"What? What do you mean?" Tadashi asked
"Oh no." Rider groaned
"You have a picture of my mom there in your room." Hiro explained, "It was... it was a family picture."
Tadashi's eyes widened as he tried his best to go closer to Hiro. He hugged her with all the might his body allowed him to offer all the while Hiro just sitting, motionless.
"I knew it." Tadashi murmured against Hiro's hair, "I knew that you weren't dead."
Hiro's tears welled up and ran down her face. She tried to keep her sobs to herself but only failing, resulting Tadashi to hug her even tighter.
"I've been looking for you for so long." Tadashi could not help but smile
"And you're better off without me." Hiro said then pushed him away
She wiped her tears then stood up, "You and Aunt Cass should move as far away as possible before sundown. Somewhere you can go untracked. Somewhere no one and I mean no one knows you. Change your identities and don't challenge another mogul." She shook her head no, "There's a very slim chance of having another agent who won't try to kill you." She looked at the other agent, "Let's go Rider."
She started walking out of the building but Rider already had a hand grasped on one of hers.
"Alright, I'll tell you everything about yourself that not even Tooth knows." Rider stated
Hiro turned around and furrowed her brows.
"You had amnesia back when you were seven. Your mother was there in the car with you and so was your father." Rider spilled, "Now sit down before I continue."
Hiro sighed but obeyed, occupying the space next to Rider.
"The car crash wasn't an accident." Rider continued, "It was planned. It was a plan gone wrong."
Rider regretted ever starting the topic. He never wanted to see Hiro so devastated and with her life story at hand, there was just no way that she would not be.
Everything was in place for Hiro's day nine years ago. She and her parents were in a trip to go to a convention her mother was supposed to go to and Hiro could not simply be left alone. The bouncy seven year old sat in her chair with a huge grin on her face.
"Are we there yet?" Hiro asked her parents
"No dear." her mother responded
Hiro nodded then looked out the window. The trees were passing by quickly and the clouds were too. Hiro smiled at the inanimate objects outside in wonder, especially the sun that was being covered by the clouds. As a seven year old, Hiro understood that these were not following her but it still amazed her young mind how they seemed to be.
The car began to slow down and a traffic jam began to build up. She noticed that the sun did not show up anymore and the white and fluffy clouds were beginning to be replaced by the dark and ominous clouds. Thunder started sounding off and a bright flash of lightning made Hiro cower in her seat.
"Mom," she shakily called
Her mother went to get her from the back of the car and placed Hiro in her lap. The rain started pouring down heavily and Hiro hugged her mother tight. The traffic started lessening as the cars went different directions. Half an hour later, there were few to none cars left around them so their trip was not very long. The wind howled heavily and the rain still poured. Hiro had fallen asleep on her mother's lap long before at the start of the rain. The road began to be slippery so Hiro's father slowed the pace of the car a little bit.
It was a smooth drive from there until a speeding car overtook them on their right turn. Hiro's father quickly and immediately turned the wheel to the left as to avoid the collision with the other car. Her father lost control of the wheel and shifted a hard right and drifted to the other lane.
Hiro's parents gripped tightly on whatever they could get their hands on. Hiro's mother looked at her husband and quickly checked if he was fine.
"Are you hurt?" She asked, breathing labored
"I'm fine, I'm fine. What about Hiro?" Her father responded
"She's here." Her mother stated, hugging the small figure in her lap, "We should turn right before-."
A loud honk of a truck was heard and they only had enough time to see a pair of lights go their way before the truck hit their car.
"Your father was severely injured but nobody knew that it was him in the car." Rider stated, "His face was so distorted that no one could recognize him. Your mother was the only one whom they knew so they also knew who you were. That's why the people there named you Hiro Takachiho."
"So..." Hiro squinted, "So how did you know?"
"Field study. I told you that I did background checks for everybody. I just learned that last year and when we were called to see who was going after Tadashi I didn't want to say it to them anymore." Rider answered, "I'm sorry that I hid this to you but you're not Hiro Takachiho, she doesn't have records, you're Hiro Hamada."
