Time Traveling Hero

The next morning, I completed my usual routine, only this time adding an extra step as a result of yesterday's battle.

"Bye big bro!" Luna said as she handed me my lunch for the day, and I mussed up her hair. "Hey, I thought I told you to stop that!"

I could only smile at her pouting face. "Tell Lesty I won't be back till late today, okay?"

"Okay! Oh, by the way," she started as I walked towards the front door, "Are you really going to school wearing that?"

I froze right when I was about to reach for the handle. "Ahem, this is a one time thing my dear lil sis. I plan on getting a haircut today since ah, those damn ATF decided to ruin my hair." I swear, I'm going to beat up the guy who did this to me thrice over damnit!

"Hmm, if you say so! I personally think big bro looks good with any hair style, but if you insist!" Ah, her sweet words were almost able to make me take it off.

Almost.

After my brief exchange, I left the house, hopping on Raijin to head towards the school, where my first obstacle lies!

"Oh, it's Hiro!" I opened the door to find both Anna and Depra waiting for me at their respective desks. It was Depra who spoke, and he frowned before glancing out the window. "Oh, I thought for sure that I got here early enough to beat you. How do you do it?" It was then he noticed.

I walked over to my seat, plopping my backpack down next to me before turning to Depra. "What's wrong?"

"Uh, why are you wearing that?" Depra asked, leaning in closer to look over at me.

"Master is wearing it because of-!"

"SHADDUP!" I yelled out, covering Anna's mouth before she could finish. The few students in class took notice, causing my face to grow warm, but I absolutely couldn't let her say anymore.

"Uh, is it meant to be a new fashion statement?" Depra wondered aloud. "It actually doesn't look so bad on you, all things considering."

Ah, how nice it is to have people who compliment you.

I cleared my throat before responding. "Yeah, that's it. My hair is a bit of mess right now, so that's why I'm wearing it. I'm going to get a haircut later today, although I would've preferred if I could've gotten one this morning…" In fact, that was my original plan, and I was just going to skip the first two classes, but Lesty wasn't having any of it.

It was almost like a parent moment for her, if she wasn't laughing the entire time at my hair, her intentions obvious.

"Hmm, if you say so. But I'm more intrigued by how you always manage to get here before me. I even watched outside and everything!" Depra let out, frowning at me.

"Uh, does it really matter?"

"Eh? Uh, I guess not, but at this point it's like a game between Anna and I!" Depra said, letting out a smile.

"Whoa, too bright!" I yelled out, covering my eyes from his smile. "I thought you were meant to be super-depressed boy, not someone who could smile like that!" .

"Oh c'mon! I can smile just fine!" Depra yelled out, and I started to laugh at his reaction.

"I see Master come in everyday though?" Anna asked quizzically, and I let out a sigh.

"Seriously, how late to the conversation can you be?"

"Eh!? Wait, you do!? Hold on, how! We both look out the same window, so how!?"

"It's because Master-!"

"SHADDUP!" I yelled out, covering Anna's mouth again, but this time she looked slightly annoyed as her eye twitched.

Depra looked between the two of us and showed us a sad look. "You two sure are close huh?"

Huh? The hell is this coming from? "I guess we are, right?" Anna nodded, my hand still covering her mouth.

"I see…" Depra turned away from the both of us, looking towards the front of the class.

"So that's how it is…" he said, a bitter tone in his voice. Anna tapped my arm, and I released my hand before she stood up, walking to the front of Depra.

"Depra." He looked up at her before she continued. "Depra and Anna, are close too. Depra is close to Master, Anna is close to Master, and Depra is close to Anna." She let out a small smile. "After all, we are friends, right?"

Her voice carried no emotion in it, yet it was still able to hush us both to silence as Depra's eyes widened. "So, it is not just Anna and Master who are close to one another, but all three of us, okay?"

"Ah." Depra quickly wiped away at his eyes before nodding. "No, you're right Anna." He let out a grin. "We're all close!"

Anna nodded. "Exactamundo."

Depra and I couldn't help but laugh at her simple statement, and Anna walked back to her seat, gazing out the window.

"Anna has friends now; does that make you happy, my special friend?" she murmured to herself, the two of us missing her final words.

And thus one obstacle was finished, with just two more left.

