Chapter IV: Meeting Tadashi

"Ha, I knew it! We both do have the same heads!" GoGo proudly said, looking at Akira with his new blue motorcycle helmet that covered his entire head with the visor down, hiding his face. He also wore his new black leather jacket along with matching gloves, all fitting him perfectly.

"Feels a bit heavy," Akira said, holding on to the bottom of his helmet like it was pressing down onto his skull.

"Well, it has to, otherwise it wouldn't do its job," she said knocking on the top of the helmet. "Course, we shouldn't have to worry about that since I am an impeccable motorcyclist."

"Don't temp karma!" Akira said worriedly and quickly took off his helmet. Truth be told, he wasn't looking forward to be riding a motorcycle. Seeing how people would ride on those things very fast while looking so unprotected gave him the chills. But, he kept it to himself, knowing that it was the only way to get to her college, as least for her. He thought about making them lunch for the trip, but she offered to buy lunch at the campus, which he begrudgingly agreed.

After putting all of their groceries in their place and the day ready to go into the afternoon, GoGo grabbed her helmet, keys, and jacket and lead outside of their apartment. They took the elevator back down to the lobby and waiting for the second elevator to make its trip back up from the underground parking area.

"How deep below the earth's crust does it actually go?" Akira asked, looking at column of numbers that represent the individual levels that went far into the double digits.

"Quite a ways down. But, it's wider than it is deep and it's a labyrinth. So, don't be surprise if you find a human skeleton down there," GoGo said.

Stepping inside of the elevator, GoGo pressed the 6B button and the car began its descent slowly. Akira quickly realized that the walls around them were made out of glass so he could see the parking area clearly. With each level they passed, he found hundreds, if not thousands, of cars all lined up as far as he could see with the orange glow of the overhead lights covering everything. It was incredible to him that something this big could exist underground.

The elevator stopped at their floor and the two stepped off with GoGo continuing with her guide and they walked down in between the long row of cars, trucks, and vans, each one different in their color, shape, and size that there was no two that were the exact same. It took some time for them to reach the spot where a lone, dark motorcycle stood in the middle of a wide parking space, clearly not meant for it.

"So, where do I sit?" Akira asked apprehensively.

"Right here," GoGo patted on the back cushion. It looked so exposed like he could fall off at the smallest of tilt.

"There's no seatbelts on this thing?"

"No. Ironically, it's actually not safe to be wearing them on a motorcycle."

Akira wasn't sure about that until he imagine himself flipping along with it that convinced him that what she said made sense. As if letting himself to fate, he placed the helmet back onto his head and snapped the buttons, securing it into place. He tried to climb on, but it was a bit high for him. GoGo showed him how to climb on, almost like straddling a horse. Once he sat down, he was surprised to feel how comfortable the seat was, like a soft chair while he leaned back into it. He felt a little secured, but that bit of nervousness still lingered from the anticipation.

GoGo climbed up and started working on the controls. "Place your feet up here," he heard her through the microphone inside of his helmet and followed her instructions. The engines revved up, but it didn't sound as loud as he expected. "You ready?" she asked, sounding like she was looking forward to the moment.

He tried to put on a brave tone into his voice when he said "Yeah."

She kicked up the kickstand and, without warning, the bike shot out of its spot, taking Akira by surprise. He let out a quick yell and immediately wrapped his arms around GoGo's waist. He heard chuckling through the earpiece. "Hang on tight," she said and, with the engine giving off a powerful blast, they propelled down between the lanes of cars and started climbing up the spiraling ramp.

Keeping her speed low and constant, he could still feel the momentum by the tilt while they circle around, the yellow and orange lamps passing them with each ascending level. In no time, they broke out into the daylight, moving onto the streets of San Fransokyo.

They didn't move far before they stopped behind a car at a red light that Akira took the chance to look around him, finding tall skyscrapers all around him, but their apartment building missing. The parking area must be a lot bigger than he imagined.

"Doing okay back there?" GoGo asked.

"I'm fine," he answered, feeling a little confident.

"Good, but wait till we get to the freeway," she said with a hint of teasing fun. "That's the fun part."

Before Akira could say anything, the motorcycle pulled forward with traffic light's permission by turning green and made a sharp left turn. Speeding down the lane, Akira managed to catch a couple of signs flashing by that said that they were heading for the freeway. Squeezing his arms a little tighter around her as if to remind her of who was riding with her, he put his whole trust into his sister and watched with frightful anticipation as they entered onto the ascending ramp, accelerating.

