Seeing that Bulma was about to blow up, Son Mirai said guiltily, "Actually, I came to see you today because I wanted to go shopping and catch a movie with you..."
"Is that so?"
Bulma eyed Son Mirai suspiciously, her eyes curved with a hint of mischief as she stared intently into his.
"Yes!"
With her staring at him, Son Mirai met her gaze, as if locking eyes with a tiger.
Though he felt guilty, he still held his ground and didn't look away.
Bulma was clever enough to figure out the reason in an instant.
The corners of her mouth lifted slightly. "I get it!"
"Get what?"
Bulma laid it out. "You always take the weekend off and come over in the morning. But this time, it isn't the weekend, and you came to see me in the evening.
"You heard the Gravity Chamber was finished, so you couldn't wait to come over.
"But you were worried I'd get mad, so you planned to spend today with me,
"then use the Gravity Chamber as much as you wanted tomorrow while I was at school. Am I right?"
"Uh..."
Son Mirai was left speechless.
Bulma was far too clever to fool when she wasn't blinded by love.
Apparently pleased with herself for seeing through Son Mirai's little scheme, Bulma wore a smug smile.
"Hmph! I'm a genius girl. It's not easy to fool me!"
Son Mirai stared at Bulma's pretty face and suddenly felt like he'd taken a wrong turn somewhere.
Since arriving in this world, he'd pushed himself even harder than Goku to grow stronger.
Master Roshi had told him many times to remember to rest and relax.
He'd also explained the core principles of the Turtle School to him on several occasions.
"Train hard, study hard, rest well, and live well...
"Only when you truly know how to enjoy life and immerse yourself in it can you live happily.
"Even taking a proper break can do wonders for improving your strength."
Remembering Master Roshi's teachings and comparing them to his own behavior, Son Mirai felt he'd strayed from the Turtle School's principles.
If training under a heavy load every day were enough to make someone the strongest, then Vegeta should have been the strongest by the end of Dragon Ball.
But was that really the case?
Thinking about it, Son Mirai realized he'd been pushing himself too hard. That might actually leave him weaker than Goku.
If he fixated on getting stronger without making progress in his state of mind, he'd probably end up as a nobody in the future.
Son Mirai took a deep breath.
He couldn't afford to slack off completely, but he did need to relax now and then!
He needed to give his body time to rest and his mind time to unwind.
When it was time to train, he'd train hard. When it was time for a date, he'd enjoy it. When it was time to rest, he'd rest...
And right now, it was date time.
His top priority was figuring out how to make Bulma happy.
Explaining or making excuses was just his instinctive reaction. No matter how convincing his explanation was, it wouldn't make Bulma happy.
She didn't want to hear it in the first place.
There was only one way to make her happy: say more of the things she liked to hear...
What did Bulma like to hear?
Son Mirai immediately started thinking.
When Bulma saw his gaze go unfocused, clearly lost in thought, she asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Son Mirai hurriedly replied, "N-nothing. I was just thinking about what movie we should see later..."
Bulma pouted. "Hmph. Now you're learning to say one thing and mean another. You were obviously spacing out..."
Suddenly, Son Mirai hit upon an idea.
He grabbed both of Bulma's hands and leaned closer to her.
"Bulma, you're really beautiful..."
The unexpected words left Bulma stunned.
"What did you say?"
Trying to suppress his embarrassment, Son Mirai leaned closer and whispered, "Bulma, I said you're really beautiful!"
Feeling his warm breath, Bulma was caught off guard. A blush spread quickly from her cheeks to the tips of her ears.
She tried to pull her hands away, but he held on tighter.
The next moment, Son Mirai wrapped an arm around her back,
his eyes fixed on her. In them, she could see her own flushed reflection.
Bulma leaned against Son Mirai's chest with a coy smile. "You blockhead. You've finally caught on..."
A moment later, the noisy sounds of conversation reached Bulma's ears again.
She quickly broke free from Son Mirai's embrace and hurriedly straightened her hair.
"I had no idea martial artists could catch bullets with their bare hands!"
"Yeah, that was incredible..."
"And he's so handsome!"
"And it looked like he came here riding on a pillar or something. I have no idea how he did it, but it was so cool!"
The chatter grew louder, then abruptly stopped.
They'd spotted Bulma and Son Mirai embracing, and it seemed they'd only let go because they noticed the others.
The air fell silent once more.
Erica was the first to react. She turned around abruptly and said, "Oh! I just remembered. I need to go buy some notebooks..."
Another classmate immediately chimed in, "Oh, right! I need some too. Let's go together!"
The two hurriedly turned and walked away.
Amy gave the pair an awkward smile and a nod, then quickly left.
The other classmates also found excuses to leave, as if saying, Sorry for interrupting. Please, carry on!
Soon, Bulma and Son Mirai were alone again.
The blush on Bulma's face hadn't quite faded. She lightly stamped her foot to hide her embarrassment, then took Son Mirai's arm.
"This is all your fault..."
She muttered under her breath, but there wasn't the slightest hint of blame in her voice. Her eyes were so sweet they practically dripped with honey.
She climbed onto the Flying Motorcycle and patted the seat behind her.
"Come on. Let's get something to eat first, then go see that new movie, Starry Love!"
At the mention of food, Son Mirai perked right up.
"Great!"
Son Mirai quickly climbed onto the seat behind Bulma. She placed his hands around her waist.
"Hold on tight. We're off!"
With that, Bulma hit the throttle. The two of them shot into the air on the Flying Motorcycle and headed straight for a restaurant.
The wind swept Bulma's blue hair back, leaving a trail of sweet fragrance...
Nearby, the classmates watched Bulma and Son Mirai fly off happily, with Son Mirai's arms around her waist. They all looked on enviously.
"Was that seriously not an act?"
"If we hadn't walked by just now, they'd probably have kissed already..."
"Shame we missed it..."
The next day.
Bulma went to school, and Son Mirai finally got his wish and entered the Gravity Chamber.
"I don't have any Senzu Beans on me, so it'd be bad if I got hurt. I'll start with ten times gravity..."
As the gravity increased, Son Mirai immediately felt his muscles grow sore and tingly.
"Feels great!"
"Training is so convenient with a Gravity Chamber. I'll start with a warm-up!"
As he spoke, Son Mirai began warming up.
He stretched his legs, loosened his joints, jumped, did push-ups, and did pull-ups...
Normally, he could work all day without getting tired, but this was the Gravity Chamber. After just an hour, he was already drenched in sweat.
He turned off the gravity setting and took stock of his body. He felt completely loosened up.
He couldn't help sighing. "If I'd grown up on Planet Vegeta under high gravity, my strength might be ten times what it is now..."
Still, he didn't regret it.
If he'd been a native Saiyan, he would have been just like those foolish Saiyans, knowing only how to fight and get stronger,
without learning to settle down and focus on training. His potential would have been limited.
"Warm-up complete. Next, activate twenty times gravity!"
Before you continue