Son Gohan stared at the place where Aeris had completely disappeared.
And in his heart, he quietly said, Thank you… Aunt Aeris…
As for our Aeris…
Aeris landed flat on her ass.
Aeris: "…"
She was speechless.
In all her years, this was the first time she had ever arrived somewhere by smacking down on her butt like that.
Aeris let out a sigh.
Then she thought, Yeah… I should just go back to Earth.
After all, everything she had on her had already been given to that Son Gohan. At this point, Earth was her only option. Training would have to wait until next time.
So Aeris used Instant Transmission and returned to Earth.
Only…
This time, her Instant Transmission was a little awkward.
Because she reappeared directly inside Bulma's bathtub.
And saw…
Aeris: |･ω･)ﾉ "Yo~ bathing, huh…"
Bulma: (งᵒ̌皿ᵒ̌)ง⁼³₌₃ "You perverted freak, die!!!!"
Aeris was beaten and kicked straight out of the bathroom.
Literally launched out.
Clutching her face, Aeris felt incredibly wronged. Since when had Bulma gotten this violent? T﹏T
Still, she called toward the bathroom, "Bulma, got anything to eat…? I'm starving…"
"Go die, you pervert!!!!! There are cupcakes in the fridge!"
Aeris immediately scampered off to eat the cupcakes.
When Bulma came out after washing up, she saw Aeris sitting there eating cake.
"Alright, explain. What happened? Why did you suddenly come here like that? Under normal circumstances, there's no way you'd show up in that fashion."
Bulma said as she dried her hair and walked toward Aeris.
Aeris answered while shoving cake into her mouth, "I was training too seriously, got hungry, and wanted to come mooch food from your place…"
Bulma was left speechless by that answer.
But what could she do?
Spoil her, obviously.
"Oh, right. The money we talked about last time has already been transferred into your account."
Aeris nodded, and that was the end of her reaction.
Bulma could only sigh helplessly. Aeris only showed a real response to food. For everything else, she barely cared at all.
Then again…
Wasn't that exactly the Aeris Bulma knew?
After eating and drinking her fill, Aeris said to Bulma, "Bulma, lend me the Dragon Radar. I need it."
Bulma heard that and took the Dragon Radar out of a nearby cabinet.
Aeris caught it the second it was handed over, then immediately left again.
Bulma stood there puffing her cheeks out in annoyance as she watched a certain idiot disappear into the distance.
"Dummy… idiot…"
——————————————————————
Using the Dragon Radar, Aeris tracked down each of the Dragon Balls one by one.
At her current speed, collecting them all only took about half an hour.
After finding them, she flew back to her own house and placed the Dragon Balls on her display cabinet for the time being.
After all, with her around, if some thief actually dared to come steal them…
Well.
Taking her things came with a price, didn't it?
Once that was done, Aeris happily went straight to bed to sleep.
No hesitation at all.
Very quickly, she drifted off into dreamland.
——————————————————————
In another timeline…
Son Gohan returned to an old building and went inside.
"Aunt Bulma, I'm back…"
"It's good that you're back… it's good that you're back…"
Bulma said that again and again, her voice trembling.
"Every time you go out, I worry. You absolutely can't afford to make any mistakes now, Gohan… the burden of saving humanity is resting on your shoulders…"
Bulma knew this wasn't fair.
But…
There was no other choice.
Trunks still couldn't turn Super Saiyan. If he went out now, he'd only end up being a burden.
Bulma's emotions were a mess.
If only Aeris and the others were still alive…
Then so many people wouldn't have died.
Bulma's mood darkened.
Seeing her like that, Gohan reached into his pocket and took out the pouch.
"Aunt Bulma, look at this…"
Bulma only glanced at it.
Just once.
That single glance was enough to make her freeze.
She recognized the pouch.
It belonged to Aeris.
She had seen it before in Aeris's room.
It just hadn't appeared again afterward.
"Y-You… where did you get this pouch…? Gohan, where… where did this come from…"
Bulma grabbed the pouch at once and asked frantically.
"A-Aunt Aeris gave it to me…"
Gohan answered honestly.
"Aeris… Aeris is still alive? She's alive, isn't she? She's alive, right?!"
Bulma pressed him urgently.
Gohan turned his face away for a moment.
Then answered softly,
"Not… not that Aunt Aeris. But… you could also say yes. Because she was Aunt Aeris from an earlier time…"
Once Bulma heard that, she roughly understood.
She remembered that Aeris had borrowed the Dragon Radar from her once. And it was after that that this pouch had disappeared. So that version of Aeris was probably from around that point.
"Aeris… you really are… such an idiot…"
Bulma clutched the pouch and sank to the floor, crying.
That long-lost feeling of relief made her deeply nostalgic.
It was obvious now.
Aeris had been that harbor of safety for her.
After crying for a while, Bulma opened the pouch and took out what was inside.
These capsules…
She recognized them.
They were things she herself had once prepared for Aeris.
At the time, even knowing Aeris probably wouldn't use most of them—except food, obviously—Bulma had still packed a huge supply of medicines and other things for her.
If…
If these were really the things she had packed back then…
Then the contents of these capsules were now among the most valuable things left in the world.
Because one of them contained a complete medical setup, along with all kinds of medication.
Bulma hurriedly pulled out a capsule marked with a red cross.
"This is great… this is great… if we have this, then our chances against those two androids just got a lot better…"
Then she noticed another strange capsule.
It contained food.
And right now, food was unimaginably scarce.
If, as Aeris had said at the time, she was going out to train, then the amount of food inside had to be enormous.
After all, Aeris's real appetite was massive.
If they used it as emergency rations, that one food capsule alone could feed close to a hundred people for almost a month.
And if they rationed it carefully, it could last even longer.
Bulma stared at the two capsules in her hands, trembling with excitement.
As for the Senzu Beans…
To Bulma, those weren't even as practical as these two capsules.
The only other things left in the pouch were some of Aeris's clothes and books.
Gohan looked at the capsules in Bulma's hands in confusion.
"Aunt Bulma, what are those…?"
Bulma saw his confusion and explained what those capsules contained.
Gohan was overjoyed after hearing it.
Sure, these weren't weapons that could defeat the enemy.
But with what was inside them, they now had a much better chance of surviving effectively.
After all, almost every useful thing left in the world had already been destroyed by the androids.
And whenever the androids found something that hadn't been destroyed yet, they made sure to destroy it soon after.
But now things were different.
Now those things were in their hands.
That was why Gohan felt so happy.
....................................
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