âOh, right,â he said, chuckling, and gave it back to Hiro.
When the showcase ended, the brothers got great news. Hiroâs microbot had impressed the judges. He had won a spot at SFIT! They walked outside. They looked at the campus. Tadashi put his arm around Hiro.
âThe Hamada brothers are going to do big things,â Tadashi said.
âWeâre gonna change the world, right?â Hiro added proudly.
Suddenly, the doors burst open and people ran from the showcase. Someone yelled, âFire!â
âHey, are you okay?â Tadashi asked a student running past.
âIâm fine. Callaghanâs still in there!â
Tadashi moved toward the hall. Hiro grabbed his brotherâs shirt.
âTadashi, no!â he shouted.
His brother looked at him. âCallaghanâs in there. Someone has to help!â
Hiro let go. Then he watched Tadashi run inside the hall. There was a loud explosion.
âTadashi!â Hiro screamed. But Tadashi didnât come back.
The next day, people began putting flowers on the steps leading to the robotics lab in honor of both Tadashi and Professor Callaghan.
Honey, Wasabi, Go Go, and Fred found Hiro. They hugged him. Nothing helped.
Tears ran down the boyâs face. âTadashi!â he cried.
R ain hit the window of Hiro and Tadashiâs room. It was quiet. Tadashiâs baseball cap lay on his bed.
Hiro sat alone on his beanbag chair with his old battle bot in his hands.
Aunt Cass knocked on the door.
âHey, sweetie!â she said. Aunt Cass tried to sound happy. She brought Hiro breakfast. She went to the window and raised the blinds. âYou get any sleep?â She looked at his plate of food from the night before. He hadnât eaten a thing. âThe university called again,â she added. âItâs not too late to register.â
âIâll think about it,â Hiro said.
Aunt Cass quietly left. Hiro got up and closed the window blinds. School had started. But Hiro no longer cared.
Hiro headed toward his bed and dropped his battle bot on his toe. âOw!â
Something moved near Tadashiâs bed.
Baymax, Tadashiâs robot, inflated to full size. He had been in the room since the showcase! Hiroâs cry of pain had made him activate.
Hiro was so shocked to see him, he tripped.
âOn a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?â Baymax asked.
âZero,â Hiro answered, wishing Baymax would return to his charging station.
Baymax scanned Hiro. âNo injuries,â he reported. âHowever, your hormone and neurotransmitter levels indicate that you are experiencing mood swings; common in adolescence. Diagnosis: puberty.â
âWhoa! What?â Hiro said. âOkay, time to shrink now!â He pushed the robot toward his charging station.
Baymax continued. âYou should experience an increase in body hairââ
âThank you!â Hiro shouted. He did not want to hear about body hair!
Hiro tripped and fell. As he lay on the floor, he heard a noise coming from a hoodie peeking out from under his bed. A microbot was in one of the pockets! It was the one that Alistair Krei had handed back to him. It had survived the fire at the showcase because Hiro had taken it home.
The microbot buzzed! Hiro placed it in a petri dish. Itâs rattling against the glass like it wants to join the other microbots , Hiro thought. But the others were destroyed in the fire!
âDumb thingâs broken!â he said.
Baymax was interested in the microbot. âYour tiny robot is trying to go somewhere,â he said.
Hiro sat down at his desk and began working on his fight bot. âWhy donât you find out where itâs trying to go?â
Baymax picked up the petri dish. The bot continued to buzz in one specific direction. It was like a compass. Baymax followed it out of the room.
Moments later, horns honked and tires screeched. Baymax was
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