This did not feel real.
The service, the umbrellas, the fire... It all seemed to be in a fog.
Even as Hiro tood with relatives and friends, his brother's death did not seem real. His mind would not accept that he would never see his brother's smile or hear him say those things that were just so... Tadashi.
Things like "When are you going to use that big brain of yours?" Or, "Unbelievable!"
As Hiro contemplated this with his Aunt's hand on his shoulder, he scowled.
Those words were why Tadashi was gone.
Somehow, Tadashi had gotten him to really use his smarts. And where did it get him? Tadashi was at Hiro's presentation. Tadashi was at the school that night for him.
It was with a heavy heart that Hiro returned home, staring at his brother's side of the room. He stayed at the top of the stairs with Aunt Cass a few steps below, unsure of what to really do with himself. Usually Tadashi raced him up here and playfully fought with about one thing or another... Now there was only silence.
She gave him a pat on the back and said something, but it didn't really hit Hiro as anything important. Honestly, it sounded like his ears were full of water and the world was but white noise.
When he was sure Aunt Cass was going to stay downstairs, he felt his lip quiver.
Hiro walked and let his black jacket fall off of his small form as he went from the stairs to his side of the room. He kicked off his shoes somewhere near the foot of his bed before padding over to his computer chair. With a light thud he placed himself in it, facing Tadashi's side of the room. There on the bed was Tadashi's hat, just like Hiro had left it. Soon Aunt Cass would be bringing his things back from the lab and his room would be cluttered- Tadashi wouldn't stand for that, so Hiro would have no choice but to put things where they belonged.
It seemed only right since he was the reason Tadashi was gone.
As he felt tears begin to roll down his cheeks, he heard his computer beep behind himself. It appeared he had been sent a message, probably from Tadashi's friends. Who else would it be?
He spun slowly around in the chair, eyes drooping in sorrow and heart obviously not ready for contact. He moved the mouse to bring the computer from it's sleep, then opened the message. He was happy to find that it wasn't a video message like most that Tadashi's group sent, it was only text.
"You doing okay, Hiro?" It was from HoneyLemon. Hiro sighed, looking down at his hand on the mouse as he gently moved the chair left to right, contemplating if he wanted to respond. Honestly, no, he didn't. And so...he wouldn't. Plain and simple.
He turned the chair enough to slip off and walk to his bean bag chair, slouching into it while staring at his battle bot. As if he realized something was horribly wrong with it he was at his desk, toying with it for one reason or another.
And his computer beeped again.
He glanced over to read the message, still not intending to respond.
"Tadashi really wanted you to see his school, Hiro. He wouldn't want you to mourn him and throw away your future. You're so smart! Please come back, we can all hang! It'll be awesome!"
Hiro frowned at the message, holding a screw driver in one hand and his bot in the other. Hiro did not want to talk, and he did not want to go to school.
He put his things down and walked over to close out the message, the Bot Fight page still up in the background. It was almost instinct that he went to the schedule, find a location, looked at a map, and was on his way out.
He could hear Aunt Cass in her room sobbing as he walked down the stairs.
The door closed shut behind him as he shuffled out in his tan shorts and blue hoodie into the night, unnoticed save for a chubby cat watching him from the window.