The increasing speed gave him that sense of being on a roller coaster, the rush of air screaming over his helmet, but the sound of the engine still roared above it. Stopping her acceleration, they were still moving very fast. He chanced to look around and felt his fear dissipated and replaced with intrigue and excitement.

They were in the middle of the road with six rows of different vehicles; cars, vans, trucks, and even a couple of tracker trailers all traveling down in a synchronized movement. They scooted across the behemoth shadows of the skyscrapers that lined up close to the overpass and Akira managed to catch much of the city in between them, looking with awe at the spectacle of the city laying out invitingly to him underneath the glowing sun. For the first time since arriving, Akira felt like he was going on an adventure.

He looked at the many cars surrounding them and he caught two kids, a boy and a girl, in a van next to them, watching with excitement painted on their faces. He waved to them and they both waved back enthusiastically.

"This is pretty fun!" Akira said cheerfully.

"I know, right?' she said like she knew already.

"How fast are we going?"

"79 mph."

A daring thought entered his head. "Can you go a little faster?"

"I was hoping you say that!"

The engines revved up and he felt himself being propelled once again, but he welcomed it. They flew passed every car like they were standing still and he laughed joyfully, feeling his troubles and care were being blown away and left behind, riding at the speed of light.

A few more minutes passed until GoGo decelerated and pulled onto their exit. Catching the sign that pointed to the direction of her school, Akira felt a little sadden that the ride was about to come to an end, but it was such a cathartic experience that he felt grateful for it. It took a few more minutes to reach their destination and, pulling into the entrance, he was surprised to see how serene the campus looked with its lush, green scenery of the grass and healthy looking trees with several modern building propped up at different areas with many people walking along the sidewalk. Seeing it reminded him of home that now felt like a world away. Melancholy stung his heart and he hugged his sister tighter, still needing to feel that security.

They pulled up into a parking lot that was reserved only for students and climbed off. Akira pulled off his helmet and revealed to GoGo a huge, winning smile with his hair all ruffled with several strands of them sticking out like electricity had ran through them.

"I knew you'd like it," GoGo said proudly, rubbing his messy hair with a satisfied grin. Hooking her arm around his neck, the two walked across the parking lot, heading for the building straight ahead.

They entered through the doors and walked down the gray, concrete corridor and Akira heard sounds of whirrs, bangs, and a loud crash echoing softly. "This is where I usually spend much of my free time," GoGo said. "No matter what time of the day, or any day for that matter, it's always busy with people who are very passionate about what they do, so we have to learn very quickly and early on to share whatever space we have. Thankfully, because we are so like-minded, we do get along pretty easily." They reached the red double doors and GoGo pushed one of them open to let Akira walk through it first. He took the offer and stepped inside.

The sight before him made him stop in his tracks and he saw what GoGo meant. Many people were crammed together with much of the space allotted to machinery that moved freely like sentient beings, performing human actions like painting, golfing, basketball, Ping-Pong, knitting, just about any kind of activity. It looked as though they were getting ready for the most advance science fair.

"Come on, my work space is over here," GoGo said, guiding Akira through the madness. He continue to observe the many projects and the students didn't seem, or cared, to notice the new arrivals.

Tack boards formed a small area with blueprints tacked onto them, displaying an image of a bike of some kind. Surrounding them were several photographs of him and GoGo when they were younger along with their parents that he couldn't help but look closely at. They were smiling and laughing, having no idea of how their future would turn out until it was too late. It felt simple back then, he thought nostalgically.

"Watch your head," GoGo said. She began turning a crank and he looked up to see something coming down from the ceiling. He stood aside, watching a thin yellow bike hanging from suspenders stopping just a few feet above the floor in front of him, hovering just along his eye line. It look so fragile he thought and the wheels caught his eyes. He looked closely at it and was surprised to see them not physically attached to the frame, just floating all by themselves. With careful curiosity, he waved his hand in between the wheel and frame and a low hum told him that something invisible was at work.

"Can you guess what's going on?" GoGo quizzed him teasingly.

Feeling stumped, he was nowhere as interested in science as her. However, a memory surfaced of him seeing a globe floating in midair in a toy store when he was younger and it was explained to him that magnets at both ends of the frame sort of cancel each other out to give the illusion that it was floating on its own. "Well, if it's not witchcraft, then you are using some sort of magnet."

"Yep," she said, satisfied with his educated guess. "To be specific, the term for this is electromag suspension. It helps reduce friction so that I can go really fast."

