A/N: Yes, it was very sad that Tadashi died, and while a lot of people are focusing on the pain Hiro is going through, I wanted to focus on a bit of satire with the brother of the year himself and his adventures in the afterlife.

Plot: Welcome to Shadow Hill Academy! A university for those who want to further their education... Even after they're gone... Tadashi Hamada is a new student to this Academy, now having a new roommate to deal with as well as figuring a few things out at his new school.

P.S: This was supposed to be an actual story but since it wasn't very popular, I decided to change it into a drabble.

The tapping of finger nails on a desk was just as irritating as nails on the chalk board. At least, that's how the young man felt as his eyes darted about the stark white office that he was currently sitting in. Though, its not like he had any real reason to be nervous, but as he looked up at the stern-faced, dark-haired, older woman sitting before him, he felt his heart rise up into his throat.

This woman was the head mistress of the very college he was currently applying for. Her face looked like a weathered rock would; cold with heavy shadows down her chiseled nose, cemented lips, and her eroded eye sockets. Her eyes themselves were quite vibrant, with a shade of teal in them that seemed to glow through the shadows, giving off a sense that they had once been apart of a face far more beautiful than the one they were currently stuck on. Despite all of this, the headmistress still carried an air of dignity and grace that was present in the way she sat and the way she tapped her long nails against the table in silent thought.

The student in thought was Tadashi Hamada, a very nervous young man of very little words... Or so he appeared to be at this moment, as he hadn't spoke a word since entering the office. Not that anyone could really blame him, as most who apply to a new school have to go through a painful interview, which with a woman such as the headmistress may as well have been a police interrogation, where anything you said could and would be held against you later on. That later time was quickly approaching, as she quickly decided that this silence had gone on long enough and the woman's fingers stilled.

"Well, Mr. Hamada... According to your application, your cause of death was... A fire..." She spoke slowly, her eyebrows raising in time with her voice.

"Yes ma'am." Tadashi replied, clearing his throat quickly just a few seconds to late.

"Really? According to the medical reports... It had been a falling beam." She muttered in a matter-of-fact way, but not in a disproving tone.

"I did not know that, ma'am." He replied honestly, his face going a touch pale as his eyes widened a bit in wonder.

"I didn't expect you to. Dying in such a manner can be very stressful." She spoke, her voice trailing off slowly as she folded her arms in her lap idly. "This will not affect anything though, for I've gone over your application, and I have to say that I am impressed."

Her face was beginning to soften, and that gave him a little bit of hope, though her voice suddenly drifting off was a little unsettling though. Still, he offered her a warm smile and nodded his head, not trusting his voice at the moment.

"It is a little late in the school year to be taking applications though, but I'm sure we can make an exception." She continued, rising slowly from her desk and going over to a nearby filing cabinet and taking down a folder that was sitting on top of it.

"R-really?" He straightened up a little in his chair.

"Of course." She offered him her own warm smile and opened the folder in her hands. "Three years in at the San Fransokyo University of Technology- If I'm not mistaken, and according to this, you have a near perfect record. Those are things that we look for in our students... So with that-"

She closed the folder quickly and tossed it into his lap with a gentle 'thump' and then quickly returned to her chair and sat down. With that, she stuck out her hand in the man's direction, and he took it as expected.

"Welcome to Shadow Hill Academy, Mr. Hamada." After a firm hand shake, she took back her hand. "Your dorm assignment, as well as roommate assignment are included in that file."

"Thank you." He gave her one last smile before standing, gathering his things, and quickly taking his leave of the office.

Entering out into the hallway, the young inventor opened the file he had been given and began to scan over it for his dorm room number. It was easy to find because it stood out in bright blue ink with an underlined circle enclosing it on the sheet of stapled paper that no doubt contained his schedule and class room numbers. He was going to have to look through the rest of the packet later, because right now he needed to find his new dorm room.

Room 47B (That is in the West wing of the academy.)

Roommate's Name: Phoenix Tohshow.

