Recovery

The Hamada household was quiet after that. Hiro had started to avoid Aunt Cass and Tadashi which also somehow started to split them two together as well. They had light-hearted conversations at dinner, but it didn’t feel the same. There were no funny jokes coming from Aunt Cass, and there weren't any long, rambling explanations from Tadashi about his school life anymore. He’d been out of the house more, Aunt Cass had been busying herself in the cafe, and Hiro had been holding himself in his room. It was the same and boring responses and questions that everyone got bored of. It was honestly worrisome, because it hasn’t been like this since their parent’s died. They’ve all done what they could to circumvent the others, either Tadashi skipping dinner at home to eat out or Aunt Cass extending the hours of the cafe.

Hiro became depressed in his room, lying in his bed all day and not doing anything productive. He’s gotten thinner- losing almost 5 pounds in that week from not eating or moving -and he lost a lot of his muscle too. He looked sick; his hair going in different directions, clothes and bed all messy, pale, hollowed cheeks, etc. You’d honestly think he had died and came back to life from his looks, he looked dead.

Tadashi and Aunt Cass had attempted to talk to him multiple times but he just ignored them. They both tried to get words out of him, but he didn’t put any effort into trying. They would sigh and walk off, trying again after a couple hours. They were hopeless.

--

Aunt Cass woke up late, really late, two hours to be specific. And oh boy, did she wake up after seeing the bold white numbers on her phone screen. She cursed to herself before running to grab her clothes, half-changing and half-running down to the cafe. She expected it to be empty, but she found that it was fully running with customers walking in and out for breakfast. Her eyes went big but she then noticed Hiro at the cash register, talking to the customers with cheerful smiles and running around the place to get the coffee going. Tadashi was also there -running the back kitchen that Hiro is usually banned from- wiping sweat from his forehead as he happily talked with the regulars.

“Boys! Why didn’t any of you wake me up! Oh my god, I panicked so hard because I woke up so late-”

“It’s fine, Aunt Cass. Hiro and I just wanted to get more involved here, so we let you sleep in. Haven’t seen you take a day off for years!” Tadashi exclaims, wiping the counters while picking up trash leftover on the tables.

“Okay, well, I’ll help Hiro with the coffee. You guys know what to do.” Aunt Cass sighs, heading to the cash register to pick up another customers’ order.

--

When Aunt Cass saw that Tadashi was taking a break at the table, she immediately ran to sit next to him.

“What’s up with Hiro?” Aunt Cass asks, Tadashi raising his eyebrow at the question.

“I’m not sure, either. I actually saw him open the cafe in the morning and decided to help him. We didn’t talk about it, but he seems completely fine. Like nothing happened! I’m so confused, Aunt Cass.” Tadashi sighs, holding his head with his hand as he fiddles with the napkin and drink in his hand.

“Yeah, he looks like nothing has happened. Should we talk to him or something? I feel like confronting him is gonna ruin things again.” Aunt Cass stares at Hiro, who seems to be enjoying the soothing jazz played by the cafe speakers as he cleans the counters. He looks fine, acts fine, talks fine, everything is fine. But how? How can he act fine when he was depressed on his bed for more than a week? How can he act fine when he hasn’t eaten for days?

“I don’t know, I feel like we should, though. We also have to talk about his behaviour that’s been happening this past week too. We can’t just leave it unsettled.” Tadashi says, wiping his little water puddle before getting up and trashing his napkin and cup. He heads to the register to take over Hiro’s job, putting on his facade for the customers.

Aunt Cass sighed at the stress, before also standing up to start working again. It felt nice working with his nephews again, something that hasn’t happened for a while now. It was nice when you forgot all your stress and just laughed in the happy atmosphere of the cafe, talking and catching up with the regulars that walked by, asking about people’s day before handing them their coffee and treats.

--

It was 9 P.M, the time the cafe closed. The last remaining customers were finishing up their food, heading out with smiling faces. Tadashi and Hiro were sweeping and wiping the floor and tables, while Aunt Cass was closing the kitchen and putting everything away for tomorrow. They all were tired and a little bit lethargic, mainly for Hiro who hasn’t done this much in weeks.

“Agh! We’re done!” Tadashi yells as Aunt Cass turns the “open” sign to “closed”, as she also locks the cafe doors. “I’m so tired, that was a really good day of business!”

“It was! Good job, boys! We should all have a family night, let’s watch movies!” Aunt Cass suggests, already heading up the stairs to start on dinner, but before she puts her foot on the staircase, she makes eye contact with Tadashi, her head nudging towards Hiro, before running up the stairs.

“So, Hiro. How have you been today?” Tadashi asks, as he weirdly cleans a mug from the cabinets, trying to keep his eyes away from his younger sibling.

“It was okay, I guess. I’m a bit tired from working and stuff, and I have to do a bunch of stuff upstairs later. I’m planning on adding some modifications to Megabot!” Hiro rambles, a bright smile plastered onto his tired face as he finishes up cleaning the coffee makers.

“That’s good, it’s great seeing you moving again, you know.” Tadashi says, sensing the little discomfort coming from Hiro.

“Yeah, I kinda just thought, you know, why don’t I just get over being sad on my bed? I can’t just lay on it forever.” Hiro responds, talking in a more quiet voice from before. The mood quickly became more sombre, both in an awkward state of silence after talking. Tadashi didn’t want Hiro to leave without having any sort of actual conversation, but he didn’t know what to say. He had no confidence confronting him about his behaviour, and he didn’t want Hiro to just stay in his bed again.

“Well, Aunt Cass and I were thinking about having another talk? Another serious one. We just wanted to see where we all were as a family.” Tadashi says, awkwardly making eye contact with Hiro.

“Sure, yeah. I have something to tell you guys anyway, it’ll make it less weird.” Hiro says before Hiro runs upstairs, leaving Tadashi to turn off the lights.

--

Aunt Cass had made pasta for dinner, including leftovers from yesterday’s meal to fill the table’s empty space. It looked and smelled great, but made Hiro’s stomach turn from looking at all the oils.

They all sat down around the table, all putting their portions onto their plates and digging in. Hiro had put a relatively normal amount, digging his fork into the pasta and taking a bite. Aunt Cass and Tadashi had slightly concerned faces plastered, but they all ate in silence.

“So, I did a bunch of thinking while I was in my depression week of just laying in bed. And, I want to be healthier.” Hiro says, Aunt Cass and Tadashi looking up with wide eyes. “I want to try and be healthier. I mean, I am growing and if I don’t eat and stuff, I’ll be super short or have some weird growing defect.” Hiro chuckles as he rambles, making weird eye contact with both of them.

Aunt Cass and Tadashi couldn’t believe it. Could he really be changing? That quick? It was unbelievable, but they didn’t know what to believe in. They so desperately wanted Hiro to be healthy and okay, but what are the odds that he’s actually okay? After going through that whole week of him just laying in his bed, not responding to anyone, not eating, etc, how were they supposed to trust the things he says?

“That’s.. Amazing! We really want you to be healthy and okay, and if you need any support or help, you come to us. You don’t have to do it all by yourself.” Aunt Cass says, standing up to hug Hiro tightly. He’s startled from the sudden movements but falls into it almost immediately.

Tadashi watches them hug, smiling at the wholesome sight. He almost grabs his phone to take a picture before Aunt Cass grabs him and pulls him into the hugging circle, laughing as they stumble around the dinner table to fall into an everlasting hug of comfort, giggles and family.