Well, hello there. It's been a while.
This chapter was a bit tough to write. It was going to be longer too, but I decided to only publish part of what I wrote to get back to this, considering how long it's been.
For those of you who want to get an update, read the author's note at the end of the chapter. For those of you who are here just for the new chapter, enjoy!
When Tadashi opened his eyes that morning, he did exactly as he'd been doing the past week without even thinking about it: he looked to the side to check on Hiro. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed Hiro wasn't there, but soon, it all came back to him.
He didn't need to worry, Hiro wasn't a little kid anymore. He could take care of himself now, Tadashi didn't have to worry about his whereabouts every second of the day.
Even if that meant he could have gone bot-fighting, meaning he'd snuck out in the middle of the night all by himself to go to a dark alley to fight with strangers that were so much bigger than him and could probably break his jaw just by- Ok, maybe Tadashi did need to worry after all.
"Hiro?" Tadashi called as he bolted up in bed, rubbing his eyes. However, once he tried to get up on his feet, the cut on his leg, the bruise on his back and the cut on his elbow seemed to have decided to sting at the same time and made him hiss in pain.
"Ouch," He exclaimed when he recoiled his leg so that he could look at the cut, but his attention was taken away from that when someone called him.
"Tadashi?" Hiro called as he opened the partition, "You awake?"
Tadashi looked up and sighed in relief when he saw his brother standing there.
"Hey, Hiro. Yeah, now I am," He smiled, "How are you?"
Hiro shrugged and looked aside, "Alright."
Tadashi frowned and blinked, Hiro's answer being anything but convincing; but before he could question anything, his phone rang. Slightly startled, he reached for it on the nightstand and bit his lip once he saw who was calling.
"What's wrong?" Hiro asked when he saw his older brother's expression, approaching Tadashi and seating on the bed beside him.
Instead of answering, Tadashi just turned the screen to Hiro so that he could see it. He read the name on the screen and shrugged it off when he saw it was aunt Cass.
"It's aunt Cass, come on, pick it up." Hiro shook his head, confused as to why Tadashi seemed to be worried.
Only then it hit Tadashi that he didn't have to worry about her calls anymore either. For the past week, he got worried whenever Cass called as he feared she might find out what had happened, but that was in the past now.
Hiro wasn't a kid anymore.
"Hey, Tadashi Hamada here," He said as he finally answered the call, trying to clean his head off the confused thoughts he was having.
"Hi Tadashi!" Aunt Cass greeted, "How's everything going?"
"Good, good," He said as he yawned and stretched his body.
"Sleepy, are we?" Cass chirped from the other end.
"A bit, yeah. Just woke up," Tadashi chuckled. "But how's grandma? Is everything ok?"
"Oh, she's alright. I told you it was just a cold, she exaggerates everything." Cass rolled her eyes, "Anyway, I'm getting the bus today, I think I'll get there around 2pm. Think you can go pick me up on the station by then?"
"Sure, we'll be there!" Tadashi smiled.
"Good," She smiled, "Is Hiro awake?"
Tadashi looked to the boy seating by his side, who merely watched as Tadashi spoke, "Yeah, he is."
"Can I talk to him, then?"
"To Hiro?" Tadashi's heart began beating fast. Ok, what excuse would he give her this time?
"Does she want to talk to me?" Hiro asked when Tadashi said his name on the phone, confused by the silence that followed.
Tadashi shook his head, trying to come back to reality.
"Oh, yeah, sure you can," He smiled awkwardly before handing his phone to his younger brother.
"Hi, aunt Cass," Hiro said, but Tadashi didn't pay attention to what he said after that. Instead, the older Hamada stood up from his bed and went to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
He'd forgotten to check for the time, but looking outside he assumed it couldn't be much later than eight in the morning.
Tadashi leaned on the sink and splashed his face with cold water, trying to wake himself up. He'd manage to sleep well the past night, but he still felt so tired and sleepy that it was hard for him to keep his eyes open. Perhaps he didn't get enough hours of sleep.
He sighed and looked up, his eyes meeting those of his reflection on the mirror behind the sink. He looked tired, with dark bags under his eyes. Drops of water ran down his face, from his forehead to his chin, before dripping on the floor. His hair was still messy from waking up; and when he tried to fix it with his hand, all it did was pop back up.
