Kappukeki knocked on the door. It opened up to reveal Chi-Chi with a big grin on her face.
She said, "Lady and gentleman, presenting the new...Mafin!"
The dark haired woman stepped out of the way to reveal the Pesutorian, who was now mullet-less!
Mafin awkwardly said, "H-Hey, guys...", and walked up to the two.
Begu affectionately punched his best friend on the arm, "Nice new look, my dude!"
Kappukeki grinned, "I wholeheartedly agree! Love the new look!"
Mafin bashfully smiled at their compliments, "Th-Thanks. I was worried that you guys would find it off-looking."
Begu scoffed, "Us? Find your hair off-looking? Seriously?"
Chi-Chi then spoke up, "Mafin, I hope you have a wonderful time with 21 on Sunday."
Mafin politely bowed towards the wife of Son Goku, "Thank you so much, Chi-Chi."
Chi-Chi said, "No problem! And remember what I told you."
"I will!", happily exclaimed Mafin.
Begu asked, "Ready to head back?"
Mafin nodded at Begu and replied, "Yes!"
He looked back at Chi-Chi and waved goodbye, "Have a good day, Chi-Chi!"
Chi-Chi waved back, "Take care!"
With that said, the duo (once again) held onto Kappukeki's waist. She placed two fingers onto her forehead, and exclaimed, "Second verse, same as the first! Allons-y!"
In a flash, the group left Mount Paozu, and arrived back in the living room of Kame House.
Kappukeki quickly checked her smartphone to see what time it was.
Her eyes widened in shock, "Oh, dang! It's only 10:00!"
Begu exclaimed, "Wow! We came back early!"
Mafin added, "Yeah, it honestly felt a lot longer..."
At that moment, each of the boys' stomachs started growling. They looked at one another, and said in unison, "Aw, crap! We forgot about breakfast!"
Kappukeki stroked her chin in contemplation, wondering how to solve this herself. She then snapped her fingers and thought, "Got it!"
Begu said, "I got the bowls!"
Mafin quickly nodded in agreement, "And I got the milk and cereal!"
They were about to over to the kitchen, when suddenly, Kappukeki interrupted them: "Hey, guys! Hold on a second!"
The duo looked on in confusion as the heroine ran over to her backpack.
She zipped open her pack's first compartment, and pulled out two capsules.
"I gotcha covered.", she said with a confident smirk.
Kappukeki walked over to the black table, gently set the capsules down on the table, and pressed both of them, simultaneously. They exploded in a puff of smoke, revealing two plates filled with food; One plate featured scrambled eggs, three sausages, and a piece of toast smeared with grape jelly, while the other featured a stack of three pancakes smothered in syrup, along with a side of turkey bacon.
Both Mafin and Begu gasped with excitement.
Kappukeki instructed, "Mafin, you get the pancakes. Begu, you get the scrambled eggs. Sorry for the random commands, but I gotta bring a bit of order here."
The boys nodded in acknowledgment, and quickly ran over to the table.
They sat down and exclaimed, "Thanks, Kappukeki!"
The heroine cheerfully smiled, "You're welcome, my dudes!"
As the duo began to eat their respective meals, she pulled out another capsule from her bag, and pressed down on the device; It exploded as well, revealing a big bowl of steaming, hot, chicken-flavored ramen.
Kappukeki sat down next to Mafin, pulled out a pair of unused chopsticks from her other pocket, and started to chow down.
Mafin raised an eyebrow, confused at the heroine's choice of meal.
He swallowed his food and asked, "Wait, you're having ramen for breakfast?"
"I mean, yeah.", replied Kappukeki, her mouth filled with noddles.
"Isn't that, like, a lunch, or a dinner thing?"
Kappukeki explained while eating, "Weeelll...due to all of my college classes being in the afternoon, I tend to wake up late. And everyone at Capsule Corp. is eating lunch by that point, so I just ask one of the mechanical chefs to make me a bowl of ramen. I guess it's kinda force of habit now by this point."
She let out an awkward laugh and rubbed the back of her head.
The duo's eyes widened in shock.
Kappukeki quickly swallowed the rest of her noodles, "Uh...what is it?"
