"I AM ABERCROMBIE!" one rather bulky boy was gladly shouting.

"AND I AM ALEJO!" Another boy, this one small and lanky with big round glasses and a cap covering his hair.

"AND I AM KENNEDY!" The last boy, with darker skin and a healthy physique grinned.

The three lined up and reached their arms into the air. "And together we are the ambassadors for robot and human friendship!" they exclaimed. Then they all bowed simultaneously. "It's an honour to meet you, Dr Tenma!"

Stunned, Tenma stared at them as he sat on a bench in the park. There was absolute silence as they kept bowing like that and Tenma sat completely still, the wind blowing over the leaves.

Then, finally, Astro jumped in. "They are my friends!" he grinned. "Aren't they great?"

Tenma blinked. "Oh, yes," he said. "It is… a pleasure to meet you."

There was a rather awkward silence as the three children looked at Tenma, and Tenma looked back at them while Astro stood in the middle, poking his fingers together. "Erhm…"

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Alejo exclaimed as he opened his shoulder bag and dug into it to find a card. "Dr Tenma! On behalf of the ambassadors of robot and human friendship, we would like to offer you this!" He walked to Tenma and handed him the card.

Tenma blinked as he accepted it and looked down to see a rather crude and childish drawing of a boy and a robot holding hands. He then flipped it open and read the words.

"Lifetime achievement award for building our best friend Astro. Congratulations on your freedom."

The three names were signed with three different hand writings. Tenma glanced up to see the three boys looking extremely expectant at him, holding their breaths in excitement.

"That's… very nice," Tenma finally said.

Once again there was silence as they all looked at him, and, without any idea what to do, Tenma stared back at them, until Astro simply gave Tenma an elbow in the side.

"Just say thank you," he whispered.

"Ah, thank you."

And that made the three boys cheer as they stretched their arms up in the air.

"YOU'RE WELCOME!" they all exclaimed.

Tenma looked at them oddly as the three boys laughed and then started to poke at each other and tumble around.

Tenma reached up for his hat and pulled it down to let it shadow his eyes. He was sitting in the most isolated corner of the park he could find, wearing a long coat and a hat with a broad shadow to try and conceal his identity, if only a little.

Astro had run straight home to him after school and pulled him down to the park, saying he had a surprise for him. And now they were here.

Tenma exhaled deeply. Perhaps he should be better at this, he was, after all, a father, but he really wasn't very good with children. He didn't understand them.

The way these three were now tumbling around on the grass, laughing and deliberately bumping into each other wasn't something Tenma had ever done. When he was a child, he had preferred to be alone. And when Tobio was alive… He had never actually been to the park with Tobio; he had been too busy with work.

Tenma knew he couldn't pursue this line of thought; it was too sad. Already now he felt his heart squirming and tears nearly coming to his eyes.

"Father," Astro looked up at him. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, Astro," Tenma reassured him, forcing his voice to be steady. "So these are your friends?"

"Yeah, aren't they great?" Astro grinned. "They all helped teach me about human life! We've gone to all sorts of places together, like the fairytale theatre and the amusement park! Kennedy is the best soccer player ever! He taught me so much about sports!" he pointed at the dark skinned boy. "Alejo loves machines; he showed me loads of these really old contraptions we could try and make work together! And Abercrombie teaches me about other children in school! He knows what you need to do to be cool, and what not to do if you don't want to be a nerd!" He paused, then, "I don't mind being a nerd though. I think nerds are cool, too!"

"HEY, ASTRO, LOOK AT THIS!" Abercrombie suddenly shouted and Astro turned around to see he had crawled up into a tree. He had an eye-patch on one eye and held a branch forward as a sword. "I am the mighty pirate Red Beard looking for treasure!"

"And I am the first mate!" Kennedy exclaimed as he tied a branch to his knee and leaned on that instead of his foot so it looked like he only had one leg. "Short Ben Copper!"

