Power Outage Storytelling
By: Emily the Artist and Kaitlyn Draws Manga
Chapter 1: An Unexpected Pair
Today the city had a power outage... its been going on since this morning, its getting a little late and the professor was panicking (typical for all humans I assume).
So I decided to pay a visit to someone, nothing else to do I suppose.
I was hurrying downstairs, my twin and Uran were busy doing something I can't remember, but I do know it probably had something to do with our game console.
"This is driving me insane! If it gets dark and i don't have any light I'll never get my report done and I need it by tomorrow!" Elefun complained, his hands flew around his head as he spoke quickly, almost making it hard to understand him.
"Calm down, Doctor. I'm sure the power will come back!" I reassured him.
Gosh, humans do worry too much...
"Ugh! This stupid thing won't work!" Next it was my twin who started complaining.
"Because the powers out, ditz?!" I replied.
"But this is powered by batteries?!" My twin scooted foreword.
"And the TV?" I had a sarcastic look on my face.
"Uh..." He had a look of confusion on his face, I smirked and rolled my eyes.
I walked over to the kitchen that was diagonal from the living room, I pulled something out of the fridge and readjusted my suspenders that were hanging from my belt loop.
"Why do you always wear suspenders?" Uran, my sister, asked.
"Its my style.. I always wear suspenders with band T-shirts and skinny jeans," I closed the fridge.
Uran didn't seem amused.
"Ugh, whatever!" I walked away from the kitchen and walked towards the front door.
"I'm gonna go visit a friend, okay?" I grabbed my red book bag from the floor and swung it over my shoulder as I was talking to Dr. Elefun.
"Umm... okay." The professor shrugged his shoulders.
I unlocked the door.
"But Astro..."
I turned around.
"Yes?"
"Please don't run away from me again..."
"Well I can't make any promises... but I'll do my best to avoid it," I smirked and headed out the door, winking slightly.
I walked past the short driveway and turned right, as if I was walking to Dr. Tenma's.
But i wasn't.
I wanted to visit someone else.
I was on my way to visit Dr. Claire...
The story of us goes a while back when something happen to me and I lost most of my memory and decided to just hang around on the street, it started to pour and she took me in and let me stay with her until she took me back to the professor, so I decided now would be a great time to go visit and thank her since there was nothing to do...
No power, no new songs from black veil brides I can listen to, and I certainly had no inspiration or desire to write in my journal.
So now was the best time to thank her.
It was getting colder and colder, I took my jacket from my book bag and put it on, the red from the jacket stood out from all the black I was wearing (and yes, you probably would mistake me for a band member too, I really don't mind though...)
I walked farther until I reached Tenma's house, I put my book bag down and took a long, curious gaze at it, I then grabbed my stuff and continued on.
I finally made it to her house, I slowly yet casually walked up to the door.
My hands began to tremble, I got a little spooked and refused to knock on the door.
I took a deep breath.
I slowly knocked on the door, Dr. Claire came out instantly.
"Why hello Astro, you must be cold you should come inside" She put her hands on my shoulders, I blushed slightly.
I walked inside, doing as told, I plopped right onto her couch as she walked over to the kitchen.
The room was filled with candles and battery powered lights, I was amazed at the fact that even through a power outage, she still managed to get light.
"Well now since you're here... I have a chance to tell you a story!" Dr. Claire seemed excited.
A story?
Woah.. remind me again?
A STORY!
This bitch is joking, right?
I come to say thanks and she wants to tell me a STORY?!
Miff...
Oh well...
"What kind of story?" I asked, trying to be nice.
"Well..." Dr. Claire had a high pitched eerie voice, she made an "eh" face and shrugged her shoulders.
"Its the story of how I met Dr. Tenma!" She blushed.
I took a double take.
This just got interesting...
"Y- you mean the Dr. Tenma, m- my father!" I couldn't help but stutter.
"Ahh yes, your father.. hmm.. where do i begin?" Dr. Claire looked pensively at me.
"Oh, It all started a few months ago, around the beginning of summer." She started.
Okay, I'm bored.
Damn I think too much!
"Uh huh..." I nodded my head.
"Gee, it's REALLY nice out today!" Emily said, looking up at the bright sky.
"Haha. Yeah! Glad I didn't take my car, else we would miss all this!" Kaitlyn looked around at the bright green leaves of nearby trees.
