Shattered Bonds: Call from the Shadows

(2 hours ago) After Hiro tells Lucina everything that had happened in the Diner, Hiro leaves in a rush to the Abandoned Factory. She then remembers the last thing Hiro said to her "I promise... I'll make it out in one piece." She then starts to think, "You better come out alive, Hiro, because if you don't, I won't forgive you this time... I- love you, Hiro..." Suddenly, we see Lucina grab her chest and say to herself, "I have a bad feeling about this... Like I feel like Hiro is going to do something stupid." Then she headed for her laptop and looked up any public information on the organization, seeing if there was anything she could find that could be useful. Unfortunately, there was nothing.

Then, she decided to enter the archives of her father's work to see if there was anything about the organization. "Since my father owns a multi-billion dollar company and has done work for most of the city, there must have been something at least I could start off." After searching for a while, she finds a document that the company rejected from an organization. She then saw that the organization requested some high-tech. She used this info to go to the public criminal files, and the city has to see if there's anyone linked with this company. While she is looking for that information, she is starting to remember how she met Hiro.

(4 years ago) It was the last month of Junior year in high school. Hiro was staying quiet for most of the class, and Lucina noticed Hiro. Eventually, they both make eye contact with each other. They both look away as soon as they make eye contact. Lucina, flustered, was thinking. "I wonder why he is always so quiet. It seems like he doesn't have anyone to talk to... I wonder if he doesn't mind if I become friends with him..." Even more flustered, she thought to herself, "You know what? I'm going to ask him if he wants to be friends..." As soon as she said that, she started planning how to talk to Hiro. But she didn't have the guts to do it.

A week goes by, then the whole rest of the month. Lucina flustered that she didn't get to do it, was angry with herself. "Noooo!! Why did I not do it!.." Then she remembers she hasn't approached anyone before. "If he somehow gets the same classes as me next year, I'm going to ask him." After school ended, it was officially summer. She worked most of the summer for her Dad, but every time she was in lunch or done with work, she would have thought about Hiro. A month goes by, and Lucina is on her bed talking to one of her friends on the phone. All of a sudden, her friend brings up something about Hiro, saying to her. "So you know on how you want to talk to Hiro if you ever got to see him again". Lucina gets flustered and immediately stands up and replies. "Yeah?.. Why do you ask?" "Well... you see here... It seems that he's a boxer and is having a big fight near the old gym tonight!!!" Lucina seems surprised to find out that Hiro is a boxer. She thought he would seem like the loner in a classroom. Just getting by and doing well in the classes. But she never thought he would be a boxer. She then replies, "Is that so?". "Yeah! We should definitely go. At least let's try to get him to talk to you. Lucina was doubtful of this plan but, regardless, agreed to it. They then bought tickets to Hiro's boxing match and front-row seats. After a few hours, Lucina and her friend walked up to the gym and took their seats. A few minutes go by, and Lucina asks her, "When is it supposed to start?" "It should start any minute now." All of a sudden, the whole gym goes dark and quiet. A spotlight appears in the middle of the ring, and the announcer appears from the shadows, saying, "Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to our first fight of the evening... I hope you guys enjoy it today... Now, to my left, we have the challenger... He's 5 feet 11 inches and weighs around 145 pounds. With 12 victories and 10 being knockouts... HIRO NAMIKAZE!!!". The crowd goes crazy as Hiro is approaching the ring. Lucina takes a look at Hiro. She is shocked to see him so calm. Usually, people his age would have made a dramatic entrance if they had this much of a crowd. But Hiro didn't. He just seemed calm. The announcer proceeds to continue saying, "Andddd to my right, we have the champion of the whole city!.. Weighing around 180 pounds at 6 feet 1 inch with 25 victories and 22 being knockouts, we have ROCKY!.." Rocky starts to approach the ring. Lucina takes a look at Rocky. She is frightened by his look. He has a menacing look on his face, as if he doesn't want to do this but is still willing to do it. "How is that even allowed?.. Hiro is going to die if he gets hit!..." Her friend replies. "I mean, it's technically not illegal to host a fight like this... It's just stupid that anyone would do it..." Lucina, now worried about Hiro, puts her arm on her chest and says in her head. "Be careful, Hiro..."

