Missed

Spring, summer, autumn, winter—in the blink of an eye, five years hurried by.

Five years later, Kashius had gone from a little child to a handsome young man about one and a half meters tall. For various reasons, Kashius had ended up living at the bakery owner's home.

In truth, even he found it baffling. Somehow, once he moved in, he stayed for five whole years.

The happiest one had to be Mana. Ever since Kashius took her for a spin through the sky, she had fallen in love with the feeling of "flying."

On normal days, as soon as she finished her work in the shop, she would always coerce Kashius into taking her out for a ride.

Of course, Kashius had not been idle either. Aside from training, he would also help out with some work in the bakery, such as making bread, adding cream to bread, and things like that.

Uh, just to mention it here, these were all things Kashius learned under the coercion of a certain blond little girl.

Compared to the desolate city from five years ago, the city now was extremely lively. Not only had the population risen by a great deal, even the city's area had expanded considerably.

"Kashius, Kashius, wake up. Didn't you say you were going home today to see your older brother?"

Listening to that crisp, melodious voice like an oriole's song, Kashius, lying in bed, fully displayed the proper behavior of a terminal-stage laziness patient.

He pulled up the covers and went right back to sleep!

However, the owner of that voice did not seem to plan on letting things go at that.

A pair of slender little hands silently slipped under the blanket, then suddenly yanked it up, revealing someone's utterly indecent sleeping posture.

"Oh, it's Mana. Good morning! Ah~"

Yawning, Kashius lifted his head, opened his bleary eyes, and looked over the person before him.

She wore a white suspender dress, and her golden hair, neither too long nor too short, looked even glossier under the morning light. That delicate little face, that fair skin—hmm, how to put it?

Although she was not very old and her body had not yet matured, from that slightly childish pretty face, one could tell that when this girl grew up, she would certainly be a beauty of her generation!

"Kashius, didn't you say you were going home today to see your older brother? Why aren't you up yet? Are you planning not to go home anymore?" Mana glanced at Kashius a few times, looking somewhat unhappy.

"Uh, right, I almost forgot!" The moment Kashius heard that, he swiftly jumped out of bed.

Five years had passed. If he still did not go back, he would miss Bulma and Wukong's meeting.

That would not do. He still had to go with them to find the Dragon Balls. Compared to whatever messy wishes they made, Kashius's was the important one.

He was going to wish to Shenron that he could control his Great Ape transformation. One had to know, for the sake of this, he had suffered plenty on normal days.

Every full moon night, Kashius had to obediently hide inside the house and was not allowed to go out casually.

He was afraid. He was deathly afraid that the moment he went out and saw the moon, he would inexplicably transform again, inexplicably lose his wits, and finally start wreaking destruction everywhere once more.

If he destroyed this city because of that, or injured innocent people, then the loss would truly outweigh the gain.

Although Kashius had been doing basic training for these five years and had greatly tempered his willpower, he still did not dare try transforming into a Great Ape to test whether he could control the Great Ape form.

The city's miserable state was still vivid in his mind.

"Hey, Kashius." Mana brushed the hair by her ear and spoke softly.

"Mm, what is it?" Kashius glanced at Mana, confusion showing between his brows.

Kashius was not particularly bothered by Mana entering his room. Although his sleeping posture was not much to look at, at least he was fully dressed.

If it was summer, he simply turned on the air conditioner.

As for winter, he still wore summer clothes. That bit of temperature simply did not exist to Kashius.

"It's like this. Yesterday, I saw on TV that it seems like some World Martial Arts Tournament or something will be held a year from now. The prize seems to be ten million." Secretly glancing at Kashius, Mana probed slightly.

"At the time, I was thinking, since you're so strong, why don't you go take part? With your strength, winning ten million should be possible, right?"

"Mana, you said the World Martial Arts Tournament will be held in a year? You're not joking, are you?" Kashius's expression instantly grew tense, and his whole body nearly jumped off the bed.

There was no way he could avoid being tense. If the World Martial Arts Tournament was being held a year from now, then the current Son Goku should already be training with Krillin under Master Roshi.

In other words, Son Goku had already met Bulma, and Shenron had already appeared. He had perfectly missed that part of the plot, missing that one chance to make a wish.

"Yeah! The World Martial Arts Tournament really is being held a year from now. I shouldn't be remembering it wrong." Mana looked at Kashius in confusion, not understanding why he had such a big reaction.

"Mana, then... then before this, was there a time during the day when it suddenly turned dark or something?" As if holding on to a trace of hope, Kashius asked somewhat urgently.

After pondering slightly, Mana spoke.

"Mm~ There was, Kashius, there was. At the time, I even wanted to call you out to look, but when I saw you were asleep, I didn't disturb you."

"Asleep?"

"Yeah!"

My god! Terminal-stage laziness had screwed him over. This time, the loss really outweighed the gain.

However, when Kashius came back to his senses and thought about it, his gaze toward Mana became a little strange.

Since when did you, this unruly girl, become so considerate?

If I was asleep, you didn't disturb me?

You've got to be kidding. When you should have disturbed me, you didn't come, and when you shouldn't disturb me, you come anyway...

Now things had truly blown up!

Thinking it over carefully, Kashius still felt he had a chance. With his current strength, as long as he obtained the Dragon Radar from Bulma, not to mention much else, he could gather all the Dragon Balls within at least a month—no, perhaps even in a shorter time.

"Hey, Kashius!" Mana looked Kashius over carefully, the corners of her eyes curving into crescents as she spoke in a somewhat shy tone.

"Hey, hey, Kashius~ If you enter the World Martial Arts Tournament and bring back ten million, I... I'll... consider becoming your fiancée!" As the words left her mouth, the girl's pretty face flushed crimson, a flash of bashfulness darting across it.

What? What? What?

Fiancée?

No way, right???

At that moment, Kashius was completely stunned by Mana's words. His mind went blank, his head buzzed, and he stood there somewhat dazed.

"Hey, hey, Kashius, say something already?" The girl's face was bright red, her small hands tightly clutching the hem of her skirt.

Her trembling body showed just how unsettled she was inside right now. In the way she looked at Kashius, there was tenderness, hope, and expectation.

You idiot, say something already! Do you know how much courage I had to muster to say that? You dummy, dummy, dummy, big dummy!

After a long silence, Kashius said something with great sincerity that nearly made Mana drop dead from anger on the spot.

"You think I'd believe you? Don't joke around. I think you're clearly just after the money, aren't you?"

Mana: "???"

That line made the blond little girl furious. Her small fists clenched tight, her whole body trembling. Then, with a whoosh, she punched Kashius in the stomach, followed by a midair kick that sent Kashius's head into intimate contact with the wall.

"You idiot!"

Tears glimmered in the corners of her eyes as Mana covered her reddened eyes and ran out of the room, sobbing.

"Can't you be a little gentler?

Can't you be a little more understanding?

You're almost twelve already. Can't you be a little more sensible?" As if possessed, Kashius actually spat out this string of words.

"None of your business!!!" Outside the room, an angry roar rang out, mixed with sobs.

However, the bakery manager, who was busy working, merely smiled helplessly, shook his head, and continued with the work at hand.

As for the black-haired young man off to the side, he only glanced faintly at the room and Kashius's room, curled his lip, and said with a face full of disdain, "What a pain..."