Petrified | Dr. Stone

15.

Inoko bit her lip in worry as she walked alongside Yuzuriha. She imagined several scenarios on her head and all of them always resulted to her hissing in agitation.

The three of them decided to let Taiju handle the case about Nikki. It sounded perfect at that time since Taiju was the one closest to the said girl compared to Yuzuriha and Inoko. They are both on the Physical Labor Team and has at least some interaction. It would be really suspicious if either Yuzuriha or Inoko would suddenly strike a conversation to Nikki. However, Inoko can't help but be worried since it is Taiju they were talking about.

"Inoko-san?" Yuzuriha suddenly broke the silence. There was no hint of doubt or worry on her face.

She inwardly scolded herself at this. "Yuzuriha-san and Senku-san placed their faith on Taiju-san and they all knew each other for a long time now. I am not in the place to doubt Taiju-san at all."

She took a deep breath. "I'm all right..." she said, still feeling ashamed on doubting them.

The times are changing now and Inoko needed something to do to get her nerves down. The consequences of her actions just now dawning on her, not that she regretted any of it. She absolutely did not wished to undo her actions but the thought of what would happen to her after is what she feared. Inoko had just realized that she cannot consider herself a civilian student protected by the laws anymore.

Yuzuriha said that maybe crafts would help her feel better and that is how the two of them are walking back to the talor's place.

"Do you know how to stitch, Inoko-san?" Yuzuriha asked.

"...hm? I learned some on our class, Home Economics. I'm afraid I may be not as good as you though..."

"It's fine! It's fine! Everyone has their own starting point! Who knows, maybe you are even better than me at this."

"Eh? What are you talking about? There's no way an amateur like me can do that!"

"Who knows? Inoko-san... I heard that you are good at anything you do so who knows?"

Inoko had to turn her head away to hide her embarrassment as Yuzuriha continued laughing in the background. She knew that the other girl was just teasing her... but still! Inoko still can't handle those kind of jokes.

"Is this what friends do?"

They passed at the entrance of the living quarters but the assigned guards were nowhere near the gate. Inoko did not even need to ask where they are as she saw the group huddled together away- not too far but still away from their assigned post.

Inoko got curious at this. "It seems that gossiping is not going to disappear as long as there are humans."

She is not one to judge them though. The act of eavesdropping is just as bad as gossiping.

She strained her ears to hear what they were talking about. There's no other entertainment other than what's happening inside their own growing group, meaning that whatever they were talking about might be useful for her. Inoko needed to know what the news is. It might come in handy in the future. Information is power afterall.

"...scary..."

"...leaders..."

"...prison..."

"... primitive... "

"...he's... shame..."

She can only hear bits of their conversation. Half of it didn't make any sense and Inoko can only hear gibberish whispers. She managed to pick up a few words but not the entire context.

It's fine though. A few words is enough for Inoko who spent half of her life listening to others' conversation.

"So we have scary, leaders, prison, and primitive. I can only think of Tsukasa-san and Hyouga-san to be "scary" since Ukyo-san didn't really fit on that word. Did they have a leader meeting or something? That could be it. Prison and primitive can only pertain to Senku-san's people who planted the telephone." She winced at the realization that she could be the reason why they were caught. "I'm sorry!"

Yuzuriha climbed first and offered a hand to Inoko in which she gladly accepted. They didn't expect to see a messy room that it left them stunned on the entrance. Unfinished clothes were scattered on the ground along with the sewing kit and the previously neatly folded ones were also on the ground.

"I didn't know that we made such a mess..."

_____

Inoko maintained her distance as Nikki approached the telephone. She had her back turned so she can't really see what's happening but after hearing no fuss from the fangirl, Inoko thought that everything may go well according to the plan.

Soon, music played from the telephone, something that Inoko did not expect to hear.

"I was just joking when I said that they have Ms. Lillian's music. I never imagined that they actually have it..." was her thoughts while listening to the wonderful voice of the diva.

It was soothing and pleasant to the ears that Inoko just wanted to melt listening to her voice. She kind of regretted not getting into Lillian's music back when the world is still intact. Just how long has it been since she last listened to music anyways? Certainly never since she broke free from the stones.

"There's no way I'd get this wrong..." it was faint, but Inoko can hear the sob on Nikki's voice. "I... how many times have I..."

Nikki is not even trying to hide her tears to them. She stood up, smiling at the nostalgia as she remembered the reason why she remained a fan of Lillian Weinberg. "During my time in high school, with my rough exterior... How many times was I saved by Lillian's songs?"

She remembered the times when school became rough and then she would just put on her earphones and listen to her songs. It was like a magical song that somehow took all of her pain away.

And it has been past 3,700 years...

"Lillian is already gone from this world. That's true, isn't it?" Was her question. Although the answer is already obvious.

"Yeah. It's true." Senku confirmed.

"But you... brought her back to life. She'll live on... always... even if it's just in this song."

"Nikki-san really looked up to her so much, huh..." Inoko thought. It was something that she cannot relate to even if she read hundreds of books about psychology. "Never have I ever looked up to someone like how she sees Ms. Lillian. It's such a shame... "

Nikki wiped her tears away. "This is a question of science. With your power... can you restore Lillian's songs!?"

It was a desperate question. Inoko turned her head towards them quickly. "No, Senku-san! Don't give her false ho-"

"No. It's not possible." Inoko calmed down at this. "All the old record players in the world have, with ten billion percent certainty, all been reduced to dust."

Of course it's impossible. Even plastic did not survive. "That goes the same with all the literary works that our ancestors worked hard to write."

"I can only promise you this one thing: this last and final song... I will definitely protect it with the power of science!"

And that is probably the fastest and easiest recruitment Inoko has ever seen.

[Nikki has joined the Kingdom of Science!]

Inoko sighed in relief. "Now we have four and a half people. Me, Yuzuriha-san, Taiju-san and now Nikki-san. I'm still not sure about Ukyo-san-"

"Ah!" Inoko suddenly exclaimed, surprising everyone in the vicinity. She immediately hushed herself and kneeled down in front of the telephone.

"Senku-san, I need to talk to you about something."