"Check the oxygen levels....."
"Slowly dropping..."
"Attach the oxygen mask and what about the blood pressure levels?"
"Dropping."
"Quick, no matter what, we have to save him!"
"Heart rate decreasing..."
"Bring it over here, quick.... attach the IV shot and begin the transfusion..."
"Too much blood loss...."
"Begin the transfusion!"
Hiro gained a bit of consciousness and he looked at the surroundings while his eyes were partially open, only viewing some of the sight in his vision. He could a continuous beep of a machine. It was of the Holter machine. He could hear its sound as he was surrounded by people who were running along the stretcher Hiro was laid on.
"What.....?"
Hiro wondered continuously.
"What was that really about?"
Hiro remembered the whole exchange between him and the RIOR whom he called 'Aarthi'. His eyes showed some life as if he were remembering a pleasant memory from the past. He couldn't understand about how he was related to the RIOR nor how the latter was related to him.
All he could ever call family were the children of the orphanage he had grown up in, the persons Haseef, Raj, Yuki and Alma.
But after the tragic incident which happened before the stampede made Hiro almost all of his family.
Tears ran through his cheeks as he remembered his loved ones, the survivors of the children from the orphanage whom he considered his siblings and Alma, whom he had a romantic relationship with.
"Doctor, the patient is crying!"
"Good, he seems to possess some consciousness for now."
Then, Hiro's vision went completely blank.
Hiro regained consciousness, finding himself lying down on a bed. He looked at the surroundings there. He could hear the sound of the Holter monitor beeping. He immediately understood that he was in a hospital room.
He could then hear the sound of things falling down. He looked at the place where he heard the sound. It was the sound of a tray and few things falling down from the hands of the nurse there.
"Ar-Are you okay?", Hiro tried getting up to help her but his body felt heavy.
The nurse immediately came to him and held him asking, "Do you feel any abnormalities?"
"No...", Hiro replied.
The nurse sighed in relief and came went outside the room.
Returning, she brought a doctor with him.
The doctor performed some basic checks on him and wrote his observations on a report.
"You seem perfectly fine!", the Doctor told him and continued, "We need to do your rehabilitation."
"What happened to me?", Hiro asked the doctor.
"You have been in coma and your body hasn't moved for quite a while. So, you need rehabilitation to restore your old condition.", He replied to Hiro and looked at the nurse ordering her, "Bring the wheelchair here. We need to move him for him to feel some fresh air."
"Yes, doctor.", the nurse replied and brought a wheelchair accompanied by other nurses.
The doctor and the other nurses lifted Hiro from the bed and made him sit on the wheelchair.
Remaining dispersed there from the spot and the nurse pushed the wheelchair in which Hiro was sitting swiftly so Hiro doesn't feel uncomfortable.
"You have been in coma for two months, the date today is 9th day, 10th month, C626."
"What happened after the stampede?", Hiro asked the nurse.
"The district survived.", she replied.
"Really?"
"I think our presence is the proof for that."
"Yeah-h!"
"Also, there have been massive riots."
"E-Eh! W-Why!?", Hiro asked her.
"After you appeared to protect the district ignoring the official orders, the charges of insubordination were placed against you and the nobles tried to get you executed. This fumed the people in Macross district and they started their protest at the border."
Hiro was really shocked after hearing the news.
"There was a great push to execute you from nobility to royalty within Weiss district. But, I can guess it was a streak of luck that the information was leaked which brought the final push for the people here to begin a riot."
"....."
Hiro felt silent upon hearing her words.
"There is also a demand from us commoners to execute the nobles who killed your lover and your siblings."
Hiro eyes contracted at that moment and he asked her dimly, "What about the pillar?"
"It was reinstalled with better features by the people of our district."
Hiro eyes widened upon hearing that and soon sunlight reflected upon his eyes as the nurse took him to the veranda of the floor.
Hiro looked there, to see a large group of people who have gathered there. They were cheering and were holding banner up there wishing for his recovery.
"It has been like this for almost everyday within the last two months."
Hiro looked at the people who were there and there seemed to be people more than the average.
"Doesn't it seem like there are more people here than that population of Macross district?"
"Yes, people from other cities also came to cheer you for your recovery."
Hiro looking at them, tried lifting his hand. Which was successful.
Upon Hiro lifting his hand, the crowd out there burst into cheers.
"Why are they so happy that I recovered?", Hiro asked her and continued, "I wasn't the one who stopped the stampede but it was the people who worked together with those advanced weapons."
"Well, you have been declared 'Hero' of this monarchy."
"What?"
"As you heard, people have stated you as the 'hero' of this monarchy.", She spoke continuing, "It sounds similar to your name. Maybe you were destined to be one."
Hiro felt embarrassed upon hearing it.
He was then taken back to his room.
Meanwhile, in Weiss district, at the royal garden a party was taking. Even though it was a party there was unrest among the people. There were many conversations going on about the riots and all. After surviving the stampede, many commoners who were forced to stay in Weiss district to work for the nobility moved back to Macross district after it survived the stampede.
