A/N: I do not own Big Hero 6 or The Promised Neverland. All rights go to their respectful owners.
Ding dong!
The clock chimed as the sun sluggishly rose in the early velvet-tinted sky. Childrens' eyes stirred, slowly peeking open, before becoming aware of their surrounding. Some yawned. Some stretched. One yelled "Good morning!" in an energetic manner that annoyed some children.
One of the children, an eleven-year-old with messy black-hair, awakened on that bright, beautiful day like a sloth. His name was Hiro, and he was the smartest of all the children. He could quickly learn things in five seconds flat, and his agility was incredible. He was a true genius. But whenever it was brought up by one of the children, he always would tell them, "I'm not that smart!" or, "I'm just really good at learning!"
The children loved him, even adored him, because of this. His genuine familial care for them radiated so much it was blinding. Hiro loved his family, even if they weren't blood related, which they weren't. They were orphans, but to Hiro, they were something more. And he would never let go of them.
As Hiro sat there, rubbing his eyes, children from all around the room greeted him. He smiled at them, excited for the day to begin. But his smile quickly changed to that of surprise and shock when he was rammed into the squeaky clean wood flooring.
Hiro tried to push himself off the floor, but couldn't because someone sat atop him. As the person's weight squeezed the breath out of him, he struggled to ask, "Whoever this is, please get off my back. You're killing me!"
Hiro heard a familiar, childish laugh, before being freed by the literal burden he had on him. As he stood up, brushing off dust from his milky white shirt and trousers, he tensed. The coldness of the flooring suddenly came to him in a flash, and Hiro quickly settled back onto the bed, before reaching for his brown boots.
After delicately tying his boots, he looked toward his attacker. The boy was a ten-year-old with short platinum blonde hair that curled to the left side. His hands sat on his hips.
Hiro sighed. "Why did you do that, Max?"
"You wouldn't have gotten out of bed, Hiro. Just admit it!" He said as a playful smile creeped onto his face. "And besides, I'll be leaving today."
Hiro frowned. "I would have gotten out of bed. You just have to be patient."
"But this is my last day here, Hiro!" Max said, pouting, while Hiro stood up. "I want to have as much fun as I can before then!"
"Guess I have to tell Mama that you'll be slacking on your last day, then." A new voice said. Hiro and Max turned and saw a boy with coal black hair walking over to them, a thoughtful expression settling on his face.
"But Tadashi, I'm leaving today!" Max protested.
"Just because you're leaving, doesn't mean you can stop doing chores and testing." Tadashi said, putting his hands on his hips.
"Wait, I still have to do testing?!" Max screeched. Hiro laughed, wiping a tear from his eye. Tadashi raised his eyebrows, as if to say, "You thought you wouldn't?"
Max sighed, a defeated look growing upon his face, as he sombered towards the door, passing by other children. Before he got to his destination, however, he tripped over his own feet, and face planted into the floor. All the children stopped what they were doing and rushed towards the platinum blonde to see if he was alright.
Tadashi and Hiro quickly walked over to the scene, Tadashi telling children to move out of the way, before bending down. He shook Max's shoulder. When there was no response, he did it a second time, which was met with a grunt, and Max saying, "Guess I get to not do chores, now, huh?"
"Max, are you alright?!" Hiro said in a panicked voice, ignoring his joke. Whenever someone would get injured, Hiro would go into "panic mode", as some liked to call. It would blind some of his senses, and the only thing he could do was focus on the injured person. Sometimes this was a pleasurable thing, but other times it wasn't, as Hiro would break out into an unstable emotional state and never come out of the bedroom for a while. But that was only if the situation was severe. In this case, however, it was a minor injury, as Max told Tadashi that his face hurt, before reassuring Hiro he was fine, though the boy had worrying thoughts still swimming through his mind.
"You will see Mom." Tadashi ordered. "No buts."
The children watched as Max, with a swollen right eye, and Tadashi walked out the room. Silence ensued as all eyes settled onto Hiro. The boy stared down at them, seeing concern laced into each pair of eyes.
"Don't worry." Hiro said, flashing a toothy smile to cheer them up. "He'll be fine." As if to prove his point, Hiro crouched down to their eye level, and ruffled some children's hair. He stood back up and set his hands on his hips. "We better head to breakfast before Mom worries."
"Okay!" They said, relieved, as they headed out the door. Hiro stayed behind, as one or two children needed help tying their boots. Once he was done, Hiro walked down the hall. Children ran passed him, giggling and filled with energy.
As he got nearer to the dining hall, he could see Tadashi telling Mama what happened to Max, before Mama turned to look at Max's injury.
"Hey Hiro." Max greeted him as said boy walked up to him. "Mama's getting me some medicine to help with the pain. She also said I shouldn't do any chores. I still have testing though…" Max added, saddened.
Mama retracted from a cabinet and set a pill in Max's hand.
"Tadashi, can you get some water for him?" Mama asked in a kind tone. Hiro loved it when she talked, for he felt comfort and peace in that voice.
Tadashi filled a plastic cup with water before giving it to Max. After the boy took the medication, Mama said, "Now, you two–" she pointed to Hiro and Tadashi "–better hurry and help the children so we can eat."