"Weirdo."

Those were the first words to come out of Lachesis' mouth as we sat down for lunch, and I could only sigh, opening up my lunch box to read Luna's note.

"Don't worry about your hair today big bro, and just have fun!"

Ah, if only it didn't look like hot garbage.

I rolled my eyes at Lachesis' statement, watching Anna eat her food with an air of happiness around her. "I would say you're the weirdo, considering you haven't made a move on that Depra yet."

She coughed as she choked on her milk, frantically looking around to make sure Depra wasn't around. "I-idiot, the hell do you think you're saying aloud!?"

"I'm not wrong though. At this rate you two will get nowhere, so you should at least take the initiative on this. Trust me, guys are idiots who'll mistake any form of kindness for attraction, and don't even get me started on sėx appeal."

Anna scowled, mustard on the corner of her mouth. "Master, what is sėx appeal?"

"In any case, you should easily be able to seduce him to make him yours," I said, ripping off a piece of my sandwich with my mouth.

I watched as Lachesis' face went red, and just in time for Depra to take his seat in between Anna and I. "Huh, what's wrong Lachesis?"

"Oh, blame that idiot friend of yours!" She yelled out, and Depra frowned.

I chuckled, taking another bite out of my sandwich (it was BLT with mustard in case anyone was wondering, although mine had onions too).

"Why do you care so much anyway," Lachesis muttered, and in the background I could hear Anna ask Depra a question.

"Hmm, because I'm his friend and want what's the best for him?" I half-asked, half-said. "And I believe you're what's best for him."

She blinked at me, before peering closer into my face. "You, you can't actually be a nice person, right?"

"Seriously, what type of person do you think I am anyway?" I grumbled, watching Depra get flustered over Anna's question. "Just get together with him already; after all, you basically already take care of him, right?"

I immediately swatted away her hand as it tried to reach my head, and she pouted, leaning back. "Now I'm really curious what's up with your hair. Oh, if only I could see with you…"

I felt Depra tap me on the shoulder, and I turned to see his face flushed red. "U-um, Hiro? Why did Anna want to know what sėx appeal was?"

I only nodded at his bravery. "You did a fine job, explaining it so I wouldn't have too."

"Wait, you planned that!?" I only laughed, taking another bite out of my sandwich. I looked to see Anna with her normal expressionless face, although she seemed to be satisfied with his answer.

"But Depra, you really need to work on those observation skills of yours," I said, opening up a bag of cookies and eating one. "You can't have her do all the work."

"… You know, you really don't make sense sometimes," Depra murmured. "But it surprisingly calms me down, knowing you always act like this…"

"Agreed, Master is perfect the way Master is," Anna said, munching down onto her sandwich. "Despite the odd terms Master uses."

"I don't dislike him, but I don't like him either?" Lachesis half asked, half said to herself.

"Seriously, what is this? Might as well tell me how you really feel about me."

"An over-the-top weirdo who wanted to be my friend?"

"Someone who likes being called Master and spouts nonsense?"

"An idiot who decided to barge into my life?"

Ouch, can't say that didn't hurt. I cleared my throat, grinning as I stood up. "Well, you're all wrong! I'm just a man who loves both 2D and 3D alike, whose goal is to help those in need, because I'm your 'Hiro!'"

Anna clapped her hands, oohing and aahing at my display, while the other two just sighed.

"Yep, an over the top weirdo."

"An idiot to be sure."

"Master is Master!"

"He-hey! C'mon, what's up with those reactions!?"

Depra and Lachesis started to laugh, while Anna let out a small smile, and I sat back down in my seat, sighing.

Well, at least that's the second obstacle down. Now for the hardest one…

---------------------------------

"Hiro!"

"And not today."

Prez had just opened the door, about to leap onto me before I somehow managed to get to the other side of the clubroom, Prez falling flat on her face.

Anna and I were the only two in the clubroom at the moment, with Prez being the third one to show up. I sighed, looking at the sorry state she had managed to get herself into.

"Might I ask why you're so infatuated with me?"

She picked herself off the floor, brushing the dust off her clothes. "Infatuated isn't the right adjective number 1!" She grinned at me, giving me a thumbs up.

"It would be obsessive!"

