Chapter 1
(Hiro’s POV)
“Yo, Little Man. It’s getting late. We’re going to go out to grab some pizza before heading home. Are you going to join us?” Wasabi questioned. I rubbed the back of my head.
“Ah, sorry guys. I’d love to, but I was going to run back to the lab with Baymax for a little bit before heading home. I left my notes back there.” I pointed back to the lab. We were outside in the cool night air chatting. “I’ll join you guys in 15 minutes or so. Go ahead and grab a table without me.”
“Aw. You sure you don’t want us to wait for you, Hiro?” Honey suggested. I shook my head.
“Nah. It’s fine. I’ll be quick.” I smiled and started running off and waved to everyone. Baymax waddled along after me. I raced up the front steps and used my student access card to enter the lab. Suddenly, I stopped upon entering the lobby. I heard a faint sound of rock music playing from the lab.
“An unknown human is in the lab, Hiro,” Baymax stated monotonously. I nodded.
“That’s kinda obvious, Baymax,” I took a few steps forward into the hallway leading to the lab. “Who would even be in there…? Not only is it late for a student to be here, but everyone else in the lab just left to get pizza.” I snuck along the wall cautiously and poked my head in to see. I froze.
A young girl was sitting in the corner of the room with a multitude of tools out in a very organized arrangement (much like Wasabi keeps his tools). She had pale skin, dark brown long hair in a ponytail, and sunglasses covering her eyes. She wore a loose, oversized blue sweater, short shorts, and grey boots. The music came from a small speaker seated in front of her on the desk. She held a wrench and was tightening a bolt on a tiny clear box.
I stepped out with Baymax and waved, expecting to get her attention. Instead, she looked right at me, and then turned back to her work, ignoring me. I frowned, annoyed that I had been ignored. But then realized why she had done this. Her delicate fingers danced across the workspace over several tools, her hand stopped at one and she slowly picked it up and moved it to her little box. Her sunglasses, the ignoring of a new face in the doorway, and the movements of her hand made it clear. She must be blind, I thought.
“Hello. I am Baymax. I-“ Baymax was cut short by the girl dropped her tools, gasping, and falling out of her chair from panicking.
“Ow…” She mumbled from beneath the desk. I rushed over with Baymax.
“On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate you pain?” Baymax inquired.
“Um… 1…?” She mumbled as she rubbed her arm.
“I’m sorry for scaring you. We didn’t mean to,” I quickly apologized. I reached a hand out to help her up, only to realize she wouldn’t be able to see it.
“Oh. There are 2 of you,” She laughed. “It’s fine. It happens a lot.” She adjusted her glasses. She placed her hand out towards the ground, only to accidently place it in my outstretched hand. She pulled back slightly. “Sorry.” I laughed.
“No need to apologize. I was offering it out to help anyway.” She placed her hand back in mine and I helped her back up. “Thank you. “ She dusted herself off. “I need to associate a name with a voice. I know the other one is Baymax. I assume he’s a robot, correct? Your voice is very monotone, Baymax. Correct me if I’m wrong. “
“You are correct. My name is Baymax. I am your personal healthcare assistant,” Baymax introduced. The blind girl giggled.
“Thank you Baymax. So what is your name?” She turned vaguely in my direction.
“Hiro. Hiro Himada. What about you? I’ve never seen you here before. Are you new?”
“It’s nice to meet you, Hiro. I’m Akira Tomoko. I’ve actually been attending school at the institute since the start of school online and coming here to the lab on rare occasion. I recently convinced the dean to let me come to school on a daily basis in person. So you’ll be seeing more of me.” She smiled at me and then sat down at her desk again.