The two boys obeyed and scurried to the dining hall, which was bustling with laughter. As Hiro saw Max walking over to a table to sit, Hiro walked over to the pantry which stored the plates, silverware, bread, and other things. He swung the door open, almost bumping into a boy who was carrying plates.
"Hey, watch it!" The boy said, annoyance visible in his voice. When he saw who it was, he added, "Oh, sorry, Hiro; thought you were one of the younger children."
"No worries, Ray." Hiro said. "Would you like me to take some of those from you?"
"Oh, uh, yeah, sure." Ray said, pleased that he wouldn't have to carry it all. Once Hiro took half of the stack, they started walking over towards the table. As Hiro continued on, Ray stopped to greet someone. Hiro saw that that someone was Emma, who was laughing and carrying Lannion on her back. Thoma stood behind her.
"Morning, Emma," a platinum blonde haired boy said as he exited the pantry. The boy, Norman, walked over by where Hiro was, and started placing silverware down.
"Morning, Emma," Ray said before heading over to another table to set plates down. Hiro said nothing to Emma, as he focused himself on the task at hand. After he finished, Hiro walked over to the energetic girl to say hello, and saw that Thoma and Lannion had scurried off somewhere.
"Hey there, Emma!" Hiro said.
"Oh, hey, Hiro!" Emma said energetically. "I thought you would still be crawling out of bed."
"Thank Max for that."
"I guess he would do something like that, since he's leaving and everything." Emma said. Looking around, she asked Hiro, "Hey, where is Max? Wasn't he in here a second ago?"
"What do you mean?" Hiro asked, puzzled. Max has definitely walked in with him and Tadashi, hadn't he? Or had he sneaked off? To answer his question, Hiro scanned the dining hall to only find that Max wasn't where he was sitting earlier.
Maybe he went to go get something. Hiro thought to himself before saying, "I'll go look for him. Don't let Mama start without me!"
"I won't!" Emma called after the boy who now hurried down the hallway in search of Max. He did face-plant into the ground… Maybe he's in the infirmary?
Deciding to go check, Hiro headed for the infirmary, and found Max sitting on a bed, holding his hands in his lap. Hiro hurried over to him and asked, "Are you all right, Max? Should I go get Mama?"
"No." Max said through a slight amount pain. "I'm fine." Max solemnly looked around the room and sighed. "It's just… I'm gonna miss this place, y'know?"
"Yeah…" Hiro said, sitting next to the boy. Max turned and smiled at him, and Hiro noticed a small, barely visible scratch underneath the swollen and bruised eye. Droplets of blood fell from it. "You're bleeding, Max."
"What?" Max touched underneath his eye. "Oh, I guess I scratched myself on the floor when I fell. That's your typical, everyday Max for ya." He chuckled at his own joke.
But Hiro paid no attention, as he was searching through a cupboard for a bandaid. His mind raced with worrisome thoughts for his friend. Max being hurt wasn't what made him worry; what did was the fact that his foster parents might not want him because he was hurt.
Hiro had read fiction books in the library ever since he learned to read. Some pertained to adoption. In one book, a girl, who was adopted by a family, had gotten sick the same day they adopted her, and therefore complained throughout the day. The parents couldn't stand her because of this and brought her back to the orphanage.
Hiro thought of how silly he was to believe that's how most parents were. But nonetheless, he believed it. And therefore, he feared his friend wouldn't be given a home.
The door suddenly opened, Norman standing in the doorway. "Hey, Mama is wondering why you two aren't at breakfast."
"Wait, breakfast has started?" Max asked as he put on the bandaid Hiro held out to him. Norman took notice of his eye, and asked, "Max, what happened to your eye?"
"Oh, you know, tripped myself." Max smiled. Turning his attention to Hiro, he said, "Hey, come on, Hiro. Let's get going. I'm starving."
The two exited the room, with Norman running back to the dining hall. As they re-entered the room, children sat around long, rectangular tables. Fresh baked bread sat in baskets, and steam rose from the hot soup. Other food, like bananas, apples, and grapes, were sitting on plates next to the bread.
Hiro took his seat next to Tadashi, who was currently talking to Nat, a red-headed nine-year-old. But their conversation, and everyone else's, was interrupted when Isabella stood up in the front center of all of them.
"Let us give thanks," Isabella said, with a heartwarming smile. After everyone gave thanks, they ate. Hiro hadn't touched his soup yet, since it was burning hot; instead, he took a piece of bread, and a few grapes. He plopped a grape into his mouth and scanned the room. He didn't do this because he was spying or anything, he just wanted to make sure everyone was eating properly.
He saw Emma, Norman, and Ray sitting together, the first two children laughing and talking while the third ate in silence. Conny was being fed by Mama. Max, sitting a few chairs down from Hiro and Tadashi, took a sip of his soup, which he immediately regretted. He quickly grabbed a cup of water and chugged it down.
"Hey, Hiro," Tadashi said, snapping the boy to attention. "I was wondering if you would like to play tag after testing. I'll try to get most of the children to join; maybe one of us will catch you this time."
