Chapter 2 – The Last Good Summer

Tadashi was worried. He was scared of leaving his son in the hands of a stranger in this Community Centre. Still, the man had sounded lovely on the phone and said he would be very willing to help counsel Tadashi on Mondays after school. That afternoon, Hiro was restless, wanting to go run off whilst Tadashi kept a tight grip on the boy's hand. As they entered the office, he looked to the man behind the desk and smiled.

"I'm Tadashi Tochi," he introduced.

"Robert Hawkins," he said, turning to look at the little boy with a warm smile, "And you must be Takahiro Tochi."

"Yes!" the boy said, grinning, "Okay, bye Dad!" He pulled his hand away from his Dad's grip and started trying to push his Dad out of the room. "I wanna finish the session."

"Okay, okay!" he said, "I'll be waiting outside." With that, he walked out, though he did pause to glance back as his son hopped onto the seat in front of the desk, swinging his little legs as he sat.

"So, Takahiro, how are you today?" Mr Hawkins asked.

"I'm good," he said, smiling, "I'm really good. Today at school we got to make little paper cranes. I couldn't make any." He looked at his hands and frowned. "My hands shake a lot. My Dad says it's because I'm sick, so I can't hold things well. My hands always shake."

"Well, maybe we can help fix that," he said, smiling, "I can help you, if you want."

"Nu-Uh, Mr H" Hiro said, shaking his head, "I'm okay. I'm fine. My Dad says we might get medication to help me with the shaking, but he's helping me."

"How's your relationship with your Dad?"

"Good!" He grinned, "He's the best Dad ever."

"I'm glad. And your mum?"

"She's good," he said, "I don't see her a lot. She's always working. She leaves before I wake up and comes back after I go to sleep. Usually it's just me and my Dad."

"So, how has school been for you?"

"Difficult," he said, pouting, "I'm older than the rest of my class, and next year I'm going to high school, but I can't even write properly yet. My Dad says I'll have an aid next year too, but it'll be so hard."

"Don't worry," Mr Hawkins said, "You'll be fine, I'm sure of it."

The session went on well, in Hiro's opinion. He went running out of the office and straight into the arms of his Dad. He took his Dad's hand and started walking off, talking on and on about how the session was. Tadashi was just happy his son was happy.

Hiro was upset about having to continue therapy and counselling on throughout summer vacation. "Please, Dad?" he asked, looking up at his Dad with large, brown eyes, "Why can't we go on holiday?"

"We can't, you have to go to your counselling, remember?" Tadashi said, picking his son up and plopping him down on his lap, "Come on, we can have plenty of fun here, right?"

"Hmm, can we go to the amusement park?"

"If you're good."

He grinned, "Dad, Dad, Dad I've been a good boy, can I go play?"

Tadashi nodded, "Of course."

To Hiro, the summer went by slowly. It seemed that every minute was an hour and every hour was a day and every day was an eternity that never ended. Eventually, the end of summer came, and he was probably one of the only kids excited to go to school. It was high school, it was the start of something completely new. He was going to make new friends and meet new people, oh Hiro was excited he could barely stay in his seat while his Dad fed him breakfast.

"You packed everything, Hiro?" he asked.

"Mmhmm!" Hiro replied enthusiastically, swinging his legs above the ground. He was still a small kid, and Tadashi suspected he might continue to be the smallest guy in his year for a while. "Dad, I'm super excited, what's gonna happen?"

"Nothing bad," Tadashi replied, smiling. He placed the pills in front of Hiro, along with a glass of water, and the boy downed them all in one swallow. "Good job, Hiro. When we get to school, we're going to introduce you to your learning aid. She will be with you in your classes and help you write."

"Okay," he said. "My handwritings improved though, Dad."

"Yes, I know," he replied, "But this is just in case. You may be getting better, but you can't write as quickly as the other students. Whenever you have a question, you ask her, okay?"

