WARNING: MENTION OF SELF HARM AND SUICIDE NEAR THE END! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
SFIT was an astounding college that only accepted the smartest of students, but this isn't about SFIT. This is about a girl who attended the opposing college across town. The college was dedicated to those who had artistic flares in art, literature and dance. Just like SFIT, only the most talented of students were accepted, and it was one of the hardest academic institutes to be accepted for.
Yet, although the most talented attended here, that did not mean that some of the most vicious of bullies also attended. Unfortunately you became one of the victims of the bully's jealousy. You were one of the brightest students and of course many of the other students didn't like that. They also didn't understand your art style or vision that you showed in your artwork. So it was natural for them to take it out on you in a vicious and childish manner.
Today was no different. You wandered the halls as the last bell of the day had just rung, folders a plenty were in her grasp and small canvasses were under your arms. Juggling art supplies in a messenger bag and carrying all these finished art pieces was a challenge, but you never hesitated to deal with it. You couldn't help it when your creative flare took over. Art was your outlet to life and it was your ultimate passion. "Hey (Y/N)! Been painting those weird images again? Let's see then." A taller dark haired girl called out before grabbing your canvasses from under your right arm, taking a quick look at them and chucking them on the floor, finishing off the torment by shoving her foot right through it.
"No!" You shouted, falling to your knees and dropping everything else to grab hold of the now damaged piece. "I get you hate me but don't destroy my work! I needed that for my finals!" You practically yelled at her, but all you got in response was laughter and a kick in the leg. "Deal with it….freak." Was the response you received before they left you be. By this point, you let tears fall down your cheeks as you grabbed all your belongings and ran out of the building, over to your car and escaping your own personal hell. You decide the last place you want to head to straight away is home. Your folks will ask questions and even if you do say what's happened, they probably won't believe you anyway. So as you drive around San Fransokyo, you stumble across a quaint little café with a giant cat on the roof above the door. "Lucky Cat Café? I guess it's better than home…" You mutter to yourself, so pulling up into a parking spot outside the café, you take your keys out, put them in your jeans pocket and exit your car.
Inside the café you smell all the freshly baked cakes and donuts and other delicious baked goods. Looking around you grab a table at the back in the corner by a window. Wiping your eyes, you try to hold it together before you want to go up to the counter to order something. Aunt Cass the owner of the café, noticed you from the moment you walked in and could see you were clearly upset about something. "Tadashi, stay by the till for me okay?" She asked the tall dark haired boy standing next to her. "Sure Aunt Cass" He replied. Cass grabbed a order pad and headed over to your table.
"Hey sweetie, welcome to the lucky cat café, what can I get ya?" She greeted you, so you looked up to her smiling face. "Oh, umm… just a latte and a chocolate donut please." You order. "Coming right up! The chocolate donuts are REAL good!" Cass says beaming at you, but she can tell something is terribly wrong. Walking away you watch her and wonder what it must be like to be so happy and to be able to smile so wide. It pains you to see so much happiness and tranquility around, so you decide to look back out the window while you wait for your order.
Aunt Cass ran your order through the till as one small latte and a chocolate donut just like you ordered, then turned round to her nephew. "Large latte and a slice of chocolate cake Tadashi when you're ready." Cass spoke out. "Coming up." Tadashi responded before looking out at the café's customers and spotting you in the back. "The order for her?" He asked, which caused Cass to look in the direction he was pointing in. "Yup! She seems troubled, poor girl. Must have been a tough day at school." Cass replied simply. "Hmm, she looks it, I hope she's okay." Tadashi remarked, as he started making your order.
Once it was made, he placed your drink and chocolate cake on a tray and brought it across to your table, "Latte and chocolate cake, here ya go!" He said to snap your attention out of your train of thought and onto him. "Oh...I err…I think you got the wrong table. I ordered a chocolate donut and small latte." You explain, feeling slightly flustered as you wasn't expecting your order to come round so soon. Or did you wait longer than you realized? You wasn't entirely sure. "Yeah I noticed on the pad, but Aunt Cass being the Aunt she is – thought you could do with something a bit better than just a donut. At no extra cost to you- of course." Tadashi explained, quickly adding the last bit in. You just nod and mumble a thank you, the faint smile that did creep on your face when Tadashi came over has now vanished again, and your eyes gazed back down.
Tadashi tapped the tray that he placed in front of his chest, covering the ninja logo on his white t-shirt, before hesitantly walking away back to Aunt Cass, where he continued to quietly talk to his Aunt about you. Worry was seeping through his voice and Cass mirrored that same concern, but they both agreed that as a new customer, they couldn't interfere with your life. Time passed and you finished your drink and cake, paid for it and quickly left. Tadashi had watched you leave and could see your hands were shaking. You were about to break down in tears and he could tell. "I can't interfere…." He told himself, even though every single bone in his body just wanted to help.