"How in the hell is that any better!?" I yelled out, and she started to laugh before she noticed what was on my head.

"Wait, what're you wearing right now?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," I said, turning my gaze away from her. Damn, it seems I'm still too embarrassed to look her in the face after all.

"Oho, something suspicious is afoot! You've only made me more curious!" Ah, I knew it wasn't going to be easy.

"My hair is a mess, so I would appreciate it if you didn't mess with this Prez."

"Denied!" She leapt across the table to reach me, and I swiftly dodged out of the way, rolling my eyes.

"You do know you'll never be able to catch me right? Give it up already. Some things are better left unfound after all."

She ignored me and proceeded to rush at me, trying to grab at what I was wearing on my head. Anna meanwhile was reading a book she had borrowed from the clubroom, something about demons or whatever. She seemed quite interested in it though, as she was flipping through the pages rather quickly.

"Hey, seriously, how the hell are you doing that!?" Prez complained as she finally decided to take a break, and I was finally allowed a moment of rest, ending up right next to Anna.

Nonetheless, Prez rubbed above her lip, grinning at me. "As expected of number one! I knew it wasn't going to be easy to do this!"

As if right on cue, the door opened again to reveal Pinkie and Heracles, and Pinkie let out a scowl as she saw me.

"The hell is on your head? You trying to be a monk or something?"

"Does it matter pipsqueak? Not as if you're tall enough to reach me anyway."

"Ah, that's right! You're probably wearing whatever the hell that is because your ȧsshole is at the top of your head! But it looks like your hole is misplaced, because I keep on hearing shit!"

We both growled at each other, sparks literally flying in the air before Hera picked up Pinkie. "Stand down Pinkie. I honestly don't know how you manage to have all those emotions in that tiny body of yours."

"Hey, not you too Hera!" Hera shrugged before he gave a simple nod in my direction.

"But that is weird though, why are you wearing that?"

"That is because Master-!"

"How many times do I have to do this so you get the damn message!?"

I had covered Anna's mouth once more, cutting her off, and although I didn't notice, she looked visibly annoyed at me.

I really need this day to be over already.

"Huh? Is there a party happening out in the hallway or something?"

Ah, and here comes Caelus. We moved around so we could make room for everyone, and we sat down in our respective seats:

Prez sat down at one end of the table, with me at the other end. Caelus sat to Prez's right, nearest me, with Pinkie to her left. Hera was to Pinkie's left, while Anna was to my right.

"Anyway, how do we take that thing off of number one's head everyone?"

"We are not doing this today," I grumbled, pulling out my phone. "Tell me when she gets bored so I can leave already."

I glanced up towards Hera, who as usual, was building something, this time with books. It's kinda weird how he always does it, but it's whatever.

At least I can look at him, although eye contact is another story, I thought, the memories of the Trial coming back to me. Ugh, and after all that, this is the best I can do? I gripped my phone tighter, remembering the promise I had made to myself…

"Gotcha!"

I managed to dodge Prez's grab with seemingly superhuman speed, letting her slide off the table to land behind me.

"Okay, this is unfair! How're you doing that!?"

"I'm just faster than you," I muttered, plugging in my earbuds as I pulled up more episodes about the boy with the straw hat.

I watched her sulk back to her seat, and I sighed a breath of relief. Maybe now I was finally safe.

Ah, how I hate how wrong I can be sometimes.

"Hiro, this is your reminder to ask Anna that question!"

I literally jumped out of my seat, panicking as I heard Nymphy set off that alarm. Fuck, I forgot about that!

"Huh? What was that voice?" Pinkie asked, narrowing her eyes towards me.

Shit.

I frantically rummaged through my backpack, trying to turn off my alarm, and it was then my luck ran out.

"Ah." I felt the durag surrounding my hair get gently pulled off, and I watched in horror as Anna wrapped it around her hands, an annoyed look on her face.

"Anna does not like getting Anna's mouth covered."

There was a brief moment where everything around me stood still, and I slowly turned towards the four people who now had a full view of how awful my hair looked.

And they laughed.

They laughed so hard, I could've sworn the building shook with their laughter. And as if right on cue, Depra and Lachesis walked in.

And they too, laughed.

I could only be glad for my dark skin, because otherwise they would've seen how red my face was. I slunk back down into my seat, covering my face in shame.

