Chapter 7 - The Game of Choices

The next day, Bulma found Goku at Vegeta's apartment as soon as she arrived. He had gone to breakfast with Vegeta to discuss the new mobile game he had invented. The three of them were sitting down, and Vegeta looked disgusted at Goku's bad manners, his mouth full of croissants and ready to attack the cake before him.

"You're still a damn dredge, Kakarotto."

"I have a very fast metabolism, Vegeta, you know that."

"I know you won't leave anything for the building employees!"

"I know that if I eat it all, you'll have it replenished. You won't let the guys starve..."

So, that was the explanation, though Bulma, for that hearty breakfast every day. Then it was served to the employees of the building. Vegeta didn't mind, after all, economizing on servants.

"Have you tested the game?" asked Goku, anxious.

"Sure," said Vegeta, "do you want to see how my avatar looks?"

"Of course! I want to see if you did well," he took the cell phone that Vegeta held out to him with a neutral expression and opened the beta version of the game. Suddenly Goku's jaw dropped, and he said:

"Are you the king of the game?

Vegeta laughed. The game was called "True life" and was based on choices, divided into personal, professional, and financial, and Vegeta had top scores for everything. Goku showed her his avatar, which had been previously built and looked like a miniature, cute version of Vegeta, but with a super-lined suit and the latest sports car. Bulma laughed and said:

"That's handsome..." She said and took the cell phone from Goku's hands while Goku talked about usability with Vegeta. Then, she looked at the "customize" option and jokingly changed little Vegeta's outfit to a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, handing the phone back to him saying:

"Your avatar just took a vacation!"

"Hey, woman, who told you to mess around?"

He started fiddling with his cell phone, and Bulma asked:

"What about your avatar, Goku?"

Goku gave a sad smile and showed her his avatar, which had a beat-up car, a bearded face, and a very tired appearance, but also looked like a mini-Goku.

"What kind of choice did you make, Goku? "laughed Bulma, "You look like an unemployed loser. How can you lose in a game you invented yourself, Goku?"

"Well... "he scratched his head, not amused, "but it is because I only created the algorithms and the concept of the game, the weight and value of the choices were given by a multidisciplinary team that has all kinds of professionals: economists, psychologists, anthropologists, pedagogues... and each step you take in the game takes you forward or backward... do you want to play it? It is still a beta version. "

"Oh, I want to," said Bulma, "I really want to!

"

"Please watch the download time. People don't like large apps on their phones! If you are a beta tester, be useful!" said Vegeta, who was finishing his coffee, and Bulma answered him with a grimace.

Goku helped Bulma enter a specific link and put in the password to download the beta version. After a while, she had a mini-Bulma ready to make her own choices.

"What is it like, Kakarotto?" asked Vegeta, irritated "Are you going to take up my nurse's time all morning with this?"

"Oh, Vegeta," said Goku, "You are not dying. Can wait for her while she learns how to play. She is a beta tester, you said, remember?"

So that was the time to Vegeta grimace.

After the basic instructions, Bulma was saying goodbye to Goku, who said:

"Bulma, wait... like... would you and your boyfriend accept a group outing?"

"A group what?" Bulma almost laughed. "What are you up to?"

"There's this girl, and she keeps kind of insisting that we go out, but she's a little creepy, and I didn't want to go on a solo date yet... and I thought we could all go to that new Australian restaurant."

"The trendy one where you wait at the door for three hours?"

"I can get there early because I live near there, to get a token, that kind of thing. Please, Bulma..."

"Why don't you just tell the girl that you are not into her, Goku?"

"She doesn't understand I'm not into her. She keeps insisting..."

"Oh, Goku... that's fine. Today? Tomorrow is no good. My boyfriend has a 12-hour shift in the afternoon and evening."

"Wow, Saturday night duty? That sucks, Bulma.

"

"What can we do? Doctors work too much!"

"Boring, huh? So, 8 pm at the door of the restaurant?"

"Okay, I'll call him and confirm later."

She rushed to massage Vegeta, who was waiting for her in a very bad mood and said:

"What did Kakarotto want?"

"Call for a group outing with the girl he is dating."

"Hunt. Is that the parkour girl? From what he told me, she is a pain in the ass. And a little too young for him..."

"I don't know. He didn't tell me who the girl is."

"Kakarotto is no good. He keeps surrounding the bumpkin shrew and never gets closer. They have a son together, dammit!"

"Vegeta... but if it didn't work out, they have to move on."

"But it turns out that neither of them really moves on. They go around in circles. That's what they do. Or why do you think Chichi is alone until today? She still loves him!"

"Maybe they need a little help to, I don't know, walk in each other's direction."

"If you're asking me to play Cupid, give it up."

"It's not that, Vegeta... if she knew..."

