It was already dark when Hiro returned home. As he quietly opened the door, he tiptoed his way down the stairs. He tried to stay as quiet as possible, but the creaking sound of the stairs did not help his situation. With every step he made, he hoped and prayed that Aunt Cass was still asleep in her bed with their cat Mochi at her foot. He sighed in relief as he reached the last flight of the stairs.
Quietly, Hiro made his way into the kitchen to see if there was something to eat since he missed his dinner. He quietly opened the fridge and scanned its surroundings to see some takeout from the Korean resto a few blocks away. He managed to eat a piece of kimbap in his stomach when suddenly he heard the light switch turn on. He slowly turned around and saw his Aunt Cass, who looked crazed and frazzled, her eyes burning in anger, and Mochi, who only looked at him in disdain.
"H-hey A-a-aunt Cass" Hiro said with his face and voice evident in fear, and his body stiffen as a rock. It felt like his soul was ripped off from his body when suddenly his aunt yelled his name out loud, "HIRO HAMADA!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30 minutes later...
The three ventured out of the living room which by now was dimly lit apart from the kitchen as it was only illuminated by a few lights and a lamp. While Aunt Cass sat comfortably in her armchair, Hiro was kneeling in a bed of mung beans in a wooden basket with his hands on his knees. Hiro felt his knees in pain from every possible direction as he tried to shift, it was his aunt's worst punishment to date.
"Aunt Cass can I please stop kneeling now?" he asked, as he wanted to complain but was immediately shut as his aunt gave him the coldest and most chilling glare that sent his bones into shriveling fear that even the beans in his knees won't be enough to keep him composed. As his aunt sipped her chamomile tea, she sighed at the calmness that the tea gave her and looked at his nephew in disappointment. "Hiro what were you thinking?" she asked in a calm yet resentful voice, "Hiro I get that your 16, but you're in college now, you need to be more responsible with your life and not pulling things like this days before your midterms" Hiro looked down in shame as he knew what his aunt meant as he figured out the professor Grandville called her about his most recent skipping in the university.
His aunt simply sighed and slumped at the armchair behind her, trying to stay composed and calm in Infront of him as her right hand began to massage the temples in her forehead. "Come on get up you know I can't stand you like this," she told tiredly. Hiro finally got up from the bed of mung beans and dusted away the remaining beans from his knees and went to his aunt's side and hugged her with only his left arm.
"Hiro what's going on?" she asked pleadingly, "Please tell me, you've become more secretive as of late ever since Tadashi died, I want to be of help to you, and I don't want to be left out in the dark." She touched her nephew's cheek as she shifted in his direction and looked at him pleadingly, "Hiro what are not telling me?"
Hiro doesn't know what to say to his aunt, he was internally debating on what to tell her that his nephew was secretly a superhero with his brother's friends and robot, or that his brother was secretly alive all this time. But he knew whatever he chooses it will change everything for his and his aunt's life. And so, with a brave face, he faced his aunt and chose to tell her about the 2nd option.
"Aunt Cass, Tadashi's alive," he told. He looked into his aunt's eyes for a response but was only met by a cold humorless laugh with silence after. As she sighed and got up from her armchair and stood with a heavy heart as her palms touched her face. "Please don't this Hiro not even as a joke," "But it's true Aunt Cass I saw him with my own eyes," he told as his voice suddenly rose in volume trying to convince his aunt that all he was saying was the real and evident fact.
"Hiro I get that your brother died 2 years ago, you can't do that as an excuse to miss a full day of school," "I know but it's true I did saw him," "Oh Hiro please just stop right now, I can't do this anymore Hiro, hoping that everything that happened 2 years ago didn't happen and that Tadashi would be at that very door smiling and saying that he's back home, you can't do this to me aging Hiro please j-just s-stop I made my peace Hiro, so please just stop" Hiro simply stood still as he saw his aunt slowly losing her compose to see the evident sadness in her.
Hiro knew that his aunt was the strongest person he knew next to his brother. She was there for them when their parents died, she was there to take care of them and took them in when nobody wanted to despite her business almost failing, she was there to comfort them when they have night terrors, she was there when Tadashi was died and stood there bravely and composed while he was breaking down, she was simply he and his brother's pillar of strength, and seeing her like this in this state, he finally realized the toll that over her, all that suppressed sadness, grief, and all that came before her.
He walked towards her and hugged her with all his might as she cried and screamed into his arms, he realized that she was only human and was only natural for her to have a breaking point of her own and it was time to become his aunt's pillar of strength and somebody to rely on.
