It's 3 am and I'm so tired but I wanted to get this up, so be forgiving of any mistakes for the moment, I promise I'll give it a proper proof reading tomorrow. Thank you!
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"Arrgh, Tadashi, shut that thing up." Hiro groaned from underneath a protective layer of covers as an annoying, digitalized beeping repeatedly interrupted his sleep. Almost immediately he heard the sound of footsteps hurrying across the floor, and at last the horrific beeping stopped.
"Sorry, Hiro." Tadashi whispered to his younger brother, and continued to quietly fumble about the room with the limited light he had pouring in from a recently rising sun. Hiro tried to fall back asleep, but found the noise to be too distracting, and so peeked his head out of his warm cocoon of comfort and gave Tadashi a tired glare.
"Why are you up so early?"
"I've got school, bonehead." Tadashi's voice remained hush, likely so as not to wake their Aunt downstairs. He didn't spare Hiro a glance, however, as he continued to search frantically around the room, "I can't find my hat. Hiro, have you seen it?"
"Oh man." The teenager moaned, rolling his eyes for effect, "It's just a stupid hat Tadashi, just go without it."
"It's not stupid Hiro, it's-"
"Yeah, yeah, your 'lucky hat'. I thought nerds only believed in science." Hiro, who had apparently given up on sleep while his brother was still thumping about, sat up in his bed and eyed the older boy as he began sorting through their laundry basket.
"It's not like that, it's just…" Tadashi ran a hand through his hair as he reached the bottom of the laundry basket, no hat in sight. He puffed a gust of air out in frustration, and finally brought his attention to Hiro, "Look, if you're not going to help me then just go back to bed, all right?"
"All right, all right, sheesh." Hiro flipped his covers back dramatically and swung his legs out of bed, "I'll help, calm down. You had it on yesterday, right?"
"Right." Tadashi went over to his closet and began to rummage once more, hoping he had somehow missed the old worn cap before, "I had it on all day. I don't even remember taking it off. I've looked around the bed, and the desk, and downstairs, and-"
"Found it."
Tadashi pulled back from the closet to see his little brother giving him an all-too-familiar smug look, holding his favorite cap triumptly in his hand. His eyebrows knitted together as he stared, shaking his head in bafflement.
"Unbelievable…" He got up and graciously accepted the hat, placing it securely on his head, "Where'd you find it?"
"It was in the bathroom, you dork." Hiro yawned as he made his was back to his bed, "And you call me the bonehead."
"Haha, very funny." The 19-year-old bent down to check his backpack over one more time before zipping its compartments and sliding a strap over one shoulder. He turned towards his brother, already getting readjusted in bed, and gave him a small smile.
"Well, here I go. Wish me luck."
"Why?" Hiro snorted, pulling the covers around him, "You nervous?"
"I…" Tadashi began, only to shake his head and wave his hand dismissively, "You know what? Nevermind. Forget it."
He went to walk out the door, but stopped when he heard his brothers' voice call out to him.
"Hey, Tadashi."
He began to turn around, only to have a pillow nearly crash into his face. He caught it just in time, though, and sent a glare in his siblings' direction. The boy only grinned up at him from his bed.
"You'll be fine. Nerds like other nerds, you know?"
Tadashi gave him a slight smirk in return, and responded with a well-aimed pillow at his siblings face.
"H-hey!"
"Have fun sleeping in, bonehead!" He called over his shoulder as he made his way downstairs, chuckling to himself as he heard Hiro shouting from their bedroom.
"I hope someone steals your lunch money, jerk!"
Tadashi paused as his eyes caught a lunch bag placed on the kitchen counter, a yellow sticky-note placed on the front which read, in his Aunt's messy handwriting, 'So proud of my college man! Xoxo' followed by a quickly squibbled smiley face. It was childish, but also very sweet, and so Tadashi tucked the note thoughtfully into his pocket before he took the bag and made a dash for the bus stop, hoping the driver wouldn't be running late.
"Hamada, Tadashi."
"Here!" Tadashi raised his hand from his desk placed a few rows back from the teacher. The teacher nodded in recognition and his voice continued in a droll down the list of students he was required to count as present. Tadashi smiled happily to himself, unable to contain his excitement, and glanced around at his classmates to see how everyone else was reacting to the first day of University.
It seemed, apparently, Tadashi was the only one to be truly excited. The majority of the students were either still fighting to wake up, clutching their coffee cups as if it were a lifeline, or else so focused that their mouths were pressed into hard, thin lines. Class hadn't even begun, and already some of them had pens poised to start writing at a moments notice.
