Chapter Two: The Hamada Brothers

"I have to go there," said Hiro. "I-if I don't get into your nerd school, I'm gonna lose my mind! How do I get in?"

Tadashi grinned. "Every year, the school has a student showcase. You come up with something that blows Callaghan away, you're in. But it's gotta be great."

"Trust me," said Hiro, "It will be."

"Alright," said Tadashi, "I'll leave you to it. I'm going out."

"Where?" Hiro asked.

Tadashi smiled then. "With the other guys."

Hiro narrowed his eyes at him. "You're going on a date, aren't you?" he asked.

Tadashi gave a nervous laugh. "N-no... obviously not... Me? A date? No way!"

"You are, aren't you," said Hiro bluntly.

"Yeah," Tadashi sighed. "Look, don't tell Aunt Cass. I don't want her fussing."

"Is it your first date?" Hiro asked, raising his eyebrows as a mischievous smile formed on his lips.

"Hiro..."

"Oh, Aunt Cass will be overjoyed for you, brother," said Hiro wickedly.

"Hiro, please-"

"Don't worry," said Hiro, "I won't tell. Now, go."

"Thanks," said Tadashi, grabbing his cap and sticking it on his head before turning to leave.

"Wait, Tadashi?"

"Yeah?" Tadashi turned back to his little brother.

"Who's it with?"

"Honey Lemon," Tadashi grinned, straightened his cap, and slipped round the corner.

"They have such weird names," Hiro muttered before getting to work.

Vanellope woke up the next morning dreading the day ahead. Should she bunk off school again? Perhaps she could just lie in bed all day, falling into a deep warm vortex of dreams...

She spotted something sticking out of her coat pocket and sighed. She wouldn't be satisfied until she found out what it was now. She reluctantly rolled out of bed, landed with a thud on the floor, consequently groaned, and then reached for her jacket. She felt in the pocket and pulled out a piece of card. It had a small logo on it with the words: The Lucky Cat Café. Vanellope frowned. She was sure she hadn't put that in there. She hadn't even heard of The Lucky Cat Café. She flipped the card over and realised there was a message on the back.

Catch you sometime, racer-girl J

Vanellope smiled. She had been wondering how she would possibly contact Hiro and now she knew he had been one step ahead of her. Vanellope decided she would give school a miss that day. There were more important things to take care of.

Vanellope got dressed, pulling on her black skater dress made from a stretchy, lace-type material, her old tights, and her new leather jacket on top. She laced up her Doc. Martens once more, grabbed some money from the drawer, and headed out into the streets of San Fransokyo. Vanellope knew where she was headed – The Lucky Cat Café. Perhaps that was where she would find Hiro. It would be great to have a friend. But not everything went to plan.

The moment Vanellope saw Ralph Junior, the same man she had seen in the Police Station, she froze. It was too weird. Ralph had been from a dream, so how could he be real? Vanellope gulped but continued down the streets. She tried to rack her brains, trying to come up with an explanation. How could it possibly be real? Ralph was a character from a dream, from Vanellope's imagination. Either it was a complete coincidence, or something strange was happening. Vanellope didn't believe in the supernatural, so she blamed it on mere coincidence.

"Sorry!"

Vanellope looked up. Naturally, after all that pondering, she had managed to walk straight into Ralph. "Sorry, I guess I wasn't looking where I was going," she said.

"That's alright," said Ralph. "Hey, aren't you the girl who was in the station last night? Shouldn't you be in school?"

"I... um, only just moved here?" Vanellope said, trying to find a believable explanation.

"And you got into trouble that quickly?" Ralph replied, clearly not believing her. "Well, I'm not an officer, so you keep walking and I'll pretend I didn't see you."

"Thanks," said Vanellope before walking off quickly down the street. But still, that meeting with Ralph had spooked her. Off to The Lucky Cat Café...

Tadashi was fixing his hair in the window of the restaurant, waiting for Honey Lemon to arrive. He straightened his jacket and gave a nervous smile to his reflection. What could go wrong? It's just a date, he told himself.

I know, his subconscious replied, but it's a first date and it's natural to be nervous.