"Eh?" Alejo asked. "Then what I am?"

"You can be the parrot," Abercrombie grinned.

"BUT I DON'T WANT TO BE THE PARROT!" Alejo shouted.

They all laughed, including Astro, and then he ran over to them. "Me too! Me too!" he grinned. "I want to be… erhm..."

"You should be the guy on look out!" Kennedy pointed out. "After all, you can fly super high up in the air and see really far! With you on look out no enemies would ever surprise this crew!"

"That's right!" Astro beamed. "That's perfect for me!"

Quietly, Tenma observed their play as he leaned back on his bench. From what he could see, this make believe made no sense whatsoever. Astro as a look-out man? Astro was much more powerful than that; such a job would be a waste of his talents.

Yet Astro seemed very happy and played along, never complaining that his superior robotic brain and body were being used for such a recreation that really didn't serve any purpose.

"Enjoying the fresh air?" a new voice sounded behind Tenma.

"Quite," Tenma replied. "Good afternoon, Detective Gumshoe."

The detective glanced at Tenma, who hadn't even looked in his direction, then exhaled deeply.

"No, I am not intending to take a run for it, you can sit down and relax," Tenma said, still not looking at Gumshoe.

Gumshoe huffed, annoyed. "I know that. I'm not an idiot," he said. "If you wished to vanish you would probably wait a few days at least! Which is why I won't slack off. I'll keep a close eye on you."

"You among others," Tenma commented lightly as he pointed over his shoulder. Gumshoe turned to where Tenma was pointing and saw a drone hiding in the treetops, filming them with a camera.

Gumshoe blinked.

"Oh, so you didn't know the police department didn't think your eyes were enough. How interesting," Tenma smirked. "That one there is from the institute though," he pointed more to the left where another droid was hiding in the treetops. "Also, Astro's scanners are turned on. If I move from this bench he'll notice immediately. You can relax, Detective. I wouldn't be able to run even if I wanted to."

"I don't really believe that," Gumshoe admitted. "If you want to disappear, you'll probably find a way."

"You're right, you're not an idiot," Tenma smirked in amusement. "But don't worry, I have no intention of running." He glanced at the children playing in the tree. "Is this how children usually play?"

Gumshoe frowned. "I would call it pretty normal, yes." he said. "That shouldn't be a surprise to you though; aren't you a parent?"

"Technically, yes. But I wouldn't call myself a good parent," Tenma replied. "What about you? Are you a parent?"

Gumshoe huffed. "I am not obligated to give such confidential information to you."

Tenma nodded. "Fair enough."

The following days were quite uneventful and soon Tenma and Astro both fell into a routine.
They would wake up in the morning, and Tenma would drink his coffee and read the newspaper while Astro would tell him about what he planned to do that day.

Sometimes Ochanomizu and Uran would come in the morning to see how things were going. After breakfast, Astro would go to school and Tenma would put the breakfast items away just in time for Yukata to arrive.

After Yukata left, Tenma would have a few hours alone before Astro returned, sometimes taking Tenma to the park but also sometimes just staying in the apartment to work on his homework.
A few times Astro flew out the window as he was called to an emergency, but all Tenma had to do to check up on him was merely to turn on the television. The news seemed to follow Astro's exploits like a hawk, sucking up everything they could.

Astro was their hero. That much was for sure.

Then finally, one day, Astro came running to the apartment with an incredibly excited smile on his face, telling Tenma they had gotten clearance to visit the zoo together like Uran had suggested.

"And it's the day after Reno gets home, too!" Astro beamed. "So he can come with us! I'm sure you'll like him a lot."

"Reno?" Tenma asked. "Ah, Ochanomizu's ward.".

"Yes!" Astro beamed. "He's studying to become a robot engineer! Just like you and the professor! I'm sure you'll find something to talk about."

"Yes, I would imagine so," Tenma glanced to the side.

