Petrified | Dr. Stone

21.

"We're going to make a refrigerator."

Senku's statement did not surprise Inoko a bit. Her facial expression remained neutral as she watched his primitive companions disassemble their previous works such as the telephone.

Right after they finally met and talked to each other face-to-face, Senku immediately announced that they are going to find a hospital to save Tsukasa's little sister, Mirai. Inoko learned that the explosion and tremor from which caused her injuries were actually from the bombs that Senku created on the exact same day. Again, another impressive work of Senku.

However, just when they thought that everything is going well, Hyouga just had to intervene and tried to attack them. Mirai was saved, all right, but Tsukasa got badly injured after protecting her from Hyouga's spear. Inoko did not know any further details, but she knew that those wounds needed to have surgery.

Thus the plan to create a refrigerator was made in order to put Tsukasa into a 'temporary death' until they find a solution to save him.

At this point, Inoko is thinking of what Senku can't do. He's like a walking google in this stone age! They won't even need google if they have him!

"He's..." she looked down with a frown. "...amazing."

"You are Inoko, right?" A boy with a rope tied around his hair like a headband asked.

"Yes. And you are...?"

"The genius sciencer, Chrome!" He stood up and proudly pointed to himself. She just stared at him, not knowing what to react with the weird facial expression he has on his face. Senku and the old man seems to be already used to this though as they did not even bat an eye on what he's doing and just continued their work.

The masked kid beside him also stood up. "I'm Suika!" She introduced herself, raising her hands. Inoko smiled at this.

"... And this is Old man Kaseki." Chrome gestured to the old man beside Senku. She bowed at him which he returned. After that, she looked at Chrome again as he cleared his throat.

"Thank you for helping me the other day!"

She blinked. "What did I do?"

"You were with Ukyo when you gave me the battery, right? That helped me a lot!"

"Oh. That would mean that he was the prisoner."

Inoko just nodded at him. Chrome returned to disassembling the telephone and Inoko just continued watching them.

"You're wrong, Chrome-san..." she thought. "It's not me. That was all Ukyo-san. I did not do anything at all..."

Inoko carefully adjusted her sling around her shoulders. Her hands then automatically went down to the bandages on her legs. This caught Senku's attention.

"Oh, that's right." He suddenly said, stopping to look at Inoko. "Did they gave you an antibiotic?"

"Antibiotic?" Her eyebrows rose in surprise. They have antibiotic in this era? She shook her head, saying 'No'. Nobody gave her any medicine yet. Heck, she didn't even asked for it because she didn't know that they do have medicine.

"Isn't that bad?" Chrome said. "That wound isn't small, you know?"

That's true. Especially the gash on her leg. Inoko looked at it, seeing a faint color of blood seeping through the clothes. Time to have it cleaned again.

"I'll ask for some later. Thank you for your concern." She said, giving a small bow to them. Senku snickered.

"Kukuku... you can say that again and again. Then you'll have an amputation sooner."

Her face instantly turned blue at the sudden thought of having her limb removed. Senku's evil laugh in the background did not help at all as she imagined him cutting her leg, saying that it is the only way to treat her because she did not take care of herself properly.

"Noooo! Infection is scary!"

_____

After getting a dose of antibiotic from Senku, she went back to watching them work. Inoko remained a spectator. Silence resumed. Only the sound of them dismantling can be heard. No words were spoken for the next minutes as all of them were too focused on their task.

"So they have antibiotic, huh." Inoko thought, staring at the back of Senku's head. "That meant Senku-san is also capable of making medicine from scratch."

Her head hung low, her bangs covering her eyes as she looked at her own feet. There was a frown on her face as she continued watching him from her peripheral vision.

"Ooh. What's up?" A voice suddenly said, making her look up to see who just arrived. It was Nikki who asked. Behind her was Ukyo and...

"Yo-san?!"

"Eh? What-what-what?"

The man was so shocked at her sudden outburst. Inoko even stood up after seeing him, but sat down quickly after feeling pain on her wound.

"Yo-san!?" Inoko repeated. "You're alive?"

Turns out that Yo just faked his death after getting tricked by Chrome. The idea of being beaten by a primitive person is something that the prideful ex-warden can't accept. He has no face to show to Tsukasa after letting the prisoner escape. And so, he gave his stone mask to one person and ordered him to report that he died heroically.

Everyone was stunned at his... stupidity. There is also the fact that he is also tricked by Homura into letting her out.

Inoko's mouth just hung open. "So it's all a lie? A lie!? I thought I just contributed to a murder, you stupid! And you're telling me it's all because of your pride!?"

It's a good thing that Inoko can manage her emotions somewhat well. Or so she thought.

The others backed away as a dark aura surrounded her. She's forcing a smile, but the twitching of her eyebrows and the cross popping veins appearing on her face clearly says that she's holding back.

"W-well. Everything worked out in the end, right?" Gen, who also just arrived, said.

"That's right. Everything is fine in the end. Nobody died. That's all that matters." Inoko still had that forced smile on her face, but the dark aura is still there.

Ukyo, the ever so kind Ukyo, decided to step up and tried to change the topic. "A-nyways! What are you doing?"

They all turned to the dismantled objects, a few just noticing what they are doing. Senku grinned at them.

...

"Whaaaaaaaat? These savages are seriously gonna..."

"What are you talking about? We're all savages right now!"

"I-Incredible... what are they making?"

Well... their reactions are pretty much expected. Yo's comment about them being a savage made Inoko frown though. "That sounded like an insult, or maybe I'm just overthinking...?"

"Yeah. It's a refrigerator." Senku confirmed. "Or maybe a freezer."

Inoko is the only modern people who did not show their surprise at what Senku is planning to create. The rest had their jaw dropped as if he had just performed a miracle.

Gen is used to Senku that he already anticipated the scientist to do something unexpected again. But a refrigerator? "Ahhh. Looks like the other modern folks has the same thoughts as I did. All you can do is laugh, right? Ahahahaha."

Inoko looked away. The feelings that started after realizing how great Senku is returned. "If it is what Senku-san says, then he will do it. I know. He already made a telephone so making a refrigerator is not impossible. I mean... it is Senku-san. He's a genius."

She frowned.