"I know Aunt Cass but it's all true, we can even visit him tomorrow to prove it." He told, his aunt sniffed and wiped the tears remaining from her face and looked at her nephew with skepticism but sighed as she realized that she has no say on this matter and simply agreed. "Ok kiddo, I'll believe you for now, we can do that so-called "visit" tomorrow, but for now your professor told me that she extended your project until tomorrow so until you submitted your work and attend school tomorrow then we can visit." "Ok Aunt Cass you won't regret it," he told as he went for a final hug and rushed up to his room to finish his homework.
Aunt Cass knew she couldn't stay mad at his nephew, so she simply waved and sent a small chuckle in his direction. As she finally sighed in relief that the talk went smoothly as she hoped to be, but she knows that that wasn't the whole truth, and it was something deeper than just his eldest nephew suddenly back from the dead. As she walked towards her room, she stopped and looked at a frame with a picture in it. It was the picture when she first took the two of them to live with her. She sadly smiled at the picture as she saw young Tadashi at the picture. She touched the frame suddenly reminiscing old memories of him. She huffed slowly to compose herself as if it was readying her for what lies ahead.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Next day...
The day finally came for Hiro's "official" visit to Tadashi, and he was restless to no end as he wished the day was quickly done. As when Hiro arrived at the institute, he was quickly called by Professor Grandville via speakers to her office and ranted for at least an hour about skipping classes and handing her his late project, and after that, everything seems to be slower than usual as he almost groaned loudly at the mechanical history professor at his class.
As Hiro was sitting in his last class of the day, he couldn't focus as he kept looking at the time; he was so engrossed by the clock that the teacher called him out for it, "Mr. Hamada, anything you like to add to the class or are you going to focus on class?" Hiro wanted to say something to defend himself as he hummed some umm's but was thankfully saved by the bell. He quickly gathered his stuff when the teacher was telling them about the assignment that was due 2 days later, but he didn't care as he made b-line to the door and out of the institute, even missing Tadashi's friends as he zipped through the halls (even though he knew he would get in trouble for it, but he didn't care).
As excitement filled his body, he quickly ran through the city in a breath without even stopping as he rushed through the streets in glee and make his way to the lucky cat café where his aunt was waiting for him. As Hiro finally arrived at the café, he reached his aunt who was closing the café for the day as the last customer finally left and she flipped the sign that said "closed" and locked the door behind her.
Hiro hugged his aunt tight and quickly tugged her to the nearest bus stop while his aunt was pleading for him to slow down as she was readjusting her beige coat jacket. As the two finally reached a stop, his aunt sighed in relief from all that tugging. She looked at her nephew to his excited face and giddy posture, at that moment Hiro didn't look like a boy genius but looked like a child who couldn't wait to go to his favorite amusement park. As the ride progressed, she noticed how the number of people were leaving at each stop until it was only the two of them left.
A few minutes later, they dropped off at the last stop which looked like an open field full of tall grass and small flowers. Hiro suddenly ran towards it with an excited smile on his face which forced her to follow on his steed hoping that this was not just some goose chase and end up in the middle of nowhere and lost. As Aunt Cass ran and ran, a building suddenly popped up from her view, and as the building draws nearer, she saw an old hospital building with vines of ivy and deteriorated pain in some areas. Her stomach began to feel heavy as she suddenly felt nauseous, but then Hiro called her in saying, "Aunt Cass over here!" as he waved through the entrance.
When she entered the building, it was surprisingly warm inside but realized that it was probably from the sun. As she followed his nephew through the building, she noticed the specs of moss and mold were pointing out on the walls and the rickety sound of the stairs. The building was high and steep, and she suddenly regretted it by skipping leg day. As she landed on the last flight of stairs, she took a heavy breath as she was evidently tired and began to wonder if this was worth it. As she finally had her breath back, she saw a pair of steel doors and a sign that said operation room. She wanted to question all of this, but Hiro tugged her inside which had more moss and a broken skylight at the top with a couple of broken floor tiles at her feet.
By now she was beyond confused and was fearing for her nephew's sanity as he began to call out his brother's name, "TADASHI IT'S ME HIRO I'M BACK! AND I BROUGHT AUNT CASS WITH ME!" he called 3 times with no answer. Realizing this was pointless she reached out an arm on his shoulder and with a calm and sturdy voice she told him that it was time to go home. Hiro protested as he told her to wait for a bit longer, his aunt sighed sadly as she cupped his face with her hands and twirled her thumbs to his cheeks, "Hiro I know it hurts, but it's time to let go of him, it's time to move on -" she said solemnly in her most soothing of voices but suddenly a voice that chilled her every bone called to her.
"move on from what Aunt Cass?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Hey! Thank you for reading this week's chapter! I hope you like it! and If you do please vote and follow me for more stories like this. that's all for today have a nice day/night!