"Ah," Astro then remembered. Tenma hadn't picked up as much as a wrench since the day he had been released from prison. The workshop Astro had spent so much time preparing was standing untouched. The only change that had been made was that the two picture frames now contained photos of Astro and Tobio, and the card Astro's friends had made was gently leaning up against Astro's photo.

It had made Astro happy that Tenma had not thrown the card away, but still...

Astro sighed and looked up. "You haven't been outside all day," he said. "And it's such a beautiful day, too." He looked out at the window at the blue sky. "Let's go to the park."

Tenma shrugged. "Sure," he replied. "Let me just get my coat and hat."

As usual, they didn't go very far and Tenma sat himself down at his usual bench at the furthest corner of the park, pulling down in his hat while Astro found some of his friends to play with.

This time only Kennedy was present and Astro and Kennedy decided to just play ball, kicking the ball towards each other for fun. Then suddenly Kennedy kicked it only for it to fly directly towards Tenma and hit him in the chest.

"Urgh," he hissed.

"DR TENMA!" Kennedy shouted as he came running towards him. "I… I am sorry!"

"It's okay," Tenma assured as he bent down and picked up the ball, which he then offered to Kennedy. "No harm done."

Kennedy looked at the ball for a moment then up at Tenma. "Why don't you play with us?" he asked.

"Father, that's a great idea!" Astro cheered. "It's not hard; we're just kicking and then catching the ball."

Tenma smirked. "I'm not much for that kind of activities." he admitted. "It's okay, Astro. I quite enjoy just observing."

"Oh, okay," Astro said as Kennedy took the ball. "If you say so."

"Well, if you ever change your mind," Kennedy said. "Or maybe there's something else you enjoy, sir. We could put up a baseball game up one of these days; my dad sure loves that. We could invite all our dads one day and have a game."

That made Tenma go a little pale. "That's… okay," he said. "Though if it means a lot to you, Astro, I'm sure Ochanomizu would love to play."

"Yes, he probably would," Astro agreed then looked away.

Kennedy blinked. Tenma and Astro were avoiding eye-contact.

"Erhm… Hey, Astro!" Kennedy then shouted. "Look at this new trick I learned!" He threw the ball up in the air and then caught it on his head, where he balanced it.

"Whoa!" Astro exclaimed then laughed as he clapped. "Kennedy that's amazing!"

"Catch!" Kennedy then shouted as he headbutted the ball and sent it towards Astro. Soon the two were playing again, trying to find better and more creative ways to deliver the ball to each other.

Tenma exhaled as he leaned back on the bench. There were more children in the park running around playing, as well as parents either sitting and observing like him or actively joining in their games.

Suddenly Tenma felt bad… He probably should have joined their game. It seemed like that was what Astro wanted, and he had promised himself to do whatever Astro wanted him to do. This, though, seemed quite beyond him.

Tenma sighed deeply as he leaned forward and rubbed his head. He glanced up and looked at the many children playing around. There was a girl coming towards him riding an air-bike. One of those anti-gravity bikes that floated just slightly in the air; the exact same kind of bike Tenma had given to Tobio on Tobio's birthday.

The sight made Tenma's stomach twist and he looked away, though as he did he suddenly spotted something and had to look back to be sure. But then realized. Sparks were coming from the lower half of the air-bike, located on the brakes.

The girl stepped on the brake but suddenly realized nothing was happening. She started to panic as she tried again and again, but instead of losing speed, the air-bike was only going faster as it zoomed directly towards a big oak tree.

Suddenly Tenma couldn't even think and only reacted as he stood up. "ABANDON THE BIKE!" he shouted. "GET OFF IT!"

The girl didn't seem to hear him, though, as she kept stepping on the brake. Tenma did the only thing he could: he ran towards her.

Wide eyed, Astro turned around. "Father?"

Tenma jumped as he grabbed the girl and threw them both aside, just as the air-bike blasted into the tree.

