Aeris leaned lightly against Mrs. Briefs's lap, closed her eyes, and quietly enjoyed the feeling.
Without even realizing it, she drifted off in the middle of that tiny little fantasy. Just like that, she fell asleep right there with her head on Mrs. Briefs's lap.
Her hand was still holding onto Mrs. Briefs's hand too.
Seeing Aeris like this, Mrs. Briefs couldn't help feeling a little at a loss. After all, she had never seen Aeris look this insecure before.
So she simply sat there quietly, watching Aeris sleep, gently stroking her little head.
When Bulma came in and saw Aeris asleep on her mother's lap like that, she lowered her voice and said softly,
"Mom, let's carry her to bed. She'll catch a cold sleeping like this."
Mrs. Briefs said it was fine and that they should just let her sleep there for a little while.
About half an hour later, Aeris woke up.
"Um… sorry about that. I kind of fell asleep without noticing."
She looked at Mrs. Briefs with a slightly apologetic expression.
Mrs. Briefs covered her mouth and teased her with a smile.
"No need to apologize, Aeris. After all, big sis just got to see a very cute side of you."
"I'm ignoring you. Hmph~"
Aeris turned her head away with a little tsundere huff.
"Alright, alright. Come eat first. Everyone's waiting for Aeris to join them."
Mrs. Briefs said that teasingly.
Aeris instantly jumped up and ran outside.
"She really is adorable… Aeris…"
Watching her like that, Mrs. Briefs couldn't help laughing a little.
It was just too cute.
Who would've thought that this little thing now could be the same person as that proud, aloof Aeris from before? The contrast was way too strong.
At the dinner table, the Briefs family watched Aeris wolfing down food and couldn't help finding it funny. It wasn't like anyone was trying to steal it from her.
Still, Aeris being back had brought a lot more life into the house.
Once she had eaten her fill, Aeris patted her little belly again and wore that deeply satisfied expression on her face.
The other three couldn't help feeling a little jealous of her.
Especially the mother and daughter.
They were extremely envious of Aeris's ability to eat as much as she wanted without getting fat. As for Dr. Briefs, he was jealous of her appetite itself.
After resting for a bit, Aeris noticed Bulma cleaning up the table and was about to get up and help, but Bulma refused.
"No need. Go walk it off. You ate a lot today."
Bulma said that with a teasing smile.
Aeris's face turned a little red at that.
Because, well…
She really had eaten way too much today.
Still, she didn't make a fuss about it. She simply headed out on her own to work off the meal. But instead of just walking around nearby, Aeris drove into the city to take a look around.
After all, she hadn't been back in over a year.
While she was out, she even spotted Bulma's boyfriend, Yamcha.
Aeris narrowed her eyes at him.
No matter how she looked at it, this guy didn't deserve Bulma.
And if he was really Bulma's boyfriend, then what the hell was he doing acting all flirty with so many other girls?
The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to beat the hell out of that cheating little bastard and vent some anger on Bulma's behalf.
But after thinking it over, she decided against it.
Getting mad over trash like that wasn't worth it.
She'd just go back and tell Bulma, then let Bulma decide for herself.
At that exact moment, though, Yamcha seemed to sense something and suddenly started looking around.
Did he just feel killing intent?
After checking the area, he eventually assumed he was imagining things.
Aeris stayed out until quite late before finally heading back.
By the time she returned, everyone else was already asleep.
So she went back to her room and washed up.
After that, she lay down in bed, planning to sleep.
But no matter how many times she turned over, she just couldn't fall asleep.
In the end, Aeris sat up helplessly.
She felt like it was because of what she had experienced today.
That feeling…
That yearning for family.
Irritated, she went downstairs, grabbed a few cans of beer, then flew up to the rooftop to drink in silence.
Pshht—
Gulp, gulp.
Aeris drank while staring up at the moon.
Tonight's moon…
"Wait… the moon?"
Aeris froze.
"Oh, shit…"
She stared at it for a while.
Then let out a breath.
"False alarm. I almost forgot the moon doesn't affect me that much."
With that, Aeris kept drinking.
For some reason, though, the more she drank, the more irritated she got.
"People really do start thinking stupid shit the second they have too much free time… just like me right now… I actually started craving family today. That really doesn't sound like me. Family, my ass… I don't want that shit. I don't care about family. I don't care about affection either. I'm a Saiyan. A Super Saiyan!"
She tipped back another can and emptied it in one go, then cracked open a fresh one.
"Hah…"
And just like that, Aeris kept drinking one can after another until her little face turned bright red.
Finally, she tossed away the last empty can, stood up, and stumbled as she jumped down.
"Ow…"
Because of the alcohol…
She tripped over one of the cans she had thrown away herself.
That was embarrassingly stupid.
Aeris swayed back to her feet, then stared at the pile of cans on the ground. The more she looked at them, the less she liked them, so she gave one an annoyed little kick.
"You're just a stupid can and you're bullying me too? I'll step on you…"
She lifted her foot to stomp on it.
And somehow—
Missed.
Then immediately face-planted on flat ground.
Yeah.
Even the ground was bullying her now.
Aeris stayed there for a bit before shakily climbing back up again. Still pouting, she prepared to kick the cans one more time, then remembered what had just happened and reluctantly pulled her foot back.
Drunk Aeris drifted around the rooftop like a little ghost, swaying this way and that.
And the worst part?
Somewhere along the line, she had apparently found a white bedsheet and draped it over herself.
At this point, if some poor unlucky person saw her like this, she would absolutely scare them half to death.
Aeris floated around for who knew how long. In any case, a series of terrified screams finally brought a tiny bit of reason back into her head.
Just a tiny bit.
Not much.
Bang.
A gunshot suddenly rang out and shattered the chaos.
That's right.
Someone shot Aeris.
Aeris's response?
It tickled.
Still half-drunk, she casually waved a hand and sent out a gust that knocked everyone on the ground flat. Then she tossed a pale blue energy sphere into an empty patch of land in front of them.
It only burned a few marks and blasted out a small crater.
That was all.
Then Aeris just floated away.
What she didn't know, of course, was that from that day onward, ghost stories were going to start spreading around this place.
But that came later.
Right now, everyone on the scene was so terrified that they all ran for their lives.
The next morning…
Aeris stared at the scene in front of her with a completely blank expression.
"…No, seriously. Where the hell is this? And how the hell did I end up here?"
She was surrounded by trees.
Completely surrounded.
Worse, the bedsheet had wrapped her up into something like a cocoon, and she was hanging from the biggest tree around.
Not just hanging from it—
She was hanging from the highest, most visible spot.
And most importantly of all…
There was someone standing right there in front of her.
Someone she knew very well.
That's right.
It was Demon King Piccolo himself.
Aeris felt like the humiliation had reached a whole new level.
This was the kind of embarrassing that really hit the soul.
Right now, she wanted to die a little.
Or at the very least, for the earth to open up and give her a nice crack to crawl into.
Piccolo was trying not to laugh.
If not for the fact that his shoulders were shaking hard enough to give him away…
"Just laugh if you want. Don't hold it in…"
Aeris gave up resisting completely.
She had already embarrassed herself this badly.
At this point, what was even left to protect?
Whatever.
Let the world burn.
She was tired.
And that was all Piccolo needed.
"Pff—HAHAHAHAHAHAHA—!"
He finally lost it.
One hand clutching his stomach, the other pointing straight at Aeris, Piccolo laughed so hard he practically folded in half.
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