Smirking at the unusual name, he briefly thought back to Fred. For some reason the name reminded him of all of the weird nicknames his old friend would give them. He began to wonder if he still did that, but he quickly found himself brought back to reality by an unknown force. Sighing heavily, he quickly closed the file and started off down the hall in the direction of the dorm rooms. Traveling down the hall, he took this time to note the scene around him.

The school itself felt very old, with a heavy afternoon sun sinking in through the slightly foggy windows, and the air that hung around and pale peach colored interior of the building was a lot thicker than the air at his old college. It wasn't a very unpleasant thing, but it was something that would require a lot of getting used to. Letting out another sigh to relieve the heaviness in his lungs, he looked up to the left of him and took note of the large trophy case that he was currently passing by. The awards held inside were new, ranging from track meets to robotics and dated to recent dates. Each award had a photo to go with it, with a team of young adults all smiling proudly at their accomplishments.

Giving them all a gentle smile in return, the young adult carried on down the hall, quietly counting the number of steps he took deeper into the school building for no other reason other than to calm himself down a little and he soon found himself in the West wing and began to search for the room labeled 47B. Like on the sheet of paper, the room instantly stood out to him. Not because it was circled with blue ink, but because of the figure that stood propped up against the door staring at him as he walked around.

"If you're looking for 47B, its here." The figure called to him, only picking up his head when the newby was within arms reach.

Upon lifting his head, it became obvious that this figure was indeed male, and was perhaps just a little bit older than Tadashi was. He had a laid back expression that would rival Fred's, but the annoyed look in his dark eyes and the deep color of his messy hair was remnant of GoGo. Even his dark blue and black hoody and jeans reminded Tadashi of GoGo for some reason, but that could have been for a number of reasons that he didn't have time to think about.

"You must be Hamada. Headmiss warned me about you." The male smirked as he kicked off of the door so he could stand up straight. "My name is Phoenix, welcome to the academy."

With that, he turned and opened the dorm room and enter in quickly, before making a hand gesture for the other to enter the room, which he promptly did and shut the door behind him. Once inside, Tadashi took a moment to scan the living area over. Shockingly enough, the living space closely resembled the one that he had once shared with his little brother, if not a little neater.

"Its nice." He smiled bitterly and looked over at his roommate, who by now had claimed the bed on the left side of the room.

"Make yourself at home. Just don't do anything that I wouldn't." Phoenix teased, reaching over to his bedside table, picking up a small, silver key, and tossing it over onto the second bed. "That's your key by the way, so don't lose it."

"Okay- And what wouldn't you do?" The older Hamada asked, walking over to his side of the room to claim his key. "We did just meet."

"Don't do anything stupid." Phoenix said sternly, sitting up quickly and folding his arms in his lap as his face suddenly became uncomfortably twisted. "Which leads me to my first question- Um, you got accepted here... So how did you... Um, you know?"

"Die?" This response caught them both off guard, but it did help to clear the awkward tension that nearly formed between them.

"Yeah... So, how did that happen?" Phoenix pressed, leaning forward onto his knees and raising an eyebrow.

This topic was a heavy one, and both young men knew it, but there was something about the atmosphere of the dorm room that just made everything seem comfortable. It was warm and soothing, reminding both of them that they were in a very safe place now, away from the pain that they had felt during their last moments on earth, and that they were now talking to another being who had gone through the same process. Still, despite this knowledge, a long silence followed Phoenix's question, and was broken only by a sudden sigh.

"It... There was a fire at my old campus..." He muttered, shaking his head slowly. "It was over quick, so I really don't remember what happened..."

"I see..." The older looking man nodded his head before leaning back a bit. "Was there anyone with you when it happened?"

"My little brother was..." Tadashi replied, thinking back to his brother's panicked face just moments before the accident and wincing at the small pang he felt in his heart. "I miss that kid..."

"I take it hes still alive?" A silent nod answered this and Phoenix returned his own nod as a reply. "I think I can relate."

