118 Late for Dinner

She checked the time after collecting all the gems and realized how late it was. "Oh no! I'm going to be late for dinner! Wait for me!!"

Grabbing Xiao Ai, she dashed off into the distance, heading to meet back up with her group. She completely forgot what a bloody mess she looked like. Fortunately, she was wearing black clothes so the blood didn't show as much, but she was literally drenched from head to toe in blood and gore.

Xiao Ai, who was sitting on Aida's head, shook her head and commented, "Ah~ Mama~ Why is your entire life driven by food?"

***

At the residential house, the whole group looked bored out of their minds. They had finished preparing the meal hours ago and had been waiting for Aida this entire time. They stared with saliva dripping down the sides of their mouths at the hotpot that they could look at but not eat. The smell of the soup was absolutely tantalizing.

Rin continually attempted to sneak food into his mouth as his two brothers glared at him in contempt. Rin flopped back and turned to Little White who was digesting another gem, "Ahhh bro, you're the luckiest of us all. You can eat whenever you want to eat and you don't have to be picky either!"

Only Ace continued to pace around outside, awaiting Aida's return.

Soon, Aida came into sight. As soon as Ace saw her, he began to cheer, "Master! Welcome back!"

Everyone turned over to look at her. As they saw her, everyone , even Lucifer who was special forces, gasped in horror as they saw her completely soaked in blood as though she literally swam through a river of blood. Little did they know, that was a fairly accurate assessment of what she just did. There were even some random bits of organs sticking to her body. She looked like she just came from literal hell. It wasn't a scene any of them were likely to forget in a while.

The only one who didn't have this ghastly reaction upon seeing Aida was Ace. His face seemed to light up as he saw the state that Aida was in.

Ace called out like a fangirl, "Ahhh Master, you look beautiful just like a blooming rose. You are my Queen for the rest of my life."

"..." Aida was speechless and had no idea how to respond to Ace's absurd comment.

Ignoring Aida's speechlessness, Ace handed her a cup of water and stared at her with adoration. The others were used to his odd reactions and didn't mind it too much.

Ignoring Ace and looking at their odd expressions, Aida only then realized something was off. It finally occurred to her that she forgot to shower before coming here in her haste to arrive a few minutes earlier.

She smiled sheepishly, while scratching her head, causing some brain matter to fall off her head. "Umm…. I'm sorry I'm late. I'll go wash up and then we can eat dinner alright?"

Aida crossed her fingers and secretly hoped that no one lost their appetite at the sight of her bloody mess. She secretly cursed the brain matter that fell off, promising to give that dead Variant another beating if she met it again in hell.

Light was the first one to wake up from his stupor and immediately dragged the twins to go help with reheating the dishes. Aida's two tails, Rose and Little White, didn't seem to be bothered by the blood at all and immediately pulled on her shirt, causing more organs to fall to the floor. Realizing she was trekking a bunch of disgusting matter into the house, she stepped outside and quickly hosed herself down before entering the house. Her two tails calmly followed her from behind and Xiao Ai continued to sit on Aida's head, enjoying the water. Meanwhile, Ace continued to stare at Aida with glowing eyes as he followed her all the way up to the bathroom, only to have the door shut in his face.

After washing up, Aida sat down with everyone else at the dinner table and apologized again, "I'm sorry for being late for dinner everyone. I completely lost track of time. I brought presents as compensation though."

Everyone nodded their head in understanding, they had already recovered from the previous intensely graphic scene of her covered in blood. While it looked a little creepy, she still looked beautiful and even more alive than before. The blood seemed to fit her appearance perfectly somehow. The thought crossed everyone's mind but they quickly brushed it aside and thought about more serious matters.

Seeing Aida in that state also made them realize just how much focus and emphasis she placed on getting stronger despite her lax attitude towards their training. She was working so hard, what were they doing?

Xiao Ai was also secretly astounded but about a completely different matter. The Mama she knew before would never thank or apologize to anyone aside from Xiao Ai. Mama's family was growing~ [ :3 ]

Aida didn't notice the variety of thoughts that went through their heads but instead focused on appeasing them with presents. Throughout the day, she had worked hard to collect items that could assist each of their growths.

She ran to her blood soaked backpack and brought back a number of items to the table, careful to clean them of any blood before presenting them.

The twins were so excited that they could hardly sit still at the table. Rin had completely forgotten how hungry he was before Aida had returned. They had also completely forgotten the bloody look that Aida had when she returned.

The first item she took out was for Yukio, as the person they were celebrating, she wanted to give him his gifts first.