Honey Lemon couldn't breathe the entire time she was hiding out in the small yard.
Momokase had snuck her inside the yard through a tiny hole in the fence. According to their plan, Honey Lemon was to stay put until Momokase opened the door of the terrace. Go Go and Wasabi where positioned at the two entrances of the house in case anything went wrong, while Fred stayed by the fence to help them get Hiro out. They had all suited up and were ready for anything. And if they had to fight to get their friend out, then that's what they were going to do.
Honey Lemon watched closely via the night vision gear in her helmet as Momokase entered the room. She could see the frame of a man, most likely Obake, sitting next to a bed. Although it was too far away for her to make out the person laying in the bed, she knew who it was.
Obake and Momokase spoke for a while and Honey Lemon noticed the man's tense body. He seemed untrusting towards Momokase and so she figured that they would have to be even more careful. She lifted her watch to her mouth slowly as to not get caught and whispered: "I think he's getting ready to leave. But they're still talking."
There was a bit of static when GoGo replied "Alright. Let us know once he leaves the room. We'll be ready."
"Are the cameras disabled?" Wasabi's voice asked through the speaker in her helmet.
"Not yet." Honey Lemon whispered back and continued watching Momokase discuss with Obake. "They're discussing."
"He must know something's up." Go Go said. "If he knows we're here it's over."
"We won't let him know." Fred growled. "We'll get Hiro out of there, no matter what."
Honey Lemon couldn't help but to smile a little but upon hearing her friend's determination. He was right. This was not going to be easy, but they weren't going to go home without Hiro.
"He's leaving." Honey Lemon whispered as the man turned to leave the room. Momokase had sat down and was busy with something on her watch. Honey Lemon checked the signal and found the station to connect to the woman's watch.
"I need you to disable the camera's from outside." Momokase's voice appeared in Honey Lemon's ears. "Listen closely." The woman instructed Honey Lemon slow and carefully, not moving from her spot next to the bed as to not appear suspicious. She followed her orders closely and managed to disable the camera's from outside the room. There were cables running from outside the room to the inside, making sure the signal was well enough to be distributed properly. But with the correct instruction and help from the woman on the other end of the line, Honey Lemon managed to disconnect them and to shut them down.
"Get in." Momokase opened the door as soon as Honey Lemon had confirmed that the camera's had been turned off. The terrace door opened just when she ran around the corner of the house and she quickly went inside. She could hear her friends breathing heavier on the other end of the line, apparently they were just as anxious as she felt right now. Her heart was hammering inside of her chest and her hands were shaking, she only grew more and more nervous as she stepped inside the room and finally saw her young friend again after more than two weeks.
Hiro's left wrist was tied to the bed with a belt, an IV in the crook of his elbow. He had the covers pulled all the way up to his chin, but he was still shivering in his sleep. The way his brow was furrowed worried her, especially when she noticed how his breathing was flat and irregular. His face was as pale as marble.
"What's wrong with him?" she whispered and was about to get closer to the bed so she could take a lookg at him. "Is he okay?"
"The overdose hit him hard." Momokase whispered and pushed Honey Lemon aside. She looked down at him and said: "We don't have much time. Just-"
Both women twitched in surprise when Hiro suddenly woke with a gasp. Sweat had formed on his forehead and tears were quickly running down his cheeks.
"Are you okay?" Momokase asked and quickly put a hand on his forehead to check for fever. "Did you have a nightmare?" when she was just about to ask further questions, Hiro gasped and pushed her hands away. He didn't seem to have noticed Honey Lemon behind the woman, he was just staring at her and didn't seem to be able to fully understand what was happening. When he suddenly ripped off the belt of his wrist and was about to go for the IV, too, Momokase quickly grabbed his shoulders and held him steady. "Calm down." She told him, his wide eyes still just staring at her in shock. "It was just a dream."
Seeing her deceased boyfriend's little brother, her friend, like this broke Honey Lemon's heart. He seemed so utterly terrified that she couldn't help but feel guilty that she hadn't gotten here sooner. How could they have left him here with this horrible man? Why hadn't they found him faster?
Tears were dwelling in her eyes as she slowly stepped closer to him and Momokase. The others were starting to ask questions, but Honey Lemon didn't want them to distract her now, when this was all about her friend in need. She took the helmet off with shaking hands and said: "It's okay, Hiro …"
The boy froze in Momokase's grip and slowly looked over at her. His reddened eyes still had tears dwelling in them. The look he gave her was a look of utter confusion. He didn't seem to understand what she was saying, nor did he seem to know who she was. Her heart broke at the sight of him not knowing her despite them having been close. She quietly asked him: "My name is Honey Lemon … do you remember me?"