Oh, and they were still laughing.

Anna nodded to herself, handing me back my durag. "It will be alright Master, Anna does not mind Master's hair."

Did I mention they were still laughing?

And don't get me started on the roasting session they gave me. Things like "Look at this dude's hair!", "Looking like he only did one strip of the lawn looking ȧss," "Knockoff Princess Leia," "Project Dumbway," "Mr. Handlebars," you know, the worst of the worst.

…

Did I mention they hadn't stopped laughing yet?

I WANT TO DIE!

Please, just kill me now…

And thus, I failed my last obstacle…

------------------------------------

I tightened my durag around my hair, making sure it wouldn't happen again, my face still warm from embarrassment.

They had laughed and roasted me for a good 30 minutes straight, and even though they had somewhat calmed down, I could still hear the occasional snicker in the room.

"Okay, okay, let's finally calm down," Prez said, looking over at me before she started to giggle to herself again. "Wait, I'm sorry, for real this time, let's take a moment."

"I wanna die," I ġrȯȧnėd out, glaring at the culprit, who had gone back to reading her book.

"Anna did not laugh at Master though, Master."

I let out a loud sigh. "I'm going home, screw you all."

"Hey, wait a second! You're gonna go home, pfft, like that!?" Pinkie started to laugh again.

I swear those damn ATF will pay for this.

"Of course not, I'm getting a damn haircut first! I needed to get one soon anyway," I grumbled, slinging my bag over my shoulder.

"Oh, that's perfect!" Prez exclaimed. "I know what club activity we'll do today!"

"The hell type of idea did you get from that!?" I yelled out, and she nodded to herself.

"We'll all get wacky hairstyles to try to top number one's!"

"Is that, snrk, even possible?" Lachesis snickered out, looking over at me before laughing to herself again.

"Karma's a bitch, right ȧsshole?" Pinkie let out, giggling to herself. "This is way better than that apology you still owe me. Oh man, I should've taken a picture!"

"Oh don't worry, I got some," Caelus said, winking at Pinkie. "As if I would let an opportunity like this slide."

"Guys, be serious!" Prez exclaimed, and everyone managed to calm down. "As I was saying, we should all try to style our hair to get it to be as bad as Hiro's! Oh, but we don't have to cut it like, hehehe, he did, pfft!"

So much for being serious. The only one who had managed to calm down was Hera, who was frowning at his house made of books, thinking to himself.

"So without further ado, let's go to the salon!" Prez yelled out, and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever, I doubt we even go to the same place. I'm out."

"Oh that's simple, we'll just go to the one you normally go too!"

I hate how she can find solutions to things like this so easily.

"Whatever, let's just get this over with," I muttered, and I walked out the clubroom, leading the way.

Together, the Hidden Club followed my lead, everyone chattering amicably behind me while I walked the walk of shame in front, alone.

"This really does suck," I mumbled to myself, glancing back at everyone. To my surprise however, Hera was close behind me, also not talking to anyone.

"Uh, is something wrong big guy?" I asked, and he looked up, walking the few extra steps it took so we were side by side.

"I kinda feel bad…"

Huh? "Bad about what?"

"Your hair. It seems like you didn't mean for this happen to you in the first place, from what I can gauge," his deep voiced rumbled softly, and I found myself shocked into silence. "After all, you seemed to take rather good care of it."

"…Yeah, I try hard to take care of it," I murmured, rubbing my hand over the durag. "I'm surprised though. You don't seem like the type who would pay attention to stuff like that."

"It wasn't me. When you and Pinkie wrestled that one time, she kept complaining about how silky soft your hair was and how it pissed her off that it was in better shape than hers," he said, and I let out a bitter smile.

"She complains a lot about me huh?"

"To the point of insanity, yeah. But, I don't really think she hates you as much she makes out."

"Yeah, there's no way," I said, waving it off. "She can hate me if she wants, wouldn't be the first time." After all, I had to make quite a lot of people hate me so I could spend more time with Luna back in the day…

"In any case, I'm just sad about your hair is all," he rumbled out, messing with some of his dark brown hair. "It'll be a pain to grow it out again, right?"

