Scum Rott (Seeking Recommendations)

After Son Goku successfully confessed to Bulma, he suddenly remembered something, and his expression stiffened slightly.

Right... Chi-Chi.

In the original story, Goku and Bulma missed each other, and he married Chi-Chi, but the two of them were never from the same world. Chi-Chi wanted a stable life, while Goku only wanted to get stronger. In the end... both of them suffered.

But this world is different. Since I've come here, since I've been given a second chance at life, why should I repeat those regrets? Why should I let anyone be hurt?

Whether it's Bulma or Chi-Chi... I will protect them both!

"Bulma," he let go of her hands, his expression becoming serious in a way she had never seen before, his voice low as if suppressing something, "there is something... I must tell you."

"What is it?" Bulma was still immersed in her happiness, her face flushed, her fingers unconsciously twirling a lock of her hair.

"It's about... Chi-Chi."

Bulma's smile froze.

"Chi-Chi? That daughter of the Ox-King? You two..."

"When we were kids," Son Goku looked straight into her eyes, not avoiding her gaze, not wavering, "I promised her that I would marry her when I grew up. I didn't really understand what marriage meant back then, but I was serious. I don't want to... break my promise."

The temperature in the laboratory seemed to drop to freezing in an instant.

Bulma's eyes widened, the flush on her face fading at a visible rate, replaced by a dangerous pallor. Her fingers slowly tightened, her knuckles turning white. "What... what did you say?"

"I..."

"So you just confessed to me because you want to marry both of us at the same time?!" Bulma's voice rose sharply, like a blade drawn from its sheath. She grabbed a wrench from the table and, without a second thought, hurled it at him. "Son Goku! You jerk! What do you take me for!"

"Thud!"

The wrench hit Son Goku squarely on the forehead with a dull sound.

But he didn't activate any defenses; he just stood there quietly, a red mark slowly forming on his forehead.

"Speak! Are you mute?!" Bulma's chest heaved with rage, her eyes rimmed with red, her voice trembling with fury. "I thought you'd gotten smarter! But you're still an idiot! A... a two-timing scoundrel! A jerk who has his eyes on the pot while eating from his bowl!"

Son Goku didn't dodge, nor did he argue back.

He let Bulma vent, letting wrenches, screwdrivers, and blueprints strike him one after another. He stood like a stone statue, allowing those objects to leave their marks on him until Bulma stopped, panting, her eyes red, her hands braced against the table, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Son Goku looked at her reddened eyes, his heart feeling as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand.

She's crying.

Because of me.

He spoke slowly, his voice hoarse, every word sounding as if it were being squeezed from his chest: "Bulma, you're right. I am an idiot. I don't understand love, I don't understand what it means to be a two-timer, and I don't understand why... a person can't love two people at the same time."

He looked up, his black eyes no longer holding their usual clear innocence, but a deep, almost painful sorrow that even shocked Bulma:

"But I know that I don't want to lose either of you. It's not 'don't want to'... it's 'cannot'."

He took a step forward, the laboratory floor trembling slightly beneath his feet:

"I went to Fire Mountain before coming here and saw Uncle Ox-King. He said Chi-Chi has waited for me for six years, from a little girl until now. Because of that promise, she turned down every suitor, guarding Fire Mountain all by herself, practicing martial arts every day, watching the road at the foot of the mountain every day. She said... 'Goku will definitely come back'."

His voice grew lower, as if he were talking to himself, or perhaps declaring it to the whole world:

"If I say 'I'm sorry, I'm going to marry someone else instead of you'... she will cry. She will hide in her room and cry where no one can see. And the next day, she will still practice martial arts with a smile, pretending nothing happened. Because she... is too strong. She's been like that since she was a child, you know that."

Bulma's lips trembled slightly, wanting to say something, but no sound came out.

"And if you say 'I never want to see you again'..." Son Goku continued, his voice carrying a hint of vulnerability Bulma had never heard before, "I will cry, too. Bulma, I'm not joking. I might... be even more devastated than you think."

His eyes were indeed turning red, and those eyes that always burned with the desire for battle were now surging with a helpless, earnest plea:

"Saiyans are a warrior race, born to fight. But Grandpa told me that fighting isn't for destruction; it's for protection. Protecting the people who matter, protecting the things that matter."

He took another step forward, stopping only half a step away from Bulma. He reached out and gently took her hand. This time, his hand was trembling slightly—the same hands that could lift boulders sixty times their weight, punch through steel plates, and catch energy blasts were now shaking because of the fear of loss.

