And we finally get to see one of the nerd crew. She's actually pretty fun to write, if I do say so myself.

Chapter 3

Bullies

"Tadashi Hamada, what is wrong with you?"

Tadashi winced, hearing the tone his aunt was using and not sure if he could care enough to respond with an apology or snark. Besides, it wasn't like he wasn't in trouble before. Just the other day, he'd had to get picked up by his aunt for causing another fight with a kid a year older than him. The boy had it coming, though. Especially after…

Cass had other ideas, and twisted his ear in her grasp, causing Tadashi to gasp. "I don't know what has gotten into you. How many fights is that now, five? I know your father didn't sign you up for those karate lessons just so that you can beat other kids up."

The ten year old didn't reply, deciding to stare moodily out of the window. Aunt Cass didn't understand. She couldn't. She wasn't the one without a family. She didn't see them die. Everything that had happened was his fault (his fault he wasn't supposed to outlive his brother). He didn't care. Not now. He knew his grades were slipping, he knew that they were questioning their decision to skip him ahead, but he couldn't find it within himself to care about it. Instead, there was an angry creature in his chest, and it clawed at Tadashi's heart like nothing else could.

Cass sighed, readjusting the grip on the wheel before her. They drove in silence, and when Cass pulled into the garage, Tadashi was already unbuckling his seatbelt, wanting to be anywhere but the truck. He couldn't sit in cars for longer than it took to get from point A to point B, not since the accident. He got out as soon as the vehicle had stopped and wordlessly made his way to the house. He made it halfway up the stairs to his room when he heard his aunt speak.

"Tadashi, we need to talk."

Tadashi froze, not wanting to talk. He didn't. He wanted to just go upstairs and work on something to get his mind off of how angry he felt. It was a constant companion, ever since he'd moved in months ago. He felt Cass touch his shoulder and wanted to shrug out of it, but instead let himself be guided to the table instead where she went about making them both some hot chocolate before settling beside him.

Cass took a deep breath, a frown marring her features before she reached a hand out to touch his. Tadashi jerked his hand out of reach and Cass bit her lip before speaking. "You know, we need to talk about what's bothering you."

"No we don't." Tadashi glared down into his mug, not wanting to look up.

He did hear his aunt sigh though. "Well, do you want to tell me why you got into the fight then?"

"Marco's stupid."

"I doubt Marco's stupid Tadashi." He could hear the sigh in her voice and wanted to stand up and walk out of the room.

"Yes he is. He called me a mutt and then said that I got ahead because everyone felt sorry for me." He shoved the hot chocolate away from himself and crossed his arms. "It's stupid."

"That's still no reason for you to get into a fight Tadashi and you know it." Cass had crossed her own arms and watched her nephew carefully.

Tadashi couldn't meet her eyes and clenched his jaw. "I'm going to my room."

"Tadashi Hamada!" He'd stood and turned to walk up the stairs, but his aunt's sharp tone caused him to flinch and stare back. Cass had her hands gripped around her mug, worry evident all through her face. Angry worry, he realized. "Whatever it is, whatever is bothering you, please tell me. Say something. I can't understand it if you don't."

Tadashi said nothing, instead deciding to walk up the stairs to the room above.

Tadashi really couldn't believe that he was showing around a ten year old who was going to attend high school. He knew he was smart, especially since he'd skipped second and fourth grade, but it boggled his mind that someone had managed to get to high school at ten. He himself was twelve when he got to high school, but that wasn't quite the same as barely being in the double digits. Tadashi just had a hard time believing it was even possible.

As it was, he was showing the kid around and trying not to be bothered by the fact that the kid looked eerily similar to his mother. Same features, same face, the only difference was the shape of his eyes. His Aunt Cass would probably make a comment that Tadashi was reading too much into it, but the teen doubted it. He himself was just chalking it up to the fact that in a little less than six months it would be the seventh anniversary of his family's deaths. That usually got Tadashi in some kind of funk, and it usually hit right around a few months before the anniversary itself.

He never mentioned anything to the kid, since he didn't think Takachiho needed to know that his appearance was causing Tadashi to remember. Heck, so was his name, but Tadashi could deal with it. Not like San Fransokyo was swimming with Hiros, but he wasn't about to assume that his brother had been the only person with the name.

