Just like that, a year passed.
During that year, Goku and Bulma often visited Gohan.
Seeing Gohan grow, the couple were reassured. Their decision back then had been the right one.
One day, Goku went to see Piccolo and Gohan.
"Dad!"
Goku had barely landed when Gohan spotted him. He immediately ran over in excitement and hugged Goku's leg.
"Hey, Gohan."
Goku bent down and ruffled Gohan's hair. Then he looked at Piccolo.
"Piccolo, thank you for training Gohan this past year. I'll take him home now."
Hearing that, Piccolo's green face reddened slightly. Then he snorted and said,
"What kind of father are you? You really did dump Gohan here with me for a whole year."
Piccolo looked at Goku with a displeased expression.
Goku scratched his head awkwardly. It wasn't as if he hadn't looked after Gohan-hadn't he visited often?
"Haha, it couldn't be helped. Gohan has to grow up eventually."
"All right, Gohan, let's go. Thanks, Piccolo."
Goku picked Gohan up, gave Piccolo a heartfelt thanks, and flew away.
Watching Goku and Gohan disappear into the distance, Piccolo felt reluctant to see them go for some reason. He quickly shook his head.
Who was he?
He was King Piccolo! How could he have feelings like that?
"Oh, right, Gohan. Your aunt is back."
As he flew through the air, Goku suddenly remembered something and spoke to Gohan in his arms.
"My aunt?"
Gohan was puzzled. He had never heard that he had an aunt.
Seeing Gohan's puzzled expression, Goku remembered that he and Bulma had never told Gohan about her.
"Actually, your mom has an older sister named Tights. She's interested in space adventures and writing novels, so she went off into space on adventures a long time ago. She came back six months ago, and you'll get to meet her when we get home."
"Oh, okay!" Gohan nodded.
Goku didn't actually know why Tights had suddenly come back either. This had never happened in the original story.
But Goku had come to accept it. After all, things were already different from the original story in more than a few ways.
Goku and Bulma had also asked Tights why she had suddenly come back, but she had hemmed and hawed without giving them a clear answer.
And even when she had come back before, she would only stay a few days before leaving again. Recently, she hadn't come back at all for five years. Yet this time, she had stayed for nearly half a year, with no plans to leave.
It even made Bulma wonder if this was really her sister. Had someone swapped her soul?
In fact, Goku had a few guesses about why Tights had come back, because he had accidentally overheard her mention the name Vegeta.
Why would Tights have mentioned Vegeta? That was well worth considering.
Just think about how Vegeta and the other two had changed, while Tights had been adventuring in space.
Vegeta was about to come to Earth, and Tights had come back six months ago.
There was probably only one possibility: the two of them had some sort of hard-to-explain relationship, and Tights had somehow found out that Vegeta was coming to Earth, so she had followed him back.
In any case, Goku had decided to ask when he got home. He was probably close to the truth.
When Goku got home, he found Bulma and Tights chatting.
The sound of Goku and Gohan coming back interrupted their conversation.
Tights turned to look and immediately spotted Gohan in Goku's arms.
What a cute kid!
"Bulma, this is Gohan, your and Goku's child, right? He's so cute!"
Tights hurried over to Goku and couldn't resist ruffling Gohan's hair a couple of times.
"H-hi, Auntie!" Gohan greeted Tights obediently.
"Hello, hello, Gohan!"
Tights smiled at Gohan. She liked children, especially cute ones.
Goku set Gohan down, patted his head, and said gently,
"Gohan, go play for a while. You've worked hard training for a year, so it's time you relaxed."
"Okay!"
Gohan was happy. After a year of training, he had realized that he was merely interested in it; he was nowhere near liking it.
If he had another chance, he really wouldn't want to go through another year of training like that.
After Gohan left, the three of them sat down on the couch. Goku looked at Tights with a mischievous grin.
"Tights, Vegeta should be here soon, right?"
"Huh? What? What Vegeta?"
Tights panicked. She had never mentioned Vegeta in front of Goku or Bulma, so how did Goku know?
Seeing Tights react like that made Goku even more certain of his guess.
Beside them, Bulma watched Tights eagerly, ready for gossip. Her sister was hiding something from her and Goku.
"Tights, stop pretending. I've already guessed. You and Vegeta have some kind of relationship, don't you?"
"Otherwise, you wouldn't have come back right when Vegeta was about to come to Earth, would you?"
Goku exposed Tights directly. There really was no point in keeping up the act.
"Huh? Well, yes, that's right."
In the end, Tights couldn't come up with an excuse and could only admit it.
Waku waku!
Bulma's eyes sparkled. This was juicy gossip! There was something seriously up with her sister. She had heard Goku mention Vegeta before.
"Hey, sis, how did you meet Vegeta? Tell us!" Bulma wore a mischievous expression.
"Well, well, well..."
Tights looked embarrassed.
"Oh, come on, sis, tell us! Maybe we can even give you some advice!"
Bulma sat down beside Tights and whispered in her ear.
"A-all right. Before, I..."
Tights began telling Goku and Bulma about how she and Vegeta had met.
As it turned out, Tights's spaceship had broken down because of a war, leaving her stranded on a planet.
She then found Vegeta, who was only fifteen or sixteen and gravely injured and dying. She brought him back and treated him, but since neither of them had a spaceship, they had to wait for Tights to repair hers.
The repairs took a whole year. As for what happened after that, those who knew, knew.
The two eventually parted ways, until a year ago.
Tights heard that Vegeta was coming to Earth, so she returned by spaceship.
This time, she didn't want to give up again for the sake of her dreams of space adventures and becoming a space novelist.
After hearing her out, Goku and Bulma exchanged a glance.
Goku finally understood why Vegeta and the other two had changed. It was all because Tights had influenced Vegeta.
What Bulma hadn't expected was that her sister would one day become so love-struck.
Just then, Goku suddenly stood up and stared intently through the window in one direction.
"They're here!"
"Who's here?" Bulma was a little confused by Goku's sudden reaction.
"Vegeta and the others are here!"