Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned by Disney Animation. I don't know what the name of the park is in San Fransokyo, but it's probably owned by the city.
A Walk In The Park
Hiro Hamada wasn't the kind of person who went out to just go out.
He needed a purpose. Whether that was a project, a reward, or a destination, he needed something at the end of the trip to justify the travel. And because school was not in session, he found that getting up off of his lazy butt was a lot harder to do.
But then he got a call about a week after school let out. A call from a person he hadn't seen since the day she got back from overseas.
And had spent months worrying about her well-being.
"So, I was thinking..."
"Shocker."
Karmi ignored him, folding some sort of paper on her desk. "Did you want to get together and do something tomorrow?"
"Huh?"
"My parents are going to be busy with looking over remodeling plans for the house, and I really don't want to listen to my mom talk about corrugated metal cabinets and my dad to sarcastically make fun of her talking about corrugated metal cabinets all day."
This was weird. Karmi, the girl who practically lived in her lab when she was going to SFIT and never went anywhere, wanted to go out. With him.
Well, go out with him...out. To places. Not romantically or anything.
You know what I mean.
"I would see if the others want to come," Hiro started, "but they're all busy. I could-"
"That's fine. It can just be the two of us."
Hiro's face flushed.
"What? You have a problem with that?"
"No." That word may have had a little too much excitement in it. "I mean...if you don't."
Karmi stared at him. "I wouldn't have asked if I had a problem with it."
"Oh. Okay." Hiro tried to rack his brain about possible activities. "What were you thinking about doing?"
"I don't know."
Hiro sighed. "I mean, you can always just come here and hang out with me and Aunt Cass."
"I want to do something, though," Karmi replied. "I love your aunt and your house, but I don't want to be cooped up there all day."
He fell silent. He could see Karmi also being quiet, although she was wiggling her hands along the table and silently muttering to herself. If he held out long enough, maybe she would have something come to her head.
"Oh, I know!"
And there it was.
"We can go to Torii Gate Park!"
"Huh?"
"I've never been there before. And there's a lot of things to do! I'm looking on their website right now." Karmi typed a few things out on her keyboard. "Ooooh! They have a arboretum there! We have to go there, now!"She quickly rubbed the back of her head. "And...any place that you want to go. I don't want to just go places I want to."
"I'm fine with whatever," Hiro said. He didn't want to say that he didn't care where they went, as long as she was there. That would cause violent gagging from the sheer amount of sappiness. "And tomorrow is fine. I have nothing planned."
"OK. I'll meet you there at nine. See ya!"
She hung up before he could respond, but Hiro was excited. Granted, Karmi wasn't a "See ya!" kind of person, but it didn't really matter. Even though he had also never been there before, he was going to try to enjoy it as much as possible.
That was why he now found himself at the top entrance to Torii Gate Park, bright and early in the morning. And as everyone else was otherwise occupied, he had to ask Aunt Cass for a ride there.
Which was a mistake, because Aunt Cass seemed way too excited for him.
He supposed that he could have just driven his scooter there, but that thought had come to him too late. Besides, stranding himself in the park was probably the best idea; he wouldn't get any thoughts about trying to leave early.
But how was Karmi going to be? It was strange to see her act so normal on the phone; after everything she had gone through, he thought she would be a little more...worn-down. Maybe that was just his brain getting to him.
"Hey!"
Hiro turned on the spot to see Karmi walking up to him, purse under her arm. She certainly didn't look any different; she still had the same sweater on. Same shoes, same skirt, same wristbands. Same circles under the eyes.
Some things just don't change, he figured.
"Hey," Hiro said as she stopped in front of him. "I was thinking you weren't going to show."
"Really? How long have you been waiting?"
"Not long. Probably about five minutes. Aunt Cass drove me."
"Oh." Karmi nervously shuffled her purse. "She knows that you're with me here?"
Hiro tilted her head at her. "Yeah. I mean, school's out-"
He winced. He didn't want to bring up SFIT so early. Already off to a good start. "And...she wanted to know where I was going to be all day." He desperately tried to change the subject. "Have your parents already started on the renovation talk?"
"Yeah, a bit." She was now glancing over her phone. It was like she was expecting someone to call.
"Karmi."
Hiro had a hunch growing in his gut.
"They...do know you're here today, right?"
"Of course they know I'm here, silly." Karmi was still staring at her screen. "They just worried about me being in the city, that's all. Out of control robots and all that."
"I mean, they're not out-"
"Oooh! I know where we can go first! The Japanese Tea Garden!" She grabbed his arm and practically dragged him down the path.
And that was the beginning of a very...interesting day for Hiro.
The very first stop on their round trip was the aforementioned Tea Garden. As soon as they walked into the entrance, two women in kimonos had pressed cups of tea in their hands. Karmi bowed to the attendant, and Hiro quickly followed suit.