Kaitlyn and Emily were walking down the sidewalk on their way to the city park. Uran asked them if they could come and play with her and her dog, Jump. The girls had nothing in particular to do that day, so they decided to go.
"I don't really care for dogs, but I haven't seen Jump in a while." Emily looked over at Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn nodded but she seemed to be distracted.
"What are ya lookin' at, Kate?" Emily giggled.
"That lady over there seems awfully familiar." Kaitlyn pointed a woman walking the opposite way on the other side of the road.
Emily looked over.
"Oh that's Dr. Claire I think. I've seen her in Dr. Elefun's office before. She must work for him."
Kaitlyn looked confused.
"Ya know the girl who used to be a biologist?" Emily tried to describe her to Kaitlyn.
"Ooooh... Well, lets go over and talk to her! She seems nice."
Kaitlyn looked up and down the street for cars then started walking across it.
"Hello, Dr. Claire!" Emily yelled to her.
Dr. Claire looked around as soon as she heard her name being called, she continued to read a book she had in her hand.
"YO LADY!" Kaitlyn bellowed out.
Dr. Claire turned around and saw the girls running up to her.
"Oh, hello. Do I know you two?" She asked.
"Ah... kinda…. We're friends of Doctor Elefun's." Emily smiled.
"Oh!" Dr. Claire put her book down.
The Emily and Kaitlyn finally made it up to her.
"Well its nice to meet you guys, but i'm kinda reading this book right now, I can take take a rain check" she joked.
"But we never really had a proper introduction." Kaitlyn looked up to her with a puppy face.
"Oh im just joking, a friend of Elefun's is a friend of mine!" Dr. Claire beamed at the girls.
They all giggled.
"Well, I'm Kaitlyn!" Kaitlyn said with a big grin as they all started to walk alongside each other.
"And I'm Emily." Emily blushed.
"So what book are you reading?" She asked.
"Oh its this wonderful book by my favorite author, Oscar Wilde!"
"I think I may have heard of him before." Kaitlyn thought out loud.
"Oh, I've never heard of him?" Emily looked curious.
"Ahh I don't think these books are for you, they might not be at your level..." Dr. Claire looked at Emily and adjusted her glasses.
"Do you mean vocabulary or content?" Kaitlyn smirked..
"Little bit of both..."
"Hmmm. I see." Kaitlyn couldn't help but chuckle a little.
"You're welcome to borrow my books any time." Dr. Claire smiled.
"Thanks!" Both girls smiled.
They came to a corner.
"We really should get going back to the park. Uran's probably waiting." Kaitlyn said.
"Yeah we should. It was nice talking to you, ma'am." Emily smiled and waved to her as she and Kaitlyn started to walk away.
"Goodbye!" The girls yelled back as they jogged to the park.
"Bye!" Dr. Claire smiled.
"Such nice kids." She thought.
Elsewhere, a man dressed in black rushed down the sidewalk, his coat catching the wind and flying behind him. He looked down at the ground, concentrating on something.
He saw a turn at the sidewalk and took a sharp curve.
Dr. Claire turned around to keep walking but suddenly a dark figure appeared in front of her.
The man had bumped into someone. He took a step back, but his shoe caught on the bottom of his coat.
The two went falling to the ground.
"I'm so sorry, sir. I should have watched where I was going..." Dr. Claire apologized as she tried to get up.
"Oh no, it's my fault. I was just thinking a little to hard and I wasn't looking…" The man stuttered.
They both looked up slowly.
"Uh.. I - I… You're a very handsome... man." Dr. Claire gazed into his eyes.
"And you are very beautiful..." He looked back into hers.
They stared at each other in silence.
"Oh.. I really should get going..." Claire looked at her watch.
She got up and helped the man up.
"My glasses!" Dr. Claire noticed she couldn't see as well.
"Oh, they're on the ground here." The man leaned down and picked them up.
He slid them onto Dr. Claire.
"Thank you..." She blushed.
"But now that I can see you better… you seem very familiar…. Anyway, I'm Dr..."
"That must've been awkward..." I was totally into the story now... things were getting pretty interesting. (Gosh, I need to stop watching TV, especially adults swims)
"It was..." Dr. Claire blushed, I leaned back, finding a position I found comfortable.
"And why the hell would say my dad is handsome... the hell is wrongwith you?!" I folded my arms and had a defensive look on my face.
She glanced at me with an annoyed look.
"Let me just continue the story…."
