Ari watched as her brother got up, clutching the old yearbook in hand. He walked to the others, their voices in hushed whispers. Curious, she held out an ear, trying to catch tidbits of what they were whispering.
"That is a bad-"
"Are you sure?"
"I'll be fine.."
"No way-"
"I mean she's getting curious-"
They eventually saw that Ari was attempting to eavesdrop, Hiro cleared his throat and spoke first.

"Ari...why did you ask about the former dean of the school?" there was an edge to his voice.
She tilted her head, "well, Karmi mentioned something like that but I wasn't sure if I got everything because she was acting odd about it-" Ari paused upon seeing Hiro's reaction, how his nostrils flared and his eyes burned. She vaguely wondered if she had thrown Karmi under the bus at that moment.
"No one ever brought it up around you?" Fred turned to the others, they shook their heads.
Hiro began to walk out of the lab, he gestured for her to follow, "c'mon."
"Where are we going?" she glanced back at the others, then to him.
"The truth."

He had a million thoughts racing in his head when discovering that picture, telling Ari about the past was not one of them. As he entered his lab, he glanced at the picture of him and Tadashi next to the computer.

"Did I say something wrong?" Ari looked like a sad puppy left in the rain when she entered the lab, "Karmi told me to never ask you or the others questions.." If there was one thing to thank his classmate for, it was telling her that at the least.
"There's a reason, and it's not a good one." Hiro took a seat on his chair, and took a deep breath.
"The old dean of the school was named Professor Robert Callaghan," he felt bile rise up as he spoke that name aloud.
"And?" Ari stared at him with her curious blue eyes.
"I first met him when Tadashi showed me his 'nerd school' the first time, and I was just..so happy when he handed me my application letter to SFIT after the showcase," he rubbed his eyes, "but then..there was a fire." His sister gasped with horror, concluding what he was about to say next, "he was still in there, and Tadashi ran in to save him.."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," he felt himself being pulled into a hug, "that must've been horrible."
"It gets worse," he sighed, "weeks afterward... there was a villain, who attacked Krei-Tech."
"How mean!" Ari gasped, "were Big Hero 6 there to stop him?"
He nodded, "and when it was all said and done... the identity of the villain was Callaghan himself."
"No!"
"Yeah, he used the fire to steal my microbot invention I made to get his revenge on Krei for what happened to his daughter, and after I er… the leader of Big Hero 6 rescued her from an alternate dimension he was arrested," he then showed her the picture in the yearbook. "And now I'm going to have to question him for information about Professor Granville."

"No way am I letting you go alone!" Ari crossed her arms, "that was awful, I can't believe he did that to you, I just-"
"Ariel!" she paused, seeing the water accumulate in his eyes, "just..I'd like a shoulder to cry on, after I'm done questioning.."
"Oh," she hugged him again, "I'm sorry.."
"It's-it's fine, I'm doing my best to move on," Hiro wiped a tear, "I figured one of the others would tell you but… we all were hurt, and I guess none of us wanted to relieve it." Even if he didn't tell her all of it, the pain felt like shards of glass in his chest.

"No wonder you didn't tell me.." Ari's gaze darkened, "what a monster.."
"Yeah," he sighed.

Hiro had driven to the prison, he placed his helmet in a pouch. He hadn't checked up on the others back in the lab, but he did send a text that he was alright.
"I'll try to be quick," he told Ari, who was guarding the moped while he went inside.
"Just so you know, the sooner you finish, the sooner I will give you a dozen hugs," she promised.
"Half a dozen..?"
"Fine." He chuckled, waving her goodbye as he went inside. Soon enough, he was entering a solitary confinement room. In it, one prisoner.

Yokai, Callaghan, the monster who took his big brother away.

"Professor Granville," his throat felt dry, "you worked with her 20 years ago?"