"What are we suppose to do with these?" he muttered as they walked ahead, noting the handle-less cup he was holding. It was almost clear, and tinted a light green, the saucer holding it even more so.
"I think you need to drink the tea, genius."
"No, I got that part. What about this?"
Karmi walked up to the small pond and very carefully put her empty cup and dish down into the water. She pushed it away with her finger, and Hiro watched as the cup fell apart into separate pieces like petals, the dish holding them up like a water lily.
"It's one of the traditions they have here," she whispered. "You come to the tea garden, you drink, and you let it float away. It's suppose to bring good luck to you. And everything's biodegradable, so it doesn't hurt the ecosystem."
"Oh." Hiro quickly gulped down his tea and did the same thing. He watched it float away, briefly tapping to Karmi's before disappearing down the river. The two stood there for a moment, taking in the quiet around them.
"Well, I don't feel any luckier."
"It takes time for it to settle in, Hiro." Karmi took hold of his arm again and turned him down the path.
They stayed in the garden for a little bit longer. Unlike the noise and traffic that he was hearing when they were outside, in the garden was quiet and tranquil. That, he learned from one of the signs at the entrance, was because of a large amount of noise-canceling tech that was installed in the grounds. That way, people could enjoy the serenity without hearing the sounds of buses and cars going by.
"Man, there is a lot here. I never realized," Hiro quipped, looking through a brochure. "Huh. They still have windmills here after all these years. Interesting."
"They also have a children's playground." Karmi's voice came from a little bit in front of him. "Maybe we can stop there for you."
"Well, they also have a senior citizen center. Maybe we can drop you off there."
No response.
"Oh come on. You have to admit that was a little-"
THUNK!
Hiro ran headlong into something metal. Shaking the ringing out of his ears, he looked up to see he had walked right into some sort of bridge, only it wasn't like anyone he had ever seen before. Instead of it being flat, it was round, going up to a height taller than him. And right on the top at that moment?
"C'mon, slowpoke!"
Guess who.
"We got places to be."
He put his foot on the first step, noting the incline. "How on Earth am I suppose to climb this?"
"With your legs, dummy!" said the opposite side of the bridge.
A minute late, Hiro was huffing and puffing down to flat ground, trying to catch his breath. Karmi stood next to him with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. "I guess you don't get enough exercise, huh?"
"You're not...allowed to...make fun of me...when I can't...fight back."
She shook her head at him as her phone vibrated. She briefly glanced down at it before turning back to Hiro. "So, where do you want to go next?"
Her demeanor had done an about-face; whatever good vibes she had a second ago were gone in an instant. It was shocking to him. "Are you OK?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Karmi nodded to the cell in her hand. "I just wish my mom would stop texting me about renovation stuff. She's been doing it all morning. I don't really have an eye for that sort of thing, anyway."
His heartrate back to normal, Hiro decided not to press the issue. They had a long way to go in the day, and he didn't want to get on her bad side so early. "Doesn't matter to me."
Exiting the garden, they made a loop around the concourse. Hiro noted the giant building next to them, pointing it out on the map in his hand. "Hey, there's that Academy of Sciences that you said houses the arboretum. Wanna go there?"
"We can hit that on the way back around. I wanna go to the Conservatory of Flowers. It's the oldest building in the park, and I heard they got some new plants that are only suppose to grow in Asia!"
"Huh? You can see the plants over there."
"They're not the same, Genius Boy. An arboretum houses trees. The conservatory has a greenhouse that has primarily plants, not just trees. It's totally different!"
"Yeah." Hiro crossed his arms. "Totally."
He was expecting some sort of smart aleck retort, but he looked up to see Karmi back on her phone, poking at it almost angrily. "You OK?"
"Grr." She shoved it back into her purse. "It's nothing."
She was becoming more and more distressed, and now Hiro was beginning to suspect something was going on. Surely home decoration didn't make people this mad? But he had to deescalate the situation.
Again.
"Hey, hey." Hiro put his hands up. "I'm sorry. We can go wherever you want. I'm just here for the ride."
Karmi's expression softened considerably. "No, I shouldn't be yelling at you. You're just trying to be considerate, and I'm parading you around like a monkey."
"Karmi."
His hand came down on her forearm, patting it lightly. "It's fine. It really is. We have all day. I'm not in a hurry."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. I'm sure."
The two started off again, both of their moods a bit better. Maybe they would actually go longer than five minutes without running into a problem.
"...Huh."
OK, it was three minutes. We'll take it.
Hiro and Karmi had arrived at the conservatory, only to realize that it wasn't open yet. There was a small crowd of people huddled around the entrance as they walked up. Hiro glanced at the time on the digital sign. "We only have a few minutes to wait. We can sit down here."
He motioned to the brick steps behind them, and the two got to rest their feet for a bit. Hiro wished he had brought some insoles or something; he clearly didn't plan ahead on this trip.
"So, what's everyone else up to?"
