Your name is EDWIN. You are a perfectly ordinary STUDENT, except for the part where you are a PRODIGY. Your ULTIMATE TALENT is MATHEMATICS. The AUTHOR is writing this INTRO TEXT in the style of HOMESTUCK because she knows VERY LITTLE about DANGANRONPA and is thus ANCHORING on the NEAREST available piece of MEDIA she knows ANYTHING about.

For a while now, you've been hearing rumors about an ACADEMY. "Hope's Peak Academy" is what it is apparently CALLED. An ACADEMY, that is, a place of LEARNING, except this ACADEMY is one that is for people who are SPECIAL. SPECIAL people with SPECIAL, or rather ULTIMATE TALENTS, such as ROBOT or MULTIPLE BIRTH SIBLING. Or MATHEMATICS, which you are, as previously mentioned, a PRODIGY at.

FLASHBACK TIME!

Edwin is in the 8th grade. He's gathered here with his team of classmates, the best and brightest, for the Gold Dragon contest, an interdisciplinary event bringing together students of various fields together to solve challenging problems, while racing against both the clock and the other teams. They are judged on SPEED, ACCURACY, and STYLE.

So far, they've blazed through most of the contest, knocking out teams left and right, but the problems have only gotten more and more challenging. They narrowly avoided a knockout a few rounds ago, passing by a hair. Now, they're on the final challenge.

Behind him, the head of his school's math department, Mr. Moore watches him quietly. Edwin isn't quite sure what he's here for, but he's been spectating throughout the entire tournament.

The display screen flickers. He sees, in front of them, the final question.

Is the number 445709132505 prime? Y/N

His team bursts into action. Everybody looks to Alice, the obvious candidate for solving such a problem, who quickly bashes together a script. Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, the opposing team matches them in fervor and intensity.

Alice finishes up her script in less than half a minute, and hits Run. Numbers fly by on her screen.

Seconds pass by, one after the other, and it still hasn't finished executing.

"What's happening!" yells Edwin to Alice, who is typing furiously on her keyboard.

"The script isn't executing fast enough! I'm doing my best to hurry it up but we're running out of time," responds Alice as she types away. Another wave of text flies by on her screen. She groans.

"Implementing water cooling procedures, patching up system inefficiencies, it's not enough!"

excuse me

Edwin can feel the eyes of the judging panel boring into them. He thinks. What are they going to do? If Alice can't solve it in time...

Suddenly, a quote from a mathematics textbook he read as a child comes to him.

"The essence of mathematics is in eliminating wasted computation."

And so he sits. And thinks. A meditative calm fills him as he stares at the problem. 445709132505... What does he know about that number?

Mathematical symbols fill his vision. 20 seconds pass. And then-

"No," he answers confidently.

The room falls silent. The judge stares at him, incredulous.

"How did you-"

"445709132505 is a composite number. Its prime factorization is 3^2 * 5 * 7^3 * 13^2 * 17 * 19 * 23^2."

There's no disputing their victory, after that. They get full marks on all three metrics.

As his team collects their trophy, he sees Mr. Moore, again, staring straight at him.

The Next Day.

Edwin knocks on Mr. Moore's door nervously. 

"Enter," he hears through the door. He opens it.

"Sir? You asked to see me?"

"Ah, Mr. Hines. Take a seat."

He waits for Edwin to close the door behind him and sit down.

"Quite the trick you pulled back there the other day. I must say, I'm impressed."

"Thank you, Sir."

"You know, prime factorization is one of the most challenging problems in all of mathematics. And yet... from the moment you started putting your mind to it, it only took you 20 seconds before you could solve it. From my recollection, there hasn't been a student your age who solved that problem quicker than you in the last 50 years. I believe we may have a Prodigy on our hands."

Edwin opens his mouth to speak, taken aback, but Mr. Moore continues before he has a chance to say anything.

"But! You still have much to learn, which is why I will be personally taking over your math education from now on. For example.... tell me the square root of 362873."

Edwin thinks quickly. He's learned to work under time pressure. "602, sir."

"To 6 decimal places."

Edwin grins internally. He knows Mr. Moore thinks that he's gotten him with that one, but Edwin has spent several years playing Quake III and mastering the ability to perform square roots in his head. It's only 8 more seconds before he answers, "Point 389409, Sir."

"...I fear I may be out of my depth, here."

(Meanwhile, in another office, a voice can be heard)

"SO, YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU WANT TO BE A FAMOUS AUTHOR? THEN PROVE TO ME THAT YOU'RE WORTHY! WHAT'S THE THIRD LINE ON PAGE 27 OF TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BY HARPER LEE? YOU MUST ANSWER THIS BEFORE YOU WRITE A SINGLE LINE TO PAPER"

...Well, Hope's Peak is filtering hard for Ultimate Talent, which will tend to correspond with deficits in some other areas. Such as genre savviness. It will do.

