Chapter 83: The Changes In Her Body Part Two

"Alright, that should do it." Ai said as she closed the top of the turret in front of her. After her bath, Ai went and got a chunk of mutant flesh and went right to work analyzing it. She ended up having to add in the biosignature code herself since the chips on the broken machina were all fried from the intense heat the mutant had given off. 

Ai turned the turret on and waved the chunk of mutant flesh in front of it and…

*Bang!* *Bang!*

It shot at her instead of the flesh. "Wow! That scared the hell out of me. Never thought it would shoot me. Good thing I only loaded it with two bullets..." Ai looked down at her chest and frowned at the two holes in her shirt. "I liked this shirt too.." 

Of course, the sound of gunfire had brought people running. Eiji was the first to arrive: "Ai what happened are you okay!?" He had finally cleaned up and put on a fresh set of clothes. He heard the gunfire while heading to Ai's location.

"Yeah… It seems the mutant biosignature, is a no go for turrets just yet. Otherwise, I might as well paint a huge target on me with my own defenses. But hey, I can get shot without any issue. I guess this saves me from forcing you to shoot me and Mai killing you. " Ai said jokingly only to receive a look of disbelief from Eiji.

"How can you joke like this!? What if you were seriously hurt!?" Eiji did not find the situation funny at all. He couldn't hold back his anger as he began yelling at Ai. "From now on if you are implementing anything that deals with the weapons of this base, you must have someone with you in case something goes wrong!"

Ai just stared at Eiji while letting out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, then sit your ass over there while I work. No need to yell geez!" 

"Ai, Eiji is right. That could have been dangerous!" Mai also began yelling and lecturing Ai who began rubbing her temples even though she felt no headache coming on. She sat there and let Mai lecture her until she was satisfied. "From now on Eiji is not to leave your side. Wherever you are, he will be!"

"Huh? What if I need to take a shit? He is supposed to stand there and watch me?" Ai asked, she knew Mai did not mean that but it was the only retort she could come up with.

"You know what I mean!" Mai yelled and then turned to Eiji and said: "Do not leave her side. I will be heading back to do more studying."

Mai had taken out all the medical books she could find and the base and was busy reading through them all trying to learn as much as possible. Right now she was basically the only medical personnel they had. she wanted to try to be ready for any situation.

After Mai left, Eiji sat himself down on the floor not saying a word. He only watched Ai do what she was doing. "If you're just going to sit there, come help me."

Eiji got up, walked over to Ai, and waited for instructions. "Hold this… A little higher. Yeah like that..."

Mai who was with Shogo and now Yoshi all peered into the room from out of sight. "He is going to have it rough..." Shogo let out a sigh.

"He will, but he gets an A+ in my book. He is putting up with everything even though he will not gain much ground. But the biggest hurdle seems to have been passed. Ai trusts him just as much as she trusts me. This much I do know." Mai Felt this was a very good thing. She knew that not everyone was trustworthy. But that did not mean there were those who could not be trusted. After everything that happened, Mai trusted three guys now. They have helped her in so many ways. Yoshi was great with the girls and treated them like his own daughters. Shogo, although silly at times, was good at helping her when she needed it. And Eiji was the key to hopefully allow Ai to regain more of her humanity. Only time will tell where things will lead. But she hoped as long as they continued to meet survivors who were like Eiji and the rest, they would be able to survive this new world. 

Mai also knew her thoughts were also fanciful. She had seen what humans were really like with her own eyes. Eiji, Shogo, and Yoshi were the limited exception among humans. "Alright let's get back to work." Mai shooed everyone away before taking one last glance at Ai and walking back to her own room. She knew the following days were going to be busy once again. They had a lot to deal with including the radiation levels above ground.

"They're gone..." Ai muttered.

"What was that?" Eiji asked.

"It's nothing. Hey hold the light over here I need to solder this." Ai had discovered that her hearing and even her eyesight in her good eye was extremely good now. It seemed that all her senses had been heightened to some degree. Between her strength, heightened senses, and her armor like skin, she felt like a whole new person. But for Ai, she felt this was also a good thing. Now she had a much better chance at fighting the machina. She could keep those she cared about safe, even if she had to use her body as a shield.

***

If you are not reading this at [W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l .c.o.m.], then the content you're reading is stolen! Please support the author at [w.w.w.w.e.b.n.o.v.e.l.c.o.m./.b.o.o.k./ito-ai-a-new-dawn_17791889705928505] remove periods for address since some sites monitor warnings like this.