"She would be angry and will think I betrayed her when Kakarotto saved her business... she only accepted it because it came from me. She thought it was a trade."

"Or she'll be shocked, but she'll understand that he made a sacrifice to help her and her son and will be grateful because at last Goku actually is more responsible than she thinks he is!"

"It took him 5 years to recover his finances after help her, and he never complained. He put every penny into it without expecting a return, and he didn't accept my help. It was hard for him. When he showed up with that Beetle, saying it was the car he could afford to keep," Vegeta laughed, "I told him he had gone crazy. But he fixed the old can by himself, with patience."

"Maybe it was his way of fixing his own life. By the way, speaking of life, the game is pretty cool, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is perfect now. I will call the game management team and tell them to release the download.

"And what about Goku and Chichi?"

"I told you, woman... I am not

Cupid."

"You are a rude man."

"And you, an irritating woman."

Suddenly the two of them faced each other and laughed at the same time. Maybe they both really didn't want to say that about each other. Later, Vegeta had a guest for lunch: his brother, Tarble. The boy looked like Vegeta, especially the hair and jawline, but he had a much less severe expression and a relaxed, friendly manner.

"So you are the famous Bulma?" he said, taking her hand and kissing it softly. "Is it true that you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes, that's right," she said, laughing.

"What a pity..." he said, winking "so, brother, I downloaded Kakarotto's little game, it's very interesting, but there's one climb left."

"Climbing?"

"Sure, there are so many possibilities, you can buy vacation tours, skiing, beach, scuba diving... the climbing is missing".

"Only if it's for the avatar to fall and break his neck and reset the game," Vegeta said, moving the wheelchair closer to the dining table and adding, "sit down, or she won't serve lunch."

"She" was Chichi, who did not like conversation or commotion when she was about to serve a meal. Bulma knew this and sat down, preparing herself for lunch. When Chichi entered and announced the menu, Tarble, who had hardly visited and didn't know her despite being Vegeta's brother, didn't take his eyes off her. Actually, he seemed delighted when she served the dishes with charm and elegance. When she disappeared into the kitchen, he said:

"Where did you find this cute cook, brother? Hiding a beauty like her inside your kitchen!"

"Call her a cook again, and you'll get a frying pan on your head. She is an award-winning chef."

"Whatever... I'll ask her to a date."

"Good luck, I hope you survive!" laughed Vegeta, "but first, let's talk about the process and the hearing you're going to, I'll instruct you."

While Vegeta talked to his brother, Bulma spent the afternoon improving her avatar in the 'True Life' game. After the first choices, always very obvious, she was on the sixth level; everything became complicated, and anything could ruin the poor avatar's life. And it was kind of complicated to fix the bad choices and impossible to start over without losing everything.

"It's like real life," she laughed, talking to herself, and remembered to call Yamcha. He didn't like the idea of the group outing very much, but he went along with it, and Bulma said:

"What could go wrong, anyway?"

She hadn't learned that much yet about the game of choices.

The Australian restaurant wasn't far from Vegeta's house, but Bulma still went home and got ready. Finally, just before 8pm, she and Yamcha arrived at the restaurant and found Goku at the door, waiting with a pin pad with LEDs that would light up and vibrate when it was their turn.

"Hi Bulmaaaa," he said cheerfully, "you must be Yamcha!"

"That's me," Yamcha replied without much enthusiasm. He was dressed much more elegantly than Goku, who was wearing cargo pants and a T-shirt.

"Where is your girlfriend, Goku?

"

"Girlfriend? "said Goku, a bit awkwardly, "No, not girlfriend, Bulma... and she will be here soon."

"You didn't go to get her? " asked Bulma, horrified by her friend's lack of courtesy.

"I didn't. I had to arrive at least earlier and... I didn't want to stay here for almost two hours alone with her."

"But Goku... "Bulma started, wanting to ask: "How do you go out with a girl you don't like the company of?"

"Oh, look, she's here."

Bulma saw a girl of her 18 or 19 years old stopping a motorcycle near the restaurant. She took off her helmet, and her spiky hair spread out in all directions. Her face was average, but her body was statuesque, and she attracted attention. She took off her jacket, revealing slightly muscular arms covered with tattoos. She came walking over, jacket on her shoulder, helmet under her arm, and a grumpy face that got a little better when she saw Goku.

"What's up, old man," she said, "how far is it to go in?"

"Well, we..." she approached him and pulled him into a rough kiss, and Goku pulled her away, saying:

"Caulifla, this here is my friend Bulma and her boyfriend, Yamcha..."

"Hey there," she said, making no mention of shaking hands or of them. Instead, she peered at Bulma, who was wearing a little summer dress and had loose blue hair falling down her shoulders, and said:

"I've wanted to dye my hair blue, but I thought it would dry it out. How bad is it?"

