Chapter 2

Hiro awoke early the next morning as the sun peaked over the eastern sky. He blinked a few times and laid still for a few minutes as his brain began to wake up.

He sat up and thought about the previous night, trying to comprehend what happened then and how he managed to find himself awake on a park bench this morning. He thought about how Aunt Cass grabbed him, how he had elbowed her to get himself loose, how he ran through the streets and how he ended up there in that city park. It all seemed hard to take in, but it finally was starting to sink in and he started to believe that all those events actually happened. He wasn't sure how exactly he got there, but he definitely didn't want to go back home.

His stomach rumbled, so he thought he would have some breakfast. He was also thirstier than he was before, so he pulled out the bottle of water he had opened last night and drank some more of it. He then pulled from his bag a pastry that he had snagged from Aunt Cass's case. Most of those pastries could only be on the shelf for 24 hours, and she would sometimes let Hiro and Tadashi have some if she didn't think those baked goods could be sold the same day.

Hiro pulled the pastry out of its plastic bag. It was warm and a bit smooshed, but it would have to do. As he bit into it, he thought about how much better things would be back at home. He thought about how he could have all the food he wanted there. He didn't have to worry about conserving water back at home. He had a loving family and a warm place to sleep back there.

Hiro pushed the thought from his mind and continued to eat his pastry. When half of it was left, he placed it back in its plastic bag and zipped the bag shut. He then put the pastry and his opened bottle of water into his backpack and zipped it up. He then pulled down his hood on his jacket and unzipped said jacket, pulled his backpack over his shoulders, and left his resting site, on his way to finding a new resting site for the night.

That same day at about 10:00 A.M., Aunt Cass felt that she couldn't wait any longer. She picked up her phone and dialed the police department.

She waited while it rang.

Someone picked up and said,

"San Fransokyo Police Station."

"Yes, I would like to file a report," she told the officer on the other end.

"What is it you would like to report?" he asked her.

"My youngest nephew is missing," she told him. "We got into an argument last night. I tried to keep it calm, but he just kinda blew up, grabbed his backpack, and ran out the side door. I tried to stop him, but it was no use."

There was a pause as the officer was typing the information.

"What is your nephew's name?" he asked her.

"Hiro Hamada," Aunt Cass told him.

There was another pause as Hiro's name was being typed into the system.

"Ah, yes," he told her. "We have a bit of a record on him. He was arrested for bot fighting several times, correct?"

"Yes," she told him.

"Is that what your argument was about?"

"Yes."

Another pause.

"Do you have any idea where he is now?" the officer asked Aunt Cass.

"No," she told him.

Yet another pause.

"Is there any way we can contact you if we find any information regarding your lost nephew?"

"Yes," she told him. She then gave him her name and phone number.

"Alright," he told her. "We will contact you if we find any information regarding your nephew."

"Thank you."

After Aunt Cass hung up the phone, she turned to Tadashi, who was coming up the stairs.

"Hiro hasn't returned yet?" Tadashi asked Aunt Cass, though he knew what the answer would be.

"No," she told him.

"Well, the good thing is that it's Sunday, so I don't have class today," he told her. "The café isn't open today, either. I can help you find Hiro."

"How do we do that?" she asked him.

"Well, you called the police, didn't you?" Tadashi asked Aunt Cass. "They can tell you if they find anything. We can also post flyers around town. We can tape them on telephone poles and hand them out to people."

"That's a great idea!" Aunt Cass told him.

"Well, let's get to it!" he told her. "I can help you put them together."

They sat down at Tadashi's computer as he began to type up the information on a Word document. He then found a picture of Hiro and pasted it onto the page before printing it.

Aunt Cass's mind went back to the previous night as she thought about the events that took place then. She thought about how Hiro had ran so far so quickly, how she had a hard time keeping up with him, and how she had finally lost him. She had to take a taxi home after Hiro had ran off because she couldn't find her way back to the café. She didn't have any money with her, so she had to pay when she arrived back.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Tadashi told her:

"I haven't been able to find any indication as to where Hiro is now."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I had put trackers in Hiro's clothes," Tadashi told her. "That's how I was able to find him when he would sneak out to go bot fighting. But he must've discovered them and found a way to remove them, because I can't get a signal to see where he is now."

Aunt Cass looked worried after Tadashi mentioned this to her, but he assured her that everything would be fine.

"Don't worry," he reassured her. "We will find Hiro."

Aunt Cass accepted Tadashi's reassurance, and Tadashi began printing more flyers. When he had printed a stack of them, he set them off to the side. He had to change the ink cartridges once and put more paper in a few times, but after he had printed two large stacks of flyers, they were ready to start handing them out.

They walked out into the bustling streets, each carrying a stack of flysheets. The stacks were each held together by a very large black clip so they would stay together easier.

Aunt Cass had started handing her flyers out to passerby, while Tadashi taped his to nearby street lamps and telephone poles. It was a warm, sunny day outside, so there were plenty of people around to see.

Everywhere they went, they distributed the flyers. And at every corner of town, there was a flyer that had a picture of Hiro and read:

Missing

Hiro Hamada

If found, please call: 621-109-1811

$500 Reward

"I dunno," she told Tadashi. "Trying to find Hiro in a city this size is like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

"He has to be in this city somewhere," Tadashi told her. "I know that someone has to find him."