Steps to survival

Chapter 18 : Clear World

Suika uncovered her face but kept hiding behind me.

"There's something wrong with my eyes. They've got the fuzzy sickness. Everything looks fuzzy to me," she directed her eyes to the trees beside us.

"So when I try really hard to see, I end up looking like this, and it's super embarrassing," she grabbed the melon from my hand and placed it onto her head.

"But when I put on my watermelon mask, it gets a little bit easier to see for some reason!" She jumped around.

"Yeah, that's called the 'pinhole effect'. If you look at an object through a small hole, the light passing through it narrows and brings it into focus," Senku explained.

"So you're basically saying she's nearsighted?" I ask. He nodded hastily.

"So glass and the fuzzy sickness, are they connected somehow?" Chrome chimed in.

"Dude, they're like ten billion per cent connected!" Senku's eyes widened significantly.

"So here's the deal, Suika," he knelt in front of her and gripped her shoulders gently. "You're nearsighted as hell. It's not some kind of sickness. There's nothing wrong with you," well if this isn't a bonding moment, then I don't know what is.

"In a technological civilization, this isn't a big deal at all. We have scientific eyes, made outta glass. They're called glasses, and they help you see clearly," Suika turned around, taking in all of this new and fascinating knowledge.

"Science users can actually make new eyes? That's amazing," Suika's hand clenched under her poncho.

"It is," you smiled at her somewhat happy state. "Is its really possible, I'd love to see all the beauty in the world. Even just once," we all stood in a horizontal line behind her, we could tell she was crying, yet I didn't feel bad at all. I held a neutral face.

"I wanna see you guys without the fuzziness. I wanna see the real you. Just one time would be all I needed." She stared longingly at us.

"All right. I'm ready to do this! Let's make some of this glass!" Chrome said in high spirits.

"Oh, yeah! What materials do we need to gather?" Kohaku said determinedly. That afternoon we began mining at a cliff for quartz sand non-stop. It was actually more fun than exhausting, which I found relieving. Soon we got back to the village and began to crush the quartz sand into finer grains with flat and round rocks.

We mixed it with ten per cent calcium carbonate, twenty per cent cooked seaweed. We then heated it up in our furnace.

The next morning, we used a mould to create a disk of glass. Afterwards Kohaku and I left the two scientists and began to train again since it only required two people.

Currently, Senku and I trailed in front of Suika, she wasn't wearing her melon rind, letting her hold onto our cloth material as she walks, as a guide. We walked through grass plains before coming to a stop. Senku still held the watermelon tucked under his arm.

"Suika, I want you to look straight ahead of you and tell me what you see," Suika averted her eyes towards a gigantic field of yellow, leaning sunflowers.

"I see sunflowers, of course. It's not like I can see anything at all, ya know?" She sassed.

"I just have to try-" she was cut short by pressure around her head, I placed on the melon skin on as gently as I could. Senku had handed it to me while she bickered. She stood silently for a few moments, taking in all the details of the whole world before her.

She stalked forwards and then turned casually. She stared at us all we smiled at her. I could tell she was tearing up because the front of her poncho became damp.

"Koiru, you look really pretty," she tugged at my hand, I compiled and crouched. She looked at me carefully before poking my nose. Confused, I stood up and chuckled, my cheeks and nose turning a rosy pink.

"This is incredible!" She jumped up and down excitedly, we all snickered at her adorable attitude.

*time skip*

We sat ourselves down on a blanket on dry grass, located next to a stream.

"It's kinda surprising, but both you guys look really cool," she pointed to the two boys.

"And why is that so surprising?" Chrome smirked. An unexpected chuckle from Senku made us all glance across at him.

"It's finally time to make some glass equipment. And now that Suika's levelled up on her labour potential statistics, that means we can actually put together a full chemistry set," he blushed with his hands held out. I leaned over and pitched his cheek. He yelped and squirmed uncomfortably, trying to escape my grip.

"My lord, learn some human decency, Senku," I scolded causing Suika and Chrome giggle. I finally let go when Senku threatened to tackle me, I cackled and granted his rosy cheek freedom. He shot me a playful glare and I smirked at his attempt to intimidate me.

*time skip*

Once we got back we were instructed by Senku to heat up some obsidian, which began bubbling, creating insulation for us. We used that to modify our furnace to make it more suitable for glass making.

We slowly but surely created iron straws to blow air through and we were done, almost anyway.

We all attempted to make the glass tubes, but everyone's except for mine came out in piles. I got the basic shape down, but it needed to be neater.

"Have you done this before or something?" Chrome questioned squinting his eyes at me.

"Yeah, only a few times though," I rubbed the back of my neck and chuckled.

"Heh, that's fine. This was our first try. When I started making clay pots, it took months before it looked decent," Senku chuckled.

"It's not fine! We don't have months to get it right this time!" Chrome screeched in worry.

"Ruri's health doesn't seem to be getting better," Kohaku grumbled bitterly.

"I'm not some kinda glass craftsman, so I have to learn by trial and error," Senku faced away from us.

"A craftsman?" Chrome mumbled thoughtfully. An evil idea popping into his head.