The girl screamed as she and Tenma landed on the ground, Tenma on top of her, covering her with his own body. He gasped for air, his mind not quite having caught up with the events just yet.

"Mi-mister!" the girl exclaimed. "Are you…"

"EMILY!" a man's voice suddenly shouted as several people came running.

Tenma sucked in a breath as he finally managed to push himself away from the girl and turned around to sit on the grass, looking up at where several people were rushing towards him, including a larger middle aged man in front.

"DADDY!" the girl screamed as she ran towards that man. "My bike! It wouldn't slow down! I tried to use the brake but it didn't work!"

"Oh, god!" the man cried and he bowed down and picked her up. "Thank god! Sir!" he addressed Tenma, who was still trying to catch his breath. "Thank you so much! How can I ever repay you?" He offered Tenma a hand.

"You don't have to thank me," Tenma assured, though he accepted the hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. "What matters is that your daughter is alright."

"You've got that right," the man said and everyone around them nodded and sighed in relief. "Seriously, how can I thank you? You don't know what it means that Emily wasn't hurt. I just..." he looked up at Tenma and halted.

Tenma blinked, realizing that the father was staring at him.

"You…" the man breathed. "You are..."

Suddenly, Tenma became incredibly self conscious. He soon realized he had dropped his hat in the wild chase. His face was exposed! He tried pulling up in the collar of his coat in an attempt to hide his face, but it was too late. The girl looked at him, too. Tenma stepped away as the father gasped.

"You are Dr Umataro Tenma, aren't you?" he asked.

Tenma could feel cold sweat starting to form on his forehead as he stepped backwards. Not this, not now! He couldn't deal with this, he...

And then more people started to become aware of him; all their eyes were on him. The girl was gaping and the father was just staring at him in wide-eyed silence. There was no way out of this, not that Tenma could see! He was caught!

Then suddenly the father broke out in a broad grin. "You're the man who created Astro! This is incredible!"

Stunned, Tenma blinked in confusion. "What?"

"Whoa, that's incredible!" the girl cheered. "Astro is incredible; he saves people all the time!"

Stunned Tenma looked at them. "Oh… Yes."

"We are such big fans of Astro!" the father cheered. "We always follow him in the news. He really fought for your release; I'm so glad to see he managed it. He must be making you really proud."

"Yes, he is," Tenma blinked. "He has more than exceeded his original programming."

The father blinked, confused.

"What I mean is, he's a really good kid," Tenma corrected himself. "He's very kind and courageous."

"Is he nearby?" the girl asked.

"He should be," Tenma looked over his shoulder and was pretty quickly rewarded with a smiling Astro standing among the crowds observing them. Astro came running to them and grabbed Tenma's hand as he beamed.

"Hello, I'm Astro!"

The girl screamed. "AHHH! ASTRO! DAD, DAD! LOOK! IT'S ASTRO!" She shouted so loudly that her father was clearly growing dizzy.

"This is my father, Dr Tenma!" Astro beamed so everyone in the crowd could hear.

Tenma looked around and saw their stunned faces. Everyone's eyes were on him. Tenma swallowed. He did not feel comfortable in this situation.

"My father has been through a lot, so I hope you'll all be nice to him, okay?"

The people blinked, stunned, and Tenma swallowed. "Erhm… Come on, Astro. I think I've had enough fresh air for today."

"Oh, okay."

Quickly, Tenma tried to make his way out of the crowd, but it became difficult as people just insisted on blocking the way and asking him all kinds of questions, which Tenma elected to block out. He pushed himself through, sometimes even in a rather rude way, not apologizing, not saying a word.

Astro couldn't do much except follow until they were finally inside the apartment building where they took the elevator to Tenma's apartment.

"Astro, I'm going to put the apartment in lock down," Tenma said. "Please don't let anyone in who you don't know personally. If a stranger turns up at the door, just ignore them. Don't even open the door."

