illustration by jin kim
Summary: Hiro's first day at "Nerd School."
~Chapter Two: Your Past to My Future~
Once they entered the cool, bright interior of the lab building, the group dispersed into all directions--Honey to check on something she had left to sit overnight, Wasabi to panic over the mysteriously rearranged contents of his tool table, and Fred to don his mascot costume (he would have worn it all the way from home had the rest not rebelled). Hiro grinned as he heard the soft whirr of Go Go starting up her bike, keeping a ear out for the screeching halt--and maybe students' screams--that would soon follow.
By himself, he opened the bright blue door to his new lab. Or rather, Tadashi's old lab. By now the sunlight had strengthened, falling through the perfectly round window on the wall. The lab looked different. As much as it had pained Hiro to move Tadashi's stuff, he'd agreed with Aunt Cass that it was the practical thing to do. Still, Hiro had insisted on keeping Tadashi's main work table almost exactly the same, except for one thing, and had set up one for himself across the room.
Despite these differences, if Hiro squinted hard enough, it felt like Tadashi had never left. His brother had crammed homework here, had downed countless coffees here, had even started an explosion. Once. Tadashi had even built Baymax, that lovable, puffy healthcare robot, here.
Baymax.
The moment Hiro thought of Baymax, his eyes darted to the box on top of Tadashi's desk. He didn't bother to open it, since he'd spent the night after that fateful day running his fingers over the cool metal and memorizing every contour.
Hiro supposed he would never quite get over that day. On that thrilling, terrifying, heart-stopping day, he and his friends had somehow managed to stop Professor Callaghan--thief of microbots and Tadashi's unintentional killer, but killer all the same--from tearing Krei Tech and its founder to shreds. Maybe it was selfish, Hiro admitted to himself, but honestly, sometimes he wished that it had ended there.
Real life didn't often answer to wishes, though. He'd barely even thought about it when he'd plunged into the portal on Baymax's back to bring Abigail Callaghan back, but then when they'd discovered that the only way to escape was to use Baymax's rocket fist to boost them out, leaving the robot behind, Hiro wanted to regret the decision. Wanted to, but couldn't let himself do it, even if he was giving up his brother's opus and his best friend to save the daughter of that man.
He would have done the same if he had to do it all over again.
With a little half-smile, Hiro took Tadashi's cap out of his backpack and laid it on top of the cardboard box with the rocket fist in it. Tadashi had yanked him out of a botfighting rut and inspired him to try for SFIT, and Baymax had healed him when Tadashi couldn't, so...it felt right to have these things together, here.
The clock hands were almost pointing to nine. Snapping out of his thoughts, Hiro slung his backpack over one shoulder and dashed out of the lab, giving a quick wave to an empty room.
~~~
Hiro knew that none of his friends would be in this class--Humanoid Construction was pretty much limited to robotics students--but all the same he shrunk back a little at the hall filled with unfamiliar faces. After all, he'd been bullied throughout his life for being smarter than the others--what if this ended the same way? Everyone else in the room was tall, well-dressed, and experienced. Then he chuckled. You've beaten people twice your size in botfights, he told himself. Besides, that innocent baby face will win them over. Every time. Taking a deep breath, he seated himself in an inconspicuous seat near the back of the lecture hall and looked around at the gracefully arched rows of seats and sleek, imposing podium.
He had just taken a pencil out of the front pocket of his bag (Aunt Cass had bought him a pencil case, but it had Optimus Prime on it and screamed "grade schooler" instead of "cool college kid") when the doors of the hall burst open. Hiro turned, expecting to see the professor, but instead he saw...
"..Fred?"
"No, it's King Kong! Of course it's Fred! What's the matter, don't recognize your awesome friend?" Still in his bug-eyed, green, orange-bellied mascot outfit, Fred draped himself over a nearby chair. Hiro groaned inwardly. Sitting next to the school mascot was not the best way to stay under the radar. Already a few students had turned to stare.
"What are you doing here?" Hiro hissed under his breath. "Aren't you supposed to be...working?"
"I'm the school mascot, Hiro! If there's nothing on I'm pretty much allowed to go where I want. And I want to come here. Is that a problem? Besides," Fred added, leaning in closer and dropping his voice to a confidential whisper, "I'm auditing this class."
Hiro reeled back and gaped at his friend. "What? Humanoid Construction?"
"Your surprise is insulting," Fred said coolly, and then smirked. "But I'll just let it go." He then proceeded to sing the entirety of the song while Hiro burrowed deep into his hoodie and the other students applauded and posted the videos on Youtube.
Suddenly, as if by some unseen signal, the class lapsed into silence, starting from the back of the room and spreading to the front. Once the room was quiet, Hiro could hear the prim clicking of high heels on the tiles. The sound got louder and closer until the doors swung open and the professor walked in.
