Chapter 6
*****(BH6)*****
Callaghan was simply remembering the book as he poured sweet tea into a mug. If only there was a way to erase part of a person's memory so that they could enjoy a book the same way over and over again like it was their first time reading it. Suddenly, the mirror in his hallway lit up and was glowing blue and indigo. Then, a girl with reddish-blond hair tumbled out of the mirror and landed in a heap just in front of the wall across from the mirror. She climbed up and they both stared at one another.
Just then, a skateboard whizzed out of the mirror and the girl ducked. It hit the wall and crashed to the floor. Callaghan and Aeiko continued staring at one another. Then Aeiko looked behind her and saw the front door. "Oh, there's the door. Sorry," she apologized. Aeiko left after that, and ran as fast as she could between the two sleeping guards. Moments before they woke up and went in to check on Callaghan, Callaghan himself was left to stand with his eyes wide. The coffee mug slipped from his fingers.
*****(Live)*****
Emi was sleeping at her place when she suddenly jerked awake and looked around frantically. She noticed she was at home and quickly grabbed her phone, dialing Keisuke. Keisuke had been leisurely watching one of his crime shows when his phone went off. It was Emi. "Hello?" he said. "Hey, are you available to talk? I really need to talk..." "We're best friends," he replied earnestly. "What's going on?" "I had a really weird and realistic dream... It felt as if I were there. And what's weirder is that I'm certain I saw Tadashi there too." Emi replied. "What did he do?" Keisuke asked curiously.
"There was a showcase at the school that he described. I think I saw him and his brother, Hiro. He had these things called microbots. After Hiro won the thing and got into school something happened once they left and it caught on fire. I saw Tadashi run inside and I, of course for stupid reasons, followed. There was a man with Tadashi and they escaped. But the man kidnapped Tadashi, threatening him if he didn't come he would die..." She replied, recalling the dream perfectly. "Wait...what?" Keisuke racked his marathon-obsessed brain. "Tadashi has a brother? What? Oh yeah, the one that did stuff with...I don't remember. But if he was kidnapped, how did he get here?"
"I don't know! My dream didn't mention that part!" Emi replied. "Did your dream mention these...microbots?" He asked. "Yeah! I think it did! I think that's what Hiro was showing off." "What are they, exactly? Everyone who knows us knows that robotics are not a strong forte in the Sontaro family." "They are kind of like metal Legos but are controlled through a headband that transmits your brain waves that are telling it what to turn into." "And your dream told you this?" Keisuke clarified. He was getting slightly confused. "Yeah. It was like I have been there or was there for all of it. I knew everyone, I went to the school...it was strange. Like a vision."
"That's strange." Keisuke looked at the time. "I'm sure it was just a nightmare, Emi. Listen, I've got to go to bed. I hope you don't have any more nightmares tonight, though. And I'm sure the dream wasn't precognitive or anything like that. But, one more thing." "What?" she asked. Keisuke grinned smugly as he said, "You like Tadashi, don't you?" Even though he couldn't see it her face turn rose pink. "I-I...wha...what makes you say that?" She asked, her voice slightly shaky. "Ah, nothing. Just a hunch. G'night." "Night." She hung up and put her phone down and thought about everything in her dream and what Keisuke had told her. She sighed and decided to talk to Tadashi about it in the morning.
*****(BH6)*****
Aeiko stepped out of the neighborhood and stopped. The landscape looked strangely familiar, but at the same time, it was different. She continued on toward downtown San Fransokyo. What a place to be at night! The others were walking home from Callahan's. "It's getting late," Wasabi observed. "I'm going home. 'Night, guys!" "That's my car we took!" GoGo exclaimed. She had forgotten about that. "See you later." She followed Wasabi to the car. "Night!" honey called. "Bye guys." Fred replied. Baymax watched them leave. Hiro looked at Baymax. "Ow," he said. Baymax turned to him. "Are you alright, Hiro?" "Yes, I'm fine. But I was just thinking about how much my feet hurt. Can we just fly home?" He nodded. He opened his wings up and let Hiro onto him. "Thanks. Let's go!" Baymax took off. Honey and Fred headed home. Aeiko finally made it downtown. She had no idea which way home was.