"Well, it wasn't that high to begin with, and my hair grows rather fast," I said. "It should be back to this length in about a month or so. Still, I didn't know you noticed. It takes some work to grow it out. Who knows though, maybe this'll be a chance to try out some new hairstyles, maybe get some waves or something."

He tilted his head, frowning. "Waves? What's that?"

The two of us continued to talk about hair for a while longer, until we had finally reached our destination.

It was a pretty normal Barbershop, nothing too special about it. My dad is the one who found the place when he was younger, so I've been coming here to get my haircut my whole life pretty much.

"Oh, it's quite different from what I expected," Prez said, looking over the shop. "It's surprisingly… normal!"

I scoffed at her response. "What the hell else did you expect? I'm a pretty normal guy you know."

"That's a lie if I ever heard one," Lachesis muttered. "And the name as well: The Barbershop: The one and only one you ever need to go to?"

"Well I'm excited, aren't you Anna!?" Depra let out, grinning at Anna, who nodded.

"Affirmative, Anna too is excited."

"Whatever, you guys do whatever the hell you want, I need this fixed now," I grumbled, and I walked into the barbershop, it being mostly empty. I scanned the room, trying to find my normal barber.

"Oh, well look who showed up! You know you should be getting a haircut every two weeks right?" Ah, there he was.

I turned to a man who had darker skin than me, his hair having swirl designs cut into it, leading out into a fade. His chair was empty, and I scratched my head as I walked towards him.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I had a busy last couple of weeks Jamal."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever, yah here now. You're lucky we're not busy y'know, and why da hell you wearing a durag for? Yah hair is too long to get waves, even you should know that."

I sighed, taking it off. "This is why."

"WHAT DA HELL DID YOU DO TO YO DAMN HEAD BOY!?"

"It's a long story man, but it wasn't intentional, promise."

He exhaled sharply, and he motioned for me to sit in his chair, which I promptly did. "It looks recent too. It's also a clean cut as well. Who da hell did this to yah? Do I need to beat someone up for yah, because us two can take em, promise."

I chuckled. "No, not this time. Just uh, can you salvage what you can?"

He let out a laugh. "Salvage it? It'll be a miracle if I can make it wave-length. You might as well get a simple buzzcut or fade my guy."

I thought as much. "Buzzcut it is, even all-round please. Unless you have some sort of magic that can make this hair grow back."

"Boy, I swear you're just like your mother with that talk. She used to say the same stuff when she would come here with that pops of yours. Speaking of, how is he? Haven't seen him in a hot minute."

I tensed up slightly when he mentioned my mom, but quickly relaxed as he started to prepare to cut my hair, wrapping the barber cape around me. "He's been on a trip for the past couple of months, although I think he should be coming home sooner rather than later."

"Hmm, well tell him to come on by soon, Lord knows that guy's hair probably be looking like a hot mess right about now."

"I'll try and do that," I said, chuckling as he wrapped the tissue around my neck.

"By the way, couldn't help but notice those noisy-ass friends of yours over there," he said, and I sighed.

"I'm trying to ignore them at the moment. They laughed at me for 30 minutes straight when they saw this, you know that right?"

He chuckled. "Shit, I would too if I wasn't the one cutting your hair. But those guys are your friends? After all the trouble you went through to get those old ones to hate you?"

I watched as Prez started to explain to the barbers what she wanted them to do, them starting to get excited as they realized they had free reign with their client's hair.

"After today, I'm not sure I wanna be their friend," I said, hearing the buzz of the clippers start up.

"Good friends will always tell it to yah straight, you know that? Even if they roast yah for how shit your hair looks, which was well warranted if I do say so."

"Is that really how it goes…?"

"Well, seeing how it's been almost 5 years since you actually had friends, I can see you would think like that. Lemme put it like this, if the same thing that happened to you happened to one of them, would you make fun of them?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"They would probably feel embarrassed about it too, just like you, right? But when it's all said and done, they don't mean anything by it, right?"

"I would argue that they do," I grumbled, and I heard a scoff behind me.

"You probably mess with them more than they do with you, am I right?"

"Well, I guess so."

"And do you do it out of hate?"

"Of course no—ah."

"Now the kid gets it. Now, you sure you want a buzzcut? I think a fade would look better."

Oh, so that's how it was. I glanced over at the other members of the Hidden Club, finally realizing the point of this activity.