"Anyway, I'm Dr. Claire. Dr. Cindy Claire." Dr. Claire moved some of her hair behind to the back of her ear.
"I'm Umatarō. Dr. Umatarō Tenma." He chuckled.
"Dr… Tenma?" Dr. Claire took a step back...
"I've... heard things about you." She said nervously.
"I see…. Miss Claire, I've done many things I regret." He looked down.
"H- how can I be so sure you won't do them again..." Dr. Claire began to slowly walk backwards, slowly pushing both her hands foreword.
"I'm a changed man. I can assure you." He smiled.
Dr. Claire laughed nervously.
"Uh, o- okay.. well it was a pleasure meeting you but uh... I have somewhere to go! I'll uh, see you around then?" Dr. Claire smiled nervously and turned around.
"Wait..." He grabbed her wrist.
"Ah!" She gasped.
"Uh.. this isn't a great time Tenma, I need to visit Dr. Elefun at the ministry because... I'm his assistant!" The idea quickly came to her.
"Look… I feel something... and I haven't felt it in a long time. I just want to talk to you some more.. some other time.. I want to prove to you that I changed." He looked at her, his eyes sparkling in the sun.
"I'm not interested in what you have to prove to me.. I enjoy my work and work only.. I have no time for such shenanigans" Dr. Claire folded her arms and snorted.
Tenma sighed.
"You have a great day sir!" Dr. Claire walked away from Tenma, clutching her book in her hand.
"See you around..." He stared at the ground as he sat on a nearby bench.
Dr. Claire had to head back to work, she was an "apprentice" for Dr. Elefun, since she switched from biology to robotics, she needed training, and thats how she met Dr. Elefun.
She always focused on work constantly and rarely went out unless it was to visit family for the holidays...
So Tenma?
Just another bump in the road.
That's what she thought.
Dr. Claire made it to Elefun's office, he stood there with his arms folded.
"You're five minutes late.." he complained.
"I- I'm so sorry professor.. I uh, ran into someone and we had a brief talk, I swear it won't happen again!" Dr. Claire looked worried.
"It better not happen again. You don't want to make anymore bad impressions, do you?"
"N- no doctor..." Dr. Claire looked down at the floor, feeling so ashamed.
She remembered her first day at the job. She had accidentally slipped and almost broke an expensive piece of equipment. She was lucky Dr. Elefun overlooked that and still hired her.
Back at his home, Tenma quickly skimmed through his electronic phone book. He found "M" and glided his finger down the page.
"The Ministry of Science." He stopped his finger.
The phone rang as he paced around his kitchen.
"Hello. This is the Ministry of Science information desk. My name is Nancy, how may I assist you today?"
"Hello." He coughed and tried to make the highest pitched voice he could.
"I'd like to speak to… my... granddaughter… She works here."
"What is her name?"
"Cindy... Cindy Claire… She got the name from me… her granny..."
"Ok, ma'am, we will phone you into the desk upstairs."
"Thank you… deary..." Tenma bit his lip in shame.
"Hello, I'm Geoffrey. How may I help you today?" A man spoke.
"Hello." Tenma coughed, his throat hurting him from the voice.
"Are you ok ma'am?"
"Ah.. yes… yes.. I'm just… SICK.. yes that's it.. I'm very ill and I'd like to talk to my granddaughter.. I may die soon. I need to talk to her immediately."
"Who is your granddaughter, ma'am?"
"Cindy Claire."
"We will send the line over to her as soon as possible."
"Thank you." Tenam coughed some more.
"Hello? Grandma?! When did you get sick?!" Claire answered the phone.
"I'm not-" Tenam spoke in the same voice.
He cleared his throat
"I'm not your grandmother." He spoke in his normal voice.
"It's... you! I told you I'm not interested in you. Can't you leave me alone?"
"I... I can't… Ever since we met… I couldn't get my mind off of you."
"Stop messing with me."
"I'm serious."
"What do you mean? Why are you doing this to me?!"
"B-because… I think I... l…. love you…."
She hung up the phone, her heart was pounding.
Later on... her work shift had ended, she got into her car and raced home.
"I gotta hurry home, no time to waste tonight!" She thought.
I took a moment to realize what was going on.
"So you don't like him?" I asked.
"Well.. I just, I don't have time to date people, people take up my time that I could dedicate to my job... so to answer your question I didn't like him... but that answer could change..." Dr. Claire glanced at me again.
"So-"
"Back to the story." She interrupted my sentence.
