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I hope I didn't make you too sad đ
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HIRO
I haven't eaten in almost two weeks.
Tadashi and I have very different ways of coping with stress and depression. I don't eat. Tadashi eats everything. Half the café is gone by the time I suggest he start eating normally again. He counters that he'll stop stress eating if I stop starving myself and eventually manages to convince me to eat a donut.
For the first time, I realize that I'm actually really, really hungry.
We've been running the café by ourselves since Aunt Cass died, and it is brutal. We switch off on the evening and early morning shifts. Given that we're the only two employees, one of us has to be in the back baking for the next day, and the other has to be taking orders at the counter. The morning shift starts at five in the morning for people grabbing coffees and donuts on their way to work and goes until two o' clock, by which time the words "Hi, welcome to the Lucky Cat Café, what can I get for you" have lost all meaning. The night shift goes until eleven, and after baking and serving and dealing with angry customers all day, I can barely keep my eyes open. We need to hire people or cut our hours.
After a while, we realize we're not making enough money off this café and Tadashi starts looking for a job. Now I have to run the café all on my own while he's at job interviews all day, baking at night and taking orders during the day. I get maximum two hours of sleep each night.
Finally Tadashi gets a job at KreiTech and starts working for a man who tried to murder us. Neither of us is exactly happy about that, but it's the only place that will take him, and Tadashi rarely sees Krei himself anyway. He works midday shifts, so that he can take the night and early morning shifts at the café and I can sleep. I try to convince him otherwise, but he reminds me that he's my legal guardian now and I have to do what he says.
One day, while Tadashi is working a night shift at KreiTech, my brain gives up and I crash fifteen minutes before the café closes. Baymax informs me after I wake up that he ran the café while I was asleep.
"Really," I mumble, still tired. "I didn't know robots could run cafés."
The idea wakes me up.
Robots.
I am a genius.
I mean, we kinda already knew that given that my IQ is two hundred and fourteen, but I haven't felt like much of a genius while I'm sleep-deprived and overworked. At Baymax's insistence, I sleep while he runs the café. He's actually really good at it. And I am a genius for coming up with it. Tadashi disagrees. But I digress.
My head snaps up from my desk as I hear Tadashi calling my name from downstairs. I stand up, not bothering with my shoes or hoodie, and stumble down the stairs. It's got to be past midnight.
Tadashi stands in the open garage next to his motorcycle, straightening both our helmets on the wall. He turns around, sees me, and his face lights up.
"I got you something!" he says excitedly.
He steps aside to reveal a slightly smaller, violet-and-crimson motorcycle, almost identical to his. My jaw hangs open.
"How did you get this?" I ask, awed. "We don't have money!"
"We do now!" He grins. "I got a bonus and thought I'd get you something."
I step forward and hug him. He freezes for a moment, then returns the embrace.
I pull away and grab my helmet off the wall. "Let's try this out."
Tadashi tilts his head. "Where are we going?"
I grin, run upstairs, and come back with my megabot.
Tadashi slaps his forehead. "Oh no, not again."
"So why are we going bot fighting again?" I ask Tadashi as we speed toward Good Luck Alley. I know he came up with a legitimate reason, but I'm not sure what it was.
"I told you," he says. "We're not getting paid for the café anymore, since food is running out, so we're low on money. Especially since I bought you a motorcycle. So we need this money to keep the café running."
I sigh. "Big brother, you are perfect."
"I know."
I'm not that worried. Tadashi's good, from what I've seen when we're practicing. But he doesn't do well with stress and I'm afraid the nerves will get the best of him.
I'll just have to trust him.
When we walk into the arenaâthat's when I get scared.
No.
No.
No no no no no no no.
Yama.
"Dashi," I whisper, jerking my head toward the massive man in the arena. "Remember him?"
"Whaâoh."
His expression quickly morphs from nervous and defensive to angry. His eyes narrow and his jaw clenches. I'd be scared of him if he was anyone but my brother.
The bot facing Yama's goes down fast. Tadashi stares at the broken android, looking nervous again.
"Who's next?" Yama booms. "Who wants to take on little Yama?"
Tadashi pushes forward. "I will."
Yama's eyes narrow. "What's your name?"
"Tadashi." He crosses his arms. "Tadashi Hamada."
The ringleader looks him up and down, analyzing him. "How old are you, kid? You look a little young to be bot fighting."
"Nineteen."
She purses her lips. "You got money?"
Dashi pulls a stack of bills from his pocket, eyebrow raised. She nods and motions to the ring.
Tadashi shoots a cocky smile at Yama. "Ready?"
Yama remains unfazed. He flops down and repositions his controller, grinning widely. He shouldn't be as confident as he is, though. I wouldn't underestimate Dashi.
Tadashi's bot looks a lot sleeker and intimidating than mineâmine's the same one I used in my first bot fight. Good old megabot.