Tadashi shook his head and threw some water on his hair with his hand, hoping to get it to look more presentable if he did. The water did make his hair go down, but before he could use a comb to fix it properly, Hiro knocked on the door.
"Tadashi?", He called from the other side, "Someone's calling your phone."
Tadashi then opened the door and looked down at Hiro as his brother held out the ringing phone for him to grab.
"Thanks, Hiro," He smiled and Hiro nodded, going back to their room to use his computer. Tadashi looked back at his phone, answering the unknown number. "Hello?"
"Tadashi Hamada?" A man asked from the other end, mispronouncing Tadashi's name.
"That's me," He said as he left the bathroom and went back to his room, grabbing a towel on his way there to remove the excess water from his hair and dry his face, "Who is it?"
"Hello, my name is Sanjay, I'm calling from the police department."
"Police department?" Tadashi raised an eyebrow and looked at Hiro. Hiro picked up his brother's words and looked to Tadashi with an apologetic smile. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong in recent times that would have the police call on him, but better safe than sorry. "What can I help you with?"
"We received a call from someone who said they found an abandoned, beaten up motorcycle in front of their store today. We picked it up and ran the plate, we believe it belongs to you."
Tadashi was confused for a while until it hit him. "Oh, my motorcycle, I completely forgot!"
Hiro sighed in relief and turned his attention back to his computer when he realized the conversation wasn't about him.
Tadashi rolled his eyes and smiled, and then the man spoke up again, "It's been considerably damaged, and one witness says there was an accident in that street yesterday. You need to come forth to pick it up and answer a few questions as soon as possible."
Tadashi looked at the watch on the wall and saw that it was almost 9am. He quickly made some calculations in his mind and concluded that there was enough time for him to solve that and come back home before he had to go pick up Cass.
"I'll be going there right now," He informed the cop, and after a quick thank you, he hung up. "Hey, Hiro?"
Hiro used his heels to turn the spinning chair to look at his brother, "Yep?"
"I need to go get my motorcycle. Think you'll be alright while I'm out?"
Hiro raised his eyebrow and tilted his head. "Uh, sure? I think I can take care of myself, Tadashi. You don't need to worry."
Tadashi's eyes widened when he realized, he'd done it again. He really did need to find a way to get reality through his head and acknowledge that Hiro was not a kid anymore. Why was that being so hard for him to grasp, anyway?
"What happened to your motorcycle?" Hiro asked.
"Oh, hum," Tadashi shook his head, "Yesterday a car hit me when I was out looking for you. It damaged the key hole and then I couldn't use it to come back home, so I called Wasabi to help me."
Hiro's face drained of color and his smile became a thin line.
"You got hit by a car?" Although he had his eyes on Tadashi, he wasn't looking his brother in the eyes. Rather, it felt like Hiro was now looking at something behind Tadashi.
"Oh," Tadashi's eyes widened, "It wasn't anything serious, just, it made me fall and scratched my motorbike-"
"So that's how you got all hurt, huh?" Hiro interrupted.
Tadashi frowned, "Well, not all hurt, I just-"
"Oh, you just got a huge cut on your leg and bruised your entire spine, yeah, that's nothing alright," Hiro scoffed, interrupting Tadashi a second time.
Tadashi couldn't tell what Hiro's voice tone or expression meant in that moment. All of what he was saying felt disconnected with the talk they were having or the situation.
"What?" He tilted his head.
As if a switch had gone off, Hiro's eyes widened and he shook his head, spinning the chair around again to face his computer once more.
"Whatever, go get it. Hey, you should bring us some food when you're back, you know? There wasn't much left for breakfast. And I might have eaten your part, oops." He forced a chuckle as to lighten up the mood.
Tadashi blinked in silence, staring at his brother's back.
"Uh, alright then," He shook his head and walked to the door, grabbing his jacket and his keys on his way out, "I'll be back soon. Remember we have to leave by 2 to go pick aunt Cass."
"Yeah, sure, sure," Hiro gave him a thumb up without ever looking away from his computer, and Tadashi could tell that he hadn't listened to a word he had said. The older Hamada just chuckled and shook his head, leaving at last.
Hiro didn't look away from his computer until he heard the door opening and closing downstairs, meaning that Tadashi was gone.
"Tadashi?" He called.
The silence that followed made him nervous. Hiro told himself that he shouldn't worry, but he still could feel a stinging feeling in his chest, as if several strings were being tied around his heart and tugging on it, but he tried to ignore it.