"And you?" If this guy was going to be his roommate, then he wanted to get the topic of dying out of the way as quickly as possible.

"Car accident... My little sister and I were going for a drive when some jack*ss ran us off the rode..." Phoenix replied, his tone going from sad to bitter in an instance. "She went through the windshield and my neck was snapped from impact."

"Did she...?" At this, Phoenix shocked Tadashi by smiling softly at the question.

"No. She didn't. Shes probably down there with your little brother right now." Phoenix sighed suddenly and shook his head. "I still miss that little girl. Just like you with your brother."

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Tadashi muttered, sitting down on his own bed quickly and rubbing the back of his head. "You know, my parents... Died that same way..."

"You have your parents here?" Phoenix's eyes went wide as he quickly leaned over the side of his bed and pulled a cellphone off of the floor.

"Yes. I've had them here for about ten years now." His sadness suddenly turned to curiosity, as the next thing he knew, there was a phone being tossed to him.

"Why don't you give them a call, and tell them that you got here safely?" Phoenix's mood change brought a certain light to his side of the room, one that had not been present when they first entered.

"Call them?" Looking down at the keypad, he curiously studied the different buttons, trying to call back to memory a phone number that he could use.

"Just hit the one button and type in your last name." Phoenix instructed, hopping off of the bed and going over to his new roommate. "Trust me, it works."

With a growing curiosity, the younger adult nodded and carefully did as instructed, plucking out the different numbers as delicate as a surgeon would until it was all filled out. With shaking hands, he let his thumb glide over to the call button, and gently pressed down on it. The phone began to transfer the call, but he just sat there holding the phone in his hand, unsure of what to think of it at this moment. The call clicked over shortly after that, and a gentle, sweet female's voice soon reached his ears. It was a female's voice that he hadn't heard in almost ten years now.

"Hello?" Her voice is so familiar and yet it sounds so shocking that the teen nearly dropped the phone in his hand.

"M-mom?" He asked, trying to get his heart back down into his chest, as it was now hammering up in his throat like no tomorrow.

"O-oh my God..." Her voice goes soft suddenly, and he can almost visualize the tears building up in her eyes at that moment. "Tadashi?"

A tense silence follows her words, stealing what ever it was her son was about to say next, so he just sits there with a blank expression on his face, mouth slightly ajar as he fumbles around for what words to use next. Carefully, he clears his throat and shoots his roommate a quick glance, taking note as Phoenix stood suddenly and went quickly to sit at his side before finally deciding to speak.

"Yeah, mom... Its me." He coughs, feeling that same tightness in his throat from before as he spoke.

"Oh my God... H-how are you- W-when did this happe- Your brother! Is Hiro okay!?" She goes from shock to panic as she near shouts those last lines into the phone.

"Mom, mom! Hiro is fine, he didn't... You know... Hes still safe with aunt Cass." Sitting up a little straighter, he cleared his throat for the second time.

"Well, what about you!? What happened!?" She gasped, the obvious sounds of plastic being clutched by a hand being heard over the line.

"T-There was an accident... At the college I went to an-"

"Oh my God! That's horrible! How did this happen? Was anyone else hurt?" She spoke quickly now, near hyperventilating as she did.

"Professor Callaghan was... I'm not really sure how it happened." He admitted, looking up to see Phoenix's eyes go slightly wide.

"Honey..." A quick pause followed her voice, but she quickly began to speak again. "I'm coming to see you. Where are you?"

"Shadow Hill. I'm not su-" The dial tone of the suddenly dropped call cut him off, as he frowned softly at the device before gently shutting it off.

With a sigh, he turned to Phoenix and was about to hand him the phone when he stopped and noted the look of shock and pure amazement on the boy's face, his pupils dilated and his hands laying limp in his lap. Frowning, he waved a hand in front of his face and found that he went unfazed from this.

"Hey, whats up?" He asked, nudging the other's shoulder a bit and sighing in relief when Phoenix shook back to life.