Dear Edward Hines,

It is with great pleasure that we extend to you an invitation to join the incoming class at Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Mathematician. Your exceptional talent and remarkable achievements in the field of mathematics have captured our attention and admiration.

You first caught the attention of our scouting team due to your performance at the Gold Dragon contest, where you demonstrated an extraordinary ability to solve complex mathematical problems with unparalleled speed and accuracy. Your intuitive grasp of prime factorization and mental calculation skills are truly exceptional for someone of your age.

At Hope's Peak Academy, we are committed to nurturing and developing the unique talents of prodigies like yourself. Our institution prides itself on providing an unparalleled educational experience tailored to each student's specific abilities and potential. As the Ultimate Mathematician, you will have access to advanced resources, mentorship from leading experts in the field, and opportunities to push the boundaries of mathematical knowledge.

We believe that your presence at Hope's Peak Academy will not only benefit your personal growth but also contribute significantly to our academic community. Your enrollment would mark the beginning of an exciting journey towards becoming the absolute best in your field.

Please find enclosed additional information about our academy, including details about our facilities, curriculum, and the exceptional opportunities we offer to our students.

We eagerly await your response and look forward to welcoming you to Hope's Peak Academy.

Sincerely,
Headmaster Makoto Naegi
Hope's Peak Academy

Huh. 

Well, the fact that he received a letter isn't that surprising. He had been training hard under Mr. Moore's tutelage, and he claimed Edwin was a prodigy, after all. The language used is.... rather strange, though. "ULTIMATE MATHEMATICIAN?" In all capital letters? Is this supposed to imply that there's only one person studying mathematics there? Or are there multiple ULTIMATE MATHEMATICIANS?

...Also, his name isn't Edward.

Well, regardless. Probably he should read the "enclosed additional INFORMATION about the ACADEMY, with details about the FACILITIES, CURRICULUM, and EXCEPTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES"

Edwar- Edwin looks at the enclosed information within.

We didn't write it in all cap—oh, whatever.

There's a pamphlet, as a university or fancy high school might have, giving basic information about the school. Hope's Peak Academy was founded by Izuru Kamukura to research how to best nurture students with Ultimate Talents, in order to foster hope in a society that had (in his eyes) a desperate need for it.

It's a live-in school, with room, board, and tuition covered for anyone invited. There's some pictures of the dorms and classrooms, which are very well-maintained. They have basically any resource you might hope a school to have, and will find a way to provide anything you need that they don't already have.

Hope's Peak has high expectations that you will continue to perform well in your field, though they do understand that "exceptional talent" and "rigid standards" don't always mesh. Your curriculum is custom fit to your needs—there's a few descriptions of what some previous students' schedules ended up looking like, to give an idea of how this works in practice.

Yes, there's only going to be one student whose destiny is to be the Ultimate Mathematician. It's likely that others will have some interest—mathematics is the kind of thing where experts in many fields might want a solid grasp of it—but it won't be their first passion.

How is need defined?

Ok, probably they have some standard of reasonableness, such as what is within the realm of possibility.

Anyways.

Edwin notes: The founder of Hope's Peak Academy is not the same as the current headmaster. That is not surprising.

Tuition, room, and board are all free. That's a pleasant surprise. He does have to wonder how the school makes money, though. It can't all be through alumni donations. Perhaps through some sort of charitable trust?

Edwin has no idea what "high expectations" are supposed to imply. He's a little surprised there's no one else is studying to be the ULTIMATE MATHEMATICIAN, and also still finds the language a bit strange, but regardless, let's write a response letter.

Dear Headmaster Naegi,

I am honored to accept your invitation to Hope's Peak Academy. 
I hope I can live up to your high expectations of me and look forward to learning together with your student body and faculty.

Best regards,
Edwin Hines.

He prints out the short letter and puts it in an envelope.

Did the letter he received have a return address, or is Edwin going to have to go outside, wave around his envelope, shout "Letter for Hope's Peak Academy" into the air and hope an owl comes and grabs it?

Well, there isn't a return address exactly, though the address is given in the pamphlet if he'd think to check there?

Oh, excellent. Well, he'll write the address down on the envelope and drop it off at the mail collection box, then.

And the letter will be delivered to Hope's Peak Academy in 1-2 business days.

(The scouting team had been paying enough attention to Edwin that they were actually prepared for the "trying to call an owl" possibility, had it come up. If anyone was wondering.)