I'm being stupid. He's going to be alright.
As if to taunt him, his mind flashed images on the previous night, when Hiro walked in on his brother shirtless and saw the huge bruise he had on his spine.
He has to.
"It wasn't really that big of a deal," Tadashi told the police officer sitting across him, who'd asked why he hadn't informed the police about his accident, "And I didn't really get hurt. That's why I didn't place charges or anything. Besides, I had other priorities in that moment."
The man nodded and wrote down Tadashi's words on a file, but then he stopped and looked up at him.
"Other priorities?" He questioned, tapping his pencil on the table.
"Oh, yeah," Tadashi sighed, "I was looking for my brother. We… had a fight last night, and he got mad so he ran away."
"I see," He nodded again and wrote some more, "What happened after that?"
"Well," Tadashi looked up, recalling the events of the previous night, "I tried getting back on my motorbike, but I realized it was too damaged to ride; so, I called my friend and he picked me up. Then I went back home, and now I'm here."
The officer sighed and closed the file he'd been writing on, "You sure you didn't catch the plate or anything?"
Tadashi shook his head, "No, I'm sorry. It all happened too fast, and it was too dark; and I wasn't really paying attention to that."
"Well, that will be all then. Guess we'll have to rely on what the security cameras have to tell us." The man said hopelessly as he placed the file on a pile by his side, and then he reached out to Tadashi, "Thank you so much, Mr. Hamada."
"You're welcome," Tadashi smiled and shook his hand.
"You may leave now," He informed him, "Go all the way down the hallway, third door on the left. You can retrieve your motorbike there if you wish."
Tadashi bit his lip, "Actually, I came here by bus. If I get it now, I'll have to push it all by myself all the way home. Can it stay here until I can get someone to help me?"
"Oh, sure, don't worry about it," The man waved his hand as in to dismiss the topic. Tadashi muttered a thank you and stood up to leave, but stopped when the officer called him again. "Wait, Mr. Hamada."
"Yes?"
"I almost forgot, but we also found this at the scene," He spoke and leaned down to open a drawer. He began fidgeting with whatever was inside it as he tried to find what he was looking for.
Tadashi tilted his head, tip-toeing and leaning forward to try to get a look at what the man was looking for.
"Here," He said when he found it, "Does it belong to you as well?"
Tadashi blinked in surprise when the officer held out a small bot, which he recognized as being Hiro's.
"Uh, yes," He took it in his hands, "Well, not to me, but to my younger brother. But…" He looked down at it, "This doesn't make sense."
"What?"
Tadashi shook his head and realized he was talking to himself.
"Nothing," He spoke up, "Yeah, this belongs to my brother. Can I take it, then?"
"Sure. And come pick your motorbike whenever you can, just remember to bring your ID so that you can retrieve it. We'll let you know about any news on the case."
Tadashi gave the man a thankful smile and turned around, leaving the station with the bot in his hands. While he walked down to the bus station he fidgeted with it, trying to understand how it could have possibly gotten there with his motorbike. He was pretty sure Hiro has taken it with him when he ran away. That was something he would ask his younger brother when he got home.
Thank you for reading!
So, onto the update.
It's been really long since I updated this, and I believe most of you followed what was going on the past couple months. Firstly, I'd like to thank you all so much for all the lovely messages and reviews that I got wishing me the best! All of them mean so much to me and they really brought me up when I was down.
Health wise, I'm getting better. I'm still on many medications, but it's getting better nonetheless. Physically, my broken foot healed a 100%, which is great! I was really scared of it not healing properly.
Some other news I have is that I moved in with my sisters and went back to school after dropping it last year – and we adopted a kitty! He's a fatty and he wakes me up every day at 5am day and I love him. His name is Cookie!
I watched Big Hero 6 again for the first time in over a year last week, and it honestly brought me so many emotions. Those who followed what happened will know why that was hard for me. Ever since, I tried getting back to writing this, and this was the result.
I feel like my writing style changed a lot, and I'm not exactly confident publishing this after ignoring this story for so long – which is why I made it shorter. Please let me know how I did!
Yeah, that's about it, I hope you guys enjoyed this, even if just a little. Feel free to message me if you want to ask or tell me anything! Thank you so much for reading, sorry for the long hiatus, and know that your support means the world to me!
- Dell.