Hiro just continued staring at her, still confused. He didn't move and didn't react to either one of them for what seemed like ages. His round eyes were merely fixed to Honey Lemon, occasionally wandering from her face down her body and back up again. She figured that he must have been trying to take it all in, to try and understand what was happening. There was nothing she wanted more than to help him, to make him remember. But she couldn't. At least not now.
"Listen, Hiro." Momokase said sternly and pulled the boy's attention back towards herself. "We're taking you away from here and to safety. You'll head back to the city and then into hiding for a bit. Honey Lemon is your friend, so I want you to do whatever she says, do you understand?"
"W-What?" Hiro stuttered and just looked at both of them. He seemed terrified. "N-No, I don't wanna leave."
"It's not optional." Momokase stated. "Get that IV off of him."
Honey Lemon nodded, set her helmet down and rushed to the other side of the bed. She was just about to get to work when Hiro pulled his arm away. "Stop!" he said shakily and tried to back away from her. "I-I don't wanna leave!" he stared at Honey Lemon with obvious fear in his eyes and she knew just by then that he must have forgotten even more than she had feared. The boy that was looking at her didn't seem like the one she had gotten to know back at the school.
Momokase furrowed her brow at him and grabbed his arm. He struggled, but she was much stronger than he was. She held his arm down so Honey Lemon could get to the IV. She hesitated only for a second before ignoring Hiro's pleas to leave him be and to get to work. It pained her, knowing that he didn't know what was going on or who she was, but she figured that, once he remembered, he'd be happy that she was there.
Hiro winced in pain when Honey Lemon took the IV out. There was no time to bandage it and so the two women just grabbed Hiro carefully and sat him up right, a bit of blood dripping down his arm. Hiro still struggled against the two of them as they lifted him out of bed and put him into a standing position.
"Let me go!" he cried softly, unable to shake them off. "Stop!" he was crying again and Honey Lemon could hardly watch him in his panic. He looked up at her with those big eyes and pleaded for her to let him go and to leave him be. As she looked into his eyes she felt like she could feel his confusion and his panic herself. His smaller hand was trembling in hers and she was thinking hard on what to do. She knew there wasn't much time but they had to do something. And so she gently grabbed him by his cheeks and fixed his gaze on her. "Hiro, listen. I know this sounds crazy, but you're going to have to trust me, alright? You don't understand this yet, but there's a lot of people waiting for you … back at home."
The boy froze and stared up at her in, what seemed like, shock. For just a short moment, time seemed to stop and it was just the two of them. Her hands on his wet cheeks and his eyes fixed to hers. Honey Lemon felt this warmth of affection for the boy in front of her spread in her chest, just looking at her young friend again made her feel so whole and calm. Although she regretted arriving so late, she was so relieved to finally have him back. In this moment she swore that she was going to do whatever had to be done to protect him and take him back home. If she wasn't doing it solely for Hiro, she was going to do it for Tadashi.
Somehow her words must have gotten to him. It took him a few seconds, but he eventually stopped struggling and resisting. Instead he let the two women dress him properly and didn't push Honey Lemon away when she grabbed his hand and hurriedly guided him outside to the terrace.
"We're coming." She told the others as she put her helmet back on. "Get ready."
The others all agreed via radio and she heard them hustling. One look at her watch gave Honey Lemon the confidence that they really were going to get away with Hiro this time – it had barely taken them more than a couple minutes to get him out. The quicker they were, the less likely Obake was to realize that something was wrong.
"Where are you?" Fred's voice appeared in her ears. "I'm ready."
"Coming." She reassured him as she guided Hiro towards the hole in the fence. He seemed hesitant and was continuously looking back at the house.
"My stuff." He said quietly and pulled at her hand. "M-My things are still here."
"How about," Honey Lemon whispered as she helped the boy climb down the small stairs and onto the grass, "we get you all new stuff? Go shopping?" She couldn't see his face properly in the dark, but she thought she saw a small smile on his face upon hearing her words.
When they crossed the small yard and reached the hole in the fence Honey Lemon noticed Hiro still looking back at the house. She gently pulled at his hand and he turned back to look at her. As soon as he saw the hole in the fence he tensed. Momokase pushed away the leaves and the bush to make it easier for him to get through, but he didn't move. He stuttered something they couldn't understand and tried to free his hand. "B-But …" he turned back around. "What about Obake …?"