"I'm not nervous," said Tadashi out loud.

"Tadashi?"

He turned to see Honey Lemon behind him and stared at her. She had never looked so... beautiful. Honey Lemon wore a knee-length yellow dress with a fitted bodice, an oversized purple cardigan on top and purple suede high-heeled pumps. She wore a purple beaded necklace around her neck with her large pink glasses, and her hair was left down, long and golden. "Hey," she smiled.

"Uh... hey," said Tadashi nervously.

"I hope I'm not overdressed," said Honey, looking down at herself. "I wasn't sure what to wear."

"N-no! You look great... gorgeous." Tadashi grinned.

"Thank you," said Honey. "Shall we go in?"

"Of course," said Tadashi and lead the way into the restaurant. The waiter put them at a table by the window where Tadashi pulled out the chair for Honey. They looked at the menu to decide what to eat. After they ordered, they made small talk, discussing the Science College, their friends, and their siblings.

"So, how's Hiro?" Honey asked.

"He's good," Tadashi replied. "He's working on a project to impress Callaghan. He really wants to get in."

"He's a smart kid," said Honey with a smile. "I wish I had a brother."

Tadashi smiled and the two of them held each other's gaze for a few moments, Tadashi's brown eyes staring into Honey's green ones. The moment was broken by the waiter saying, "Your meal is served," as he served them their food.

"Uh, thank you," said Tadashi, feeling slightly awkward.

The sign read The Lucky Cat Café in large, bold lettering. Vanellope looked up at the logo. Yep, that's the one, she thought. It was the other side of town from her house, so she'd spent an awfully long time walking there. She was about to go in, but she spotted Hiro's older brother Tadashi coming round the corner and slipped into the shadows instead.

"Thanks for today, Tadashi," said the tall blonde girl beside him.

"No, thank you," Tadashi replied. "It was really fun."

"I think I'm going to go inside and talk to your aunt for a bit," said the girl. She smiled, and went into the café. Tadashi fist pumped the air with an expression of joy, before following her in.

Vanellope stepped out into the light, wondering if she should go in. Tadashi turning up had confirmed any doubts she had about this being Hiro's place, but she still wasn't sure... She didn't think Tadashi liked her much, though she could hardly blame him. He probably didn't want his little brother hanging out with a criminal.

Vanellope thought back to the dram she had had. It had been so good. She had been, though it sounded ridiculous now, a princess who wore beautiful dresses and sparkling crowns and who could race in a world of sweets to her heart's content. She had the most fantastic cars that she could race in, and the other contestants had been good competition. Vanellope listed a few off in her head that she could remember – -platinum-blonde-haired Taffyta, green-haired Candlehead, and Rancis – the boy who always wore the colour brown to contrast with his golden locks. Vanellope had been popular, with actual friends. All that was without even mentioning Ralph. Ralph had been an amazing friend in the end, the best Vanellope could have hoped for. Now, he was a stranger – though he shouldn't even have existed in the first place.

Right, Vanellope thought, it'stime to make some new friends.

But Tadashi thinks you're a bad influence, Van. You shouldn't go in.

Shut up, subconscious, Vanellope told herself. If Hiro wants to hang out, Tadashi won't stop him.

If you say so...

Vanellope hated her inner voice sometimes. She straightened her leather jacket, took a deep breath, and walked inside. The café had green walls and a brown wooden floor. Lots of sunlight was let in from the large windows, and it altogether had a rather pleasant feel to it.

The blonde girl was talking to the woman at the counter. Vanellope recognised her as Hiro's aunt from the station. Aunt Cass, that's what he called her. "You and Tadashi have been around town then?" Aunt Cass was asking.

The blonde girl blushed. "Yeah, we sort of went on a date," she said.

Aunt Cass nearly dropped the glass she was drying. "He asked you on a date?" she repeated.

Tadashi came in and took off his hat. "What's going on?"

"You and Honey Lemon went on a date?" Aunt Cass asked him.

Tadashi groaned, his cheeks flushing a bright red. "Um… yeah," he said. "I'm going to check up on Hiro." He quickly left, attempting to avoid the situation for the time being.