Hiro took a sharp inhale of breath. She bit her lip and grasped Rider's hand tightly.
"All this time, you knew." She murmured, "And you didn't tell me from the start."
"Look it's not my job to tell you, not anymore. I wanted to take care of Tadashi and pull him out of trouble." Rider replied
"Alright." Hiro stated then turned to the other two people in the room, "You two. Get out of this country right now."
"Wha-. Hiro you just met your family and yoh're expecting them to move away as far as possible?" Rider grabbed Hiro's shoulders and shook her, "Are you out of your mind?"
"Rider I can find them again but if Yama catches him alive then I won't have one anymore." Hiro explained
Rider sighed, defeated.
"I'll, we'll help you pack." He said
They fixed all the things Cass and Tadashi needed but not enough to make others suspicious.
"I want to hold a funeral for Tadashi." Hiro announced, "I want to see his face in the obituaries."
Two weeks later...
Hiro walked in an elevator of the Yamashita Industries. She pushed the button for the roof deck and waited until she got there. The doors opened and she proceeded to walk up to the clear glass door waiting for her at the other side.
Clack... Clack... Clack...
The doors opened as her presence was detected.
"Of course, of course," a deep voice said
The chair turned to face her and the person on it smiled at her.
"I assume you've got good news?" Yama asked
Hiro smirked then walked forward. She threw a bundle of newspapers on the table, front showing the page he desired. He held it up to see his face and laughed.
"This is why I never doubted you." He announced, "Your pay will be doubled at the end of the month, expect that."
Hiro smiled at him, "Good. But there's one more thing I ask."
"Go ahead."
Hiro glared at him darkly, "Don't you dare call for me. Ever. Again."
She turned around and walked away from him, going back downstairs. She was met by her co-agent outside.
"So what else did you do there?" Rider asked
"Nothing much. He's lucky I didn't kill him for killing my parents and making me kill my brother." Hiro shrugged
"But seriously, I'm really sorry for your parents. We only wanted to kidnap you at the convention but he had other plans." Rider commented
"I'm just lucky you were there to pick me up in the wreckage." Hiro smiled up at him
The day was still clear to Rider. He was also on the same road that very hour and he saw the incident with his own eyes. For a nine year old, it was absolutely traumatizing but when his father stopped the car, he jumped down and ran to the crash. He looked inside the window despite her mother calling him to get back inside. He heard a soft cry coming from the inside. He knocked on the window and then a crying girl not older than him turned to him. He asked her to pull the window down and helped her crawl out the small space.
"Do you know what happened?" She cried at him
He shook his head no.
"Do you... do you know my name?" She asked
Again, he shook his head no.
Soon enough, his parents ran up to him and got him and two men in black went to get the girl. The girl who was absolutely clueless about everything went with the two men. She was put into an ambulance and was sent off to who knows where.
"Earth to Rider." Hiro called as she waved her hands in front of his face
He snapped out of his stupor then looked at her.
"Where did you board them?" Hiro asked
"They're off to Asia, you know, Japan?" Rider replied
"I wish I could've been with them." She stated weakly
"Yeah but that can be in another time." Rider said, "Right now, we need to think of an explanation why the three of us won't be going to SFIT."
"Oh, I took care of that already." Hiro nodded, "So you're still going to Georgoslavia?"
"Yeah, it's sad to go, though." Rider replied
Hiro smiled warmly at him, "Well we'll still see each other, right?"
"Of course we would." Rider responded, "It would be sad to not see my girlfriend anymore, right?"
Hiro grinned at him and hugged him tightly before raising off to the headquarters.
Okay no, let's stop it there. Let's stop it there before I spoil one too many things for the finale which will probably be tomorrow. It's sad to see this story go buuuuut look at all the plotholes. LOOK! This just screams for a sequel, especially the final chapter but I'm still not sure so let's see.