"Why?" Astro asked in confusion.

"Because I hate journalists," Tenma stated as they stepped out of the elevator and towards the apartment.

"Oh," Astro realized. "Well, I can ask them nicely to go away."

"When has that ever helped when journalists are concerned?" Tenma asked as he unlocked the door. "No, the only tactic is to not give them as much room as a little finger." Both he and Astro stepped in and he then locked the door.

Astro blinked. "You could just talk to them you know," he said. "They just want to ask you some questions, that's all."

"Well, they can ask those questions to someone else," Tenma huffed as he walked to the window and pulled down the blinds.

Astro looked at it, then at Tenma. "Father, maybe you're overreacting just a little bit."

"You think so?" Tenma asked and then grabbed the TV remote to turn on the television.

Immediately, it spelled out in big red letters: "Breaking News! Dr Umataro Tenma has been released from prison!"

And blonde female reporter was sitting by a desk with papers in her hand as she spoke to the camera. "Dr Umataro Tenma, mostly known for building everyone's hero, Astro Boy, has been released from prison. The man who was put there after several terrorist-"

She was cut off as Tenma turned off the TV again and threw the remote away on the table.

"Oh," Astro realised. "That was… incredibly fast."

"They probably had that story ready for weeks," Tenma dropped down in the arm chair, "ever since you started the campaign for my release; all they lacked was the proof."

"I… I'm sorry," Astro swallowed.

"Don't be," Tenma replied as he leaned his head back in the arm chair. "As long as neither of us engage them, they will lose interest."

"So… you don't want me to talk to them?"

Tenma sighed deeply as he sat up. "I won't stop you," he then said. "But if you wish to do me a favor, don't."

Astro sighed deeply. "You really don't like journalists do you?"

"I am not particularly fond of having my entire life's story splashed on the front page of tomorrow's newspaper, no." Tenma said flatly.

"Your life story," Astro breathed, then looked up. "What is your life story anyway?"

"If you want to know, you can probably just read the newspaper tomorrow morning."

"But that's not the same!" Astro protested. "I want to hear it from you! You must have parents, too, right? Where are your parents? And what about Tobio's mother? What happened to her? What made you want to build robots in the first place? You invented the modern AI when you were only a teenager! But why?"

"ENOUGH!" Tenma suddenly shouted as he stood up, and Astro halted, wide eyed. He stared at Tenma, and Tenma stared back at him angrily.

Then he blinked as if he had come back to his senses and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Astro," he sighed. "I guess I'm just tired."

"Ah, yes. Of course," Astro swallowed. "I'm sorry, too."

Tenma exhaled deeply. "Maybe someday I'll tell you what I can," he said. "But… I just can't right now. In any case, my past probably won't be a secret for much longer."

Astro sighed deeply. "I wish I could hear it from you and not just some newspaper."

"It's not like there is much to tell about my past; it is quite unremarkable." Tenma commented. "I was raised an only child by moderately wealthy parents. My grades in school were consistently high. I had a very successful career and got married at a young age. Sadly, my wife passed away shortly after the birth of my son. Her heart was weak and she had heart failure while being on a business trip away from the country. So it was left to me to raise Tobio alone. I was the very successful and rich Minister of Robotics. And you know what happened after that."

Astro looked at Tenma. "The way you talk about it, it sounds so impersonal."

"It is the past," Tenma replied. "It happened and now it's gone. I have no wish to stir it up even further."

"I see," Astro looked down and swallowed. "Father if… if I have a question about what people are going to say and write in the future, is it okay if I ask you?" he asked. "I mean..."

"You can ask," Tenma said. "However, I cannot guarantee you an answer."

"Okay," Astro nodded. "Thank you, father!" He smiled, but it was clearly forced and Tenma couldn't return it.

By the end, all he could do was to turn away and walk out into the kitchen to make himself some tea. Tonight was going to be yet another sleepless night. He could tell already.