In the middle of Aida's panic attack, a voice suddenly sounded in her head, "Yawnnnn, is it morning yet? Good morning Mama~!"
The pressure reduced a bit as Aida tentatively inquired, "Xiao Ai? Where did you go?"
"Mm~ I'm here! Hold on, Xiao Ai will come out!" Then a cute little white bun materialized in front of Aida.
Seeing Xiao Ai, the pressure around Aida went away immediately. Grabbing the bun, she pushed, pulled and kneaded her. "What happened to you?"
Somehow, Xiao Ai had successfully materialized a body. Aida was not in the least concerned about this change. In fact, she was actually ecstatic. This meant that Xiao Ai would no longer have to rely on devices to survive anymore, this was great!
"Uuuu, Mama, shtop pwoking mee." pouted Xiao Ai.
Every place where Aida touched Xiao Ai, there were sparks of lightning that looked like static shocks. Static shocks were usually somewhere between 500V to 21,000V which is why it stings when people get shocked. Oddly, Aida didn't feel any pain from the contact.
As Aida watched curiously at this phenomena, Xiao Ai began explaining to Aida.
"Xiao Ai noticed the baddy virus trying to hurt Mama but Xiao Ai did not have enough strength to fight them from the outside so Xiao Ai had to enter Mama's system. Doggy also wanted to hurt Mama, but Xiao Ai stopped him and he kept Mama from catching fire. Xiao Ai thinks Doggy went to get more things for Mama."
Xiao Ai's explanation had a lot of holes, but Aida was able to generally understand what happened. It was only now that she realized Ace was missing. However, she was mainly focused on teasing Xiao Ai by poking and prodding her.
Poor Ace was entirely neglected by Aida again despite all his hard work.
Right then, Yukio returned with two carts full of food and water. He was completely breathless and one could tell that he came back here as fast as possible. He looked quite pitiful as he hunched over trying to catch his breath.
"Mama who is this? He is pretty! Mama, I was him to be my friend~" Xiao Ai escaped from Aida's clutches and floated over to Yukio, circling him curiously.
Rubbing her temples, she should have known this would happen. Xiao Ai was still a child and was curious about many things. Xiao Ai had spent most of her life only talking to Aida and Aida knew Xiao Ai was longing for friends but just didn't want to add to her burden. Aida always felt a great deal of guilt for not being able to provide Xiao Ai with the environment she needed.
However, things have changed. Now that they were living in an apocalypse and Xiao Ai had successfully materialized her own body, Aida realized this would be a great opportunity to allow Xiao Ai to live more like a normal child. It wouldn't be such a bad idea for her to have friends closer to her age to play with.
Thinking this, she turned to Yukio with the trademark glint in her eyes. Yukio was mystified but not fearful of the flying bun. Coughing to get his attention, Aida said , "Hey kid, this food is enough to give you back your friends."
Yukio turned his attention away from Xiao Ai and answered, "Thank you. Thank you!"
He immediately went over and tried to lift them up, but his body was too small. Turning red, he bashfully asked Aida, "Is it okay if I bring them out one by one?"
"Sure, but are you sure they will be okay? They look very injured and might not be able to wake up." Aida asked this innocently as though she were not the one to cause the damage.
Hearing this, Yukio began tearing up again. "Pretty sister, can you please help my brothers?"
Aida had been waiting for this. Pretending to think, she asked, "I can...but what will you give me in return?"
Yukio hesitated, he had already given all the food to this big sister, what could he give now? "Pretty sister, can I pay you back later?"
"Nope~ that's not the way it works. I do have a way that you can easily pay me back and I can heal your brothers right now. All you need to do is give your bodies to me. If you promise me this, I will even guarantee you food and shelter. " Aida was beginning to sound like a loan shark or a child trafficker.
Yukio was young and didn't fully understand what Aida was talking about and missed the most crucial piece of information. Instead he focused on the promise that his brothers could be healed, and eagerly agreed, "Ok!!"
With that, Yukio arbitrarily made a decision that would change the course of their lives forever. Many years later, Yukio would look back at this day and sigh. Why on Earth had he been so naive?!
Xiao Ai on the side couldn't wait any more and bounced up and down. "Hi~ My name is Xiao Ai. Xiao Ai is 8 years old this year. Do you want to be friends?"
Xiao Ai looked expectantly at Yukio. Yukio looked at his brothers, then looked back at Xiao Ai, not knowing what to do. Aida waved him off, "Go play with Xiao Ai, it will take a bit of time to heal your brothers."
Bowing formally to Aida in proper Japanese etiquette, then turned to Xiao Ai. "Shall we move to the corner to play? I don't want to distract your Mama from helping my brothers."
Xiao Ai circled around Yukio as they moved to the corner to play on their own. Xiao Ai naturally had a cheerful disposition and Yukio seemed to have a very mild and accepting personality, leading them to get along immediately.
Aida saw that they seemed to be getting along well and finally turned around to focus on the task of healing the two lying unconscious on the ground.