Walk Me Home

Chapter 2

When tomorrow came and Mitsuo woke up that morning after a long flight home and a rather short sleeping time, it was a miracle that he had showed no symptoms of sickness. Not even a cold or a fever rising. It was then he went on with his daily rushed routine and headed to school. Now, he needed to get to class fast. Even if it meant running to the open door, slipping, landing on his head as his entire body slid all over the floor. And everybody in class, laughing.

"Well, Mr. Suwa," the teacher said sternly. "That's 3 seconds to spare. Get to your seat."

"Yes, sir..." Mitsuo said. He walked to his seat with his head down, still feeling a little embarrassed. There were still some faint chuckles which would stop once the teacher announced that class will be starting.

Recess, luckily, was less eventful. Aside from constant teasing from his friends and an awkward moment or two with Michiko, nothing that happened at that time really stood out.

And finally, after a few hours, they can finally go home... at least until Kabao started lifting him off the ground by his shirt, demanding something what seemed to involve an object that had gone misplaced.

"...but I don't know where it went!" Mitsuo cried.

"You borrowed it!" Kabao shouted, bringing him closer. "How can you be so careless with other people's stuff, Mitsuo!"

"Can't you just buy another pencil—?" Then he felt being dropped to the ground, in a less than careful manner.

"Go back inside the school and find my pencil in the classroom!" He firmly pointed towards the already darkened school building.

"Yeah!" Sabu said, joining in. "That's where you had it last, anyway!"

"Alright, alright! I'm going to try and find it..." He stood up, rubbing his backside, and quickly made his way back to the school. "But if the classroom door is locked, I'm going to leave anyway!" he shouted to them first, before starting to walk again.

He couldn't believe that he was putting up with them, to the point of having to follow their stupid little orders. Anyway, he found himself back in the now empty school. He would do anything to hear the sound of his badge, calling him to another emergency that required his help. But it wasn't happening so he hadn't a choice. He arrived to their classroom's door, only to find out that he was right; the door was locked.

"Oh man..." Just as he was ready to leave, he saw a janitor mopping the hall. Mitsuo found it funny as he had not seen him before the entire time he had been going to school. "A janitor...? He must be new..." Then he thought he must have the key to the classroom door.

"Hey, excuse me!" he hollered, "Mr. Janitor?"

Stopping from cleaning, he turned to face the boy. "Uh, yes, young man?"

"Could you... uh, could you please open the door to the classroom over there?" he asked, almost too politely. "I left something there that I need to get back."

"Oh? Is it..." he fished for something out of his pocket, "...this?" and he waved in front of him, an old, worn-out pencil, surprising Mitsuo who had gasped. "I overheard you three talking about it..."

"Yes, that's it! Thank y— wait, from all the way over here?"

"What? Oh... no, it's just an expression!" He then chuckled nervously. "I just figured that some kid might've lost it and I decided to hold on to it if someone's decided to come back here."

Mitsuo reached for the pencil and snatched it from the man's hand. He took note of how strange the janitor was acting. But he decided to ignore it. "Okay! Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome!" the janitor said with a smile.

Later that time, the three walked home together. It's not everyday when he's with them, though.

"You're lucky this time, Mitsuo," Kabao said.

"Great..." Mitsuo said, cynical. "Anyway, you guys noticed the new janitor in school?"

"Huh? That's what Sabu said to me earlier..."

"See, I told you!" Sabu cried. "You didn't believe me, I was telling the truth!" Then he turned to Mitsuo. "Tell me, Mitsuo. Was he tall, has dark hair and a really long chin?"

"Er, yes...? I guess so," he answered. "Exactly, actually."

"That's strange," Kabao wondered. "I didn't see him earlier today."

"I didn't see him earlier today, too. Just when you made me go back there."

"Hey wait a minute, Kabao!" Sabu suddenly interrupted. "How come you believe him already and not your best friend?"

"Will you forget it, Sabu? I just thought you were making it up again, okay?"

"So you don't trust me unless you have Mitsuo's judgment then?"

Mitsuo could see that they were going to argue the whole way. Good thing he was almost home and he can split from them for now. "So I guess, uh, I'll see you guys tomorrow then?" He slowly inched away from the two, still bickering. He did not want to be involved in that.

"I'm home!" he exclaimed, making sure his voice traveled to the entire house.

He spent the remaining day watching TV, eating his dinner, and lastly of course, trying to finish his homework. No sense in making his copy robot do it. It wasn't like he was being called on a mission tonight.

He groaned at the pile of work. But it was a rare and normal time for him to be worrying about stuff a student his age should. Whether that was a good thing, he didn't know.

Mitsuo reached for the pencil and snatched it from the man's hand. He took note of how strange the janitor was acting. But he decided to ignore it. "Okay! Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome!" the janitor said with a smile.

As soon as he saw him run off the hall, which he had just mopped making him frown when he saw that the shoes were making marks and he had to take care of that right away, he quickly got off the hall himself. Done for the day, he went through the school's other exit leading to the back of the building.

