[Prologue - 001]

A tall boy with very long hair and a red sweater stands in front of a massive school building.

April 5, 20██. It was a clear, sunny day in █████, Japan, just chilly enough for me to wear my favorite sweater. The building that stood in front of me was beautiful– even more so than the lush trees and gardens that surrounded the campus grounds. The brown brick, glass, and steel towered several stories high, and the silvery emblem of Hope’s Peak Academy glittered in the sunlight.

This place was the holy grail of education, a place for the most talented students in the world to learn, grow beyond expectations, and inspire humanity. I’d seen the building a few times before, but I never thought I would approach its doors as a student… A real student at Hope’s Peak Academy!

Introduction card for Timaeus Woodworth, the Ultimate Librarian. He's a tall, scrawny boy with brown skin, green eyes, a large nose, and very long hair. He wears a red turtleneck and round glasses.

My name is Timaeus Woodworth, and I’m the “Ultimate Librarian.” I specialize in book restoration, and according to my invitation letter, I was chosen by Hope’s Peak for my internship work in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, repairing books from as early as the 1400s.

“Ultimate Librarian…” The title might sound goofy in English, but it was an incredible honor! My folks and I were absolutely ecstatic to get that letter, and those last few weeks before the semester started were a bit nuts, haha. Filling out paperwork, shopping for dorm stuff, wrapping up extraneous projects at the library so I could focus on schoolwork full time… It was all kind of a blur, and then all of a sudden, I was there, you know.

I climbed the steps slowly as the enormity of the situation sank in. The people who graduated from this school were people who changed the world– could I really be that kind of person? I’ve never really thought of myself as anything more than a guy with a love of books and a knack for organization.

Still, I had to try my best, for my parents and my sisters if nothing else. I rested my hand on the heavy wooden door, took a deep breath, and pushed it open…

The previous illustration, now blurred out entirely.

That’s the last thing I remember clearly before waking up… here. Sometimes I recall bits and pieces, one or two projects I worked on, but there is a void in my mind where my memories of Hope’s Peak Academy should be. Years' worth of my life, just… gone.

Could I have been a person who changed the world? I suppose I’ll never know. But at the very least, I can tell you a story– the truth of what happened to us aboard the Dreadnought. Maybe then my Ultimate Talent will finally do some good.

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