"Both of you are people I want to protect. I don't know if that makes me greedy, or a jerk... but if I were forced to choose to give one of you up..."

His voice suddenly stopped.

Not because he was at a loss for words, but because he realized he couldn't go on. His throat felt as if it were blocked by something, his chest aching. He opened his mouth, but only a hoarse, breathless sound escaped.

Then, he did something that left Bulma completely stunned—

He knelt down on one knee.

It wasn't the kneel of a marriage proposal, but rather like a warrior with nowhere left to turn, laying down all his pride on the final battlefield.

"I can't do it."

His voice was low, yet carried a tragic, stubborn intensity, as if each word were being squeezed through his teeth:

"I cannot give up either of you. I tried... on the way here, I kept thinking, if I had to choose one, who should I pick? I thought about it the whole way..."

He looked up, his tone certain:

"The answer is—I can't choose."

"You are like my left hand and my right hand, like my ki and my own self. Without one, I am incomplete. Without either one... I would die."

"That's not a metaphor, and it's not an exaggeration. It's... I would truly die."

Bulma was completely stunned.

She looked at the young man kneeling before her. This was a man who wouldn't even flinch when facing the near-fatal threat of the Ultra Divine Water, yet here he was, kneeling because he was afraid of losing her. Looking at those trembling, large hands, those reddened eyes, and at Son Goku—the man who was always smiling, always growing stronger, and who seemed as though he would never fall...

At this moment, he was as fragile as a child.

This idiot... this blockhead...

He's actually... truly afraid.

He's afraid of losing me.

This battle-junkie who doesn't even fear death... is afraid of losing me.

"You..." Her voice trembled, and she turned her face away, not wanting Goku to see her own reddened eyes. "What do you intend to do? Make Chi-Chi the secondary one?"

"No," Son Goku stood up, his voice regaining its firmness, though his hand still gripped hers—gripped it so tightly it almost hurt. "There is no distinction between you two. In my heart, you are both equally important. Bulma, you are smart, capable, and can build such amazing machines. Chi-Chi is gentle, strong, and makes delicious food. You both..."

He scratched his head, struggling to organize his thoughts, but his gaze was earnest as never before:

"You... you are like my left hand and my right hand. Without either one, I wouldn't be complete. I don't want to make anyone sad, and I don't want to make anyone cry. If this is being greedy..."

He took a deep breath, as if making a monumental decision, and his voice suddenly rose, carrying that unique, almost barbaric dominance peculiar to a Saiyan:

"Then I will be greedy to the end!"

"I want it all!"

"Whether it's you or Chi-Chi, whether it's Earth or Namek—everything I care about, everything important, I will protect! I won't give up on a single one! I won't let a single one go!"

"If the universe says I shouldn't have you both, then I'll fight until the universe changes its mind!"

Bulma was so shaken by this aura that she took half a step back, her heart pounding wildly.

This idiot...

Why... why does he always manage to defeat me in this way...

It's not sweet talk, it's not flowery language... it's just this naked, unreasonable sincerity.

It's just this kind of... "I will protect everything" dominance.

She looked at Son Goku for a long time. Tears finally slipped down uncontrollably, but she laughed, crying and laughing at the same time. "You guy... you really are a monster. A monster in battle, and... a monster in matters of the heart."

"Bulma..."

"I agree," Bulma let go of his hand and crossed her arms, trying to use her final bit of pride to mask the fact that she had completely fallen for him. "But not because of those stupid things you said. It's because..."

She paused, her voice softening with a hint of helpless tenderness:

"Because I also... don't want to lose you. And..." She pushed up glasses that weren't there, trying to use a scientist's rationality to hide her shyness, though her bright red cheeks betrayed everything. "From a biological perspective, since Saiyans are an endangered warrior race, polygamy is beneficial for genetic propagation... and with your single-minded personality, if I forced you to choose one, you might actually have a breakdown..."

"Bulma?"

"In, in any case! I agree!" Bulma's face was as red as a tomato, but her voice suddenly spiked as she pointed at Son Goku's nose. "But! The wedding must be grand! The ring must be the biggest! Also, from now on, the family finances are under my control! And you are not allowed to play favorites!"

Son Goku was stunned for a moment, then began to laugh. His smile was so radiant that it dazed Bulma—that familiar, reassuring, sun-like smile:

"Yeah! I'll listen to everything you say!"