"What about him." Momokase said without looking at Hiro. She slowly made her way through the hole and almost disappeared on the other side as she slid down the small slope. "Come on, Hiro."
He hesitated again and was about to take a step back, but Honey Lemon grabbed his hand tighter and gently pulled him towards her. He stumbled a bit and looked at her with teary eyes. "H-He'll worry … c-can I say goodbye?"
"That's not a good idea, Hiro." Honey Lemon explained quietly and pulled him down into a crouching position. He twitched in surprise as Momokase grabbed his wrists as soon as he was close enough and pulled him through the hole. As Honey Lemon saw him disappear in down the slope she gasped and hastily went after him, relieved to see that Momokase and Fred had caught Hiro before he could have hit the ground. Fred held Hiro by his arms as Momokase set down him down carefully. The boy's eyes were fixed to Fred who was in his lizard suit.
Hiro's whole body was trembling as he stared up at the costumed man. If he hadn't been confused before, he must have been by now. When Fred greeted him, Hiro seemed to panic and struggled to get out of the mascot's grip. Fred seemed surprised upon Hiro's reaction and instinctively let him go, causing him to tumble to the ground.
"Hiro!" Honey Lemon rushed over and pulled him back up to his feet. Blood was slowly dripping down his shin and there were more tears coming as he whispered: "I don't … w-what's happening …?" he was looking up at Honey Lemon and she could see that he really was utterly terrified of them. Although he seemed to have begun trusting her, that trust was quickly fading. She could tell just by the way he leaned back as she tried to touch him. But there was no time to work on this. Just when she was about to help him back up the lights in the house behind the fence turned on – someone must have noticed Hiro was gone.
Honey Lemon's heart started beating faster and by the way Momokase and Fred looked at her she realized that they were just as shocked as she was. This was the moment they had discussed before. If they didn't manage to get out of here within the next couple of minutes, everything would be ruined.
"Go Go, we need your help." Honey Lemon said into her watch as she grabbed Hiro by the arm and started running. The boy yelped in surprise but tried his best to keep up. He was still crying as he hurried with her, his head turned back towards the house. Fred was right behind them and Momokase led the way.
"On your left." Honey Lemon turned her head just in time to see her friend arrive on her scooter heels. Hiro gasped in surprise and stared at the woman in front of her. His grip on Honey Lemon's hand tightened and she felt him getting closer to her, apparently trying to hide from yet another strange. Go Go froze for just a second when she saw Hiro but quickly recollected herself and offered her back. "I'll take him to our meet up point." She said. "You guys get going."
"N-No!" Hiro protested immediately when he realized what was going to happen. He hid further behind Honey Lemon, his grip on her hand getting tighter. "I don't want this. L-Let me go, please …" his voice was getting shakier as he started crying again. "P-Please … I wanna go home … I don't want any of this …" he buried his face in Honey Lemon's back when Go Go was seemingly about to grab him.
Honey Lemon's heart broke at the sight of her friend being so helpless in front of them. Hiro used to be this brave boy who never shied away from anything. But now he was just a child who had been broken down. It was even worse knowing that this was not the time to help him get over his fear. Now was barely enough time to have him struggling like this.
Go Go was the first one to break the short silence that had spread among them. "Listen," she whispered and leaned down to be more on his level, "I know this is super scary and that you don't know who we are. But we know you. We know your aunt, your friends and we knew your brother." Honey Lemon felt Hiro tensing against her back and wondered whether Hiro might have some recollections of Tadashi. "So please," she went on, "trust us and let's go home."
Although Hiro didn't seem convinced, something that Go Go had said seemed to have gotten to her. When Honey Lemon gently grabbed him and lifted him onto her friend's back, he seemed to be getting too weak to resist and just rested against her. "I'll meet you there." Go Go said and grabbed the boy by his legs to keep him steady. He buried his teary face in her back and gripped onto her shoulders. "Be safe."
When Go Go rushed off with Hiro and quickly disappeared into the night, Honey Lemon felt more than relieved. Whatever happened now didn't matter, because they had actually done it. They had gotten their friend back.
It felt almost too good to be true.
Hiro didn't know what to think. This was all way too much, too confusing and too overwhelming.
