A Hiro Kind Of; Talk PT. 3/5

"Yo, how's it going Pandy?"

It was the end of the school day now, and the Hidden Club had just finished their club activities for the day (it was a study session). I had beaten Depra to the gate, where a girl whose hair was purple underneath the grey clouds was waiting for someone.

Sorry, but I'm not the one you want.

She looked up, alarmed, before she sighed a breath of relief. "Oh, it's you. Where's Depra?"

I stopped a couple feet away from her, giving her a grin. "Well, you know how he can be sometimes, such a klutz and all. He told me to go on ahead and meet with you instead."

"Eh? But I can't be swept off my feet by anyone but my Depra!"

This girl is ridiculous. I glanced back to the school, worry starting to take over. I don't know how long Caelus and Hera can distract Depra, so I really need to speed this along.

"Well darling, if it's to be swept off your feet, I know the perfect place." I said, slyness accompanying my grin.

"Darling?" She asked, tilting her head as she pursed her lips.

"Well, of course! You want to be swept off your feet, so I'll go and do just that, hence the reason why you're my 'darling.'" What the hell am I doing right now!?

"Hmm." She started to think to herself, and I walked a bit closer to her, leaving only about two feet of space before glancing at the school again, my time running out.

"Well, if I'm your darling, then what I am too you?" She asked, a curious look in her eyes.

"I'm your honey of course, the man who'll sweep you away!" I proclaimed, giving her a thumbs up. I'm not flirting with her Depra, I swear.

"But honey, I don't even know your name," she said, finally relenting as she winked at me. Wait, that actually worked!?

"Well, I'm Hiro, pleased to make your friendship!" I said, bowing down slightly. Well, whatever works, works, I guess.

"Oh, then I guess it's alright honey! So, what do you wanna do? A bath, dinner, or. May. Be. Me?" She giggled as she let out another wink, pointing at herself, and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"How about a talk instead? I don't need Depra getting all nervous on me darling." I walked towards her, and she flinched when I was less than a foot away from her. So, it is true then.

"Relax darling, nothing strange shall come upon that pretty little head of yours," I said, motioning her to follow me.

"Oh, but I don't know." I could see the hesitation in her eyes, and I glanced back at the school building. Damnit, my times about to be up.

"It shall only take a second darling, and then you can get swept off your feet by Depra as many times as you wish."

She looked down, and I could see her hands grip her shirt tightly. "It'll be alright," she murmured, as if reassuring herself. She nodded to herself and looked me in the eye. "Alright, let's go honey. Sweep me off my feet."

I nodded, grinning to myself. Alright, part one successful. "Follow me for the journey of your life!" I led the way, and we walked side by side, Pandora making sure we never bumped into one another.

"So, Hiro, honey, where are you taking lil' ole me?" Pandora asked, giving me a sly smile. "Nothing strange will happen to me, you promised!"

"But of course darling, only the strangest of occurrences for you! But rest assured, nothing strange or dangerous shall come upon you, this I swear!" I yelled, pounding my chest. "After all, what sort of honey would I be to you if I couldn't hold a simple promise?"

"Indeed; you may be right about that," she said, giggling to herself. "But I really don't like strange things all too much."

I chuckled. "Then you're in the wrong city then darling. Oh, would you look at that, we're already here."

I walked ahead of her, clutching my key. Alright, here comes the moment of truth Hiro. I released my key, the preparations complete, and turned around back to Pandora, who was surveying the place. "I didn't know you liked nature."

We were in a clearing surrounded by evergreen trees, shrubbery making it hard for us to see beyond the tree line. I nodded to myself as I stopped, waiting for Pandora to come in closer.

"But of course! I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and full moons to illuminate a girl's beauty even more!"

She giggled. "Oh, you are quite troublesome, aren't you?" She walked closer until there were only a few inches of space between us, and she leaned closer, her regal purple eyes locking into my own. "Luckily for you, we have the same interests. I wouldn't mind doing things like that with you."

"Alas, I've done a combination of all those things together with another girl, so you'll have to do it with another guy."

She leaned back, pouting. "Meanie. Did it work out with that girl?"

The bittersweet memory came back, and I shook my head. "No, it wasn't meant to be with that one."

"Then…" She leaned in close again, her eyes looking deeply into my own. "Would someone like me work instead?"

