Together - A Senku Ishigami Love Story (Dr.Stone)

Chapter 25

Thoughts From Phantom:

This is a shorter chapter, mainly because I felt this was a good place to cut it off. My apologies for any disappointment, I hope to post another update soon! ;)

Phantom' Out!~

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The last few days or so around the Kingdom of Science had been a rather unfulfilling time for Tachi. After their conversation by the river when she had asked Kinro about the person he was interested in, the man had seemingly been avoiding her. They hadn't even finished their conversation that day, the sculpted brunette turning a dashing shade of deep crimson and quickly excusing himself from the conversation. He didn't have to answer her if he didn't want to, she was only curious. That said, it was possible that he had figured out that if he were to tell her who he was interested in, she would have teased him about it relentlessly. 

Construction had begun on a new building beside Chrome's hut, not that Tachi had been allowed to lift a finger to help in its development, a storage room. Senku had been adamant with her about resting her damaged body, shooing her away to sit on the sidelines with Gen. She enjoyed speaking with the mentalist, and more often than not they found themselves reminiscing about the things they missed most. Tachi and her cream pastries, Gen and his cola. Suika would often chime in with questions about their subject of discussion, her young face bright with curiosity and wonder as the pair explained things to her. Then there was the training for the bout. Neither Senku nor Chrome were really good enough to be considered serious competitors, but they were adamant in joining the fight. They had their plan, and every sword on their side increased their chances, even if it was by a minimal margin.

Tachi puffed out her cheeks slightly, her sharp eyes heavily lidded, her knees pulled as closely to her chest as her aching ribs would allow, her arms wrapped tightly around them and she gazed ahead at the reflection of the silver moon in the calm running waters of the river. The pebbled earth beneath her had long since stopped being uncomfortable, her fingers having already pulled all the stray strands of lush green grass around her free from them as she wallowed in her own mind. They were all moving forward, pushing on, trying harder, and here she sat, a broken, lowly burden. She raised her head slightly, the cool breeze of the fading summer causing a shiver to tingle her spine and goosebumps to raise on her skin, her eyes drifting upwards to settle onto the dark sky above her. So many stars. She had always thought when she was at home that she was so lucky to see them as clearly as she could. There was so little light pollution out on the ranch, and more than once she had lain alone out in the dusty grass to gaze up at them, to count the twinkling beacons so far away, but this... she had never dreamed they could be so beautiful. A low sigh fell through her lips, her shoulders relaxing just a little as she allowed the unfiltered abject splendour of the unmarked night sky to wash over her. It all seemed so small at that moment. Her injuries, her failure, her complete and total worthlessness...she closed her eyes tightly, tears gathering at the edges and threatening to fall free. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she pull herself together? What if the others saw her crying? They would waste their time comforting her. Why couldn't she just take a deep breath, suck it up and get over herself already? She was being so selfish! So stupid! So....so useless. She grit her teeth and her eyes clenched closed tighter as she choked back a sob, a tear escaping and rolling down her cheek quickly, the darkness surrounding her seeping steadily into her thoughts, engulfing her broken soul and pulling it forcefully into the deepest depths of its own recess. Insignificant, worthless, useless, broken; nothing. She was nothing. Her father was right about her, he always had been. It didn't matter what her grandmother thought she was, what she thought her granddaughter could be. She would only disappoint her. She could only disappoint everyone. Let them down, again and again.