Perfectly Balanced [ON-GOING]

Chapter Twenty Seven: Suffering in Sickness

27. Suffering in Sickness

6-23-2023

A/N: I really really wanted to show you guys this chapter, so I decided to post it a day early!!!

I've had this chapter waiting in my drafts for over half a year now. I'm just using the extra time I have to finish and polish upcoming chapters.

Q: How do you feel about Dr. STONE cur one being over? We gotta wait until October for it to continue (/´△'＼).

-----

Good. They're asleep.

You looked at the two boys, who were completely still in their peaceful slumber. You quietly stood up and grabbed your sword, then tip-toed out of the warehouse. As you climbed down the ladder, you noticed that the sky was darker than usual. You looked up at it, and saw big, puffy clouds that were nearly blocking out the moonlight.

"Homura shouldn't be able to see me under this darkness," you muttered to yourself.

You grabbed a bunch of extra large bamboo poles in one arm and carried it towards the river, as well as a small torch in the other. When you made it to your destination, you cut the ends of the poles to create a stake, and drove them into the dirt in a circle. You tied your torch to an extra pole, then kneeled in the middle of the circle.

"Relax your muscles and clear your mind," you said out loud.

You took a deep breath, and listened to your surroundings. You heard the sounds of rushing water, and the flickers of the flame that had given you light. Crickets chirp a resounding melody around you, letting you know that you are alone. All the rest of the animals lay sleeping, and the creatures of the night shuffle within the leaves of the trees. The air was slightly humid and tranquil.

You couldn't clear it. At least a week after telling your story to your friends, your head was filled with thoughts of the scientist. Thoughts of how he's treated you, thoughts of how he looked at you, and thoughts of how you felt. You were hopelessly falling apart just at the sight of him. You desperately needed to let go of the feelings that were distracting you.

You then stood up and placed your hand hand on the handle of the katana. You immediately drew your sword and cut one of the poles in half. You looked closely to see that it wasn't a perfectly straight line. You started cutting all the rest of them in different directions, ranging from diagonal to horizontal to vertical. Very few of them were not straight as you studied each of the cuts you made.

"Damn it..." You clenched your fists together and grit your teeth. You've been lacking the precision you needed for the last couple nights that you had lost hours of sleep to perfect it. All this practice just to distract yourself from Senku.

As you got into anothet position to start doing certain moves, you felt something hit your nose. You took your hand to touch it, and felt that it was water. You felt a couple more drops hit you, and you cleared your ears to hear that the crickets around you had suddenly gone silent. Through the cracks of the clouds, the moon's light had reveal saw heavy rain coming down, starting from the mountains and heading to your direction.

Your eyes widened as you realized how fast it was coming. "Shit!"

You placed the katana back into its sheath and dashed back to shelter. Unfortunately, no matter how fast you ran, Mother Nature always caught up to you. You were instantly drenched by the frigid rainwater before you could take cover under the warehouse. You cursed at yourself and Mother Nature, then took off your wet cloak and placed it on top of the box next to the ladder. Luckily, you had an untouched cloth within your cloak pocket and used it to dry yourself, as well as your sword. You can't fight with a rusty weapon, after all.