Chapter 118: Four Years Of Dormancy

The next day Ai woke up to find herself held in Eiji's arms. She smiled and lifted her head, and kissed Eiji's lips. She then got up out of bed and got a set of clean clothes, and got dressed. On the other side of the base Mai also woke up and found herself in someone's embrace. Shogo's eyes were still tightly closed. They were both fully clothed, but last night they had fallen asleep in each other's arms.  Mai blushed as she quickly went to get up but stopped as she gazed at Shogo's face. She couldn't hide her smile as she slowly snuggled back up next to him. He was her first boyfriend. She remembered how Ai always told her that love could lead to heartache. Whether it was betrayal or due to watching your loved one die in front of you. She decided since she may not have long with Shogo, if things got bad and either one of them or both died, she would take this time and enjoy the moment. With these thoughts in mind, Mai closed her eyes and took in Shogo's scent as she went back to sleep. 

Ai, on the other hand, woke Eiji up and made him get dressed so they could head out. Eiji was half asleep as he was pulled along by Ai out of the base. Ai looked at the new neatly stacked trailers lining the walls of their base and smiled. "Come, let's head back towards my old bunker. I want to get the things there."

"Alright..." Eiji said with a yawn. He didn't understand how Ai was so energetic after keeping him up half the night kissing him. He almost lost control many times. He realized after last night that Ai was addicted to kissing him. This, of course, made him happy. He just wished he had the nerve to take it past kissing. 

Their journey to the bunker went without issue. Ai and Eiji had filled up a trailer with all the items, and Ai sealed off the bunker for good. She stood in front of her parents' graves and said a few words before returning back to the base. After which, Ai decided to see if the radioactive rain would stop but even after a month, it still continued. Ai and Eiji even had to go out and create a reservoir for the excess water so that it would not floor the base. Luckily the rain was much lighter, but it was still coming down. 

In the end, Ai and Eiji ended up going to the shipyard by themselves and returning with many containers in tow. Their continuous stockpiling of resources and building up of the base continued. Four years passed by quickly, and one thing Ai realized during this time was that no matter where she went, she never saw any machina. It was as if they were trying to avoid her, or they had just disappeared altogether. Even the base was not attacked at all during this time. But during these four years, they had built a pretty impressive base. With its box-like construction, they had built a base that was almost seven stories tall, with many automatic turrets lining the watchtowers. 

Inside the base, Ai was currently blindfolded and being led by Eiji. "Where are we going?" 

"Wait and find out." Eiji led her down the hall and into a room that had its lights out. Eiji then took the blindfold off Ai. Ai blinked a few times with her good eye  to have the lights turn on to see everyone standing there, and hanging from the ceiling was a banner that said: "Happy birthday!"

Ai's eyes opened wide, and she looked up at Eiji with a confused look. Eiji smiled and said: "Over the past four years, you have done nothing but work. You have built us a place we can finally call home. And during these past few years, we never once got a chance to celebrate your birthday. So Ai, happy eighteenth birthday!" 

Ai blushed. She was not used to these things, but she was really happy. She hugged Eiji and stood on her tiptoes, and kissed his lips. "Her and Eiji's bodies did not grow much. She only looked about sixteen, and Eiji only looked around seventeen. But in reality, Eiji was now twenty, and she was now eighteen. 

Ai looked around at everyone here and smiled as she said: "Thank you." 

Their little group had grown a little over the past four years. No one new was taken in, but Yoshi and Mio had two kids, and unexpectedly Mai and Shogo had a child as well. Kuri was now fourteen, and Ayase was twelve. So their small family had expanded to eleven people. 

The radioactive rain outside had turned into a radioactive mist the past year. Although the skies were still cloudy, it did look as if that maybe this spell of rain was finally going to break. Once it did, Ai wanted to go hunting for test subjects so she could finally test the eye she had crafted. 

Mai smiled as she walked up to Ai, giving her a hug. "Happy birthday! Now when are you going to give me a niece or nephew?" 

Ai let out a laugh and looked at Eiji: "Mmm… Maybe soon. I know after four years of not being able to lay a hand on me other than kissing that Eiji is probably at his limit." 

"You really know how to torture him."  Mai said, giving Eiji a look of pity.

"Well, unlike someone who goes and gets pregnant a year after getting a boyfriend, I think I am doing all right. I didn't think my shy little sister would be the first one to jump on her man's dick."  Ai said, raising an eyebrow. Mai blushed from ear to ear. She couldn't help what had happened. They were just talking and kissing before she knew it; one thing led to another, and they ended up doing it. "Anyway, let's eat this cake before it goes bad." 

---

Faraway in a large factory inside a large warehouse deep underground. Millions of metal figures shaped like humans could be seen reflecting in the dim lighting. All of a sudden, a loud buzzing sound was heard, and the metal figure's eyes all lit up at once. The ceiling above began to shake as sparks flew all over. The ceiling began to part, and the floor under the metal figures began to shake and slowly begin to rise up towards the ceiling. 

A new wave of Machina that Ai had never seen before was about to spread out over the land...