"Hmm." He rubbed the top of his sneaker, trying to think about everyone else's itinerary. "Wasabi's visiting his orthodontist who is also his dad..."
"Weird."
"Go Go's out at Muirahara Woods camping for a couple of days. Honey Lemon went south to go visit her parents. She felt bad because they weren't able to make it to graduation."
"And Fred?"
Hiro thought about that. "I don't know what Fred's up to. I think he mentioned something about some shindig he's going to with his mom. I just know it involved tuxedos and expensive appetizers."
"Must be nice to have money."
He turned to see Karmi staring at the ground, making a circle in the ground with her shoe. "He's not like that. He really doesn't care about the money. I think he'd rather be playing video games or reading comics than going to this thing anyway."
"I don't know. Money changes people."
Hiro's mind suddenly went back to a few weeks ago, staring at the message on her fanfiction profile. The one he wasn't suppose to see. "It didn't change Fred. It didn't change me when I got that grant for SFIT. I'm...sure it wouldn't change you. If you somehow inherited some money to your name."
Karmi looked at him strangely.
"I mean, not that I'm saying it would never happen. Or it would happen. Or-"
The door chimed behind them, signaling that the conservatory was open.
"Oh hey, we can go in now. Let's go!" Hiro stood up and very quickly walked over to the doors, going inside.
Karmi was still at the steps, staring after him with an inquisitive look. All she could do was shake her head.
"Weirdo."
The Conservatory of Flowers was Aunt Cass's garden taken up to about a thousand. Everywhere he looked, there was a brand new plant in another shape or color. Karmi was spouting so many Latin words at him that he thought he had been transported back in time.
"Ooooh, a Ceiba pentandra! I wonder if I can get a kapok seed. And there's a horseradish tree. I think that's called Moringa oleifera. And we have to see the Victoria amazonica ! I heard its leaves are taller than I am!"
"Karmi," Hiro sputtered, his head spinning, "I'm about to put on a toga and start reciting Shakespeare in a second. Can you slow down, please?"
"No! I still have, like, thirty more plants I want to show you!"
Thirty plants later, the two were taking the steps down and out of the building. Hiro's eyes were just getting used to not rotating into his skull. Karmi was too busy twirling the pen she had bought at the shop (complete with real miniature plant seed on the top) to care.
"How does this thing stays in? Whatever. I can't wait for it to grow! I wonder what it's going to turn into," she added, peering into the tiny pot on the cap.
Hiro was just happy to be out in the direct sun again. "So, what's next?"
Karmi's phone vibrated again, but she didn't make a motion to answer it. She still scowled in its general direction, however, but it was gone just as quickly. "I don't know. Doesn't matter to me."
"Good. Because I have an idea."
Before she could say anything, Hiro had already ran off. Karmi looked up to see the direction in which he was going...
"You know, I was just kidding about the playground."
But it was too late. By the time she had walked up, Hiro had already disappeared somewhere in the inner workings of the jungle gym. Karmi sighed loudly as she sat down on one of the occupied benches surrounding it. Maybe it was better for him to expend some energy while he was still in her good graces.
"Fancy seeing you here, darling."
She glanced to her left at the person on the bench. The plus-sized woman was wearing a very form-fitting yellow dress, her auburn hair short on the top and shaved on the sides. She looked very familiar.
Oh crap.
"Ms. Crawford! I didn't see you there."
"I sincerely doubt you failed to notice me."
"I...I..."
The woman laughed loudly, patting Karmi's lap. "I'm just joking with you, darling. How are you? I haven't seen you in a while. I go to Gramercy and Doreen goes on and on about you."
"Oh, you know," she said, tucking an errant hair behind her ear. "Keeping busy, that's all."
Luckily, the woman didn't press the issue, instead casting a gaze over her sunglasses at the playground. Karmi figured that she was looking around for her daughter Ashley. The socialite had brought her a couple of times to the restaurant, and she was more behaved than people four times her age.
"So, which one's yours?"
Karmi quickly recoiled, the blush climbing up her cheeks.
"Karmi!"
The two turned to one of the horizontal tubes, where there was a hand and a head poking out of the opening. Right behind him were several kids climbing on top of him, little fingers clawing at everything they could grab on.
"I need help!"
Karmi's hand slapped her forehead, muttering to herself. "Mine's the one currently being drowned in kids right now."
Ms. Crawford chuckled. "Well, I should let you rescue your boyfriend. I hope to see you at the restaurant some time." She got up from the bench and walked off toward the far end of the playground, leaving a sputtering Karmi by herself.
"He's...he's not..."
She growled to no one in particular, standing up to go rescue Hiro from the throng of kids.
"I am going to kill you, Doreen."
"Unbelievable. I think I saw my life flash before my eyes."
"Don't thank me. Thank Ms. Crawford for pulling you out."
Hiro twirled his arm around painfully. "I think she almost took my arm out of its socket."
"Well, she is very..."
"Big?"
"Strong," Karmi corrected. "But I guess she's used to being called that sort of thing."