"She was an excellent teacher," he almost flinched at hearing Callaghan's voice. "It was a shame the way she left."
"What happened?" Hiro rubbed his wrist.
"She was in the lab after-hours, something went wrong," Callaghan looked down.
"There was..an incident."
Hiro raised an eyebrow, "what kind of incident?"
"Officially, a pipe burst, but there were rumors. An unsanctioned project gone wrong."
"So she was fired."
"She resigned, the matter was not pursued further, that's all I know." Well, it was better than nothing.
"This is helpful, thank you Professor Callaghan," Hiro began to exit.
"Hiro!" He stopped.

"I never thanked you for saving my Abigail," Hiro didn't turn to face the man, he thought back to the pilot, Callaghan's daughter, the one he and Baymax saved at the cost of the robot's original body.

"I'm-I'm glad she's okay."
"I never set out to hurt anyone," Callaghan looked sadly at the picture of Abigail attached to the wall.

"What happened to Tadashi because of me.." Hiro's eyes went wide at the mention of his late brother, "I know it's not enough, but I'm sorry."
Hiro..didn't know what to say, he kept thinking of Call-no Yokai's words back on Akuma Island.

I had your microbots

Give me the mask Hiro.

That was his mistake!

Finally, he spoke, "Tadashi would've um, wanted me to forgive you." Hiro exhaled sharply, "someday I hope I can." And he didn't look back as he left, leaving Callaghan alone.

The moment Ari saw him holding back his sobs was the moment she zipped over and engulfed him into a hug.

"It's okay Hiro, it's over now," she squeezed him tight, and he let out his bottled emotions. Hiro sobbed into his sister's sweater.

"I just-I miss him so much," tears streamed down his cheeks, "and-why'd he have to go."

"I know Hiro… I know."
"Y-you should've gotten the chance to meet him, he would've..." he sniffled, "he would've loved you Ari… It's not fair."
She didn't reply, but continued to hug him, her hands wrapped around his jacket. "There there… let it all out.."
He continued crying for a while, until his eyes and nose were puffy, his tears had dried up and his cheeks were red. His throat felt dry from wailing, but he continued to hug her. Fearing that if he let go, he'd lose her like he lost Tadashi.

Ferns and Nerds group chat:

Rachel Rosemary: I am in pain

Honey Lemon: Are you okay?

Rachel Rosemary: NO

Rachel Rosemary: I'm just sad ;-;

Hiro Hamada: Mood

TheLittleMermaid: Mood

Sienna Kline: I am doing a concern

Fredzilla: Hope everyone stops feeling sad soon : (

Fredzilla: Today is just sad day

Sara Ferns: SAD DAY C,APCA[

TheLittleMermaid: I suddenly feel better

Fredzilla: It worked! Magic!

Rachel Rosemary: You are not a wizard

Fredzilla: What are you a professional wizard or something so you can confirm?

Rachel Rosemary: Yes

Sienna Kline:

Hiro Hamada:
TheLittleMermaid:

Sara Ferns: wow

Fredzilla: ….idk how to respond to that

Later that night, Hiro drove to SFIT. He entered the school by crawling through the ventilation system, there's only one way I can find out what Granville's doing.

He stopped at a vent, and that's by investigating myself. Hiro pulled a tool out of his pocket to unscrew the vents, but just as he finished and put it away, the vent fell to the floor, clattering. He winced at the sound. Hiro glanced to see if anyone would come, after a while he leapt to the ground.

As he began to walk the halls, something beeped behind him. A circular robot, "Threat detected. Threat detected." The robot's green eye turned red, it spun and leaped, activating it's four mechanical legs. Hiro gasped as two more robots arrived behind him, in fear he picked up the vent and used it as a shield. Shuddering as they surrounded him.

A figure emerged from the dark, "it looks like we've located the threat," Granville declared.

"So that's what you've been doing," Hiro narrowed his eyes, "killer spider robots?" He gestured to the robots beside the dean.
"Stand down," she told the robots, and their eyes turned back to their green.

"Authority recognized."
"They're part of the school's new security upgrade," Granville explained, he was still skeptical.
Hiro held up his vent shield up to the robots rolling away, "seriously?"
"Yes." She walked up to him, "San Fransokyo has had a rise in criminal activity lately, perhaps you've noticed."

