After chatting for a while, A2 finished the final dish.
11B immediately got up to help serve the food, looking very diligent.
At this time, the twin sisters who assisted A2 in finishing the cooking also sat down beside the dining table, then the older sister Devola took out several bottles from the small pouch she carried with her.
"One bottle is wine, the other bottles are juice. Aiden, those fruits you gave us were of very good quality. Using them to brew wine would have been too wasteful, so we squeezed them all into juice." Devola opened a bottle of juice and poured a glass, then pushed it in front of Aiden.
"You didn't leave any for yourselves?" Aiden asked.
"No." Devola shook her head, then said, "Juice doesn't keep well, so we simply brought all of it over. Good things should be shared by everyone, shouldn't they?"
Looking at Devola's selfless expression, Aiden was silent for a while, then slightly nodded his head.
While waiting for 11B to serve the dishes, Aiden picked up the juice and took a sip, then grinned. Honestly speaking, fresh-squeezed juice tasted alright, but in terms of mouthfeel, it actually wasn't as good as the processed kind.
But in this barren world, being able to drink this stuff was already pretty good, no need to be picky, so he poured the remaining juice into his mouth all at once.
After Aiden drank the juice like a cow drinking water, 11B brought the last dish over and placed it in the middle of the table.
It was a pot of stew, mainly made up of equally cut pieces of meat. According to Popola, that meat was wild boar meat, and it was personally hunted and freshly killed by A2 near the camp that afternoon.
Although he was very moved by A2's actions, after smelling it, Aiden still decided not to be the first to taste it.
But A2 clearly didn't think the same way. She directly served Aiden a big bowl, then stared at him without blinking, waiting for his evaluation.
Aiden had no choice but to brace himself and take a bite, then looked at the twin sisters in some surprise. Although the stewed meat smelled strongly fishy, that was the natural smell of wild boar, it was much lighter when eaten. The taste was surprisingly okay. This was clearly thanks to the twin sisters.
However, remembering Yakor's words, Aiden still praised A2, "Big improvement. Tastes really good."
A2 immediately smiled happily, then sat beside Aiden. She didn't eat herself, just kept watching Aiden eat, which made him feel immense pressure.
Finally finishing the meal, and after cleaning up the table, the androids gathered together again to chat.
Although this time Devola didn't drink too much, the twin sisters still didn't leave and naturally joined in the conversation.
Their topic was also very simple, just talking about cooking. Probably because they felt this was the most representative aspect of human life, they were surprisingly invested in the conversation.
Taking this opportunity, Aiden told them he was going out to the corridor to get some fresh air, then left the room.
Of course, he didn't really go to get fresh air. Although the resistance camp was located in a place similar to an oasis, most of the surrounding area was still desert. If you really wanted fresh air, you'd get a mouthful of sand first.
He just wanted to smoke a cigarette. But come to think of it, spending all day with androids, he had almost quit smoking. He could only sneak one in once in a while to relieve the fatigue.
Taking out a cigarette and lighting it, Aiden exhaled smoke while raising his head to look at the moon in the sky. The corridor was open, so he could see clearly.
A desert-dominated terrain had one good point, not many clouds, or not thick ones, so the moonlight here was strangely bright, even bright enough to cast shadows.
Looking at the moon, Aiden squinted slightly, slowly recalling some matters related to the human base on the moon.
Although there were actually no humans at the human base on the moon, there were quite a few androids living inside. And except for a very few high-level androids who knew the truth, most androids didn't even realize they were working on the human base. Deceived by high-level androids, they always thought they were performing missions under the sea on Blue Star.
But that's not to say no android ever discovered the truth. Aiden had heard of an android who had once curiously walked out of the base. As for what happened in the end, he didn't know.
Thinking of this, Aiden sighed, tossed away the cigarette butt in his hand, and lit another one.
But he had barely taken a couple puffs of this one when he noticed a familiar person standing in the middle of the street, curiously watching him, or rather, watching the cigarette in his hand.
"Kaine… why is this guy here?"
Realizing it was Kaine, Aiden quickly threw away the more-than-half-smoked cigarette in his hand, lowered his head to crush the butt out, then kicked it into the corner junk pile. This thing was almost never seen in the current world, for the curiosity-overloaded Kaine, it would definitely spark interest.
But clearly, it was already too late. Also, his behavior made it seem like he was trying to hide something. When he looked back toward the street center, Kaine was gone. Just as he was puzzled, he heard the thud thud thud of boots on the stairs.
Helplessly turning his head, he saw Kaine coming out from the stairwell, charging toward him with great curiosity, shouting, "Ho ho ho! Aiden! I just saw you biting on a strange thing with sparks and smoke, what was that? Is it something left from the human era?"
Before Aiden could think of how to reply, she sniffed the air and suspiciously tilted her head, "I smelled a strange odor. According to analysis, it contains multiple harmful substances. One of them is even recorded in the memory database. It's called… nicotine. Nicotine only appears in…"
Then, she showed a look of sudden realization, excitedly shouting, "Right! Nicotine only appears in tobacco! Ha! I got it! You were just smoking, weren't you? You must have been! I remember humans loved smoking. Am I right?"
Aiden pushed away Kaine's head, who was leaning in like a dog sniffing him, and said impatiently, "If you already know, why ask?"
"That's just to confirm~" Kaine didn't mind Aiden's push, leaning in again with a cheeky expression.
"What does smoking feel like? Also, I heard nicotine is harmful to humans, I just wonder if it affects androids too. Your actions were so smooth, you must've smoked for a long time, right? Come on, tell me!"
Looking at the curious baby Kaine, Aiden could only reply helplessly, "Doesn't affect me anyway."