Looking over her stark black glasses, Professor Lisa Froeb surveyed the class. Hiro tensed as her steely gaze fixed on him, but forced himself to appear relaxed, shooting her his most winning smile. This time, however, those big eyes and that endearing tooth gap failed to work their charm. Professor Froeb continued to stare at him expectantly. Finally, when Hiro failed to respond, she gave a little disappointed sigh. "Your hood, Mr..."
"Hamada," Fred filled in, while a flustered Hiro quickly lowered the hood. Nice job, blockhead, he said to himself. Barely two minutes in and you're making an absolutely stunning first impression.
Professor Froeb laid her tablet down on the podium, switching on the visual display and briskly scrolling to the pertinent slide. "Welcome to class, everyone. Just to remind you: last semester we discussed balancing convincing and functional movement in humanoid robots, as well as how to achieve that. This semester we will start off discussing aesthetics: how to make humanoid robots look realistic. Firstly, every robot designer..."
Putting the embarrassing incident at the back of his mind, Hiro threw himself into the learning. For the first time in a very, very long while, he actually enjoyed a class. With shining eyes, he drank in every word, intent on the thrilling information and vivid visuals that came up on the hologram screen. So this was what it felt like attending one of the most prestigious tech schools in the world. This was what it felt like being challenged with new ideas instead of slouching in a chair while teachers repeated the same old material over and over again. It was a feeling Hiro had missed for too long, and he loved every minute of it.
Hiro took copious notes. Noticing that Fred, too, was hunched over a sheet of paper in intense concentration, he glanced over, only to see an enthusiastically executed doodle of a monster in purple marker. Underneath were the words, "AWESOME KAIJU SUIT CAN BE MADE MORE REALISTIC WITH THAT SKIN TECH!!!" Chuckling silently, Hiro turned back to his own notes.
"Mr. Hamada?" Professor Froeb's clear voice rang out in the quiet room. Boy, she doesn't miss a trick, Hiro thought. "Would you be up to answering the next review question?"
"Uh...sure!" Hiro said confidently. He'd being listening. He would ace it.
"Tell me about what happened on June 24, 2014."
Hiro took a breath. "On June 24, 2014, the very first robotic news reporter covered news in Tokyo on an earthquake and an FBI raid. Now," he added, "the same company is developing robotic teachers."
Professor Froeb, who up to then had looked not unlike a robot herself, cracked a tiny smile. "Very good, Mr. Hamada. It looks like you were paying attention after all."
Hiro smiled back, working his tooth gap to full advantage. Maybe he'd managed to redeem himself after the hoodie incident. He settled back in his seat and made the most of the last half an hour.
After the professor switched off the display and click-clacked away, the students began to trickle out as well, the respectful hush quickly turning into a cheerful hubbub. Hiro was still bent over his desk finishing up his notes when he felt a tap on the shoulder. He looked up to see a totally unfamilar guy with a "Nerds are Cool" sweatshirt and a bit of a beard grinning at him. Before Hiro could say "Huh?" in confusion, the guy had said, "Hope you enjoyed the class, little guy," and moved on.
Then about six or seven more strangers came along with a kindly, "See you around" or "Welcome to SFIT" while Hiro realized that being a friend of the school mascot apparently had its benefits. One perky blonde even offered him a hi-five.
The hall rapidly emptied as Hiro stuffed the last of his things into his backpack and turned to see Fred grinning at him smugly. "Didn't think it'd work out this well, did you?" asked the lanky teen. "Let me tell you--never underestimate the power of the Fred."
Hiro rolled his eyes, although secretly grateful that Fred had seen fit to give him a boost at his first class. "One more question--Humanoid Construction?"
Shrugging, Fred answered, "It sounded cool. Besides, I thought it might help me with my cosplays."
"Fred, your cosplays are hardly humanoid."
"Whatever. I gotta go," said Fred, giving Hiro a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Duty calls. You'll be okay in your next class alone?"
"Yeah, I'll be okay," said Hiro, watching in amusement as a green lizard monster made its way down the school halls. "Oh, and I won't be alone."
~~~
Of course Wasabi would be in Laser Photonics. Not as a student, obviously. He'd gone way "beyond the scope of this course" a long time ago. Hiro greeted his friend--now teaching assistant--with great enthusiasm.
"Hey, little man!" Wasabi said with equal enthusiasm, affectionately ruffling Hiro's already hopelessly messy hair with one big gloved hand. "You're here early. You didn't stop by the cafeteria for an energy bar or something?"
"Nah," said Hiro, idly poking at some of the tools laid out neatly on the table. "Aunt Cass gave me a terrific breakfast."
Wasabi inconspicuously tried to shift the tools back to their original places. "Well, good to see you, pal. Um...why don't you take a seat in the front? I've got to prep this baby for the lab later," he said, starting up the large, intimidating machine at the front of the impeccable tech lab.
Hiro decided not to tease him further. "Okay," he said, finding a spot at one of the narrow lab tables and watching Wasabi work the fridge-sized machine like a pro.
