April:

A huge thunderstorm rips through Tokyo. Rain clatters noisily against windows and thunder shakes buildings. It is two-thirty in the morning and Ando Masahashi has work in a few hours, but the storm is keeping him awake. He tosses and turns for what seems like ages before he opens his eyes to check the bedside clock. Lightning flashes, sending the shadows scattering, and in that moment of illumination Ando thinks he sees someone standing in his room. Startled, Ando sits up with a shout; the light fades quickly and the phantom is gone, if indeed it was even there in the first place. The storm weakens and eventually moves on, but Ando does not find sleep that night.

May:

It's Ando's' birthday and he and Hiro have drank too much. Ando leaves Hiro sound asleep with a blanket on the couch and groggily crawls into his own bed. Several hours later a creaking sound wakes him, and even though he's half asleep and bleary eyed Ando isn't suprised to see Hiro standing in the doorway looking guilty.

"Come on then," Ando mutters as he scoots over to make room. "Just don't steal my covers."

The other man doesn't say anything, but as Ando drifts off to sleep he feels the bed shift and hears a quiet sigh.

The next morning Ando wakes up and stumbles out of bed to go search for some aspirin. As he makes his way to the bathroom he passes Hiro snoring peacefully on the couch and vaugly wonders why his friend returned to it in the night.

June:

Ando hates taking the subway. Its crowded and hot and he can never find a place to sit. Today is no different. He is standing with his back to the doors when a huge crowd gets on and somebody bangs into him. The person apologizes and when Ando turns around to return the apology he finds himself face to face with Hiro Nakamura. Or, rather, someone who looks a lot like Hiro because the Hiro that Ando knows has never had such a somber, haunted look in his eyes. The man seems startled and quickly backs away as Ando asks 'Hiro?' The lookalike doesn't answer, and slips out through the closing doors before Ando can say anything else. Ando frowns and tries to put the encounter out of his head. It couldn't have been Hiro; it must have been someone who looked a bit like him is all.

August:

Ando dreams that Hiro is sitting at the end of his bed staring at a katana. This strikes Ando as strange, because as far as he knows Hiro does not own a katana. He says as much to the dream Hiro, and the man just laughs in what seems to be a bitter way.

'You aren't supposed to see me,' dream Hiro says.

'How can I not see you? You're at the end of my bed,' Ando points out.

'I won't come back again. Go to sleep, Ando-kun.'

'I am asleep,' replies Ando.

Dream Hiro smiles ruefully. 'That's right.' He sighs. 'I miss you.'

Ando wants to point out the absurdness of that statement but he blinks and Hiro is gone. Ando thinks that is strange, but dreams can be odd. In the morning, he hardly remembers any of it.

Several months later, when Peter Petrelli calls and says that he was visited by a future Hiro who carried a sword, Ando feels his stomach lurch. He thinks about the man with the haunted eyes and tries not to shiver.