Here I am again with chapter 4! I thought I'd mention now that because of Johara's involvement in the story, I have not planned for GoGo, Honey Lemon, Wasabi, and Fred to be characters in here. Sorry to disappoint anyone!
Hiro's eyes dragged themselves open slowly. However, his brain was completely unprepared to take in the world just yet, and they spun closed. He took several seconds to banish the dizziness swirling in his head, then opened his eyes again and lifted his head.
"He's awake," stated a voice in relief.
He noticed the girl, Johara, sitting next to him, making him realize he was in his aunt's car. At her announcement, Aunt Cass quickly pulled into a nearby parking lot and got out. Opening the back door, she put her hand on her nephew's shoulder.
"Hiro?" In only two syllables, her tone showed relief, worry, and irritation all at once.
Grinning weakly in an attempt to reassure her, Hiro squeaked, "Hey, Aunt Cass." Unwilling to meet her desperate gaze, he shoved himself out of the car and walked a couple feet away, wobbling on his feet.
Grabbing his arm gently to help him balance, Aunt Cass questioned, "Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital? We were on our way there, but we just didn't know, but now that you're awake . . . " She swallowed. "Does it hurt? Are you bleeding anywhere? Do you have a concussion? Do you have amnesia?" She froze at the sudden thought. She was about to blurt out a series of panicked questions to test his memory when the boy interrupted her.
"I'm fine, Aunt Cass. Just a little dizzy, and my head's aching. What happened?"
At this, his aunt stiffened with anger. "'What happened?'" she repeated. "What happened was you, young man, running into some dangerous ruins!"
Remembering, Hiro winced at her sharp tone but said nothing.
"Do you have any idea of what I have been through in the past half hour!?" his guardian whisper-screeched, in an effort to keep the public from overhearing. "Imagine, would you, me having a normal morning in the cafe, just getting ready for lunch rush, and I get a phone call from a girl. She tells me to come pick you guys up at the ruins of the presentation hall, so I rush over there and find you completely out cold! And what does she tell me that this is all about? That you ran in there to save Tadashi, got the building to collapse on you, and got whacked on the head with a falling pillar!?"
By this time, Johara had climbed out and joined them on the left side of the car. "Aun . . . Aunt Cass," she spoke up quietly, stumbling over the insisted nickname, "he wasn't actually hit by the post itself. One of the crumbling pieces tumbled out in the fall and . . . you know . . . hit him. It wasn't that big; I'm sure he's fine."
Slightly calmed but still furious, Aunt Cass gave a reluctant but firm nod. "Right," she replied. "Now, if you're okay and don't need to go to the hospital, we should be heading home. Come on."
She and Johara began heading back to the car. They were ready to get in when Aunt Cass turned and saw Hiro standing still, his face angry.
"I'm not going home," he told her.
"What?" Aunt Cass was caught off guard.
"I can't go home. Tadashi needs me. I'm going back to the hall."
"No, you are not! You're going home right this second, and you're going to stay there all day! And you're never going back to that hall! Ever!" Aunt Cass yelled, forcefully dragging him to the car.
"You can't keep me from there! You can't keep me from Tadashi!" Hiro shrieked.
"Stop it, Hiro!"
Feeling like an awkward intruder, Johara winced at the screaming match and quickly ducked into the car.
Aunt Cass yanked the back door open, ordering her nephew, "Hiro, get in the car! You are in no condition to stay out!"
"I need to find Tadashi! I'm running out of time!"
"Tadashi isn't there! Get in!"
"No one ever found proof that–"
"Hiro Hamada!"
The ride back to the Lucky Cat Cafe was silent. Hiro fumed in the backseat, trying to think of a way to get back to the hall without getting stopped by Aunt Cass.
When they pulled up and parked, Hiro leaped out and slammed the door. He ran in ahead of the two females, yelling, "This isn't over!"
Aunt Cass climbed out slowly, sighing. Energy drained, she muttered to Johara, "I'm sorry you had to see that. I don't know what's happening to Hiro."
"It's . . . it's okay," Johara murmured. "I think he just . . . I think he's just in a lot of pain right now."
Aunt Cass swallowed. "We all are," she admitted. "He lost his parents at three, and now his only sibling . . . "
"That's awful," Johara replied.
Aunt Cass nodded, walking into the house. "It's not helping with the whole fire thing. No one's allowed to investigate yet, so they don't have any proof . . . but how could anyone have survived? It was such a violent explosion." She closed her eyes, willing the pain to be banished. "Do you want some tea or something?" she asked, trying to distract herself. "I've got green, black, and mint."
"Um . . . mint . . . mint is nice," Johara answered.
Aunt Cass put on the water and readied three mugs before returning to Johara.
