"You really are an amazing person."
"It's just a matter of upbringing, Miss Bikini."
Currently, Gorou and Bulma's group were heading toward the Brief residence.
They had almost finished their shopping when Gorou had joined them, but he wasn't going to complain about it.
"You hear that, Yamcha? Being helpful is just natural."
At Bulma's remark, the desert bandit didn't respond.
He simply muttered things about why women are scary and never satisfied.
'I see... he hasn't completely overcome his fear of women yet.'
This situation sparked a dangerous idea in Gorou's mind — an idea so wicked it would have frozen the Devil's blood itself.
...
"Excuse me, is that one of your inventions?"
On Bulma's wrist was a futuristic-looking object, similar to a watch.
(Image)
"Oh, you really have an eye for this stuff!"
Bulma displayed a proud expression and immediately raised her arm to better show off the device.
"It's called the 'Micro Band.' It's my personal invention."
After this declaration, she proudly puffed out her chest, surprisingly generous for her age, with an expression like "Admire me, pitiful mortal."
Of course, Gorou tacitly agreed to play along with the young scientist's game.
"Incredible. I never would've thought I'd run into a fellow colleague... in a shopping center."
At these words, the Brief family members turned toward him with interested looks.
In truth, the only "gadgets" Gorou possessed were:
— a Memory Gun,
— a detector capable of identifying people dominated by certain personality traits,
— and a capsule containing an unfinished robot.
Why was he walking around with a robot in his pocket?
Simple: it's too dangerous to leave it lying around elsewhere.
"You're also an inventor? Like my sister and my father?"
The question came from Tights. Although they had already briefly introduced themselves on the way, this was the first time the eldest had taken the initiative to speak to Gorou directly.
"Exactly. I've invented several things... and one of them is this."
He then pulled out his detector.
"Looks like a radar?" Bulma remarked.
He nodded.
"It's a device capable of detecting people dominated by a specific character trait."
At this explanation, Bulma's eyes lit up as if she had just stumbled upon a raw diamond.
Nothing surprising: after all, this girl had gone on an adventure to find her ideal boyfriend.
Gorou's radar was literally the dream tool of any picky single woman with their criteria.
"A weird invention, if you ask me," Yamcha commented skeptically.
Gorou shook his head disapprovingly.
"You don't understand why I created this, do you?"
The bandit shrugged, a bit confused.
"What's the point of knowing someone's dominant trait? That's not enough to define their entire personality."
Whack.
With inhuman speed, Bulma struck Yamcha on the top of his skull.
"Idiot! This invention would literally allow Mr. Gorou to have an accurate first impression of someone! If I'd had it, I could've avoided a lot of trouble during my journey."
Without wasting time, she turned to Gorou.
"Can I use it? Come on, please~"
Gorou hesitated for a moment, then handed her the device.
'Let's see... What kind of person is Yamcha.'
Bulma tried to locate different personality traits associated with a refined gentleman, but without success.
However, she had the bad idea of entering the trait "pervert" into the machine for fun, which gave... disastrous results.
Ding.
On the radar, two points appeared: Gorou... and Yamcha.
"Unfortunately, it's still in the testing phase... But my 'Memory Gun' works perfectly."
What happened next?
The entire Brief family and Yamcha immediately forgot that Gorou had been detected as a pervert.
'Sorry, Yamcha... But at least one of us has to keep this stigma. Gotta preserve the coherence of collective memory.'
...
After this "little" incident, the memory erased by the Memory Gun helped calm the situation.
Only Yamcha felt uncomfortable during the journey.
The group finally arrived at Capsule Corp.
(Image)
"...It's huge."
Gorou already knew this.
According to his memories from the manga, this place had been able to house an entire alien race without problem.
But knowing and seeing are two very different things.
"Impressive, right? I'm sure you'll love the interior," Bulma said with a confident smile.
Gorou nodded and followed the group inside the dome-shaped building.
At the entrance, they were greeted by a receptionist. Bikini exchanged a few words with her, then guided them inside.
They crossed the hall to finally enter a spacious atrium, worthy of the reputation of the world's richest man.
(Image)
Robots came to collect the packages, while Bikini led them to a rest area.
"Indeed, I appreciate the interior."
Bulma simply smiled at Gorou's remark.
I'm going to take notes for my next base.
[Useless action: Analysis already performed by secondary skill [Analytical Appraisal].]
"What are you writing?"
Tights glanced at his notebook.
"I like writing science fiction novels. And your house inspires me a lot."
A lie? Obviously. He wasn't going to tell her he had stolen the external data of their infrastructure...
"Wait... You're an inventor and a novelist?!"
The blonde approached him, interested. Gorou immediately activated the Grand Sage skill, which generated a black fog on his notebook.
Hundreds of notes about the Warhammer 40k universe were magically printed on it.
Tights read an excerpt.
"It's dark... but I love the concept! We should stay in touch, to exchange ideas!"
Gorou felt a little pang in his heart.
He was really passionate about science fiction. But lying to another enthusiast like her weighed on him.
But...
'I'll have to silence my morals.'
"You seem pretty versatile. Do you also do martial arts?"
Gorou shot a side glance at Yamcha, who seemed determined to make him lose points with Bulma and Tights.
"I'm more of a magician and scientist than a pure fighter. But I'm also good with my fists."
To illustrate his point, he made a flame appear wrapped around his fist.
"W... what!! You're a magician?!"
Yamcha wasn't the only one to exclaim.
Bulma and Tights stepped back seeing the fire envelop his fist without burning his clothes.
As for Bikini, she screamed, dropping the appetizers she was holding.
Understandable reaction.
"My god! You... you're burning!!"
"W-wait mom, don't come near with the fire extinguisher!"
Too late.
Bikini activated the fire extinguisher and sprayed Gorou without hesitation.
"Mom, it's just magic! And... it's not dangerous... I think."
Bulma, having already seen magic up close, took charge of calming her mother.
She even mentioned Boss Rabbit, as well as Puar and Oolong's magical powers.
Meanwhile, Yamcha clenched his fists, his eyes fixed on Gorou's, a predatory smile on his face.
'Damn... I had forgotten I'm in a story where even animals want to fight to the death.'