Prompt 4 - Hiro of the Universe

Hiro is just a knowledge-loving high school student at Fukuyama High, but what happens when he receives a mysterious letter...from his future self?!

As per usual, Hiro had shown up to Fukuyama High an hour before classes even started. As he attracted cynical stares of the students arriving for morning detention, he marched through the school gates and headed inside the three-story building, short copper hair flopping about. With a confident nudge of his thick navy glasses, he strolled through the halls with a beaming smile, ignoring the disgusted gazes he received. He halted at his locker, giving it a humble bow. Another great day of education was soon to commence, and learning was something he could not get enough of.

        Giving a single pound to his chest with a clenched fist, he proceeded to open his locker. 26….43….11….unlocked! His heart fluttered with the thought of his first period…math class. Especially since…oh? A folded note slipped from the Calculus textbook as he removed it from the silver cage. Intrigued, he gingerly picked it up. His eyes widened as the note was unfolded to show his stationary…it was a note written to him in his own handwriting! Although a little neater, he was baffled. His eyes sped through the note on an endless loop…was this truly happening?

My dearest friend Hiro,

        I am distraught to inform you that the universe is in grave danger! As you progress through your life, society will take a turn for the worse, and though I am you, I cannot undo what has been done alone. Luckily, I have learned myself of time travel, and have constructed a mechanism that ables me to leap through decades. Please, meet me on the rooftop of Fukuyama High at 4:00 sharp and I will take you through time with me. You are the only one with the knowledge to save the future, Hiro. You are our only hope.

                              Sincerely,                                                                         Hiro Nakamura of 2034

        You are our only hope. The line echoed through his head endlessly. It danced around his brain until he realized…it was all real. It was right in front of him on his own stationary in his own handwriting, right from his 36-year-old self from the future. Without a second thought about it, he threw his arms into the air and began to dance. “Wahoooooo!!!!” He cheered. Finally!! After all the dreams his parents told him would never come true, he will be a time traveling superhero! Hiro the Hero! He could already taste the fame, seeing the bullies put to shame for harassing him and calling him a “nerd” or a “geek”, or a “f****t”. To ice off the cherry-chocolate cake, all he needed was the sweet meringue of a triceratops in the material world, and he’d be in his own personal heaven.

        With the proud swing of his arms, he threw in those hateful notes from class, harshly shoved in that pesky, broken jar of fire ants, gently filed his binders and textbooks into place, and swiftly pulled out his bento before the slam of his locker door. With a sunny smile fueled by the burning flames of the bites on his arms, he practically floated to the cafeteria for lunch. The thought of saving the world, no, the universe had been fresh on his mind the entire day.

        He paced in the crowded room with justified arrogance, but froze suddenly. But soft…what light break through yonder window? Senpai…Senpai had noticed his strange behavior, and wore a twisted face of confusion. Hiro’s face lit up instantly, the heat competing with his fiery-bitten arms. His legs clumsily flopped down his feet to reach the handsome male, trembling as if they were gelatin. “O-Oh, uh, Senpai! I-I-I’m sorry! I-uh….”

        “Are you alright, Hiro?” Senpai flipped a silky mass of chestnut hair out of his face, honey eyes shining down upon Hiro, as if an angel granting him the courage to speak.

        “I-I-I….Yes. Satoshi-Senpai, I was wondering….” Hiro paused to be sure he had his words planned carefully, “Senpai…will you meet me on the rooftop at four o’clock today? It’s super important and I would really appreciate it if you’d be there!” Of course, if Hiro was going to go on an invigorating adventure through space and time, his precious Senpai just had to be there at his side!

        “Of course I’ll be there, we’re classmates, right? I’ll be a touch late though; it’s the day for some of the student council work.” Satoshi blushed in apology cutely, causing Hiro’s heart to skip a beat.

        “Oh, that’s fine! I’m sure I can spare a little extra time!” Hiro babbled out with haste.

        “Cool, see you then.” Oh Senpai…that sexy smile that never meets Hiro…finally. If only…if only the triceratops were there, then it really would be a perfect heaven.

