Steps to survival

Chapter 20 : A New Mission

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" An unimpressed look grew on his face.

"It's not like you can cure a nightmare," I mocked.

"Touché, but seriously, make sure to tell someone next time," he said monotonously, though I caught a glint of worry in his eye. A silence settled over us, but it was comfortable. I suddenly felt a wave of mischievousness and knelt down, I cupped some water and threw it at his face.

I knew he despised child's play, and that's exactly why I did it. While he stumbled back being temporarily blinded his hair pulled down and slick, I ran in the opposite direction and back towards our camp. I laughed quietly while weaving through the trees.

Soon enough I could detect faint footsteps from behind me in the distance.

"You're so childish!" Senku yelled.

"Then why are you chasing me?" I yelled back, he growled and began to speed up to my pace.

"Can we stop running?" He panted and I puffed a chuckle. I nodded as we walked back together side by side.

"Well that was eventful," he droned.

"Not how you imagined your morning to go?" We walked in a settled silence.
It felt right doing things like this with him. With me, he brings out a side to him that no one else sees, his real smile, his real laugh. Which is adorable by the way.

*Time skip*

It had been one week since we had introduced Old Man Kaseki to glassmaking, we managed to create a full decked out lab. Wooden shelves stacked with rows of glass beakers of all sorts filled the shelves. We stood in the doorway admiring the glass filled room confidently.

I slouched sitting cross-legged on the table in our newly made chemistry lab, with nothing to do. A few minutes more passed. Soon enough two figures lurked into the doorway, Kinro and Ginro explained how they desired new golden and silver-tipped spears.

I eased myself down so that my back hit the table quietly and lay there, my legs dangling off of the edge. Oh how I wished I had trousers, that's when an idea planted into my brain. I'd start making them tonight since I was pretty good at needlework.

Kohaku and Senku conversed before turning to me, "What do you think Koiru?" Kohaku asked. I smirked.

"By the looks of it, to be honest. I think Kinro has a problem with his eyes. I mean you have trouble with distance in training," I paused and leaned into a sitting position

"I think you believe that a shiny spear will help you tell how far an object is away from you," he looked like a deer in the headlights, sweating slightly. Senku and Kohaku looked over at Kinro to confirm it. I flopped onto my back, Kinro shook his head frantically and backed away from the door.

"That's not true, bye!" He shot back to the training area.

"I can honestly say that I'm surprised that you didn't pick up on that Senku~" I teased. He flicked my head and muttered a 'shut up' feeling slightly dejected. He didn't let it show through.

"Oh, wow. Would you look at all of this 'glass', was it?" Ginro said sarcastically, walking through the door.

"And this beautiful work. With this kind of storage, a silver spear must be a snap to make! And then takin' down Magma would be easy-peasy!" He exclaimed wagging his finger. Senku and I chuckled at his outburst.

"Yeah, good point. And now that we have our glassware, we're gonna have to suck it up and go get the next ingredients. Which is also the most difficult material to obtain," he strolled casually to the back of the room. I didn't bother moving to watch him.

"All right, let's break in this lab with a silver spear. But only a silver one," I let out a dry laugh at Kinro's ghosted face.

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that, Kinro. It's my way. I'm always everyone's favourite," Ginro teased slyly.

"You are in no way my favourite, you clown," Senku glanced at me then looked away.

"I prefer Kohaku over you fools," I groan playfully winking at the girl in question, Senku sent me a scrutinising glare while she giggled.

"This mission is quite risky. It may well cost you your life, Ginro," I rolled off of my back and gently placed my feet on the floor and leaned on the table, listening intently. Ginro grunted, signalling Senku to continue.

"We're going to set off on a grand adventure. One we'll discover chemistry's greatest treasure. So you'll be exploring an area that's ridiculously dangerous. Where you could literally die in an instant."

Ginro's grew unhealthily pale and his eyes dulled. Senku's face definitely grew malicious as he explained the dangers.

Sorry, I cut this a bit short, I thought that this would be fitting way to end the chapter.