"Okay!" He nodded his head and hopped off the seat, "Come on, Dad, I want to get to school!"

When they arrived at Dakota Union High, they went straight to the learning support office to meet the lady that was supposed to help Hiro. She was a kind looking lady with soft features and a kind smile, and her name was Ms Kimberly. Hiro liked nice people, though he hadn't really dealt with any bad people. She placed a hand on his shoulder and guided him to the homeroom class, where he would meet all of the other students in his class.

Hiro was excited, grinning from ear to ear as he entered the classroom. There were rows and columns of desks, occupied by a scattering of people. He took a seat at the side of the class, next to the wall, as guided by Ms Kimberly so she could sit next to him.

"Are you gonna follow me to each class?" he asked.

"Not all classes," she said, "Most of them, but I know you'll be able to handle yourself in some. Your father told me so."

"Okay," he said, "So will you just meet me in classrooms?"

She nodded, "Yes, I will. So you can hang out with your friends between classes, Hiro."

He grinned, then looked around the room. He seemed unsettled by the strange looks he was getting from the rest of the class. "What's wrong with them?" he asked.

"You're just a bit different, is all," she said, "There's nothing wrong with that, okay? Sometimes you need to know when you need help."

He frowned a bit, "Yeah, I need a lot of help in studying," then broke into a smile, "but it's okay! They'll be my friends." He got up from his seat and walked over to a group of white kids who were huddled around a bunch of cards.

"What do you want?" asked the one with his hat turned at a 45 degree angle.

"Are those Pokémon cards?" he asked, "I love those! I used to collect them."

"Yeah," the second one said, rolling his eyes, "They're cool, but the fun part is battling them. Not that you would know."

"I know how to battle them."

"Yeah, right."

"Why don't you believe me?" he asked, tilting his head to the side, "I'm Hiro, by the way, it's nice to meet you."

The four boys looked to each other then burst out into laughter. The third one smirked, "More like Zero, right?"

"I'm Trevor," said the kid with the hat, "That's John," he pointed at the second one, "Mark," he pointed at the third one, "And Louis," he pointed at the last one. "Do us a favour and don't talk to us."

"Why not?"

"Cause you're weird," Louis sneered, "You're older than all of us. Aren't you ashamed?"

"No," he said, "There's nothing to be ashamed of."

"You're so dumb," John laughed, pointing at the teacher aid who had gotten up to speak with the homeroom teacher. They began to walk out of the classroom for a more private discussion. "You need a whole nother person to follow you and do stuff for you."

"She's my aid," he said, "she helps me write."

"What, you can't write?" They all laughed.

Suddenly, Hiro realised that these weren't nice people. He pouted and looked away, "Is that bad?" he asked.

"Yeah, it means you're dumb, you chink," said Trevor.

"Don't call me that," he mumbled.

"What? But you're a total chink. My Dad uses it all the time, says you good for nothing chinks are destroying Dakota!"

"I don't know what that means," he muttered, "Destroying."

Trevor laughed, shaking his head, "You're an idiot, you little chink."

"Don't call me that!" he exclaimed, covering his ears. Then, they started chanting it over and over again, and then the rest of the class joined in, and he just couldn't drown it out. Before long, he jumped on Trevor and shoved him back, causing him to topple to the ground.

"I'm Japanese!" he shouted, tears stinging at the edge of his eyes from the mixture of anger and sadness and distress, "Don't call me that, how dare you do that to me!"

With the ruckus, the homeroom teacher and Ms Kimberly rushed in, pulling Hiro off of Trevor and taking him out of the room. When Ms Kimberly tried to ask him what had happened, he cried. He couldn't take it. School was too difficult. He hated it. He hated everything, and it was only the first day of school.

That first day of school went slowly for Hiro. He stayed quiet, though shifting his position in his seat almost every minute. He couldn't stay still, and it was hard to pay attention. His mind would drift, and Ms Kimberly had to nudge him back into focus again. At lunch, he sat alone, because the other kids avoided him for his outburst, and he didn't know anybody else.