Only a few commoners remained in the district and were being forced to work there within the royal palace. The Nobles who depended on the commoners to be their servants couldn't do the work the commoners could do. Thus, they were in a troublesome state.
Even if they had some commoners working for them, they imposed such hard conditions that many quit or escaped from the place. The royal palace also stopped receiving taxes from Macross district as many people refused to pay taxes to the lord there.
At the same time, in a room there were the Governor-General, Artur De Kreiss and Commander Dorian de Kria, 'Kria' was the name of noble family.
Dorian smashed his fist on the table, "Why, why must we suffer?"
"Calm down, Dorian.", Arthur told him.
"I was just doing what was necessary for the district. Those peasant scum are nothing more than livestock for us and now they are demanding me to be executed."
Dorian looked at Arthur saying, "Even Henry has been cornered."
"We cannot do anything about the protests."
"You can just silence them with the MECHA. Those peasants who are not pureblood Kreisians exist only for our convenience."
"They have those weapons and are refusing to surrender to us, Dorian."
"What, we can just force our numbers upon them."
"It isn't easy, Dorian. I guess you also know that many people within the army have left and those weapons can rival even the MECHA."
"We can just attack them."
"No, we can't. We need the person called 'Hiro'."
"Why is that pig necessary?"
"He is the only one that could move the Royal Treasure."
"Why can't we just kill him and make it ours."
"That MECHA, it wasn't made by the Royal family, it was just found and restored on the external frame. That's it."
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly as I told you, it was taken in, not made by the Royalty.", Arthur uttered the unknown fact word by word and continued, "There's no guarantee that it would run after killing Hiro."
"We could still give it a chance?"
"Even if we could kill him, do you think the commoners would stay silent over his death. They might barge in with those weapons."
"We could easily surpass them."
"That isn't easy, Dorian. We tried to get the blueprints for it but it was futile."
"What?"
"Yes, the people within Macross district itself closed communications towards Weiss district and rebuilt the pillar by themselves."
"How?"
"Even I am wondering about that. Because of that, we couldn't perform any sort of espionage."
"No-"
"All we could get were some people who commuted from place to place with strict measures and documents of permission signed."
Dorian slammed his hands on the table again, "It's all because of that peasant."
"Don't worry, I will do something about it. I will make sure that person 'Hiro' dies while being declared as the 'Hero' of the kingdom, who died unfortunately."
"Really?"
"Don't underestimate Royalty, Dorian."
Arthur said to him in a cold voice.
The doctor had come into the room where Hiro's restorative rehabilitation was taking place. He asked the nurse who was there to take Hiro out on in wheelchair to get some free air.
He whispered to the nurse, "His mental condition is stable. He needs to visit that place. Those two have dropped by a few times."
By 'those two', the doctor was referring to Raj and Yuki. They tried to visit Hiro couple of times but the hospital staff didn't allow it because they were worried about Hiro's mental and physical condition.
"Yes, Doctor", she replied to him.
She and the doctor lifted Hiro and put him on the wheelchair.
The next day, after freshening up, Hiro was dressed up in a tuxedo.
"Why?", Hiro asked her.
"You wanted to see their graves, right?", the nurse replied.
Hiro felt monotone remembering her words.
During his rehabilitation, Hiro requested to see the graves of his three siblings and Alma.
Hiro wasn't in a fit condition to stay, so the hospital staff which was taking care of him upon their expense was granting his request.
The nurse took Hiro to her car and made him sit in the front seat beside the driver's seat. She sat on the driver's seat and started to drive towards the graveyard. On the way there, she stopped near a flower shop and bought a bouquet. Then, she continued to drive towards the graveyard.
The both had reached the graveyard.
The wheel chair was taken out of the car's trunk and then she put Hiro on it. She took him to the grave there.
There, to the grave of his three siblings and Alma.
His made a sad expression upon seeing their. There at the graveyard, their graves were highlighted, each individually and much different with their names each one of them written in 'Kreisian'.
The nurse took the bouquet and put it on the graveyard.
Then, a person who was apparently cleaning the graveyard had come towards them.
"Sir, Hero!", the person called out to him and bowed in respect towards him.
Hiro was surprised and couldn't understand anything.
"Thank you for saving my children back then!"
"Wait, I didn't save-"
"No, you did.", the person who bowed blocked his words continuing, "You were the one who saved the people at the border. Me and my child were one of them."
"...."
"Yes, you killed the RIOR which could have smashed us with its arms any moment at that time."
"Ok.", Hiro didn't understand what to reply.
The person who was bowing got up and looked at the grave saying, "After you were hospitalized, the people built these four graves in respect for the ones you've lost. Many people come here to see these graves and offer a flower, no matter who."
Hiro didn't understand about what he could say at that moment. He realized one thing, that the dead were being respected.
After that exchange, Hiro was taken back to the hospital. The nurse fed him dinner and made him lie on the the bed.
At that moment, the doctor came in and told the nurse to go out.
He spoke to Hiro, "Mr. Hiro, a letter has arrived for you."
He told it and gave the letter to Hiro. He left the room after giving the letter to Hiro.
Hiro opened the letter and was shocked to read the components within it.