it's good to be back

Chapter 6

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!"

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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.