Symbiosis

Between Love And Goodbye

Notes:

What do you mean Dr. Stone isn't a romance anime?

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Senku only wanted to gather sulfur.

"...but now that we're trapped in this strange stone world, if I say what I wanted to say, that would make me the biggest coward ever."

He didn't want to hear their conversation, he didn't care one millimeter about it.

"Senku-chan."

"We're gonna take back civilization! Save all of humanity!"

"Senku-chan..."

"After 3,700 years, when that day comes... will you listen to what I had to say back then... Yuzuriha?!"

"Senku-chan!"

"What?! What the hell do you want?!"

"I think you need to take a break," Gen patiently pointed out. "I'm pretty sure you've been hammering that same rock for over half an hour now," he added as support to his argument.

He was quite spot on, actually. Senku had been at it for 34 minutes and counting.

"Just wanted to make sure we got everything."

"We do," Gen assured him, giving him one of his confident smiles, "but it will be all worth nothing if our dear scientist is too tired to make his explosives."

Senku rolled his eyes, but otherwise, let his ax-turned-into-hammer aside.

He might have gotten a little distracted by the lovebirds' conversation but Gen was right. They already had everything they needed, at least in terms of what was at their disposal. Tomorrow they were making gunpowder.

Still, he felt the need to argue: "I'm fine."

"I'm sure you are," Gen said with a huffed laugh as he took a seat beside him

They stayed quiet for a while, watching the stars above them in comfortable silence.

Not for the first time, Senku found himself missing his telescope. With all the light pollution gone, he was sure the view would have been impressive.

Gen would probably love to see it too.

It was a fleeting thought but still enough to make him once again aware of the situation at hand.

Not for the first time, he had to remind himself that he couldn't let himself get distracted. Even Taiju and Yuzuriha were aware that now wasn't the time for romance and, contrary to them, everyone's survival depended on him keeping a clear head.

"How are you feeling about tomorrow?"

"Mm?" Gen's question caught him off guard but he quickly recovered, pulling out a confused front in the hopes that the mentalist wouldn't worry too much about him. "Alright, I guess? You said it yourself, we got everything we need."

"That's true but that's also not what I'm referring to."

Of course it wasn't. Gen was perhaps the only one aware of what would happen if their negotiations with Tsukasa broke down.

Senku looked back to where Taiju and Yuzuriha were, making sure they were still fully distracted with each other before answering: "I have no choice."

"You don't seriously believe that," Gen noted.

"What? You're going to tell me that Tsukasa is a nice guy and I shouldn't hurt him?" He asked mockingly but that didn't deter Gen at all.

"Well, Tsukasa-chan is a nice guy, at least when he's not breaking statues," he conceded, much to Senku's annoyance, "and that's exactly why I know that if it comes down to it, you will end up feeling guilty about it, even if you keep repeating to yourself that you 'had no other choice'."