Dr. Claire opened the door to her house, she raced to her office to go start on her work.
She sighed.
"I just gotta keep working... life is too short to worry about other people that seem to not have their life together like I do.. I just have to stop thinking about... him.."
Tenma laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Why?" He whispered to himself.
"Everything I did. Everyday, it still affects me. Now this…. The weight on my chest just keeps building up.. Sometimes.. I just wish I was never born. That I don't exist. My mistakes keep coming back to bite me, no matter how much I try to change..."
He looked around at his walls. Collectable hunting knives and swords hung neatly from hooks and plaques. All shined and sharpened to perfection.
"If only humans could be fixed like that. Expelled of every imperfection. Never to show up the same again."
Tenma sat up and reached for a nearby sword.
"The sword of General Li Yun III of Japan. He killed a thousand men with this sword, and yet it still shines like new. A sword of honor. For the one owning the sword, to be killed by their own weapon… especially one like this… especially a man of Japanese blood…. would be of great honor."
He took the sword out of its protective case made of high quality velvet. It gleamed in even the dim light of the room.
He examined it then placed it in front of him.
He slowly brought it up to his neck.
"No.. Not today…"
"I don't deserve that honor.." He convinced himself.
He tossed the sword on the floor and cried into his pillow.
I felt like dying right there and then.
It was too much
Why did my father act so much like me?
Because I would probably do the same thing someday...
Make that,
Any day.
Dr. Claire was finishing up her work, it was close to midnight and her food was left hot in the microwave.
"What's today, Tuesday? Hmm... maybe I'll go visit my sister Quinn, that should keep me busy this weekend..." she thought, writing faster on the keyboard.
"Say?"
She turned around in her office chair.
There was an electronic phone book on the table nearby, she picked it up and swiped through the pages.
"Hmm.. maybe ill give a call to-..." she dialed a number on the page.
She held the phone up to her ear and heard a ringing tone for a split second, then she heard a familiar voice.
"Shoot!" She muttered.
"H-hello?" Tenma sniffled.
"Uh- uh.." she deepened her voice.
"S- sorry sir.. wrong number!" Dr. Claire hung up the phone.
Tenma buried his face back into his pillow.
"What did i just do?!"
Dr. Claire was slightly furious at herself, she's letting herself get off topic and forget work.
But work came first anything else came last.
Why was she doing this?
Could this be her changing?
It was all because of,
Him.
She reached for the phone again, but she hesitated.
Something in her made her pick up the phone again and redial the number.
She took in a deep breath as the phone began to ring.
"Wrong number again..." Tenma said slowly.
"I suggest that you either try another number or get a phone book app." He sounded annoyed but depressed.
"Uh..." Dr. Claire stuttered.
"Who is this? Is this a prank?"
"No..." she sighed.
"Its Cindy, I'm... here to apologize..."
"Miss Claire?!" His voice cracked as it lightened a bit.
"I'm sorry for being so rude to you, I'm just... not really street smart, you know... I prioritize work more than a social life.."
"No, no. No need to apologize. I have a very bad reputation… I deserve it for all the terrible things I've done… even when I try to fix it, I fail."
"N- no, you seem like a nice person, even better than what people tell me!"
"You don't have to lie because you pity me."
"What? N- no that's not what I meant! Ugh... this is harder than it sounds..." Dr. Claire sighed and shook her head.
"It's ok. I know i'm just some crazy freak. If you wanted to call me just to tell me to get off your back then you could just say so."
"W-what? If i wanted to get you off my back I would say so! I wouldn't just call you for nothing... because you know what, I don't call anyone so if i wanted to just blow you off I wouldn't call you?!"
He sighed.
"I'm sorry..."
"I- its okay... I'm just losing my mind..." Dr. Claire looked away and at her papers on her office table.
"Haha.. you think you're losing your mind..." Tenma glanced down at the sword and started to think about what he almost did.
"Well what else do you call it?"
"I'd say they'd call it suiciiiii- I mean.. sounds like you're a workaholic..." He looked away from the sword and back at his pillow that had wet spots scattered across it.
Dr. Claire laughed.
"I have a bunch of papers I need to finish, a scientist work is never done, eh?" Dr. Claire smiled.
"Ahh.. yes… The ministry really likes to pack on the paperwork, huh? I mean I think I would know 'cus I-... um… nevermind..." He started to sound enthusiastic but that went downhill.
