Until I See You Again: War Of The White Lion

Three Siblings Come Marching Home

Shiro's POV

We drove through Sendai for some time, passing buildings, passing people, and watching the Sendai base get smaller in the distance. When we traveled along a bend in the road and the Base disappeared, I knew that what I was about to do could be the biggest mistake of my entire life. Leaving Adam alone wasn't it, he had everyone by his side to keep him distracted. I knew that facing my family and seeing my father was going to make or break me.

As I was reminiscing on past memories and contemplating if this was a good choice or not, Aoyama nudged me.

"Takashi, before we go in public and ride the train, you need to put this on," he said, handing me a folded up overcoat, "it's cold outside, and no one should see your arm."

"But why? It's just a prosthetic," I ask harmlessly but Aoyama drops the coat into my lap anyway.

"I know, now put it on," he says gruffly.

I stare at him for a second to see if he's serious. His frown tells me he is, and I put the coat on without further complaint.

"Wait, if we are taking Miho's car and there's going to be a train, where are we going to park? You can't just leave a car somewhere for a few days."

"We're going to stop by my apartment and drop it off there. The train station is just a block away," she says.

We pull up to a modern style apartment with a large parking area with plenty of space. That isn't strange, but what is strange is that we don't park there. We stop just along a public sidewalk with other cars.

"Uh, isn't the parking lot is there?" I ask, pointing to the open spaces.

"I know, you have to pay to park there and I'm kind of broke as it is."

"...But you live there."

"I know."

With that, she turns and walks towards the train station with Aoyama following her. I guess this is normal then. I soon follow after them and we board the train in silence.

I look out the window as the world once more passes by. Along the railway, I can get a glimpse of the Base again, but it's even farther still. In the distance, the Lions take off, leaving  Black on the ground and unilluminated. Adam, as usual, is shaky and unsure of piloting White and proceeds to knock into Red, midair.

As I'm watching this, two young children sitting beside me watch as well.

"Look at that!"

"It's crashing into the other one!"

They giggle and talk as we watch the lions training in the distance. The mother tells them to be quiet but the kids complain. Miho looks at them and smiles, Aoyama not so much.

"Mom, what are they?"

"Be quiet, Daich! Junko, sit in your chair."

"But mom-"

She shushes them once more and the kids' faces fall.  I look around to see that no one really seems to care about them or what they have to say. It reminds me of when I was younger and no one would listen to me. I turn to the kids and I decide to cheer them up.

"They're robots," I tell them.

The kids look at me and their sullen faces instantly alight again like stars.

"Robots?" they ask in wonderment.

"Yes. Colorful lion robots. Like the Transformers in a way. Have you seen those movies?"