Hiroshi's Tragic Failure (2) - Great Encounter Battle Arc

Wisteria looked on in disbelief. She had no idea that Hiroshi’s life was so miserable before this. However, from the video so far, she couldn’t figure out why he was so obsessed with becoming a villain and trying to fix the world. Sure, he was bullied, which would make sense for why he hated people, but was that the only reason?

It only hit her when she saw the woman in the video.

Wisteria was almost shocked at Hiroshi’s rage when Tomokazu tried to kill her during their duel. They had known each other very briefly and shouldn’t warrant such a violent reaction. Now, it seemed to make sense. The woman in the video, Blossom, had very similar features to herself. The hair was in a familiar pattern, her nose small and in a perfect place, and she was hyper and overjoyed to see Hiroshi. Not only that, but they had very similar names.

What did it, however, was the smile. The two women had the same smile.

The video continued. Hiroshi shook Blossom’s hand softly but reluctantly and didn’t respond with a word. He looked down in embarrassment, and tried to cover up his notebook. Blossom wasn’t having any of it.

“Hey, what were you doing in that? From what I could see, it wasn’t words!”
“It’s nothing! Just, a doodle I was doing!”

“Why can’t I see?” Blossom pouted, hands across her chest.

“Because I said so. Now thank you very much again,” Hiroshi blushed, trying to secure the notepad. It didn’t matter, as Blossom snatched the notepad from him.

“H-Hey wait!”

“Awww! Hiroshi she is beautiful! How did you draw this? Even for a sketch, the detail is very good!”

“Um…I practice a bit when I’m not studying, or here, when I just want to escape to my fantasy world,” Hiroshi admitted, looking down at his desk in a confused manner. He didn’t know if she was being totally serious or not. She took his hand and bent down to him, putting her face an inch from his. Hiroshi jumped slightly.

“Can you teach me! I always wanted to learn how to draw!” she asked enthusiastically, jumping up and down on the spot in excitement. Hiroshi’s heart, for the first time ever, began to beat faster than usual. He was beginning to care.

“Um, sure! I would be alright with that,” he said. “But where would I show you? I don’t…like being at home,” he admitted. He hardly ever interacted with the family that had adopted him, and didn’t want them to know anything about his life at all. They never cared about him or asked him, and he had even had to work his own odd jobs, because his family would forget to buy him food. Blossom pondered for a moment before coming up with an answer.

“You can come to my house after school is over! I only live around the corner! Are you free after school? Please teach me!” she begged him. Hiroshi was getting even more confused, but nonetheless, he accepted her offer. She went into a fit of giggles and jumped around the place. Hiroshi was amazed that she was not embarrassed at all, even as all of the class were looking at her in disbelief. The video cut forward once more. The video panned outside of Blossom’s house, which was huge and well presented. It seemed as if Blossom’s family was wealthy. Hiroshi was showing Blossom how to draw, carefully helping her hand glide along the paper smoothly.

“Ah, I see! So, these lines represent where the eyes go! That makes so much sense! Thank you, Hiroshi!” Blossom giggled to herself in her chair. At that moment, a well-dressed man came into the room. His beard and hair were perfectly combed, and his posture was perfectly straight. He wore a big smile on his face.

“Oh, who is the young man You haven’t introduced me, Blossom!” he gasped in a silly manner. Blossom continued giggling to herself.

“This is Hiroshi! He is a friend from school! Hiroshi, this is my father, Koushi!” she beamed, happy to introduce him. Hiroshi almost froze for a moment. Nobody had ever considered him a friend before, never mind introducing him to their family so early. He faced her father and walked over, giving him a firm handshake.

“A pleasure to meet you Sir!” he exclaimed, wearing a slight smile. Why did this feel so nice?

“Don’t be silly! Just Koushi is fine!” the man gave a jolly laugh. “Say, why don’t you stay for dinner? Blossom hardly ever has friends over!”

“Would that be a problem, Si…Koushi?”

“Absolutely not! Please stay! Blossom’s mother cooks a wonderful lasagna!”

“Well, yes sure! I have nothing else to do,” Hiroshi admitted, slightly shy at saying no.

“Excellent! Great meeting you Hiroshi!” Koushi smiled, turning on his heel and leaving the room, closing the door behind him. Hiroshi faced Blossom once more, who had gotten out of her seat and had walked over to Hiroshi.

“Blossom? Why are you being so kind to me? I haven’t done anything to deserve this kindness,” he asked, deeply curious. Blossom blushed, and began fiddling with her hands and looking at the floor.

“Well, I don’t have many friends. I…I never seen you talk to anyone before and well…I suppose I like you…and I think it would be nice to get to know each other. Maybe we can always be there for each other…I’m sorry. I’m heading into this too fast…”

Hiroshi took Blossom’s hand. She let out a little yelp and she looked up to face him.

Wisteria and co continued to watch the video. Wisteria was blushing almost as much as Blossom was. When she saw it, she almost wept. Hiroshi was smiling at Blossom. However, it wasn’t psychotic, or full of malice.

It was a genuine smile full of happiness and love.

“I think we can make this work, Blossom,” he smiled, bringing her into a hug. Blossom smiled and hugged him back. After the embrace, Blossom held onto Hiroshi’s waist.

“You’re my star, Hiroshi…Oshi…isn’t that a sweet nickname?” she asked him, to which Hiroshi laughed and nodded his head in agreement. He was glad that he finally had people that cared about him, and he cared about them.

Wisteria looked back at Tomokazu and Bibi. There had to be something off here. Hiroshi’s lifeless body was still in the middle of the arena.

The video continued playing...