When Wednesday rolled around, Kimiko texted Hiro the directions to get to the house she and her girlfriend (now a fiancée) lived in. Hiro was impressed by the fact that she could afford to live in a house rather than an apartment—no doubt owed in no small part to her much more lucrative career.
It seemed as though Kimiko was better off than Hiro in every way: living arrangement, transportation method (at this point Hiro would probably never learn how to drive, but at least it meant he could make "I can't drive; I'm gay" jokes), not to mention her impending matrimony. Hiro and Ando had discussed marriage in the past, but they didn't see it happening anytime in the foreseeable future. What they had now was sort of a common-law arrangement, which there was nothing wrong with, but Hiro was still a bit jealous of his sister taking her engagement into account on top of everything else.
"So, do you think Kimiko has told her fiancée that she used to be with me?" Ando wondered as they rode the bus to Kimiko's neighborhood. One of these days they might be able to afford a car, but looking at their current financial situation, it wasn't likely to happen soon. "And if not, do you think we should mention it?"
"Would you tell her if you were Kimiko?" Hiro pointed out. "You two didn't end up getting married, so there's no reason to bring it up."
"I guess not…" Leaning back in his seat, Ando laced his fingers through Hiro's—a casual gesture that still made Hiro blush even after all this time. "I guess I haven't really given much thought before to how weird this whole situation is."
"Huh?" Hiro tilted his head, staring at his boyfriend in confusion. "How could you not think about it? I was almost your brother-in-law!"
Ando's eyes widened as though that had never occurred to him before. "Yeah, that's exactly what I mean! I never thought about it like that before," he said. "How are we gonna explain it to her if it does come up?"
Hiro was a bit worried about that himself, but he didn't think it would be too hard to explain. Feelings change, right? Surely Kimiko's new fiancée, whoever she was, would understand. "Maybe we could start off by telling her about the extended Petrelli family," he suggested. "Our situation will definitely seem more normal by comparison."
In the end, they didn't end up talking about the Petrellis, or about the situation with Kimiko and themselves. When they got to the house, Kimiko opened the door and welcomed them in with a huge smile on her face. "Come right in," she said, gesturing down the front hall. "Anzu is out in the living room. She's been dying to meet you!"
Anzu… the name was very familiar. Hiro was trying to place where he'd heard that name recently when he stepped into the living room and realized with a jolt that it was crammed from floor to ceiling with comic books and memorabilia. Sprawled lazily out on the couch in the middle of it all was none other than the woman Hiro had encountered at the comic book store the day he'd learned of Kimiko's engagement. Anzu's nose was buried in a comic with a very familiar cover—too familiar.
"Hey, Kim," Anzu said to Kimiko, not glancing up from her volume of Ninth Wonders. "Was that your brother at the door?"
Hiro froze in place, breath caught in his throat. Ando gave him a quizzical look, and Hiro pointed to the comic Anzu was reading. Understanding dawned in Ando's eyes, and he gritted his teeth, tugging Hiro out of Anzu's line of sight. "Hey, what are—" Kimiko began. Hiro raised a finger to his lips, not wanting to speak in case Anzu recognized his voice. She may have been willing to believe that he was just a very dedicated cosplayer when she saw him at the comic book store, but now? She'd know that wasn't the case, especially since he had Ando with him this time.
"Hiro, do you know that girl?" Ando whispered, glancing around the corner to where Anzu was now lowering her comic and hopping off the couch. When she moved from her position, Hiro realized there was a giant poster of his face drawn in a sparkly anime style on the wall behind her.
"I don't know her, exactly," Hiro said. "I met her last week at the comic book store—she works there—and she thought I was a cosplayer."
"Huh? Why would she think you were a—"
Ando's question was cut off when Kimiko grabbed his wrist and dragged him out into the living room, beckoning for Hiro to follow in a way that made it clear he didn't have a choice. "I have put up with your shenanigans for a long time," she hissed, "but I have had enough with you two acting strangely and not telling me what's going on! Now stop acting like children and introduce yourselves to Anzu!"
They were both in Anzu's line of sight now—there was no use trying to hide anymore. Hiro bowed stiffly, wondering if Anzu would recognize him. His eyes kept straying back to the poster of him on the wall. It was clearly modeled after the way Isaac Mendez had drawn him rather than his actual face; the only thing that made it clear this was an image of Hiro was the fact that his name was spelled out above the image in swirly pink font.
Hiro glanced back to Kimiko, who was now pulling up a chair for Anzu to sit on facing the couch. Surely his sister knew that he was the person from the comics her fiancée loved so much, right? So Kimiko must have explained the situation to Anzu already. In that case, he decided he may as well try to get to know her a bit. "Hello, Anzu-san," he greeted her, taking Ando's hand to make it clear they were together just in case Kimiko hadn't told her. "It's nice to finally meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too," Anzu said slowly, looking Hiro up and down. Brow crinkling, she asked, "I don't know you, do I?"