"Well it wasn't this much when I studied biology.. but I decided to change to robotics.. it kinda suits me better..."
"Yes. Robotics is a fine industry..." Tenma sat up in his bed.
"Y- you worked in robotics?" Dr. Claire asked, she seemed amused.
"Yes I did. I guess you haven't heard everything about me. Your boss, Elefun. He replaced me. "
"Uh, he did mention you.. but he- he said you were a crazy mad man..."
"Ah…. I guess I was... I may still be but I'm not sure anymore. I was going through a mid-life crisis then..."
There was a short period of silence.
"Hey! Wait a second..." a thought clicked in Dr. Claire's mind.
"You don't happen to know a kid by the name of Astro do you?" She seemed curious.
"I.. uh… created him…."
"Wait... I'm confused.. Elefun said-"
"Said what?….."
"Something, different… Uh- uh... I can't say! But um... well its nice that you know him, he's a great kid, has potential..."
"Unfortunately I wouldn't know that because he hates me to death."
"That doesn't sound good..."
"I deserve it though… for all the things I've done to him….."
Dr. Claire looked surprised.
"W- well uh... it doesn't matter! The past is the past! I'm sure it'll work out in the end..."
"I can't escape my past..." Tenma thought out loud.
"What?"
Something in her told her to hang up the phone, to get back to work, to stop fooling around!
But she ignored it.
"Oh.. nothing… I was just... thinking..."
"Oh! Hehe..."
"Are you sure you still want to talk? You said something about a lot of papers earlier, didn't you?"
"Oh that can wait... I got a few days.." Dr. Claire examined her fingernails.
"But you're welcome to come over whenever you like, just.. don't be creepy about it..."
"Really? Thank you so much for your kindness and hospitality. No one has really done anything like this for me in a long time..."
"Oh its nothing really... its just who I am.." Dr. Claire chuckled.
"Umm.. sorry about what I said earlier today… I sorta overreacted… "
"Uh... that's okay... you live and you learn, don't you?"
"I'm not sure if I meant it or not..."
"Haha you're funny... does it really matter?"
"But the last people I…. loved like this…." He sounded like he was starting to cry.
I feel terrible now..
How could I be so stupid?!
Yea he was a douche bag, and a stinky A-hole... but he was my father...
Why was I so mean to him?
Why did I do the things I did...
I had one job, to love him,
And I blew it.
Why?
"Tenma… are you ok?"
"S-sorry… I just... maybe we can talk some other time..."
It sounded like he was trying to hang up the phone. He couldn't and he just let it drop to the floor.
"Tenma….. please pick the phone back up..."
Can someone do me a favor?
Kill me.
I can't take this, this is all because of me.
Gosh damnit, why am I so stupid!?
That's it,
When Dr. Claire is done telling the story...
I'm gonna go see Tenma.
"Please… I'll help you through this." She started crying.
There was no response. But you could hear him whimpering into his hands.
"Tenma…. I'm not sure if I feel the same... but I do feel something." She put her hand on her chest.
"You feel pity!" He snapped.
"No…. it's not that..." She gazed around the room, she could hear a loud throbbing in her ears.
"D-don't lie to me…."
"I- I ..."
She sighed.
"I never lie.. not to great people like you... not to people I love."
His heart skipped a beat.
"H-how can you love someone like me?"
"Because its whats on the inside that counts..."
"Everyone hates me for my insides. Because I'm a terrible person. Because of what I did and didn't do…."
"Well then you know what, they're just too blind and stupid to see how great you are" she smiled even though tears were streaming down her face.
"I may sound silly… b-but… I wish you were here right now..."
"Well.. you can always stop by.. I have a kit-"
She remembered the dinner she left in the microwave.
"Uh... I guess I must've left my dinner out.. silly me!" She laughed it off.
She walked with the phone to the kitchen and removed her -what was once frozen- dinner out of the microwave.
"Hmmm.. I don't even know what they put in this crap! Oh well..." she placed the plastic tray on the counter.
She heard a small laugh on the phone, she smiled instantly at it.
"Th-thank you..." He picked up the phone.
"N- no problem" her voice was muffled by the food in her mouth.
"You wouldn't happen to be free this Saturday, would you?" He asked nervously.
"Uh... well I was gonna go visit my sister, Quinn... but, I'll save that for next weekend..."
"You'd do that?"
"Sure! No biggie... she can wait..." Dr. Claire laughed.