"No, I think a buzzcut is just fine," I said.

"If you say so." I watched the first clump of hair fall off onto the ground, my smile starting to grow wide.

About 20 minutes later, I had my buzzcut completed, the remnants of my hair on the ground around me.

Jamal pulled out a mirror, showing my new haircut. "This good?"

"You know it's always good with you man."

"Heh, just had to ask anyway. Looks like your friends are done too."

I got up from my chair, pulling out my wallet to pay him. "Nope, no payment needed from you today lil man."

"Huh? Why not?"

He grinned, nodding his head towards the other members of the Hidden Club. "You seem to have changed quite a bit, thanks to them. Plus, they probably paid a boatload for those hairstyles. Think of it as a thank you for yah continued patronage."

I nodded, putting my wallet back. "Thanks for the haircut man."

He chuckled. "I got to see something interesting with you today. It's been over five years since you mentioned having friends, let alone bringing 'em here. Just treat 'em right, yah got that, since I know yah got a mouth on yah and all."

"Whatever." I turned away from him, about to walk away before pausing. "I'll uh, try to do that…"

"That's the spirit my man!" I felt a hard slap on my back, causing me to stumble forward.

I looked forward to see the other members in ridiculous hairstyles as well, although there was a rather surprising development.

"Pfft, why the hell did you think that would be a good idea Hera!?"

"And you too Cae, you look like you're trying to be some monk or something!"

Both Hera and Cae had gotten a buzzcut as well, so we were all matching, and I couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

"Uh, the hell are you two doing?" I asked, and they both turned to me, grinning.

"Oh this? It was Hera's idea, since he felt bad about your hair and all. Thought it might make you feel better if you weren't alone," Caelus said, nudging Heracles.

"I'm more surprised Caelus did it too," he rumbled out, and I couldn't help but gawk in amazement.

"Hey Hiro, look at us, don't we look ridiculous!?" Prez asked, her hair shaped in a cone spiraling up.

"Speak for yourself, I look fabulous!" Pinkie exclaimed; her pink hair somehow styled into 10 small buns misshapenly placed around her head.

"I think Depra tops all of you," Lachesis snickered, laughing at Depra. Her hair was styled into two ponytails that combined in the front to make it seem like she was a unicorn.

"H-hey! If I had known those two were gonna cut their hair, I would've done the same thing!" Depra's hair was styled into an old grandma perm, and he frowned as he looked at the three of us with buzzcuts.

"Master, Anna looks amazing, right? Anna had fun picking this one out." And Anna's hair was just in the equivalent of like, a thousand tiny ponytails.

All of them eagerly were awaiting my reaction, and I couldn't help but do one thing:

I laughed.

I laughed harder than I had in a long time, laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of this moment.

7 people all getting wacky hairdos, all smiling and laughing at each other, and they did it of their own free will.

I mean, how could I not laugh?

In fact, this was the first time I had truly laughed in front of the members of this club.

Was I holding back this entire time, still trying to keep them at arm's length?

And thus, I continued to laugh.

Everyone grew silent as they watched me, but at this point, I didn't care anymore.

I laughed so hard, I cried.

And what a cry it was.

Laughing so hard I was crying, I don't think I've ever once done that in my whole life.

And yet, these ridiculous people, for an even more ridiculous reason, had gotten the wackiest hairdo's I had ever seen.

The hairdos weren't even that funny, but finding myself around these people made something so unfunny as this laughable to the point of tears.

And thus, I laughed my hardest and cried my hardest, the tears falling down from my face as I collapsed onto my knees.

"You, you guys are so stupid, you know that? I mean, who does something like this to cheer a guy up? How, how utterly ridiculous, so ridiculous I just had to laugh."

I managed to calm myself down, letting out one more first:

"This, really, truly is funny!"

Letting out a genuine smile at them all, tears streaming down my face.

Who would've thought that actually realizing I had friends would make me laugh so much?

And all it took was me losing my hair to realize.

"Thanks a bunch!" I let out, grinning.

Silence, and then…

"Woah, didn't realize this ȧsshole could laugh or smile like that…"

And we all started to laugh, this time as one whole group, as friends.

And thus, one Hidden Triumph was completed.