"How fast can you make it go?"

"Last time I test run it, I clocked at 132.627 mph," she said, sounding a little monotone like she wasn't all that proud of it.

"Is that too slow for you?" he asked with a teasing smile.

"Yes, it is a little too slow, you little troll," she said, playfully punching him in the arm and the two shared a laugh.

Still perplexed by the strange bike, Akira used his finger on the edge of the wheel and gently spun it, watching it turn solidly without so much a wiggle like it was bolted. They had to be pretty strong magnets for them to stay on like this he thought, which a pondering thought popped into his mind. "Have you ever had them fall off while riding?"

"Nope. They're so strong not even a gorilla can rip them off. Go on, give it a try."

Grabbing ahold of each side of the wheel, he tried wiggling it but it stayed in place, unmovable. He applied a little more force, shaking it hard that the entire bike shook while GoGo watched with an amused look. It still would not budge a millimeter. "Wow, that's something," he said impressed.

"Yep, she's my baby. But…" she pulled the wheel off with ease and threw it like a Frisbee into a pile of discarded disks of different shapes and designs, "she needs a little bit more work."

"Hey, GoGo! Glad to see you decided to grace use with your presence," a voice called out from behind. Akira turned to find a huge black man in a green sweater and work glasses on his face approaching them.

"Just checking to make sure that nobody was stealing anything from it," GoGo answered. "By the way, this is my baby brother, Akira. Akira, this is Wasabi."

"Hey, man. GoGo's told us so much about you," Wasabi said, holding out his gloved hand and Akira accepted it in a handshake.

"Wasabi?" Akira said, confused.

"Long story," the man said with a dismissing wave of his hand.

Forgetting about the odd name, Akira looked behind Wasabi and found a pair of vertical bars. "What are you working on?" he asked.

"Want to see?" he said with an inviting smile.

"Sure."

Guiding him, Wasabi directed Akira to stand behind the yellow line and to not move, especially forward. He waited like he was told and watched Wasabi run around the table, wondering why he didn't just go through the two bars in front. Then, Wasabi picked up an apple and turned to Akira with a smile that seemed like he can easily impress the boy. "Would you like an apple?" he asked.

"Uh, sure?"

He tossed the red fruit into the air and Akira was ready to catch it, but it instantly transformed into several paper thin slices in midair and they fell down like leaves in autumn. One managed to fall into the palm of his hands while an astonished look held onto his face. "How did you do that?"

Wasabi flick up a switch and several green florescent lines appeared in between the two bars. "Laser-induced plasma," the inventor explained. "With a little magnetic confinement for ultra-precision."

It looked so pretty that Akira wanted to touch it, but remembering what happened to the apple made him take a step back away from it. "That's pretty neat," he said with an approving smile.

"Thanks," Wasabi said, looking humbled by the comment.

From behind, Akira heard humming and a tall, thin girl with long blond hair ran passed him, rolling a giant black ball. Looking on with surprise, Akira went up to her, curious as to what she was planning on doing with it. She hopped right in front of it the ball to stop it and he walked into a new area where a whole bunch of vials and beakers were set up on a table, all holding different color liquids inside them.

"Hello," he called out to her.

Bending her body over the metal ball, she sported huge pink glasses and wore ear plugs which he could hear music blaring from them. "OMG!" she squealed in delight and walked around the ball with a big smile. "Are you GoGo's little brother, Akira?" she asked gleefully.

Taken back from her enthusiasm, he nodded with an added "Yes."

"Oh, she has told us so much about you!" she screamed as if she was trying to talk over the loud music that only existed from her ear plugs. Then, to his surprise, she gave him a quick kiss on each of his cheeks.

"Um, nice to meet you, too," he said, incredulous by the unique greeting. "What do you have there?"

"400 pounds of tungsten carbine!"

Deciding not to ask what those two words mean, he pressed on like he knew what she was talking about. "What are you going to do with it?"

"You really want to know?" she asked eagerly. He nodded with interest, giving her permission to pull him to her lab table. "You are going to love this! A dash of perchloric acid, a smidge of cobalt, a hint of hydrogen peroxide, superheated to 500K and…" with a paint sprayer, a pink cloud drifted over the entire black ball and it magically turned…pink. "Ta-Da!"

"That's…kind of cool," Akira said, trying to sound a little enthusiastic as a way to be polite.

