For someone who had no idea what to expect in public school, Astro almost felt overwhelmed by the surge of senses he could feel by walking into the lunchroom. His artificial sensory system could smell the lunch special of the day (meatloaf slathered in TV dinner gravy), while every single student in the school was talking about something to someone that made it hard to just tune in to one conversation. Almost anxious, Astro looked around for someone almost familiar that he could try to sit by. Astro scanned the lunchroom until he was able to spot the top of Abercrombie's head, to which he reveled in noticing the familiar person and headed in that direction.
"Hey Astro!" Tamao greeted when he saw the android coming over. Not going to ignore the cue of acceptance, Astro made his way over to the table and sat down between Kennedy and Tamao.
"You not eating anything?" Abercrombie asked Astro before chomping down on his sandwich.
"No." Astro replied shortly. "I… I have a really weird metabolism. I don't need to eat a lot. It's… it's almost like I never eat, really."
"Lucky." Abercrombie mumbled before gulping his bit of sandwich.
"He's jealous 'cuz he comes from a family of giants, and he's got the honor of being the one with the giant weight." Tamao hissed into Astro's ear mischievously.
"I heard that." Abercrombie grumbled as he took another bite.
"You were supposed to." Tamao cheekily grinned. The peeved face Abercrombie then made caused Tamao and Kennedy to laugh with good intention. Observing for a moment, Astro then started to join in the laughter. The boy's laughter died down eventually, and they ate their lunches in an almost silence, letting Astro just awkwardly sit there and try not to stare. Looking around the lunchroom, Astro began to realize that Uran wasn't in the room eating her lunch, a little confused, the android turned to Kennedy.
"Is this the only lunchroom in the school?" Astro asked.
Kennedy nodded.
"Where does Uran eat lunch?" Astro inquired. Kennedy gave the android a funny look.
"You really like knowing about Uran, don't you?" the boy questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Are you trying to stalk her or something?"
"Cut the kid some slack Ken." Tamao butted in before sticking a grape in his mouth. "Maybe the kid's got a crush on her or something- when was the last time you touched Uran?"
Either from the way the phrase was presented, or from an idea gone the wrong way, Kennedy nearly choked on the cola he was drinking.
"Aren't you a little young to be thinking like that?" Astro asked, moving his head to the side a bit with a little bemused smirk.
"Shut up." Kennedy remarked, randomly finding a potato chip to toss at Astro's head. "New kids aren't allowed to judge."
"I wasn't judging." Astro insisted as he stared at the potato chip distastefully and flicked it off the table. "However, your denial isn't very assuring to wandering minds."
Tamao and Abercrombie tried to hold back their snickers as Kennedy gave Astro an unreadable look, giving the android a moment to realize that he had possibly stepped into something that could have ruined his new friendship.
"If you can give cold comebacks like that to your friends, I feel sorry for your enemies." Kennedy eventually said, much to Astro's surprise.
"Is… that a good thing?" Astro asked, unsure of whether to let out a nervous little laugh or not at the time.
"Dude," Kennedy smiled, "You're perfect."
For a moment, Astro checked to make sure that the human wasn't just messing around with him, but what Kennedy said was genuine and it made Astro smile in return.
. . .
The rest of the day went by without any other problems. Astro had proven to be in good hands with Abercrombie, Tamao, and Kennedy. In some ways, Astro forgot about why he was actively seeking Uran, but then he would get time to sit and think. That was when he remembered why he wanted to know more about her; when they had brushed against each other at the start of the school day, Astro had felt a tiny spark inside of Uran that was almost familiar. A sudden ping of result made Astro freeze in his spot- some how, in some way, a large part of Uran could be detected and traced back to him. A word etched on her bones made the author of the coding she had in her body was clear and hauntingly familiar: Tenma.
Apparently, no one else was aware that Uran wasn't all human. The more Astro thought about it, the more the idea seemed to burn inside of him and almost hurt his cognitive processes. How could a human be related to a robot? Why would a human have a robotic skeleton to begin with, and how did it get placed there if the human in question was still alive?
As Astro waited for Professor O'Shay to pick him up from school, his thoughts of Uran burned more than previous, and when they got home, Astro was going to ask the professor all of those questions. And, he hoped, he would get some answers as well.