"No, there's no need..."
As he spoke, a sudden wave of weakness washed over him.
Bulma pinched his tail, then let go.
"Stop fooling around and stand still!"
Goku immediately stood up and turned to look at Bulma.
"Why'd you grab my tail~!"
Son Goku wanted to tell her not to grab his tail.
For now, it was still his weakness, one he hadn't overcome.
But after thinking it over, he decided not to reveal this weakness.
What if someone was listening through the wall?
He'd overcome this weakness sooner or later anyway.
Actually, to keep himself from accidentally killing Son Gohan, he had once cut off his own tail.
But less than a year later, it had grown back.
He couldn't just keep cutting it off whenever he felt like it, could he? It hurt.
So he hadn't cut it off again.
But to be safe, whenever the full moon was approaching, he made sure to go to bed early.
Unable to tell what Little Goku was thinking about now, she stayed still.
Bulma suddenly put her hands on her hips and turned stern.
"Dinner will be ready soon, so quit dawdling!
I've finished scrubbing you, and I still need to take a bath.
Stop hogging the tub and get up already~!"
Her voice was so commanding that it left no room for argument.
Son Goku couldn't help but clench his butt.
Without the comedic atmosphere, Bulma was actually pretty scary!
Still, Bulma finally felt like the Bulma he knew.
She was a bit like the woman who dared to hit Beerus later on!
As soon as Goku stood steady, Bulma put one foot on the edge of the tub and started scrubbing his back hard with a bath brush.
Son Goku had been a little resistant at first, but now he relaxed with a quiet sigh.
He had to admit, Bulma's scrubbing felt pretty good...
A little while later.
Just as Son Goku was enjoying his back scrub, Bulma handed him the brush.
"All right, I've finished your back. You can do the front yourself. I'm going to check on dinner!"
Goku nodded.
"Got it!"
It wasn't as if he'd never used a city's shower or bathtub before.
After scrubbing himself clean, Goku rinsed off under the shower, then put on Bulma's T-shirt.
It was a little chilly without pants, but otherwise he felt fine.
He'd used body wash and shampoo, and now he felt refreshed from head to toe.
Since he was wearing her T-shirt, he didn't need pants.
It reached his knees, making it look like a dress on him.
Goku couldn't help it.
An underage Saiyan was shorter than most human children.
He remembered that plenty of elementary school kids around ten were already five foot six or seven.
At his height, he was better suited to kindergarten.
Not dwelling on it, Goku left the bathroom.
At once, he caught the aroma of food.
"Wow, that smells great!"
Little Goku couldn't help swallowing, and his stomach growled again.
Bulma had already washed his clothes in the washing machine.
She was hanging them on the balcony now.
When she saw Little Goku come out, rubbing his stomach, a smile appeared on her face again.
"Well, well, you look a lot fresher after your bath!
But the food isn't ready yet, so you'll have to wait a little longer.
Let's eat together after I've had my bath!"
"Okay."
Bulma went into the bathroom.
Goku looked around and spotted the remote on the sofa.
"Waiting here hungry while smelling all that food is really tough!
Maybe I should watch some TV while I wait for her?"
Just then, Bulma poked her head out of the bathroom.
"Hey, Goku, I helped you just now. Now it's your turn to come scrub my back!"
Son Goku: "Huh???"
Chapter 7: The Wish Changed
Soon, it was time to eat.
Goku began to devour the food at an astonishing pace.
He seemed to be enjoying it as if it were some rare delicacy, which made Bulma especially happy.
She propped her chin on one hand and gazed at him, lost in thought.
This life of plenty reminded her of her past life.
Until today, she'd been living through the apocalypse, surrounded by misery.
In her previous life, ever since Goku Black appeared, the world had faced its end.
Supplies were scarce, and food was hard to come by.
Humanity had lived on like rats hiding in the dark, barely clinging to life.
Thankfully, she'd sent Trunks away.
Thinking of her son from her previous life, Bulma murmured,
"I wonder how Trunks is doing now that he's gone back..."
"I hope he stays in the past timeline and lives happily with them.
He absolutely mustn't come back to that world..."
As Bulma reminisced about the past,
a voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Hey, Bulma, aren't you eating?"
Bulma paused, then looked up at Goku.
Almost all the food on the table had been swept away.
Only the plate of stewed meat in front of her and the bowl of rice beside it remained.
Huh!
He'd eaten nearly everything already!
But even though Little Goku could eat so much,
he'd still remembered to leave her a portion.
Bulma wasn't used to seeing him be so considerate.
She usually had nothing more than some light bread and lettuce for dinner.
She'd actually made all that meat for Goku.
So she said, "I don't want any. You can eat it all!"
With that, Bulma pushed the last portion of food toward Goku.
Goku was taken aback.
"Aren't you hungry? Why aren't you eating?"
Bulma smiled sweetly. "Go ahead. I don't eat anything too greasy at night. I'm trying to lose weight!"
As she spoke, Bulma took out some bread, spread it with sauce, added lettuce, and began eating in small bites.
Goku seemed to remember that, too.
In the original story, when Goku went out to hunt and eat, Bulma would have bread and things like that.
With no reason to hold back, he picked up the last portion and polished it off in no time.
Even as he ate, he didn't forget to thank her.
Night fell, and rain began to patter outside the window.
Goku had been running around almost all day and was exhausted.
After taking a bath and eating his fill, he'd fallen fast asleep.
Bulma sat on the bed, watching Goku sleep soundly, looking like a well-behaved little boy.
She leaned down and gently kissed him on the cheek.
Goku rubbed his cheek, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
Bulma smiled fondly, then turned to look at the rain outside.
Thoughts flooded back into her mind, and she began to reminisce.
In her previous life, after Goku was gone, the whole Earth had been beset by one disaster after another.
Those twenty-plus years of apocalypse had been truly unbearable.
If she hadn't needed to raise Trunks, she might have given up long ago.
No one knew how much time passed.
Bulma came back to herself and remembered what she had planned for the next day.
In this life, she hadn't changed anything yet.
If nothing unexpected happened, Goku would run into a sea turtle while training tomorrow.
Then Goku would kindly help Sea Turtle get home.
By a twist of fate, Goku would receive the Flying Nimbus from Master Roshi,