Just a few hours ago he had been with his teacher, just like he had always been. He had been protected and cared for after his lab accident. He had had a warm room and a nice home. And now he was with a strange woman at a crossroad in the middle of nowhere. She had let him down to sit on the ground, his jacket wrapped tightly around him in the cold night. He was shivering as he watched her pace back and forth nervously. They had been waiting for 'the others' for more than half an hour now and she seemed to be getting anxious that something was wrong.
"Fred," she called into the watch on her wrist, "where are you? Come on in, Fred." But there seemed to be only silence. She cursed and continued to try and call the others.
Hiro watched her and tried his very best to stay calm and to try and remember. She claimed that she and the others knew who he was, that they knew his aunt and his brother. But he couldn't. He couldn't remember ever having an aunt, a brother or friends. And he thought that he would have remembered if he had had friends that ran around in battle suits.
"Where are they?" the woman asked and sighed heavily. "They should have been here by now …"
Hiro thought about whether or not he should respond to her, but chose not to. He didn't know what to say, anyway. After all, he barely knew her.
The other woman, Honey Lemon, was someone he felt like he could trust more easily. He wasn't sure whether she had done it on purpose or not, but somehow she had told him the exact same thing the voice in his dream had. She'd told him that he may not remember but that there were people waiting for him … just the same the voice had told him before. He couldn't explain why, but those words got to him, made him doubt Obake and what he had been told.
Just a short while ago Hiro had accepted that he may never fully remember what had happened or who he was. He had just decided to keep on living like this, with his teacher by his side and his mind foggy. But hearing those words, even if they had been from a dream-voice … they had reached him, had made him doubtful again. The words felt so strangely familiar, that he couldn't ignore them. Although he may never find out why, he was hanging onto this feeling.
"Hiro, you okay?" the woman asked and pulled him out of his thoughts. She looked concerned as she looked down at him. "I know this is a lot to take in but trust me. You're safer with us than you are with him." Hiro didn't know what to respond. Despite the doubt he felt, he couldn't help but to also be doubtful of her. For all he knew, she was just a stranger trying to take him away from his home. So he decided not to answer but to just nod at her words. Of course she noticed how he didn't trust her, but he didn't really mind.
He just wanted to go back to his room and go back to sleep. He didn't feel comfortable with this woman and started to regret going with these strange people. They must have been crazy to tell him these weird things, that he had a family apart from Obake, that they had been waiting for him and that he was in danger with his teacher. The more he thought about it, sitting on the curb of the crossroad, the crazier it all sounded to him. He couldn't think of a single reason why Obake would be lying to him. The man had looked after him, had given him food and anything he had wanted. Hiro felt safe with him. Although the dreams were strange, he figured that they must simply be nightmares. They couldn't really have meant anything. After all, it was much more likely that he had nightmares than Obake lying to him all this time.
And so the fear and anxiety in his chest slowly began to fade and instead were replaced with anger. They had taken him from his home and told him some weird story to confuse and irritate him. But he was no fool, he thought. He wasn't going to let them take him away from the only family he had left.
As the woman turned her back to him to call for her accomplices again, Hiro got up. His mind was made up. He hugged his jacket close and, before she could turn around, ran back towards the woods they had come through. At first the woman didn't notice. She had her back turned to him and the sounds of the cars in the distance seemed to muffle his footsteps.
Hiro didn't dare to look back, he just ran. When he set foot onto the soft grass of the woods he heard the woman shouting his name. But he didn't stop. Instead he ran faster and tried to find a hiding place. He knew that she was fast with those scooters on her shoes and that he could never outrun her. The best way to lose her was to hide.
As he sprinted through the dark woods he tried to find some place he could hide, maybe a tree, a bush, a bunch of leaves … just anything. But there was barely anything. He was panting heavily, sweat already forming on his forehead. The closer the woman's voice echoed throughout the woods the more panicked he became. There had to be something, he thought.
The woman's voice got closer and Hiro started running again, the burning feeling in his lungs making it hard to breathe. But he just continued running. He ran and ran until his legs eventually gave up. When his ankle got twisted under his body weight Hiro yelped and tumbled to the ground. He felt the ground beneath him give way and tried to grab onto something to save himself from falling down the slope. He managed to grab a stick, but it broke and sent him falling down.
For a moment, the world was spinning around him. Everything around him was black and everything hurt as he eventually hit the ground. All air was knocked out of his lungs as he lay in the dirt. He tried to catch his breath and to open his eyes but couldn't. His whole body shook violently as the adrenaline ran through his veins, his body going into shock. There was water all around him and he could slowly feel his clothes getting soaked, the freezing cold water making it all the way down to his skin. But there was something hot running down his temple, apart from the water.
