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This story takes place before everything began—before the students who would be made to participate in the academic coliseum had even enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy. It’s a tale of something that happened before anything had happened yet.
“Before we dismiss,” the headmaster said, “I have one final announcement to make.”
He was seated at a large, round, wooden table in the center of a special conference room at Hope's Peak Academy. Red carpet covered the entire floor, and the windows were adorned with thick curtains. The room had a solemnity to it—it felt more like something out of a historic hotel than a school.
“What, we’re not done yet?”
The four members of the Hope's Peak Academy Board of Directors—who had assumed the meeting to be over and begun to rise from their seats—sat back down, making no effort to conceal their exasperation.
“So, what is this ‘announcement’ you have to make?”
“The 78 Class’s Ultimate lucky student has been selected,” the headmaster responded confidently. Almost immediately, he was met with a chorus of disappointed sighs.
“Oh,” one of the old men said, “the loser’s throne has been filled, has it?”
The Ultimate lucky student was a title given to a single high-school student selected in a lottery held by Hope's Peak Academy each year. The chosen student was unconditionally invited to enroll in the academy, and the Board of Directors referred to that slot as the “loser’s throne.” All four of them believed fortune to be no talent.
“What a waste of a seat,” one muttered.
“Are there no other talents out there more suitable to be researched?” complained another.
The Board of Directors had ultimate control over Hope's Peak Academy—including the appointment of the headmaster—which meant that even he had to choose his words carefully, no matter how far off the mark the Board’s opinions were.
“With all due respect,” the headmaster said, peacefully voicing his objection, “I do believe fortune is a kind of talent.” On the inside, he was frustrated with how hard-headed they could be, but he made every effort not to let that come to the surface.
The headmaster had ambitions—he was working to accomplish a certain goal, and if he wanted any chance of achieving it, he could not allow himself to get on the Board of Directors’ bad side. On the other hand, he also had to be careful not to focus too much on trying to appease them and risk veering off track. So he decided he would elaborate on his beliefs in more detail than usual.
“At times, luck is capable of overshadowing even the most outstanding of talents and any degree of diligence, and for this reason, we, mankind, celebrate it—live in awe of it. It’s easy to dismiss luck as mere chance or happenstance, but I, personally, cannot ignore its effect. In order to determine for sure whether fortune is simply an unknowable variable or an actual talent, we need samples—”