Round 1 is about to start, and both Hiro and Rocky are getting ready for the fight. The bell rings, indicating the first round. Both fighters walk around the ring until Rocky decides to go for the first blow. He punches Hiro with a right hook, and Hiro falls to the ground. The crowd goes crazy, and the referee starts the count. "1... 2... 3... 4..." Suddenly, Hiro gets up on his feet again, unfazed by what happened. Rocky decides to go for another right hook, but Hiro manages to dodge it and goes for a gut punch but does nothing to Rocky. Hiro, in shock, starts to come up with alternate solutions, but he gets comboded by Rocky, which makes Hiro fall onto the ground for good. We get the count again, and Lucina is stunned to see this. Hiro is knocked to the ground, and it doesn't seem like he is going to wake up. Lucina didn't want to see this, but there was nothing she could do. The crowd is going crazy over this, screaming and cheering. "4... 5... 6..." All of a sudden, Lucina yells out, "GET UP, HIRO... I BELIEVE IN YOU..." Suddenly, Hiro wakes up and gets up on his feet. "8... 9... He's good." Lucina was shocked that he got up. She started to cheer for Hiro. Both Rocky and Hiro are back to fighting, and Rocky is trying to go for fatal blows, but now we see Hiro dodging them. Hiro all of a sudden sees an opening and goes for an uppercut. It connects, and it stuns Rocky, making him back off. The crowd goes crazy over this, and the real fight finally begins. Rocky and Hiro begin to trade blows, but Hiro is dodging all of Rocky's blows, but Rocky is blocking all of Hiro's blows. Out of nowhere, the bell rings, and the first round is over. Both Hiro and Rocky return to their corners. Hiro is now starting to regret his choices during his match, but what choice does he have? He has to win now. Meanwhile Rocky is thinking to himself that he can win the match. The second round is about to begin, and the crowd goes crazy as they are seeing the fight of a lifetime, An underdog in the world of boxing who came from parts unknown. Against the champion who has been fighting his whole life and has gotten through some battles. He is training for the world championship, and this match is barely a warm-up for Rocky, but he's just doing this for the marketing. But after the first round, Rocky didn't expect to break a sweat against Hiro. But Hiro made him work a little to continue on the fight. The bell rings, and both fighters come out of their corners. We hear Lucina yell and scream, cheering on Hiro, saying, "YOU GOT THIS HIRO!.. YOU CAN WIN!!"

Suddenly, Hiro recognizes the voice and is shocked to see Lucina. He didn't know why Lucina was here but shrugged it off as he needed to focus on the match. Suddenly, hell broke loose. Both fighters trade blows, and both get tired. Hiro is still dodging, and Rocky is still tanking the hits. The round finishes and goes on to the third round. Hiro is putting up a fight, and suddenly, both fighters go for a right hook. They both hit each other. Both get stunned and reel back. We see Hiro not moving for a while. Just standing still. As for Rocky, it's the same thing. He's stunned and just standing still. The crowd goes quiet as both fighters stand still. All of a sudden, we see Hiro move his legs and approach Rocky slowly. Rocky does the same and approaches Hiro slowly. Both of them stare at each other for a bit. Hiro decided to give one last punch with all the strength he had left, and Rocky responded to that punch with one of his own. They both go for one last punch, and they both connect. Both reel back, and all of a sudden, we see Rocky stumble and fall to his knees, but he quickly gets up. As for Hiro, he sees this and smiles, but his body suddenly gives up on him. He fell to the ground, and it was over. The match has concluded. But the crowd went crazy over the fact that an Underdog managed to bring Rocky down to his knees. Nobody has ever done that. It was unreal. They get Hiro up and announce that Rocky is the winner. Rocky approached Hiro and said to him. "You have potential kid. You managed to bring me down to my knees, which is quite impressive. I feel you're gonna go far." Hiro nods and says, "Thanks. Maybe we could have a rematch later on." They both agree and laugh it off.

A few minutes go by, and Hiro leaves the gym. All of a sudden, he is stopped by Lucina saying to him. "Hiro!!!" Hiro looks over and says, "Oh... hello there..." Lucina then starts to talk to Hiro, saying, "That was an amazing fight. You really made Rocky break a sweat!" Hiro replies, "Yeah, I did... But is there anything I could do for you?" Lucina suddenly remembers why she was here in the first place and tells Hiro. "You may not know me but I'm Lucina Callaghan, we were in class 1-C together last school year. I saw you one day and wanted to ask if you wanted to be friends, but I never had the guts to do it, so I wanted to ask that today." Hiro was shocked to hear this and didn't know how to respond but replied with, "Oh... uhm... yeah, sure, we can be friends. I honestly didn't expect a girl like you to ask me that!" Lucina is confused by this and replies, "Wait, really?" Hiro nods and says, "Yeah... I didn't expect you actually to notice me... I usually try to only focus on school." Lucina is shocked to hear this and replies, "Well... I do". Hiro laughs it off and says to her, "Well... I got to get going... Hope to see you next school year in the same class!" Lucina nodded and said the same thing. Later in their senior year of high school, they got the same classes. They talked a lot after that and even planned on going to the same college together. Lucina started to truly have feelings for Hiro around her sophomore year of College. But didn't know if Hiro had the same feeling for her.

(Present Time) Lucina smiled at the memory she had. She is still trying to find info until she says out loud. "Oh no... It can't be..."

(end of chapter)