Over the weeks you picked up the habit of visiting the Lucky Cat Café after school nearly every day. You sat in your same spot and each and every time Tadashi made the effort to come to you to take your order, so you didn't have to weave your way through people to get to the counter.
Today was no different in your routine. The only difference this time was you were visibly hurt. Bruising was showing on your arms, as well as self-harm injuries. Your make up was streaked down your face and your knuckles gashed. You even had orange paint on your clothes and dried in your (H/C) hair. Tadashi's face fell when he saw the state of you, so instead of just taking your order, he sat down next to you. "Are you okay? What happened?" He asked you, his tone of voice showing just how concerned he was for your wellbeing. "Oh.. umm… I…" You stutter, not sure how you can say you're being bullied and are depressed without breaking down into tears for the hundredth time today. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me, just, just know that you EVER need a friend or a shoulder to cry on I'm here. I know we don't exactly know each other, but I've been worried about you ever since you first visited the café. I wanna help." He tells you, wetting a napkin and lifting your head to wipe clean your face. "There, much better. You know… the whole 80s rock and roll face paint look isn't all that fashionable anymore." He joked, smiling at you. This makes you give him a small smile back, before darting your eyes back down at the table.
Tadashi tapped the table, before leaving reluctantly to head to the counter over to his beloved Aunt. "She okay? She looks pretty beat up today." Aunt Cass queried her oldest nephew. Tadashi silently shook his head. "There's self harm wounds on her arms and she's clearly been in a fight of some sort. I just cleaned up her face from her crying. Urgh… Cass I want to help her but I don't know how." He explained to his Aunt, getting frustrated he dragged his hand down the front of his face. "So… when I've done her order, how about you take a break and put it to good use? Go stay with her, see she'll talk to you. You're good with people Tadashi, if anyone can get her to open up it'll be you." Aunt Cass suggested, patting her nephew's shoulder.
You stared out the window thinking about what happened at school today and how it just pushed you to your limit. You couldn't go on anymore dealing with the Hell that was art school. You wasn't even aware that Cass and Tadashi were talking about you whilst getting you your drink. You felt so miserable and lost, that you couldn't even order a pastry of any kind which you normally did. As you thought about it, did you even order anything before Tadashi walked away? You were convinced you didn't, yet as you looked across here Tadashi was, walking back over to you with your usual small latte.
"Consider this on the house today." He told you, placing it down on the table and sitting back down next to you. "You err... don't mind me joining you? Sorry, I should have asked before sitting down." He asked, removing his cap and running his hand through the back of his hair, before replacing the cap back on his head. You shake your head, "No, not at all…" You mumble glancing up at him briefly. You notice how distinctive his features are, and his unique fashion sense. Though the one thing that strikes you the most is his brown eyes. They were so striking and you couldn't help but wonder why he's noticing you and giving you the time of day. Boys like him at your school were the ones who went around the popular kids. "Do I have something on my face?" He asks you, wondering why you were staring at him so much. This gets you worried and quickly you divert your eyes. "S-s-sorry." You stammer.
"I'm Tadashi by the way." He finally introduces himself after weeks of seeing you. "(Y/N)" you respond. "So (Y/N) what's been happening? How come you're covered in paint and bruises?" He asks you, deciding to not even mention the cuts on your arms. You clench your fists on your lap, trying to hold it together, but your bottom lip trembles and the tears soon fall once more. "I'm being bullied at school." You open up to him. There's just something about Tadashi that makes you feel able to finally say what is going on in your life. "Bullied? No one at the school is doing anything about it?" He asks, completely shocked at the news. Bullying doesn't happen at SFIT, or if it does, it's not heard of. He couldn't imagine going through what you are.
You shake your head at his question, "They won't because they're in denial bullying happens at their precious art school. But I'm proof it does happen. You put hundreds of art students amongst dance and literature students, you're going to get bullying." You ramble to him, using a tone that shows how annoyed you are at the school's ignorance. "Is that why you…?" He begins to ask, just discreetly waving his finger up and down your arms. This causes you to pull down your hoodie sleeves and nod in shame. "I can't deal with it anymore Tadashi. They're destroying all my work for my finals, beating me senseless out of jealousy and ignorance. They don't understand or accept my style or work, and thus think the only way to express they're opinions on it, is to viciously attack me." You cry, your sobs making your words almost inaudible. Not knowing what else to do, Tadashi just grabs you and pulls you into a tight hug. "Thank you for opening up to me." He tells you, refusing to let you go.
