Heroes of Flowers Phase 2: Tempest of Hearts

Chapter 17: (Something's Fishy) Heartbreaking Shock

Oh no... Ari winced, realizing her brother had arrived at the dance. She was so excited to see her friend again that she nearly forgot about him.

Her phone then chimed. "One sec." She excused herself to check it, and groaned. Seeing that Hiro panicked and set a sos text in the superhero chat. Ari didn't bother to read the other's responses.

She just grumbled. Great, now my friend's gonna go to jail again!

"Ari?" Juniper poked her shoulder. "You okay?"

"O-oh, I'm fine, June." Ari chuckled. "It's just my brother's here and..."

That was the wrong thing to say since her eyes lit up in excitement. "Your brother's here?! Can I meet him?"

"Uhhh..." That was the last thing she wanted. "Why?"

"Well, you talk about him a few times." Her friend explained. "He sounds pretty cool, it'd be nice to meet him I guess."

June that is the last thing you'll think if you found out what my brother does for a living. Ari sweatdropped.

"I mean it's fine if you don't want to, I understand, considering the crime-dancing history..." Oh no, now she sounded sad.

"Okay, fine!" Ari gave in. "I'll introduce you to my brother."

Juniper beamed. "Yay!"

"Is that okay, Barb?" She turned to the woman, who nodded.

"That's fine with me."

"C'mon." Ari grabbed her friend's hand. "Let's go see Hiro." She had to admit, it felt a little satisfying since Hiro did sour her mood.

Hiro felt a slight sigh of relief when seeing his sister come over. Then the panicked returned once realizing she was dragging Juniper along. Noooo! Why!

"Heyyy, Hiro!" He avoided eye contact with Ari as she came over. "Great to see you!"

Maybe if I look away the problem will disappear. It didn't.

"Hi Ari!" Megan waved. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Juniper." She gestured to the blonde. "I kind of ran into her before you two showed up."

"Uh, hi." Juniper gave a nervous wave. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too! I'm Megan!" Megan waved back. "I love your dress."

"Aww, thanks!" She blushed. "Your dress is really pretty too."

"Thanks!"

Hiro cleared his throat. "Excuse me, I need to have a word with my sister." Without waiting for a reply, he dragged Ari out of the gym.

"He's a little jumpy today." Megan noted.

"Really?" Juniper raised an eyebrow. "He seemed fine, I expected him to be taller." When faced with the reporter's confused expression, she clarified. "Ari talks about her brother a lot with me, and since he's the older one, I thought he'd also be taller."

Megan couldn't help the snort that escaped her mouth.

Glare...

"Um, are you mad at me?" Ari asked Hiro, who kept glaring. "You are, aren't you?"

"Gee, what made you think that?!" Hiro snapped. "The fact that you promised to not look for High Voltage-"

"Hiro."

"And then I see you at the dance with your stupid crush-"

"Hiro."

"And then to make things worse you drag her over to me and Megan, which could easily go wrong when the team gets here-"