"And this is your homeroom. You should be cool with everything now. Just remember, the school's room numbers are basically according to their floor, so as long as you know what floor you're on, the rooms shouldn't be that hard to find afterward. Well, except for shop class, but you won't have that probably for another year." Tadashi stuffed his hands into his pockets, leaning against a locker next to the door as the younger kid fiddled with the strap of his bag. He had never looked this nervous when he started school, right? Hiro looked like he was about to bolt for the door at any moment. "Hey, if anyone gives you grief, just tell them they have to deal with a very annoyed senior afterward."

"W-what?" Hiro blinked up at Tadashi, eyes going round as his face crinkled into one of confusion. "What makes you think that I'd be worried about that?"

Tadashi reached out to ruffle the kid's hair, earning a scowl from Hiro. "I was twelve when I started high school, almost thirteen. I remember how bad it was when I was the smallest guy in school. Don't think it's changed any in the three years since."

"Do you do this with all the new kids in the school, or am I just lucky?" Hiro had his eyes narrowed and his jaw set. "I mean, you could easily be trying to get me to do your homework for you or you'd dunk my head in the nearest toilet."

"Unless you're taking my AP Statistics class, I don't think I'd even want to. Besides, from what I read, the math class you're in right now is Trig." Tadashi looked at Hiro, considering. "You're trying to get out of high school as fast as you can, aren't you?"

"Honestly, I just want to get out of school as fast as I can." Hiro shuffled a bit, biting his lip. "I know, school's supposed to be the best time of my life or whatever, but it hasn't been. It's just been one giant mess."

Tadashi frowned, not liking that. Heck, there was a lot about the way that Hiro was looking around the school that he didn't like. It made him wonder just how much the kid had been bullied at his previous schools. Tadashi himself had some minor bullying problems in his years of school, but it didn't last very long. This wasn't right, and Tadashi felt the urge to go all big brother on the kid. Not like he had a lot of time to do that in the last seven years, but he recalled one night when he was younger that he had vowed to protect his Hiro if he'd just come back. It never happened, but Tadashi was willing to try and make it up to his baby brother, even if it meant that he would watch out for someone else. "Bullying problems?"

Hiro gaped at him, and Tadashi could read it easily. It had to be. That was the only thing that made sense. "Look, Hiro, I'm serious. If you ever need help, just ask. I mean, it's not every day that I get to meet another kid that'd beat my own test scores. Big brains have to stick together, right?"

Hiro looked apprehensive still, but nodded quietly. "Y-yeah. I guess we do. Nerds have to stick together."

Tadashi grinned, holding out one fist. "Alright, fist bump makes it official." Hiro managed his own smile, and after bumping fists, he paused only long enough before entering the classroom to look back at Tadashi.

"You're okay, I guess. A nerd, but okay."

Tadashi chewed on his lunch, not really paying that much attention to it because he was afraid that if he did, he might end up refusing to eat it. It was the same way he had always eaten lunch at school, since he couldn't for the life of him figure out just what they did to the food to make it taste awful. It either tasted like wet cardboard, cat food (he'd had a taste of Mochi's food once on a dare and vowed never to do it again), or something that had been scraped together from his aunt's leftover night. Not that Aunt Cass was a bad cook, but there was one time she'd had to scrape dinner together from leftovers and it left a lot to be desired.

His attention was instead on a section of his chemistry notes, trying to read as much as he could while making notations in the margins. He'd pause in his eating just long enough to turn a page or make a note before going back to it. It was after all the first day of class, and while he didn't expect for any tests anytime soon, he wanted to be prepared for what was probably going to be one of the toughest classes he was going to have.

He hadn't even thought that much about the freshman that he had helped out earlier in the day until he heard a clatter resound through the lunchroom. He glanced up, expecting to see someone trying to clean off the floor or bribing the lunch lady to get another lunch. Instead, he frowned as he spotted a couple of sophomores surrounding a smaller figure. A very familiar smaller figure.

He didn't even think about it, though he knew he heard it from Cass a million times about him not thinking things through all the way. Instead, he found himself storming through the lunch room, students suddenly scattering before him. When he got to the group, he cleared his throat. "Excuse me, anything seem to be the problem?"

He could hear Hiro groan, but Tadashi's attention was more on the sophomores than him. After all, they were all the same age as Tadashi was, even if they weren't in the same grade. "What's it matter to you, Hamada?"

Tadashi would have sighed if he hadn't been in the middle of diffusing what could easily lead to a fight. Instead, he shoved his hands in his pockets and got an easy smile on his face. "Well, you see, I'd rather not have to skip lunch because I had to go down to the principal's office because someone was deciding to harass someone six years their junior."