He didn't reply, letting his arm fall to his side. He could live with the soreness for now, but he was curious about his mysterious savior. "You know that woman?"
"Ms. Crawford? She's a plus-sized model. Comes to Gramercy a few times a month. Chef Bolton treats her very well, and she treats us well. One of the best customers we have. Doreen lives in her apartment complex. And apparently they talk to each other."
Hiro wanted to respond to that, but they were walking into the arboretum, and Karmi's eyes had started to go all kawaii again, as Fred would have put it. Judging from the blurb he was reading in the brochure, he could see why. There were literally thousands of flowers to look at. Even Hiro was impressed by the selection; unlike the conservatory, which had trees and larger plants, this place almost dealt exclusively in flowers. From honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum, as Karmi excitedly told him) to Thai ginger (OK, that's enough Latin for one- "Alpinia galanga!"), it had everything and more that a plant lover could want. He could only imagine how crazy Aunt Cass would react if she stepped foot in here.
"Is that winter's bark over there!?"
Oh wait. He could. Because he was getting a front row view of what it would be like right now.
Some passersby were staring to stare at the girl hurriedly running back and forth to every single sign, and Hiro nervously laughed. "Don't worry, everyone. She doesn't get out a lot."
Hiro almost had to drag her out of the building to go visit the aquarium next door, although he did let her buy a gardening book for Aunt Cass before leaving. Hiro was much more interested at this one; the fish swimming around seemed to be much more lifelike than the plants and flowers they had visited before.
"So, know any of these names?"
"Not in Latin, no." Hiro squished his nose up against the glass, trying to take in everything at once. "I'm not showing off like you are."
"Hmm."
He heard the beep of a phone from behind him and the scoff that followed. It was high time for a distraction from whatever her parents were sending her.
"Let's go to the bat cave!"
"What?"
"See? Bat cave."
Karmi crept forward as they walked around the dimly-lit cavity underground. "This is a bad idea."
"Why? You don't like bats?"
"You do?"
"Eh, they're OK." Hiro peered around. "It reminds me of one of the comics Fred reads. This guys lives in a bat cave and fights crime and all that."
"That sounds stupid," Karmi said.
All of a sudden, a giant wave of bats flew overhead, shooting their sonar to head over to the opposite side of the cave. Karmi screamed as she reached out for the closest thing to grab.
"Umm..."
And we all know what that was.
She opened her eyes to see she has Hiro's neck wrapped around his arms. He was staring her down, his face going red.
"You OK?"
"Yeah." Karmi unhinged her arms from him, patting his sweatshirt down. "Fine. I'm...fine."
A couple hours later, the two geniuses were on their way to grab food on the far west side of the park. Having not eaten since the morning, both of them were starving for some grub. Hiro looked on the map and saw a couple of places they could go to. The prices made his wallet squirm a little bit, but he had some leftover money from some wagers he made with Fred over video games, so it was being put to good use.
But now he was worried about Karmi again.
It was a fairly long walk over to where they were going to eat, and she had spent the vast majority of the twenty minutes it took to travel over to the shoreline tapping away at her phone. At one point, he thought her thumbs were going to pierce right through her cell. By the time they had been seated at the restaurant, she was full-on hunting and pecking like a chicken searching for feed.
Hiro had been focused on just having a good time, but now that they had some peace and quiet, his mind was starting to drift toward difficult questions. It had been a complete shock to see Karmi show up to the Lucky Cat Cafe after graduation, since he thought she was still overseas. He had so many questions he wanted to ask, but out of respect for her, he had kept them to himself.
"Karmi?"
She looked up from her screen to see the waitress standing there, patiently waiting for her drink order.
"Oh. Sorry." She quickly glanced down at the menu. "I'll just have water, thanks."
The employee nodded and walked off, and Hiro's finger scrolled down at their offerings. "Wow, they have a sixty-five dollar ribeye? Man, for that price, it better prepare itself and also do the dishes."
There was no response, so Hiro's eyes came up to look at her. "OK, that was a good one. You can't not laugh at that one."
What greeted him shocked him.
Karmi was crying silently, a couple of tears falling onto her phone. Her arms were shaking, and the hands in her lap under the table were probably worse. Seeing his face, she quickly wiped them away and sniffled. "I'm fine."
"I didn't ask anything."
"I know what you were going to ask, and I'm fine. Don't-"
She was interrupted by a sudden tapping on her phone. She looked to see Hiro was holding a small business card out to her. Taking it in her hand, she saw the front of it: a cartoon-ish picture of a shoreline and a lighthouse in the background. The light "shining" on the top was going to the left onto some capital lettering: THE BAD LIARS CLUB.
Karmi flipped it over.
So now you know; you're free to go.
She raised her eyebrow at him, and Hiro nervously laughed. "Congrats. You're a member now. We all have one. Meetings are on Tuesdays. That'll make you come out of the house, right?"
