Back on Earth…
Bulma was in the middle of eating some pastries.
Then Aeris suddenly appeared right in front of her.
"Ah—? A-Aeris?"
"Yo Bulma-chan Big sis is back. Miss me?"
Aeris said that teasingly.
Then she saw Bulma puff up in anger and throw herself straight at her.
Grinding her teeth, Bulma snapped,
"Aeris… you've been gone for over a year, you heartless jerk! Not even one message. I thought you died somewhere out there!"
"Over a year already? So that means it's… 760 now?"
Aeris could only helplessly pat Bulma on the head to calm her down while asking the question. She knew exactly how her own brain worked. If something didn't feel important, she generally didn't bother remembering it on purpose.
"More accurately, Age 760, June," Bulma corrected her.
"Yes, yes, Lady Bulma, of course," Aeris said helplessly. Bulma really did love remembering all this random stuff.
Then Aeris casually felt out Bulma's ki and noticed that it had gotten just a tiny bit stronger. Probably around forty now.
"So you've actually been training while I was gone?"
Bulma lifted her chin proudly. "Hmph. Of course. That flying technique you taught me is actually really useful. I just can't fly that fast yet…"
She absolutely refused to admit that part of the reason was because she didn't want the wind ruining her hair.
"Bulma… do you have anything to eat? I'm starving to death…"
Aeris said that while looking pitiful in Bulma's arms.
Bulma was speechless.
This idiot really looked like she had failed so hard at surviving in space that she came crawling back.
And honestly…
That wasn't far from the truth.
"Fine… in a minute. Wait, what happened to your hair? Why is it white? Did you use some kind of weird forbidden technique? Hurry up and let me check if there are any side effects or complications."
She started dragging Aeris off the moment she said it.
Aeris wanted to explain, but after seeing how genuinely worried Bulma looked, she decided not to.
If she explained now, Bulma probably wouldn't believe her anyway. She'd just assume Aeris was brushing it off to avoid making her worry.
Better to let Bulma finish checking first and explain afterward.
That would work better.
And so Aeris was dragged away and forced through one round of tests after another. The whole thing lasted half a day.
Aeris felt like her soul had left her body.
"Are you done yet, Bulma…? I'm so hungry…"
Aeris asked weakly.
"Almost. Just one blood test left," Bulma replied without even looking back.
"How long is that gonna take…? I'm starving…"
"Ten minutes at most."
Then Bulma quickly started running tests on Aeris's blood. She found that the activity level in it was abnormally high. On top of that, there was some unknown factor in her blood that Bulma had never seen before. That was probably the reason it was so active.
Then again, considering Aeris wasn't from Earth, Bulma decided not to dwell on it too much.
Ten minutes later…
Bulma finally ended her relentless torture of Aeris.
And Aeris finally got to eat the food she had been dreaming about.
Bulma sat to the side watching the show as Aeris absolutely demolished everything in sight, then asked,
"Alright. Now can you explain why your hair turned white?"
"Mhm, I'll explain in a sec…"
Aeris mumbled through a mouthful of food.
Bulma looked at her helplessly. Really, no surprise—same race as Son Goku, same eating habits.
Aeris swallowed the meat in her mouth, then explained the full reason behind her hair turning white.
Well…
Mostly.
She left the Namek part out and only mentioned the Dragon Balls.
"So there are other races in the universe that have Dragon Balls too?"
"Obviously. Did you think Dragon Balls were some Earth-exclusive product or something? They're not common, sure, but Earth definitely isn't the only place that has them."
Aeris sounded helpless. Bulma's assumption really was kind of naive. The universe was huge, and weird things were everywhere.
It was the same logic as Earthlings wondering whether aliens existed out there.
Aeris's answer to that would obviously be yes.
It was just that people hadn't found where they lived.
And even if they did find out, that would only mean they found out.
That was all.
Not like that discovery alone would actually help them.
"Yeah… fair point…" Bulma said awkwardly.
After that, Aeris stopped chatting and focused completely on eating.
She was genuinely starving.
First she had fought a whole battle, then she had used Instant Transmission.
The energy consumption had absolutely not been small.
Bulma watched the way Aeris was devouring food and, sometimes, couldn't help feeling jealous. Eating that much and still not gaining weight really was the lifelong dream of every serious foodie.
"Whew I'm full, I'm full It really has been way too long since I had food this good… Earth food really is the best."
Aeris sighed dramatically and collapsed onto the chair while patting her stomach.
Bulma looked at the mountain of empty bowls and plates on the table, then looked back at Aeris's stomach.
This monster ate even more than Son Goku.
Was her stomach a black hole?
Did she have some kind of dimensional storage space inside her body?
How the hell did she eat that much and still not have a belly?
The more Bulma thought about it, the more annoyed she got.
Then she looked at Aeris sprawled there doing absolutely nothing and got even more irritated.
"Get up. If you want to lie down, do it somewhere else."
Bulma grabbed Aeris by the ear and chased her out of the room.
Aeris scratched her head.
What was that about?
Who pissed her off?
No clue.
Then she rubbed her full little stomach and went out for a walk to help digest the food. And during that walk, she ran into the person she found the most difficult to deal with—
Bulma's mother, Bikini.
Or, as most people called her, Mrs. Briefs.
Why was she such a headache?
Because this woman was way too damn enthusiastic.
"My, my~ Aeris is back. Did you come to see big sis? What perfect timing. I heard a new beauty salon just opened. Aeris, want to go together?"
Mrs. Briefs invited her enthusiastically.
"Uh… well… I…"
Aeris took half a step back.
"My, my, does that mean Aeris agrees?" Mrs. Briefs moved closer and grabbed her hand.
"I… um…"
Aeris looked at the hand holding hers and had no idea how to refuse.
Because every time she rejected this woman, Mrs. Briefs would immediately start acting dramatic, and in the end Aeris would still get dragged along anyway.
"So? Want to go? Want to go?" Mrs. Briefs leaned even closer.
"I… I'll go… alright, I'll go…"
Aeris surrendered.
"That's wonderful~"
And just like that, Mrs. Briefs dragged Aeris away.
As they passed Dr. Briefs, she cheerfully told him that she was taking Aeris to the beauty salon for some maintenance.
Dr. Briefs just stood there watching his wife drag off an Aeris who looked vaguely familiar to him.
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