The duo questioned, "You wake up in the afternoon?!"
Kappukeki happily replied, "Mmm-hmm! Like, usually at 1:00pm, or 1:30pm."
Begu exclaimed, "Dang, you wake up that late?! Lucky!"
Mafin stated, "Begu and I have been getting up early to do something for the past several months here on Earth! And as for our younger selves...who knows how long?! Possibly years!"
"Oh, it's definitely been years...", chuckled Begu, who finished his meal, and got up out of his seat to wash his plate at the kitchen sink.
Kappukeki sighed, "Yeah, dudes...that's one of the many different aspects of a college student's life. Definitely FAR less exciting than my training sessions. Or just anything else in general."
She grabbed the bowl with both hands, and began slurping down on the warm, soupy broth.
Just then, a new thought reemerged in Mafin's mind. And it involved a certain best friend of his. He had to know what Begu was really up to.
When Begu came back to sit down, Mafin asked him, "So how was your little training session, Begu?"
The Octorian shouted in his head, "CRAP!"
Trying to think of what to say, he stammered, "W-Well, uh, it was...it was good. I, er, m-meditated for a few...minutes, and I practiced a few..."
He looked at his hands for a brief moment, and quickly exclaimed, "T-Turtle School moves! Uh, yeah!"
Mafin calmly nodded, "Cool, cool. What else did you do?"
Begu stammered again, and in his head, he desperately tried coming up with something different.
Mafin's eyes narrowed, "Or did you even DO any of that? Because I see you're stammering a lot."
Begu nervously gulped, and he bit down on his lip hard. He was about to bite the bullet, and confess about his real whereabouts, when suddenly—
"He was incredible, Mafin! You should have seen him!", interrupted Kappukeki, "Begu has been getting better and better in his training!"
"Woah!", exclaimed Mafin, who was now genuinely surprised, "I mean, I know you're from a similar timeline and all, but...are you really sure about that, and not just lying to me?"
She grinned, "Yep! He was really fast on his hands and his feet! It was like seeing a powerhouse in motion!"
Mafin smiled, "Nice!"
He turned to face Begu, and nervously rubbed the back of his head, "I, um, I'm really sorry for questioning you like that."
Begu dismissively waved off Mafin, "Nah, don't worry about it, dude! You're good!"
Mafin nodded and grabbed his now barren plate and fork, "I'm gonna go wash these."
As he went to the kitchen sink, Kappukeki gave a reassuring wink at Begu, who grinned and winked back at the heroine.
Several hours had passed, and it was now the late evening.
Krillin had returned to see the duo and Kappukeki lounging around on the couch, watching The Little Mermaid on Master Roshi's TV.
The monk casually greeted, "Hey guys, and Kappukeki. How's it going?"
The trio all replied, "Eh, we're good."
Krillin nodded, "That's good. Because I...am...tired."
He let out a big, exhausted yawn, and stretched out his arms, "So, I'm about to knock out. But first, I really gotta use it."
The monk walked over to the bathroom, and the group paid no mind.
However, both Mafin and Begu's eyes widened in shock at a sudden realization: Krillin, for some reason, now knows about Kappukeki's existence! How was that even possible?! Neither of them had said anything to the bald warrior!
They turned to the heroine for answers. Noticing their reaction, she quickly whispered, "Telepathic mind communication. Learned it from my timeline's Piccolo. That was, like, last year, I think. With this ability, I telepathically informed both Krillin and Roshi about myself, and the reason why I'm here."
The duo looked at one another, confused by this strange revelation, and looked back at Kappukeki.
"Um, why did you do that?", questioned Mafin.
Kappukeki let out a yawn and replied, "Meh. Laziness took over."
At that moment, Krillin opened the bathroom door and walked out.
He groggily stated, "Alrighty, then. Good night, you guys."
While he saw the monk walk upstairs, an old question popped up in Mafin's mind.
He thought to himself, "Is it time to ask Krillin about Octoria's fate?"
The Pesutorian let out a calm, deep breath, "Yeah. Yeah, I think it's time..."
He decided to ask Kriilin about this tomorrow.