"Where's Hiro?" Johara asked.
"In his room, I'm sure," Aunt Cass sighed. "I'll check on him after the water boils, if you don't mind."
Johara swallowed. "No. I mean, it's okay."
After the water was ready and Aunt Cass had poured it out, she delivered a cup to Johara, left one on the table for herself, and took another one up to Hiro.
"Hiro?" she called, knocking on the door.
When she received no answer, she gently pushed the door open. She almost dropped the mug.
"Hiro!" she screamed. She rushed to put the mug on her nephew's desk, then ran to where Hiro himself was in the middle of tying a long string of sheets to the leg of his bed frame. The other end was already dangling out the open window. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" exclaimed Hiro. "I'm going back to the hall. You can't stop me, Aunt Cass!"
She pulled the blanket rope back in and slammed the window. "Yes, I can," she refuted.
Angry, Hiro tried to reopen the window, but Aunt Cass blocked it.
"What's happening?" cried Johara, rushing into the room. "I heard screaming!" A look at the situation, however, answered her question.
"Why are you trying to stop me?" exclaimed Hiro accusingly. "Don't you want Tadashi back?"
"Hiro," Aunt Cass started, "Tadashi–"
"Oh, don't tell me," Hiro snarled. "'Tadashi's dead. Tadashi's gone,'" he mimicked. "'But wait! He's not really gone if we remember him!'"
"Hiro, that's not fair," Aunt Cass argued. "You know that–"
"I know what?" Hiro snapped. "'It was such a violent explosion. No one could have survived.'"
Aunt Cass' mouth fell open. "You–"
"Heard? Yeah. And you're wrong. Tadashi survived. I know he's there. He needs me. I'm going to save him."
Aunt Cass' fists tightened, her stomach constricting. "You can't save him, Hiro. It's too late."
"It's not too late!"
Aunt Cass closed her eyes, trying to block the voices screaming at her. It wasn't just Hiro. It was her doubt and hope. Doubt that everyone was right, that Tadashi was gone. Hope that he had been somewhere out of the way of the explosion, where he had survived. Hope that what Hiro was saying was all true.
But hope hurt. It played with her strongest emotions, of pain and loss and fear. Hope – this hope – was rooted in what wasn't known. And while no one knew if Tadashi was alive, Aunt Cass knew there was no way any person inside that building could have survived the explosion.
"Hiro, just please stop," she begged. "Just leave it alone."
"No!" Hiro yelled. "Why, Aunt Cass? Why do want to believe he's gone?"
"I don't want to believe that, but I have to!" Aunt Cass fired back.
"No, you don't!"
"If I believe that, it'll tear me apart!" Aunt Cass screamed. "If I believe that just to be proven wrong, to see that dream evaporate outside just out of reach, I will die!"
The room fell silent, and Aunt Cass began to sob. Exhausted, she dropped onto Hiro's office chair, resting her arms on the back and burying her face in them. Met by the smell of smoke, she lifted her head and saw Hiro's blue sweater under her hands. Tears still dripping from her eyes, she pulled it off the back, rubbing her fingers over the fabric as she flashed back to three nights ago.
"What's that?" Johara murmured, desperate to break the silence.
Hiro stalked over and ripped the hoodie from his aunt's hands. "It's mine," he snapped. "I wore it the night Tadashi died." His words were darts shooting jaggedly from behind gritted teeth.
He threw it on his bed and stomped towards the door. Halfway there, the girl's quiet and now nervous voice interrupted him: "It's moving."
Hiro paused, then turned. Huffing slightly, he demanded, "What is?"
"Your . . . your hoodie," she murmured, pointing at it as she backed. "The pocket's wiggling." She swallowed. "Please tell me you that have a very small pet and that's not a wild animal."
Hiro hesitated, the clear and unsettling answer written in his expression, then walked back to the bed and picked up the item of clothing. He dug into the pocket and pulled out a tiny, squirming, black, bug-looking object. All of the anger and aggression that had built inside of him slowly evaporated as he took in the sight. "It's my microbot," he whispered.
"Your microbot?" asked Johara, confused. "I thought they were all destro–" She ducked her head. "I mean, still in the presentation hall."
Her words made Aunt Cass look up, and she stood as the two teenagers continued talking.
"Most of them," Hiro admitted, watching the microbot writhe in his grip. "This is the one that I used for the presentation. I had it in my pocket when I left." He swallowed.
"Why is it moving like that?" Aunt Cass sniffed, approaching them.
"It's attracted to the other microbots," Hiro explained. "If they're in action, it will automatically try to get to them. It's how they're made." His eyes widened with a sudden thought, making the two females exchanged worried glances.
"Hiro . . . ?" murmured Aunt Cass.
He gasped one word: "Tadashi!"