Hiro carefully touched the spot on his temple and winced in pain. When he managed to open his eyes, his vision blurry, he cried out in shock upon seeing the blood.
He was bleeding. His head was bleeding. He started to panic.
His heart was hammering inside his chest as he started at the blood. He could feel it dripping down his temple and onto his collarbone. He must have hit a rock or something when he fell.
As he tried to get up he felt his leg give way under his weight – his scraped knee and ankle were making it almost impossible to get up. But he didn't give in. The adrenaline pumping through his veins made it easier to get up and he managed to grab onto the tree next to him. Every single part of his body seemed to scream in pain as he stumbled through the shallow water, tears dripping down his cheeks again.
He didn't know where he was or where he was going, but he just wanted to get back home. All of this had been too much for him. The voice of the woman had almost completely disappeared in the distance, but instead of feeling relief like he had expected, Hiro got scared. He wanted to get rid of her but now that he was hurt and all alone in the dark woods all the fear and anxiety from before came back.
There was a cold breeze blowing through the woods and Hiro shivered. If he wasn't going to get out of the cold soon, he feared he might get hypothermia. Despite his body screaming at him to stop and to rest, he knew he couldn't give up. He felt so determined to make it back home, back to his teacher and back into his warm and comfortable bed. There was no way he was going to die out here, he told himself.
And so he continued stumbling on ahead until he reached another slope that would take him back up from where he had fallen off from. With the shock of his fall slowly ebbing away, the pain quickly started to take over. He had to summon all of his remaining strength to pull himself back up and to not fall back down. His hands were starting to bruise as he gripped onto the exposed roots of the trees around him, each and every one of them getting him closer to the wood's grounds. And when he finally reached the mossy grass he couldn't help but to let himself drop down and bury his face in his hands. The way his body was shaking was so violent that he could barely control himself. His jaw chattered and fingers grew numb as he felt colder than he had ever before. The wind blowing only made it worse, even the blood on his temple and knee was growing colder as it dried. As he lay there and tried his best to control the shaking, he could suddenly hear a voice in the distance call his name. It was the voice of the woman with blonde hair, he realized.
"H-Help …" he tried calling out, his voice sore from the cold. "Help …" he grabbed his jaw and tried his best to hold it in place as he summoned all the remaining strength in his body to scream: "Help!"
Far off in the distance he heard the guy's voice from the lizard suit call his name as well. Hiro felt a wave of relief wash over him – someone was going to find him. He was going to be saved.
"Hiro!?" the woman called again through the dark of night, her voice getting closer. As he called back out to her as loudly as he could, he could soon hear her footsteps approaching. He kept calling as he lay in the grass, unable to get up with his body shaking and legs turning numb. In his head he thought he could hear the voice from his dream call to him again, but he figured he must have been hallucinating. Everything seemed to be growing further away from him as the pain continued to grow. Although he couldn't be too sure, he figured that his ankle must have broken during his fall. When his vision began to spin he squeezed his eyes shut, but continued calling out to the woman whom he had met back in his room. Her voice and footsteps got closer and closer until he could finally feel her touch as she pulled him up into a sitting position.
"What happened!?" she sounded panicky. "Hiro, oh my god! I- Fred!" she shouted for the guy in the lizard suit. Hiro tried but could barely keep his eyes open. Even though it was so dark in the forest the tiniest bit of light hurt his eyes and made his temple burn in pain. Whatever rock he had fallen onto must have caused quite some damage, he managed to think before everything turned foggy again.
"Fred! We gotta get him to a h-hospital!" her voice was shaky and eyes filled with tears. She and her friend were both panicking, but Hiro still felt safe with them. He relaxed into her arms as she tried her best to pick him off of the ground, her friend assisting as well as he could. As the lizard guy lifted Hiro into his arms Hiro couldn't help but to feel another wave of relief wash over him. The close contact felt so good all of a sudden and it only got more comfortable when the woman wrapped a scarf sound his neck.
"Let's go!" he heard her say and then the world started spinning again. He kept his eyes closed, but huddled into the guy's arms as close as he possibly could. Although he didn't know who they were or what they were after, right now, he was just content to be safe with them.
"You're going to be okay, Hiro. Just hang on."
Were the last words he heard as he let his consciousness slip away.
*