"Sure," Hiro said after swallowing a piece of bread. After everyone ate, it was time for their daily testing. As all thirty-seven children piled out of the room, Hiro silently walked towards the testing room. An old drawing on the wall caught the corner of his eyes, and he stopped to look at it.
The drawing was around seven years old, and had a picture of Mama, a stick figure with a blue, triangular dress, and Tadashi, who was clutching hands with Hiro, as if in fear. Behind them stood a black, three vertical eyed monstrosity, its tongue sticking out and its arms reaching for the two boys.
Hiro drew this the next day after he had dreamt it up. When he showed the drawing to Tadashi or Mama, they would react oddly to it. Mama would be shocked before telling him it was a nice little picture. Tadashi would be terrified of what Hiro drew, but said nothing of it. Hiro thought it was because of how weird the drawing looked, since a four-year-old had drawn it.
"You coming, Hiro?" A boy said, stopping next to him. Hiro looked down at him, and said, "I'll be there in a minute." At this, the boy hurried off. Hiro turned back to look at the picture and reminisced about the odd dream he had that day…
"Hiro, come back here!" Five-year-old Tadashi yelled from behind Hiro, who was running from him, giggling.
"You can't catch me, Dashi!" Hiro said, as he ran further ahead. A huge, foreboding brick gate became visible to Hiro's eyes as he ran. Hiro jogged a bit before coming to a stop. Tadashi, out of breath, ambled up next to him, staring at the gate that was looming over them.
"Hiro, we can't be here!" Tadashi warned him. "Mama said to never go near the gate!"
"But Dashi, I wanna explore!" Hiro exclaimed, grinning. Tadashi sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, thinking.
After a few minutes, he said, "I guess we could take a peek… but we better be quick about it." The two boys walked through the archway, each looking at unfamiliar things. Hiro saw a truck and ran over to it, wanting to explore what was in it. Tadashi saw this, and called out to him, "Hiro, what are you doing?"
"Look, Dashi! A vehicle!" Hiro's curiosity glimmered in his eyes, showing how innocent he really was. Tadashi walked over to the four year old, his footsteps echoing silently throughout the tunnel. He peered through the window of the front seat, Hiro jumping to try and see the inside. Tadashi looked back at Hiro, and said, "There's nothing much in there."
"Dashi!" Hiro begged, pouting. Tadashi ran his hands through his hair before sighing and picking the curious child up. As he let Hiro peek through the window, Tadashi suddenly heard a ruckus coming from one of the rooms. He quickly set Hiro down, grabbed hold of his hand, running to the end of the truck.
Before Hiro could protest, Tadashi signaled for him to be quiet. Out of nowhere, the doors slammed open, a young six-year-old boy backing up, trembling, tears streaming his cheeks. He flailed his arms around, as if trying to protect himself.
"No! Someone, p-please help!" The boy, Fred, yelled, terrified. Tadashi didn't notice Hiro peeking from out behind his legs. Both the four-year-old and eleven-year-old's eyes went wide with horror as they saw a tall creature like no other emerge from the doorway. Its two eyes, stacked upon each other, focused on the boy. They had long, pointy fingers that could slice through flesh like a knife with meat. The demon held a dove white flower in one of its hands.
Hiro whimpered softly. Tadashi looked down and saw him staring at the scene with wide, terrified eyes, before hearing Fred failing to scream. Tadashi snapped his head up to find Fred falling to the group, the white flower now gaining a blood red color. He was dead.
When Hiro had this dream, he was confused and scared. He didn't know why or how he dreamt it up, but he did. On the same day, Tadashi had been acting a bit strange. But for what reason, the innocent child had no clue.
Hiro sighed before heading to the room for daily testing. As he walked in, Isabella turned from talking to one of the children, and told him, "Everyone's been waiting on you to arrive."
Hiro blushed. "Oh, sorry."
"That's all right." Isabella said. "Now, please go take a seat so we may begin."
Hiro scurried over to his seat next to Max, who, like most of the children, already had headphones on. He put the headphones on and stared at the monitor screen that was embedded into the desk. He picked up the large, bulky pen, and held it firmly in his grasp, waiting.
"Please answer each question within ten seconds." A robotic voice rang out in each headphone set. "You may now begin." Each child went on to answer the questions, Hiro answering them with ease. He, with Norman, Emma, and Ray, were the top students at the orphanage.
Buzz! Everyone set down their pens and took off the headphones, most exhausted from the mind-boggling test. Max sighed and slid down the chair. Hiro tilted his head at him, before turning his attention to Isabella, who said, "Norman, Emma, Ray, and Hiro - you got perfect scores again!"
Max moaned, and Hiro assumed it was because of how stress-engulfing the test was.
Without warning, a ten-year-old with short, black hair stood up and pointed at Norman. "I challenge you to a game of tag!"
Norman smiled. "That's perfect, Don!"
"Yeah it–wait, huh?" A perplexed Don asked. "Why is that perfect?"
"We were going to play tag anyway!" Norman said, clapping his hands together. Hiro glanced over at Tadashi, who shook his head and smiled. Guess he might not have to conjure up a group for the game after all!