Hiroshi the Hero - Hero's Lies Arc

Grant continued to comfort Eve, who was still traumatised after her near-death experience. In that moment, he valued her life more than his own.

Is this how Hiroshi thought about Wisteria?

“I…I thought…,” Eve bubbled, putting her head in Grant’s chest. Grant once more put her hand through her long, bright red hair.

“I know. It’s over now. You’re safe,” Grant smiled, and Eve looked up at him, gaining a warm smile.

“Thank you, Grant. You are always so caring.”

“No problem. Let’s go find Touma. I’m sure he’s looking for the Love Crystal in all this rubble.”

Grant staggered to his feet, and lowered a hand down to Eve, who accepted it with great gratitude. They put their arms around one another, supporting their weight as the trudged ever so slowly through the debris, trying to find their friend.

The drone panned away from those two very suddenly and began focusing on the fight between Hiroshi and Tomokazu. Tomokazu had launched himself forward, dragging Hiroshi’s body through the mountain and exploding out the other side. The sun was so bright, it almost burnt Hiroshi’s eyes as his body was sent tumbling hundreds of feet away. Tomokazu dashed forward, hitting Hiroshi once more, this time into the dirt.

“An interesting development! The God Child, Tomokazu Onuki, has joined the battle! He must be here to back up his fellow heroes!” Alexander announced to the large crowd in the capital, which was only getting bigger by the moment. A small child, who couldn’t be over the age of eleven, shifted uneasily. His parents were busy talking to another couple in the crowd. He slipped away and began making his way to the front of the stage.

Tomokazu landed beside Hiroshi, pure anger burning in his eyes. Hiroshi’s eyes were lifeless in comparison.

“I thought you needed a break! Not to run away! Do you have any idea what Wisteria has been through? The poor girl!”

“She…said…”

“Oh Hiroshi, please!” Tomokazu shouted, getting even more angry. “Those are just words! You know she didn’t mean them! She was drunk and stupid at the time.”

“Yeah…” Hiroshi stumbled to his feet, rage building up inside of him. “Stupid enough to talk about how I got the one person that cared about me killed?! Fuck you!”

Hiroshi lunged forward, clenching his hand into a fist, landing a punch as hard as he could into Tomokazu’s face. The God Child was flung back into the other side of the mountain, through the hard rock, back out the other side, near to the cave. The rock crumbled all around him. The mountain began to fall as he rubbed his head and looked to the very peak. He didn’t notice Hiroshi, who had continued his attack, flying straight at him, and landing another punch, this time to his stomach.

“Guhh!” Tomokazu coughed up blood, before falling down, clutching his stomach in pure agony.

“Don’t make me…summon…Kuro-Yami…” Hiroshi breathed heavily out of his mouth. He knew that he wouldn’t last much longer. Tomokazu took a brief moment and got up begrudgingly to his feet. He had a feeling that Hiroshi would listen to him, if but for a moment.

“That monster?! He’s the reason you have become so aggressive, isn’t it!?”

“Don’t call him that! He’s the only one that makes me feel human!”

“Don’t lie! If you say that, you are an even worse liar than those heroes! You hate liars, don’t you!” Tomokazu coughed into his hand, revealing blood.

Back in the capital, a young couple had lost their son.

“He was right here! I swear!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find him! Have you seen our boy?” the distressed parents asked people in the crowd, begging for any form of help.

The child from the crowd had managed to make his way up to the front of the old, wooden stage. He climbed up the stairs as fast as his little legs would carry him. When Alexander wasn’t looking, he stole the microphone off the stand and looked out to the crowd. Thousands of eyes, all on him. He was petrified.

“Everyone!” he boomed into the microphone. Alexander turned around in surprise. He looked at the microphone stand, now absent of a microphone, and put the pieces together.

“Now, young man, give me that back please?” he asked the child politely, offering his hand.

“Please, just let me say one thing!” he blurted out. Alexander hesitated for a moment. He had no idea what this child was going to say. If it was against the hierarchy, he could even lose his job. For some reason, Alexander felt his head nodding in agreement and allowed the child to continue. His small, brown eyes looked out at the crowd once again.

“How is that fair?! That man, Hiroshi, is fighting for what he believes in! He wanted to make his friends happy by getting back at someone else that hurt them! So, why do the heroes, who lied to us about their heroism and greed, get to walk away free,” he yelled, pointing at the screen, “while that man is fighting for his life?! I think he’s a better hero than any of Grant, Eve or even Touma Schulz. From this day forth, I will call Hiroshi my one and only hero!”

“Did you see how he hurt Eve? Is that a hero to you!” a man shouted from the crowd.

“Hiroshi only did that because he was scared! Can you not see how broken he is? All he needs is support! Haven't we all needed support at some point!? Now, who is with me?!” the child cried out, hoping for the crowd to yell alongside him.

The crowd went speechless. They were almost too scared to say anything. It was just a child. Was going against the heroes also going against the Gods? Would they be killed? For once, the crowd thought about their own interests, instead of the Gods.

Then, after fifteen seconds, one person started clapping.

Then another.

Then a group.

Then a plethora.

A chant.

“Hiroshi! Hiroshi! Hiroshi!”

Another.

“Hiroshi the Hero!”

It wasn’t long before the whole crowd was roaring and cheering for Hiroshi’s name. The child smiled, giving the microphone back to Alexander.

“Brave work, kid,” Alexander said with a smile, before rubbing the child’s hair, making it all messed up and frizzy.

Tomokazu faced Hiroshi. He didn’t want him to summon Kuro-Yami. That would end in death, and worse. However, instead of fighting, or summoning the God of Darkness, Hiroshi surrendered. He began talking, and he almost couldn’t stop himself.

“I want friends, but I also want to be alone. I want a loving relationship, but I don’t want to hurt anyone. I want to be loved, yet I know I don’t deserve it. My whole life, I had one family care about me, and I hurt them. When I was a child, I was never asked to be anyone’s friend. Nor was I asked to be part of anyone’s games. When I did ask, I was called the weird child, and everyone would run away. So, I distanced myself. And people still called me weird, even though I wasn’t even bothering them. I left because…I know eventually I will fail. Again. I will get you all killed in time. This fight? I chose it because I know I couldn’t win. I was never going to summon Kuro-Yami. I fully planned to die here, in this useless body, in my useless and weak existence.”

Tomokazu backed down. He knew that Hiroshi had no motivation to fight. Just as he was about to open his mouth, a pair of hands grasped around Hiroshi’s waist. Instantaneously, Hiroshi felt warm and safe. He got onto his knees. He knew who that pair of hands belonged to.

“Wisteria…”

“Oshi…I…I have something really important to tell you,” she whispered in his ears, her heart racing faster than a formula one car.