Twice in a lifetime: Book 2

Home?

The van stopped In front of a three-story building that had wires coming out of and going into some of its windows.

"This is our first stop." Proso said. "There are men and women public restrooms to your right when you walk in. Please do not enter the room at the end of the hall, my Zen's brain is in there, and going in there would be akin to walking in on a naked person. Gene, meet me inside." Her holographic from dissipated, and Zen woke up.

"Have we arrived?" He asked Gene.

"Uh, your girlfriend said we had to stop at your place first." Zen seemed disappointed.

"She is not my girlfriend."

"Maybe you should make her your girlfriend. I'm certain she wants to be." Gene said, before walking away. He met with Proso inside the building, who was now a more detailed and clearer hologram. Zen quickly caught up.

"Proso." He said. "Do we really need to do this?" Proso tried to frown once again, and once again her mouth only quivered slightly before returning to a neutral state.

"I could never cause you grief." She responded. "But now is the time. I wish to join you at your school and become another student. I want to learn to be a hero with you."

"You aren't going to go and live a life?"

"I'm already living. And I couldn't ever live without you."

"Okay." Zen said quietly, they brought Gene up to the machine on the third floor and had him fix it, before Proso stepped into the tube on the side of the machine. "She can no longer hear us." Zen said. "Speak freely."

"Why are you so distant to her?" Gene asked.

"I'm not certain that her so called love is real, and not something put in by my father."

"Seem's to me that your father created a fully sentient woman and asked her to protect you since he couldn't. Seem's she must have completed that request and had found a new purpose. Not to protect you, but to love you, and be true to herself in the process. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe my currently super wired brain, which has seen all her processes and yours, is totally just making stuff up. But I've never been one to daydream. Now say hello to your real, physical girlfriend."

Proso stepped out of the second tube and walked up to Zen. She smiled a smile that could rival Joy's. Zen said nothing, but simply hugged her. He locked hands with her, put on a new pair of goggles in order to cover up his eyeholes, and they both walked to the van. Everyone else got back into the vehicle before Proso started driving it to the school, and this time she could actually grab the steering wheel.