Karmi sadly smiled, setting the card in her purse.
"Because your parents won't let you."
And then she was silent. But Hiro didn't react to that.
Because he had figured it out.
"You didn't tell your parents you were going out. Did you?"
Karmi looked down at the table. "No," she mumbled.
"You been checking your phone and texting not because of some redecoration or whatever." Hiro blinked. "I saw you screen just now. A lot of capital letters. No pictures of cabinets or whatever. You've been arguing with them this entire day. That's why your mood been so back-and-forth."
She nodded slowly.
"Is everything all right?"
The waitress had come back with their waters and was looking them over, unsure of what to do. Hiro quickly stepped in. "Yeah, we're fine. Can you...give us a couple of minutes?"
"Sure. Just let me know when you're ready."
She went to the table behind them, and Hiro saw Karmi looking out onto the beach, wiping her cheek with her thumb. She still seemed upset, and as her phone rumbled once more, he had an idea bubble in his head.
And it was a bad one. Or maybe a good one, depending on how she took it.
Hiro pursed his lips. What he was about to suggest could backfire terribly, but maybe she could blame it on him if anything bad happened.
"Turn off your phone."
Karmi's eyes snapped back up at him. "Huh?"
"Send your parents a text telling them that it's the last one they're going to get before you get home. Then turn it off."
"Hiro, I'm not going to-"
"Fine, I'll do it." Hiro reached for her cell, but Karmi was too quick for him, snatching it off of the table.
"Don't touch it!"
The two stared at each other for a long moment. He was almost afraid that the staff was going to come over and kick them out, but luckily none of them made a movement toward them.
"Karmi, please. Just tell them you're with friends, and you're fine, and you'll see them later. That's all."
She continued to look at him, but her fingers were already tapping out the keys. The noise from her phone let him know that it had been sent. Her finger hovered over the power button...but she didn't press it down. It was trembling too much.
"Can you...?"
"Yeah."
Karmi handed the phone to him, and Hiro held the power button down until the option to shut it down came on the screen. He swiped the icon to the right, turning it off entirely.
"I'll hold on to it for you." He set it down next to his phone, just out of her reach. "Just so you don't get any ideas."
"I have half a mind to have you throw it into the ocean," Karmi muttered, her eyes again out onto the beach. "I'm so tired of my parents right now."
"That can still be arranged, you know." Hiro glanced at the parking lot between the restaurant and the water. "I don't think I can chuck it that far, though."
"You can't. You have baby arms."
He let that one go. Mostly because he did have baby arms. "Karmi, I have a lot of questions I want to ask you. And I haven't been able to ask you this entire time."
"OK," she said nervously.
"But I can wait a little longer."
Karmi blinked at him.
"Because I'm really hungry. And I'm paying. So I'm ready to eat if you are."
"OK." She smiled at him as she brought the menu up again. "Well, since you're paying, that prime rib does look really good."
Hiro choked on his water.
She didn't get the prime rib. Thankfully.
After she finished her ahi salad and he his gnocchi (which Karmi had to pronounce for him to the waitress), they paid and left on the path back to the east, taking their time. They had walked a fair way down the path when the bison paddock came up on their left. They stopped to watch them graze the small field that they were in, the smell of dirty fur filling their nostrils.
"I did not know there were buffalo here."
"Only a few." Hiro glanced down at the sign. "They're trying to preserve the population. Breed them in captivity and whatnot."
"Huh. I want a baby buffalo."
"Yeah, your parents would totally go for that."
The two walked off back down the path. Hiro stuffed his hands in his pockets and felt her cell phone in there, right next to his. He had decided to hold on to just so that Karmi couldn't use it.
"So, can I ask you about...what happened?"
Karmi nervously fidgeted with her purse. "Sure."
"OK, first question..." He looked to his right at her. "Are you going to leave again?"
"No. We're not going back overseas, I swear to you," Karmi replied. "My parents wanted to stay longer, but even my grandmother knew that it was time for us to come back. That's why they're doing this renovation, really. Want to make it a fresh start of sorts. So...yeah. We're staying here."
"Are you coming back to SFIT?"
She deliberately avoided his gaze this time. "I'm...still working on that."
"You still want to come back, right?"
Karmi looked down at the ground.
"Karmi..."
"Yeah. I do."
Hiro felt a follow-up coming.
"But it's a little more complicated than that." Karmi's shoes tapped on the sidewalk as she continued. "My parents see SFIT as a great place for education, but they also see it as the place that didn't do enough to stop...her."
"Karmi, the only person to blame for what happened was Liv."
"And I know that. But they don't see it that way, even when Granville tried to explain it to them. It happened on school grounds, so they see her responsible."
She looked up at the sky, noting the clouds coming in. "They were almost ready to sue SFIT for endangerment, but I managed to convince them to not do that. That's when they decided to take me overseas. But some things...cropped up."
"Your grandmother?"
"No. Something else."