"Callaghan was the professor of my little sister's dream school..." He muttered, his voice trailing off as he stood up quickly. "Ever since she was seven she wanted to meet him..."

"Y-yeah..." Tadashi sighed heavily, burying his forehead in his left hand and closing his eyes. "I just can't believe hes gone now..."

Phoenix went silent, his hands beginning to tremble suddenly as he sunk down onto the bed heavily, a million thoughts obviously assaulting his mind as he thought over the information he had been given. Looking up suddenly, he frowned at the other.

"Hes not." He said suddenly, his voice numb and yet somehow still full of wonder. "He can't be... We would know by now."

"What are you talking about?" Tadashi looked up suddenly, his eyes going wide.

"This place has almost like a roster... You know? A list of people who are here." With this, he stood up suddenly and began to pace. "I heard about the fire at that college, the head mistress told me about it since you were going to be my roommate."

"And?" The other young adult rose up just as quick and followed him as he paced.

"Hes not here, apparently... My guess was he was never in that building to begin with anyway..." Phoenix shut his eyes, searching his subconscious for anything else that he might have remembered hearing about concerning the fire, only to get pulled back into reality by Tadashi.

"The building exploded apparently, there is no way that he could have gotten out alive!" This comment made Phoenix roll his eyes slightly.

"Listen genius, I'm not going to tell you a different story than the one I heard. There was only one fatality in that school and only one body found. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it was yours." A tense pause caught Phoenix's words but he quickly regained himself and started again. "I don't know why it would make a difference though. Isn't it a good thing that he survived?"

"Hiro... He tried to stop me from going in..." He muttered, his voice now sounding dull and tired as he slowly brought his gaze up to the other. "Oh geez... Please don't tell me I died for nothing..."

Phoenix halted suddenly in his pacing, bowing his head lowly and sighing deep from within his chest. After a moment of keeping his head bowed, he let it bob back up limply, then proceeded to shuffle over to his bed and toss his long limbs over the surface of his own bed, face first. Somewhat following his example, Tadashi sat back down on his own bed and bowed his head for a moment. After a few minutes had passed, Phoenix rolled over suddenly and held out his hand.

"Hand me back my phone." He muttered, sounding a bit bummed out as the phone was handed back. "If your parents are coming over, we might as well order some food."

"You still eat in the afterlife?" Earlier feelings aside, Tadashi found this statement to be a little curious.

"Uh, yeah. Who wouldn't?" With a roll of the eyes, Phoenix rolled off of his bed and dialed in a number before placing the phone to his ear and waiting.

"How does that work?"

"Hush, I'm on the phone."

A wave of the hand send both boys into a brief fit of giggles before they both went quiet again. Phoenix sat back on his bed after this as he waited for the call to flip over. During this long wait, he reached over to his bedside table and swiped something off of it and placing it near his lips. Curiosity overcame the other, as he was about to ask Phoenix what he had eaten, only to be cut off by a habit so annoying that he thought he had escaped it when he left GoGo behind in the living world... Phoenix blew a bubble of bubble gum, and let it pop.

1 Hour Later:

Phoenix was, as Tadashi soon learned, a lot like Mochi. He moved in stalking, yet still graceful motions as he moved, his limbs rising and falling slowly, as if a great weight was put upon them. Their long length seemed to add to those movements, often getting in Phoenix's way whenever he tried to move, just like the cat. The look on his face reminded Tadashi of Mochi as well, always looking so tired from the look in his eyes, from what he assumed to be a good deal of thinking. All of this was figured out as Tadashi watched his roommate stalk over to the door when a knock was heard on it. Since their food had already arrived, both males quickly and silently assumed that this was the Hamada parents who were knocking. Straightening up quickly, the younger male held his breath as he waited for the door to open.

