Steps to survival

Chapter 13 : Reminiscence

"I should be helping Chrome," he gripped my wrist tightly.

"He'll manage, he's a big boy now, I believe he's smart enough," Senku manages a chuckle and loosens his grip on my wrist. I stood between his knees and bent down slightly before applying a hot compress.

"Here hold this a second," he took the compress and held it close to his face.

"I'm going to look at your gums, do you mind?" He hesitated for a second before giving me a head tilt.

"Good, I was gonna do it either way," he scoffed between his teeth, I slathered my hands in clean water to rid them of unpleasantries and lifted the top corner of his lip up far enough not to cause any pain.

It was red and inflamed, he hissed in discomfort so I backed away.

"Damn Senku, what happened?"

"Lacquer poisoning." I mutter an irritated 'oh my god' before handing him some saltwater.

"Gargle this, do not swallow," I ordered.

"Well there's nothing else I can do so, we can just go back to help Chrome," he just blandly nodded, his cheeks turning an unhealthy pink. I just brushed it off since he did look like a human marshmallow.

Afterwards, we worked hard on the disk, sanding it down thinly with rocks.

"I thought we'd coat the copper wire with phosphoric acid, but this lacquer oughtta work fine," Senku commented, messing with the copper wire.

Then Gen approached him hesitantly. "I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with the perfect quip, but I think I should just ask."

"What?" Just as he looked up his eyes squinted and cheeks puffed out even more. I covered my mouth to cover the threat of erupting into giggles.

"Why do you look like a human marshmallow?" Gen quizzed, eyes narrowing.

"Lacquer poisoning," he answered slowly.

Time skip

After a full day of work, Senku's facial swelling had gone down and we managed to complete our generator. We all crowded around, looking the contraption proudly.

"Aw, yeah!" Chrome raised his fist in accomplishment.

"The Kingdom of Science advances," Senku announced.

"Our dual-wield crank generator is now complete," he said hands on hips.

"So do we need to spin them both in unison?" Chrome asked.

"That going to be a pain in the ass," I grunted.

"Not if two of us work together!" Suika exclaimed bluntly, ignoring my swearing.

Chrome's head perked up,"If they get outta sync, it'll break down. The timing has to be perfect."

"Ugh, this has to be done right. If only we knew a pair who were perfectly coordinated and energetic," I raised an eyebrow at Senku's rambling and we all seemed to click at the same idea.

Kinro

Ginro

"So you came back again. What do you want this time?" Kinro croaked.

"C'mon! I'll let you guys check out our badass science machine!" Chrome tempted the two guards.

"Not interested," Kinro cut him off sternly. Chrome whimpered on the floor as a response.

"You've always been a stubborn guy, but now it feels like you're holding a grudge," I looked over to Kohaku who stood slightly defeated.

"Heh. He must still be upset that we ruined the golden spear I made for him," my focus travelled from Kohaku to Gen who was approaching the two adamant guards.

"Huh?"

"What now?" Kinro grumbled while Ginro remained silent.

"Wow, electricity sure is amazing! Thanks, sorcery! In our technological civilization, electricity lets us have all sorts of nice things!" Kinro prepared to walk away, back to the village.

"With our new generator we might even be able to create and repair gold- and silver-tipped spears," he finished. Ginro looked up into Kinro's eyes hopefully.

"Isn't that right, Senku?" Gen cheered. In seconds Senku was beside the weasel and cupped his hand to his ear.

"Electrocoating is pretty damn difficult. Do you actually know how to do it?" He whisper shouted but not loud enough for the newly coaxed idiots that were beginning to drool to hear.

"I don't have the faintest idea," he shrugged. We gave him the look of 'are you serious?'.

"I was right about you. Every word out of your mouth really is just feathery fluff," Kohaku's eyebrows dropped dramatically while giving him a dead gaze.

"Uh yeah, I don't think you'll have to worry about that," I pointed to Kinro and Ginro who's faces were dazed and blushed. I pressed my lips together and glanced over to Kohaku with raised brows. We definitely had them hooked.

Time skip

Pumping the handle in circles desperately, the two guards could be heard screaming their hearts away. I was busying myself with modifying my dress so that it had two slits that ran down either side from the top of my thigh, down to the seem. The dress went down to about knee length, maybe a few inches higher.

I heard some chatter from the rest while I distracted myself further. I was snapped back to reality when an almost blinding light hit my eyes, I followed it to the source. Senku was creating light, my mouth parted and my eyes watered in relief. I eased into a smile. We did it, after all that work, we can rid of the dark.

Although it wasn't clear on his face, Senku's eyes shone with admiration. His crimson iris glittered gorgeously in the light. His face was written in concentration, and that is when something within me snapped. I knew, that in that very moment, I had immense feelings for my friend. But the problem is... nevermind, I shouldn't think about this type of stuff.

But his smile, his smirk? His passionate love for science. That's why I love him so much. How was I not able to see this before?

Near enough every time I see him my chest tightens, my stomach perplexed me with a sickly, yet pleasant sensitivity. I sighed and shrivel away from the newly made light.

That night captivating memories tormented me. All the times I was happier with my friend group and small family. My mother, brother, Yuzuriha and Taiju. Where are they? Are they okay? What if my mom's statues destroyed, has my brother given in to his immobilized state?

He better not have, I'll kill him!

Before I realized it I was half asleep leaning against a steady oak tree, with tears slipping down my face. The overwhelming sadness I felt was unreal. The possibilities were endless. I wiped away the tears from my red eyelids, still, unable to go to sleep