"Nope, someone like you could never work," I said, appearing behind her, placing my backpack on the ground as I scrounged around in there.

Pandora whirled around, blinking at me. "How did you…?"

I yawned as I pulled out the thing I was looking for, a manilla folder with papers neatly organized in it. "Okay, here we are."

"What's the matter honey?" She asked, tilting her head inquisitively while giving me a sly smile.

I let out a small smile before sighing. "Sorry, but playtimes over darling." I opened the folder and began to read out the contents.

"Name: Pandora Alvah. Age: 15. Birthday: April 16th. At age 3 she lost her dad to an unknown disease and her mother to suicide. Has a close friend named Mestra whose age is currently unknown at this time. At age 5 she lost her entire family due to an unspecified accident or attack; we couldn't figure out which. A possible victim of the 'White-Haired Experiment,' that alone could explain the aforementioned incident; however, there is no further evidence connecting the two at the time of writing this report, so it's just speculation. The biggest thing of note however, is that any male who has gotten close to her after these two incidents has died within a week of acquainting themselves with her."

Her smile faded at my words, and her hands clutched the hems of her shirt. "I see, who exactly are you, and how did you find out all this?"

I ignored her and continued reading. "After the age of 5, her history suddenly becomes hazy, as anyone who could've known anything have all either died or disappeared, but despite all that, we do know she had a teacher/caretaker of sorts, but I don't think I need to tell you who that might be, do I?" Silence was my answer, and I nodded. "Didn't think so."

I closed the manilla folder shut. "Now, I have a theory about why this might be the case. Do you care to listen?" Silence once more, and I shrugged. "Well, feel free to tell me if I'm wrong at any point. Now then, all the people who have had the pleasure of knowing her have died, save for Mestra. All the people who have died are males who have had some sort of prolonged contact with you, yet at school I have witnessed that you touch Mestra an innumerable amount of times. Keeping this in mind, let's return to the fact that only the males have died, while the females have, oddly enough, disappeared. This leads me to the only logical conclusion that-!"

I got cut off as I grabbed Pandora's wrist, her trying to grab the manilla folder out of my left hand. Her eyes widened as she saw what I had done. "My only conclusion is that whatever you do, it only affects males, biologically speaking, and that they must have some sort of unspecified amount of time they must be in contact with you, whether that be continuous or on and off. Now, here's the kicker, they all died of either old age when they weren't, died of diseases such as stage 5 cancer when they were previously healthy, without any history of cancer or any such disease, killed themselves, got themselves thrown in jail only to be killed there, you get the general picture, don't you?"

"Hey, please, let got before…" She trailed off as she watched me, unfazed as I continued to grip her arm.

"Oh, and this always happened within a week, sometimes even happening in one day. And the women who were close to them always turned up missing. Yes, very strange indeed. Of course, we can't forget about this mentor of yours. Again, do I really need to say who this mystery person is, hmm?"

She paled as she looked between my hand, the folder, and my face. "Hey, if you don't stop, you'll…"

"But, I had some research done on the bodies, and it seemed that in total, it takes about 30 minutes of touch, either continuous or on or off, before they die, and 5 before symptoms are shown. Oh, it's been almost 4 minutes now by the way, in case you were wondering."

She tried to break free, shaking her hand, but her arm wouldn't budge, my arm like iron.

"Hey, please! I don't wanna-!" I leaned in close, and I could see how worried she was. It was funny in a messed-up sort of way, but I wouldn't laugh at something like this.

After all, this wasn't even the hard part.

"What's wrong darling? Why are you scared? I thought you were a girl who didn't like strange things? Well, I did say nothing would harm you, and I wasn't lying when I said that."

She gritted her teeth, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Please, what about Depra?"

I just gave her a smile, and I peeked at my watch, which I had brought just for the occasion. "Yep, it's been 5 minutes now. I like to make sure, so let's make it 6."

I tapped my foot impatiently, watching Pandora look at me in horror, and yet, another minute went by, and nothing happened.

"But, how did you…" She trailed off as I released my grip, only for me to gently grab her trembling hand, giving her a small smile.

"Well, talk about an exercise in trust, right?"

She was shaking her head as she looked me up and down. "But you should be aging right about now. How is this possible?"