"Hey, what a morning crowd, huh?" Tadashi whispered light heartedly to his neighboring desk companion.
The man only glanced at him for a moment before adjusting the notebook on his desk, moving it ever so slightly to the right as he murmured in response, "Uh huh."
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Tadashi continued on, extending his hand out for a friendly shake, "I'm Hamada Tadashi, freshman."
"I know." The stranger rolled his eyes slightly, but didn't offer up his name in return, nor did he accept the handshake.
"Oh, uh…right…because he just said so, so I guess you'd know that already, huh?" Tadashi's smile weakened as his hand motioned to the Professor. The student pointedly ignored him this time, and he let his hand fall slowly back onto his desk, "…right, then."
A few moments later the Professor began his lesson, and Tadashi allowed himself to be sucked into the world of mathematical equations, his brain whirling with possibilities. He didn't try to engage his neighbor in conversation again.
"Welcome to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology! Please take a free student handbook and let us know if you have any questions! Hello, welcome to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology! Here, have a free handbook! Hi, welcome to…"
"They messed up my schedule again. Seriously, why do they need so much money for tuition if they're just going to hire a bunch of idiots to run the place?"
"I heard Professor Hikori isn't going to be teaching this year…"
"Ugh! I hate first days, the hallways are always so crowded!"
Bits and pieces of conversation floated by Tadashi as he made his way through the, admittedly, overly packed hallway. His eyes squinted up at the classroom numbers labeled overhead, and pulled off to the side of traffic, pulling his crumpled schedule out of his pocket.
"221B…but wait, there's only even numbers here, where's…oh man…" He lifted his hat slightly to scratch at his head in thought. He'd gone through his schedule multiple times; how could he have forgotten where his next class was?
"…a free handbook! Let us know if you have any questions! Hi, welcome to…"
Tadashi turned towards the voice of the student-welcoming booth and made his way gently through the crowd. When he finally made it to the stationed table, he saw a couple of students and what he presumed to be a teacher handing out small booklets and handouts to the whoever happened to walk by.
He cleared his throat slightly and stepped forward, a smile spreading on his face, "Um, hello, could someone answer a question for me…?"
"Huh?" A girl with large, pink glasses turned towards him, and returned his smile with ease, "Of course! Need help finding a class?"
"How'd you guess?" He laughed, and extended the piece of paper with his schedule printed on it, "It's 221B; can you tell me where that is?"
"Oh, sure!" She leaned over the table slightly and pointed towards the glass doors that led into the quart yard, "Ok so it's weird; you need to go across the quad until you get to the next building and turn left once you get in, like AS SOON as you get in because there are A LOT of hallways in there, and then turn right at the second hall way, go up the stairs on your left, and then take another left after you go up the stairs. It'll be in that hallway on the…right? No, left…wait, no, it was right. I mean, the direction is right. The door will be on your right, and if you've gone past a water fountain with a picture of a volleyball team above it, you went too far. Got that?"
"Uh…yeah, for sure. Volleyball team, bad; thank you!"
"You're welcome! Oh, oh, wait! You get a free student handbook! Here you go!"
Tadashi laughed as he accepted the booklet, and waved to the student as he turned towards the quad, "Thanks! See you around!"
"Have a good first day!" She waved wildly back before turning her attention to another student, "Hi, welcome to San Fransokyo…"
"Ok, let's see, enter building, check, take a left, check." The wave of students seemed considerably less dense in this building, and made finding the next classroom a simpler task. The class was focused on History, and the Professor encouraged group work ethics, which was a relief to Tadashi as he finally met some classmates who were more social able or at least more awake than his previous student encounters. One of them was kind enough to give him short-cut directions to his next class, and so he was able to beat the majority of first day rush.
He walked into the large, mainly empty laboratory room with a look of awe surely stuck on his face. There was something different about the room than when he had looked at it on preview day; it wasn't just a lab anymore. It was his, and he was going to make the most of it. The question was only how.
Two large tables with chairs sat in the front of the room, and Tadashi could only assume he was supposed to take a seat, but as he glanced around him a piece of paper with bold yellow and black markings caught his eye. He wandered over to a drawing table and saw what appeared to be a motorcycle design, inked and colored with meticulous work, but it appeared as if some of the engineering was off a bit. That motor would never work; all that had to be done was just a tweak of-
"Hey! What are you doing there?"
Tadashi jumped at the demanding voice from behind him, and he instinctively backed away from the table, hands up in a non-threatening gesture, "Oh, sorry, I was just looking-oh."