"It's natural... "said Bulma, finding her a bit rude. The girl looked very confident, parading her graceful body and wearing baggy pants and a cropped top tightening her full breasts. All the guys, including Yamcha, had been impressed when she had shown up, but Goku seemed especially distracted. It was obvious that this outing had not been his idea.

"Are we going to get a beer, or are we going to stand here staring at each other's faces like idiots?" she asked Goku, "and, damn it, you could have come by the house to pick me up."

"Well, I had to arrive here early to get the pin pad," he said, scratching his head absently. "

"This shit takes hours to beep. So then you'll at least take me?"

"But you came by motorcycle..."

"You know what I mean..." she said, in what must have been her attempt to be less blunt and more seductive, but which only made Goku look more awkward. Then, suddenly, he seemed to see someone in the waiting crowd and said:

"Jiren? Hey, Jiren, how are you, my friend?" he handed the pin pad to Bulma and said, "Order a beer. I'll be right back!"

He went to where a tall, huge guy with a shaved head and big sad eyes was standing and left Bulma and Yamcha in the company of Caulifla, who said:

"That's Son Goku... he calls me out and trades me for a guy, what a beauty. Well, let's have our beer. To make this date a little less bad..."

They ordered their draft beer and began to strike up a conversation, which was very difficult because of their lack of affinity. Caulifla was a design student in her third term, was 19 years old, did parkour in her spare time, and had liked Goku when they did a group exercise. She confessed that she grabbed him between jumping on one wall and another and that she intended to date him:

"But they saw that he looks kind of slippery. And pretty slow for a 30-year-old, if you know what I mean. We haven't gone beyond kissing on the mouth yet..."

Bulma felt a little sorry for the girl, who, after all, must have been nicer than she seemed, but soon she had another concern on her mind.

Suddenly, a chauffeured car stopped at the door of the restaurant, and Tarble got out first. Then he held out his hand to his companion, a very pretty woman wearing a royal blue Chinese dress, printed but in a more daring version, with a bareback and two large slits that emphasized her long and shapely legs. Her black hair fell like silk down her back, loose.

Suddenly, Bulma recognized Chichi, completely different from the austere chef who wore the white dolman. Then, to top it all off, Tarble, dressed in a casual but elegant style, walked up to the pair of receptionists. The first nudged the other and seemed to recognize him, and both opened a wide smile at him.

Tarble had climbed one of the seven summits, Mount Kosciusko in Australia, the year before, and the restaurant had sponsored him. There were pictures of him on the walls, and he smiled and said something to the main receptionist, who smiled back and asked him to wait but soon led him and Chichi into the restaurant.

"Oh, I hope Goku didn't see that, I hope..." Bulma thought, but he appeared right next to her and asked:

"Doesn't that thing beep?"

"He saw it," thought Bulma.

"Ah, Goku... " she said, trying to disguise it, "Don't you want a beer?"

"I'll have some inside," he said, looking annoyed. Then, suddenly, as if to meet his irritation, the pin pad beeped. Goku left, dragging Caulifla into the restaurant, and Yamcha commented:

"Your friend seems a little crazy."

Bulma sighed. That was not going to end well. They walked in, and Goku had his right hand on Caulifla's shoulder, and, by bad luck, Tarble and Chichi were at a table not just in the way of theirs but practically opposite theirs. He turned his head and faced Chichi, who finally saw him, as they passed in front of the couple's table. Bulma saw Chichi, until then relaxed, stiffen in her chair and turn into a tense creature. However, she still greeted them both and introduced Yamcha to them, and said:

"We're over there with Goku and..."

"Is that his girlfriend? "asked Chichi "has he turned pedophile now? How old is she, 16?"

"I think it's 19?" said Bulma, like wanting to dig a hole in the ground to hide.

"Get them over here," said Tarble, "I don't pay any bill in this restaurant!" he waved to Goku, who just looked at him with a frown. "Didn't he recognize me?"

"Leave it, Tarble," said Bulma. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

She towed Yamcha to the table, and he said sarcastically

"I've never had so much fun in a group... what's going on?"

"At home, I'll explain."

The two sat down. Bulma could see that the same tension as Chichi was reflected in Goku's face, who asked:

"Since when is she dating Tarble? What is he? Nine or ten years younger than us?"

"Seven," Bulma said.

"It's embarrassing just the same. And doesn't Chichi think about her son?"

He had his hand on Caulifla's shoulder, but clearly, he just wanted to tease Chichi. So they made the request, and he pulled Caulifla's head and laid it on his shoulder, making the girl protest, but laughing.

"Is this your way of cuddling, old man?"