The other teen sneered, and Tadashi could already see one of the teachers making their way over. Oh good. Maybe this could blow over quickly then. Or he'd gain Hiro's eternal enmity for stepping into a situation and caused it to get worse. "It's not like he's related to you or anything. Besides, what'cha think you're gonna do? Protect him all the time?"

Tadashi definitely hated the situation more and more. Great, so someone was going to cause problems. That was just wonderful. However, he simply shrugged. "Hey, he's a cousin. Family sticks together and all that. Pretty sure you'd do the same for any siblings." Diffuse, diffuse, diffuse. The words were chanted in Tadashi's mind over and over, trying to will this from escalating.

He knew that Hiro was looking at him oddly, but Tadashi was more watching the other teen, who now rolled his eyes and shrugged it all off. "Whatever, man. C'mon Gabe, let's get out of here."

The other teen followed his friend away from the mess, and Tadashi waited a moment before he sighed, turning to Hiro. The younger boy was staring at Tadashi like he had grown a second head, and Tadashi shrugged and made his way over to the counter again. "Here, I'll get you a new lunch. I can probably find something that isn't too horrible in the line." The lunch lady huffed at Tadashi in annoyance, and he simply rubbed the back of his head and looked sheepish.

"Um, n-nothing with peanuts please!" Tadashi blinked and looked over to Hiro, who looked like he had turned bright red and was even now stooping down to clean up the mess that remained of his original lunch.

"One, I don't think there's anything with peanuts in the entire line, and two, I can't get within five feet of peanuts without breaking out into hives." Hiro glanced up, looking surprised at Tadashi, but Tadashi was already turning around to get the lunch.

The two finished getting back to the table Tadashi had already sat at when Hiro couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Why'd you lie about us being related, anyway?"

Tadashi shrugged. "You look enough like me for that to be a feasible lie, and that guy's the same kid that my Aunt Cass chewed out last year for ruining my textbook when he didn't believe I was already a junior. She's scary when she gets mad."

"So you did it to get even?"

Tadashi winced at the bluntness in that statement. "Not even close. I just don't like the fact that he decided to harass you." Tadashi shrugged, thinking that was self-explanatory. "Besides, I did say that I'd look out for you, right?"

"I guess." Hiro blinked and looked down at his food, pushing it around with a fork before he made a face. "I thought you said it wouldn't be horrible."

"I just said it wouldn't be too horrible, buddy. I never said it wouldn't be horrible. That's the stuff that tastes more like leftover night than cardboard." Tadashi was still refusing to look at what he was eating, and instead was glancing at his notes and deciding he could review them later. "Both are better than the cat food option."

"Wait, there's a cat food option?" Tadashi chuckled at the expression on Hiro's face, deciding he actually liked the kid. Odd though Hiro was, Tadashi wasn't lying when he said that big brains stuck together. Otherwise they'd both be having lunch in their lockers.

It was weird over the next few weeks. Tadashi would get to school early, snag a quiet table in the lunch room to study, and then be pounced upon by the youngest freshman to ever walk the halls in the school. It was nice, and reminded him a lot of another time in his life. Originally he had thought maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to keep his distance from Hiro, but Hiro ended up seeking him out in the lunch room whenever he arrived. They talked quite a bit, Tadashi wanting to know a bit more about his sudden stalker/kōhai, and Hiro looking over Tadashi's notes and trying to figure them out. It felt weird, especially when Hiro would sometimes point out Tadashi's mistakes in his math, but at the same time, it felt… Nice. Like he was getting the chance to be an older brother again.

Tadashi in turn learned about Hiro's life, that he had jumped around from foster home to foster home. There was one point that Hiro spoke about a wonderful family that he'd stayed with, but the younger boy went unusually silent when Tadashi asked what had happened with that home. Tadashi learned quickly that it was best not to ask some questions, especially when Hiro's grief was clearly etched on his face for him to see.

He ended up telling Hiro about his own family after a bit of prodding, talking about his aunt and their gigantic cat that no matter how many diets they put Mochi on, he never seemed to lose any weight. He tried to keep it off his own parents, knowing that was still a topic that Tadashi didn't want to poke too much, especially when it would lead to other, more painful feelings regarding his deceased brother.

