In the world of Hope’s Peak Academy, there are Ultimate students and Reserve Course students. The world seems normal — if you ignore the phenomenon of soulmates. At pivotal moments in life, a person sometimes receives a «hint» from above: a small plush chibi appears — a living doll that resembles their future partner in appearance and personality. The chibi is not an object or a symbol; it is a living creature in the form of a toy. It is warm to the touch, occasionally seems to breathe faintly, understands speech and tone, senses atmosphere, and reacts to people. Chibis cannot speak, but they express everything in other ways: they cling to sleeves, jump up and down, puff and snort, hide their faces in their hands, stubbornly stomp their feet, «pout» and demonstratively turn away — only to crawl back into your arms a minute later, because for them, their owner is their entire world.

Chibis behave like little children and almost always perceive their human as a parent. They need attention; they need boundaries — «yes» and «no» explained to them. If you speak calmly, they do listen — though sometimes they pretend they didn’t hear. When the owner feels bad, the chibi tries to cheer them up: it climbs onto their shoulder, rubs its cheek against theirs, buries its face in their chest like a kitten, and sometimes brings small things it found, as if they were the most important treasures.

The strangest part: the chibi transmits the state of its soulmate. If the other half is anxious, in pain, or afraid, the doll starts to worry — it fidgets, trembles, clings to clothing, or pulls its owner somewhere, as if it «knows» where it needs to be. And when the chibi sees its human counterpart — the «second parent» — it reaches for them almost unconditionally: asking to be held, touching their fingers, settling on their knees, just so they won’t let them leave.

Nagito Komaeda is the Ultimate Lucky Student in the main course. His luck is not a gift from a fairy tale but a painful pendulum: fortune pulls him out of the impossible, and then, almost inevitably, cruel misfortune follows. This life of contrasts has made Nagito strange: on the surface, he is polite, soft-spoken, and smiles as if apologizing for his very existence — but inside, he holds an ideology as sharp as a blade. He genuinely believes that the world rests on hope, and hope shines brightest through talent. He elevates the talented; he sees meaning in them. The untalented he considers a grey mass. And at the same time, he often counts himself among the trash — because luck does not seem to him a virtue; he perceives himself as a tool: if his life becomes a stepping stone for someone else’s hope, then it was not lived in vain.

And it is to such a person that fate hands something he never believed in — a chibi.

Nagito’s chibi appears suddenly and far too early, as if by a glitch in the timeline. Normally, such dolls come much later — but a glitch occurs, once in a million, when time «slips» and the future arrives now. Because of this, the chibi looks wrong: instead of the Reserve Course uniform, it wears a shirt with a tie, and one of its eyes is red. The detail is frighteningly specific — like a hint of something Nagito is not yet supposed to know.

The chibi itself, however, is comically lively and stubborn, like a small «businesslike» child. It walks in circles on Nagito’s hands, as if checking the space; it hides its face under its tie like a blanket when embarrassed; it «pouts» and turns away if ignored, only to cling back a moment later. It cannot tolerate uncertainty: if it senses tension, it starts fidgeting; if the owner pretends everything is under control but feels anxious inside — the doll grows more worried, demanding attention.

Almost immediately, the most unpleasant thing becomes clear: this chibi does not reach for «Ultimates.» It reaches for one specific Reserve Course student.

Hajime Hinata lives his unremarkable life in the Reserve Course. Studies, routine, a constant feeling of being out of place — and, occasionally, rare moments of normalcy like playing games with Chiaki Nanami. Hajime painfully feels his ordinariness and at the same time stubbornly refuses to let that ordinariness be used to humiliate him. He is not the type to revere «Ultimates,» and not the type to tolerate being told he is «below status.»

Due to the timeline glitch, a chibi also comes to Hajime ahead of time. This second chibi also looks «wrong» — but differently: a green jacket and a soft prosthetic arm, a strange detail that makes it uncomfortable, as if you are holding someone else’s fate in your hands. This chibi is more restless: it jumps, tugs at sleeves, checks pockets, stages «escapes» just to be caught, clings to clothes when scared, and buries its face in your palms when it needs to calm down. And — paradoxically — it may reach for Nagito, as if recognizing the «second parent,» even before Hajime agrees to acknowledge what is happening as real.

Thus, fate pulls together two people who, by Nagito’s logic, were never meant to be a pair. Nagito does not accept the «worthless» Reserve Course student and perceives what is happening as absurdity, mockery, or a test. Hajime does not accept Nagito — his fanatical philosophy, his smile, his ability to say terrible things with maximum politeness. Conflicts, misunderstandings, arguments, even fights are inevitable. They are drawn together not by a romantic «fairy tale,» but by a living, strange, painful bond that appears ahead of time and shatters both their usual defenses. And at the center of this bond — the chibis, who do not understand social hierarchies and do not recognize «Ultimate» or «Reserve»: they simply reach where they feel their own.