Goku said nothing. Bulma could feel the tension between him and Chichi. No conversation at either table seemed to flow decently. While Goku was chatting, but not paying much attention, mechanically stroking Caulifla's hair, at the other table, Chichi was laughing in an affected way. Sometimes, she held Tarble's hand, and the boy was smiling, not really realizing that she was just reacting to what Goku was doing. It was all depressing, and they hadn't even finished their appetizers yet.

Bulma had always known that Goku was still confessedly in love with Chichi. But now, she was sure that he was intensely matched by the chef, no matter how much she denied appearances and disguised the evidence.

When the food finally arrived, Bulma had an idea and showed Goku her little avatar in the game to try to say something to her friend in code.

"Look, Goku! Can I show you my avatar in your game?"

"Now, Bulma?" he asked, taking his arm back from Caulifla's shoulder as the food was being served.

"It's just that there's something I want you to see, you know? I made a choice, and I think I regret it, you see?"

"Well, you know that choices in the game can only be succeeded by other different choices, like in real life, in True Life you can't go back..."

"But you know, sometimes it seems like we made a good choice and we didn't... see here, I regretted this personal choice... it ruined my avatar's love life. But... " she looked meaningfully at Goku, "it's kind of obvious that she's not happy with what she chose, don't you think?"

Goku looked at Bulma, and she realized that he understood immediately because he looked at Chichi at the other table. For an instant, their eyes met, and Bulma recognized that he had seen in Chichi's eyes what was still there, no matter how hard she tried to disguise it. And Goku sat up straight and said:

"Let's eat, shall we?"

From then on, he didn't say much, he just ate, but he didn't interact so much with Caulifla, no matter how much the girl tried to get his attention. Then, suddenly, there was a straight game, and Bulma could tell, that involved a furtive exchange of glances between Goku and Chichi. And before they actually finished eating, Goku looked at her escort and said:

"I'm sorry, Caulifla. You're very nice... but I don't want to date you. As they say ... I'm into something else, you know?"

The girl's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth, astonished, but before she could protest, he said:

"I'm going to introduce you to a guy, and he's really nice. And you're going to think he's really cool. And he's a lot richer than I am, and I am sure he has more in common with you than me." Then, pulling his credit card from his pocket, he said, looking at Bulma:

"I have to go out, so pay up, and I'll pick it up on Monday." Then he said, in her ear, "the password is 3722. And it's now or never, Bulma!"

He stood up, took Caulifla's hand, and she looked at him irritated but held his hand. Gently he led her over to the table where Tarble and Chichi were. She widened her eyes, stunned, and stopped, looking at the two of them. Then he said:

"Tarble, don't waste your charm on Chichi. She likes someone else."

The boy looked at him, and then looked at Chichi and asked:

"Is this true?"

Chichi looked at Goku and then at Tarble. From where she stood, Bulma could sense that her friend was not between Goku and Tarble but between her will and her own pride. Goku then said:

"Nine years ago, almost ten, I asked you to marry me, and you said no, and I should have recognized that you were right and listened to you instead of being stupid and angry when you declined me. I should have told you that I spent all my money to save your restaurant, and I should have told you that I knew that I'm Gohan's father. I've been keeping several of his expenses so that it won't be so heavy for you to raise him alone... but I was, all this time, waiting for you to say that you wanted me, and waiting I've wasted almost ten years. Chichi, I don't want to waste any more time being an idiot. I want you, but if you don't want me, I want to be the father of your child, even if you don't stay with me. Because I spent ten years doing the wrong thing, and now I have to do the right thing.

She looked at him, stunned. He held out his hand and said:

"Will you come with me?"

She reached out silently, and his fingers closed over hers, and he smiled as he helped her to her feet. Then, before he put his hand around her waist, he turned to Tarble and said:

"Sorry, man...but I'm taking your company with me. Take Caulifla home. She's a super fun girl. And I think she's even willing to climb a mountain with you."

He and Chichi left the restaurant, and Bulma looked at Yamcha, who said:

"Your friends are all crazy.

Bulma, who had tears in her eyes, swallowed dryly and said:

"Don't you understand anything, Yamcha?"

"But you know that I don't care about such romantic nonsense. So let's just hang up the bill on your friend's credit card and go home, okay?"

She stared at him and was sure that sooner or later, she had to make a choice. Whether or not to keep Yamcha in her life.

Notes:

1. Fans of the Vegebul couple forgive me, but resolving Goku and Chichi was essential to the plot.

2. The little game looks like some that are out there, of course.

3. Spend years mulling something over and then solve it on an impulse? It can happen. I know a story similar to this one, and the couple is very happy.

4. Yamcha is very annoying, isn't he? Anyone who wants him to get his ass kicked raises his hand.

5. Next chapter: "Fear of loneliness." Let's find out the origin of Vegeta's agoraphobia that triggered his panic syndrome. Agoraphobia: fear of open spaces.