"The lawsuit?"
That wasn't suppose to come out.
Karmi fully stopped right in the middle of the sidewalk. Her eyes grew twice the size as she stared at Hiro, who was now just starting to realize what he had said.
"How do you know about that?"
"I...umm..." Well, this was going to be awkward. "A few weeks ago, I logged onto your fanfiction profile. I hadn't done it in a while, and I was cleaning up your messages. And then...I came across what Megan had sent to you. About her research into Big Hero 6. Into me."
Karmi blinked at him.
"Into you."
Twice.
"And I was going to respond with something that sounded like you, but I guess you were able to log into the profile from your grandmother's house, because it logged me out. I was wondering what had happened, but I logged back in to see that...you had already sent a message to her. And I read it. All of it."
She took a deep breath in an attempt to steel her nerves. He couldn't tell whether it was because of him or just about the situation. He prayed it was the latter.
"Hiro."
He braced himself for the inevitable.
"What I'm about to tell you...you cannot tell anyone. No one. Do you understand me?"
"Yes." Good, no punching. "Absolutely."
She started walking again, and Hiro hurried to catch up to her. Once they had a good pace going, Karmi began talking in a lowered voice.
"What Megan said in that message was true. My parents are suing Sycorax for what they did to me. Child endangerment. Illegal genetic experiments. Plus a lot of things that I don't even know about that my mom and dad won't tell me. Think about what Aspen's dad was charged with, and then multiply it by ten. That's how big we're talking here. And that's just me."
"What do you mean?"
"My parents are looking into bringing other clients into the lawsuit. Employees and whatnot. The problem is that this case is being kept out of the public eye. It hasn't even started yet. I have no idea how Megan was able to find out about it."
"She's very tenacious."
"I bet," Karmi replied. "Anyway, no matter how many others we bring in, I was only ever going to be the only person that had the kind of documentation and testimony that would potentially win the case. And...Mom and Dad don't like that. They wanted to keep me safe."
"I'm confused. So they want you to testify...but they also don't want you to testify?" Hiro asked.
"Yeah, sort of. And the judge that would proceed over the case doesn't like that, for obvious reasons. They can't have it both ways. So they either bring my case to court alone or they bring a giant civil suit and remove themselves from the case. But the whole thing, I think, is just them stalling so that they can reach a settlement with the company. Without...her...there, there's been a lot of talk about the rest of the upper management just paying us off to avoid an ugly trial."
"How much are we talking here?"
Karmi reached into her purse and pulled out a small scrap of paper, handing it to Hiro. He gazed down at the number...and whistled softly. "Whoa. That's a lot of zeroes."
"Yeah." She took it back, balling it in her fist. "Like I said to Megan...I would never have to worry about money for the rest of my life. Obviously I wouldn't be able to touch any of it until I was of age, but still."
"You said it wasn't about the money."
"It's not. I meant that. If it meant that Sycorax would cease to exist, I wouldn't care if I did it for free. My parents just want to make sure they pay for it both financially and physically."
The two geniuses were quiet for a bit. Hiro's brain was trying to put everything into context. He still couldn't imagine what Karmi had gone through. He didn't even wish that on his worst enemy.
"There's another thing, too."
"Really?" Hiro said. "What?"
"You were also there." Karmi looked away. "The court doesn't really like having one person's word versus another. So, they would want multiple people to testify. And in my case, that would mean...you."
Hiro's heart started beating faster.
"You would have to testify to back up my claims. And I'm not going to put you through that. I won't."
"I'd do it."
Karmi stopped again, turning around to face him. "Y-you would?"
"In a heartbeat, I would."
"Hiro, I can't make you do that."
"You wouldn't be making me do anything." Hiro straightened up. "Karmi, I said I would protect you. If that meant I would go in front of a judge or jury and tell them about everything that they did to you, I would do that. Absolutely."
"Even after all the history we've had?" Karmi said. "Even after everything I've done to you?"
Hiro, in an effort to avoid looking at her, glanced off to his left. Spying something against the trees, he motioned for Karmi to follow his gaze over there.
"At least we haven't caused a Great Catastrophe."
Karmi's eyes went to where he was looking.
"...Oh."
A few seconds later, they were standing in front of a small building face, the bricks on the wall bleeding into the white marble columns in front. It looked very much out of place in comparison to the trees and foliage behind it. There were many years of pollen on the material, and vines were starting to cover the outside walls, but it didn't bother Hiro as he took a step up onto the small stage.
"This is one of the structures that survived the Great Catastrophe back in 1906."
"Yup." Hiro ran a finger down on the columns. "I'm not normally one for history, but I'll make an exception for this."
The wind whistled through the structure as Karmi took in everything around her. "Honey Lemon would love this. She's a big history buff. Didn't she do one of her projects on Lenore Shimamoto?"
"Yeah. Apparently she was the cause of it. Imagine being a national hero for so long and then it comes out you're the cause of the disaster. And finding out at the school fair, too."