Thirty minutes later, Hiro found himself eyeing the machine covetously as he listened to an animated Japanese man with thick glasses rave excitedly about the next lab. Hair positively quivering with delight, Professor Yoshida explained that, "since you guys scored such marvellous scores on the semester exam last year, and since we are just back from break, we have something fantastic in store today!" He gestured dramatically to the machine that Wasabi had been preparing earlier. "We acquired this wonderful tool, the LaserTower MX, while you all were taking a well-deserved break. So, as a special treat, for today's lab you all get to cut and/or engrave something of your own design!"
The class erupted into eager babbling; apparently the idea of a fun design assignment instead of a purely academic one appealed to them. Professor Yoshida quieted them down by frantically waving his arms, one of his cufflinks slowly coming loose. "I know you are all very excited, but we must be orderly, so do calm down!"
After being briefed on the procedure ("I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!"), the class settled into quiet but intense activity, tracing out their designs with personal styluses onto the tablets provided in the lab table drawers. Hiro dug his own out of his backpack and connected it to the tablet. The design software was unfamiliar, but fairly intuitive, and Hiro quickly figured it out. Once he'd played around a bit, producing mostly iterations of his own name, however, he found himself at a loss on what to make. He had a great chance to use one of the most precise laser cutting and engraving systems ever to create something...maybe a decorative plaque. Or a set of skeleton keys! That would be awesome, Hiro admitted, but given that he'd already been in a police cell by the tender age of fourteen, maybe not such a good idea.
Then inspiration struck, and although the thought threatened to dig up painful memories, Hiro decided to go with it anyway.
The design was almost ridiculously simple, and Hiro enlarged it to A4 size and added a geometric border to use up some time. Finally he raised his hand, and Professor Yoshida, who had been pacing about the room exclaiming over various students' work, called on him. Hiro, clutching the tablet, ran to the front of the room.
"Well, that was quick," Wasabi commented cheerfully. "Hand the tablet over and I'll connect it to the tower for you." When he saw the design, he sobered. "This is..."
"Tadashi's nurse chip for Baymax," Hiro immediately filled in. "Or rather the doctor illustration from it. I thought it might look nice in my room. If I clear a space in all the clutter for it, that is." Hiro paused. Wasabi's eyes were sad as he swallowed and linked the tablet to the massive machine. "And, well...I thought it'd remind me of them."
"It will," Wasabi promised, and turned his attention to the task at hand, hoping that the sadness would pass swiftly. "It's ready."
"Do I have to do anything?"
"Um, not much. This one's pretty much automatic," said Wasabi, half-apologetically. "But hey, it guarantees ultimate precision! And we're getting the hand-held ones in next week, so that will be fun. Just press the start button--right there."
It's more than a reminder, though, Hiro reflected as he enjoyed the glorious spectacle of the laser slicing through the metal. I don't need a reminder. I think about them every single day without one. I guess...it'll remind me not of them, but to do what they would have done. Tadashi wanted to help people, and I want to live up to that.
At the same time, though, Hiro realised that the plaque would always remind him of something else--that maybe, just maybe, he could have saved Baymax. Baymax was a robot, after all. The only things needed to make him were the designs, which Hiro had found among Tadashi's papers, and the database, which remained lost forever along with Baymax in some kind of strange fourth dimension. Hiro had lost track of the times he'd kicked himself for not taking that chip out. He could have had his friend by his side if he hadn't been so incredibly stupid.
Maybe he wouldn't bother clearing that space in his room after all.
"Hey, you done??" A voice rang out from behind Hiro, causing him to jump a little.
"Um...I think so?" Hiro said, quickly taking the finished piece from Wasabi and stepping aside to let a bespectacled, dark-skinned student use the machine.
Wasabi sympathetically mussed Hiro's hair again. "You'll be okay, bud," he said as he moved on to the next project.
Hiro returned to his seat, running his hand over the smooth, cold metal. The precision of the machine was amazing--every tiny twist of the border pattern perfectly executed. As he slipped the flat piece into his folder, however, he decided that maybe this particular creation should wait till he felt more ready.
"Hiro!" Wasabi called from the front as the small teenager prepared to leave the classroom. "Wait a bit while I power her down and I'll walk with you to the lunchroom."
"Okay," Hiro said, and leaned against the door frame while Wasabi busied himself tidying up. "'Sabi, I don't think you need to wipe all the tables. We didn't do anything particularly messy today, you know."
"No?" Wasabi stopped, towel in hand. Hiro looked at him meaningfully. "Um...no. I guess not."
The burly man folded the towel and laid it neatly in a drawer, then headed for the door, switching off the lights on the way out.
"I'm really hungry," he said, locking the door behind him. "Come on. The rest of the gang will be there. It's gonna be great."
Sources (science is cool guys):
Laser Cutting on Wikipedia (Yes, the source that we aren't supposed to use for school. But this is fanfiction.)
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