He sweatdropped, "not really, I've-I've been so focused on my studies." He tossed the vent and chuckled nervously.
Granville raised an eyebrow at him, Hiro just glanced around, "so uh..how do you make those spider robots work?"
She sighed, "follow me Mr. Hamada."

He followed Granville to a computer room, the same room he saw her go in when he snuck into the labs. "Sweet, so, this is the brains behind the 'bots?" His hands brushed the control panel.

"Yes, I'm programming the system to detain intruders," she stated. "Like say, a reckless student bringing in after-hours."
Hiro's eyes widened, he backed away from the panel, realizing what trouble he was in. "Oh no I was just-" he stammered.
"Save it, Mr. Hamada!" Granville held up a hand, "we'll deal with your punishment in the morning." Behind them a security bot rolled into the room.

"But-"
"Not another word Mr. Hamada."

Unknown to either of them, through the eyes of the security bot, it was hacked, on the other hand was a familiar supervillain eavesdropping. With a flick of the wrist he had the bot deem Hiro as a threat.

"Threat detected. Threat detected," the robot's eyes turned red, pointing a laser at Hiro.

He sweatdropped, "is it supposed to do that?"
"No." Granville frowned, "stand down!"
"Authority not recognized." She frowned, turning to the control panel and attempting to fix it.

"I can't override it, you must have triggered the system before it was ready."
"Oh! So it's my fault, right." Hiro shrugged.

"Threat detected." Two more security bots came in and pointed lasers at Granville.
He turned to them, "wait, the system sees you as a threat too?" That shouldn't be possible.
"Apparently so."
"Oh ha-ha great, um.." he stammered, walking up to the control panel, "I think I can fix the code."
Before he could, a security bot attacked him, Granville pushed him out of the way as the control panel broke. Two bots were next to them.
"Um, now what?"
"Run!" Granville exclaimed, they bolted out of the room as the security bots crawled after them. Hiro gasped as they reached a dead end, Granville used her ID to open a door next to them and they ran inside. As she blocked the door he pulled out his phone.
"I need backup at school now!" He called Fred's computer, his voice pleading.

"Hiro?" Honey Lemon and the others walked up to the computer, behind him Granville was struggling to keep the bots out.

"Mr. Hamada! I could use some assistance!"
"Wait, Granville's with you?" Gogo questioned.
"Don't you think she'd recognize us?"
"Nobody recognizes us in our gear," Wasabi pointed out.
"I bet she would."
"Looks like it's up to you and me Mini-Max!" Fred exclaimed, the small robot dashed around the room.

"I have been programmed to increase vocal volume in this situation," Mini-Max stated, "Mini-Maximum justice!"
Fred laughed, "I'm living my best life!"
Hiro turned his attention back to the bots trying to break into the room, "come asap!" He closed the phone and began dragging a nearby desk to block the door.

However one desk wasn't enough, so he and Granville got all of the desks in the room and started blockading the door. Once there were enough desks, they both gave sighs of relief.

"I need to exercise more," he panted, sitting down on one of the desks, Granville took a seat next to him.
"So, Mr. Hamada, enlighten me, why have you been spying on me?" She questioned.

Hiro gave a nervous chuckle, how did she know?! "Spying? On you?" He glanced away, "No I haven't been spying on you."
Granville didn't buy it, "Good Luck Alley? Where I was purchasing parts for these security bots."
"In my defence that place has a bad reputation," he pointed out, "so I've been spying on you. But for good reason!" He pulled out his phone.
"I found out you taught here before." Hiro showed her the picture seen in the yearbook, which had the school faculty from 20 years ago. "So I went to see Professor Callaghan, to find out why you left."
"I see," she raised an eyebrow, Granville looked away, her gaze distant. "Well, it seems I have to work harder to gain your trust," she turned to him, "why don't I start by telling you what really happened?"
"Y-you will?" Hiro gasped, "I'd like that."

"It was back when Professor Ferns herself was a student at SFIT." Granville smiled fondly at the memory, "there was a young student, a genius. I believed without limit, he would achieve great things. I granted this young genius free reign of the lab, even after-hours."
Hiro blinked, Granville did all of that for a student? He wondered if Professor Ferns knew him, so I might ask her.

