37 Panic

Xiao Ai was expanding like a balloon being inflated with Helium. She slowly grew from half the size of a palm to the size of a basketball, and continued growing without showing any signs of stopping.

Rin and Yukio watched on with large, curious eyes. Rin reached out, wanting to poke Xiao Ai but was stopped by Light's glare.

Seeing that she had grown to this size, Ace decided to remove the plug. He did not want to trip the circuit and cause a power outage as going outside at the moment would be troublesome.

"Muuu why did you wake Xiao Ai up? Xiao Ai dreamed that she got to eat as much~ food~ as she wanted." pouted Xiao Ai with saliva dripping from the edge of her mouth.

Chuckling, Light was reminded of Rin. He responded, "Silly girl, that was not a dream."

Seeing Xiao Ai pout childishly made Light want to treat her like the little sister he never had. He always wondered what it would be like to have a sister instead of two brothers.

"Xiao Ai, how are you feeling? Do you have any discomfort anywhere?" Ace asked while patting her on the head.

"Mm~ nope! Xiao Ai feels great!" While bouncing around cheerfully she realized that Aida was nowhere to be seen.

Ace cautiously asked, "Xiao Ai, do you remember what happened?"

"Eh~ What do you mean?" pausing for a moment, Xiao Ai finally recalled what happened before she fainted.

"AHHHHHH what happened to Mama?!" Xiao Ai began to panic. Since the day she left that awful place, she had never left Aida's side. Her body began to ripple with electric arcs. She was extremely agitated and was losing control of her form, unintentionally converting her energy into something far more lethal. She was turning herself into a bomb!

Boommm! Her electric arcs began hitting the items around her, creating sparks and causing them to explode.

"Get into that room now," Light ordered the twins to move away from the strike zone.

"Xiao Ai, I need you to calm down and listen to me. Your Mama is in the room next door and she needs your help, but you can't help her if you are in this state." Light raised his arms up to show he was harmless while saying in a calm and soothing voice. He looked completely unaffected by the danger that Xiao Ai currently posed.

"Wahhh Mama can't leave Xiao Ai all alone in this world, Xiao Ai won't know what to do without Mama," cried Xiao Ai tearfully in her childish voice. She was so upset, she didn't hear anything that Light said.

Light's heart broke when he heard this. Wasn't this exactly what he wanted to prevent from happening to his own brothers? Wasn't this exactly what he had thought as he saw the light in his mother's eyes fade away when his brothers were born? Wasn't this how he felt as he saw his father's broken body lying on the hospital bed? He knew how terrifying it was to live alone in the world without anyone to rely on and he wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Light slowly walked towards Xiao Ai, ignoring the lightning that was attacking him from all sides. By the time he reached her, there were hundreds of burn marks all over his body. Despite the injuries, he calmly reached out to Xiao Ai with a warm and reassuring smile. Giving her a hug and gently patting her bun head, he reassured her over and over again that Aida was going to be okay.

At first, Xiao Ai didn't listen and continued crying in anguish. But after some time, Xiao Ai slowly calmed down and directly fell asleep in Light's arms. She had been so mentally drained from everything that she shut down, all the electric arcs completely disappeared as well.

"Shh that's right, get some rest. When you wake up, you can help your Mama wake up as well," Light said soothingly as he gently patted her head. There was no trace of pain, anger or impatience in his voice at all despite the numerous injuries he sustained.

Seeing that the electricity disappeared, Rin and Yukio came out of hiding. After seeing that Light had Xiao Ai's situation handled, Ace had been standing in front of Aida the entire time. On the off chance that Light failed, Ace was prepared to throw himself in front of Aida in case Xiao Ai exploded.

Yukio ran out with tearful eyes, asking worriedly, "Is sister Xiao Ai going to be okay? Are you okay brother?" He patted Xiao Ai on the head as well.

Rin also ran out but with eyes shining with excitement, "That was so cool!! I didn't know the little bun was so powerful. Do you think she'll fight with me?"

Light used his free arm to pat the two of them on their heads while holding Xiao Ai in the other, then got up to go get changed. He didn't want Xiao Ai to wake up and see him all bloodied. He didn't want her to feel guilty.

Yukio and Rin helped Light get cleaned up and they all went to where Aida was located while waiting for Xiao Ai to wake up. This time, they would not make the mistake of allowing Xiao Ai to wake up without seeing Aida at first glance.

During this time, Ace had not left Aida's side.

They had brought some sleeping bags from the airport, so everyone took one and gathered around Aida who looked like sleeping beauty on the sofa.

This was a great opportunity for everyone to rest up before continuing on their journey, but after all that had happened, they were too tense to fall asleep.

Light looked gently at Aida and then Xiao Ai, and sighed. The number of people he cared about in this world doubled in the short span of a couple days. Who would have thought that the apocalypse would be the best thing to ever happen to him?

Turning to Ace, he asked, "Can you tell me how you and Aida know each other?"