You're a Cherry Blossom

"Hey, so how is he?" Honey Lemon asked stirring some sugar into her herbal cup of tea. Honey Lemon, Gogo, Wasabi and Fred were gathered at the Lucky Cat Café, speaking to Tadashi in the hopes of getting an update. They had intended to give Tadashi and Hiro time to work things out but the prolonged silence following Hiro's injury had started to get to them, driving the entire gang to visit.

Tadashi ran a tired hand over his face, seating himself across from Gogo with a deep sigh. "Not good. Not good at all. He barely eats, refuses to leave his room, refuses to speak to any of us and has nightmares every night. His injuries aside, Baymax fears Hiro is making himself ill and I have to agree with the assessment. He's completely shut himself off. He can't keep living like this and I don't know what to do about it. I'm at my wits end."

Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Fred frowned at Tadashi's words, their expressions mirroring the conflicted concern in Tadashi's tone. Gogo scowled, nervously tapping the table with her hand. "Well, we can't just leave him." Gogo declared. "We already tried that and look where it's gotten us. We need to come up with a plan of action. I hate to say it but we need to cheer the kid up."

Fred's face lit up and he raised an arm into the air. "Oh, oh, I know what we can do! Pick me! Pick me!" He bounced up and down in his seat in the throes of his usual bout of hyperactive energy.

"This isn't a class." Wasabi said, quirking an eyebrow at Fred. "You're free to voice your opinion without being explicitly asked for it."

"I think we should take Hiro to an amusement park!" Fred leapt to his feet. "Amusement parks are AWESOME! There are Roller Coasters, Ferris Wheels, Spinning Tea Cups, Cosplayers, Faire games. Fantastic Prizes to be won and tons of awesome food! I'm sure it will do the little guy a world of good to actually get out for a change. There is no better therapy than fresh air and a change of scenery!"

"Fred." Gogo growled, tugging the hyperactive man back down into his seat. "Pause for a moment and actually think about what you've just said."

Fred blinked at her, confusion on his face. "You don't think it's a good idea?" He asked, not sure where Gogo was going with this.

"Hiro is in a wheelchair!" Gogo pointed out. "How do you expect him to navigate a crowded amusement park, let alone get on any of the rides?" Gogo poked Fred in the side to emphasize her point. "Think a little before opening your mouth."

"I did think about it." Fred protested. "I don't see a problem. He has us and Baymax. Just because he's in a wheelchair doesn't mean he can't do anything. We simply need to be a little creative about it. Professor Charles Xavier is stuck in a wheelchair but that never stopped him! He's a scientific genius, just like Hiro, leads a super hero team, just like Hiro and fights to protect people just like Hiro. Tell me you don't see the similarities here?"

"Professor X is a fictional comic book character…"

"Aha!" Fred exclaimed interrupting Gogo. "So you do know who Charles Xavier is!"

"Of course I know who Charles Xavier is." Gogo scoffed. "I hang around you, remember? Anyway, as I was saying, you can't base Hiro's recovery on a comic book character. It's unrealistic. It's not like Hiro has psychic abilities to compensate for the loss of his ability to walk."

"It hasn't stopped him before." Fred argued. "Unlike the rest of you guys who keep telling me everything is 'not science'," Fred threw a couple of air quotes into the air, "Hiro has always been willing to look at things differently. He turned me into a fire breathing lizard even though everyone said it can't be done! He turned the rest of you into superheroes and even managed to create micro-bots that he could control with his mind. That's close enough to psychic abilities in my books! I can't help it if you're all too blind to his potential to actually believe he can overcome this just like he's overcome everything else life threw at him." Fred finished with a huff, slumping down in his seat, arms crossed. He glared at everyone, silently daring them to contradict him.

Tick… tick… tick

The silence that followed Fred's outburst was filled with guilt. Fred's words really hit home. Everyone had been so consumed by the extent of the tragedy that had befallen Hiro that they'd let themselves fall into the same mind-set that had Hiro currently trapped in his room.

Tadashi cleared his throat before speaking. "Fred has a point. We can't expect Hiro to think of himself as capable if we're all allowing ourselves to see him as handicapped. He may have lost the use of his legs but he certainly hasn't lost the use of that big brain of his and it's about time we showed him that."

Wasabi and Honey Lemon nodded in agreement. Gogo continued to look at Tadashi with skepticism in her eyes. She was the pessimist of the group. "No matter how you look at it, Hiro's life is never going to be the same again." She pointed out, ignoring the glare Fred was now directing solely at her. "I'm not saying he's incapable but there will be things he may never be able to do again, important things that define who he is, like being a superhero for instance. Things that were once easy for him are going to be a lot harder and people going to judge him for it. They will take one look at his wheelchair and treat him like a freak because of it. Hiro's life is never going to be easy again."

"Hiro's life was never easy to begin with." Tadashi pointed out softly. "Hiro is no stranger to being judged. His intelligence made him a complete outcast at school. He was targeted by bullies and would often come home bruised and bleeding. He had no friends either. His cognitive abilities put him way above anyone his own age and most people older than him were not willing to befriend someone so young. It didn't help that they resented his intelligence either. You guys are the first group of friends he ever had and something tells me he hasn't become a social butterfly in the three years I have been gone. I refused to let him quit way back then and I'm not about to start now."

Gogo held Tadashi's gaze, silently assessing his determination. Tadashi did not waver beneath her scrutiny. Satisfied with what she saw, she nodded. "Okay, so what's the game plan?"

"Well…" Tadashi leant in, resting his arms on the table and started a group huddle. "Grand gestures and amusement park aside, I think Fred has the right idea..."

- BH6 - BH6 - BH6 –

Hero Of The Hazard: Very well deduced very early on.

Guest: Yup, you were very close. Amelia is not going to show up again before this story ends as there are only a few more chapters left. I'm glad you liked her though.

shooting2stars: yup. Tadashi is always there for Hiro even when Hiro pushes him away and Baymax is always reliable. He can be trusted to always do what he thinks is best for Hiro's well being.

AshPhoenix284: That is the intent.

CrazyBlueOwl: I'm glad you love guardian Tadashi as much as I do! We can fangirl together! I completely agree wuth you... despite all the drama in the previous chapter there was also a sense of peace. About Hiro makinf himself sick, calm down... He isn't cutting. He is heavily depressed and his mental state is having an impact on his physical well being. As a result he is not recovering as quickly as he should be.

NotShort: I think the main reason we are not on the same page here is that you're seeing the timeline as linear and I am seeing it as more fluid. Picture a piece of white string. Near the one end you have a blue line and near the other you have a red one. The blue line represents the Tadashi Hamada building while the red one represents the showcase building before it burnt down. Now loop the string so that the two points touch. These two points now exists alongside one another. The time portal was still unstable when the buildings appeared. I don't really picture the time portal as having teleported the buildings from one point into another. The scenario I picture is more like the string. As a result the building exists in both times simultaneously. Kind of like future Hiro and current Hiro. And before you go onto yet another tangent, I realize that technically the Tadashi Hamada building is no longer there but I picture that the building has simply slipped out of sight or into another dimension in order to make space for the showcase building. As for the atoms. There is a theory that there is always a consistent amount of energy in existence. What form this energy is in however changes resulting in new stars being born and old ones dying for instance. The atoms of the original buildings have already transformed into something altogether new. The only thing the time portal would need to do to maintain the equilibrium is ensure that the total amount of energy that exists remains the same regardless of what form it is in. And if you still don't like this explanation, here's option 2: timey wimey :P. Seriously though, there are things that are deliberately open ended in order to allow the reader to create their own theories.