Steps to survival

Chapter 36 : Teasing Senku

"You get ten billion points for that one," he claimed jokingly, he glanced back at me again. If he keeps looking at me like that, I just might melt.

"Ah. So we're making wires for electronics. The IQ was dropping, but it seems like it's finally going back up," Gen carried on. But was quickly cut off by an enthusiastic Chrome.

"Alright! I'll grab some of our gold then!" He was already up the ladder, but Senku stopped him.

"Whoa, gold is too precious! We can't mess it up. So cotton candy. That's the way to go. We need to test it out first," he grinned at Gen. Who made a sudden realisation.

"Ooh? Yeah, good point. We're gonna taste-I mean uh, definitely test it out," he replied, making me chuckle at his slip up. He was just excited about the food.

Time skip

"This 'Homura' person who started the fire put in a really bad spot," hearing the villager just made me feel that much more guilty if I would be noticed sooner we wouldn't be in this mess right now. "We lost a lot of potato and mirin that was just about ready to go. It burned for a long time. Look at that."

We all turned our heads to see that in the pots to our left, was a shimmering reflective gold, that stuck around the rims and at the bottom of it. "It turned into chunks in the barrels," we immediately walked over to look, kneeling down over a single pot, I prodded at it.

"So what can we make with some ruined wine?' Kohaku asked.

"Well, these chunks are what happens when you boil wine for a long time," Senku concluded for her. "These are sugar crystals," I finished and tugged a piece if and rolled it around curiously in my hand. I tossed a piece over for Kohaku to catch. "Look at you two, finishing off each other's deductions," she teased. Senku and I exchanged glances and both laughed. It had become a habit that I didn't even think about.

It only took around 30-40 minutes to create our next pully system, set up for Kinro and Ginro, as always. Whisps of the sugar crystals appeared and the other girls started gushing about it. Senku was at the pot holding up a stick with a silly makeshift chefs hat on. He dipped the stick in and the wisps immediately stuck to it. "It looks like Senku's making a little white cloud!" I heard Suika exclaim.

He handed the stick off to her, Kohaku and Ruri, they all blushed in excitement. I ducked my face to laugh when they gasped in pleasure. Kohaku also tried to coax her father to try it, as soon as he swallowed a chunk his eyes glowed up. He actually looked happy for once instead of constantly wearing a grumpy expression. Eventually, everyone had tried it and we're all utterly in love with it. Senku handed one to me last and I excepted it with a grin.

Though I only had one bite into it, I could see why everyone was appreciating it so much. It had been a while since I last had some. "I suppose that's the type of reaction you'd get when you give people candy for the first time," Gen tilted his head. I mean, yeah, he isn't exactly wrong.

"Yeah. It's just regular cotton candy. But since they've never anything like it before, it must be blowing their minds."

"Who could've guessed something good out of the fire Homura started. We owe her a big thanks," Gen replied and made a humming sound as he bit into his cotton candy. "Hey, Gen, just how much do you know about this Homura chick, anyway? What's she like?" Just then, out of nowhere, Ginro popped up and started to elbow Senku suggestively. "Ooh. Uh-oh! Are you trying to say you're interested in a girl, Senku?" He teased, I snorted, trying to stop myself from laughing at the clear embarrassment and annoyance on his face.

"Ahh? You got a thing for petite girls, or what?" His voice was like a grate against a chalkboard, but Senku's face was making up for that. "I'm willing to bet all my minerals that's not what he meant. Maybe?" I heard Chrome interrupt.

"You guys don't know Senku very well, do you?" Kohaku replied, downcast.

"We're being watched," Senku finally spoke up, sounding fed up. Everyone who wasn't listening definitely was now. "Homura is out there somewhere as we speak, spying on us."

"Oh, without a doubt. Hyouga's A very suspicious guy, but he does seem to trust her," Gen nodded. "Uh! She's watching us now?" Ginro stuttered nervously.

"Of course she is. I imagine from a good distance away. Far enough to see if we make any big moves. But still close enough to chase us down if we run," Senku explained, Ginro whimpered. "Ha! We're not the type of people who run away from a fight," Kohaku placed her hands on her hips.

"We couldn't even if we wanted to," I murmured.

"Yeah, and the older people in our village couldn't just go somewhere else," Kohaku's father chimed in.

"Leaving them behind would be a cowardly move and there's no one here that spineless." I looked over to Ginro doubly, he was definitely the most spineless. "Um! Nope, there's nobody like that around here!" He sprung up.

"Well, I will say, Homura has a ton of respect for Hyouga. If he told her to watch us, she would never disobey that order. I don't believe she'd cause us any trouble if we leave her alone, but I highly doubt we could get her to switch sides or anything," but Gen's statement was only a challenge for Senku, I noticed that his eyes were in a daze, he was obviously thinking of ways to prove Gen wrong, knowing him.

Later on in the day three of the boys left the base with multiple planks of wood and a few hammers and cotton candy, we were all informed of the small plan they had constructed and I took it upon myself to practice my aim. I grabbed my bow off of one of the elder villagers who said she would keep it safe for me and grabbed around several arrows that Senku and Chrome had carved for me when they got bored. It was a very sweet gesture. I made sure to thank them.

When they had gotten back, it was getting dark, clouds hung low and the sky a purple and navy blue. Everyone was gathered around a campfire, and I was listening from where I was shooting at random branches and snapping them off, I seemed a bit fidgety and restless, I'm not sure why.

"The hell, Senku? Why did we give out cotton candy to the enemy?" Chrome asked agitatedly. To which Senku let out a witch-like cackle which both startled me and made me let out a quiet laugh. "I figured since she's spying on us for Tsukasa, she has to tell him we have cotton candy." Suika took another bite of her cotton candy and made a very cute expression that pretty much everyone noticed.

"Sweets are ridiculously tempting. Some of his people might rethink their allegiance when they find out."

"Surely it can't be that easy," I called out.

"Well, makes sense to me, " Kohaku fired back and made me purse my lips and think it over again in my head. Could it really be that easy? Well, I mean I never thought to begin with that I would ever be in a war between some gorilla's in the stone age, so I guess anything's possible.