Sweeter than Cola [Dr. Stone]

|Twelve|

"We're almost there," Hanako pointed out. "We're close to the location of the third smoke signal. Do you think the person who sent it has left yet?"

"Kinda hard to say," Senku replied. "Most likely they'd go back to the first one and see if there was some sort of reply. Or..."

Suddenly, there was a loud noise in the distance. Looking for the source, they found that it was a large tree that had somehow fallen over, in the direction they were supposed to be heading. Surely, that couldn't be some mere coincidence. Assuming the worst immediately, the duo dashed over to the scene.

"Do you think it was Tsukasa?" Hanako asked as they ran, not at lightning speed, but not too slowly as well.

"Well, who else could it be?" Senku sped up. "The question is why. Most likely he was attacking someone."

"But Taiju and Yuzuriha went in the other direction. Who could it be?"

"Let's find out then, shall we?" Soon, they did. Arriving at the scene of the crime, the found a large, and obviously heavy, tree had dropped on top of a relatively tiny person, seemingly crushing them under its weight.

"You!" the victim spoke. She was a girl, probably close in age to them, with blonde hair and blue eyes. "You're the gentleman sorcerer who protected those girls. You're alive!" She stared at the two. "And you're one of the girls he sacrificed himself for!"

"Don't waste energy talking!" Senku snapped as he rushed to assess the situation. "We can introduce ourselves until we're sick of each other once you're safe! Save your strength for now."

Hanako crouched down to her level. "Can you hold on until sunset?" she asked first. "If you're about to die, we might manage to blast this thing off you with what little gunpowder we have left."

"But if you give us some time..." Senku went through the whole process again in his head. "You might die from waiting for so long, but there's a ten billion percent chance I can save you!!"

The mysterious girl hesitated, their words still processing in her mind when the scientist yelled again. "Listen! You have two choices, only you can answer so answer now! Which will it be?"

There was a beat of silence before she took a deep breath, "Right. My internal organs and bones are fine," she nodded. "I can endure."

With her approval, the two got quick to work. Senku got to chopping wood while Hanako carved the chunks into wheels, using a little gunpowder to speed up the process. "The tree weighs about a metric ton," the scientist said, expecting his assistant to do the rest.

Hanako nodded, playing with numbers in her head. "We only need to lift half at an angle. So 500kg. Your weight of 60kg, Senku, multiplied by two-cubed is exactly 480kg, which- if you really think about it- is just about 500kg. So three of them should just be enough."

Senku shoved dirt into some bamboo pipes while Hanako made some string. She lathered it with soap while Senku set everything up. Meanwhile the mysterious girl just watched them work in awe. When finally the whole process was done, Senku chuckled. "21st century kids learnt this in elementary school but it was invented a few hundred years before Christ. By old man Archimedes."

Hanako beamed from her post by the other girl, ready to help her up when the tree was finally moved. "With this, a high school nerd like Senku can wield strength on par with monsters like Tsukasa or Taiju," she explained though she knew the blonde didn't know who either of the two were.

"The pulley!"

The scientist jumped, holding onto the string and allowing the invention to do its work. Seconds later, it took effect and the tree was lifted with ease. Hanako quickly helped the girl out from under. "Are you alright? Can you move?"

"Astounding," was all the girl managed to say. "Not with your knowledge of the archi-something fellow. But how you kept hammering away at the problem one step at a time." She looked at Senku with a warm smile. "My name is Kohaku. And I do believe, I've fallen for you quite hard."

The Science Duo froze.

Then Hanako broke out in a fit of giggles as Senku deadpanned. "Seesh, annoying crap like that makes me wanna curl up and die." He looked ready to hurl. "I mean, really? You've got a crush on me now, in an emergency like this?"

"Kuu, don't be rude!" Hanako wheezed, having lost her breath from how hard she was laughing. "It's not everyday you meet a girl who's in love with you."

"I'm not saying that at all!!" Kohaku quickly defended herself. "I'm saying I'll cooperate with you because I like you!!"

"Oh." The leek-blonde seemed to have relaxed. "I appreciate it."

Hanako pouted, "No fair, it was funny seeing Senku getting stumped like that. What if you were the one to finally make him believe in love!?"

"A brain clouded by love is the most irrational kind," he lectured. "It leads to nothing but trouble."

"I dunno," the emeraldette shrugged. "Maybe it depends on the way you look at it. Doubt it would distract you completely from everything else. I person in love could most likely even find a new drive to work harder, in order to impress their lover.. or ensure they have a bright future together. Makes sense to me."

Senku gave the girl a bored look. "Everything makes sense to you as long as you're the one who said it, ya moron."

"I am not!' she whined.

Kohaku looked at the two's interaction. They didn't look too similar- despite both of their hair having a green tinge to it- so they obviously weren't siblings. They seemed extremely close as well. And when the gentleman sorcerer thought she had a crush on him, he looked beyond disgusted, but when the other girl brought it up, he tolerated it a bit more. Could it be? she thought. The only reason he sacrificed himself to save her was because...

"Kohaku?" Hanako snapped her out of her thoughts before yawning. "Do you mind if I check you once more? Just to make sure you're completely fine, that is. The tree was quite heavy, a normal person would have at least a fractured rib."

The blonde had her doubts and was going to deny when the scientist cut her off. "Just let her check. I guarantee she won't let you off the hook until she's certain you're good enough to run a marathon," he tried to persuade. "She won't sleep if she's worried either, and I've got better things to use my energy on that lug around a half-asleep moron."

"I'm fine, I assure you," Kohaku defended. "But if you insist."

Hanko didn't find the leek-blonde's ways of persuasion to be the best, but she was relived she could check the girl over once more. He was right. If Hanako were to be within range of a supposedly injured person, knowing full well she had the knowledge to help them but couldn't, she really wouldn't sleep at night. "Sit down, alright? Tell me if it hurts anywhere."

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By the time Hanako was done with her examination, the sun had long set and the small group settled down for the night. The emeraldette was, of course, the first to fall asleep. Senku fell into a light sleep too but soon woke up when he felt something wasn't right. Sure enough, he saw Kohaku had fallen asleep with weapons in hand, ready to attack at any moment.

"So you new humans sleep with weapons now?" he questioned.

"Hm, pretty obvious I don't have love on the brain, right?" the blonde replied, opening her eyes with a grin. "I may be curious about your ways but that doesn't mean I trust you. This is just a habit from having to protect myself my entire life. Don't let it get to you."

Senku would have questioned her further had he not felt another body press against him. The sleeping emeraldette snuggled up to him, unintentionally reminding him of the late hour. "If you drool on me again, I swear..." he said then sighed. "I ain't so brave to suddenly attack a lioness like you. So don't waste another 0.1 seconds and get to sleep already."

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~✨Blu<3✨