"I was unaware that his experiment was extremely dangerous. It went awry, the boy survived, but barely. I covered for the student, telling the authorities it was my work. In a way, it was my work."
He gasped, "I'm so sorry," Hiro gazed at the ground, "th-that happened."
"See, as a teacher I failed," Granville sighed. "Students need limits, even geniuses," she smiled at him, he smiled back.

The touching moment was ruined by the security bots breaking the door open and knocking them to the ground.

Hiro gasped as a security bot crawled towards the dean, "look out!"
"I'm stuck!" Granville was trapped under the desks, Hiro ran at the security bot, jumping on top of it. It knocked him to the ground and pinned him, he whimpered as it beeped and whirred.

In the control room, Mini-Max and Fred punched a vent open and entered the room.

"Mini-Maximum justice!" the small robot and the comic fan landed on the ground. In a room still full of security bots.
"Threat detected, threat detected," the spider-like robots turn to Fred and Mini-Max, the former whimpers and curls into a corner due to his arachnophobia.

One of the bots leapt at them, "Mini-Maximum punch!" Mini-Max punched it against the machine, as more bots leapt at him he deflected their blows. Fred kept wheezing and staring as he stared at the spider-like robots.
"Fred, distract the security bots while I destroy the CPU," Mini-Max told him.

He took a deep breath, "so they're not spiders, they're killer robots, good. Wait no! Is that better?"

Mini-Max charged at the bots, "Mini-maximum smash! Mini-maximum launch! Mini-maximum-" a claw pins him to the machine, "pinned."
"You must proceed heroically without me," Mini-Max tells Fred.
"But I don't know if I can do this without you!" He dodges the lasers from the bots.
"Fred, believe in yourself, like I do."

"You actually believe in me?"
"You're all we got."

Fred smirks, "propping' up the hero with cliched nonsense? Nice Mini-Max! You side-kicked this situation perfectly!" He gets hit by a bot.
"Okay Fred, think, how do you defeat a security system that thinks everything is a threat?" He knocks away the bots pinning him down. "By threatening me, the security system is a threat to the school, because I'm here to protect the school." The bots flicker from red to green, "so, to defeat all threats to the school, the security system must fight itself."
"Threat detected."
"But, if it fights itself, then that's also a threat, so it must fight the part of itself that's threatening the part that's not a threat."
"Warning: Fatal logic error. Warning: Fatal logic error."
"But the threat in that is figuring out which is the non-threatening part."
"Logic circuit overload. Logic circuit overload. Logic cirl-" the CPU sizzled, powering down as the bots shut off.

In another room, Hiro and Granville batted away the deactivated security bots, wondering what shut them down.

Fred stood in awe at the pile of deactivated security bots.

"Fred you did it!" Mini-Max exclaimed, "you confused the security system so greatly, it terminated itself!"

"I did," he placed two claws to his helm, "I mean, sh-yeah," he removed the helm. "It is the Fredzilla way, you know."
Mini-Max leapt to his side, "contrary to previous data, you are a great hero!"
"That's my sidekick!" They both exchange fist bumps, "Mini-Maximum justice!" and laugh, but Mini-Max continues to laugh. Fred smiles as he stares.
"You laugh funny."

Ferns and Nerds group chat:

Sienna Kline: HL thank you for your advice on dealing with those thieves

Sienna Kline: I have my precious sketches back : D

Honey Lemon: Yay!

Gogo: Good to hear

Sara Ferns: "Best news all day" -David

Honey Lemon: Btw Sienna, your art is very lovely, how did you get so good at watercolors?

Sienna Kline: Practice!

Gogo: Everyone says that

Sienna Kline: And some online tutorial videos I've watched at 2 AM

Sara Ferns: "I'm concerned" -David

Honey Lemon: Does watching at 2 AM help?