"Oh, we've haven't gotten to the best part," she said, her smile still as big like she was hiding some secret she couldn't wait to reveal. "Go on, touch it," she pushed him forwards towards the pink ball. Humoring her, he walked up to it and gently poked it with the tip of his finger.

It exploded into a big, pink dust cloud and Akira stood with a gaping mouth in surprise, his face, clothes, hair, and glasses covered in the pink soot. "Whoa," he said and a big smile appeared on his face. "That is so cool!"

"I know, right?" she said. "Chemical metal embrittlement!"

"Nice one, Honey Lemon," GoGo complimented while she and Wasabi walking up to them.

Akira looked at the tall girl after he finish wiping his glasses to free it of the pink dust. "Honey Lemon? Who the heck comes up with the nicknames?"

"That would be Fred's doing," Wasasbi answered.

"Who's Fred?"

"Did someone call me?"

Turning towards a voice that sounded a bit muffled, Akira came face-to-face with a monster. He let out a yelp as jump back away from it.

"Whoa, easy dude. Didn't mean to scare ya like that," the voice said and the hideous face lifted up to reveal a normal human head underneath. Feeling a little silly, Akira walked up to the person in costume. "So, you GoGo's lil' bro? Sup' man? Fred's the name," the shoulder-length hair man with a beanie said, holding out a fist, which was a claw and Akira lightly bumped it.

"So, what do you do here?" Akira asked.

"Oh, by day, I'm the school mascot, but by night…I'm also the school mascot."

"I mean, what's your major?"

"Oh, I'm not a student here. But, I am a major science enthusiast. In such, I've been trying to get Honey Lemon to make me where I can turn into a fire-breathing dragon, but she said that isn't 'scientific,'" he said with his claws gesturing quotes.

"It's not, really," Honey Lemon said defensively.

"Okay," Akira said and stop listening while Fred started talking about eating an invisible sandwich. He looked up at GoGo quizzically and she only shrugged her shoulders.

"We pretty much treat him like a pet puppy dog, but we try not to indulge him," she said. "But, he's a cool guy in the end."

A loud bang echoed in the room, catching everyone's attention. They turned to find a young man marching towards the group with a sulking look on his face.

"Yo, man, how's the project going?" Fred called out.

"TO HELL!" the man yelled. He marched through the double red doors, shoving them out of the way to leave behind an entire room full of surprised people standing speechless by the emotional display and began talking amongst themselves about what just happened.

"Oh, dear," Honey Lemon said worriedly. "I guess it didn't go as well again. But, I've never seen him act so upset like that before. He's usually so optimistic."

"Well, given how much trouble it has given him all this time, I'm impressed that he didn't blew up until now," Wasabi said, looking just as worried.

Akira stared at the red doors while they closed and an impulse inside of him made him want to chase after the frustrated young man. Without saying anything, he ran past GoGo and headed for the exit. He stepped outside of the workshop just in time to find the door leading outside shutting and he ran down the hall in hopes of catching up with him. He wasn't sure exactly why he was chasing after him, but seeing how frustrating he looked made him feel empathic and even a little worried. Looking through the glass window on the door, he found the young man sitting on the steps, his head down like he was exhausted. Stepping outside carefully like trying not to scare away a cat, Akira made his way down the steps and stood in front of the man.

The man held his head up with his fists, his elbows propped on his knees and his cap nearly hiding his face, but Akira can see a large frown on his lips, looking very dejected. Slender in body build compared to Wasabi's bulky frame, he still looked strong. His clothing made him look almost conservative with his dark brown dress pants and jacket with a sweater vest underneath it, but his cap and sneakers offset his appearance. Then, the young man looked up at Akira as if to realized that he wasn't alone and Akira felt his heart skipped a beat by the sight of the handsome face looking at him, even while the young man didn't look amused by Akira's presence.

"What do you want?" the dejected man asked.

"Um…just seeing how you are doing," Akira said, feeling embarrassed by the fact that he did followed a complete stranger for no realreason. "You looked really angry back there."

"Understatement of the century."

Silence fell onto them for a moment and Akira decided to continue with the conversation. "So, what is it that you were working on?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"I mean I'm not working on that piece of shit anymore! I quit, it's over! Kaput!"

Feeling that he might need to handle it gingerly, he decided to go along with it. "Okay, what was it that you were working on?"

The young man raised an eyebrow, staring at Akira more intently. He didn't look as irritable, but he looked confused. "Why are you asking me about it? Are you interested in coming here in the future?"

"No. Just curious about it," Akira answered truthfully.

