The weeks following Xīnchūn, after Hiro and Wendy had nearly given people heart attacks when they were fasting without their knowledge, Hiro had been busy with her own special project. She had gone on plenty of jobs with her friends Wendy, Maya, Zane, Ren, and Bud (Spook either did or didn't, but Hiro wasn't about to play charades with her cat over this- either Spook followed or she got left in a Guildmates care) to pay for her supplies, and just to stockpile jewel in case of emergency and simply just because (some of which she had converted to gold for the sake of her horde).
She didn't tell anyone what she was working on, no matter how much they pestered her.
"Hiroooooo."
"I ain't tellin ya."
"Pfft- you always get that dumb accent when you're defensive-"
"Shut it, Bagpipes."
"Bagpipes?"
"Don't think I haven't heard ya playin' that awful excuse of an instrument-"
"Hey! The bagpipes take a lot of skill-!"
"Lotta skill just to kill my ears-"
Hiro and Zane had devolved into a fistfight over the boys' precious instrument, with the other three kids watching from the sidelines.
She wanted to tell them, she really did, but it's important that they're finished first. So, even though the day is nice, she locks herself up in her house and works.
"What could have made her so distaaaant," Maya whined, thunking her head down onto the table, chin resting on the wood. "I miss heeerrrrr."
"There there," Ren patted their friend's shoulder, "She wouldn't behave this way if it wasn't important for her."
"Easy for you to say!" Maya tipped her body back until she flopped onto the floor, "I would say you two were dating if it weren't for the fact you and Hiro aren't interested in that stuff!"
"We're children." Zane deadpanned from across the table, the glass that housed his vanilla milkshake grasped tight between two hands. He slurped from the straw, before continuing, "Any 'romantic' relationship we get into before we turn 15 not only wouldn't last," he takes another slurp, "but wouldn't even be called a 'relationship'."
Maya blew a raspberry at him, laying with her back to the floor, airs splayed out to her sides, and legs propped up on the bench. None of the people around them batted an eye.
"You're no fun!" Maya declared, eyes narrowed at the ceiling.
"I can't tell if you're talking to me or some higher deity." Zane snickered.
Maya groaned again in faux-annoyance, while Ren laughed at their friends' antics.
They were all silent for a moment, Zane slurping his milkshake, Ren eating her strawberry mochi, and both stealing Maya's curry bread while she wallowed in apparent misery on the floor.
They weren't denying that Hiro had been distant, and that it had been worrying, but if Hiro's apparent elder brothers-cousins-family members, Team Natsu, Gajeel and the Thunder Legion, weren't breaking down her door to drag her to a hospital or back to the Guild, they didn't want to pry. Hiro had no reason to stay with them, to be friends with them, yet she did. If she wanted some privacy, not even Maya, the Personal-Space-Breaker Extraordinaire, would actually do something like-
"Let's spy on her!" Maya shot off the ground, burying her face in her curry bread, causing both of the others to pull their appendages away. She sat back up, swallowing a gracious mouthful of the once half full basket, and saying again, "We can follow her around and see what she's up to!"