Then, he was met with his first proper bully. A kid in the year above, who was probably about the same age as Hiro himself, but probably twice the size vertically and horizontally.

"Hey, new kid," he sneered, smirking and walking towards Hiro. Hiro, not knowing what to do, began walking back until he was backed against a row of lockers.

"Hey!" he greeted, giving his best smile, "I'm Hiro, you are?"

"Dwayne," he said, "Nice to meet you." Then, he laughed, grabbed Hiro's arms and began twisting them painfully to the side, "I heard you picked on a kid in class."

Hiro let out a bark of pain and tried to pull away, "No, I didn't!" he shouted, "I didn't!"

The assault of slander continued, and Hiro began fearing for his life. The intense pain in his forearms was shooting up and causing his knees to go week for some reason he couldn't understand. It was then that his guardian angel, or at least what he thought was a guardian angel, came to his rescue: A tall, black teen in his Senior year wearing an unbuttoned black vest over a white t-shirt, and a pair of jeans. His hair was done up in cornrows, and it was the first time Hiro had ever seen hair that interesting before.

"What are you doing?" came the deep, stern voice.

"Teaching this kid a lesson," laughed the bully. Then, the mystery man stepped up and shoved the bully back, then grabbed Hiro by the side of his shirt and pulled him back to a proper standing position, all while scowling in disgust.

"Don't touch him again," he said, "I don't like bullies, kid, and if I catch you disrespectin' this guy again, I'll beat you into the curb."

"Alright!" the bully exclaimed, frightened, before scurrying off down the hallway.

"Thanks," Hiro said, looking up at the tall teen, "I'm Hiro, who're you?"

"I know who you are," he stated plainly, "Word spreads like fire in here. Asian kid who attacked his classmate at the first day of school for throwing some racial slurs." He gave Hiro a pat on the back, "You did good. Don't take shit from nobody."

"Thanks," he said, beaming up at him, "What's your name?"

"Ivan Evans," he replied, "See ya around, kid. Remember, don't take shit from nobody. Respect yourself." With that, the teen walked off with the rest of his buddies, leaving Hiro in awe of this amazing tall teen. Suddenly, his day was a whole lot better.

He was pacing around the sidewalk as he waited for his Dad to drive by and pick him up. There was a skip in his step, and he was excited to tell his Dad everything about his first day at high school. Sure, the boys were mean and the girls were scared of him, but that Ivan Evans was such a nice person. He was his new role model, he wanted to be just like him when he grew up. Finally, after what seemed like hours of waiting, which in reality was just a few minutes, his Dad pulled up in the driveway and he rushed and hopped into the backseat of the car.

"Hi Dad!" he greeted excitedly, "Today was really good. We were doing Math and stuff and I didn't really understand but I think I understand better than before, and Ms Kimberly is really nice, and I'm really happy about today, are we going to counsellor Hawkins today?"

Tadashi chuckled, "Well, Hiro, it's a Monday right?"

Hiro paused to think for a while, then nodded, "Mm! Yeah it's a Monday! I made a new friend, I think, I dunno he seems like a friend. Some guy was picking on me and then he comes up and he tells them to go away and he's so nice, his name is Ivan Evans and he's really cool!"

"That's good," Tadashi said, smiling, "I'm glad you had a good day. What was that about somebody picking on you?"

"Oh it's nothing," he replied, suddenly going quiet. He decided instead to maintain focus on the moving world through the car window. He wanted to tell Mr H all about his first day of school, and Ivan Evans.

Note: Hey Ivan Evans makes an appearance momentarily? He comes back, you know. So, yeah, wait around for that I guess. Also, I kinda thought high school included things like middle school as well, since that's what happens in the British schooling system, as it's under the bracket of 'secondary school'. idk how it works in America but I'm just going with high school including the little 6th graders I guess. I realised this mistake but I'm too lazy to fix it now