"Thank you Miss Cla-… I mean Cindy." He sniffled.
"Oh its nothing... I really don't deserve your thanks..."
"I don't deserve your kindness…."
Dr. Claire blushed.
"Well of course you do!" She tried to eat and talk at the same time.
"Ah.. I…." He blushed.
"Huh?"
"I just… don't know what to say… I'm just so grateful ."
"Ahhh I see.. same here.."
Tenma looked at the sword again. He got up and picked it up off of the carpet.
He looked around at his walls and all the knives and daggers.
"I really need to get rid of these… put them in the basement." He thought.
"You think we can talk later? I just wanna work on something…. And I'm sure you have plenty of paperwork to do."
"Sure thing... I guess i'll see you, Saturday if I'm not mistaken?" She asked.
"Ah.. yes… how about this fancy restaurant I've been wanting to go to?"
"Ooh fancy, I've never really eaten out before... I usually eat alone at home..."
"Oh, well I'm sure you'll like it."
"Then it's a deal!" Dr. Claire chuckled.
Tenma laughed.
"I guess I better hang up then.. I'll see you around.. uh... I forgot your name... sorry.."
"You can just call me Bill…. It's a nickname."
"Hehe.. okay, I'll see you around then Bill!" Dr. Claire took another bite of her frozen meal.
"Bye.. Cindy… I… I... l-love you..." He felt butterflies in his stomach.
Dr. Claire blushed again.
"I- I..."
"I love you too" she smiled, her face was still red and she could still hear loud throbs in her ears.
"B-bye. Talk to you tomorrow…." He could feel his face heat up.
"O-okay..." She slowly hung up the phone.
"So I guess I have a date on Saturday?" She said to herself.
"But uh..." she looked down at what she was wearing.
"I think I'm gonna need a new wardrobe..."
Tenma looked at the sword.
"There is no honor in killing yourself, is there?... Well, this sword is useless to me now."
"Time to clean up." He started to take things off of the walls.
"I've forgotten what it feels like to be happy. To be excited..." he thought as he gathered things in his arms and placed them on his bed.
"I like it."
That was one of the most beautiful stories i've ever heard.. besides a story I told my language arts class about me and brianna for a project, brought the whole class to tears.
But that's a story for another time...
"Thanks." I said to Dr. Claire.
All the sudden the power came back on.
"But there's more." She said.
"But I have to go visit someone really quick, you can tell me when I get back."
"Fine... but come back as soon as you can!" Dr. Claire called to me as I left her house.
She slowly shook her head.
"That boy..." She chuckled.
This time I had to go visit Tenma, not only to apologize to him but to hear more of the story... because two heads are better than one.
Or at least that's what you pathetic humans tell me...
I walked up to his door, my whole body ached and I felt like throwing up (whatever that means...). I lightly tapped on the door, hoping slightly that he won't answer.
But to my luck,
He did.
"Tobio!... I mean… Astro… What are you doing here?"
My mouth couldn't say anything, I just walked up to him and gave him a hug, not a single word spoken.
"A-Astro..." He sounded surprised but also relieved.
"I-I'm so sorry..." I tried to say.
He put his hands on my shoulders and got down to my height.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm s-sorry for being so mean, for c-causing you so much pain and trouble... I'm just... sorry!"
Tears streamed down my face, I enjoyed it, though.
"Astro…. It's not your fault."
He hugged me.
"Yes it is... its all my fault! I'm just too stupid to notice.." I whimpered
"No.. It was me. It was my fault from the start."
"N-no, you were the greatest father I could ever ask for, it was me who blew it, big time."
"Astro… Y-you're freezing."
"I- its cold outside, what do you expect?"
"Come inside."
He let me in and he gave me a blanket and a cup of steaming hot chocolate.
"T- thanks." I said, taking a sip of the hot cocoa.
"Why did you come here so suddenly?" He was sitting in the seat across from me with a cup of tea in his hand.
"Well.. i went to visit Dr. Claire to go thank her while the power was out and she told me this great story.. I'm sure you know it.."
"Hmmm. Cindy…. yes." He took a sip of his tea.
"Cindy? Ooh... never mind." I almost got thrown off for a moment.
"Where did she leave you off?"
"Uh..."
Let me just say that if you DARE mistake me for a computer that remembers EVERYTHING, prepare to get your ass beat because you're DEAD. WRONG.
I tried to remember where we left off.
"Uh..."
