Sun from the Moon

03. Beginning

- The child -

Senku frowned.

Since the scientist could be so ignorant about such things, the child was sure he wasn't able to identify the small object, even though he probably knew it wouldn't answer any of his questions. On the contrary, François and Yuzuriha had obviously guessed what it was, same as Gen, given the way he'd been stroking the boy's hair in an absent but infinitely gentle way since the tiny ball had slipped into Senku's hand, tinkling subtly under their eyes.

« What is it? » The blonde warrior asked, moving behind Senku to have a better look. « Could this be the famous time machine? »

Yuzuriha shook her head with a soft smile.

« If I'm not mistaken, this is a bola, a special jewel for pregnant women. » She said, as Senku straightened up, putting it back into the kid's hand while massaging his temples. « Usually, it comes with a long chain, so the ball sits right on the mother's belly. It emits gentle chimes in sync with her movements to soothe the baby in her womb. » She clasped her hands behind her back, looking nostalgic. « There were all kinds of them in our time. Even I had thought about getting one, when... um, anyway! »

Whereas the brunette noticed she'd said this out loud, even more in front of her fiancé, both turning tomato-red, the child let his gaze wander over the small, motionless jewel in his hand. Seeing it among those red marks -the name 'Gen' written by that person- was disturbing, almost unbearable, and he felt like he was running out of air as Kohaku asked.

« Does it belong to your mother? »

The lynx-eyed blonde seemed captivated by the concept, unless it was by the glowing of the tiny golden nest made of stylized, intertwined branches. She was curious, and there was no hidden motive behind her question. But at her words, the child turned towards Gen's arms that had instinctively closed around him, biting his lips, face buried in the mentalist's clothes, trying to draw strength from his embrace while he articulated to protect his pseudo-amnesia.

« I just know... that's precious to me... »

The following silence was short as Senku spoke, his blank tone revealing a strange discomfort bordering on annoyance, which made the child snuggling up closer to Gen, realizing he was already causing more fuss than he wanted, but unable to pull himself together for the moment.

« Since miss gorilla has made the kid cry, we'll take a break. » The young leader said, as the girl protested loudly.

« I'm not a gorilla and he's not crying! »

« But he's sad, Kohaku-chan. »

This time, the child almost hiccupped.

The mentalist rarely expressed himself with such a cold, almost stern voice. Usually, he solved everything with a smile, more or less false and bitter under the always perfectly smooth and honeyed surface. At this moment however, the subtle nuance in his voice showed he wasn't very interested in smoothing things over. He knew for sure this was just clumsiness on Kohaku's part, but right now, Gen was like his future version, on edge and ready to show his claws when it came to his son.

So, the child shivered in his arms, hearing the blonde's apologetic sigh.

Then, Senku's imposed break started.

—

It was 864 seconds ago.

The child had counted them one by one, struggling to leave Gen's arms, eyes closed, breathing his delicate and soothing scent while trying to order his thoughts.