"So it doesn't affect androids! Mhm, collected another data point! Great! The sudden urge I had tonight to take a walk was totally right!" Kaine stood straight, lifted her chin and nodded, looking very pleased with herself.
Then suddenly her eyes lit up, and she looked at Aiden with a smile.
Aiden's heart skipped a beat under her gaze. Feeling uneasy, he stepped back and cautiously asked, "What do you want?"
"Hehe, um, do you have any extra tobacco? Let me try a bit. Just one, one puff is fine." Kaine said, trying hard to make her smile gentler.
"No." Aiden refused outright. He didn't want to turn her into a smoker, even though he felt androids probably wouldn't get addicted.
Seeing Aiden refuse, Kaine became persistent and even started groping him.
Aiden had no choice but to resist with all his might, pushing her head away. But during the struggle, the door suddenly opened.
Hearing the door open, Aiden almost thought a second round was about to happen, a repeat of what happened during the fishing trip, and quickly turned his head to look. Then he saw it was 2B who came out, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Only… for some reason, he seemed to catch a trace of strange emotion flash in 2B's eyes…
Aiden couldn't understand what that strange color meant, but he didn't have time to think, Kaine was still groping him, becoming more and more outrageous, even starting to strip his clothes.
He had no choice but to focus all his strength on stopping Kaine's inappropriate actions, saying aloud, "Kaine, stop it! Don't grope me!"
"Please~ just let me try! Just one puff! One puff is enough!" Kaine shouted, sounding like an addict.
In the end, Aiden had no choice. Hardening his heart, he grabbed Kaine's left hand with one hand, her head with the other, and with his abdomen against her buttocks, held her head pressed against the corridor wall in an extremely intimate position.
But probably because Kaine's figure was too good, her full hips actually gave Aiden a strange feeling. He adjusted his posture without a trace to avoid having too much of a physiological reaction.
Speaking of which, Kaine was also a combat-type android. Her strength was not much less than a typical YoRHa combat unit's, in fact, compared to Aiden's multiple-times-strengthened human body, she was actually stronger. But she was just fooling around and didn't use her full strength, so Aiden was able to hold her down.
Kaine's right cheek was pressed flat against the wall, slightly squashed, it looked very funny, but she wasn't angry at all. Instead, she pouted and said to 2B, "2B, help me!"
But 2B had spent a long time with Kaine and knew her playful personality well. She slightly shook her head, refused, and said, "Kaine, stop fooling around."
"What~ Why are you also siding with Aiden? So mean! We're both from the human military camp, and your commander is my good friend… don't tell me you like him?"
"Don't talk nonsense. YoRHa types aren't allowed to develop emotions." 2B's eyes narrowed, and her tone turned strict.
"As if anyone believes that. Tch, what a stupid rule." Kaine clearly wasn't one to follow rules. She muttered, then pitifully said to Aiden, "Aiden, can you let me go now? My face is almost crushed. Or you can keep holding me like this, I don't mind. But if I'm not pretty anymore, you're responsible!"
"In your dreams." Aiden immediately let go and stepped back, though he felt a bit regretful, artificial bodies weren't worse than real ones at all.
Thinking that, Aiden's eyes involuntarily drifted toward 2B. He remembered 2B had the best figure among all androids.
Although 2B wasn't wearing her combat suit now, so Aiden couldn't see clearly, the outline and curves were still visible, and her figure clearly beat Kaine's by far.
Kaine rubbed her wrist, she wasn't hurt, just wanted something to do, and she noticed Aiden's gaze at 2B.
At first, she didn't understand what Aiden was doing. But when she noticed his eyes lingering on certain parts of 2B, she narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, then suddenly opened her mouth in realization.
She suddenly recalled some knowledge she'd read somewhere in a database about gender and human sexual orientation.
'Ho ho ho, interesting,' Kaine thought. 'His behavior is becoming more and more like that of recorded humans. Ah, this is so fascinating.'
In her memory, there were quite a few androids with emotions, but none who cared about body shape. This was a huge discovery for her.
She continued thinking, 'If I can research why he's becoming like this, maybe androids could become even more human-like.'
She was different from her friend White. In her opinion, White forbidding emotions between androids was completely wrong. She hoped androids could have rich emotions and colorful lives, just like humans.
While she was lost in thought, Aiden had already withdrawn his gaze. Not because he'd had enough, but because he suddenly noticed a hint of shyness on 2B's face, making him realize that he might have just been a bit rude.
Smiling apologetically at 2B, Aiden was just about to explain himself when 2B suddenly asked, "Aiden, do you usually sleep holding A2?"
That question stunned Aiden. He remembered what had happened in the afternoon. He looked closely at 2B's expression but saw only calmness, which left him uncertain. He then cautiously asked, "Why are you asking?"
"No reason. Just a little curious." 2B's tone was also very calm.
"Really just curious?" Aiden didn't believe it. 'Who suddenly asks something like that out of curiosity?'
2B didn't answer. She only asked again, "When you hold her while sleeping, how does she react?"
That question confused Aiden, but he still answered, "She doesn't really react much, so why are you asking?"
"No reason." 2B shook her head, then turned and went back into the room.
Watching 2B's back, Aiden frowned. He vaguely felt that the person he hugged that afternoon… might have actually been 2B.
Only, why she did that, he couldn't figure out. Shaking his head, Aiden gave up thinking and returned to the room, leaving only Kaine still standing there lost in thought.
After returning, Aiden deliberately looked at 2B again, but she was chatting with A2, seemingly unaware of his gaze. Instead, it was A2, who had her back turned, that sensed it, turned her head, and smiled at him.
Aiden also smiled and nodded at A2, then entered the bedroom.
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