Lisa ended up driving us, along with the woman, back to the facility where saw the outside for the first time. However, right now I'm gradually feeling nervous the closer we get. Going up this hill as I look out to the city off in the distance. It feels like I'm being taken away from it, the life Charlotte showed me.
"Hey, it's okay." Charlotte must've sensed my nervousness as she gently placed her hand over mine on the back beat of the car. "I'm not going to give you back to them."
"Promise?"
"I promise." She says while clenching my hand with hers, and in the next moment, I felt a wave of relief wash over me as I stop looking outside the window, but rather focus on Charlotte next to me.
I really hope that's the case... It's been a long time since I've had my limbs cut off. I never really questioned it at the time, thinking that was just how my life was, but after living for Charlotte all this time, I'm starting to wonder why I was ever in that place to begin with. I don't remember doing anything bad, except when I did kill a group of people that one time, but that was after many years of being in that white room.
"Shiro?"
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?" Did Charlotte notice something when I was thinking? She's quite sharp...
"I'm just- wondering why I was ever put inside that room..."
"..." To my surprise, everyone in the car went silent. Lisa and the other woman sat in the front were chatting idly. I wasn't paying too much attention, but now with them having grown silent, I feel as though what I said was something bad.
"Charlotte?" Not wanting to stay in silence, I end up probing Charlotte, wondering what's wrong.
"You still haven't told her?" But it was Lisa who spoke up next, her voice sounding quite heavy as she continues to face forward towards the road.
"I don't think it's important."
"Well, she's clearly interested, I wouldn't hide it any longer if I was you."
"What's she talking about, Charlotte?" Hearing Lisa say all this, I'm even more curious what it is. Charlotte's been hiding something from me?
"...I'll talk about it after we finish up with this, okay?"
"...Okay."
As long as we'll talk about it, I'm happy. I want to be by Charlotte's side, so I don't want to make her feel like she needs to hide anything from me. If anything I want to learn more about her; even though what we'll talk about will most likely be about me.
After some more time driving, we finally arrive to the parking lot at the facility. Charlotte helps me get out from the car before everyone closed the doors. It felt like the door closing is like my life closing behind me, forcing me to go back inside this place...
"Just stick close to me."
"Nn." Charlotte holds my hand firmly as the four of us walk into the building.
Once we made it through the sliding doors, I felt a sudden cold come over me as I brought myself closer Charlotte's side, seeking some warmth.
"Hehe. It's a bit cold, yeah." She wraps her arm around me as we walk as her warmth quickly warms me up through this cold, white hallway.
"The girl..." The woman who came from us ends up muttering something upon looking at Charlotte and I.
"Not what you were expecting?" Lisa ends up engaging her in conversation as both Charlotte and I continue walking beside them.
"N-no..."
"I didn't know what to expect either, but Shiro's a good kid. So try and relax some more, okay?"
"Shiro... Is that her name?"
"Not officially, but that is what we call her."
"I see." The woman look over at us once more as a small smile surfaces on her face. Her face no longer feeling tense unlike before when Charlotte started yelling at her. "She looks almost like a normal girl."
"That'd be due to Lieutenant Ilaria."
"Eh? Shiro was always like this though." Charlotte now joining the conversation raises a statement that I can't help but smile at.
She's wrong... Smiling like this, I never thought I was capable of feeling these emotions before. Charlotte's the one that has given me all these things, not me. But still, hearing Charlotte talk about me like this makes me happy.
"Which is why this better not be a set up." Charlotte voice however, went serious as she continued.
"I-I promise you it's not. Ah- it's right here."
Suddenly, after turning a corner, we're met with a dark door with a scanner to the side of it. Of course I recognize it as the door Charlotte and I walked in to when I first met Lisa. But unlike before when Charlotte knocked, it was Lisa who pulled out a card before putting it up to the scanner, and with a 'beep' sound, the door was unlocked. The moment it did, Charlotte gripped my hand tighter as I ended up doing the same in return.