Eternal Skies [Dr. Stone]

Chapter Six: Storm Goddess

(Disclaimer: Acts performed in this chapter are purely fictional and not based on accurate scientific facts.)

Aria chuckled, shaking her head, "That's just Senku for you." She shrugged, sliding next to the said boy with an equally dark look on her face. "I mean even if you were starving to death, you'd probably accept food from a complete stranger if you were gullible enough~" Aria grinned widely with a giggle.

Kohaku jumped in surprise, a shadow over her face as she shouted, "You're no different than him!"

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People began to flock toward the incredible foreign aroma of the ramen. A few tried it after seeing familiar faces sell the dish, and upon seeing those villagers enjoying it, more of the people began to dig in. Their warm expressions and extreme reactions brought a smile to Aria and Senku's faces, though Senku with most of the ulterior motives. His devilish expressions said that enough, Kohaku being very off put by it.

As the village began to gather, Aria stepped to the side. She wasn't the biggest fan of crowds, perhaps it was because she wasn't the greatest at mingling with a lot of people, or because of the countless days she spent alone in her workshop; she wasn't too sure. Picking up some bamboo and wood from her scavenging, she started to work on upgrading their bellows. Senku's previous designs were far too inefficient with the amount of air they needed to consistently pump in.

Grabbing the blueprints drawn with charcoal on a piece of leather, she sat down and gave the level two pumps a quick look. The scientist and engineer earlier had designed them to have a constant rate of air flow with as little escape, ending up with four vertical shifting-type pumps. Putting them together one after the other, they were thankfully not too tedious to build so Aria was nearly done.

"Man, this ramen makes a man wickedly thirsty. What I wouldn't give for a cola," An unfamiliar voice said from behind the rock Aria sat against. The girl chuckled, "Yeah, tell me about it." It wasn't after a moment that the realization hit. 'Wait, Cola?' She thought, her eyes widening, hands pausing her work. She looked up, seeing Senku with the same expression and Kohaku looking in the direction of the man that just spoke.

"A friend of yours, Senku?" She asked the closer boy. "No actually," the latter responded, putting down his serving chopsticks. Kohaku caught the attention of Kinro and Ginro who were bickering. "Enough squabbling you two," To which they responded in a confused matter. "I'll get straight to the point-" she stretched, her tone becoming more serious, "There's danger."

In a matter of seconds, the protective trio surrounded the man behind Aria, weapons drawn. "Explain yourself. Unless you want your throat to be cut open...do you serve the 'long-haired man'?" Kohaku demanded, her gaze as sharp as her blade. Aria stood, turning to get a proper look at the man.

After a pause, he stood up, the man's lips curled into a smile. "Oh dear. Not that I don't like being interrogated by such a cutie, but I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else," He responded, looking up at them properly. "I don't serve any 'long-haired man'. I've been all on my lonesome, since breaking out of the stone."

Seeing the stranger's face, the memory of his appearance on the book cover of this man's work in Senku's science club classroom came to mind. The scientist crossed his arms, "I thought you looked strangely familiar somehow. You're Asagiri Gen, right?"

Kohaku looked at the green-haired man, lowing her weapon slightly, "So you do know him?"

"No, not even one millimeter, he's just some magician who wrote a trashy book on psychology," Senku said, leaning against the ramen stand. Gen looked toward the man, a hunch telling him that this was the scientist considering he was familiar with Gen's book. "Read my work have you? How wonderful~ Calling it trashy is a bit cruel, though. Please, call me a mentalist."