Ito Ai: A New Dawn

Back to present…

"Huh? Can't you do the same thing? I saw you kick a first type like a soccer ball so hard I don't even think the thing came back down." Ai said with a laugh. 

Ai and Eiji had been making their way back to the base when Ai saw a new type of machina with new weapons. They chased after it and had just now caught up to it. Mio looked at the two laughing and joking away in confusion. She had no idea how these two who looked drenched from the radioactive rain outside were able to smile in a situation like this. But what shocked her, even more, was how they did not melt in the rain.

"How..." Mio finally spoke up.

"Oh? Ai, we ended up saving this woman here." Eiji said just now realizing someone else was here.

"What do you know." Ai turned and looked at the girl. She then looked at the corpse filled with holes. "This one here your friend?" Ai asked.

"Ah, yes... Tomo..." Mio began to tear up. 

"You don't have time to cry. If you stay here you are dead. You can mourn your loss later" Ai said without much emotion. 

Mio choked back her tears and stared at Ai. She knew what Ai said was right but she was amazed that a girl, so much younger than herself was so level heard. "Your, right sorry..."

"No need to apologize. Now I will give you an option. You can stay here and die or you can come with us. We do not have much time so you must choose now." Ai said coldly. 

Eiji facepalmed as he looked at the death glare Ai was giving the woman. 'Ai, you know, you do not need to give her a threatening look like that.' 

"I-I would like to come with you but..." Mio looked at the rain coming down and knew she would instantly die a painful death if she tried to run around in this rain.

"Eiji, hand her that suit. It was tailored to you but it will still fit her." Ai turned her gaze from Eiji back to the girl and continued: "That suit is hot as hell but it will allow you to come with us. I only brought it with us in case it was needed. I suggest you strip down to your underwear before putting it on."

Mio blushed thinking how she was going to need to undress in front of these two but if it meant she could survive showing a little skin was nothing. "I will do it!" Mio took the radiation suit from Eiji and began stripping right there. Eiji quickly turned around because he felt a death glare stabbing into him. But he wondered why it was always the girls who were quick to strip. 

Ai walked over to Eiji and hugged him from behind, stood on her tiptoes, and whispered. "If I catch you looking at another girl I will kill you." 

Eiji felt a shiver run down his spine, but he was also happy. Although they were not official, Ai was very protective of keeping him to herself. He had noticed that Ai was much more attached to him now after he went through his mutation. "My eyes and body belong to you. Why else would I risk undergoing mutation."

"Mmm… Good." Ai said with a laugh as she jumped on his back and kissed his cheek. Ai had not wanted to fall for Eiji. She wanted to keep her relationship with him simple. But when she took care of him and was so worried about whether or not he would wake up to the point that she had even shed tears. She realized she had already had strong feelings for Eiji. But of course, she would keep things as they were for now. She did not dare say her true feelings out loud.

"Done… You were not kidding when you said this was hot..." Mio said. She was already feeling stuffy. 

"Good, let's go. I will carry you on my back, Eiji will take care of any machina on the way. We need to make it back in a few hours. By the way, what's your name?" Ai said as she hopped down from Eiji's back. She did not expect Mio to walk around in that suit.

"Mio, Tamaki Mio." Mio answered.

"Then Mio, I'm Ai, and this is Eiji. And just to be clear. Eiji is off limits." Ai said coldly before squatting down in front of Mio. "Get on." 

"Huh? Ah yeah… Thank you." Mio answered. She was very confused by Ai's comment. Mio wondered why Ai would say that when she was much older than Eiji.

"Eiji, wipe that smirk off your face, it makes you look like an idiot." Ai said before charging out into the rain. She did her best to hide her blushing cheeks.

Eiji touched his face and let out a laugh. "Ai, why are you blushing!?"

"Shut up!" Ai yelled back not slowing her pace at all. 

---

"We can't hold out much longer!" Yoshi yelled. 

Bullets and beams of light were flashing back and forth lighting up the darkness. Everyone in the base was currently fighting for their lives. The machina wave did not only come from one direction but many. And the one that came from the south had just started attacking the base.

Mai, Yoshi, and Shogo were doing their best to kill as many machina as they could. Kuri and Ayase were running back and forth delivering supplies. When they were waiting for orders they would use the pistols Yoshi gave them to try to damage a few of them here and there. 

"Half of these bastards have shields!" Mai yelled As she ducked behind a broken wall. Their bullets were not doing much of anything. Only the melee machina were falling. Leaving the ranged machina with their shields. "Fuck! Ai, hurry up or you will come back to a bunch of corpses!"

"Mai, if you wish to die so much, I can toss you out there to go say hi!"

***

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.