He was oddly cautious, checking to see if there was someone watching. Appearing almost from out of nowhere, a familiar looking vehicle... the look of it was almost otherworldly.

Meanwhile...

Birdman, as secretly as he can, patrolled the entire city before going back to space. One of his priorities during his beat was checking on the assigned heroes. On the little screen of his UFO, he monitored their every move. Normally, it didn't take long and he did it as if he was taking one little peek. Though as soon as he finished from Perman 4 to 2, was when he took some time...

He watched him with strong eyes, even when something not all that remarkable was being done. If he were there, he'd have scolded him for not doing his homework right away. He could've had so much time for playing and slacking off if he did and had plenty of time to glue himself to the television.

At least he wasn't a picky eater and he watched him finish everything on his plate at dinner. Even at night, he continued to watch his every move including his bathroom break, which would've been considered a bit too much. He decided that as soon as he saw him try and finish his homework that it was time for him to leave, realizing he had wasted enough time watching him.

"Time to get going." Turning the monitor off, he peeled off once again, probably to somewhere outside of the Earth, onward to protect the universe.

The experience was unusual. To think, that it was Perman's near-death situation that unexpectedly triggered some kind of fatherly instinct in him. That aside from keeping the universe out of danger, he had to care of the kids that worked for him. And he somehow had a softer spot for one of them. The more he thought of him, the more he thought if there was something more he was forcing himself to believe the reason why he was so precious.

It was a strangely uneventful night. There was no need to alarm any of the heroes.

It was because of that, Mitsuo was able to finish his homework and for once, all on his own.

"Yes! I'm done..." Slamming his books close out of triumph, he stretched himself out as he stood. He looked at the time on his clock. "And it's not too late either. Hmm, I wonder..."

His own TV in his very bedroom was turned on and sitting beside him was his copy robot which he recently activated. Simply for Mitsuo to tell someone about how normal his day had been.

"So your badge didn't ring the whole day?" the robot asked. "Not even once? Are you sure Birdman replaced it with a new one, because maybe they couldn't reach you 'cause it's broken."

"No, not at all," he answered. "And he did. The old one was all cracked and he gave me a brand new one that works, I swear."

"Fine, I'll take your word for it." A few seconds of silence followed when they both focused watching again. "But seriously, Mitsuo, I think it's more normal if you were somehow called on a mission while you're busy. I mean, things were actually going your way? "

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, sounding offended.

"I'm just kidding!" he defended. "Don't get so worked up about it."

"Whatever." He quickly calmed down and tried to get back to watching.

"Today was the longest time you haven't activated me. It was weird... maybe not as weird as that new janitor, though."

The last phrase got Mitsuo to look directly at his robot again. "How? For helping me finding Kabao's pencil? "

"Sort of... a little... maybe I meant the way you talked about him," he pondered out loud. "So it's a new janitor, what about it?"

"He doesn't look like what most janitors should, is all" he said. "They're usually old and look like they don't sleep so much."

"Wow, Mitsuo. I didn't know you were this shallow," the copy robot started to mock. "He's just a poor janitor."

"Shut up, robot!" he rebutted. "I'm only being realistic! I just don't see most people that look like that take a job like... er, that."

"Oh, you mean people who are tall, have dark hair and a really long chin, just like you said?"

"And strong, too," Mitsuo added. "At least I think so. I mean, I can see it even when he wore that stuffy janitor's uniform." While trying to visualize, he laughed. "It didn't fit right! It was like he was forced into it or something. But when I talked to him, he didn't sound angry or sad or anything.

"He was actually happy. He... When I first talked to him, he smiled. He was so goofy looking too especially with that..." Mitsuo stopped before he could think about what he was going to say next, with his eyes widened.

His copy robot had the same wide eyes but with one eyebrow raised from the strangeness of the conversation.

"That's it," he concluded. "Yeah, I'm not sure where I was going with that..."

"I know." his copy agreed. "I thought you liked Michiko!"

"Robot, how are you even thinking that?! I didn't think I could be so—"

"Well, it could be because I just watch TV whenever you force me to do your homework." Candidly, he blinked at the angered Mitsuo. "You should know better, Mitsuo. I'm you after all."

Mitsuo looked away, embarrassed and his face red all over.

"Hey, I have an idea!" the copy began. "What if I meet him tomorrow? I wonder what I could say to him that'll make your face redder than that. I'm sure you'll be called out for a mission eventually and I could be your willing replacement—"

"Good night, robot!" With a firm finger, he pressed the copy robot's red nose, morphing him to its usual inanimate state. Next thing he knew, only a little white doll was sitting beside him.

When he was lying on his bed, the time for sleep finally having arrived, he couldn't sleep right away. But he remembered the last thing on his mind when he finally felt his eyes getting so tired, he wasn't even aware as if they closed on its own. He felt... confused.

-To be continued-