The first to be reviled was his mother, who looked just as lovely as the last time he had seen her alive. Her long hair still fell down her back, sticking up crazily in random places and yet somehow still framing her oval eyes perfectly. Tadashi never noticed it, but he now realized that his little brother got most of his traits from their mother- Realization hit him hard as he began to feel very faint from the shock of seeing his mother again. Numbly, he stood up and made his way over to her, nearly tripping over his own legs as he did so.

"M-mom?" He gasped, his pupils going wide, mirroring the woman's own as she gazed up at her son.

"T-Tadashi... Oh my God!" His mother cried as she wrapped her arms around her oldest son tightly and held him close. "I-I can't believe it..."

"I-I know mom..." Tadashi laughed awkwardly, though tears were quickly sliding down his own face as he held her.

"Y-you're actually here..." She whispered, looking up at her son in shock again as she gently brought up a hand to wipe his tears away. "Y-you're so grown up now..."

"I'm eighteen now, mom." He muttered, placing his hand over hers to make sure that she was really there.

"Ten years... I can't believe its been that long..." She gasped, laughing softly in both happiness and heartache as she wiped her own wet eyes with her free hand.

The mother and son quickly embraced once more, staying quiet until they could gather themselves enough to finally let go without fear of the other disappearing. When they did this, they smiled lovingly at each other with the last of their tears drying on their faces. It was amazing to finally see each other again, standing on their own and not in any pain. To Tadashi, it was just a relief seeing his mother again, and not having her mangled from the car crash that had taken her from him. That was until he noticed that someone was missing.

"Wheres dad... Isn't he here?" Tadashi muttered, looking straight down the hallway for a sign of him.

He didn't hear his mother's reply though, as he soon found himself going into another shock as his father now appeared at the end of the hallway, just standing there in his own shock at the sight of his oldest son. Tadashi didn't even have time to register the man's sudden movement, as he was soon down the hall and pulling his son into a tight hug.

"You actually... You're here..." He muttered, holding his son by the shoulders as he forced him back a bit so he could get a good look at him and smiling softly at what he saw. "Well... I see that you take after you mother now... Couldn't really tell when you were a kid..."

"R-really? Aunt Cass tells me otherwise." Tadashi gasped, laughing this time in happiness as he hugged the man again. "And mom..."

The two laughed awkwardly again as they hugged, soon being joined again by his mother in a tight group hug. It was a bitter-sweet reunion, as the family still felt a loss since their youngest member was not there with them, but were glad that at least one member of their family was still alive. Gently breaking the hug, Tadashi took a few steps back, searching for a new topic of conversation that did not involve his death. Turning his head, he noticed his roommate standing in the doorway with a rather far away look on his face.

"O-oh... Mom, dad, this is my new roommate. Phoenix." He introduced the male, who in turn simply nodded his head in their direction."We got pizza also, if you wanted to stay and visit."

"That sounds like a great idea." His mother smiled weakly, taking her son's hand warmly in her own. "I want to hear all about the university..."

Tadashi smiled softly, leading his parents back into the dorm room as his father gently closed the door behind them. As they entered, Tadashi stopped when he noticed Phoenix's far away stare. He was about to question his roommate, when the older man beat him to the punch and spoke first.

"When she gets here... Do you think it'll be the same..." Phoenix muttered, gesturing to Tadashi's parents as they hurried into the room, ready to hear all about their son's life.

"She? You mean your sister?" Tadashi frowned as a nod answered his question.

"Yeah..." Phoenix sighed, watching the Hamada parents a little longer before turning back to Tadashi.

"Well... I like to think that it will be. You seem to care for her a lot." Phoenix smiled softly at that response and began to nod.

"Yeah, I do... Like with you and your bro." He began to laugh suddenly, shoving his roommate a little bit as he did so. "Come on, lets here about you being a show off now."

"Hey, graduating high school at the top of my class and inventing a robotic nurse is now showing off." Tadashi laughed, hearing his parents gasp in surprise from the other side of the room.

With another laugh from both boys, they traveled further into the room as Tadashi began to relate everything that had happened to him in the past ten years... Well, almost everything...