime looked baffled and red before he looked away shyly and said, “W-Well, it’s not, but-”
“Then no problem,” Chiaki stated matter-of-factly as she continued advancing towards his lips.
Dammit, I can’t stop her! he thought in a panic. I’m not against kissing her, but only doing it because of these stupid cat ears is just ridic-
His panic thoughts stopped when he heard something hit the ground near Hajime, which also seems to have stopped Chiaki in her tracks. He took his hand near his head and found the headband not on his head but on the ground, feeling both relieved and confused.
“The cat ears must have lost all power?” He reasoned before he sighed in relief while Chiaki just stared at him blankly. “Isn’t it great? Now it’s ove-”
But he spoke too soon as Chiaki pressed her lips down against Hajime’s in a long kiss before separating. Hajime looked quite befuddled and was blushing deeply, while Chiaki rose up a little as she stated with a smile on her lips, “Now there’s nothing wrong with kissing, right?”
Hajime should have known earlier, with or without those cat ears, Chiaki would still kiss him regardless. Of course, the same could be said for him, as he lifted himself up so he could kiss the gamer one more time.
“Yeah, nothing wrong now,” Hajime said with confident. Chiaki smiled in response and put her arms around his neck, implying she hadn’t had enough.
“So… up for second roun-”
“Man, now I’m almost done with my rocket-” Kazuichi announced as he walked out the door to his dorm room, being witness to the scene in front of him. “Sorry! I won’t trouble you again!” he exclaimed as he went inside again and closed his door in a hurry.
Hajime deadpanned as he said in a cynic tone, “I’ll just leave it to his imagination.”