He blinked as he saw a short girl with cropped black hair growling at him, her firsts clenched in a way that did not suggest she was an understanding person. She threw her backpack onto the table and marched up to him, eyes narrowing him down.
"Keep your eyes to. Your. Self." She snatched the paper away from him roughly, likely crumpling it in the process, but didn't seem to care, "These are my designs, got it? You just try and steal them and I'll-"
"Whoa, whoa." Tadashi was quick to put his backpack down so he could speak with the girl properly, the palms of his hands laid open in an innocent and friendly manner, "I wasn't trying to steal anything, I promise. It just caught my eye, I was just looking."
The girl turned her head at him skeptically, her face scrunching in distaste. Tadashi met her eye and kept her gaze locked on him, trying to convince her he was telling the truth.
"Promise." He repeated slowly, and after a few moments of silence in which other students began to enter the room and take their seats, the girl finally relaxed her stance towards him.
"…Fine." She relented, but continued as she made her way over to her seat, "Just don't do it again."
Tadashi gave a small shrug of defeat and retrieved his backpack from the floor, "Ok, fair enough…"
He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to take a seat near the girl, smiling at her as he extended a sort of peace offering, "They're nice designs, by the way. Great look to them."
"Yeah, I know." She leaned her chair back and propped her feet on the table as she unwrapped a piece of bubble gum and plopped it into her mouth. Conversation didn't seem terribly high on her priority list.
"Except…"
That caught her attention. She narrowed her eyes at him and slowly blew a bubble out of her chewed gum, letting it grow a considerable size before ending it with a quick pop, "Except what?"
"Weeeell…" Tadashi tried his best to keep his body language relaxed and non-offensive, "The engine just needs a few minor adjustments. It's not going to work properly if you keep it like that. If you want I can recommend a few good books to…"
His sentence trailed off as the girl got up from her seat and walked away from him without a word, clearly not interested in what he had to say. Tadashi closed his mouth and felt it go into a thin line.
"Ok, fine." He huffed quietly to himself and adjusted his hat out of agitation, "Have it your way, then…"
He did his best to shake off the rejection and instead began unpacking his notebook and safety goggles, looking up just in time to see a whirl of yellow enter the room, a girl huffing and panting as if she'd just run for her life.
"Oh! The Professors not here yet, thank goodness." She sighed to herself and put a hand to her chest as she breathed, and Tadashi realized her hot pink glasses were familiar to him. He took a chance and greeted her with a small wave and smile, and was pleased to see the friendly gesture was automatically returned.
"Oh, hello!" The girl didn't waste any time in taking a seat next to him, her eyes bright and welcoming, "You're the guy from this morning! Did you find your class ok?"
"Sure did." He nodded, marveling at how tall she was now that she wasn't sitting at the booth, "Thanks for helping me. I didn't think freshman would be on welcoming duty."
"Oh, yeah, well," She flung her hands about nervously as she spoke and pushed her glasses back in place when they began to slip, "I spent a summer here in high school…or, well, every summer in High School, so I know it pretty well."
"Wow." Tadashi blinked, "Every summer? I didn't know they had classes for high school students running."
"They don't." She admitted sheepishly, laughing despite herself, "I just liked hanging around here. It's nice, you know?"
"Yeah." He smiled, though he couldn't imagine spending summer days doing nothing but "hanging around" someplace. He wondered mildly if the girl was an only child, but said nothing on it, offering his hand to her instead, "I'm Hamada Tadashi, by the way."
"Miyazaki Aiko." She shook his hand eagerly, causing her glasses to slip once more, "It's really nice to meet you!"
"Same." He nodded, and wanted to ask her more questions, but saw the Professor had taken his spot at the front of the class and was preparing to speak. He saw her take out a bright pink notebook and a pen with a fuzzy tip at the end, jotting her notes down diligently. Tadashi smiled to himself and began to take his own notes, focusing on the professor but occasionally being distracted by the soft pop of bubble gum from the other table.
The Professor began to urge the students to start brain storming on what project they would like to begin working on. He told them to think in terms of something new and innovative, something they could present to a possible client.
"Most importantly, though," The Professor pressed, his older voice firm but kind, "It must be a part of you. Anyone can make some meaningless product to make a few bucks in the market. That's not what we're looking for here. Whatever you make, make it with your heart and soul, and even if it doesn't seem feasible, don't give up. We push the boundaries here; it is up to each and everyone one of you to decide what those boundaries are."
In that moment, whatever negativities Tadashi had experienced throughout the day faded away. Those words, however simple, struck a cord in him, and he swelled with pride at having a seat at such an Institute and the chance to do something so much larger than himself.
He knew his boundaries; now it was time to push them.