Wait, she knows how I would die? But, if that's the case, then why can't she control it? I'll have to think about it later. "Call it a gamble I was confident in." I cleared my throat. "Anyway, you guys can come out now!"

I heard protests through my invisible earpiece, and I rolled my eyes. "Do I look like I'm aging right now? If not, then withdraw already."

Pandora was officially lost at this point. "What are you talking about?"

I snapped my fingers, and a group of about 50 girls, all of them having brightly colored hair, who had the perimeter surrounded, appeared out from the bushes, all heavily armed with tech so far into the future it was almost unbelievable. Well, to Pandora at least.

I watched them walk by, smiling and waving them all goodbye, with the last one being a short girl with long blue hair that nearly reached the ground. "You know what to do, right?"

"Yeah, and you remember your promise, right?" She retorted, teasing me slightly.

I rolled my eyes. "Do it and it's yours tomorrow, promise. I'm having a visitor today, so you can't be in the house."

She scowled. "Oh whatever. Fine, so long as I get to sink my teeth into that game!" She looked at Pandora, who had collapsed to her knees. "Is she going to be alright?"

I motioned for her to leave, and she shrugged before whispering in my ear. "You got lucky; you know that?"

"I'm all skill." I heard her scoff as she disappeared, leaving me with Pandora, who had collapsed to her knees, shaking.

I sighed. The stunt I just pulled wasn't even the hard part. I scratched my head, looking at the trembling girl. I'll have to apologize to her, but there's something even more important to do. After all, that was the reason I decided to do all this to begin with.

"Hey Pandora," I called out, and she didn't respond, still shaking on the deadened grass, her hair a darker shade of purple as the clouds grew even darker from up above. I knelt down in front of her, and I could see her eyes wavering. I grabbed her hand with my free one and nodded to myself.

Here goes.

"You know, judging from what I've read and seen, I have no reason why I should let you ever meet Depra again, you know that?"

"Hk!" She gasped, and her eyes moved towards ground as her hand started to tremble within my own.

"So, I'll only ask you this once, but what he is, to you?" Her eyes met mine once more, and I continued. "My dear friend Depra, what is he to someone like you, Pandora?"

"He-he's my everything," she managed to say. "I've been looking, searching for him for so long, for almost all 15 years of my life, and, and-!"

"Would you ever hurt him?"

"I would never! I care too much about him, because I, I-!" I let loose a smile as I saw her eyes, unwavering in their resolve as she told me those words.

"Then, it doesn't matter."

Her eyes widened at my words. "Huh?"

I lifted her to her feet, giving her a wide grin. "I'll put my faith in that then, instead of this."

I threw the folder up into the air, and the papers went fluttering in the wind as the sun finally managed to piece through the clouds, setting the girls hair ablaze.

"I'll believe those words, and put my faith in those feelings of yours," I said. "Since all I want is to make sure he gets the happy ending he deserves, and if you say you want the same, then I'll make sure both of you get that ending."

"But, why…" she trailed off her eyes widening at my next words.

"Because I'm his friend, and friends make one another happy." I gave her my signature pose, a smile that went with my wink, giving her my best thumbs up.

"And that's all there is to it, my friend."

I watched as the tears started to fall from her face and smiled to myself at the job well done. Those were the only tears I were going to accept after all, I thought as I gazed up at the clearing sky. Tears of happiness, and nothing less. After all, making a girl cry tears of anything but that makes you worse than scum, and I'm not that.

Not anymore at least.

"Yo-you're an idiot," she managed to say through her tears, and I laughed.

"Nope, just your lovable genius Hiro!" I exclaimed, laughing even harder.

"Th-thank you," she said, sniffling.

"Oh please, don't thank me. I should be apologizing to you after all. So, I'm sorry." I bowed my head towards the crying girl, and she shook her head, smiling to herself.

"Yes, a true idiot through and through. But, it's not as if I can dislike it."

"Hey now, don't go falling in love with me for real, Depra would be pissed."

She rolled her eyes. "As if a girl could fall in love with you. I should be saying that to you, since I'm so delicate and frail."

I laughed again. "Whatever. You would be surprised at how many have fallen for my wonderful charms." I let out a sigh of relief before turning around.

"Where are you going now?"

"To go see someone who's hopeless on their own; you know the type," and without waiting for her response, I walked off, giving her a wave goodbye without turning around.