"No," Hiro said, maybe a bit too quickly. He sat down on the couch, and Ando took a seat next to him, still looking very openly confused and uneasy. Hiro squeezed his hand and whispered, "Don't worry; she doesn't recognize us yet. Try to act normal."
"Hiro," Kimiko said sharply, "Is there something going on here I should know about?"
"I don't think so," said Anzu, but she kept glancing at Hiro as if trying to figure something out. It reminded Hiro of when Matt was using his psychic abilities. He briefly wondered if Anzu had powers, but somehow he doubted it. Surely Kimiko would've given him a heads-up about that if it were the case.
Suddenly Kimiko snapped her fingers. "Ah—you're wondering about the poster, aren't you? Well, don't worry; my girlfriend isn't obsessed with you," she told Hiro. "It's a character from a comic series she loves who happens to look like you."
"He's got the same name, too, doesn't he?" Anzu piped up. "I've gotta say, it's a pretty cool coincidence."
She flashed Hiro a friendly grin, which he returned with somewhat less nervousness than he'd held a moment ago. It was hard to believe Anzu was willing to accept it as a coincidence, but it was better than having to explain the truth. That would require explaining that there were people out there with superpowers, which would probably mean Hiro admitting that he and Ando were such people, and this whole situation was already far too bizarre. He felt bad about covering up the truth, but for now, at least, it was better that the people sitting on the couch in Anzu's living room were kept separate in her mind from her favourite comic book characters.
"I think I'll get some tea and snacks," Kimiko said, getting up to head into the kitchen. "Hiro, why don't you and Ando get to know Anzu a bit?"
Upon hearing Ando's name, Anzu did a double take. "That's seriously your boyfriend's name?!" she gasped; unwilling to tell an outright lie on top of going along with Kimiko's untrue explanation, Hiro reluctantly nodded. "Oh my God, that cannot just be a coincidence," Anzu said, leaning forward in her chair. Then, sucking in a sharp breath, she cried, "I've got it! Mendez-san must have based his characters on you two! Did you know him?!"
"Yes, we did… kind of," Hiro said, relieved to at least be able to be truthful in this area. It still wasn't exactly the truth, but it was the closest a non-special person should be entrusted with knowing. Anzu probably wouldn't believe the truth anyway. Even his beloved Ando hadn't believed Hiro at first all those years ago, when Hiro had told him about being able to freeze time. "We didn't know him very well, but we made quite an impression on him, so he based his Ninth Wonders characters off of us."
"I think he liked Hiro better," Ando jumped in, squeezing Hiro's hand. "Which is why Hiro's character was more important."
"Ahh! I knew it," Anzu squealed, pumping her fists in the air in a similar fashion to the way Hiro sometimes did. Hiro wondered if she had adopted the gesture from reading about his adventures. "This is so cool! Why didn't Kim—oh, that's what I call Kimiko-chan, just so you know—tell me about this?!"
That's what I'm wondering, Hiro thought, but he didn't say it aloud. Instead, he tried to change the topic. "So, I see you present as butch…" he began, scooting forward a bit on the couch and adjusting his glasses. "Where did you get your pin from?"
"Oh, this?" Anzu tapped her CERTIFIED BUTCH lapel pin. She was clearly startled by the sudden shift in topic, but she went along with it. "I got it at pride a few years back. Do you think I deserve to wear it?" She threw her head back and stuck her leg up in the air, imitating a model.
Hiro chuckled; despite the extreme mess of an awkward situation this was, he did genuinely like Anzu from what little of her he'd seen. "You definitely deserve it," he said, nodding to her red-and-black checkered flannel shirt and sweatpants. "If you had a superpower like Hiro—the one from the comic, not me—, it would be being butch."
"Thank you," Anzu giggled, dipping her head in gratitude. "That's what Kim says, too!"
Things went fairly smoothly from that point on. Hiro and Ando talked with Anzu for a bit, and although Ando still seemed understandably nervous about Anzu somehow figuring out the truth, Hiro would come to the rescue by jumping in with an abrupt change in topic whenever the conversation circled back to Ninth Wonders: "So, you two weren't together at the time Mendez-san was alive…?" "No… by the way, how did you and Kimiko meet?"; "You know, it's funny; I always dreamed of meeting you two in real life, and—" "Oh, that reminds me, I had a very odd dream a while back!"; and so on. Hiro was sure he was coming off as very rude, and he felt horrible about that, but it was better for everyone involved if Anzu didn't pry.
All in all, the meeting went unexpectedly well. What should have been an issue had never even come up, but a new, bigger issue had emerged instead. Hiro didn't think Anzu's interest would be a problem, though. It was just a shame he had to keep her in the dark about things…