Sienna Kline: It burns into your memory

Sienna Kline: It burns

Sara Ferns: Please get some sleep

"Spider robots? Seriously?"
"Yes Ari! There were spider robots!"
"And I thought the last spider robot story you told me was whack... until you showed me evidence of course," Ari widened her eyes at Hiro, "where's the proof?"
"Follow me and you'll see," they were walking down SFIT's halls. Hiro wanted to talk to Granville about last night's events. He brought his sister along, so he could tell her about his "heroic" tale.
"Hey um, next time you do something dumb, bring me along," Ari requested, "so at least I can enjoy the experience with you."
"What?" Hiro narrowed his eyes, she sighed.
"Okay you got me..I just hope if I come along..it'll jog up memories," she placed a hand to her head, "I've still been having bad dreams..dreams of red.."
Hiro patted her on the shoulder, "we all get bad dreams, I've been there."

Ari frowned, she then turned to her left, where a student was walking past them, "hey Karmi!"

Oh noo..Hiro groaned, the biotech major hadn't spoken a word to him since in a moment of emotional distress, he hugged her, they had been avoiding each other since then.
"Uh, hey," Karmi awkwardly waved, "didn't know you were visiting today.."
"Uh-huh! And I'm with Hiro!" she gestured to her brother.
"Mhmm," he glanced away, he did not want to do this right now.

Ari noticed the teen's reluctance, and huffed, "oh come on! You guys are dramatic! Was the hug thing that bad?!"
"What hug thing?" Hiro blurted, "no hug thing happened... because it will never happen again." he emphasized.

Karmi got what he was trying to say, "yeah... and if it did ever happen... I wouldn't like it, so there."
"Well glad we can agree on that," he huffed, "because it hypothetically would be a spur of the moment!"
"Yes, exactly," Karmi crossed her arms.
Ari sighed, she brought her hand to her head, "I am done with you both... just... why." she mumbled, then turned to Karmi, "hey can I borrow you for a second?" she turned to her brother, "go on without me."
"Fine," Hiro began to walk away, but he turned to Karmi, "but I'll say it again..thanks for looking after my sister."
"No problem," Karmi shrugged, "anyone else would've done it.."
"Still... I appreciate it," he smiled-wait what was he doing? "Well gotta run!" And he continued walking down the hallway, and trying to calm down his heart rate.
Ari looked at him leaving with a puzzled look on her face, "huh."

Hiro entered the control room as Granville was sweeping up the mess, "uh that was pretty crazy Professor Granville."
She picked up a few fallen books, "indeed Mr. Hamada, indeed."

He took a few steps forward, "Professor, I, uh.." he rubbed the sleeve of his jacket.
"Yes Mr. Hamada?"
"I know I take risks and you-you think I'm reckless," he trips up on some rubble and knocks a beaker over, the glass shattering. He gave an awkward laugh.
"Yes, I do," she didn't spare him a glance, he didn't blame her.
"I just want you to know I'm not gonna end up like him."
That got her to glance at him, "who?"

He frowned, "your former student." As he stated that, he saw her eyes slightly widened, but her expression didn't change.

"We're done here, Mr. Hamada," she turned to the broom on the wall and began sweeping. He rubbed his jacket sleeve, smiling, and exited the room.
As he closed the door, Granville glanced over, a fond smile on her face.

But as she swept, one of the security bot's lenses was watching her. On the other side of those lenses, was Obake. He narrowed his eyes, his eyebrows lowered, his expression contained nothing but anger.

*Plays sad music with a kazoo* Well that happened.

Next week will be a little brighter because y'know...

Writing Hiro and Ari being sad isn't fun tho : (. At least it's over

Anyways I got a question from AgentofAngst:

"Why did Ari and Mini-Max meet?"
Well Fred's obviously gonna take his sidekick everywhere, so the gang thought they could disguise it as. "Oh we built Fred a friend when we're in school." And Ari was like "okay!" bc it would be much harder for them to hide Mini-Max. And I wanted to write them interacting bc c'mon. It's Mini-Max. He's adorable

And wrapping this up with Question of the Week: How many of you related to Ari when Hiro and Karmi were being dramatic over "the hug thing?" XD. Writing awkward teenagers is sooo funny though.