        As Hiro turned to cheerily flutter off, a girl with red-orange hair tripped over him. Hiro bowed numerous times, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

        The girl eyed him questioningly, then smiled, “Oh no, you’re fine. It’s my fault, I should have been paying attention to where I was going.” Her short hair bounced as she spoke, and a cute, small smile formed on her lips. She peered at Senpai briefly, then stared back into Hiro’s eyes, “So…what were you talking to Satoshi-Senpai about?”

        “Oh! I wanted to talk to him about something reeeeeally important, and he said he’d come!” Hiro tightened his muscles to resist yet another happy dance. He saw the girl adjusting a black scarf around her neck, purple jewels on the ends, “Wow, what a pretty scarf!” He admired aloud.

        She giggled, “Thanks, Satoshi-Senpai gave it to me.”

        Hiro froze, as if turned to stone, “Oh-I-uh-ah-…” He tumbled through every word he could think of, “Oh no-…I don’t mean-…It’s not like-”

        “Oh relax, we’ve been friends since childhood. This was a birthday gift from three years ago.” That beautiful smile returned once more. “My name is Saya, if you ask him, I bet he’d tell you there’s nothing between us.”

        “Ah…uh…okay…” Hiro’s face steamed with embarrassment. At least he didn’t have to worry about taking Senpai away from his childhood friend since they have no sparks, right? He sighed in relief, waving his farewells to sweet, innocent Saya. He finally found a lone table, surrounded by several empty tables, and cheerfully consumed his bento.

        Bing bong, bing bong, school was fi-na-lly ov-er!! Hiro sang in his head and skipped to the rooftop, up the three floors of stairs. He hummed away his sing-song tune, oblivious to the paper wad that scraped his ear as we skipped.

        He opened the doors with triumph, peering down at his cyber-green watch. Five minutes to four…Hiro of the future would be there soon! Hiro of the present shook the butterflies away, his stomach tingling from anxiety and excitement; he felt as though he was a cocoon that would soon burst! But then he took a moment. In, out, in, out. He calmed the jittery nerves and paced over to the fence to lean on. He gently placed his forearms onto the burning metal bars, taking in the beauty of his magnificent campus.

        Then his heart flew from his chest; a footstep! He heard a footstep behind him! “Me…of the future? Is that you?!” In blind excitement, he whirled around to face red-orange hair and a searing pain in his stomach. Eyes filling with terror, his head fell to the knife within his body now pouring blood, in the hand of innocent, sweet Saya. “Why…why…” He gasped out in pain, then fell to the ground, lifeless.

        “Hmph. That’s what you get for trying to steal away my Satoshi-Senpai.” She chuckled darkly. With a sigh, she grinned down at the corpse, “Ah, thank goodness you believed in that whole time travel BS. It was hard to forge your chicken-scratch handwriting.” She sighed again, this time more lovingly, “Ah, oh Satoshi-Senpai.” And she cleaned the body away, leaving Satoshi in a lone confusion once he arrived to a vacant rooftop.

***

        “TTYL!” A teen fashionista with two braided, pink ponytails called to her friends.

        “See ya, Yui!” They answered happily, waving to their hip and popular girl friend. She bounced over to her locker, oblivious to the endless missing posters of a boy no one really knew that well. As the sparkly blush-pink lock came undone, she lazily flicked open the door to reveal hot pink, cheetah print fur walls, as well as a mirror and stickers on the inside of the door. And of course, her most important treasure, a picture of Senpai.

        “Oh, Senpai.” She sighed. “When will you notice me?” She went to take out the textbook to her next class to find a little folded note in her stationary. Curious, she opened it.

Dear Yui,

        It’s totally a super special day! Remember to be on the rooftop at 4:00! XOXO

        Hm…Yui didn’t remember writing this memo to herself, but it was in her handwriting, so it must be something totes important, right? Maybe she’d remember what it was when she goes up to the vacant rooftop at four o’clock after school….

Author's Note

Written for the "Write me This (Prompts II)" contest :p

I hope you like the story; I wrote it differently from my usual writing style.

Also, according to Microsoft Word, this is right at 1500 words.