I looked around and saw a cardboard box. A long, black stick was sticking out and resting on the wall next to the box. It had Japanese engraved in gold on the side. It seemed to say "General" but the rest was cut off by the box.
I pointed to it.
"I remember something like that in the story..." I said.
"Oh..." He looked almost pale when he saw the sword.
"I can see why you came to say sorry…." He took another sip of his tea.
"I just don't want to see you become like me.. I'm a terrible wreck, and I don't want the same for you..." I sighed.
"Don't say things like that, Astro. I was a wreck long before you ever were..."
"Dad..."
He looked me straight in the eye with an almost sad look.
"P- please, just let me win so we can go back to pretending to be happy again... I liked that..."
He nodded.
"I assume she left off after... that phone call..."
"I think so.. but my memory is messed up, so i might be wrong, as usual..."
Tenma smirked.
"Let's begin, then."
Later on, Dr. Claire finished her papers and went to bed, there were loud screeches and noises that kept her awake, so she didn't really sleep well.
Tenma had moved all of his collection. He laid in his bed staring at the ceiling and the bare walls. He couldn't help but think of her. He didn't get any sleep.
The next morning, Dr. Claire got ready for work, she wore the same white lab coat with a black shirt, denim jeans and casual shoes.
Her style never changed.
She left her house and went on her usual walk to work.
Kaitlyn and Emily were walking along to the park again.
"Did you see how Jump caught that frisbee yesterday?! OH MAH GAWSH IT WAS AWESOME! I'm totally gonna get him to go higher this time!"
"Kate.. calm down." Emily giggled as Kaitlyn skipped down the sidewalk.
"We should do this everyday for the rest of the summer!" Kaitlyn grinned.
"I think that's a little too much."
The two girls giggled.
Kaitlyn looked to the other side of the street.
"DR. CLAIRE!" She screamed, waving her hands around.
Dr. Claire looked around and saw them. She turned the opposite way and walked sideways, hoping that they would ignore her.
"Gotta get to work!" She thought
She felt a tap on her shoulder.
"GAH!" Dr. Claire gasped and shuttered.
She turned around.
"Dr. Claire!" Kaitlyn smiled. She was holding Emily's arm.
"Oh.. Hi... you... two…." She laughed nervously.
"What's wrong? You seem quite nervous?" Emily asked
"I'm just in a rush to get to work. I was late yesterday." She started walking.
The girls walked with her.
"There's more, isn't there?" Kaitlyn smirked.
"U- uh, of course not! I'm a very busy scientist, I have no time to fool around and do other things!"
Kaitlyn and Emily raised their eyebrows.
"There's definitely more." Kaitlyn said.
"I can tell by the look on your face...
"You're LOVE STRUCK." She squealed.
"I told you girls already that there is nothing wrong, now if you excuse me I need to get to work before I get late and yelled at again..." Dr. Claire sighed and quickened her pace.
"Don't deny it!"
"Deny what?!" Dr. Claire tried to ignore the girls as much as possible.
"You're in LOVE! That's what!"
"Why should YOU care anyways?!"
"PFT!" Kaitlyn laughed hysterically.
"Its not funny Kaitlyn! Now leave me alone and let me go to work!"
"'But us woman have to stick together."
"Whatever..." Dr. Claire walked away from the girls and on to the ministry.
"Don't ignore me, you turd! I'll get you to spill the beans eventually!" Kaitlyn yelled out to her.
"Kaitlyn.. I don't think that's such a great idea... she might not be telling us for a reason..." Emily said.
"Emi, when you're my age, you'll understand."
"We're only 3 years apart?!"
"But I'm 2 years closer to womanhood than you are. I'm already technically a woman."
Dr. Claire made it into Dr. Elefun's office again, she made it on time.
"Hello, Cindy." Dr. Elefun said with a big grin.
Hearing Elefun call her "Cindy" reminded her of Tenma..
Because not a lot of people called her by her first name.
Tenma walked sluggishly out of his room. His body was tired, but his mind felt refreshed. He walked into the kitchen and got himself a cup of coffee as he stretched.
"Do you always drink coffee?" I asked.
"No, why?"
"Because i do" Astro giggled.
Tenma took another sip of his tea as he quietly chuckled.
"OK im done, continue?"
Tenma rolled his eyes.
The day went by smoothly, nothing major occurred, and everything that happen didn't seem to cause much trouble.
(END OF CHAPTER ONE!)