84 Times (Big Hero 6 Fanfiction)

Chapter 20: A New Life

Though the loss of the older Hamada did impact Rose more than she could have ever imagined, the fact that she was surrounded by so many friends who captured the essence of Tadashi and helped one another when in need was enough to get the girl back up on her feet. If she had continued to stay crying her heart out... Tadashi would have most certainly made fun of the girl for crying so much, probably making the joke that she should join the fire department because of the amount of tears she could produce in one go. 

That, however, did not mean she forgot about her feelings she had for the male. Despite his existence being gone, Rose could still feel the lingering warmth of his hand on her cheek and the light-hearted emotions that stirred within her chest. She feared that they would never go away, forcing her to have to remember the memories she had with Tadashi in the past... but perhaps that wasn't a bad thing. Rose knew that if Tadash were indeed still present, he'd tell her to just look at things with a different angle... and she would.

With her days now quickly passing while in San Fransokyo, Rose had been caught up and briefed about everyone's superhero shenanigans. As much as Hiro wanted the girl to join their team, however, it was a futile attempt as she would have to soon be returning to New Yosaka.

        "Hey, Rose!" Hiro suddenly exclaimed, waving at the girl as she stood hovering over the small slab of grey stone.

        "Hello, Hiro..." Rose replied softly, her eyes flickering from the marker in the ground to the rather cheerful boy bounding towards her. 

        "So you're leaving tomorrow, huh?" 

Rose nodded, shuffling to the side a bit to allow some room for his brother to stand in front of Tadashi's grave. 

        "Couldn't get enough my big bro? Heh, I'm sure he's glad to see you here. Isn't that right?" Hiro grinned and placed a hand on the stone as if he were truly having a conversation with his brother.

Rose felt her smile grow as Hiro continued to talk to his brother, a sudden feeling of warmth spreading throughout her body as the seconds ticked by. 

        "Alright... I'll leave you two alone now. I'll wait for you at the entrance" Hiro finally said, turning to leave Rose alone with Tadashi's grave marker. 

She took a seat on the ground and took hold of the headstone with one hand, parting her lips to speak.

        "You really suck for leaving... you know that?" She laughed softly, tightly gripping hold of the stone.

        "But don't worry about anything... you just rest and we'll take care of everything else. I'll be sure to keep a close eye on Hiro, even if I'm not going to be in San Fransokyo...

        We all miss you a lot, Tadashi. And we're really grateful for having been acquainted with you... 

        Who knew we had an angel living among us?"

Rose paused and smiled, her eyes beginning to turn a bit watery.

        "We're going to change the world for the better, Tadashi... and we're going to help a lot of people."

The girl inhaled sharply before using her other hand to gingerly trace over the engraved description.

        In loving memory of Tadashi Hamada, a terrific brother and great friend. Though his body could not be recovered, he will always be with us in our hearts and in our minds...

Rose retracted both her hands and stood up, wiping away the water that had formed in her eyes. After taking one last, lingering look at grave, she turned and walked away.

        "I promise you..."