Suddenly, Hiro and Baymax swooped down from the sky, causing her to duck. "What on earth...?" She exclaimed. She watched the red blur spiral around, then head back her way. Feeling the rush of air behind them, Aeiko put down her skateboard and stepped on it, hard. The pavement of this side of town was a lot smoother than the pavement where she lived. Aeiko followed Hiro and Baymax as best she could. At one point, she leapt down a flight of stairs without falling. Hiro happened to glance back at this time. "Whoa," he observed aloud. He had never seen anything like that before. He turned back around to watch the lights of the skyscrapers ahead of them come rushing toward them. They flew down a hill. Aeiko caught up with them and at one point was able to grab hold of one of Baymax's wings.
Baymax glanced back at her and then at Hiro and slowly came to a stop and landed, afraid for the new riders safety. Aeiko, startled, let go. But because she was still going at a breakneck speed, she veered out of control, too scared to jump off the skateboard. This was not something Aeiko was skilled at yet. She tried to make the best out of it, but ended up smacking face first into a lamp post. She fell backwards and landed flat on her back. "Ouch!" Baymax approached. "On a scale from one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" he asked. Hiro leapt down from Baymax and approached Aeiko as well. "Yaah! What is that thing?" she exclaimed, sitting up. "This is Baymax," Hiro answered. "Why is it coming toward me?" Aeiko cringed and turned away. "He won't hurt you," Hiro told her. "He just wants to help." "I don't believe you," Aeiko said. "Who are you, anyway?" "My name's Hiro Hamada," he said.
"And like I said, that's Baymax." "I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion." he replied. "W-what?" Aeiko stuttered. "It talks! But, what does it do?" "He's a robot that is basically a doctor," Hiro told her. "He knows practically everything. Go ahead, Baymax." Aeiko turned away and shut her eyes. He scanned Aeiko. "Scanning, scan complete. You will have a bruise on your forehead, and will be sore for a while. You also have a severe allergy to salsa and other strong spicy/hot food." Aeiko opened one eye. "H-how does he know all that?" she asked. Hiro grinned. "My brother programmed him that way," he said proudly. "Baymax is designed to diagnose with symptom information and use that data to suggest a cure, right, Baymax?" "Yes. Tadashi programmed me with over 10,000 medical procedures."
"Tadashi?" Aeiko exclaimed, then stopped. "Sorry, I just know someone with that name." She stood up and the keychain fell out of her hoodie pocket. Hiro recognized the design of the portal key immediately, but gasped slightly. "Well, thanks for checking on me," Aeiko said. She casually slipped the keychain back into her pocket. "I just need to get home, if I can figure out where that is. Anyway, see ya!" Aeiko stepped on her skateboard and veered off around the corner of a building. Hiro stared after her. "Shoot, I forgot to ask her what her name was. Let's go home." Baymax didn't react at first but then turned to Hiro and nodded. He took off toward the cafe.
Aeiko was halfway down the road when she realized that she hadn't told Hiro her name. Oh, well. She just had to figure out how to get home. But where was she? Aeiko continued on. She watched someone throw away a newspaper. Thinking that dye might find out where she was, Aeiko rushed to the trash can and fished out the newspaper. She gasped when she saw the title: The San Fransokyo Times. The city Tadashi had been describing. Baymax landed at the café. Hiro got down and they took their armor off before going to bed for real this time.
Aeiko found a restaurant and went into the bathroom. The keychain portal had been activated by its reflection. Aeiko hesitantly tapped it on the mirror and the portal opened up. "Yes! Yes yes!" she exclaimed. Now hopefully she wouldn't get stuck like she did last time. Aeiko picked up her skateboard and silently begged the portal to take her home, and not into some other random place. She climbed up onto the sink and stepped into the portal. Immediately, she and her skateboard were sucked into the turquoise pool and then spiraled up an upward curving tunnel.
*****(Live)*****
Then the portal spat them out. Aeiko felt herself go flying into the air, then she landed on something soft: her bed. "Thank you," she said quietly. "Thank you."
(Emi's a psychic! Kind of. Aeiko has returned home safely!)