103 Ice Spike

Seeing Aida's silence, the twins began to get worried. They immediately hugged her tightly and refused to let go, attempting to show their thoughts through actions. Light, who sat before her, opened his mouth and calmly said, "Our relationship may have started when you saved our lives, but after we've gone through so much, you wouldn't be able to get rid of us even if you wanted to."

Aida nodded slightly with thoughtful eyes. The four of them didn't notice that there were two other spectators who were listening in on the conversation with varying reactions. Ace, who had slept at the driver's seat, wore a complex emotion on his face. No one could tell what he was thinking. Lucifer, who had woken up and was preparing to go downstairs, ended up sitting at the top of the stairs not wanting to interrupt the conversation. He also had a complex look on his face. He wanted to make the same promise to Aida that Light had, but couldn't at the moment as he had other commitments to honor first.

In the past month, they had all noticed Aida's mental resistance towards them. None of them knew much about her, not even Ace who worked at the same company as her. They only knew that she was very special and very skilled. Everyone implicitly decided to stay quiet and waited for her to open up on her own one day.

The silence permeated through the RV, making an extremely uncomfortable tension linger in the air.

Sensing this, Lucifer stood up and walked down the stairs, effectively breaking the silence. Acting as though he hadn't heard anything, he asked with a comfortable smile on his face, "Morning, is there anything to eat? I'm starving."

With that, the original awkwardness in the air disappeared. Light swiftly got up to prepare food for Lucifer and Ace.

The twins, however, continued to cling onto Aida, staring at her with innocent doe-like eyes. To them, she felt like both a mother and an older sister. It was the first time they had ever experienced any kind of maternal love and they were terrified of getting abandoned. Aida could sense the intense emotions coming from them through their connection. Technically, since they had her blood, they were semi-related to her as well.

Patting their heads, she laughed at the thought that popped up into her head. She had gone from only having Xiao Ai for family into having a huge family with many children. In that moment, when she read the emotions from Light and the twins, she understood that she no longer had a choice on whether to truly take them in as family. The time for that discussion had long passed ever since she used her blood to help them.

Hiding all these complex emotions, she responded lightly and promised the twins, "No, I won't abandon you."

Light, who had been gripping the pan tightly, finally loosened his hand as well. He quietly heaved a sigh of relief with his back to everyone else. She finally wasn't actively trying to push them away. While they still weren't closing the gap entirely, at least the wall she put up had fallen slightly.

Since Aida was ready to go, she decided to start driving the RV towards the next city. It would be a two hour drive before they reached. She had made the official commitment to the trio and intended to honor it. But first, there was the organization to deal with. If this hidden threat wasn't removed, they would likely continue to hunt her down for the rest of her lift.

As though sensing her eagerness, everyone else worked efficiently to prepare for the day's fight. When they reached City F, they all leapt out of the RV and began fighting. Ace had taken over the driver seat once again. The three buns who had been sleeping upstairs were also awake by then and joined them outside.

For this first fight, Aida stayed back with Rose while Rin and Lucifer were in charge of pulling in the Reapers. In reality, Lucifer was not very well suited for the role but he demanded to be placed in these more dangerous situations to continue to grow his abilities. Aida was confident that he had a pretty good gauge of his own abilities, so she allowed him to do so.

They soon came running back to the group with hoards of Reapers behind them. Little White helped scare all the Enrageds away.

Rose stood there emotionlessly, without reacting to the Reapers. She didn't seem to be scared of them at all. Aida hypothesized that a large part of why she was able to remain so calm was because she literally slept half a foot from Reapers for a full month.

Patting her head, she asked, "Do you want to try fighting too?"

Aida didn't expect Rose to make a large contribution and also didn't want her to cause a large strain on her injured body either, but she did hope to integrate Rose into their group as soon as possible. Contributing in battle was one of the best ways to quickly fit in.

To her surprise, Rose nodded her head without changing her expression. She slowly raised her hand and icicles shot out, hitting the Reapers accurately, piercing their limbs.

Aida's cold countenance changed slightly as a smile bloomed on her face. It seems she had found a rare talent. Rose's control over her ability was by far the best she had seen, even better than Lucifer's and the others. The scientists back in City C almost ruined a prodigy, and they would pay a steep price for this in the future.

Everyone applauded Rose's actions while continuing to fight the Reapers. With her control skill, the fighting got a lot easier. Rin even had time to turn around with a giant smile on his face and give her two thumbs up, while Xiao Ai cuddled up against Rose and praised her.

Rose's expression didn't change despite the praise. She maintained her focus and continued to throw ice spikes towards the oncoming Reapers.

Seeing that Rose was able to handle things on her own, Aida passed her over to Xiao Ai to protect and support her. Calling out to the rest of the group, she said, "I'm going to take Little White and find other Reapers to fight. I'll find you all when lunch comes around. Be safe!"