Letting out a sigh, he shrugged his shoulders like he was willing to play along. "I was working on a robot that would help people with their medical needs. I call him 'Baymax.'"

"Is that like come kind of live-in nurse?"

"Something like that," the young man said, looking more even-tempered. "It started off as a labor of love that slowly turned into a nightmare since the beginning of last semester." He paused and an ironic smile appeared and let out a matching laugh. "He had so many glitches that I have been trying to fix, but like a run-down car, when one problem gets fixed, a new one quickly follows behind."

"How many times have you tried to fix it?"

"Counting the last one, eighty-five."

"Wow. You're really dedicated," Akira said impressed.

"Well, I've ran out of it now," he said, a deep frown on his lips while he hung his head in as if in shame.

"Yeah, I guess know how that is like," Akira said, "For the longest of time, I've wanted to try drawing comics, but, for some reason, I can't seem to get the hang of it. First off, just trying to come up with a story to tell is just way too difficult. Then, I have to come up with the characters, their motivations, the plot, the settings. Then, I have to have the right software and the first one I bought was super buggy. While I was trying to work on my character models, it crashed on me and I lost everything and I gave up. I've hand drawn it ever since then, but it is so time consuming and I'm starting to think it isn't working. The action scene look stupid, the poses and expressions, I feel, aren't right, along with so many other problems. So, I'm thinking about scraping it, but I don't want to, not after all the work I put into it, but I feel that maybe I can salvage it somehow. I just don't know."

A little smile formed on the man's lips and he looked up at Akira. "Yeah, that does sound like a pain. The first time I tested it out, it was going fine, but then Baymax's microphone started to malfunction and the sound test nearly made me go deaf. Then, another time, he nearly went berserk and almost took my head off when one of his arms went off like a balloon he said laughing and Akira smiled. "But, the biggest fail that happened was when he caused a blackout that took out half the campus. At first, I thought I was going to be expelled when Professor Callaghan and the president both came to talk to me once they found out where it originated. Thankfully, they were completely understanding about it, saying it does happen every once in a while when students work hard on their projects." The two laughed and Akira watched him while the man relaxed a bit and became more laidback. He took his cap off and rubbed his short, black hair and Akira found an even more handsome man. His cheeks flaring up, he mentally slapped himself out of his daze, but his heart pounded in his chest that he could hear it inside of his head. What's wrong with me? he thought.

Replacing his cap back onto his head, the young man stood up, his smile becoming prominent, making him even more handsome. "Man, that helped a lot. I feel much better now. Thanks, man," he said extending his hand out in gratitude.

"Oh, no problem," Akira said, taking the hand nervously. It felt strong, yet gentle. His face burned and a silly smile formed on his face. "Um, I'm Akira."

"Akira?" the young man said, looking surprise. "You wouldn't be GoGo's little brother, are you?"

"Yes, I am."

"She did mentioned about bringing you here to live from now on. She told us of what happened. I'm really sorry, man."

"It's okay," Akira said, not wanting to focus on it. "So far, I'm liking the city."

"That's good. You know, I also have a younger brother. Same age as you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but…" he stopped, looking unsure if he should reveal more. "Eh, right now, he's off doing his own thing. Name's Tadashi Hamada."

Akira looked at him with surprise. "Is that you're real name?"

Tadashi gave a confused look and started to chuckle. "Oh, the whole nicknames thing, right? Yeah, I didn't get the honor of having one from Fred."

"Well, good, because that's a good name."

"Thanks, man. You've got yourself a cool name yourself."

A smile beamed on Akira's face, a sense of excitement rushing over him. He felt very comfortable being around Tadashi for some reason. Maybe it's the fact that he didn't seem at all judgmental about Akira even after knowing of his recent history. It made him feel accepted.

"Hey, Akira, you hitting on Tadashi?" GoGo called out from the door, looking on with a teasing smile while Akira got kicked out of his daydream.

"Hey, it's more than I've ever gotten in all my entire life," Tadashi called back. He wrapped his arm around Akira's shoulder and, being pressed up to the man's body, Akira's heart raced and his face flushed red. He never had someone else outside of the family hold him like this. It feels…really nice, he thought. "You want to check out Baymax?" Tadashi asked, looking at Akira with a friendly and inviting smile.

"Sure," Akira said.

The two went back inside of the building, with Akira enjoying Tadashi's touch. It felt like something grand was within his reach and he concluded that coming to live in San Fransokyo had been a good thing after all.