Vanellope walked up to the counter when the blonde girl had gone, and bravely faced Aunt Cass. "Excuse me?" she asked.

Aunt Cass looked at her with those sharp eyes of hers. "Yes? How can I help you?"

"I was just wondering…"

"Wait a minute," said Aunt Cass, recognition forming in her eyes. "Aren't you the girl from the station yesterday?"

Vanellope winced. "Yep, that's me," she said slowly. "Could I-"

"Look, unless you're buying something, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," said Aunt Cass sternly.

"Alright, I'll buy something," Vanellope grumbled. She felt in her pockets for some cash, and pulled out a few dollar bills. "I'll have the Sushi Speciality, a chocolate milkshake, and a bag of toffees please." She knew bribing Aunt Cass probably wouldn't work, but it was worth a shot.

Aunt Cass considered this, seeing the deal hidden beneath the order, and nodded slowly. "You'll have your food in a minute," she said. "You want to see my nephew?"

"Hiro, yeah," Vanellope replied.

Aunt Cass nodded again and went to the foot of the stairs. "Hiro!" she called up, "You have a visitor!"

Tadashi walked into his room and put his cap down on his bed. Hiro was slumped over his desk, twirling a pencil round and round in his fingers.

"Nothing," he said, "I've got nothing."

"Come on," said Tadashi, picking up his brother by the ankles and swinging him round the room.

"What are you doing?" Hiro asked.

"Look for a new angle!"

And then Hiro spotted his bot. He had an idea. Once Tadashi had put him down, he immediately wrote down his thoughts. A new idea was forming in his genius brain, something so clever and ingenious. It was so brilliant it made him grin. "I've got it, 'Dashi," he said. "I've got an idea."

"Hiro, you have a visitor!" Aunt Cass' voice could be heard as she called up the stairs.

"A visitor?" Hiro repeated, suddenly confused. Who could it be?

"Did you invite anyone over, Hiro?" Tadashi asked in interest. His brother had never been very good at friends.

"No…" Hiro trailed off as he remembered. Then he smiled. "It could be her," he mused.

"Her?" Tadashi asked. "Hiro, do you have a girlfriend?"

"No," said Hiro with a smile, "But you do. You'll have to tell me how your date went later."

Tadashi groaned again. "Honey Lemon let it slip to Aunt Cass that it was a date, so you can bet I'll be getting another one of 'The Talks' later."

Hiro laughed. "Good luck with that," he said. "I've got a visitor to talk to." He bounded down the stairs into the café and he smiled when he saw her sitting there.

She was sitting in a booth, with Aunt Cass' Sushi Speciality sitting on the table in front of her. Her black hair was tied back, with a few strands framing her face, and her eyes were green-brown, flickering in the light. She was wearing a cute skater dress that day, with her leather jacket on top, and as she looked up, Hiro felt a strange sensation inside him - one that he couldn't quite place.

"Hey!" he said, coming over and sliding in opposite her.

"Hi!" Vanellope replied.

"Are you hungry?" Hiro asked, looking down at the large Sushi Speciality in front of her. She also had a chocolate milkshake, and a bag of toffees to take away.

Vanellope laughed. "Let's just say that your aunt likes it when people buy her food," she said.

Hiro nodded in understanding. "I see," he grinned. "So, you found my message then?"

"It appears so," said Vanellope, gesturing to the fact she was there.

"Sorry if my brother wasn't that nice," said Hiro. "He'll warm up in time."

"So you want to hang out?" Vanellope asked.

"Sure," said Hiro. "I've got a big project I'm working on now though, but I'll be free to hang out more once it's done."

"Sounds cool," said Vanellope.

"So," said Hiro slowly, "do you like arcades?"

OK, here's Chapter Two! Firstly, can I just say that I am truly sorry for all the line-breaks in this chapter - it sort of just turned out that way :) Also, I should probably say that I used the different lines and put them in elsewhere - which is why this isn't exactly how Big Hero 6 plays out. Anyway, please review and tell me what you think because I love to hear any feedback (and that's good and bad feedback there). Thanks,

Ginger xx