This makes you cry harder as you grip onto his shirt. You felt a weight lift off your shoulders now that you've told someone, but you still feel like you can't fight anymore. Tadashi may have thanked you for opening up to him, but you still kept one detail from him. "I'm so scared Tadashi, I don't want to go back to school anymore. I can't do it anymore." You sob to him, and this just makes him more determined to want to save you. "If only Baymax was finished.." He thought to himself, but his medical invention wasn't anywhere near complete. It still had so many glitches he needed to fix, and he certainly wasn't going to test Baymax out on you!
You and Tadashi ended up talking and crying for hours, in fact right up until closing time of the café. "Tadashi, what would you say if I invited (Y/N) for dinner? You two can continue to talk if she needs it, she can jump in the shower, and then head home. If she so chooses to." Aunt Cass suggested as she walked over to your table, with a towel over her shoulder from cleaning up the other tables. Tadashi smiled at the plan, and he looked down at you, lifting your head up via your chin, "Well... what would like to stay for dinner? Aunt Cass; cooking is really good?" He repeated the offer, looking you in the eye. You nod and for the first time in what feels like forever, genuinely smile. "I'd love that- thank you so much." You accept the offer. "Then it's settled! Tadashi be a good host and take her up to the house upstairs and I'll just finish up down here, before coming up to start on dinner." Aunt Cass told him, and so he did just that.
"Dashi! Woah… who's this?" a younger boy exclaimed, almost bowling you and Tadashi over in the process as he skids to a stop in front of you both. "Hiro, this is (Y/N), she'll be joining us for dinner. She's a friend of mine." Tadashi introduced you to this Hiro boy who had very messy hair, which you would describe as a natural bed head look. You wave to him without saying a word. "You're quiet aren't you?" Hiro states, giving you a puzzled look. "Hiro! You can't talk to people like that! Jeez… you're such a knucklehead!" Tadashi protested, before gently pulling you further into their home and up to the boys bedroom. "I'm SO sorry about my baby brother. I'll get him for that later." Tadashi sheepishly apologized. "It's fine, he's right after all. I was rather quiet to him. It should be me that's apologizing to him." You reply.
Tadashi shakes off your remark as silliness. "Don't feel like that. You don't need to apologize to anyone. (Y/N) how you feeling now?" He finished that topic and decided to switch it back to you. However, all he gets form you is a simple shrug. It was the only response you could think to give him, as you really didn't know how you felt. All you knew was your whole body was overcome by numbness. "Let me guess… feeling numb?" He queried. You nod, before catching a glimpse of your matted hair in his mirror. "I'll get the shower running for you and lay out a towel." Tadashi offered, changing the subject.
A while later you were sat round a table in the kitchen eating with the Hamada family. They were small but there was so much laughter and love in the room. It was completely over whelming to you, but it also shone so much hope in your direction, you were almost blinded by it. You were smiling and laughing with them, you found the old you again. Life was brought back into you and you didn't want to lose that ever again. Tadashi the whole time had one hand holding yours, giving it a squeeze whenever he felt it was necessary.
When it was time to leave, you said your goodbyes to Aunt Cass that was followed by a squeezy hug that really rivalled Tadashi's. It suddenly became clear where he got his hugging style from. You found her so sweet and wished she were your Aunt. You even gave Hiro a little hug, even though he did protest it at first. "It was lovely to meet you Hiro. I'm sorry for being quiet earlier." You say to him, before turning to find Tadashi at the stairs waiting for you to follow him.
You follow Tadashi downstairs to the back door, where he holds it open it for you. You smile at his chivalry and exit the Hamada household. Without saying a single word, you just hug him tightly, burying your head in his shoulder (although you did have go on tip toes to accomplish this,) and softly spoke in his ear.
"Thank you Tadashi."
"For what?" He questioned you, pulling you back so he could look you in the eye.
"Truth is… this was meant to be my last day around. What the bullies did to me was the last straw and I was trying to make the most out of today before deciding to end my life. I just wanted to see you one more time before I left forever. Yet, after tonight I see hope again. Eating with your family showed me that there's a light at the end of the tunnel and I need to keep fighting on. You showed me I'm not alone anymore. You've saved my life Tadashi Hamada, so thank you." You explain to him, looking him in the eye the entire time. It's now you see that this time it's not you crying, but him. Your speech silenced him, and all he can do pull you in for the tightest hug he's ever given anyone, kiss the top of your head and sob.
"I'll always be with you beautiful." He simple spoke to you and you remained in his arms for what seemed like forever, before he let you go, giving you his number and see you get into your car and drive off home.
THE END.