Dashi's fight starts and I immediately cringe.
He is terrible.
Yama destroys his bot in seconds. Tadashi stares at it, more depressed than nervous now.
Yama laughs as he takes the money from the platter. Tadashi pulls another wad of cash out of his jacket. "Can I go again?"
This time, Tadashi is incredible. He looks like me during a bot fightâbored and cocky. Only he's a lot bigger than me and pulls it off better.
This fight is a little longer, but Tadashi destroys little Yama. Yama gapes at Dashi as he collects money from the dish. "No more little Yama."
I told him to say that.
Yama recognizes it too. His eyes narrow as he studies Tadashi. "You're notâŠnoâŠtoo oldâŠ"
Tadashi raises an eyebrow.
"You're thinking of me," I say, pushing through the crowd. "This is my brother."
Tadashi waves.
Yama's eyes turn to slits as everyone else in the arena backs away. Tadashi edges between Yama and me, his hands balled protectively into fists.
Yama swats him aside easily and shoves me against the wall. "No one hustles Yama!"
Tadashi steps forward angrily. Yama grabs his jacket and pushes him back toward the seven other intimidating bot fighters. "Teach him a lesson."
Yama grabs my hoodie and throws me to the ground. I start to get up, but he lands a vicious punch to my chest, knocking me back down. I get in an elbow to his gut, but it does nothing except knock me over. I don't think he even felt it.
Tadashi cries out in pain, his voice choking off midscream. I try to get up, but Yama is punching and kicking me and I can't move and my whole body hurts and I think my ribs are about to break and Dashi is screaming and I can't move andâ
My vision goes dark for a moment as Yama throws me against the wall and everything stops. When I open my eyes, Tadashi is slumped on the ground ten feet away, and Yama is gone. So are the other fighters.
I try to stand up, but the world swirls around me and I fall back down, breathing hard. I black out again for a second, then slowly sit up.
"Tadashi!" I gasp. "DashiâŠare youâŠ"
Dashi groans. I drag myself toward him as he sits halfway up, his face twisting with pain.
"Are youâŠokay?" Tadashi gasps, wincing. "NothingâŠbroken?"
I shake my head. "Nothing broken."
"Bruised?"
"Not deeper than the skin."
"Good."
"What about you?"
"I'm fine."
"You are not, Dashi."
"Nope," he agrees.
He tries to breathe but lets out a whimper of pain. I raise an eyebrow suspiciously.
"What hurts?"
"My ribs," he says in a strained voice. "I think they're broken."
I cringe, trying not to think about how painful it must have been to be punched or kicked in the broken ribs. No wonder he was screaming.
I slowly stand up and walk the motorcycle back to Dashi.
"YouâŠare notâŠdriving that," he says.
"Get on," I say. "We're going to the hospital."
"I'll driveâ"
"No way, Dashi. Get on."
He groans and pulls himself up onto the motorcycle.
I drive out of the alley and onto the main road, trying to remember the route to the hospital. It's not far, but the streets are crowded, so it'll take us a little longer to get there.
I brake as the light turns red, rather pleased with how well I've been driving so far. But just as we come to a stop, something hits the bike from behind, launching it forward and knocking Tadashi and me off the bike completely.
I bounce a few times and then skid across the road, scraping up my entire left sideâmy shoulder, elbow, hip, and cheek are going to be shredded. I don't think I'm hurt any worse, but we'll have to see.
I start to get up, but my right leg collapses under me and I cry out. My lower leg burns with pain and I fall back against the motorcycle, clutching it.
Tadashi pushes himself up slowly, holding his right wrist against his chest, grimacing in pain.
"Hiro," he gasps. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I tell him, struggling not to cry out as I adjust my leg and smack it against the kickstand. "What's wrong with your wrist?"
He glances down at it. "I think it's broken."
"Great," I mumble. "What are we going to do now?"
He shrugs and winces. "Ow."
"Tadashi! Hiro!"
I look up to see a familiar faceâour robotics teacher.
"Professor Zelinsky," Tadashi croaks.
"Are you two okay?"
"I can't breathe."
Professor Zelinsky helps us into his truck and puts Tadashi's motorcycle in the back, then drives us to the hospital. It turns out I would have gone the wrong way, so it might be kind of good that we crashed.
We pull up to the hospital. Professor Zelinsky looks tornâhe doesn't know which one of us to help. He glances helplessly at me and I jerk my head toward Tadashi, indicating that the professor should help him because he's hurt worse.
Professor Zelinsky helps Tadashi into the hospital. I limp after them, trying to ignore the burning pain in my leg. I really hope it's not broken. I'm not in the mood to wear a cast and be on crutches for the next couple of months.
Of course, everything bad happens to me, so that's entirely plausible.