"Wow."
Hiro stepped down and returned to Karmi's side, where they stood and looked the memorial over one last time.
"Did that petition to remove her from the dollar ever make any headway?"
"I don't think so," Hiro said. "There are still a ton of people that like and respect her, even after the news came out. Even the federal government came out and said that they probably wouldn't do anything."
The two turned and started off again.
"Maybe they should put you on the dollar."
Karmi looked at him inquisitively.
"You know. Because you could probably pay to be on it with all of the money you're getting."
"Ha ha." The smile was back on her face. "Very funny."
Hiro stuck his hands out, framing his fingers like a camera. "Just imagine. The Karmi Khan dollar! Only for a limited time! It'll be a collector's item. I'll buy you one and you can put it in your room. And the best part is that it'll only cost a dollar."
Karmi was legitimately laughing now. Her mood had brightened, and her cheeks were crinkled from her grin. This was the Karmi that Hiro liked seeing, and not the one that was stressed from her parents.
Hiro checked the time on his phone. "It's getting late. We have one more stop to go."
"Really? I thought we've gone everywhere."
Hiro turned around in front of her. "Oh, come on. Did you really think you were going to come here and not stop at the one place that I know you wanted to go."
"What are you talking about?"
"Holy..."
This. This is what he was talking about.
Karmi's eyes shined as she looked over the fields before her. Everywhere she looked...roses. Every single color she could imagine was laid out before her. Soft pinks. Deep purples. Almost incandescent reds. Even a bed of black roses were in the back corner, blending in to the coming dusk.
"How did I not see this?" Karmi whispered.
"The Rose Garden? I really don't know." Hiro huddled his arms in his sweatshirt as they walked around some hybrids. "When I looked at that brochure, I thought you'd want to go here first. But you were probably focused on other things."
She bent down on her knees to gaze at some multi-colored ones. The center was colored yellow, and darkened from that to a dark orange to a deep red on the tips of the petals. Hiro bent down to get a closer look. "Know the latin name for this one?"
"No. I'm not sure it has one." Her voice was soft as she held a bud between her fingers. "I just know it's called a 'Joseph's Coat' rose. It's a climbing rose, so it's best to have it grow on some sort of wall or trellis. I've never actually seen these before out in the wild."
A question had been nagging in the back of his mind for the entire day, but only finally came out now. "How do you know so much about flowers?"
"I studied them a lot when I was young. I would sit out in the garden with books and just memorize everything I read. It was so much fun. And then I got sick with chickenpox when I was eight." Karmi's thumb ran over the top of the bud. "I was so enamored by the illness that I started reading about germs and pathogens and I just...kind of kept going ever since."
"But you still like them. You did that project with the rose. Ever think about going into horticulture?"
"Maybe when I'm done with my degree in biotechnology, I'll think about going back into it."
Hiro looked down again at the flower. His mind was driving dangerously toward romantic things, but it didn't see the sign until it was too late. "I like these a lot."
"Really?" Karmi turned her head around to view her surroundings. "Out of all of these?"
"Yeah." Hiro touched one of the petals. "Because it remind me of you."
He felt his head turn toward him, her breath from her nose tickling his neck.
"The colors go really well together. The yellow. The orange. The red. How they all sort of mix together. It makes it really...beautiful..."
Hiro was now aware of Karmi laying her head on his shoulder. Her thumb brushed the top of the bud, lightly grazing his finger.
"You see the dark red on the outside?"
"Yeah."
"That's a color that's not really seen on flowers that much. It's called carmine."
She let the bud slip out of her hands, the stem returning the rose to its proper standing.
"My actual name."
Hiro finally turned his head to look at her. "Really?"
"Yeah. Not a lot of people know that. Or...anyone, really." She rubbed her cheek on his shoulder. "Karmine is my birth name. But literally everyone just calls me Karmi at this point. Sometimes, I even forget myself until I look at my certificate."
"I like it. It's unique. But I think I'm just going to stick with Karmi."
"You do that."
"Heh."
He was so lost in the feel of the rose that he didn't notice that Karmi had rotated her head to look at him. As the light posts turned on around them, the light shined down into her eyes, almost drowning out the roses before them.
"You're a good guy, Hiro."
Hiro blinked back, saying nothing.
"Most people don't take the time to get to know someone like you do. They just pass people by. You...you stop to smell the flowers, instead of trampling on them. That must be why I..."
She trailed off, her eyes half-open. Hiro was leaning in, his brain having turned off.
"You what?" he murmured.
It seemed like Karmi's brain went back on, because she stopped herself before Hiro could close the distance. She stood straight up, her cheeks almost matching the color of her name. "Umm...we should probably get going. I have to start heading back home before my parents ground me to oblivion."
"Oh. OK."
He got back up on his feet as the two walked off, heading back to where they met. However, there was one particular change from the beginning of the day that he was very happy about.
