Chapter 5: Sadness and Shock

"I still can't believe this!"

Many students exited the school building, all ready to make their ways home. The school was Fantasy High School, which was one of the two most prolific high schools in the city of Cerasus in Japan. Amongst those students was a large group of them, consisting of ten friends who had all known each other since when they had first started having an education. They were Hiro, Ichigo, Goro, Kokoro, Naomi, Mitsuru, Futoshi, Ikuno, Zorome, and Miku. It was Zorome who could be heard expressing their disbelief.

"Hiro, how the hell do you get such good grades?" Zorome was the shortest male of the group, possessing wild light brown hair that covered is forehead. "You got the highest grade out of the entire maths class. Heck, you even beat Ichigo, and there I was thinking she was better than you!"

Before he knew it, the salmon-haired and pigtailed Miku hit him across the back of his head.

"Don't be so insensitive!" she hissed at him. "She's with us!"

"Guys, it doesn't matter," the shortest female of the group reassured them. She had blue hair that was held on her right side by a hairclip. "I did get second best anyway."

"I still don't see how you did it." Zorome was certainly annoyed.

"Perhaps if you do less gaming and more studying," Futoshi told him, taking a bite out of a small bread roll that was in his satchel. He had short brown hair and was of a large build. "Even I'm not as addicted as you are."

"But I did study!"

"Yeah, but not as much as you played video games," Ikuno corrected him. She wore glasses and had long purple hair, but had it tied back with a butterfly clip. She was very soft spoken. "Little and often. I sometimes even study during breaks before I know I have a test."

"Same here," Goro added. He too wore glasses but had short blonde hair. He then looked at Mitsuru, whose short olive-brown hair was swept back. "Surprised you're not being so boastful today, Mitsuru."

"Why should I be?" he calmly replied. "There's always another opportunity to improve."

"In fairness, you didn't do horribly to begin with." Kokoro leaned over. She had incredibly long grey-blonde hair. "We all did fairly well anyway."

"Not quite." Naomi began to correct her. She had brown hair that almost reached her shoulders. "Most of us lot got anywhere between ninety and hundred percent. Futoshi was an admirable eighty-four while Zorome was sixty-one."

"Do you have to rub it in?!" Zorome snapped at her. He then turned away from her as they walked and muttered under his breath "I'd only get a laugh out of this if it was sixty-nine."

"Well, it wasn't."

He almost jumped from fright when Miku responded to him.

"We can still hear you, you know."

At that point, they reached a crossing. Once all the traffic had stopped and pedestrians were allowed to cross, they made their way to the other footpath. However, it was this point where they would start going their separate ways.

"See you all tomorrow!" Hiro finally spoke. He barely had a chance with the bickering caused by Zorome's jealousy.

"Don't forget about the science test," Ichigo reminded him.

"What?!" Zorome was again in shock. "We have a science test tomorrow?!"

"You have got to be kidding me." Miku could not believe his stupidity.

It was then that they all walked their separate ways, save for Zorome and Miku, who continued arguing on the same spot. He might not have shown it, but Hiro was extremely prideful with his results from the maths test. He had scored a perfect one hundred – an A+, no less – something that he had never achieved previously with any other tests he had taken. He had always received high marks, but this was the highest he could reach. He even wished he could go higher. He had always been a prodigy from a young age, something that all of his friends and peers admired, inspiring them to be the best at what they liked to do as well.

The only thing he could do now was to show off his results to his parents. They too were proud of how their son received the best marks in all of his classes, so telling them of his news was going to be the icing on the cake for that day.

Twenty minutes after he had left school, he could see his house. This prompted him to run faster, as he knew his father would be home from work first and was often there to greet him. He soon reached the front door and opened it, running inside with his paper in his hand.

"Dad!" he called out to him. "I have some great news!"

"Hiro."

Itaru was at the top of the stairs in the hallway. Not just did he look serious, but he looked concerned.

"Come into the living room."

Hiro could tell something was not right. His joyous smile soon faded.

"Has something happened?"

Itaru never spoke, only gesturing that his son was to follow after him. They entered the living room and he sat on the sofa, gesturing again to Hiro, this time for him to sit beside him.

"We had a phone call from the hospital in the last half hour. I chose not to ring you at school so I could tell you here."

"Tell me what?"

"Your grandfather has had a heart attack."

Hiro was in shock. There he was on cloud nine, suddenly being dragged down in seconds. It had been a good day so far. He was then about to ask the obvious question that had to be asked when his father finished what he had to say.

"He didn't make it."