Today found him quietly working on his statistics work, making him wonder how much studying he was going to have to do in the class. Not that he minded, but the teacher he had decided that Tadashi couldn't be as bright as he thought he was and was making Tadashi work. Tadashi of course decided to take it as a challenge, and as a result, he was working harder than he probably had to get the same results as everyone else.

He'd turned a page when he frowned, noting something was amiss. Or, more accurately, something was missing. He glanced at his phone and noted that it was fifteen minutes before the bell, but he didn't see Hiro anywhere. Vaguely he wondered if Hiro was sick, and figured if that was the case, he could always get the kid's assignments for him and drop them off. He'd just give the kid a call during lunch to ask.

He went through his day normally, and when he got to the lunchroom, he figured he could give Hiro a call. He'd even gotten his cell phone out just to make sure he had Hiro's number when he saw a small figure enter the lunch room. Blinking, he put the phone away and started over when he noticed it.

A bruise was forming on Hiro's face that he was certain hadn't been there the last time he had seen him, and his lip was split. Tadashi glanced around the lunchroom, noticing that the only two people that were paying attention to the young boy were the ones that had decided to bother him his first day of school. Frowning, he approached Hiro and shoved his hands in his pockets, figuring nonchalance was the best route to take at the moment. "Hey. Missed you at breakfast this morning. Slept in late?"

Hiro looked up, blinking owlishly at Tadashi as he seemed to process what he'd said. The boy then shrugged and made his way over to the lunch line as Tadashi followed. "Yeah, I slept in. My alarm didn't go off."

"Really? Huh, remind me to call you next time then." Tadashi reached over and ruffled Hiro's hair, causing the boy to let out a hiss. "You okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Hiro shifted, and Tadashi could tell that the younger boy was wincing as he adjusted the bag on his shoulder. "I'm just hungry right now."

Tadashi nodded, not quite believing it, especially when he noted that the two sophomores were paying particular attention to the exchange. "Well, in that case, we can grab our lunch and find a table."

That didn't take long, and Tadashi made his way with Hiro over to a table by themselves. He'd started getting his books out when he noticed someone plop down across from him with a sigh and a pop. "Yo, Tadashi, you have your calculus notes, right? Lemme borrow them."

Tadashi blinked and looked up before grinning and handing his notebook over. "Well, hello to you too Ethel. Just got back from Korea?"

The girl in question wasn't even paying attention, already unloading her own bag and digging through it for a notebook. Asian, with similar features to Tadashi, she was short with chopped black hair and biker gloves. Tadashi didn't think he'd ever seen her without them since they'd started high school together. She then paused, her eyes trailing over Tadashi over to Hiro and back. A slim eyebrow rose as she popped her gum. "Someone get hit by a bus or something?"

Hiro sputtered while Tadashi shrugged. "Hiro, this is Ethel Yi. Ethel, this is Hiro Takachiho. He just started high school a couple of weeks ago."

Another pop and Ethel rolled her eyes. "Freshmen seem to be getting shorter all of a sudden. What are you, nine?"

"I'm ten." Hiro was already scowling and crossing his arms.

"Well, whatever kid. No wonder your face looks like it met pavement." Ethel shrugged before returning to the notes in front of her.

Tadashi hadn't even started on anything yet, his mouth drawn into a line as he looked over to the sophomores. They still seemed to be glancing back to look at them, and suddenly the teen knew just what had happened to Hiro.

"Hamada, I swear to god, if you decide to start something in the lunchroom, I don't know you." Tadashi blinked, looking over and realizing he had halfway stood before Ethel spoke. Sitting back down, he looked sheepishly back to the Korean girl. "There, better. Whatever you were going to do, it can wait."

"Wait a minute. What was that all about?" Hiro was looking between the two, confused.

"I wasn't about to do anyth-"

Ethel snorted, cutting Tadashi short. "I dunno about you, kid, but I've known Tadashi for years. Whatever happened to your face, our friend was just about to deal with."

"Wait, seriously?"Hiro looked at Tadashi with surprise. "I thought he was just a nerd."

"A nerd with a red belt in karate." Ethel rolled her eyes and resumed her work.

"I wasn't about to do anything, you know." Tadashi now looked grumpy, his arms crossed as he tried to ignore the stare he was getting from Hiro. "I was just going to talk."

"Yeah, well, when you have this 'talk', bring me along, okay?" The girl popped her gum again before returning to the notes. Tadashi really didn't have a return to that, and Hiro could only glance between the two in confusion.