Their hands had met on the bud of the rose...and they hadn't disconnected yet.
And judging by the smile on Karmi's face, she wasn't going to let go anytime soon.
But of course, time is relative. Soon came way too quickly for Hiro. Before he knew it, he was back at the bus stop Aunt Cass had dropped him off at, the moon starting to climb up over the buildings.
"I had a good time today, Karmi. I'm glad that you came out."
"Yeah, I am too," she replied. "It's a shame that I have to go back and face the wrath of my mom and dad."
"Just bribe them with the money you'll get from Sycorax."
"Oh my God, Genius Boy, I don't have the money yet," she chuckled, her hand over her face. "Slow your roll."
Their laughter died down, and Hiro was aware of Karmi looking at the bus schedule. "My ride's coming in a couple of minutes."
"You know Aunt Cass can probably give you a ride home."
"Yeah, but she doesn't know where I live."
Hiro tilted his head in confusion. "Just tell her then."
Karmi didn't answer, instead looking down the street to see what was coming. Hiro wasn't sure what to do at this point. It was almost getting to be as bad as when she left the first time. But the others being at the bowling alley helped maintain his composure. He wasn't so lucky here.
"Hiro, I have to tell you something."
He turned to face her, her hand still in his. Her palm was starting to get sweaty, but he didn't let go. "What is it?"
She didn't look at him straight away, taking one last glance to look out for her bus. Seemingly satisfied, her attention went to him. "When I told you that the trial hadn't started yet, I was kind of only telling you half the truth. It...started yesterday."
Her fingers tightened around his hand.
"Because of the proceedings and how busy they're going to be, and because my parents are probably going to ground me for what I did...you may not hear from me for a while."
"How long is a while?"
"I don't know. It depends on how long this goes. If they settle immediately, it won't be bad. If they fight this...I don't know." Karmi sniffed. "I may be able to text you a little bit, but probably no video chat until this is all over."
Hiro's heart started to hurt again. He couldn't go through this again. He couldn't.
"I know that it'll be rough, but we went through this before. And that was when I was twelve hours away. We'll make this work. I know we will. Because..."
Karmi stared into his eyes.
"You're the smartest person I know."
Her free arm wrapped around his neck.
"And you're my friend."
Her other hand let go of his, setting it on his shoulder.
"I..."
She stopped short, but Hiro didn't need to hear it.
"Karmi, I know. I know you do. You don't have to say it."
He pulled her into a hug, one that she reciprocated eagerly. The two stood there in the night, ignoring everything else around them.
And then Hiro felt her hand climb down his side...and right into his pocket.
"Umm...Karmi?"
His neck went crimson as Karmi's face came back into his view, her grin now evil.
"You still have my phone, Genius Boy."
Her lips went up to his ear.
"Or were you expecting me to grab something else?"
As luck would have it, that was exactly when Karmi's bus decided to show up. She let out a laugh, pulling her phone out of his jeans. She also produced the gardening book from her purse and handed it to Hiro. "Here. Fair trade."
He was desperately trying to cool his face down as she stepped up onto the bus, her phone back on and tapping at it lightly. The doors closed and it rode away, leaving Hiro standing alone at the stop.
And a alarmingly red face.
Hiro felt his phone vibrate, and he brought it up to his face to read it:
I'll text you when I get home, OK?
He sent his confirmation back. After a second, he started typing again:
You know I could just look up where you live, right?
She was quick on the response.
What fun would that be, though? :P
Yup. She got him again. She always seemed to know what he was thinking. It all seemed so effortless for her. And really difficult for him. Karmi was hard to understand sometimes, but days like this made it just a little bit...easy.
"Yeah," he said under his breath, Aunt Cass's truck pulling up in front of him. "Just another walk in the park with you, Karmi."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A ton of research went into this story, most of it being Golden Gate Park and its many attraction. I tried my best to BH6-ify it a little bit, so I hope you find a map of the park online and follow their day together though all of the twists and turns.
And yes. There really is a $65 Prime Rib on the menu.
You'll also notice a reappearance of someone from Along Came The S.P.I.D.E.R.: Ms. Crawford and her daughter Ashley. Whatever you do, don't look up Ashley Crawford on the Marvel Wiki. It's totally not another reference or anything. It's not a mistake that she lives in the same complex as Doreen.
And I have a lot of little references to other things hidden in this story. See if you can find them all.
As for the Hiro/Karmi, I'm sort of giving myself an out just in case season 3 rolls around and Karmi doesn't immediately come back. With me, she'll be off with her parents suing Sycorax. In the show...who knows? They'll probably explain what she's been up to, and I'll have to awkwardly try to fit it in somehow. But I enjoy the challenge.
So, as you might guess, Karmi won't be in the next story. It'll be focusing on Go Go and Robbie, and I hope you'll come ride with me on the Highway to Hell. That will start either next week or the week after.
Read and review, if you like. Until next time, everyone.